Keynote given at Northampton University on 2011-09-01 by invitation of Adrian Pryce for the school’s 2020 visioning session.
This document has a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-SA), and can be used freely.
TECHNOLOGY& EDUCATIONTECHNOLOGY& EDUCATION
Michell Zappamichellzappa.com
We’re here today to talk about the intersection between technology and education.And I figured that since you guys are the experts on education, let us start with a quick primer on technology and how it behaves.
Who am I?
2011 – 20152011 – 2015 2015 – 20252015 – 2025 2025 +2025 +
(2011)now
3D
4G
5G
AR
HAP
NFC
NUI
PAN
PGS
SPIME
UAV
VASIMR
ACRONYMS
3D screens and cameras
Fourth gen cellular wireless (WiMAX, LTE)
Fifth gen cellular wireless
Augmented Reality
High Altitude Platform
Near Field Communication
Natural User Interface
Personal Area Networks
Personal Gene Sequencing
An object that can be trackedthrough space and time
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Variable Specific ImpulseMagnetoplasma Rocket
Inductivechargers
Solar
Nuclear
Kinetic
Travelingwave reactor
Thoriumreactors
Fuel cellsMulti-segmented
smart grids
Biomechanicalharvesting
Smartmeters
Solarthermal
Superconductinginterties
Bio-enhancedfuels
Ultra-capacitors
Nanostructurebattery cathodes
Artificialphotosynthesis
Piezo-electricity
Photvoltaicglass
Photo-voltaics
Nano-generators
ENERGY
Privatespaceflight
Spacetourism
Spaceelevator
Lunaroutpost
VASIMR
SPACE
All mediaon demand
Gamificationof media
MEDIA
Proceduralstorytelling
Location-awaremedia
Smarttoys
Appliancerobots
Self-drivingvehicles
Domesticrobots
Swarmrobotics
Utilityfog
Exoskeletons
UAVs
ROBOTICS
Speechrecognition
Haptics
Holography
AR
Gesturerecognition
Multitouch
Machinevision
Telepresence
NUI(SOFTWARE)
Immersive 3Dprojections
Fabric-embeddedscreens
Pico-projectors
Smart clothing
Skin-embeddedscreens
Electronicpaper
SPIMES
Tabs &Pads
Boards
Retinalscreens
3D
UBICOMP(HARDWARE)
Wetware(biofeedback) Reversal of
agingOptogenetics
Stem-cell treatments
Regenerativemedicine
Syntheticmeat
Verticalagriculture
PGS
Personalizedmedicine
Artificial limbs
Tele-medicine
BIOTECH
Bio-markers
High-frequencytrading Software
agents
Machinetranslation
Medicaldiagnostics
IntelligenceAmplification
ARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE
Natural languageinterpretation
NFC
Socialgraph
Linkeddata
Semanticweb
4G
5G
Sensors
Smartinfrastructure
Smartcities
Cloudcomputing
Pervasivevideo
PAN
Interplanetaryinternet
Virtualcurrencies
Cyber-warfare
INTERNET(CONNECTIVITY)
HAPs
Virtualproperty
Programmable matter
Cermets
Memristor
Carbonnanotubes
Molecularassembler
Nanowires
Meta-materials
Print ondemand
3Dprinting
Bio-materials
MATERIALS
Self-healingmaterials
BY SA
meeting people is easy
Envisioning the near future of technologyLast updated: 2011-03-29
Learn more:Contact me:
Follow me:
michell zappa.commichell [email protected]@mz
I recently published a visualization of a few dozen key technologies I think will be important in the upcoming decade.
