Shift to the Future

Isn’t it amazing how choice has developed in our world, particularly in the developed world?  You walk into a large grocery store and you are faced with what seems like an infinite set of choices.  In some ways, choice has become a bit of burden for our brains.  I mean, how many types of breakfast cereal do we really need?  But seriously, it is a valued aspect of our freedom – to make choices for ourselves.  When our choices are limited or constrained by others in ways that don’t make sense to us, we are frustrated and disengaged.  I believe this is the experience for most students in most schools most of the time when talking about using technology.  Technology use is usually limited to what teachers prescribe.  If and when students bring personal technology to school and class, they are usually asked to power it off and put it away.  This seems rather bizarre given the limitless power digital tools exhibit.  Shouldn’t we leverage all t...

I am amazed how mobile computing has taken the world by storm.  It really is like a revolution.  Traditional ways of computer are being disrupted, some might suggest out of existence.  We increasingly read headlines ( here , another ) about the death or end of the desktop computer.  Actually it’s more, the death of the MP3 player, digital camera, calculator, voice recorder, handheld GPS, camcorder, to list a few other casualties.  I think this is great – fewer specific use devices to buy and haul around with you is a good thing.  Costs to own a diverse set of devices disappears into the single purpose device.  However, can the mobile device really meet all of our needs in the most effective way?  Is there still a place for “traditional” devices such as the desktop? My own experience is that I might use my home desktop computer an hour or two a week at most and that’s mainly for banking, some email and Facebook, maybe a bit of Twitter, and at cer...

I have been out visiting a lot of schools over the past few months learning about culture, demographics, economic status of neighbourhoods, existing and historical use of and interest in technology, and capacity to weave technology into common practice.  My District has a fascinating array of schools.  I was in a 105 year old secondary school last week in a highly urban area with a rather low socio economic status.  The school is quite oddly designed and has an institutional feel and look, but I suppose 100 years ago architects and District officials thought differently about school.  I also visited one of our newest elementary schools which replaced a very old school but retained part of it for heritage reasons.  This new school is a 21st century design with open aggregation spaces, learning communities for grade pairs with varied sizes of learning studios (aka classrooms).  It is designed for collaboration and public display.  They have a “tech loft”...

I was asked to speak to a group of managers and supervisors recently about how technology can help them manage their seemingly ever increasing work load.  That’s an interesting question really given how technology seems to often be the catalyst for increased work load.  I shared some thoughts about how technological advancement is accelerating and creating whole new ways to manage our work and lives and then some tips on how the tools they use at work can help them (Outlook e-mail, calendaring, and OneNote).  As professionals who use technology every day in our jobs, we need to own the responsibility for learning about our technology and helping each other (and our staffs) use it effectively to manage our work. It is remarkable what we can now do with our phones… e-mail, text, tweet, Facebook, calendar,task reminders, search (for anything), maps / directions, record / share audio – photos – videos, read blogs – wikis – books, listen to music – books, watch movies - TV ...

When February 1st arrived, I was grappling with how quickly time seems to be passing by.  I know, it’s an age thing right, as we get older time seems to speed up.  To check this theory I asked my youngest son if he felt time was speeding up.  He said yes – he’s 20 so it’s not an age thing after all.  I know, not a very scientific conclusion.  But seriously, I wonder if the rapid changes that we are experiencing in our lifetime are in effect like a time warp? My wife reluctantly lets me keep this 45 year old clock – it was ten years old when given to me by someone when I was 15 and working as a sales guy in a ski shop.  It still works!  Notice it’s cool pre-digital look.  The numbers flip over as the minutes tick by.  I suspect the iPhone 5 I have now, which has a simple digital alarm clock feature, will not work 45 years from now.  It probably won’t work 10 years from now!  What might clocks look like, work like, in the future....

Do you remember the days of film projectors in schools when the teacher would roll this complicated device in, fumble around with the reels of movie tape trying to load it up.  There was only one such device in the school and it was shared amongst all the teachers, well at least the ones that could figure out how to use it.  Or, how about calculator labs?  Calculators used to be “sophisticated” computers that cost hundreds if not a thousand dollars.  Kids couldn’t afford to buy and bring these to school.  Even if they could, they might lose or damage their calculator, or someone might steal it.  So, schools provided it.  Today, for $20 kids can buy a really good one or install a full scientific app on their smart phone.  For years now, schools have provided computer labs as places to learn about computing, digital information use, etc.  Some schools also moved to providing laptops to some, or all their students.  But now this is changing...

I can’t believe how fast this past year has gone by.  It’s almost like we’re in a time warp or something.  I suspect technology has something to do with that.  Things change so quickly now, it’s really hard to keep up.  I wonder what 2013 has in store for us?  Will there be new gadgets that blow our minds?  Will there be breakthroughs in robotics where more work is performed by machines?  How might learning and teaching be changed by technology? I was watching a TV piece on the food channel today about how those chocolate oranges are made, assembled, packaged, and shipped.  I had no idea how automated the process is.  It’s quite amazing or perhaps alarming, how machines have taken on more work that not too many years ago, required human beings.  Now in factories of all sorts, the humans are really serving the machines, not the other way around.  I’ve written previously about automation and it’s looming impact on us.  Automat...

There is something seriously wrong with the way some things are designed.  My wife and I were away yesterday and I get a text from one of my kids saying “the fridge isn’t working”.  Sure enough when we get home later, it’s dead!  This is our second fridge in just over 10 years (our first was relatively expensive, the second inexpensive – didn’t seem to matter).  When I mention this to others most often people suggest that 5 years is pretty normal for a fridge.  I think fridges are designed to fail.  So, after I write this blog post we’re off hunting for a new fridge, oh joy…  I probably shouldn’t be writing this post right now in my less-than-happy-about-my-fridge state of mind. However, as you know this is not limited to fridges and not just to products that stop working.  Think about the consumer electronics business.  Cell phones, for example, seem to be designed to be disposed of within 3 years.  Actually, even 3 years is a long ti...

I don’t know about you but I’m finding the pace of change, driven and accelerated by technology, to be a little overwhelming at times.  When I was a kid, talking to someone on a phone meant picking up the handset of the only phone in the house, hoping the party line wasn’t on, and using my finger to dial (turn a dial) number by number.  Now we carry our phones (which is a limiting description) around with us in our pockets.  We call from our cars, anywhere in any building, from the grocery store, or the top of a mountain.  Call is maybe too narrow a descriptor – we can text, instant message, Facebook, tweet, BBM, or e-mail.  Our phones, let’s call them devices, know who’s contacting us, know where we are on a map, take pictures and videos and let us post them for the world to see, and connect us to each other in live video calls.  Instead of dialing we say “call Home” or “call John at work” or do any of the other contact actions using people’s names stored ...