content development, aggregation, repositories

Exemplar of successful implementation of tech in schools — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Excerpts:

It was impressive to find a school network that took technology as seriously as Curro, in South Africa. They had invited me to give a keynote on AI for Learning, based on my book and experience but I hung around as the teacher sessions were so damn good. This is what I learnt, as I think it is a recipe for success.
…
This was the big surprise. There were glowing testimonials from teachers about the power of adaptive learning, using AI, to personalise learning for students. It was described as a ‘gamechanger’ by the teacher who presented, with clear targeting, so that efficient and relevant, individual interventions could be made for students. It was clear that they knew why they wanted this technology, had implemented it well and were using teacher feedback to spread the word internally.

I was giving a talk as part of that process. The day’s activities were under the banner of ‘Imagining 2022’. It’s hard enough to Imagine what any year will bring these days but it was clear that this was a learning organisation, willing to learn from their mistakes and make the effort to plan forward.

Also see:

Curro

Reflections on “AI-powered chatbots, designed ethically, can support high-quality university teaching”

On 01/14/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, Canada, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, ethics, Europe, faculty/staff, India, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Natural Language Processing (NLP), teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

DC: The staff from Teaching & Learning Centers as well as the IT/AV staff would likely collaborate on creating/maintaining this type of database.#teachingandlearning #AV #IT #AI #NLP #highereducation https://t.co/Vs3RQJwrrH

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) January 13, 2022

The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism [Clark]

On 01/13/2022, in 21st century, Blockchain, business, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, journalism, new business models, society, television, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism — from theverge.com by Mitchell Clark
It’s offering collectors ‘exclusive, historic, and stunning visual content’

Excerpt:

The Associated Press, or AP, has announced that it’s starting a marketplace to sell NFTs of its photojournalists’ work in collaboration with a company called Xooa. It’s billing its foray into NFTs as a way for collectors to “purchase the news agency’s award-winning contemporary and historic photojournalism” and says that the virtual tokens will be released at “broad and inclusive price points” (though it’s hard to tell what types of prices resellers will want on the AP marketplace).

Also see:

Why Samsung built an NFT aggregator into its new TVs — from digitaltrends.com by Phil Nickinson

Excerpt:

Or, perhaps, it’s the idea of an “NFT aggregation platform” being built into the television. It sounds insane — baking something that most people don’t understand, let alone engage in — into a TV. Most of us can’t even describe what a non-fungible token is, let alone tell someone how to go get one. It’s a multi-layered process that’s far more difficult than taking a screenshot of something you saw on Instagram and then sticking it up on your TV.

But that’s also not the point.
…
“In 2022, Samsung is introducing the world’s first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator,” reads the press release, “a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art — all in one place.”

14 Predictions for Higher Education in 2022 [Schaffhauser]

On 01/10/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), blended learning, Blockchain, business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, disruption, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, law schools, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

14 Predictions for Higher Education in 2022 — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Excerpt:

Ask people working in higher education what they expect will happen in the new year, and the outlook is filled with visions that build on what we’ve been experiencing on college and university campuses for the last two years: a major focus on learning formats; continued exploitation of new technology; and the use of new digital models that move users “beyond Zoom.” Here we present the collective predictions of 14 IT leaders, instructional folks and a student about what they anticipate seeing in 2022. As one put it, “Let’s go, 2022! We have work to do!”

From DSC:
I’d like to thank Dian Schaffhauser, Rhea Kelly, and Mary Grush for letting me contribute some thoughts to the various conversations that Campus Technology Magazine hosts and/or initiates. I inserted some reflections into the above article and I hope that you’ll take a moment to read my and others’ thoughts out there.

Why the Science of Teaching Is Often Ignored — from chronicle.com by Beth McMurtrie
There’s a whole literature on what works. But it’s not making its way into the classroom.

Excerpts:

Yet, teaching reformers argue, the dangers of ignoring the expanding body of knowledge about teaching and learning are ever more apparent. Traditional teaching may have sufficed when college campuses were more ivory tower than lifeboat, educating future generations of scholars and other elites rather than trying to lift up a diverse group of students and prepare them for an increasingly complex world.

Studies have also shown that faculty members are more likely to try evidence-based teaching practices if they feel they have supportive colleagues and departments. Faculty learning communities can be particularly helpful, teaching experts say, because instructors meet regularly over a series of months to tackle complex challenges, often by exploring the research and experimenting with small changes to their teaching.

Reforming teaching evaluations so that they reflect the hard work of reading and reflecting on teaching scholarship is also a critical lever for change.

Instructional strategies to make your knowledge workers love learning — from blog.commlabindia.com

Excerpt:

As a training manager, you need to step up your game to cater to the corporate training needs of these thinkers. Functional and creative instructional strategies should be used to engage learners and offer sticky learning, in the classroom and online. The strategies need to involve learners emotionally, offer an experiential set up, and appeal to their creative side.

From DSC:
I haven’t tried this Chrome extension, but it looks interesting.

lunanotes.io — website — Chrome extension page

LunaNotes helps you take notes within YouTube, while still watching the video(s). You can customize your notes with their easy-to-use editor, take screenshots of the video and write, draw or add shapes over the screenshot with their screenshot editor.

