DFI Week 7

An intriguing day at the DFI course. But also a little bit scary in a shake your head and what next  kind of way,  this time held at the Waitangi Treaty grounds. We saw, not for the first time, various examples of Digital Technologies, DT.   From driverless vehicles, a very life like robot and an amazing video of a giant 3 dimensional printer,  building a house in a very short space of time. Then there was a clip of a modern office building and a person  making their way through their  daily business wearing glasses that were an interactive digital monitor. We also looked at several different animation programmes, i.e scratch, robotics and a couple of others. 

Using these  programs was pretty cool.  creating animations  in  minutes and even seconds. I couldn't help but think of the painstaking methods used by Walt Disney and his team of artists and what they would have given to have such technology in their hands. 

We were able to try out some of these programmes and then later in the day we were given the option to choose one and try and create an animation. I took the option of choosing scratch because I thought it was the more difficult of the two programmes I tried.  I was right i did find it quite difficult but was starting to see how it worked toward the finish of the day, however more work required.  

Have to mention the nice lunch at the cafe and even bumped into a colleague from  Northcate who is now retired, great to see him again. 

 The  theme of the day was computational thinking. With the understanding of the principles of computer science that all digital technologies share,  learners (teachers and students) should gain competency in a variety of digital technologies and  make the shift from being just users of DT to the interesting and exciting fields of Research, Design, Create & Educate.

We don’t have to look far to see this happening in every sector of industry.  As I work in the field of careers, for years now I have heard how the more mundane tasks in occupations are becoming automated and that the need for unskilled workers decreases, and yet I continually hear  there is a skill shortage in nearly every sector of industry so the need to upskill has been described as “urgent.’  (I heard this dialogue first at a large conference, “Work in Progress”, back in 2002. 

 Nearly twenty years on  the cry out  is the same, there are still not enough skilled workers in most  industries.  I suppose this is a driver of evolving DT as the labour shortfall is taken up by industry . While this does perhaps cover the shortfall of workers it most assuredly will put people out of work, so again the need for these workers to upskill to meet the demand of these new technologies is evident. 

Today it seems that it's not just the mundane low skilled occupations that are becoming automated, even  highly skilled tasks such as operations can be done by robots, albeit with a surgeon  sitting in another country. If not already happening, how long before even a surgeon is no longer necessary as advanced technology replaces the possibility of human error and the shaky hand of a surgeon. 

Is it just me or is it that  DT are advancing at an  alarming rate and the more advanced they become, Researchers, Designers, Creators use of technology leads to further and even more rapid  Research, Design and Creation of more powerful and intelligent DT and AI than the previous generation.

History shows that  change and advanced technologies are inevitable and are  non-stoppable,   It is the rapidity  of change that is concerning. When today's  technologies become  obsolete, then what was once futuristic science fiction becomes the science fact of today.    Does this mean the continual need to upskill, or will even this be sped up and done for us, will humans become so integrated with DT and AI,  will upskilling simply mean uploading an overnight “update”? I hope that  prediction is an exaggeration and never comes.

Once again, thanks to Kerry and her awesome team of expertr educators from Manaiakilani, so so patient! See you  Wednesday in the far North. Week 8,  nearly done, 1 more week after that.