We invite you to jump onboard a learning and collaborating journey to the 5G Revolution. Our open educational resource begins with an overview of what 5G is. The focus then narrows to 5G and the 4th Industrial Revolution, how 5G will affect industries and individuals, how the digital divide has the potential to widen, and the impact on education. There are collections of videos throughout, along with written information and questions to help you engage with the content. You can also explore the homepage, where you can learn about us and the purpose and use of this OER.
You will find our OER here.
As you travel in the different sections of this OER you will have opportunities to be part of the conversation by participating in a few activities and by posting your comments and reflections. As a last activity, we will bring the conversation back here in the course WordPress. Here is an overview of the content of our OER and the activities that are built into it.
| Page | Activity |
| An Overview of 5G | Collaborative wordcloud |
| 5G and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) | Mentimeter survey Discussion in Padlet |
| Life with 5G | Padlet collaborative brainstorm |
| The Digital Divide | Share your experience in a Padlet |
| Impact on Education | Discussion in ETEC523 course WordPress (here) |
We hope you enjoy and are looking forward to your feedback and comments.
Greg, Julia, Melissa, Véronique and Yi
I must admit that I’ve been skeptical of the great changes promised by 5G for a while now. I enjoyed looking through this OER and while I’m not sold, I still love technology and am excited by the newness of it as well as some additional possibilities it brings.
With so much hype on self-driving vehicles over the past ten years, I imagine that the extra bandwidth will allow for more data to be collected from vehicles on the road that record information (like Teslas) and could allow for more off-car computing of real-time situations. In-car computers are advancing quickly in object recognition, but as of yet they can’t process and identify everything and this real-time cloud computing might be the ticket.
I’m also curious if latency and speed will actually compete with my current cable internet (or even better the more expensive fiber optics). Will high bandwidth mean that only those with deeper wallets can afford the large data consumption we’ll all likely eat through?
I have two concerns with this topic.
1. Should 5g be deployed by the government as a basic need, much like garbage pickup and water? This would allow for more equitable, efficient, and cheaper 5G for everyone. Studies I’ve looked at in rural communities setting up their own broadband have always deployed it at much lower costs than quotes from major players like Rogers.
2. With an increasingly connected world, how can we remove barriers between countries as users travel? Right now, traveling on my cell phone means buying SIM cards at my destination to avoid disgusting roaming bills and researching which competing company has the best coverage at my destinations along with which will be most compatible with my phone. This seems like such an antiquated way of doing things for 2020. Traveling coast to coast within Canada just works today (it didn’t always). Why can’t the same be done globally. This seems like a hindrance to connected cars driving across borders, connected drones etc.
As another aside, what about services like Starlink which aim to create ONE global broadband network. It won’t work for dense populations at first, but the promise of having my own connection from anywhere – even in a hidden valley in the mountains – is an amazing concept that not even 5G with its more limited range can promise.
Some sources I’ve explored claim that a tradeoff for the higher speeds of 5G are that mmWaves do not travel far. 500 meter ranges mean antennae all over the place, and more difficulty penetrating buildings and through obstacles. For moving devices requiring connections this seems problematic.
I’m sure that as development continues many problems will be addressed, but this does sound costly to get large scale coverage.
Hey guys, thank you for an awesome OER. I was excited to learn more about 5G as I know it will be a crucial part of society moving forward. Your resource was clear, easy to use and informative. Kudos. I have decided to answer one of your suggested questions directly:
As emerging technologies in the 4IR require us to re-conceptualize education and learning, will increased digitization render traditional schools obsolete in favour of mobile and open learning?
This is a question I have debated more than I would like to admit over the last couple of years. I think the answer is both yes and no. I think that schools are on track already to evolve. We have district level learning tech. teams who are going into schools and pushing for change. Design thinking is a perfect example of how districts are pushing for transformative learning with the assistance of technology. We are asking students ask questions and design solutions to real world problems. This is abstract and extremely counter to how our education system has traditionally worked, where teachers provide students with questions to respond to on a test or quiz. Education is evolving, students are coming equipped with devices at a younger age every year.
However: there are elements of school that I do not think will go away. Through COVID, we have seen the dangers of distance learning for our students, particularly those who are at risk. Schools are community outlets where students learn how to socialize. Elements of traditional education such as physical education, social emotional learning and collaborative play cannot disapear. Teachers will continue to evolve to be guides on the side rather than the sage on the stage. Students will be given more voice and choice. Passion projects and teaching creativity will be implemented more and more. However, the structure of school will remain in place.
Thank you, Benjamin for your feedback and participation. I had a discussion with an educational researcher at the beginning of my career, and I remember being so upset that the district was discussing whether or not to move my campus to another building – she said “Learning can take place anywhere. It’s not about the building.” I agree with her more today than ever. As much as we need digital spaces to congregate, socialize, and learn, we certainly need places where we can come together F2F.
Awesome OER! What a rich collection of resources and clear logic of the layout! I also like that you included more readings in your OER, I will make sure to go back and read them.
5G really is the bridging technology of many technologies that have been mentioned in this page. It is also the key to fully realize the potential of other technologies. I mentioned this in the padlet discussion, but I still think it is worth sharing the idea that with 5G we probably don’t need to buy any physical cell phones, laptops or gaming devices. Because with the speed that 5G provides, we can reach the information or get assess to the content we want in seconds, which meaning that we will only need a screen and everything else will be stored in servers. An example of this idea has been achieved by Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utAZvV9E7AY&t=309s
When 5G became more accessible, when all the device a student needs to buy is a screen, I think the gap of digital divide will became smaller.
I like how you introduce what 5G can achieve through the fictional story. However, my concerns grew along with it. How would technologies affect human’s hands on skills? How would the dependence of technologies affect young children’s cognitive ability and skills, when we might not need to practice driving skills, or even the very basic, handwriting skills?
And that leads back to the question :How does the role of the educator shift? I think the teaching and learning environment has been enhanced because of the very existence of various technologies. As educators we have to keep up with the development and as many have mentioned that we will shift into instructors and guide the students to find proper contents of whatever they want to learn. The online teaching period in the past few months was a good alert to those more traditional teachers.
