Learning for 2020

What is weighing down learning?

2007-05-28T11:45:00.000+10:00

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.

"Education system" is NOT the same as "learning". In today's education system, our children are learning, albeit not necessarily during "school hours" and not the kind of skills we (here "we" means adults or society) like them to learn. Learning IS an innate ability of human. It is not whether a child has learnt or not. The problem is about "what, when, where and how".

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 "where"?

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!

[cross posted to Random Walk in Learning]

"Deliver Instruction"

2006-08-10T09:27:00.000+10:00

Chris Lehmann asks

Can someone differentiate when you would say "Deliver Instruction" over the simpler (and to me, more meaningful) term "Teach?"

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 plate.

I say

Step 1: Unscrew the top of student's head.
Step 2: Deliver instruction into the brain.
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 above.

cross posted to Random Walk in Learning

"The Future of..." - Three Contrasting Views

2006-08-10T08:56:00.000+10:00

by 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 delivered.

30 years later: Transhuman and learning

2006-08-07T17:18:00.000+10:00

I blogged [in Random Walk in Learning] about a post by Christopher D. Sessums who asked "What will learning and schooling look like 30 years from now?" This blog does not try to look that far into the future. However, Christopher's call can actually be acted out today as it is very much about the attitude, rather than technology.

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 performance.

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!

Future Students

2006-04-16T10:41:00.000+10:00

After neglecting this blog for a few months, I am back.

Here are a few posts of interest:

Student 2.0

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.
School 1.0 School 2.0
Curriculum dictated by a syllabus. Students decide and negotiate the learning area.
Teachers are the keeper of the knowledge. Teachers are the facilitator of the learning process.
Information is limited from those in the textbook Information are sourced from everywhere, including but not limited to online resources.
How effective is the learning is measured by standardised tests. Effective learning is linked to satisfactory and joy of knowing new knowledge and mastering new skills.
Students sit in rows facing the teacher. Students sit around tables facing each other.
Emphasis on individual learning. Emphasis on collaborative and co-operative learning
Students tightly controlled to do right time. Students free to try new ideas and experiment.
Examination result acts as an external motivation. Students delve pleasure from making and learning new things.
Knowledge in textbook are "king" and cannot be challenged. Knowledge is negotiated and learnt in a community of practice.
Learning effectiveness conducted by external "examination authority". Learning effectiveness is reported as portfolio and demonstrations.
Fixed time table. If a student missed a lesson, she will miss that forever. Learning occurs all the time and contents are covered in repeating cycles.
Scholarship are based on past examination results. Scholarship is based on the ability to learn in a group and contribution to the group.
Repetitive homework are assigned. Projects are negotiated.
Deadline of homework submission in short and frequent interval. Continuous presentation of current state of project.
Students are forced to learn without explaining why they should learn that material. Students choose the subject they like based on career advice.

A series of posts from 2 Cents Worth

Flat Classroom
What about an education system that is challenged to prepare children for their future — and it’s not their father’s future. 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 emphasis]

Flat Classrooms — Curious Students
Flat Classrooms — Intrinsic Communicators & Influencers
Flat Classrooms — Future Oriented Students
Flat Classrooms — Future Oriented Students (contd)
and a wiki associated with the idea.

Looking beyond 2020 - rendered physical reality

2006-01-08T11:32:00.000+11:00

Let me first get some of the terms clear.

Physical reality - the physical world we are familiar with.

Virtual reality - a computer generated 3D-like (albeit rendered on a 2D screen) with support such as head-mount visual display to general 3D images. Recent development include 3D television (by directing different light into viewer's eye to create the 3D visual effect.)

Imagined (created) reality - the sense of reality when you are deeply engaged in a role play simulation such as 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 rendered physical reality.

Sound impossible? Here is their plan.

The source of the replicate may be captured via 3D motions. Carnegie researchers have already developed

technology that points a set of cameras at an event and enables the viewer to virtually fly around and watch the event from a variety of positions. The DPR researchers believe a similar approach could be used to capture 3D scenes for use in creating physical, moving 3D replicas.

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.

*partially because the prototype is 2D enabled instead of 3D. But the concept has been proven.

Insights from a Techie

2005-11-22T10:21:00.000+11:00

by David Warlick via OLDaily

What would it mean for a teacher to be clickable.

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 guide.

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 http://www.roleplaysim.org/papers], I wrote, the roles of moderator in role play simulation, which is akin to teacher, are

Guardian angel: ...maintain an overview of the general direction of the game progression. As a subject 'content expert' the role of the guardian angel is to help participants with the content, if and only if, help is requested, ... While guardian angels should communicate a sense of support to the roles, it is important that roles do not become over dependent on them ...

Manipulative devil: 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.
Resident Teaching/Learning Resource: Perhaps the most crucial of the MOD various dimensions is the need to recognise learning opportunities and transform them into potential learning. Thus when help is sought or a request for a specific action is made, a learning opportunity opens. ... A Resource should promote reflection and consideration of alternatives. When suggesting alternatives (always plural!), it is important to ensure that participants take responsibility for the role's action - participants should own the actions they take. ... On the other hand offering relevant facts for consideration that seem to be unknown to the participant is also useful.
Improvising story teller: .... The MOD becomes a story teller and creates extension to the original design to cater for the situation.