2011 – 20152011 – 2015
(2011)now
3D
4G
5G
AR
HAP
NFC
NUI
PAN
PGS
SPIME
UAV
VASIMR
ACRONYMS
3D screens and cameras
Fourth gen cellular wireless (WiMAX, LTE)
Fifth gen cellular wireless
Augmented Reality
High Altitude Platform
Near Field Communication
Natural User Interface
Personal Area Networks
Personal Gene Sequencing
An object that can be trackedthrough space and time
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Variable Specific ImpulseMagnetoplasma Rocket
Inductivechargers
Solar
Nuclear
Kinetic
Travelingwave reactor
Thoriumreactors
Fuel cellsMulti-segmented
smart grids
Biomechanicalharvesting
Smartmeters
Solarthermal
Superconductinginterties
Bio-enhancedfuels
Ultra-capacitors
Nanostructurebattery cathodes
Artificialphotosynthesis
Piezo-electricity
Photvoltaicglass
Photo-voltaics
Nano-generators
ENERGY
Privatespaceflight
Spacetourism
Spaceelevator
Lunaroutpost
VASIMR
SPACE
All mediaon demand
Gamificationof media
MEDIA
Proceduralstorytelling
Location-awaremedia
Smarttoys
Appliancerobots
Self-drivingvehicles
Domesticrobots
Swarmrobotics
Utilityfog
Exoskeletons
UAVs
ROBOTICS
Speechrecognition
Haptics
Holography
AR
Gesturerecognition
Multitouch
Machinevision
Telepresence
NUI(SOFTWARE)
Immersive 3Dprojections
Fabric-embeddedscreens
Pico-projectors
Smart clothing
Skin-embeddedscreens
Electronicpaper
SPIMES
Tabs &Pads
Boards
Retinalscreens
3D
UBICOMP(HARDWARE)
Wetware(biofeedback) Reversal of
agingOptogenetics
Stem-cell treatments
Regenerativemedicine
Syntheticmeat
Verticalagriculture
PGS
Personalizedmedicine
Artificial limbs
Tele-medicine
BIOTECH
Bio-markers
High-frequencytrading Software
agents
Machinetranslation
Medicaldiagnostics
IntelligenceAmplification
ARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE
Natural languageinterpretation
NFC
Socialgraph
Linkeddata
Semanticweb
4G
5G
Sensors
Smartinfrastructure
Smartcities
Cloudcomputing
Pervasivevideo
PAN
Interplanetaryinternet
Virtualcurrencies
Cyber-warfare
INTERNET(CONNECTIVITY)
HAPs
Virtualproperty
Programmable matter
Cermets
Memristor
Carbonnanotubes
Molecularassembler
Nanowires
Meta-materials
Print ondemand
3Dprinting
Bio-materials
MATERIALS
Self-healingmaterials
BY SA
meeting people is easy
Envisioning the near future of technology
Learn more:Contact me:
Follow me:
michell zappa.commichell [email protected]@mz
It can be downloaded freely on my website.
What istechnology?
What do you associate with technology?Cars? Airplanes? Mobile phones? The internet?
We usually think about technology in terms of its artifacts: robots, cars, phones, etc.
Technology, in fact, is everything that surrounds us.The wheel, agriculture, fire, the book and money are examples of technologies we do not usually isolate as such.
“Anything useful thatwe make is technology.”
— Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly knows what he’s talking about.
Source:http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_tells_technology_s_epic_story.html
The other characteristic about technology is how it’s always progressing. A century ago, humanity had never even taken flight. Now, we take it for granted.
Same with medical imaging.
And also things we consider “technologies”, like video games.
FSB RAM HDD MpbsCPU
2006
2011
But technology has this other interesting aspect. It grows relentlessly.You can ignore the numbers -- just look at the constant growth over time.
SPEED &STORAGE
These tend toward ∞ through exponential growth
COST &SIZE
And these tend tend asymptotically toward zero.
What allows YouTube to exist? The combination of:Ubiquitous cameras, cheap storage, fast processing, internet users everywhere, fast internet access.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtimcarr/308240826/
48 hours of contentuploaded every minute.
(As of May/2001)“nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day”
Sources:http://www.mecmanchester.co.uk/blog/youtube-birthday.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics
While we avoid talking about specific gadgets, there is one elephant in the room...
The iPad is, however, an important exception to the rule of “not looking at gadgets”.It will inevitable make its mark on education, but in my opinion, it will mostly have a great impact on textbooks in the foreseeable future.
“A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.”
— New York Times, 1936
Tech predictions are fundamentally flawed and risky.
Source:http://listverse.com/history/top-30-failed-technology-predictions/
THREETECHNOLOGICALDRIVERS
1Social Learning Platforms
One to manyOne to one
The face of education after the industrial revolution.
The one-to-many approach changed a bit with the web. But mostly by amplifying the “many”.Open Courseware (and its kin) is still fundamentally broadcasting knowledge.
Everyone is in on the game.
