2015 September

Augmented reality expert explains how AR will help humanity [Hardawar]

On 09/16/2015, in 21st century, Augmented Reality (AR), digital storytelling, education technology, emerging technologies, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), story, storytelling, tools, trends, by Daniel Christian

Augmented reality expert explains how AR will help humanity — from engadget.com by Devindra Hardawar; with thanks to Woontack Woo for his Paper.li piece on this

Excerpt:

We’ve been hearing and seeing plenty about augmented reality these days — from Microsoft’s HoloLens to the mysterious Google-backed startup Magic Leap — but aside from the gee-whiz factor, its benefits can sometimes feel almost as illusory as virtual images. Gaia Dempsey, managing director of DAQRI, which makes an AR-enabled smart hard hat, offers up a strong case for why augmented reality is more than just hype. In a new video for the upcoming Future of Storytelling Summit (which also produced the stunning video of animation legend Glen Keane drawing in VR), Dempsey explains how AR could fundamentally change the way we learn and experience the world. For example, it’s one thing to be told how the mechanics of a clock works in text or video, it’s an entirely different experience to be able to manipulate a moving set of clock gears in three dimensions.

Also see:

Gaia Dempsey – Knowledge Transfer: The Promise of Augmented Reality
2015 Future of StoryTelling Summit Speaker: Gaia Dempsey
Managing Director, DAQRI International
Apply to attend: fost.org

We understand our world through stories. That layer of narrative locks in our experiences, teaching us to remember what we’ve observed. Gaia Dempsey, through her work at DAQRI, has learned that augmented reality doesn’t change that—it just emphasizes it. By applying digital information over the real world, augmented reality allows us to break up what we see into new spaces and interact with them in a new way. Imagine looking at a toolbox and seeing a floating explanation of every tool inside it; or a complex panel of controls overlaid with instructions for exactly how to interact with it, step by step. It’s an incredible new way to learn, to communicate, and to engage. Dempsey will discuss how augmented reality is developing and where it’s heading at this year’s FoST.

Also see:

The future of education demands more questions, not answers — from edsurge.com by Jay Silver; with thanks to EDTECH@UTRGV for their Scoop on this resource

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Technology alone can’t educate students. It’s not some mystical, magical ingredient one sprinkles over core curricula like salt on a meal. The magic is inside the child.
…
A Pedagogy of Answers
Too many schools apply a paint-by-numbers approach to tech: “Let’s cover this fixed information, in this exact way, in this set amount of time, and judge ourselves as educators and students based on standardized test results.”
…
A Pedagogy of Questions
Our national teaching model has for too long been a pedagogy of answers. In its place I’d like to suggest a new pedagogy of questions—one that prizes interest-driven, project-based, exploratory studies. Personal gardens of learning with no single pathway through them. More open play and less rote memorization. More learning by discovery than following set instructions.
…
As an inventor and father, my advice to those looking to make digital in-roads into our nation’s schools is this: promote learning that encourages kids to choose their own problems and solutions rather than a single, siloed system.
…
Tech isn’t the answer, but it can help us create a new pedagogy of questions.

From DSC:
I can relate to Jay’s thoughts and perspectives here — we need to provide our young learners with more choice, more control. More play. More time for experimentation. More project-based learning that’s based upon what students want to learn about.

How many parents wouldn’t give their left leg (well…almost) to hear their kids say, “I can’t wait to go to school — I love going to school! I love learning about new things that I want to know about!”? To see such excitement, engagement, and a love for learning would be mind-blowing, right? If your son or daughter has that perspective, I’d guess that you value that attitude and that learning situation a great deal.

This morning a faculty member said something that’s relevant here. [Paraphrasing what he said:] “There’s a paradigm shift occurring these days in how to get information. We need our students to understand and react to this paradigm shift and we need to help them make that shift. They need to be more proactive in how they get information; and not go along with the “Feed me! Feed me!” approach.”

