distance education

What might the ramifications be for text-to-everything? [Christian]

On 10/11/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, drama/theater, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, languages and translation, law schools, learner profiles, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, legal technologies, media/film, Metaverse, microlearning, Mixed Reality (MR), more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, online media, online tutoring, platforms, podcasting, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, publishing, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, story, storytelling, streams of content, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

We can now type in text to get graphics and artwork.
We can now type in text to get videos.
There are several tools to give us transcripts of what was said during a presentation.
We can search videos for spoken words and/or for words listed within slides within a presentation.

Allie Miller’s posting on LinkedIn (see below) pointed these things out as well — along with several other things.

This raises some ideas/questions for me:

What might the ramifications be in our learning ecosystems for these types of functionalities? What affordances are forthcoming? For example, a teacher, professor, or trainer could quickly produce several types of media from the same presentation.
What’s said in a videoconference or a webinar can already be captured, translated, and transcribed.
Or what’s said in a virtual courtroom, or in a telehealth-based appointment. Or perhaps, what we currently think of as a smart/connected TV will give us these functionalities as well.
How might this type of thing impact storytelling?
Will this help someone who prefers to soak in information via the spoken word, or via a podcast, or via a video?
What does this mean for Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and/or Virtual Reality (VR) types of devices?
Will this kind of thing be standard in the next version of the Internet (Web3)?
Will this help people with special needs — and way beyond accessibility-related needs?
Will data be next (instead of typing in text)?

Hmmm….interesting times ahead.

Course Awareness in HyFlex: Managing unequal participation numbers — from hyflexlearning.org by Candice Freeman

Excerpt:

How do you teach a HyFlex course when the number of students in various participation modes is very unequal? How do you teach one student in a mode – often in the classroom? Conversely, you could ask how do you teach 50 asynchronous students with very few in the synchronous mode(s)? Answers will vary greatly depending from teacher to teacher. This article suggests a strategy called Course Awareness, a mindfulness technique designed to help teachers envision each learner as being in the instructor’s presence and engaged in the instruction regardless of participation (or attendance) mode choice.

From DSC:
I had understood the hyflex teaching model as addressing both online-based (i.e., virtual/not on-site) and on-site/physically-present students at the same time — and that each student could choose the manner in which they wanted to attend that day’s class. For example, on one day, a student could take the course in room 123 of Anderson Hall. The next time the class meets, that same student could attend from their dorm room.

But this article introduces — at least to me — the idea that we have a third method of participating in the hyflex model — asynchronously (i.e., not at the same time). So rather than making their way to Anderson Hall or attending from their dorm, that same student does not attend at the same time as other students (either virtually or physically). That student will likely check in with a variety of tools to catch up with — and contribute to — the discussions. As the article mentions:

Strategically, you need to employ web-based resources designed to gather real-time information over a specified period of time, capturing all students and not just students engaging live. For example, Mentimeter, PollEverywhere, and Sli.do allow the instructor to pose engaging, interactive questions without limiting engagement time to the instance the question is initially posed. These tools are designed to support both synchronous and asynchronous participation.

So it will be interesting to see how our learning ecosystems morph in this area. Will there be other new affordances, pedagogies, and tools that take into consideration that the faculty members are addressing synchronous and asynchronous students as well as online and physically present students? Hmmm…more experimentation is needed here, as well as more:

Research
Instructional design
Design thinking
Feedback from students and faculty members

Will this type of model work best in the higher education learning ecosystem but not the K-12 learning ecosystem? Will it thrive with employees within the corporate realm? Hmmm…again, time will tell.

And to add another layer to the teaching and learning onion, now let’s talk about multimodal learning. This article, How to support multimodal learning” by Monica Burns, mentions that:

Multimodal learning is a teaching concept where using different senses simultaneously helps students interact with content at a deeper level. In the same way we learn through multiple types of media in our own journey as lifelong learners, students can benefit from this type of learning experience.

The only comment I have here is that if you think that throwing a warm body into a K12 classroom fixes the problem of teachers leaving the field, you haven’t a clue how complex this teaching and learning onion is. Good luck to all of those people who are being thrown into the deep end — and essentially being told to sink or swim.

