Computer Innovation in Schools: a review of selected research literature.

The development of information technology (IT) use in education can be

seen as part of the broader field of educational change. According to Cox &Rhodes (1989): "It has been recognized that many of the barriers to ... the

adoption of microcomputers [in schools] are specific examples of the

barriers to ... change in general". This suggests that a broad approach to the

study of issues involved in using computers in schools is warranted. Such an

approach would consider the use of computers as a specific case of school

innovation in general, and therefore benefit from the considerable corpus of

research existing in that area. This could also be beneficial in helping

researchers avoid the not uncommon external pressures (perhaps from

politicians, parents, governors or computer companies) to focus on

technological factors of high visibility, e.g. the number and type of machines.

A broader approach might also generate more positive attitudes amongst

those involved in change, since it draws upon literature, case studies and

terminology which may be more familiar.

 

This literature review is presented in chronological order and

concentrates first on general factors affecting innovation in educational

organisations. It then proceeds to review studies specifically concerned with

computer uptake by teachers. A concluding section briefly summarises the

review, identifying in particular its relevance to in-service teacher education

and the professional development of all those concerned with innovation

and the management of change in schools.

 

Factors Affecting the Implementation of Educational Innovations:

 

Since the 1970s there has been a growing interest in the implementation of

innovations in schools (Berman, 1981). The impetus for this interest was

research that showed that many change efforts failed to have an impact on

classroom practice (Gross et al, 1971; Charter & Pellegrin, 1973).

"Implementation", according to Fullan (1985), is "the process of

altering existing practice in order to achieve more effectively certain desired

learning outcomes". One of the major early contributions to the study of the

implementation of innovations in schools was published by Gross et al in 1971.

They conducted a case study of the introduction of an educational

innovation in an elementary school (Cambire Elementary) with the objective

of "increasing our knowledge of conditions ... that may serve to block or

facilitate the implementation of organisational innovations" (p. 42). The

authors distinguished three major stages in the innovation process:

initiation, attempted implementation and incorporation.

 

Their study contended that most of the research on organisational

innovations to that date "had been based on a truncated version of the

process [of innovation]" (p. 42) and described the existing theories as

placing "primary emphasis on the ability of a change agent to overcome the

initial resistance of organisational members" (p. 1). They argued that those

formulations disregarded other major issues: (a) organisational members

who are not resisting change may encounter obstacles preventing

implementation, (b) many of these obstacles can only be removed by the

organisation leaders, who may not even be aware of them, and (c)

organisational members who did not resist the innovation at the beginning

may change their attitudes and start opposing change efforts in a later stage

as a result of the presence of unsolved problems.

Gross et al found that the majority of the teachers at Cambire

Elementary had failed to implement the innovation six months after its

announcement They attributed this outcome to the presence of five barriers:

(1) the teachers' lack of clarity about the innovation, (2) their lack of the

skills needed for implementation, (3) the unavailability of required

instructional materials, (4) the incompatibility of organisational

arrangements and (5) lack of staff motivation. The authors concluded that

the school principal's strategy for change was inadequate for two main

reasons: (1) it was based on the assumption that teachers would be able to

'figure out' the procedures given the goals and therefore failed to create the

mechanisms to cope with the anticipated needs, and (2) it did not create

information systems to identify unexpected problems.

 

 

 

Your Aadhaar card could soon become a universal payment ID.

Your Aadhaar card could soon become a universal payment ID. In a few weeks, the government will unveil a feature for payments through the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app by simply entering the 12-digit Aadhaar number.

Transactions where Aadhaar is listed as a payment ID on the BHIM app will not require any biometric authentication or prior registration with the bank or Unified Payment Interface (UPI). This will make it more mainstream since almost one-third of India already has Aadhaar numbers, which have been linked to their bank accounts.

UIDAI is currently working with banks and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and expects to roll out the feature in the "next few weeks."

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, chief executive of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), told ET that almost 38 crore people have already linked their bank accounts with Aadhaar and can receive payment directly from the UPI app without having to register first.

Though BHIM allows sending money to a mobile number, it requires the receiver to be registered with the UPI in order to accept payment. In turn, the long process of generating a UPI PIN by entering debit card details may discourage the poor and the illiterate.

