Learning for 2020

          
          

          
          

          
          

          
tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-106666472022-11-08T15:41:55.743+11:00Learning for 2020My journey to understand what life will be in year 2020 and how we should prepare our next generation to cope with life at 2020.Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-85260309345727275512007-05-28T11:45:00.000+10:002007-05-28T11:46:27.241+10:00What is weighing down learning?by Harold Jarche
Harold dug up a post I wrote two years ago and highlighted the baggage the current school system is.
However, I would like to take issue with his use of "learning" in his post title.
I have left out "who and why" in the above. "Who" is obvious. We are talking about the children - oops, everyone actually because we need life-long learning.
I don't want to ponder "why" we need to learn. It has been covered by too many people and I have no expertise in it. I would rather apply "why" to each of the "what, when and where". Why *we* want learners to learn "what", at "when" and "wherebr br />When and only when the above questions have answers, education system would be able to address "how" to achieve under the economic and social constraints.
Unfortunately, we do not start from a blank state. There is an existing education system. Can it evolve to the ideal state? Or it is necessary to have a revolution in order to achieve that state?
Again, I have more questions than answers!
 Random Walk in Learning]Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1155166400266378012006-08-10T09:27:00.000+10:002006-08-10T09:37:29.916+10:00"Deliver Instruction"Chris Lehmann asks
Can someone differentiate when you would say "Deliver Instruction" over the simpler (and to me, more meaningful) term "Teachblockquote>
Mignon McLaughlin says
It means that a teacher can deliver pizza along with instruction. It means that we can objectify teachers' delivery of knowledge--external from themselves--and grade her on her performance. It means that, like a baseball pitcher, we can clock the speed of delivery and that each teacher has her own way of getting the ball over the plateblockquote>
I say
Step 1: Unscrew the top of student's head.
Step 2: Deliver instruction into the.
Step 3: Replace the top of student's head.
Step 4: Send client a bill for the service.
Step 5: Call the next student in. Repeat step 1 to 4 aboveblockquote>
cross posted to  Random Walk in LearningAlbert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1155165347823304032006-08-10T08:56:00.000+10:002006-08-10T09:15:48.260+10:00"The Future of - Three Contrasting Viewsby Scott Leslie
Scott reports on three "future" visions. Please read his own view by clicking on the title of this post. Here is my own hypothical scenario for 2031:  Reflection on the Eve of International Conference on the Use of Books in Education 2031
By 2015, many of the Generation X have achieved executive levels at education institutes and government agencies. Some remembered how frustrated they were when they had to learn from content without support. Some were determined to change the way education should be deliveredblockquote>Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1154935735092940262006-08-07T17:18:00.000+10:002006-08-07T17:31:01.856+10:0030 years later: Transhuman and learningI blogged [in Sunday, Brian Wang posted Transhuman: Iron man versus Borg versus Xmen where he looked at what capabilities that make sense to put into the body and what to leave as wearable tools.
The capabilities that Brian refered to are those we may found in Star Treks Borg, the 6 million dollar man, X-men or comic book character Iron Man. Looking at the list, it seems that many of these capabilities are within reach in near future.
The one last thing on Brian's list is uploading/mind transfer:
There are questions as to how well this would work in terms of consciousness. Eventually this architecture could diverge from the cyborg, genetic enhancement capabilities. The communication between biology and the computer and whether upgrading hybrid biology would be slower than pure computer equipment would be factors in whether architectures diverge in performanceblockquote>
It seems that there is no magic pill to transfer knowledge/understanding between minds yet in the near future.
What learning is like in 2020 is still unknown!Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1145149106059317812006-04-16T10:41:00.000+10:002006-04-16T10:59:37.780+10:00Future StudentsAfter neglecting this blog for a few months, I am back.
Here are a few posts of interest:

My shameless rewording of Manager 2.0 by Kathy Siera.
One dramatic difference between traditional schools and the Web 2.0 new schools is the way students are taught. Or rather, the fact that they are not "taught." Most School 1.0 (like, say, where I graduated?) are not only too old fashioned, but their teaching practices are just too old school (and not in a retro hip way) to foster a culture that matches the culture of the new citizens growing up in Web 2.0.
Knowledge is negotiated and learnt in a community of practicetdtr>Learning effectiveness conducted by external "examination authoritytd>Learning effectiveness is reported as portfolio and demonstrationstdtr>Fixed time table. If a student missed a lesson, she will miss that forevertd>Learning occurs all the time and contents are covered in repeating cyclestdtr>Scholarship are based on past examination resultstd>Scholarship is based on the ability to learn in a group and contribution to the grouptdtr>Repetitive homework are assignedtd>Projects are negotiatedtdtr>Deadline of homework submission in short and frequent intervaltd>Continuous presentation of current state of projecttdtr>Students are forced to learn without explaining why they should learn that materialtd>Students choose the subject they like based on career advicetdtableblockquote>
A series of posts from 
. So what about a flat classroom? Traditional education has been an environment of hills. The teacher could rely on gravity to support the flow of curriculum down to the learners. But as much as we might like to pretend, we (teachers) are no longer on top of the hill. The hill is practically gone. [my emphasisblockquote>


and a Fablusi role play simulation. The information you received to create the reality is minimum. Your imagination fills in most of the details. This can also happen when you are reading a novel. The look of the character in the novel is mostly created by your imagination or creativity.
Now, consider this situation, from an Intel webpage, via Better Humans
In a hospital in Houston, two surgeons appear to be performing a difficult procedure on a cardiac patient. In fact, only one of the doctors in the room is real. The other is a replica - a lifelike physical model whose shape, appearance and movements precisely mimic those of a specialist in Tokyo who is performing the actual work.
When you finished using a replica for one purpose, you could transform it into another useful shape. A human replica could morph into a desk, a chair could become a keyboard, a lamp could be transformed into a ladder.