Hi Jane,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the OER, I am glad your enjoyed it. Your thought about reducing the digital divide because of the reduced cost to access information is insightful. 5G certainly opens a wide array of possibilities and opportunities. I still think that it will increase the digital divide from a geographic standpoint. Areas (like where I live) that are more remote and where the population is not as dense are likely not to get access to 5G anytime soon. It is not financialy worth the expenses for the companies to build the networking infrastructure in those areas. There will need to be government involvment and investments to give access to 5G to people that live in those areas (i. ex. First nation communities and northern Canada). Until that happens, the digital divide will remain as urban areas are begining to gain access to the fastest network.
Thanks for putting together an intense OER. Out of all the resources, I found “A Morning with 5G” helped visualize the personal impact the different technologies (wearables, smart home sensors, AR/VR goggles) would have. Previously, my understanding of 5G has been limited to a high-level overview. For example, we explored Artificial Intelligence in ETEC 512, but it was looking at the impact on education (i.e. AI, MOOCs and course delivery) on a larger scale. The persona/use-case provided was an excellent way to see how those technologies could directly impact me.
As 5G technologies emerge, I think students will not only need to bring soft skills like creativity and empathy (as mentioned in the World Economic Forum video), but they need to be agile and comfortable adapting to change. Even if we incorporate robotics and 3D-printing in our tech curriculum now, it’s likely to become out-of-date very quickly, forcing students to be ready to re-learn (whether on the job, or on their own).
For educators, the concern that educators should have, is not whether their role will be replaced by 5G tech such as AI, but with how we hold these tools accountable, for the decisions it was programmed to make. I see educators taking on the role of an ethical guide, to remain competitive while ensuring fair access and use.
Thank you for your reply Aiann. Your argument, “I see educators taking on the role of an ethical guide, to remain competitive while ensuring fair access and use” is powerful. Not only educators but also those commercial organizations who develop new technologies for profit need some ethical guides to take some of the responsibilities of the divide.
Firstly, a big thanks to the 5G OER team, I found this week’s offering immersive, informative, and very easy to follow along with. The interactive and response components were thought provoking and I appreciate the addition of further optional reading so that we can dig deeper as we choose.
I particularly appreciate your intentional focus on 5G and the digital divide, as I think that will be the most relevant influence affecting the impact of 5G on mobile and open education and left me with a few specific concerns.
One piece of information missing from the infographic sharing the relatively high level of LTE (4G) mobile coverage in Canada is what impact bandwidth limiting and data caps have on the actual real world usage of mobile technologies for open learning. Having access to mobile data is not the same as being able to use it in a meaningful way and I suspect we’ve all experienced the fear of “running out” in one form or another. Will that change with increased bandwidth of 5G or perhaps be worse?
I was intrigued to learn about the reduced coverage per cell and increased energy consumption and it led me to wonder whether the large media companies which control access to this technology will have any reason to roll out 5G to rural, or less densely populated areas (much of Canada!) as their costs will be higher and they will have less customers to “absorb” these costs furthering the digital divide.
Finally, while I found the information on the fourth industrial revolution fascinating and agree there is certainly potential there, I question whether 5G itself as a technology will bring about the level of change some suggest for mobile and open learning. If you substituted “high speed internet access” for 5G couldn’t you make many of the same claims? As we saw with the excellent video of the interview with Isaac Asimov, haven’t we been making these same claims with a wide array of technologies over a few decades now? Specifically for schools, I think it’s great that people have raised the dual nature of schools providing both education and care/supervision. Given that this role is unlikely to change (although hopefully the manner of learning that goes on inside continues to shift), how different would 5G be than having high speed internet access at school with reliable wifi?
Thank you again to the team for producing such a thought provoking and informative OER!
Hi Matt. Thank you for the long and detailed reply to the digital divide. I should’ve linked to the source of the infographic and description: Communications Monitoring Report (https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/policymonitoring/2019/index.htm) where readers can see what you have mentioned about and more. I agree that the relatively high LTE mobile coverage and data caps are crucial points, too. There are some other important data as well, for example, the price. I picked up these four infographics because the discussions about the digital divide quite often focus on rural and urban areas. However, these pictures show huge gaps between the First Nations and other communities. The link back to the report is not obvious enough.
Like what you have questioned about the changes that could be brought by 5G, our OER has been built around these same questions. Our team meetings were full of questions about not only what 5G can do, but also what it can’t do. We want to balance the pros and cons of what technologies can bring to education and daily life. We are very careful about giving answers to these questions. Instead, we would like to invite all our classmates to participate in the discussion.
Hi Matt,
What a critical thinker you are! Your post left me with a lot of thoughts. Besides speed, what will 5G bring to education? I did some more search, and found this article Top 7 Benefits 5G Will Bring to Higher Education, Link. It is said that compared to other industries such as health care, construction, manufacturing, and media, the education industry is the one that has been slightly left behind regarding the 5G technology. However, once implemented into the classroom, 5G will bring high quality lessons in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), more personalized learning with robot apps, more flexible lessons inside or outside the classroom… the future sounds so promising! So speed does matter, the change of speed is revolutionary, and will transform education in many ways. But I’m still not quite sure about the question you asked, will very very high speed wifi do the same? Any thoughts, everybody?
Hi All-
Thanks again for another well done OER. I’ve seen 5g a lot in the news lately but I have to admit I didn’t really understand what it was until I went through your course material. I’m feeling much more informed now! I particularly like how you chose to focus on issues of accessibility. I think generally speaking this isn’t something that get enough attention when we talk about the future of educational technology.
As I mentioned in one of my Padlet responses, I discovered today that some estimates show 5g networks can take up to 3x the amount of electricity to operate when compared to a “traditional” LTE network. I wonder how the group feels about this? Do you think that the potential upsides of moving the world to a 5g network outweigh the impact it would have on the environment? Obviously using more electricity isn’t ideal, but maybe if the move to 5g helps facilitate collaboration between experts who are working on solving the climate change problem, the result could be a net gain. High-speed connectivity could also mean a lot less travel and more working from home, so maybe the difference could be made up that way. Regardless, given the urgency of our current situation with respect to the environment, I think it’s definitely worth considering!
Thanks again!
Hi Jordan,
I appreciate your focus on energy efficiency as that combined with the increased number of cells due to shorter range leads me to suspect it will see widest adoption in dense urban areas and may not even be rolled out to rural areas as companies would not see the profit margins in doing so.
When looking at energy consumption, it will depend a bit on how widely 5G is rolled out, it also depends somewhat on where the energy is being produced from, as energy generated through renewables carries a different environmental cost than that from say a coal fired power plant.
