Looking at the more recent areas of multimedia technology research, the research I came across was much more conceptual research to develop a proof of concepts for the technologies being explored. With that being said, much of the research in the area of new and emerging technology for the years from 2010-2022 was primarily qualitative in exploring the experience the learners and educators had with the technology, which fits with looking at proof of concepts. The areas that I studied, in particular, were the areas of cloud computing and 5G networks and the beginnings of exploring and anticipating the impact these technologies will have on education and multimedia capabilities. The promise of 5G networks will allow learning to occur almost anywhere, allowing for learning to move outside classrooms and home learning environments. This increased network capability will go hand in hand with the use of cloud computing to power learning experiences and provide the necessary multimedia learning artifacts to assist in the learning experience. These two technologies, in particular, will lead to the proliferation of other emerging technologies like AR and VR as well as help learning become more social as we become more connected. One of the studies I looked at explored the possibility of leveraging cloud networks to create a teaching resource sharing grid that would allow educators to contribute their materials and use others’ materials creating the best learning experience for their learners. One of the main ideas of this study was developing a sharing protocol that ensured resources were distributed fairly and were leveraged against the users’ contribution as well. While this resources sharing model was theoretical, it paints a picture of an exciting future that genuinely has the ability to meet the needs of all learners. When you think about all of these resources coupled with other technologies like AI, there is the ability to create a self-directed learning environment that is effective and useful to learners.

While the learning methods and technologies I looked at were from the present day, I see parallels to past educational research as new technologies emerged. One thing that seems interesting in this era is that we seem to be moving towards warp speed in the amount of change that technology is creating within education. We are able to leverage all that we have learned from past technology integration. This allows us to iterate and analyze faster to adopt the technology more effectively. It is crazy to think about how far we have come in the last 80 years and the seemingly exponential growth we have seen over the previous ten years. It is truly exciting to think about where we will be heading and what will be possible in the future.