From DSC:
Swivl allows faculty members, teachers, trainers, and other Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to make recordings where the recording device swivels to follow the SME (who is holding/wearing a remote). Recordings can be automatically sent to the cloud for further processing/distribution.

My request to you is:
Can you extend the Swivl app to not only provide recordings, but to provide rough draft transcripts of those recordings as well?

This could be very helpful for accessibility reasons, but also to provide students/learners with a type of media that they prefer (video, audio, and/or text).

 

Swivl-2015

 

 

Augmented Reality Chemistry Experiments with Elements 4D — from whiteboardblog.co.uk

Excerpt:

Elements 4D is a neat Augmented Reality chemistry app for iOS and Android devices which provides a fun way to look at various different chemical reactions.

The app uses blocks that are inscribed with the symbols of 36 elements from the periodic table. The site will eventually sell ready-made cubes, but you can download paper templates for free here.

When viewed through the app, these blocks instantly transform a simple, inanimate object into dynamic, dimensional, 4D representations of each element.

Also see:
Elements4D-July2015

 

 

Toss your manual overboard—augmented reality aims at big industry — from arstechnica.com by Lee Hutchinson
Papers, diagrams, and checklists would be replaced with intuitive visual tools.

Excerpt:

GE is focusing efforts on constructing an extensible “field maintenance manual” intended to be used for industrial equipment. The use case being tested in the labs is with oil and gas; researchers in GE’s Research Center in Brazil are building software that they hope will replace the need to deal with bulky printed maintenance manuals—manuals which have to be kept up to date and which lack any kind of interactivity.

 

 

New Microsoft Tool Takes the Pulse of Higher Education
Bing Pulse in the Classroom, a new student response system designed for higher education, launched this week.

Excerpt:

A new student response tool designed by a team at Microsoft will soon be giving teachers instant feedback on how their lessons are going.

Bing Pulse in the Classroom, a free online tool designed to make higher education lectures more dynamic, was released Thursday. The technology lets teachers ask students questions to get a real-time “pulse” of the lesson to ensure a teacher isn’t getting too far ahead of the class.

A feature not included in Pulse in the Classroom’s first iteration was live video streaming. Nesho says this capability will soon be added, and it could be a game changer for higher education classes that incorporate distance learning. Using a live video stream along with the Pulse feature set, the platform comes closer to an all-inclusive classroom experience.

 

 

Microsoft pioneers new ‘machine teaching’ technology to bring machine learning to the masses — from winbeta.org by Joseph Finney

Excerpt:

Tech companies are constantly building and testing technology which could cause the next paradigm shift in how the world communicates, creates, and consumes. Many big names including Google, IBM and Microsoft are investing in machine intelligence and machine learning. Now Microsoft believes they have created the next generation of machine learning which they call machine teaching. While the name ‘machine teaching’ does not instantly communicate the purpose or intent of the new tech the underlying concept is simple.

Essentially, like Henry Ford brought the automobile to the masses, Microsoft wants to bring machine learning to everyone. Many companies are focused on making their machine learning algorithms more accurate, but Patrice Simard believes more advances can be driven by bringing machine learning to the masses.

 

 Also relevant here/see:
What Every Manager Should Know About Machine Learning — from hbr.org by Mike Yeomans
A primer on machine learning — from loop.ai
A tour of Machine Learning Algorithms #BigData #MachineLearning — from mo-data.com
In this post we take a tour of the most popular machine learning algorithms.

 

 

 

Microsoft launches site for teachers taking Minecraft into the classroom — from theguardian.com
Minecraft in Education portal aims to get educators sharing tips on how Mojang’s popular game can be used to teach children

 

 

The Scoop on Periscope: Broadcast Live Video to the World — from learninginhand.com by Tony Vincent
[Tony includes a nice infographic in this posting.]

 

 

 

PeriodicTable-WearableTech-July2015

 

 

First Look: Jaunt’s VR Camera Codenamed NEO — from by Jonathan Nafarrete

Excerpt:

Jaunt has announced the launch of a new professional grade VR camera series codenamed “NEO” that will enable the next generation of filmmakers to produce the highest quality VR experiences.

Industrial Design by LUNAR.

 

 

 

 

Leap Motion’s Augmented-Reality Computing Looks Stupid Cool — from wired.com

Excerpt:

This demo, in which a standard desktop computer is reimagined as a three-dimensional workstation of the future, offers a glimpse of what that might look like.

The project came out of a hackathon at Leap Motion, whose nifty gesture-recognizing sensor acts as a sort of finger-scale Kinect for desktop software. Using a prototype Leap sensor, a developer-kit Oculus Rift, a team of engineers built an augmented-reality work environment in which regular desktop applications jump out of the computer and into 3-D space. It’s a new computing interface hovering in front of a traditional personal computer sitting on a wood table—three generations of the “desktop,” one on top of another.

 

 

Apps That Rise to the Top: Tested and Approved By Teachers — from kqed.org b

 

Michelle Luhtala/Edshelf

 

 

 

 

 

 

EdTech 2015: What’s Coming Down the Innovation Pipeline — from medium.com by Daniel Rezac
Brace Yourselves for a New Wave of Classroom Integration

 

 

 

 

Office 365 Open Source plugins for Moodle: getting better all the time — from msopentech.com

Excerpt:

[On June 26th, 2015] we shared the news that the upcoming Cypress release of Open edX, the most popular open source MOOC (massive open online course), will include new features for tighter integration with Office 365. Those features are the result of our open source collaboration with members of the Open edX community.

In addition to the new work we’re doing with Open edX, we continue to work with Remote-Learner (a leading Moodle partner) to make improvements and additions to the open source Office 365 plugins for Moodle. Moodle is the most popular open source learning management system (LMS), and the Office 365 plugins were released in January of this year. In this post, we’d like to share a few details about the great work Remote-Learner is doing to evolve the plugins.

 

 

 

 

New math app turns 2-D problems into 3-D solutions for Nova Scotia students — from trurodaily.com by Zane Woodford, Metro Halifax

Excerpt:

HALIFAX – A new augmented reality application for iPhones, iPads and Android devices brings math problems off the page for Nova Scotia students – illustrating angles, curves and the dreaded Pythagorean theorem in three dimensions.

 

© Metro Halifax/Jeff Harper
Grade 9 student Nathaniel Jarmash uses an augmented reality app
to work on his math problems at Sir Robert Borden Junior High School.

 

Tech Toys (and Tools) for Learning – from edutopia.org by Jayne Clare

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

A whole new trend is about to explode in the educational app world. You may be familiar with the new tech that allows for apps to interact with tangible objects. This enhanced interactive technology is undoubtedly one that will change educational apps as we know them. Soon, the pairing of augmented reality with extensive curriculum guides will be commonplace in the classroom. Indie developers are producing a wide range of products that focus on spatial awareness, language development, number sense, problem solving, and motor skills, as well as an introduction to literacy, math, and the sciences.

What I find most exciting about this trend is the ability to get manipulatives back in the hands of children while simultaneously allowing them to interact with digital tools. As an educator, I’m relieved to know that learning through virtual technologies is able to occur in conjunction with physical play, all while fostering creativity. Suddenly there has emerged a balance between digital play and physical, imaginative, and cognitively engaging play. Kids have always learned best when they have the ability to engage all of their senses during play. The most powerful learning happens when the integration of body, mind, and brain are incorporated simultaneously. Promoting active learning can teach and model concepts and skills; children can then generalize those skills into real-time experiences and their daily routines off-screen.

 

Consumers spend 85% of time on smartphones in apps, but only 5 apps see heavy use — from techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez — with a shout out to @visionmobile for the original heads-up on it; information per Forrester Research

Excerpts:

 

Screen Shot 2015-06-22 at 12.06.29 PM

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2015-06-22 at 12.06.13 PM

 

 

 

Also see:

 

AdobeCreativeCloud2015

 

Some resources on this announcement:

  • Adobe Unveils Milestone 2015 Creative Cloud Release — from adobe.com
    Excerpt:
    At the heart of Creative Cloud is Adobe CreativeSync, a signature technology that intelligently syncs creative assets: files, photos, fonts, vector graphics, brushes, colors, settings, metadata and more. With CreativeSync, assets are instantly available, in the right format, wherever designers need them – across desktop, web and mobile apps. Available exclusively in Creative Cloud, CreativeSync means work can be kicked off in any connected Creative Cloud mobile app or CC desktop tool; picked up again later in another; and finished in the designer’s favorite CC desktop software..

  • Adobe updates Creative Cloud in milestone 2015 release — from creativebloq.com
    Powerful updates to Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, Premiere Pro CC and InDesign CC; new mobile apps for iOS and Android and more. Here’s everything you need to know.

  • Adobe launches Adobe Stock, included in Creative Cloud, as well as a stand-alone service — from talkingnewmedia.com by D.B. Hebbard
    Pricing for CC customers is $9.99 for a single image; $29.99 per month for 10 images monthly; and $199 per month for 750 images monthly
    Excerpt:
    [On 6/15/15] Adobe has launched Adobe Stock, its new stock photography service. It is now included in CC and will appear as one of the five top menu items in the CC app (Home, Apps, Assets, Stock and Community). Many will have noticed the update to the app that came through yesterday.
    .
  • Adobe launches radical new stock image service — from creativebloq.com
    Excerpt:
    Adobe has launched Adobe Stock, a new service that simplifies the process of buying and using stock content, including photos, illustrations and vector graphics. Part of the milestone 2015 Creative Cloud release announced this morning, Adobe Stock is a curated collection of 40 million high-quality photos, vector graphics and illustrations. The aim? To help creatives jump-start their projects.

    Photographers and designers can also contribute work to Adobe Stock. Adobe says it will offer industry-leading rates, while giving creatives access to a global community of stock content buyers.
    .
  • Adobe Illustrator CC is now 10 times faster — from creativebloq.com
    .
  • The best new features in Adobe Photoshop CC — from creativebloq.com

Adobe Photoshop CC

 

 
 

New from Educause:
Higher Ed IT Buyers Guide

 

HEITBuyersGuideEducauseApril2015

 

Excerpt:

Quickly search 50+ product and service categories, access thousands of IT solutions specific to the higher ed community, and send multiple RFPs—all in one place. This new Buyers Guide provides a central, go-to online resource for supporting your key purchasing decisions as they relate to your campus’s strategic IT initiatives.

Find the Right Vendors for Higher Education’s Top Strategic Technologies

Three of the Top 10 Strategic Technologies identified by the higher education community this year are mobile computing, business intelligence, and business performance analytics.* The new Buyers Guide connects you to many of the IT vendors your campus can partner with in the following categories related to these leading technologies, as well as many more.

View all 50+ product and service categories.

 

NeuBible-March2015
Ex-Apple designer rethinks the Bible for a mobile world — from fastcodesign.com by Ainsley O’Connell
Kory Westerhold and his cofounder, Yahoo design director Aaron Martin, give Co.Design an exclusive look at their beautiful new Bible app.

Excerpt:

Fast-forward to 2015, and Westerhold, now a product designer at Twitter, has teamed up with Aaron Martin, a design director at Yahoo and childhood friend. Today, after months of sketching and development, they released NeuBible, an elegant and radically simplified mobile app for the Bible.

Their goal, Westerhold says, was to “get rid of everything between you and scripture.”

 

Also see:

NeuBible-March2015-2

 

EMLYON Business School to create a ‘Smart Business School’ via IBM Cloud — from finance.yahoo.com
New digital learning environment based on the SoftLayer infrastructure will personalize education experience globally

Excerpt:

ECULLY, France, Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and EMLYON today announced a program to develop a ‘Smart Business School’ higher education environment that is capable of delivering personalized, on-demand business education on a global basis via the IBM Cloud. EMLYON will work with IBM to place educational innovation and digital entrepreneurship at the heart of its strategy, to create better outcomes for its students and a more engaging environment for its teachers.

The changes in the world of education given rising globalization forces, new uses related to digital content  and higher expectations of learners and teachers is putting a pressure on higher education. In response, EMLYON turned to IBM to transform the current ways in which their students are acquiring knowledge and skills to be better prepared for the world outside the classroom.

“What we believe is genuinely new about this initiative is that it will allow us to deliver content and coaching that are absolutely relevant to each participants’ needs and aspirations, wherever they are in the world and at every step on their career path,” said Bernard Belletante, dean of EMLYON. “So, in a similar way that users today can cherry-pick their entertainment, our community will be able to choose when, where and how much it learns.”

 

From DSC, a somewhat related comment to the above item…
Even if and when technologies such as IBM’s Watson, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Deepmind, or Amazon’s Echo get baked into MOOCs and/or other forms of online or blended learning, teachers/professors/trainers will still be critically important. They always have been and likely always will be.  However, the heavy lifting of learning a subject may be able to be done with such tools and technologies. Learners will then come to the Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) with their questions and requests for further guidance.

Along these lines, a somewhat-related graphic from a while back:

 

Watson-MOOCs-NewTypesCollaboration-DChristian-2-14-13

 

 

 

 

Top 10 IT Issues, 2015: Inflection Point — from educause.edu by Susan Grajek and the 2014–2015 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel
EDUCAUSE presents the top 10 IT issues facing higher education institutions this year. What is new about 2015? Nothing has changed. And everything has changed. Information technology has reached an inflection point.  Visit the EDUCAUSE top 10 IT issues web page for additional resources.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Change continues to characterize the EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues in 2015. The pace of change seems not to be slowing but, rather, is increasing and is happening on many fronts. There is reason to believe that higher education information technology has reached an inflection point—the point at which the trends that have dominated thought leadership and have motivated early adopters are now cascading into the mainstream. This inflection point is the biggest of three themes of change characterizing the 2015 EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues.. A second dimension of change is the shifting focus of IT leaders and professionals from technical problems to business problems, along with the ensuing interdependence between the IT organization and business units. Underlying all this strategic change, the day-to-day work of the IT organization goes on. But change dominates even the day-to-day, where challenges are in some ways more complex than ever. This “new normal” is the third theme of change.

 

 

Top10ITIssues2015-Educause

 

 

Andy Grove, Intel’s former CEO, described a strategic inflection point as “that which causes you to make a fundamental change in business strategy.”

 

From DSC:
We continue to see more articles and innovations that involve the Internet of Things (IoT) or the Internet of Everything (IoE). This trend has made me reflect upon what I think will be a future, required subset of needed expertise within the fields of Instructional Design, User Experience Design, User Interface Design, Product Development, Programming, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and likely other fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality(VR) as well.

And that is, we will need people who can craft learning experiences from the presence of beacons/sensors and that integrate such concepts as found in “If This Then That” (ifttt.com) whereby one is putting the Internet and cloud/mobile-based applications to work for you. Certainly, those involved in retail are already busy working on these types of projects. But those of us involved with learning, human computer interaction (HCI), and interface design need to get involved as well.

 

 

IfThisThenThat-Combined-With-iBeacons

 

For example, this potential scenario of a K-12 field trip might be fodder for such a learning experience.

So for those individuals who are involved with the aforementioned disciplines…we need to pulse check what new affordances are coming from the rollout and further development of the IoT/IoE.

 

 

 

 

 

Disney will launch its first Imagicademy Learning Apps — from techcrunch.com by Anthony Ha
Disney just unveiled its digital learning initiative Imagicademy, which will launch on December 11

Excerpt:

As outlined at a press event today in New York, it’s a suite of mobile learning apps for kids, along with an app where parents can follow along, give their kids a virtual high five, and see recommended physical activities that complement that in-app lessons.

With Imagicademy, on the other hand, there are plans for a suite of 30 similarly branded apps covering math, creative arts, science, language arts, and social skills. The first app to launch will be Mickey’s Magical Math World on iPad, as well as the companion app for parents.

 

Also see:

 

DisneyLaunchesImagicademy-12-4-14

 

 

DisneyLaunchesImagicademy2-12-4-14

 

 

DisneyLaunchesImagicademy3-12-4-14

 

From DSC:
When you look at their About Imagicademy page, you’ll notice words like:

  • Imagination
  • Wonder
  • Love of learning
  • Curiosity
  • Magical
  • Discovery
  • Creativity
  • Dream
  • Passion
  • Build
  • Design
  • Create

Those seem like great words for any classroom.

Are their profit motive here? Sure there are. But these types of efforts could be important because they represent team-based approaches as well as some solid collaboration. Disney consulted with a number of education experts to create these games — while bringing their own strengths to the table as well.

 

 

 

Gartner: Top 10 Strategic IT Trends For 2015 — from forbes.com by Peter High

Summary:

  1. Computing Everywhere
  2. The Internet of Things (IoT)
  3. 3D Printing
  4. Advanced, Pervasive, Invisible Analytics
  5. Context-Rich Systems
  6. Smart Machines
  7. Cloud/Client Architecture
  8. Software-Defined Infrastructure and Applications
  9. Web-Scale IT
  10. Risk-Based Security and Self-Protection

 

Gartner2015TopTrends

 

interactivebook-alice-70Kweek-setp2014

.

Excerpt:

Alice is presented as a mobile app, but it’s technically a book that can be read on iPads and Android tablets. The story is based on the classic Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and it features beautiful illustrations you can interact with by touching the tablet screen, as well as an engaging narrator reading each page.

“Regular e-books have limitations, and I wanted to create a new level of engagement. I wanted to combine interactive experience along with film ‘feel,’” Paletz said in an interview. “The application is an art book, a conceptual book, and an educational book all in one, so it has something for everyone.”

 

 From DSC: With a shout out to
Laura Devaney who posted this on Twitter.

 

 
 
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