The Future of Learning

I believe the future of learning will be based on the concept of personalised learning. The future schools will create rich learning experiences that are tailored to the learning profiles and needs of each learner.

One fine example of personalised learning that is already happening right now is the educational movement called Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a not-for-profit educational organization started out by Salman Khan, a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Khan Academy started out in late 2004 when Salman Khan, a hedge fun analyst then, started tutoring his cousin in Mathematics using video tutorials and Yahoo!’s Doodle notepad. Soon, he posted his video tutorials on YouTube so that other relatives and friends can refer to it and the positive feedbacks he received strongly encouraged Salman Khan to quit his job and solely focus on creating the helpful tutorials.

From simple tutorial videos, Khan Academy now offers more than 2600 tutorial videos ranging from topics like simple mathematics to more complex ones, finance, economics, history, biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy and computer science. It also offers more than 200 interactive exercises. Khan Academy is living up to its mission where they aim to provide high quality education to anyone, anywhere and at anytime as all the video tutorials and infinite randomly generated exercises are provided without any costs.

The method that Khan Academy is adopting signifies that education can be extremely flexible and catered to the learning pace and needs of each learner.

Although the movement depends on donations for funding, it has recently received significant financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation and Google.

One thing that sets Khan Academy apart from other tutorial videos on the Internet is the manner of how the video tutorials present the learning concepts to the viewers. The video tutorials explain these concepts in a way similar to sitting next to someone and working out the problem on a sheet of paper. Salman Khan personally believes voicing out every thought process while tackling a problem will make lesson more valuable and not as intimidating.

Khan Academy is the epitome of personalised learning and the virtual classroom where a learner can really “learn at their own pace”.

In my opinion, I believe Khan Academy is a revolutionary method of education as it allow students to learn at their own pace through detailed step-by-step video tutorials and interactive software that encourages a learner to fail but also expecting the learner to master the topic.

After reading up on his methods, I felt that the current education method is flawed. The way class is conducted now is more like the “one size fits all” approach. Student Z may be good in the first topic and ace the test on that topic. However, when the teacher moves to the second topic - a topic where Student Z can’t seem to get his head around the concept, the teacher notices that Student Z is not performing like the ‘A’ student he is. And the worst part is, at the end of the year, if you get a 60 percent grade, you move on to the next level of education. But what is the 40 percent that you do not understand?

The concept is like learning how to ride the bicycle without mastering the knowledge of braking or turning and then moving on to learn how to ride the unicycle.

I strongly believe that Khan Academy is a monumental step in the right direction. Watching the tutorial videos can be assigned as homework to students and the lesson can be conducted in a consultation manner where students can interact, clarify and get help with difficulties from either the teacher or peers who have “mastered the topic” creating a more engaging and humanize environment in the classroom. A student can start at a simple practice, jump to complex one or just go to whichever topic that he/she needs brushing up on. And the best part about video tutorials? One can always watch it anytime he needs a refresher.

With that, I shall hope the vision of Khan Academy turning into a real school will be reality in the future where Salman Khan’s outstanding method “could be the DNA for a physical school where students spend 20 percent of their day watching videos and doing self-paced exercises and the rest of the day building robots or painting pictures or composing music or whatever.

#1 NCT - Minority Report

Most sci-fi films have been successful in predicting accurately what and how technology would be or look like in the future.

Steven Spielberg's 'Minority Report', which was released in 2002, showcased futuristic technology and gadgets from year 2054 that seemed unrealistic and beyond imagination. Fast-forward it to the current year, and the future technologies portrayed in the film were prescient.

'Futuristic technologies and gadgets' that have become a reality includes 3D technology, activation through multi-touch, gestures or voice, retina scanners for identification and personal advertising.

In the movie, John Anderton is able to watch home videos of his son and wife that was projected as a combination between 3D and a hologram, making it appear as though the son and wife was right in front of him without him wearing any special glasses. Unfortunately, the reality of holograms is still under development and still in its primitive stage. So as of right now, we just have to settle for glass-less 3D television and 3D gaming device like the Nintendo 3DS.

Another technology that is constant through out the movie was gesture, multi-touch and voice activation computing. John would be able to move windows, files, icons and images with movement from his fingers. He could also activate or 'switch on' technologies in his house just by saying, "I'm home", project image or videos on a larger screen by saying "full screen". The idea of gesture and multi-touch computing has been a logical extension of mouse since 1968. Apple has offered multi-touch or gesture-based technology with its trackpad, iOS that allows users to pinch, pull, and swipe through pictures, text and even applications. Microsoft offers this feature through Kinect and Microsoft Surface. Recently, Pranav Mistry invented SixthSense, a wearable device comprises of a mini-projector, a mirror and a camera that enables physical environment and physical objects to be interfaces to support multi-touch and multi-user interactions.

In the movie, personalized ads were something John can never run away from. They're able to show ads based on previous purchase or current situations with a Guinness ad telling John that he "could use a Guinness now" while trying to get away from the PreCrime force. Currently, there are Internet service providers, advertising companies and even social networking sites that keep track of any sites you visit and tailor ads that caters to your interest. Fortunately for us, privacy is still a societal concern and therefore, hinders the concept - for now.

And the most important piece of technology that was present in the movie was the ability to predict the future – in this case, crime- before it actually happened. In the movie, John and his PreCrime department will be able to see the perpetrator, the victim, how they attack the victim, which murder weapon was used, the time and the location of the murder. John was confident that the technology was perfect but nothing will ever be perfect.

Currently, the Department of Homeland Security of the United States of America has a system called Future Attribute Screening Technology that is drawing comparisons to PreCrime in Minority Report. It uses cameras and sensors to monitor and track changes in a person's body movement, breathing patterns, eye movements and pitch of voice to determine an individual's likelihood to commit a crime.

The movie made me realize how easy people spot the mistake of others but are oblivious to their own errors. I believe no one really knows what the future has in store for an individual. The future is not fixed – it’s not a simple black-and-white, heads or tail issue. There are ‘greys’ in every situation – the choices available and the choice we make.

With that, I shall continue to keep my eyes peel and see when sci-fi technologies and gadgets become a part of my reality, keeping in mind a quote from Omar N. Bradley, “If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.”