Miracles You’ll See In The Next Fifty Years

Google self-driving car has no steering wheel or brake If you're uneasy at the idea of riding in a vehicle that drives itself, just wait till you see Google's new car. It has no gas pedal, no brake and no steering wheel. Google has been demonstrating its driverless technology for several years by retrofitting Toyotas, Lexuses and other cars with cameras and sensors. But now, for the first time, the company has unveiled a prototype of its own: a cute little car that looks like a cross between a VW Beetle and a golf cart. "They won't have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal ... because they don't need them," Google said Tuesday in a blog post introducing the unnamed electric vehicles. How 3-D Printing Will Change Education Also known as rapid prototyping, 3-D printing is a technology that allows users to create three-dimensional physical products from a digital file. Each product is created one layer at a time, using an inkjet-like process that sprays a bonding agent onto a very thin layer of fixable powder. The bonding agent can be applied very accurately to build an object from the bottom up, layer by layer. The process even accommodates moving parts within the object.

Wearable Technology: will education look very different in the future? Wearable technology certainly seems to be gaining ground with many getting very excited about the variety of devices coming on the market. Whether it's a smart wrist watch, e.g. the Samsung Gear, smart glasses, e.g. Google Glass, or a device that turns your palm into a touch screen, e.g. the Fin, they are creating one of the fastest growing markets in 2014 with predicted growth according to the IDC study, Worldwide Wearable Computing Device 2014-2018 Forecast and Analysis, of 78.4%. Those using these devices at the moment would certainly call themselves early adopters, but with IDC predicting 19 million units being shipped this year their use is becoming much wider than with just the early adopters.

3D Printers in Education Why have 3D printers in the classroom? It is evident that 3D Printing has a place in the classroom and will continue to have a significant impact in education. The question one needs to ask, is how does one determine which printer is best suited to learning and teaching. As with any piece of technology, it is important to consider the ease of setup and operation, reliability and product support. When children use 3D printers, they have a mindset for better learning, one where it was okay to make mistakes.

Four Ways Schools Will Be Different in 10 Years Over the course of the last several hundred years, very little has changed with respect to schools. Sure, there have been minor tweaks like the switch from blackboards to dry erase boards, and the addition of computers and projectors. Today, however, we find ourselves on the precipice of several seismic shifts in education that will completely transform the way teachers educate and the way children experience the classroom. Here are EdWorld’s best predictions regarding ways in which schools are likely to be dramatically different 10 years from now: Documentary 'Print the Legend' Goes Inside the World of 3D Printing The genesis of and challenges to the 3D-printing revolution are subjects that take center stage in a new documentary called Print the Legend. From directors Clay Tweel and Luis Lopez (Freakonomics), the film sets out to act as a "'time capsule' of a nascent industry," Tweel told Mashable. "The result is both a look inside a compelling new technology, and hopefully, a story about the challenges of growing any type of business, and facing the moral dilemmas our marketplace presents."

The Inside-Out School: A 21st Century Learning Model The Inside-Out School: A 21st Century Learning Model by Terry Heick As a follow-up to our 9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning we developed in 2009, we have developed an updated framework, The Inside-Out Learning Model. The goal of the model is simple enough–not pure academic proficiency, but instead authentic self-knowledge, diverse local and global interdependence, adaptive critical thinking, and adaptive media literacy. By design this model emphasizes the role of play, diverse digital and physical media, and a designed interdependence between communities and schools.

9 Characteristics Of 21st Century Learning The label of “21st Century learning” is vague, and is an idea that we here at TeachThought like to take a swing at as often as possible, including: –weighing the magic of technology with its incredible cost and complexity –underscoring the potential for well thought-out instructional design –considering the considerable potential of social media platforms against its apparent divergence from academic learning Some educators seek out the ideal of a 21st century learning environment constantly, while others prefer that we lose the phrase altogether, insisting that learning hasn’t changed, and good learning looks the same whether it’s the 12th or 21st century. At TeachThought, we tend towards the tech-infused model, but do spend time exploring the limits and challenges of technology, the impact of rapid technology change, and carefully considering important questions before diving in head-first.

Is Google Making Us Stupid? Illustration by Guy Billout "Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Top 10 emerging technologies for 2014 Technology has become perhaps the greatest agent of change in the modern world. While never without risk, positive technological breakthroughs promise innovative solutions to the most pressing global challenges of our time, from resource scarcity to global environmental change. However, a lack of appropriate investment, outdated regulatory frameworks and gaps in public understanding prevent many promising technologies from achieving their potential. The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies identifies recent key trends in technological change in its annual list of Top 10 Emerging Technologies. By highlighting the most important technological breakthroughs, the Council aims to raise awareness of their potential and contribute to closing gaps in investment, regulation and public understanding. For 2014, the Council identified ten new technologies that could reshape our society in the future.

7 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2014 Technology trends in both higher ed and K-12 classrooms continue to evolve and transform traditional learning environments. New learning analytics, mobile devices, open online learning, and 3D printers are some of the many Educational technology trends to be on the lookout for in 2014. Here’s a detailed discussion. 1) 3D Printing Google's Prototype "Smart Contact Lens": Measuring Blood Glucose Levels for People with Diabetes - VisionAware Blog Earlier this year, Google unveiled a prototype "smart" contact lens to monitor blood glucose levels contained in human tears. The Smart Contact Lens Project, which had been percolating in the top-secret Google X lab for several years, debuted a potential, although long-term, solution for effective blood glucose control in people with diabetes. January 2014: Google Unveils the Smart Contact Lens Here is an excerpt from the January 2014 announcement, via the official Google blog: You've probably heard that diabetes is a huge and growing problem—affecting one in every 19 people on the planet. But you may not be familiar with the daily struggle that many people with diabetes face as they try to keep their blood sugar levels under control.

A 2020 Vision: Education in the next two decades A 2020 Vision:Education in the next two decades James Levin University of Illinois