digital learning

Team-based content creation/delivery is pulling ahead of the pack!

On 11/04/2014, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, higher education, immersion, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, love of learning, media/film, Michigan, multimedia, online learning, participation, play, psychology, real-world assignments, relationships, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, story, storytelling, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Last week I attended the 20th Annual Online Learning Consortium International Conference. While there, I was inspired by an excellent presentation entitled, “A Disruptive Innovation: MSU’s Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Are You Ready to Survive a New Way of Learning?“ The four team members from Michigan State University included:

Glenn R. Stutzky | Course Instructor
Keesa V. Muhammad | Instructional Designer
Christopher Irvin | Instructional Designer
Hailey Mooney | Course Librarian

Check out the intro clip on the website about the course:

From the description for the presentation:

This session highlights MSU’s award winning, groundbreaking online course that fuses social theory, filmmaking, social media, and viral marketing while students survive an apocalyptic event. http://zombie.msu.edu/

MSU created and used powerful digital storytelling and multimedia to overlay real, experiential, immersive learning. Important content was relayed, but in a way that drew upon your emotions, your ability to solve problems and navigate in a world where you didn’t have all of the information, your ability to work with others, and more.

“This innovative course integrates current research and science on catastrophes and human behavior together with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. In doing so, we actively engage with students as they think about the nature, scope, and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations, and the Earth itself.”

“Our innovative approach to teaching and learning features: students as active participants, the instructor becomes the facilitator, storytelling replaces lectures, zombies become the catalyst of teaching, a “zombrarian” (librarian) drives research, and the students emerge as digital storytellers as a way of assessing their own learning.”

Others outside MUS have found out about the course and have requested access to it. As a result of this, they’ve opened it up to non-credit seeking participants and now various people from police forces, Centers for Disease Control, and others are able to take the course. To make this learning experience even more accessible, the cost has been greatly reduced: from $1600+ to just $500. (So this talented team is not only offering powerful pedagogies, but also significant monetary contributions to the university as well.)

For me, the key thing here is that this course represents what I believe is the direction that’s starting to really pull ahead of the pack and, if done well, will likely crush most of the other directions/approaches. And that is the use of teams to create, deliver, teach, and assess content – i.e., team-based learning approaches.

So many of the sessions involved professional development for professors and teachers – and much of this is appropriate. However, in the majority of cases, individual efforts aren’t enough anymore. Few people can bring to the table what a talented, experienced group of specialists are able to bring. Individual efforts aren’t able to compete with team-based content creation and delivery anymore — and this is especially true online, whereby multiple disciplines are immediately invoked once content hits the digital realm.

In this case, the team was composed of:

The professor
Two Instructional Designers
and a librarian

The team:

Developed websites
Designed their own logo
Marketed the course w/ a zombie walking around campus w/ brochures and a walking billboard
Used a Twitter stream
Used a tool called Pensu for their students’ individual journals
Made extensive use of YouTube and digital storytelling
Coined a new acronym called MOLIE – multimedia online learning immersive experience
Used game-like features, such as the development of a code that was found which revealed key information (which was optional, but was very helpful to those who figured it out). The team made it so that the course ended differently for each group, depending upon what the teams’ decisions were through the weeks
Used some 3D apps to make movies more realistic and to create new environments
Continually presented new clues for students to investigate. Each team had a Team Leader that posted their team’s decisions on YouTube.

They encouraged us to:
THINK BIG! Get as creative as you can, and only pull back if the “suits” make you! Step outside the box! Take risks! “If an idea has life, water it. Others will check it out and get involved.”

In their case, the idea originated with an innovative, risk-taking professor willing to experiment – and who started the presentation with the following soliloquy:

Syllabi are EVIL

Syllabi are EVIL and they must die!
Listen to me closely and I’ll tell you why.
Just want students to know what is known?
See what’s been seen?
Go – where we’ve been going?
Then the Syllabus is your friend,
cuz you know exactly where you’ll end.
But if you want to go somewhere new,
see colors beyond Red, Green, and Blue.
Then take out your Syllabus and tear-it-in-half,
now uncertainty has become your path.
Be not afraid because you’ll find,
the most amazing things from Creative Minds,
who have been set free to FLY,
once untethered from the Syllabi.

Glenn Stutzky
Premiered at the 2014
Online Learning Consortium International Conference
October 29, 2014

“The number of infected in Michigan has reached critical mass.” CSM Quintero #sw290 pic.twitter.com/F6m8ZaoRyG

— MSU Zombie (@MSUZombies) June 19, 2014

They started with something that wasn’t polished, but it’s been an iterative approach over the semesters…and they continue to build on it.