What if smart TVs’ new killer app was a next-generation learning-related platform? [Christian]

On 09/06/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, Design Thinking, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, skills, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, United States, universities, 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, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, by Daniel Christian

TV makers are looking beyond streaming to stay relevant — from protocol.com by Janko Roettgers and Nick Statt

Excerpts:

The search for TV’s next killer app
TV makers have some reason to celebrate these days: Streaming has officially surpassed cable and broadcast as the most popular form of TV consumption; smart TVs are increasingly replacing external streaming devices; and the makers of these TVs have largely figured out how to turn those one-time purchases into recurring revenue streams, thanks to ad-supported services.
…
What TV makers need is a new killer app. Consumer electronics companies have for some time toyed with the idea of using TV for all kinds of additional purposes, including gaming, smart home functionality and fitness. Ad-supported video took priority over those use cases over the past few years, but now, TV brands need new ways to differentiate their devices.

Turning the TV into the most useful screen in the house holds a lot of promise for the industry. To truly embrace this trend, TV makers might have to take some bold bets and be willing to push the envelope on what’s possible in the living room.

From DSC:
What if smart TVs’ new killer app was a next-generation learning-related platform? Could smart TVs deliver more blended/hybrid learning? Hyflex-based learning?
.

.

Or what if smart TVs had to do with delivering telehealth-based apps? Or telelegal/virtual courts-based apps?

The State of the Digital Divide in the United States [Gallardo]

On 08/29/2022, in 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, community colleges, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, online learning, parents/guardians, participation, remote teaching and learning, society, sociology, student-related, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

The State of the Digital Divide in the United States — from pcrd.purdue.edu by Roberto Gallardo

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic shed a bright light on an issue that has been around for decades: the digital divide. As parents, children, and workers scrambled to learn, socialize, and work from home, adequate internet connectivity became critical. This analysis takes a detailed look at the digital divide as it was in 2020 (latest year available), who it affected, and its socioeconomic implications by using an innovative metric called the digital divide index. It should also increase awareness on this issue as communities and residents prepare to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime investment in both broadband infrastructure and digital equity, components of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Data for this analysis came primarily from the U.S. Census Bureau 5-year American Community Survey. Additional sources include but are not limited to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Lightcast (formerly known as Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. or EMSI) and Venture Forward by GoDaddy. The unit of analysis was U.S. counties for which DDI scores were calculated 1 .

The Metaverse Is Not a Place: It’s a communications medium. [O’Reilly]

On 08/10/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, cryptocurrencies, distance education, drama/theater, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, Metaverse, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, remote teaching and learning, social learning / networks, social media, society, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The Metaverse Is Not a Place — from oreilly.com by Tim O’Reilly
It’s a communications medium.

Excerpt:

Foundations of the metaverse
You can continue this exercise by thinking about the metaverse as the combination of multiple technology trend vectors progressing at different speeds and coming from different directions, and pushing the overall vector forward (or backward) accordingly. No new technology is the product of a single vector.

So rather than settling on just “the metaverse is a communications medium,” think about the various technology vectors besides real-time communications that are coming together in the current moment. What news from the future might we be looking for?

Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality…
Social media…
Gaming…
AI…
Cryptocurrencies and “Web3”…
Identity…

#metaverse #AI #communications #gaming #socialmedia #cryptocurrencies #Web3 #identity #bots #XR #VR #emergingtechnologies

Two Years After Promising a ‘Transformational’ Partnership, the U. of Arizona and Zovio Part Ways [Bauman]

On 08/03/2022, in business side of he, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, distance education, global / globalization, higher education, learning ecosystem, online learning, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Two Years After Promising a ‘Transformational’ Partnership, the U. of Arizona and Zovio Part Ways — from chronicle.com by Dan Bauman

Excerpt:

The University of Arizona Global Campus announced on Monday it would take over management of its online education programs from Zovio Inc. — the same company that two years earlier transferred its for-profit college holdings to the University of Arizona in what was touted then as a “transformational” agreement.

The news marks a precipitous end for the original deal, Arizona acquired Zovio’s Ashford University in 2020 and created the University of Arizona Global Campus, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the traditional public university.

The article links to “An Open Letter from Paul Pastorek” (President of the University of Arizona Global Campus) — from uagc.edu

Excerpt:

As an institution, this new chapter reflects our belief that our mission demands that the governance and control of critical functions, in particular enrollment, marketing, student advising, and financial aid, rest exclusively with UAGC leadership. It is grounded in a conviction that outsourcing such functions is inherently at odds with our aspirations and desired outcomes. Placing all of our services under one roof, we believe, will increase efficiency, reduce costs, and is a necessary precondition to making good on our commitments to our students.

