learning hubs & pods & microschooling

Excerpt (emphasis DSC — with thanks to Mr. Joe Byerwalter for this resource):

What is the future of learning? FIRST® LEGO® League teams will find the answers. In the 2014 FLL WORLD CLASS? Challenge, over 230,000 children ages 9 to 16* from over 70 countries will redesign how we gather knowledge and skills in the 21st century. Teams will teach adults about the ways that kids need and want to learn. Get ready for a whole new class – FLL WORLD CLASSSM!

FLL challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers. During FLL WORLD CLASSSM, teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. They will also choose and solve a real-world question in the Project. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL’s signature set of Core Values.

*9-14 in the US, Canada, and Mexico

The collaborative consumption & the sharing economy — what are the implications for teaching & learning?

On 05/22/2014, in business, business side of he, change, changing business models, collaboration, communities of practice, Daniel S. Christian, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First…a few items that stimulated some reflection:

Weekly Round-up: Collcons Must-Reads 23 May
We scour the internet to find the most interesting news on the collaborative consumption front. Here are our picks for the week:

Weekly Round Up: COLLCONS Must Reads – 9 MAY — from collaborativeconsumption.com
We scour the internet to find the most interesting news on the collaborative consumption front. Here are our picks for the week:

The Sharing Economy — from bbc.co.uk
Video duration: 30 minutes | First broadcast: Thursday 08 May 2014

Description:

Home swaps, driving your neighbour’s car, private car parking in your drive, even renting your neighbour’s clothes. They are all part of a new style of collaborative enterprise in which nearly everyone can join and (maybe) make money: the ‘shared economy’.

It’s breaking cover, growing fast and could be important. Perhaps the best known example is Airbnb but many more companies have sprung up allowing people to share their things and even their time. And now companies are trying to make money out of what makes all this sharing possible: trust.

But existing regulations and laws are set up for traditional businesses such as hotels and car hire companies, and that is causing problems. Peter Day investigates the opportunities and snags of the sharing economy and asks if it could become a big democratic movement.

From DSC:
After seeing those items, I began to wonder…

Given the tough economic times many of us find ourselves in, will the sharing economy continue to pick up steam?
If so, what are the implications for teaching and learning? How might such an environment impact what occurs within K-20? For example, will the concept of learning hubs take off (especially at the higher ed level)?
Will such an environment lend itself to encouraging more communities of practice?

Hmmm….

Also see:

Addendum — related…?

Turning a MOOC into a network of schools collaborating — from pbs.org

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Students at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Utah are currently engaged in a collaborative online class, Social Media Journalism, which combines the convenience of a MOOC with the engagement of a medium-sized lecture — and the completion rate is more than 95 percent. The engagement scales, too: students at both schools, 1,300 miles apart, are taking the class together, interacting with each other, viewing the same lesson modules and building a news aggregation service on various social media platforms. The difference is they get a personal instructor and smaller groups of familiar classmates. Our next step is to add more campuses and make this a new kind of MOOC — a network of schools working together with the same material but with individual instructors.

…

“It wasn’t about lectures or tests; it was about actually putting our work out there on social media and letting audience feedback be our guide. It was one of the few classes I’ve taken where I felt like my work was actually applicable toward real-life situations, instead of just being about a grade.”

…

Even if they don’t become social media editors, many have said they gained from having the knowledge of how to run an organization’s social channels.

“Learning Hubs” — could be very powerful/beneficial, esp. for lifelong learners!

On 05/01/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, hybrid learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The idea of a learning hub — where some of the learning content is accessed electronically and where some of the learning takes place in a face-to-face manner — seems to be picking up steam. Conceptually, it makes a huge amount of sense, especially if it’s done well. It combines the best of online learning and face-to-face learning. Though not new, blended or hybrid learning, has often been said to be the Holy Grail of learning. So some of the learning could be accessed remotely — via a live videoconference or via a previously recorded lecture — and some of the learning could take place around a table.

