AutoDesk – Fighting For Education And Innovation
An article from the international CAD software company’s Chief of Education, released in February, is stating the great importance of the next generations correct education. He fervently states that it is not only the use of new technologies we need to teach as they become implemented more and more in educational settings, but the need for the understanding of how the technology works. Otherwise, we could leave a generation that can perfectly well use the technologies, but can’t innovate nor even fix the products.
The Chief of Education at AutoDesk, the producers of AutoCAD, states that part of the problem is that unlike just a few decades ago, people are not learning what is behind the box, i.e. how it functions. We instead go to a professional or manufacturer to fix our products as they get more and more complex. Although this does mean we usually get our product back in one piece, we are not learning how technologies work, nor passing on the interest in learning how technologies work to our future generations. He simply puts it that youngsters are not as ‘curious’ as they once were, which could possibly harm the future generations ability to innovate.
A future generation without innovation or the skills to fix products could be potentially disastrous. It could leave many de-skilled and unable to create and design elements, which could be important to our lives in the next 50 year’s time. Thus, it is up to the education industry to make those important decisions that produce a better education system, where people can rediscover their wonder for innovation and understand how technologies work. It is also up to us as a society to adapt education to our new needs and the new brilliant minds of this generation and the next, which are our future.
A Second Life For Educators
An interview with Berry Beattie, a lecturer in Leadership and Organizational Behaviour who is exploring the potential of Second Life as a medium for educators.
We are sitting in Berry’s “office”, which consists of some loungers on a tropical beach. The sound of lapping waves and the cry of seagulls can be heard in the background. Berry is relaxed, dressed in his swimming trunks. He is in his early forties with a tall and bronzed body.
Q: How long have you been in Second Life, Berry, and how would you describe the experience
Berry: I first entered SL in late February of 2007. I happened to read about it twice in one day: in a computer magazine and then in the magazine of the Institute of Directors. This made me think that there was something here to be explored, so I downloaded the software, entered SL and have been here ever since. It’s been a fascinating journey so far in terms of the psychological and sociological aspects, as well as the creativity which can be seen all around. It’s incredibly absorbing to form part of the creation of a new society, a new way of developing relationships.
5 Reasons to Use Mobile Technology for Education
Being an educator today is very exciting. It is 2011. We have rolled over to a new year and there are so many educational opportunities on the horizon. Today’s technological advances are as monumental as the world-changing inventions of paper or the printing press. Information is dispensed at increasingly rapid speeds.
However, the speed and methods we use to absorb information has not changed, but our access to it and the ways that we interact with that information has changed greatly.
As human beings, we continue to process information the same way that we always have – through our 5 senses. For education, we usually rely upon our eyes, ears and sense of touch. If you own a smartphone or mobile device (especially an iPad), you hold an incredible educational tool in your hands. Why, you ask? Because it is interactive and multi-sensory.
