experimentation

From DSC:
The following two items make me wonder how Extended Reality (XR)-related techs will impact theatre, gaming, opera, & other forms of entertainment.

AR Opera Glasses Could Change Broadway Forever — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Excerpt:

Immersive technology brings the stage to life like never before.

Students from the South Korean Hongik University have developed a pair of reimagined 19th-century opera glasses that utilize AR technology to immerse spectators in Broadway shows in a variety of unique and imaginative ways. The device is compatible with popular shows such as Wicked, Aladdin, Cats, Mamma Mia, and Frozen.

Reddot_Rene from ???/??????? on Vimeo.

What ‘Shakespeare Karaoke’ Teaches About the Virtual Reality Future — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig
Does technology work better as a solo encounter or a group experience?

Excerpt:

To immerse, or not to immerse?

For professors designing virtual reality versions of Shakespeare’s plays, that is the question. The answer(s) may have implications for designing new edtech tools—and VR technology intended to be used beyond the classroom, too.

The Bard’s masterpieces, plays written in the late 1500s and early 1600s, have received all kinds of digital makeovers in the 21st century. Two current efforts designed by academics for use in teaching draw on extended reality tools that invite users to actively participate in scenes from works like “Romeo and Juliet.”

Play the Knave is a video game that helps users design actor-avatars they can direct with their bodies around virtual theater spaces. Shakespeare-VR is a project-in-development that will enable users to don a VR headset, step on to a virtual Elizabethan stage and perform alongside avatars voiced by professional actors.

17 Best Video Converter Software in 2022 (Free and Paid) [Cecilia Hwung]

On 07/14/2022, in A/V -- audio/visual, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, experimentation, higher education, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, tools, training / L&D, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

17 Best Video Converter Software in 2022 (Free and Paid) — from videoproc.com by Cecilia Hwung

Excerpt:

Looking for the best video converter software? We may need a free or paid video converter for various reasons. For instance,

Change videos into different formats for playing on iPhone, TVs, PS4, Xbox, Mac…
Convert videos recorded by GoPro, DJI, iPhone, DSLR cameras, or screen captures to editing-friendly format
Transcode videos for sending on Discord, Pinterest, Twitter, and other social media without quality loss
Share the same video on different platforms with different formats for getting the best outcomes on each platform
Convert DVDs (including the new and 99-title DVDs) with favored chapters, subtitles, and languages
…

Given the fact that hundreds of paid and free video converters out there claim themselves to be powerful, fast, and easy-to-learn while giving no compromise to quality, choosing the best video converter software becomes one of the most frustrating roadblocks you may encounter.

Lucky you are here. We have carefully selected and assembled a list of the best video converter software you can get right now. Most of them are open-source and cross-platform, meaning they are completely free video file converter programs for Windows 11/10/8/7, macOS, Linux, and web.

Teaching Financial Literacy — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
More states are adopting financial literacy requirements for students. Here are tips for teaching the topic.

Excerpt:

Teaching students about this financial misinformation is vital, Pelletier says. As is giving students the tools to understand cryptocurrency, NFTs, intense inflation, and student debt, along with more traditional lessons in financial literacy.

Financial Literacy: Teaching and Engagement Resources
There are free online resources with ready-to-go financial lesson plans, videos, and classroom exercises.

While not much time is spent in K-12 educating students about money, once they graduate, it will be an important topic for them. “Not a day will go by that they’re not thinking about money. How to make it, how to spend it, how to save it,” Pelletier says. “And yet it’s like the least thing you’re taught in school.”

From DSC:
I appreciated Erik’s article/topic here and I would add that I wish that we would teach high schoolers about legal-related items such as wills, trusts, power of attorney for health care and for finances, finding legal assistance, etc.

But even as I write this, I recall that my neighbor is leaving our local school district to move to another school district for her kids’ sake (her and her husband’s words, not mine). I get it. Teachers have sooooo much on their plate already. So I don’t mean to throw another item on their jammed-full job plates.

But I hope that we will look at how to redesign our lifelong learning ecosystems to make them even more relevant, helpful, practical, useful, and up-to-date/responsive. We would probably find that the youth would be more attentive if they sensed that the information they are being taught will definitely come in handy in their futures. Better yet, bring former students in via digital video to relay practical examples of things that they — or their parents, grandparents, friends, etc. — are experiencing to the current students.

