2016 April

The differing roles of the UX Designer [Allabarton]

On 04/29/2016, in design, research, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

The differing roles of the UX Designer — from uxmag.com by Rosie Allabarton
…different companies expect vastly different things from the same job.

Excerpt:

What does it mean to be a UX designer?
Whether you land a job at a startup or a larger corporation, your role as UX designer will be directly involved in the process to make a product useful, usable and delightful for that company’s intended target user group. Whether you are managing a large team of UXers or flying solo, the UX process itself remains the same and in general works in this order:

User Research
User research involves speaking to real users in your target audience about your product. If the product doesn’t exist yet, it’s about speaking to users of similar products and finding out what they want from this kind of platform. If it’s a pre-existing product, you’ll be asking questions about how they feel navigating your current design, their success in reaching their goals, and if they find the information they’re looking for easily and intuitively. A number of methods are usually adopted for this part of the process, including: questionnaires, focus group discussion, task analysis, online surveys, persona creation and user journey map.

Design
During the design phase you’ll be primarily thinking about how your product/service can accommodate how the customer already behaves (as seen during User Research). The design of your product revolves around functionality and usability, rather than colors or pictures (these are established later by a visual designer). Having established during your user research what your users expect from your product or site, what their goals are and how they like to operate a system, it is functionality and usability that will be your focus now. During this phase you will be using the following techniques to design your user’s journey through the site: information architecture, wireframing, prototyping.

Testing
Testing allows you to check that the changes you made during the design phase (if redesigning an existing product) stand up to scrutiny. It’s a great way to eliminate problems or user difficulties that were unforeseen in the design phase before getting started on the implementation phase. Testing methods include: usability testing, remote user testing, a/b testing. (Bear in mind that testing can be repeated at any stage in the process, and often is to increase the quality of the design and fix any errors.)

Implementation
If you’ve not had much experience working with web developers, then it’s important to consider this crucial aspect of the role. During implementation you will be working intimately with developers to reach your end goal for a project. The developers will be working to transform your design ideas into a real, working website; how you approach this relationship will determine the success or failure of your project. Keeping your developers in the loop throughout the process will make this final phase easier for everyone involved; you as the UX designer will have realistic expectations of what the developers can produce (and in what time-frame) and the developers won’t get any nasty shocks at the last minute.

Officially, a UX designer is responsible for this entire process, and its execution. However, larger companies tend to break this role down into a few, smaller roles that focus entirely on one section. We will look at what these roles are in the next section.

What other roles fall under the ‘UX Design’ umbrella?…<read more here>

From DSC:
A UX Designer, ideally, would be one of the people around the table in higher education that’s helping to create excellent learning experiences. How many organizations are using one? Probably not many. Instead, such duties are most likely being lumped into the role of the Instructional Designer or the Instructional Technologist — or is yet another hat that the faculty member is supposed to be wearing.

Learning Now tv – April 28th programme

On 04/28/2016, in adult learning, Australia, business, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, training / L&D, UK, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Learning Now tv | April 28th programme

The programme this month is action packed so hold on tight. Our hosts Nigel and Kim supported by our global reporters bring you a great programme of all the latest developments, insights and issues.

As usual our LNTV programme starts at 8.00pm UK time but you can join us live at 7.45pm UK time for the pre-programme show with Ady Howes where you can join in the live social stream.

Here is the link for the 28th April programme (no password needed):

http://ustream.tv/channel/learning-now-tv

In this programme we feature:

David James, former CLO at Disney, talks about The Empowered Learner and why it is vital that today’s L&D professionals stay one step ahead if they want to be relevant to the needs of the organisation.
Amy Brann talks to Nigel about neuroscience and how we should be focusing on applying neuroscience to enhance engagement.
Phil Willcox talks to Lisa about emotion at work and how you can harness that energy to make a difference in the work place.
Awards Gold: Growth Engineering took the Gold Award at this year’s Learning Awards for Learning Provider of the Year. Global CEO Juliette Denny explains how the organisation did it and why they are so successful.
Europe correspondent Ger Driesen interviews Jos Arets and Vivian Heijnen, two of the authors of the latest book on 702010.
Martin Couzins focuses on the PWC research ‘Redefining Success in a Changing World’ in which the respondents were CEOs – and this gives some valuable pointers for every organisation.
This month’s Learning Designers item focuses on Tim Hall, MD of Cognify. Here, he provides 3 tips for using gamification in your content.
US correspondent Brent Schlenker has been to the South by South West Festival in Austin Texas where he saw – and used – some tech that is on the way – virtual reality, 360 degree video, alternate reality, and robots.
Australia correspondent Helen Blunden is again focusing on social learning. This month she travelled to a meeting of ‘The Maker’ community.

