We talked about network theory in our last project. This video refers to the kind of analysis that can be done through the collection of data of videos. Imagine the possibilities that could be applied to relationships, or personal analysis, or disease prevention, or...... In the age of overwhelming data is there room left for intuition? What is the most appropriate method for students/people to use data? Should the fact that information is always a mouse click away change the way we teach/indoctrinate students? Why?
On another note, can you come up with a new insightful synergy by combining ideas in some new way?
In the age of overwhelming data, it's very easy to believe you've fully understood something immediately without accurately performing conscious reasoning, which is the central definition of intuition. In today's society, a wide range of perspectives and pertinent data need to be considered when processing thoughts and forming opinions, regardless of what topic or field is being considered. This is because there are extremely varied selections of information and perspectives at our fingertips, and a wide scope of it needs to be integrated to paint a precise picture. This process is necessary in today's society because basic intuition isn't a realistic option for the majority of subjects anymore. There's simply too much false information available on a wide variety of mediums to fully trust the basic process.
ReplyDeleteThe most perplexing and valuable question asked by Mr. C in this post is whether we should change the way we teach/indoctrinate students because information is always a mouse click away. In my personal opinion, educational standards should be constantly evolving to better fit the needs and environmental conditions of present day society. If the educational spectrum is stagnant, society as a whole will be stagnant as well. Education needs to be constantly evolving because it propels society forward, and we run several risks if society is regressing or static. In present day society, there's an extremely wide scope of modern, accurate information available to the public. In order to keep students and teachers informed and prepared members of society, this information needs to be considered in educational curriculum.
Intuition is the ultimate goal of any study. As a scientific society we gradually internalize facts as they become knowledge to the public. When I switch on a lightbulb I know what is happening. This same act would have seemed a great and terrible feet of witchcraft a few hundred years ago. We strive to understand so we may call upon information at anytime. Intuition is a higher level of knowledge. I could walk into a MIT chemical lab and watch them smash together two rocks to create a blue gas and a purple liquid. This act is magic to me, but they think nothing of it, because they know it so well. If I could have that relationship with something I'm trying understand then I would immensely pleased with my abilities. I believe that we should all strive for understanding that is so adept we don't have to think; intuition.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure there is any way to use data that is fixed as appropriate. The nature of something being appropriate is that it will change. That's why nobody wears jeans to a funeral. The only way to appropriately use data is to share it first. Data is not a discovery; it is not yours. Data belongs to everyone, so it should be shared at least among those who contributed.
Jonathan-
ReplyDeleteIts amazing what you can do with data. Data is something that can be collected and analyzed so that it can be used for what ever purpose you want. Like in the video, it doesn’t matter if their is a ton of data, it can all be simplified and used and manipulated to give you the information you need or want. With this kind of power, there is so many things that can be accomplished, improved or renewed. Teachers can figure how students learn best, all through data collection. But with so much data, and an analytical mind, their isn’t much room for intuition. We will start to lose that sense of instinctively knowing something and will over analyze or over analyze. But like all things they have their pros and cons.
Intuition today is so different from what it was before the age of the Internet. If someone feels uncomfortable about a situation, many people search to see what others have done about the situation to base their plan of action off of that. Personally, I see an issue with this because we are not allowing ourselves to figure out what we believe in as wrong or right; rather, we are allowing decisions to be based off of what other people have done.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with having so much access to data is that we are able to become human encyclopedias. We are able to collect as much data as we want virtually whenever we want. I see issues with this because someone doesn't ever really have to learn anything because we can always look it up and get information from multiple sources. In my opinion, it can take away the value of education because the information isn't just being presented in the classroom anymore. Information can be found at the click of a button and going to school does not necessarily carry the same weight anymore. However, it can be very helpful in terms of research but I think that the use of data should be limited more because of the lack of value education now has.
