- Preface
- I. A new era
- • Globalization, the first sign of change
- • English - the new planetary language
- • A change in the scale of education
- II. Education and its context
- • Education and business
- • Education and the state
- III. The digital habit
- • The new digital culture
- • Digital projects
- • Time for assimilation
- IV. The extended school
- • Education at a critical moment
- • A definition of the extended school
- • Yesterday: concentrated knowledge
- • Today: knowledge disseminated
- • Tomorrow: knowledge connected
- V. New tools and old
- • Chalk and blackboard
- • The spinning globe
- • Microscopic life
- • Desk and work
- • The computer garden
- • Slides and liquid Crystal
- • Projectors and projections
- • Dry and digital copies
- VI. Digital transition
- • Continuing education
- • Cultural exchange
- • The mental switch
- • Critical thought
- • Internal communication
- • Educational frontier posts
- • Technological updating
- • Creativity and deregulation
- VII. Means and ends
- • Values for today and for always
- • Technocentrality and consumerism
- • Software in the public domain
- VIII. The digital library
- • Atoms versus bits
- • The dual book
- • Digital quality
- • Reading and writing
- • Text and hypertext
- • Consult and navigate
- IX. The home computer
- • A new piece of furniture or a new instrument?
- • Playthings and electronic toys
- • Robots for assembly
- • The silent printer
- • The community network
- X. New instruments of thought
- • Word processors, a new way of writing
- • A friendly mouse
- • More portable learning
- • Designing with computers
- • The golden link in communications: the modem
- • Electronic mail always arrives at its destination
- • Fax, a threatened species
- • WWW: three magic letters
- • Reliable and accessible data bases
- • Tables, abacus and spreadsheet
- • The Scanner, a bridge between two worlds
- • New interfaces and old keyboards
- • Presentation aids
- • So-called multimedia
- • Digital cameras without film
- • Digital videos in schools
- • Music for all
- XI. Presence and remote presence
- • Features of distance education
- • The three generations
- • Synchronous and asynchronous moments
- • Spaces for meeting
- • Classrooms open to the world
- • The advantages
- • New educational niches
- • A new type of teacher and student
- XII. Talents and handicaps
- • The right to communication
- • The obstacle of the keyboard
- • The obstacle of the screen
- • The expression of individual talent
- Conclusions
X. NEW INSTRUMENTS OF THOUGHT
Designing with computers
Computer assisted design (CAD) enables complete simulations to be made of computer-designed objects, making it possible to wander through buildings, travel in imaginary scenery or through the human body. It is an essential tool for artists, engineers, architects and scientists. These tools not only help us to think about objects built in a more realistic manner, they enable us to better express our ideas, designs and projects.
Digital education could also include these tools to teach us to better design the new learning areas required by the schools of the future. We could constantly improve and embellish the meeting places, students, teachers and architects together, instead of passively accepting a pre-defined, unchangeable physical space. We will thus learn to be more critical of the space assigned to classroom education within our schools.
One considerable help in the task of performing designs is provided by those wonderful tools known as graphics software. Some tend towards painting, others towards technical drawings. Both types of graphics software are fundamental for looking with other eyes at the drawings or designs we create on screen. To do so we could use the mouse (in any of its shapes) and pressure-sensitive pencils on "graphics tablets". The plasticity of design offered by the digital world is unlimited. We can count on millions of colors, instruments for erasing, cutting, overlaying, mixing. These digital tools do not deteriorate, they adapt to our skills, they become more personal as we progress and above all they stimulate the constructive process by allowing advances and retreats until the objective is reached. These drawing tools, coupled with a good electronic mail system, enable graphic work to travel from one person to another until the final design is acceptable to all. It is thus possible to work as a group on digital paintings in remote virtual workshops.
