digital textbooks

Jeff Gomez Masterclass: Creating Blockbuster Transmedia Story Worlds & Brands — from nymediacenter.com

Excerpt:

Who Should Attend?

SCREEN PROFESSIONALS
Producers, writers, directors, commissioners, distributors, investors, policy makers from the film, television and online industries

INTERACTIVE MEDIA PROFESSIONALS
Web developers and designers, app and mobile developers, games developers and designers, multiplatform producers, digital media strategists

BRAND + COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONALS
Advertising, marketing and PR professionals and creatives, public relations professionals, social media strategists, branded content producers

PUBLISHING PROFESSIONALS
Publishers, authors, editors, agents, Commissioners

From DSC:
Wondering a few things here:

1) Why aren’t there similar events aimed at educators, professors, teachers, and trainers? At instructional designers and instructional technologists?

2) Are we preparing our students for these types of opportunities?

3) That same web page also reads:

It is a philosophy of communication and brand extension that creates intense audience loyalty and long-term engagement, enriches the value of creative content, and generates multiple revenue streams.

Hmmm…couldn’t this also apply to higher education/K-12 education/training as well?

mindsy — Does this represent a new ingredient of — and/or model for — our future learning ecosystems?

On 11/11/2013, in dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education technology, elearning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, learning, learning preferences, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, streams of content, technologies for your home, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Does Mindsy represent a new ingredient of — and/or model for — our future learning ecosystems?

Learning on demand.

Addendum from The Economist:

Mindsy’s website hosts more than 5,000 courses provided by vendors, many of whom are specialised in e-learning. Tens of thousands of users pay $29 a month to access as many courses as they would like in that time, a model some have compared to Netflix, a popular online film-rental service. Users pick and choose their courses, says Christian Owens, Mindsy’s founder, with many preferring to watch short modular videos on one topic before moving on to another area. Whereas TED provides lofty academia in easily-digestible formats, Mindsy prefers to focus on the practical. One of the most popular courses explains how to build a website. Swap the ankle boots on our TED Talks commuter for winklepickers, and the flannel shirt for a well-cut suit, and you have the young professional who makes up most of Mindsy’s user base.

“Learning in the Living [Class] Room” — as explained by Daniel Christian [Campus Technology]

On 11/05/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, computer science, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, expectations, experimentation, flipping -- inverted learning, formal learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, IBM, ideas, immersion, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, marketplaces, media/film, Michigan, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, motivation, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), neurodivergent/special needs, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, organizational change, pace of change, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, professional development, programming, real-world assignments, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, staying relevant, STEAM-related, story, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Learning from the Living [Class] Room — from Campus Technology by Daniel Christian and Mary Grush; with a huge thanks also going out to Mr. Steven Niedzielski (@Marketing4pt0) and to Mr. Sam Beckett (@SamJohnBeck) for their assistance and some of the graphics used in making these videos.

From DSC:
These 4 short videos explain what I’m trying to relay with a vision I’m entitling, Learning from the Living [Class] Room. I’ve been pulse checking a variety of areas for years now, and the pieces of this vision continue to come into fruition. This is what I see Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) morphing into (though there may be other directions/offshoots that they go in as well).

After watching these videos, I think you will see why I think we must move to a team–based approach.

(It looks like the production folks for Campus Technology had to scale things way back in terms of video quality to insure an overall better performance for the digitally-based magazine.)

To watch these videos in a higher resolution, please use these links:

Alternatively, these videos can be found at:

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Mobile education: Lessons from 35 education experts on improving learning with mobile technology [Citrix]

On 11/04/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, attention, blended learning, collaboration, communications, convergence, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-books, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning theories, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, student-related, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, tools, trends, vendors, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Description:

Education is at a tipping point. From the rising cost of a college education and the financial pressures upon local districts and state agencies to fund K-12 schools and programs, to the questions of how to employ mobile technologies and leverage social platforms to support the growing trend toward mobile, collaborative learning models, educators face an almost overwhelming set of challenges. While there are no easy answers to these and other issues, Citrix believes strongly that online learning technologies can help enhance and extend the teaching and learning process and provide greater, more wide-spread access to education to students. We are committed to developing and delivering learning solutions that will meet the evolving needs of teachers and students in this changing landscape. We hope that our sponsorship of this ebook and other projects will help you, the reader, gain a better understanding of the opportunities that online learning technologies provide, increase your mastery of these solutions, and enable you to put them to productive use. We look forward to working with you as we explore new and effective ways to help teachers teach and learners learn.

