The singularity and the human interface - the middle ground

The Singularity and Human Interface
“The Middle Ground”
By 2035, if the pundits are correct, the world will see a new paradigm in the development of technology. No longer will there be teachers, doctors or even politicians only 'the singularity'. Humans will interact with computers through a symbiotic relationship with computers engaged in helping humans to develop and establish a society no longer ravaged by hunger, poverty or disease. Such a utopian view of society could indeed be possible but how do we get there?

Dr Ben Shneiderman, in this latest publication – Leonardo's Laptop – explores in detail the relationship between humans and computers. Dr Shneiderman argued that:
Ray Kurzweil...does have a visionary concept in his singularity, but I find it too machine centered and lacking in thoughtfulness about . . . human- centered issues . . . His simplistic model of human relationships, emotions (for example his trivialization of love), trust, and empathy make me feel that his theories don't address the way I think of learning. I believe that educators should stress more effective human-human relationships, such as teamwork among students, rather than a symbiotic relationship with computers.

Clearly, Kurzweil and Shneiderman's views about the use of technology are at odds with respect to 'How individual's learn'. Kurzweil's developments of technology focus on the creation of a computer that can 'take the place of the teacher'. Whilst, Shneiderman's focuses on ensuring that the development of technology addresses the needs of society. Consequently, we need to ensure that there is a cogent human factor associated with the interaction between computer and human and that this development should not be symbiotic but rather human needs based. Hence, Kurzweil and others are developing computer systems that are viewed within the framework of virtual, virtual teachers, for example. However, there is no development addressing the needs of the individual who will be required to interact with the technology. The focus is on the 'stand alone' philosophy where the individual works with the technology on a one – to – one level. This would allow for the development of, for example, an educational process that would be devoid of the constraints associated with the current model. Yet, such an approach would be viewed by Shneiderman as anathema because it does not allow
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for the relationships that need to develop between humans that would encourage, for example, team work. Hence, Shneiderman's focus is on developing research that
looks at key aspects of the technology, via the view of ensuring that the technology is developed to cater to the needs of the user, for example, research engines, screen development etc. Therefore, one focus is on developing technology that can think like a human, whilst the other developing technology that encourages greater human participation in the relationship.

The development of these two views and the technology that has been created has culminated in the application of technology within a plethora of areas – speaking, translating, reading tools to name just a few. However, it is within the framework of education that the development of this technology has been undertaken with a view to focus on everything else expecting the educator. Clearly, the development of tools such as Webct and Blackboard have been created to assist educators in the delivery of, for example their course content, but it has failed to adequately address the issues associated with developing an Holistic Approach to the introduction of technology within society. A Holistic Approach to technology, with respect to education, views the introduction of technology on three levels – university, school and home. This approach espouses the view that for technology to be implemented, and to be successful in schools, there must be a focus on changing the teaching philosophy, within universities, so that technology can be directly associated with educational courses designed by universities. Those educational courses need to reflect a direct link between current technology and application. And that the development of the technology should be clearly focusing on areas of concern within society. Undertaking this approach will have a direct impact on both the school and home. The permeation that is the end product of this nexus will culminate in an enhanced degree of acquiescence, by society, with regards the use of technology. How would this be achieved?

When all of the technology that is currently available for use by educators is placed in a single box the main attributes of that technology are that it allows educators to undertake a number of tasks. Usually, those tasks can be categorized in to 6 areas - content, assessment, access, diversification, drilling and location. Content highlights the capacity of technology that allows the teacher to plan lessons and to give student's content that is specific to their task. This information can be delivered to individual students and each student can act upon this information within the framework of the course. In many ways this could be
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akin to the placing of the text book on the net. Assessment relates to tasks that the educator could give to the student with the intention of the student completing the task on line and possibly the use of data to reflect on the overall position of students with their understanding of the content. Assessment focus could be multiple choice responses where student's work can be reviewed via a platform, for example Webct or Blackboard. These assessment tasks are normally reflective of the educator's acumen associated with technology. Access focuses on the ability of technology to link both the educator and student to a number of portals whereby giving them an enhanced access to information about topics relating to their content which is more than likely linked to assessment. Numerous search engines, associated with platforms can usually facilitate this access. Diversification emphasizes the capacity of technology to diversify the pedagogy of the educator to suite the needs of the student. The technology is able to be used by both the educator and the student simultaneously or in conjunction with others simultaneously. Diversification is enhanced via access which in turn links both content and assessment. The establishment of networks or partnerships would be a very clear extension of the diversification capacity of technology. Drilling demonstrates the capacity of technology to undertake tasks that the educator would be required to undertake in a group environment. Drilling would focus on the individual application of technology, by the educator, in delivering content associated with, in particular skill acquisition. Drilling focuses on the one-to-one application of technology. This type of development would be found in the application of technology designed for student's use in listening for understanding of words. In this application the emphasis is on the student being drilled by the technology to facilitate learning. Devices of technology, which are emphasized by drilling, are developed by companies for application by schools. The understanding of the use of that technology is undertaken by the educator. Finally, location indicates the ubiquitous nature of technology whereby through the use of a wireless system, for example, the ability to deliver course material is only hampered by the inefficiency of the technology available to the student and the educator. In many respects the forces of the mark can and will dictate the outcomes associated with location.

