SWOT Analysis on Emerging Technologies

Introduction

Integration of emerging technologies in the educational sector may be referred to as a blended learning. Basically, an integrated technology helps learners to have both the classroom face-to-face education experiences and online education experiences, particularly, in this time and age when technology is rapidly developing and advancing in all sectors of the economy. The emerging technologies have greatly helped in transforming higher education sector by providing more engaging learning experiences to the learners. The technologies integrates contradictory approaches for instance, formal and informal education, face-to-face education and online learning, directed paths in learning and self reliance in online study, digital referencing, and collegial connecting , so as to achieve personal and institutional goals.

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Etale - A Digital Age Learning is an online platform which provides learners with access to a variety of educational documentaries of various topics. Through this platform, students can get online resources which may not be available at the school library. Moreover, they can access the educational resources anytime anywhere. The only requirement is that they need to open an account and get the logins which will be used to log into the system. On the other hand, Edmodo is also an online platform which works in a similar manner as Facebook and Twitter work for the social media. However, Edmodo is designed particularly to connect the school community and keep them in touch. The design is specifically for educational purposes. Through Edmodo platform, students can interact and hold discussions online.

At whatever time a new method is of learning is introduced and implemented, it is of significance that there is no impact on the instructional approach. How do the learners using the integrated system accept, perceive and value the modern technology with regards to the technique's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)? In an attempt of answering this question, the paper will describe and understand the use of emerging technologies into an educational institution, for our case, Edmodo and Etale- Digital Age Learning as the integrated technologies.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis is a high-level model of tactical planning which will help the committee that is tasked with providing a research-based proposal for integrating emerging technologies into the education system. By conducting SWOT analysis, the committee can be able to capitalize on the strengths of the technologies integrated, improve on its weaknesses, recognize and act on the available opportunities and try to minimize the effects of the threats. According to Domingo and Gargante (2016), the chosen integrated technologies into educational institution can be affected by the four mentioned factors as summarized and discussed in detail below:

Strengths

The students get to learn independently without the help of the tutor. By so doing, drilling is eliminated. The learning process is done in a more learning friendly environment. The integrated technologies in educational learning would engage the students more as compared to class room learning alone. The students get to learn in an interactive forum with fellow classmates and other students from other learning institutions. Through this, it makes it easier for the introvert students to also participate in the discussions. Furthermore, classroom activity is reduced because there is quick and productive interaction as a result of pre-work in the online platforms (Domingo & Gargante, 2016).

There is convenience in online system. Viewing of course material, objectives and reading of the school resources online is just very convenient as they can be accessed anytime anywhere. Posting of learning materials, assignments for both formative and summative assessment as well as the instructions and external links for next lessons is convenient and saves a lot of classroom's time which can be used for other activities (Domingo & Gargante, 2016). Grading of students in the online grade-book provides a convenient way of access. Online surveys for evaluation of the class activity are instant. Through the integrated emerging technologies creates a dialogue outside of the class activity among the tutors and the learners, through the discussion forums provided by the software (Domingo & Gargante, 2016).

Weaknesses

Domingo and Gargante (2016) state that the emerging technologies chosen depend upon collaboration, concretization, proper coordination and effective communication across the learning institution where the technologies have been integrated. For these reasons, it is not that easy to incorporate the technologies in the learning system. Other weaknesses include poor internet connectivity in some parts the student are residing, poor internet speeds which can affect the students seriously in cases of timed assignments. Again, the software and the hardware which are a must are expensive to acquire which may bar other students who cannot afford them out from accessing the online platform. Certain configurations are to be done on both the tutors' and students' laptops in order to be able to access the online forums. This may be quite expensive to the institutions as a professional is to be hired to do the task. Apart from that, regular maintenance of the technology is a recurrent cost that may be expensive to the institution. Time-limited assignments are stressful and the technology may not be accessible to all the students in the campus and those staying out of the institution (Domingo & Gargante, 2016).

