Your school just might be well enough funded to have implemented 1 to 1 classrooms or maybe just a legacy computer lab or two, or maybe tablet carts or four or five static tablets assigned to each classroom. Many might still be saddled with ancient slow and cumbersome desktops. (Aside note: I remember a time [the late 80's] when I lugged my "portable" 30-pound computer with two 5-1/4" floppy disk drives back and forth to work daily using a luggage carrier.) Surely whatever devices on campus, all have access to the Internet and every faculty member has a laptop, notebook or tablet device. No? Whatever the case someone or someones has the explicit, or worse, the implicit task of vetting new educational apps, websites, browser add-ons, templates, ed tech tools, hardware, and all stuff ed tech. Considering that these 60 some educational technology "things" above are from only one website, we can be assured that every six days produces many, many more, probably thousands. Who vets, recommends, budgets and buys ed tech stuff at your institution? Is it the administrators, the teachers, the IT guys, the education-technology integrator/coordinator, the cleaning crew? Who or what group would ever even have the time to visit each website and blog then look up and read a summary about each new thing. Does anyone even care that new and fabulous ed tech stuff, eminently capable of propelling students forward by at least two grades, goes on the market every day? What criteria is used? Do the teacher-users and student-user have input to decisions?ed tech tools, hardware, and all stuff ed tech. Considering that these 60 some educational technology "things" above are from only one website, we can be assured that every six days produces many, many more, probably thousands. Who vets, recommends, budgets and buys ed tech stuff at your institution? Is it the administrators, the teachers, the IT guys, the education-technology integrator/coordinator, the cleaning crew? Who or what group would ever even have the time to visit each website and blog then look up and read a summary about each new thing. Does anyone even care that new and fabulous ed tech stuff, eminently capable of propelling students forward by at least two grades, goes on the market every day? What criteria is used? Do the teacher-users and student-user have input to decisions?
Showing posts with label technology advances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology advances. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Too Much Ed Tech Too Frequently?
The following is an RSS Feed Reader snip from the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning (http://www.educatorstechnology.com/) site encompassing but the past six days.
Your school just might be well enough funded to have implemented 1 to 1 classrooms or maybe just a legacy computer lab or two, or maybe tablet carts or four or five static tablets assigned to each classroom. Many might still be saddled with ancient slow and cumbersome desktops. (Aside note: I remember a time [the late 80's] when I lugged my "portable" 30-pound computer with two 5-1/4" floppy disk drives back and forth to work daily using a luggage carrier.) Surely whatever devices on campus, all have access to the Internet and every faculty member has a laptop, notebook or tablet device. No? Whatever the case someone or someones has the explicit, or worse, the implicit task of vetting new educational apps, websites, browser add-ons, templates, ed tech tools, hardware, and all stuff ed tech. Considering that these 60 some educational technology "things" above are from only one website, we can be assured that every six days produces many, many more, probably thousands. Who vets, recommends, budgets and buys ed tech stuff at your institution? Is it the administrators, the teachers, the IT guys, the education-technology integrator/coordinator, the cleaning crew? Who or what group would ever even have the time to visit each website and blog then look up and read a summary about each new thing. Does anyone even care that new and fabulous ed tech stuff, eminently capable of propelling students forward by at least two grades, goes on the market every day? What criteria is used? Do the teacher-users and student-user have input to decisions?ed tech tools, hardware, and all stuff ed tech. Considering that these 60 some educational technology "things" above are from only one website, we can be assured that every six days produces many, many more, probably thousands. Who vets, recommends, budgets and buys ed tech stuff at your institution? Is it the administrators, the teachers, the IT guys, the education-technology integrator/coordinator, the cleaning crew? Who or what group would ever even have the time to visit each website and blog then look up and read a summary about each new thing. Does anyone even care that new and fabulous ed tech stuff, eminently capable of propelling students forward by at least two grades, goes on the market every day? What criteria is used? Do the teacher-users and student-user have input to decisions?
