Original post by Allan on March 21, 2019
Hi all, for my A3 forecasting project I decided to try and imagine what quantified self could look like in the future and how it could relate the classroom lesson planning.
What if we were able to incorporate other sensors into a smartphone in the future for the purpose of providing us a multitude of biomarker data?
My forecasting project can be found at the following Spark Adobe link: https://spark.adobe.com/page/rRNTWixwtRO7h/
Thanks,
Allan
I think Allan does a very good job of providing a realistic outline of how biomarker data could be used for an individual approach to learning, allowing for (theoretically) maximum success for a student based off of their readings. By incorporating ideas about current wearable sensor technology and shareable information, a program could determine what lessons and assignments the student attends and completes. Allan also brings up ethical concerns surrounding privacy, security issues, and, what I found most interesting, the idea of a loss in autonomy. In addition to these challenges, I would argue that issues surrounding personal accountability as well as inaccurate readings/reports could be added as potential concerns to be addressed.
To build upon Allan’s idea, the combined use of quantified self technologies (biomarkers in this case) and cloud memory technologies (such as student records) could further track, modify, and improve personal and educational progress overtime. This could allow the catering of day-to-day lesson plans to support the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of students (reported via biomarkers), as well as cater to their most successful learning styles and methodologies.
However, this raises questions regarding self-regulation and autonomy. Is it not just part of the human experience to have to struggle some days to perform “as usual” while under daily fluctuations in emotions, abilities, motivation, etc…? Would the benefits of such personalized lesson plans outweigh the potentially lost “life-lessons” in self-regulation and self-motivation? For example, in Allan’s project, he mentioned the use of biomarkers could be utilized to identify instances where students may not be emotionally/mentally prepared to take a math test, and the use of biomarkers could help determine if the test should be pushed back a day. Would the uncertainty of when a test is going to occur cause more stress, and therefore continually delay the test date? Would doing that mitigate a student’s skill in the future to perform well under pressure and stress? While I like the idea of personalized learning, I am not sure that personalizing it to the biomarker level would create a more educated, well-rounded public.