3.3: Technologies
Technologies To Empower 21st Century Learning Other Information:
Technologies to Empower 21st Century Learning -- In the NITRD vision, IT capabilities yet to be invented will play as critical
a role in education as existing IT capabilities already play in advanced scientific discovery. Today's notions of "learning
technologies" will give way to concepts informed by new knowledge about the bio-chemistry of the human brain and about how
the human mind develops and acquires, stores, and uses information in perceiving, thinking, and acting. Such advances in neuroscience,
and parallel gains in educational and socialscience research as well as in machine intelligence, will provide a basis for
learning systems tailored to individuals at every stage of cognitive development. The personalized learning system might,
for example, constantly capture and update all knowledge about how individuals best learn and retain information and operationalize
that knowledge in cyber tools customized for each learner. A set of cyber tools covering all domains of knowledge would be
made widely available. The key aspect of these advanced cyber technologies would be their ability, through interactions with
a specific individual, to adaptively recognize that person's particular characteristics as a learner and adjust the learning
experience accordingly. Teachers could spend more time coaching and counseling individuals and leading hands-on activities.
Where we are now -- while most U.S. schools have computers and Internet connectivity, the availability of this infrastructure
for teaching varies widely by school district and type of classroom. The increasing number of professional organizations of
teacher educators and practicing teachers interested in using technology indicates growing awareness of the IT potential,
and schools of education have incorporated IT in teacher training. Nonetheless, the K-12 system generally lags in making effective
use of digital capabilities. Research and education needs -- to realize the NITRD vision, fundamental explorations of the
basis and processes of human learning should be pursued aggressively. As noted elsewhere in this plan, expanded understanding
of how the mind works is a prerequisite for building smarter, more capable digital machines. In the context of education,
new multidisciplinary knowledge about human cognition and development likewise will be the basis for designing revolutionary
learning environments that meet the needs of individuals, whatever their location, age, socio-economic status, or educational
level. These systems will become possible through technical advances in such areas as artificial intelligence, human-machine
interfaces, visualization and virtual reality technologies, data analytics, compute power, networking, and distributed systems.
Educators appropriately equipped to work with technologies for learning will also be necessary.
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