ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
It would be unwise to disregard the signs of the times, it would be disastrous not to prepare for the same.
When Nokia was on the top of Cellular Phone business in the late 90s and early 2000s I was thinking that no phone will be ever made other than that Finland brand. In my mind it was the epitome of great engineering hard, durable, ingenious, functional and effective. But we knew the story, as Android Operating System came, Nokia, refused to adjust and now they are mostly gone.
Maggi Noodles was staple in every Filipino household, it was the main noodle soup and the market share was huge. In 2011, suspicion of Salmonella contamination was there and Maggi Noodles was recalled and today no Sari sari store shelf has that major staple. Maggi, failed to prepare for a safety issue and that ultimately ended its reign.
Nokia and Maggi are immensely popular in their heydays and now they are extinct.
At present, the education system is obviously to a large extent dependent to Information Technology. From Hardware (computers, PCs, Laptops, Projectors, recording devices, memory sticks, camera etc…) to Softwares ( Windows OS, Linux etc…)Education also has Search Engines in Google, Bing etc…Applications Canva, Video Recording Apps. Zoom, Teams, Google Meet etc…
In a nutshell, our education ways and means now are dependent on Information Technology and we cannot say for certain that it’s a dependence to a large extent or to a certain significant extent, but we can say for certain that we are not joking that indeed the dependence is there.
What would happen if the dependence become more intense and more significant? What would happen if the education as we knew it change to be more Computer based and less human based? Right, now Artificial Intelligence had became more involved in our lives than ever before and it may take over our jobs in the future. Appearing in Sensorium a Blog posts this alarming title 10 Signs that AI will Soon Replace (And Those That It Wont )
• Customer Service Representatives. …
• Receptionists
• Accountants/ Bookkeepers
• Salespeople
• Taxi and Truck Drivers
• Retail Services
• Proofreaders and Translators
• Security and Military Personnel
And soon enough , Teaching and of course teachers. Will Robots or Artificial Intelligence take our jobs away ? It may be sooner than expected. For teachers like me, it may be something we may not welcome but it is an inconvenient truth that will come.
How can we mitigate its take over ?Let me count the ways …
1. Educators must waste no time in reinventing itself as Educators. Human Touch in Tactile and Emotional Sense is something that AI cannot easily replicate nor provide, humans can take consolation on the fact that we are capable of that more than AI.
2. Harness the power of AI and use it to make teaching relevant and wonderful. Instead of fighting the trend, harness its advantage to be more relevant.
3. Find the niche beyond the knowledge level and go beyond. Since knowledge or information is nearly in abundance in our search engines , we can go to mindfulness, philosophy and other humanistic pursuits, Artificial Intelligence cannot easily out ran there.
For now this looms as a real challenge and these list is an informal list subject to the realities that will change it. Let us never stop moving ahead.
NFRDI pushes aquashading tech for tilapia culture
A new high production technology for Tilapia culture is being introduced to increase harvest. The technology, being pilot-tested is called Aquashading. The technology was developed by the fishery researchers of Central Luzon State University (CLSU) aimed “to raise the country’s tilapia production.
However, it will be the technical staff of the Aquaculture Research and Development Division (ARDD) of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) who will pilot-test the technology – taking note of the technical performance of aquashading technology with or without shading Type I and Type III agro-climatic conditions or those that have dry and wet seasons.
As perceived by the CLSU researchers, aquashading technology aims to increase tilapia seed production (fingerlings) and ensure income among tilapia hatchery and grow-out operators. The “technology reduces water temperature to make it favorable for breeding and increasing the seed production of tilapia in in the ponds.” The reduction of water temperature during the hottest hours of the day can significantly increase the spawning rate and seed production.
Two-proposed on-station verification studies are: for Type I located at NFRDI’S Freshwater Fisheries Research and Development Center (FFRDC) in Butong, Taal, Batangas, and the Type III located in the Brackishwater Fisheries Research and Development Center (BFRDC), in Lala, Lanao del Norte. There are two more proposed sites in Samar and Pangasinan.
A modified Corona Classification of Climate and according to NFRDI there are four climate types in the Philippines, thus:
1) Type I is dry from November to April and wet during the rest of the year;
2) Type II has no dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period from December to February;
3) Type III has no very pronounced maximum rain period with a short dry season from 1 to three months; and,
4) Type IV has rainfall that is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year.
The CLSU technologists suggest the use of greenhouse nets installed over the pond to provide shade to the cultured tilapia. The shade provided by the net reduces the water temperature by 3-4 degrees Celcius that contributes the fish’s chance of reproducing more fish by 100 percent in pond- based and hapa-based systems.
Early tilapia aquaculturists who “. . .adopted the aquashading technology gained an estimated 14 percent return of investment (R0I) and an estimated payback period of fewer than two years”
MY COMMENT:
Being product of research and development, aquashading should be encouraged among businessmen engaged in tilapia aquaculture, in terms of ROI. The NFRDI should transfer the said technology to help food security problem of the country. And that more pilot cum verification sites should be explored, especially in the Visayas – there is dire need to improve the lot among fisherfolks and aquaculturist sector, particularly in Eastern Visayas.
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