Innovation and Technology

As with all students, the opportunity for students with learning

disabilities to compete for college admissions, succeed in
college and in the global market place depends upon the
quality of their educational preparation and the systems they
rely upon. Enhancing the effectiveness depends upon
technology and innovation. Richard Varn will describe the
challenges of relevance and innovation in technology that must
be confronted in order for students with learning disabilities to
achieve their goals in preparing for college. Varn will discuss
how technology will reshape the schools and education
systems that students with learning disabilities rely upon for
preparation and the colleges and university environments that
they will be entering. He will discuss issues that policymakers,
educators and others must confront to close gaps in
preparation and college access for students with learning
disabilities.
Innovation and Technology
Two Key Ingredients for
Improving Preparation and
Transition to College
Richard J. H. Varn
"Whoever
desires
constant
success must
change his
conduct with
the times."
 "There is nothing more
difficult to take in hand,
more perilous to conduct,
or more uncertain in its
CIO success, than to take the
lead in the introduction of a
new order of things.
Because the innovator has
for enemies all those who
have done well under the
old conditions, and
lukewarm (indifferent,
uninterested) defenders in
those who may do well
under the new. "
Some Change Attempt Examples
1990 World Wide 1-to-1 computing
Web… E-medical records
DNA forensics
Health care pooling
Broadband
Courseware camps
Video History
Archive Ad supported e-mail
Iowa Electronic 100% E by 2003
University IP video and
Indoor telephony
playgrounds GIS/GPS criminal
Government tracking
services card
Dominant Private Practice for Change
High Value
New Process

Leap and
Reap
Rapidly

Current Process
Low Value

High Cost Low Cost

Government Failure to Precipitate
High Value
New Process

Creep and Weep

Over a Much
Longer Time

Keep the Old

Process But Do
Less of It

Current Process Current Process

Low Value

High Cost Low Cost

 Where we passionately and
methodically search for new insight
into how the brain functions, how we
learn, and the factors and methods of
human organization and success...
SO WE CAN
IGNORE IT
ALL WHEN
IT COMES
TO OUR
OWN
PROGRAMS
!
Education and Government:
Resistant to Change
Pushing change in education and
government is like trying to run through
a wall of spandex…
…coated with Teflon so nothing
sticks…
And imbued with the universal element
“Bureaucratium,” an amazing
substance that seems indestructible
and repels everything…
Examples of the Kind of Questions
That I Intend to Ask As a Way of
Infecting You With Viral Ideas

No Birds Are Involved

In Transmission…
Do You Remember?

Plop Pop Cop

Technological Ethics
Would it be unethical to make
learning addictive?
Hint: TV, music, game, drug,
pornography, gambling and
other industries do not understand
the question
Time=Value=Mind Share=Learning:
where the time goes, the mind goes
Technological Ethics
Which does not fit:
Licentiousness, Extremes, Titillation,
Comfort or Learning?
We try to do analog replication and
combination of these “easier” things to
help learning - like with games that
teach or a dramatization of an idea
such as with Les Miserables.
Technological Ethics
What about when we can digitally and
elementally duplicate the pleasurable to
achieve the difficult?
As we identify the electrochemical
processes and stimulants that are involved
with pleasure, spirituality, comfort, fun, etc.,
will the vice and commercial industries be
the only ones willing and able to use them?
If we can make learning to solve quadratic
equations feel like eating junk food, gaming,
and skateboarding all at once, what is wrong
with that?
Creative Deconstruction Destruction
Modern science and technology
Humanity’s Great Quest: Being
able to observe, identify, model,
manipulate, create, form and
combine the parts of anything
Cosmos, atoms, genes, cells,
brains, bodies, ecosystems,
knowledge, work, processes,
markets and institutions
Key Effects of IT Age
 Digitalization  Commoditization
 Automation  Disintermediation
 Robotization  Modularization
 Miniaturization  Technological
 Specialization Determinism
 Customization  Acronymization or
 Globalization TCCTA
– Tendency to Create
 Mutation Colorful Technical
Acronyms.
– If you have a problem
with that, join SPAM or
Society to Prevent
Acronym Memorization.
Centers Are Shifting
Center of Proximity and Concentration
Center of Culture/Entertainment
Center of Production
Center of Application Past (Settled)
Center of Global Scale
Center of Excellence Future (Frontier)
Center of Integration
Center of Creativity
Center of Discovery
Center of Brokering
Center of Service (Concierge At Large)
The Postman Proviso
Technology is ultimately a friend but mostly
it is a "dangerous enemy" that "intrudes"
into a culture "changing everything“ and
even "eliminates alternatives to itself."