A final comment here…my kids balk at having to learn so many things that they have little interest in; it’s force-fed learning surrounded by — and shaped by — standardized tests. The list of things they actually want to learn about is either very short or non-existent (depending upon their grade levels). I understand that they are at different stages in their ability to make judgments about what they need to learn about; they need foundational skills to build upon…and that they don’t know what they don’t know. That said, it would be an interesting experiment for each of them indeed, for them to be able to self-select/choose some more topics, projects, and assignments and then pursue them on their own or with other small groups of other students. How might that impact their engagement levels? How might that improve their views of learning? Perhaps I’m off here..and too Hallmarkish, too Pollyannaish; but I’m tired of hearing the moaning and groaning again about having to do this or that piece of homework.

————–

Addendums on 9/16/15:
I just ran across this item from Larry Ferlazzo out at edutopia.org that has a section in it — Autonomy — that addresses ways that more choice, more control can be introduced.

Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves — from edutopia.org by Larry Ferlazzo
Excerpt:
My previous post reviewed research on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and described the four qualities that have been identified as critical to helping students motivate themselves: autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance. In this post, I’ll discuss practical classroom strategies to reinforce each of these four qualities.

The idea of asking better questions doesn’t just belong in K-12. Check out Jack Uldrich’s posting, A Framework for Questioning the Future.

Excerpt:

In today’s era of accelerating change, “answers” about the future are becoming more scarce. As a result, a premium is being placed on asking better questions about the future.

Unfortunately, because most business leaders, CEO’s and senior executives view themselves as action-oriented “problem-solvers,” they have a bias for “answers” instead of “questions.” As such, they don’t really know how to ask better questions.

In an effort to help individuals and organizations overcome this bias–and in the firm belief that it is better to have an imprecise answer to the right question than an exact answer to the wrong question,–I have put together a simple framework to help companies, businesses and organizations begin asking better questions about the future.

The eleven questions posted below are design to jumpstart the thinking–and questioning–process:

From DSC:
The following app looks to be something that the “makers” of the programming world might be interested in. Also, it could be great for those learners interested in engineering, robotics, and/or machine-to-machine communications; using this app could help start them down a very promising path/future.

From their website:

Programming re-imagined for the connected world.
Learn to program Arduino, drones, robots, connected toys, and smart home devices, all wirelessly. Tickle is easy to learn, fun to use, and 1000x more powerful!

Easy to learn, yet incredibly powerful!
Start learning programming the same way as Computer Science courses at Harvard and UC Berkeley. Tickle is used by makers and designers around the world to create custom robots and interactive projects, including Stanford University computer scientists.

Spark your imagination.
Create stunning games and interactive stories using our library of animated characters and sounds. With the ability to program devices to interact with other devices and virtual characters, the possibilities are limitless.

1000X the super (programming) power.
If you’ve tried Scratch, Hopscotch, Tynker, Blockly, Scratch Jr, Kodable, Pyonkee, mBlock, or Code.org, now you can go beyond the screen and program your own connected future.

The jobs that AI can’t replace — from bbc.com by Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee
At the heart of capitalism is the concept of creative destruction. And this phenomenon is turbocharged by technological progress. Innovations from the cotton gin to electricity to the computer have created dramatic changes in the way that we work and the jobs that are available.

Excerpt:

Current advances in robots and other digital technologies are stirring up anxiety among workers and in the media. There is a great deal of fear, for example, that robots will not only destroy existing jobs, but also be better at most or all of the tasks required in the future.

Our research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has shown that that’s at best a half-truth. While it is true that robots are getting very good at a whole bunch of jobs and tasks, there are still many categories in which humans perform better.

Get ready for ‘The Economy Of Things’ — from forbes.com by Veena Pureswaran

Excerpt:

The IoT is not just about smart homes that light up when you arrive or washing machines that text you when the cycle is done. The IoT will turn physical assets into participants in real-time global digital markets. As the Internet of Things continues to turn physical assets into participants in new real-time, digital marketplaces, it’s creating what we describe as a new “Economy of Things.”

