My green screen setup –from learninginhand.com by Tony Vincent
Excerpt:
I’m often asked about the set up I use to film my videos. Here’s a 360 spherical photo that I’ve annotated. Feel free to scroll and zoom around to check out my setup.
On 04/06/2016,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, assessment, blogs / blogging / vlogging, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, digital storytelling, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, Google, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, mathematics, Microsoft, mobile learning, mobile technologies, music, open courseware and systems, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, story, storytelling, tablets, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, vendors, web-based collaboration, writing,
by Daniel Christian
20 awesome BYOD and mobile learning apps — from edutopia.org by Vicki Davis; updated 2/4/16
Excerpt:
We have now been Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) for three years, and boy, do the students bring it. They bring it all! We have iPads, Surface, iPhones, Droids, Chromebooks, Macs, and PC laptops. Here’s my current thinking.
7 best Google apps and tools — from interestingengineering.com
- Google Keep
- Google Scholar
- Gmailify
- Google Lego
- Google Mars
- Google Developers
- Google Sky
Excerpt:
Music is for everyone. So this year for Music In Our Schools month, we wanted to make learning music a bit more accessible to everyone by using technology that’s open to everyone: the web. Chrome Music Lab is a collection of experiments that let anyone, at any age, explore how music works. They’re collaborations between musicians and coders, all built with the freely available Web Audio API. These experiments are just a start. Check out each experiment to find open-source code you can use to build your own.
My challenge to you – 8 things all teachers should learn about #edtech — from ictevangelist.com by Mark Anderson
Excerpt:
I love the School Report scheme that the BBC run via Newsround. We all remember the Newsrounds of our youth. For me it was John Craven who made me watch it whenever it was on. It was this report I saw recently on eight things teachers should learn, which got me thinking about eight things I thought teachers should learn about edtech.
My work sees me regularly helping teachers learn different things related to the use of technology and so in this post, I’m going to talk about the eight things I think teachers should learn with #edtech to help support their use of technology to enhance learning in the classroom.
Mark mentions: Google, Padlet, Kahoot, Socrative, Camera, Microphone, Twitter, Videoconferencing software
Quiz accommodations for students in Canvas and Moodle — from thejournal.com by Emmett Dulaney03/16/16
Excerpt:
As we move toward interacting more with students who have an individualized education program (IEP) indicating that they need additional time on tests and quizzes or just need to deal with life issues, it is imperative that the learning management system (LMS) depended upon by an instructor and student alike be properly configured for such accommodations. Canvas and Moodle are currently two of the most popular learning management systems, and both offer the ability to make adjustments to quiz functions within the course without compromising the overall structure of the course. In this article, we will examine how to do so and offer some tips on situations where they are relevant.
Use these Chrome apps to unleash students’ creativity — from educatorstechnology.com
Excerpt:
[The] Chrome web store is packed full of all kinds of educational apps and extensions some of which are also integrated with Google Drive. For those of you looking for a handy resource of Chrome apps to use with students in class, check out this comprehensive chart. In today’s post we are sharing with you a collection of some practical Chrome extensions to unleash learners creativity. Using these resources, students will be able to engage in a number of creative literacy activities that will allow them to multimodally communicate their thoughts, share their ideas and develop new learning skills.
Integrating technology and literacy — from edutopia.org by Frank Ward
Excerpt:
How do you work technology into the pedagogy, instead of just using something cool? That task can be especially daunting in language arts literacy classrooms where reading and writing skill development is the crux of daily lessons. However, as 1:1 technology initiatives roll out, integrating technology into the classroom is our reality.
With hundreds of sites, apps, Chrome extensions, and platforms available, choosing the right ones can seem overwhelming. As an eighth-grade language arts teacher, I’ve experienced this myself. Following are four tools that can help provide immediate formative assessment data as well as top-of-the-rotation feedback to help students develop personal learning goals.
If, like my school, you’re in a “Chromebook District,” these suggested tools will work well because all integrate perfectly when you sign in with your Google ID, limiting the need for multiple passwords. This saves a lot of student confusion, too.
Teachers are using theater and dance to teach math — and it’s working — from washingtonpost.com by Moriah Balingit
Excerpt:
This giggly play session actually was a serious math lesson about big and small and non-standard measurements. Dreamed up by Richardson and kindergarten teacher Carol Hunt, it aims to get the children to think of animal steps as units of measurement, using them to mark how many it takes each animal to get from a starting line to the target.