~Matt
Jordan and Matt,
The environmental impact of 5G and 4IR is well worth diving into. The idea of a global energy grid is exciting and though I can see regions connecting, a global network may be far off into the future. I do wonder about the electrical demands in urban areas that may already experience a strain with current energy demands.
We would do well as a world to try to foresee and mitigate any future technology that contributes to global warming. Perhaps more work is done remotely and we are able to wean ourselves off of oil and gas – for transportation, but we may still use it to generate electricity. As we get closer and closer to a tipping point in our collective ability to accept rather than deny our actions have led to global warming, we may start working together to solve this. I started watching a documentary series on Netflix this week that focuses on the environment and human impact, and it finally occurred to me that until some places are in a situation where it is a complete environmental or economic necessity to change society’s actions, it won’t happen. The issues presented in the first episode in Iceland, for example, show the country’s unique challenges and how people have worked with what they have in an economically, resourceful manner. People in other places have more resources and will continue to use them until they run out. We can’t continue to treat the world as separate parts and have to start considering the whole.
Hi 5G Team,
Really amazing work! I’ve learned a LOT through this week. This is a very new frontier for me, so your wonderfully selected multimodal materials absolutely engaged me. I agree with many others on the forum, traditional schools will not become obsolete but will be fundamentally changed. Physical schools exist for many reasons. Some skills and subjects don’t lend themselves to an online format. For example, courses that require more hand-on experiences or use of equipment, skills like socio-emotional and networking… Also, James mentioned the dual purpose of schools. True, childcare takes up a big part, especially at the elementary level. My school was closed after spring break, but childcare provided to essential workers continued. As for the role of an educator, I think all of us have agreed upon the shift from sage on the stage to guide on the side. To be successful in a fast changing world, critical thinking skills, adaptability skills, problem solving skills and lifelong learning skills stand out to me. Luckily, in my classroom I haven’t seen a very obvious digital divide. It is very important for a teacher to be aware of the digital divide and come up with strategies to help bridge the gap. Things I often remind myself include teaching digital literacy explicitly, choosing apps that all students have access to, informing parents about different options… 5G might be able to provide some solutions to the problem hopefully!
Hi Cici,
I totally agree with you that physical schools play a major role in the development of social and emotional skills. Teaching emotional intelligence and communication and collaboration skills through hands on experience based activities is central to in-person teaching and learning. Technology can be a wonderful tool when implemented in a meaningful way, but it can’t replace the real-time, face to face, interactions that are so important to building connections and relationships.
Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Julia
Thank you, Julia! BTW, I particularly enjoyed your creative writing on A Morning with 5G and Dr. Isaac Asimov’s video 🙂 The infographics are all amazing as well. They are informative and clear. Thanks again for sharing your work!
Thank you, Cici, for your reply. I am not sure whether 5G can bridge the gap or not, but teaching digital literacy will be very helpful. The way we use digital resources to create and participate in the culture is often more important than access to the Internet if basic internet access can be guaranteed. I cited Jenkins’s notion of “participatory culture,” which is a thought-provoking notion. He warned that those who have fewer skills of digital literacy would be at risk of being left behind.
Hi Team 5G! Wow! Congratulations, what an amazing OER! I read it all and I will revisit it again later when I have more time to do it again. I learned new things about 5G from your OER. Your website is well organized, easy to navigate, lots of useful information, I could go on, so just let me say absolutely fantastic. I believe that 5G will fundamentally change how education is delivered. While we can debate whether traditional schools will be made obsolete, I believe that traditional schools will look different and will be changed fundamentally. Students are currently entangled with their devices and smartphones have become like body parts and constant companions. This has impacted teaching in the classroom, for example, teachers at present grapple with smartphone distraction in the classroom. I believe that 5G would increase this effect on teaching and learning but at the same time make solutions possible. I believe that in turn 5G would enable solutions to smartphone distraction in the classroom that are not available today.
Hi Ram,
Thanks for the feedback! I also agree that traditional schools, though looking entirely different, will still be present as we move forward with this digital revolution. It will be like everything; things need to adapt to the new landscape or they become obsolete. Reminds me of watching Captain Marvel the other night with my kids and explaining what Blockbuster Video was. The need for education will always be there, but the delivery will always need to be somewhat fluid so it can accommodate the ever-changing society surrounding it.
Thanks again!
Hi 5G Team, first off, what an informative OER! The mix of videos and text made the OER very engaging to navigate through! There were many things I did not know about 5G until I went through your OER, with 4IR being one of the major things that I had no idea about.
One minor critique: I entered a word for the first page of the OER through using the link but only the word “time” showed up.
To answer your questions, I don’t think that traditional schools will become obsolete, especially at the elementary school level, as there are still concepts that students learn from interacting with one another face to face and not digitally. For example, Social-Emotional Learning is more effective when you are interacting in person as opposed to through a screen. Traditional schools also offer more than just academic education. It is where students develop leadership and teamwork skills. Team sports are a big part of my school’s culture that the digitization of schools cannot mimic. Schools are also where students hangout with their friends. From this past June, one resounding comment I heard from my students was how much they missed seeing their friends and that seeing each other through Zoom was not the same.
How does the role of the educator shift?
The educator is no longer seen as the expert and the holder of the knowledge but instead is the one who can facilitate, guide, and direct students in the right direction to further their learning.
What kind of skills do students need to be successful in a fast changing world, and what should learning look like for them?
Students need to have critical thinking skills and be adaptable in order to be successful in a fast changing world. Learning should allow students to interact and learn from each other and work together to solve problems. The educator is there to help guide them and redirect them if they go off track.
Thank you for your feedback, Juliano. We have had some tech issues and will look into it to try to resolve them.
I agree that SEL is an important aspect of learning that cannot be forgotten or forgone. Our brains are social and we need not only interaction but face to face interactions with each other, and team sports, performing arts, and other activities that require teamwork should also not be lost to increased digitization of schooling.
Hi Team 5G, thanks for an amazing and thrilling adventure into the exploration of what 5G promises to hold for the future. It’s very exciting and also daunting to think that educators will have to carefully think and plan how best to prepare students for this future. The future will see less focus on the mastery of certain technologies and skills I suspect whilst requiring more adaptability and holistic skill sets. Transferable skills and knowledge will be key.
Thank you, Carla! Adaptability and lifelong learning will be key!
