Long-Term Electronic Technology Trends: Forecasted Impacts on Education. Paper presented to Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education (April 25, 1979).

Overview & Synopsis

The technological-driven future will evolve through the next decades to massively impact elementary and secondary education, starting in the 1980 decade and building toward revolutionizing education in the 1990 decade. The evolving "silicon revolution" is producing a continuing list of new electronic technology poised at the threshold for massive application throughout society--including the expectation for transforming elementary, secondary and vocational education for both the short-term and long-term futures. The major new thrust is the emergence and growth of "smart machines." Technology for education which includes embedding increasingly capable, but physically small, microprocessor logic, digital storage/memory, sensors, communications circuits and links, and eventually voice actuated and reply mechanisms for creating convivially smart machines which are more humanistic for students. As modern technology advances, the synergistic relationship between humans and machines allows us to do more with less. This new human-machine symbiosis will change most institutions in society, including education. (Author/BMW)