I sent the following to the Star Tribune on 1999-07-15. I don’t think it was published. The link to inrets.fr still exists but the link to ccad.uiowa.edu does not.
"Unreal games" reminded me of many earlier thoughts I've had about driving simulation. When I tried Silicon Motor Speedway at the Mall of America, I thought that its technology could be used to give more rigorous driving tests. When I read about Unreal's software engine https://www.unrealengine.com/what-is-unreal-engine-4, I thought that this technology would be even better for a driving test.
States will probably continue to test applicants in real cars in artificial environments for many decades. But what if insurance companies tested their customers in artificial cars with a seemingly realistic environment? Instead of only stopping for a stop sign, keeping in the lane, turning correctly, what if
drivers could be tested on how close they followed, how well they could stop when a ball rolled into the street, how well they could drive at night, how well they could do in dozens of situations they would encounter on real streets.
As an inducement for drivers to take the test, the insurance companies would lower drivers' premiums according to how well they did on the test. Even if some drivers aced the test but continued many bad habits and attitudes, wouldn't they have gained some small change in behavior and skill?
To check on how far the technology has come, I searched the web for "driving simulator" and "driving simulations", I received 1300 references (via HotBot). Clicking on the very first item (http://www.inrets.fr/ur/sara/drifac_e.htm) I found a wealth of other links. One was a Driving Simulation Conference in Paris, France this past week. Another was a set of abstracts of papers written at the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa; these discussed many of the problems of driving simulation and solutions already found (http://www.ccad.uiowa.edu/research/ids/technical-papers/). Other links were to a few software packages from around the world.
In what I did visit, I found government and auto manufacturer sponsors, but no insurance companies. I reduced the selection by adding "insurance" and still had 830 finds. The first twenty didn't look promising other than some school districts' driver education programs were mentioned.
Considering what I found in a few minutes was far more than I had read about recently, insurance companies and others in a position to test drivers may be doing more than I know. For the sake of safety and comfort on the roads for all us, let's hope that someone, somewhere has already taken steps to increase dramatically the number of good, defensive drivers.
Showing posts with label driver education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label driver education. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
Reading, writing, and coding?
Some parents, school districts, and companies are pushing for kids as young as seven to be involved in programming computers. See “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding”, New York Times, May 10, 2014. Part of the rationale is it is a “basic life skill, one that might someday lead to a great job or even instant riches.”
Or, “Computer science is big right now — in our country, the world,” a mother said. “If my kids aren’t exposed to things like that, they could miss out on potential opportunities and careers.”
Really?
Coding is a means to problem solving. One can code all kinds of things, but if one doesn’t use the “right” language, no amount of coding work will get one a job. The job market is littered with people who were whiz-bang coders but can’t get jobs because they don’t have the right “skill set”. Never mind that many programmers have learned and keep learning new languages, if they haven’t learned the language of the day yet they won’t be hired. See the writings of Norman Matloff.
Matloff, a college professor, is in an enviable position. He can learn a new computer language, write a book about it, and get people to buy the book; no personnel department checks on his “skill sets”. He wrote “The Art of R Programming”. R? What is that? I bet most readers never heard of R. I don’t have space for more description here, but it “is the world’s most popular language for developing statistical software”. According the publisher, No Starch Press, “Archeologists use it to track the spread of ancient civilizations.” Didn’t learn R in elementary school? According to the statements of some, there goes your career in archaeology!
Remember when learning BASIC was the rage. How many who learned BASIC got jobs using BASIC?
I posted the following comment to the New York Times article. Unfortunately, it was not accepted, possibly because there were so many more like it already.
“I have been involved with computers for over 50 years, and in some cases was considered a whiz. But I feel somewhat left behind. Not because my problem solving abilities have deteriorated, but because programming languages have become more obtuse.
“The real skill people need is problem solving, whether its why their computer doesn't behave as it did yesterday or why the answering machine message disappeared. I just replaced the answering machine message, now to figure out how to get my wife's iPad to once again access my iPhone hotspot through Bluetooth.
“I might do it, or I might not. I do know I recently figured out a problem that the Geek Squad couldn't. In short, it was about what program was active at the time of the problem.
“Oh, by the way, how well did the rush to learn BASIC a few years ago really work out.”
A better approach might be courses in problem solving in many different disciplines. How do you make a pleasant melody? How do you draw? How do you settle an argument? What is the true meaning of a set of “statistics”? What data is needed? Are we working on the right problem? How to read a map and plan a route?
“Corporations increasingly are looking for skill-sets. Thinkers need not apply. But is that what we want emerging from our schools? Easily disposable cogs?” A comment by RuthMarie to “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding?”
As an example of how narrow skill sets are, consider that energy traders in Europe are being laid off because of the move to alternative energy. They are considered so specialized that they aren’t being hired for other trading jobs. “Energy Trader Turned Caribbean Surfer Watches Wind for Waves”, Bloomberg, May 21, 2014. So, a trader in energy can’t learn to trade in steel or bonds or …?
What is happening in the Duluth Public Schools regarding computers and other skills? You can find the middle and high school course catalogs on the schools’ website (http://www.isd709.org).
Sixth graders take a one semester course on computers (see Business Education). The primary focus is on development of touch typing. Along the way they learn to produce “letters, flyers, memos, tables, outlines, spreadsheet[s],…and slide show presentations.”