I think we’ve run out of time to effectively practice law in the United States of America [Christian]

On 07/25/2022, in 21st century, accreditation, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, Cost of legal services - including access, credentialing, cryptocurrencies, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, distance education, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, face-to-face, future, higher education, Holographic comms, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, ideas, innovation, instructional design, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Metaverse, Michigan, Mixed Reality (MR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, organizational change, pace of change, platforms, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, reinvent, robotics, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, technology (general), telelegal, trends, Uncategorized, United States, universities, using teams, vendors, Virtual courts and law firms, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, Web3, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Given:

the accelerating pace of change that’s been occurring over the last decade or more
the current setup of the legal field within the U.S. — and who can practice law
the number of emerging technologies now on the landscapes out there

…I think we’ve run out of time to effectively practice law in the U.S. — at least in terms of dealing with emerging technologies. Consider the following items/reflections.

Inside one of the nation’s few hybrid J.D. programs — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Shannon Gardner, Syracuse law school’s associate dean for online education, talks about the program’s inaugural graduates and how it has evolved.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In May, Syracuse University’s law school graduated its first class of students earning a Juris Doctor degree through a hybrid program, called JDinteractive, or JDi. The 45 class members were part of almost 200 Syracuse students who received a J.D. this year, according to a university announcement.

The private nonprofit, located in upstate New York, won approval from the American Bar Association in 2018 to offer the three-year hybrid program.

The ABA strictly limits distance education, requiring a waiver for colleges that wish to offer more than one-third of their credits online. To date, the ABA has only approved distance education J.D. programs at about a dozen schools, including Syracuse.

Many folks realize this is the future of legal education — not that it will replace traditional programs. It is one route to pursue a legal education that is here to stay. I did not see it as pressure, and I think, by all accounts, we have definitely proven that it is and can be a success.

Shannon Gardner, associate dean for online education

From DSC:
It was March 2018. I just started working as a Director of Instructional Services at a law school. I had been involved with online-based learning since 2001.

I was absolutely shocked at how far behind law schools were in terms of offering 100% online-based programs. I was dismayed to find out that 20+ years after such undergraduate programs were made available — and whose effectiveness had been proven time and again — that there were no 100%-online based Juris Doctor (JD) programs in the U.S. (The JD degree is what you have to have to practice law in the U.S. Some folks go on to take further courses after obtaining that degree — that’s when Masters of Law programs like LLM programs kick in.)

Why was this I asked? Much of the answer lies with the extremely tight control that is exercised by the American Bar Association (ABA). They essentially lay down the rules for how much of a law student’s training can be online (normally not more than a third of one’s credit hours, by the way).

Did I say it’s 2022? And let me say the name of that organization again — the American Bar Association (ABA).

Graphic by Daniel S. Christian

Not to scare you (too much), but this is the organization that is supposed to be in charge of developing lawyers who are already having to deal with issues and legal concerns arising from the following technologies:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), algorithms, bots, and the like
The Internet of Things (IoT) and/or the Internet of Everything (IoE)
Extended Reality (XR) — Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), Virtual Reality (VR)
Holographic communications
Big data
High-end robotics
The Metaverse
Cryptocurrencies
NFTs
Web3
Blockchain
…and the like

I don’t think there’s enough time for the ABA — and then law schools — to reinvent themselves. We no longer have that luxury. (And most existing/practicing lawyers don’t have the time to get up the steep learning curves involved here — in addition to their current responsibilities.)

The other option is to use teams of specialists, That’s our best hope. If the use of what’s called nonlawyers* doesn’t increase greatly, the U.S. has little hope of dealing with legal matters that are already arising from such emerging technologies.

So let’s hope the legal field catches up with the pace of change that’s been accelerating for years now. If not, we’re in trouble.

* Nonlawyers — not a very complimentary term…
I hope they come up with something else.
Some use the term Paralegals.
I’m sure there are other terms as well.

From DSC:
There is hope though. As Gabe Teninbaum just posted the resource below (out on Twitter). I just think the lack of responsiveness from the ABA has caught up with us. We’ve run out of time for doing “business as usual.”

Law students want more distance education classes, according to ABA findings — from abajournal.com by Stephanie Francis Ward

Excerpt:

A recent survey of 1,394 students in their third year of law school found that 68.65% wanted the ability to earn more distance education credits than what their schools offered.

From DSC:
Is the use of virtual instructors going to be used more to fill vacancies within K12? Hmmm…time will tell.

By the way, I think online-based learning works for many people, but certainly it isn’t for everyone (even with the likely unfair assumption that everyone has Internet access and the equipment/setup that they need). From what I’ve observed, it works best for very disciplined, motivated students — they need to be a bit more independent in their learning. But school systems should have backup plans in place if the exodus continues.