It seems as if people only want information if it comes easily to them, that's why I believe people nowadays have such a hard time taking time to really learn the information. Because, as Kinsey said, people can just learn things on the internet in a much shorter time, and they don't have to take in unnecessary information. I feel that people do, however, perform better in online classes sometimes, because there is no unnecessary time consumed, and not as many distractions. Although I believe that online classes help manage time and distractions, I also feel that there's something about real interaction that helps minds better soak up information. For example, if my chemistry class was online, I could not experience the change of colors of chemicals or the process of lab details necessary for the procedure to go perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI think there is room for intuition because often times the human mind gets a sense of what’s about to happen even if what is about to happen is unreasonable or very unlikely. Data is most appropriate to use when proving points that are trying to be made; to prove what is and what could be. I think that the fact that information is always a mouse click away should change the way we indoctrinate students because we need to help them filter information and determine what is good and bad information that they access on the internet. The information a click away can also be used for new teaching tools. Yes I think that we can come up with new synergy by combining of new ideas in a new way because the value of the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. And by doing this you can come up with very valued ideas.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I watched a YouTube video by Veritasium on this very subject. Should our educational system evolve as technology evolves? The answer they came up with was no. They argued that the best way to educate people was to have a teacher lecturing and interacting with them, despite the constant advances of technology. I agree with this response. I think that technology can help education, but shouldn't change the structure on which it is based. If people were to just "look up" things on the internet whenever they wanted to learn about something, it would be educational to an extent, but they wouldn't be able to fully interact and discuss the subject with a teacher, or a pier. Technology can definitely make education more practical and convenient, but it can't change the way it is taught. Students need to have a chance to talk about and discuss the subject of which they are learning, otherwise they would never learn to be critical thinkers.
ReplyDeleteI believe information being closer than it ever has been should be considered with current teaching. First teachers may be wrong; teachers are also people and are sometimes wrong too. Yes the Internet is wrong too, but either the internet it can be cross referenced with other sources to improve accuracy of facts. With the internet being used in so many jobs and business, and its quickly growing in technology it would make sense for the students to utilize a tool like the internet. One problem with using the internet is it may become too used, causing the students to not learn from observing the world causing a generation that is less intelligent outside the internet because they've been using the internet so long.
ReplyDeleteIn this new information age, many are finding that there are aspects of life that are evolving as the world grows more connected. Education especially has felt pressure from both sides of the issue, and we as students are caught up in the midst.
ReplyDeleteSome say that education needs to be the rock in this situation. It needs to stay the same as the world changes around it, in order to keep whatever scraps of tradition they can find in our changing universe. Others argue that education needs to evolve with the times, along with mindsets, economies, and technology. They claim that students need to be prepared for the most recent update the world has to offer, and that by continually sculpting the system to fit the needs of a society in progress, students will have the best chance of success.
Skyler may claim that they older way allows students to interact with the teacher and other students in a way that everyone knows and can benefit from. However, I would beg to differ. It's illogical to assume that people are communicating less with others when we talk to more people each day than people ever thought was possible. Teachers today can now use the internet to connect with students that in a traditional classroom setting would never have been possible. Students can also use it to interact with each other, for peer reviews, group projects, and the like.
In order for us to truly come out of the education system prepared for "real life", (whatever the hell that is,) we need a state-of-the-art system that can prep us for anything modern living can throw at us. By continually improving the way that we learn, we are giving more and more opportunities for people to succeed in ways that were never possible before.
The fact that information is "only a mouse click away" has already revolutionized education. For the first time in history, information is not passed on strictly through word of mouth or within literature. A trip to the library is no longer necessary in order for one to access information in depth. And the depth of information within any given subject that is available on the internet is far greater than could ever be contained within a single, or even multiple volumes dedicated to the topic. As a result, self-directed research is a more integral part of the education process. Because so much information is readily available to most students, teachers can ask students to go beyond what is learned in class. Assignments can more often than not be completed using the internet as a primary resource as opposed to working strictly out of textbooks.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this new means of education is how easy it makes it for students not to "learn." Because students know that they have easy access to most of the information that is doled out in school at any time they wish to see it, the importance of committing anything to memory, or exploring a topic in depth is minimal. I know this has been true in my case. Whether this phenomenon is altogether a good or bad thing, it's hard to say. But I do think that the collective short attention span of the 21st century is in part a product of our ability to collect information in an superficial manner. This prospect is actually somewhat frightening to me.
