digital learning

In the beginning was the Word; now the Word is on an app — from nytimes.com by Amy O’Leary

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Nathan Weber for The New York Times
Listeners use a Bible app during a sermon at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

EDMOND, Okla. — More than 500 years after Gutenberg, the Bible is having its i-moment.

For millions of readers around the world, a wildly successful free Bible app, YouVersion, is changing how, where and when they read the Bible.

Built by LifeChurch.tv, one of the nation’s largest and most technologically advanced evangelical churches, YouVersion is part of what the church calls its “digital missions.” They include a platform for online church services and prepackaged worship videos that the church distributes free. A digital tithing system and an interactive children’s Bible are in the works.

…

This month, the app reached 100 million downloads, placing it in the company of technology start-ups like Instagram and Dropbox.

Reflections on “How to make online courses massively personal” [Peter Norvig]

On 07/25/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, love of learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, professional development, reinvent, social learning / networks, streams of content, student-related, teaching & learning, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, using teams, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

How to make online courses massively personal — from scientificamerican.com by Peter Norvig
How thousands of online students can get the effect of one-on-one tutoring

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Educators have known for 30 years that students perform better when given one-on-one tutoring and mastery learning—working on a subject until it is mastered, not just until a test is scheduled. Success also requires motivation, whether from an inner drive or from parents, mentors or peers.

Will the rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs) quash these success factors? Not at all. In fact, digital tools offer our best path to cost-effective, personalized learning.

I know because I have taught both ways.

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Inspired by Nobel laureate Herbert Simon’s comment that “learning results from what the student does and thinks and only from what the student does and thinks,” we created a course centered on the students doing things and getting frequent feedback. Our “lectures” were short (two- to six-minute) videos designed to prime the attendees for doing the next exercise. Some problems required the application of mathematical techniques described in the videos. Others were open-ended questions that gave students a chance to think on their own and then to hash out ideas in online discussion forums.

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That is why a properly designed automated intelligent tutoring system can foster learning outcomes as well as human instructors can, as Kurt van Lehn found in a 2011 meta-analysis in Educational Psychologist.

From DSC:
A potential learning scenario in the future:

“Learning Agent, go find me a MOOC (or what the MOOC will morph into) about ________.”
Similar to a Google Alert, the Learning Agent returns some potential choices. I select one.
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Once there… “System, let’s begin.” I begin taking the online-based course — which is stocked full of a variety of media, some interactive, that I get to choose from for each module/item based upon my personal preferences — and the intelligent tutoring system kicks in and responses at relevant points based upon my questions, answers, responses. The system uses AI, data mining, learning analytics, to see how I’m doing. It tracks this for each student. Humans regularly review the data to begin noticing patterns and to tweak the algorithms based upon these patterns.
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If at any time I find the responses from the automated intelligent tutoring system confusing or weak, I will:
- Make note of why I’m confused or disagree with the response (via an online-based form entry on the page; this feedback gets instantly sent to the Team of Specialists in charge of the “course.” They will use it to tweak the course/algorithms.)
- Ask to speak with a person, at which point I am asked to choose whether my inquiry would best be handled by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) at $___/hour/request (more expensive price) or by an entry-level tutor (at a lower $___/hour/request). I then enter into a videoconference-based tutoring session with them, and they can access my records and even take over my screen (if I let them). Once I get my questions answered, I return to the course and continue.

From DSC:
A twist on the above scenario would be if a cohorted group of people — not age-based — met in a physical place/room and were able to bounce ideas off of each other before anyone ante’d up for additional expenses by contacting a tutor and/or an SME. They could even share the expenses of the “call” (so-to-speak).

Alive in the Swamp — from nesta.org.uk by Michael Fullan and Katelyn Donnelly

Excerpt (emphasis and link below from DSC):

The authors argue that we should seek digital innovations that produce at least twice the learning outcome for half the cost of our current tools. To achieve this, three forces need to come together. One is technology, the other pedagogy, and the third is change knowledge, or how to secure transformation across an entire school system.