Education tech companies bring virtual teaching to the table as solution to teacher shortage — from thedenverchannel.com by Chloe Nordquist

Excerpts:

Education technology companies like Elevate K-12, which is a live streaming instruction platform, are growing. Especially in areas where hiring a teacher can be tough.
…
The company is seeing more interest from teachers in joining their platform. One is for schedule flexibility.

What’s the current state of OPM and UK university partnerships? [Moseley]

On 07/18/2022, in collaboration, distance education, higher education, instructional design, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, UK, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

What’s the current state of OPM and UK university partnerships? — from neilmosley.com by Neil Mosley

Excerpt:

One of the big changes of the past couple of years has been the number of universities getting serious about what they are doing in the online distance education space.

Whilst the number of online distance education courses on offer in UK higher education has been steadily growing, the events of the last couple of years have spurred some universities to more intentionally consider what they are doing in this space.

For universities looking to develop an online distance education portfolio there has tended to be two main choices – make the necessary investment to do this themselves or partner with an online programme management (OPM) company.

In the UK, OPM partnerships tend to go under the radar and there’s not much widespread knowledge about who they are and what they do. I think more people in UK higher education should have an understanding of these types of partnership, not least because the number of new partnerships are accelerating.

Also from Neil, check out:

What role will MOOC platforms play in UK universities online futures?

Excerpt:

Nevertheless, as we enter a new era for online education, one in which there seems to be more universities developing partnerships to offer an online portfolio of courses, it will be interesting to observe whether MOOC platform partnerships will play a role in that and what this ultimately begins to look like.

How much research has been done on flipped learning? The 2022 (and final?) update — from rtalbert.org by Robert Talbert
Updating the annual data on the number of peer-reviewed publications on flipped learning, for maybe the last time (?) this time with the numbers for 2021.

DC: Sounds like a learning ecosystem to me:

“All of this will require a rethinking of how we support adult and non-traditional learners as they merge and exit, and reenter our higher education system.”#learningecosystems #lifelonglearning https://t.co/YdDkaANo8i

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) June 30, 2022

So while we may be a few years from plugging into the Matrix, what is becoming clear is that to survive and thrive in the coming decades, colleges and universities will need to focus on creating an online experience as compelling as their on-campus experience.

Ryan Lufkin

Will Learning Move into the Metaverse? [Hogle]

On 06/14/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, distance education, ethics, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, internet, IT in HE, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Metaverse, Natural Language Processing (NLP), online learning, online media, online tutoring, platforms, society, technology (general), telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, training / L&D, trends, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Will Learning Move into the Metaverse? — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Pamela Hogle

Excerpt:

In its 2022 Tech Trends report, the Future Today Institute predicts that, “The future of work will become more digitally immersive as companies deploy virtual meeting platforms, digital experiences, and mixed reality worlds.”

Learning leaders are likely to spearhead the integration of their organizations’ workers into a metaverse, whether by providing training in using the tools that make a metaverse possible or through developing training and performance support resources that learners will use in an immersive environment.

Advantages of moving some workplace collaboration and learning into a metaverse include ease of scaling and globalization. The Tech Trends report mentions personalization at scale and easy multilingual translation as advantages of “synthetic media”—algorithmically generated digital content, which could proliferate in metaverses.

Also see:

Also from learningsolutionsmag.com, see:

Manage Diverse Learning Ecosystems with Federated Governance

Excerpt:

So, over time, the L&D departments eventually go back to calling their own shots.

What does this mean for the learning ecosystem? If each L&D team chooses its own learning platforms, maintenance and support will be a nightmare. Each L&D department may be happy with the autonomy but learners have no patience for navigating multiple LMSs or going to several systems to get their training records.

Creating common infrastructure among dispersed groups
Here you have the problem: How can groups that have no accountability to each other share a common infrastructure?

“Opportunities for Education in the Metaverse” [Downes] + “What Should Higher Ed in the Metaverse Look Like?” [Schaefer]

On 05/20/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Canada, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, cryptocurrencies, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interaction design, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, Metaverse, Mixed Reality (MR), MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, presentations, professional development, remote teaching and learning, trends, United States, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Opportunities for Education in the Metaverse — from downes.ca by Stephen Downes

Excerpt:

This short presentation introduces major elements of the metaverse, outlines some applications for education, discusses how it may be combined with other technologies for advanced applications, and outlines some issues and concerns.

