Asking More - Jon Iwata from IBM

1. Asking More
Efficacy in
Education:
Proof with
a Purpose
A New Era of Learning Efficacy
on a Planet of Smarter Systems
John Iwata, IBM

2. Efficacy in
Education:
Proof with
a Purpose
Jon Iwata leads IBM’s Marketing,
Communications and Citizenship
organization
He led the creation of the highly
acclaimed ‘Smarter Planet’
strategy, which is reshaping our
understanding of how data and
analytics can enable smarter
decisions

3. A profound shift in our world is underway
The planet is becoming instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, with
computation being infused into things nobody would think of as a computer

4. There are upwards of a trillion interconnected and
intelligent objects and organisms on the planet –
what some call the Internet of Things
!
Among their components are a billion transistors
for every human being on the planet…

5. …we are producing more transistors every
year, and at a lower cost than grains of rice

6. Approximately 2.7 billion people are
now connected, a number that is
growing rapidly in every part of the
world, in significant part thanks to the
spread of mobile technology
!
It is estimated that there are more than
10 billion wireless devices out there
today – a number that one research
firm projects to triple by 2020

7. The result is a planet awash in information. Some call this ‘Big Data’.
How big is it?
By one estimate,
there will be
5,200 gigabytes
of data for every
human on the
planet by 2020

8. Some are daunted by the sheer scope of this.
Many are concerned – with good reason – about the issues it raises for privacy and security.
Those questions are serious, and require serious technological and policy responses.

9. However, I believe the overall import of this new era
is enormously hopeful

10. The emergence of Big Data constitutes a vast new natural resource, which
promises to be for the 21st century what steam power was for the 18th,
electricity for the 19th and hydrocarbons for the 20th
18th Century
Steam
19th Century
Electricity
20th Century
Hydrocarbons
21st Century
Data
All were disruptive, but all fueled new wealth and societal progress,
once we learned how to translate them into new value

11. We are entering a golden age of information science
New computing capabilities can store, analyze and make sense of Big Data nearly instantaneously
All of this can happen far more efficiently, effectively and with broader access in the new architecture
known as ‘The Cloud’
And, aided by the rapid spread of social media, the spread of these and other insights, ideas and
deepened expertise becomes exponential, not linear

12. For instance, using IBM’s cognitive
system called Watson, doctors today
are dramatically expanding their
access to the latest medical research,
integrating it with patient test results
and genetic information, and
increasing confidence levels about
diagnosis and treatment
We are also working with leaders
in finance, retail, insurance and
other industries to accelerate the
discovery of precise answers to
questions they could not even
address before

13. This is enormously promising – and it is just the beginning
When we infuse instrumentation, cognitive capabilities and social media into
our economic, societal and natural systems, we change not just how the
world works, but how it learns
!
Every system becomes a learning system

14. This is a wholly new level of learning ‘efficacy’
We are far beyond mere measurement for outcomes.
If we open our eyes to what is now possible, we can see a world taking shape before us that is literally
being infused and transformed by knowledge
And once we see it, it is incumbent upon us to seize this transformation,
and to come together to ensure that it happens in ways that are safe, secure and available to all.

15. Learning is no longer restricted to the formal and informal education industry
Every business, every industry and every individual will have to be constantly learning
and improving to make the most of the opportunities provided by the data revolution
This learning can now be measured and adopted in ways that would previously
have been considered the stuff of science fiction
We have the opportunity to make smarter decisions and drive learner outcomes
based on both evidence and real time, individualized performance data
Efficacy in
Education:
Proof with
a Purpose
What does this mean for Pearson?