Looking to the future with edge computing

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Computer Science.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• Edge computing ‘brings the cloud closer’ – enabling small and simple technological devices to perform complex functions. This teaching resource explains the work of Professor Mahadev Satyanarayanan (Satya), at Carnegie Mellon University in the US, and Professor Nigel Davies, at Lancaster University in the UK, who are working on making this life-changing technology part of our everyday reality.
• This resource also contains interviews with Satya and Nigel. If you or your students have a question for them, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. Satya and Nigel will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Satya and Nigel’s research, and tasks them to imagine how edge computing could benefit people’s lives.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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