On 05/28/2015,
in 21st century, Asia, business, Canada, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, game-changing environment, global, innovation, internet, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, platforms, strategy, technology (general), trends, UK, United States, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
On 05/13/2015,
in collaboration, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
EdX and Qualcomm to build the next generation mobile learning experience — from marketwatch.com
Collaboration will help edX increase access to education for millions around the world
Excerpt:
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SAN DIEGO, May 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — EdX, a nonprofit learning destination, and Qualcomm Education, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM, +1.37% the leading global provider of wireless technology, today announced a collaboration to further develop edX’s MOOC (massive open online course) mobile capabilities and enhance its open source platform to benefit connected learners around the world. As part of the collaboration, Qualcomm Education will contribute engineering resources and will license elements of its SDK code, which edX will distribute to the Open edX community.
This collaboration brings together two industry leaders who share a common vision that mobile technologies are a critical enabler for open access to education for everyone. Together they will harness the power of more than 7 billion mobile connections globally, with more than 1 million being added daily, to meet the growing demand for mobile learning.
On 05/04/2015,
in Australia, human-computer interaction (HCI), machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC), research, tools, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Someone in your organization needs to be getting up to speed on sensors and machine-to-machine communications — and looking for potential applications. This goes for schools, colleges, universities, and corporate training departments as well. Already such technologies are being applied within museums, art galleries, and for self-guided tours.
Is that student, teacher, professor, or trainer not around to talk about their poster, project, or artwork hanging in the hallway? Why not use an app like Locly along with Estimote beacons to allows visitors to hear what they had in mind?
The Hitchhikers Guide to iBeacon Hardware: A Comprehensive Report by Aislelabs (2015) — from aislelabs.com
Excerpt:
In this report we examine 26 different iBeacon hardware vendors, including Estimote, Kontakt, and Gimbal. Over the past nine months, we have stress tested the beacons under many conditions examining every aspect of them. This is the most comprehensive report of its kind, covering every major beacon manufacturer, and providing an independent benchmark of each.
Addendum on 5/6/15:
- IoT and connected devices strategy critical for all business — from itbrief.co.nz by Heather Wright
On 05/04/2015,
in active learning, blended learning, collaboration, education, education technology, expectations, face-to-face, hybrid learning, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, STEAM-related, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), United States, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Click here to download the PDF of the report.
Click here to view the report in HTML.
Also see:
Key findings from [the April 30th, 2015 Project Tomorrow] briefing include — from projecttomorrowblog.blogspot.com
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
- When students have access to technology as part of their learning, especially school-provided or enabled technology, their use of the digital tools and resources is deeper and more sophisticated.
- The availability of online learning continues to increase with only 27 percent of high school principals reporting that they are not yet offering any online courses for students. Interest among students continues to grow, with 24% of high school students saying they wish they could take all their classes online – a large increase from 8% in 2013.
- Almost three-quarters of students with school-provided devices as well as students with limited or non-existent technology access at school agreed that every student should be able to use a mobile device during the school day for learning.
- Students connect the use of technology tools within learning to the development of college, career, and citizenship skills that will empower their future capabilities.
- Digital experiences for students in a 100 percent virtual environment are much different than those in traditional schools. For instance, 72 percent of high school students in virtual schools take online tests, compared with 58 percent of traditional students.
- Students see the smartphone as the ideal device for communicating with teachers (46%) and classmates (72%) and for social media (64%).
- A gender bias exists in STEM interest –middle school girls are 38% less likely and high school girls are 32% less likely than their male peers to say they are very interested in a STEM career.
Excerpt from Press Release (emphasis DSC):
Students Report Digital Learning Supports Goals of Self-Directed and Collaborative Education, National Survey Finds
Nearly 60 Percent of High School Students Report Using Their Own Mobile Devices in School for Learning
Report Explores Differences Among Students in Blended Learning, Online Learning, STEM Learning and School-Sponsored Mobile Device Environments
Washington, D.C. – The ultimate learning experience for students is both highly collaborative and extremely personalized, supported by mobile devices and digital content, reports Project Tomorrow in their latest Speak Up report.