Let's take the best of both worlds -- online learning and face-to-face learning

With that in mind, it was interested to see the following postings:

N.Y. Public Library Plans Face-to-Face ‘Classes’ for MOOC Students — from chronicle.com by Steve Kolowich
Excerpt:
In a pilot program with Coursera, the New York Public Library plans to organize meet-ups at which people taking massive open online courses can gather and discuss the courses with help from “trained facilitators.”The partnership is part the MOOC company’s effort to build an infrastructure for in-person learning around its free online courses. Research has suggested that MOOC students who receive offline help earn higher scores on their assessments.
.
New Learning Hubs Locations Hosted by The New York Public Library and Seven Other International Partners– — coursera.com
Excerpt:
[On April 30th] we are happy to announce eight new Learning Hubs partners including The New York Public Library, the largest library system in the US and our first domestic Learning Hubs network. Fitting we think that one of our first US Learning Hubs partners is located in New York, Coursera’s most popular city in the world by enrollment with more than 50,000 users located in New York City and 160,000 in the greater state of New York!
…
We launched the Learning Hubs program last year to give communities around the world the ability to access online courses for free, and also to engage with others in a blended learning setting. We’ve since partnered with a total of 17 trusted institutions around the world including the US Department of State to establish physical spaces where students can access the necessary technology and a global community of learners.

From DSC:
Combine that vision with the vision that I’ve put forth on this blog before — and which the recent blog posting discusses below – and you have one pumped up learning environment!

What will the active learning classroom look like in the not-so-distant future? — from lakelandlearningtechnologies.wordpress.com

The next generation interactive classroom…

1) will support students bringing their smartphones and tablets (BYOD) into the classroom. Students can expect to interact with their peers and the content / media on-the-fly, at the same time, discovering new ways to use classroom and web-based technologies to support their own learning.

2) will be increasingly wireless. Apple TV is already being used in classrooms where students and their teachers share their assignments and class projects on high definition TV screens. Emerging wireless technologies such as 802.11 ac, mean faster connection speeds and improved quality of shared media.

3) will mean classrooms are more configurable around the people using them rather than the fixtures and technology in the room. The use of multiple surfaces fosters collaboration, creativity and design, permitting students and instructors the ability to display, capture and share these interactions.

New learning spaces are emerging as a blend of the formal and informal – with flexibility driving design.

Beautiful Learning Spaces — from Egor Bogomolov on Pinterest

On 04/14/2014, in learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, lifelong learning, love of learning, smart classrooms, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Egor’s curated collections also include collaborative work spaces, libraries, other.

What educationally-related affordances might we enjoy from these TV-related developments?

On 04/09/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, e-books, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, flipping -- inverted learning, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, lifelong learning, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, social media, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

CONTENTS

Content discovery and synchronization
With access to rich data about their subscribers and what they do, operators can improve recommendation, encourage social TV and exploit second screen synchronization.
Recordings get more personal
One of the next big steps in multiscreen TV is giving people access to their personal recordings on every screen. This is the moment for nPVR to finally make its entrance.
Evolving the User Experience
As service providers go beyond household level and address individuals, the role of log-ins or context will become important. There is a place for social TV and big data.
The role of audio in personalization
Audio has a huge impact on how much we enjoy video services. Now it can help to personalize them. ‘Allegiance’ based audio choices are one possibility.
Making advertising more targeted
Addressable advertising is in its infancy but has a bright future, helping to fund the growth of on-demand and multiscreen viewing.

Some excerpts from this report:

Good content should be matched by good content discovery , including recommendations. The current state-of -the-art is defined by Netflix.

…

Today’s TV experience is worlds apart from the one we were talking about even five years ago. We’ve witnessed exponential growth in services such as HD and have moved from a model in which one screen is watched by many, to many screens (and devices) being available to the individual viewer, what is today called TV Everywhere. Having multiscreen access to content is driving the demand for a more personalised experience, in which the viewer can expect to see what they want, where, and when. While video on-demand (VOD) has been a great method for delivering compelling content to viewers, it is not always a truly seamless TV-like experience, and traditionally has been limited to the living room. The growing demand for the personalised experience is driving seismic change within the TV industry, and we’ve seen great strides made already, with time-shifted TV and nPVR as just two examples of how we in the industry can deliver content in the ways viewers want to watch. The next step is to move towards more advanced content discovery, effectively creating a personalised channel or playlist for the individual user.

