Innovation and Technology As with all students, the opportunity for students with learning disabilities to compete for college admissions, succeed in college and in the global market place depends upon the quality of their educational preparation and the systems they rely upon. Enhancing the effectiveness depends upon technology and innovation. Richard Varn will describe the challenges of relevance and innovation in technology that must be confronted in order for students with learning disabilities to achieve their goals in preparing for college. Varn will discuss how technology will reshape the schools and education systems that students with learning disabilities rely upon for preparation and the colleges and university environments that they will be entering. He will discuss issues that policymakers, educators and others must confront to close gaps in preparation and college access for students with learning disabilities.

Innovation and Technology Two Key Ingredients for Improving Preparation and Transition to College Richard J. H. Varn

"Whoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm (indifferent, uninterested) defenders in those who may do well under the new. " CIO

Some Change Attempt Examples 1990 World Wide Web… DNA forensics Broadband Video History Archive Iowa Electronic University Indoor playgrounds Government services card 1-to-1 computing E-medical records Health care pooling Courseware camps Ad supported 100% E by 2003 IP video and telephony GIS/GPS criminal tracking

Dominant Private Practice for Change High Value Low Value High Cost Low Cost Current Process New Process Leap and Reap Rapidly

Creep and Weep Over a Much Longer Time Government Failure to Precipitate High Value Low Value High Cost Low Cost Current Process New Process Current Process Keep the Old Process But Do Less of It

Where we passionately and methodically search for new insight into how the brain functions, how we learn, and the factors and methods of human organization and success...

SO WE CAN IGNORE IT ALL WHEN IT COMES TO OUR OWN PROGRAMS!

Education and Government: Resistant to Change Pushing change in education and government is like trying to run through a wall of spandex… …coated with Teflon so nothing sticks… And imbued with the universal element Bureaucratium, an amazing substance that seems indestructible and repels everything…

Examples of the Kind of Questions That I Intend to Ask As a Way of Infecting You With Viral Ideas No Birds Are Involved In Transmission…

Do You Remember? PlopPopCop

Technological Ethics Would it be unethical to make learning addictive? Hint: TV, music, game, drug, pornography, gambling and other industries do not understand the question Time=Value=Mind Share=Learning: where the time goes, the mind goes

Technological Ethics Which does not fit: Licentiousness, Extremes, Titillation, Comfort or Learning? We try to do analog replication and combination of these easier things to help learning - like with games that teach or a dramatization of an idea such as with Les Miserables.

Technological Ethics What about when we can digitally and elementally duplicate the pleasurable to achieve the difficult? As we identify the electrochemical processes and stimulants that are involved with pleasure, spirituality, comfort, fun, etc., will the vice and commercial industries be the only ones willing and able to use them? If we can make learning to solve quadratic equations feel like eating junk food, gaming, and skateboarding all at once, what is wrong with that?

Creative Deconstruction Destruction Modern science and technology Humanitys Great Quest: Being able to observe, identify, model, manipulate, create, form and combine the parts of anything Cosmos, atoms, genes, cells, brains, bodies, ecosystems, knowledge, work, processes, markets and institutions

Key Effects of IT Age Digitalization Automation Robotization Miniaturization Specialization Customization Globalization Mutation Commoditization Disintermediation Modularization Technological Determinism Acronymization or TCCTA –Tendency to Create Colorful Technical Acronyms. –If you have a problem with that, join SPAM or Society to Prevent Acronym Memorization.