One to many Many to manyOne to one
I think the equation is changing with the advent of “many-to-many”. Where every student is a teacher.
Million students per month
Pause, repeat, reviewOwn pace, skip aheadTeacher overview panel
Generate as many questions as the student needs. Until they get ten in a row.
2.200+ lessons100.000+ views per day
Tons of examples of peer to peer learning. OpenStudy is all about receiving help from other students.
As is Udemy.
Livemocha is changing the face of language education. Learn from those already speak a different language -- and teach them a language you speak in return.
And if you question the validity of Open Courseware approaches, just look at Stanford’s recent AI course.
“Flip” the classroom.
Flip the classroom:lectures are the new homework -- and classes are used for answering questions and doing work
Transforming a system that has become industrial by necessity into a craft once again.
Personal Informatics
2
This is how we quantify ourselves today. Ranking, measuring, achievements.
Nike+
Nike+ has over 2.5m users, and can be credited to kicking off the personal informatics trend.
Philips DirectLife
Philips is in the game, with a device measuring all your exercise.
http://www.directlife.philips.com/
Withings
Or how about measuring your weight and having the results uploaded to your phone in real time?It becomes a way of tightening the feedback loop between cause and effect. Between eating that extra bagel, and knowing you gained a few more pounds.
http://www.withings.com/en/index/?taranim=1
Or track the quality of your sleep.
http://www.myzeo.com/
The same thing is happening to education, of course. Grockit facilitates learning and test-prep by breaking down the problems into quantifiable chunks. Track how well you are performing at every *aspect* of math. Not simply through a grade at the end of the term/test.
Algorithmichomework assignment
What happens when you leverage the trend in order to algorithmically assign more adequate homework assignments to the students?
Tighterfeedback loops
“This is not the way to develop a complicated skill. It would be like trying to master the violin, say, by going blind to a recital, having an expert tell you all the ways you’ve failed, and letting that gestate for a few weeks before your next recital”.
Equity in the feedback loop. It’s a way to raise the bar for everyone.
“Gamified” learning
Or when you start “gamifying” the learning? Better rankings, better class overview, more incentives for the students to try harder.
Instant Information Retrieval
3
Knowledge isof two kinds.We know a subject ourselves, orwe know wherewe can find information on it.
“
The number of Google searches per day keeps going up. We are more than accustomed to having access to information at our fingertips. But comes “after” typing in queries into a computer?
Personal computing Ubiquitous computing
We’re surrounding ourselves with ever more gadgets. All interconnected and covered in smart sensors.
Google Goggles
So why have to look up the name of that bridge? Or who created that painting?Point your smartphone camera and have Google tell you. It’s called reverse image search, and it’s frankly uncanny.
Google Voice Search
Speak your queries. Or have the phone listen in and proactively answer your questions (at some point in the future).
Word Lens
Realtime translations in your phone. You never have to get lost in a foreign culture again.Five dollars in the App Store.
Vicon Revue
Next step? Cameras everywhere. Wear one around your neck.
http://www.viconrevue.com/index.html
Looxcie
Or one on your ear. (Already for sale).
Heads-up-displays are still a few years away -- but they’ll come.
Wisdom
Knowledge
Information
Data
Who teaches our kids to sift through the information flood?How do we learn to judge the value and validity of this torrent of data?That’s probably the role of the educators today.
Instant Information
RetrievalPersonal
Informatics
Social Learning
Platforms
To recap...
FUTURELITERACY &NUMERACY
What is the future of literacy?
65% of today's grade school kids will end up at a job that hasn't been invented yet.
Source: United States Department of Labor: Futurework - Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century
We are currently preparing for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, In order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.
PROGRAMMINGINTERFACE
PRIVACYMULTIMEDIA
ATTENTIONMULTITASKING
CONCENTRATIONWe need to rethink the very basic skills that are being taught in school. Even more emphasis on future-proof skills such as Interface, Concentration and Attention. Those issues aren’t going anywhere.
Today, programmers are just like scribes in the middle ages or ancient Egypt. In the future, everyone will be a programmer. Everyone will have to interact with all media. It’s no longer a “IT” problem.
Students should be taken to the edge of the precipice beyond which knowledge does not exist.
Harold Innis
I love this phrase (because we have no other option than to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to this precipice).
Thank you.@mz