These types of assets will become as easily indexed, searched and traded as any online commodity. In fact, such digital marketplaces represent huge economic opportunities for growth and advancement.

Who’s the boss? Hitachi looks to promote artificial intelligence — from blogs.wsj.com by Jun Hongo; with thanks to Norma Owen for this resource

Excerpt:

Hitachi Ltd. is looking to promote artificial intelligence to management.

The Japanese electronics maker said it has developed a new artificial intelligence program that will enable robots to deliver instructions to employees based on analyses of big data and the workers’ routines.

“Work efficiency improved by 8% in warehouses with the new artificial intelligence program, compared to those without them,” a Hitachi spokeswoman said. “The program can examine an extremely large amount of data to provide the most efficient instruction, which is impossible for human managers to handle.”

Hitachi last month unveiled a fast-moving two-armed robot which it says may replace humans in performing basic functions like retrieving items in warehouses.

Tomorrow’s workers want mobile, but are employers ready? — from domo.com
70 percent of future workforce expect a bring-your-own-device culture; value technology perks nearly five times more than a stocked kitchen

Excerpt:

The study, which polled more than 2,000 college students, confirmed what many have assumed: that millennials are a mobile-first generation. Not surprisingly, the survey confirms that millennials spend most of their time accessing the Internet via a mobile device, 46 percent via a mobile phone and 43 percent on a tablet or laptop. Additionally, the report uncovers how much time millennials spend on various mobile activities. More than 97 percent use their phones to send or receive text messages, 96 percent use them to access the Internet, and 68 percent turn to a mobile device to stream music and send or receive pictures.

The findings also affirm how critical it is for companies to adjust to the ever-changing mobile-centric business world in order to attract top talent, which will increasingly be comprised of the millennial generation.

‘Transformer in chief’: The new chief digital officer — from mckinsey.com by Tuck Rickards, Kate Smaje, and Vik Sohoni
The CDO role is changing dramatically. Here are the skills today’s world demands.

Excerpt:

In the alphabet soup that is today’s crowded C-suite, few roles attract as much attention as that of the chief digital officer, or CDO. While the position isn’t exactly new, what’s required of the average CDO is. Gone are the days of being responsible for introducing basic digital capabilities and perhaps piloting a handful of initiatives. The CDO is now a “transformer in chief,” charged with coordinating and managing comprehensive changes that address everything from updating how a company works to building out entirely new businesses. And he or she must make progress quickly.

According to social forecasts in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, the point at which our labor market has more freelancers than full-time employees is between 5 to 10 years away. The growing automation of knowledge work means that, globally, we are expected to lose around 2 billion jobs by 2030. Some of that loss will be softened by new jobs created, but they’re going to be of the low-paid, temporary, variety. Today’s university graduates are facing what has been termed a “high skills/low income” future. The recent rapid growth in “knowledge process outsourcing” — the breaking up of salaried jobs into bid-for tasks, through websites like Elance.com and Freelancer. com — may well be transforming economies of developing countries like India, but it is causing futurists in the west to predict “the end of job.”

— What the Future Economy Means for How Kids Learn Today

The unlikely cities that will power the U.S. economy — from bloomberg.com

Excerpt:

Huntsville is one of a growing number of smaller U.S. cities, far from Silicon Valley, that are seeking to replace dwindling factory jobs by reinventing themselves as tech centers. Across the Midwest, Northeast, and South, mayors and governors are competing to attract tech companies and workers.

How freelancers are fighting for their labor rights — from fastcompany.com by Dillon Baker
In the absence of unions, creative freelancers are finding new ways to work collectively.

Excerpt:

“On average, our members are owed over $10,000 in unpaid invoices and spend 36 hours tracking down each missing payment,” says Freelancers Union founder and labor lawyer Sara Horowitz. She explains that nearly half (44%) of their members report issues in getting paid.

But getting paid on time is just one of the hurdles that the growing independent workforce faces.

For example, the Internet has lowered the bar to entry for professional writing and created more opportunities than ever, which on one hand is good news for entry-level writers, but shrunken profits have also hollowed out freelance rates at many publications.