I wonder if and how our ability to "think" is affected.
I believe that the rapid of change in technology is creating both opportunities and challenges for schools.
ReplyDeleteThe opportunities include faster and more expansive access to information and content, the increasing availability of online classes to offer classes not otherwise available,and the expanding role of social networking for learning. These are all opportunities that would be increased with a more technologically centered education.
At the same time, the pace of change creates significant challenges for schools. To begin with, schools are forced to constantly adapt as technological advances occur. Some schools have been adept at keeping up with those changes, while many others are falling far behind, creating a large gap between education based on the availability of technology. Once again the quality of education would be based on the amount of money your school system has.
The increase in distribution of technology is a double edged sword . On one hand is allows for information to be easily accessible to people around the world and thus new information can be shared and advanced at a very high rate. Also, people have the chance to gain exposure to different perspectives from people they would otherwise not interact with. But on the flip-side, this mass distribution widens the gap between the opportunities of the rich and the poor. People who can afford luxuries such as computers and internet are able to gain new knowledge but those who can't afford it will not be able to have the same access.
ReplyDeleteThe advancing and increasing of technology and its distribution has positive and negative effects. From a positive standpoint technology is necessary for society to advance as a whole, and it allows different viewpoints to be shared as well as increased dispersion of information. However from a negative standpoint of the world becomes too technological face to face interactions will never occur, and it is difficult to tell what information is true and what is false. Technology seems to only increase knowledge of the wealthy, leaving the poor to continue to not have the ability to advance their education.
ReplyDeleteFacebook has a mobile app called 'Paper' designed to be the digital equivalent of a newspaper or magazine. One key difference is that the app adapts to the user's tastes, giving them more stories of what they're interested in and even from their personal viewpoints. This is a virtual echo chamber for confirmation bias, and is a good example of some of the dangers of today's abundance of data. Teaching/"indoctrinating" students must work against this by putting people of differing interests and opinions in the same room. Even with so much information just a mouse click away, people are still limited by their own thoughts, and technology's drive for personalization only helps isolate groups of people from one another. The beauty of education is to bring everyone together on a level playing field so that they must address and interact with one another, not just people who agree with one another.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to acknowledge the integration of technology into our education and lives. It is extremely prevalent to our time, wether or not the effects are positive or negative. The synthesis of data will become more efficient once everyone accepts the fact that technology will only become more vital to advancement over the upcoming years and so we might as well learn to utilize it.
ReplyDeleteThe mass increase and improvement of technology has its benefits but also has costs. technology made it so easy for people from all over the world to communicate and keep in touch. Education has been made easier now that you can just look at your phone and find the answer. There is also harmful things such as that people don't really look into the research they find and just search for the answer they want. Also it is decreasing face to face connection and contact now that it is so easy to communicate over phones or facebook. Technology is a very useful thing for people who can afford it and puts them at a huge advantage over the people who can not afford the technology.
ReplyDeleteSomething is to be said about the continuous improvement of technology and it's growing capacity to perform. In this day and age computers are catching up to the abilities of humans and the question that this leaves is what do humans add to the equation that computers don't?
ReplyDeleteWe live in an era where the radical dreams of science fiction writers from 50 years ago are now reality, cars drive themselves, computers can identify human emotion, and we can see one another's dreams. With the vast advances in the area of technology the white elephant looms in the corner, when it comes to the point where computers can do everything we can do better, then where lies the purpose of humanity?
