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Education terminal 2010

June 2001

In the early 90s, Apple released their Newton personal digital assistant in an explosion of hype, claiming it would sell by the million and be used for everything. It flopped. A few years later, a smaller, lighter, cheaper, but broadly equivalent device called the Palm Pilot was launched by 3-Com, and has taken the market by storm. Now, with third generation telecomms approaching fast, every electronics manufacturer has a long list of portable networked gadgets that will facilitate every aspect of our lives. In spite of the many designs and feature combinations possible, the list of key underlying technologies is actually very small. If we extrapolate these to 2010, what we end up with is rather interesting, and it will change the world.

Imagine a terminal the size of a Palm Pilot, solar powered, connected to a range of networks. It has massive processing power and huge storage capability. It knows exactly where it is. It is linked cordlessly to a headset that provides high quality audio and a head-up immersive display, in full colour 3D using lightweight spectacles. It may only cost £20, but be indispensable. It could revolutionise education in the developing world. By 2010, just about all recorded educational material will be available on-line, and many live lectures will be webcast too. Most of the best stuff will come preinstalled anyway. At this price, the vast majority of people world-wide could afford to buy it, and the rest could be subsidised. Every child in every country could have access to the best education available anywhere, translated into its own language and ability level. No infrastructure is required. The child could even learn to read on such a platform. It would use the best virtual personality technology to provide adequate synthetic teachers where no human teacher is available. These will respond to questions in the child’s own language. All these components are in rapid development.

Education is the main engine behind economic growth, so developing countries will accelerating into developed status faster than we could believe a few years ago. They will invest in industrial age infrastructure as and when they can afford to, but they are not a pre-requisite.

In the developed world, this level of technology will still be as useful. Children will be able to network with others in virtual environments to learn together. Children could explore a virtual Stonehenge as it was when it was built, and take part in a realistic, but entirely computer generated druid festival to celebrate the summer solstice. Physics teachers could adjust the laws of physics in virtual experiments to get a point across, removing air resistance or changing gravity. The display quality by 2010 will be make virtual reality almost as good as being there for real.

But with all this technological capability, there will still be a place for good teachers. Some superstars will have audiences of thousands when they give an inspirational lecture, but the ordinary classroom teacher with a good understanding of the capabilities and human needs of each individual child is irreplaceable. The more technology enhances our capabilities in other areas, the more it forces is to focus on the human side of the interaction. Professions that rely solely on technical knowledge will be made obsolete by the march of artificial intelligence. The care economy will replace the information economy. But teachers are already at the heart of the care economy.