Emerging Technologies

1
Emerging Technologies

• Advice and Guidance for Practitioners

2
Emerging Technologies

• Purpose of this guidance
• The adoption and use of emerging technologies has
  long been a requirement of administrators within
  the workplace.
• As organisations strive for efficiency and more
  effective ways of operating, the use of emerging
  technologies by administrators will continue.
• This item of support for practitioners aims to
  raise awareness of the importance of
  administrators keeping abreast with new
  technologies.
• Although not a distinct unit of the new
  Administration and IT courses, the adoption and
  use of emerging technologies permeates learning
  and teaching across all practical IT aspects of
  the courses and indeed the role of administrators
  within the contemporary workplace.

3
Emerging Technologies

• Content of this guidance
• The three video case studies included will help
  identify current innovations impacting on the
  working practices of administrators within the
  modern, dynamic workplace.
• These current innovations will be further
  explored with links to free web-based resources
  supplied, to give practitioners and learners the
  opportunity to experiment with emerging
  technologies which may be of benefit to the
  administrative function. The use of the supplied
  technologies is not prescriptive, with
  practitioners invited to explore the use of these
  and other IT innovations.
• Reflective questions to stimulate further
  thought, discussion and action relating to the
  use of emerging technologies as part of National
  4 and National 5 Administration and IT provision
  are also given.

4
Why no prescribed pupil tasks?

• As previously outlined, the use of emerging
  technologies is not a discreet element of the
  course nor prescribed. However, practitioners
  should recognise the value of incorporating the
  use of such technologies as part of the planned
  learning and teaching activities.
• The advice and guidance recognises the key skill
  of early adopters of emerging technology of being
  able to quickly evaluate the technology and find
  a positive purpose and application to complete
  administrative tasks more effectively and
  efficiently. This, coupled with the sizeable
  range of technologies given, has resulted in the
  avoidance of prescribed learners approaches.
• Practitioners will therefore be expected to
  support learners in the adoption and use of such
  technologies to contribute to the successful
  completion of familiar administrative tasks.
• Reflective questions have been supplied to help
  practitioners with this.

5
Experimental Approaches to Emerging Technologies

• Many learners studying Administration and IT
  National 4 and National 5 courses have been
  immersed in the use of technology from an early
  age. The term digital natives has been coined
  to describe such individuals. Many of our
  learners will be confident users of information
  technology and will be willing to experiment with
  previously unfamiliar information technology
  resources.
• This confidence and approach to the use of
  emerging technology is to be encouraged and
  should be supported as part of planned learning
  experiences. This is particularly relevant
  considering the broad and dynamic range of
  technologies an administrator would be expected
  to use as part of their organisational duties.
• Trial and error is an effective learning and
  teaching strategy in the adoption and use of
  emerging technologies, with the process of
  learners deepening their understanding and skills
  in the use of the technology being a valuable
  learning experience.
• Once familiar with the functions of the emerging
  technologies, practitioners should offer learning
  experiences where learners can apply and deepen
  skills in using the emerging technologies within
  administrative contexts perhaps replacing
  existing technologies. This will increase
  learners appreciation of the relevance of
  emerging technologies.

6
Why Emerging Technologies?

• Please click on the links below to explore why
  emerging technologies are essential to
  administrators within the contemporary work
  environment.

Education Scotland
Campbell Dallas
Material UK
7
Current Innovations

• As the video case studies illustrate,
  organisations operate within a dynamic, ever
  changing environment, with the use of emerging
  technologies impacting on work roles and duties
  of administrators.
• Emerging technologies which are currently
  influencing the work of administrators are given
  below. Each will be examined in more detail, with
  links to relevant resources supplied. It is hoped
  practitioners will incorporate the use of these
  or similar resources as part of planned
  administrative learning experiences.

8
Smartphones

• Developments in computing and mobile
  telecommunications technology has resulted in
  smartphones being a key resource for
  administrators.
• As well as allowing verbal communication,
  smartphones allow administrators to use the
  latest computing technology while on the move.
  The latest generation of phones offer
  face-to-face communication, web browsing and
  download, media capture and use, access to
  internal and external networks, email capability,
  document creating and editing, and access to
  social media.
• The four most common smartphone platforms for
  business are android, apple, blackberry and
  windows phone. Each platform has its own
  marketplace where apps short for software
  applications can be downloaded, installed and
  used on the device. Apps can be downloaded for
  free or for a small charge.
• The number of useful apps for administrators is
  growing by the day.
• Why not access the links to each smartphone
  platform and investigate how this emerging
  technology can be used by administrators.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• What learning contexts could I use to introduce
  learners to smartphones?
• What administrative tasks can be completed using
  smartphones?
• How could I incorporate smartphones into my
  learning and teaching activities?
• What essential skills do learners need to acquire
  in the use of smartphones?