I congratulated the team there — and do so again here. Excellent, wonderful work!

By the way, what would a creative movie-like trailer look like for your course?

Millennials move TV content beyond the TV set — from statista.com by Felix Richter

Excerpt:

You will find more statistics at Statista

From DSC:
Why post this here?

Because as expectations around where people are going to get their entertainment-related content change, so will new doors open for where they will get their educationally-related content.

.

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

iBeacons, sensors, & similar M2M communications: Connecting the physical world with the digital world

On 10/16/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, blended learning, communications, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC), participation, pedagogy, platforms, play, second screen apps, smart classrooms, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), wearables, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
iBeacons, sensors, & similar machine-to-machine (M2M) communications: Connecting the physical world with the digital world while opening up enormous possibilities for education & training-related applications.

DanielChristian-Combining-Digital-Physical-Worlds-Oct2014

Companies creating their own academies/schools: 2 recent examples

On 10/13/2014, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, online learning, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Last week, I ran across 2 postings that involved companies creating their own platforms and methods of educating and training folks — especially for their own industry and their own business needs. They were:

A relevant aside/excerpt from Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie – October 10, 2014 | #851 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology

Stephen Colbert – “Appointment TV” – Carol Burnett Perspective: Last night, a fun convergence happened between the Stephen Colbert TV Show, Learning, Carol Burnnett and Appointment TV.

As you may know, MASIE Productions is co-producing Love Letters – Starring Carol Burnett starting tomorrow on Broadway. She was interviewed on the Colbert TV Show and asked about the change in how people watch and consume media and content.

Stephen Colbert noted that when her show was on decades ago, she had 50 million viewers each week for the Carol Burnett Show. Carol noted:

* Every Saturday night there were these shows on in row: Archie Bunker, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett

* She joked that, back then – in 1967 – “There was only 1 channel on TV” – though there were only a few 🙂

* But, she said that the difference was that it was “APPOINTMENT TELEVISION” – People made a plan, to sit together with family and friends, and watch a show together – as others did at the same time around the country.

I loved her phrase “APPOINTMENT TELEVISION”. In relates directly to Learning. Much of what we did, for decades, was “APPOINTMENT TRAINING” – a parallel to the same trend in the workplace. But, now the shift is towards many – many – more options – and viewer/learner freedom to choose when, what, how long and how often.

Also see:

Is innovation outpacing education? — from techpageone.dell.com by Dmitry Sheynin
Futurist Thomas Frey believes ‘micro-colleges’ will educate the workforce of the future.

What if we were to combine “If This Then That” with iBeacons/sensors?

On 10/08/2014, in 21st century, active learning, Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), convergence, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, participation, project-based learning, second screen apps, smart classrooms, teaching & learning, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, wearables, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I’m thinking out loud again…

What if were were to be able to take the “If This Then That (IFTTT)” concept/capabilities and combine it with sensor-based technologies? It seems to me that we’re at the very embryonic stages of some very powerful learning scenarios, scenarios that are packed with learning potential, engagement, intrigue, interactivity, and opportunities for participation.

For example, what would happen if you went to one corner of the room, causing an app on your mobile device to launch and bring up a particular video to review? Then, after the viewing of the video, a brief quiz appears after that to check your understanding of the video’s main points. Then, once you’ve submitted the quiz — and it’s been received by system ABC — this triggers an unexpected learning event for you.

Combining the physical with the digital…

Establishing IFTTT-based learning playlists…

Building learning channels…learning triggers…learning actions…

Setting a schedule of things to do for a set of iBeacons over a period of time (and being able to save that schedule of events for “next time”).

Hmmm…there’s a lot of potential here!

Now throw augmented reality, wearables, and intelligent tutoring into the equation! Whew!

We need to be watching out for how machine-to-machine (M2M) communications can be leveraged in the classrooms and training programs across the globe.

One last thought here…
How are we changing our curricula to prepare students to leverage the power of the Internet of Things (IoT)?

How an interactive book, ‘Alice,’ is making $70K a week on iOS [Cheredar]

On 09/30/2014, in Apple, art, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, Google, interactivity, K-12 related, mobile learning, multimedia, participation, storytelling, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

.

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.

iBeacons in the classroom and on campus

On 09/29/2014, in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC), tools, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The bridging of the physical world with the digital world presents many powerful scenarios for learning. Via the use of iBeacons (or similar devices), one could imagine students going to different places within a learning space and having a variety of relevant items and applications automatically open on their mobile devices.

