human-computer interaction (HCI)

20 ideas for using video meetings with students — infographic [elearninginfographics.com]

On 07/18/2022, in collaboration, communications, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, engagement / engaging students, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, online media, online tutoring, parents/guardians, participation, pedagogy, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reading, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

20 Ideas You're Using Video Meetings With Students —Infographic

? https://t.co/jQBkibc1Qq #videomeeting #studentengagement pic.twitter.com/U7wNrnUpj0

— eLearning Industry (@elearnindustry) July 13, 2022

Top Content Providers For Immersive Learning (2022) — from elearningindustry.com by Christopher Pappas

Summary:

Immersive learning experiences allow learners to interact by simulating real-life scenarios. Are you ready to offer engaging virtual environments and experiences to your workforce? Dive right into this thoroughly curated top list featuring the best content providers for VR training and bring your teams one step closer to the Metaverse.

‘Accessibility is a journey’: A DEI expert on disability rights [Colvin]

On 07/09/2022, in accessibility / UDL, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), digital learning, education, education technology, faculty/staff, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, parents/guardians, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, smart classrooms, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

‘Accessibility is a journey’: A DEI expert on disability rights — from hrdive.com by Caroline Colvin
Employers can wait for a worker to request reasonable accommodation under the ADA, but Kelly Hermann asks: Why not be accommodating from the start?

Excerpt:

Often, employers jump to the obstacles that exist in physical spaces: nonexistent ramps for wheelchairs, manual doors that lack motion sensors, and the like. But the digital world presents challenges as well. Hermann and the U Phoenix accessibility team likes to “demystify” disability for campus members seeking their counsel, she said.

“Are you making those links descriptive and are you using keywords? Or are you just saying ‘click here’ and that’s your link?” Hermann asked. Like a sighted person, an individual with a disability can also scan a webpage for links with assistive technology, but this happens audibly, Hermann said, “They tell that tool to skip by link and this is what they hear: ‘Click here.’ ‘Click here.’ ‘Click here.’ ‘Click here.’ With four links on the page all hyperlinked with ‘click here,’ [they] don’t know where [they’re] going.”

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.

6 ADA accessibility trends revealed in our mid-year 2022 report [Taylor]

On 07/05/2022, in accessibility / UDL, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, tools, training / L&D, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

6 ADA accessibility trends revealed in our mid-year 2022 report — from blog.usablenet.com by Jason Taylor

Excerpt:

We just published our mid-year ADA web and App report created by the UsableNet research team reviewing all lawsuits filed in federal courts under the ADA and California state court under Unruh. We review the cases to identify where a digital property, including websites, mobile apps, and video, is the subject of the claim. Our bi-annual reports let UsableNet inform our clients and provide them with the most up-to-date advice for planning their digital accessibility initiatives.

Here is my main take on some key numbers based on what we have seen in 2022 and what’s driving those numbers.

The future of video entertainment: Immersive, gamified, and diverse — from mckinsey.com
“There’ll be a blurring of the lines between things we watch and things we play”

A next generation learning platform will offer this [Christian]

On 06/29/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, marketplaces, Metaverse, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, skills, society, training / L&D, vendors, by Daniel Christian

DC: In our future learning ecosystems there will be the opportunity to view and access a variety of learning-related resources— similar to this service for entertainment-related items.#learningecosystems #learningfromthelivingclassroom #future #learning pic.twitter.com/9ZD9FbnOvR

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) June 27, 2022

From DSC:
An AI-backed platform will constantly search all job postings and present the most desired skills in the marketplace and then how to get those skills. The providers will be individuals, organizations, training providers, traditional institutions of higher education, vendors and more.

Depending upon what happens with blockchain — and if a much more energy-efficient/environmentally-friendly solution can be implemented — blockchain may be a part of that equation.

Meet the metaverse: Creating real value in a virtual world [Hazan & Yee]

On 06/29/2022, in business, career development, change, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, Metaverse, online learning, participation, platforms, society, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, training / L&D, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, vocational / trades, webinars, youth, by Daniel Christian

Meet the metaverse: Creating real value in a virtual world — from mckinsey.com with Eric Hazan and Lareina Yee

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Welcome to the metaverse. Now, where exactly are we? Imagine for a moment the next iteration of the internet, seamlessly combining our physical and digital lives. It’s many things: a gaming platform, a virtual retail spot, a training tool, an advertising channel, a digital classroom, a gateway to entirely new virtual experiences. While the metaverse continues to be defined, its potential to unleash the next wave of digital disruption is clear. In the first five months of 2022, more than $120 billion have been invested in building out metaverse technology and infrastructure. That’s more than double the $57 billion invested in all of 2021.