4 ways to prepare for the workplace of the future — from fastcompany.com by Erin Palmer
Millennials face a much more volatile workplace than ever. Here are four ways to adapt.

Excerpt:

The workplace of the future will be a world of contradictions—which the next generations that enter it will need to master.

Charting a career path in a mercurial workforce means staying focused and adaptive in equal measure. That’s something millennials and their younger generation Z counterparts will need to be able to do more successfully than their elders ever had to.

For now, though, the learning curve still looks steep. A recent study by the online work company Upwork found that despite the millions of millennials looking for work, 53% of hiring managers said that they struggle to find and retain millennial employees.

Today’s leaders have gotten to where they are by adapting to what’s now and what’s next, not blindly clinging to one specific path.

Addendum on 9/15/15:

APIs Are The New FTEs — from techcrunch.comby Gaurav Jain
Excerpt:
A decade ago, a VP of engineering at a startup might have evaluated the resumes of five solid front-end engineers. Five years ago that VP would have looked at GitHub profiles. Today, they are just as likely to evaluate a front-end framework like Ionic, Meteor or Aurelia and build it themselves.

It’s not just front-end options. We’ve seen a massive proliferation in frameworks, libraries and other tools that allow a single talented engineer to do the work of a team.

Companies and products like Heroku, Celery, RabbitMQ, Mandrill, Fastly, Chartio, Chargebee, Shipwire, Docker, Codeship, Rainforest QA, Replicated and Chartbeat have changed the nature of tech development. These are just a small subset of services that replace the work of individuals or entire teams.

WordPress Ate Webmasters
This trend has pros and cons. It will make life harder for those with only mid-tier technical knowledge. Look at what WordPress has done to “webmasters.” The blogging platform turned CMS has colonized the web, and accounts for ~23 percent of Internet traffic.

From DSC:
Right upfront, I want you to know that I am not being paid for this posting. Rather I want to pass along some valuable information for those folks out there who want a powerful screencasting and video editing tool for the Mac. You should check out ScreenFlow from Telestream.net. The tool can record your desktop, your iPhone, and/or your iPad as well as can record audio from multiple sources.

From their website:

Screenflow is award-winning, powerful screencasting & video editing software for Mac that lets you create high-quality software or iPhone demos, professional video tutorials, in-depth video training, and dynamic presentations.

The timeline-based editor reminds me of the editing interface within iMovie 6 (one of the most intuitive interfaces I’ve seen in iMovie throughout the years). In our Teaching & Learning Digital Studio at Calvin College, the feedback from clients has been very positive.

And you can export your creation to multiple outlets:

It’s a solid tool; check it out.

The multi-device world is evolving! [Garg]

On 09/14/2015, in digital learning, elearning, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), mobile learning, mobile technologies, second screen apps, tablets, technologies for your home, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The multi-device world is evolving! — from upsidelearning.com by Amit Garg

Excerpt:

The multi-device world is certainly evolving. Existing devices are evolving in size while new devices are being added to the mix. All of this is resulting in evolving behavior patterns.

The smart thing to do is to get started with multi-device learning without waiting for the world to settle down. You might make a few mistakes, but will learn along the way and would still be better off as compared to those who never got started.

.

Smartphone Screen Size

“…the boundaries between tablets and smartphones are blurring…”

Some scripture from yesterday’s sermon…

On 09/14/2015, in business, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, youth, by Daniel Christian

Some scripture from yesterday’s sermon…

Proverbs 30:7-9 New International Version (NIV)

7 “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

Deuteronomy 8:11-13, 17-18 (NIV)

11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied…17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

What the Future Economy Means for How Kids Learn Today [Price]

On 09/10/2015, in attention, economics, education, education reform, future, global / globalization, K-12 related, motivation, open courseware and systems, participation, student-related, teachers, youth, by Daniel Christian

What the Future Economy Means for How Kids Learn Today — from kqed.org/mindshift by David Price

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

While this myopic and somewhat irrelevant argument takes place, the gulf in motivation between the learning that our students have to do, and the learning that they choose to do, grows ever wider. Meanwhile, the implementation of standardized testing and high-stakes accountability leaves a devastating legacy of what Yong Zhao calls side effects: increasing student (and staff) disengagement; perceived irrelevance of formal education; and the loss of autonomy and trust in the teaching profession.

