digital audio

Reflections on “The Humanities May Be Declining at Universities — But They’re Thriving on Zoom” [Koenig]

On 12/13/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, art, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, culture, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, drama/theater, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, history, ideas, instructional design, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, love of learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, music, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, participation, platforms, religion, society, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, writing, by Daniel Christian

The Humanities May Be Declining at Universities — But They’re Thriving on Zoom — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

Excerpt:

Throughout the pandemic, versions of this close-reading conversation have taken place week after week. Organized through new nonprofits and small startups including the Catherine Project, Night School Bar and Premise, they bring together adults who want to spend their free time talking to strangers about literature and philosophy.

It sounds at first like an ambitious book club—except for the fact that many of these seminars are organized and led by college professors, some so eager to participate that they do it for free.

“Mostly it’s a way for them to do a kind of teaching they can’t do at their regular jobs,” explains Zena Hitz, founder of the Catherine Project and a tutor (faculty member) at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

From DSC:
I’ve often thought that online-based learning may be the thing that saves the liberal arts (i.e., available throughout one’s lifetime and would be far less expensive). It would be ironic though, as many liberal arts institutions have not been proponents of online-based learning.

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work [Ganta]

On 12/09/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, assistive technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, experimentation, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, interface design, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, ubiquitous learning, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work — from blog.webex.com by Kedar Ganta

Excerpts:

Webex [on 12/7/21] announced the public preview of its native meeting experience for Glass Enterprise Edition 2 (Glass), a lightweight eye wearable device with a transparent display developed by Google. Webex Expert on Demand on Glass provides an immersive collaboration experience that supports natural voice commands, gestures on touchpad, and head movements to accomplish routine tasks.

DC: What would it look like if the VRJAM metaverse platform were available for teaching and learning-based applications/offerings?

On 12/02/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Blockchain, business, career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, cryptocurrencies, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, drama/theater, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, media/film, Metaverse, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, music, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, participation, platforms, play, society, streams of content, technologies for your home, tools, UK, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The VRJAM metaverse platform is coming to transform the world of live entertainment

VRJAM, the UK’s leading creator of live music experiences in virtual reality, today teased the launch of the VRJAM platform, a revolutionary new metaverse events platform and NFT creation solution.

To bring the VRJAM metaverse platform to life, VRJAM has partnered with market leading NFT software developer Enjin.io to launch a rich virtual reality world that offers a host of new solutions for artists to render and monetize their music and live shows in amazing new ways using NFT’s, blockchain and immersive technology.

The VRJAM platform promises to open up completely new ways for both fans and artist to experience live music events and represents the next step in the evolution of live music.

Ownership of this virtual world will be shared by a guild of globally recognised artists and record labels who will cooperate to create value and define new possibilities for music inside the metaverse.

VRJAM’s metaverse platform offers solutions for true live performance using technology that is years ahead of other similar platforms. It provides unsurpassed user experience and offers fans, artists and labels an array of unique features:

At the heart of the VRJAM metaverse platform is a blockchain based trading and finance system, VRJAM Coin. This revolutionary new cryptocurrency will create ways for both artists and fans to earn money inside the metaverse and promises to create entirely new business models for artists, venues and labels at a time when their traditional ways of making money have been turned upside down by the Covid 19 pandemic.

The VRJAM cryptocurrency is backed by investment from 5 of the world’s leading blockchain specialist investment and venture capital firms, demonstrating the exciting potential of VRJAM’s tech.

The VRJAM platform is scheduled to go live in early 2022, follow on social media to stay up to date.

From DSC:
Hmmmmm….might this type of thing spill over into the worlds of teaching and learning? More direct-to-consumer (learner) types of offerings? Will this open up the doors for new methods of earning a living or for those interested in building a teaching & learning-based brand?

Alternatively, will this impact what actors, actresses, and comedians will be able to do?

Addendum on 12/2/21:

Got Teacher Burnout? Launch A Microschool — from forbes.com by Kerry McDonald

EduMAX 2021 recap: Together for student success around the globe [Distefano]

On 12/02/2021, in 21st century, Adobe, Africa, animation, Asia, Australia, Canada, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, education technology, Europe, experimentation, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, journalism, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, lifelong learning, media/film, multimedia, music, online learning, online media, passions, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, remote teaching and learning, simulations, skills, STEAM-related, story, storytelling, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, UK, United States, universities, vendors, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

EduMAX 2021 recap: Together for student success around the globe — from blog.adobe.com by Sebastian Distefano

Excerpt:

University CIOs, deans, provosts, faculty and staff from more than 100 institutions convened online for the Adobe EduMAX 2021 conference, where academic leaders shared how they are transforming teaching and learning practices across their campuses. Key discussion points included:

How digital literacy increases engagement to bring faculty and students together, whether they are in-person, online or in a hybrid environment.
How digital literacy closes the skills gap in higher education and industry by fostering critical essential skills that employers value.
How faculty can integrate digital literacy across the curriculum for all students.