Sesame Workshop, IBM launch early-childhood education initiative — from yahoo.com by Todd Spangler

Excerpt:

Cookie Monster, Elmo and friends are about to hit a new digital learning curve.

Sesame Workshop, the not-for-profit org that produces “Sesame Street,” and tech giant IBM have entered into a partnership to develop new personalized educational products and platforms for preschool-age kids — with the goal of transforming the ways children learn and teachers teach.

Under the three-year agreement, Sesame Workshop and Big Blue will design interactive educational experiences for use in homes and schools that adapt to the learning preferences and aptitude levels of individual preschoolers.

For now, the organizations are treating the project as an R&D investment. IBM and Sesame Street will deploy engineers, educators and researchers to work side-by-side in classrooms and in their own labs and learning facilities. Later this year, they plan to test and share prototypes with leading teachers, academics, researchers, technologists, gamers, performers and media execs to solicit feedback and brainstorm ways in which cognitive computing can best help preschoolers learn.

From DSC:
This will be an important experiment to watch. If it shows promise, it could help parents, pre-school teachers, and the pre-schoolers themselves. Then, the trajectory could make its way to helping early elementary students, to middle school students, to high school students and beyond.

If successful, this is exactly the sort of thing that I could see as one of the key ingredients in the Learning from the [Class] Room vision. Teachers, parents, coaches, etc. will still be critical. But these type of tools and technologies could be running in the background within a blended learning environment — one that can operate at a distance if need be.

Download 67,000 Historic Maps (in High Resolution) from the Wonderful David Rumsey Map Collection

On 04/26/2016, in geography / geology, higher education, history, by Daniel Christian

Download 67,000 Historic Maps (in High Resolution) from the Wonderful David Rumsey Map Collection — from openculture.com, with thanks to Tom D’Amico for his Scoop on this

Excerpt:

Stanford University’s been in the news lately, what with expanding its tuition waiver last year and now facing renewed scrutiny over its ultra-low admissions rate. These stories have perhaps overshadowed other Stanford news of a more academic nature: the arrival of the David Rumsey Map Center, which celebrated its grand opening yesterday and continues the festivities today and tomorrow.

5 items re: prison ministries/education

On 04/25/2016, in business, career development, economics, hearts -- matters of the heart, reinvent, relationships, society, staying relevant, surviving, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

The Reentry Education Tool Kit
…offers guidelines, tools, and resources to help education providers implement the Reentry Education Framework. The Framework promotes the development of an education continuum spanning facility- and community-based reentry education programs. It has five critical components—program infrastructure, strategic partnerships, education services, transition processes, and sustainability.

Also see:

Supporting Second Chances: Education and Employment Strategies for People Returning from Correctional Facilities — from jff.org

Excerpt:

Jobs for the Future
With more than 2 million people incarcerated on any given day in the United States, and over 700,000 people transitioning out of state and federal correctional facilities each year, there is an urgent need to do more to help reintegrate both youth and adults involved in the criminal justice system back into their communities and become productive members of society. Research indicates that full-time employment is one of the primary predictors of their success. This brief highlights strategies for expanding education and employment pathways and offers specific policy and program priorities to help improve the ability of former inmates to make a smooth transition by connecting them with these pathways. It is part of a series from JFF’s conference Bridging the Gap: Postsecondary Pathways for Underprepared Learners.

Addendum on 4/27/16:

Online Education behind Bars — from blogging.snhu.edu by Michelle R. Weise & Julia Lee

Excerpt:

In early October in New York, three talented and motivated prison inmates from the Bard Prison Initiative inspired the nation by defeating Harvard University’s debate team on the topic of public education for undocumented students. The inmates’ success served as the perfect punctuation mark for the September 30th deadline for institutions to apply for Pell for Prisoners. This experimental sites project enables prison inmates to obtain federal Pell grants to finance their college education while behind bars.

