11. Challenges: Generations and Life-course: ... By 2030 half the population will be over 50, one quarter over 65 ...ageing societies require the transfer of educational resources between young and old ... The role of “qualifications” will need to be re-examined ... “radical longevity” ...education as family’s ‘active health’ State, Market, Third Sector : ... Education is likely to be pluralistically funded by individuals, communities, employers, governments and private enterprise ... Pressure groups as the new ‘opposition’ ... Role of industry members as ‘teachers’ ... Links between young people learning and workforce development Knowledge, Creativity and Communication: ... Provigil and ‘cosmetic neurology’ ... Performance through smart drugs may require a trade off with creativity and originality ... New forms of sharing and communicating ... A change in what is perceived as important, new and necessary knowledge ... New ways of organising and representing knowledge Identities, Citizenship and Communities: Fertility rate that is below the replacement level and high levels of inward migration lead to a lower proportion of younger people and a more ethnically diverse ageing population ... Relationships between geographic, language-based, religious and virtual communities ... Online identities, avatars, virtual presence Working and Employment: ... Changing working hours and locations, and the implications for how schooling is organised ... Changing organisation of schooling, and the implications for working hours and locations ... Retirement based upon medical records not age ... Multi-generational workforces
23. The Haptic Cow is a virtual reality simulator developed to train veterinary students to palpate the bovine reproductive tract, to perform fertility examinations and to diagnose pregnancy. The simulator uses haptic (touch feedback) technology, which allows a user to interact with a 3D virtual environment through the sense of touch. When being trained with the Haptic Cow, the student palpates computer generated virtual objects resembling parts of the bovine reproductive tract. The teacher provides instruction and feedback while following the student's actions inside the cow on the computer monitor. Phantom haptic 3D printers Nuffield Design/Young Foresight project QTC is clever stuff. It comes as thin sheets or a powder. It can be built into textiles or fixed to hard surfaces. In a relaxed state it is a good insulator. When it is stretched, squashed or twisted it becomes a conductor. The harder you stretch, squash or twist it the better it conducts. It’s already been used in power tools and a robot hand.