Global Pandemics is a cutting-edge, browser-based, digital learning experience—designed to enhance student understanding of the role of pandemics in world history.

Global Pandemics — from historyadventures.co with thanks to Andrea Boros for the resource

Excerpts:

Global Pandemics is “a cutting-edge, browser-based, digital learning experience—designed to enhance student understanding of the role of pandemics in world history. One year in the making, and involving a talented, interdisciplinary team from around the world—the new product features cutting-edge digital learning design, web animation, interaction design, and digital storytelling.”

This browser-based digital learning experience introduces multiple novel technologies, including:

  • 3D Motion Design to Recreate History
  • Advanced Web Animation to Simulate Pathogens
  • Immersive 360 Panoramas of Historical Locations
  • Animated Historical Timeline & Maps
  • Choice-based Narrative Design
  • Interactive Original Historical Documents
  • Media-Rich Adaptive Assessments

Also see:

 

Homeschool math doesn’t have to be intimidating! — from raisinglifelonglearners.com by Colleen Kessler

Excerpt:

Finding The Right Math Program For Your Child
There are so many choices on the market. Some with manipulatives, some with thick workbooks, some on online learning platforms.

While it may seem overwhelming, its actually good news! You don’t have to worry about all of them – you only have to find the one that works for you!

That’s exactly what’s happened for my family this year with CTCMath.

CTCMath is an online program developed by a father of ten children, with twenty years teaching experience. It is a subscription math service that provides learning from Kindergarten all the way through Calculus. CTCMath specializes in providing online video tutorials that take a multi-sensory approach to learning.

 

 

The number one thing we’ve loved most about CTCMath this year is that it teaches math in short, bite sized amounts.

I LOVE the shorter lessons approach. Not only is it the best way to teach children with attention issues, but it also makes it easy for parents who struggle with math themselves!

Colleen Kessler

 

Now we just need a “Likewise TV” for learning-related resources! [Christian]

Likewise TV Brings Curation to Streaming — from lifewire.com by Cesar Aroldo-Cadenas
And it’s available on iOS, Android, and some smart TVs

All your streaming services in one place. One search. One watchlist. Socially powered recommendations.

Entertainment startup Likewise has launched a new recommendations hub that pulls from all the different streaming platforms to give you personalized picks.

Likewise TV is a streaming hub powered by machine learning, people from the Likewise community, and other streaming services. The service aims to do away with mindlessly scrolling through a menu, looking for something to watch, or jumping from one app to another by providing a single location for recommendations.

Note that Likewise TV is purely an aggregator.


Also see:

Likewise TV -- All your streaming services in one place. One search. One watchlist. Socially powered recommendations.

 


From DSC:
Now we need this type of AI-based recommendation engine, aggregator, and service for learning-related resources!

I realize that we have a long ways to go here — as a friend/former colleague of mine just reminded me that these recommendation engines often miss the mark. I’m just hoping that a recommendation engine like this could ingest our cloud-based learner profiles and our current goals and then present some promising learning-related possibilities for us. Especially if the following graphic is or will be the case in the future:


Learning from the living class room


Also relevant/see:

From DSC:
Some interesting/noteworthy features:

  • “The 32- inch display has Wi-Fi capabilities to supports multiple streaming services, can stream smartphone content, and comes with a removable SlimFit Cam.”
  • The M8 has Wi-Fi connectivity for its native streaming apps so you won’t have to connect to a computer to watch something on Netflix. And its Far Field Voice mic can be used w/ the Always On feature to control devices like Amazon Alexa with your voice, even if the monitor is off.
  • “You can also connect devices to the monitor via the SmartThings Hub, which can be tracked with the official SmartThings app.”

I wonder how what we call the TV (or television) will continue to morph in the future.


Addendum on 3/31/22 from DSC:
Perhaps people will co-create their learning playlists…as is now possible with Spotify’s “Blend” feature:

Today’s Blend update allows you to share your personal Spotify playlists with your entire group chat—up to 10 users. You can manually invite these friends and family members to join you from in the app, then Spotify will create a playlist for you all to listen to using a mixture of everyone’s music preferences. Spotify will also create a special share card that everyone in the group can use to save and share the created playlist in the future.


 

Picturesof learning spaces at KU Leuven, Imperial College London, University of Amsterdam, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland

Clockwise from top left (KU Leuven, Imperial College London, University of Amsterdam,
Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Finland

.

A virtual tour of four advanced hybrid learning spaces — from zacwoolfitt.blogspot.com by Zac Woolfitt

Excerpt:

What are the next developments in the Hybrid Virtual Classroom? What kind of spaces might we be teaching in soon?