Links to smartphone platforms
9
Cloud Computing

• Pioneering information technology providers are
  now offering cloud computing services to clients.
• This means that individual users can access
  essential software applications and their
  documents from any computer that is linked to the
  internet. All software and documents produced
  using the software is stored by the cloud
  computing service provider on remote servers
  which are accessed via the internet.
• This saves organisations time and effort
  downloading, installing and keeping software
  up-to-date. It also increases convenience with
  users being able to access cloud resources from
  any device that can be connected to the internet.
• Administrators may have to access cloud services
  to access, extract and save documents and
  resources for colleagues or for their own
  professional use.
• Access the links provided to further investigate
  cloud computing services.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• How could I incorporate cloud computing into my
  learning and teaching activities?
• What essential skills do learners need to acquire
  when using cloud computing?

Links to cloud computing resources
10
Alternatives to Microsoft Office

• The Microsoft Office suite of integrated software
  applications is still the most widely used
  collection of titles used by administrators. It
  is therefore essential and expected that much of
  the work of learners will focus on using this
  collection of software titles within
  administrative contexts, particularly for word
  processing, spreadsheets and database tasks.
• However, with organisations looking for cost
  savings on IT expenditure a growing number are
  now using alternative free integrated office
  suites which offer similar functionality and
  quality as the market leader. Popular
  alternatives include Openoffice, Google docs,
  Libreoffice and Zoho.
• It is therefore of value for learners to have an
  awareness of alternatives to Microsoft Office and
  to measure and appreciate the extent their skills
  are transferable from package to package.
• Learners could explore and compare the
  effectiveness of Microsoft Office with one or
  more alternative.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• What is the value of learners of being aware of
  alternatives to MS Office?
• How could I incorporate these alternatives into
  my learning and teaching activities?

Links to alternative office suites
11
Social Media for Administrators

• The recent explosion in the use of social media
  applications as a communication tool has impacted
  on the work of administrators.
• Organisations will use social media to encourage
  two-way and instant communication with employees,
  customers and suppliers.
• Many administrators will be required to regularly
  access and update an organisations social media
  presence with information supplied by colleagues.
• Administrators may also have their own presence
  for professional networking, communication and
  collaboration purposes.
• Common social media sites used by organisations
  are Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google.
• The use of Social Media by organisations is
  expected to further evolve, with many predicting
  that Social Media will overtake e-mail as the
  most used means of electronic communication.
  Indeed the information technology services
  multinational Atos, for example, made the
  decision to ban the used of email by its 75,000
  employees based in 42 countries around the world,
  with internal social media technologies used
  instead.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• What administrative tasks could be completed by
  using social media?
• How could I incorporate social media into my
  learning and teaching activities?
• What skills could be developed with learners
  through the use of social media ?

Links to social media
12
Communication

• How administrators engage, interact and
  communicate with key organisation stakeholders is
  influenced greatly by emerging technologies.
• Organisations are looking for more immediate and
  personable communication approaches than email
  and a range of innovative web-based resources
  have been launched to cater for this growing
  need.
• Administrators are now using these resources as
  part of their day-to-day duties. They may also be
  expected to support colleagues in the use of such
  technologies.
• As well as social media sites, popular
  developments include the use of instant messaging
  services, including Google Talk and Microsoft
  Messenger.
• Real-time, web-conferencing services which permit
  face-to-face audio and visual communication are
  also being used by administrators to pass and
  receive information. Applications including skype
  and facetime have made the transition from social
  applications to important organisational
  communication vehicles.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• How I could I incorporate these communication
  tools into my learning and teaching?
• What skills do learners need to acquire to use
  these communication tools?

Links to communication tools
13
Collaboration

• Organisations have also been quick to adopt
  web-based facilities that allow a number of users
  to access and contribute to the creation and
  development of documents.
• Online collaboration forums are beneficial for
  the tasks that require teamworking and are suited
  to the development of creative ideas or complex
  documents.
• It also offers opportunities for partnership
  working with customers and suppliers who can view
  and comment on live documents, as they are being
  produced.
• Administrators may be tasked to set-up and invite
  users to attend such a collaboration site or
  indeed fully participate to create documents, for
  example those required for meetings and events.
• You could access the links to investigate a
  number of free online collaboration sites which
  may be of benefit to administrators.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• How might online collaboration tools be used by
  administrators?
• How might I incorporate these tools into my
  learning and teaching activities?
• What essential skills might learners acquire in
  using communication tools?