This is what the Carnegie Mellon University researchers called Dynamic Physical Rendering - a  To create the physical replicate, they propose to use "a form of programmable matter". This programmable matter is in fact millions of small spherical catom which, a prototype (much bigger than the eventual version) has been partially* demonstrated in 2004. The final version will use electrostatic forces rather than electromagnetic forces to hold these catoms together or move. This simulation shows how 3D catoms can find other catom.
Obviously this kind of research will provide a very different future for us. The way of experiencing the world and hence forming our understanding of the world will be different. We should be excited and be prepared.
What would it mean for a teacher to be clickableblockquote>
This is a question I am most interested in, especially if we want to have an answer which is appropriate in 10 to 15 years.
David continues to outlines three roles a teacher need to become:
First of all, the teacher has to create and persuasively describe the place that the students will want to go, a student-centered outcome that is compelling to young learners. Then the teacher must construct a context within which the students will work with relevant/authentic limitations, and appropriate tools to accomplish the goal. Finally, the teacher becomes a consultant, or strategy guideblockquote>
YES! Teacher is NOT the authorative content of a subject matter, but a convincing evangelist of an area of study that demonstrates relevancy to the curiosity of the young and inquiring minds. Teacher contructs challenging and stimulating problems to help the students to continue the scope of inquiry and further the depth of the study. Teacher is a guide, someone who is willing to travel the learning journey with the students helping in every way AND enjoying the discovery and excitement together.
In The Zen Of Being An Effective 'Mod' In Online Role-Play Simulations [see my other papers on role play simulation in httpwww.roleplaysim.org/papers: Given that roles are trying to achieve goals, one tactic to create learning opportunities is to set up obstacles [or new challenging problem in the current context of a new role of a teacher] on the path to these goals.
:The MOD becomes a story teller and creates extension to the original design to cater for the situation.
Tags: future education 
Published simultaneously on It seems that the computing devices are getting smaller in their physical size and yet there is a converging trends that they are getting more features such as being mobile phone, camera, PDA, personal entertainment system. For example, the Samsung a970 shows here on the left is capable of [from Gizmodocapable of receiving multimedia content like 3D games, music videos, and other kinds of programming. It also features Bluetooth, a 2-megapixel camera with 2x optical zoom (plus video cam), an MP3 player, a T-flash memory card slot, a 262k colour screen, and VoiceMode, a speech-to-text technologyblockquote>
 with 4 megapixel camera and Windows Mobile.Two major limitations of small devices are (1) the difficulty of processing of complex information due to its limited screen size and (2) hand-sized interaction inputs.
httpwww.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic
The future is obviously much more complicated than this. What is the role of Yahoo, who brought Flickr? What is the role of eBay, who brought Skype? AOL is still a power company today?
With all the DRM enforced by Apple's iPod and iTune, one day, Apple may hold the key to all digital content (those choice to have DRM put on) and Google hold the key to the rest. How will this play out?
Interesting and stimulating views. Watch it and ask yourself. How will my future be?Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1126013812669791862005-09-06T23:18:00.000+10:002005-09-06T23:39:32.066+10:00Vision 2020via Stephen Downes' OLDaily
According to the survey which asks students (as an open-ended questionbr blockquote>Today, you and your fellow students are important users of technology. In the future, you will be the inventors of new technologies. What would you like to see invented that you think will help kids learn in the futureblockquote>
The profile of how students may wish to use technology for learning is:
Every student would use a small, handheld wireless computer that is voice activated. The computer would offer high-speed access to a kid-friendly Internet, populated with websites that are safe, designed specifically for use by students, with no pop-up ads. Using this device, students would complete most of their inschool work and homework, as well as take online classes both at school and at home. Students would use the small computer to play mathematics-learning games and read interactive e-textbooks. In completing their schoolwork, students would work closely and routinely with an intelligent digital tutor, and tap a knowledge utility to obtain factual answers to questions they pose. In their history studies, students could participate in 3-D virtual reality-based historic reenactmentsblockquote>
I do not believe the profile described there is anything near what will be in 2020. From this year to 2020, there are still another 15 years. If Moore's law continues to hold in these 15 years, there will be 15 doubling. In other words, the computing power, communication capability etc will be 32 thousands times more powerful than today. The form factor of a small hand held computer is most likely to be wrong. 
On the other hand, I believe the students have under-estimated the slowness of social change. I don't believe that in 2020, there will be a separate Internet catering for the kids only. There may be better intelligence in sending the kind of suitable content to the students.
There is also an implicit assumption of the continuation of school in which there is finite block of in-school and out-of-school activities. Again, the students may be right at this (given the slowness of change to a large system like education). But, today, we have already identified a number ofof the "industrial" mode of structuring learning time, content and activities in rigid blocks. In 2020, I hope we can see a personalized education system whereby students are connected globally and working in groups on real projects which have real implications.
Tags: education in 2020 Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1125180966346739532005-08-28T07:58:00.000+10:002005-08-28T08:16:06.353+10:00Improved future?ByPELLETIER
Based on developments such as
University of Tokyo researchers have developed flexible artificial skin that will allow robots to feel pressure, temperature, light, humidity, strain and sound. IBMs new voice recognition systems will allow a more natural conversation with our silicon friends, and researchers at Redwood Neuroscience Institute dream of one day programming human cognitive behaviour into robotsblockquote>
: robots perform most household chores.
: robots will become the most important family acquisition. These brilliant silicon creatures will understand our world and seamlessly interact with us. They will help manage our 2020s technologies: medical nanobots that keep our bodies in perfect health; counter-top replicators that provide food, clothing, appliances, or even build additional robots; and immersive virtual reality simulations that whisk us away to entertainment dreamland.
Tags: future scenario Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1125104107535705182005-08-27T10:40:00.000+10:002005-08-27T10:55:07.543+10:0023 Theses about the future of workby Jim Ware
This article articulates 23 theses the author feels will be the way work is undergoing reform. Please read them yourself.
Here are a few which attracts my attention a little more than others (because the likely impact on the way we should prepare ourselves and our next generationbr br />1. We need to know our competency and response adequately:
Project management tools will support the decomposition of complex, larger work tasks into more discreet units. The rule of two will become a standard:
Heres how much time you have to