Automation
increases probability
but decreases possibility.
- Lewis Mumford

Technology or Technique is Not

Neutral…

We conform to it, it does not conform to us.

But perhaps it can be Subversively Helpful.

Technological determinism means that if you

change a part of an interconnected system, the
rest of the system WILL eventually and inevitably
change to reflect the speed, power or capabilities

©
Determinism: A Short Cut
The long term sneaky way to change the
world without ever asking permission or
having to try to convince those who will be
forced to change and already hate the
idea, whatever it is and no matter what it
is, before you even thought of it.
Change key, interconnected tools, and the
rest of the system will change.
Technological Determinism
Technological systems are
interconnected webs.
The history of such systems shows a
consistent repeating pattern.
Changes in the speed, power or
complexity of one part causes
comparable changes in all other parts to
which it is connected.
One Word: Database
 Tools are viral containers of ideas.
 How we think differently from their use is often
even more important than what they actually do.
– Do you remember the first time you clicked instead
of typed?
– Do you remember pocket protector wearers saying
GUI was a waste of time and resources, and was
the SAME AS TYPING COMMANDS?
– The viral idea was the connection between
interface, function and data, and they could not see
it.
 The dominant tool, metaphor, idea of our time is
the database.
Convergence
The coming together or merging of:
– Jurisdictions
– Industries
– Companies
– Tools and technologies
– Products and devices
– Professions and skills
– Jobs
The viral spread of IT across and within
industries and elements of life
Analog: Standardization
Nut, screws and bolts
Rails
Electricity
Auto tires
Paper
Plumbing and lumber
Drove the greatest expansion of
human productive capacity in
history and a lot of extinctions
Digital: Standardization
Data (XML in every industry)
Networks (IP everything)
Software (Web Services and SOA)
Storage (the one file holy grail)
Human Computer Interface (see me,
feel me)
Processing (Gird for the Virtual Grid)
And the effect will be at least as large…
Technological bow waves…
 Government and Education As A Service
Public Developers Private Developers
Domestic, Global and Domestic, Global and
Open Source Open Source

Object Market
Functional and Software Lego Bricks

Web Services Customer Government

Concierge Layer Agents Integrated Into
Other Software
and Services

Personalized and Automated Human, Software and Hardware Services

One Stop
Bit Niche Function Industry Cross-Industry
Government
Subject Matter Expert Layer
Subject and Industry Specific Human, Software and Hardware Services
Public Entities Non-Profit Entities and Associations For-Profit Entities
Public Private

Both
Public Both Public Only Both Private Only Only Only
Only
Domestic and Global Economy of Scale Layer
Common, Interchangeable, Customizable Software and Hardware Services
Steps to GAAS UP
Consolidate (across boundaries
and industries)
Broker (think “Plastics…”)
Standardize (what and how)
Automate (no human can…)
Innovate (no machine used to…)
Steps to GAAS UP
Document rules (rules are made to
be coded)
Virtualize (it happens somewhere)
Eliminate (processes and systems)
Re-deploy resources (harvest)
 E-Forms Functional Summary

Forms
Engines
to:
“COUNT” Data to
First •Submit
Data
Agencies
Form
Citizens A to:
•Apply
u Business
•Extract t Rules • Accept
Data h
e •Sign
•Apply
n •Share
Business •Submit
“COUNT” Rules t
i •Route
Businesses First
•Validate
•Reuse
Form c
•Sign a Data
t Analysis,
•Query
•Submit i Sharing
o
“COUNT” •Route
n
and •Manage
Customer First Public
Agents Form Access
•Safeguard
Direct
Privacy
Data
Transfers
 Data Management Improvement
Process Harmonize and Reduce
Determine Core Data Elements
and Business Rules
Identify
Scope
Forms and Select Forms
Select Industry Harmonize Data Elements and
Paperwork and
Industry or Segment or Business Rules; Coordinate With
Processes Processes to Industry Standards
Government Government
Within Be
Function Function
Segment or Addressed Finalize and Publish XML
Function Schema for Data Elements,
Business Rules and Presentation
Formats
Work With:
• Business and Industry Associations
• Industry Solutions Vendors
• Federal, State and Local Governments
• Customer Agents
Publish Data Create
• Industry XML and Data Standards
Bodies
Routing Harmonized
Processes Forms

Customer Agents
Agency Processing,
Private Industry Solutions,
Applications,
Systems, Services and
Databases and Legacy
Software Modules
Systems
The Next 50 Years
 Devices per chip continue to double every
12 months.
 The pace of change continues to accelerate.
 100 years happens in 20 at the current rate.*
 Use to ubiquity.
 Distinctive to disposable.
 Peripheral to integral.

*Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines

The Pace of Change Is Accelerating
Four Ways to IT

Wire Wireless
Services and
Content
Processing Storage
Universal Access
Anyone, anywhere, anytime will be
able to instantaneously talk, write
and send visual and audio
information to anyone else.
IP replaces Esperanto.
Please put my universal translator
engine in my cell phone in my ear
rather than a Babel Fish…
 The Digital Majority
Watch the Third Screen
Like Starbucks' relentless attempts to sell itself
as the "third place," the wireless industry is
trying to sell itself as the "third screen."

2010:
•500 Million Broadband
Users
•2.3 Billion Cell Phones
Spare Parts
Availability dates:
Artificial Brain Cells 2017
Artificial Brain 2035
Artificial Eyes 2010
Artificial Eye Implant 2024
Permanent Mechanical Heart 2010
Synthetic Muscles 2019
Lungs And Kidneys 2015

DATA: BRITISH TELEPHONE LABS in Business Week, March 200 and in The Register, February 2005
Now Picking Up a Spare…
 Over 100,000 Cochlear
Ear Implants
 Bionic limbs moved by thought
 Exoskeletons
 Limbs, joints and bones
 Carbon nanotubes
Brain Computer Interface

A BrainGate, enabled paralyzed Matthew

Nagle, to move a computer cursor, change
TV channels and operate fingers on a
prosthetic hand.
Long-term goal of the study was to develop
brain computer interfaces (BCIs).
Unlocking Eric
 Eric Ramsey has been "locked-in" since 1999. “A
locked-in patient is somebody who is basically alert
and intelligent, but they cannot communicate.”
 “His thinking brain is intact, but he cannot move, he
can hardly move his eyes, he cannot speak, he
gets spasms from time to time."
 They are presently detecting the pattern of firing in
signals and the pattern is associated with particular
phonemes or word sounds that he is trying to
produce. They have done that mapping and are
trying to detect them and send them back to him,
so that he can actually produce the phonemes or
sounds of words. The result will be a computer
synthesizing Eric's attempts to speak.
More Than the Sum of Our Parts
Beyond alleviating the effects of disabilities,
normal functioning humans could upgrade to
improve intelligence, sensory awareness or
simply to counter the effects of aging.
Disability becomes ability?
Ampl-ability (ability becomes amplified)?
Eubility (good things beyond human ability)?
Malability (things we wish humans could
never do)?
Computer Tipping Point
Computers reach the speed of 20
quadrillion instructions per second, equal to
the human brain
– In accordance with Moore's law, we expected
to reach the computational capacity of the
human brain---20 million billion neuron
connection calculations per second (100 billion
neurons times an average of 1,000 connections
to other neurons times 200 calculations per
second per connection)---in a super computer
by 2010 and in a standard personal computer
by the year 2020.
Ray Kurzweil
Kurweil’s Vision
By the year 2040 a super
computer reaches the collective
brain speed of all the human
brains alive.
By 2050 global brain speed is
available on a $1,000 laptop.
Before You Retire or Die
Cumulative machine intelligence
becomes larger than cumulative
human intelligence.
GNR (Genetic, Nanotechnology
and Robotics) combine to remake
civilization as we know it.
Hi, HAL
Non-invasive brain
scanning capabilities are
growing exponentially.
Reverse engineering of
the brain and other
software techniques make
machines more than
human in many ways.
“Will I dream, Doctor?”
Convergence in Learning

Information
Assessment
Technology
Learners

Neuroscience

Diagnosis, Response and “Treatment”

Inherent IT Advantages in Education?
Customization and individualization
Democratization of access, content
and tools
Non-linearity
Place indifference
Availability of changeable content
The elimination of rote tasks in
teaching and learning
Inherent IT Advantages in Education?
More time to focus on only that
which a human can do well
Instant access human knowledge in
all forms
Overlaying data on our experiences
Sharing
Collaboration
Input and outcome analysis
Are We Taking Advantage of the
Inherent Advantages of IT in
Education?