There are educationalists who are very skilled in the use of 'Webct and Blackboard' and juxtaposed to them there are those educationalists who are not. Equally, there are a number of schools that use drilling technology and again there are many that do not. Clearly, an inequality exists within the application of
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technology not because it is unavailable but rather its application, within education, has not reached the levels of acceptance that has occurred in other environments. The work of Conlon and Simpson (2003) reflected a view by the authors that there are a number of obstacles impacting on the use of ICT's within schools. Conlon highlighted that heavy demands made on teachers, infrastructure deficiencies and the lack of ICT skills all played a seminal role in the implementation of ICT
within the curriculum framework. Colon (2003) expanded on this by citing Cuban's work, in California, where Cuban expressed the opinion that teachers' themselves are traditionally slow to change and that if policy reforms, for example ICT, are not imbibed by teachers then the end result will be that there will only be superficial effect. Consequently, to hasten teachers in to the cyber world will have very little impact unless there is a clear educational vision articulated as to why that is happening. Hence, Ben Shneiderman's focus on ensuring the development of a relationship between technology and humans must play a seminal role in an enhanced acceptance of technology within society. Without the development of this relationship there will always be the reluctance, on the part of the educator, to accept technology. Consequently, technology needs to be developed, as outlined by Shneiderman that must support relationships and activities that enrich the uses experience and that are in harmony with the user. However, this will not be achieved by developing technology that is implemented with a view to either replacing educators or be used as a stand alone tool created by a manufacture to function within the institution as a learning tool that does not augment the capacity of the educators to manage and facilitate the learning of students.

This view point was enforced by Professor Dooley (1999), of Texas A & M University, who expressed the view that computer technologies are changing the way in which educators interact with their students and that this interaction was changing from one of information giver to facilitator. Hence, educators argued Nichol and Watson (2203) must radically change pedagogies and approaches to learning, if they are to integrate ICT in to their classrooms in a meaningful way. The application of technology, in a meaningful way, will exhibit qualities that will have a direct impact on education through universities, schools and families culminating in facilitating a commensurate change within society. Consequently, as Leigh (2000) argued, a possible future educational structure will be one that has been interwoven with community, home and school. This change will be the result of, as highlighted by Ben Shneiderman, a focus by technology that raises user
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satisfaction, broadens participation and supports meaningful accomplishments. Hence, the change that will be initiated within schools will be the catalyst for change within society. Educators, along with students and their families will through the implementation of technology begin to grasp the relevance and importance of the application of technology within the school, thereby broadening participation. However, it will be necessary for educators to view the application of this technology as a meaningful support mechanism to ensure that there is continued satisfaction in the application of that technology. Shneiderman advocated that developers should design information and communication technologies that enable users to achieve their goals rapidly and gracefully in an atmosphere of trust and responsibility. Clearly, the establishment of a technology base reflecting the developments of developers is within itself counterproductive, with respect to ensuring that any technology will be viewed by educators as supporting meaningful accomplishments. The only avenue that should be viewed here would be the development of technology based 'Think Tanks', within universities, that are linked via their education courses to technology and pedagogy. There needs to be a direct link between the Faculty of Education's course assessment, course content and undergraduate. In this way the development of technology will truly reflect the achievements associated with the implementation and application of those developments thereby, ensuring that human needs will guide the design for any future undertakings.

By establishing links with schools to undertake the implementation of Faculty of Education course material directly through the application of technology the development of any future undertakings are guaranteed to meet with success. Undergraduates will through their application of technology see the benefits of its implementation. Educators, through their involvement, directly associated with the undergraduate and university will also see the benefits of technology whilst the student and their family will benefit from the way in which technology will have a direct and positive impact on their lives. The technology will not become a burden rather a tool, whereby all those engaged in its use will benefit and share in the overall success of the application of the technology. In this way the implementation of technology, within the education system, will assist in creating for society a greater awareness of the attributes of technology and therefore, the view that, as articulated by Lewis Mumford, “ . . . to serve human needs.” Within the education system there are two great needs at present – literacy and numeracy. Those needs are reflected in the outcomes of all countries and will continue to
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grow if technology is not used to retard the growing number of individuals who are illiterate or lacking in mathematical skills. Whilst every effort has been made by Governments, world wide, to address this appalling situation there are still many thousands of students who fall through the 'net'. If left unchecked the outcome for many individuals will be further alienation in a world that is very quickly moving towards a technologically advanced structure that has an emphasis now on computer literacy. How can this situation be averted?