An administrator: ...

While Dave continues with the focus on the role of content, the conclusion is very interesting:

Quoting: ... Content today is the dominant thing. I think we will start to see people who can aggregate audiences in interesting ways.

Woooow! Ok, so it isn’t the textbook? It’s the audience? The class? What is the power of the audience? What is the power of the class? How might we turn the class audience into an engine for learning? What does it look like? Is this where we need to be thinking, in order to drive a bottom-up revolution in education?

Published simultaneously on Random Walk in E-Learning

Is smaller always the better?

2005-10-20T10:09:00.000+10:00

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 Gizmodo]

capable 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 technology.

From Engadget: No doubt there are mobile phones which also can run the kind of applications we usually found on "PC", such as Nokia 6803 which

Symbian 9.1 + UIQ 3 platform and appears to feature a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, SD slot, MP3 player, QVGA touchscreen, and weighs-in at 5.3 ounces.

or Lenovo ET980 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.

I would like to have several paper-thin full colour devices with touch screen capability so that I can write and make notes on the display (just like paper, but of course processed digitally like a computer). These devices are networked together so that the information marked on one can be transferred to another, including my notes etc. My main notepad, any one of these, will accept my voice input as well as typing via the tiny keys wear on my fingers (so that I don't need a keyboard). These little keys have track balls built-in as well serving also as mouses when I slide my finger(s) over my desk.

Such a set-up would enable me to process and utilize several complex information with smaller cognitive load on my temporary memory (which can be used for more meaningful task) and with sufficient display resolution. The input devices I wear on my hand (and fingers) would provide a comfortable interface for prolong work.

Is there anyone out there designing such a set-up today?

Media in 2015

2005-10-13T15:12:00.000+10:00

Michael Currie sent me this link. http://www.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?

Vision 2020

2005-09-06T23:18:00.000+10:00

via Stephen Downes' OLDaily

According to the survey which asks students (as an open-ended question):

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 future?

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 reenactments.

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 of weakness of 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.

Improved future?

2005-08-28T07:58:00.000+10:00

By DICK PELLETIER

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. IBM’s 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 robots.

Dick predicts a time-line for robots in our homes:
2010: household robots will find their way into homes performing limited chores, providing valuable services for children, and enabling elderly people to live in their houses instead of going to nursing homes.

2015: robots perform most household chores.

2020: bots will understand our moods; know when we are happy, angry, in a hurry, or tired; and conduct meaningful conversations. We will rely on them to keep us organized, informed, and aware of everything happening in our world. They will express personal attraction for their masters and display near human-like personality.

2025: 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.

2030: human-machine merge will become possible.

The comments on the blog expressed both optimism and otherwise of such a future. Dick said in one of the replies:

No one knows for sure how our “magical future” might unfold, but as we multi-track projected breakthroughs in biotech, infotech, nanotech, and cognitive science, we get a clear picture that tomorrow’s life will be a vast improvement over today’s crude world.

What should we do today to avoid the scenario that one day robots find the human-spices a pest to their existence and decide to eliminate the carbon-based life-form?

23 Theses about the future of work

2005-08-27T10:40:00.000+10:00

by 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 generation).

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:

Here’s how much time you have . . . to

2 minutes ..take action on immediate requests for your attention. If you can’t handle it that quickly, then it needs to go to someone, or some place else!

2 hours . . . hold face-to-face meetings. If it takes longer than that, you’re not planning!!

2 days . . . .respond to electronic requests. If you can’t get to it by then, you’re wasting your time and everyone else’s.

2 weeks . . . assemble a work team and commit to a plan. If you can’t find the right people and the right plan by then, the project will fail.

2 months . . . identify a business opportunity and test it with customers. If you can’t do it by then, your competition can.

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’ and grow loosely 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 competencies.

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 ambiguity – or be left behind.

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 tomorrow).

Skin Cells Converted to Stem Cells

2005-08-25T10:10:00.000+10:00

According 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 huge...

Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet.

2005-08-22T15:10:00.000+10:00

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.

Implications when human can repair ourselves and more

2005-08-18T10:41:00.000+10:00

A 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 to grow replacement 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." [Future Warrior Suit Exhibits Super Powers]

Simply, we may never die!

This seems like fiction. How real are they? I don't know, but there are a lot of people pouring their efforts into such research.

Another hard question, what is "consciousness", so characteristic of human need to be answered as well. Now, this is also being debated, see Why Great Minds Can't Grasp Consciousness [via BetterHumans]

May be by 2020, people will still die and I may die too. However, there seems to be a future that people need not die. Is that too far to us to contemplate now?

Human Washing Machine

2005-08-04T09:43:00.000+10:00

Via Boingboing. The Google translated English version.
I 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 etc...

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 machine...?

:-)

Personal Memory Assistant

2005-07-25T09:48:00.000+10:00

I 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 impaired.