8 tech and leadership podcasts to add to your playlist | The Enterprisers Project

On 12/01/2021, in business, career development, corporate / business world, digital audio, IT in HE, leadership, podcasting, strategy, technology (general), trends, by Daniel Christian

8 tech and leadership podcasts to add to your playlist — from enterprisersproject.com by Stephanie Overby
Check out these podcasts to keep up to date on CIO lessons learned, emerging tech trends, leadership best practices, and more

From DSC:
This article does a great job of providing a description of each podcast, why you should listen to it, and a list of recent episodes so you can see some of the topics that they are talking about.

All you need to know about Microsoft Immersive Reader [Khan]

On 11/24/2021, in 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, assistive technologies, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital audio, digital learning, education technology, faculty/staff, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Microsoft, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, online media, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reading, remote teaching and learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, writing, by Daniel Christian

All you need to know about Microsoft Immersive Reader — from edtechreview.in by Saniya Khan

Excerpt:

Microsoft Immersive Reader is a highly interactive reading tool specifically designed to help students improve their reading, understanding and grammar skills. It also makes the texts more accessible to students of all levels.

Why Do My Webcam And Microphone Not Work? — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
Webcam and microphone not work? This is how you can get up and running.

Excerpt:

Webcam and microphone not work? That can be a frustrating situation to be in, especially when you need to teach a class over Zoom or attend a school meeting using Meet. Whatever your video chat platform, without a microphone or webcam working, you’re stuck.

Thankfully, it can often be the case that it’s not a hardware fault with your device but rather a setting issue, which can be relatively easily fixed. So even if you’re in a chat right this minute, frantically scouring the web for a fix and finding yourself here, you may yet join that meeting.

This guide aims to clarify a few areas that should be checked before going into panic mode and heading to your hardware store with the credit card at the ready.

The EdSurge Product Index

About:

Since 2012, the EdSurge Product Index has been the first stop for educators in search of learning technology solutions. The redesigned EdSurge Product Index_(BETA) features enhanced product profiles and validations from trusted education and technology organizations. Now, educators will be able to find the most complete, reliable and up-to-date information available on learning technology products.

Also see:

New Tools for Instructional Design and Development Teams — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Bill Brandon

Inspire, Create & Celebrate: 6 Steps to turn your Library Learning Commons (LLC) into a place where students want to be! [Campbell]

On 11/10/2021, in animation, art, assessment, collaboration, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, drama/theater, education technology, homeschooling/homeschoolers, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, library / librarians, mathematics, metacognition / metacognitive skills, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, music, presentations, reading, science, story, storytelling, vendors, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Inspire, Create & Celebrate: 6 Steps to turn your Library Learning Commons (LLC) into a place where students want to be! — by Mira Campbell

Also see/get:

50 Sites & Apps for K-12 Education Games [Restifo & Kapuler]

On 10/20/2021, in active learning, Adobe, attention, biology, chemistry, creativity, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, health, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, mathematics, multimedia, new media literacies, participation, passions, play, reading, science, STEAM-related, student-related, tools, vendors, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

50 Sites & Apps for K-12 Education Games — from techlearning.com by Diana Restifo and David Kapuler
Game-based learning is a great way to integrate technology into the classroom while engaging kids with real learning.

Excerpt:

Game-based learning turns potentially tedious study time into an adventurous knowledge quest, complete with catchy soundtracks and digital rewards. It helps keep kids engaged with the subject matter and motivated to pursue greater expertise. Best of all, web- or app-based gameplay integrates easily into both online and in-person classes.

With the demise of Flash at the end of 2020, many favorite educational game sites went under. That’s why we decided to update our popular list below to include the latest and best sites and apps for K-12 education games. Many are free (or offer free basic accounts) and some provide progress tracking and analysis tools for teachers. All will help kids enjoy learning.

Also relevant/see the following resource and excerpt from Goldie Blumenstyk’s The Edge (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways — by Sarah Stein Greenberg

Excerpt:

Greenberg also makes a compelling case for the “playful and joyous” approaches the d.school has been championing, like the secret handshake or building several prototypes of an ideal chair using tools like cardboard, pipe cleaners, and chewing gum and toothpicks. After so many months of loss and social deprivation, she told me last week, “those elements are more important than ever.”