Links to collaboration tools
14
Presentation

• Microsoft PowerPoint, with an estimated 500
  million users around the globe, is undoubtedly
  still the key presentation application
  administrators would be expected to use in the
  workplace.
• However, due to the wide use of Microsoft
  PowerPoint, a number of organisations have sought
  alternatives that allow information to presented
  in fresh and engaging ways and avoid the so
  called death by PowerPoint phenomena. This
  phrase is often used to describe audiences being
  overly exposed and largely switched off to talks
  delivered using poorly designed PowerPoint
  presentations. In Switzerland a political party
  has been established to protest against this
  rising phenomenon!
• A number of web-based, non-linear presentation
  applications have emerged, giving organisations a
  viable alternative to PowerPoint. Instead of
  presenting information on a series of slides,
  users can layout information on one canvass and
  then choose a path (the order) for presenting
  this information to their audience.
• With many organisations storing completed
  presentations electronically for retrospective
  use on intranets, websites and social media
  sites, many presentation applications also allow
  presentations to be saved as video files to be
  uploaded to desired location(s). Links to four
  online presentation applications are given.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• How do they compare with Microsoft PowerPoint?
• What is the value to learners of being aware of
  alternatives to MS PowerPoint?
• How might I incorporate these alternatives into
  my learning and teaching activities?

Links to presentation applications
15
Personal Effectiveness

• With administrators constantly looking for ways
  to manage and use their time more effectively a
  range of online technologies are now being used
  to help administrators priorities and monitor
  progress with tasks they have been issued.
• Online to-do lists, timeline and scheduling
  resources that can be accessed from a variety of
  devices including PCs and smartphones are
  becoming more and more popular.
• Administrators may use these for their own
  effectiveness, but may also be required to
  maintain such resources for colleagues.
• You could access the supplied links to
  investigate further emerging personal
  effectiveness technologies being used by
  administrators.
• Reflective questions for practitioners
• Why are personal effectiveness tools important to
  administrators?
• How might I incorporate these tools into my
  learning and teaching activities?
• What are the essential skills the learner may
  acquire when using personal effectiveness tools?

Links to personal effectiveness tools
16
Other useful tools for administrators

• An increasing range of useful tools to help
  administrators in the modern, dynamic workplace
  are available online
• Often administrators will be tasked to convert a
  document or media file from one file type to
  another. To make this easier, online file
  conversion sites are useful tools regularly used
  by administrators.
• Screen casting software is another useful tool
  for administrators recordings of screen
  movements and actions can be taken and stored as
  a movie file. This may be of use to
  administrators tasked with giving demonstrations
  in the use of emerging technologies.
• Online questionnaire and poll generation websites
  are also of great benefit to administrators. Such
  sites make it easy to create questionnaires and
  polls that can then be integrated on an
  organisations website, social media site or
  intranet. These sites also make it easy to
  collate and make sense of the responses gathered.
  Administrators may use these sites to evaluate
  their own work perhaps gaining feedback on the
  success of an event. Administrators may also be
  asked to create and administer them for
  colleagues seeking feedback from employees,
  customers and suppliers.
• Online video hosting websites, such as YouTube,
  are also being used by administrators.
  Administrators may watch video tutorials to
  increase skills, for example, on how to use an
  item of software. Administrators may also be
  required to upload content for colleagues to then
  be embedded on the organisations website or
  social media site.
• You could access the supplied links to explore
  examples of these online tools of use to
  administrators.

Links to other useful tools
17
Future Emerging Technologies

• The difficulty in predicting new technologies and
  how they will impact on the operations of
  administrators is illustrated in the supplied
  link to the BBC Tomorrows World programme
  broadcast in 1969.
• This however has not stopped innovative
  organisations offering their view on potential
  upcoming technologies. Click on the Microsoft
  icon to view their vision of the future.
• What is for certain is that new technologies will
  be launched that will continue to shape the role
  of administrators and how they complete tasks
  within the workplace. It is therefore critical
  that education practitioners provide
  opportunities for learners to develop awareness
  and skills in the use of newly emerging
  technologies within hands-on, administrative
  contexts.
• Practitioners can keep abreast of emerging
  technologies by scanning appropriate IT news
  stories and new technology websites. Links to two
  useful sites are supplied.
• Practitioners should also strive to strengthen
  links with local organisations who may be willing
  to showcase breaking technologies to learners
  within real life contexts.

Links to future technologies
18
Reflective Questions
SQA Administration and IT National 4

• The following questions may be used by individual
  practitioners or with colleagues to stimulate
  further thought and action relating to the use of
  emerging technologies within planned learning
  experiences at National 4 and National 5
  Administration and IT.
• What is the value of learners developing skills
  in the use of emerging technologies?
• What challenges must be overcome to facilitate
  meaningful learning experiences incorporating the
  use of emerging technologies?
• How does the recommended trial and error approach
  to the use of emerging technologies differ from
  my current learning and teaching approaches to
  the use of information technology? What is the
  value of this proposed approach?
• What existing Administration and IT resources
  could be used to allow learners to apply skills
  in the use of these emerging technologies within
  Administrative contexts?
• How will I ensure appropriate progression in
  skills development in the use of emerging
  technologies from National 4 to National 5?
• What approaches will I employ to keep informed of
  future developments in technology that impact on
  the work of administrators? How might I
  incorporate these new technologies into my course
  provision?

SQA Administration and IT National 5
Links to Administration IT Documentation
Education Scotland Audit Tool