Teachers call such melding of art and traditional subjects “art integration,” and it’s a new and increasingly popular way of bringing the arts into the classroom. Instead of art as a stand-alone subject, teachers are using dance, drama and the visual arts to teach a variety of academic subjects in a more engaging way.
Some older items include:
Tech Tip: Using Nearpod for math instruction — from smartblogs.com
Storytelling app a hit; launches a new chapter in transmedia — from blogs.vancouversun.com
Excerpt:
Paul Pattison and Luke Minaker knew they were onto something when they got an email from the mother of a nine-year-old who read the first instalment of their interactive story, Weirdwood Manor.
“She wrote that she couldn’t get her son to pick up a book,” said Pattison, technical director of All Play No Work, producer of the iPad app. “She got the app for her son and he went through it in two nights. He finished both books.
“And then because we don’t have book 3 out yet, unprompted by her he went over to the bookshelf and pulled off a paperback and started reading chapter books again.”
.
On 04/01/2016,
in 21st century, biology, blended learning, change, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, learning, learning ecosystem, online learning, organizational change, pace of change, pedagogy, policy, trends, universities,
by Daniel Christian
The final report of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Online Education Policy Initiative presents findings from discussions among the members of the Institute-wide initiative supported by advice from the advisory group. The report reflects comments and responses received from many sources, including education experts, government education officials, and representatives of university organizations.
Our findings target four areas: interdisciplinary collaboration, online educational technologies, the profession of the learning engineer, and institutional and organizational change. Focused attention in these areas could significantly advance our understanding of the opportunities and challenges in transforming education.
Recommendation 1:
Increase Interdisciplinary Collaboration Across Fields of Research in Higher Education, Using an Integrated Research Agenda
Recommendation 2:
Promote Online as an Important Facilitator in Higher Education
Recommendation 3:
Support the Expanding Profession of the “Learning Engineer”
Recommendation 4:
Foster Institutional and Organizational Change in Higher Education to Implement These Reforms
Also see:
MIT releases online education policy initiative report — from news.mit.edu by Jessica Fujimori, April 1, 2016
New report draws on diverse fields to reflect on digital learning.
Excerpts:
A new MIT report on online education policy draws on diverse fields, from socioeconomics to cognitive science, to analyze the current state of higher education and consider how advances in learning science and online technology might shape its future.
…
Titled “Online Education: A Catalyst for Higher Education Reform,” the report presents four overarching recommendations, stressing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, integration between online and traditional learning, a skilled workforce specializing in digital learning design, and high-level institutional and organizational change.
…
“There’s so much going on in online education, and it’s moving so quickly, that it’s important to take time to reflect,” says Eric Klopfer, a key participant in the initiative, who is a professor of education and directs the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program. “One of the goals of the report is to try to help frame the discussion and to pull together some of the pieces of the conversation that are taking place in different arenas but are not necessarily considered in an integrated way,” Willcox says.
“We believe that there is a new category of professionals emerging from all this,” Sarma says. “We use the term ‘learning engineer,’ but maybe it’s going to be some other term — who knows?”
These “learning engineers” would have expertise in a discipline as well as in learning science and educational technologies, and would integrate knowledge across fields to design and optimize learning experiences.
“It’s important that this cadre of professionals get recognized as a valuable profession and provided with opportunities for advancement,” Willcox says. “Without people like this, we’re not going to make a transformation in education.”
Finally, the report recommends mechanisms to stimulate high-level institutional and organizational change to support the transformation of the industry, such as nurturing change agents and role models, and forming thinking communities to evaluate reform options.
“Policy makers and decision makers at institutions need to be proactive in thinking about this,” says Willcox. “There’s a lot to be learned by looking at industries that have seen this kind of transformation, particularly transformations brought on by digital technologies.”
On 04/01/2016,
in business, career development, changing business models, competency-based learning/education, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, digital photography, disruption, education, education technology, elearning, higher education, lifelong learning, MBA, new business models, online learning, online media, organizational change, pace of change, passions, professional development, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, surviving,
by Daniel Christian
Start your journey: Lynda.com introduces Learning Paths to help you stay ahead — from linkedin.com
Excerpt:
We all know that the knowledge and skills required to be successful in our jobs today is accelerating. This rate of change challenges all of us to stay ahead in our roles and sets a high bar for those looking to start or change their careers. Today we are introducing more than 50 new learning paths to help you stay ahead in your current job or if you’re looking to make a career pivot.