28 Website Accessibility Terms to Know in 2022 [Juviler]

On 12/29/2021, in accessibility / UDL, assistive technologies, business, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, higher education, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, Metaverse, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, online media, online tutoring, society, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, web design and production, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

28 Website Accessibility Terms to Know in 2022 — from blog.hubspot.com by Jamie Juviler

Excerpt:

No matter the type of website you run or the industry that you’re in, prioritizing web accessibility is key to your success.
…
To ensure your website meets today’s standards for web accessibility, you’ll first need to understand the terminology. Accessibility is a big, dense area with a lot of jargon, acronyms, and codes — enough to steer a new website owner away from the topic altogether.

That’s why we’ve put together this glossary of 28 essential web accessibility terms any website owners should be aware of. By knowing the language, you’ll find it much easier to adopt accessibility principles on your own site and better serve visitors with disabilities.

Addendum on 12/31/21:

Accessibility awareness is on the rise, but is it turning into action? — from techcrunch.com by Joe Devon

Excerpts:

A Harris Poll reveals that more than half of American adults increased their online activities because of the pandemic. That number grows to 60% for people with disabilities.

The increase in online activities does not mean that everyone is able to achieve their goals. So, what kind of impact is the crisis having on accessibility? Are organizations finally getting the message on the importance of accessibility?
…

With that, here are the key results from the Alexa top 100 website testing:

- Out of the websites tested, 62% were accessible to screen readers, up from 40% in 2020.
- Every single page passed for having the valid document “lang” attribute.
- Only 11% of websites tested had errors in input field labels.
- The most common error was the use of ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications specification)
- The second most common error was color contrast.

From DSC:
That last article linked to:

The 2021 State of Accessibility Report (SOAR) report

From DSC:
As with many emerging technologies, there appear to be some significant pros and cons re: the use of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

The question I wonder about is: How can the legal realm help address the massive impacts of the exponential pace of technological change in our society these days? For examples:

How is — or should — the American Bar Association respond?
Law schools?
Lawyers?
Legislatures?
Judges?
Politicians and others?

Technicians, network engineers, data center specialists, computer scientists, and others also need to be asking themselves how they can help out in these areas as well.

Emphasis below is mine.

NFTs Are Hot. So Is Their Effect on the Earth’s Climate — from wired.com by Gregory Barber
The sale of a piece of crypto art consumed as much energy as the studio uses in two years. Now the artist is campaigning to reduce the medium’s carbon emissions.

Excerpt:

The works were placed for auction on a website called Nifty Gateway, where they sold out in 10 seconds for thousands of dollars. The sale also consumed 8.7 megawatt-hours of energy, as he later learned from a website called Cryptoart.WTF.

NFTs And Their Role In The “Metaverse” — from 101blockchains.com by Georgia Weston

Many people would perceive NFTs as mere images of digital artworks or collectibles which they can sell for massive prices. However, the frenzy surrounding digital art in present times has pointed out many new possibilities with NFTs. For example, the NFT metaverse connection undoubtedly presents a promising use case for NFTs. The road for the future of NFTs brings many new opportunities for investors, enterprises, and hobbyists, which can shape up NFT usage and adoption in the long term.

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are a new class of digital assets, which are unique, indivisible, and immutable. They help in representing the ownership of digital and physical assets on the blockchain. Starting from digital artwork to the gaming industry, NFTs are making a huge impact everywhere.

The decentralized nature of the blockchain offers the prospects for unlimited business opportunities and social interaction. Metaverse offers extremely versatile, scalable, and interoperable digital environments. Most important of all, the metaverse blends innovative technologies with models of interaction between participants from individual and enterprise perspectives.

From DSC:
How might the developments occurring with NFTs and the Metaverse impact a next-gen learning platform?

—–

Artist shuts down because people keep their work to make NFTs — from futurism.com by Victor Tangermann
NFT theft is a huge problem

Someone is selling NFTs of Olive Garden locations that they do not own — from futurism.com by
And you can mint a breadstick NFT — for free, of course

Animating Kids — Learn Media-Making Superpowers!

On 12/22/2021, in A/V -- audio/visual, animation, art, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, media/film, participation, passions, project-based learning, skills, story, storytelling, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

AnimatingKids.com — with thanks to Mrs. Julie Bender (an excellent art teacher within the K-12 space) for this resource

Free examples:

4 New Animation Kits Below
PDFs with How-to videos, secret animation recipes, and printable coloring sheets.

Wow! Here’s a new idea! Digital art as an ever-changing subscription!

On 12/17/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, art, business, change, changing business models, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, innovation, new business models, by Daniel Christian

RE:WIRED 2021: Beeple on Art as a Subscription — from wired.com by Greg Williams and Mike Winkelmann
Digital artist Mike Winkelmann, a.k.a. Beeple, shares how his latest piece, “Human One,” will continue to update over time—and what that means for how digital art will be viewed in the future.

From DSC:
The idea was that you buy some digital art — and that art can change at any time. One day, you walk down the stairs, and it looks one way. The next day, things have changed in it.