How would you define the metaverse?
Lareina: What’s exciting is that the metaverse, like the internet, is the next platform on which we can work, live, connect, and collaborate. It’s going to be an immersive virtual environment that connects different worlds and communities. There are going to be creators and alternative currencies that you can buy and sell things with. It will have a lot of the components of Web3 and gaming and AR, but it will be much larger.

Also relevant/see:

Value creation in the metaverse — from mckinsey.com

Also relevant/see:

Omar Wael built his first robot at the age of nine. ?

Now he's 13 and building a metaverse using his mother's old clothes. ?

See more ? pic.twitter.com/WxYMnaOQvt

— Euronews Next (@euronewsnext) June 28, 2022

We need to go beyond the focus on STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) towards HECI (humanity, ethics, creativity, imagination) — from futuristgerd.com by Gerd Leonhard
…an important realisation that recently dawned on me. What will our schools, colleges and universities do about this?

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

Gerd Leonhard

We need to go beyond the focus on STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) towards HECI (humanity, ethics, creativity, imagination)

Also see:

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.

Radar Trends to Watch: June 2022 [O’Reilly]

On 06/03/2022, in 21st century, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, ethics, Facebook / Meta Platforms, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, internet, IT in HE, NVIDIA, platforms, programming, robotics, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Radar Trends to Watch: June 2022 — from oreilly.com

Excerpt:

The explosion of large models continues. Several developments are especially noteworthy. DeepMind’s Gato model is unique in that it’s a single model that’s trained for over 600 different tasks; whether or not it’s a step towards general intelligence (the ensuing debate may be more important than the model itself), it’s an impressive achievement. Google Brain’s Imagen creates photorealistic images that are impressive, even after you’ve seen what DALL-E 2 can do. And Allen AI’s Macaw (surely an allusion to Emily Bender and Timnit Gebru’s Stochastic Parrots paper) is open source, one tenth the size of GPT-3, and claims to be more accurate. Facebook/Meta is also releasing an open source large language model, including the model’s training log, which records in detail the work required to train it.

“Big props to Miro for such an excellent product” [Talbert]

On 05/23/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty/staff, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), interactivity, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, liberal arts, mathematics, Michigan, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

“Opportunities for Education in the Metaverse” [Downes] + “What Should Higher Ed in the Metaverse Look Like?” [Schaefer]

On 05/20/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Canada, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, cryptocurrencies, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interaction design, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, Metaverse, Mixed Reality (MR), MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, presentations, professional development, remote teaching and learning, trends, United States, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Opportunities for Education in the Metaverse — from downes.ca by Stephen Downes

Excerpt:

This short presentation introduces major elements of the metaverse, outlines some applications for education, discusses how it may be combined with other technologies for advanced applications, and outlines some issues and concerns.

Also relevant/see:

What Should Higher Ed in the Metaverse Look like? – from linkedin.com by Joe Schaefer

Excerpt:

The Metaverse is coming whether we like it or not, and it is time for educators to think critically about how it can benefit students. As higher education continues to evolve, I believe every learning product and platform working with or within the Metaverse should, at least, have these functionalities:

Addendum on 5/23/22:

Google Maps to add “immersive view” [futuretimeline.net]

On 05/20/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, innovation, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Google Maps to add “immersive view” — from futuretimeline.net
Google Maps, the world’s most-downloaded travel app, will soon become more immersive and intuitive thanks to a major upgrade.

Excerpts:

A new “immersive view” will generate far more detailed graphics than are available currently. This will provide sweeping views of cities in full 3D, complete with simulated cars, real-time weather, realistic day/night cycles, shadow effects, water reflections, and even animations like birds flying through the sky.
…
The company also announced an update for Live View. First launched in 2019, this provides augmented reality (AR) walking routes in the form of arrows, directions, and distance markers.

These improvements are possible thanks to advances in computer vision and AI that allow billions of aerial, street view, and other images to combine and create a rich, seamless, digital model of the world.

Addendums on 5/23/22:

Google Wants To Deliver World-Scale AR Using Google Maps — from vrscout.com by Bobby Carlton

Somewhat relevant/see:

Earth // Around The World From The Air 4K from Kien Lam on Vimeo.

You can practice for a job interview with Google AI — from engadget.com by J. Fingas
You’ll know how to answer key questions.

Learning Ecosystems

Top Content Providers For Immersive Learning (2022) [Pappas]

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

Meet the metaverse: Creating real value in a virtual world [Hazan & Yee]

“Big props to Miro for such an excellent product” [Talbert]

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