2 minutes ..take action on immediate requests for your attention. If you cant handle it that quickly, then it needs to go to someone, or some place elseli>
2 hours hold face-to-face meetings. If it takes longer than that, youre not planningli>
2 days .respond to electronic requests. If you cant get to it by then, youre wasting your time and everyone elsesli>
2 weeks assemble a work team andto a plan. If you cant find the right people and the right plan by then, the project will failli>
2 months identify a business opportunity and test it with customers. If you cant do it by then, your competition canli>
2 years nothing at all. If your static plans reach out years into the future, the world will have passed you by long before you get them done. 
2. We need to be able to work in team, hence good inter-personal and communication skills. AND we need to engage in life-long learning.
People will shift their work activities to their core competencies for approximately 80% of their time. Everything else will be handed off to someone with complementary competencies. Individuals themselves will become less vertically integrated andloosely coupled collaborative networks to meet their needs outside their core competencies. No more "jack of all trades The remaining time will be devoted to learning new skills and competenciesblockquote>
3. Improved decision making skills in light of incomplete knowledge of the problem.
Work projects will begin with some goals and vision, but will continuously morph as the projects rolls on, being responsive to external influences. This new reality means that project budgets will be moving targets, deadlines somewhat arbitrary, and final design impossible to predict. Managers who thrive on certainty must evolve into leaders of ambiguityor be left behindblockquote>
4. Multi-tasking ability. The ability to quickly shift focus, retrieve relevant information to make a decision and perform a task.
People will work on several projects at once (indeed, most knowledge workers already do). Some will even have several jobs and serve many masters simultaneously. Individuals will take on the responsibility of managing their efforts across projects, as well as within projects. New skills in project trajectory control will be required, as well as a higher-level executive function that balances capacity (what I can do today) with capability (what I need to be able to do tomorrowblockquote>
Tags: future of work , Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1124929002414475672005-08-25T10:10:00.000+10:002005-08-25T10:16:42.420+10:00Skin Cells Converted to Stem CellsAccording to Washington Post,
The technique uses laboratory-grown human embryonic stem cells -- such as the ones that President Bush has already approved for use by federally funded researchers -- to "reprogram" the genes in a person's skin cell, turning that skin cell into an embryonic stem cell itself.
if further studies confirm its usefulness, it could offer an end run around the heated social and religious debate that has for years overshadowed the field of human embryonic stem cell research.