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The breakthrough in Alive in the Swamp is the development of an Index that will be of practical assistance to those charged with making these kinds of decisions at school, local and system level. Building on Fullan’s previous work, Stratosphere, the Index sets out the questions policymakers need to ask themselves not just about the technology at any given moment but crucially also about how it can be combined with pedagogy and knowledge about system change. Similarly, the Index should help entrepreneurs and education technology developers to consider particular features to build into their products to drive increased learning and achieve systemic impact.

The future will belong not to those who focus on the technology alone but to those who place it in this wider context and see it as one element of a wider system transformation. Fullan and Donnelly show how this can be done in a practical way.

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Also see:
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How not to mint more engineers [Lynda Weinman]

On 07/24/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, blended learning, business side of he, digital learning, engineering, flipping -- inverted learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, liberal arts, new business models, online learning, student-related, by Daniel Christian

How not to mint more engineers — from linkedin.com by Lynda Weinman

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Let’s tackle the economics of the situation head on — and not based on theory, but on experience. When lynda.com opened in 1997, it was a physical school that taught web design. We charged $1,500 per person for a single week of instruction. In those days, the world economy was robust and people came from every continent to study with us, enabling our business to grow and thrive. It was a heady time—until 2001, when the dotcom bubble burst and people and companies lost their budgets.

It was scary to witness the sudden demise of a business model that had worked so incredibly well up until then. In response, we could have simply raised our prices, and targeted a much smaller, more elite audience, hoping to keep our doors open. Instead, we did something crazy. We closed our eyes and leapt into something that was, at that time, unproven: We put our lessons online in video format for $25 per month.

While it took a few years to make as much money as the school did, it eventually far surpassed the earning power of the brick and mortar we started with. Instead of serving 80 people or so a week at our physical school, we started serving thousands in the virtual world, and today that number is in the millions every year.

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The solution? Take the teachers who are experts and thought leaders and memorialize their lectures and materials via videos and other rich media to share those ideas broadly. Pay them royalties for this, the same as if they published a popular textbook. Leverage in-person class time for projects, collaborations, discussions, reviews, and presentations—the types of activities that are better experienced in person than online.

From DSC:
I love multimedia because it enables me to craft a message using audio, video, text, graphics, and even animations. The Internet extends the power of this communication by allowing that message to go forth 24 x 7 x 365 in multi-directional ways — even allowing others to join in the conversations and participate.

The following item made me reflect upon on how important this is becoming to business:

Is transmedia storytelling the new digital marketing? — from rethinkeverythingblog.com by Jason Thibeault (as Scooped by siobhan-o-flynn onto Tracking Transmedia)

Excerpt:

How (and why) is Marketing Changing?
The first thing to understand about marketing today is that it’s all about shared experience. Consumer behavior is radically changing with respect to content consumption. No longer are people consuming most of their content on the TV, a newspaper, or even their computer. Rather, they are using a combination of channels:

From DSC:

Won’t this trend also impact students’ expectations/hopes/engagement?
What do we need to do to help youth build these skillsets?

Also related/see:

The rise, implications & benefits of the second screen — from newsworks.org.uk by Mark Challinor
Telegraph Media Group’s director of mobile Mark Challinor says in this new era of second screens, news companies must create content that helps consumers to multi-task on multiple platforms with multiple devices.

Excerpt:
Watching television – or even reading a newspaper – with a smartphone and/or tablet device is becoming one of the most popular leisure activities of this “mobile age”. In turn, publishers such as ourselves are trying to find ways to capitalise on this somewhat new consumer behaviour of real-time interaction, which, more often than not, includes social media. This type of interaction, referred to as “the second screen” or “the companion device”, has become not just a latest hot topic of discussion all over social media blogs; it is a huge development for the mobile app industry and a target-rich environment for our advertisers.