For the adult prison population, the benefits of a college education, combined with supportive re-entry services, are undeniable. Postsecondary education, in particular, appears to have a more powerful effect in reducing recidivism compared to other levels of education. A 2013 RAND meta-analysis that synthesized the findings of 50 studies on recidivism revealed that a person receiving postsecondary education in prison would be about half as likely to recidivate as someone who does not receive postsecondary education in prison.

Five tips for thinking like a futurist [Kenkel]

On 04/25/2016, in education, future, by Daniel Christian

Five tips for thinking like a futurist — from knowledgeworks.org by Mary Kenkel — referring to Jane McGonigal’s keynote, “How to Think (and Learn) Like a Futurist”

Excerpt:

During SXSWedu, I attended Jane McGonigal’s keynote, “How to Think (and Learn) Like a Futurist.” Jane, who works with the Institute for the Future, shared insight for all the non-futurists in the audience (myself, included). While I work closely with KnowledgeWorks’ strategic foresight team and have read our forecasts for 2020 and 2025, it was incredibly helpful to hear Jane’s introductory lesson.

…

Watch Jane’s entire keynote or check out “The Future of Learning: Education in the Era of Partners in Code” to consider learning in 2025

3 postings for those students interested in engineering

On 04/25/2016, in 3D, career development, engineering, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, maker movement, STEAM-related, student-related, vendors, by Daniel Christian

15 best tips for young engineers — from interestingengineering.com

Excerpt:

The proverb goes hindsight is 20/20, which essentially means you can make better decisions later on when you have become more knowledgeable about the world. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to make good decisions from the outset when you’re still young? The following tips were compiled for young engineers and interestingly, most of these suggestions revolve around lifelong learning. Experienced engineers weighed in and added their voice to help create this top 15 list of the best tips for young engineers.

10 great initiatives that bring girls into STEM — from interestingengineering.com

Excerpt:

It is not a secret that science and engineering professions are occupied mainly by men with only about 20% taken by females. The number of women on executive boards is also extremely low. In order to succeed, both female and male minds are needed for any kind of jobs, especially in science-related industries. Let’s see what initiatives already exist in order to bring more girls and women into STEM!

MakerBot teams up with Future Engineers to support the Star Trek (TM) Replicator Challenge for K-12 students — from makerbot.com

Excerpt:

MakerBot is excited to inspire the next generation of astronauts and Starfleet cadets by supporting the Star Trek Replicator Challenge, a 3D printing challenge developed by Future Engineers for the ASME Foundation, NASA and Star Trek. Participants in the challenge must create a digital model of a non-edible, food-related item for astronauts to 3D print in the year 2050. The Star Trek Replicator Challenge is the third in a series of ‘Future Engineers’ challenges aimed to educate students K-12 about 3D printing and engineering design.

Driving questions from the “Learning Spaces Collaboratory Roundtable” [held at Boston U]

On 04/25/2016, in active learning, higher education, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, smart classrooms, STEAM-related, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt from the Learning Spaces Collaboratory Roundtable | Spring 2016: Focusing on the Future of Planning Learning Spaces | Boston University

Also see this PDF file.

Driving Questions

How can we promote active learning environments—in classrooms and in teaching labs? What does it take to promote small group peer-to-peer interaction and learning?
How can spaces promote investigative, cross-disciplinary problem-based learning and problem-solving?
What does a ‘technology-rich’ learning environment mean? What are the tools needed in learning spaces to prepare students for increasing technology-dependent careers. How many ways and places can technologies be used in a facility to serve the campus community as well as to support outreach beyond the campus?
In our planning, how can we exploit opportunities for sharing, breaking down departmental silos? How can we maximize the use of flexible or case method classrooms, student study, break-out space, and shared administrative space? Does it work to distribute disciplines throughout the building rather than to cluster them by floor? What needs to be next to what?
How can a goal of increasing lower division student success in STEM disciplines be addressed in the planning process? What does it take to attract students to these fields and motivate them to persist? How do we create a supportive environment conducive to success?
How do our spaces reflect the social nature of learning, the need for collegiality, the unplanned interactions and conversations that shape and nurture communities?

