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Archive for the ‘Futurism’ Category

Bracing for Impact…

October 19th, 2009

If we believe the transformation from the current technological, post-modern era to the forthcoming electrical, post-human era requires a human catalyst, then the posts thus far are as good a guess as any: visionary communication fused with enthusiasm.

Your question presupposes that we can strategize some plan of action to effect change seemingly slowed by heel-dragging participants. The premise is not unusual but rooted in our post-industrial mentality of “managing” change.

However, I believe we are on a collision course with the coming changes. The convergence of the electro-mechanical with the electro-chemical is emerging at the speed of LIFE and will hit the future square between the eyes.

My suggestion to those stuck in the institutionalized rut? Brace yourselves for impact.

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Posted in Biotechnology, Education, Futurism, Technology

Tags: impact post-industrial post human

Whrrl iPhone App for Classroom Use?

October 16th, 2009

Powered by Whrrl

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Posted in Education, Futurism, Internet, Media, pedagogy, Social Media, Technology

Tags: apps classroom immedia iphone lesson plan ideas portfolio projects web2.0 whrrl

How a Quantum Computer Works…

September 21st, 2009

Forecast #16

Quantum Computers Revolutionalize Information Around 2021

A new revolution in computing may make computers exponentially faster than today.

It’s based on the strange behavior of matter at the quantum level. The basic unit of a quantum computer is a “qubit”—an electron spinning either clockwise or counter clockwise, representing a 0 or a 1. Because electrons can coexist in two places simultaneously, a single electron can carry two qubits, two electrons can produce four qubits, three electrons, eight, and 20 electrons could perform a million computations. The exponential growth raises the hope of infinite processing power.

A quantum computer could easily complete in seconds a task that would take a silicon computer billions of years. The first research prototypes are now running at Harvard University, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Reserve. These revolutionary computers may be on the market in about ten years.

Discover this and more than 75 other breakthroughs in Technology Timeline: Potential Breakthroughs 2010 to 2040. YOURS FREE!

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Posted in Biotechnology, Futurism, Internet, Technology

Mobile Learning Frees the Mind? Maybe. If…

September 19th, 2009

I would venture to say most of us in the West do not know how to hunt a buffalo, skin it, prepare and store some of its meat for the winter, convert its hide to blankets and clothing, or make tools from its bones. I guess supermarkets have weakened our minds and we will never know the joy of the hunt or the satisfaction of a good feast after laboring for days.

My point is, » More: Mobile Learning Frees the Mind? Maybe. If…

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Posted in Critical Thinking, Education, Futurism, Internet, pedagogy, Social Media, Technology

Tags: Education inquisitive learning mind mobile thinking

Hurdles for Educators Concerning Mobile Learning…

September 15th, 2009

Hurdles for educators today concerning the rapid advance of the mobile-learning platform, are:

1. inadequate infrastructure
2. inequity of access to technology across student populations
3. gaps in professional development resulting in lack of use in standards-based lesson plans.

These three hurdles require money and time; two commodities greatly lacking among stakeholders.

I claim these are ‘hurdles today’ because current innovation trends will eliminate the infrastructure hurdle first, the access hurdle second, and time will cure the third hurdle. Question remains, do we have the time to wait??

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Posted in Education, Futurism, pedagogy, Technology

Tags: mlearning mobile learning education teaching educators challenges

New E-textbooks Grade the Students…

September 9th, 2009

Gotta love this headline! Traditional course management systems (CMS) have been fading with the advent of Web2.0 web-based tools. It is being thought among many that CMSs are only good for attendance and grading. But if the online textbook takes care of grading, isn’t a CMS a bit pricey for taking attendance? And is attendance worth measuring in a time-barrier free cyberworld?

New E-Textbooks Do More Than Inform: They Grade You
McGraw-Hill Higher Education is introducing e-textbooks that let students jump from a chapter to the relevant portion of a lecture and get their homework automatically graded.

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Posted in Education, Futurism, Internet, Social Media, Technology

Tags: cms e-textbooks Education Futurism

Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 revisited…

July 24th, 2009

In a previous post, I gave simple definitions of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and speculated on what Web 3.0 might hold for us (realizing of course these are unofficially recognized and ambiguously overused terms).

But now with all the hoopla about Web of Things and Internet of Things, I find further evidence for my original definitions.

Web 1.0 was about information. Web 2.0 is about communication. And Web 3.0 (Or Web 0, depending on your views), is about connection. However, I don’t mean connection in a superficial sense. Rather, like the post-human view, the electro-chemical carbon-based life forms merge with the electro-mechanical micro-sensing world. The connection is a cross-reality (M.I.T. term) linking virtual with real-time.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Until now, virtual reality overcame space-time barriers but real life remained subject to them. Cross-reality bridges this gap to create a new experience. Rather than one or the other, both are merged: A post-human, cyborg (cybernetic organism) view.

What is possible is no longer limited by human imagination. The new paradigm is emerging with the mashup of imagination and computerization. The future is not merely an internet of things as much as the connection of… (you finish the sentence).

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Posted in Biotechnology, Futurism, Internet, Mystery of Life, Technology

Tags: cyborg future Technology

Our New View of Knowledge and Learning…

July 8th, 2009

I appreciate Pip’s LinkedIn comment where she queries: “I am interested in the way that incorporating social media into our lives and teaching will change the way we perceive knowledge, and therefore how we will assess knowledge.”
My reply:

It seems we used to consider knowledge a thing we could possess. It may be however, with the exponential doubling of the knowledge base that we now view knowledge as something we “access” rather than “possess.” Therefore, the most prepared would be those who command the greatest access on a superficial level, and who have the skill to ‘mine’ what they need, on a more intrinsic level.

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Posted in Education, Futurism, Technology

Tags: Education future pedagogy

Technology Integration in the Elementary Classroom

July 1st, 2009

“Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.”
– Albert Einstein –

As noted by Physicist Albert Einstein in the quote above, we inherently figure out that we exist for others. Spouses exist for one another. Parents exist for children. Children exist for parents. And as educators, we exist for learners. Since our existence for others is a given fact that should be concluded by reasonable folks, the only variable becomes the nature of our relationship to those others for whom we are existing. Do we exist to control, manipulate, dominate, or rule over others? Or do we exist to share, serve, and sacrifice for others? It seems to me the aftertaste of one’s education depends upon whether they were shepherded or merely herded; nurtured or merely driven to market. » More: Technology Integration in the Elementary Classroom

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Posted in Education, Environment, Futurism, Government, Simple Living, Technology

Tags: Education future pedagogy Technology