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. What’s more, these archives will be available over the net for recollection, analysis, even sharing.

Jamais also projected the use of personal memory assistant PMA...

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 clarity.

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 "equivalent to attacks on what they're allowed to remember".

Learning will not be about information. We will have too many. Information retrieval techniques will have to improve to cope and that's on the horizon. Education is about preparing future citizens. If this is one probable scenario, the big question to me, educationally, is how can we prepare ourselves and our kids for such a world. Estimated time of arrival of this scenario, I would say 2020.

Listen to the authorities and die - implication for teachers

2005-06-05T10:31:00.000+10:00

The 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 died.

and further down...

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 of mouth, and fellow workers pressed hesitating colleagues to continue their exit. [my underline]

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 ....

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.

Comment tools for Essay grading

2005-05-30T09:04:00.000+10:00

A 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 http://www.adobe.com/education/acrobat/tips/acrobat_stamps.html

Is there a way of easily adding comment for work submitted as web pages?

Alternate Business Plan needed for Higher Education

2005-05-24T20:50:00.000+10:00

The 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 cinema).

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!

Bill Gate's Solution to American High Schools being obsolete

2005-05-04T09:27:00.000+10:00

I 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 and losers, but 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 nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

[Side note: Any way, these rules are worth repeating whether they are from "Dumbing Down our Kids" by Charles Sykes or from Bill Gates.]

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 way – either we think they can’t learn, or we think they’re not worth teaching. The first argument is factually wrong; the second is morally wrong.

[all emphasis in the quotes are mine]

For the sake of our young people and everyone who will depend on them – we must stop rationing 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 part!]:

the new three R’s, the basic building blocks of better high schools:

* The first R is Rigor – making sure all students are given a challenging curriculum that prepares them for college or work;
* The second R is Relevance – making sure kids have courses and projects that clearly relate to their lives and their goals;
* The third R is Relationships – making sure kids have a number of adults who know them, look out for them, and push them to achieve.

These 3 new R's sound good to me. If our schools in Australia can also embrace them, by year 2020, we should still see Australia as a developed country!

Blogging Your Education

2005-04-24T21:36:00.000+10:00

about how her students are changing in their expectations and needs from their time in college. They are pushing against the traditional structures, asking to mix the classroom experience with online community and off campus travel, capturing all of it in their Weblogs with the voices of teachers and mentors and loved ones mixed in. I love that image...seriously love it...the reflective, interactive chronicling of learning. The getting it down, capturing the experience if for no other reason than to acknowledge it, and to help it take root.

This is about relevance of the education to the objective of life.

One of the reader commented

The only quibble I have with your comment is when you say, "... seriously rethink what we do in the classroom..." Why do we need to stay in the classroom? 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 whatever.

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 fluid groups, including mixed age, ability and talent.

Blogging is ONE of the many ways that students can use to collaborate. Blog is a collaboration tool. Not any more, not any less. The use of any tool is up to the imagination of the users. In an education situation, assuming that the role of teacher is still here, teacher will become the main people designing the environment to foster appropriate learning for all the member of a group, including different members' interest and ability.

Teachers are in big trouble

2005-04-10T09:49:00.000+10:00

I have jokingly written the post "Teachers are in big trouble" in the Random Walk in E-learning blog.

I have seen the decline of the social status of teachers - at least in Hong Kong where I have taught for nearly 20 years.

In many countries, the education department of universities only attract the least capable students. After graduation, these teachers enter a workplace totally isolated from real world. In the school I taught, 50+ teachers shared one telephone line in the staff room. I struggled to maintain my own professional development at my own time and effort. I remembered the situation when I needed to attend my teacher training. Special application was needed to arrange a free period just before end of school in two afternoons. This was treated by the school management as a special favour to me. In one occasion, there was a teacher meeting after school on a day that I needed to attend the teacher training, I was demanded to still behind school for the meeting instead of the professional program I have enrolled - irrespective of the tasks demanded of me in the program. [I was due to have a presentation in the program, whereas the teachers' meeting was basically just a task assignment for the coming sport day - which I knew what my task would be anyway!]

I entered the teaching profession with a big heart - wanting to help the next generation. I have persisted and am still working in the e-learning industry. I am proud to have some very bright students who recognised my effect on them. But overall, I felt that teaching is not a highly regarded profession anyway.

To be fair to David Wiley, the two main camps referred to in the post are for "instructional designers". In many cases, instructional designers' job is to create teaching program to replace teacher. So drawing such a provocative conclusion from such a view is too easy.

However, the deeper lesson which we should consider is whether education is the same as learning. Is the job of teacher to help learner learns or to educate? Should well designed instruction replace teacher? If the answer is negative, then can teacher demonstrate values that can reverse the current path to extinction? As a society, should we allow teachers' social status to continue to decline?

More on Eide Neurolearning Blog and Learning Styles

2005-04-05T08:18:00.000+10:00

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 chunks?

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, especially.

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 world."

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 a bunch of 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 immense.

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.

