This week, we’re speculating about the future! We’re entering a world where ‘schools’ as we know it no longer exist! But instead, every home is equipped with a Personal Education Assistant Pod (PEA Pod). I’m imagining it looking something like this:
The data that big-tech companies have been harvesting about each of us over the following 30 years is actually being put to good use as algorithms are now being created that personalize each student’s educational experience – not only WHAT students like/don’t like to learn….but especially HOW students can best go about learning the kinds of information that will be needed for the 21st century. Biomechanical sensors could be implanted that send a myriad of information to the PEA Pod computer and it will then tailor the experience based on everything it knows about the student. Give a listen to what a morning could be like for a fictional student, Nathaniel, as he enters the PEA Pod after breakfast:
As you can hear, this future looks at the collection of data by big-tech companies at a future benefit to human’s education systems. The PEA Pod leveraged what it could discover about general human learning preferences, as well as Nathaniel’s emotions, past performance, motivation, and even social relationships (maybe he even has a crush on Maria!) to help him become educated in the most effective way that he can be….in this case, dealing with tricky chemistry concepts.
Hi Matt,
I really like how there’s an illusion of autonomy with your PEA Pod examples. The robot voice always ends with “Do I have your permission to continue?”, but Nathaniel never says no and we never hear his voice. To me, this suggests that we’re all just going for whatever’s suggested because it’s been optimized or maybe because we’ve never tried anything different.
Hi Matt,
I quite like this idea and the way the future of our education could look like and how the system takes things like our sleep, food intake and emotions into consideration when we are learning and then also makes the lesson fun and entertaining for us to learn. In my video I had a similar idea with my BECCA who is the personal educator and based on algorithms of searches finds out what the human wants to learn more about. I like how you took it even further.
I must admit I had quite a chuckle at the name though like a little child – the pea pod hahaha somehow doesn’t sound serious and not like a place where one would learn but I totally get how and why it is named this. Perhaps one can create a funny advert for it based on the name.
Matthew,
The visual you found to match this post is really neat. I did something similar in my task, but I called it the FitPod (for PE). I tried to sketch what I imagined, but it turned out looking worse than toddler art. Words couldn’t fully describe what I was thinking for the pod. The picture you show comes the closest to what I imagine because it is a designated area with clear function.
I am also taking 580 this term where I am exploring Learning Commons and readings lately have been about co-teaching and collaboration; breaking down traditional classroom ‘silos’ for a whole-school approach. Yet, in this course many of us have speculated on a physically isolated vision of education.
Thank you for sharing your work and ideas. I enjoyed reading your blog this term.
Valerie