Centers Are Shifting Center of Proximity and Concentration Center of Culture/Entertainment Center of Production Center of Application Center of Global Scale Center of Excellence Center of Integration Center of Creativity Center of Discovery Center of Brokering Center of Service (Concierge At Large) Past (Settled) Future (Frontier)

The Postman Proviso © 2005 Center for Digital Government. All Rights Reserved. Quote with Attribution Only Technology or Technique is Not Neutral… We conform to it, it does not conform to us. But perhaps it can be Subversively Helpful. Technological determinism means that if you change a part of an interconnected system, the rest of the system WILL eventually and inevitably change to reflect the speed, power or capabilities of the part that was changed. -Richard J. H. Varn Technology is ultimately a friend but mostly it is a "dangerous enemy" that "intrudes" into a culture "changing everything and even "eliminates alternatives to itself." Automation increases probability but decreases possibility. - Lewis Mumford

Determinism: A Short Cut The long term sneaky way to change the world without ever asking permission or having to try to convince those who will be forced to change and already hate the idea, whatever it is and no matter what it is, before you even thought of it. Change key, interconnected tools, and the rest of the system will change.

Technological Determinism Technological systems are interconnected webs. The history of such systems shows a consistent repeating pattern. Changes in the speed, power or complexity of one part causes comparable changes in all other parts to which it is connected.

One Word: Database Tools are viral containers of ideas. How we think differently from their use is often even more important than what they actually do. –Do you remember the first time you clicked instead of typed? –Do you remember pocket protector wearers saying GUI was a waste of time and resources, and was the SAME AS TYPING COMMANDS? –The viral idea was the connection between interface, function and data, and they could not see it. The dominant tool, metaphor, idea of our time is the database.

Convergence The coming together or merging of: –Jurisdictions –Industries –Companies –Tools and technologies –Products and devices –Professions and skills –Jobs The viral spread of IT across and within industries and elements of life

Analog: Standardization Nut, screws and bolts Rails Electricity Auto tires Paper Plumbing and lumber Drove the greatest expansion of human productive capacity in history and a lot of extinctions

Digital: Standardization Data (XML in every industry) Networks (IP everything) Software (Web Services and SOA) Storage (the one file holy grail) Human Computer Interface (see me, feel me) Processing (Gird for the Virtual Grid) And the effect will be at least as large… Technological bow waves…

Government and Education As A Service Domestic and Global Economy of Scale Layer Common, Interchangeable, Customizable Software and Hardware Services Public EntitiesNon-Profit Entities and AssociationsFor-Profit Entities Public Only Both Public Only Both Public OnlyBoth Subject Matter Expert Layer Subject and Industry Specific Human, Software and Hardware Services Bit Concierge Layer Personalized and Automated Human, Software and Hardware Services Private Only Niche Function Industry Cross-Industry One Stop Gove rnme nt Object Market Functional and Software Lego Bricks Public Developers Domestic, Global and Open Source Private Developers Domestic, Global and Open Source Customer Agents Web Services Government Integrated Into Other Software and Services

Steps to GAAS UP Consolidate (across boundaries and industries) Broker (think Plastics…) Standardize (what and how) Automate (no human can…) Innovate (no machine used to…)

Steps to GAAS UP Document rules (rules are made to be coded) Virtualize (it happens somewhere) Eliminate (processes and systems) Re-deploy resources (harvest)

Businesses Customer Agents Citizens E-Forms Functional Summary First Form Data to Agencies to: Accept Share Reuse Query Manage Safeguard Privacy COUNT Extract Data Apply Business Rules Validate Sign Submit Route Forms Engines to: Submit Data Apply Business Rules Sign Submit Route AuthenticationAuthentication Direct Data Transfers Data Analysis, Sharing and Public Access

Scope Industry Segment or Government Function Data Management Improvement Process Publish Data Routing Processes Create Harmonized Forms Identify Forms and Paperwork Processes Within Segment or Function Determine Core Data Elements and Business Rules Select Forms and Processes to Be Addressed Select Industry or Government Function Finalize and Publish XML Schema for Data Elements, Business Rules and Presentation Formats Harmonize Data Elements and Business Rules; Coordinate With Industry Standards Customer Agents Private Industry Solutions, Systems, Services and Software Modules Agency Processing, Applications, Databases and Legacy Systems Work With: Business and Industry Associations Industry Solutions Vendors Federal, State and Local Governments Customer Agents Industry XML and Data Standards Bodies Harmonize and Reduce