NOTE:
I saw a much longer version of the above excerpted video when I was viewing the article at “LaTurbo Avedon Is Way Ahead of the Metaverse.” It looked like this:

From DSC:
I’m not saying not to go there…but one has to be very careful when dealing with cryptocurrencies. As the items below show, you can mess up…big time.

A Man Accidentally Threw Out a Hard Drive Worth $357 Million in Bitcoin — from interestingengineering.com by Chris Young
And he’s been searching for it for a decade.
Crypto scammers stole almost $8 billion in 2021, up 81% from 2020 — from protocol.com by Benjamin Pimentel
More than a third of losses came from rug pulls, where developers rolled out crypto projects before vanishing with investor money
Frequently Asked Questions About Cryptocurrency — from 101blockchains.com by Georgia Weston
Coin Worth $0.00004893 Highlights Crypto’s Wild Decimal Frontier — from bloomberg.com by Michael Regan

From DSC:
And that bit about the decimal point is key! I tried to locate an article that I recently read that described how one person lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because he misplaced the decimal in his asking price for a cryptocurrency. It was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he said that his big thumbs got in the way. He mistyped the asking price and hit the Enter key before he recognized his mistake. He sold the cryptocurrency for a fraction of its real value. In that case, one would hope that the buyer would extend some grace and readjust the price. But that didn’t happen in this case. Ouch!

From DSC:
Again, I’m not saying that this area may not represent an enormous new, impactful, prosperous wave to ride. But I need to do a whole lot more learning before I feel comfortable jumping into this ocean.

That said when I read the quote below…I wondered:

DC: I wonder if that sentence could also read:

“Crypto needed a use case, and it found it in a next generation learning platform.”#cryptocurrency #Cryptos #cryptocurrencies #lifelonglearning #onlinelearning #learning #CMS #LMS #platform

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) December 17, 2021

Digital Learning Talent In Demand & More 2022 Hiring Trends [teamedforlearning.com]

On 12/17/2021, in 21st century, career development, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, design, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, remote teaching and learning, skills, training / L&D, universities, using teams, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Digital Learning Talent In Demand & More 2022 Hiring Trends — from teamedforlearning.com
2022 Hiring Trends in digital learning put job seekers in the driver’s seat. Learn how to use these trends to your advantage in education or corporate L&D.

Excerpt:

Now is an amazing time to look for a job in digital learning. The events of the last few years have boosted the demand for digital learning experts in all areas. That includes corporate L&D, higher ed, K-12, edtech, and commercial e-learning. As more organizations embrace a digital learning model, the demand for talent will continue to grow. The 2022 Hiring Trends in Digital Learning are all headed in one direction: up.

Our work connecting talented digital learning professionals with the organizations that need their skills has given us a sneak peek at the 2022 hiring trends in digital learning. And we’re ready to share those insights with you. Here’s what you need to know if you’re a job seeker in the digital learning industry.

UNC’s $97 Million Plan to Reach Adult Online Learners [Smalley]

On 12/17/2021, in adult learning, content development, aggregation, repositories, higher education, lifelong learning, online learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

UNC’s $97 Million Plan to Reach Adult Online Learners — from insidehighered.com by Suzanne Smalley
University of North Carolina will create an internal unit to build and manage online programs from the system’s 17 campuses for learners largely ignored by many universities.

Excerpt:

The University of North Carolina system is leveraging $97 million in pandemic recovery funding to launch a nonprofit ed-tech start-up intended to bolster adult online education in a state with a looming need for more skilled workers.

Project Kitty Hawk is named after the North Carolina beach town the Wright brothers returned to repeatedly before achieving their dream of flight, an apt metaphor for an undertaking that UNC leaders herald as a transformative effort to reach the state’s estimated one million working adults who have some college education but no degree.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud Express brings content editing to the masses [Lawrence]

On 12/16/2021, in Adobe, art, business, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, design, digital audio, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, engagement / engaging students, graphics, by Daniel Christian

Adobe’s Creative Cloud Express brings content editing to the masses — from protocol.com by Lizzy Lawrence
It’s competing directly with Canva, a template-builder for non-professionals.

Excerpt:

Historically, Adobe’s software was made for the pros. Applications like Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro all require a paid Creative Cloud subscription and a certain level of expertise. But with Monday’s launch of Creative Cloud Express, Adobe is targeting anyone who might find graphic design useful: small businesses, students and social media influencers.

Also see:

Introducing Adobe Creative Cloud Express — from adobe.com by Mala Sharma

Also see:

Learning Ecosystems

The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism [Clark]

Why the Science of Teaching Is Often Ignored [McMurtrie]

Instructional strategies to make your knowledge workers love learning [CommLab India]

Several items re: NFTs and the pros and cons of using them in our society today. How can the legal realm assist here?

Wow! Here’s a new idea! Digital art as an ever-changing subscription!

DC: Here are some things I’m learning about dealing with cryptocurrencies. Will a next-gen learning platform be a solid use case for cryptocurrencies?

UNC’s $97 Million Plan to Reach Adult Online Learners [Smalley]

Adobe’s Creative Cloud Express brings content editing to the masses [Lawrence]

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