Other Driving Questions

What can the design of the building do to promote a culture of innovation in academic programs?
How will students and faculty interact in this building, and how are team based collaborations supported within and outside of formal instruction times?
How can we design for the future and encourage innovation and new ways of learning?
How do we create an environment of entrepreneurial thinking, with the vibrancy and experimentation atmosphere of the West coast combined with the structure and richness of the Northeast academic history?
How can we create awareness, connections and encourage collaboration through our architecture?
How do we capture the “Maker” experience of rapidly prototyping ideas in a non-STEM building?
How essential is territorialization in a dynamic, academic environment, and what are the boundaries that should be defined by the
physical environment?
.
Since Bryant has been experimenting with rapidly adaptable learning environments, through recent campus renovations, the AIC project benefited from lessons learned, including:* Maximize clear structural dimensions to facilitate combining adjacent rooms if larger spaces are needed in a few years.
* Make all tiers in classrooms easily removable to switch to flat floor environments if desired.
* Maximize writing surfaces throughout the building.
* Limit the negative impact of technology by creating spaces that encourage low-tech human interaction and promote hands on mapping of strategies and ideas

Other Driving Questions

To enhance the educational experience, specifically for a large student population, what elements need to be considered in planning a learning community?
How have technological advances in the science workplace changed the design of the undergraduate curriculum? How does this reshape space for different types of learning?
How does the need for safety and efficiency drive operations and space planning?
How do we create a welcoming environment and flexible learning spaces? How big is too big?
How do we rigorously and responsibly plan for an unknown future?
To support student success, what elements and adjacencies should an institution/design team consider for an academic building?

6 items re: tools/apps for you to check out

On 04/22/2016, in 3D, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, education technology, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning, productivity / tips and tricks, reading, story, student-related, tools, vendors, writing, by Daniel Christian

4 writing apps to help students conquer the blank page — from geiendorsed.com by Lani Aquino
When writer’s block strikes, these 4 apps can get students back on track.

Excerpt:

Staring at a blank page can be daunting. Add a reluctant writer to the mix, and what should be a great opportunity for personal expression becomes a personal nightmare. These 4 apps will strengthen students’ writing skills and turn written composition from a chore into an engaging learning activity.

6 key apps to develop kids’ reading fluency — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

Below is a collection of some very good iPad apps to use with your kids and young learners to help them develop their reading fluency. The apps provide a wide variety of reading materials that include interactive stories, engaging activities and games, quizzes and many more. And because reading is a composite skill, using these apps will also enable kids to practice a number of key subskills related to reading including: pronunciation, vocabulary, phonics, word recognition, and spelling. Check them out and share with us your feedback. Enjoy.

Microsoft Announces Minecraft: Education Edition Beta, Release — from educationnews.org

Excerpt:

Microsoft has announced beta testing of Minecraft: Education Edition, which is the company’s education-focused suite for Minecraft that integrates tools for teachers and students to help them use the game more effectively in the classroom.

The education-centered offshoot of was first revealed in January of this year. This May, a closed beta of the game will involve more than 100 schools in 30 countries, reports Pradeep of MS Power User. By June, any school will be able to access the Education Edition for free as long as teachers have a fully updated operating system and an Office 365 Education account. Eventually, Microsoft plans to charge $5 per user each year.

Minecraft: Education Edition is specifically tailored to teach the skills that Minecraft cultivates – namely collaboration, navigation, social skills, and empathy.

Cool Tool | Schoold App — from edtechdigest.wordpress.com

Excerpt:

High school students take note: here’s a cool tool in the form of an app. The free app runs on iOS and Android and just got launched last month pulling almost 5 out of 5 stars after several thousand reviews. For the 20 million college-bound students and 30 million parents, we know you’re drowning in a sea of data scattered all over for the more than 4,000 U.S. colleges and universities. So, Schoold is like Zillow for college hunting – or perhaps match.com for students and universities. It’s a one-stop-shop for everything you need to know, want to know, and have to line up.