Hi Carla. Thank you for the reply. I also agree that transferable skills will play a crucial role.
Hello Team 5G!
The scope and depth of your OER is impressive and I learned quite a bit from it through this week. As you have mentioned in the “Impact on Education” section, degrees and diplomas are soon going to be things of the past. Very soon, it will be the skills and what one can do with them in the unknown future that will be more important than what one can do now based on what they know. The technology, programming languages, and software will be out of date sooner than humankind will be able to keep up, and learning on the fly will be in demand. It is this learning on the fly and keeping up with emerging technologies that 5G will enhance and help with. It is these meta-skills that will be the focus of education in the very near future. Some exciting and uncertain times coming up.
Thanks for sharing your work!
Thanks for the feedback Binal! Totally agree with what you said; in my mind, the deciding factor will be keeping up with technologies on a public school budget. You know how big our school is (we might work together!) and how diverse the socio-economic status of the kids are… can a modern day high school actually make sure that every student has access to a 5G capable device on the budget allotted to them? I think it will be interesting to see how we figure out ways around these types of barriers so that each and every student can access this next digital revolution.
Thanks again!
Also, as an aside, I’ve recently gotten a little taste of what the world might be like post-5G revolution. While stuck at home, I started making a pair of leather shoes, only to realize that I didn’t have a burnishing tool to finish the leather edges. The leather supply shop where I bought my materials didn’t have any and I was trying to avoid ordering on amazon. Luckily, we have a 3D printer and I was able to find the tool on thingiverse. 1 hour later, I had a 3D printed burnisher and was back on track with my project. Currently, we are unable to find a part that we want for our patio irrigation system, so my partner has designed the part in autocad and we are printing them out with some adjustments to fit our application. Another example is my partner’s sister recently wanted a leather sheath for her throwing axe. Since she in in Ontario with her axe, this presented some issues as we wanted to wet form the leather around it for a perfect fit. Her father replicated the axe in autocad and sent us the file. We were able to print it out and use it as a form for wet forming the leather. Her sheath is now in the mail on the way to her and I’m sure it will fit perfectly!
These are a few small applications but were super convenient made our lives easier.
That is absolutely amazing, Megan! Along with the DIY applications of 3D printing, I read a lot at the beginning of the pandemic about teams or individuals printing parts for respirators https://globalnews.ca/news/6695286/coronavirus-italy-3d-print-valves/ because of the stress on the supply chain and inability for areas to get parts quickly enough. My neighbor transitioned his building model making business to start printing things and crafting shields and barriers using materials on hand. I have not personally designed or created anything with 3D printing, but I have some ideas I would like to explore and you’ve inspired me to do that. Thank you for sharing!
Hey 5G Team,
Thank you for putting together a well-designed and interesting OER. I very much appreciated how easy it was to navigate on my phone. Ironically, I was reading about this emergence of fast and near-limitless internet while sitting in my car worried about using up too much data watching the many videos that you included. For this reason (and because I think it’s just good design), I really appreciated the context given to videos and the summaries that were included. If I were to give one piece of advice for cleaning up the OER, I’d recommend seeing if there’s any way to increase the display frame for the padlets. You included quite a few padlets, and design-wise, it becomes a little frustrating attempting to read your classmates’ contributions when they’re displayed in such a small format. I definitely switched over to my computer to read through the padlets more conveniently.
As for your discussion questions you supplied, I’m going to tackle the first one: “As emerging technologies in the 4IR require us to re-conceptualize education and learning, will increased digitization render traditional schools obsolete in favour of mobile and open learning? ”
I think that some aspects of traditional learning may change over the years, including more of a shift towards flipped classrooms (which in my opinion were destined to be more of a fad before COVID), but with the dual purpose of schools providing childcare, I don’t see the overarching structure of traditional schools to be changing much within the next few decades.
It was interesting to see the contributions from our class about the digital divide and how challenging access can be. This, despite the fact that in 2016 the CRTC declared broadband internet a basic service. There was hope at the time that this would have a major impact on rural communities’ access to high speed internet, but that hasn’t happened in the last few years and the emergency remote learning situation caused by the pandemic has highlighted this. While internet is considered a utility, I think we are going to see some major changes in how it is delivered as we move into the era of 5G.
Hi team 5G,
I enjoyed exploring your OER this week. I’m more of a visual learner and so I liked that there were many videos explaining 5G and how it will change different industries. In particular, the video where the children are learning about 5G piqued my interest. As a teacher, it can be a challenge to break down a concept and present it to a child in the simplest form. As mentioned in an earlier response, exposure at home would affect a child’s understanding of this concept. “A Morning With 5G” was another enjoyable read because it provided a glimpse into what the future with 5G will potentially look like. Though on the one side this is all very exciting, I am still concerned about the long-term negative health implications 5G will have. I also wonder if this technology will create an even larger divide between those with low versus high socioeconomic status. At the educational level, I am curious to know how this will affect access to technology between schools in the district, as not all resources are equitably distributed.
Hello 5G Team!
Wow! I seriously learned so much about 5G and like many others have said, I didn’t know much before I started reviewing your OER. It was presented in a fantastic way, really engaging and informative videos, and great questions to ponder upon and answer on the Padlets. One video I thoroughly enjoyed was with the kids and their definition of 5G and technology. These words are used on a daily, but it is clear that you don’t start understanding the definition until you are about that boy’s age…7 or 8? I also think it depends on the influences you have in your life (home, school). Additionally, I enjoyed the futuristic videos you included. Farming in mass amounts is almost impossible for the demand with our growing population so the use of drones and self-driven tractors will be the answer to keep feeding and nourishing humans. On a different note, technology and education go hand and hand, but as stated in one of the videos in your OER the wealthier population have access to the newest and latest technologies, but what does it mean for others that don’t have access to these technologies? I feel there is a divide in education, especially now with more remote learning. Additionally, each school in our district has varying amounts and access to technology. I am moving schools next year and I was shocked to find out how little technology this school has. However, I foresee the role of the educator shifting into providing more opportunities for students to explore and experience the emerging technologies such as AR and VR or students wearing the AI headbands that I mentioned on the Padlet to inform parents and teachers of students’ concentration.
PS the Padlet was glitchy on “What change that 5G brings will have the greatest impact on society and why”. Can you please delete the posts that have nothing written below them? Thank you!