If we want to re-engage learners, re-professionalize teachers, and re-think how we prepare students for a globally competitive working life, we need to follow the learners, and develop more open learning systems.

Penn State research group uses iBeacons to help children learn more about The Arboretum [Jacobs Bohn]

On 09/10/2015, in education technology, higher education, ideas, innovation, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, machine-to-machine communications, Near Field Communication (NFC), student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

Penn State research group uses iBeacons to help children learn more about The Arboretum — from news.psu.edu by Katie Jacobs Bohn

Excerpt:

Susan Land and Heather Toomey Zimmerman, associate professors of education at Penn State, are leading a project that uses iBeacons (transmitters the size of a guitar pick that can communicate with mobile phones and tablets) to turn spaces like The Arboretum at Penn State into interactive places of learning for children and their families.

The project, funded by a Center for Online Innovation in Learning (COIL) Research Initiation Grant, was inspired by museums across the country — including the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State — that have been using iBeacons to enhance visitors’ experiences.

In these cases, museumgoers are prompted to download an app to their mobile device at the beginning of their visit. As visitors explore the museum, the apps activate when they are near an iBeacon and display content relating to whichever exhibits are close by.

But Land’s project is distinctly different.

From DSC:
The topic of beacons should be on the radars of all IT departments within higher education — and ideally within K-12 as well. Such machine-to-machine communications should provide some excellent, new affordances. For example, one can see how such technologies could be very useful for campus tours, for use within art galleries and museums, for student/faculty/teacher showcases, and more.

Now we’re talking! One step closer! “The future of TV is apps.” — per Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook

On 09/10/2015, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, competency-based learning/education, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, tablets, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
We’ll also be seeing the integration of the areas listed below with this type of “TV”-based OS/platform:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Data mining and analytics
Learning recommendation engines
Digital learning playlists
New forms of Human Computer Interfaces (HCI)
Intelligent tutoring
Social learning / networks
Videoconferencing with numerous other learners from across the globe
Virtual tutoring, virtual field trips, and virtual schools
Online learning to the Nth degree
Web-based learner profiles
Multimedia (including animations, simulations, and more)
Advanced forms of digital storytelling
and, most assuredly, more choice & more control.

Competency-based education and much lower cost alternatives could also be possible with this type of learning environment. The key will be to watch — or better yet, to design and create — what becomes of what we’re currently calling the television, and what new affordances/services the “TV” begins to offer us.

From Apple’s website:

Apple Brings Innovation Back to Television with The All-New Apple TV
The App Store, Siri Remote & tvOS are Coming to Your Living Room

Excerpt:

SAN FRANCISCO — September 9, 2015 — Apple® today announced the all-new Apple TV®, bringing a revolutionary experience to the living room based on apps built for the television. Apps on Apple TV let you choose what to watch and when you watch it. The new Apple TV’s remote features Siri®, so you can search with your voice for TV shows and movies across multiple content providers simultaneously.

The all-new Apple TV is built from the ground up with a new generation of high-performance hardware and introduces an intuitive and fun user interface using the Siri Remote™. Apple TV runs the all-new tvOS™ operating system, based on Apple’s iOS, enabling millions of iOS developers to create innovative new apps and games specifically for Apple TV and deliver them directly to users through the new Apple TV App Store™.

…

tvOS is the new operating system for Apple TV, and the tvOS SDK provides tools and APIs for developers to create amazing experiences for the living room the same way they created a global app phenomenon for iPhone® and iPad®. The new, more powerful Apple TV features the Apple-designed A8 chip for even better performance so developers can build engaging games and custom content apps for the TV. tvOS supports key iOS technologies including Metal™, for detailed graphics, complex visual effects and Game Center, to play and share games with friends.