Although this research is at its early stage, we are seeing more and more research which may need to the removal of unnecessary human deaths. Again, the implication is hugebr br div class="tag_list">Tags: future scenario , Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1124687600279776292005-08-22T15:10:00.000+10:002005-08-22T15:13:20.286+10:00Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet.via engadget.
Here is a possibility from not a too distant future - free wi-fi access powered by location-based advertisement.
Digital divide will still exist, but takes on a different meaning.
Tags: free wi-fi Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1124327834581072012005-08-18T10:41:00.000+10:002005-08-18T11:17:14.590+10:00Implications when human can repair ourselves and moreA few break-throughs, which are likely to happen in this decade or next will have significant impact on the way we see ourselves, the way we work, the way society can sustain and hence the way we should prepare ourselves and the future generation. I am throwing this open, rather than attempting to suggest any implications.
Research for treating diseases with stem cells has been hampered with ethical issues. NewScientist.com has reported (and elsewhere in Australia previously) that primitive cells from umbilical cord blood has similar properties AND collecting, storing and using such umbilical cord blood would not have the same ethical dilemma. We should see research in this area advances quickly so that unnecessary human death can be avoided in the future.
The line between human and machine has been blurring. We have hearing implants for many years. Artificial limbs are getting better and better. One day, they may be better than our natural limbs (and if you can, would you like to get a better pair One of the promise of stem cell research is toreplacement parts for human. Another line of approach is to use nanotechnology to support or enhance human physical ability.
Another potential development is inserting "nanomuscle fibers" that can actually simulate muscles, giving soldiers more strength. Fabric is impregnated with nanomachines that create the same weight, lift and feel as a muscle. "So I coat the outside of the armour with a nanomuscle fiber that gives me 25 to 35 percent better lifting capability," DeGay explained.
The uniform from the waist down will have a robotic-powered system that is connected directly to the soldier. This system could use pistons to actually replicate the lower body, giving the soldier "upwards of about 300 percent greater lifting and load-carriage capability," DeGay said. "We are looking at potentially mounting a weapon directly to the uniform system and now the soldier becomes a walking gun platform." [Why Great Minds Can't Grasp Consciousness [via BetterHumansMay be by 2020, people will stilland I maytoo. However, there seems to be a future that people need not. Is that too far to us to contemplate now?
Tags: future scenario Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1123113493087979682005-08-04T09:43:00.000+10:002005-08-04T09:58:13.093+10:00Human Washing MachineVia Boingboing. The Google translated English versionI wrote, back in September 2004 that in the future:
all physical production will be outsourced to developing or underdeveloped countries, The only local jobs commonly available will be from the service industry - most are low paying jobs - restaurants, barbers, cleaners etcblockquote>
It seems that such personal service, as washing your own body, may disappear as well. My question: What about the job of Hair-stylist? Will they be replaced by machinebr br Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1122256610161348672005-07-25T09:48:00.000+10:002005-07-25T11:56:50.183+10:00Personal Memory AssistantI heard a presentation by Jamais Cascio via ITConversations. In the presentation, he talked about
the Participatory Panopticon, and [it] spells the end of privacy and the end of secrecy. While personal privacy is eroding, the ability of those in power to lie, cheat, and steal is also becoming increasingly impairedblockquote>
While he focussed on the bigger issue, the scenario as described, if becomes true, has implication on the way we will learn.
Basically, Jamais is not predicting the future. He is trying to project the current trends and see what that may lead to. One probable scenario is what he called "participatory panopticon" where
we'll be living in a world where what we see, what we hear, what we experience will be recorded wherever we go. There will be few statements or scenes that will go unnoticed, or unremembered. Our day to day lives will be archived and saved. Whats more, these archives will be available over the net for recollection, analysis, even sharingblockquote>
Jamais also projected the use of personal memory assistant PMAbr blockquote>You'll want to recall a casual mention of his favourite movie, or the name and year of the wine she loved so much, or what he *really* said in that argument. You'll want to be able to share the amazing flock of birds you saw on the way home from work, or the enthralling street musician you passed while shopping. In the past, all you could rely upon was imperfect memory and whatever descriptive skills you possess. Now, and increasingly as the technology progresses, these tools will make it possible to retain and share those moments with perfect clarityblockquote>