Examples:

In a chemistry lab, students could go to the supplies area and see a video or a PDF listing of what they need for that day’s experiment — also taking in any warnings of the use of the equipment (hazardous materials, use of fire, etc.); then they could go to the hands-on lab area, and if they’ve struggled to do the experiment for _______ minutes, they could watch the first __ steps (or the experiment in its entirety); finally, the last area would initiate a webpage, video, or blog that summarizes what they should have learned and experienced if the lab was properly done
.
In an art gallery, the iBeacons could initiate a video from the artist on a particular piece, explaining what they were trying to achieve, what materials they used, how long it took them to create/design, and any inspirational messages that they want to relay to budding artists
.
On campus tours, iBeacons could control what takes place on a school’s Virtual Tour app
.

This video by Paul Hamilton captures a bit of what I’m trying to get at w/ the use of iBeacons in the classroom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S04viOYnSg4&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Also see:

Building Applications with iBeacon
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920033813.do

Other resources to check out:

Getting Started with iBeacon — from apple.com
Introduction to iBeacon
iBeacon for developers — from apple.com
http://www.fosbury.co/beacon-comparison
Beacons at the museum: Pacific Science Center to roll out location-based Mixby app next month — from geekwire.com by Todd Bishop
Aerohive Networks Delivers World’s First iBeacon™ and AltBeacon™ – Enabled Enterprise Wi-Fi Access Points
Building Proximity Applications with iBeacon — from shop.oreilly.com ß does this look like something you all could do/want to do?
http://blog.fosbury.co/the-exciting-impacts-of-ios8-on-ibeacon
iBeacon and Education: Bringing Beacons to the Classroom
storify.com/Jason_Smith/
beekn.net
The blog out at roamable.ca
Creating an iBeacon proximity feature for mLearning — from roamable.ca
The Future of iBeacon: Trends for the Year Ahead – from beekn.net guest post by Stefan Wolpers

Stephen Downes: ‘This is the next era of learning’ — from online-educa.com

Excerpts:

This year we are building on work we have undertaken over the last few years to develop and deploy the next generation of learning technologies, which we are calling ‘learning and performance support systems’. This is the outcome of an internal prototype called Plearn – ‘Personal Learning Environment and Research Network’ – and develops the idea of learning support based on personal and individual needs. This is not simply ‘personalised’ learning, it is a step beyond that. Rather than offering a customised version of some generic offering, we propose to enable each learner to develop their own custom programme from the ground up.

Our application, which launches in a limited beta September 30, provides individual learners with the tools and support necessary to access learning from any number of providers – not just educational institutions, but also their friends and mentors, their current and future employers, community and social programmes, and much more. Built on current and evolving learning technology standards, it provides access to MOOCs, to traditional learning management systems, to stand-alone courses and software, and even to the world of the Internet of things.

At the core of LPSS is a system we call the ‘personal learning record’ (PLR). A person’s LPSS system keeps track of everything related to learning – exercises followed, tests taken, games and simulations attempted, work read – and stores that all in a single location. In this way, unlike a learning management system, it combines data from the learning environment, the work environment and even the social environment, thus enabling adaptive learning software to close the loop between learning and performance. The PLR is also combined with a learner’s personal library and their personal e-portfolio, and links to credentials offered by and stored by learning institutions, employers, and social network activities, such as badges.

Also see:

With a shout out to
Ana Cristina Pratas for her Scoop on this

Also see:

Reflections on “Beacons at the museum: Pacific Science Center to roll out location-based Mixby app next month” [Bishop]

On 09/03/2014, in 21st century, active learning, art, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), participation, platforms, real-world assignments, teaching & learning, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), workplace, by Daniel Christian

Beacons at the museum: Pacific Science Center to roll out location-based Mixby app next month — from geekwire.com by Todd Bishop

Excerpt:

Seattle’s Pacific Science Center has scheduled an Oct. 4 public launch for a new system that uses Bluetooth-enabled beacons and the Mixby smartphone app to offer new experiences to museum guests — presenting them with different features and content depending on where they’re standing at any given moment.

Also see:

Pacific Science Center to Debut New Digital Experience — from pacificsciencecenter.org

From DSC:
The use of location-based apps & associated technologies (machine-to-machine (M2M) communications) should be part of all ed tech planning from here on out — and also applicable to the corporate world and training programs therein.

Not only applicable to museums, but also to art galleries, classrooms, learning spaces, campus tours, and more. Such apps could be used on plant floors in training-related programs as well.

