educational games / serious games

The folks needed to create the next generation of learning: Computers can’t touch this. [Christian]

On 05/03/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Bring your own device (BYOD), collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty, global / globalization, graphics, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, music, Near Field Communication (NFC), new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, photography, play, reinvent, research, second screen apps, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, story, storytelling, streams of content, teachers, telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, videoconferencing, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, web design and production, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
What we need is a major hackathon — or an organization with deep pockets — that can bring together folks from a variety of disciplines including:

Subject Matter Experts
Instructional Designers
Cognitive Psychologists
Computer Scientists and/or those exerienced with learning analytics/data mining, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Those gifted in film/media/videography/photography
Great storytellers/writers (including writing for transmedia-based learning experiences)
Folks who can create engaging, educational games
Designers
- Web
- Graphic
- Interface
- User experience
- User interaction
- Those gifted in creating multimedia-based content
Musicians
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) experts
Mobile learning experts
Those knowledgeable with second screens/M2M communications
Animators
Illustrators
Social media experts
Accessibility experts
Researchers
Those gifted in creating augmented reality-based apps
Legal/copyright experts
& others

We need for these specialists to collaborate in order to create the next generation of learning. Anyone who can bring these skillsets together and experiment with creating materials will have significantly contributed something to the current generations and to future generations!

And, in the words of M.C. Hammer, computers “can’t touch this!” Why? Because “learning is messy!”

What fields did I miss?
Please leave your thoughts and
feedback in the comments section.

In other words, begin with… [EdTechTeacher.org]

On 05/02/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, assessment, blogs / blogging / vlogging, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, creativity, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, multi-touch, multimedia, new media literacies, online media, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, writing, by Daniel Christian

Beyond the Page: Transmedia Storytelling — from macict.edu.au by Cathie Howe

Below are some excerpted slides from:
Rethinking literacy through transmedia storytelling final from Cathie Howe and Katy Lumkin

From DSC:
Transmedia storytelling ties in very nicely with my thoughts re: Learning from the Living [Class] Room!

Excerpts from transmedia storytelling presentation by Gianluca Fiorelli

On 04/25/2013, in career development, communications, computer science, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, e-books, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, informal learning, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, media/film, multimedia, new business models, new media literacies, online media, participation, platforms, play, programming, social media, story, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, transmedia, trends, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Notes from DSC:

Some of the material in this presentation or the website may not be appropriate for a younger audience.
Notice how many potential jobs/roles/positions/skillsets can be explored here!

From DSC:
The word Bible is here not quite I think of as the Bible…but you’ll get the point if you review Gianluca’s presentation.
.

Questions from DSC:

What opportunities might be presented by this type of trend within the worlds of education/training? (i.e. within K-12, higher ed, the corporate world)
What sorts of streams of contents could be created for educational/training-related purposes?
What sorts of open doors are now present within the world of communications? For a church, a school, a college, a business?
How can we incorporate the use of story more effectively in our teaching and learning environments? (If we could do this, we could greatly increase our students’ ROI.)

BII REPORT: Here’s why the “second screen” industry is set to explode — BusinessInsider.com

On 04/19/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, 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 technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, flipping -- inverted learning, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, 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, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, television, 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, by Daniel Christian

BII REPORT: Here’s why the “second screen” industry is set to explode — BusinessInsider.com

Excerpt:

Here’s why the second screen industry will ultimately succeed:

Usage is growing rapidly
And mass acceptance isn’t even necessary
Second screen isn’t really a new activity
Second screen apps and sites are bridges

From DSC:
As this article alludes to, I wouldn’t rule the living room out in terms of where interactive, multimedia-based, educationally-related, second screen-based applications will turn up (apps backed up by data mining, AI, and opportunities for social learning). This area is poised for some serious growth.

40 years coming, the revolution is here [Vander Ark]

On 04/19/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, business, business side of he, change, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, innovation, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

40 years coming, the revolution is here — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Excerpt:

Moe sees learners creating a “personalized knowledge portfolio,” an unbundled sequence of learning experiences from multiple providers.

Moe sees an innovation ecosystem emerging, and calls it KaizenEDU. In this emerging ecosystem, it’s the “return on education” that matters. Moe argues the entrepreneurs that help create great learning gains are the ones that will create great shareholder value.

Healthcare gives us a picture of what that could mean for edtech. In 1970 there were 3 companies worth more than $1 billion. Last year, health care made up 13% of U.S. GDP and there were 398 companies with a market cap of more than $1 billion. Education is about 9% of GDP but there are only 5 public companies worth more than $1 billion. The difference is a result of dramatic under investment in R&D, but that’s changing!

…

The three emerging areas requiring more attention, according to Shelton, are early learning tools and resources, summer and out of school learning, and course redesign in higher education.

Tagged with: 1:1 • 24x7x365 • business side of he • change • dangers of the status quo • educational technology • entrepreneurship • game-changing environment • innovation • learning ecosystem • learning from the living [class] room • personalized learning

My reflections on “Four Reasons Why Kids Should Learn Programming” by O’Dell

On 04/16/2013, in computer science, digital learning, educational games / serious games, K-12 related, programming, by Daniel Christian

DSC’s comments on “Four Reasons Why Kids Should Learn Programming” — from tynker.com by Jolie O’Dell

.I like this blog posting and others have discussed this topic before…but I respectively disagree with one of the assertions: Programming is not easy — at least it wasn’t for me. I think that’s true for others, as why else is it so hard to find good programmers and why are they paid so well? Most people I know do not think like programmers do — it’s a different way of thinking. I’ve tried a couple different languages (albeit at a beginning level!), and while I greatly appreciate what programmers do, I am the first to tell you that I am not a programmer. At least within web design and development types of tasks/careers, people tend to either gravitate towards the front end OR the back end — though there are exceptions to this rule of thumb who can do both types of tasks well.

So while I agree that students should learn some type of coding, we need more tools/services like this that aim to make programming fun, enjoyable, understandable, and relevant.

About
Tynker is a new computing platform designed specifically to teach children computational learning and programming skills in a fun and imaginative way. Tynker is inspired by Scratch from MIT. It is a completely browser-based implementation written using Open Web standards such as Javascript, HTML5, CSS3 and does not use Flash.
.

Also see:

Check out this learn-to-code platform just for kids— from venturebeat.com by Jolie O’Dell
Why your 8 year old should be coding — from venturebeat.com by Jolie O’Dell
Excerpt:
The startup is Tynker; it makes a web-based learning platform and a visual programming language for teachers and kids in K-12 classrooms. In a discussion with its co-founder, we found out why teaching kids how to code is so important to him.

Tagged with: educational gaming • engagement • K-12 • love of learning • programming

The connected TVs are here… interactive programming & native apps will follow— from venturebeat.com by Habib Kairouz

Excerpt:

Innovative devices have always fueled new application ecosystems. The software industry was enabled by the WinTel PC platform; and hundreds of thousands of websites were built once the PCs became “connected.” In the last few years, we have witnessed the same trend in mobile; more than 700,000 apps have been created for Web-enabled phones. We’ll soon see connected TVs fueling a similar ecosystem of interactive programming and native apps. With nearly a quarter of all U.S. households currently using connected TVs (according to eMarketer), we have reached the tipping point of mass adoption.

As opposed to the disastrous impact the Internet had on the print industry, I see the innovation of the connected TV market as a tremendous, yet accretive, evolution as opposed to a threat. Here’s why:

Tagged with: career development • Daniel S. Christian • innovation • learning from the living [class] room • MOOCs • programming • smart classrooms • Smart/Connected TV • TV • Walmart of Education

My reflections on “MOOCs of Hazard” – a well-thought out, balanced article by Andrew Delbanco

On 04/10/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, computer science, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new media literacies, online learning, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, programming, real-world assignments, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, storytelling, streams of content, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

From DSC: Below are my reflections on MOOCs of Hazard — from newrepublic.com by Andrew Delbanco — who asks: Will online education dampen the college experience? Yes. Will it be worth it? Well…

.
While I’m not sure that I agree with the idea that online education will dampen the college experience — and while I could point to some amazing capabilities that online education brings to the table in terms of true global exchanges — I’ll instead focus my comments on the following items:

1) Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are recent experiments — ones that will continue to change/morph into something else.
They are half-baked at best, but they should not be taken lightly. Christensen, Horn, Johnson are spot on with their theories of disruption here, especially as they relate to innovations occurring within the virtual/digital realm. For example, the technologies behind IBM’s Watson could be mixed into the list of ingredients that will be used to develop MOOCs in the future. It would be a very powerful, effective MOOC indeed if you could get the following parties/functionalities to the table:

IBM — to provide Watson like auto-curation/filtering capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, as well as data mining/learning analytics expertise, joined by
Several highly-creative firms from the film/media/novel/storytelling industry, who would be further joined by
Experts from Human Computer Interaction (HCI)/user interface/user experience design teams, who would be further joined by
Programmers and interaction specialists from educational gaming endeavors (and from those who can design simulations), joined by
Instructional designers, joined by
The appropriate Subject Matter Experts who can be reached by the students as necessary, joined by
Those skilled in research and library services, joined by
Legal experts to assist with copyright issues, joined by
Other specialists in mobile learning, 3D, web development, database administration, animation, graphic design, musicians, etc.

It won’t be long before this type of powerful team gets pulled together — from some organizations(s) with deep pockets — and the content is interacted with and presented to us within our living rooms via connected/Smart TVs and via second screen devices/applications.

2) The benefits of MOOCs

For colleges/universities:
- MOOCs offer some serious marketing horsepower (rather than sound pedagogical tools, at this point in time at least)
- They are forcing higher ed to become much more innovative
- They provide great opportunities to build one’s personalized learning networks, as they bring forth those colleagues who are interested in topic A, B, or C
- They move us closer to team-based content creation and delivery
  .
For students:
- They offer a much less expensive option to go exploring disciplines for themselves…to see if they enjoy (and/or are gifted in) topic A, B or C
- They provide great opportunities to build one’s personalized learning networks, as they bring forth those colleagues who are interested in topic A, B, or C
- They provide a chance to see what it’s like to learn about something in a digital/virtual manner

3) The drawbacks of MOOCs:

MOOCs are not nearly the same thing as what has come to be known as “online learning” — at least in the higher ed industry. MOOCs do not yet offer what more “traditional” (can I say that?) online learning provides: Far more support and pedagogical/instructional design, instructor presence and dialog, student academic support services, advising, more student-to-student and student-to-faculty interaction, etc.
.
MOOCs are like drinking from a firehose — there are too many blogs/RSS feeds, twitter feeds, websites, and other resources to review.

4) It would be wise for all of us to be involved with such experiments and have at least a subset of one’s college or university become much more nimble/responsive.

Also see:

Delbanco’s interview in The Hedgehog Review

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • 24x7x365 • A/V • adjunct faculty • AI • analytics • Bring your own device (BYOD) • cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • computer science • creativity • cross-disciplinary assignments • customized learning • Daniel S. Christian • data mining • design • digital storytelling • faculty • graphic design • instructional design • interaction design • interface design • Learning Agents • learning from the living [class] room • Media/film • mirroring / multiple devices • multi-touch • multimedia • online learning • online tutoring • personalized learning • programming • second screen apps • simulations • Smart/Connected TV • Using teams • vendors • virtual reality / worlds / learning • virtual tutoring • visual design • Walmart of Education • web design

Dual screen: The evolution of the second screen [Lai]

On 04/04/2013, in A/V -- audio/visual, Bring your own device (BYOD), Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, streams of content, by Daniel Christian

Dual screen: The evolution of the second screen — from blog.brightcove.com by Albert Lai

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Educational Gamification
In a previous post, we asked readers to suggest their ideas for dual screen applications. One of the more intriguing responses was the suggestion to create companion educational games to accompany associated video content.

In a dual screen experience, as video content is displayed on the television, the application can engage the viewer with relevant and education activities, from content reinforcement to spelling to trivia to memory “games.” One can imagine an interactive amalgamation of Dora the Explorer, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and Schoolhouse Rock!

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

Addendum on 4/8/13:

First Quarter, 2013: Are we on track? An update to the definitive research “The 2nd Screen: Transforming video consumption”— from digitalvideospace.blogspot.com
Excerpt:
The first 3 months of 2013 has been explosive for 2^nd Screen. Apps have improved, new apps have continued to launch, clear evidence of growth in the revenue associated with the market can be seen, and the convergence of 2^nd Screen companion experiences and 2^nd Screen viewing experiences has continued.

Tagged with: A/V • Bring your own device (BYOD) • Daniel S. Christian • digital learning • e-learning • educational gaming • educational technology • emerging technologies • learning ecosystem • learning from the living [class] room • learning spaces • machine-to-machine communications • online learning • second screen apps • smart classrooms • Smart/Connected TV

Games grow up: Colleges recognize the power of gamification [Bengfort]

On 03/28/2013, in creativity, digital learning, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, higher education, motivation, play, by Daniel Christian

Games grow up: Colleges recognize the power of gamification — from edtechmagazine.com by Jacquelyn Bengfort
Universities enliven education through the power of play.