Emerging markets’ second-screen boost with 1BN smart devices by 2014 — from rapidtvnews.com by Joseph O’Halloran
Excerpt:
New research by IDC has revealed that it won’t just be Western Europe and North America forming happy hunting grounds for second-screen services and applications. The analyst says it is clear that demand for smart connected devices is quickly shifting from developed to emerging markets and that by the end of 2014, global shipments of smart connected devices such as PCs, tablets, and smartphones will exceed surpass 1.7 billion units, with roughly one billion units delivered to emerging markets. The emerging markets are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% over the 2012-2017 forecast period, compared to the 7% CAGR expected in developed markets.

Very sharp!!! A glimpse into the future of digital video & online learning! Lifelong learners of the world, let me hear some noise! [Christian]

On 07/09/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, attention, convergence, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, love of learning, motivation, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, participation, presentations, student-related, technologies for your home, trends, user experience (UX), user interface design, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First, take a look at this interactive video from the Wall Street Journal:

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For further information on that video, you can also see:

‘Obamacare’ Made Easy to Understand — from /live.wsj.com
David Wessel discusses a new WSJ.com interactive video that helps viewers better understand the Affordable Health Care Act as well as its slate of rules and penalties.

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From DSC:

Excellent, creative use of technology! Lifelong learners of the world, let me hear some noise! Your learning futures just got much more interesting, dynamic, and interactive!

You will be given more choice and more control than you’ve ever had before. You will be able to interact with digital videos, drill down, take some rights turns and come back again, and more.

For example, during the WSJ video, you can click on the radio within the digital video in order to “drill down” and listen to more about a certain topic — while the main presentation “holds on”…

…you can jump ahead to the next marker…pause…rewind…click to get some further text-based information/details on a topic of interest:

…and more. In other words, you have more choice, more control in your learning experience. This, at minimum, is a piece of online learning’s — and digital video’s — future.

But I hear you saying, so what? Flash has been doing this for a while now. And that, my friends, is the only downside I see in this implementation from the WSJ — it was done using Flash.

As Flash won’t fly on iOS-based devices, an HTML5-based solution needs to come into the picture…and this is where Touchcast shines!

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As Paul Sawers explains, you can add interactive, browsable layers onto your video and deliver it in an HTML5-based format.

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An excerpt from Paul’s article:

Things start to get really interesting with video apps (vApps). TouchCast lets you create videos that are layered with live Web pages, video clips, maps, Twitter streams and other facets of the digital world. “We’re actually claiming that this is the future of the Web,” says Segal, TouchCasts’s CEO.

Indeed, TouchCast’s vApp library is ‘open’, so developers can create and customize their own vApps.

Bottom line:
“Digital textbooks” will never be the same again (not to mention learning modules, transmedia, ads, presentations, digital storytelling, and more)!

Also see:

TouchCast aims to redefine the web video

eSchoolNews.com: Latest news & trends from ISTE 2013

On 07/03/2013, in digital learning, education technology, K-12 related, by Daniel Christian

ISTE keynote: Gaming has huge educational potential — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Devaney
Speaker Jane McGonigal outlined gaming’s engagement-boosting qualities during ISTE 2013’s opening session
Excerpt:

But what is it that gamers get out of gaming that makes the hobby so appealing, and how can we give that to students in classrooms? In McGonigal’s 12 years of gaming research, she said, 10 emotions are regularly associated with gaming: joy, relief, love, surprise, pride, curiosity, excitement, awe and wonder, contentment, and, most of all, creativity.

ISTE 2013: How will MOOCs affect your K-12 classroom? — from eschoolnews.com by Meris Stansbury
Experts say high schools are about to get a MOOC awakening
Excerpt:

According to Garrigan, last summer (2012) high school teens completed more than 15,000 courses from Udacity, a MOOC platform.

“Clayton Christensen also predicted in his book, Disrupting Class, that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be online. I believe it,” he emphasized.

Many factors contribute to MOOC success, explained Garrigan, with the basic understanding that people want to learn.

“Lots of people want to learn if they think it’s interesting and there’s no risk,” he said.

