By Sylvia Carr, 31 January 2007 14:00
NEWS
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has laid out a vision for how technology is going to transform education, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown emphasised how IT can help the UK face the challenges of globalisation.
Speaking at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in Edinburgh, Gates said: "We need to be humble in making predictions of how technology will affect education" - because people made big predictions about how TVs, video tapes and software would influence education that haven't come true, he said.
But Gates believes the reasons people choose great universities or schools - access to professors' lectures, the ability to discuss issues with other students and the need to attend classes to gain a degree - will all be changed by technology.
Lectures will be distributed for free over the internet, students will hold discussions at a distance in chatrooms, and testing and accreditation will happen online for people anywhere in the world, Gates explained.
He said: "Technology allows for more specialisation and improvement [in education]."
The role of the teacher is still fundamental to learning, Gates stressed, but more effort must be put into training teachers in IT - and more tools must be created for them - for instance software which could help them create curriculum from online sources.
As part of its educational efforts, Microsoft announced it is expanding its Innovative Schools programme - which helps local partners modernise schools - into the UK and 11 other countries including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Sweden.
In the UK Microsoft has been working with local authorities in Kent, Knowsley, Lewisham, Sandwell and Sheffield to integrate technology into educational institutions.
Damian Allen, executive director of Children's Services at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, said Microsoft created "a clear roadmap to improve operations, learning, and communication between the classroom and home through the use of technology".
Also today at the Government Leaders Forum, the Chancellor spoke about the role technology can play in improving education so the country can remain competitive in the face of globalisation.
Brown said: "Liberating technology makes it possible to say every person can and should enjoy the advantage of education."
A global economy in which people are more connected than ever before is becoming more of a reality each day, he said - and to prepare government must promote innovation.
He added: "The answer is not protectionism. The answer is not turning back the clock... but to invest more in science, technology and creative industries."
Brown also stressed the need to include the whole population in this change - and not widen the digital divide. He asked: "How can we make technological innovation work for not just some of the people but all of the people?"
Comments
There are 9 comments. Join the discussion
1. Ken Rigby
Make broadband free for everyone.
2. anonymous
A healthy skepticism from the next Prime Minister.
His comments suggest he's not quite as desperate to secure a non-executive directorship of Microsoft as the incumbent.
Only time will tell...
3. Steve Scott
As an educator I would simply be grateful for existing Microsoft software to be more usable and consistent - the ability to pass information between PowerPoint and Word transparently without scrambling, consistent interfaces to products to ease teaching, PowerPoint notes showing up in Explorer when a file is opened.....
Let's sort out the basics before changing the world?
4. John Martins
Same bs as usual - somebody looks at the billions spent on education and thinks 'I could have some of that' without having the foggiest idea what education is, what children are like, what the finished product is or what difficulties there are in achieving it. They would run a mile from a real adolescent.
I work in educational IT - and i want kids - my kids, your kids - to have access to computers because they are a really useful tool. I also want them to have access to footballs, musical instruments, art materials, school journeys.. and above all, exposure to lots and lots of interesting human beings. Computers are about 1% of the resources - but the people who buy lunch for the government want us to think they can be 99%
5. D Fletcher
"Lectures will be distributed for free over the internet..."
It's a big assumption that there will be sufficient remaining bandwith for this application - after a large chunk has been taken by the botnets of compromised computers running operating systems provided by you know who.
6. Lionel A Smith
'Brown also stressed the need to include the whole population in this change - and not widen the digital divide. He asked: "How can we make technological innovation work for not just some of the people but all of the people?"'
By avoiding reliance on those expensive products, that by their very nature require extra spend on security, from vendors who like to use their clients as cash-cows whilst telling them what they can and cannot do on their systems is the answer to that question.
7. Roger Huffadine
More bollocks from Brown and Gates.
When will Brown realise that the only way to get technology into schools is to FUND IT?
and When will Gates give discounts on educational software that will actually be affordable?
8. Richard
"Lectures ... for free over the internet..."
Yes, I gratefully make use of the information already available.
However, much of it is provided by USA institutions and kindly lecturers; naturally with a USA slant.
Similarly, after the Tsunami, many school libraries were restocked with books donated by the USA.
How could our beleaguered UK institutions be helped or persuaded to provide such resources, and with a UK perspective?
9. Ken Rigby
The world will be run by 3D environment technology in the future. Forget this 2D world and look to the future.
see www.mellanium.com
More bandwidth will be the answer.