Your school just might be well enough funded to have implemented 1 to 1 classrooms or maybe just a legacy computer lab or two, or maybe tablet carts or four or five static tablets assigned to each classroom. Many might still be saddled with ancient slow and cumbersome desktops. (Aside note: I remember a time [the late 80's] when I lugged my "portable" 30-pound computer with two 5-1/4" floppy disk drives back and forth to work daily using a luggage carrier.) Surely whatever devices on campus, all have access to the Internet and every faculty member has a laptop, notebook or tablet device. No? Whatever the case someone or someones has the explicit, or worse, the implicit task of vetting new educational apps, websites, browser add-ons, templates, ed tech tools, hardware, and all stuff ed tech. Considering that these 60 some educational technology "things" above are from only one website, we can be assured that every six days produces many, many more, probably thousands. Who vets, recommends, budgets and buys ed tech stuff at your institution? Is it the administrators, the teachers, the IT guys, the education-technology integrator/coordinator, the cleaning crew? Who or what group would ever even have the time to visit each website and blog then look up and read a summary about each new thing. Does anyone even care that new and fabulous ed tech stuff, eminently capable of propelling students forward by at least two grades, goes on the market every day? What criteria is used? Do the teacher-users and student-user have input to decisions?ed tech tools, hardware, and all stuff ed tech. Considering that these 60 some educational technology "things" above are from only one website, we can be assured that every six days produces many, many more, probably thousands. Who vets, recommends, budgets and buys ed tech stuff at your institution? Is it the administrators, the teachers, the IT guys, the education-technology integrator/coordinator, the cleaning crew? Who or what group would ever even have the time to visit each website and blog then look up and read a summary about each new thing. Does anyone even care that new and fabulous ed tech stuff, eminently capable of propelling students forward by at least two grades, goes on the market every day? What criteria is used? Do the teacher-users and student-user have input to decisions?
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
No More Teachers' Dirty Looks
An Edsurge blog asks, "Can Blended Learning Solve the U.S. Teacher Drought?" Basically, the issue is more about technology replacing people, in this case fully qualified teachers. As a technologist, I fully support the integration of technology in curriculum and lessons, when deemed appropriate by the teacher. Taking it a step further, the blended level is a decision that would be made at the school or district level and consequently dictated to the teachers.
There are obvious advantages to a blended learning model, most having to do with reduced cost or technology filling vacant teacher positions. Neither of these advantages, on the surface that I can see, would have a positive effect on student achievement. Another advantage, that of facilitating differentiated learning, has the potential of going some way toward increasing achievement, at least of certain students. One disadvantage--the need for a larger support staff. Supposedly, the number of support staff would diminish over time as faculty were trained, curricula rewritten, and elearning courses prepared. Reducing face time with experienced teachers, at least at this stage in our technology, can only drive down achievement overall. That is a major disadvantage. One master teacher with one "apprentice" teacher (read less expensive) in a blended learning environment could theoreticallyteach manage a class of 50 or 60 students. I believe that to be neutral, until I see results.
Will we always need teachers in the classroom? The inroads technology has made into education, in spite of the fact that studies are inclusive regarding value, indicate that technology will, at some point, be the definition of education. Virtual intelligence is already on the cusp of replicating many humanistic characteristics. How far away is it away from becoming a high-quality teacher? A quote from the article: "For example, a computer cannot, as of yet, teach deeper learning and critical thinking." [Emphasis added.]