Learning paths are step-by-step structured courses, supported with quizzes, practice, and learning reminders to encourage you and support you as you make progress towards your goal. These new learning paths include how to become a Web Developer, a Manager, a Bookkeeper, a Project Manager, a Small Business Owner, a Digital Marketer, a Digital Illustrator. Check out the full list here.
Learning paths are also a great way to continue expanding on your existing skill set. If you’re embarking on a new career, you can take advantage of these learning paths to become more knowledgeable about the skills and experience needed to secure your dream job. If you’re a marketing manager who needs to quickly get up to speed on how to leverage social media for your job, you could take the digital marketing learning path to continue grooming and adding new skills.
We know that making the commitment to learn is incredibly tough; sticking with it can be even harder. To ensure your hard work gets noticed, you’ll receive a certification of completion at the end of a learning path that you can share with your professional network on LinkedIn. Whether you’re looking to transform your current career path, jump into a new career, or sharpen your skills in your current job, Lynda.com can be your guide.
These new learning paths will be available starting today in English around the world and we are working towards adding new paths for you to take. We look forward to hearing about your learning path stories.
Also see:
LinkedIn launches Lynda.com ‘Learning Paths’ in push to grow education business — from forbes.com by Kathleen Chaykowski
Excerpt:
On Thursday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company launched more than 50 Lynda.com “Learning Paths,” a package of ordered courses intended to prepare users for a specific role or to update users’ skills for their current job. Some of the new “Learning Paths” include how to become a digital marketer, photographer, digital illustrator, small business owner, project manager, bookkeeper or web developer.
“Whether you’re looking to transform your current career path, jump into a new career, or sharpen your skills in your current job, Lynda.com can be your guide,” Arthur Nicholls, a senior product manager at LinkedIn said. ”We all know that the knowledge and skills required to be successful in our jobs today is accelerating. This rate of change challenges all of us to stay ahead in our roles and sets a high bar for those looking to start or change their careers.”
Fuller profiles on candidates’ skills and qualifications will also advance LinkedIn’s efforts in building an economic graph, a digital map of the skills, economic needs, jobs, companies and people around the world.
On 03/31/2016,
in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, education technology, elearning, ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, MBA, online learning, online media, social learning / networks, social media, tools, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Could Slack be the next online learning platform? — from edsurge.com by Amy Ahearn
Excerpt:
Enter Slack. The online communication platform launched two years ago and now has more than 2.3 million users. It facilitates an online, supercharged version of watercooler conversation, enabling people to trade information and chat informally with colleagues. And it might just be a game changer for online education.
…
On Slack there are flexible public channels, along with small private groups for exchanges between just a few people. Media companies including the New York Times are using it as a content management system, and corporations from Walmart to Blue Bottle Coffee rely on it to keep globally distributed teams in sync.
…
At +Acumen we were intrigued when marketing guru Seth Godin used Slack for an experiment in online learning. In 2014 he started altMBA, an online leadership workshop, and hosted it in Slack.
Also see:
On 03/28/2016,
in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, communications, education technology, emerging technologies, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), technologies for your home, telecommunications, Uncategorized, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Holoportation is a new type of 3D capture technology that allows high-quality 3D models of people to be reconstructed, compressed and transmitted anywhere in the world in real time. When combined with mixed reality displays such as HoloLens, this technology allows users to see, hear, and interact with remote participants in 3D as if they are actually present in the same physical space. Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face-to-face communication.
Team webpage:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/i3d/
Video:
http://youtu.be/7d59O6cfaM0
holoportation is a new type of 3D capture technology that allows high quality 3D models of people to be reconstructed, compressed, and transmitted anywhere in the world in real-time. When combined with mixed reality displays such as HoloLens, this technology allows users to see and interact with remote participants in 3D as if they are actually present in their physical space. Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face to face communication.
