The Next Generation of Digitally Enhanced Learning — from The Journal by Scott Aronowitz

At the recent Ed Tech Summit, a technology consultant took a distant look at the future of education, based on both widespread speculation and technologies currently on the market and in development

In his lecture at the Ed Tech Summit at the InfoComm 2010 conference in Las Vegas, Mark S. Valenti, founder and president of Pittsburgh-based technology consulting firm The Sextant Group, delved into the myriad of ways in which advancing technology will continue to enhance, improve, and expand education–both K-12 and post-secondary education–as well as the shifts in priorities and attitudes such advancements will likely cause.

In Valenti’s “big picture” view of the next stage of education, there will be several significant changes, some of which we are already witnessing, that will alter the entire landscape for “providers” of education and related services, e.g., colleges and universities, vocational and trade institutes, public and private K-12 schools, etc., as well as for teachers and students:

* The process will continue to become more technology-dependent;
* There will be increased demand for access, in terms of user capacity, frequency, transmission speed, and content capacity, leading to increased demand for bandwidth;
* Information will become increasingly media rich, which will also impact bandwidth demand; and
* The individual will increasingly become both a consumer and a producer of information, leading to shifts in the dynamic between educators and the educated.

Finally, such technology will lead to a rethinking of the architecture of learning spaces themselves. “Collaboration across time and space will drive facility design [in the coming years]. We’re seeing technologies like Skype become commonplace. We’re seeing major investments from companies like Cisco in things like TelePresence, which is a prime example of cross-collaboration.” Valenti said he believes that, in the long run, in addition to the changes in teaching and learning methods, the physical space that accommodates learning will also change. Classrooms driven by multimedia, virtual hands-on combinations of laboratories and lecture spaces, and the aforementioned virtual operating rooms are all examples of the digitally enhanced learning spaces on the horizon.

Highlights from the New Media Consortium’s Summer 2010 Conference — by Alan Levine

New Media Consortium's Summer 2010 Conference in Anaheim

Whether you were there or not, below you will find our collection of media and highlights from the 2010 Summer Conference, hosted by the University of Southern California.

Multimedia, Technology Shine in Educational Product Awards — Educational Publishing [the official blog of the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP)]

Today’s kids are growing up in a world where technology is ubiquitous and connectivity is almost constant. Companies responsible for creating the tools with which these “digital natives” learn face the tall order of making kids’ lives inside the classroom more like their lives outside the classroom. By incorporating technology and multimedia into their products, this year’s finalists in the AEP Awards program do just that, exemplifying the quality and innovation that can be achieved when thinking in terms of the 21st Century classroom.

Adobe Flash Player 10.1 arrives — from webmonkey by Michael Calore

After spending many months on development and beta testing, Adobe has released the latest version of its Flash Player.

You can download Flash Player 10.1 for Mac, Windows and Linux at Adobe’s website. You’ll need to shut down all of your browsers while it installs. There’s a version of Flash Player 10.1 coming for Android, but it won’t be ready until later this summer. A beta version is available in the Android Marketplace if you want to test it out.

This release is significant for a number of reasons…

Double tablet from Kno -- June 2010

From Kno’s blog:

So how did this all get started? The eTextbook has been available for almost a decade now, yet has not taken off. This was our starting point – we asked the question – why haven’t eTextbooks taken off?

Students are immersed in the digital world, with their computers, access to the web, and social networking on their phones. But, most of this is an “add-on” to their 18 (or more) pounds of a physical textbooks. Textbooks are heavy, costly, and awkward to carry around, but still they are the central reference source for majority of students. Why is that? Why hasn’t a digital device taken off, providing students with a lighter, cheaper, and more functional alternative?

Answering this question was simple: talk to the students, and let them tell us what’s going on. So, that’s exactly what we did, and the answer was surprisingly clear. Students have a “relationship” with their textbooks and build their studying habits around them. Things like seeing both pages in a two page spread, the way they hold their books, using a highlighter, writing on sticky notes they’ve placed on a page, even putting their finger in the book to look something up while holding their place. Lighter and cheaper is a good start, but not enough. It’s this relationship with the textbooks that needs to be carried over to the digital world.

Also see:
Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8, we go hands-on — from Engadget

InfoComm 2010: Rich media driving the ‘Evolution of the Network,’ Cisco exec declares — from The Journal

“Just looking at what’s going on on networks around the world, it’s incredible. Traffic is literally exploding on networks,” de Beer told InfoComm attendees. “[Networks of the past were built] around data and [were] optimized for Web traffic. In just two or three years from now, when 90 percent of traffic is video, those networks will have to look fundamentally different.”

