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Laptops Were Introduced Into The Classroom
Many schools introduced Chromebooks to students to use daily for learning activities and assessments -
Smart Boards are Introduced Into Most Schools
These took the place of a traditional white board in classrooms -
iPads Are Introduced Into Schools
1.5 million iPads are introduced into schools for students daily use. Students were able to take it home to do homework, and they eventually became a way to limit students phone use in the classroom. -
Cell Phone and Social Media Use
Cellphone and social media use in the classroom becomes an issue that school officials will be fighting for the remainder of the decade. 90% of students under the age of 18 have access to this technology. While some schools wanted to incorporate the devices into their classrooms, others did not because of the phone abuse that occurred. -
Gamification
Along with mobile learning, another aspect of online learning that students grew more familiar with during the 2010s was gamification. Educators sought to harness their students’ enthusiasm and familiarity with gaming by incorporating elements such as “the use of narratives to change the context around a typical activity, the creation of social competition, and the incentivizing of behavior through badge and reward systems”. -
Major Changes In Collaboration
As many schools are starting to make a shift to giving every student their own device, teachers and students start to utilize tools such as "Google Drive" and "Kahoot" to collaborate with each other at any time and anywhere. -
National Education Technology Plan Update
"The National Education Technology Plan (NETP), sets a national vision and plan for learning enabled by technology. The plan articulates a vision to make all-the-time learning possible. While acknowledging the continuing need to provide greater equity of access to technology itself, the plan goes further to call upon all involved in American education to ensure equity of access to transformational learning experiences enabled by technology." -
Artificial Intelligence Starts To Make Its Way Into Schools
Intelligent digital assistants such as Siri started to impact education. With all students now having smartphones and iPads, AI was starting to become an emerging trend. While AI provides opportunities to transform the learning process and delegate time-consuming rote tasks, thereby leaving more time for enhanced learning, it also encouraged students to cheat and to this day AI still is causing this problem -
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning is a technique to use data-driven instruction to adjust and tailor learning experiences to meet the individual needs of each student. Adaptive learning systems can track data such as student progress, engagement, and performance, and use the data to provide personalized learning experiences. This learning technique became popular in 2019. -
The Abrupt Shift To Remote Learning
The pandemic changed the course of education and education technology forever. Schools were forced to shift from in person learning to remote, causing many teachers, students, and parents frustration. Remote learning differed depending on a person’s race, socioeconomic status, and geographic area, classroom participation rules during videoconferencing sessions varied widely, and the digital divide came to the surface in ways that can no longer be ignored.