Some other items on this:
- Microsoft’s “holoportation” lets you augment someone else’s reality — from gizmag.com by Eric Mack
- ‘Holoportation’ demo makes live-video holograms look easy — from engadget.com by Timothy Seppala
Microsoft Research shows off how HoloLens can bring distant family members into your living room. - Microsoft HoloLens delivers ‘Star Wars’ holographic message we’ve been waiting for — from mashable.com by Adario Strange
Addendum:
- Augmented Reality Startup Daqri Acquires Hologram Maker To Take On Microsoft HoloLens — from forbes.com by Aaron Tilley
On 03/24/2016,
in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, attention, Bring your own device (BYOD), colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, engagement / engaging students, faculty/staff, higher education, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, pedagogy, project-based learning, smart classrooms, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Active Learning: In Need of Deeper Exploration — from facultyfocus.com by Maryellen Weimer
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
The one proposed by Bonwell and Eison in an early (and now classic) active learning monograph is widely referenced: involving “students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing.” (p. 2)
Those are fine places to start, but as interest in active learning has grown—and with its value now firmly established empirically—what gets labeled as active learning continues to expand. Carr, Palmer, and Hagel recently wrote, “Active learning is a very broad concept that covers or is associated with a wide variety of learning strategies.” (p. 173) They list some strategies now considered to be active learning. I’ve added a few more: experiential learning; learning by doing (hands-on learning); applied learning; service learning; peer teaching (in various contexts); lab work; role plays; case-based learning; group work of various kinds; technology-based strategies such as simulations, games, clickers, and various smart phone applications; and classroom interaction, with participation and discussion probably being the most widely used of all active learning approaches. Beyond strategies are theories such as constructivism that have spun off collections of student-centered approaches that promote student autonomy, self-direction, and self-regulation of learning.
“It’s Not You, It’s the Room”— Are the High-Tech, Active Learning Classrooms Worth It? [2013] – from cvm.umn.edu by Sehoya Cotner, Jessica Loper, J. D. Walker, and D. Christopher Brooks
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Several institutions have redesigned traditional learning spaces to better realize the potential of active, experiential learning. We compare student performance in traditional and active learning classrooms in a large, introductory biology course using the same syllabus, course goals, exams, and instructor. Using ACT scores as predictive, we found that students in the active learning classroom outperformed expectations, whereas those in the traditional classroom did not. By replicating initial work, our results provide empirical confirmation that new, technology-enhanced learning environments positively and independently affect student learning. Our data suggest that creating space for active learning can improve student performance in science courses. However, we recognize that such a commitment of resources is impractical for many institutions, and we offer recommendations for applying what we have learned to more traditional spaces.
…
We believe that the investment in ALCs at the University of Minnesota was worth it. Documented increases in student engagement and confirmed average gains of nearly 5 percentage points in final grades are improvements in the student academic experience that few educational interventions could aspire to. However, whether these improvements warrant the capital investment in ALCs is a judgment each educational institution must make for itself, drawing on local priorities and resources.
Instructors may need to think seriously and creatively about changing the manner in which they deliver their courses in spaces such as these —not only for the sake of navigating the challenges of teaching in a decentered space, but also to take advantage of the features of the room that allow us to better realize the benefits of active learning. The classroom architecture is bound to frustrate the efforts of faculty who don’t yield to the rooms’ novel demands. There is no well-identified “stage” from which to deliver a traditional lecture. Half of the students in the class may be facing away from the instructor at any given time. Teachers who view silence as engagement will need to adjust their perceptions, as one goal of decentralized classrooms is increased small-group interaction and this activity can be noisy and difficult to monitor. And, in the case of the ALCs at our institution, there is a learning curve with respect to the technological capabilities of the rooms.
Excerpt from the University of Minnesota’s Active Learning Classrooms web page:
What Is an Active Learning Classroom (ALC)?
ALC is the term often used to describe the student-centered, technology-rich learning environments at the University of Minnesota. U of M ALCs feature large round tables with places for nine students. Each table supports three laptops, with switching technology that connects them to a fixed flat-panel display projection system, and three microphones. There is a centered teaching station which allows the instructor to select and display table-specific information. Multiple white boards or glass-surface marker boards are distributed around the perimeter of the classrooms.
On 03/18/2016,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, analytics, assessment, assistive technologies, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, face-to-face, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, second screen apps, smart classrooms, student-related, teaching & learning, telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, trends, TVs, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, webinars,
by Daniel Christian
Key point from DSC:
Digitally-based means of learning are going to skyrocket!!! Far more than what we’ve seen so far! There are several trends that are occurring to make this so.
