experimentation

Fintropolis is an educational Minecraft world that teaching middle schoolers finance — from pixelkin.org

Excerpt:

Two years ago, Ally Financial, a financial services company, hired four interns from Historically Black Colleges and Universities through their Moguls in the Making program to promote financial literacy in younger students. The four college students, Erin Martin (Alabama A&M), Earl Perry and Keishon Smith (Florida A&M), and DeMari Tyner (North Carolina A&T) designed Fintropolis, a world in Minecraft, available now for free in Minecraft and Minecraft: Education Edition.

Also see:

A Robust and Timely Discussion of a New Kind of Homeschooling [McShane; Horn]

On 08/05/2021, in education, education reform, experimentation, face-to-face, homeschooling/homeschoolers, hybrid learning, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, remote teaching and learning, by Daniel Christian

A Robust and Timely Discussion of a New Kind of Homeschooling — from educationnext.org by Michael B. Horn
Hybrid approach combines at-home learning with school attendance

Excerpt:

Hybrid Homeschooling: A Guide to the Future of Education
by Michael Q. McShane
Rowman & Littlefield, 2021, $60; 142 pages.

As reviewed by Michael B. Horn

Hybrid learning and homeschooling have become prominent models over the past school year as millions more students learned from home, whether part or full time, during the coronavirus pandemic.

Against that backdrop, Mike McShane’s new book, Hybrid Homeschooling, would seem both topical and timely.

McShane’s book is instead a treatment of a strand of homeschooling that has received relatively little attention: “hybrid homeschooling,” which he defines as “a school that for some part of the week educates children in a traditional brick-and-mortar building and for some other part of the week has children educated at home.”

Also relevant/see:

What Is Modern Homeschooling In 2021? — from elearningindustry.com by Dariya Lopukhina
The COVID-19 pandemic saw over 300 million students all over the world become homeschooled according to Thinkimpact.

IU researchers introduce ambitious new model for large-scale research on student learning — from news.iu.edu

Excerpt:

“The main conclusion of the study — to the great surprise of many teachers — is that there is no overall effect of feedback timing that spans all learning environments,” said Fyfe, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. “The findings should provide some comfort to teachers. If they take a few days to return feedback, there is no evidence that the delay will hamper their students’ progress, and in some cases, the delay might even be helpful.”

From DSC:
I must admit that I publish this with some hesitation, as I’m a big fan of personalized, customized feedback. I just hope that study doesn’t stop or reduce faculty members from providing such valuable feedback.

Also see:

The Science of Studying Student Learning at Scale — podcast and transcript — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly; with Emily Fyfe and Ben Motz at Indiana University

Excerpt:

MOTZ: So ManyClasses is really an attempt to try and expand the scope of research so that what we’re doing in asking a question of how people learn, is expanding beyond the boundaries of any single classroom, really aiming at developing inferences that could generalize beyond that narrow scope, but also that might be able to identify where a practice might have benefits.
…
FYFE: …I think when we are thinking of ManyClasses as a research team, we’re thinking of it as a new gold standard for how to conduct scientific research in classrooms
…
And so ManyClasses is a model for sort of combining the rigor of these randomized experiments within these authentic settings. And the goal is to sort of, as Ben said, to do this across many classes, so that we’re not just running one experiment, but we’re replicating it across all of these different authentic educational settings. And so really, at the heart of it, ManyClasses is a new model for conducting research in educational settings.

Some fun ideas to foster creativity, artistry, design, developing multimedia and more!

On 07/30/2021, in animation, art, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, drama/theater, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education technology, educational games / serious games, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, liberal arts, love of learning, media/film, multimedia, music, new media literacies, online learning, online media, passions, pedagogy, play, presentations, project-based learning, reading, story, storytelling, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, tablets, teachers, tools, web-based collaboration, writing, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Transforming the classroom with augmented learning — from thetechedvocate.org by Matthew Lynch

Excerpt:

Forbes documented the many ways that augmented reality (AR) has come to life in recent years. They list several award-winning apps that use AR. A few are:

The “Gatwick Airport Passenger” App, which helps passengers navigate the airport;
The “Dulux Visualizer” App, which lets you virtually scan and paint your room any color you choose;
“Envisioned by the Mine” App, which lets you put 3D images of any type of accessory or furnishing in your home that Lowe’s offers;
“Sephora Virtual Artist”, which allows you to “put makeup on” without actually touching brush to face;
“Accuvein”, which doctors and nurses use to scan a patient’s vein network (it reduces escalations by 45%);
And, of course, there are apps like the “BIC DrawyBook App” just for fun.

But what about the classroom? Can we see a future in transforming the classroom with augmented learning?

From DSC:
Along the lines of developing creativity with edtech…

I saw another item recently about Book Creator, something that’s made this blog before. I love that type of tool because it promotes creativity, unleashes a student’s imagination, promotes their artwork and writing/storytelling and their musical or acting abilities, and it develops skills in design and developing multimedia-based artifacts. For teachers, it could be a nice project-based learning exercise.