In the opinions of both Kurzweil and Shneiderman the situation should be solved through the use of technology. Yet, as we advance in to the 21st century why is it that instead of creating a technologically advanced society of computer literate humans we are still struggling with the introduction of technology within the classroom? Clearly, there is enough research evidence to indicate that organizational structure, educator resistance and application are the seminal areas of concern. Without doubt, educator resistance would be a major factor as it would have an adverse effect on the introduction of technology within institutions. Consequently, if one was to address this area then quite clearly some of the issues that are currently restricting the implementation of technology, within the classroom, should be ameliorated. In order to address the impact of this situation it will be necessary to establish a clear vision, for the use of technology, and the positive effects that it can have when dealing with student outcomes. Coupled with this, there will also be a need for an emphasis to be placed on dealing with both literacy and numeracy within K – 5. Again, research has indicated that the years K – 5 play a major role in the cogitative development of students. By undertaking the ITM approach; integrating university, school and home, in the K – 5 area, literacy and numeracy concerns will be addressed and acted upon before they become major issues. An undertaking at this level will facilitate the managed learning of students by ensuring that lapses in skill acquisition can be highlighted and acted upon without delay. In this way strategies can be developed and implemented to assist educators, students and parents along with preparing individuals for the transition from what is a 'teacher centered' pedagogy to one encouraging a 'student focused' learning environment.

Hence, by delivering education within this format an organizational structure can be developed and implemented so that a transition, within that structure, will encourage the use of technology in a non – threatening manner. Consequently, students will move through a sliding curriculum designed to
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facilitate and manage their learning from, in the early stages of cognitive development, a teacher facilitator to eventually a student centered learning focus that has a greater emphasis on student self management facilitated by the educator. Clearly, as individuals fall behind a greater emphasis can be placed on assisting those who are struggling with the technology or the content. In this way resources can be directed to deal with concerns at an early intervention stage and ensure that those concerns are placated well before they become major issues for society. This emphasis will encourage the application of technology so that educators, students and families will all interact in collectively managing the learning process. The application of this process will focus on the implementation of the Integrated Teaching Model via the development of a pedagogical philosophy espousing a Teacher Facilitator outlook. By introducing these two concepts it is
envisaged that educational organization structure will undergo re – development and that within that re – development a focus will be attributed to establishing a pedagogical philosophy firstly, in the K – 5 years, developing a teacher facilitator approach to curriculum and then, as the student moves through the education system, a greater emphasis is then placed on a student self - managed learning style. Within this structure, an equal emphasis is placed on both addressing the short falls of students coupled with implementing strategies that will enhance the learning of others. The center point of this approach, to education, concentrates on the integration of technology via a nexus linking universities, schools and families.

Students will need to be taught to interact with technology through a medium that engages the student with technology but that engagement does not represent the stand alone application. Under the 'stand alone' application the computer is viewed as an extension of the teacher, making the teacher ubiquitous via the interface. However, the software that is associated with the technology represents the 'intelligence' of the teacher. Consequently, within this framework each computer represents an extension of the teacher, whilst the software highlights the interaction between the student and teacher on a one – to – one basis. Hence, the technology is designed to focus on individualization via the computer interface. The establishment of this type of operation, within the philosophy of ITM, represents the basis for the challenges facing education in the 21st century and beyond. Until there is the capacity to deliver software that can replace teachers, via the virtual portal, then to expect success with technology that is used in the current mode will not lead to a successful transition to 'the
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singularity'. In fact, such an approach will further compound the already complex challenges facing society today with regards to the seminal areas of numeracy and literacy. Areas that appear to be growing increasingly in size because of the failure of education to adequately deal with society's ever burgeoning hunger for advancement at the cost of individuals.

The above situation is one that has plagued humanity since the Industrial Revolution when individuals moved from a cottage based society to an industrial based one. As individuals moved from the farm to the city they were required to acquire skills that gave them employment. Those who were unable to do this found themselves unemployed and a burden on a society that could not accommodate their needs. This situation has been exacerbated with the advent of the 'Information Age' and the extensive use of technology. Clearly, if the transition to 'the singularity', the next stage in human development, is not handled appropriately
then the challenges facing humanity will be further exacerbated by the inability of technology to adequately address the continued shortfalls in both literacy and numeracy. Educators, in order to placate this situation, need to instigate an approach that reflects a Transitional Phase or Middle Ground. It is this phase that will initiate the links between technology and humans that will establish the foundations by which eventually acceptance of technology will occur within education. That acceptance will be due to the introduction of technology that has been implemented to cater to the individual needs of all members of society and not just the select few. In this way, the problems associated with the advent of the 'Information Age' will not haunt those in the age of 'the singularity'.