Hi Kylie,
Thank you so much for your feedback. I’ve deleted the blank posts 🙂
I found the farming video very interesting as well. I think it is example of how the digital divide can be seen in multiple sectors and impact overall life. Technology can impact the amount of food produced; growing populations who can’t access a 5g network to support that type of farming may run into issues with limit resources.
Thanks,
Julia
Great, beautiful website. I like how you integrated with this WordPress post!
I especially enjoyed your data and its presentation of the digital divide in Canada.
I found your question on the 5G and the 4IR page: “Which of the following emerging technologies could be taught through mobile and open education to reach wider audiences?” quite vague and because of it I couldn’t justly answer it. I believe the basics of anything can be learned through mobile and open technologies to reach a wider audience – Wikipedia is a great example of that.
The role of 5G in shifting education is an interesting thought and currently I just lump it into an overarching umbrella of educational technology. At the moment, I see education still not utilizing 4G to its full potential on a broad scale so I’m pessimistic that the introduction of 5G will have quick adoption. I see the digital divide widening, and your message by Jenkins (2009), continuing:
“Those youths who are most advanced in media literacies are often stripped of their technologies and robbed of their best techniques for learning in an effort to ensure a uniform experience for all in the classroom”
I agree with Adrian that anything can be taught through mobile and open technologies, but I do agree that some topics are better served by the medium than others.
Thanks for the reply Adrian. I totally agree with you about our current technology not being used to its full potential… though I think we are starting to see that shift happen more now as teachers are becoming more comfortable with the online/hybrid teaching they have had to do through the pandemic. We will always see people who do not want to change unless they absolutely have to; COVID has forced that issue and I hope as more and more educators grasp the potential of technology as an educational tool now the shift into 5G will be swifter. Fingers crossed!
Hello 5G Revolution Team,
Thanks for sharing your OER, there was a lot of relevant information that provided time to think and reflect. I really enjoyed the final thoughts video from Dr. Asimov, it is jaw dropping how relevant his comments are today!
What kind of skills do students need to be successful in a fast changing world, and what should learning look like for them?
As mentioned in the video “This is why creativity and empathy will be as important as AI in the jobs of the future” collaboration will be a key component that will be the role for humans that is supported by technology with increasing importance in the future. Something that comes to mind for me is that as learning is becoming more personal, how can we also ensure students are collaborating at the same time. Kids need to be taught collaboration and the skills that support collaboration. For some, it will come more naturally and in time they would be forced into collaboration in a future job however I believe that as technology advances the way we collaborate will be more and more valued. Therefore, if we want to increase efficiency we need students to learn proper collaboration skills before they enter the workforce.
Side note: the poll everywhere link says the presentation isn’t active.
Hey Katlyn,
Collaboration will totally be a key to learning in the future… but I can also see that through the use of VR/AR technology, and a network that can support it seamlessly, that we will see side by side virtual collaboration happening between people who aren’t even in the same location. Thanks for the info on the poll everywhere; we’ll get that fixed up! Take care!
Fantastic OER! I really appreciate the amount of info you provided us with and how well you structured the content. The flow, usability and design of your website was outstanding – especially on my phone. I also really appreciated the discussions on the long term impact of 5G and 4IR. In addressing the question you posed, “How does the role of the educator shift?”, I feel that like its predecessors, 5G facilitates more extensive adoption of the tools already available to instructional designers, course creators, and administrators. In other words I think it can be argued that, 5G is not a breakthrough design technology, it is a breakthrough support technology. 5G is the rising tide that will lift… most… boats. Educators will see benefit from faster and more reliable AR/VR with negligible latency. Perhaps, Udemy will final offer a virtual surgery course. I predict text will be increasingly replaced by interactive video and audio for example in police training. Responsive learning and adaptive data analytics will improve assessment and this will be significantly enhanced by mobile learning applications and location-based technologies. Lastly, I foresee that with 5G technologies, the educator, either as an institution or as an individual, will become a curator of competency based learning as micro-credentials, digital profiles and personal learning ledgers become ever more feasible with faster, more reliable and more affordable blockchain networks. Improved 5G data transmission will work hand in hand with blockchain security. Can you imagine an IoT style blockchain network existing between learning institutions, employers and accrediting agencies? We live in exciting times!
Hi Jamie,
You make so many wonderful points! I like how you describe it as a breakthrough support technology. There are a lot of examples of ways in which technology can improve different areas (as seen in the impact on industry) but the capability to implement them is limited due to access – 5G can change that. Your other suggestions, increased AR/VR, virtual courses, interactive video and audio, data analytics, and micro-credentials, are all strong possibilities. My question to you is, due to accessibility issues, will learning change for some and not others? And what are the potential consequences is part of the population has these learning opportunities while others don’t?
Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Julia
Hi Jamie,
I really appreciate the way you’ve described it as a “support technology” as it encapsulates something that’s been on the edge of my mind and I’ve found it challenging to articulate. While the features themselves enabled by 5G are not necessarily revolutionary, they could enable shifts in other areas. I do question whether many of the shifts that have been mentioned should be tied to 5G specfically, or whether increased access to high speed internet (and then access to wifi) would be simliarly revolutionary?
Describing 5G as a crucial “support technology” also clearly illustrates how access to this technology presents potential for a greater digital divide.
~Matt
Hi Matt,
Thanks for your comments. For my A3 presentation I am investigating the work being done by Lynk Global to provide world wide satellite connectivity to every mobile phone on the planet – using 2G – 4G technology. This is more than supportive technology – this is potentially life saving. The CEO, Charles Miller commented after the company’s big demonstration in February, “Going from 4G to 5G, really it’s just incremental, slightly faster speeds for people who already have connectivity…going from zero G to 4G, that’s not incremental. For a person with no connectivity, any connectivity can be life changing.”
~ JT
Is the digital divide currently playing out in your classroom, school or life? What do you notice, and what strategies do you use to help bridge the gap?
As we have been working from home, I have had the opportunity to video conference with my students individually. My school district is 221 km long from north to south and composed of three isolated zones. The number of technical issues that the students experienced with connectivity during peak times inhibited their ability to complete their online, supervised tests. We would be considered rural BC, and 5G in our area would not be feasible. I know that I cannot watch a streaming site between 4:30-6:00 pm because of our internet load capacity in my area. Students would go to the school parking lot to piggy-back off the school’s Wi-Fi to complete their tests. This is absolutely a digital divide because of our location. Throughout this OER, I am reminded of the TV show UPLOAD. Has anyone watched it? It is currently on PrimeVideo. I would recommend it because it addressed the digital divide and uploading one’s subconscious into VR worlds for the afterlife. It is pretty hilarious and scary to think about how close we are to that being our reality.