The Next 50 Years Devices per chip continue to double every 12 months. The pace of change continues to accelerate. 100 years happens in 20 at the current rate.* Use to ubiquity. Distinctive to disposable. Peripheral to integral. *Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines

The Pace of Change Is Accelerating

Four Ways to IT Wire StorageProcessing Wireless Services and Content

Universal Access Anyone, anywhere, anytime will be able to instantaneously talk, write and send visual and audio information to anyone else. IP replaces Esperanto. Please put my universal translator engine in my cell phone in my ear rather than a Babel Fish…

Watch the Third Screen The Digital Majority Like Starbucks' relentless attempts to sell itself as the "third place," the wireless industry is trying to sell itself as the "third screen." 2010: 500 Million Broadband Users 2.3 Billion Cell Phones

Spare Parts Availability dates: Artificial Brain Cells 2017 Artificial Brain 2035 Artificial Eyes 2010 Artificial Eye Implant 2024 Permanent Mechanical Heart 2010 Synthetic Muscles 2019 Lungs And Kidneys 2015 DATA: BRITISH TELEPHONE LABS in Business Week, March 200 and in The Register, February 2005

Now Picking Up a Spare… Over 100,000 Cochlear Ear Implants Bionic limbs moved by thought Exoskeletons Limbs, joints and bones Carbon nanotubes

Brain Computer Interface A BrainGate, enabled paralyzed Matthew Nagle, to move a computer cursor, change TV channels and operate fingers on a prosthetic hand. Long-term goal of the study was to develop brain computer interfaces (BCIs).

Unlocking Eric Eric Ramsey has been "locked-in" since A locked-in patient is somebody who is basically alert and intelligent, but they cannot communicate. His thinking brain is intact, but he cannot move, he can hardly move his eyes, he cannot speak, he gets spasms from time to time." They are presently detecting the pattern of firing in signals and the pattern is associated with particular phonemes or word sounds that he is trying to produce. They have done that mapping and are trying to detect them and send them back to him, so that he can actually produce the phonemes or sounds of words. The result will be a computer synthesizing Eric's attempts to speak.

More Than the Sum of Our Parts Beyond alleviating the effects of disabilities, normal functioning humans could upgrade to improve intelligence, sensory awareness or simply to counter the effects of aging. Disability becomes ability? Ampl-ability (ability becomes amplified)? Eubility (good things beyond human ability)? Malability (things we wish humans could never do)?

Computer Tipping Point Computers reach the speed of 20 quadrillion instructions per second, equal to the human brain –In accordance with Moore's law, we expected to reach the computational capacity of the human brain---20 million billion neuron connection calculations per second (100 billion neurons times an average of 1,000 connections to other neurons times 200 calculations per second per connection)---in a super computer by 2010 and in a standard personal computer by the year Ray Kurzweil

Kurweils Vision By the year 2040 a super computer reaches the collective brain speed of all the human brains alive. By 2050 global brain speed is available on a $1,000 laptop.

Before You Retire or Die Cumulative machine intelligence becomes larger than cumulative human intelligence. GNR (Genetic, Nanotechnology and Robotics) combine to remake civilization as we know it.

Hi, HAL Non-invasive brain scanning capabilities are growing exponentially. Reverse engineering of the brain and other software techniques make machines more than human in many ways. Will I dream, Doctor?

