Las Vegas — Steve Wozniak helped kick off the personal-computer revolution decades ago when he and Steve Jobs started Apple Computer in a garage in Silicon Valley, and he says education was one of the key uses he saw for computers from the beginning. The eccentric engineer talked about his passion for education and told tales of the early days of Apple during a keynote speech yesterday at Blackboard Inc.’s user conference in Las Vegas.
Mr. Wozniak, whose nickname is Woz, entered the ballroom for his speech riding a Segway scooter, to the blaring sounds of rock music. He said he always imagined that one day computers would be able to serve as virtual teachers, giving students one-on-one instruction that cannot be delivered in traditional ways because it is too expensive to have a human teacher for each student. He said computers still are not sophisticated enough to replace teachers, but said he believes that artificial-intelligence software will one day fulfill that vision. The Chronicle caught up with the Woz after his talk, and you can see highlights of the interview in the latest installment of Wired Campus TV. —Jeffrey R. Young
3 Responses to Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Says Education Was a Primary Motivation for His Inventions
22277599 - March 8, 2012 at 6:27 pm
As a high school student in the late 1950s, just after Sputnik, I had the opportunity to study physics using materials developed by the Physical Sciences Study Committee. An “advantage” of the class was that the teacher did not have the “teacher’s version” of the text, and the students and he experimented and explored as we carried out the learning projects (e.g., measuring the size of a molecule). I know that I was thinking, calculating, and solving problems that exceeded the skills I had learned up to that time.
What’s new?
what4 - March 9, 2012 at 2:06 pm
One problem today is that many students, rather than learning by doing, have learned to move thoughtlessly through such activities so they “do” without “learning.”
There is no good idea that can’t be overused or made boring.
educationfrontlines - March 11, 2012 at 7:38 am
No experience, no meaning.
John Richard Schrock