As background here, some of the keywords and phrases that are relevant to this posting include:
- Wireless content sharing
- Wireless collaboration solutions
- Active learning based classrooms
- Conference rooms
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
- Enterprise wireless display solutions
- Enterprise collaboration solutions
- Cross platform support: iOS, Android, Windows
- Personalized learning
- Learning analytics
Some of the relevant products in this area include:
- Bluescape
- Mezzanine from Oblong Industries
- Montage from DisplayNote Technologies
- ThinkHub and ViewHub from T1V
- Mersive Solstice
- Crestron AirMedia
- Barco Clickshare
- Haworth Workware Wireless
- Christi Brio
- AMX enzo
- NovoConnect from Vivitek
- Arrive MediaPoint
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
From DSC:
First of all, consider the following products and the functionalities they offer.
People who are in the same physical space can collaborate with people from all over the world — no matter if they are at home, in another office, on the road, etc.
For several of these products, remote employees/consultants/trainers/learners can contribute content to the discussions, just like someone in the same physical location can.
From DSC:
Many of these sorts of systems & software are aimed at helping people collaborate — again, regardless of where they are located. Remote learners/content contributors are working in tandem with a group of people in the same physical location. If this is true in business, why can’t it be true in the world of education?
So keep that in mind, as I’m now going to add on a few other thoughts and trends that build upon these sorts of digitally-based means of collaborating.
Q: Towards that end…ask yourself, what do the following trends and items have in common?
- The desire to capture and analyze learner data to maximize learning
- Colleges’ and universities’ need to increase productivity (which is also true in the corporate & K-12 worlds)
- The trend towards implementing more active learning-based environments
- The increasing use of leveraging students’ devices for their learning (i.e., the BYOD phenomenon)
- The continued growth and increasing sophistication of algorithms
A: All of these things may cause digitally-based means of learning to skyrocket!!!
To wrap up this line of thought, below are some excerpts from recent articles that illustrate what I’m trying to get at here.
Embrace the Power of Data
A continuous improvement mindset is important. Back-end learning analytics, for example, can reveal where large numbers of students are struggling, and may provide insights into questions that require new feedback or content areas that need more development. Data can also highlight how students are interacting with the content and illuminate things that are working well—students’ lightbulb moments.
— Five Principles for Your Learning Design Toolkit
from edsurge.com by Amanda Newlin
Mitchell gave the example of flight simulators, which not only provide students with a way to engage in the activity that they want to learn, but also have data systems that monitor students’ learning over time, providing them with structured feedback at just the right moment. This sort of data-centric assessment of learning is happening in more and more disciplines — and that opens the door to more innovation, he argued.
…
A promising example, said Thille, is the use of educational technology to create personalized and adaptive instruction. As students interact with adaptive technology, the system collects large amounts of data, models those data, and then makes predictions about each student based on their interactions, she explained. Those predictions are then used for pedagogical decision-making — either feeding information back into the system to give the student a personalized learning path, or providing insights to faculty to help them give students individualized support.
…
“We need the models and the data to be open, transparent, peer-reviewable and subject to academic scrutiny.”
…
“We began to actually examine what we could do differently — based not upon hunches and traditions, but upon what the data told us the problems were for the students we enroll,” said Renick. “We made a commitment not to raise our graduation rate through getting better students, but through getting better — and that gain meant looking in the mirror and making some significant changes.”
…
A 21st-century learning culture starts with digital content. In 2010, Jackson State University was looking for ways that technology could better address the needs of today’s learner. “We put together what we call our cyberlearning ecosystem,” said Robert Blaine, dean of undergraduate studies and cyberlearning. “What that means is that we’re building a 21st-century learning culture for all of our students, writ large across campus.” At the core of that ecosystem is digital content, delivered via university-supplied iPads.
— 7 Things Higher Education Innovators Want You to Know
from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly
On Bennett’s wish list right now is an application that allows students to give feedback at specific points of the videos that they’re watching at home. This would help him pinpoint and fix any “problem” areas (e.g. insufficient instructions for difficult topics/tasks) and easily see where students are experiencing the most difficulties.