Addendum on 9/11/15:

New Apple TV release date, specs, price and news — from techradar.com by Nick Pino

Announcements from yesterday’s Special Event from Apple

On 09/10/2015, in Apple, corporate / business world, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, multimedia, music, smart/connected TV, technologies for your home, technology (general), television, wearables, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
On 9/9/15, Apple held their September Event 2015. Below are some of the articles/items that capture some of the announcements from that event.

From Apple.com:

Apple Introduces iPhone 6s & iPhone 6s Plus
Apple Brings Innovation Back to Television with The All-New Apple TV
The App Store, Siri Remote & tvOS are Coming to Your Living Room
Apple Introduces iPad Pro Featuring Epic 12.9-inch Retina Display
Apple Pencil & Smart Keyboard Bring Breakthrough Levels of Precision & Utility to iPad Pro
Apple Introduces watchOS 2 with Native Apps and New Gold & Rose Gold Aluminum Apple Watch Sport Models
Native Apps, New Watch Faces, Time Travel & More Arrive with watchOS 2 September 16

Apple Watch Finally Getting Native Apps, New Features Next Week — from wsj.com by Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Excerpt:

Native apps will arrive on the Apple Watch as a part of a major update known as WatchOS 2. The promise is that native apps will be able to run faster on the watch, though the watch isn’t free of the iPhone yet. The Apple Watch doesn’t have it’s own cellular connection, so any information an app wants to pull from the Internet (like live sports scores, transit times, or messages from friends) it’ll still rely on an iPhone to pull all that off.

Still, the promise of any added speed here is significant. Unlike smartphone apps which are built to consume your attention for minutes at a time, Apple Watch apps are built to get you in and out with the information you need in a matter of seconds.

Developers can register now to apply for a new Apple TV hardware ahead of general release, supplies limited — from 9to5mac.com

Apple unveils next generation iPhone 6s, 6s Plus — from by Jason Cipriani
The tech giant introduced a new touch-sensitive technology called 3D Touch to its next generation smartphones.

Excerpt:

Apple added pressure-sensitive technology to its new iPhones, which the company is calling 3D Touch. The technology can launch features and perform a variety of functions when varying levels of force are applied to the screen.

A side comment from DSC for those students involved with graphic design, digital media, and/or with communications:
Study the work that the folks did who were in charge of presenting the complex, technical information — but doing so in a way that was extremely polished, engaging, and professionally done. The videos, for example, were very well done. My hats off to these extremely creative folks — they are clearly at the top of their industry.

Addendum on 9/11/15:

New Apple TV release date, specs, price and news — from techradar.com by Nick Pino

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality app brings art history to life — from creativebloq.com

Excerpt:

Dazzle It is a cool new augmented reality app that lets you remix artwork from artists including the Sir Peter Blake, Godfather of Pop Art – best known for designing the 1967 Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.

Developed by digital design agency, Corporation Pop, it combines the latest augmented reality techniques with design to bring history to life. And notably, unlike most augmented reality apps, you don’t need a pre-supplied marker to view what you create in a real-world scene.

7 Great Augmented Reality Apps for Your Classroom — from teachercast.net

Apps Discussed on the Show:

Aurasma
Anatomy 4D
ColAR
Spacecraft 3D
AR Flash Cards
Elements 3D
Google Translate

Angus park to host augmented reality performance — from scotsman.com with thanks to Woontack Woo for his posting on this

Excerpt:

A FOREST park in Angus is to host the UK’s first live theatrical performance featuring augmented reality (AR) technology.

By downloading an app, audiences will be able to spot magical creatures through their smartphones and capture them on camera, before sharing the images with friends and family on social media.

DragonQuest, which will be performed in Monikie Country Park, allows visitors to wander around a forest using their smartphone to create images of fantastical creatures in addition to real-life characters and events on the set.