…

As the tools become available to deliver personalized experiences to consumers, content owners can better create experiences that leverage their content. For example, for sports with multiple points of action, like motor racing, multiple camera angles and audio feeds will allow fans to follow the action that is relevant to their favourite racing team. And for movies, access to additional elements such as director’s commentaries, which have been available on Blu-ray discs for some time, can be made available over broadcast networks.

From DSC:
Some words and phrases that come to my mind:

Personalization.
Data driven.
Content discovery and recommendation engines (which could easily relate to educational playlists)
Training on demand
Learning agents
Web-based learner profiles
Learning hubs
What MOOCs morph into
More choice. More control.
Virtual tutoring
Interactivity and participation
Learning preferences
Lifelong learning
Reinventing oneself
Streams of content
Learning from The Living [Class] Room

7 items on learning — learning hubs, PBL, motivation and more

On 03/29/2014, in elearning, face-to-face, formal learning, informal learning, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, metacognition / metacognitive skills, online learning, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

Engaging ideas for designing learning videos — from Karl Kapp

Excerpt:

Here are some video techniques for creating a learning piece that caught my eye in terms of creativity and delivering a learning message. You may want to consider using some of these techniques for your own instructional design and delivery. It is always a good idea to mix up techniques to keep presentation styles fresh and engaging.

30 of the best apps for group project-based learning — from teachthought.com

Excerpt:

Project-based learning is a matter of identifying needs and opportunities (using an app like flipboard), gathering potential resources (using an app like pinterest), collecting notes and artifacts (with an app like Evernote), concept-mapping potential scale or angles for the project (using an app like simplemind), assigning roles (with an appp like Trello), scheduling deadlines (with apps like Google Calendar), and sharing it all (with apps like OneDrive or Google Drive).

With that in mind, below are 30 of the best apps for getting this kind of work done in the classroom, with an emphasis on group project-based learning apps for both Android and iPad (and even a few for plain old browsers).

11 ways to create learning experiences that work — from dashe.com by Ben Nesvig

Excerpt:

The list of recommendations for creating better learning experiences is by no means a complete list (if I’m missing any, please share them in the comments). Every recommendation might not be right for your specific situation, but as a general rule, they will help you create better learning experiences.

Incorporating Social — from clomedia.com by Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Once companies decide how social learning should take place, it’s important to fully integrate it into an organization’s overall learning strategy.

Excerpt:

Collaboration on social platforms can be enhanced if employees also have the chance to interact in person. Puttaswamy said one of Saba’s global clients gathered hundreds of its employees in one location for an “idea jam.” “Then they followed up with informal interaction. The results were really amazing,” he said. “They shared a number of ideas that were implemented, and the informal content was used to enhance their formal content.”

John Seely Brown on motivating learners (Big Thinkers Series) — from edutopia.org; the video in this pieces was published on Mar 6, 2013
Innovative thinker John Seely Brown, known for his ideas for merging digital culture and education, shares lessons educators can learn from surfers, gamers, and artists on how passion and competitive hunger can drive intrinsic motivation.

Introducing Coursera Learning Hubs: Global Participation, Local Access and Support! (back from 10/31/13)

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

At Coursera, we envision a future where everyone has access to a world-class education. We strive to create and deliver experiences that break down daily barriers that stand in the way of successful learning. Today, in support of our goals, we’re delighted to announce a new initiative- Coursera Learning Hubs – that will offer people around the world physical spaces where they can access the Internet to take a Coursera course, while learning alongside peers in an interactive, facilitated setting. All for free.

From DSC:
This idea of learning hubs — where some of the learning content is beamed in synchronously or asynchronously and where other parts of the learning experience is worked through via a group of people in the same physical location — continues to pick up steam and seems to combine the best of both worlds:

Let's take the best of both worlds -- online learning and face-to-face learning

What’s your learning philosophy? — from facultyfocus.com by Maryellen Weimer

Excerpt:

There are questions to ask before a learning experience, such as: How do you decide what you need to learn? And question to ask after: Was it worth learning? How do you know? If you were to learn it again, would you approach learning it in a different way? Why? In the process of learning this, did you discover anything about yourself as a learner? I agree with Haave. These are not questions most students have ever considered.

DIY and IDEO Inspire the Next Generation of Innovators — from IDEO.com

The ultimate summer camp. The perfect snack for a picky eater? Why are we designing things for our kids when only they can truly know what they want? DIY and IDEO ask kids to tackle these challenges and more, to develop their inner innovator. Bonus: they get a Scout-style patch for their efforts.

DIY is a place for kids to go online to learn new skills and meet others who share their interests. Kids take photos or videos of the stuff they make, assemble personal portfolios on the site, and ultimately build their creative confidence.

IDEO is proud to have collaborated with DIY to launch the “Innovator” skill: 12 challenges that help kids understand people, identify problems, and create novel solutions. We hope these challenges help inspire a new generation of design thinkers. Posted: March 21, 2014

From DSC:
A brief review of this site turns up several interesting things:

Students can explore areas, disciplines, topics that they are passionate about — or they might discover some things that turn into a passion for them; this could be hugely helpful as students see “what’s out there” for them to head towards (career-wise).
Students can submit their own creations
The format of the site is very visual, enticing…drawing one in to see what’s behind each area and to see what other students have contributed
It employs social learning
It employs badging — students can earn badges on their way to mastering a topic
Students can build their own portfolios and show those portfolios to the world!

Some recent postings on their blog:

3 incredible resources re: collaborative workspaces!

On 03/15/2014, in collaboration, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, smart classrooms, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

I want to send a shout out to Mr. Dean Gunnink [Assistant Director, Design, for Calvin College’s Physical Plant Department] from whom these resources are from.

21 inspirational collaborative workspaces — from myturnstone.com by Stephen Searer

22Squared

Creative & modern office designs around the world — from hongkiat.com by

Google (Zurich, Switzerland)

Creative collaborative spaces — from cherrylawncircle.wordpress.com

hivehaus in San Diego

4 items re: learning flows [Hart] & an item re: micro-learning [Chattopadhyay]

On 03/07/2014, in content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, India, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, professional development, social learning / networks, social media, streams of content, training / L&D, UK, user experience (UX), workplace, by Daniel Christian

A series re: The Learning Flow — by Jane Hart

(1) Beyond the Course: The Learning Flow – a new framework for the social learning era

(2) The Learning Flow and the User Experience

(3) Three Types of Learning Flow

(4) The role of the Guide in a Learning Flow

Excerpt:

S/he needs to be a knowledgeable expert in the relevant domain.
S/he needs to be a curator – but more than a curator.
S/he needs to able to pick out key resources and materials from the mass of material shared online. In other words s/he needs to be able to extract the “signal from the noise”.
S/he needs to be able to “join the dots” between resources – and show how one relates to the other.
S/he needs to be able to contextualize resources and make them relevant to the participants – drawing out the salient point(s) of the resources s/he shares.
S/he needs to be able to model good knowledge sharing skills.
S/he needs to “think small” – and create short manageable micro-learning activities.
S/he needs to “think social”- and how she can inspire and encourage short social learning experiences.
S/he needs to “think flexible” – and how she can support autonomy and choice in users’ participation.

From Micro-Learning to Corporate MOOCs — from idreflections.blogspot.com by Sahana Chattopadhyay

Excerpt:

I see MOOC as a dissemination model that offer a unique opportunity to integrate both—micro-learning and learning flows. It is an approach that – if done right – can integrate all aspects of the Pervasive Learning model – Formal, Informal and Social – popularized by Dan Pontefract in the book, Flat Army. I will discuss this in a later post. In this post, I am going to focus my attention on how micro-learning and learning flows can be an integral part of a MOOC and how this may benefit the corporate world.

How do your learning spaces measure up? — from campustechnology.com by David Raths

Excerpt:

Now, however, two separate yet complementary initiatives under development promise to fill that void: 1) FLEXspace, an interactive online database with images and videos of learning spaces, provides a searchable collection of best practices in active learning design, and 2) the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) seeks to provide a set of measurable criteria to assess how well classroom design supports and enables active learning activities.

Also see:

Excerpt:

The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange – FLEXspace – is a robust, open access repository populated with examples of learning spaces. It contains high resolution images and related information that describes detailed attributes of these spaces from institutions across the globe.

The incentive for participation is to showcase innovative design solutions open to peer review ranking and comments. As more contributions are received, the repository will emerge into a very useful planning resource for education and supporting entities at multiple levels.

Somewhat related/also see:

Emerson College campus by Morphosis places curvy classrooms within a hollow frame — from dezeen.com

Reflections on “TVs are becoming the next app battleground” [Adler]

On 03/01/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, Bring your own device (BYOD), changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, convergence, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, global / globalization, India, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, media/film, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, motivation, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, social media, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, television, TVs, by Daniel Christian

TVs are becoming the next app battleground — from by Emily Adler

Excerpt:

The app store phenomenon, centered on smartphones and tablets, has been the biggest story in software for the past five years.

Its next logical destination: the living room, via smart TVs and set-top boxes connected to the Internet.

…

The smart TV app revolution is inevitable: People spend four hours in front of their TVs in the U.S., and 63% of all global ad spending goes to TVs. The old guard, represented by cable and entertainment conglomerates, will not be able to fend off improvements like those that apps are bringing to mobile phones.
.
The smart TV revolution will not just be led by new TVs with built-in Internet connections, it will also result from consumer adoption of less expensive game consoles or set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, which transform traditional TVs into smart TVs with access to app stores. At least 20% of U.S. consumers already have their TVs connected in one of these ways.

From DSC:

Keep an eye on the convergence of the telephone, the television, and the computer.
.
Start thinking of ways that you could provide learning/educationally-based experiences with second screen apps. What would that experience look and act like?
.
If such “channels” come to fruition — and happen to coincide with MOOCs and advances in cognitive computing (such as IBM’s Watson) — the word disruption comes to mind.
.
The trick, then, will be to offer streams of content that are relevant, and up-to-date.
.
Such a platform could be used in learning hubs throughout the world, as well as in hybrid/blended classrooms — while also addressing lifelong learners from their living rooms.
.
Such a platform could take Communities of Practice to an entirely new level.

Addendum/also see:

The connected TV landscape: Why smart TVs and streaming gadgets are conquering the living room

On 02/07/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), business side of he, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, second screen apps, social learning / networks, streams of content, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

The connected TV landscape: Why smart TVs and streaming gadgets are conquering the living room — from businessinsider.com.au by Mark Hoelzel

In the connected TV world, an app is analogous to a TV channel.

Some key points:

In total, there will be more than 759 million televisions connected to the Internet worldwide by 2018, more than doubling from 307.4 million at year-end 2013.
Globally, shipments of smart TVs will reach a tipping point in 2015, when they will overtake shipments of traditional TVs.
Two tendencies dominate the connected TV ecosystem: closed and open approaches.
Despite platform fragmentation, HTML5 offers at least a faint hope for increased unification between connected TVs, just as it does on mobile.
How will developers and operating system operators monetise smart TV apps? Media downloads, subscriptions and — to a much lesser degree — advertisements will drive the dollars. Smart TV platform operators have begun experimenting with ads.

From DSC:
If in a connected TV world, an app is analogous to a TV channel…then I say let’s bring on the educationally-related, interactive, multimedia-based apps!

Classrooms & learning spaces of the future

On 02/01/2014, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, experimentation, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, immersion, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, maker movement, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, play, second screen apps, smart classrooms, student-related, tablets, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I see the following items in the classrooms/learning spaces/”learning hubs” of the future:

iBeacon-like technology, quickly connecting the physical world with the online world (i.e. keep an eye on the Internet of Things/Everything in the classroom); this may take place via wearable technology or via some other means of triggering events
Remote presence
Access to Artifical Intelligence (AI)-based resources
Greatly enhanced Human Computer Interactions (HCI) such as gesture-based interactions as well as voice and facial recognition
Interactive walls
BYOD baked into almost everything (requiring a robust networking infrastructure)
More makerspaces (see below for examples)
Tables and chairs (all furniture really) are on wheels to facilitate room configuration changes
Setups that facilitate collaborative/group work

Below are some other recent items on this topic:

To Inspire Learning, Architects Reimagine Learning Spaces — from MindShift by Allison Arieff

MakerLab_web

Excerpt:

As K–12 schools refocus on team-based, interdisciplinary learning, they are moving away from standardized, teach-to-test programs that assume a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. Instead, there is a growing awareness that students learn in a variety of ways, and the differences should be supported. The students often learn better by doing it themselves, so teachers are there to facilitate, not just to instruct. Technology is there as a tool and resource, not as a visual aid or talking head.