Also relevant/see:

What Should Higher Ed in the Metaverse Look like? – from linkedin.com by Joe Schaefer

Excerpt:

The Metaverse is coming whether we like it or not, and it is time for educators to think critically about how it can benefit students. As higher education continues to evolve, I believe every learning product and platform working with or within the Metaverse should, at least, have these functionalities:

Addendum on 5/23/22:

Three items re: hyflex classrooms/learning [Beatty & Samuel]

On 05/11/2022, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital video, distance education, education technology, experimentation, faculty, higher education, Hyflex learning, instructional design, 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, learning theories, liberal arts, pedagogy, platforms, remote teaching and learning, smart classrooms, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), telecommunications, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

Technology for HyFlex Classrooms: Major Considerations — from hyflexlearning.org by Brian Beatty

Excerpts:

This post describes four aspects of classroom technology that are very important to address when developing a HyFlex approach that can be effective at scale.
…

The classroom technology needs can be organized into four areas:

two-way audio stream (connection),
incoming video presentation of remote learners
outgoing video presentation of classroom and learners
interactive technology to support interaction, engagement, and formative assessment

Also re: hyflex teaching — where some students are physically present and some are coming into the class remotely– see:

Part I – Motivating Learners by Building Efficacy (Confidence) through Scaffolding and Support— from hyflexlearning.org by Jeanne Samuel

Excerpts:

HyFlex delivery may be new to many learners. Therefore, it is important to provide them with the supports they need to be successful. Regardless of the delivery mode, learners are motivated by success and by instructor presence. In part one of this topic post, we will write about how instructor support and feedback (a form of guidance) can motivate learners and build learner confidence.

PART II- Feedback for Improving Student Success and Satisfaction — from hyflexlearning.org by Jeanne Samuel

Excerpt:

In part 1 of this post, we focused on how feedback and support promote learner confidence. Learner confidence can lead to improved learner retention, progression, and success regardless of the class delivery mode. In part 2, we focus on feedback strategies.

The amazing opportunities of AI in the future of the educational metaverse [Darbinyan]

On 04/29/2022, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, library / librarians, lifelong learning, Metaverse, Michigan, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), NVIDIA, online learning, personalized/customized learning, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, United States, universities, virtual field trips, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, by Daniel Christian

The amazing opportunities of AI in the future of the educational metaverse — from forbes.com by Rem Darbinyan

Excerpt:

Looking ahead, let’s go over several potential AI-backed applications of the metaverse that can empower the education industry in many ways.

Multilingual Learning Opportunities
Language differences may be a real challenge for students from different cultures as they may not be able to understand and keep up with the materials and assignments. Artificial intelligence, VR and AR technologies can enhance multilingual accessibility for learners no matter where they are in the world. Speech-to-text, text-to-speech and machine translation technologies enrich the learning process and create more immersive learning environments.
…
AI can process multiple languages simultaneously and provide real-time translations, enabling learners to engage with the materials in the language of their choice. With the ability to instantly transcribe speech across multiple languages, artificial intelligence removes any language barriers for students, enabling them to be potentially involved, learn and communicate in any language.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education Market size exceeded USD 1 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 40% between 2021 and 2027. (source)

Along the lines of innovation within our educational learning ecosystems, see:

3 Questions for Coursera’s Betty Vandenbosch & U-M’s Lauren Atkins Budde on XR — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kiim
How might extended reality shape the future of learning?

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

[Lauren Atkins Budde] “Being able to embed quality, effective extended reality experiences into online courses is exponentially a game-changer. One of the persistent constraints of online learning, especially at scale, is how do learners get hands-on practice? How do they experience specific contexts and situations? How do they learn things that are best experienced? XR provides that opportunity for actively doing different kinds of tasks, in various environments, in ways that would otherwise not be possible. It will open up Lauren Atkins Buddeboth how we teach online and also what we teach online.”
…
These courses are really exciting and cover a broad range of disciplines, which is particularly important. To choose the right subjects, we did an extensive review of insights from industry partners, learners and market research on in-demand and emerging future-of-work skills and then paired that with content opportunities where immersive learning is really a value-add and creates what our learning experience designers call “embodied learning.”

Addendum on 5/1/22:
Can the Metaverse Improve Learning? New Research Finds Some Promise — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young

“The findings support a deeper understanding of how creating unique educational experiences that feel real (i.e., create a high level of presence) through immersive technology can influence learning through different affective and cognitive processes including enjoyment and interest,” Mayer and his colleagues write.

Learning Ecosystems

Reflections on “Course Awareness in HyFlex: Managing unequal participation numbers” [Freeman]

Two Years After Promising a ‘Transformational’ Partnership, the U. of Arizona and Zovio Part Ways [Bauman]

What’s the current state of OPM and UK university partnerships? [Moseley]

How much research has been done on flipped learning? The 2022 (and final?) update [Talbert]

Sounds like a learning ecosystem to me [Christian]

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