On March 16th we glimpsed the future. Colleagues from 4 higher education institutes gave virtual tours of their technology rich learning spaces in Belgium, England, Finland and the Netherlands. Media and Learning arranged the session [i]. (Disclosure: Zac is on their advisory panel of Media and Learning).

From DSC:
Here in the U.S., some would promote the use of the word “Hyflex” here instead of hybrid or blended learning — as it sounds like they are simultaneously teaching students in a physical classroom along with online-based learners.

 

Best Cameras for Vlogging in 2022 — from futurism.com

Excerpt:

Whether you’re looking for a camera to start your journey to internet stardom, or would just like to improve your video quality, this list of the best cameras for vlogging will not only capture you as you ham it up, but produce some seriously crisp content that you won’t have to patch up in editing.

Sony - ZV-1 20.1-Megapixel Digital Camera for Content Creators and Vloggers - Black

Also see:

The Best Vlogging Cameras and Gear — updated in May 2021 — from nytimes.com (Wirecutter) by Geoffrey Morrison and Phil RyanU

 

This Hilarious AR App Teaches Kids Financial Responsibility — from vrscout.com by Bobby Carlton

Excerpts:

Adventures with Zeee Bucks is a mobile AR experience that is designed to help youngsters sharpen their financial skills by earning and saving Zeee bucks, and even help them save real money.

You can download the app today for free on the iOS and Android stores.

 

The Metaverse Will Radically Change Content Creation Forever — from forbes.com by Falon Fatemi

Excerpt:

Although the metaverse promises to touch nearly every person in our society, there’s one demographic that will almost certainly see disproportionately strong disruption: creators. The metaverse has the potential to fundamentally disrupt the content creation process.

The metaverse is slated to help creators make more interactive and immersive content, thanks in large part to advances in VR and AR. The stakes will be raised as creators will be expected to build more immersive and interactive content than ever before.

Also related/see:

The Amazing Possibilities Of Healthcare In The Metaverse — from forbes.com by Bernard Marr

Excerpts:

What’s generally agreed on, however, is that it’s effectively the next version of the internet – one that will take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and ever-increasing connectivity (for example, 5G networks) to create online environments that are more immersive, experiential and interactive than what we have today.

Metaverse involves the convergence of three major technological trends, which all have the potential to impact healthcare individually. Together, though, they could create entirely new channels for delivering care that have the potential to lower costs and vastly improve patient outcomes. These are telepresence (allowing people to be together virtually, even while we’re apart physically), digital twinning, and blockchain (and its ability to let us create a distributed internet).

From DSC:
That last paragraph could likely apply to our future learning ecosystems as well. Lower costs. A greater sense of presence. Getting paid for one’s teaching…then going to learn something new and paying someone else for that new training/education.

 

The best lighting for video conferencing, according to experts— from blog.webex.com

A home office lighting setup for video conferencing.

Contents:

  • What is the best lighting for video conferencing?
  • Where should the light be for a video call?
  • What kind of lighting is best for video meetings?
  • What are the best lighting products for a video conference?
  • What is the best lighting for video conferencing on-the-go?
  • Good lighting means good communication:
 

Why the World’s First Virtual Reality High School Changes Everything — from steve-grubbs.medium.com by Steve Grubs

Excerpts:

The recipe required key ingredients to happen. In addition to an accredited school to manage students, admissions and the for-credit learning, it also needed a platform. That’s where EngageVR comes in. There are other platforms that will ultimately host schools, perhaps AltSpace, Horizon or others, but the first is on Engage.

The bottom line is this: creators, coders, educators, entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, parents and students all played a role in finally bringing the first global virtual reality high school to life. It won’t be the last school to open in the metaverse, but to all those involved in this inaugural launch — the Neil Armstrongs of your age — a special tip of the hat today for having the vision and the willingness to launch a better and more equitable era of education.

Also see:

This is a snapshot from the Geo Guesser VR game

 

The doctor is in—the video call — from mckinsey.com

Excerpt:

More patients than ever were willing to try virtual health services after COVID-19 emerged. Last year, the use of telehealth care was 38 times higher than prepandemic levels, as appointments such as follow-ups could easily be delivered remotely. A recent McKinsey survey shows that up to $265 billion in Medicare spending could shift to patients’ homes by 2025, with greater physician participation in the transition from telehealth to at-home care.

From facility to home: How healthcare could shift by 2025 — from mckinsey.com by Oleg Bestsennyy, Michelle Chmielewski, Anne Koffel, and Amit Shah

Also see the other charts via their daily chart feature:

A daily chart from McKinsey Dot Com that helps explain a changing world—during the pandemic and beyond.

 

Using Telehealth to Expand Student Access to Care — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Renee Kotsopoulo, director of health services for the Garland ISD in Texas, helped bring telehealth to her students and believes technology can help keep kids healthy and in school.