This partly lies in the aspects of fundamental human values that no complexity of algorithms could have command over. Human intuition is one of them. It is defined as the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Computers rely on the inputs of data to perform outputs of function, but the magical component of humans lies in their ability to surpass this process. Intuition also lies in a beautiful category, where things are done that may not make any sense when looked at logically but in the end turn out to be the best decision possible.
The beauty of humans lies not in their abilities to know, not in their abilities to learn, not in their abilities to perform, but in the ability to be diverse and to make decisions that may not make sense but in the end provide happiness. The beauty of human life lies in what makes them not computers, in the capacity to be truly sad and to be truly happy.
In our society students have grown accustomed to finding information only a mouse click away. We are taught to not believe everything we read on the internet but I think this is commonly ignored. When given an assignment for school, usually students go to the internet to find the answer and use the first bit of information that seems to be most right. Although this is convenient it is not necessarily a good thing. This is where intuition comes into play. I believe the overwhelming availability of data creates less space for intuition. We are so used to getting information so quickly without critical thought or proof and only relying on the knowledge of other people that we begin to hope the information presented to us is accurate without any solid confirmation and so we lose that sense of intuition.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the ability of humans to access massive quantities of data in a very short amount of time is largely beneficial. By being able to access all types of information, we have given ourselves the opportunity to broaden our understanding of the world, as well as gaining a new perspective of the world and using the vast quantities of information to aid in problem-solving. The one major downside is that by giving future generations access to virtually all types of information, we are allowing them to be exposed to radical ways of thinking or extreme beliefs that could harm society if left unchecked. Seeing as how readily available data can be both dangerous and beneficial, I believe it is up to the user to decide how he or she will determine how to process the data/information gathered and make their own, independent decision based on that new information.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has and will still continue to have a large impact on everything we do. I feel as though almost everything is being altered in some way or another to support the technological advances that are being made in our world. Our education systems are heavily impacted on the fact that anything we want to learn can be found on a computer, ipad, smartphone etc. in less than five seconds. I don't think we should always be able to use technology because if we use it all the time and just look up all of the answers, we aren't actually learning and do we really need teachers to teach if all the answers can be found on our phones? People really don't need to "think" anymore because all of the answers are already out on the internet and are available to anyone who wants to view them. Now many of these answers are actually people's opinions and have biases that go with them but a lot of people don't take that into consideration and believe everything they see or read about. We may have an intuition about the things we know but I feel that even if we know something is right, we are still going to verify it with what has been put out on the internet and not trust our own thoughts and ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting component technology contributes to education in the modern day is its ability to enable people to communicate across geographical boundaries. This increased opportunity for collaboration has extremely positive effects since it leads to further synergy and innovation of new ideas. However, one negative aspect to this could be that making people more connected to the global community can perhaps make people less motivated to explore it. If one can access information and global contact by merely clicking a button, what is the point in actually travelling to experience it?
ReplyDeleteThere are incredibly large amounts of data at our fingertips at any time. Anyone can memorize, recite, and spout of information or facts. But I think where intuition comes in is interpretation. Take a fact everyone knows. The genius is in looking at that fact, and guessing what it means for ourselves, for the future. Taking these mass amounts of data and facts and stitching them together, piece by piece, to create a working image of the world.
ReplyDeleteI find myself torn over whether data only being "a mouse-click away" is more beneficial or harmful to education. In the past, where the world had limited access to data the ability to remember what you were taught without constantly having access to fresh data was crucial. Now, if I don't know something I'll look it up quickly on the safari app on my iPhone and learn it, but I don't really learn it, because I know I could just look it up again very easily if I so needed to. This is definitely harmful to our education, but thinking about that side makes me realize all the benefits. Our easy access to data lets us gain knowledge about things that the generation before could have never imagined. We have information now about the entire world and all it's history, and I think that is one of the most important things. It allows for a multitude of new ideas when we can access information from all walks of life and I believe we have just skimmed the surface on innovation.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think that anyone knows how to appropriately integrate the increasing technologies into the education system; its a cautious operation, given the power of the internet, and you have to be careful as Mr. Christopher said, about the level of indoctrination that the internet poses. How much do we want kids, the future generation, to rely on media to learn? What are the implications of every thought, idea, person, being on cyberspace?