To me, these are skills almost all of us need sometime in life. How many people do you know that still hunt and peck at a keyboard? How often have you watched a speaker get lost in his or her own PowerPoint presentation?
I had to wait until 11th grade to take typing; it was an elective for me, not a requirement. It has been one of the two most important classes I took in high school. The other was driving. I use these two skills more than anything else I learned in high school. Driving is no longer offered in many high schools. I did not find it in the Duluth “High School Course Book”.
What I did find is something for more interesting than the shop courses I took (wood working, metal working, and printing): Pre-engineering! Who sets print by hand anymore? All seventh graders are required to take it, and the focus will be on design and modeling. They will work both individually and in groups. The lone coder bent over a coding sheet is a myth; his or her work has to mesh with that of lots of other people.
Pre-engineering is part of the “Project Lead the Way” curriculum. It continues in high school with other courses. One of the objectives is to “develop students’ innovative, collaborative, cooperative, problem-solving skills.”
Now all we need is more employers who look for generalists rather than narrow specialists.
Mel learned coding at 20, programmed main frames until 44, programmed personal computers until 57, and is still debugging the coding of hotshots at 76.
Published in the Reader Weekly, 29 May 2014 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/05/29/3449_reading_writing_and_coding.
Or, “Computer science is big right now — in our country, the world,” a mother said. “If my kids aren’t exposed to things like that, they could miss out on potential opportunities and careers.”
Really?
Coding is a means to problem solving. One can code all kinds of things, but if one doesn’t use the “right” language, no amount of coding work will get one a job. The job market is littered with people who were whiz-bang coders but can’t get jobs because they don’t have the right “skill set”. Never mind that many programmers have learned and keep learning new languages, if they haven’t learned the language of the day yet they won’t be hired. See the writings of Norman Matloff.
Matloff, a college professor, is in an enviable position. He can learn a new computer language, write a book about it, and get people to buy the book; no personnel department checks on his “skill sets”. He wrote “The Art of R Programming”. R? What is that? I bet most readers never heard of R. I don’t have space for more description here, but it “is the world’s most popular language for developing statistical software”. According the publisher, No Starch Press, “Archeologists use it to track the spread of ancient civilizations.” Didn’t learn R in elementary school? According to the statements of some, there goes your career in archaeology!
Remember when learning BASIC was the rage. How many who learned BASIC got jobs using BASIC?
I posted the following comment to the New York Times article. Unfortunately, it was not accepted, possibly because there were so many more like it already.
“I have been involved with computers for over 50 years, and in some cases was considered a whiz. But I feel somewhat left behind. Not because my problem solving abilities have deteriorated, but because programming languages have become more obtuse.
“The real skill people need is problem solving, whether its why their computer doesn't behave as it did yesterday or why the answering machine message disappeared. I just replaced the answering machine message, now to figure out how to get my wife's iPad to once again access my iPhone hotspot through Bluetooth.
“I might do it, or I might not. I do know I recently figured out a problem that the Geek Squad couldn't. In short, it was about what program was active at the time of the problem.
“Oh, by the way, how well did the rush to learn BASIC a few years ago really work out.”
A better approach might be courses in problem solving in many different disciplines. How do you make a pleasant melody? How do you draw? How do you settle an argument? What is the true meaning of a set of “statistics”? What data is needed? Are we working on the right problem? How to read a map and plan a route?
“Corporations increasingly are looking for skill-sets. Thinkers need not apply. But is that what we want emerging from our schools? Easily disposable cogs?” A comment by RuthMarie to “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding?”
As an example of how narrow skill sets are, consider that energy traders in Europe are being laid off because of the move to alternative energy. They are considered so specialized that they aren’t being hired for other trading jobs. “Energy Trader Turned Caribbean Surfer Watches Wind for Waves”, Bloomberg, May 21, 2014. So, a trader in energy can’t learn to trade in steel or bonds or …?
What is happening in the Duluth Public Schools regarding computers and other skills? You can find the middle and high school course catalogs on the schools’ website (http://www.isd709.org).
Sixth graders take a one semester course on computers (see Business Education). The primary focus is on development of touch typing. Along the way they learn to produce “letters, flyers, memos, tables, outlines, spreadsheet[s],…and slide show presentations.”
To me, these are skills almost all of us need sometime in life. How many people do you know that still hunt and peck at a keyboard? How often have you watched a speaker get lost in his or her own PowerPoint presentation?
I had to wait until 11th grade to take typing; it was an elective for me, not a requirement. It has been one of the two most important classes I took in high school. The other was driving. I use these two skills more than anything else I learned in high school. Driving is no longer offered in many high schools. I did not find it in the Duluth “High School Course Book”.
What I did find is something for more interesting than the shop courses I took (wood working, metal working, and printing): Pre-engineering! Who sets print by hand anymore? All seventh graders are required to take it, and the focus will be on design and modeling. They will work both individually and in groups. The lone coder bent over a coding sheet is a myth; his or her work has to mesh with that of lots of other people.
Pre-engineering is part of the “Project Lead the Way” curriculum. It continues in high school with other courses. One of the objectives is to “develop students’ innovative, collaborative, cooperative, problem-solving skills.”
Now all we need is more employers who look for generalists rather than narrow specialists.
Mel learned coding at 20, programmed main frames until 44, programmed personal computers until 57, and is still debugging the coding of hotshots at 76.
Published in the Reader Weekly, 29 May 2014 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/05/29/3449_reading_writing_and_coding.
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