I asked our youngest daughter if she would like to use it…we’ll see. You can get a free account that allows you to publish up to 40 books. (Plus there is pricing for schools and districts.)

And who knows…? This type of thing might just produce the next J.K. Rowling or a J.J. Abrams.

Book Creator -- check it out

AI voice actors sound more human than ever —and they’re ready to hire— from technologyreview.com by Karen Hao
A new wave of startups are using deep learning to build synthetic voice actors for digital assistants, video-game characters, and corporate videos.

Excerpt:

The company blog post drips with the enthusiasm of a ’90s US infomercial. WellSaid Labs describes what clients can expect from its “eight new digital voice actors!” Tobin is “energetic and insightful.” Paige is “poised and expressive.” Ava is “polished, self-assured, and professional.”

Each one is based on a real voice actor, whose likeness (with consent) has been preserved using AI. Companies can now license these voices to say whatever they need. They simply feed some text into the voice engine, and out will spool a crisp audio clip of a natural-sounding performance.
…
But the rise of hyperrealistic fake voices isn’t consequence-free. Human voice actors, in particular, have been left to wonder what this means for their livelihoods.

And below are a couple of somewhat related items:

Amazon’s latest voice interoperability move undermines Google — from protocol.com by Janko Roettgers
With a new toolkit, Amazon is making it easier to build devices that run multiple voice assistants — weakening one of Google’s key arguments against licensing the Google Assistant for such scenarios.

People should be able to pick whatever assistant they prefer for any given task, simply by invoking different words, Rubenson said. “We think it’s critical that customers have choice and flexibility,” he said. “Each will have their own strengths and capabilities.”

Protocol Next Up — from protocol.com by Janko Roettgers
Defining the future of tech and entertainment with Janko Roettgers.

Voice is becoming a true developer ecosystem. Amazon now has more than 900,000 registered Alexa developers, who collectively have built over 130,000 Alexa skills. And those skills are starting to show up in more and more places: “We now have hundreds of physical products” with Alexa built in, Alexa Voice Service & Alexa Skills VP Aaron Rubenson told me this week.

Flipping Higher Ed | FAQs with Eric Mazur and Robyn Brinks Lockwood [BAM Radio Network]

On 07/23/2021, in 24x7x365 access, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, education technology, experimentation, faculty, flipping -- inverted learning, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, pedagogy, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Flipping Higher Ed | FAQs with Eric Mazur and Robyn Brinks Lockwood — from BAM Radio Network

Description:

The COVID-19 pandemic forced higher education faculty around the world to stop and rethink how to teach their courses. For many, this was the first time they had given any serious thought to the science and art of teaching. The pandemic created a new universe of educators who are new to Flipped Learning and want to learn more about how to do it well. In each episode of this podcast, Eric Mazur and Robyn Brinks Lockwood answer a frequently asked question about flipping instruction in higher education.

So this is what my new Streaming TV studio looks like – I call it ‘Keynote Television’ [Leonhard]

On 07/14/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, adult learning, animation, art, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, education technology, elearning, engagement / engaging students, Europe, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, Hyflex learning, ideas, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, library / librarians, multimedia, online learning, online media, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, storytelling, streams of content, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

So this is what my new Streaming TV studio looks like – I call it ‘Keynote Television’ — from futuristgerd.com by Gerd Leonhard

Excerpt:

Many of you have asked me how I do my online keynotes, specifically my green screens, lights, virtual backgrounds etc. So here are some pictures and below is a short video from Twitter but the bottom line is… it’s complicated and took me some 6 months to learn it all:)). But well worth it: Keynote Television rocks!

From DSC:
I was one of those people who asked Gerd if he would tell teachers, professors, trainers, IDs, and others how he does what he does. Thanks Gerd for sharing this information! May it be a blessing to many!

Interesting…LearnWorlds: Create & sell online courses from your own website

On 07/12/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, new business models, online learning, online media, passions, platforms, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
While checking out an edition of innovation & tech today, the following sites caught me eye.

LearnWorlds looks intriguing to me. It will be interesting to see how teachers, professors, trainers, instructional designers, artists, coaches, and more make their living in the future. I’m pulse-checking the area of learning platforms and posting items re: it so that we can stay informed on these trends.

Also from LearnWorlds:

27 Best Online Learning Platforms

Also see:

Thinkific’s powerful, all-in-one platform makes it easy to share your knowledge, grow your audience, and scale the business you already love.

HyFlex Learning from an Undergraduate Student’s Perspective: Positives and Pitfalls — from hyflexlearning.org by Ashley Peterson

Excerpt:

HyFlex learning: the learning method none of us expected, nor was quite ready for. On March 12, 2020, my school, the University of St. Thomas, announced that we would be transitioning to online learning for a few weeks – maybe even longer. That following fall semester was when HyFlex learning kicked into high gear, giving us students control over choosing the learning modality that worked for our needs. Though HyFlex learning came as a surprise, sometimes the least expected things are the most worthwhile. With over a year of online/HyFlex learning under my belt, I am now reflecting on the positives and the pitfalls of the time spent inside and outside the classroom as a college student.

