The Ed Tech Market Map: 90+ Startups Building The Future Of Education — from cbinsights.com
On 07/31/2017,
in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), bots, change, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, maker movement, robotics, society, student-related, tools, trends, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
2017 Ed Tech Trends: The Halfway Point — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly
Four higher ed IT leaders weigh in on the current state of education technology and what’s ahead.
This article includes some perspectives shared from the following 4 IT leaders:
- Susan Aldridge, Senior Vice President for Online Learning, Drexel University (PA); President, Drexel University Online
- Daniel Christian, Adjunct Faculty Member, Calvin College
- Marci Powell, CEO/President, Marci Powell & Associates; Chair Emerita and Past President, United States Distance Learning Association
- Phil Ventimiglia, Chief Innovation Officer, Georgia State University
Also see:
- Higher ed forges ahead on immersive tech integration – from educationdive.com by Pat Donachie
On 06/27/2017,
in 21st century, 3D, adjunct faculty, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, emerging technologies, faculty, future, health, higher education, ideas, online learning, online tutoring, robotics, strategy, student-related, trends, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 06/27/2017,
in Amazon, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, Blockchain, bots, Canada, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, computer science, corporate / business world, data related items, disruption, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, Europe, Facebook / Meta Platforms, global / globalization, Google, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, innovation, machine-to-machine communications, Microsoft, music, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, reinvent, robotics, social media, staying relevant, surviving, technology (general), trends, United States, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Winner takes all — from by Michael Moe, Luben Pampoulov, Li Jiang, Nick Franco, & Suzee Han
We did a lot of things that seemed crazy at the time. Many of those crazy things now have over a billion users, like Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and Android.
— Larry Page, CEO, Alphabet
Excerpt:
An alphabet is a collection of letters that represent language. Alphabet, accordingly, is a collection of companies that represent the many bets Larry Page is making to ensure his platform is built to not only survive, but to thrive in a future defined by accelerating digital disruption. It’s an “Alpha” bet on a diversified platform of assets.
If you look closely, the world’s top technology companies are making similar bets.
Technology in general and the Internet in particular is all about a disproportionate gains to the leader in a category. Accordingly, as technology leaders like Facebook, Alphabet, and Amazon survey the competitive landscape, they have increasingly aimed to develop and acquire emerging technology capabilities across a broad range of complementary categories.
On 06/22/2017,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, adult learning, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, assistive technologies, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, blogs / blogging / vlogging, bots, Bring your own device (BYOD), business side of he, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, Google, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, languages and translation, 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, machine-to-machine communications, microlearning, Microsoft, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, robotics, RSS, second screen apps, simulations, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, tablets, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Learning from the Living [Class] Room:
A vision for a global, powerful, next generation learning platform
By Daniel Christian
NOTE: Having recently lost my Senior Instructional Designer position due to a staff reduction program, I am looking to help build such a platform as this. So if you are working on such a platform or know of someone who is, please let me know: danielchristian55@gmail.com.
I want to help people reinvent themselves quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively — while providing more choice, more control to lifelong learners. This will become critically important as artificial intelligence, robotics, algorithms, and automation continue to impact the workplace.
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
Learning from the Living [Class] Room:
A global, powerful, next generation learning platform
What does the vision entail?
- A new, global, collaborative learning platform that offers more choice, more control to learners of all ages – 24×7 – and could become the organization that futurist Thomas Frey discusses here with Business Insider:
“I’ve been predicting that by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet,” Frey, the senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute think tank, tells Business Insider.
- A learner-centered platform that is enabled by – and reliant upon – human beings but is backed up by a powerful suite of technologies that work together in order to help people reinvent themselves quickly, conveniently, and extremely cost-effectively
- An AI-backed system of analyzing employment trends and opportunities will highlight those courses and “streams of content” that will help someone obtain the most in-demand skills
- A system that tracks learning and, via Blockchain-based technologies, feeds all completed learning modules/courses into learners’ web-based learner profiles
- A learning platform that provides customized, personalized recommendation lists – based upon the learner’s goals
- A platform that delivers customized, personalized learning within a self-directed course (meant for those content creators who want to deliver more sophisticated courses/modules while moving people through the relevant Zones of Proximal Development)
- Notifications and/or inspirational quotes will be available upon request to help provide motivation, encouragement, and accountability – helping learners establish habits of continual, lifelong-based learning
- (Potentially) An online-based marketplace, matching learners with teachers, professors, and other such Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
- (Potentially) Direct access to popular job search sites
- (Potentially) Direct access to resources that describe what other companies do/provide and descriptions of any particular company’s culture (as described by current and former employees and freelancers)
Further details:
While basic courses will be accessible via mobile devices, the optimal learning experience will leverage two or more displays/devices. So while smaller smartphones, laptops, and/or desktop workstations will be used to communicate synchronously or asynchronously with other learners, the larger displays will deliver an excellent learning environment for times when there is:
- A Subject Matter Expert (SME) giving a talk or making a presentation on any given topic
- A need to display multiple things going on at once, such as:
- The SME(s)
- An application or multiple applications that the SME(s) are using
- Content/resources that learners are submitting in real-time (think Bluescape, T1V, Prysm, other)
- The ability to annotate on top of the application(s) and point to things w/in the app(s)
- Media being used to support the presentation such as pictures, graphics, graphs, videos, simulations, animations, audio, links to other resources, GPS coordinates for an app such as Google Earth, other
- Other attendees (think Google Hangouts, Skype, Polycom, or other videoconferencing tools)
- An (optional) representation of the Personal Assistant (such as today’s Alexa, Siri, M, Google Assistant, etc.) that’s being employed via the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This new learning platform will also feature:
- Voice-based commands to drive the system (via Natural Language Processing (NLP))
- Language translation (using techs similar to what’s being used in Translate One2One, an earpiece powered by IBM Watson)
- Speech-to-text capabilities for use w/ chatbots, messaging, inserting discussion board postings
- Text-to-speech capabilities as an assistive technology and also for everyone to be able to be mobile while listening to what’s been typed
- Chatbots
- For learning how to use the system
- For asking questions of – and addressing any issues with – the organization owning the system (credentials, payments, obtaining technical support, etc.)
- For asking questions within a course
- As many profiles as needed per household
- (Optional) Machine-to-machine-based communications to automatically launch the correct profile when the system is initiated (from one’s smartphone, laptop, workstation, and/or tablet to a receiver for the system)
- (Optional) Voice recognition to efficiently launch the desired profile
- (Optional) Facial recognition to efficiently launch the desired profile
- (Optional) Upon system launch, to immediately return to where the learner previously left off
- The capability of the webcam to recognize objects and bring up relevant resources for that object
- A built in RSS feed aggregator – or a similar technology – to enable learners to tap into the relevant “streams of content” that are constantly flowing by them
- Social media dashboards/portals – providing quick access to multiple sources of content and whereby learners can contribute their own “streams of content”
In the future, new forms of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) will be integrated into this new learning environment – providing entirely new means of collaborating with one another.
Likely players:
- Amazon – personal assistance via Alexa
- Apple – personal assistance via Siri
- Google – personal assistance via Google Assistant; language translation
- Facebook — personal assistance via M
- Microsoft – personal assistance via Cortana; language translation
- IBM Watson – cognitive computing; language translation
- Polycom – videoconferencing
- Blackboard – videoconferencing, application sharing, chat, interactive whiteboard
- T1V, Prsym, and/or Bluescape – submitting content to a digital canvas/workspace
- Samsung, Sharp, LCD, and others – for large displays with integrated microphones, speakers, webcams, etc.
- Feedly – RSS aggregator
- _________ – for providing backchannels
- _________ – for tools to create videocasts and interactive videos
- _________ – for blogs, wikis, podcasts, journals
- _________ – for quizzes/assessments
- _________ – for discussion boards/forums
- _________ – for creating AR, MR, and/or VR-based content
On 05/31/2017,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, tools, trends, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
A question/reflection from DSC:
Will #MOOCs provide the necessary data for #AI-based intelligent agents/algorithms? Reminds me of Socratic.org:
Somewhat related:
- Elon Musk’s A.I. project is making humans teach robots through VR in a big breakthrough moment — from cnbc.com by Arjun Kharpal
OpenAI has developed a way to use humans and virtual reality to teach a robot how to carry out a task.
The robot uses artificial intelligence to process images and carry out the task.
OpenAI is a non-profit research organization backed by several big names including Elon Musk.
On 04/29/2017,
in 21st century, Amazon, analytics, business, corporate / business world, entrepreneurship, experimentation, face-to-face, ideas, innovation, reading, reinvent, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Amazon’s new bricks-&-mortar bookstore nails what the web couldn’t — from hackernoon.com by Pat Ryan
or
A title from DSC:
How Amazon uses its vast data resources to reinvent the bookstore
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Amazon’s First Foray into Physical Retail — While Utilitarian — Takes Discovery to New Levels
As a long time city dweller living in a neighborhood full of history, I had mixed feelings about the arrival of Amazon’s first bricks-and-mortar bookstore in a city neighborhood (the first four are located in malls). Like most of my neighbors around Chicago’s Southport Corridor, I prefer the charm of owner operated boutiques. Yet as a tech entrepreneur who holds Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in the highest esteem, I was excited to see how Amazon would reimagine the traditional bookstore given their customer obsession and their treasure trove of user data. Here’s what I discovered…
…
The Bottom Line:
I will still go to Amazon.com for the job of ordering a book that I already know that I want (and to the local Barnes and Noble if I need it today). But when I need to discover a book for gifts (Father’s Day is coming up soon enough) or for my own interest, nothing that I have seen compares to Amazon Books. We had an amazing experience and discovered more books in 20 minutes than we had in the past month or two.
The physical manifestation of the “if you like…then you’ll love…”
The ultra metric combining insights from disparate sources seems more compelling than standard best seller lists
On 04/17/2017,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business side of he, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, platforms, student-related, teaching online, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
First of all, let me say again that I’m not suggesting that we replace professors with artificial intelligence, algorithms, and such.
However, given a variety of trends, we need to greatly lower the price of obtaining a degree and these types of technologies will help us do just that — while at the same time significantly increasing the productivity of each professor and/or team of specialists offering an online-based course (something institutions of higher education are currently attempting to do…big time). Not only will these types of technologies find their place in the higher education landscape, I predict that they will usher in a “New Amazon.com of Higher Education” — a new organization that will cause major disruption for traditional institutions of higher education. AI-powered MOOCs will find their place on the higher ed landscape; just how big they become remains to be seen, but this area of the landscape should be on our radars from here on out.
This type of development again points the need for team-based
approaches; such approaches will likely dominate the future.
California State University East Bay partners with Cognii to offer artificial intelligence powered online learning — from prnewswire.com
Cognii’s Virtual Learning Assistant technology will provide intelligent tutoring and assessments to students in a chatbot-style conversation
Excerpt:
HAYWARD, Calif., April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Cal State East Bay, a top-tier public university, and Cognii Inc., a leading provider of artificial intelligence-based educational technologies, today announced a partnership. Cognii will work with Cal State East Bay to develop a new learning and assessment experience, powered by Cognii’s Virtual Learning Assistant technology.
Winner of the 2016 EdTech Innovation of the Year Award from Mass Technology Leadership Council for its unique use of conversational AI and Natural Language Processing technologies in education, Cognii VLA provides automatic grading to students’ open-response answers along with qualitative feedback that guides them towards conceptual mastery. Compared to the multiple choice tests, open-response questions are considered pedagogically superior for measuring students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills, essential for 21st century jobs.
Students at Cal State East Bay will use the Cognii-powered interactive tutorials starting in summer as part of the online transfer orientation course. The interactive questions and tutorials will be developed collaboratively by Cognii team and the eLearning specialists from the university’s office of the Online Campus. Students will interact with the questions in a chatbot-style natural language conversation during the formative assessment stage. As students practice the tutorials, Cognii will generate rich learning analytics and proficiency measurements for the course leaders.
On 04/06/2017,
in 21st century, 3D, adjunct faculty, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, blogs / blogging / vlogging, bots, business side of he, Canada, change, chemistry, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, computer science, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital video, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Europe, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), India, innovation, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, maker movement, mathematics, media/film, memory, mobile learning, multimedia, online learning, participation, pedagogy, platforms, play, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, robotics, science, story, storytelling, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, technologies for your home, tools, UK, United States, universities, vendors, virtual field trips, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, writing, youth,
by Daniel Christian
The 82 Hottest EdTech Tools of 2017 According to Education Experts — from tutora.co.uk by Giorgio Cassella
Excerpt:
If you work in education, you’ll know there’s a HUGE array of applications, services, products and tools created to serve a multitude of functions in education.
Tools for teaching and learning, parent-teacher communication apps, lesson planning software, home-tutoring websites, revision blogs, SEN education information, professional development qualifications and more.
There are so many companies creating new products for education, though, that it can be difficult to keep up – especially with the massive volumes of planning and marking teachers have to do, never mind finding the time to actually teach!
So how do you know which ones are the best?
Well, as a team of people passionate about education and learning, we decided to do a bit of research to help you out.
We’ve asked some of the best and brightest in education for their opinions on the hottest EdTech of 2017. These guys are the real deal – experts in education, teaching and new tech from all over the world from England to India, to New York and San Francisco.
They’ve given us a list of 82 amazing, tried and tested tools…
From DSC:
The ones that I mentioned that Giorgio included in his excellent article were:
- AdmitHub – Free, Expert College Admissions Advice
- Labster – Empowering the Next Generation of Scientists to Change the World
- Unimersiv – Virtual Reality Educational Experiences
- Lifeliqe – Interactive 3D Models to Augment Classroom Learning
On 03/30/2017,
in 21st century, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, change, colleges, communications, community colleges, computer science, emerging technologies, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, intelligent systems, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, programming, student-related, technologies for your home, tools, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces,
by Daniel Christian
21 bot experts make their predictions for 2017 — from venturebeat.com by Adelyn Zhou
Excerpt:
2016 was a huge year for bots, with major platforms like Facebook launching bots for Messenger, and Amazon and Google heavily pushing their digital assistants. Looking forward to 2017, we asked 21 bot experts, entrepreneurs, and executives to share their predictions for how bots will continue to evolve in the coming year.
…
From Jordi Torras, founder and CEO, Inbenta:
“Chatbots will get increasingly smarter, thanks to the adoption of sophisticated AI algorithms and machine learning. But also they will specialize more in specific tasks, like online purchases, customer support, or online advice. First attempts of chatbot interoperability will start to appear, with generalist chatbots, like Siri or Alexa, connecting to specialized enterprise chatbots to accomplish specific tasks. Functions traditionally performed by search engines will be increasingly performed by chatbots.”
From DSC:
For those of us working within higher education, chatbots need to be on our radars. Here are 2 slides from my NGLS 2017 presentation.