More on Fuchs & Woessmann

2005-03-25T09:49:00.000+11:00

Wow, 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 mere availability of computers at home seems to distract students from effective learning. But measures of computer use for education and communication at home show a positive conditional relationship with student achievement. The conditional relationship between student achievement and computer and internet use at school has an inverted U-shape, which may reflect either ability bias combined with negative effects of computerized instruction or a low optimal level of computerized instruction.

[my emphasis]

David questioned the methodology and concluded that

Yet another example of people with an agenda “doing research.” What an embarassment. No wonder educational research is completely discredited in the popular mind.

One of his reader commented that David has "an agenda, and not the authors".

David responded with the post 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, let’s 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 scenario?

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 art.

This particular item assumes the 15 years old know what is a rock art.

Here is another sample (page 95 of the pdf) about "speed of a racing car". There is a graph showing how the speed of a racing car varies along a flat 3 kilometre track during its second lap.

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 track?

and so on...

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!

Eide Neurolearning Blog and Learning Styles

2005-03-18T20:21:00.000+11:00

This post, by Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide who are physician-parents with a national (USA) referral practice for children with learning difficulties, is about school's lack of flexibility (or resources) to teach "each child the way that child learns best".

What interest me is also a comment by Steve Gray:

Last year went to China on a study tour, 50 students in a secondary classroom, no biggy about motivation to want to learn, they see people sweeping the streets and say no thanks, answer, work hard in school.

Westerners don't have this form of driver, and even with 25 in class teachers still struggle.

We, Chinese, also strongly believe that deligence can substitute intelligence.

Social Network and its implication for the future

2005-03-12T12:15:00.000+11:00

Recently, the posts have mostly concentrated in identifying the inadequacy of the current school systems in the developed countries. There is little insight into how we can break away from that model and what will/should the new model be.

I am not any wiser, but after reading a number of posts (recommended by Stephen Downes) on Structured holes, part 1 and part 2 here; and following some links I become excited by the studies.

"Strutural holes" is an alternate name to signify the separation between groups within organisations. These informal groups usually do not connect. However, the study shows that by connecting these groups, innovative ideas are plenty. The next problem is the ability to identify the gems and have people with sufficient "power" to realise the innovation. But that is not the subject of this post.

What I am excited about is the application of the techniques which have advanced Physics so much in the last century to the study of social networks, e.g. Physics Department of University of Notre Dame.

For instance, in the paper Bose-Einstein Condensation in Complex Networks, the authors, by mapping the complex system (such as World Wide Web, business, citation network) into a quantum gas framework, then they demonstrated that "first-mover-advantage", "fit-get-rich" and "winner-takes-all" are actually Bose-Einstein condensation - a thermodynamically distinct phases of the underlying complext network.

I sense that this would lead to some interesting insight into the work nature in the future. I majored in Physics in my first degree and I have been using Physics Letters as my bedside reading for many years after my graduation. This is a good opportunity to refresh my Physics and follow the study in this new field.

Someone forgot to tell schools that it is 21st century

2005-03-07T10:27:00.000+11:00

I enjoyed this illustration from Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users:

The basic ideas are quite similar to my previous post Our world is changing, our schools are failing,....

So our quest goes on.

Is It Age or IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation

2005-03-06T18:56:00.000+11:00

The title links to chapter 2 of "Educating the Net Generation" - an Educause online ebook.

This chapter, by Diana Oblinger and James Oblinger, points out a lot of differences between "us" - the baby boomers from the net generation. In case you are the x generation, the chapter also points out the differences between you and the net generation too.

Basically, the net generation is born connected with technology always on.

They are used to trying things out. For example, my wife always asks me if typing a certain work into the computer will break the computer. My daughter never asks that question. She just tries. If it works, good. If not, try again with another command.

The net generation demands immediate gratification. They multi-task, listening to radio, watching TV, IMing via the computer AND doing their homework at the same time. If a friend cannot provide an answer, they quickly move to the next one and ask again.

They have a very large social circle. My own IM contact list has about 50 contacts. My daughter's list is full. (MSN allows only 150 - not enough for her!) A friend of a friend is OK. She communicates with people all over the world. She does not need to know them. Just an occassional chat or online game and move on. Interestingly, for face to face relationship, it seems to be quite different. My daughter still values her kindergarten friends very much and keeps in with them often.

My list here is slightly different from Oblingers' - most likely due to the fact that I have not done a complete research into the topic.

Hence to educate the net generation, we need to organise the learning quite differently. I am yet to read the rest of the e-book. There may be answer there.

BTW, Stephen Downes gave the e-book a luke-warm review. He wrote:

The same people who think instant messaging is disruptive and who don’t like answering email on weekends are the ones who are designing and driving these online classes." And I wonder how much influence this sort of thinking had over the design of this book, from the carefully selected and well-schooled students perfectly trained to use the term "Greatest Generation" as though they meant it to the "a ha!" feeling exhibiting by faculty discovering instant messaging.

If Stephen is right, may be the answer will be found elsewhere - just not in this book.

