Article: The Future of Web Conferencing in Education

Article 1: What is the role of emerging technologies (think Facebook, iPhones, videogaming, and online learning) in K-12 education?

YouTube: The Future of Web Conferencing in Education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFdRjrakc4  

I agree with  Mr. Martellacci about the need to bring digital information presentation into the classroom for the “digital natives”. I also think that these sort of technologies will be commonplace in school in the not-so-distant future.

One interesting application that Mr. Martellacci mentioned was “polling”. All I can think of is the polling systems used on today’s game shows to “ask the audience”, etc. I think it would be so incredible to have the kids become equipped with these hand-held devices. Imagine the usefulness of this technology! You could instantly check for understanding in any lesson. In seconds, all kids could have a voice in the classroom – and each teacher could have a quick snapshot of student information attainment. I wonder if this technology is available to schools at all – or how expensive it would be to have it available. (I’m sure it would be quite pricey!)  This is something I would definitely add to “The Classroom of the Future”.