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Future of education in the information age

Ian Pearson

May 98

There is a lot of current emphasis on teaching computing in schools, preparing children for the ubiquitous computing that they will encounter when they leave. They are taught to use word processors and spreadsheets. However, much of this education is based on false assumption that computing will be basically the same when they leave. The fact is that much of the time is wasted, since computing will be very different in a few years, just as it is different now from a few years ago. Two generations of operating systems from now, the computer will have a strong visual input, recognising not only the user, but many other things in its field of view. People will communicate with the computer in the same way as they do to another human being, i.e. through words, body language and gestures. The computer will understand ordinary everyday English, or French, German or any major language. In such a world, there are no longer any technophobes or computer illiterates, everyone can use a computer. There is no need to teach specific computer skills.

However, computers do have a large part to play in education. Although they should not be an end in themselves, they can bring education to life. Virtual reality can be used to recreate historical situations, to take a class on a tour round the interesting places in the world, into space, or to wander round inside a molecule. Computers can illustrate ideas with moving graphics, gather and process information from the global networks, and translate them into appropriate language for the children's' abilities. They can put students in touch with teachers, regardless of the geographic location of either. They are the natural home of future artificial intelligence that will complement the teacher's ability, guiding students through course work, supplementing the teacher's knowledge and answering simple queries to liberate teachers to concentrate on individuals without the rest of the class sitting idle. Computers will enable students to explore information and educate themselves, calling on teachers when they need extra help or special insight. Computers have infinite patience and time and can easily adapt to the skill and knowledge level of individual children without making them feel backward. Children will not feel afraid to ask questions of a computer that they wouldn't dare ask in front of a class of their peers.

Large screens will soon be cheap enough to use extensively in education. A picture of the Taj Mahal may look impressive on paper or on a small computer screen, but blown up to several metres across on a video wall, with a friendly computer generated guide to show the children around, it would have a greater impact. Some schools may go the whole way and have special rooms lined completely with screens to allow totally immersive environments to be recreated, just like a Star Trek Holodeck.

The network is key to much of what computers can offer education. Without the network, computers can use CDs and on board software to help students. But when they are connected to the network, they can access information from all over the world via the Internet. More than this, they can connect children in one school to those in another, allowing non-geographic networks of children to be set up. Children from different countries can meet as if in the same room, which will doubtless be a valuable part of education itself, mixing cultures together and teaching the international collaboration so important for many areas of life and work. Where a particular teacher excels in a given area, they can share their special insight with children from all over the world, not just those that live nearby. Instead of a class of twenty, a lecture could be delivered via the Internet to tens of thousands simultaneously. Video capture of the lecture allows other children to see it later – it can stay part of the on-line knowledge base. Computers individually are useful, but then they are networked, that usefulness expands by orders of magnitude.

Computers will help expand personal creativity too. A child may have ideas of a tune long before they have the skills to write down the music or play it on a piano. But with a computer filling in their skill gaps, they can put it in a computer just by humming it. The computer can then help them explore its potential, improvising and mixing it, rearranging it and adding other instruments. We may see many Mozarts emerging who would otherwise have been out off at the first hurdle by lack of confidence. Similarly for other fields, even in science and mathematics, where computers would be able to carry out a lot of research just by examining existing records and test out many hypotheses by modelling and number crunching or by logic checking. Creativity will not vanish when we have smart computers. Rather it will be a deep source of personal enjoyment, as the computer helps us achieve our full potentials.

Work will change enormously in the next decade or two, as information technology, and other high technologies, make many existing jobs redundant. There is little point in training children in skills associated with estate agents or travel agents since the net will make such occupations superfluous, replaced by a small piece of software and a net connection. Many others will go the same way. Jobs that are inherently human – caring professions especially, will take much longer to automate.

Sadly, not all children have access to computers now, and this will still be the case in the future. It will be many years before children everywhere have network access. Satellite communications will expedite progress, especially since some of the operators have already promised free access in third world countries. But equipment will still be scarce in many countries, and so the inequalities of opportunity that exist now will unfortunately continue. All we can say with hope is that costs will continue to fall rapidly and entry level computers will become very cheap by Western standards, eventually becoming affordable a few years later in third world countries. With solar or clockwork power supplies, lack of electrical infrastructure will not be a barrier, and thanks to satellites, neither will the lack of wired network infrastructure. Once countries have joined the global information economy, their development may be swift.