Opportunities

In reflecting on the opportunities the emerging technology provides to the educational system, the technologies proposed will provide flexibility with regards to timing, especially at the points when it becomes difficult in accommodating certain scheduled classes. Such activities can then be allocated online forums for discussion in the online platform. Student will enjoy so much the flexibility with which the technologies come along with and how it eases their work at school (Domingo & Gargante, 2016).

Domingo and Gargante (2016) adds that the content which reaches the students is uniform both internationally and locally. For this fact, students will be really appreciative more so the international students. The technologies can also help in eliminating the staff shortage at the faculty for the reason that a single teacher can enroll and handle a big number of students of the same course. Administering and operation of the technologies will become easy once the software and the hardware are acquired and the skills required developed.

Threats

From the developers' point of view, there are few threats associated with the proposed technologies. The internet shorthand for acronyms, emoticons and spellings which are used by the students as well as the over dependency by the students on the spellings provided by the computers may deteriorate the knowledge and mastery of the English language. Moreover, most of the students will get distracted during the chat sessions due to multitasking since they are in a free environment. Since the students work at the comfort of their homes, which are not restricted, they may exchange passwords and IDs which may lead to cheating as some of the students' assignments may be completed by other students (Domingo & Gargante, 2016).

Proposed Timeline for Implementation

In order for the program to be implemented, there are five phases that it will pass before its implementation in the learning institution. The five phases follow a sequential order, but may at some point overlap one another (Henrie, Halverson, & Graham, 2015).

Phase One: Planning and Initiation

During this phase, the relevant questions to be considered include the feasibility of the evaluation, identification of the stakeholders of the program, and specification of both the long-term and short-term goals. Some of the questions to be answered at this level include the criteria used in determining the need of the proposed program, the conceptual framework of the program, if the program has clarity in its objectives or transparency of the methods of evaluation.

Defining and identification of the stakeholders is an important factor in this particular stage. The stakeholders are the individuals and organizations who may have interest with the proposed program or those who are affected by the program. Generally, they can be individuals who are served by the program or those who it directly affects, those that are directly involved in the operation of the program or the primary users of the assessment. The stakeholders may also include legislators, politicians, media, and the public (Henrie, Halverson, & Graham, 2015).

Once the identification process is completed, a strategy is devised in such a way that all the identified stakeholders are incorporated in all the phases of the program implementation. The stakeholders are to be noted of their importance in the process. During the process of development and implementation, the stakeholders and the evaluators should have a mutual relationship and both parties should be at liberty to dispose new ideas. This process should take one and a half months or less (Henrie, Halverson, & Graham, 2015).

Phase Two: Implementation

Evaluation of the program during its implementation helps in checking if the program is successfully retaining its intended participants and recruiting the new members. At this stage, assessment of the program helps in correcting defaults detected and making solutions to the loop holes (Leiber, Stensaker, & Harvey, 2018). From the time of the program implementation, the process of evaluation should not take more than a month.

Phase Three: Problems

Following the completion and enrollment of the program, evaluation conducted may give the overall performance of the program, its efficiency as well as its sustainability. Unanticipated issues that may arise get corrected at this stage, Activities may increase and more activities may be required to be incorporated which were not scheduled before. These are needs that get identified once the program is rolled. Investing in leadership at this point is critical as there is increased demand for responsibilities (Henrie, Halverson, & Graham, 2015). This phase takes longer at least six months from the time of implementation for the problems to be identified.

Phase Four: Turning Point

In this section, the problems that may be encountered may continue growing or overcome and minimized if properly managed. The momentum gained by the program, effectiveness of the planning stage and the technical team associated with its operation are an important component at this point.

Phase Five: Termination

The program may get terminated in case the program is too complex, there is lack of resources to run the program, lack of interest from the stakeholders and other critical issues that may arise. In such cases, the program may get terminated as the objectives of the program may deteriorate drastically due to the challenges faced. In case the program runs successfully, proper dissemination and reporting of the evaluation results is done to the appropriate participants. The overall process from phase one to phase five should take nine weeks.