It was 1980 when I first encountered Speak & Spell. This innovative educational toy, made by Texas Instruments, blew my tiny mind. Here was a handheld children’s computer that could help me improve my spelling, which was, and still is, atrocious. What’s more, it was fun. Made of bright red plastic with a yellow trim and a small digital screen, it was certainly eye-catching, but its most striking attribute was that it spoke. “Now spell colour”, its emotionless, robotic voice would command.
In 2009, long after Speak & Spell had been consigned to the archives of early digital technology, the US-based Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers awarded it “Milestone” status, declaring it a key achievement in electronic engineering. It may also have been the first sign of an impending revolution.
A recent article in The National described a research project by a team from UAE University's College of Information Technology that used robotics and artificial intelligence to help children on the autism spectrum with their learning and development. The research described how children on the autism spectrum paid more attention and responded better to simple instructions given by a robot than they did to those given by a human instructor.
It is not only in the context of autism that robots are getting involved in education. Earlier this year, primary schools across the city of Tampere in Finland got two new teachers − both of them robots. The first, named Elias, is small, humanoid in appearance and programmed to speak and understand 23 languages. It has been developed to recognise and understand the language ability of the specific child interacting with it, and to adapt the complexity of its own accordingly. Elias is also programmed to perform the “Gangnam Style” dance, which might be helpful when the class is getting bored. The other half of this robotic teaching duo is an egg-shaped invention known as OVObot, which is tasked with teaching maths.
Their deployment in classrooms is part of a pilot study to explore the impact of robots on teaching quality and educational progress. The study also aims to see how effective machines might be at taking charge of lessons. I find it disturbing that a robot could be used to stop unruly classroom behaviour – we’ve all seen RoboCop – and unlikely that it could comfort a crying child, but machines could very effectively record such incidents and report them back to their human overseers.
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Read more from Justin Thomas:
Young people are vulnerable to loneliness too
Psychologists cannot afford to ignore our valuable digital data trail
Why teachers need help just as much as their pupils
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This is the near future of education, as envisioned by Anthony Seldon and Oladimeji Abidoye in their recent co-authored book, The Fourth Education Revolution: Will Artificial Intelligence Liberate or Infantilise Humanity? In it, they assert that AI can easily outperform human teachers in the areas of information-giving and the tailoring of assessment to the specific needs of individual students. Gone will be the days of age-related year groups: if you are ready to progress, then you will. And RoboTeacher will lead the way.
It seems likely that artificial intelligence will become a major source of disruptive innovation in education in the coming decades. This is when a new technology displaces the old ways of doing things, in some cases rendering that which came before entirely obsolete. Netflix and Uber are good examples of disruption in entertainment and transport, but what could disruption in education look like?
For one thing, the AI classroom of the future might not even be a classroom. With the possibility of personalised instruction and immersive virtual reality, the need to gather students into large rooms with desks and whiteboards seems open to question. However, online educational methods possess little of the human interaction that classrooms and lecture halls provide. This is an important part of the learning experience for both children and adults, and should not be overlooked.
When one considers parts of the world where access to education in the form of well-educated professional teachers is scarce, the value of new, open and accessible methods of tutoring is clear. For the AI-empowered education revolution to genuinely take effect in these locations, though, considerable investment in technological infrastructure will be necessary.
As an educator, I believe that it’s wise to embrace change, to appreciate the potential of new and emerging technologies, and get ahead of the curve. From such a vantage point, teachers are in a perfect place to influence how the coming revolution will unfold. Like everything else, nobody can predict the future of learning, but one thing is certain – that the role of the teacher is going to change radically.
Still, it is unlikely that we will be replaced. With increasing use of technology, we may see an even greater need than ever for educators to focus on the social and emotional development of children. A teacher’s compassion and empathy can help struggling students find their way, to become inspired and flourish. We may have come a long way from Speak & Spell, but that invaluable human touch will always remain at the cutting edge of education.
Dr Justin Thomas is professor of psychology at Zayed University
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The years Ramadan fell in May
Results
5pm: Wadi Nagab – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m; Winner: Al Falaq, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Wadi Sidr – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Majalis, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Fakhama, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
6.30pm: Wadi Shees – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mutaqadim, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 – Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Wadi Tayyibah – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Poster Paint, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