Over the last few years of the Speak Up survey, more students and administrators have signaled the importance of being able to access mobile devices in the classroom, whether through Bring Your Own Device policy consideration and implementation or through school-provided technology. This year, nearly half of teachers (47 percent) said their students have regular access to mobile devices in their classrooms. Among high school students, 58 percent said they now use their own mobile device at school to support learning activities.
From DSC:
This is a great pulse check on students’ use of ed tech — and on some things that they might be coming to expect.
On 05/01/2015,
in active learning, adjunct faculty, attention, education technology, engagement / engaging students, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, mobile technologies, participation, pedagogy, smart classrooms, student-related, teaching & learning, tools,
by Daniel Christian
On 04/29/2015,
in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC), smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
What applications and implications might this type of setup mean for libraries? For classrooms?
PressPad Lounge: new digital press corner that utilizes iBeacon technology — from talkingnewmedia.com by D.B. Hebbard
Excerpt:
The idea behind PressPad Lounge is that the service allows a business to turn a space into a reading zone, allowing those with mobile devices to access digital publications for free.
Also see:
Excerpt:
With PressPad Lounge, people visiting your venue are able to install the magazine app of their choice, and read every issue for free while remaining PHYSICALLY within your venue.
Whether it’s a hotel lobby, a shopping mall, restaurant or a booth, PressPad Lounge enables a slick marriage of digital publishing with location marketing. People located within the range of the reading zone will be able to read magazines on their mobile devices, for free.
On 04/24/2015,
in 21st century, active learning, Adobe, analytics, biology, blended learning, creativity, curriculum, data related items, digital learning, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, future, geography / geology, ideas, innovation, interactivity, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, learning theories, lifelong learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, participation, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, real-world assignments, research, science, student-related, teaching & learning, tools,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Chris uses ecoMOBILE and ecoMUVE to highlight the powerful partnerships that can exist between tools and teachers — to the benefits of the students, who can enjoy personalized learning that they can interact with. Pedagogical approaches such as active learning are discussed and methods of implementing active learning are touched upon.
Chris pointed out the National Research Council’s book from 2012 entitled, “Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge & Skills in the 21st Century” as he spoke about the need for all of us to be engaged in lifelong learning (Chris uses the term “life-wide” learning).
Also, as Chris mentioned, we often teach as we were taught…so we need communities that are able to UNlearn as well as to learn.
Also see:
On 04/24/2015,
in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, elearning, human-computer interaction (HCI), mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, training / L&D, web design and production, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
7 powerful reminders to finally adopt HTML5 in corporate eLearning — from elearningindustry.com by
Excerpt:
Mobility, ubiquity and portability are key requirements for any type of learning as the market fully embraces to the demand of learners to access knowledge when and where is needed. Learners today expect access to relevant and useful information on various types of mobile devices connected via networks of ever cheaper and faster bandwidth.
This trend toward multi-device and multi-access learning is solidifying day after day, making responsive content design one of the most critical components of any production process for online training material. The premise today is for learning to “follow” the person and not the other way around.
In this dynamic online learning scenario, HTML5 is finally going mainstream as the leading technology to structure and present learning content online. Here are some powerful reasons to adopt HTML5 today even when legacy constrains seem to favor a “wait and see” approach:
———–
Also see:
2015 Business eLearning Trends Infographic — from elearninginfographics.com
Addendum on 4/28/15:
How soon is now for the mobile web? — from visionmobile.com by Matt Asay
Excerpt:
That’s one primary takeaway from VisionMobile’s “How Can HTML5 Compete With Native?” report. As report author Dimitris Michalakos concludes, “The question is no longer *whether* HTML5 can produce quality apps, but *how* easy it is to create quality web apps.” Given that “HTML5 is like driving a car without a dashboard,” the key is to deliver better dashboards, or tools, to make it easier to build great web apps.
On 04/16/2015,
in A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, analytics, assistive technologies, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, data related items, digital learning, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, funding / grants, higher education, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, library / librarians, media/film, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, online learning, online media, open courseware and systems, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, social media, student-related, technology (general), telecommunications, training / L&D, universities, vendors, videoconferencing,
by Daniel Christian
New from Educause:
Higher Ed IT Buyers Guide
Excerpt:
Quickly search 50+ product and service categories, access thousands of IT solutions specific to the higher ed community, and send multiple RFPs—all in one place. This new Buyers Guide provides a central, go-to online resource for supporting your key purchasing decisions as they relate to your campus’s strategic IT initiatives.
