Time-technology
Centers – Engineering
Education for
designing and using timescapes
Bala R.
Subramanian, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
E-mail: bsubrama@nj.devry.edu
Department of Business &
Information Systems
DeVry College of Technology
North Brunswick, NJ 08902
Abstract
Information technology has
enabled modern societies to become more productive. However, IT has limitations
due to its inability to personalize the value of information. The next
generation information technology has to overcome this disadvantage. I have
chosen to name this next generation solution, Time-technology (T2),
to reflect its emphasis on the value of time, both individual and organizational.
Time-technology, in addition
to its emphasis on real time, goes farther to integrate time by innovative use
of Internet technologies to overcome the time-barriers (such as cultural,
socio-economic and geographical).
Engineering education as
well as education in general needs to empower students to live, work and solve
futuristic needs. One way to introduce this concept and implement life-long
learning is by the creation of time-technology centers and developing the
infrastructure to create curricula that would enable students to be productive
long before they enter the work force.
This paper addresses the
issues involved and describes an approach to successfully move the 21st
century education to be meaningful, relevant and one sought after by both industry
and governments.
Creating the framework and
implementation of this framework to bring all arts and sciences in the realm of
Internet time without giving up the social and cultural uniqueness of
individualism, nationalism, religion, and democracy would be a challenge
without time-technology.
Key Words: time-technology,
timescapes, societal-time, Internet-time, virtual-time, synthetic-time
Global Impact of Internet on Education: Internet has made it possible for both the students and the teachers to interact with one another on an individual as well as on a group level much more meaningfully overcoming the geographical, philosophical, cultural and many such barriers[1][1]. Introduction of distance learning is but one on-going innovation. Through the creation of virtual universities knowledge and learning have gained momentum and have assumed universality never before dreamed possible. The social impact of this change is likely to be assessed for many years to come on such questions as the verification of a students’ effort, plagiarism and shift of power to student from teacher and many more - too numerous to mention in any single documentation.
The entire global community seems to understand and accept the notion of an “Internet time”[2] in the sense of conveying of information to any specific individual anywhere in the globe much the same way television was able to unite humanity by broadcasting information to masses both visually and aurally a mere 50 years ago to help coin the phrase “the global village”.
Of course, there are critiques of both these technologies and many others[3]
and have questioned their implication and their meaning to the long-term societal well-being [2]. Never-the-less, human capability has increased by these innovations. We are at a cross road, it would seem, to go farther and deeper or turn back as it were and reconsider. In the mean time, education has to continue to fulfill its’ promise to new generations of humanity. The question then becomes what is education and what do we want to learn (or teach – for that matter) that could change our lives for the better.
The answer, I think, lies in converging the education process with all other societal and individual sustenance processes. These processes are very dynamic; they are very interdependent and self-adjusting. Given these intricacies and the need to move to-gather as a unified body on the time horizon to accomplish many individual, communal, societal, national, religious and idealistic goals that have been proven to be of value over many centuries of human existence we need a mechanism, albeit virtually, similar to the landscape of our terrains that guide us on our travel to our mutual destinations. Our present day tools of clocks and calendars, though helpful after years of familiarity and learning to feel the passage of time do not adequately depict the same to the mechanical beings we have come to rely on for augmenting the human prowess. Just as we have marked the globe with latitudes and longitudes to know where we are spatially, we need to mark our time-horizon with similar precision using timescapes to depict with exactitude our relationships with one another as well as all other relationships man made or natural. This task of mapping and using the knowledge of the terrain of our time-horizons is primary or very fundamental and necessary if we are to avoid bumping into and worse still falling blindly into crevasses of unknown time plane, especially by our automatons.
I believe, education, especially engineering education, has a greater need to prepare the world to cope with this unseen and yet profoundly significant time dimension to help us lead better quality lives that are stress free from unseen but perceived phenomenon.
How could the engineering education take the lead? One way would be to introduce the students to the convergence philosophy discussed earlier and provide in the engineering curricula opportunities to design the applications that will move the humanity from sequential use of time to simultaneous or parallel use of time for many societal purposes and activities. As the students learn and become adept at viewing and exploring the societal-time-dimension, significant useful skills will be learnt that will benefit the industry and organizations to understand their role in this hitherto unseen world.
Since the emphasis is on parallel operations and parallelism is achievable in many planes of societal processes there is much to learn and do. All of these learning and doings have to be communicated well to be useful and realizable as economic gains by the societies at large. Present day engineering curricula has to continue as they are with perhaps a few modifications and be able to add on these additional features. One simple way to provide this new feature without wholesale changes to the existing methodologies would be to setup time-technology centers as an adjunct to the various departments and schools. At a cost of perhaps $80-$100 per student per year this vital education could begin.
It is important that we recognize the need to involve students at the earliest stages of their education to the significance of time and its effect on all societal phenomena and its ability to confuse and disorient if not properly perceived. It is also important that we educate our younger generations with a desire to impart their perceptions to society as a whole, for the present and for the future. Learning to do both is the education one would consider worth receiving for it will not only provide fish for the day but freedom from hunger forever, even after fish is replaced by more tasty morsels.
The next question that comes up is how do we fund these new education centers?
Of course, there are many ways for doing anything. Oneway is to start with our federal government.
The creation of the Institute of Education Sciences[4] at the federal level by an act of congress on November 5, 2002 through the Education Sciences Reform Act, 2002 signifies the importance to develop new directions in education of humans and create a special program of infrastructure for the education of the automatons[5] that humanity will need to escape the drudgery of over work [3]. What we have been calling an education for humans in the 20th century could be relegated and used for the learning of automatons of the 21st century. Humans of the 21st century can follow new directions for their own education to fulfill their higher roles that need to replace the present ones. The Regional Educational Laboratories[6] of the U.S. Department of Education can help bring about this learning and doing with a view to connect the work places of the future upon graduation.
Creation of the time-technology framework will enable
working on the virtual time plane by both robots and humans and linking all
individual and societal processes under one framework.
[1]. Garrison D.R., Anderson, Terry, Garrison Randy, E-Learning in the 21st Century: A framework for Research and Practice, Routledge Falmer, 2003
[2].McKenzie, Richard B., The Paradox of Progress, Oxford University Press, 1997
[3]. H.R. 3801, One hundred seventh congress of the United States of America at the second session begun and held at the city of Washington on Wednesday, the 23rd day of January, 2002
[1] For an interesting discussion see Garrison D.R., Anderson, Terry, Garrison Randy, E-Learning in the 21st Century: A framework for Research and Practice, RoutledgeFalmer, January, 2003
[2] Internet time refers to the 1000 beats used to measure a solar day on the earth. For a down loadable clock please go to http://www.swatch.com and click on Internet time.
[3] McKenzie, Richard B. The Paradox of Progress, Oxford University Press, March, 1997
[5] a self operating machine or mechanism,
especially a robot