Thank you for the very informative presentation. Like many others, I knew only a little about 5G before, which has given me a lot to think about. Great layout and supplemental materials.
Hi Kristin,
Thanks so much for your feedback and for sharing your experience. I had a few connectivity issues during video-conferencing as well and it was frustrating! It must have been a frustration and stressor for your students. When this happened, how did you and the students move-forward? Was another time rescheduled?
I haven’t seen the show UPLOAD but I’m very intrigued.
Thanks again,
Julia
Hi Julia, many of the students were okay to reschedule. However, I was surprised to have a few students completely melt down when there were technical issues. I think it must be a different generation perception. Millennials lived through dial up and slower connectivity and are must accepting of technical challenges as the cost of doing business. Some students expected the set up to be perfect and were unwilling to compromise. These students did not want to reschedule tests and would complain about the technology and how it resulted in poor testing result.
You should check out UPLOAD. The society is presented in a matter of fact way that you just assume that this could be possible.
Hi 5G,
What a comprehensive and thought-provoking OER! Definitely there’s a lot to educate us about 5G and its applications. It was also very smart to link 5G to the 4th industrial revolution. Like most people on this course, I’m not an expert in 5G but certainly, your OER is a good place to learn more about it. As for the role of educators, I believe teachers will need to redefine their responsibilities and duties. The whole idea of the “sage on the stage” will be obsolete. Digital literacy will play a more important place in the future where educators will help students analyze and critique information. More emphasis will be put on developing skills and competencies such as creativity and innovation. Furthermore, there will be an expectation that educators themselves will be familiar if not skilled at employing different educational technologies and open to experimenting with different teaching styles and platforms.
Hi Pascaline,
You may a great point when you highlight the importance of digital literacy – giving students opportunities to explore the skills required to navigate online resources (and online life) is definitely going to become more and more important. I also agree with you that educators will need to try out different teaching styles and platforms. These past few months, switching to online learning, was challenging, but it also exposed a lot of people to the potential ways to incorporate technology in a meaningful way moving forward… as technology progresses I think we will see more tools and opportunities created and made available for education.
Thanks for your response!
Julia
Hello 5G team. Thank-you for the excellent resource on this topic. Just like many who have posted, I really only knew a bit of information on this topic. Thank-you for bringing it to life and providing detailed information on the possibilities and opportunities of the future of 5G.
I think the 4IR will require education to re-think how things are done, but I don’t necessarily think that traditional schools, in respect to being in a classroom together with a teacher will become obsolete, rather the “sit and git” method where the teacher lectures and feeds students information will become obsolete. I think this type of teaching is already on the way out anyways. Collaboration and connections will also continue to develop not just within the classroom but outside the classroom as well as more globally.
The role of the educator will instead move to one of more of a mentor and facilitator instead of a lecturer. Along with students, educators will also be learning how to utilise the resources and information to be effectively used in instruction. There are many possibilities beyond the increased capacity to stream such as use of VR and AG in a more seamless manner in the classroom.
I think students and teachers will need to be able to be even more flexible in their thinking and be able to understand how to sift through all the available information and find reliable sources and use the new technology as a means of showcasing their learning instead of just consuming digital media. Learning for students in a 4IR world should be more personalized and have teachers, as mentioned above, act more as mentors and facilitators helping students to move ahead in their learning and still giving valuable feedback on each student’s learning journey.
Meipsy, thank you for your feedback and addition to the discussion. I hope that the “sit and git” method is well on its way out but I am surprised at how many courses, F2F and online, continue to abide by this method. Much like this course, students will need to be curators of their own learning, especially as learning becomes more personalized.
Wow, what a great page. I truly knew nothing about 5G and its potential impacts not only on education but also society. I am so impressed at all of the different realms of the world you looked at and provided research, videos and inquisitive thoughts on. I really liked thinking about the potentials for farming and how the environmental impacts of our society could be greatly decreased with the use of technological advances. Not only did your page make me feel hopeful in (what is not the happiest of times) around the world, it also made me wonder about what he next ten years could like in the classroom. Thank you!
Hi Lindsay,
Like you, I connected with the potentials for farming especially given the population growth that is unfolding. It’s fascinating to see how 5G is currently being used and it truly gives us a glimpse into the positive potentials that technology can have on our society.
Thanks so much for your post!
Julia
5G! I must admit, I knew nothing about 5G, and now I’m excited. We’re on the edge of so many interesting possibilities with virtual experiences in education, gaming, and online social life, but so many of those experiences are still throttled by download speeds. If I want to try out a new Playstation game, for instance, it can take HOURS to download it. But what if you could try new interactive digital experiences within minutes? Seconds?
How many of you have avoided downloading a new app because of download times or data usage? How would your life change if you didn’t have to wait?
And what kinds of digital experiences could developers build if download speeds weren’t an issue?
Hi Anne,
You’re totally right – the increased download speeds is going to have such a major impact on our use of technology! The instant life is getting near. I’m curious if you think that overall increased speed will create less stress or more? Will our patience for technology and others decrease as communication abilities increase?
I love your point about how this widens the creative field for developers as well 🙂
Thanks for your response!
Julia
I don’t think increased download speeds are necessarily going to change the pace of life – most of the things we already interact with and that can already make life seem fast-paced are already seemingly instant (messaging, video chats, etc).
Hi Anne,
I just want to mention something that is not about the 5G topic, but about your comment that “How many of you have avoided downloading a new app because of download times or data usage?”
In China, if not the most then it must be one of the most popular IM application – Wechat, has achieved the goal of integrating other applications to into one App, this feature is called “mini program”. Therefore, in China, you will see QR codes everywhere. After scanning, you can immediately use the mini program as an individual application and keep them in “your” mini program list (kinda like Andoird’s application drawer).
And Apple also introduced something similar like this with their latest iOS 14 – the App Clip. Some other companies, take Huawei as an example, also has “Quick Apps” that you can use most of the functions of the actual app instead of having to download it.