De Beer is predictably bullish on video and, especially, telepresence. Earlier this quarter Cisco completed a $3.3 billion buyout of videoconferencing and telepresence solutions provider Tandberg to help it stake a claim in what Cisco has estimated to be a $34 billion market for collaborative technologies.

He pointed to a future for collaboration that make it easier for users to create and manipulate rich media and for IT departments to deliver these technologies while also cutting back on the need for end-user support.

He added: “When it comes to rich human interactions, being able to easily create, find, share, consume, and manage content is very important. And we believe the network, what we now term as ‘medianet,’ which you should think of as the evolution of the network that is ready for rich media,… will play a very important part.”

Learn Creative Suite 5 on Adobe TV

Deliver innovative ideas in print, web, interactive and mobile. Learn the new features and how to get started with all CS5 products on the How To channel on Adobe TV.   Watch now

Adobe rolls out iPad-focused magazine publishing tools — from arstechnica.com by Jacqui Cheng

Also see:
Advancing the future of digital publishing

Digital Publishing platform

Adobe is building on the foundation of Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 and Omniture® technologies to deliver an open, comprehensive Digital Publishing Platform. This innovative platform consists of applications, technologies, and services that allow publishers to cost effectively author, produce, and distribute groundbreaking content to the broadest possible audience on a wide variety of digital devices. With this platform, Adobe is helping publishers and advertisers revolutionize how they create and deliver digital content, and how their audiences consume it.

NOTE:
Content plus experience for multiple screens

Publishers around the world are striving to embrace the digital age — to build distinctive brands, develop sustainable business strategies, and achieve greater profitability. They’re looking for innovative, cost-effective ways to design and deliver content to fragmented audiences on an ever-expanding array of smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and other devices.

Audiences today want to engage with content wherever they are, using their preferred devices. And they seek immersion in compelling, media-rich experiences that are optimally designed and delivered. Content plus experience is now king (emphasis DSC).

From DSC:
Read that last paragraph again — this is our future (perhaps even current?) student.

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New Media Consortium’s Summer 2010 Conference

Tracks include:

  • Emerging Technologies
    • Mobile applications and tools for learning
    • Cloud-based applications in practice
    • Geolocation technologies and applications
    • Augmented reality
    • Applications of collective intelligence
    • Discipline-specific applications for emerging technologies
    • Discussions of challenges and trends related to educational technology
    • Projects that employ the Horizon Report in any capacity
  • New Media and Learning
    • Applications for educational gaming and virtual worlds
    • Digital storytelling techniques and applications
    • Open source and open content projects
    • New forms of scholarship and publication
    • Inter-generational learning
    • Supporting and working with faculty or curatorial staff
    • International and multi-institutional projects
    • Immersive learning environments
  • New Media and Leadership
    • Identity management
    • Allocation of resources
    • Support and integration of course management systems
    • Learning space design
    • Support of technology environments on and off campus
    • Use, creation, and management of open content
    • Fair use, intellectual property, and copyright issues
    • Accessibility issues
    • Assessment and evaluation
    • New media programs and degrees
    • Supporting a global student body
    • Global outreach programs and activities
  • Tools and Techniques
    • Mobile delivery of educational content
    • Social networking tools and techniques
    • Cloud-based applications and tools
    • Semantic-aware tools
    • 3D and animation techniques
    • 2D animation and motion graphics
    • Digital video production and delivery
    • Demonstrations of new software from NMC partners
    • New techniques involving established software
    • Tools and techniques for online research and collaborative work

20 educational (and free!) multimedia resources — via Tracy Boyer and Tim McLaughlin

Today II guest blogger Tim McLaughlin reveals 20 of his most favorite resources for multimedia education – spanning audio, photography, videography, multimedia post production, and web design. Tim also provided a printable PDF of his list so that you can freely share it with others. I hope that once you read through his list you add your own favorites in the comments. I was impressed to see some unfamiliar sites amongst his list, and I hope to learn of even more inspirational resources from all of you!

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Logitech’s big plans for Google TV — from media.venturebeat.com

Also see:

Google TV

Google unveils its 'multimillion-channel' TV

From DSC:
Another example of convergence; one that will eventually [positively] affect the K-20 world and what we are able to offer.

Also see:

Google TV

From DSC:
Below is a great book that I highly recommend for instructional designers, multimedia developers, and any teacher or professor who is putting materials online. Check it out — especially the chapters on cognitive load theory.

e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning — Dr. Ruth Clark

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