Wednesday
Sep292010
Future of Education... from an IBM Perspective
David Matthews | Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 8:53PM | Print Article | Email Article | Share Article A must watch for studio!! Check out the section on education. Some compelling ideas that you may want to consider and write into your program!
Write a brief response... I am very interested in what you think.
Reader Comments (11)
Our word Utopia is from the Greek ou-topos and eu-topos and has two very different definitions; the good place, and the place than cannot be. It is no wonder that we cannot create a Utopian city, a "smart city" like the one INM has dreamed up. Let alone to achieve the "smart city" idea on a national level- where it would make a noticeable difference.
The idea of a "smart city" is a really great concept, but it could never work in today's world. I can really see politicians ripping it apart. A lack of personal privacy is the first obvious issue, but "big brother" is just the beginning. Being able to monitor everything is akin to having control and there are a lot of people in the US (and the rest of the world) who value their personal freedom over the good of the planet and humanity as a whole. Changing this attitude is the fist step- but I predict it would take a cataclysmic event of our own making to wake people up from their self-centered natures.
On the other hand, nothing will ever change without the idea of it first coming into being.
"Every experience is a learning opportunity", we learned from our education experience that it should get better and up to that date. The idea of IBM is pretty innovative, it sounds pretty exciting but not very practical. When it talks about learning thru technology, and making smart cities and bringing change from one school to another, I wonder how it can bring a change in whole education system. It talks more about the data and information (no doubt its an IT company so that's what they'll promote) but it sounded too impersonal, too robotic language rather than a personal touch. When it comes to educating kids of primary school, nothing can be predictive, as the theory of multiple intelligence says every kid is different and special.
P.S.: The word "Business of Education" sounds too rude to me, may be its a cultural thing. To me "education" must be kept away from the term "business". When we talk about education as a "basic needs" of a person, and we talk about free education, the term like "business" and "profit" doesn't work. No doubt these days it has became a business, but this video just won't work in countries like India and China.
Wouldn't this be nice? I just wonder if my generation will get to a point to see something like this in existence, I just believe politics get in the way of this universal way of sharing good ideas.
However, after watching this, I immediately thought about our studio culture. How great it was to work with students from other levels in the program for the first charrette of the year. Also, how much I enjoy sharing ideas within the groups for this semester's project. It's so amazing to me the quality of work that each group is producing when we combine all our different strengths together. I hope that when we get to information presentations next week that everyone will be able to share their best ideas, as suggested in the clip, so that everyone's project is great while still having unique differences.
Not only are the graphics in this video amazingly rich, so are the concepts. This is something that our group has been working on to enhance our school; technology incorporated to provide limitless possibilities. The idea that even after one graduates that these tools will continue educating is something that interests me. Living in this technology age opens up so many opportunities that would never be available before. As much as the idea of always being connected makes me think of unity and connectivity, it also makes me a bit claustrophobic. I know that's not the right word, but using it in the sense that being connected to everything all the time might only be encouraging our work obsessed world. It's the idea that once a child leaves school, they should keep learning, but I think that it doesn't have to be through technology. Kids need to be outside, not always connected to the nearest Wifi signal. Although this concept gives great ideas about how technology can be utilized in smart ways throughout a school, it takes it, I think, a little too far maybe.
The idea of a "smart city" where every opportunity is a learning experience is the future. Skeptics would not agree, maintaining their primitive ideas that if the system isn't broken, we should not fix it. The problem with this is that the system is broken. Too many children these days do not get the holistic education that they need. Instead, they are taught that they need only the skills their career requires and nothing more. This is where the smart city needs to come into play.
Everyone in today's society including both adults and children, need to gain more experience to continue their education. Providing both of these demographics with the tools and technology they need can go a long way. I truly believe that this is our future and that we need to embrace the fact that education is changing.
On a different note, this was a great video to watch for both educational and graphic purposes. It used a high level of graphics to relay the message, making that message more interesting. These high-level graphics are a good inspiration for this project.
I completely agree with the statement that "every experience is a learning opportunity." I find that I often learn more out side of the class room rather than inside. Learning is through living. Therefore i really appreciated the idea of education continuing through out your career. But i have to say that I do not appreciate the idea of my personal record of test scores, grades, achievements and successes following me around as if that is what defines me. I do not think that if a child goes from one school to another that their educational history should describe who they are. It is the teachers responsibility to identify that child's strengths and weaknesses as a student and not as an electronic record.
On the other hand, the concept of this type of technology is exciting. It could open up many other opportunities for education.
I think a smart city would be extremely beneficial for our education system. Having the ability to engage students no matter their location would be a wonderful learning tool. If schools had the ability to share information I think this would allow our system to discover its flaws much faster and work towards a better solution.
Overall the idea of a smarter city seems very functional, however it seems very expensive to incorporate all this technology into our school systems. Also I think this would ultimately create a huge problem with keeping students information private. In our society today, I don’t think this concept would succeed. It brings up several interesting points, however I think it would be very difficult to get the funding for such a transformation.
I agree that every opportunity is a learning experience. The concept of this idea is great because our future is technology but I find it very exposing for a student. Test score, grades and GPA's do not define a student. Maybe the student does not test well, I know I do not. A student should not be looked at as a number, one should be looked at for their talents and achievements. Upon graduation a student should not lose a job opportunity because of their past grades or final GPA. Yes, this is a good idea for students who are relocated to a new school and the new school system needs to help place them in the right classes for them but the school should also take the time to get to know the student as a individual, not a number. A teacher should get to know a student on a personal bases, isnt that the point of our studio project right now? Overall, the video was interesting with great graphics but a little too exposing for a student in my opinion.
I think the idea of always knowing how you yourself, or child is doing in school would be a great thing. Theres nothing worst then not know where you stand or Im sure not knowing how your child is doing in school. I know some schools are starting to incorporate this, but I think all should.
I also think that every classroom should have a dynamic inferstructure even though I know this is not possible, but maybe one day!
This site was great in showing how we can incorporate communication and technology into our programs for our schools. This is just what we need to allow the children of our school to take advantage of every experience as a learning opportunity. It will not only give them access to all of the resources they need but also keep students linked to one another and to their instructors. The students will be able to create and absorb skills and be able to be innovative and creative in their thought processes. This idea can transform the traditional ways of education and help the students throughout each year of learning up to the point when they go out into the real world and pursue careers. It will allow them to compete in todays economic environment. Thus cities will need to better apply advanced information technology. By doing so, they can better attract, create, enable and retain each persons skills, knowledge and creativity.