The Middle Ground therefore, represents the establishment and implementation of technology that works in conjunction with an education system that is linked to a curriculum, focusing on the acquisition of both numeracy and literacy skills. The curriculum emphasizes a pedagogical philosophy that encourages the implementation of a teacher facilitator outlook to managing the learning of students via the Integrated Teaching Model. This outlook espouses a view that an emphasis needs to be placed on facilitating learning, through managing student's learning, via the implementation of educational tools designed to rapidly acquire information on students so that teacher facilitators can introduce strategies, that incorporates the home, to deal specifically with the individual needs of students; K – 5. As the curriculum evolves it develops, within a catalytic environment whereby, technology is applied to the educational structure
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to meet the individual needs of the student. Hence, as the student progresses through the curriculum their needs are met by technology at the level required for its intervention. The over arching desire is for students to become self directed and therefore, be totally integrated with technology. However, it may be necessary for other students to require teacher facilitator assistance for much lengthier time frames. The application of this approach to educational organization will culminate in creating institutions that are reflective of the needs of the individual student and also the needs of society. Under this development students from years K – 5 will interact with technology so that the technology will eventually, as they move through to year 6 – 13, create an environment that will facilitate learning via a number of different avenues all undertaken with different levels of technological assistance. Consequently, educational organization will be based around developing institutions that are reflective of the skills that the individual student has acquired. These skills would be reflected at their peak a student's ability to undertake their education via a self directed outlook. These students would require very little input from society. This would be reflected in facilities, human resources etc as these types of students would not require the current applications that are present in today's educational organizational structure. However, students who lack the necessary skills to undertake total self management will continue to interact with the teacher facilitator and technology so as to ensure that their individual needs are addressed.

In this way technology will be implemented in such a way that its application will culminate in there being less students engaged in the organizational structure currently in use today. This will occur because as more students move through the curriculum and exhibit self managed learning behavior alternative structures can be developed and implemented to facilitate the learning of those students. Eventually, that organizational structure could be represented within a free enterprise model espousing an entrepreneurial approach to the delivery of curriculum. Such an approach could be reflected in the construction of small Cluster Schools developed around communities. Hence, the current expenditure associated with education could be re – dressed via this development as technology could be used to categorize students and thereby ensure that funds can be distributed to areas of most need. Consequently, State governments could focus on the delivery of curriculum to K – 5 and then direct their attention to high need students. Whilst, students who have exhibited a propensity towards self managed learning could, via technology, interact with the virtual teacher within an
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educational organizational structure that is reflective of a small business model linked to communities. The advantages of such a model are reflected in the way in which technology has been absorbed within the business community when compared to education.

With Universities actively engaged in connecting with the K – 5 schools, via linkages from their undergraduates a greater emphasis on the ensuring that young students are adequately catered for can be facilitated. Linking the educational requirements of undergraduates to the K – 5 environment will ensure that graduates will be exposed to the learning environment of students. By undertaking this approach, and utilizing technology to manage student learning through a facilitating philosophy in the K – 5 years the foundations to creating the Middle Ground are laid. The first 6 years of cogitative development are crucial for students and by impacting directly on their literacy and numeracy skills at this early stage educationalists will be capable of ensuring that the necessary processes are put in place to ensure that future generations are not saddled with the same challenges that faced society during the 'Industrial Revolution' and the 'Information Age'. The introduction of the ITM concept incorporates the visions of both Kurzweil and Shneiderman by utilizing technology so as to ensure that it does as Mumford highlighted, ' . . . to serve human needs.'
ITM looks at establishing links with universities, schools and homes so that technology can be applied, within an educational organizational structure that will undertake the necessary changes to bring about the transition of education in to the 21st century and beyond.













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References

Conlon, T., & Simpson, M. (2003). Silicon Valley versus Silicon Glen: the
impact of computers upon teaching and learning: a comparative study.
British Journal of Educational Technology, 34 (2), 137.

Dooley, K. (1999). Towards a Holistic Model for the Diffusion of Educational Technologies: An Integrated Review of Educational Innovation Studies. Educational Technology & Society, 2 (4)

Nichol, J., & Watson, K. (2003). Rhetoric and reality – the past and future of ICT in Education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 34 (2), 131 – 136.

Leigh, G. (2000). Key Markers in Victoria's information technology
journey into the knowledge age. Australian Educational Computing, 15 (1),7 – 12.