Areas of impact: computers in education

One of the areas of impact that we will be studying within the syllabus is Education.

Today we will introduce the topic and briefly discuss some of the social implications of the technological advances in Education.

The following is the list of topics for the unit as stated by IB:
• Telelearning: isolated and remote areas; use in hospitals, prisons, retirement homes
• Modification of hardware and software for special needs: voice recognition software, text-to-speech, special input and output devices, Internet resources
• Software in the classroom: science experiments, social studies modelling and simulation, instructional tools and media, computer-aided instruction, computer-aided learning
• School library systems: catalogues, security systems, online research • Hardware in the classroom: laptops, notebooks, teleconferencing
• Software in school administration: record keeping, scheduling, Intranets, public information
• Training, tutorials, simulators

Your assignment, working in groups of 3 students, this time will consist in the production of a short video based freely on one of these topics. The video should be entirely based on evidence gathered at the school, interviews and/or other filming done at school and should address the implications of the chosen topic based on research to be performed at school.

Steps:
- Supporting web based research, sequence and overall plan for the video (to be submitted at the end of today’s lesson)
- Script and plan of interviews -
- Video in digital format (date TBD)

Simulations and Modeling

The next topic that we will be covering involves computer simulations and modeling. The unit will focus on the effectiveness, usefulness, limitations, and (of course!) the social and ethical impact of the increased use of simulations.

We will initially discuss the basics of computer simulations by reading the article on What is Modeling and Simulation from the University of Central Florida.

A simple but very complete resource that can serve as reference for the topic is the presentation on Introduction to Simulation and Modeling of Queueing Systems. Another important resource is a list of applications of computer simulations that can be found on Table 1(Page 2) of Growing Importance of Modelling and Simulation: Professional and Ethical Implications.

The following video shows some common applications of computer-based simulations:



Towards the end of our lesson today, we will be exploring a tantalizing possibility by reading the New York Times article entitled Our Lives, Controlled From Some Guy’s Couch.

Evaluating Simulations

We will see practical examples of applications of simulations and evaluate their effectiveness and implications. Some common fields that have been subjected to modeling and simulation are:
- Weather forecasting
- Stock Exchange
- Genetics and evolution
- Training simulators, excluding Flight Simulators

Working in pairs, your assigned task will be to choose one of these fields and answer the following questions:
Find web sites or direct references to computer simulations within the chosen field.
How complex is the underlying model and on what theory/equations is it based?
To what extent are the above simulations being used for real-life or research/training purposes and why?
Based on the above, what is the reliability and effectiveness of the model and related simulation? (This is the most important question!)

Creating a SASS Bot

We will now put into practice some of the principles of Artificial Intelligence.

The objective of this activity is to create a chat bot that features some of the characteristics of a member of our community.

We will go to The Personality Forge and learn how to create a bot by building predefined phrases at the Language Center. Then it will be time to give life to a new bot.

• Form groups of two students each.


• Create an account for the group.


• Come to my desk to get a personality assignment.


• Work on creating a profile for the bot, that is, a series of statements that define the personality of the bot based on the characteristics of the person assigned. Send it in a Word file to itgs.sass@gmail.com before the end of the lesson.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

A logical next step in the study of Robotics and its ethical and social implications is to focus on the software that makes robots acquire quasi human capabilities. The software that runs robots, as well as other modern technology applications, is based on Artificial Intelligence.

As a primer, we will refer to “What is Artificial Intelligence?” by Stanford University Professor of Computer Science Dr. John McCarthy, one of the pioneers of AI.
We will also be referring briefly to the first Chapter in the book “Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence”, by Robert S. Engelmore and Edward Feigenbaum.

In order to see the possibilities of AI for mainstream gaming applications, we will take a look at Project Milo.

We will then look at a short video on The Rise of Artificial Intelligence:

Another short clip illustrates the concept of the Uncanny Valley and its relation to evolution of AI.


In order to better understand the extent to which conversational engines have evolved, we will be looking at the Loebner Prize competition:

Finally, so that you can get some first person interaction with AI bots, we will transfer to The Personality Forge, where you will be chatting with an AI program and try to catch it into betraying itself to be a robot!

Roboethics Assignment

Following up on our discussion on Roboethics and what we have learned on the evolution of robots, your assignment is to create a short video that addresses one of the following statements:

- Robots that create the illusion of feelings and self awareness should be banned because humans become too attached to them.
- Human intelligence will improve by creating robots that extend human capabilities.
- In the near future, man’s best friend will inevitably be a robot.

You can work in pairs. Please follow the following directions regarding the completion of your assignment:
- The video should include static slides that reflect your point of view as well as clips from advanced humanoids and other robots that you will search for on the Internet.
- Do not include long texts, rather bullet points and images and / or videos to support your statements.
- Include a final page with references that you have used to complete the presentation.