The Wired Campus reports that “By 2020, Access to Internet Will Be in Everyone’s Pocket.” A child who is a baby today — in the USA, Europe, Africa, Asia, everywhere — is almost certain to have the Internet in his or her pocket at age ten (in 2020).
- This is a HUGE change in how children will get information.
- This is a FABULOUS opportunity to reconfigure education.
- The central challenge and needed focus of education planning is on how to maximize learning for these kids.
- We need to start now, with today’s kids.
The Wired Campus report tells us:
The verdict on the future of the Internet is in (once again), and experts overwhelmingly agree that by 2020 much of the world’s population will connect to the Web using mobile devices, according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
The report,“The Future of the Internet III,” included predictions from some 600 experts, including scholars and Internet stakeholders, about what path the Internet will take.
Of the respondents, 77 percent agreed that mobile devices, which will have greater computing power and will be more affordable, will be the primary tool used to connect to the Internet.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Most people will still turn to larger, and therefore more static, forms of media to get information.
Pocket devices are, by contrast, quite good devices for *producing* information. We are already seeing this with mobile photos and video.
This is still a fabulous opportunity for reconfiguring education, but only if we understand that learning is about *producing*, and not *getting*.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Yes: reconfiguring education is the fabulous opportunity !!