ReplyDeleteI think there is a limit of using that one-mouse-click-away method even in every day life. The internet should not be a guaranteed answer to every question; it can be a basis of understanding, but by no means should everyone be completely reliable on it for learning, research, and apprehending their own lives. Furthermore, people sometimes pontificate mass interconnection of ideas and minds in cyberspace as a unique and immensely beneficial avenue for innovation. I fear that the opposite might become the reality if people aren't careful with how much, and how we use mass media. It has the potential of Global Uniformity- theres less of everything, especially intellectual diversity. If everything is connected, that means every place is similar, there are less differences. People start to think the same way, they start to have the same ideas and thought processes; everyone is wired together and evolution slows down. If we aren't careful, perhaps the innovative new behavior that was supposed to adapt us will do precisely the opposite, and push us backwards.
Knowing that I can type in anything and have it one click away is both a negative and positive for me. Having data one mouse click away makes it easier for me to find out information on certain subjects that I know nothing about. It is a good way for all to share there knowledge and also to gain from others, this can be a bad thing as well. With this data being easy to access many just research things to research and forget about it the next day. For education this becomes a problem. When a teacher wants you to learn having the data one click away isn't really teaching anyone anything its just reading and turning in what you've learned, then forgetting. Also some of the data that is posted can be faulty causing the research and learning you have done to be wrong. Having all of these new ideas being posted and adapted is good because it means we are moving forward and learning more, but that is only some. Not everyone can say they have researched to the full extent that is needed and remembered what the have been taught. Innovation is moving up and I feel we have just begun seeing what is out there, but having it one click away could cause faulty information.
ReplyDeleteThough in the age of information it may seem like human instinct, intuition and innovation have no place anymore, this is simply false. Algorithms now accomplish many of the creative tasks that humans previously did, but it was human insight that created those algorithms, and it is that same spark of creativity, individuality and instinct that will fix the algorithms, modify them, and create entirely new methods of solving problems when the algorithms become irrelevant. Simply put, computers, artificial intelligence, algorithms and other such systems tamp down human instinct in the modern world. This can be clearly seen. However, proverbially, though they may be able to build the best airplane, and continue improving on airplane technology at an astonishing rate, seemingly cutting out the more human aspects, what happens when one needs to build a rocket ship? It is human spark that will shift the focus entirely, to something that neither man nor machine would have considered but a short while ago.
ReplyDeleteBig Data is rapidly becoming a part of everyday life. In the summer of 2014, it was revealed that Facebook was conducting a series of experiments designed to determine whether or not a person's mood could be affected by the type of content that Facebook chose to show on their feed. The answer was an overwhelming yes, but the implications of the experiment are far greater than the actual conclusion reached. Facebook was able to involve more than a million people in their experiment. Statistically speaking, anyone on Facebook during the summer of 2014 was more than likely a participant in this exercise. This is the future of psychological experimentation. Gone are the days in which sample sizes were limited to a handful of graduate students in a stuffy college laboratory. Now, everyone has the ability to be involved in scientific research. Now, while the negative implications of such research is obvious (erosion of privacy, unwilling participation, violation of scientific ethics) this revolutionary method of research could be a gigantic boon. It all depends in the way we decide to use it. Such information as can be found on facebook could be used to gain new insight to human nature, making it easier to treat mental illness, make more informed political decisions, and change the way we think about education. The only thing standing in our way is a populace unfamiliar with this rapidly evolving field of study. But as the first Internet native generation enters the "real world" I believe these problems will be solved in unexpected ways.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the amount of data that exists globally and at our fingertips, people must retain the skill to think, decide, and act for themselves. In schools, we should not stop teaching students reasoning skills. The data to make decisions and follow trends exists, and any question one has can be answered by picking up their phone and pressing search.
