For this blog I am reflecting on the talk from visiting lecturer Darren Savage, “The Future of the Web”. The main points of the whole presentation is how fast the world’s new technologies are advancing.
“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” – Eric Schmidt: Google CEO
Predictions indicate how much the world of technology is advancing shown here:
A couple of ideas I could see from an educational standpoint:
Nest –
This technology is currently being used in homes to monitor energy consumption and the house temperature as a thermostat. Similar to Hive and other companies, there is an app that can be used to turn the heating on or off from wherever you are. For example, you are out at work and want your home to be warm when you get in so on the commute home from work, you open the app and turn the heating on.
For potential use in the classroom, a similar product that monitors light levels in the classroom to turn up or down the lights, open/close windows based on classroom temperature and the heating being controlled automatically based on temperature sensors through the school and classroom.
Estimote Beacons –
These bluetooth-activated stickers can be used by a smart device to scan and transfer the data from the sticker. Practical uses at the moment are HUGE! However, the technology is still very new so not many practical uses are happening yet. In the real world Barcelona’s football stadium uses them to send information to tourists visiting, restaurants could use them to send menus and offers to people walking near the restaurant and shops could also use them to send offers to potential customers.
For potential uses in the classroom, teachers could use them to send reminders to parents as they drop their children off to school; almost like a daily newsletter. Advertising school events to the local community like a cake sale or school play could use beacons for people walking past the school.