TechSmith’s now-retired “Ask3” video platform, for example, would have done the trick. It allowed users to watch a video and ask text-based questions at the point where playback was stopped. “I’d like to be able to look at my content and say, ‘Here’s a spot where there are a lot of questions and confusion,'” said Bennett, who also sees potential in an “I get it” button that would allow students to hit the button when everything clicks. “That would indicate the minimum viable video that I’d need to produce.” Learning Catalytics offers a similar product at a fee, Bennett said, “but I can’t charge my students $20 a year to use it.”
— 6 Flipped Learning Technologies To Watch in 2016
from thejournal.com by Bridget McCrea
All of these trends lend themselves to causing a major increase in the amount of learning that occurs via digitally-based means and methods.
On 03/09/2016,
in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, communications, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Everything Siri can do for you and your Apple TV — from imore.com by Lory Gill
Excerpt:
When you ask Siri what it can search for, it will respond, “I can search by title, people (actor, director, character name, guest star, producer, or writer), ratings (like PG or TV-G), reviews (such as best or worst), dates (like 2012 or the 80s), age (like kid-friendly or teen), seasons, episodes, and studio. And of course, I can search by genre.”
But, what else can Siri do?
…
Siri has a fairly robust search feature with multi-layer filtering.
…
While you are watching a movie or TV show, or listening to music, you can get a little extra help from Siri. It’s like having a buddy sitting next to you — but they don’t shush you when you ask a question.
…
You can search for content in the Music app on Apple TV by artist, album, or song title. With a little know-how, you can also turn Siri into your personal deejay.
…
While you may normally look to your smartphone for your weather predictions, Siri can be just as helpful about the conditions around the world as your local weatherman or app. All you have to do is ask.
From DSC:
Following this trajectory out a bit into the future — and in light of significant developments that continue to occur with artificial intelligence, the development and use of algorithms, the potential use of web-based learner profiles (think LinkedIn.com/Lynda.com, MOOCs, the use of nanodegrees), second screen-based apps, and the like — one has to wonder:
“What are the ramifications of this for learning-related applications?!”
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
On 03/07/2016,
in active learning, Asia, business, collaboration, education technology, higher education, ideas, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, MBA, pedagogy, smart classrooms, student-related, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
SMU’s pioneering pedagogy, SMU-X, recognised globally for innovation, creativity and impact — from by smu.edu.sg
Excerpt:
SMU launched the SMU-X initiative in 2015 following three-and-a-half years of study and conceptualisation. Through SMU-X, the University introduced across all its six Schools innovative and fresh curriculum that is multi-disciplinary and hands-on, and also created unconventional, flexible spaces for 24/7 use that meet the usage patterns and behaviours of the millennial student.
Four key principles characterise all SMU-X courses:
(i) inter-disciplinary content and activities;
(ii) experiential learning via an actual problem/issue faced by an organisation;
(iii) active student-mentoring by faculty and industry; and
(iv) three-way learning by faculty, student and partner organisation, in the form of a tripartite sharing forum at the end of the course.
On 03/05/2016,
in collaboration, colleges, community colleges, design, education, education technology, face-to-face, higher education, ideas, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, open courseware and systems, participation, smart classrooms, student-related, universities, user experience (UX),
by Daniel Christian
The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange – FLEXspace – is a robust, open access repository populated with examples of learning spaces. It contains high resolution images and related information that describes detailed attributes of these spaces from institutions across the globe. The incentive for participation is to showcase innovative design solutions open to peer review ranking and comments. As more contributions are received, the repository will emerge into a very useful planning resource for education and supporting entities at multiple levels.
From DSC:
You can browse images, video, and documents.
You can get some new ideas, sources of inspiration…and get the creative juices going. The site covers a variety of learning spaces — from large lecture halls to library lounges to active learning spaces.
On 03/05/2016,
in active learning, biology, chemistry, creativity, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, health, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, more voice more choice more control, online learning, pedagogy, physics, platforms, research, science, simulations, STEAM-related, tools, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning,
by Daniel Christian
Labster: Empowering the Next Generation of Scientists to Change the World
Laboratory Simulations for Educators to Empower their STEM Students
From DSC:
I recently met Maaroof Fakhri at the Next Generation Learning Spaces Conference. It was a pleasure to meet him and hear him speak of the work they are doing at Labster (which is located in Denmark). He is very innovative, and he shines forth with a high degree of energy, creativity, and innovation.