Tagged with: creativity • educational gaming • engagement • games • higher education • motivation • play

Jane McGonigal on Gamification – IBM Connect 2013

On 03/26/2013, in educational games / serious games, play, by Daniel Christian

Jane McGonigal on Gamification – IBM Connect 2013 Day 3 – Jan 30, 2013– with thanks to the curation done on this by siobhan-o-flynn
Description:
World renowned game designer, Jane McGonigal, dropped some amazing facts about gamification that will change your perspective. IBM Connect 2013 Session on Gamification

Tagged with: games • play

Game over – try again – level up (an item re: game-based learning from classroom-aid.com)

On 03/20/2013, in educational games / serious games, by Daniel Christian

Game over – try again – level up (#GBL) — from classroom-aid.com
Creating effective classroom experiences through game-based mechanics and community, it works for children as well as adults.

How I turned my classroom into a ‘living video game’—and saw achievement soar
Teacher : Joli Barker
Students : second graders
School : Earl H. Slaughter Elementary School in McKinney, Texas

Understanding Quest-Based Learning from Boise State University
QBL-Whitepaper_Haskell-final (pdf file)
Teacher : Chris Haskell, ED.D.
Students : Pre-?service teachers
School : Boise State University

Tagged with: educational gaming

Items re: multi-screen media — eventually this trend/convergence enables “Learning from the Living [Class] Room”

On 03/15/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Europe, game-changing environment, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, languages and translation, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, passions, personalized/customized learning, play, real-world assignments, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, UK, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

PayWizard launches first dedicated payment and subscriber management solution for TV and media industry — from PayWizard

Excerpt:

London, 21 February 2013 – PayWizard, specialists in payment and subscription management, has launched the TV and media industry’s first dedicated, end to end payment and subscription solution. The integrated solution brings together a strong heritage in the Pay-TV market with a deep understanding of the challenges TV operators and media companies face in monetising the multiplatform world.

Using its award-winning modular Payment and Subscription platform, PayWizard combines payment processing, intelligent subscriber management technology and real-time customer service operations to tailor-make solutions that enhance the consumer experience across all screens.

With 16.8 billion video-enabled devices set to be in the global marketplace by 2015, content owners are facing the challenge of enhancing existing services while creating compelling experiences that embrace new routes to market. PayWizard’s comprehensive set of products and services has enabled clients, such as the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, ITV, to address these commercial challenges by enabling new monetisation strategies to drive revenue and profitability.

Also see:

Multi-screen – are we there yet? — from blog.adbglobal.com
Digital Home World Summit — London, UK — June 18-19, 2013

From DSC:
See the categories listed above for the items/topics/disciplines/trends that are relevant here.

Addendum:

Check this out!

Massive Open Online Course offered by UMass Boston to feature the first adaptive MOOC technology
Enables students to be taught according to individual learning strategies

Excerpt from email:

(Boston, MA) – February 27, 2013 – If you’ve ever been in a course and struggled because you just aren’t “getting it,” the reason might be less your ability than the way in which the material is being presented.

New technology is now allowing online course environments to analyze how individual students learn, customizing instruction to individualized learning strategies. The College of Advancing and Professional Studies (CAPS) at the University of Massachusetts Boston has teamed up with USDLA 21st Century Sponsor, Synaptic Global Learning (SGL), to use the new learning management system, Adaptive Mobile Online Learning (AMOL), to deliver the first adaptive Massive Online Open Course (a-MOOC) ever offered. The course launches March 25.

Tagged with: A/V • AI • analytics • business • convergence • corporate / business world • Daniel S. Christian • etmooc • learning from the living [class] room • mirroring / multiple devices • new business models • second screen apps • trends • TV • UK • vendors

Previous Entries Next Entries

Learning Ecosystems

40 years coming, the revolution is here [Vander Ark]

Dual screen: The evolution of the second screen [Lai]

Games grow up: Colleges recognize the power of gamification [Bengfort]

Jane McGonigal on Gamification – IBM Connect 2013

Game over – try again – level up (an item re: game-based learning from classroom-aid.com)

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