This is my contribution made by invitation to the MS. Dept. of Ed. professional development book about educational technology.

Interesting history of the printing press and its effects on culture and society. http://www.compassrose.com/publishing/printing-press.html

Like the changes brought about by the Internet, the printing press created a way for all classical knowledge to be available in a single library within 50 or 60 years of its widespread adoption.

For those interested, here’s what it’s all about and why it is considered important by many such as Google, Mozilla, Apple, and Microsoft.

Future shock naysayers claim professional development costs will offset the cost-savings assumed by digital textbook advocates. The opponents are either selling something (i.e. Professional Development) or they are unaware that technology innovates towards simplicity and ease of use and thereby reduces the need for old models of training staff to handle complex technologies.

Reminds me of how the invention and introduction of the Pencil to schools was feared to become the cause for cheating and the invention of the bicycle would cause expensive medical problems (and offset the savings of owning and caring for horses).

Same storyline. Different characters.

* Server Virtualization = physical server hardware is separated from Guest operating systems (servers), providing additional capabilities and benefits – think VMware
* Network Virtualization = network applications are moved into the network devices, providing additional capabilities and benefits -think Cisco, 3Com ON
* Storage Virtualization = disk storage complexities are hidden from operating systems and additional capabilities and benefits – think Datacore

Reminds me of the Quantum Computer that can consider input in parallel states of existence at the same time and therefore, can compute more possibilities than there are particles in the Universe. Watch this amazing explanation below… » More: Brain has more connections than particles in Universe: 100B neurons X 10,000 connections…

Educators need to consider how teaching will be effected in future classrooms whether online, f2f, or augmented. Mobile delivery will be expected and assumed. Are schools preparing for the new model? Read the full post below….

Posted via web from Dallas’s posterous » More: Tomorrow’s Web is trending: Social, Media-rich, Ubiquitous, and Computer-free

The mind-blowing possibilities of quantum computing

You think your PC is fast?

By Dave Howell

Sunday at 12:00 GMT | Tell us what you think [ 2 comments ]

Quantum teleportation becomes a reality with experiments completed by scientists at the University of Innsbruck

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Getting meaningful results from a quantum computer requires what can only be described as a little magic.

Traditional computers – from your desktop PC to the supercomputers that IBM builds when it’s showing off – all use a system of switches that can be either on or off. We represent this binary state with a 1 or a 0.

Quantum computers are different in that they can be in both of these states at the same time. These states are called ’superpositions’.

The basic unit of a quantum computer is a quantum bit or ‘qubit’, and their ability to be in two simultaneous states is what makes quantum computers so fast. Sound more like magic than science? Read on, and you’ll discover that despite all the arcane physics, a working practical quantum computer could be just around the corner.

• The past, present and future of AI

Interest in quantum theory and its application to computation is partly a result of work carried out by the mathematician Peter Shor. He developed an algorithm that could factor large numbers using a quantum computer.

The possible speed of this algorithm shows the potential of the technology. Shor’s algorithm is so powerful that it holds the promise of cracking the supposedly watertight encryption you and I use when doing internet banking, something that no conventional computer has come close to.

Indeed, the potential processing power of quantum computers truly boggles the mind. Because a quantum computer essentially operates as a massive parallel processing machine, it can work on millions of calculations simultaneously (whereas a traditional computer works on one calculation at a time, in sequence).

ALREADY SLOW: The IBM Blue Gene supercomputer is as powerful as a ZX81 next to a quantum computer

A 30-qubit quantum computer would have around the same processing power as a conventional computer processing commands at 10 teraflops per second. By way of contrast, current desktop computers operate at mere gigaflops-per-second speeds.

Nuts, bolts and electrons

This sounds great, so why aren’t we all using them? The answer is that, at present, a working quantum computer capable of solving real-world problems is still firmly on the drawing board. To see why producing a proper machine is so hard, we need to go back to basics.

Electrons, photons and atoms form the memory and processor of the quantum computer. These comprise the magical qubits. Understanding, building and manipulating these qubits is the really tricky part of getting a quantum computer to function. It could even be said that the quantum computer exists in a parallel universe to our own.

When the computer works on a problem that you’ve given it, the calculations are performed within this parallel universe until an answer is presented. But it doesn’t stop there. You can’t just see the answer when the calculation is complete. In fact, you can’t see the answer at all until you actually go looking for it. And when you do look for it, you could disturb the state the quantum computer is in and end up getting a corrupted result.

All the parallel calculations that the quantum computer is doing don’t actually collapse down to a final answer until you consciously try to observe it. In some ways, then, it’s not the answer itself that’s important, but how you get hold of it. It’s this observational component of the quantum computer that forms the biggest obstacle to actually building one.

Physicists refer to this problem as ‘entanglement’, what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”. Entanglement is, in essence, the result of observing how one qubit behaves based on the state of another qubit.

WHAT? NO MOUSE?: Dr Isaac Chuang loads a vial containing the seven-qubit quantum computer molecules into the nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus

What causes headaches is that as soon as you look at one qubit, you change its state and the entire system collapses back into being a standard digital computer. This is known as ‘decoherence’, and is what makes the observations or results you’re looking at inaccurate or misleading.

For these complex reasons and many others, actually building a working quantum computer that can solve real-world problems is far from easy.

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Despite the difficulties, however, there has been progress in several areas of quantum computing. As the state of a qubit is, in effect, outside of the physical universe, the quantum computer can move away from classical computer designs using transistors connected by microscopic wires.

Moore’s Law has so far delivered massive growth in computer processing power as transistors and the connections between then become smaller with each passing year. However, things are starting to change, and solid-state quantum computers look set to bridge the gap between traditional transistor based computers and their quantum cousins.

In a quantum computer, the computations are carried out by an exchange of information between individual qubits. This exchange of information is achieved by teleportation. This doesn’t mean that a qubit, such as an atom or photon, is ‘dematerialised’ à la Star Trek, but that the properties of one qubit are transferred to another. This has been achieved at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Science.

An optical fibre was used to connect lab buildings that were situated apart from each other across the river Danube. The lab was able to teleport qubits of information using a technique called polarisation.

They succeeded in exploiting the entanglement phenomenon, which meant that two particles were tied together when in fact they’re physically separate – the spooky distance that Einstein talked about. The particles existed in a parallel universe where they were able to change their state.

As a result, they could exchange information, which is just what they would need to do in order to make meaningful calculations. So how far away are we from building working quantum computers?

Actually, we have already constructed some of these near-mythical machines, even though they’ve employed relatively few working qubits. The earliest example was built in 1998 by scientists working at MIT and the University of Waterloo. It only had three qubits, but it showed the world that quantum computers were not just a fairy tale that physicists told their children.

Two years later, a seven-qubit quantum computer that used nuclear magnetic resonance to manipulate atomic nuclei was built by Los Alamos National Labs. 2000 was also the year that IBM proved it too could build a quantum computer. Dr Isaac Chuang led the team that built a five-qubit quantum computer which enabled five fluorine atoms to interact together.

The following year saw IBM once again demonstrate a working quantum computer. This time the firm was able to use Shor’s algorithm. IBM used a seven-qubit quantum computer to find the factors of the number 15.

A more complex quantum computer was also built in 2006 by MIT and Waterloo, and in 2007 a company called D-Wave burst onto the market with what it claimed was the world’s first 16-qubit quantum machine.

RIDE D-WAVE: D-Wave Systems’ 16-qubit quantum computer is the subject of much debate

D-Wave has yet to prove that its system is a true quantum computer, but this year also saw a team at Yale build the first solid-state quantum processor. The two-qubit superconducting chip was able to perform some basic calculations.

The significance of this development by Yale’s scientists is that it shows that a quantum computer can be built using electronics not that dissimilar to the components found in your desktop PC.

Yale’s system used artificial atoms that could be placed in the superpositional state quantum computers require. Until this development, scientists could not get a qubit to last longer than a nanosecond.In comparison, the Yale qubit lasted microseconds. This is long enough to perform meaningful calculations.

Scientists working at the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh have combined tiny magnets with molecular machines to create what could end up being the building blocks for future quantum computers. Professor David Leigh of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry said:

“This development brings super-fast, non-silicon-based computing a step closer. The magnetic molecules involved have potential to be used as qubits, and combining them with molecular machines enables them to move, which could be useful for building quantum computers. The major challenges we face now are to bring many of these qubits together to build a device that could perform calculations, and to discover how to communicate between them.”

Looking forward to that goal, one of the most promising developments in the field is quantum dots. These are nano-constructions made of semiconductor material. As such, we can use many of the techniques that we now use to build traditional computers to harness quantum dot technology.

It may be possible to manufacture quantum dots in much the same way as we currently manufacture microprocessors. If the technology were successful, we could build quantum computers with as many qubits as we need. As things stand it’s still too early to make complete logic gates from quantum dots, but the technology looks very promising indeed.

The supercomputers we have today look like abacuses when compared to the processing power that quantum computers promise. With so many different avenues being explored by scientists, the final working structure of the quantum computer has yet to be realised.

What recent work does show is that it’s a realistic ambition to build a commercial quantum computer over the next few years. When that power arrives, we’ll see a truly quantum shift in how we all manipulate information.

——————————————————————————————————-

First published in PC Plus Issue 289

Liked this? Then check out Why computers suck at maths

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January 18, 2010

Best Practices in Online Teaching: Don’t Assume

By: Lori Norin and Tim Wall in Online Education

We want our students to learn what we have to teach them. We want them to retain it. In the best case, we want them to enjoy the work, assimilate the driving principles, and look forward to each opportunity to make their work better. We diligently gear up and learn how to use slick software that allows students easy access to a wide variety of materials.

We’ve committed to teaching online, either totally or simply using Web materials to enhance a traditional classroom setting. Yet with all the features and potential efficiency of teaching software, we still know that too many students simply aren’t “getting” what we have to teach, let alone enjoying it. Why? We bought the best software available; we learned every bell and whistle it had to offer, and we’re confident of our own credentials.

So what’s missing? Maybe it’s as simple as a little up-front housekeeping. Before day one, we can take a few simple but effective steps that will help students launch through that first day, and then use their energy on the course rather than on frustration.

Here are some easy-to-implement best practices for kicking off your online courses:

• Don’t assume students understand the workings of an online course. Offer them tips for online learners that include knowledge of traditional versus online learning, Web etiquette, helpful links, and where to go for help. Also include suggested study tips for online learners. Remind students that even though they are at home when they log on to complete their class work, they still need to find an environment free from distractions where they can turn off the cell phone and the iPod, have someone else watch the kids, and really focus on their class work.
• Don’t assume students have the minimum equipment and/or skill requirements needed to be successful in an online course. Be sure to make the minimum equipment requirements readily available to students prior to the official start date. In addition to whatever postings your institution might offer, a personal email to all students enrolled is a great idea. If your institution doesn’t test students for minimum computer skills, be sure those enrolled understand the basic computer skills needed. All too many students who sign up for Web courses can’t save a file to CD or change a font to boldface.
• Don’t assume students know how to behave in a Web course. Require them to sign a behavior and ethics contract. Said contract should outline the acceptable code of conduct for the course. With the immediacy of email, students often fire off messages without thinking about the ramifications of tone or word choice. Students routinely use email and texting for their daily communication with each other and they may not realize that what works with peers may not be appropriate in an academic setting. Explain such concepts as flaming, using all caps, and interpersonal communication (inappropriate tone) via the Web.
• Don’t assume students know the more important rules and regulations in the syllabus. How many times do students receive a detailed syllabus only to come back and ask an obvious question? Again, give them a short syllabus quiz and require that they score 100 percent before they continue in the course. Four or five questions are plenty.

We’re by no means claiming that this list is exhaustive, or that it will guarantee success. What we can claim is that best practices will net fewer and less troublesome episodes; maybe you’ll avoid that mid-semester insomnia generator that brings you out of a sound sleep with these words: Why didn’t I take care of that when I had the chance?

For more content like this, be sure to download the FREE REPORT: Strategies for Increasing Online Student Retention and Satisfaction

Lori Norin is an assistant professor of speech communication at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, and Tim Wall is an English instructor at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith.

Excerpted from Up-Front Housekeeping for Web Courses: Facilitating Consistent Performance with First-of-Semester Strategies, Online Classroom, Oct. 2008.

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Tags: advice to online instructors, best practices in online teaching, online course management, online learners, online learning, teaching online, teaching online courses

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