Too protective by half?
Science fiction writers would have us believe that intelligent machines will either enslave us or get rid of human beings altogether. But what if they were extremely benign and protective towards us? What could possibly go wrong?
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Reflecting, by Terry Freedman
A question: is Cognitive Load Theory another example of the emperor’s new clothes?
Read MoreThe writer does an excellent job of both reflecting the annoyance of dealing with a computer program that has no flexibility as well as no intelligence, and highlighting the need for programs to invite human input when the consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic.
Read MoreOne of the well-known tropes in science fiction — especially the sort of sci-fi you see in comics and superhero films — is the mad scientist.
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In The Snowball Effect, by Katherine Maclean, the focus is on mathematics, or an innovation called “social mathematics” to be accurate. This probably sounds rather dry, but it was really quite prescient.
Read MoreThere’s something a bit “iffy” about inserting an advert into a programme that wasn’t there originally.
Read MoreWhat if an amazing technology like time travel were used purely and simply as a form of punishment?
Read MoreFrom an educational point of view, we should encourage students to work out which form of writing is most appropriate for the job in hand, not encouraging them to drop one type of writing all together.
Read More<UPDATED> I especially worry about the displacement of subjects like art, drama, music, history and geography, all of which are vitally important but which seem to be treated as the poor cousins in the curriculum. Yes, STEAM is better than STEM, but it’s not enough.
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Coming soon…
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Discussing, by Terry Freedman.png
If you are willing and able to engage your class in discussions about the ed tech issues of the day, recent events in the USA provide rich pickings.
Read MoreWhat might it be like to be able to write an article straight from your head?
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Robot Reporter, by Terry Freedman
The Guardian newspaper has published an article “written” almost entirely by AI. How worried should writers be?
Read MoreI’ve gone slightly off-topic with this book review, but I thought it provided an interesting thesis which may be useful to consider as part of bigger picture than only technology.
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Will the advent of fully autonomous cars herald the end of the road movie? Is that another way in which technology could affect culture?
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Reflections
My reflections on a first session I taught on a teacher training course are still apposite today.
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Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman
How might you use fiction as a vehicle for teaching computational thinking? Here are some ideas.
Read MoreDoes it matter if articles are written by an algorithm?
Read MoreShould we be polite to virtual assistants?
Read MoreThe problem referred to in the title may be summarised as: who ya gonna kill? The car is hurtling along the road when a child steps out in front of it. The car is faced with a dilemma: kill the child, or the pedestrian waiting to cross the road, who would be in the car's path should it swerve to avoid the child. Terry Freedman explains why this whole thing is a red herring.
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