“The future is already here – it’s just not uniformly distributed,” said Science Fiction Author William Gibson, as quoted by Edward Tse. His Ph.D. research focuses on supporting people’s natural interactions over digital surfaces such as large tables and wall displays.
While many of us get used to digital ink and touch screen displays of Tablets and UMPCs in schooling, reports emerge of still more amazing machines under development with potential educational value. Some appear as commercial prototypes in gaming venues, business kiosks and hospitality directories as well as displays at consumer electronics shows.
The Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) Diamond-Touch displays a PC screen on a high-tech table. Researchers use newer vocabulary / word combinations to describe products that address human-computer interfaces. Universities and research organizations have experimented with these tables for several years.
Beyond high-tech tables, let your education imagination roam with terms like debris tolerant, Fiber Optic Projector Calibration, Haptic Stylus and Light Pen Projectors, Multi-Projector Imagery on Curved Screens, Hand Held Projectors, added intelligence for Human-Robot Interaction for Hosting Activities.
I read the other day that Tablet PC sales have increased about 25 percent per year since the first year of release. Wish I could remember the source; sorry.
Compounded, that’s an amazing increase, given that most manufacturers and software publishers have elected not to advertise their Tablet PCs and software. They appear to rely mostly on word of mouth promotion and verticle marketing. I wonder what percentage educators account for Tablet PC and software sales?
Promotion of various Origami products – now called Ultra Mobile PCs or UMPCs – appear to follow the same strategy. I expect they will start appearing in schools and homeschooling venues this Fall.
Forward looking educators and parents have demonstrated that Tablet PCs increase student learning. Many of us expect UMPCs also to increase learning over results from conventional classroom activities.
I still agree with retired professor Ken Wyatt’s belief from almost 40 years ago: no computer can equal a good teacher. Yet, I’m waiver inicreasingly after seeing anecdotal and prelimiinary empirical reports of people learning rapidly with mobile PCs and minimum interventions, especially when using direct learning software.
I won’t surprise myself if I waiver more as new intelligent machines such as digital tables come on line for educators to use.
I wonder, as have many others, if we are at the start of an era in education the equivalent of which we have not encountered since the development of movable type.
Young educators are lucky. My future is their present. They can invent ways to increase learning with new tools that others of us only dreamed about.
Hmm. I wonder how many education recruiters use the logic, “The future is now. Distribute it to more students,” logic to sign up more teachers? It enticed me decades ago. Will it entice young adults now?