Technologies that are changing and will change the world — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Devaney

Harnessing the power of tablets and apps for young students — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Devaney

10 engaging ed-tech booths at ISTE 2013 — from eschoolnews.com by Meris Stansbury

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2013

Using the iPad with a Projector [Gray]

On 06/28/2013, in A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, innovation, internet, IT in HE, learning spaces, smart classrooms, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Using the iPad with a Projector — from palomar.edu by Terry Gray; note that this is from 8/24/12

For a wireless solution:

.

or for a wired solution:

VGA Adapter

Also see:

AirServer

Education

There are times when you need to show content to your class to engage your audience, using an iPad. With AirServer you can wirelessly beam your iPad display to your Mac or PC and from there to your projector, smartboard or HDTV. This gives you the freedom to move around the class with your iPad in hand. AirServer also supports multiple simultaneous connections, so one or more students could mirror their iPads to share their ideas and their work with the rest of the class.

Educational environments vary, not just in size and lighting but in network security and access. To solve these issues we’ve added features such as picture enhancement settings and password protection.

Summary

Beam your iPad or iPhone screen to HDMI or VGA projector, smartboard or HDTV via a Mac or PC
True full screen display
Picture enhancement settings
Secure password protection
Collaborate with students using simultaneous connections

From DSC:
Wouldn’t it be great if students could “beam up” their content from any device, from anywhere? i.e. Whether they be in a face-to-face classroom, at a remote location, or out traveling?

Example slides from
Will Richardson’s solid presentation at ISTE 2013, entitled ” Abundant Learning: Four newish ideas for powerful classrooms”

From DSC:
This idea of self-directed/owned learning is spot on — and not just for those in K-12, but also for those in higher education and for those in the corporate world as well! It unleashes an enormous amount of intrinsic energy, motivation, drive, grit.

Each person needs to own and build their learning ecosystem — identifying one’s gifts, talents, passions, interests and then going out and developing those things. If we each do what we do best, the whole world benefits. As we will need others along the way — a team-based approach, communities of practice, and several of the other things/skills Will alluded to will be very important as well.

iPad still dominates in latest tablet web usage numbers — from ipadinsight.com by Patrick Jordan

From DSC:
This is especially important data given the ever increasing trend towards mobility as well as when you are considering which ecosystem(s) to build up and around (i.e. consider things such as BYOD, what apps and platforms your students are going to develop for, digital textbooks, smartphone/tablet-based “clickers,” etc.)

Here’s why the TV apps economy will be a $14 billion business [Wolf]

On 06/25/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, animation, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, blended learning, business, business side of he, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, music, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, passions, personalized/customized learning, play, podcasting, professional development, programming, reinvent, second screen apps, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, staying relevant, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telepresence, training / L&D, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Here’s why the TV apps economy will be a $14 billion business — from forbes.com by Michael Wolf

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Excerpt:

According to new research published this week, the TV apps economy is forecasted to reach $14 billion by 2017.

…

Take for example today’s news that Apple will begin selling video advertisements served by iAd through iTunes Radio loaded on Apple TVs. This is only the first move for Apple in this space, and others like Samsung and Google are already investing heavily in connected TV app advertising.

From DSC:
Why post this? Because:

It lays out future directions/careers related to Programming, Computer Science, Data Mining, Analytics, Marketing, Telecommunications, User Experience Design, Digital and Transmedia Storytelling, and more
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It leads to “Learning from the Living [Class] Room”

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From DSC:
And if this does take off,
$14 billion won’t begin to capture the profits from this new industry.
It will be far larger than that.

Relevant addendum on 6/27/13:

The future of cinema is on demand — from bitrebels.com by Ben Warner (From DSC: Having just paid $32 for 4 people — 3 of whom were kids — to see Monsters U, I believe it!)
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Via: [The Verge] Image Credits: [Venture Beat] [Home Theater]

Can I borrow that robot for a minute? Using remotely-controlled devices to bring distance learners into face-to-face classrooms! [Daniel Christian]

On 06/11/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, active learning, assistive technologies, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, professional development, reinvent, robotics, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, staying relevant, student-related, technology (general), telepresence, television, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

What if you want to allow some remote students to come on into your face-to-face classroom?
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What if you want to allow those remote students to be seen and communicated with at eye level?
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What if you want Remote Student A to join Group 1, and Remote Student B to join Group 2?
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Well…how about using one of these devices in order to do so!