Find the Right Vendors for Higher Education’s Top Strategic Technologies
Three of the Top 10 Strategic Technologies identified by the higher education community this year are mobile computing, business intelligence, and business performance analytics.* The new Buyers Guide connects you to many of the IT vendors your campus can partner with in the following categories related to these leading technologies, as well as many more.
On 04/14/2015,
in Augmented Reality (AR), educational games / serious games, future, mobile learning, mobile technologies, second screen apps, social media, trends, wearables, web design and production,
by Daniel Christian
New eBook: Mobile Learning in Context — from learningsolutionsmag.com, Janet Clarey, & others; with thanks to Mayra Aixa Villar for this item
Excerpt:
Mobile learning is here to stay: Why be tied to a computer when you can spend the day where you want and learn at the same time? But mLearning isn’t just eLearning on a smaller screen. It has specific demands and offers unique opportunities. Are you making the most of your mLearning? The eLearning Guild’s free eBook, Mobile Learning in Context, might inspire you to rethink your approach.
Rethink your approach
For Mobile Learning in Context, contributing editor Janet Clarey assembled a group of mobile learning thought leaders and asked for their take on the range of mLearning topics. Each of the essays will make you consider the possibilities of mobile learning in a whole new light. Among the eBook’s highlights:
Watch out for these trends in mobile learning: 2015 and beyond — from blog.originlearning.com
Excerpt:
- Global mobile data traffic grew 69 percent in 2014 and was nearly 30 times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000
- Mobile video traffic exceeded 50 percent of total mobile data traffic for the first time in 2012
- Mobile network (cellular) connection speeds grew 20 percent in 2014
- In 2014, on an average, a smart device generated 22 times more traffic than a non-smart device.
These are just some excerpts from Cisco’s Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update for 2014 to 2019, but they clearly prove a point. That, the usage of mobiles is growing faster than ever before, backed by the rolling out of quicker internet speeds and smarter phones at affordable prices.
- The research has also made important forecasts for the next 5 years, such as:
- The number of mobile-connected devices exceeded the world’s population in 2014.
- 4G traffic will be more than half of the total mobile traffic by 2017.
- Because of increased usage on smartphones, smartphones will reach three-quarters of mobile data traffic by 2019.
Now against the backdrop of such information, it is interesting to explore what role mobiles are playing in shaping up the workplace learning scenario. These trends with mobile learning are evidence to the fact that we are on the brink of a new era of learning – through the mobile device.
Learning in a Multi-device World (Infographic) — from upsidelearning.com by Pranjalee Thanekar; with thanks to Mayra Aixa Villar for this item
Excerpt:
According to the Verto Analytics’ Device Ecosystem US 2014 report, the average number of smartphones, tablets and computers used by an average US adult is 2.8 devices. Further, consumers show an increasingly polarised preference towards a particular device and platform as technology evolves. This indicates the increasing dependency on devices, generated by the ease in switching between tasks and the leverage it provides.
On 03/09/2015,
in Apple, design, health, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, mobile technologies, research, technologies for your home, television, wearables,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
- Spring Forward Event — from apple.com
- See the Apple Watch in action (in six GIFs) — from fortune.com by Jason Cipriani
- Everything you need to know about Apple’s Watch Event — from yahoo.com by Dan Tynan
- Apple failed to explain why we need a smartwatch, but it did give us a hint — from businessinsider.com by Steve Kovach
On 02/12/2015,
in business, change, changing business models, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, economics, entrepreneurship, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, K-12 related, lifelong learning, mobile technologies, platforms, real-world assignments, reinvent, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
The future of work
There’s an app for that — from economist.com
Freelance workers available at a moment’s notice will reshape the nature of companies and the structure of careers
Excerpt:
HANDY is creating a big business out of small jobs. The company finds its customers self-employed home-helps available in the right place and at the right time. All the householder needs is a credit card and a phone equipped with Handy’s app, and everything from spring cleaning to flat-pack-furniture assembly gets taken care of by “service pros” who earn an average of $18 an hour.
…
Handy is one of a large number of startups built around systems which match jobs with independent contractors on the fly, and thus supply labour and services on demand.
