Ashford 6: – Week 5 – Discussion 2

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Horizon   Report

 The Horizon Report is published every year in partnership with a very well respected advisory board consisting of expert educators across the nation and think tanks such as EDUCAUSE and the New Media Research Consortium. The Horizon Report showcases specific technologies emerging in education. One of the technology trends the 2011 Horizon Report highlights is eBooks – Ashford University and Constellations can be found on pg 10. Please read the eBook section in the digital 2011 Horizon Report. After you complete the reading, please watch the following video titled Future of Books.
 

Publishers are now exploring new methods and varieties of leveraging digital and social media to enhance and perhaps transform the typical reading experience. Concepts like digital storytelling, simulations, and journeys through worlds real and imagined are just around the corner.
 

However, not everyone is so ecstatic. In John Medina’s work in brain research, he suggests the brain cannot multitask. In fact he literally states, “Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention, is a myth. The brain naturally focuses on concepts of sequentially.” Please see more about Medina’s work at Brain Rules.
 

Given Medina’s beliefs about multitasking and paying attention, will eBooks with all of the powerful multimedia and interactivity be a distraction or contribute to richer learning and increased engagement?