more voice more choice more control

Reflections on “C-Suite TV debuts, offers advice for the boardroom” [Dreier]

On 07/21/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learner profiles, learning, 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, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, social learning / networks, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, telecommunications, television, training / L&D, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

C-Suite TV debuts, offers advice for the boardroom — from streamingmedia.com by Troy Dreier
Business leaders now have an on-demand video network to call their own, thanks to one Bloomberg host’s online venture.

Excerpt:

Bringing some business acumen to the world of online video, C-Suite TV is launching today. Created by Bloomberg TV host and author Jeffrey Hayzlett, the on-demand video network offers interviews with and shows about business execs. It promises inside information on business trends and the discussions taking place in the biggest boardrooms.

The Future of TV is here for the C-Suite — from hayzlett.com by Jeffrey Hayzlett

Excerpt:

Rather than wait for networks or try and gain traction through the thousands of cat videos, we went out and built our own network.

See also:

Mind your own business
From the About page:
C-Suite TV is a web-based digital on-demand business channel featuring interviews and shows with business executives, thought leaders, authors and celebrities providing news and information for business leaders. C-Suite TV is your go-to resource to find out the inside track on trends and discussions taking place in businesses today. This online channel will be home to such shows as C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett, MYOB – Mind Your Own Business and Bestseller TV with more shows to come.

From DSC:
The above items took me back to the concept of Learning from the Living [Class] Room.

Many of the following bullet points are already happening — but what I’m trying to influence/suggest is to bring all of them together in a powerful, global, 24 x 7 x 365, learning ecosystem:

When our “TVs” become more interactive…
When our mobile devices act as second screens and when second screen-based apps are numerous…
When discussion boards, forums, social media, assignments, assessments, and videoconferencing capabilities are embedded into our Smart/Connected TVs and are also available via our mobile devices…
When education is available 24 x 7 x 365…
When even the C-Suite taps into such platforms…
When education and entertainment are co-mingled…
When team-based educational content creation and delivery are mainstream…
When self-selecting Communities of Practice thrive online…
When Learning Hubs combine the best of both worlds (online and face-to-face)…
When Artificial Intelligence, powerful cognitive computing capabilities (i.e., IBM’s Watson), and robust reporting mechanisms are integrated into the backends…
When lifelong learners have their own cloud-based profiles…
When learners can use their “TVs” to tap into interactive, multimedia-based streams of content of their choice…
When recommendation engines are offered not just at Netflix but also at educationally-oriented sites…
When online tutoring and intelligent tutoring really take off…

…then I’d say we’ll have a powerful, engaging, responsive, global education platform.

California school integrates play with learning — from pbs.org

Excerpts:

STUDENT: I really like school now. Like, I’m actually psyched to come.

STUDENT: It just makes me feel good.

STUDENT: I wake up every morning and I’m just like, yes.

APRIL BROWN: These students have been taking part in a new experiment in educational innovation known as the PlayMaker School. PlayMaker is, thus far, only for sixth graders who attend the private K-12 New Roads school in Santa Monica, California. You won’t find desks, seating charts or even a normal grading system in their classroom.

…

APRIL BROWN: And, if nothing else, they have figured out how to make kids like Isaac Prevatt look forward to school.

ISAAC PREVATT, Student: At my old school, I dreaded it every single day. I really just didn’t like it. You know, I would fake stomach aches. I have not faked any sicknesses this year.

From DSC:
Tony Wagner’s recent keynote mentions the importance of play, passion, and purpose in education. There’s engagement here. There’s focus here. There might even be a love of learning here — but at least a liking to learn and a stronger sense of actually enjoying learning about something.

I have it that we need to create learning environments and pedagogies that cultivate situations whereby students at least like to learn.

Why?

Because most of us are now required to be lifelong learners in order to remain marketable. (I could also address the love of learning for its own sake, as there’s huge value just in that as well.)

If a student drops out of high school or if they make it through college but end up hating school, those negative experiences that they associate with learning may prove to be obstacles to overcome for them. They may not want to go back to a learning environment again. They may have a “bad taste in their mouth” about education/learning. Becoming a lifelong learner may sound more like a prison sentence to them.

