A few days ago, Steve Jobs, the rockstar founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Inc. resigned from his job to become Chairman of the Board, instead. For more than ten years, Mr. Jobs has been paid one dollar a year to run what has become the most valuable company in the world. From his first partner, Steve Wozniak, to the small team of…

It is almost a foregone conclusion that the mobile device will become an indispensable tool for learning in the future. That's why "T.H.E. Journal" asked a number of educators to let their imaginations go wild and conjure up visions of the future of the device in the classroom. This paper presents the views of educators who conjure up the mobile…

Since, its early development in our nation's capital, the Power Teaching Prototype (PTP) has evolved to connect three factors likely to characterize 21st Century teaching and learning. Teaching for understanding requires a clear method of designing instruction and a simple, yet powerful, way of delivering. For the design of instruction, Harvard…

As we mark the publication of the 35th issue of the British Journal of Special Education, Peter Mittler, Emeritus Professor of Special Needs Education at the University of Manchester, looks into the future and asks a series of challenging questions: What kind of a future do we want to see for a baby born with a significant disability today? What…

This article argues that advances in nanotechnology in general, and lab-on-chip technology in particular, have the potential to benefit the developing world in its quest to control risks to human health and the environment. Based on the "risk society" thesis of Ulrich Beck, it is argued that the developed world must realign its science and…

A sustainable global future requires (1) rediscovery of spiritual values; (2) sustainable agriculture; (3) energy conservation and solar conversion; (4) recycling economy; (5) economic democracy; (6) stabilizing population; and (4) trade, aid, and investment in support of self-reliance. (SK)

What is the likelihood of controlling technology by means of the law? In traditional societies, the law was deeply embedded in, and dependent on, culture (the totality of human creations for making sense of and living in the world). Industrialization required a complete restructuring of both technology and society, thus engulfing all traditions in…

Investigates the extent to which electronic learning represents an emergent pedagogy that will be employed not only by corporations, but also by educational institutions, government agencies, and major transportation carriers around the world. Focuses on the relationship of electronic learning to diverse cultures. (Author/LRW)

In this article, the author takes the readers for a walk down memory lane on the use of teaching aids. He shares his experience of the good old days of Audio Visual--opaque projector, motion pictures/films, recorders, and overhead projector. Computers have arrived, and now people can make graphics, pictures, motion pictures, and many different…

This document presents summaries of conference presentations which attempted to assess how computer and communications technologies can be harnessed to meet the special needs of elderly people. Each of the eight sessions of the conference opened with experts discussing their respective research projects and electronic technologies: their origins,…

Despite a real sense of need, the development and application of technology for the elderly has progressed very slowly. This report explores reasons for this slow progress; examines how the process can be moved along; looks at what must be known about aging and the future to assure appropriate technological application; considers how to translate…

The computational problem-solving mode of thought that has become widespread since the computer revolution has two aspects. The first aspect is the organization of one's view of the world into "context-free" terms and uniform relations between these terms. The relations that are to hold among these terms are taken to be standardized, and…

This article examines distance learning from a gender perspective. In any new area of enterprise, expectations have an important effect on planning, implementation, and evaluation. When it comes to distance learning, a variety of images of what this exciting new technology will look like and what it can empower us to achieve will determine how we…

The emphasis of this report is on the words "frail" and "home." Previous conferences in this inquiry concentrated on the needs and interests of the aging well population. This meeting focused on those whose full enjoyment of life is hampered by impairments to mobility, vision, hearing, memory, etc. The main interest was in the cognitive and…

Summarizes issues raised at the OCLC Conference on the Future of the Public Library, focusing on anticipated trends in technology and the library role. Areas discussed include the use of appropriate technologies, governance, demands for reference services, user fees, and the need for strong library leadership. (CLB)