15 of the best educational apps for improved reading comprehension — from teachthought.com

Excerpt:

Reading comprehension is a matter of decoding, reading speed, and critical thinking about the text, all of which can improve with tiered practice. (See 50 apps for struggling readers.)

So below, in an order of general complexity, are 15 apps for improved reading comprehension, ranging from word and sentence fluency, to recall, to critical thinking skills, to reading speed.

By the nature of reading and literacy progress, most are indeed for K-5 and SLP, but the latter apps, especially Reading Trainer, Compare Twist, and Enchanted Dictionary, can be used through high school in the right context. Let us know on our facebook page what we missed.

The 5 best new 3D tools for April — from creativebloq.com by Rob Redman
We select the best new tools for 3D and VFX artists this month.

Excerpt:

This time of year can often be a quiet one for those of us working in 3D art and visual effects, with developers gearing up for the events season and new releases being a bit thin on the ground.

However there are a few notable updates and newcomers, so have a read below to see what could help you improve your work or help you be more efficient.

Addendum on 4/25/16:

Recommended Music Apps for Kids — from balefirelabs.com

Projections of Education Statistics to 2023 [nces.ed.gov]

On 04/22/2016, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, education, faculty, future, higher education, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, teachers, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Projections of Education Statistics to 2023 — from nces.ed.gov

By William J. Hussar, National Center for Education Statistics
and Tabitha M. Bailey, IHS Global Inc.

Description:
This publication provides projections for key education statistics. It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2023. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2023. In addition, the report includes a methodology section describing models and assumptions used to develop national and state-level projections.

Also see:

Higher Ed in 2023 — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kim

I’m convinced this virtual reality short is the future of animation [Acuna]

On 04/21/2016, in animation, creativity, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, innovation, media/film, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

I’m convinced this virtual reality short is the future of animation — from techinsider.io by Kirsten Acuna

Excerpt:

If there’s one takeaway I’ve gathered from the Tribeca Film Festival, it’s that people are doing some incredible things with VR.

The New York City festival has 18 virtual experiences on display for attendees to check out this year in a Virtual Arcade, and one I kept hearing a lot of chatter about was “Allumette,” a nearly 20-minute animated short from startup Penrose Studios. I heard several people declare it the best VR short of the festival by far.

I agree. It’s excellent.

I checked out “Allumette” (French for Matchstick), which first debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Wednesday evening and was blown away by the experience.

It’s that level of immersion — where you feel like a participant in the actual story — that makes me excited to see what else filmmakers and artists will continue to do in this medium.

Why can’t the “One Day University” come directly into your living room — 24×7? [Christian]

On 04/21/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, art, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, economics, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, future of higher education, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, history, homeschooling/homeschoolers, 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 preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, marketplaces, mathematics, media/film, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, music, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), personalized/customized learning, platforms, psychology, reinvent, religion, science, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, student-related, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

An idea/question from DSC:
Looking at the article below, I wonder…“Why can’t the ‘One Day University‘ come directly into your living room — 24×7?”

This is why I’m so excited about the “The Living [Class] Room” vision. Because it is through that vision that people of all ages — and from all over the world — will be able to constantly learn, grow, and reinvent themselves (if need be) throughout their lifetimes. They’ll be able to access and share content, communicate and discuss/debate with one another, form communities of practice, go through digital learning playlists (like Lynda.com’s Learning Paths) and more. All from devices that represent the convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer (and likely converging with the types of devices that are only now coming into view, such as Microsoft’s Hololens).

You won’t just be limited to going back to college for a day — you’ll be able to do that 24×7 for as many days of the year as you want to.

Then when some sophisticated technologies are integrated into this type of platform — such as artificial intelligence, cloud-based learner profiles, algorithms, and the ability to setup exchanges for learning materials — we’ll get some things that will blow our minds in the not too distant future! Heutagogy on steroids!

Want to go back to college? You can, for a day. — from washingtonpost.com by Valerie Strauss

Excerpt:

Have you ever thought about how nice it would be if you could go back to college, just for the sake of learning something new, in a field you don’t know much about, with no tests, homework or studying to worry about? And you won’t need to take the SAT or the ACT to be accepted? You can, at least for a day, with something called One Day University, the brainchild of a man named Steve Schragis, who about a decade ago brought his daughter to Bard College as a freshman and thought that he wanted to stay.