3D printers and laser cutters?… it’s the classroom of the future — from standard.co.uk by Miranda Bryant

Rethinking our learning spaces — from rtschuetz.blogspot.com by Robert Schuetz

CC Wikimedia – Thelmadatter

Excerpt:

Heutagogy, unlike pedagogy, focuses on self-directed learning. As learning and education become more heutaogical, shouldn’t our learning spaces accommodate this shift? What are the features and characteristics that define a modern learning space? Notice, that I have not used the word classroom. Several days of researching this topic has challenged my thinking on the concept of classroom. This verbiage has been replaced with terms like; ideation lab, innovation space, maker pods, gamer zone, and learning sector. The concept of specific learning zones is not new.

Reflections on “The Campus of the Future: Hybrid and Lean” [Winkler]

On 01/15/2014, in adjunct faculty, blended learning, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, distance education, education technology, elearning, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, organizational change, reinvent, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, staying relevant, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, UK, United States, universities, videoconferencing, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

The Campus of the Future: Hybrid and Lean — from edcetera.rafter.com by Kirsten Winkler

Excerpt:

When people imagine the campus of the future, two main ideas seem to come up. On the one hand, the campus experience will be blended or hybrid, meaning that even with the majority of learning taking place online, there will still be demand for activities in a classic brick-and-mortar setting. On the other hand, the campus of the future will be more like a technology startup, focused on cutting expenses and running a lean operation.

Three recent articles in Education DIVE, The Times Higher Education, Slate and Inc. underline this trend.

The above article links to:

Internet mentors could supplant traditional lecturers — from timeshighereducation.co.uk by Jack Grove
Horizon Scanning study points to a ‘new kind of pedagogy’ in higher education by 2020

Excerpt:

Traditional lecturers may soon be replaced by networks of online mentors working for several universities, a new study predicts.

In the report, titled Horizon Scanning: What will higher education look like in 2020?, the Observatory on Borderless Education suggests that academic staff are likely to be employed part-time by several universities – often working remotely via the internet – rather than relying on a single employer.

…

With one undergraduate module, Forms of Identity, already taught via video conferencing to students at both institutions, the alliance “may be pointing the way to a new kind of pedagogy”, the report says.

“Undergraduate lectures, for example, may be delivered simultaneously to any number of participating institutions, either across a whole sector or indeed across borders,” it states.

From DSC:
With adjunct faculty members playing a significant role at many institutions of higher education, I could see a scenario like this occurring. In fact, even years ago I knew an adjunct faculty member who sat behind her PC all day, servicing students at multiple universities. I’m sure that this is not a rare occurrence. Plus, we are already above 30% of the workforce working in a freelance mode, with estimations of this going to 40% or more by 2020.

Learning hubs: (how I define it)
Places of blended/hybrid learning whereby some of the content is “piped in” or made available via the Internet and whereby some of the content is discussed/worked on in a face-to-face manner.

Questions:

What if learning hubs spring up in many types of facilities, such as in schools, libraries, buildings on campuses, corporate spaces, parks, cafes, other places? How might such a trend affect the possible scenario that there will be online mentors working for several universities?
Will these mentors make enough to cover insurance costs, retirement costs, etc.?
Will this be a potential model for lifelong learning? For learning-on-demand?
How might MOOCs — and what they morph into — affect this type of scenario?
How might this scenario affect how we teach student teachers? (Will it involve more efforts/endeavors like this one?)
Could this type of scenario also happen in the corporate world?

Last comment:

I’m not saying that this sort of setup is better than a seminar-like experience that has a dozen or so students setting down with a highly-trained professor in a strictly face-to-face setting. However, that model is increasingly unobtainable/unaffordable for many people.

Could this tech make life easier for teachers and pupils? — from cnbc.com by Anmar Frangoul

Learning Ecosystems

The collaborative consumption & the sharing economy — what are the implications for teaching & learning?

“Learning Hubs” — could be very powerful/beneficial, esp. for lifelong learners!

Beautiful Learning Spaces — from Egor Bogomolov on Pinterest

7 items on learning — learning hubs, PBL, motivation and more

3 incredible resources re: collaborative workspaces!

How do your learning spaces measure up? [Raths]

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