One impact of PMA is on those in intellectual property business (aka content). When people are using these memory assistant as adjunct to their memories, any limitation via regulation or otherwise, on what they can record are Tags: future scenario Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1117933831389167812005-06-05T10:31:00.000+10:002005-06-05T11:10:31.396+10:00Listen to the authorities and- implication for teachersThe BoingBoing link on an article from the Wired tells a story of survival of a major tragedy. Here is the quote direct from BoingBoing:
The people in the Twin Towers who ignored the instructions from the cops to stay put survived. The ones who paid attention to them diedblockquote>
and further downbr blockquote>In fact, the people inside the towers were better informed and far more knowledgeable than emergency operators far from the scene. While walking down the stairs, they answered their cell phones and glanced at their BlackBerries, learning from friends that there had been a terrorist attack and that the Pentagon had also been hit. News of what was happening passed by word ofand fellow workers pressed hesitating colleagues to continue their exit. [my underlineblockquote>
The story did not tell us whether those who have escaped have called those left behind (because they listened to the emergency operators) to come out. If there is any, how many lives has been saved? I suspect that there should be some saved that way.
The purpose of this post is not about the tragedy. This blog is more about learning. Hence, I would like to pick up a trend. In the information age, information is abundant.
Today, we already see students who are better at the information technology than the teacher who meant to teach them information technology. The authoritive role of a content subject matter expert, a role that teachers usually take when delivering a lesson, is now being challenged. As our next generation continues to develop and has access to information globally, this will only increase. Our students may know more than we (as a teacher) do in certain subject domain. They may have played games about that, or simply because they are interested in that subject matter for a long time and hence has researched that area in deep for sometime. Teachers cannot claim expertise in every area, not even the subject matter that we are teaching.
I can't swim, but my daughter is a competitive swimmer. Sometimes, she will ask me to coach her in some techniques. When she was eight, I "taught" her how to jump start from a block. She has been one of the best starters in her club's relay team. I have also "coached" her on making the rumble-turn. Many times, she was able to catch up with her competition after a turn. How did I do that?
Obviously, from the subject matter's point of view, my daughter has a much better knowledge both in deep and width in swimming and swim techniques. I was able to help her improve because I acted as a sounding board for her. As she was practising, I watched closely, took measurements (time and distance) and told her the "consequence" of the action she took. She then tried again, modifying the style here and there. I do have some Physics background. I understand the effect on streamlining, drag and forces. I asked her to keep her streamline during entry and underwater. I asked her to add dolphin kicks when she was underwater. I told her how she did in the last try. She tried again. I took the time and distance again br br />By providing her with feedback, I was able to help her find a style which suited her body shape at the time. With practice and determination, she was able to keep trying until she was happy.
Improvements was fed back to her immediately. She knew the consequence of her choice of style and action. She modifies and tries again.
My daughter has several district records (at different age groups), still unbroken.
Tags: teacher role authority subjectMatter Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1117408320421945362005-05-30T09:04:00.000+10:002005-05-30T09:12:00.426+10:00Comment tools for Essay gradingA member in the EDTECH discussion group (bit.listserv.edtech) provided a very helpful tip:
You don't need an add-on to create custom comments in MS Word. Go to Tools on the menu bar and open up Auto Correct. Create custom comments here. Try it out: in the text field on the left type "cs" and in the text field on the right type: "You have committed a comma splice in this sentence. A comma splice occurs when two separate independent sentences are joined with only a comma." Save it. Now any time in MS Word you type "cs" and then hit the space bar those two sentences will appear. I have used Auto Correct to add all sorts of custom comments on punctuation, spelling, grammar, topic sentences, paragraph structure, and the like. 