"Through Aadhaar, any person - large service providers or independent ones such as plumbers or carpenters, irrespective of whether they are on BHIM or not - can get payments for their services directly into their bank accounts if it is linked to Aadhaar," said Pandey. He added that almost two crore people are linking with accounts with Aadhaar every month and total figure for such accounts should go up to 50-60 crore - half the country - in the next two to three months.

Currently, there are five payment options on the BHIM app - namely mobile number, bank account or IFSC code, among others. Aadhaar number will be the sixth such option. "There are some teething troubles but we are working on strengthening security," said Pandey.

Making Aadhaar a payment address is only part of the plan. It will also be possible to key in the Aadhaar number at a point-of-sale device and authenticate using biometrics.

Pandey said this feature will be more useful for those making payments rather than receiving, such as shoppers. "A pilot is underway at fair price shops in Andhra Pradesh, where shopkeepers are accepting payments from PDS beneficiaries. The results are very encouraging," Pandey had told ET earlier.

The process involving biometrics is complicated and could see failure due to weak fingerprints, biometric reader device malfunctions or even internet connectivity issues. On the other hand, integration with BHIM makes it a relatively hassle-free method.

BHIM app for UPI, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, works on both feature as well as smartphones.

UPI is a system that brings multiple banks on to a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments, according to the NPCI website. The app was developed by NPCI and launched in August. However, before the common app BHIM was launched, there were only 70,000 transactions per day. The number has since increased to 1,90,000 by the first week of January.

The time travel paradox of artificial intelligence.

Google and Facebook will build indispensable personal assistants. How will this disrupt the future?

Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five and J.K.Rowling’s series of Harry Potter novels describe the time travel paradox. Traveling through time changes the future from the point in time where the traveler arrived. The personal assistant that will arrive at some time in the future will change humans from that point in time forward, but in a more impactful way than GPS.

1.    Artificially intelligent personal assistants will be part of our lives

Google and Facebook have recruited the best artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning talent in the world to build personal assistants in small increments.

The personal assistant’s intimate knowledge of users’ likes and dislikes and awareness of situational context could be like Samantha depicted in the movie Her, but without an emotional relationship so users will not fall in love with their assistants. Compared to Samantha, Google and Facebook’s progress is modest, though Google Now and its recently announced sibling Google Home promise a future with a conversational personal assistant that knows the user. When exactly Samantha will arrive is not predictable because researchers have not yet completed all the work to create her.

Likewise, Facebook’s progress in interpreting images and text comments proves that machines can understand the context of a scene and conversations in the comments to a post or dialog with a Messenger Bot. Add camera subsystems, such as Google’s Project Tango, and a few other research projects, such as  Qualcomm’s 3D object detection, and machines will have human-like 3D perception.

Google and Facebook have the data about us to teach a personal assistant with machine learning to be contextually relevant to our daily lives. Neither company has a plan to hatch a Samantha-like personal assistant that is indispensable from their research yet, but it is their goal. The usefulness will increase little by little as AI and machine learning research is applied in increments to consumer products.

2.    The personal assistant will be a trade of personal information

It is not an altruistic endeavor. Both companies want to make their products more relevant by complementing their data troves with the intelligence of the personal assistant to motivate users to spend more time using their products and make ads more relevant, increasing click-throughs. Google demonstrated that it is aware of personal privacy concerns during the announcement of its Home personal assistant, stating that Home would have access to only personal information such as calendars with the user’s explicit permission. It is a fair trade to have Samantha.

3.    How will people use their surplus cognitive capacity

The personal assistance of GPS has become pervasive. Drivers once bought multi-fold maps to study their routes before heading out on a trip and to spot check their progress during the journey. Now drivers use GPS even in familiar circumstances when they already know how to reach their destination because it frees up cognitive capacity.

Artificially intelligent personal assistants will free up even more time. How will people use this cognitive capacity made available by personal assistants that (maybe the pronoun who is more appropriate here) take over the mundane tasks in our lives? We might have to wait 50 years to retrospectively measure the effects of the time travel paradox of AI. But it will change humans. Perhaps the question is better expressed by the narrator of John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden:

“A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?”