ReplyDeleteIt is entirely possible that we, as a race, could exterminate all "chance", "fate" and "guesswork" in life and simply follow trends of data to determine what paths we take in life. The data we would model ourselves after, however, initially emerged from people taking a chance, relying in fate, and using guesswork. If we follow one specific trend of data, we will never deviate from the path and will, in turn, impede any hope of change and development in our culture.
These systems of data can be incredibly useful in regards to making large, or uneducated decisions- or simply to gather data as to what step to take next. The data, however, should only be used as a guidance system and not a step-by-step plan to follow. Intuition and visceral feelings and primal actions and sensations must be retained in people if we are to retain any sense of individuality and humanity.
in this day when ever thing is at the touch of a finger literally I think it is hard to say no you can't collect data on me because you have made the choice to make it readily available to the public. but with that being said i don't think the gov. or big corporations should be able to look into your private info and gather info that way because that is your personal property.
ReplyDeleteThis issue is so multifaceted, complex, and in many ways new that is hard to wrap my head around, so I'll stick with one specific issue. In the modern world in which all of our lives are increasingly wrapped up in the digital world through email, online serves, and social networks the internet begins to amass profiles of a sort on each of us. Through our likes on Facebook and our most used words in emails, random data collecting algorithms work to boil down the giant mass of our online lives to a series of easily understood interests, shopping habits, etc. In many cases this information isn't distributed in a malicious way to target you for wrongdoings that are easily discovered through a little search history sifting, but instead to benefit the private sector. Huge amounts of data are collected and sold everyday so that companies can narrow down a target market and advertise to you specifically.
ReplyDeleteLately in the United States, controversy over internet snooping, particularly by the government, has sparked a lot outrage. I understand and can relate to the fear of a consequence imposing body having access to all of your secrets and private information. However I find the concern over these private companies accessing scrambled information that simply makes more internet ads more appealing less grave somehow. I think this is strange because in both cases the knowledge issue in question is people's right to privacy and the importance of it. Perhaps this disconnect in my thinking stems from the sort of innate desire to trust the government that people are taught, while it is expected that companies are more shady.
This issue is so multifaceted, complex, and in many ways new that is hard to wrap my head around, so I'll stick with one specific issue. In the modern world in which all of our lives are increasingly wrapped up in the digital world through email, online serves, and social networks the internet begins to amass profiles of a sort on each of us. Through our likes on Facebook and our most used words in emails, random data collecting algorithms work to boil down the giant mass of our online lives to a series of easily understood interests, shopping habits, etc. In many cases this information isn't distributed in a malicious way to target you for wrongdoings that are easily discovered through a little search history sifting, but instead to benefit the private sector. Huge amounts of data are collected and sold everyday so that companies can narrow down a target market and advertise to you specifically.
ReplyDeleteLately in the United States, controversy over internet snooping, particularly by the government, has sparked a lot outrage. I understand and can relate to the fear of a consequence imposing body having access to all of your secrets and private information. However I find the concern over these private companies accessing scrambled information that simply makes more internet ads more appealing less grave somehow. I think this is strange because in both cases the knowledge issue in question is people's right to privacy and the importance of it. Perhaps this disconnect in my thinking stems from the sort of innate desire to trust the government that people are taught, while it is expected that companies are more shady.
