The Digital Adventures Blog
For parents, educators and students to discuss tech education for kids, best practices for teaching coding & engineering design to kids & emerging technology trends
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Technology Learning is Foundational
Over the last several months, there has been an ongoing debate over whether or not coding and engineering design skills are necessary for the well-rounded education of the next generation. Some criticisms of teaching kids to code include that this is just a covert operation for big technology companies to increase the pipeline of workers to reduce the massive compensation packages for current e...
In 10 Years These 3 Things Won't Change
"I very frequently get the question: 'What's going to change in the next 10 years?' And that is a very interesting question; it's a very common one. I almost never get the question: 'What's not going to change in the next 10 years?' And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stabl...
Build with Technology. Change the World!
One of the great things about teaching kids to build with technology is that it equips them with the skills necessary to develop solutions at scale that can truly change the world. In this blog post, we will highlight a few world changing applications that are already in flight with the hopes of inspiring the next generation to build upon this foundation of invention and innovation from their p...
Jobs of the Future Will Require More Technology Acumen
Early in my career, performance reviews often included discussions on business acumen. As a classically-trained engineer, I often thought it was a bit of a stretch that I should be required to have a depth of knowledge in both engineering and business. However, employers do not have time for philosophical debates on what someone should or should not be expected to know; instead, they often focu...
The Future of Education - Innovator's Edition
It is often interesting to forecast future states. When will self-driving cars become commonplace? When will extra-terrestrial vacations become trendy? When will wi-fi work in every part of my house? These questions and ultimately future outcomes are closely tied to education. In a sense, education is the fundamental building block of future innovation. In 1967, Seymour Papiert and his team in...
Future of Technology Predictions: 2028 Edition
As the end of 2017 concludes, it is often interesting to look ahead and think about what is to come. Oftentimes, around this time of the year, we get predictions for the subsequent year: 2018. However, at Digital Adventures, we thought it would be more interesting to look 10 years out when most of our students will begin to enter college or start their professional careers. So, without further ...
Meet Vicki...Your Kid's New Robot Employee
When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows to watch was “Small World”. In this show, Vicki was a robot created by the robotics engineer father to be part of a family. Vicki would help out around the house. But, sometimes things didn’t quite go right because of technological challenges (literal speech interpretations, etc..). Fast forward to today and we are witnessing amazing advances in techno...
Inventing the future
Millions of children around the country are returning to school; these new beginnings inevitably cause us to think about their future. As we see them off, we realize that they are a little older, a little wiser and full of enormous potential. As parents, guardians and educators, we also spend a lot of time thinking about how we best prepare our children for success. Not only do we think about ...
The Jobs of Tomorrow
As a company that works with kids, we think a lot about the future. We imagine what trends will impact our current students, we think about what kind of jobs they might have, and we think about how we can play a role in helping prepare them for success given those inputs. One of the popular schools of thought as it relates to the necessity for teaching computer coding and engineering skills is ...
5 Mega Technology Trends That Will Impact Your Kids
The current generation has been surrounded by technology from a very early age. Many of the companies who are developing disruptive innovations were started before they were even born. Google was founded almost 20 years ago and Amazon almost 25 years ago. Apple which created the platform for putting a personal computer in everyone’s pocket was founded 40+ years ago. However, innovation is not ...
Skate to where the puck is going
“I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” – Wayne GretzskyWhen you read the quote above about Wayne Gretzky’s strategy, it seems obvious, easy, intuitive and natural. However, in practice, it is not exactly easy to execute. Skating to where the puck is going requires looking at the available data about how the puck often travels based on its size and weight from one position ...
Predicting the Future – Hollywood Edition
“The best way to predict the future is invent it.” – Alan Kay, Computer ProgrammerSelf-driving cars with advanced technology may help make our roadways safer by reducing/eliminating human error from this complicated activity. Medical devices have the potential to not only save lives but improve the quality of life as people live longer. Advances in food science could enable us to provide better...
Will your child survive the automation economy?
Recently, we have seen more and more evidence that jobs typically done by humans are now being automated. From self-driving cars under development by Uber, Lyft, GM, Tesla, Ford & Toyota to automated kiosks being rolled out at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Panera. Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Economics Professor, David Autor, shows that middle-skill jobs like bookkeeping,...
Coding - The New Language of Business
Throughout history, language and communication are what has helped separate human beings from other creatures. It is our ability to communicate that has enabled us to design, develop, and launch amazing inventions. Yet, there is one language that isn't widely available for study. That language is coding. Over the next several years, we are hopeful that coding/programming will be introduced into...