Virtual Economy

2005-03-04T09:04:00.000+11:00

"The nature of job in 2020" is one of the most important consideration when I first started this exploration of the learning need now in order for our next generation to cope with life in 2020. Here is an economic activity which may develop into an interesting possibility in 2020.

In the article Real profits from virtual worlds, Telegraph reporter Andrew Murray-Watson described how John Jacobs, a music producer from Florida, bought a piece of virtual land in an online game world with real life money and planned to make real life money from the virtual land. This is within a game world known as Project Entropia,

which was set up in 1995, is unique among MMORPGs because it has a currency that is pegged to the US dollar.

Participants in the game change their real money into the game currency called PEDs at the rate of 10 PEDs for every dollar. They then use their PEDs to buy clothes, weapons and even houses and mining and forestry rights. Players who make a profit in the game can then convert the imaginary money into real cash.

...

Project Entropia, which has over 200,000 players, has its own stock market and auction house where players can trade services and commodities. The markets also allows gamers to determine the supply and demand of a host of other virtual resources that can be accumulated through long hours sitting in front of the computer.

(MMORPGs stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) [my emphasis]

Globally, there are about 350 active MMORPGs, with dozens having over 100,000 subscribers. ItemBay, a Korean company specialising in trading virtual goods such as magic battleaxes or laser carbines, has 1.5m customers and revenues of $17m per month.

To put all this in context, it is possible to calculate the gross domestic product of a virtual game world based on the value of its total assets in real world terms. Using the time it takes for gamers to gather those assets also means that other economic measurements such as an hourly wage rate and GDP per head can be calculated.

In 2001 Edward Castronova, an economist at California State University, was one of the first to realise that the largest MMORPGs had economies greater than most African countries on a per capita basis. But real world trading of virtual goods and services comes with a health warning for gamers looking to make a quick buck.

With this background, here comes a post from Nine Shift: "Intangibles key to our economic future" which comes to the conclusion that

Intangible products and services:

* Can and must be the primary business of American companies.
* Can be sold without a manufacturing intermediary.
* Can be sold internationally.
* Create high paying jobs for knowledge workers in the U.S. and other post-industrialized nations.
* Lower the trade deficit and restore a balance of trade.

I am not necessarily looking from an American viewpoint. However, I think this remark holds true for all developed countries. We should constantly look for opportunity of high value job in order to keep the living standards in these countries.

Andrew from Telegraph quoted some economists suggesting that Project Entropia resembles pyramid selling

the only way for players to make a profit is at the expense of others who are less successful in the game.

I don't necessarily agree. I am no economist nor lawyer. So my understanding may not be correct.

Pyramid selling refers to a marketing technique where the "goods" being sold is the membership of the scheme. There is no intrinic value of the membership except by selling more to other people. The game world in MMORPGs has real value - the value of experience, be it entertainment or learning. The creation of virtual objects involve "labour" and when someone wants to enjoy other people's labour, they may pay for it. This is the fundamental driving value of the economy of MMORPGs. Of course, once the interest (or the experience value) of the whole MMORPG is lost (for whatever reason), the virtual economy built around such virtual world will disappear as well. This is a real risk in investing your real resource (effort or money) in such investment. Again, this is quite similiar to other investment in the real world.

Is working for the virtual work a real job? I would say "yes" as long as the demand of the service is there.

Our world is changing, our schools are failing,....

2005-03-01T10:04:00.000+11:00

Of every 100 ninth-graders, only 68 graduate high school on time and only 18 make it through college on time, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Once in college, one in four students at four-year universities must take at least one remedial course to master what they should have learned in high school, government figures show.

After denoting US$700 Million from his/his wife's foundation, Bill Gates commented,

America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools _ even when they're working as designed _ cannot teach all our students what they need to know today.

[from Governors Work to Improve H.S. Education]

OK, that may be America.

Are you sure? I think it is a problem much more fundamental!

School, as it is known today, is the construct of the industrial age. Production line is the driving factor. We needed replaceable workers so that production line did not need to stop because of absence of anyone along the production line. The jobs were repetitive and uninteresting. The education system needed to produce obedient citizens who could be told to do a job without questioning. Only the elite needs a real education. In order to ensure that only a small group of people can be educated (hence be the elite), the school system was a filtering system. Only a single digit percentage of the population will get a degree, even fewer for higher qualifications. Yet, these programs were still designed to serve the industrial age.

Spady (1999) states that society

fail(s) to recognize that today's schools are the cumulative result of centuries of extremely limited thinking about the nature of learners and learning; about their aptitudes and potential for continuous, lifelong growth and development; about how to organize learning opportunities; and about the pedagogies and processes that promote learning success.

He uses "the metaphor of an iceberg to describe the layer upon layer of outdated thinking and practice that form the enormous inertia" against change. The four layers are summarized as:

Feudal-Age Agenda - the education system is viewed as an overt and pervasive mechanism for sorting, labeling, and selecting students for educational, social, and economic futures. This is exemplified by the elaborate system of educational credentials based on students' demonstrated academic achievements. and the education system acts as a societal gatekeeper.