Can Teletherapy Companies Ease the Campus Mental-Health Crisis? — from chronicle.com by Kate Hidalgo Bellows

From DSC:
Telehealth has been booming during the pandemic. I think telelegal will ride on the coattails of telehealth.

 

Storytelling for impact — from nationalgeographic.org; a collaboration between National Geographic and Adobe
Visualize and communicate powerful stories that inspire change

Excerpt:

Stories can change the world.
Learn from world-class National Geographic photographers, videographers, and visual designers in a series of Storytelling for Impact online courses. Created in partnership with Adobe, this series will teach you how to use compelling photography, video, graphics, and audio to tell stories in the most impactful ways to inspire change.

 

Offered for both educators and youth ages 16–25, these short, free, self-paced online courses are designed to guide learners to visualize and communicate powerful stories that inspire action.

Ready to harness the power of storytelling?

 
 

A whole new world: Education meets the metaverse — from brookings.edu by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Jennifer M. Zosh, Helen Shwe Hadani, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kevin Clark, Chip Donohue, and Ellen Wartella

Excerpt:

The metaverse is upon us. Soon it will be as omnipresent as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook (now Meta). As technology advances to bring us new immersive and imaginary worlds, how we educate children and prepare teachers must also advance to meet these new opportunities. When education lags the digital leaps, the technology rather than educators defines what counts as educational opportunity. This is largely what happened with the introduction of “educational” apps designed to be used on smartphones and tablets meant for adults. Today, as the metaverse infrastructure is still under construction, researchers, educators, policymakers, and digital designers have a chance to lead the way rather than get caught in the undertow. To leverage the potential of the metaverse as a 3D, global, interconnected, immersive, and real-time online space, we need new ways to connect the physical world with augmented and virtual reality (VR) experiences.

In the end, we challenge those creating educational products for the metaverse to partner with educators and scientists to ensure that children experience real human social interaction as they navigate virtual spaces, children’s agency is supported as they explore these spaces, and there is a real eye to diversity in the representation and access to what is created.  

Also relevant/see:

The metaverse can provide a whole new opportunity for education. Here’s what to consider — from fastcompany.com by Stephen Fromkin
The cofounder of Talespin looks at an existing immersive learning program that delivers results and says our next priority should be getting it into the hands of as many learners as possible through the metaverse.

 

Holograms? Check! Now what? — from blog.webex.com by Elizabeth Bieniek

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Two years ago, I wrote about the Future of Meetings in 2030 and hinted at an effort my team was building to make this a reality. Now, we have publicly unveiled Webex Hologram and brought the reality of a real-time, end-to-end holographic meeting solution to life.

With Webex Hologram, you can feel co-located with a colleague who is thousands of miles away. You can share real objects in incredible multi-dimensional detail and collaborate on 3D content to show perspective, share, and approve design changes in real-time, all from the comfort of your home workspace.

As the hype dies down, the focus on entirely virtual experiences in fanciful environments will abate and a resurgence in focus on augmented experiences—interjecting virtual content into the physical world around you for an enhanced experience that blends the best of physical and virtual—will emerge.

The ability to have curated information at one’s fingertips, still holds an incredible value prop that has yet to be realized. Applying AI to predict, find, and present this type of augmented information in both 2D and 3D formats will become incredibly useful. 

From DSC:
As I think of some of the categories that this posting about establishing a new kind of co-presence relates to, there are many relevant ones:

  • 21st century
  • 24x7x365
  • 3D
  • Audio/Visual (A/V)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Cloud-based
  • Collaboration/web-based collaboration
  • Intelligent tutoring
  • Law schools, legal, government
  • Learning, learning agents, learning ecosystems, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces/hubs/pods
  • Libraries/librarians
  • K-12, higher education, corporate training
  • Metaverse
  • Online learning
  • Telelegal, telemedicine
  • Videoconferencing
  • Virtual courts, virtual tutoring, virtual field trips
  • Web3
 

Exploring Virtual Reality [VR] learning experiences in the classroom — from blog.neolms.com by Rachelle Dene Poth

Excerpt:

With the start of a new year, it is always a great time to explore new ideas or try some new methods that may be a bit different from what we have traditionally done. I always think it is a great opportunity to stretch ourselves professionally, especially after a break or during the spring months.

Finding ways to boost student engagement is important, and what I have found is that by using tools like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), we can immerse students in unique and personalized learning experiences. The use of augmented and virtual reality has increased in K-12 and Higher Ed, especially during the past two years, as educators have sought new ways to facilitate learning and give students the chance to connect more with the content. The use of these technologies is increasing in the workplace, as well.

With all of these technologies, we now have endless opportunities to take learning beyond what has been a confined classroom “space” and access the entire world with the right devices.

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian