My thanks to Mary Grush at Campus Technology for her continued work in bringing relevant topics and discussions to light — so that our institutions of higher education will continue delivering on their missions well into the future. By doing so, learners will be able to continue to partake of the benefits of attending such institutions. But in order to do so, we must adapt, be responsive, and be willing to experiment. Towards that end, this Q&A with Mary relays some of my thoughts on the need to move more towards a team-based approach.

When you think about it, we need teams whether we’re talking about online learning, hybrid learning or face-to-face learning. In fact, I just came back from an excellent Next Generation Learning Space Conference and it was never so evident to me that you need a team of specialists to design the Next Generation Learning Space and to design/implement pedagogies that take advantage of the new affordances being offered by active learning environments.

 

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Trend: Campuses moving from online to On-Demand — from ecampusnews.com by Meris Stansbury
Management expert discusses why the future for college campuses is on-demand, not just online

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

IT experts are calling it a super storm of forces that’s changing the way a campus ecosystem operates.

First, the very foundation of student expectations is changing, with requirements for education delivery models that are more flexible and accessible than those of generations past.

Second, the higher-ed market—thanks to the economy and possibilities available via technology—is reshaping itself under new requirements for competition, delivery, funding, and outcomes.

And it’s this super storm, say experts, that’s creating the need for new business processes and strategies to better compete and retain students.

 

 

CampusMgmt-Dec2014-SuperStorm

 

CampusMgmt2-Dec2014-SuperStorm

 

From DSC:
I don’t have data to back this up, but I also have it that student expectations are changing. (It would be great if someone out there who has some resources in this regard would post some links to such resources in the comments section.)  Anecdotally, the students’ expectations of today are different from when I attended college years ago. We didn’t have the Internet back then; we didn’t have personal computing devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops; we didn’t work collaboratively; there were no online-based courses; we didn’t have nearly as many choices for learning at our disposal.

But taking cues from society at large and from the trends in computing, people want to connect and they want to do so on their terms — i.e., when it fits into their schedules. So I can see this sort of phenomenon picking up steam, at least for a significant subset of learners out there. In fact, it’s an underlying assumption I have in my Learning from the Living [Class] Room vision. Many of us will seek out training/education-on-demand types of resources throughout our careers — as we need them. Heutagogy, lifelong learning, and rhizomatic learning come to mind; so does the growth of Lynda.com and the growth of bootcamps/accelerated learning programs (such as flatironschool.com).

Finally, the concept of “learning hubs” is interesting in this regard, whereby a group of learners get together in a physical setting, but tap into online-based resources to help them learn about a topic/discipline.  Those online-based resources could be synchronous or asynchronous. But learners come together when it works into their schedules.

 

 

The University of the Future: The Student Perspective — from laureate.net

 

TheUniversityOfTheFuture-Laureate-June2014

 

 Excerpt:

In the interest of changing the debate about the future of higher education to include more students’ perspectives, we commissioned Zogby Analytics, a leading international opinion research firm, to survey students at 37 Laureate network institutions in 21 countries. More than 20,800 students responded to the survey, making it the largest international survey ever of student attitudes.

In the survey, students express the belief that the “university of the future” will be accessible, flexible, innovative and job-focused. Students foresee classes being offered at a variety of times throughout the day and year, courses being affordable and online, and learning being a lifelong process through degree and certificate programs that are geared to market needs.

Some of the specific findings of the survey include…

 

Also see:

Report: Students expect future universities to be flexible, accessible, career-oriented — from campustechnology.com by Joshua Bolkan

Excerpt:

Students expect universities to be more accessible, flexible and focused on jobs, according to a new survey commissioned by Laureate International Universities and compiled by Zogby Analytics.

The “2014 Global Survey of Students” compiled responses from more than 20,800 students at 37 institutions in the Laureate network. Students from 21 countries participated in the survey, which sought student opinions on what universities would look like in 15 years.

 

A new pedagogy is emerging… and online learning is a key contributing factor — from contactnorth.ca

Excerpt:

THREE EMERGING PEDAGOGICAL TRENDS
Underlying these developments are some common factors or trends:

1.    A move to opening up learning, making it more accessible and flexible. The classroom is no longer the unique centre of learning, based on information delivery through a lecture.

2.    An increased sharing of power between the professor and the learner. This is manifest as a changing professorial role, towards more support and negotiation over content and methods, and a focus on developing and supporting learner autonomy. On the student side, this can mean an emphasis on learners supporting each other through new social media, peer assessment, discussion groups, even online study groups but with guidance, support and feedback from content experts.

3.    An increased use of technology not only to deliver teaching, but also to support and assist students and to provide new forms of student assessment.

It is important to emphasize that these are emerging pedagogical trends. More experimentation, evaluation, and research are needed to identify those that will have lasting value and a permanent effect on the system.

Impact on Student Learning
Student learning is the other key component of an emerging pedagogy, with their success as the goal of all our efforts.

  • What new demands are student making in terms of how they want to be taught and assessed and what are your responses?
  • What new roles are students taking in their online or hybrid learning and how has this changed your teaching practice?
  • What new strategies for and areas of student support are being built into course structures to facilitate effective online learning?
 

A new pedagogy is emerging..and online learning is a key contributing factor — from Contact North ; with thanks to Stephen Downes (@oldaily) for putting this on The MOOC Newsletter

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

What is clear is that major changes in the way we teach post-secondary students are being triggered by online learning and the new technologies that increase flexibility in, and access to, post-secondary education.

What drives the development of this new pedagogy? Changes in society, student expectations, and technology are motivating innovative university and college professors and instructors to re-think pedagogy and teaching methods.

As professors and instructors become more familiar with digital technologies for teaching and learning, pedagogical challenges and strategies are emerging. The developments listed below have had an impact on how teaching is structured and how and where learning happens.

 

 

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

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

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

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

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


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


  1. What do you mean by “the living [class] room”?
  2. Why consider this now?
  3. What are some examples of apps and tech for “the living [class] room”?
  4. What skill sets will be needed to make “the living [class] room” a reality?

 

 


Alternatively, these videos can be found at:


 

DanielSChristianLearningFromTheLivingClassRoom-CampusTechnologyNovember2013

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Broad-based knowledge or technical skills? Employers say we’ll take both – along with a few years of experience — from higheredwatch.newamerica.net by Mary Alice McCarthy

Excerpt:

A recent survey released by Northeastern University nicely captures the near total lack of agreement on the mix of knowledge and skills today’s college graduates need to succeed.  The absence of consensus isn’t the result of disagreements between business and the general public. To the contrary, results from two polls – one of 263 business “hiring decision makers” and the other of 1000 adults – closely track one another.  Rather, the responses reflect deep ambivalence on the part of both groups about the purpose of higher education, the needs and roles of employers, and the qualities that lead to career success.

 

From DSC:
I’d like to thank Amy Laitinen (@amylaitinen1) for this item; regarding it, she mentioned:

ICYMI: Employers send mixed messages about what they say they want. Broad skills? technical skills? work experience?

Yes, I’ve thought the same thing before. (In fact, I was thinking about calling this posting, “In search of the pink unicorns.”)

 

 

 

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

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

Excerpt:

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

 

 

From DSC:

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

 

 

Also related/see:

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

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

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

Nuts and bolts: How to be an overnight success — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Jane Bozarth

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

I was in a conversation the other day with Lynda.com’s Koreen Olbrish and Float Learning’s Chad Udell. We were poking at a workshop on gamification with a description that promised: “You will build a learning game in 60 minutes!” When Koreen said, “I could build a game in 60 minutes,” Chad responded, “Yes, 60 minutes and the rest of your life up to that point.”

We deal with that a lot in this business: the oversimplification of complex tasks, the marginalization of hard-earned knowledge. It often takes the form of a problem I think of as “develop before design.” People want a quick tool that will crank out a beautiful and effective eLearning program without putting any time into crafting a sound solution or a sound treatment for the content. Or they want a product that will take a static, template-based, text-heavy slide deck and, with the push of a magic button, turn it into an engaging, performance-enhancing course. The expectation is akin to driving a Kia into a carwash and expecting it to come out a Lexus. 

The “Nuts and Bolts” part of this? It’s meant as advice to newish folks: A huge part of your job will be expectations management.

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From DSC:
Right on Jane!  I’ve personally seen/experienced this as well – even within the church.  I’ve seen it happen to the teaching profession and to those in the graphic arts.

 

 

From DSC:
When I first saw the graphs (below) from Mary Meeker’s 2012 KPCB Internet Trends Year-End Update — as a technologist — my mind/focus went to the increasing pace of change/adoption of technologies. But another way to view these graphs would be to ask:

 

What does this say about society’s expectations? About society’s use of technology?
Are folks willing to wait around as long as they used to? Apparently, not as much these days.

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Inside look: Learning spaces — from University Business by Kristen Domonell
Meeting classroom teaching and collaboration expectations

Excerpt:

Gone are the days when a basic classroom with a podium and desks was considered an acceptable learning space. In fact, according to CDW-G’s “Learn Now, Lecture Later” report released in June 2012, 47 percent of instructors surveyed said they are moving beyond the lecture-only model. In addition, 71 percent of students and 77 percent of instructors said they use more classroom technology than just two years ago.

Key trends identified in the “2012 Horizon Report,” a collaboration between the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative, include the shift in education paradigms to include online learning, hybrid learning, and the collaborative model; a new emphasis in the classroom on more challenge-based and active learning; and a change in the way student projects are structured, driven by the increasingly collaborative work world.

Here are examples of how institutions are adapting to these shifting trends by creating learning spaces that foster innovative thinking and collaboration—and prepare students for the future.

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Latitude looking to kids for technology innovation — from technapex.com by Caity Doyle

 

 

Excerpt:

On their website, Latitude explains why they made the interesting choice to reach out to children for new ideas in technology:

Young people shouldn’t be merely passive recipients of media and technology, as they’re often thought to be — rather, they should be active participants in imagining and creating the future of the Web. Why? Because “digital natives” have a more intuitive relationship with new technologies than many adults have, and because they have different expectations about technology. They instinctively expect it to respond to them in very human-like ways — to motivate and empower them, often serving as a sort of companion, rather than merely a tool for solving specific problems.

Aerohive ships Bonjour Gateway, an Apple mobile device management enrollment solution and 2 new 802.11n Access Points — from marketwatch.com

Excerpt:

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jul 23, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Aerohive Networks, the pioneer in controller-less Wi-Fi and cloud-enabled enterprise networking, today announced the general availability of its HiveOS 5.1 and HiveManager 5.1. These new upgraded systems provide several significant enhancements including Bonjour Gateway and recently announced JAMF Software Mobile Device Management (MDM) integration for more granular control and management of customers’ BYOD dilemma and advanced reporting dashboards to help reduce troubleshooting.
In addition to the release of 5.1, Aerohive is delivering two new 802.11n access points (APs): AP121 and AP141. Designed to provide greater throughput and coverage, these two new APs are offered at a cost-effective price point ideal for education, healthcare, retail and distributed enterprise environments.

Cisco to unveil Apple Bonjour gateway for enterprise WiFi networks — from techworld.com by John Cox
Cisco joins rivals in giving Apple’s discovery protocol enterprise behaviours

Excerpt:

[July 24] Cisco plans to add code to its wireless LAN controllers to make Apple’s Bonjour-based technologies like AirPlay and AirPrint better behaved on enterprise networks. The code will turn the controller into a Bonjour gateway, and couple this with policy-based end user privileges. For users, this will mean that Apple clients will be able to find and access network-attached AirPrint printers, Apple TVs and the like on different subnets, so everything will just work as it does on their own home networks. A second expected result will be a big decrease in the amount of Bonjour-based discovery traffic that today is putting a heavy load on enterprise nets teeming with Apples MacBook laptops, iPhones, iPads and more.

ARUBA AIRGROUP™: Get your Wi-FI ready for AirPrint and AirPlay

Making AirPlay, AirPrint work in large scale WLANs — from community.arubanetworks.com by genieki
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From DSC:
I hope to use these sorts of tools to enable students to seamless contribute content to the classroom-based discussions. However, this IT-related item is not just relevant to the K-12 and higher ed worlds, but also to the corporate world as well.
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A piece of the Next Generation Smart Classroom -- Daniel Christian -- June 2012


 

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