Agrarian-Age Calendar - everything is defined by how much time it's supposed to last: student eligibility for learning, courses, grade levels, curriculum structures, people's roles within the system, employment contracts, credit systems, class schedules, attendance requirements, "promotion," and more. The system is time-based and opportunity to learn is defined by, and limited to, the blocks of time that are determined by the clock, schedule, and calendar.

Industrial-Age Delivery System - time-defined organizational structure is reinforced by "delivery" of curriculum, which unquestioningly uses the assembly line process of industrial-age factories as the guiding template. Specific things are assumed to have to be learned for a specific amount of time from specific books, by students who are of a specific age and assigned to specific classrooms and teachers. All of this must proceed at a uniform pace. Any student whose learning level, learning rate, or learning style doesn't match this uniform unfolding of the curriculum becomes a problem for the system. Note that this assembly-line process limits learning of critical skills, knowledge and curriculum to specific weeks, or even days. If the student misses the stuff "covered" on a specific date, he or she may never "get" it again.

Bureaucratic-Age Culture - based on Peters and Waterman (1982)'s thesis that organizations define "themselves around roles rather than goals, procedures rather than outcomes, precedent rather than future challenges, teaching rather than learning, programs rather than achievement, time rather than results, and curriculum rather than performance". In short, the focus of bureaucracies on means is "tight", while their attention to ends is "loose".

Carol Twigg [1994] also looked at the issues of preparing citizens for the information age using the 6W's. In what students need to learn, Twigg identified that "driven by the information explosion…viewing a college education as mastery of a body of knowledge …. is becoming outmoded." She quoted that the Big Six accounting firms "have declared that no one can master the content of their discipline in an undergraduate education".

There are dramatic changes in who is learning too. Undergraduates are commencing their study at an older age, many with full-time or part-time jobs as shown by the statistics quoted in the next section. This is also related to when students learn. For instance, Twigg suggested that in US, 75% of the work force will need retraining by year 2000 as old jobs disappear and new ones emerge due to the global economy. Students need flexible learning arrangements. The traditional full-time learning model will fail to serve the needs of such students. On the where students learn, these working adult students would need flexibility and would like to learn from home as well as work place. Twigg suggested that new tools will need to be available while students learn. Finally, as we know more about how people learn, more changes in the pedagogical functions of higher education institutions will be needed.

An education system must take into account these changing needs of the learners:

accommodate students' needs in respect of pace, time, place and duration

provide for a range of ability and different learning preferences of students

greater autonomy and accountability, so that learning responsibilities reside with the learners but continuous assessment of their performance enables just in time help when problems are detected

learning as a holistic process where digital technologies are integrated into a well-designed curriculum that recognises the role of social interaction in the complete learning process.

The next generation is also fundamentally different from us. They are born digital. They have different learning style.

"Why the current education system (at least for the developed countries) fails" is not the question we should be asking. The real question should be

What should the education system for our kids be?

Elearning Scenarios (in 2014)

2005-02-22T11:26:00.000+11:00

The Edinburgh Scenario is a MUST watch presentation if you are interested in what is the future of learning? Using a "scenario planning" methodology. After interviewing 16 international experts in the field, they come up with these possible themes. {All images captured from the presentation slides]

By grouping the themes into two groups, those related to technology and society

and those related to balance of power

they come up with four possible scenarios:

These are all possible outcome. The future depends very much on the path we are going to take today and in the immediate future. There are a list of the questions they asked:

A number of themes they have investigated at the beginning were not taken into account in developing these 4 scenarios. [My highlight]

Will that lead to additional scenarios? Out of the left out 4 themes, I have great concern about the "resolution of IP disputes", or the current tension between the copyright owners and open/free information movement. This will play an important role in determining the future of our civilisation.

The other three left out themes, I believe, are more related to our philosophical view of "what is learning" and what will be the most influential views of learning that will appear in the next few years.

I will be keeping a watching eye on these topics.

The technology platform in 2020

2005-02-16T10:35:00.000+11:00

In a relative old blog, There's Plenty of Room in the Future (dated May 9, 2003) Naval Ravikant wrote:

Twenty years ago, the personal computer revolution fuelled silicon valley based on two drivers:
The complexity for minimum component costs in the semiconductor industry increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year and a half (Moore's Law). This drove up CPU speed, RAM size, GPU power, etc.

Hard disk storage for a given cost increased by a factor of two every 9-12 months

Geometric growth in CPU power and disk space drove the PC revolution. Big winners -- Intel, Seagate, Microsoft, others...

In the last five to ten years, it became obvious that other predictable factors were at play:

Modem speeds doubled every 21 months, up until the point where they made the jump to broadband

Optical communications bandwidth doubled to tripled every year

LAN bandwidth increased 10x every two to three years

Geometric growth in modem speeds, LAN networking, and optics drove the Internet revolution. Big winners -- Yahoo! Ebay, Google, others...