CaIlin Pitcher
Product Line Director, Collaboration, Citrix

Comments/disclosure from DSC:
I do not work for Citrix — I have been at Calvin College since
March 2007. I was not paid to develop/contribute this piece.

I’d like to thank David Rogelberg for his work on this project.

Readmill makes each and every book its own self-contained social network, allowing readers to discuss, share and review from inside of the e-book.

Readmill: Redefining the Ebook

Excerpt:

The books of the modern-day have progressed far beyond just containing stories, they are now social networks in their own right – generating vast reams of data offering insight into not only what we read, but how, when and where we are reading it. At the forefront of this movement is Readmill, an app staking its future on being the great reading app.

Readmill makes each and every book its own self-contained social network, allowing readers to discuss, share and review from inside of the e-book. If you find a passage you like, you can highlight it and comment on it right from within the book. Other users reading the book and even the author can see these comments and add their own thoughts, starting a discussion within the book, without ever having to leave it.

…

Readmill has positioned itself as a company which detaches itself from ‘the selling of the book” to focus on the “social experience.”

Connected! Readmill redefines ebooks as social networks — from futureofthebook.blogspot.com

From DSC:
Two things come to mind when I read this:

1) What if we applied the same concept towards electronically-delivered streams of content? What if, instead of an e-book, we presented a particular topic of discussion or a particular lesson to kick things off and then have Communities of Practice take over from there? (This could fit nicely into the “Learning from the Living Class [Room] vision, enabled by the Smart/Connected TV.)

2) What if we could have “layers” on a digital “textbook”?

Here it is: The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 — from c4lpt.co.uk by Jane Hart

Excerpt:

The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 list (released today, 30 September 2013) was compiled from the votes of over 500 learning professionals (from education and workplace learning) from 48 countries. Here are some of the highlights from this year’s list. For a fuller analyis, visit Analysis 2013

Twitter retains its no 1 position for the 5^th year running
Google Drive/Docs moves up to #2.
PowerPoint moves up to #5.
Evernote moves into the top 10 at #6.
Google +/Hangouts moves into the top 10 at #10.
There are 10 new tools on the list topped by Feedly (an RSS reader/aggregator) at #19 and Coursera (a MOOC platform) at #38, and 3 returning tools to the list, including Storify at #58.
The highest movers within the list are Skydrive (Windows file storage area) at #43 up 55 places since last year, and Keynote and iMovie up 40 and 32 places respectively (showing the increase in popularity of Apple software).
A significant descent down the list for some tools including Google Sites (down 60 places) and Wikispaces (down 50 places).
Tools moving off the list include Google Reader (now retired by Google), Bing and Scribd.
Although the list is still dominated by free online social tools, a number of e-learning authoring tools have had a good showing this year.
As for trends over the last 5 years, it is interesting to note that Firefox (#1 in 2007) is now at #97 on the list, and Delicious (#1 in 2008) is now at #60. What will topple Twitter from the top of the list?

The Amazon
By Marcos Antonio de Lima Filho | Master in Design | Federal University of Pernambuco – Brazil

This is a free book which is available in iBooks 3.0+ on the iPad and/or using iTunes on your computer. Marcos designed this book to take advantage of all the interaction enabled by iPads.

156 images, 14 infographics, 18 galleries, 11 maps and 8 videos join with the text, which here is not the primary. Why? Because the nature is much too rich to be described only by words. The Amazon seeks to take advantage of all the technology advancements enabled by the tablet.

Great work Marcos! Nice interactivity, use of digital audio and video, graphics, and more. Check it out!

Adobe launches a new learning service – KnowHow [Adobe.com]

On 08/30/2013, in Adobe, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education technology, elearning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, professional development, programming, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Adobe launches a new learning service – KnowHow — from blogs.adobe.com; with thanks to Dr. Tony Karrer (@elearningPosts) for posting this on Twitter

Excerpt:

If you have been learning through video playlists and always thought:

Wouldn’t it be great it I could scribble notes on top of the video? <– From DSC: Idea for future “textbooks”?
Why not add text in the context of the video I am learning from? <– For future “textbooks”…?
Why can’t I go back and forth between videos easily? <– For future “textbooks”…?

