Some Thoughts from Michael Spring

I think the verbiage below may be out of line, but at least it will provide fodder for discussion, and if deemed appropriate, some wording that may be used in this report. I had started to add it in as a thread, but found the amount of text was limited. Feel free to delete this or move it to a subpage. I don;t mean to suggest it at this point as a strategic oversight.

A strategic view of the importance of technology in education is almost an oxymoron. A strategic or long term view implies that we have some sense of the future trends and likely impact. Given the rate of change in technology, this is almost impossible. None-the-less, we begin by making several observations:

• Education has generally used a model of today's social needs as the model for education that inevitably prepares individuals for a future that is not yet here. For example, for most of the twentieth century, regimented school structures prepared individuals to work in highly structured hierarchical organizations -- corporations. Sociologists and economists have suggested a future that is much more chaotic and ad hoc. Many projections of the future suggest employment patterns will be more ephemeral -- more jobs for a shorter period of time, the rate of change will increase -- the best organizations will be characterized by their agility, learning will be life long -- new things will need to be learned on a regular basis, work teams will be global in scope and the us will not necessarily be at the center, etc. The question of how the overall educational experience prepares individuals for that future is complex and involves many things beside technology. As just one example, if individuals will need to integrate into new teams on a regular basis and be sensitive to working as a team member, team sports may become ever more important as a part of the preparatory educational experience.
• In terms of computing and information technology, we can note several patterns emerging. Ubiquitous computing will become a reality. That is, networks connectivity will be continuous and seamless. We will always be connected and our personal data will always be accessible to us from any computing device. We will use the vast information store available as an intimate memory supplement which will replace most of the traditional mechanisms, including memory. Our network presence will be a composite of many aspects of our personal preferences and requirements such that a software agent will undertake many of our more mundane tasks on our behalf. Our ever present assistant will know who we do and don;t want to take calls from, how we like to book our flights, what are preferences are for meals, etc. etc. etc. So, computing will be ubiquitous, personalized, location based and very very knowledgeable.
• Computing software will continue to become smarter and more and more of what has historically been considered human information work will be relegated to computer bound algorithmic processes. For example, some process re engineering efforts have found that 95% of commercial loans formerly handled by human agents could be handled by an algorithm. Similarly, while some student admissions decisions still require a committee, a high percentage can be handled by a program. This suggests that the optimal knowledge and skills for today's students will involve critical thinking and problem solving skills that cannot be relegated to a program.

• Computer will become commodity devices. It is already the case that most of the computing needs, with the exception of dynamic gaming, can be handled by computational devices with the $400-$500 range. Within the next five years, it is likely that dynamically networked devices -- components using ubiquitous wifi, bluetooth, and zigbee will make ad hoc connections that will give an individual the equivalent of today's wired desktop systems. More explicitly, one vision suggests that the iphone three generations in the future will have the ability to shift its display to the HDTV in the room, use a printer anywhere in the building, have good touch screen and voice recognition input tailored to a single individual. Thus, instead of buying all the components, my single phone, camera, watch, gps device will serve as the computational hub that will drive devices as needed. Everyone will carry as their cell phone a single device used for communication, storage, and processing more powerful than anything they have today, and it will likely cost less than $300.