Ummm…No
What Is Most Out of Whack?
The Carnegie Unit credit hours
Linearity
Grades
Subjects
Learning to remember rather than
learning to learn
Education is expected to cure all
with out concomitant resources
What Is Most Out of Whack?
Assessment is misapplied with too
many high-stakes low-yield tests
and not enough low-stakes
high-yield tests.
The policy response is inadequate
to the amount of change, the size of
the challenge and the importance of
the outcome.
Courseware
1: Each academic program has an
articulated curriculum.
2: Each class has specified goals
and objectives.
3: Standards and the method of
assessment are agreed upon.
4: Student achievement level and learning
style are assessed.
More Courseware Steps...
5: Learning and instruction plan
is customized and matched to goals,
objectives and student learning style.
6: Search for, acquire and develop
courseware to meet the learning and
instruction plans.
7: Training in the use of the courseware
and courseware tools is delivered.
Final Courseware Steps
8: Courseware is delivered.
9: Continuous assessment based on
standards is used to determine level of
achievement of goals and objectives.
10--Results of the assessment are fed
back into the curriculum articulation and
writing process.
Repeat the cycle.
Courseware Layers
Experience, Information and Knowledge
Objects
Modules
Units
Courses or Competencies
Degrees, Certificates and Documented
Achievement
Digital Content—Essential Raw Material
 Why have states not mandated that all text
books and educational materials purchased
must be in both analog (paper) or digital form?
 Furthermore, since most of the cost of paper
materials is NOT in the content development
but in the manufacture and distribution,
states should pay less for the digital
copy and subscribe to updates like other
software maintenance.
 If you feel lonely, put a trigger to make sure 10
or some number of states pass it before it
goes into effect.
Searching for Optimal Efficiency and Quality

High Personal Tutor

Discussion/Class
Cost
Courseware
Lecture

Low Book Self-Study

Mode and level of personalization of delivery

Do What Students Do
 Games and simulation
 Mix, mash and create
 IM
 Txt
 Cell
 MP3/Podcasts
 Stream-of-consciousness surfing
 Blogging
 Email
 Collaborate
 Music
 TV
 DVD’s
 Viral advertising
Where Can We Go From Here?
Data-Based Decisions
Being able to see and use all allowable
data in multiple formats:
– Textual
– Tabular
– Spatial
– Simulation
The ability to know actual outcomes of
programs from enterprise data and other
private data sources.
What and Where Is Work and Who or What Does It?

Human Race Machine Race

Computers and Robots

Workplace Workers Work Workplace Machines

Neither and Both

Distributed Workers Distributed Machines

Play
Outsourced Workers Outsourced Machines

Crowd Sourced Distributed

Workers Processing
Unbundling the Teaching Profession
 One job category
 Job description?
 Do it all and do it well.
 What does that mean?
 We need to face up to our teaching disabilities.
Job Description for a Teacher
 Teaching  Bureaucrat
 Assessment expert  Policymaker
 Diagnostic expert  Medical manager
 Curriculum designer  Content expert
 Advisor  Technology integrator
 Mentor  Disciplinarian
 Researcher/Writer  Disability manager
 Public servant  Secretary and data entry
 Social worker clerk
 Community and Parent  And did I mention you
Liaison have a life?
Converged Science
Neuroscience
– Psychometrics
Biology
Psychology
– Communication and Persuasion
Chemistry
Physics
How these will be applied to the teaching
and learning process
Consider the Medical Model and Distributed Work
How the health care work force is
organized:
– We pay doctors a lot but there is still a huge
supporting cast of specialist and professionals.
– They have insurance and customers shilling for
them and occasionally annoying them.
Consider how the converging sciences of
information technology, neurology,
assessment and so on can be used to
diagnose successful and unsuccessful
learning strategies and activities and vary
how we approach education.
Converged Learning Management
Student portfolios to document learning
New evaluation methods
The link between material use, brain
research and real-time monitoring
Diagnostics with physical capabilities
Formative assessments can be:
– Technology like Web Ex, Groupsystems.com,
and audience response systems
– Or cheap and simple
• Red dot, green dot
• A-E letters
The Old New Key Questions
Who teaches it? Who learns it?
What is taught? What is learned?
When is it taught? When is it learned?
Where is it taught? Where is it learned?
Why is it taught? Why is it learned?
How is it taught? How is it learned?
How do we How do we measure
measure teaching? learning?
Put Simply...
What aspects of teaching and learning do
we want to:
– Augment?
– Replace?
– Automate?
– Decentralize?
– Reform?
Example: Note Taking
Is this the reason we go to school?
It is the most practiced act.
Granted: it has the benefit for some
learners of reinforcing and as a memory aid.
It is not part of the curriculum, evaluated,
credited, improved.
Alternatives
– Notes in advance
– Lecture capture, preview, or synopses
– Real-time voice to text
– Moving on to the next level of discourse rather
than recording the sage on the stage
Questions and Answers
Policy implications
Practice
recommendations
Product
recommendations
Questions and Answers

