2nd Week : Where are we?

29th July 2010

The class were held in different location this week which is at the Multimedia Room in Block A. The atmosphere was different as it was very comfortable because we have the chance to sit together in a round table. Before we go on with the lesson, we discussed about the research article that we supposed to find for the first assignment (as many of us especially me still confused with such articles).

This week lesson was about the history of technology.one of the example is technology. There were also some common terminologies that we learn such as Bytes and FTP. After the power point presentation, we were to discuss in our group about two thing which is ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & VIRTUAL REALITY.

Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the area of computer science focusing on creating machines that can engage on behaviors that humans consider intelligent. The ability to create intelligent machines has intrigued humans since ancient times, and today with the advent of the computer and 50 years of research into AI programming techniques, the dream of smart machines is becoming a reality. Researchers are creating systems which can mimic human thought, understand speech, beat the best human chess player, and countless other feats never before possible.

How can we use Artificial Intelligent in Education?

I believe AI has a very profound implication in the education field for young learner as well as for educator. There are ways that teacher can use AI in teaching and learning process. one of the example is ;-

1) intelligent tutoring system

- The software tracks students' work, tailoring feedback and hints along the way. By collecting information on a particular student's performance, the software can make inferences about strengths and weaknesses, and can suggest additional work. It is like a synthetic interactive tutor that is tutoring the students. Advantage is when the artificial tutor can give full attention to every student in a class where is quite difficult for teachers to do alike.

Virtual Reality

An artificial reality that projects the user into a 3D space generated by the computer. A virtual reality system uses stereoscopic goggles that provide the 3D imagery and some sort of tracking device, which may be the goggles themselves for tracking head and body movement, or a "data glove" that tracks hand movements. The glove lets you point to and manipulate computer-generated objects displayed on tiny monitors inside the goggles.

This definition is retrieved from

http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=virtual+reality&i=53945,00.asp

you can refer to this site for the History, Pro's and Con's as well as some features that Virtual Reality is to offer http://www.bilawchuk.com/mark/future.html

How can we use virtual reality in education?A 1997 report to the National Science Foundation stated that "VR improves learning by providing the learners with new, direct experiences of phenomena they could not have experienced before, either in direct interaction with the real world or using other technologies."

Students gather information from the World Wide Web for reports or use e-mail and chat rooms to work on projects with other students in distant parts of the country or the world. Sometimes they post the finished projects on Web sites of their own. Some students take complete classes online from "virtual schools.
One example of a school virtual reality program is called Touch the Sky—Touch the Universe. It uses an interactive 3-D model of the solar system to help students learn about astronomy. Students fly a virtual spaceship through the model, looking at it from different viewpoints. They watch eclipses and changes of phase as the planets and moons move through their orbits. They can zoom in on individual planets, moons, asteroids, and comets to study them more closely. When they touch a planet or other astronomical object with the mouse pointer, the program shows information about the object, such as its size and the time it takes to complete its orbit. Students can speed up or slow down the movement of the system and find out how these changes affect the movement of particular planets or moons.

Read more: http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/Virtual-Reality/The-Virtual-Classroom-Virtual-Reality-in-Training-and-Education.html#ixzz0wl6P55fQ

Based on this reading, I believe that technologies play an important role in improving our eduction system along with /together with the immerge of 21st century generation.