New video collaboration robot: TelePresence gets moving — from cisco.com by Dave Evans

Excerpt:

That is why Cisco’s new joint effort with iRobot—demonstrated publicly this week for the first time—is so exciting: We’ve created a mobile Cisco TelePresence unit that brings collaboration to you—or, conversely, brings you to wherever you need to collaborate. Called iRobot Ava 500, this high-definition video collaboration robot combines Cisco TelePresence with iRobot’s mobility and self-navigation capabilities, enabling freedom of movement and spontaneous interactions with people thousands of miles away.

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iRobot Ava™ 500 Video Collaboration Robot — published on Jun 10, 2013
iRobot and Cisco have teamed to bring the Ava 500 video collaboration robot to market. The robot blends iRobot’s autonomous navigation with Cisco’s TelePresence to enable people working off-site to participate in meetings and presentations where movement and location spontaneity are important. The new robot is also designed to enable mobile visual access to manufacturing facilities, laboratories, customer experience centers and other remote facilities.

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Double Robotics Double

MantaroBot™ TeleMe

From Attack of the Telepresence Robots! — from BYTE by Rick Lehrbaum

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Kubi


MantaroBot “TeleMe”	VGo Communications “VGo”	Anybots “QB”	Suitable Technologies “Beam”

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RP-7i ROBOT

Also see:

Cisco, iRobot’s new bot lets workers roam the office from afar. — from smartplanet.com by Kirsten Korosec
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Meet the next generation of smartphone-based robot companions — from popsci.com by Miriam Kramer

My reflections on Katherine Brodsky’s interesting article: “The new storytelling frontier”

On 06/11/2013, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, attention, Canada, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, flipping -- inverted learning, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, immersion, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, memory, mobile learning, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, online media, participation, play, second screen apps, social learning / networks, social media, story, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, television, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

The New Storytelling Frontier — from huffingtonpost.ca by Katherine Brodsky

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Long gone are the days of static content. Consumers are looking for more and transmedia storytelling offers an increasingly popular approach for creating property-based universes. Transmedia content itself is also evolving. It’s becoming more dynamic, more interactive, offering greater opportunities to engage audiences with creative user-generated content that adds to the storytelling experience. It is becoming more communal.

…

Although traditional models allow for greater control of content, strategies that can engage fans more actively and allow them to express themselves and even contribute to the development of a show, get them more involved and, ultimately, more willing to buy in.

From DSC:
As the use of storytelling is a powerful tool for learning, I can’t help but wonder…

What might be some creative possibilities arising from the developing world of transmedia that students and/or educational organizations could develop?
In what ways could we build more interactivity and social networking into our “digital textbooks” and mobile-based applications?
Would transmedia-based content help maintain interest, engagement, attention?
Would it help establish longer term memories/recall?
How might it help build students creativity and foster more experimentation/play/participation?
What roles might students play? (Writer, videographer, sound designer, actress, programmer, game designer, project manager, entrepreneur, etc.)
What tools and skills would students need to create their own transmedia-based experiences?
What new forms of storytelling might evolve from these efforts?
Could transmedia work its way into blended learning models?
Are new opportunities for immersing oneself in a particular subject matter becoming more available through transmedia-based experiences?
Could streams of content be wrapped in transmedia-based experiences?

Recordings from the New Media Consortium’s Summer 2013 Conference

On 06/10/2013, in 21st century, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, multimedia, new media literacies, professional development, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

2013 NMC Summer Conference

Learning Ecosystems

In the beginning was the Word; now the Word is on an app [O’Leary]

Using the iPad with a Projector [Gray]

iPad still dominates in latest tablet web usage numbers [Jordan] — esp. important when considering ecosystems

Recordings from the New Media Consortium’s Summer 2013 Conference

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