Also see:

Launching the HyFlex Learning Community Site — from hyflexlearning.org by Brian Beatty

Could VR Stadiums Be The Future Of Live Esports? [Melnick]

On 07/05/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, graphics, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, legislatures / government / legal, training / L&D, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Could VR Stadiums Be The Future Of Live Esports? — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick
Virtex wants to revolutionize the way we view live esports by replicating the IRL stadium experience in VR.

Also see:

Augmented, Virtual Realties Hold Promise for Government — from govtech.com
Excerpts:
From firefighting and social services to increased accessibility, public-sector agencies are using virtual and augmented reality to improve how staff train to interact with citizens — and it’s only the beginning.
…
From field operations to personnel training to service delivery, “there are a lot of opportunities to improve government through these immersive experiences,” she said. While state and local governments are still in the early stages of AR and VR adoption, a number of emerging use cases suggest the technology’s potential power.

Better Questions in the Classroom Lead Students to Think Harder—and Learn Deeper [Bradbury & Berlin]

On 07/02/2021, in adjunct faculty, blended learning, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate universities / corporate training, distance education, education, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, memory, online learning, pedagogy, physics, productivity / tips and tricks, remote teaching and learning, research, science, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D, United States, vendors, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

Better Questions in the Classroom Lead Students to Think Harder—and Learn Deeper — from edsurge.com by Staci Bradbury and Rebekah Berlin

Excerpt:

The takeaway here is that teachers should ask questions and design tasks that require students to engage in effortful thinking. This “teacher action,” as we like to call it, is one of the ways in which Deans for Impact has operationalized the vast body of research about how people learn in a way that teachers can use.

Also see:

Before providing evidence to support that claim, a quick recap of our organizational journey. Two years ago, we launched the Learning by Scientific Design (LbSD) Network to begin the vital—albeit challenging—work of redesigning how teachers are prepared. This effort is informed by principles of learning science and taking place in what is now a network of 10 educator-preparation programs across the country. More than 70 faculty are working with us to change the arc of experiences that teacher-candidates receive as they prepare to become teachers.

Global EdTech Funding 2021 – Half Year Update — from holoniq.com
A record half year in EdTech funding with 568 rounds raising $10B of investment as, ready or not, the world turns to technology to support learning and education delivery.

Some great resources re: “The 60-Year Curriculum”

On 06/28/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adult learning, Alternatives, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, marketplaces, online learning, organizational change, pace of change, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vocational / trades, workplace, by Daniel Christian

A LIFETIME OF LEARNING — from continuum.uw.edu

Excerpts:

The 60-year curriculum is the modern approach to a lifetime of learning. Getting a degree, getting a job and never setting foot in a classroom again are not today’s reality.

A discussion paper from the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that in the next 10 to 15 years, the need for new tech skills will accelerate. We will also need people who will develop, innovate and adapt those technologies. The paper asserts that, right now, 80% of the workforce doesn’t have the skills for most of the jobs that will be available in the next five to 10 years.

From DSC:
It would be good to integrate more vocational types of pathways/items in here as well.

Some solid tools for working with multimedia on the Mac [Christian]

On 06/19/2021, in Adobe, Apple, blogs / blogging / vlogging, colleges, communications, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, education technology, elearning, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty, higher education, ideas, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, media/film, microlearning, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, photography, podcasting, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, tools, transmedia, vendors, web design and production, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I put together a short listing of some solid tools for working with multimedia on the Mac. There are many more out there, but these should do the job(s) for you…especially Telestream’s ScreenFlow.

Combining Online Courses With In-Person Supports, ‘Hybrid Colleges’ Unite [Koenig]

On 06/16/2021, in Alternatives, colleges, experimentation, face-to-face, higher education, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Combining Online Courses With In-Person Supports, ‘Hybrid Colleges’ Unite — from by Rebecca Koenig

Excerpt:

Over the past decade, brick-and-mortar outposts have popped up across the U.S. to offer students who take online college courses a physical space to study and interact. In Denver, there’s a suite in an office complex. In Austin, there’s an airy hall that resembles a co-working facility. In Philadelphia, there’s room in a modern high-rise.

Calling themselves “hybrid colleges,” these mini campus centers have set big goals for themselves, such as bringing college within reach for people historically left out of higher education.

Now, more than a dozen of these nonprofits are strengthening their bonds and committing to shared goals by creating the Hybrid College Network.

Also see:

Learning Ecosystems

Could VR Stadiums Be The Future Of Live Esports? [Melnick]

Combining Online Courses With In-Person Supports, ‘Hybrid Colleges’ Unite [Koenig]

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