Hello, so I agree with many of the comments posted above, and I agree with both sides being stated. One, that we need to integrate technology and the education system because progress is hurtling us forward in a direction from which we cannot turn back without terrible consequences. And two, that the most valuable part of the education system is the lesson of 'learning' the information, rather than superficially recalling it on a need to know basis, this being available to students because information (and lots of it) is available at the click of a button. However, I do not know the answer to the question asking which is better for the future. I strongly agree that progress cannot be undone, but I believe in the importance of true learning. The only solution I can see is to reform the education system to teach students how to use their free time, once used to study to retain information. Now that students don't necessarily have to memorize everything they've learned, a whole compartment of their brains and a large chunk of time has opened. So what can we do with that? If we can direct the extra brain power toward something beneficial, what could we achieve? Also, communication is now available at the touch of a button. Why not collaborate? I think the most meaningful step toward a productive future for our generation of students is to pick their brains our of the gaping hole of social media and television they've managed to fall into in the absence of needing to study, and to place that brain in a program that works outside of the traditional confines of the education system. Learn in a new way, think because you can, and don't be afraid to use the tools available to you.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with today's readily available information is that is is too often wrong or biased. It is my opinion that unbiased information does not exist, and this can be seen through the sharing of information online. When the Michael Brown shooting occurred, I decided to read up on it, naturally through the internet. In the first article I read the newsperson had interviewed Michael's friend to create their story. Obviously the account was biased towards Michael's innocence. I then went on searching and found an article that didn't even seem to resemble the first one. This one drew it's information from the account of the police officer, and was biased towards his innocence. I am lucky to have found both accounts, otherwise I would have ignorantly gone on with only one story in my mind. This is the most dangerous aspect of the free flowing information of our age, and I beehive it leaded to much conflict of ideas and ignorance that could be avoided if people educated themselves more than reading the first google search result.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the above Ted Talk is a Ted Talk about Ted Talks illustrates perfectly the infinite applications associated with unlimited information in the modern era. It is the intention of technology to create a means of accumulating data in a more efficient manner and yet because the internet is limitless I would make the argument that technology instead causes gathering of information to become more inefficient. This isn't to suggest that technology slows down ability to attain information, why pick up a book when you can find the answer to a question by quickly scanning a couple Wikipedia article headlines after all? Rather, technology has caused accumulation of data to become more inefficient because it has removed human intuition from information to the degree that it has lost much of the true purpose of information: knowledge. Technological means of collecting data are often exploited so that one merely knows things just to know things rather than applying them to knowledge. If you are asked a question and immediately turn to the internet to answer it for you (as is so frequently the modern tendency) then you ultimately lose the growth you may have gained from struggling with the question and attempting to answer it with your own intuition and background knowledge. That's not to say that you shouldn't Google who won that Oscar in 2012 or who wrote that one book, with that one guy... but there is a difference between utilization and dependency when it comes to technology as a means of gathering information and by extension, knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI believe that since we have such a huge amount of information available to everyone, intuition is even more important. This is because people need to be able to understand this massive amount of data, and be able to manipulate it in order to make conclusions. Since we do have this much information, I think the education system needs to make a change. There is no longer any need to teach people random facts (like how long the French and Indian War lasted), because anyone can find these on the internet. Now, it is much more important to teach people how to use these facts and what they really mean.
ReplyDeleteWith the unlimited amount of data that you can get anytime and anywhere is sparking new ideas. That is because we have so much data that people are beginning to find new ways of analyzing or connecting it and I believe that school systems should change to do the same. They need to adapt their teaching styles to the new technologies and start teaching kids how to make connections instead of teaching facts that they could just look up in an instant. Also taking the facts that are now available on demand and showing them the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteWithin our education system i often find myself remember details to events, but not really being able to grasp the picture. It seems as though a lot of this is due to the fact that our schooling system is based far more on data and statistics than anything else.
