It’s scary to think back to a time when technology was something we all aspired to have, whereas nowadays if you’re not connected, you’re left behind. During the COVID-19 pandemic, trends in technology began happening rapidly as the world worked to stay connected and continue working as close to normal as it could get. With our technologies rapidly evolving to meet our needs, especially in uncertain times, the influence it has on our society has grown and created situations where we have become reliant on information, connection, and convenience it offers.

 

With all these big adjustments to new technologies, statistics are shown on Digital 2021 from Wethesocial that the insane growth across the board with time spent online, social media usage, and the sheer influence brands and organisations have on our attitudes, buying habits, and opinions, have changed the digital environment we interact with increasingly. These statistics include that we spend 3.7 trillion hours online in 2021, which has been steadily increasing our time online to now around 7 hours daily (Wethesocial, 2021).

 

Some of the trends established in the Educause Horizon Report 2021 consist of the expanding presence of digital equity and inclusion, as well as the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in education fields and beyond. The combination of these various modern advancements has drastically changed the educational environment and wider society.

 

Concerning digital equity and inclusion, there is more attention placed on social and economic inequalities as those from different social and economic backgrounds can affect an individual’s experience and use of modern technology. In an education environment to address this, they would be mindful of how technology may disproportionally affect students from low-income backgrounds (EDUCAUSE, 2021). This report recommends that organisations work to provide equal opportunities to avoid situations involving bias or discrimination in a digital space.

 

AI and MR are both advanced complex technologies that are being steadily utilised by many organisations for their limitless uses and simplifying abilities. In an educational setting, ethical concerns are pressing matters when this technology is used in the way to make decisions concerning staff and students. This technology is considered controversial with some of its unpredictable and unknown qualities, along with the high risks of it being used for plagiarism and academic deceit (EDUCAUSE, 2021, pp. 14-15).

 

To conclude, this report has shown the impressive changes that have happened yet pays close attention to the uses and issues of such changes with technology. Yet with the high stakes of unknown and potential consequences of such technologies, there are still promising outcomes that can drastically improve a grow with organisations and the wider society.

References:

EDUCAUSE. (2021). 2021 EDUCASE Horizon report: Teaching and learning edition. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2021/4/2021-educause-horizon-report-teaching-and-learning-edition

We Are Social. (2023). Digital 2021: We are social UK. https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2021/01/digital-2021-uk/?mc_cid=ed509b472e&mc_eid=632bbf90f7