Now mix augmented reality in with location-based technology. Come up to a piece of artwork, and a variety of apps could be launched to really bring that piece to life! Some serious engagement.

Digital storytelling. The connection of the physical world with the digital world. Digital learning. Physical learning. A new form of blended/hybrid learning. Active learning. Participation.

Addendum on 9/4/14 — also see:

Aerohive Networks Delivers World’s First iBeacon™ and AltBeacon™ – Enabled Enterprise Wi-Fi Access Points
New Partnership with Radius Networks Delivers IoT Solution to Provide Advanced Insights and Mobile Experience Personalization

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aerohive Networks® (NYSE:HIVE), a leader in controller-less Wi-Fi and cloud-managed mobile networking for the enterprise market today announced that it is partnering with Radius Networks, a market leader in proximity services and proximity beacons with iBeacon™ and AltBeacon™ technology, to offer retailers, educators and healthcare providers a cloud-managed Wi-Fi infrastructure enabled with proximity beacons. Together, Aerohive and Radius Networks provide complementary cloud platforms for helping these organizations meet the demands of today’s increasingly connected customers who are seeking more personalized student education, patient care and shopper experiences.

Also:

Building Proximity Applications with iBeacon — from shop.oreilly.com
Pinpoint Location Services with Bluetooth Low Energy
By Matthew Gast
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
May 2014

The Evolution of Texting in Television and Film [Romano; Zhou]

On 08/26/2014, in digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, elearning, graphics, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, interface design, internet, media/film, television, training / L&D, TVs, user experience (UX), user interface design, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt from A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film — by Tony Zhou

Is there a better way of showing a text message in a film? How about the internet? Even though we’re well into the digital age, film is still ineffective at depicting the world we live in. Maybe the solution lies not in content, but in form.

From DSC:
With a shout out/thanks to Krista Spahr,
Senior Instructional Designer at Calvin College, for this resource

Some innovative ideas in this concept video of the future classroom

On 08/25/2014, in 21st century, blended learning, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, learning spaces, smart classrooms, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
With thanks to Mr. Jeff Finder at
Faculty Row for this resource!

Also, take note of how
interdisciplinary this piece is,
encompassing Daniel Nemroff’skills
in filmmaking, visual effects,
photography, & graphic design — but also
his visionary thinking and his awareness
of what might be effective uses of
educational technologies.

2014 Student and Faculty Technology Research Studies — from educause.edu / ECAR

From the ECAR RESEARCH HUB
This hub contains the 2014 student and faculty studies from the EDUCAUSE Technology Research in the Academic Community research series. In 2014, ECAR partnered with 151 college/university sites yielding responses from 17,451 faculty respondents across 13 countries. ECAR also collaborated with 213 institutions to collect responses from more than 75,306 undergraduate students about their technology experiences.

Key Findings

Faculty recognize that online learning opportunities can promote access to higher education but are more reserved in their expectations for online courses to improve outcomes.
Faculty interest in early-alert systems and intervention notifications is strong.
The majority of faculty are using basic features and functions of LMSs but recognize that these systems have much more potential to enhance teaching and learning.
Faculty think they could be more effective instructors if they were better skilled at integrating various kinds of technology into their courses.
Faculty recognize that mobile devices have the potential to enhance learning.

Excerpts from infographic:

Could this relate to education/training as well? –> “Living social: How second screens are helping TV make fans” [nielsensocial.com]

On 08/06/2014, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, media/film, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, second screen apps, social learning / networks, social media, streams of content, technologies for your home, television, TVs, by Daniel Christian

Living social: How second screens are helping TV make fans — from nielsensocial.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Television viewing used to be an experience strictly between viewer and show, with water cooler talk coming the day after. The rise of social TV has changed that relationship, and according to a study by Nielsen, more and more Americans are quickly warming up to this new behavior. With tablets, smartphones and laptops at their side, TV viewers can follow their favorite shows, share content and connect with fellow fans before, during and after a program.

From DSC:
Instead of TV/entertainment-oriented programs, how about a service that offers cloud-based, scaffolded streams of content that are more educational/training-related in nature, complete with digital playlists of interactive content that can be offered up on the main display, while lifelong learners interact and discuss the content via their PLNs, cohorted groups of learners within their learning hubs, etc.?

Learning Ecosystems

Millennials move TV content beyond the TV set [Richter]

Companies creating their own academies/schools: 2 recent examples

The Evolution of Texting in Television and Film [Romano; Zhou]

Some innovative ideas in this concept video of the future classroom

Categories

Tags