I think this will be a trend in the future, plus 5G, I think maybe we don’t have to download anything apps in the future. LOL
However, one very obvious disadvantage of this is that, for now, we still need a platform (e.g., Apple device or wechat) to be able to do that and will certainly increase our dependence to those big companies.
Hello 5G team! Thank you for an informative OER! I see 5G as an enabler of many technology that support mobile and open education such as AR/VR and mobile collaboration. The opportunities and benefits 5G brings are very exciting. However, I’m worried about access issues in rural areas. As mentioned in your OER, 5G’s small cells have ranges of only a few hundred feet, so more infrastructure is required, making it still challenging to access in rural areas. Having witnessed the digital divide in remote, rural areas, I’m concerned that the gap will only widen as companies are less likely to invest in infrastructure for areas with so few customers. Perhaps government programs and regulation will be needed to push for more universal access.
5G will allow us to access and transfer more data more quickly than ever before, so I think that it’s important for students to learn how to process, select, and use appropriate data or information out of the immense set they are exposed to. Other skills such as collaboration and creativity will also still be valuable in the future. It is important that students learn how to keep up with the technological changes over their lifetime but also develop ‘human’ social skills. I’m excited to see what happens when we unleash the full benefits of 5G!
Hi Linda,
You make a great point about the info-structure required and how that adds to the difficulty of certain areas accessing 5G; this definitely has the potential to widen that gap. Your suggestion for government intervention is an interesting one but I don’t know how high on the list of priorities 5G to remote areas will be. You mention that you’ve witnessed the digital divide – I’m curious, what did that look like from your lived perspective?
I like that you pointed out the need to develop ‘human’ social skills. Technology can foster collaboration remotely, but through a variety of programs and apps there is great potential for in-person collaboration as well.
Thanks for your response!
Julia
Hi Julia, I lived for a few months in a remote rural area without cellphone reception. I found that most of the locals in the area do not use cellphones. People there are more used to landline phone calls and face to face conversations compared to email and messaging. They rely on their knowledge of the land instead of Google Maps. It was a little hard for me to adapt at first because I’ve always lived in an urban area. However, after spending some time there, I felt that it is another way of life, and maybe because people are not as glued to their devices, they learn more from the land and from the experience of others around them. The area was in the mountains, and it’s not easy to get to. The roads are not paved and dangerous to drive. Signals don’t travel very well in this environment either, so I was thinking about the technical challenges and infrastructure required to bring 5G to an area like that.
Hi 5G group,
Thank you for the great OER. I am still reviewing it, but wanted to let you know that the poll isn’t working.
For the first activity, I wanted to add the word “possibilities”.
This is what I get when I tried the link. https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec523/files/2020/07/Screen-Shot-2020-07-14-at-9.13.11-PM-2.png
Thank you,
Adriana
Thank you, Adriana. We will have the poll up and running ASAP this morning. Love your contribution!
I really loved the OER and the first couple videos especially.
I came across this thought on your site that I found worth unpacking a little:
“5G technology will be of great importance when it comes to profiting from the rapid increase in available data. It will become like a superpower for already existing technology like artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT)”
The PROFITING of is what stuck out to me. This to me seems another thing where the stakeholders will continue to be a couple of opulently wealthy companies. And while we’ll all have some measure of access to it, it won’t be free. And I think for it to be a true advancement, at this point, it needs to be given to all humankind – free of charge; as the internet was intended to be. I can’t help but think of 5G as another way for advertisers to have better and quicker access to us. The GOOGLE museum tour, the National Geographic (now owned by Rupert Murdoch of all people) AR Experience for Identifying Flora and Fauna. In 1984 Big Brother having a view into every aspect of our existence was seen as a key theme in a wildly dystopian future. I guess Orwell didn’t assume we’d have bought and paid for the screens ourselves.
Hi Tyler,
Thanks for your insight. I am also concerned about costs/profits that will occur because of the 5G revolution. My greatest fear is that it will increase the digital divide, between the more and the less fortunate, but within geographic areas of the planet. I too think that « for it to be a true advancement, at this point, it needs to be given to all humankind – free of charge; as the internet was intended to be. ».
Thanks for visiting our OER, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Véronique
“I guess Orwell didn’t assume we’d have bought and paid for the screens ourselves” – so true.
Hi Tyler,
I think you’ve identified one of the greatest barriers to the idea that 5G will be transformative, the huge companies that build the infrastructure and meter out usage are unlikely to offer this as a universal service and so I would question how likely it is that it will become commonplace without further increasing the digital divide.
Additionally, I echo your concerns about privacy and corporations having a view into our lives. Certainly 5G (and previous technologies) enable us to fully integrate “smart” technology into our lives (with coffee makers that know when we wake up). But I wonder how many of us really want every device in our home to be aware of everything about us, particularly when people are largely unaware of just how much information these large companies are able to gather about us through our use of these technologies. Without meaningful legislation to protect us, it really does have Orwellian potential.
~Matt
Totally agree. They say necessity is the mother of invention, but if we’re talking about coffee makers that know when we wake up, aren’t we being awfully liberal with the definition of “necessity”?
Excellent insight and questions, Tyler. Mind if I add one question: to what extent can education do something to narrow the divide between the more and the less fortunate?
I think the better we can educate our young people, the more capable they are of critical thought, the more resistant they’ll be to the nefarious side of our capitalist society.
Hi all,
This is very informative and the videos are very relevant to the topic. I also like how you include information, including videos and further readings, for anyone who wishes to learn more about a specific topic. The last video on the interview of Dr. Asimov is very powerful and it’s amazing how things have shifted.
Educators will become more as facilitators in education. Students will still need guidance on how to properly use different resource and learn about basic digital competency, before they can venture out and utilize what they can do with 5G technology. However, before this can take place, it is important for educators to adjust to their new roles. Right now the traditional, linear way of teaching still dominates the education system. On the other hand, educators as facilitators means students will get a chance to share what they have learned and there will be more in-depth conversation taking place between educators and students. Perhaps the gradual (or not) shift to online education we’re experiencing now will sow the seeds of how we shape education in the next decade.
Pei
Very informative and fun interaction on your website Team 5 G Rev! Thank you for a very in depth website filled with informative content and interactivity.
I really enjoyed the graphic as a visual reminder of the 5Rs in OER-super helpful.
Your visual timeline was helpful in being able to see how quickly the advancement of speed and data transfer can be. I LOVE that video about kids explaining what 5G means!