So I celebrate the above approach and experimentation with pedagogy. Hearing the excitement in the students’ voices and words is simply excellent. (I wonder if we’re hearing that sort of excitement from them taking all of these standardized tests…?)

I could also relate to the part of the video where one of the teachers said that the students were very uncomfortable with this type of learning environment — that they just wanted to be told what to do. Where’s my test?! I just want to be told what to do and to take tests.

Many of our students may not like open/unanswered questions or “less structured” activities and learning environments. But such experimentation could easily help them with their creativity and with developing more innovative thinking. The work world won’t always tell them each step to take on something; the “tests” will be found in how they can problem solve and if they can think critically, innovatively.

With thanks to Jim Lerman for his Scoop on this.

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Also see:

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From DSC:
I ran across Manish Mohan’s blog posting — Seven Survival Skills in Today’s World — which focused on Tony Wagner’s keynote address at the IFC’s International Private Education Conference: Rethinking Education, Shaping the Future.

So I read the blog posting and then I listened to Tony Wagner’s address. Below are my notes from his talk.

What’s the problem we need to solve in education?

Challenges

Education today has become a commodity. Knowledge is free; it’s like water or air. Educators once had the corner on the market. Knowledge had to come through the teacher. Not true today. You can acquire knowledge via the Internet. Teachers are no longer the gatekeepers. Where, then, is the value that teachers/schools are providing?
Work is being transformed around the world. Routine jobs being automated/replaced by computers or in other countries for far less $$. World cares about what you can DO with what you know. Not just acquiring knowledge. Skill and will are other legs of the stool (in addition to knowledge).
The longer students are in school (in the U.S.), the more bored they are. Less engaged as time goes on. The Internet is their preferred source of learning.

Tony focused on skill (adding value) and will in this keynote. Need to be a continuous learner.

Tony talked to senior executives — what skills do you need today? Where are the gaps?

7 survival skills/competencies a person needs before they reach the end of their secondary school:

Critical thinking and problem solving — how to ask the right questions
Collaboration across networks — how are we going to teach
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurship
Effective oral and written communication — need to be able to write with “voice” — own passion and perspective, to be convincing
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination

New achievement gap — these 7 survival skills vs what is being taught around the world.

Growing unemployment of college graduates compels us to look at goals of education. Academically adrift — communication skills not growing in college.

One person to Tony:
“I want young people who can ‘Just go figure it out.'”

Want graduates who have a sense of mission. Autonomy.

How do we prepare kids to “Just go figure it out.”

We need innovators — creative problem solvers. People who ask the right questions.

The teachers (of innovative individuals) who made the greatest difference were outliers in their respective institutional settings but were remarkably alike in their patterns of teaching and learning. The culture of schooling, as we continue to practice it, is fundamentally and radically at odds with the culture of learning to be an innovator in 5 respects:

Culture of schooling is about rewarding individual achievement vs being a team player
Compartmentalizing knowledge; innovations happens at the margins of academic disciplines, not within them; interdisciplinary courses needed
Passivity and consumption — students listen, consume information; only 1 expert. VS creating information. Teacher as coach who empowers students.
How failure is viewed — fear of failure creates risk aversion. But innovation requires risk and failure. Trial and error. Iteration — systematically reflecting on what worked and what didn’t.
Grades and what they represent in school. Often a motivational tool. Rely on extrinsic motivation. But intrinsic motivation is key amongst innovative individuals. They want to make a difference.

Parents and teachers of these innovative individuals emphasized 3 things:

Play
Passion
Purpose

Provided a buffet of opportunities to discover interests. But did not pigeonhole the person.

We have some responsibility to others — to give back — and to make a difference.

So much of our thinking revolves around delivery systems, but what about the GOALS of education? All too often assumed.

Need to be differently prepared vs. students/graduates of 50 years ago.

How do we motivate students to want to be continuous learners?

A merit badge approach to learning. Evidence. Digital portfolios.

In Finland and Singapore one can see the massive importance of — and investment in — teaching as a profession. Elite group of teachers. Trust through professionalism.

Collective human judgement is key. High stakes testing is completely distorting education system. What gets tested is what gets taught.

Preparation for citizenship is equally important (as skills development for earning a living).