If you are grading essay submitted as pdf files, there is also a tip from Adobe for adding comment stamps, see httpwww.adobe.com/education/acrobat/tips/acrobat_stamps.html
Is there a way of easily adding comment for work submitted as web pages?
Tags: grading tools Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1116931955346058982005-05-24T20:50:00.000+10:002005-05-24T21:06:24.893+10:00Alternate Business Plan needed for Higher EducationThe Age posted an interesting article on how Hoyts cinema in Australia was experimenting with providing an IMax gaming experience to its customers.
Upon reflecting on this, I remembered the last time my wife and I went to see a movie. It was a Sunday afternoon. In the 100+ seats cinema, there were only 4 people, including us. No wonder cinema needs to find alternate revenue source from their asset (the huge cinemabr br />Going to cinema has become a special ocassion, when you want to experience something in addition to just watching a movie. Nowadays, most people going to cinema are for additional reasons, may be watching a movie is an excuse itself. It would be much cheaper, comfortable, relaxing to watch a DVD at your own home!
The same will happen to the large lecture hall at university. When I was doing my first degree over 30 years ago, over 300 students crowded in a large lecture hall to listen to the lecture. Today, if the course material is available online, many would prefer to access these material at their convenient time at their convenient location. I think it is an irreversible trend.
It does not mean that the face to face meeting places at a campus will no longer exist. It only means that the purpose of meeting is no longer just to get the information. It better serves some high value purpose that cannot be obtained in an online environment. Whether large lecture hall still has its value? I don't know. But I am quite sure that the utilisation of large lecture hall will be in a decline. These are huge investment. Higher Education should start developing business plan to utilise these asset!
Tags: Higher Education  Resources Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1115164270759389142005-05-04T09:27:00.000+10:002005-05-04T09:55:37.076+10:00Bill Gate's Solution to American High Schools being obsoleteI have blogged about Bill's view that American High Schools are obsolete. Thanks to the link from OLDaily, I have read the whole speech and am very impressed.
The media has painted a "rough guy" image of Bill Gate in terms of his view towards education. Rumour has it that in one of his speeches, he said:

 RULE 1
 Life is not fair - get used to it.
 RULE 2
 The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
 RULE 3
 You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both.
 RULE 4
 If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
 RULE 5
 Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping they called it Opportunity.
 RULE 6
 If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
 RULE 7
 Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
 RULE 8
 Your school may have done away with winners andbut life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
 RULE 9
 Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
 RULE 10
 Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
 RULE 11
 Be nice to. Chances are you'll end up working for oneblockquote>
In the speech, I see some compassionate side of the man - hidden behind a strictly rational economic mask.
Once we realize that we are keeping low-income and minority kids out of rigorous courses, there can be only two arguments for keeping it that wayeither we think they cant learn, or we think theyre not worth teaching. education in America. 

After quoting a number of statistics, he finally dished out a solution [why the media did not report this part before? and I should have traced back to the source earlier and written about this partbr blockquote>the new three Rs, the basic building blocks of better high schools:
 * The first R is  * The third R is ? I think the growing irrelevance of the school system is mostly the artificial structure of classrooms that we have created over the years. To make learning relevant to our students, we need to be thinking of knocking the classroom walls down and moving away from classes that meet one block a day or whateverblockquote>
There are several industrial age devices in the current schools which block significant changes; Fixed group (classroom) and fixed time block. Another issue we should also consider is the possibility of more However, the deeper lesson which we should consider is whether Response to Bill Gates from Derek's Blog brought up this thread again. A new comment posted by pepper to Eide Neurolearning Blog raised and commented on the practice of assigning time slot for different subjects.
Where in the real world do we think exclusively about math, band, history, and art in 90 minute mutually exclusive chunks on Monday, only to think about English, marketing, and physics in equally exclusive chunksblockquote>
This is "industrial age production line concept" practice puts to the best use. By using equal time slots with distinct subject matter, teachers' allocation, class allocation and resource allocation are optimized - at least on paper.
Unfortunately, management efficiency here is killing the very essence of the purpose of the education. Some children have difficulties with such time switching as described by Drs Eide.
in our practice helping kids with learning challenges we see large numbers of children, especially in the early grades, who have difficulties transitioning from one subject to the next, and find the present "fifteen minutes and switch" pattern in the early grades to be absolute torture. This is especially true of children with "autism-spectrum" type or sensory integrative problems, which seem to be on the rise. Going to a more flexible "bell-less" world would be a tremendous boon for these kids, especiallyblockquote>
Pepper suggested,
meaningful integration, a minimum of an inter-term where small groups of 8-10 students tackle real-world, and thus interdisciplinary, problems, maybe even with an adult facilitator from the "real worldblockquote>
Drs Eide further elaborated,
We gave a talk last fall to the National Association For Gifted Children where we talked about the need to provide a more historically and real-world grounded context for education in all subjects, to help students come to view the acquisition of knowledge as a means confronting problems in real world--that is, tying the teaching of conceptual developments in science and math, technology, government, art, etc., together more closely with the historical circumstances that led to them. The kind of groups you describe would be ideal for that: "Suppose you were all aof 4th century B.C. Athenians or "15th century A.D. Chinese" and really living entirely in that environment at school for a few weeks at a time. The opportunities for problem solving and learning are immenseblockquote>
That brings me back to an undergraduate business/commerce curriculum I heard about during the first "League of Worlds" conference last year. The complete curriculum is designed around a "virtual island" where the students play the role of different businesses and officials on the island. The scenario gives the students context to learn the principles of the subject.Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-10666647.post-1111709958238082012005-03-25T09:49:00.000+11:002005-04-02T09:32:07.580+10:00More on Fuchs & WoessmannWow, what a great debate!
First David Wiley commented a study whose abstract is 
We estimate the relationship between students educational achievement and the availability and use of computers at home and at school in the international student-level PISA database. Bivariate analyses show a positive correlation between student achievement and the availability of computers both at home and at schools. However, once we control extensively for family background and school characteristics, the relationship gets negative for home computers and insignificant for school computers. Thus, the More on Fuchs & Woessmann I am opining here.
First thing that interests me is that the Fuchs & Woessmann's paper is based on the data from the PISA 2000 studies. It would be interesting to run the same statistical analysis on the now available PISA 2003 data to see if the same can be concluded. 
Fuchs & Woessmann's paper is a pure statistical exercise, basing data from another study and hence the authors have no control of how the initial data was gathered and all the associated assumptions being taken. David's comment is generally applicable to most of such "research", drawing conclusion from statistical correlation: without looking deeply into whether we can establish a causal relationship between the parameters under the study. With that in mind, it is prefectly correct for David to say
Now, let's pretend we are examing a group of 15 year olds, some of whom spend none of their educational and recreational time on computers, some of whom spend some of their educational and recreational time on computers, and some of whom spend much of their educational time and recreational time on computers. Now, lets imagine two scenarios in which we might measure the academic achievement of a sample of this group of 15 year olds. In one scenario, we will carry out the assessment on computers. In the other scenario, we will carry out the assessment in "more traditional" manner. Can we not form a strong hypothesis, ahead of data collection or analysis, about which sub-group will perform best in each scenarioblockquote>
Methodology is one thing. But, let's consider something else.
Some sample items from the 2000 studies are available here. From the first reading unit (page 32 of the pdf file), two figures are shown: first about the depth of Lake Chad and second about kind of animals in the rock arts, both plotted along a timeline. 5 items are associated to Lake Chad: first 2 of which test the 15 years old ability to read the first figure, the third item is "Why has the author chosen to start the graph at this point?" which is checking whether the testee has read the introduction to the figures. Question 4 is:
Figure B is based on the assumption that
A. the animals in the rock art were present in the area at the time they were drawn.
B. the artists who drew the animals were highly skilled.
C. the artists who draw the animals were able to travel widely.
D. there was no attempt to domesticate the animals which were depicted in the rock artblockquote>
This particular item assumes the 15 years old know what is a The first multiple choice item related to "speed of racing car" is
What is the approximate distance from the starting line to the beginning of the longest straight section of the trackblockquote>
and so onbr br />This set of questions would have trapped me! With the benefit of reading the answer, I noticed that this is an unusual graph. Most Physics textbook would plot speed against time and I would have find the area under the curve to find the distance traveled. Well, the graph is speed along distance. Hence we only need to be able to deduce that the race car will decrease its speed only because it is turning a corner and hence find the points of lowest speed to determine whether the corners are. 
After looking at the sample items, I found that these are quite demanding items. Those who can stay focussed for 2 hours continuously in a desk obviously will perform better than digital natives who used to multi-task, short attention span and always used to have, at their finger tips, supports from peers from a distance and information whenever they need.
My question would be to question whether these digital natives, given their characteristics would be able to meet the challenge in 2010 when they have to contribute to real economic productivity; or, are the items really testing the required skills these digital natives would need to be productive?
Methodology is only part of the bigger debate!Albert Iphttpwww.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]
        

      
Published date: 08 Nov 2022
      

      

        

          
          Music Recording Technology
        
        

          
          r/buildapc - Build A PC for music/ Audio production/ recording
        
        

          
          r/TheNational - The difference in sound between live and on recording