cray supercomputer

Computers continue to increase in power while dropping in cost

At a dinner speech in Anchorage, Alaska a few years ago I heard Alan Kay (then a Fellow at Apple Computer) talk about how wonderful it is for students he works with to have access to a Cray supercomputer. A teacher sitting next to me said, "I don't even know why I am here -- I'll never have that much computing power in my classroom." I cautioned him: "Watch out for words like 'never'."

A 1980 model Cray supercomputer was the fastest machine of its day. It cost $12 million, weighed 10,000 lbs, consumed 150 kW of electricity -- and had only 8 MB of RAM and operated at a speed of 80 MHz.

You can't find personal computers that poorly equipped on the market now. A typical personal computer today has about twice the raw power of this $12 million Cray, and can be purchased for $2,500. This trend of increased power at lower cost is likely to continue well into the next century. The driving force for this change is the continued advancement in silicon chip technology.

future of internet searches

This is what I wish the internet search will be able to do with a mobile device in the NEAR future. Touch screen, built in camera, scanner, WiFi, google map (hopefully google earth), google search, image search… all in one device. Like this way, when you can see a building through it, it gives you the image search result right on the spot.
Choose a building and touch a floor and it tells you more details of the building.
Well, it doesn’t have to be a building, but it can be any object you see. You can use it when you want to know a car model, an insect name, what kind of food is served at a restaurant and how much, who built a bridge, etc. etc. But as a designer myself, I hope it’s able to tell me a name of a font of the type I see, the size, color (in RGB), and so on.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://petitinvention.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/future_search4-1_petitinvention.jpg&imgrefurl=http://petitinvention.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/future-of-internet-search-mobile-version/&usg=__agOozbk2vNpm7VlAkatw-vsmPC8=&h=500&w=500&sz=154&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=kyFZktFDcONqEM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfuture%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B2DVFB_enUS259US259%26um%3D1

New Technology In the Classroom

At the ninth annual Instructional Technology Showcase, Duke faculty shared their successes using new technologies to teach classes in a wide variety of disciplines.

The event – which drew more than 200 attendees from across Duke and other local universities to Perkins/Bostock and the Link – included a series of presentations aimed at highlighting creative classroom uses of technology. Among the sessions:

-- Distance education using a virtual School of Nursing developed in Second Life.

-- A class project to develop a multimedia mapping kit for Duke Engage students.

-- The use of student-produced video to build language skills and cultural understanding in French cinematography.

-- An initiative that matched student writers with alumni and Duke staff to provide real-life feedback.

-- Emerging tools for capturing and delivering lectures online.

-- A Duke-developed computer simulation that trains students in international conflict resolution.

More ideas are forthcoming from faculty, according to organizers from theCenter for Instructional Technology (CIT). Through the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) – a collaboration between CIT and Duke’s Office of Information Technology – they hope to inspire faculty and students to explore new ways of creating and sharing digital media.

No More Paper!

PAPER WASTE NO MORE

Ed Sherretta, department chairman of the business and computer science department at Hatboro- Horsham (Pennsylvania) High School, has led the effort there to create a paperless school. "It's easy to find something on the Web and hit the print button," said Sherretta. The effort to go paperless is designed to raise awareness, he said.

School officials estimated that each of the 20 classes at Hatboro-Horsham used nearly 500 sheets of paper a week.

The idea of a paperless school was first entertained at a tree-planting ceremony on the school grounds. The desire to save trees and the ecology prompted, in part, the push for eliminating paper from the classroom.

Sherretta said the paperless initiative began with basic awareness programs to promote ideas for the digital distribution of data. Students and teachers now use network folders to collect and distribute anything from tests to homework over the school's intranet. Teachers receive morning bulletins and important documents electronically.

Online attendance could be available in the future also, Sherretta said. He acknowledges, however, that security needs to be tighter for something like grades to be available over the public Internet.

Future of Classrooms

Advanced Classroom:

Objective:

The advanced classroom will include all the technology of a basic classroom plus be

configurable as separate rooms (similar to Estrella Mountain’s Center for Teaching and

Learning). One of the smaller rooms will be setup for videotaping and direct access to

MCTV along with holographic display capabilities. The rooms will have tables, wireless

access and a large video screen. Each table will be wired for polling while be still being

movable.

The room will include a secure area capable of storing laptops for distribution to the

students. The room will be equipped to handle distance-learning classes with live video

broadcast capability and a wide variety of science classes. The room also will be used for

seminars, workshops and a wide variety of special events.

Equipment List:

• Wireless Internet Access

• Projection: Overhead Projector or Digital screen built into the wall for each

section of the room.

• Computing System: Instructor Computer or Computer Docking station with all

the connections.

• DVD / CD / Cable TV access (through projection system)

• Pad Camera

• Laptops for each table (stored in a secure area for distribution)

• Printer

• Video cameras for TV based distance education programs

• Holographic Display system (capable of 3D representations of people or objects

• Tables and Chairs:

The tables and chairs will be movable for different types of collaboration. The

tables can be rectangular or circular in shape. The room can be divided into

several rooms or opened for large group interaction.

Classes via Podcast?

Beth Ritter-Guth, Professor of English and Gender Studies at LehighCarbon Community College (LCCC), is the hippest prof on campus. Withevery class, she entices students to learn by employing a technologymany own and most admire: the iPod.
Ritter-Guth has implemented podcasting in all of her classes: Sherecords her lectures, then makes them available on iTunes and on herblogspot for students to download at a later time. "I see a need toprepare our students for future communication expectations," saysRitter-Guth. "These tools will be standard tools in the future."
Podcasts make excellent study tools and are used to disseminateextra information. "Podcasting also adds a new dimension to onlinelearning; it makes the online classroom more personal," saysRitter-Guth. LCCC is one of the only colleges in the area to includethis technology in its educational base.
In addition, Ritter-Guth hasteamed up with Dr. Jean-Claude Bradley of Drexel University,Philadelphia, to create an online cross-college program for sciencewriters. "The UsefulChem Writing Partners[www.inblogs.net/usefulchemwritingpartners/] is meant to help emergingtechnical writers work with and disseminate information aboutcomplicated scientific material," Ritter-Guth says. "We all can add tothe rich environment of knowledge by sharing our ways of telling thetale or painting the picture."

http://www.lccc.edu/about-lccc/press-releases/2007-press-releases/lccc-professor-advances-education-through-technology-ipods-not-just-for-tunes/

Visions for the Future of Education

As Yogi Berra once observed, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." Even so, there are some clear trends in American society today that are likely to have long-term consequences. Since one of the major roles of education is to prepare students for life in the next century, an awareness of these trends by educators and policy makers is essential if our educational system is to achieve its objectives.

http://www.tcpd.org/thornburg/Handouts/2020visions.html