Here are the signs that point to Apple’s next big innovation in computing, according to one analyst — from businessinsider.com

Check Out How These Teachers and Students are Using Augmented Reality — from emergingedtech.com

Using Augmented Reality for Learning and Teaching — from edtechreview.in by Prasanna Bharti

Excerpt:

Various Application of Augmented Reality in Learning Different Subjects

Astronomy: AR can be used to make student understand about the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. Here AR technology can be used with 3D rendered sun and earth shapes.

Chemistry: Teachers can demonstrate what a molecule and atoms consist of using AR technology.

Biology: Teachers can use Augmented Reality to showcase their student’s body structure or anatomy. Teachers can show their students different types of organ and how they look in a 3D atmosphere. Students can even study human body structure on their own by using devices with AR embedded technology in it.

Physics: Physics is one of the subjects where AR technology can be used perfectly. Various kinematics properties can be easily understood by using AR technology.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality can take us to the world’s greatest museums — from venturebeat.com by Mike Minotti

London's The Courtauld Gallery.

How Virtual Reality Can Close Learning Gaps in Your Classroom — from edsurge.com

Excerpt:

Virtual Reality (VR) may be the type of educational breakthrough that comes along once in a generation, heralding a tectonic shift toward immersive content for teaching and instruction.

By presenting a complete view of the world in which it is situated, VR offers a new opportunity to close some of the pedagogical gaps that have appeared in 21st century classroom learning. These gaps stem from the fact that curriculum and content in education have not caught up with rapid technology advancements.

Below I introduce three of these gaps and how they might be addressed by virtual reality content soon to be produced and distributed commercially.

Google Cardboard offers virtual trip for Lawrence students — from www2.ljworld.com

Excerpt:

The Lawrence school district recently purchased 20 Google Cardboards, which beginning this school year are available for teachers to check out for use in their classrooms, said Joe Smysor, the district’s technology integration specialist. Cardboard works in conjunction with a smartphone app to deliver a 3-D, 360-degree navigable image. Students can use apps with Cardboard to virtually visit museums, landmarks or cities around the world.

“It’s going to allow teachers to take their class on field trips where school buses couldn’t otherwise go,” Smysor said. “That could be back 100 years in the past, or underwater.”

Virtual college tours with cardboard, a smartphone and YouVisit — from mystatesman.com by Omar L. Gallaga

Excerpt:

While college students are settling into their dorms, it’s already time for next year’s class of high school students to narrow down their potential school choices and schedule campus visits. Or maybe they can just stay home and start the journey virtually.

A site called YouVisit has a surprisingly large set of virtual-reality college tours available. All the major Texas colleges are represented, and one of them, Trinity University, has been making a big push to get cheap sets of cardboard VR goggles out to families at recruiting events such as college fairs. Trinity sent me a pair of the cardboard glasses. The virtual visit to the campus certainly wasn’t the same as being there, but to get at least a visual sense of what the campus looks like and to be generally wowed by the 3-D/360-degree effect, it was worth the trip.

Regis University Creates Remote Campus Tours with Primacy’s Virtual Reality Experience — from businesswire.com
Jesuit university builds on rich tradition of innovation by enabling immersive virtual tours using Oculus Rift technology and virtual reality headsets

Excerpt:

FARMINGTON, Conn. & DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regis University today unveiled a unique new way for prospective students to tour and experience the school’s scenic 100-acre campus. Through an interactive, immersive experience created by independent agency Primacy, students are able to put on an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset and immediately be transformed to the campus where they can get a full, 360-degree tour as if they were on site – including viewing daybreak runs at Red Rocks, being immersed in Regis’ experiential nursing skills lab and visiting the campus pub to watch a live Jenga game.