Richard J. H. Varn

rjmvarn@msn.com
Education Technology Objectives
 Classroom and Institution Management
– You want the grading and paperwork processes of teaching
to be easier and more automated.
– You want learners and their families to be able to do
self-service on classroom and institutional processes.
– You want to know more about your learners before they
show up for class. You want to know the results of your
specific programs and effort with as much cause and effect
analysis as possible.
– You want your results based system to roll its results up to
various mandated reports like NCLB and to teachers,
researchers, educational leaders, policy makers and
the public.
Education Technology Objectives
Better Lectures and Presentations
– You want to hold the attention of learners
during lectures and presentations and
appropriately use various media to enhance
learning rather than just entertain.
Reflect Work Conditions
– You want your learners to learn using the
same tools, techniques and systems they will
use in the workplace.
Education Technology Objectives
Remediation
– You want to spend less class time on
bringing everyone up to the same
level and on addressing general study
skill issues, subject matter gaps and
literacy problems.
Education Technology Objectives
Technical Training
– You want learners to learn to use tools and
systems that are not in themselves part of the
curriculum by using self-paced, virtual and
hands-on tutorials.
Customized Learning
– You want use technology to match the
teaching and learning methods and materials
to be tailored to the individual knowledge,
skills, learning styles and objectives of
each learner.
Education Technology Objectives
Diagnostic Model of Education
– You want to use brain research, assessment,
real time feedback and (if it becomes
commonly available) physical indication of
learning activity in the brain to know if a learner
is in fact learning and responds accordingly.
Extended Learning
– You want the exceptional and the motivated
learners to go beyond what is required in the
class or program and beyond what you have
time to teach them.
Education Technology Objectives
Self-Directed Learners
– You want learners who can and will learn
on their own to be able to do so and
receive credit for what they learn. You
want to be able to spend more time
being a mentor, motivator, creator, guide,
evaluator and/or expert learner.
Education Technology Objectives
Collaborative Learning
– You want your learners to work in
collaborative teams and networks that are
not bound by the walls and grounds of
your location.
More Learning
– You want your learners to learn more
than previously possible through print
technology and gain greater mastery over
the subject matter.
Education Technology Objectives
More Cost-Effective Learning
– You want learning the amount of learning
per dollar spent to be greater.
Education Technology Objectives
Differentiating Roles and Specializing
– You want to allow each person to focus
more on the more narrowly defined role,
specialize, and improve the quality of
their work on their areas of expertise
(e.g., assessment, curriculum
development, discussion, administrative
processes, lecture, mentoring,
counseling, etc.) and use technology to
help free up time and reorganize the
work to make this possible.
Education Technology Objectives
Virtual Reality
– You want to be able to simulate real
environments that are too dangerous,
expensive and/or remote to provide at
your school.
Education Technology Objectives
Courseware Development
– You want to do what was once only the
province of textbook companies,
moviemakers and computer specialists:
make multimedia courseware.
Education Technology Objectives
Reach New Markets
– You want to export your unique and high
quality programs into areas beyond the
magic 30-minute, 30-mile barrier.
Education Technology Objectives
Expand Offerings
– You want to be able to increase your
offerings beyond what is possible and/or
affordable with conventional educational
delivery systems. You want to do this to
attract and keep more students and
increase the value of your programs.
Education Technology Objectives
Survival
– You want to make sure you are not
bypassed by other delivery systems
and that your school is equal to or better
than the competition in the use and
availability of education materials and
information technology.