3 Tips for Making Passion-Based Learning Work Successfully [Pierce]

On 10/13/2021, in attention, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, drama/theater, education, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, lifelong learning, love of learning, more voice more choice more control, motivation, multimedia, new media literacies, participation, passions, pedagogy, play, podcasting, skills, story, storytelling, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

3 Tips for Making Passion-Based Learning Work Successfully — from thejournal.com by Dennis Pierce

Excerpt:

Passion-based learning, a form of self-directed learning in which students pursue projects of interest to them, is becoming more popular in schools — and for good reason: Educators who have set aside time for passion-based learning have discovered that students become highly engaged and motivated when learning about topics that intrigue them, while taking their learning much deeper than they would in a traditional lesson.

Passion-based learning initiatives include Genius Hour and 20time, both inspired by Google’s program that lets employees spend 20% of their time on projects of their choosing to spark innovation.

Giving all students the option to explore their interests can be challenging on a large scale. To overcome this hurdle and make the process easier for teachers, Sonora Elementary uses a new peer-to-peer learning platform called Tract, which is a collection of video content organized into self-directed learning paths.

From DSC:
I love the type of tool/app like Tract — as students can work on a variety of skills:

multimedia development
music
acting
writing/composing
digital storytelling
…and more

Such projects/tools can unleash a great deal of creativity, engagement, and positive energy. Learning becomes more relevant, enjoyable, and interesting when we can provide more choice and control to our students.

Could AR and/or VR enable a massive 3D-based type of “Voicethread?” [Christian]

On 09/28/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, e-books, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, interface design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, participation, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, second screen apps, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, streams of content, student-related, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, tools, training / L&D, TVs, United States, virtual field trips, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, writing, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
What if we could quickly submit items for a group to discuss, annotate, and respond to — using whichever media format is available/preferable for a person — like a massive 3D-based Voicethread? What if this type of discussion could be contributed to and accessed via Augmented Reality (AR) and/or via Virtual Reality (VR) types of devices?

It could be a new 3D format that a person could essentially blow all the way up into the size of a billboard. Think, “Honey, I shrunk the kids” type of stuff.

Input devices might include:

Augmented Reality (AR) glasses
Virtual Reality (VR) headsets/glasses
Scanners
Smartphones
Tablets
Desktops and laptops
SmartTVs
Other types of input devices

For example, a person could take a picture of a document or something else and then save that image into a new file format that would be vector-based. I say a vector-based file format so that the image could be enlarged to the size of a billboard without losing any resolution (i.e., wouldn’t become grainy; the image would remain crystal clear regardless of how big the image is). I’m thinking here along the lines of “Honey, I shrunk the kids!”

Other thoughts here:

The files could be accessible online for attendees of classes or for audiences of presentations/webinars
The files could be displayed on the walls of learning/presentation spaces for marking them up
One could manipulate the 3D image if that person was using a virtual/immersive environment
Users should be able to annotate on those images and/or be able to save such annotations and notes

A question for phase II:
Could this concept also be used if virtual courts take off?

Hmmmm…just thinking out loud.

From DSC:
Also check one of the things that Scott mentioned in his talk — Behance, a network of creatives. They consistently offer livestreams — where the learner has more choice, more control over what they learn about.

Also see:

“Seeing The Matrix” For Product Builders, Opportunities & More — by Scott Belsky • Issue #14

Differentiation Technique: Embed A Classic

On 09/24/2021, in digital audio, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, drama/theater, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, media/film, multimedia, pedagogy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, by Daniel Christian

Differentiation Technique: Embed A Classic — from byrdseed.com by Ian Byrd

Excerpt:

Possibly my #1, most favorite way to increase the interest in a lesson is to simply remove the built-in examples in a lesson and replace them with some kind of classic.

Wait, What’s A “Classic”?
A classic may immediately bring to mind old works: Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Da Vinci. And those are indeed important! Use them.

But I’d say that The Wizard of Oz is a classic. Lord of the Rings is a classic. Hokusai’s painting of The Great Wave is a classic. The Beach Boys are a classic!

Classics are things that are culturally important. They could be stories, films, songs, paintings, photos, and so on. Classics are referenced constantly in daily conversation as well as in other creative works.

The best webcams for boosting your video quality [Allard]

On 09/24/2021, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital video, distance education, education technology, Hyflex learning, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, multimedia, online learning, online tutoring, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, remote teaching and learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, training / L&D, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The best webcams for boosting your video quality — from mashable.com by Bethany Allard
A basic necessity in 2021.

Also see:

The Best Webcams — from nytimes.com by Andrew Cunningham and Melanie Pinola (June 2021)

Learning Ecosystems

Reflections on “The Humanities May Be Declining at Universities — But They’re Thriving on Zoom” [Koenig]

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work [Ganta]

DC: What would it look like if the VRJAM metaverse platform were available for teaching and learning-based applications/offerings?

8 tech and leadership podcasts to add to your playlist | The Enterprisers Project

The EdSurge Product Index

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