ReplyDeleteWith new innovations in technology we have infinite amounts of information at our disposal, available any time we need it, although at times veracity of the information is questionable. These issues make it difficult for schools to make decisions on how to regulate use. On the one hand, students are exposed to more information more easily than ever before, which can be extremely beneficial in learning. But it can also hamper intuition, and lead to students gathering mass amounts of information without ever having to think about what they are absorbing.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem is that people don't know how to process as much data as what exists. Because of this, people often look at data and at the most skim due to the fact that they get so much data overload on a daily basis. This isn't just a problem for students, it affects adults as well. Many specialists don't make connection from one field to another to work on a joint solution simply because they don't want to do the extra work of going over data that they aren't familiar with. I think that because of the amount of data we have access to students should be exposed to it at an earlier age. Maybe if they learn how to absorb all sorts of different sources of data at once society can become more productive due to the ability to make these joint operations. Then comes the question of whether data is a good thing or a bad thing. I think it is neither. Data is data, it's how you use it that matters. I'll admit, people are bad at using data. But that doesn't need to be the case. It all comes back to human limitations and how long it will take to exceed them.
ReplyDeleteWhen data is abundant, then its attention that is in short order. While, yes, there is a copious amount of data right at our fingertips, our attention is so thinly spread by all of the data that is available to us (i.e. facebook, youtube, Wikipedia), rarely do we give it very much in depth attention, which it may very well deserve. We're not learning more because there's more information available to us, we're learning less about more topics.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of information is very important, I believe, to drawing conclusions about countless aspects of our world as well as predicting and innovating for the future. Yet many people, including myself, are completely overwhelmed by these sorts of calculations. I think it would definitely be useful to teach these things in schools!
ReplyDeleteAlthough we have much of the information we need right at our finger tips, there is always room and a necessity for intuition. It is great to get information quickly yet it is important to take that information and determine whether it is logical, true, or something we believe with. Without intuition false ideas can be spread around. It is one thing to learn the data/information and another to understand and utilize this information. Without intuition people cannot truly understand and engage in a healthy society.
Beginning with the birth of the Internet, the “New Age” of easily accessible data, a change comparable in significance with the Industrial Revolution, has significant benefits, but also a wide range of drawbacks. Like the Industrial Revolution, these developmental building of ideas begin with a spark, then continue applying new knowledge to improve upon the initial inventions. Just as there are always new types of energy productive machines being developed, the advance and improvement of technology continues as well. However, the “spark” of this revolution is so recent, that we are in the position that those who lived just after the “spark” of the Industrial Revolution were in. We cannot yet predict the reality of the consequences of the sudden influx in use of technology, just as the environmental effects of the use of coal and other nonrenewable energy was unknown until only a few decades ago.
ReplyDeleteHowever, despite the overwhelming availability of information that is available to the current generations, intuition is a human trait that cannot be wiped out by the ease of information gathering we have at our fingertips. The video itself is a great example of how the vast availability of gaining information can be used in a positive way to determine what our commonalities are and to understand what issues should merit the most focus. The complex use of algorithms and visual display seen in the video would not have been possible a few years ago, and the ability to correlate the ideas shared in the world is by no means a negative one. We are at a pivotal place in this “revolution” where we can determine the possible problems and alleviate them now before they can fully take hold. Technology can be an extremely helpful tool in education, yet if used incorrectly can negatively impact how we learn about the world.
While yes information is become just a mouse click a way, I still don't think that should change how we teach in schools. There will always be people who abuse the system just to make it through by just looking the answer up, but those who are actually willing to take a chance and who want to learn something, those are the people that make the system ultimately work. There will always be room for innovations, while people keep saying that we understand things completely, its those people who are in these systems and ask question that keep the world moving forward. Once enough questions are asked then some improvements to products can be found. If though the world ran out of questioners, then possible the world would run out of new ideas.
ReplyDeleteWith that amounts of information and data that is readily accessible I believe that the education system should not change but the expectations should. Students now have the power to learn and gather information on their own accords if something is not understood they have the power to seek out information from other sources until they do understand. having the ability to learn or understand basically anything wherever and whenever they want creates a more diverse group of students thus raising the expectation for baseline knowledge and understanding
ReplyDeleteI think that people tend to give up on gaining information if it isn't handed to them. Because we live in a world that information is so easily available. so i think intuition has changed in that way
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