One Day University now financially partners with dozens of newspapers — including The Washington Post — and a few other organizations to bring lectures to people around the country. The vast majority of the attendees are over the age 50 and interested in continuing education, and One Day University offers them only those professors identified by college students as fascinating. As Schragis says, it doesn’t matter if you are famous; you have to be a great teacher. For example, Schragis says that since Bill Gates has never shown to be one, he can’t teach at One Day University.

…

We bring together these professors, usually four at at a time, to cities across the country to create “The Perfect Day of College.” Of course we leave out the homework, exams, and studying! Best if there’s real variety, both male and female profs, four different schools, four different subjects, four different styles, etc. There’s no one single way to be a great professor. We like to show multiple ways to our students.

Most popular classes are history, psychology, music, politics, and film. Least favorite are math and science.

See also:

Addendum:

LinkedIn makes all Lynda.com courses available on Apple TV — from venturebeat.com

We know the shelf-life of skills are getting shorter and shorter. So whether it’s to brush up on new skills or it’s to stay on top of evolving ones, Lynda.com can help you stay ahead of the latest technologies.

One step closer to reality: introducing 360-degree live streaming and spatial audio on YouTube — from youtube.googleblog.com

Excerpt:

We first launched support for 360-degree videos back in March 2015. From musicians to athletes to brands, creators have done some incredible things with this technology. Now, they’ll be able to do even more to bring fans directly into their world, with 360-degree live streaming. And after years of live streaming Coachella for fans around the world who can’t attend the festival, this year we’re bringing you the festival like never before by live streaming select artist performances in 360 degrees this weekend. Starting today, we’re also launching spatial audio for on-demand YouTube videos. Just as watching a concert in 360 degrees can give you an unmatched immersive experience, spatial audio allows you to listen along as you do in real life, where depth, distance and intensity all play a role. Try out this playlist on your Android device.

Could HoloLens’ augmented reality change how we study the human body? — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
Case Western Reserve University is helping to revolutionize medical-science studies with a new technology from Microsoft.

Excerpt:

CWRU was among the first in higher education to begin working with HoloLens, back in 2014. They’ve since discovered new ways the tech could help transform education. One of their current focuses is changing how students experience medical-science courses.

“This is a curriculum that hasn’t drastically changed in more than 100 years, because there simply hasn’t been another way,” says Mark Griswold, the faculty director for HoloLens at CWRU. “The mixed-reality of the HoloLens has the potential to revolutionize this education by bringing 3D content into the real world.”

Virtual reality invites a new era of learning to higher education — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
A team of technology experts at the University of Maryland see an endless horizon of opportunities in education through virtual reality applications.

Excerpt:

“Imagine a physics class where you’re able to show how friction works. Imagine being able to experience gravity on Mars — by moving around virtually,” he says. “VR can make science, technology and art come alive.”

VR will soon become an open canvas for educators to create learning experiences. Eventually, fitting VR into the curriculum will be limited only by an instructor’s imagination and budget, says Christopher Sessums, the program director of research and evaluation at Johns Hopkins School of Education.

NYU Holodeck to be model for year 2041 cyberlearning — from kurzweilai.net
The role of VR and AI in future integrated living, learning, and research environments

Excerpt:

In an open-access paper in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Education, Winslow Burleson, PhD, MSE, associate professor, New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, suggests that “advanced cyberlearning environments that involve VR and AI innovations are needed to solve society’s “wicked challenges*” — entrenched and seemingly intractable societal problems.

Burleson and and co-author Armanda Lewis imagine such technology in a year 2041 Holodeck, which Burleson’s NYU-X Lab is currently developing in prototype form, in collaboration with colleagues at NYU Courant, Tandon, Steinhardt, and Tisch.

“The “Holodeck” will support a broad range of transdisciplinary collaborations, integrated education, research, and innovation by providing a networked software/hardware infrastructure that can synthesize visual, audio, physical, social, and societal components,” said Burleson.

It’s intended as a model for the future of cyberlearning experience, integrating visual, audio, and physical (haptics, objects, real-time fabrication) components, with shared computation, integrated distributed data, immersive visualization, and social interaction to make possible large-scale synthesis of learning, research, and innovation.

