Quite glad that that will never happen in the foreseeable future (if ever)!

Tom

I used to drive a lot (500 km + a day) before I came to CH, before the days of gps (read electronic maps and navigation) and I can't imagine how much easier that would have been with the technology now.


I don't drive much any more (maybe 1-2 times a year), but if I had to do that much, it would definitely change my life.


It's very amazing where technology has gone in the last couple decades, we're (some of us ) are lucky to be that generation who knew what it was like before the internet and after.


It's hard to see how things will develop in the next couple decades. Some analysts are pretty spot on, and hopefully they can help design pedagogic methods to embrace this.


Otherwise we'll have another generation of teacher quotes along the lines of: "You won't always have a calculator in your pocket", or maybe even "You are wasting your time on social media".

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My neighbour takes great mountain photos but he does get up at 02:00 to be in the right place to take those dawn mountain scenes.

Of course you have to have people create content for youtube and google, what I am saying is that youtube and google make information available, and that was not always the case. For example if I want to learn about 3d printing I can learn everything I need to know without going to school/college or attending any kind of course. I can find out who makes the printers, how much they are, what people think of them, what alternatives there are, what materials can be used plus what people are making with them, where to get print files etc, etc.

Computers have replaced millions of people in work already and that will only increase in the future and at a much faster pace. This doesn't mean it has to be a dystopian world ala hollywood would have you believe, but it drastically changes the workplace and changes also the value of education.

There is a long list of medical jobs that currently you need a degree and considerable training for, that are in danger of disappearing altogether.

The robots are coming, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

(and google maps has pretty much replaced paper maps for most people)

EDIT: After I posted this I stayed on the page and at the top was a big banner advert for ......3d drucker from 3d-drucker.org
This ad was placed there by machine learning algorithms which are continually updating themselves and becoming better and better.
The original algorithm had human input, as did the original web page design, but that advert appeared without a single interaction from a human, based on the content of what I had typed into this forum.

...and the Chinese have a robot newsreader who looks/acts/sounds amazingly realistic.

This might be true for you as a grown up adult and experienced working man/woman. You already posses a lot of procedural and situational knowledge. Young kids and teenagers don't. If they are let loose on the internet without any guidelines by educators, they just loose themselves.

While I absolutely love, love, love getting quick answers to anything without even picking up a phone or a book while in the middle of fixing, preparing, translating, constructing or what ever something and having forgotten about or lacking knowledge of a detail ....

..... if google or youtube were bankrupt and off the net, I could still produce, prepare, repaire, find the places I want to get to, translate etc. etc.

Can everybody these days?

I think you are underestimating kids. 10 year olds are now googling their homework without help from parents (not ideal, and not to be recommended). This is why playing is so important for kids, they work things out for themselves pretty well. Technology/internet is just another thing that they work out....

I don't use a navi and never have. I know what I know and there is plenty that I don't

Turn the internet off for a week and society would completely break down. I don't mean infrastructure, things still need to work, but kill general public internet access (like they just did in DRC for example) and in the western world there would be chaos.

They are let loose on the internet, as it is. Those who support the downtime of kids - nobody is arguing against it. But. Downtime these days often means being let loose on the internet. So I support parents who still think that having other adults invest in the quality of kids' life/thinking/info processing is better than having kids zone out on cell apps/games or whatever. I agree that those adults who show their interest, matter. It doesn't matter in the end if it is kicking a ball outside or telling kids how one became a cook/manager/etc. or help them write a book. I am against any human being micromanaging anyone, but a support group casually meeting can be far from that. OP I'd organize it as an exchange, kids will like it better and they are right in that. They know many things better than us. I can ask for you and tell you their verdict

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Yes but they are just reproducing knowledge(best case) if not just copying stuff together. And the teacher already did a lot of didactical work with the wording and sequence of the questions, giving them said structure and guidelanes.
Stuff like "Flipped classroom" really can work, but the children need to be primed and guided by professionals.

I'm in the process of writing a school intern chemistry wikipedia for lab technicians (They write it). My first try with a class was a mess at the beginning, they found a lot of good quality sources, but had no chance to classify into relevant and irevelant information.

It's not difficult to keep your kids off screens during down time. You don't have to hover over them to risk them "zoning out". Switch the WiFi off or set up the screen-time restriction. Takes about 5 mins of whining and cajoling then they've set themselves up with something to do off the shelf or have shrugged on a jacket and gone out to find kids also sans electronics.

Or their wifi.

Unless they've got WiFi on the nearby footie field, I doubt it...

They are googling other people's versions of their homework to pass off as their own. Plagiarism is a massive problem. Students "learn" how to locate information, they don't always then value or learn from it.


Elu - yes flipped learning can be excellent indeed, once students are trained and can understand the value.

Thanks MusicChick. you formulated it very clear.
I will try to move forward with the idea and make some more concrete actions.

When my daughter did electricity in Physics the basic Battery-Switch-Lamp experiments were all done with a virtual reality lab software (i.e. no real battery, switch, lamp, wires or voltmeter/ammeter) which told the student that they had connected the circuit incorrectly if they made a mistake.

I was flabbergasted. I grabbed some crocodile leads, a battery, some lamps, and switches and my voltmeter and walked through the basics of series and parallel, and showed her how to measure voltagedrop, current etc, and how to calculate the third value when you could only measure two.

When we were done she asked if she could take the stuff into school with her... the instructor had blown up the powersupply when he went to demonstrate the first experiment with real stuff on the first day of their electricity "epoche".

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If everyone you know agrees with you consistently, they are either not listening, or not capable of critical thought.

Talking about functioning/living without internet.
I called cablecom this morning, told them I have no internet since Saturday morning.
He called out: "Since Saturday morning?!" It sounded like "and you're still alive?!"

It's not that there are no hotspots via handy but yeah, a week-end mainly off the internet is absolutely enjoyable.
And I got quite a few things done and fixed just because I knew how to.

Well, I had once a kind of similar experience while waiting in one of the embassies (I think it was the US one) where they take your mobile phone in the entrance.
Initially I felt like my arm was amputated (a friend who`s a teacher mentioned once that teenagers feel that the mobile phone is an integral part of their body... ).
but then I found it was quite relaxing time and could enjoy some moments of peace.
btw, I wonder how you managed the things that you don't know how to fix?

Trial and error