Also relevant/see:

High School Students Say They Learn The Most Important Skills Outside of School — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The trend that could have a huge impact on education, at the K-12 and college level, Evans argues. For one thing, it’s a challenge to teachers—that they should do more to tap into the intrinsic motivation of students, that students can learn so much more if they’re excited about what they’re doing.

From DSC:
This item from EdSurge mentioned “free agent learning” — so I put a Google Alert out there for this phrase this morning, as I want to learn more about that topic/item.

What’s next for online education? — from educationalist.substack.com by Alexandra Mihai

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

An ecosystem not a dichotomy
As you’re hopefully already getting from my thoughts so far, I personally see our options for quality education in the future more like an ecosystem and not a series of mutually exclusive paths. It’s time to discard- or at least question-the “online vs. in person” dichotomy, almost always unfavourable to online education. It’s time to think in a more nuanced way about this. And, yes, you’ve guessed, more nuanced is always more difficult. Seeing the shades of grey requires a critical lens that we don’t need to see black and white.

The extent to which online education will be used in the future does not depend only on people (micro level), it depends on institutions (meso level) and policies (macro level).

The learning ecosystem, in my view:

- includes various modalities used in a complementary way and as a continuum;
- serves a multitude of audiences, at different stages of learning, with different aims and degrees of engagement;
- requires comprehensive and interconnected support structures at institutional level, for students and faculty.

Also from educationalist.substack.com by Alexandra Mihai, see:

Intentional learning design — from educationalist.substack.com by Alexandra Mihai

Excerpt:

My definition
Let’s start with a definition. By intentional learning design I mean designing learning experiences:

- Focusing on the “why”: ensuring that any decision taken at the design stage is aligned with the overall narrative of the course and, more precisely, with the learning objectives; this requires self-reflection, at least some knowledge of the main pedagogical principles, attention to detail and openness to see learning design as an iterative process and not a box on a checklist;
- Focusing on students’ experience: designing a course/ programme that is well tailored to students’ needs; this requires knowing your students well, making your design choices explicit to them and involving them in an ongoing dialogue.

Mid-term reflections on my American adventure

Excerpt:

A sneak peek into my research on Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTLs)
With a big part of the data collection already behind me, I thought I’d briefly share here some of my most important- and sometimes surprising- findings so far. While still pretty superficial, this can hopefully give you an insight into the discussions I’ve been having and hopefully make you curious to find out more once I’ll get to publish my results.

- Positioning of CTLs.
- Sense of CTL vulnerability.
- The backgrounds and personalities of CTL leaders.
- Integrated CTLs.
- Credibility.
- Who works in CTLs?
- Professional development and career paths in CTLs.
- CTL offer and programming.
- Graduate student support.
- Online education.

The Metaverse in 2040 [Anderson & Rainie]

On 07/03/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), business, collaboration, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cryptocurrencies, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, immersion, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Metaverse, Mixed Reality (MR), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, vendors, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The Metaverse in 2040 — from pewresearch.org by Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie
Hype? Hope? Hell? Maybe all three. Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive ‘metaverse.’ They expect that augmented- and mixed-reality enhancements will become more useful in people’s daily lives. Many worry that current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms

The metaverse will, at its core, be a collection of new and extended technologies. It is easy to imagine that both the best and the worst aspects of our online lives will be extended by being able to tap into a more-complete immersive experience, by being inside a digital space instead of looking at one from the outside.

Laurence Lannom, vice president at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives

“Virtual, augmented and mixed reality are the gateway to phenomenal applications in medicine, education, manufacturing, retail, workforce training and more, and it is the gateway to deeply social and immersive interactions – the metaverse.

Elizabeth Hyman, CEO for the XR Association

Metaverse, NFTs, Web3 And Virtual Land In The Sandbox — from forbes.com by Bernard Marr

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

So, what does Borget – undeniably one of the pioneers of the concept – think the metaverse actually is?

“For us, metaverse is really this myriad of worlds,” he tells me during our recent webinar conversation, “that users can experience through an avatar that becomes a 3D representation of themselves.”

These avatars are the key to unlocking “all sorts of new experiences … more creative, more immersive, unlike what we’ve seen before with traditional virtual worlds, where users can already socialize … here, what’s important is the ability of users to truly own their own identity, own their own belongings, digital assets, virtual land, houses … and are able to move that identity from one world to another without being constrained.”

“There will be millions of virtual worlds, places where users can take their avatars,” Borget continues. “What’s important is this ability to move from one to another while … keeping all their content they create in one and using it in others.”