Some implications that may arise are the health impacts of 4IR on human beings. As things become faster, more developed and efficient in usage, how much reliance will there be on technology? Will it in fact, reduce certain jobs because of its efficacy? For example, self-driving cars (versus taxi drivers, transit drivers). I also thought about the implications on mental health and well being. As in the video described on 4IR and being able to read peoples emotions. Would this be beneficial or more impactful? For someone who does not know how to identify their emotions well, perhaps, but what if technology was telling you how you feel when that’s not how you feel? Could these types of interpretations, impact our mental health?
In terms of preparing for jobs, I really feel that as an educator or young children, it is my duty to know what is happening in technology and teach my students the necessary skills to support the adaptation with technology but not to lose human qualities. For example, to learn how to be patient versus what I experience with students now is immediate expectancy of things…to occur and/or to happen at the push of a button. I think technology will support and help our daily life tasks but the implications on what might happen with the human development to our students is important to consider. I want to still be able to prepare my students for jobs in the future and by teaching them the necessary skills to navigate through the workforce. interesting to see the Digital Divide in Canada and the significant differences between 5/10 and 1.5 Mbps.
It seems that with more data capable features and the ability to do more and download more, faster is where the future is taking us. What came to mind after looking through your website was that as more technology is being developed, the older pieces of technology are becoming obsolete and unused. What happens to all the physical pieces of technology that isn’t being used anymore? Is there a way that recycling of technology can keep up with speed of advancement in technology?
In relation to the dichotomy of more and less and with our world becoming filled with more, more and more advancement in technology, what will there be less of?
Thanks for inspiring me to reflect on these important things that are changing in our world today.
Hey hey!
First things off – I couldn’t contribute to the word cloud with the link to join that was provided (and am not in Canada so am going to avoid sending international text messages), just thought I should let you know.
Other than that, this was a great site really jam-packed fill with interesting information and resources. Your closing question “How does the role of the educator shift?” interested me a lot, because I think the educator gets completely displaced as a knowledge holder and distributor. Instead, they are guides to teach people how to find and access knowledge on their own and then they teach how to analyse and interpret huge sections of information that we get on the internet. The educator is thus no longer the holder-of-knowledge, but is instead the distributor-of-digital-literacy-and-navigational-skills. And I think this is great! It really increases the chances for people being epistemologists and lifelong learners who can take on and learn new things, anytime and anyplace. I love that idea.
(A closing note from a mobile perspective: many of the infographics you used were detailed and became very small and hard to read when viewed on a mobile phone).
Jamie, thank you for your feedback. If you would like, you may participate in the word cloud by using the link PollEv.com/veroniquebru612. We realize that graphics can be difficult to view on mobile. We have added functionality for images to open in a new window when clicked and a note that images that are best viewed horizontally. We hope this provides a better experience for those viewing from here on out.
I agree that the educator’s role is more of a facilitator and a guide, as most educators cannot be experts of all things they teach, but most should be able to help curate resources for students and provide them with the skills needed to access and think critically about information they seek.
Thank you again!
I think I must’ve viewed the OER after you made these changes, because I was able to click on the infographics and view them in a separate, zoom-enabled window, which I felt worked well.
Hi! I’m also having trouble with the PollEv activity. I tried both the link and texting, and I got a message saying “Your presenter has not opened a poll yet. Try again when they have activated the poll”.
That’s exactly the error I got with the link too, Linda! 🙂 Thanks for capturing it.
Ahh Jamie, sorry to have initially missed this vital part of your feedback. We will get it up and running ASAP today. Thank you again!
Thank you for your feedback, Linda. We will get it up and running ASAP today.
Thank you Jamie. Your suggestion about the infographics is right to the pictures I used in the digital divide. I should’ve thought about it.
I also think that schools, especially elementary and secondary schools, will be no longer the center of pre-existed knowledge. Instead, schools should become the centers of guiding learners to create their own knowledge.
This comment should be under Jamie’s comment. Sorry.
Thanks for creating and sharing a great OER for us. I will also admit to not knowing anything about 5G and didn’t pick it as my top 3 at all. I will try and answer the role of the educator and how that might change with this. I can see the role of the teacher going from more of a leader to a guide. The teacher will instruct what programs to use and then guide them through it allowing for more students to lead the way and own their own learning. The technology divide in my school right now or classroom is that some students have access to technology at home which allows them to be self taught and more aware of technology than those who only get it once in a while at school.
Hey Tyler, thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree with role comment about teacher’s role shifting away from leader to a facilitator/guide. By delving into some of the VR platforms that could be present in classrooms, I could see how students would really have the chance to experiment and take charge of their own education. I didn’t know much about 5G myself, but I have totally had my eyes opened to the amazing educational possibilities it could bring. Thanks again!
Thank you, Tyler, for the feedback and sharing your experience of the digital divide. Like what you said, those who can access regularly will build much stronger competence and confidence in technology and the internet than those who can barely access to technologies. I agree that the teacher’s role will change from a person who “knows everything in one area” to a person who “knows how to find everything in one area.”
I will admit, of all of the topics, this was one that I felt that I had the least knowledge on, so it was nice to learn more about 5G, my son was listening to the first TED Talk with me and was very pumped to hear that downloading times will be a lot quicker. You had a good balance of ways to present the information, I definitely came out of it knowing a lot more!
After watching the video, I think that 4IR will increase the possibility of students reaching their full potential. I think certain barriers, such as poverty may not be as limiting, as technology will make learning more accessible, while technology itself will become more accessible.
Thank you, Michael for your patience and feedback! We’re glad you learned a lot! There’s going to be so many changes for us, and especially your son, in the coming years, and it will be incredible to see what happens.
Hi, Michael. Thank you for the feedback. Technologies have made access to massive digital resources much easier than ever before. What Jenkins is arguing about is how people use those resources, which has created a different divide between groups. To put it simple, Jenkins believes that those who cannot become create to participate in the content-making culture will be left behind.
One of the setbacks from all of the OER’s we have seen in the last few weeks is dependant on the internet. Most organizations have it built in but where 5g will rapidly evolve is in content consumption and production of more high quality products right in the palm of our hands. The bandwidth alone will increase, alongside the cell bills for sure for a few years before we see a steady adoption rate. Cost is the biggest factor and just like the 3g to 4g era, this might be quicker evolving assuming infrastructure in developed and developing nations catch up instead of further creating a digital divide.