There are obvious advantages to a blended learning model, most having to do with reduced cost or technology filling vacant teacher positions. Neither of these advantages, on the surface that I can see, would have a positive effect on student achievement. Another advantage, that of facilitating differentiated learning, has the potential of going some way toward increasing achievement, at least of certain students. One disadvantage--the need for a larger support staff. Supposedly, the number of support staff would diminish over time as faculty were trained, curricula rewritten, and elearning courses prepared. Reducing face time with experienced teachers, at least at this stage in our technology, can only drive down achievement overall. That is a major disadvantage. One master teacher with one "apprentice" teacher (read less expensive) in a blended learning environment could theoretically
Will we always need teachers in the classroom? The inroads technology has made into education, in spite of the fact that studies are inclusive regarding value, indicate that technology will, at some point, be the definition of education. Virtual intelligence is already on the cusp of replicating many humanistic characteristics. How far away is it away from becoming a high-quality teacher? A quote from the article: "For example, a computer cannot, as of yet, teach deeper learning and critical thinking." [Emphasis added.]
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Terminator: Gynesis
Chart and verbiage from The Emerging Future.
"Eighteen to twenty years out, technological advancements will be hundreds of thousands to a million times more advanced. That makes our first 14 years of exponential growth seem flat-lined (no progress), when, in fact, it will be 4,000 times more advanced than today. We currently have regenerative medicine in clinical trials and consumer wireless computer-brain interfaces for $300. What will it be like in 20 years when technology is a million times better?"
Many serious and respected scientist and futurists predict that continuing technological advancements at the current rate will result in a technological singularity.
"The technological singularity is the hypothetical advent of artificial general intelligence (also known as "strong AI"). Such a computer, computer network, or robot would theoretically be capable of recursive self-improvement (redesigning itself), or of designing and building computers or robots better than itself. Repetitions of this cycle would likely result in a runaway effect — an intelligence explosion[1][2] — where smart machines design successive generations of increasingly powerful machines, creating intelligence far exceeding human intellectual capacity and control. Because the capabilities of such a superintelligence may be impossible for a humans to comprehend, the technological singularity is an occurrence beyond which events may become unpredictable, unfavorable, or even unfathomable."
Scary and as of now at least, hypothetical and movie fodder, however, let's look out a mere five years:
What will be the impact on education? Technologies have already been created to give us the ability to:
- Regenerate our sick and aging bodies giving us healthy radical longevity
- Personal guidance
- Free energy
- Desktop fabricators
- An interactive intelligent environment
- Accident free autonomous transportation
- Embedded nano and micro intelligent systems in our body and environment
- Advanced cybernetic and bionic senses, organs, and limbs that are superior to our biological ones
- Poverty reduction tools to create worldwide abundance and then radical abundance
- Computer brain interfaces allowing for our intelligence to multiply millions of times
- Manipulate molecules and atoms
- The ability to live in space
And the following technologies are here today: Sensors, nanotechnology medicine, quantum computing, bioinformatics, synthetic biology, robotics, nanobots, artificial organs and senses, ubiquitous knowledge, smart materials, open source software, IBM's Watson, Google search, Siri, Google assistant, computer-brain interfaces, telepresence robots, self-aware robots,3D printing, longevity escape velocity biotech, server farms (the cloud), microelectromechanical systems, smart phones, tablets, cybernetic limbs, medical tricorders, personal genome, genetic analysis, genomic engineering, proteomics, exoskeletons, autonomous machines (cars, planes, insects, rats, birds, weapons, etc.), gene therapy, desktop sequencers, regenerative medicine (regenerating, growing, and printing human body organs), computer made synthetic life, interactive surfaces, Google's Project Glass, Google Fiber, augmented reality, cryogenics, repurposed drugs, nanotubes, nano-shells, nanoviricides, and smart, interactive, and energy producing walls, floors, countertops, mirrors, doors, and windows.
What this last graph means is that your eighth-grade student, by the time she graduates from high school will be facing a higher education technological world that is 32 times more advanced than the one she knows today. Exactly how are educators expected to predict and educate students to such a world? And by the time our eighth-grader graduates college and is expected to perform in the real world, she will be in a world of technology that is 500 times more advanced than today's. How does one prepare a student to compete in a global marketplace that has been so dramatically changed by technology?
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