Convergence in Learning Neuroscience Information Technology Assessment Learners Diagnosis, Response and Treatment

Inherent IT Advantages in Education? Customization and individualization Democratization of access, content and tools Non-linearity Place indifference Availability of changeable content The elimination of rote tasks in teaching and learning

Inherent IT Advantages in Education? More time to focus on only that which a human can do well Instant access human knowledge in all forms Overlaying data on our experiences Sharing Collaboration Input and outcome analysis

Are We Taking Advantage of the Inherent Advantages of IT in Education? Ummm…No

What Is Most Out of Whack? The Carnegie Unit credit hours Linearity Grades Subjects Learning to remember rather than learning to learn Education is expected to cure all with out concomitant resources

What Is Most Out of Whack? Assessment is misapplied with too many high-stakes low-yield tests and not enough low-stakes high-yield tests. The policy response is inadequate to the amount of change, the size of the challenge and the importance of the outcome.

Courseware 1: Each academic program has an articulated curriculum. 2: Each class has specified goals and objectives. 3: Standards and the method of assessment are agreed upon. 4: Student achievement level and learning style are assessed.

More Courseware Steps... 5: Learning and instruction plan is customized and matched to goals, objectives and student learning style. 6: Search for, acquire and develop courseware to meet the learning and instruction plans. 7: Training in the use of the courseware and courseware tools is delivered.

Final Courseware Steps 8: Courseware is delivered. 9: Continuous assessment based on standards is used to determine level of achievement of goals and objectives. 10--Results of the assessment are fed back into the curriculum articulation and writing process. Repeat the cycle.

Courseware Layers Experience, Information and Knowledge Objects Modules Units Courses or Competencies Degrees, Certificates and Documented Achievement

Digital ContentEssential Raw Material Why have states not mandated that all text books and educational materials purchased must be in both analog (paper) or digital form? Furthermore, since most of the cost of paper materials is NOT in the content development but in the manufacture and distribution, states should pay less for the digital copy and subscribe to updates like other software maintenance. If you feel lonely, put a trigger to make sure 10 or some number of states pass it before it goes into effect.

Searching for Optimal Efficiency and Quality Cost Lecture Personal Tutor Self-StudyBook Mode and level of personalization of delivery Discussion/Class Courseware Low High

Do What Students Do Games and simulation Mix, mash and create IM Txt Cell MP3/Podcasts Stream-of-consciousness surfing Blogging Collaborate Music TV DVDs Viral advertising

Where Can We Go From Here?

Data-Based Decisions Being able to see and use all allowable data in multiple formats: –Textual –Tabular –Spatial –Simulation The ability to know actual outcomes of programs from enterprise data and other private data sources.

What and Where Is Work and Who or What Does It? Human Race Workplace Workers Distributed Workers Outsourced Workers Crowd Sourced Workers Machine Race Computers and Robots Workplace Machines Distributed Machines Outsourced Machines Distributed Processing Work Play Neither and Both

Unbundling the Teaching Profession One job category Job description? Do it all and do it well. What does that mean? We need to face up to our teaching disabilities.

Job Description for a Teacher Teaching Assessment expert Diagnostic expert Curriculum designer Advisor Mentor Researcher/Writer Public servant Social worker Community and Parent Liaison Bureaucrat Policymaker Medical manager Content expert Technology integrator Disciplinarian Disability manager Secretary and data entry clerk And did I mention you have a life?

Converged Science Neuroscience –Psychometrics Biology Psychology –Communication and Persuasion Chemistry Physics How these will be applied to the teaching and learning process

Consider the Medical Model and Distributed Work How the health care work force is organized: –We pay doctors a lot but there is still a huge supporting cast of specialist and professionals. –They have insurance and customers shilling for them and occasionally annoying them. Consider how the converging sciences of information technology, neurology, assessment and so on can be used to diagnose successful and unsuccessful learning strategies and activities and vary how we approach education.

Converged Learning Management Student portfolios to document learning New evaluation methods The link between material use, brain research and real-time monitoring Diagnostics with physical capabilities Formative assessments can be: –Technology like Web Ex, Groupsystems.com, and audience response systems –Or cheap and simple Red dot, green dot A-E letters

The Old New Key Questions Who teaches it? What is taught? When is it taught? Where is it taught? Why is it taught? How is it taught? How do we measure teaching? Who learns it? What is learned? When is it learned? Where is it learned? Why is it learned? How is it learned? How do we measure learning?