Why not specifically teach about entrepreneurship?

Finland — much less homework, and far more opportunities to discover interests and to be entrepreneurial. Start-up like culture.

Here Comes Generation Z — from bloombergview.com by Leonid Bershidsky

Excerpts:

If Y-ers were the perfectly connected generation, Z-ers are overconnected. They multi-task across five screens: TV, phone, laptop, desktop and either a tablet or some handheld gaming device, spending 41 percent of their time outside of school with computers of some kind or another, compared to 22 percent 10 years ago. Because of that they “lack situational awareness, are oblivious to their surroundings and unable to give directions.”

Members of this new generation also have an 8-second attention span, down from 12 seconds in 2000, and 11 percent of them are diagnosed with attention deficiency syndrome, compared to 7.8 percent in 2003.

Also see Sparks & Honey’s presentation:

From DSC:
I have been wondering about the possibility that gaining students’ attention is becoming harder and harder to do. The above items seem to confirm that attentions are, in deed, shrinking. We must get through “the gate” (i.e., getting someone’s attention) if we want to have a chance of getting something into someone’s long term memory.

So what should professors, teachers, and trainers do?

For me, this is where things like active learning, project-based learning, and real-world learning come in. Highly relevant, hands-on learning where we turn over more control to the student, helping them own their own learning. We need to provide more choices as to how students can meet the learning objectives.

More choice. More control. Tap into their passions and internal motivations, introduce more play and more opportunities for students to display and cultivate their creativity.

The following article also has some solid thoughts/ideas that seem very relevant for this topic:

The Science of Attention: How To Capture And Hold The Attention of Easily Distracted Students — from opencolleges.edu.au by Saga Briggs
Excerpt from section entitled, “Tricks for Capturing Your Students’ Attention“:
1. Change the level and tone of your voice.
Often just changing the level and tone of your voice – perhaps by lowering or raising it slightly – will bring students back from a zone-out session.
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2. Use props or visuals.
Presenting a striking picture related to your topic is sure to get all eyes on you. Don’t comment on it; allow students to start the dialogue. Here are a few resources on how to use animations and storyboards as a teaching tool.
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3. Make a startling statement or give a quote.
Writing a surprising statement or quote related to the content on the board has a similar effect. In a lesson about linebreaks in poetry, write, “I am dying” on the board, wait a minute, and continue on the next line with “for a bowl of ice cream.” See what kind of reaction you get.
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4. Write a challenging question on the board.
…

Does this phenomenon of how ecosystems will compete in the future also apply to educationally-related products/services?

On 06/25/2014, in Amazon, Apple, business, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, future, game-changing environment, Google, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, Microsoft, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, platforms, programming, second screen apps, strategy, streams of content, student-related, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, by Daniel Christian

Mobile Megatrends 2014…uncovering major mobile trends in 2014 — from visionmobile.com

Excerpt:

This report examines five major trends that we expect to shape the future of mobile in the coming years:

Apps: The Tip of the Iceberg
Mobile Ecosystems: Don’t Come Late to the Game
OTT Squared: Messaging Apps are the new Platforms
Handset Business Reboot: Hardware is the new Distribution
The Future of HTML5: Beyond the Browser

From DSC:
In looking at the below excerpted slide from this solid presentation, I have to ask…

“Does this same phenomenon also apply to educationally-related products/services?”

…

Yes, I think it does.

That is, the educationally-related products and services of an organization will compete not by size, but how well the experience roams across screens. Lifelong learners (who are using well-designed learning experiences) will be able to tap into streams of content on multiple devices and never skip a beat. The organizations who provide such solid learning experiences across multiple “channels” should do well in the future. This is due to:

The affordances of cloud-based computing
The increasing power of mobile computing
The convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer — which is opening up the door for powerful, interactive, multi-directional communications that involve smart/connected televisions
Generation Z’s extensive use of screens*

* From Here Comes Generation Z — bloombergview.com by Leonid Bershidsky

If Y-ers were the perfectly connected generation, Z-ers are overconnected. They multi-task across five screens: TV, phone, laptop, desktop and either a tablet or some handheld gaming device, spending 41 percent of their time outside of school with computers of some kind or another, compared to 22 percent 10 years ago.

Internet Trends 2014 — Mary Meeker [KPCB]

On 05/29/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Asia, business, Canada, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, convergence, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, data related items, disruption, emerging technologies, Europe, global / globalization, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, interactivity, internet, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, pace of change, platforms, social media, society, strategy, streams of content, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, television, trends, TVs, UK, United States, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Example slides:

“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.
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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.

From DSC:
As I was watching “The Future of Higher Education: MOOCs and Disruptive Innovation,” a video recorded last August, (GW’s School of Business) Dean Doug Guthrie mentioned a company named In the Telling. The name of that company piqued my curiosity, so I went to look at that company, and what instantly struck me about their offerings were the use of:

A team-based approach to education
The use of digital storytelling
Software as a Service

Dean Guthrie’s comments on interaction, community building, and customization rang true for me, but it was the customization part that really grabbed me. And there too, most likely it will take a team of people to understand and use the data, to build the algorithms that Doug was talking about to deliver the learning trees of the future (and I would add the phrases/terms learning paths and learning playlists).

I have it that as MOOCs continue to morph and as the perfect storm in higher education continues to amass, those institutions who implement a team-based approach to content creation, delivery, and assessment will be the ones who thrive in the future.

This thought was further brought home when I viewed Phil Hill and Michael Feldstein discussing “Online Learning – What Is It Good For?” Consider the appearance of the word TEAM in the following graphics:

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

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices (part 1) — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

The proliferation of digital and networking technologies enables us to rethink, restructure, and redefine teaching and learning. Transmedia storytelling takes advantage of the rapid convergence of media and allows teachers and learners to participate in rich virtual (and physical) environments that have been shown to foster students’ real emotional engagement with the process of learning. Transmedia learning applies storytelling techniques across multiple platforms to create immersive educational experiences that enable multiple entry and exit points for learning and teaching. By utilizing constructivist and connectivist precepts in the application of these techniques, we can create pedagogies that are transformative on many levels. Encapsulating these notions in the concept of the Transmedia LearningWorld (TLW) allows educators to combine the exciting affordances of the digital technologies with real-life experiences and truly learner-focused pedagogies to produce profoundly productive and powerful learning experiences.

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices (part 2) — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

Transmedia storytelling exemplifies learning in the twenty-first century by merging the concept of storytelling with that of the listener-learner and the resulting emotional engagement with the pervasiveness of media. We might define transmedia learning as: the application of storytelling techniques combined with the use of multiple platforms to create an immersive learning landscape which enables multivarious entry and exit points for learning and teaching.

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices (part 3) — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

None of this is easy though. Teachers must be given the support they will need to prepare for the concomitant shift in instruction; they will need help to make sense of the new kinds of content that will make their way into the classroom; they will need encouragement to change their approach to teaching and to learning accordingly; and they will need support in how to effectively weave and integrate technology into their practice. The effective use of digital learning can help school districts meet these educational challenges, including, as we have noted, implementing college and career-ready standards for all students, as outlined in the Common Core. Educators need to come to see technology as intrinsic to their instructional practices. Rather than envisaging a process in which technology is merely embedded into the curriculum, an attitude that so often relegates the technology to an afterthought or just one amongst a range of motivating techniques, it should be about the seamless integration of technology into every aspect of teaching and learning through transmedia practices. Technology tools should be so much a part of learning that the friction is removed because of educators and learners do not waste energy thinking about how it works, instead becoming an essential component of all that goes on in the classroom.

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices (part 4) — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

The paradox lies in the fact that, at the same time that political and economic forces are pushing the agenda of standardization with some determination, the social-technological environment that we now inhabit is pushing education in the opposite direction. In a real sense, learning is breaking free from the tradition model of education—with school as the central paradigm in that model—simply because the walls of the school can no longer contain all the knowledge and content and desire to learn that is now flowing freely across the ether and intermingling across borders without constraint.

