This post informed by, among other posts/sites:
McGraw-Hill to Debut Adaptive E-Book for Students
So, tell me if I’m missing something here:
Before too long, schools will figure out how to put technology into the hands of every student and teacher, whether that’s via a BYOT program or budget allocations that cover the price of a device considering the fast reduction in cost. (Is a robust, $100 or less tablet really more than five years away? Laptop?) Schools will also begin to contract with data collection/analytics services that begin to capture every keystroke of every user in the school, delivering real time data on student progress, interests, time allocations, and about a million other things that may or may not be interesting and relevant. Sooner rather than later, these data analytics services, drawing on a global repository of “learning content” in various formats, begin to deliver “personalized” lessons covering required concept and skill mastery to each learner based on the immediate needs and “what works best” for that learner in any given moment. Textbooks become unnecessary. The services do constant, competency based assessment through the curriculum aligned with standards, remediating as required, rendering cumulative, standardized tests unnecessary. Grades give way to levels achieved.
As students age, data-driven, virtual “learning assistants” take on much of the job of providing resources and content based on individual interests, and needs, throughout school and beyond. As learners begin to explore topics through searches, these “assistants”, working off of a life’s worth of keystrokes, deliver the most “appropriate” content and connections within a few moments. If asked, they instantly plan a “curriculum” to learn whatever the student is interested in learning, and suggest the most relevant communities to join and experts to interact with. These virtual assistants are networked as well, easily able to find other leaners with similar interests or needs from anywhere to connect them and create spaces for collaboration and further study. Throughout the process, students earn badges of expertise and automatically publish an online, transparent portfolio of artifacts and contributions in order to earn their influence as experts.
This continues throughout life, with assistants offering suggestions for all sorts of things, meals, vacations, webinars, books to read, etc. all based on the analysis of literally billions of keystrokes, actions and decisions we make in digital spaces moving forward.
Something like that is almost here…
Interested in your thoughts and tweaks.