Virtual tour honored Shakespeare’s legacy — from thejournal.com by Richard Chang

Excerpt:

…British television presenter Diane-Louise Jordan will guide students on a tour through Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, including his childhood home and school; and the bard’s view of London, including the famous Globe Theatre where his plays were performed. (Shakespeare actually died April 23, which this year falls on a Saturday.)

Also see:

You can register to see the recording on that page as well.

The current selection of Mixed Reality and Virtual Reality related hardware
As of April 2016; from https://www.wired.com/2016/04/magic-leap-vr/

Film Students To Compete in Virtual Reality Production Contest — from campustechnology.com by Michael Hart
One of the first ever competitions involving virtual reality production will challenge college film students to create their own 360-degree films.

Excerpt:

360fly, which produces single-lens cameras to capture 360-degree video, will sponsor the 360 VR (virtual reality) Film Contest for film students at New York University and the Rhode Island School of Design along with Drury Design. The students will use 360fly HD cameras, which they were briefed on during an April 9 presentation on the NYU campus.

HBO and Discovery are partnering with a startup to develop holograms — from theverge.com by Ananya Bhattacharya
Going beyond the TV screen

Excerpt:

HBO and Discovery Communications announced today that they are partnering with 3D-graphics startup OTOY — both companies taking equity stakes. The partnership marks an effort by the two networks to evolve entertainment experiences beyond two dimensional television. Virtual reality, augmented reality, and even holograms were all highlighted as areas OTOY would help its traditional media partners explore.

TV knows it must push toward virtual and augmented reality

Also see the various items re: Augmented & Virtual Reality from:
Rutgers Office of Instructional & Research Technology

Excerpts:

Mark Zuckerberg says augmented reality glasses are ‘what we’re trying to get to’ — from theverge.com

Facebook plans to build augmented reality glasses — from mashable.com

Apple patents new augmented reality technology — from mobilesyrup.com by Rose Behar

Excerpt:

Apple was granted a patent today for a type of live interactive augmented reality (AR) video to be used in future iOS devices, indicating the company may soon enter the AR/VR game. The patent does not appear to be directly related to an AR/VR headset, but is certainly a step in that direction.

The patent describes Apple’s planned augmented reality technology as layered, live AR video that users can interact with via touchscreen. In the live video, objects can be identified and an information layer can be generated for them.

“In some implementations,” the patent text notes, “the information layer can include annotations made by a user through the touch sensitive surface.”

AltspaceVR wants to make VR chat sessions part of everyday life — from by Adi Robertson

Virtual & Augmented Reality: Blooloop’s Guide to VR and AR — from blooloop.com
Visitor attractions are racing to embrace Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies. But what are the potential opportunities and possible pitfalls of VR and AR?

“A New Morning” — relaying some sharp, innovative HCI from Magic Leap

On 04/20/2016, in Augmented Reality (AR), emerging technologies, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, Mixed Reality (MR), new media literacies, vendors, by Daniel Christian

A New Morning — by Magic Leap; posted on 4/19/16
Welcome to a new way to start your day. Shot directly through Magic Leap technology on April 8, 2016 without use of special effects or compositing.

Also see:

I went inside Magic Leap’s mysterious HQ. Here’s what I saw — from wired.com by Jessi Hempel
Magic Leap demonstrates the potential of augmented reality via video: This is the future — from techtimes.com by Dave Calpito
Hyper Vision — from wired.com by Peter Yang
The world’s hottest startup isn’t located in Silicon Valley—it’s in suburban Florida. KEVIN KELLY explores what Magic Leap’s mind-bending technology tells us about the future of virtual reality.

Learning Ecosystems

The differing roles of the UX Designer [Allabarton]

Learning Now tv – April 28th programme

Download 67,000 Historic Maps (in High Resolution) from the Wonderful David Rumsey Map Collection

5 items re: prison ministries/education

Five tips for thinking like a futurist [Kenkel]

I’m convinced this virtual reality short is the future of animation [Acuna]

“A New Morning” — relaying some sharp, innovative HCI from Magic Leap

Categories

Tags