In the last three-five years, yet more steadily advancing technical trends have come into play:

Internet traffic continues to double every year for the foreseeable future

CMOS image sensors are doubling in density every 18 months

Liquid Crystal Displays and Liquid Crystal on Silicon are increasing panel size and density, roughly doubling every two to three years

Solid-state non-volatile memory is doubling in capacity every 18 months

Improved power management and new batteries are increasing effective battery life by about 20-30% every year

Wireless networks are doubling in capacity every 18 months

On the other hand, I saw a report about a 64-bit traffic jam. According to the growth trend of the internal memory of computer (RAM), the physical address space for a 32-bit computer is 4G. Today, most consumer grade desktop computer are sold with 512M RAM (Dell is promoting a free upgrade to 1G today). If the trend continues, the 4G limit will be reached in a couple of years. Will the current lack of software support for 64-bit computing spell the first reversal of the trend? I doubt that!

The current consumer grade computer has over-supplied the computational power to the average users. The main economic driving force will be a new application which will use up the current over-supplied computational power. Will that come from video processing? image processing? natural language processing? I don't know. Whatever that may be, it will change the life in 2020.

Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age

2005-02-12T20:02:00.000+11:00

George Siemens wrote:

Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge)¹ can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.

Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday² is also critical. [superscripts mine.]

Principles of connectivism:

Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.

Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

Learning³ may reside in non-human appliances.

Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known

Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.

Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

¹ If we define learning as actionable knowledge, there is an implicit objectivism in the definition. As such, I read connectivism as an acknowledgement that knowledge reside outside of ourselves and hence one of the strategy to manage knowledge is through building of "connections" and promoting skills associated to acquiring "know-where" - information literacy. So, in addition to know-how and know-what, we need know-where, the ability to know where a solution may be found and also be able to find a good solution. Closely related to this will be another important skill - know-who - a social network of associates who will have similar interests and believe and are ready to form team quickly to solve ad hoc problems.

² This is a call to recognise the role of chaos and understand the inter-dependency of entities in the eco-system.

³ This is a point I am not sure if I have understood. Earlier, quoting Driscoll(2000), "This definition ... [of] learning as a lasting changed state (emotional, mental, physiological (i.e. skills)) brought about as a result of experiences and interactions with content or other people." In the section discussing "Limitations of Behaviourism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism", Siemens wrote:

These theories [Behaviourism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism] do not address learning that occurs outside of people (i.e. learning that is stored and manipulated by technology). They also fail to describe how learning happens within organizations.

Then I failed to see how organisation has emotional, mental or physiological states. Any decision made by an organisation is a consequence of decision(s) made by people and these people's previous experience. While I acknowledge that these decisions may be stored external to the people making it (e.g. as rules in the organisation's processes or policy), this is NOT the same as the organisation learning.

With the above comments, I felt that Siemens is taking a right direction towards understanding the new learning environment to be faced by us now and by our next generation. As the theory is refined, I believe we shall have some guidance from the theory.

Digital guru floats sub-$100 PC

2005-02-08T10:16:00.000+11:00

via OLDaily (Stephen Downes)

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of MIT's Media Labs, says he is developing a laptop PC that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53).

He described the device as a stripped down laptop, which would run a Linux-based operating system,

"We have to get the display down to below $20, to do this we need to rear project the image rather than using an ordinary flat panel.

"The second trick is to get rid of the fat , if you can skinny it down you can gain speed and the ability to use smaller processors and slower memory."

I heard about a "A4-size palm shaped computer" couples years ago for equipping every children in China. This news also goes the same way.

He plans to be distributing them by the end of 2006 and is already in discussion with the Chinese education ministry who are expected to make a large order.

"In China they spend $17 per child per year on textbooks. That's for five or six years, so if we can distribute and sell laptops in quantities of one million or more to ministries of education that's cheaper and the marketing overheads go away."

The scale of economy is there. If it becomes successful, 2020 will definitely be very different from today.

What will her future be - 2?

2005-02-08T08:07:00.000+11:00

[Note: this is a post I wrote on Saturday, February 05, 2005 posted on my other blog Random Walk in E-Learning ]

Couple of months ago, I asked What will her future be? as a way to try to look into the future and hope to find a direction to educate my daughter.

Starting from an economical view, I have concluded our future in the developed world is

a future where
repetitive tasks will be replaced by computer and machinery,

creativity and innovation are critical,

communication skill, team work and problem solving skill are important,

productivity must be so high that an average people will support the needs of parents who had inadequately funded their retirement and children of their own

Today, I am not any wiser. However an article in McKinseyQuarterly Don't blame trade for US job losses points out that in USA (as an example of developed countries), the manufacturing job market share has been falling for at least half a century - and I believe it will continue to fall. Godfrey Parkin also shared my concern and noted that

To some, this was going to be The American Century with the US as the hub of a booming knowledge economy. Lower-paid menial jobs would go, and Americans would upgrade to higher-paid knowledge jobs. George Bush, when asked what he would say to someone who had just lost his job to someone in India, said he’d give that poor worker some money to get a better education in a community college. But many of those losing jobs to offshore companies don’t need community college educations, because they are already graduate engineers or PhDs in computer science. The White House has become an Ivory Tower.

and further worries that instead of "The American Century", it may become "The Chinese Century":

A very high percentage of everything that US consumers buy comes from a factory in China. What happens when Chinese entrepreneurs wake up to e-commerce and disintermediate the entire US retail sector? Why would you pay $500 for a designer suit at Macy's when you can get the same suit from the same factory online for $50? $35 for a blender at Target, or $5 for the same thing online? A couple of Chinese Amazon.coms and a Chinese FedEx could cripple one of the few sectors in the US where employment is currently growing. And it could happen overnight.