Keep an eye on the work they are doing. Very sharp.
Also see:
Learnathons, on the other hand are optimized sessions that teach participants how to apply what they learn as soon as possible. They are on the opposite end of how classroom teaching is organized, with lessons spread out over the course of a semester focusing on theory and weekly practice. They are a fairly new concept, but have created an environment for learning that is speeding up comprehension and application to levels that aren’t seen elsewhere.
Addendum on 3/16/16:
What are Remote Labs? <– from ilabcentral.org
Making high school science labs more real, more engaging, and more accessible
Remote Online laboratories (iLabs) are experimental facilities that can be accessed through the Internet, allowing students and educators to carry out experiments from anywhere at any time.
On 03/05/2016,
in A/V -- audio/visual, attention, computer science, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interaction design, interactivity, IT in HE, K-12 related, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), platforms, programming, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vision/possibilities, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
Introducing first ever experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition — from blogs.windows.com by Kudo Tsunoda
Excerpt:
I am super excited about today’s announcement that the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition is available for pre-order. We set out on a mission to deliver the world’s first untethered holographic computer and it is amazing to finally be at this point in time where developers will be receiving the very first versions so they can start building their own holographic experiences.
…
With HoloLens, we are committed to providing the development community with the best experience possible. In order to help get developers started creating experiences for HoloLens, we’ve provided a number of great resources. First of all, there is a complete set of documentation provided to developers both by the people who have created the platform and by the people who have been building holographic experiences. We want to share all of our holographic knowledge with developers so they can start bringing their holographic dreams to reality as easily as possible. We have also provided a host of tutorial videos to help people along. All of the documentation and videos can be found at dev.windows.com/holographic.
On 03/05/2016,
in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, education, education technology, instructional design, K-12 related, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, tools, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, youth,
by Daniel Christian
balefirelabs.com — with thanks to Rene Grimes for this resource.
Per Rene:
I’d like to recommend you check out Balefire Labs, an app review service, because they have very solid objective metrics for determining the learning elements within content apps. We know not all edtech is actually educational (talking specifically about instructional apps). Content apps have their place, to be sure; but I have decided to only use adaptive, mastery based apps because these individualize instruction. Not all apps that use the word “adaptive” mean they adapt to learners levels of mastery. Check out their metrics and see what you think. http://www.balefirelabs.com
For example, see:
- New Top-Rated Kids’ Learning Apps & Games of March 2016
Every month we look for the best of the best learning apps and games for kids and every month we find some new and very cool apps to recommend. Here are this month’s top eight apps and games we found for your kids…all of these top rated apps earned a letter grade of A or B, according to our research-based review criteria, putting them in the top 12% of the more than 5,000 apps we’ve reviewed. Enjoy!
On 03/05/2016,
in 21st century, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, Microsoft, simulations, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, teaching & learning, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning,
by Daniel Christian
Virtual classrooms: A vision of the future of teacher training — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
A classroom simulator platform operating out of UCF is breaking new ground for how teachers hone their craft.
Excerpt:
Stepping in front of a classroom of skeptical students can be nerve-wracking for first-time teachers, but a new teaching platform at the University of Central Florida gives educators-in-training the option of conquering their classroom jitters in a virtual environment.
Educators must navigate social, pedagogical and professional hurdles all at once. And TeachLive is the first of its kind — a classroom simulator that can emulate these challenges and scale its difficulty to the specific needs of the teacher.
TeachLive places a teacher-in-training in a virtual classroom populated by computer-generated students. A Skype conference call and a Microsoft Kinect motion sensor power the high-tech pantomiming behind the platform. It’s currently being used at more than 80 campuses across the U.S. to train some of the next generation of educators, and it appears to be working.
Also see:
Excerpt:
TLE TeachLivE™ is a mixed-reality classroom with simulated students that provides teachers the opportunity to develop their pedagogical practice in a safe environment that doesn’t place real students at risk. This lab is currently the only one in the country using a mixed reality environment to prepare or retrain pre-service and in-service teachers. The use of TLE TeachLivE™ Lab has also been instrumental in developing transition skills for students with significant disabilities, providing immediate feedback through bug-in-ear technology to pre-service teachers, developing discrete trial skills in pre-service and in-service teachers, and preparing teachers in the use of STEM-related instructional strategies.