You are not alone.

Also see:

Reflections on “FlixMaster changes model; becomes Rapt” [Lindenstein] <- involves interactive/digital video

On 08/02/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, media/film, multimedia, online learning, online media, participation, personalized/customized learning, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, storytelling, technologies for your home, transmedia, trends, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

FlixMaster changes model; becomes Rapt — from bcbr.com by Joshua Lindenstein

Excerpts:

BOULDER – Highlighting a shift toward a new model for its interactive online video platform, Boulder-based FlixMaster Inc. this week announced that it is changing its name to Rapt Media Inc.

…

“When we founded FlixMaster, we set out to create the best toolset for video creators wanting to build interactive videos, and we succeeded in doing that that,” Rapt co-founder and chief executive Erika Trautman said in an email. “But as we partnered with really sophisticated companies (like HBO and Maybelline), we realized that our platform and the opportunity it posed was bigger than just interactive video. It was about improving online communication and storytelling through interactivity of all kinds, with video as the central component. Our company had already transitioned to this bigger vision, and we wanted a name that could reflect that vision.

Additional thought from DSC:
This item relates to the convergence of the television, the computer, and the telephone that I’m pulse-checking. I’m hopeful that such a convergence will provide students in the future with 24×7, highly-engaging, interactive, customized/personalized content:

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More choice. More control.

How do we design learning spaces to keep up with this pace of change?

On 08/02/2013, in change, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital textbooks, education technology, elearning, learning spaces, pace of change, smart classrooms, tablets, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Upon seeing the item below, the educational technologist in me asks:

“How do we design learning spaces to keep up with this pace of change?”

Some off-the-top-of-the-head thoughts on this:

We need to be looking up and trying to see what’s coming down the pike (as much as possible)
We need to try to build in as much flexibility as possible for optimal longevity (though this is easier said than done at times)
Responsiveness; the provision of robust wireless infrastructures
Experimentation — we may need to hold things loosely
Plan for hybrid/blended learning situations as much as possible

How smartphones and tablets are changing higher education — from edtechmagazing.com by Jimmy Daly
Adobe’s recent study on mobile computing sheds light on mobile usage.

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It only took three years for tablets to drive more traffic than smartphones.

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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-books, 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, multi-touch, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, participation, presentations, student-related, technologies for your home, transmedia, 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

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, Bring your own device (BYOD), 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-books, 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, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, music, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, 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, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telepresence, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, 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
.
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]

Heads up Jony Ive! You need to see this brilliant concept for the Apple TV! Superb work by Sam Beckett!

On 05/31/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, Microsoft, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, simulations, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, streams of content, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

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From DSC:
Now picture this from the educational standpoint — and what MOOCs could morph into. The foundation for some serious learning power (from the living room) seems to be developing!

Streams of content/learning channels/cloud-based applications that each of us can create and make available.

Voice recognition, learning analytics, machine-to-machine communications, transmedia and more! Wow!

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Below are some great resources re: creating your own e-books / streams of content — with thanks to Mr. Michael Haan, Technology Integration Specialist/Purchasing at Calvin College, for these resources
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Adobe DPS:
http://www.adobe.com/education/products/digital-publishing-suite.html
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Apple iBooks Author:
http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/
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Creating ePub/eBook books in Pages:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4168
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Creating ePub/eBook in InDesign:
http://blogs.adobe.com/vikrant/2012/02/create-epub-ebooks-with-adobe-indesign/
.

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From DSC:
You might also want to check out Lynda.com for the relevant training materials.
.
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Let’s create our own streams of content — always up-to-date — plus we could help our students save big $$! And, as Michael pointed out, such tools could also be used internally for training-related and communications-related purposes.

Thanks Michael!!!

What's the best way to deal with ever-changing streams of content? When information has shrinking half-lives?

Learning Ecosystems

mindsy — Does this represent a new ingredient of — and/or model for — our future learning ecosystems?

“The Amazon” — Nice work Marcos!

Adobe launches a new learning service – KnowHow [Adobe.com]

How do we design learning spaces to keep up with this pace of change?

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

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