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices (part 5) — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

The power of Inanimate Alice lies in the organic connection that is made between the story and the medium along with the innovative use of design and structure. The story unfolds in a game-like world that makes readers direct participants in helping the story to unfold across multiple platforms. With hours of interactive audio-visual experience built in, a gripping mesh of games, puzzles, sights, and sounds embellish and enhance the storyline. The interactivity and narrative are not distinct from one another. In the case of Inanimate Alice, the interactive elements simply cannot be separated from the story. Whether it is controlling Alice’s Baxi (her handheld gaming device) or communicating with Brad (her virtual friend on the Baxi), the embedded technology enhances the narrative and helps it to unfold in manifold directions under the reader’s impulse. It is this that makes Alice a truly unique digital reading experience.

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices (part 6) — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

As co-creators of content, our students actively participate in and take control of their own learning. As echoed by the United States Department of Education, the rich, fictional worlds of transmedia tend to create a greater level of social interaction that can inspire children to create their own stories and media products and to share them with each other. The experience of reading is changing. In a transmedia learning experience, reading is now simultaneously an individual act and a social act. Similarly, students can be individual producers but are also able to engage on collaborative sharing, joint creativity, and proliferation of knowledge across the globe.

The wonderful, powerful world of storytelling!

On 03/13/2014, in blogs / blogging / vlogging, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital storytelling, interactivity, marketing/social marketing, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, story, storytelling, teaching & learning, tools, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The items below speak to the wonderful, powerful world of storytelling. I see storytelling becoming more interactive/participatory — offering more choice and more control to the viewers. There are applications in education, training, marketing, advertising, and more. Finally, I’ve also included some interesting tools/sites for folks to create their own digitally-based stories.

How storytelling can do wonders in blogging — by Kumail Hemani

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Why then was my history class one of the best classes I had? We never had to learn by heart any of the history notes in spite of all the dates, events, places and names. What we heard in that class got imprinted in our mind word by word as soon as they reached my ears.

Reason?

It was in the art of my teacher’s style of speaking and style of lectures. She never took our lessons as lectures, instead she choose to tell them through stories.

My teacher knew the art of true speaking. She spoke in such a style that we students felt everything happening around us. The lectures used to start forming an image in students mind, creating a flow, making everything seem like it is happening in the present. In such style of lectures, it only took us moments before everything made an impact on us and we understood everything word by word.

5 apps for making movies on mobile devices — from edutopia.org by Monica Burns

Excerpt:

Every year at Hollywood award shows, we see fantastic movies celebrated for their rich storytelling and dynamic performances. Your students can become moviemakers, too, thanks to some powerful apps for mobile devices. With these tools, your children can take videos and edit their work to make professional quality movies using iOS devices (iPads and iPhones) and Android tablets.

One good thing about this easy-to-use technology is that students can still use important English language arts skills like writing a narrative, planning a sequential story, and including key details when getting ready to make a movie. These apps can enhance the work that you are doing with children in the classroom and give them room to be creative storytellers.

Visual storytelling: Why data visualization is a content marketing fairytale — from searchenginejournal.com by Shane Jones

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Humans are scientifically designed to love stories.
More of our brain is engaged when we listen to stories. They cause our neurons to act as if we were actually doing the actions we hear in the story. Stories also have that human element we were talking about earlier, which makes them more entertaining and engaging.

If you do it right, you can use your data to tell the human story – and how it can be improved through the use of your product or service. In fact, the best content visuals do just that. They introduce viewers to a concept or situation (the problem you address), walk them through the main information about that concept or situation (how you’ll address it), and then provide a conclusion in the form of CTA (converting).

In summary, people are interested in learning about themselves, but they’re sick of learning through plain copy, and they’re programmed to desire visual content that tells a tale. Visualizing data is an effective strategy for giving them exactly what they want – information that is more visible and less difficult to digest.

Crowdsourced storytelling: How can you make the most of user-generated content? — from latd.com by Kim Gaskins

Excerpt:

Connect with people on an emotional level.
This may sound obvious, but there are countless ways to frame a particular project or issue to people you’re hoping to entice—so make sure to think like a good marketer. For example, Israel Mirsky is the founder of Uncoverage, a crowd-funding platform for investigative journalism, who has decided to focus his message on the issues that are most emotionally accessible to his audience. There’s a compelling business case backing Mirsky’s efforts; namely, there’s no longer any business model to support important but resource-intensive journalism that may bring in fewer advertising dollars than simple, click-worthy headlines. It’s a powerful argument, but it’s not the one Mirsky is taking to potential contributors: “I suspect that talking about the problem with investigative journalism isn’t the right value proposition to bring to the table here. The right one is the one that individuals care about: the people and the issues that matter to them.”

6 great examples of digital storytelling — from 8ms.com by Simon Heyes

Excerpt:

In the socially connected world, the attention span of an audience becomes shorter as more and more mundane content is thrust in front of their eyes. Digital storytelling allows a brand to evoke emotion, and become more connected with consumers.

If content is at the heart of digital marketing, then we believe audiences are at the heart of digital storytelling. By creating a story that is authentic to your brand and to your audience, and then building content around that story, you will connect your brand to the lives of your consumers.

Here are six handpicked examples where we believe great writing is combined with great imagery to create authentic content, and a brilliant digital story.

5 steps for successful transmedia storytelling — from 8ms.com by Simon Heyes

From DSC:
I see storytelling becoming more interactive/participatory — offering more choice and more control to the viewers. As such, here are some interesting tools/sites:

Also see:

5 reasons why you should be using storytelling in training — from dashe.com by Ben Nesvig

Excerpt:

Storytelling has been a popular tool for learning since the dawn of civilization, but thanks to technology bringing new mediums for storytelling, it has been on the rise in training in the workplace. Despite the fact that storytelling is a powerful vehicle for teaching, some still prefer to do a “data dump” because it’s easier than constructing a narrative, though not more effective. Below I provide 5 reasons why storytelling should be used more frequently in the workplace.

Digital storytelling: an efficient and engaging learning activity — from elearningindustry.com

Storehouse
“The easiest way to create, share, and discover beautiful stories.”

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 "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, 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.
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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?
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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.
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The trick, then, will be to offer streams of content that are relevant, and up-to-date.
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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.
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Such a platform could take Communities of Practice to an entirely new level.

Addendum/also see:

Steve Wheeler: A short series on new and emerging pedagogy

On 02/27/2014, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, assessment, faculty/staff, heutagogy, higher education, internet, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, online learning, pedagogy, teaching & learning, traditional / tradition, UK, by Daniel Christian

A growing divide? — from steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

Excerpt:

The question we now need to ask is: Will there be a divide between learning that continues to rely on traditional learning spaces, compared to learning that takes place largely outside the walls of the traditional classroom? Moreover, if there is such a divide, will it be delineated by its cost effectiveness, its conceptual differences, or its pedagogical impact?

Power sharing — from steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

Excerpt:

Many agree that technology has a role to play in this shift in pedagogical emphasis. Students now bring their own devices into the traditional learning environment, creating their own personal networks and learning environments. They are intimately familiar with the functionality of their devices, knowing how to use them to connect to, create and organise content. They are adept at connecting to their friends and peers too, but will they be willing to power share with their professors, take on greater autonomy and assume more responsibility to direct their own learning in the future?

Digital age assessment — from steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

Excerpt:

Assessment and learning are inseparable in any good pedagogy. If the first does not fit the second, then we see a failure of that pedagogy. Far too often assessment fails to delve deeply enough, or fails to capture actual learning. If students are relying increasingly on digital technology to connect them with content, peers and tutors, and to facilitate new, distributed forms of learning, then we should endeavour to assess the learning they achieve in a relevant manner.

What If Kids Co-Created Customized Learning Pathways? [Vander Ark]

On 02/16/2014, in heutagogy, ideas, K-12 related, more voice more choice more control, motivation, passions, pedagogy, play, student-related, by Daniel Christian

What If Kids Co-Created Customized Learning Pathways? — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Excerpt:

New tools are making it easier to customize learning for every student. Playlists, projects, and portfolios support big blocks, maker spaces, and flex schools. One thing I appreciate about the Christensen Institute definition of blended learning is that it stresses student agency by requiring “student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.” During an EdSession in Boise tomorrow, I’ll be discussing 10 ways that students can co-create customized learning pathways.

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 "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, 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!

Learning Ecosystems

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

Reflections on “In the Telling” — it’s going to take a team-based approach to compete in the future

The wonderful, powerful world of storytelling!

Steve Wheeler: A short series on new and emerging pedagogy

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