…
The obvious inspiration for all this is Uber, a car service which was founded in San Francisco in 2009 and which already operates in 53 countries; insiders say it will have sales of more than $1 billion in 2014.
…
This boom marks a striking new stage in a deeper transformation. Using the now ubiquitous platform of the smartphone to deliver labour and services in a variety of new ways will challenge many of the fundamental assumptions of 20th-century capitalism, from the nature of the firm to the structure of careers.
…
The on-demand economy will inevitably exacerbate the trend towards enforced self-reliance that has been gathering pace since the 1970s. Workers who want to progress will have to keep their formal skills up to date, rather than relying on the firm to train them (or to push them up the ladder regardless). This means accepting challenging assignments or, if they are locked in a more routine job, taking responsibility for educating themselves. They will also have to learn how to drum up new business and make decisions between spending and investment.
Also see:
Professional Millennials and super-powered smartphones are changing the working world — from medium.com and Liquid Talent
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
This is the year when modern technology squarely intersects with the economy and the workforce. This is the the year that marks a noted change in how we work as individuals, and as a collective. This is the year of the Millennial Generation takeover in our professional world. This is the year that marks the beginning of the Independent Workforce Revolution.
Why?
Two reasons:
1) Millennials take over
Millennials are the largest generation at 82 million strong. They do not have the same priorities as past generations and their professional incentives are quickly changing. They care less about maximizing profit, finding a secure job and taking 2.5 weeks of vacay. In fact, 54% of Millennials assert that they want to start a company one day, or already have. This generation is now 50% of the workforce, and will be 75% of the workforce by 2020. These percentages may seem staggering but with 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring everyday (every single day!) we can see this tectonic shift happening before our very eyes.
2) Mobile technology
We have our economies in our pocket. We can work anytime from anywhere, and source professional opportunities with a simple swipe. The proliferation of mobile productivity apps (ie Slack), globalized workforce platforms (ie eLance) and professional networks (ie LinkedIn) show the power and growth in professional, mobile technologies.
From DSC:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again to those of us working in K-12 and in higher education:
We need to be sure that we’re preparing our students to know how to run their own businesses. They need to know how to survive and thrive as freelancers — because chances are they will be freelancing at various points in their career. Our curricula should already be in the process of being updated to address these critical skills. More courses on entrepreneurship for example; also some basic accounting courses as well as coursework involving programming, brainstorming, marketing, and how to use various technologies to collaborate, stay organized, and manage one’s time.
The above items also stress the need for lifelong, accessible/affordable learning; and for constant adaptation and for reinventing oneself in order to remain marketable in the workplace.
Addendum on 2/18/15:
New tech companies say freelancing is the future of work. But there’s a downside for workers. — from washingtonpost.com by Lydia DePillis
More companies are switching their workforce to freelance. Policy needs to catch up.
Excerpt:
If the nation’s way of regulating work revolves around a relationship between an employee and employer, what happens when that relationship no longer exists?
On 01/14/2015,
in change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, higher education, innovation, IT in HE, leadership, mobile learning, mobile technologies, pace of change, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, teaching & learning,
by Daniel Christian
Top 10 IT Issues, 2015: Inflection Point — from educause.edu by Susan Grajek and the 2014–2015 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel
EDUCAUSE presents the top 10 IT issues facing higher education institutions this year. What is new about 2015? Nothing has changed. And everything has changed. Information technology has reached an inflection point. Visit the EDUCAUSE top 10 IT issues web page for additional resources.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Change continues to characterize the EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues in 2015. The pace of change seems not to be slowing but, rather, is increasing and is happening on many fronts. There is reason to believe that higher education information technology has reached an inflection point—the point at which the trends that have dominated thought leadership and have motivated early adopters are now cascading into the mainstream. This inflection point is the biggest of three themes of change characterizing the 2015 EDUCAUSE Top 10 IT Issues.. A second dimension of change is the shifting focus of IT leaders and professionals from technical problems to business problems, along with the ensuing interdependence between the IT organization and business units. Underlying all this strategic change, the day-to-day work of the IT organization goes on. But change dominates even the day-to-day, where challenges are in some ways more complex than ever. This “new normal” is the third theme of change.
Andy Grove, Intel’s former CEO, described a strategic inflection point as “that which causes you to make a fundamental change in business strategy.”