­
Microsoft's Future Decoded — ICT & Computing in Education
  • Front Page
  • Search
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Menu

ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
  • Front Page
  • Search
  • Newsletters
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
  • Info
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Photo by Terry Freedman

Photo by Terry Freedman

Microsoft's Future Decoded

November 2, 2018

The most immediately interesting to me about the fascinating talk on future trends at Microsoft’s Future Decoded conference in London was not the future at all, but the present.

Apparently, the text recognition capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) is now equivalent to that of the average person. Ditto image recognition and, appealingly, text comprehension.

Now, I’ve always been interested in the use of technology to alleviate the workload associated with marking, but have never been fully satisfied with the (affordable) solutions on offer when it comes to marking short answers or essays. For example, with one product, you had to enter the correct short answer, which might be:

“This is an example of an If-Then-Else statement.”

If a pupil entered the answer:

“This is an example of If-Then-Else”

the answer would be deemed to be incorrect, which is clearly not the case. If the computer program was able to understand what the pupil had entered, as opposed to simply matching it against what the teacher had entered as being the correct answer, not only would the marking be more accurate but the teacher could be more ambitious in terms of the questions she sets for the students.

The only issue is that, given how the AI learns what the text means (by being fed lots of examples of whatever it is that it is being taught), any student who comes up with a startling new theory is bound to marked down by an algorithm which doesn’t recognise it as such. I have not seen this discussed anywhere except by myself, and having a discussion with oneself is never a completely satisfying experience.

This is bad news for any teacher wishing to delegate all of her marking to AI, but perhaps a source of some solace for anyone worried about the robots taking over.

I hope to write more about the conference in my newsletter, Digital Education. To subscribe to it, please go to this page: Digital Education.

In Using and Teaching Computing & ICT, Professional development Tags FutureDecoded, Future Decoded, Microsoft, conferences
← E-safety updateForthcoming Education Technology-Related Events in London →
Recent book reviews
Backlist: The Written World
Backlist: The Written World

Writing was invented ‘only’ a few thousand years ago. It’s a fascinating story.

Read More →
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce

What does it take to become an expert? And what can the Computing teacher do about it?

Read More →
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution

The title of this book invites curiosity: what were the other three ‘revolutions?

Read More →
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps

Some of these stories are so richly told, it can almost seem as though you’re right there with him.

Read More →
Review: Pen Names
Review: Pen Names

OK, so this has nothing to do with education technology, but we all read (I hope!). A very interesting examination of the pen names some authors have adopted, and why.

Read More →
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History

There's a really interesting section in this book about how ceramic storage of data and information is probably the most likely medium to stand the test of time.

Read More →
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps

The subject under discussion here is how human physiology has developed in different ways, in response to different conditions around the world.

Read More →
Review: Social Media for Academics
Review: Social Media for Academics

This book is very readable, and if I sound surprised that is because it’s not always true of academics!

Read More →
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

Read More →
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too

Despite the relative paucity of immediately obvious National Curriculum links, teachers will find several of sections of this book to be highly engaging.

Read More →
Dig+Ed+Banner.jpg

Contact us

Privacy

Cookies

Terms and conditions

This website is powered by Squarespace

(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved