| Issue Number 10 |
January,
2009
|
This free Information Age Education Newsletter is written by David Moursund and produced by Ken Loge. For more information, see the end of this newsletter. Its goal is to help improve education.
The previous issue of this newsletter provided some information about Alan Kay, an ICT in education pioneer. This issue provides information about another such pioneer, Douglas Engelbart. [See http://iae-pedia.org/Douglas_Engelbart.] He is best known for inventing the mouse.
Looking Back
The first electronic digital computers were developed starting in the
late 1930s, and first became commercially available in the early 1950s.
Douglas Engelbart was a navy radar technician 1944–1946. In 1955 he
earned a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from
the University of California, Berkley. Thus, his background and early
career were solidly entrenched in both the practice and theory of
analog and digital electronics. In 1957, Engelbart began work at the Stanford Research Institute. There, in 1959, he founded and directed a lab named the Augmentation Research Center. Quoting from the Wikipedia:
“In 1967, Engelbart applied for, and in 1970 he received a patent for the wooden shell with two metal wheels (computer mouse U.S. Patent 3,541,541), describing it in the patent application as an "X-Y position indicator for a display system". Engelbart later revealed that it was nicknamed the "mouse" because the tail came out the end. His group also called the on-screen cursor a "bug," but this term was not widely adopted.
Looking at More Current
Times
Engelbart’s early work contributed significantly to the development of
interactive online computing, the Internet, and the discipline of
human-machine interface. Nowadays, we take bit-mapped graphics,
networks, the Internet, and various aspects of human-machine
interface—such as the mouse and touch screens—for granted. Our children
grow up with these facilities, and they learn to use them with little
or not formal education or training in school. This is a very important idea. Any tool embodies some of the knowledge and skill of its inventors and designers. One person or a small group of people can develop a tool or an area of technology that greatly changes the world. In some cases, it takes considerable education or training for a person to learn to make effective use of a new tool. In other cases, the tool and some of its uses are sufficiently “transparent” that a person can learn by imitating others, or discover uses without the aid of a teacher.
For an example, consider reading and writing versus the telephone. It takes a long time to learn to read and write at a level that meets contemporary standards. However, young children learn to make effective use of a telephone. You may have noticed that our schools do not have courses on the “rapid two thumb method” of text messaging on a cell phone.
Computer graphics provides an interesting example that lies someplace between the two example given above. Very young children can learn to use simple graphics tools that are built into various toys or that are designed for young children to use on a computer (such as Kid Pix). But, the professional level of digital graphics routinely used in the graphics arts and entertainment industries take a long time to master and tend to require a high level of creative artistic ability.
Looking into the Future
Year by year, computer systems are getting better. Many of their uses
require very little formal education. A GPS system provides an
excellent example. It no longer takes “higher” math and learning to use
complex instruments to be able to find out where you are and how to get
to where you want to go.
The human-machine interface problem
is being worked on by a lot of very smart, well educated, and
well-trained people. Voice output from a computer is commonplace, and
voice input is becoming more and more useful. Direct stimulation of
nerves (including neurons) by computer systems is no longer uncommon,
and direct control of computers by one’s thoughts is making progress.
And, think about how a user provides input to a computer when using a
Wii game.
Moreover, an increasing part of the totality of
human knowledge is being codified in a form to aid in its retrieval and
use. Both people and machines are involved in retrieving and using
knowledge stored in computer systems. The computer systems are
gradually getting smarter in helping people to solve problems and
accomplish tasks. Much of this effort is directed toward providing
computer systems that people can learn to use without the benefit of
formal coursework on using a particular computer tool.
However,
reading, writing, creativity, and higher-order thinking and problem
solving are still indispensible. For most people, this means that many
years of formal schooling—along with continued learning after one
leaves school—are still indispensible.
About Information Age
Education, Inc.
Information Age Education is a non-profit organization
dedicated to
improving education for learners of all ages throughout the world. IAE
is a project of the Science Factory, a 501(c)(3) science and technology
museum located in Eugene, Oregon. Current IAE activities include a Wiki
with address http://IAE-pedia.org,
a Website containing free books and articles at http://I-A-E.org,
and the free newsletter you are now reading.
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