Also see:

Metaverse Opportunities, risks and policy implications — from europarl.europa.eu by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS)
Metaverse Opportunities, risks and policy implications

Summary:

One of the most talked about concepts in modern technology, the metaverse can be described as an immersive and constant virtual 3D world where people interact by means of an avatar to carry out a wide range of activities. Such activities can range from leisure and gaming to professional and commercial interactions, financial transactions or even health interventions such as surgery. While the exact scope and impact of the metaverse on society and on the economy is still unknown, it can already be seen that the metaverse will open up a range of opportunities but also a number of risks in a variety of policy areas.

Major tech companies are scaling up their metaverse activities, including through mergers and acquisitions. This has given impetus to a debate on how merger regulations and antitrust law should apply. Business in the metaverse is expected to be underpinned largely by cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, raising issues of ownership, misuse, interoperability and portability. Furthermore, the huge volume of data used in the metaverse raises a number of data protection and cybersecurity issues (e.g. how to collect user consent or protect avatars against identity theft).

There is considerable scope for a wide range of illegal and harmful behaviours and practices in the metaverse environment. This makes it essential to consider how to attribute responsibility, inter alia, for fighting illegal and harmful practices and misleading advertising practices, and for protecting intellectual property rights. Moreover, digital immersion in the metaverse can have severe negative impacts on health, especially for vulnerable groups, such as minors, who may require special protection. Finally, the accessibility and inclusiveness of the metaverse remain areas where progress has still to be made in order to create an environment of equal opportunities.

Also see the following from the Legal Talk Network — with Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell

Metavisting the Metaverse – Dennis and Tom plunge into the metaverse—its trends, current tech, and possibilities for the future.
The Wild World of NFTs – Dennis and Tom dive into these unique digital objects (art, video, and much more) and outline the issues surrounding their current hype and value in the real world.

Blurring the lines between education and workforce — from hechingerreport.org by Javeria Salman
A proposition to ‘blur’ the boundaries between K-12, higher ed, and the workforce industry

Excerpts:

One idea that’s been gaining steam since last year is to break down barriers between high school, college and career to create a system that bridges all three.

The concept is called the “Big Blur.”

“What would it look like to change the typical, or what we think of as the conventional high school experience and instead design something that was built for the modern economy?” said Vargas.

Vargas said that JFF is arguing for new programs or institutions that serve students in grades 11 through 14 (grades 13 and 14 being the first two years of college, under our current configuration). The institutions would be co-designed with regional employers so that all students get work-based learning experiences and graduate — without tuition costs — with a post-secondary credential that has labor market value.

AI Plus VR at Purdue University Global — from er.educause.edu by Abbey Elliott, Michele McMahon, Jerrica Sheridan, and Gregory Dobbin
Adding artificial intelligence to virtual reality provides nursing students with realistic, immersive learning experiences that prepare them to treat patients from diverse backgrounds.

Excerpt:

Adding artificial intelligence (AI) to immersive VR simulations can deepen the learning by enabling patient interactions that reflect a variety of patient demographics and circumstances, adjusting patient responses based on students’ questions and actions. In this way, the immersive learning activities become richer, with the goal of providing unique experiences that can help students make a successful transition from student to provider in the workforce. The use of AI and immersive learning techniques augments learning experiences and reinforces concepts presented in both didactic and clinical courses and coursework. The urgency of the pandemic prompted the development of a vision of such learning that would be sustainable beyond the pandemic as a tool for education on a relevant and scalable platform.

Speaking of emerging technologies and education/learning, also see:

3 Ways AI Can Help Students with Disabilities — from er.educause.edu
Artificial intelligence can improve accessibility and ensure that students with disabilities have access to rich learning opportunities.
Nvidia’s new AI magic turns 2D photos into 3D graphics — from thenextweb.com by
The technique targets video game designs

Best virtual tours in Ireland — from bestinireland.com; with thanks to Mary Pauline Maido for this resource

Is VR Really Mainstream? What Learning Leaders Need to Know — from learningsolutionsmag.com
Eduverse Debuts as Education-Themed Metaverse Experience for K–12 — from thejournal.com

Top Sites for Educator Professional Development — from techlearning.com by Diana Restifo
These professional development sites for education will help teachers refresh and update their practice

Excerpt:

The learning never stops for teachers. Even if continuing education were not required by law, educators would still strive toward deepening their subject knowledge, keeping up with the latest research, sharpening their classroom skills, and learning to use education technology tools.

The following professional development sites for education will help teachers refresh and update their practice, connect with fellow educators and, in some cases, earn continuing education credits. All provide substantial free or modestly priced content.

And for you higher ed folks, see the Tweet below; my thanks to Becky Supiano for this resource out at The Chronicle of Higher Education

I’m putting together a short session for students about to teach (single session, not whole course) for the first time. I’ll focus on planning, and engaging students.

What would your vote be for the single most helpful thing to know before prepping your first class?

— Dr. Molly Metz (@metzpsych) June 16, 2022

Some learning-related tips from Eva Keiffenheim’s Learn Letter

Excerpts from Eva’s 6/15/22 letter re: learning a language — with Mathias Barra, who “has studied about 20 languages and is fluent in six”

2) The best way to mastery is by making language learning part of your life
There’s no single best way to study languages. Mathias approached every language differently.

The most important thing is to find some activities that you actually enjoy in the language. For example, you can:

watch a Netflix series with double subtitles with the free Language Reactor extension
reading a book in the language you’re learning, for example with easy readers?
go to radio.garden and listen to the language you’re learning
switch your phone settings to another language
write your diary in the language you’re learning

“The best way to study languages is not to limit it to study time, but to make it part of your life, for example, through exposure.”
…
Some tools and resources Mathias recommends:

iTalki offers 1-on-1 lessons in more than 150 languages
Journaly allows you to type a text that natives correct
Slowly connects you with a language tandem for writing letters
HiNative gets you answers from native speakers
Speechling helps you work on listening comprehension

See the full interview here.

And from Eva’s 6/22/22 Learn Letter:

According to this concept, there’s an optimal arousal level for task performance. The Yerkes-Dodson Law says there is an empirical relationship between stress and performance. Yerkes and Dodson discovered that the optimal arousal level depends on the complexity and difficulty of the task.

From DSC:
Reading a bit about the Yerkes-Dodson Law, I was reminded of a bad learning experience from years ago. I recall sitting in a conference room at Baxter Healthcare and I was trying to learn more about programming. I had just been switched into a new group and my new supervisor was trying to teach me some basic items (basic to him, anyway). He was getting increasingly frustrated at me for not understanding some things. The more frustrated he got, the less I could even concentrate on what he was saying and trying to teach me.

Along these lines, I also remember a relative trying to teach another relative some new things. Again, the more upset the “teacher” got, the less able the “learner” was able to concentrate. It didn’t end well.

Oh…what’s that?! I’m hearing a loud “Amen!!!” coming from countless music teachers and students out there too.

For these kinds of reasons, I want to learn more about the place of emotion in our learning ecosystems.

“…employing the AI contextualization engine as the librarian.” [Bernhardt]

On 06/14/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, library / librarians, lifelong learning, personalized/customized learning, platforms, skills, tools, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Boost Usability of Libraries & Knowledge Hubs with Automation — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Markus Bernhardt

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Our article series looks at the top three areas where we see automation and AI revolutionizing the way in which successful L&D teams work: Asset libraries and knowledge hubs; hyper-personalized, truly adaptive learning; and capability mapping. This article examines the impact of AI and automation on maintaining asset libraries and knowledge hubs.
…
Thus, the contextualization engine becomes a powerful content management tool. It is also easy to use and requires no particular subject matter knowledge of the user; the librarian who has read everything does that for the user. And this works, of course, with articles, slide decks, audio, video, and even VR/AR content, and basically any file type.

Assets can be mapped to competencies, skills, learning objectives, departments, the requirements of a specific course or workshop, or to the horizontals and verticals of an organization’s internal restructuring model. And this takes place within seconds and minutes, and at scale.

With the ability to map content as well as practice exercises, questions, and assessments automatically into each concept’s complexity tree, it is now possible to use automation and AI to deliver adaptive and truly personalized learning content and learning paths.

AI: Where are we now? — from educause.edu by EDUCAUSE
Is the use of AI in higher education today invisible? dynamic? perilous? Maybe it’s all three.

Also see:

Also relevant/see:

MLTut.com: A Website that helps learner’s to get everything in one place.

Into the metaverse: What does it hold for the future of L&D? — from chieflearningofficer.com by Calvin Coffee

Excerpt:

Instead of putting learners in front of 2D videos where they’re answering questions or just clicking boxes, the metaverse allows learners to experience what a job is actually like before accepting and will enable leaders to see if employees are ready for the next level of work. In the same way flight simulators can prepare pilots for many aspects of operating and flying an aircraft, through technologies like VR the metaverse can prepare employees for almost anything at work.

“This technology can impact every stage of the HR journey for an employee,” Belch says. “We all know the interviewing process is flawed and riddled with bias. Let’s have someone do the job and show us whether or not they can do the job.” And if they mess up in VR, they’re not going to take down the whole factory. From hiring and beyond, there is an abundance of potential spaces that the metaverse can capitalize on and improve.

Research in medical training has found that information retention rates can reach 80 percent after a full year of training through immersive simulated experiences compared to just 20 percent for traditional training. “People are picking it up and are much more comfortable performing their tasks after going through the simulation,” Jordan says. “It’s incredibly powerful.”

Also from chieflearningofficer.com:

How (and why) leaders can (and should) leverage the power of visual thinking — by Todd Cherches

Building a culture of pioneering responsibly [Ibrahim]

On 06/01/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), corporate / business world, ethics, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, Google, Microsoft, morals/values, by Daniel Christian

How to ensure we benefit society with the most impactful technology being developed today — from deepmind.com by Lila Ibrahim

In 2000, I took a sabbatical from my job at Intel to visit the orphanage in Lebanon where my father was raised. For two months, I worked to install 20 PCs in the orphanage’s first computer lab, and to train the students and teachers to use them. The trip started out as a way to honour my dad. But being in a place with such limited technical infrastructure also gave me a new perspective on my own work. I realised that without real effort by the technology community, many of the products I was building at Intel would be inaccessible to millions of people. I became acutely aware of how that gap in access was exacerbating inequality; even as computers solved problems and accelerated progress in some parts of the world, others were being left further behind.

After that first trip to Lebanon, I started reevaluating my career priorities. I had always wanted to be part of building groundbreaking technology. But when I returned to the US, my focus narrowed in on helping build technology that could make a positive and lasting impact on society. That led me to a variety of roles at the intersection of education and technology, including co-founding Team4Tech, a non-profit that works to improve access to technology for students in developing countries.

Also relevant/see:

Microsoft AI news: Making AI easier, simpler, more responsible — from venturebeat.com by Sharon Goldman

But one common theme bubbles over consistently: For AI to become more useful for business applications, it needs to be easier, simpler, more explainable, more accessible and, most of all, responsible.

SXSW EDU Launch Winner Our Worlds Bringing Native American Culture to Life Through Mobile-Based Immersive Reality — from the74million.org by Tim Newcomb

Excerpt:

Take a stroll along the La Jolla Shores Beach in San Diego, and you might find sand between your toes. But users of the new Our Worlds app, winner of the 2022 SXSW EDU Launch Competition, might also find much more. Through augmented reality, they can look at that same stretch of beach and see handmade tule boats from the local Kumeyaay tribe.

Our Worlds launched to highlight Native American history via modern-day technology, putting what founder and CEO Kilma Lattin calls “code to culture” and pushing Native American civilization forward. Lattin says Our Worlds offers a full suite of technology — virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence — to capture all the components that make a culture.

Apple’s first AR/VR headset inches closer to launch — from protocol.com by Nat Rubio-Licht
The company reportedly showed off the device to board members as it makes progress on the headset’s operating system.

Camp K12 Launches Hatch Kids, a Metaverse & AR/VR Creation Platform for Kids — from edtechreview.in by Stephen Soulunii

….

This could be the future of operating rooms@VRScout @Ronald_vanLoon #MixedReality #AugmentedReality #VirtualReality #AI #5G #IoT #DigitalTransformation #HeathTech @IrmaRaste @DeepLearn007 @SpirosMargaris @andi_staub @mvollmer1 @Nicochan33 @enilev
pic.twitter.com/Nq7ePLoS7f

— Harold Sinnott ?? (@HaroldSinnott) May 22, 2022

Learning Ecosystems

These two items make me wonder how XR-related techs will impact the theatre, gaming, opera, & other forms of entertainment [Christian]

What’s next for online education? + two other items from “The Educationalist” — by Alexandra Mihai

The Metaverse in 2040 [Anderson & Rainie]

Metaverse, NFTs, Web3 And Virtual Land In The Sandbox [Marr] + other relevant items

Into the metaverse: What does it hold for the future of L&D? [Coffee]

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