GoPro is now selling its crazy 16-camera virtual reality rig — from theverge.com by Sean O’Kane
‘Odyssey’ is only available to pros

Excerpt:

Odyssey is the first camera rig built specifically for Google’s Jump platform, which was also announced at this year’s I/O conference. Jump is an entire virtual reality ecosystem that, in theory, will make it easier to both create and consume VR content. With Jump, Google created open plans that companies can use to build their own 16-camera rig (GoPro just happened to be the first), as well as assemble software that can recreate the scene being captured in much higher quality than most existing image stitching software can. Eventually, Jump videos will be hosted in YouTube; think of it as the next logical step following YouTube’s inclusion of 360-degree videos earlier this year.

Behind the Scenes of a Virtual Reality Beethoven Concert — from recode.net by Eric Johnson

Excerpt:

Are you a classical music fan? It’s a question most people would probably say no to, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic knows that.

“People are intimidated by classical music,” said Amy Seidenwurm, the Philharmonic’s director of digital initiatives. “They don’t come to concerts because they feel it might not be for them.”

But to change those minds, the LA Phil is turning to virtual reality. For the next month, it will be driving around the Los Angeles area to parks, festivals and museums, in a van outfitted with real carpeting and seats from the Walt Disney Concert Hall — and six Samsung Gear VR headsets, which have been loaded with a special video performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. (You know the one: Dun-dun-dun DUNNNN.)

Inside Industrial Light & Magic’s secret Star Wars VR lab — from theverge.com by Bryan Bishop
ILMxLab isn’t just exploring the future of entertainment… they’re already making it

Addendums on 9/10/15:

The Top 10 Virtual Reality Headsets of 2015 — from avatargeneration.com

5 augmented reality apps to alter your world — from cbronline.com with thanks to Woontack Woo for his posting on this
Learn more about Dazzle It, Streetmuseum, Skyview, Blippar and Colorblind Fix.

Excerpt:

Ever wanted to see the world around you in a different way? These apps will transform your phone into a portal to a world of altered perceptions.

The benefits & challenges of designing for AR; the need to start thinking of products as connected services [Lowry]

On 09/04/2015, in Augmented Reality (AR), business, design, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interaction design, internet, machine-to-machine communications, user experience (UX), wearables, by Daniel Christian

Augmented reality is the future of design — from thenextweb.com by Jessica Lowry

Excerpt:

That’s why there’s more to AR than just wearable devices.

In this piece, I’ll explain the benefits and challenges of designing for augmented reality, then dive into why we must start thinking of products as connected services instead of standalone items.

Photo credit: Peter Morville. Creative Commons.

“The bridge between what researchers have been saying about learning & what teachers and students do in a classroom is spelled HTML5.”

On 09/02/2015, in active learning, curriculum, digital learning, digital textbooks, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, online media, pedagogy, research, teachers, teaching & learning, trends, by Daniel Christian

Is There an Uncrossable Chasm Between Research and the Classroom? Part 2 — from thejournal.com by Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway
HTML5 is the bridge!

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

The bridge between what researchers have been saying about learning & what teachers and students do in a classroom is spelled HTML5.
Do we hear a “HUH?” Okay, buckle up. Here goes…
…
Put another way: When curricular resources are implemented in HTML5 (or its derivatives), the dream of BYOD is no longer a dream: Students can bring virtually any computer device into the classroom and a teacher can count on the fact that the learning activity for today’s lesson will be executable on all of those devices.
…
Yes, HTML5 is that big a deal. Why? Because it has come along at just the right time. Curriculum and pedagogy are changing; new curricular materials are being developed that meet CCSS and NGSS. If those materials are developed in HTML5, then the curriculum developer and the teacher can expect those materials to work in her or his BYOD classroom or his or her iPad/Chromebook/laptop classroom. And, for the researcher, there is the opportunity to influence curriculum development and have those research-based ideas embodied in curricular resources that virtually every learner in the U.S. can use on their computing device! Holy Toledo indeed!

Learning Ecosystems

Augmented reality expert explains how AR will help humanity [Hardawar]

8 items re: the new workplace & what’s coming down the pike

The multi-device world is evolving! [Garg]

Some scripture from yesterday’s sermon…

The benefits & challenges of designing for AR; the need to start thinking of products as connected services [Lowry]

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