Star Trek a valóságban

The Usability Lab, tucked away inside the offices of the Active Learning in Computing group at Durham University in the north of England, is a schoolchild's dream. In one corner, a giant glass table with a tactile computer interface blinks to life, inviting pupils to move icons around with their fingers. Against a wall are two huge, white boxes that look like control panels from Star Trek, with screens showing still water resting on grey pebbles. To the delight of the children who have been lucky enough to test the system, touching the display sends ripples through the water.
Software engineer Andrew Hatch hopes to further extend these technologies by creating multi-touch desks, giving children the opportunity to work together in teams on interactive classroom projects.
Hatch's research combines his engineering skills with his passion for improving education, a passion all 20 members of Durham's Active Learning in Computing group share. „There was a time when most schools had a single computer and wheeled it around to each classroom. Today, technology is part of their natural, breathing life,” says group director Elizabeth Burd. „What I want to do is take all the best parts out of different styles of classrooms. There's too much expectation on the teacher to deliver, and with more active skills, children learn better. Our approach is that knowledge is there to be found by students, not to be learned.”
According to the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, schools and colleges are investing heavily in technologies such as those being created at Durham, which may be driving an increase in opportunities for researchers. The field is highly interdisciplinary, requiring the expertise of not only scientists like Hatch but also education experts and psychologists.
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_01_02/caredit.a0900003

IT3 komment:

A technológiai előrejelzések egyik leggyakoribb témája az oktatás jövője, s annak legplasztikusabb megjelenítése az elkövetkezendő évek osztályterme. A világ különböző pontjain, szerteágazó profilú kutatóközpontokban igyekeznek megfogalmazni az irányokat és lehetőségeket. Két dologban, a technológia és az interaktivitás – a kreatív, aktív tanulás –, (s a kettő együttes) szerepének a növekedésében azonban az összes szakember egyetért. A szép elképzelések megvalósulásához, kezdeti lépésként a mainál „okosabb”, szimultán több személy által kezelhető felhasználói felületek szükségesek.