Put Simply... What aspects of teaching and learning do we want to: –Augment? –Replace? –Automate? –Decentralize? –Reform?

Example: Note Taking Is this the reason we go to school? It is the most practiced act. Granted: it has the benefit for some learners of reinforcing and as a memory aid. It is not part of the curriculum, evaluated, credited, improved. Alternatives –Notes in advance –Lecture capture, preview, or synopses –Real-time voice to text –Moving on to the next level of discourse rather than recording the sage on the stage

Questions and Answers Policy implications Practice recommendations Product recommendations

Richard J. H. Varn Questions and Answers

Education Technology Objectives Classroom and Institution Management –You want the grading and paperwork processes of teaching to be easier and more automated. –You want learners and their families to be able to do self-service on classroom and institutional processes. –You want to know more about your learners before they show up for class. You want to know the results of your specific programs and effort with as much cause and effect analysis as possible. –You want your results based system to roll its results up to various mandated reports like NCLB and to teachers, researchers, educational leaders, policy makers and the public.

Education Technology Objectives Better Lectures and Presentations –You want to hold the attention of learners during lectures and presentations and appropriately use various media to enhance learning rather than just entertain. Reflect Work Conditions –You want your learners to learn using the same tools, techniques and systems they will use in the workplace.

Education Technology Objectives Remediation –You want to spend less class time on bringing everyone up to the same level and on addressing general study skill issues, subject matter gaps and literacy problems.

Education Technology Objectives Technical Training –You want learners to learn to use tools and systems that are not in themselves part of the curriculum by using self-paced, virtual and hands-on tutorials. Customized Learning –You want use technology to match the teaching and learning methods and materials to be tailored to the individual knowledge, skills, learning styles and objectives of each learner.

Education Technology Objectives Diagnostic Model of Education –You want to use brain research, assessment, real time feedback and (if it becomes commonly available) physical indication of learning activity in the brain to know if a learner is in fact learning and responds accordingly. Extended Learning –You want the exceptional and the motivated learners to go beyond what is required in the class or program and beyond what you have time to teach them.

Education Technology Objectives Self-Directed Learners –You want learners who can and will learn on their own to be able to do so and receive credit for what they learn. You want to be able to spend more time being a mentor, motivator, creator, guide, evaluator and/or expert learner.

Education Technology Objectives Collaborative Learning –You want your learners to work in collaborative teams and networks that are not bound by the walls and grounds of your location. More Learning –You want your learners to learn more than previously possible through print technology and gain greater mastery over the subject matter.

Education Technology Objectives More Cost-Effective Learning –You want learning the amount of learning per dollar spent to be greater.

Education Technology Objectives Differentiating Roles and Specializing –You want to allow each person to focus more on the more narrowly defined role, specialize, and improve the quality of their work on their areas of expertise (e.g., assessment, curriculum development, discussion, administrative processes, lecture, mentoring, counseling, etc.) and use technology to help free up time and reorganize the work to make this possible.

Education Technology Objectives Virtual Reality –You want to be able to simulate real environments that are too dangerous, expensive and/or remote to provide at your school.

Education Technology Objectives Courseware Development –You want to do what was once only the province of textbook companies, moviemakers and computer specialists: make multimedia courseware.

Education Technology Objectives Reach New Markets –You want to export your unique and high quality programs into areas beyond the magic 30-minute, 30-mile barrier.

Education Technology Objectives Expand Offerings –You want to be able to increase your offerings beyond what is possible and/or affordable with conventional educational delivery systems. You want to do this to attract and keep more students and increase the value of your programs.

Education Technology Objectives Survival –You want to make sure you are not bypassed by other delivery systems and that your school is equal to or better than the competition in the use and availability of education materials and information technology.