I am delighted to heard Richard Florida from ITconversation talking about The Rise of the Creative Class. A light seems to shine through. This century is a new century where the economy is no longer driven by manufacturing. How important creativity will be in the future economy is anybody's guess. If Richard Florida is right, at least we should start cultivating creativity, diversity, communication skills and in dependent learning ability in our next generation.

Welcome

2005-02-07T09:01:00.000+11:00

In my other blog Random Walk in E-Learning, I found myself asking the question What will her future be? a couple of times.

The main tenet of this blog is driven by several observations started in that series of posts.

We are now in a rapid changing world. Information and communication technology has fundamentally changed the way we work, communicate, collaborate and entertain ourselves. This fundamental change will influence every aspect of our lives in the developed countries - may be to a lesser effect to the under-developed and developing countries until they catch up.

The global economy is no longer driven by nation-based enterprises. The new multi-national enterprises are not interested in the national economy of the countries where they spawned. In order to reduce cost, the operation and production will be shifting to countries of lower living standards - spell lower wages. While creating job opportunities in these under-developed or developing countries, the developed countries will continue to see low level jobs continuing to disappear. My question is how can these developed countries continue to create wealth to sustain the living standards of its citizens.

The cost of moving between places has decreased dramatically. I believe people with talent and skills will be able to select their preferred countries to live. It is likely that some cities (or countries) will continue to attract people with high talent and skill. These people (whether are there for as a traveller on their way to other more attractive places or decided to settle) will take up the high value jobs leaving the lower value jobs to the those who cannot move or the locals. The less attractive places will remain "brain-dead" causing an increasing gap (or divide) between the wealthy and the poor - at least for the working class. It will be even more obvious for those whose main income is generated from their accumulated asset. They obviously will like to stay in places most attractive to them.

Although I am Chinese by blood, I now call Australia home. I am not particularly interested in whether it will be "the American (or Australian) Century" or "the Chinese Century". My focus is more on the divide of "developed countries" and "un-developed countries". Good luck to China if she can join the rank of developed countries within the next 20 years - and I surely hope and believe so.

Teaching and learning is the area I am passionate about. I have spent my life in this area - teaching immediately after I graduated from Hong Kong University and am still working on the e-learning industry.

Life expectancy of human is getting longer and longer. Our next generation gets the huge burden to create income to support their old, non-working parents for a long time. Hence if they want to maintain their current level of living standard, they need high value jobs - jobs that produce income to support more than three dependent people (parents and child). Or in anther words, the world will need manufacturing and food producing processes which can feed four people by the labour of one.

As part of the long Chinese culture, I strongly believe education is the only way to escape poverty. My life started shortly after the second world war. At that time, my father had nothing, except the clothes he was wearing, a tooth brush and a cup. Later he asked my mother to join him and here I came. I am very proud of my father who brought us up and given us a good education. Now, it is my turn. I want to look at what kind of education can give my daughter the best opportunity to cope with the life in 2020 and support her then aging parents.

I don't propose that I have a solution to offer here. Learning for 2020 is my journey of exploration on these issues.

School 1.0	School 2.0
Curriculum dictated by a syllabus.	Students decide and negotiate the learning area.
Teachers are the keeper of the knowledge.	Teachers are the facilitator of the learning process.
Information is limited from those in the textbook	Information are sourced from everywhere, including but not limited to online resources.
How effective is the learning is measured by standardised tests.	Effective learning is linked to satisfactory and joy of knowing new knowledge and mastering new skills.
Students sit in rows facing the teacher.	Students sit around tables facing each other.
Emphasis on individual learning.	Emphasis on collaborative and co-operative learning
Students tightly controlled to do right time.	Students free to try new ideas and experiment.
Examination result acts as an external motivation.	Students delve pleasure from making and learning new things.
Knowledge in textbook are "king" and cannot be challenged.	Knowledge is negotiated and learnt in a community of practice.
Learning effectiveness conducted by external "examination authority".	Learning effectiveness is reported as portfolio and demonstrations.
Fixed time table. If a student missed a lesson, she will miss that forever.	Learning occurs all the time and contents are covered in repeating cycles.
Scholarship are based on past examination results.	Scholarship is based on the ability to learn in a group and contribution to the group.
Repetitive homework are assigned.	Projects are negotiated.
Deadline of homework submission in short and frequent interval.	Continuous presentation of current state of project.
Students are forced to learn without explaining why they should learn that material.	Students choose the subject they like based on career advice.