online learning

What might our learning ecosystems look like by 2025? [Christian]

On 07/31/2015, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adult learning, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), blended learning, business side of he, career development, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, experimentation, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, liberal arts, lifelong learning, marketplaces, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

This posting can also be seen out at evoLLLution.com (where LLL stands for lifelong learning):

From DSC:
What might our learning ecosystems look like by 2025?

In the future, learning “channels” will offer more choice, more control. They will be far more sophisticated than what we have today.

That said, what the most important aspects of online course design end up being 10 years from now depends upon what types of “channels” I think there will be and what might be offered via those channels. By channels, I mean forms, methods, and avenues of learning that a person could pursue and use. In 2015, some example channels might be:

Attending a community college, a college or a university to obtain a degree
Obtaining informal learning during an internship
Using social media such as Twitter or LinkedIn
Reading blogs, books, periodicals, etc.

In 2025, there will likely be new and powerful channels for learning that will be enabled by innovative forms of communications along with new software, hardware, technologies, and other advancements. For examples, one could easily imagine:

That the trajectory of deep learning and artificial intelligence will continue, opening up new methods of how we might learn in the future
That augmented and virtual reality will allow for mobile learning to the Nth degree
That the trend of Competency Based Education (CBE) and microcredentials may be catapulted into the mainstream via the use of big data-related affordances

Due to time and space limitations, I’ll focus here on the more formal learning channels that will likely be available online in 2025. In that environment, I think we’ll continue to see different needs and demands – thus we’ll still need a menu of options. However, the learning menu of 2025 will be more personalized, powerful, responsive, sophisticated, flexible, granular, modularized, and mobile.

Highly responsive, career-focused track

One part of the menu of options will focus on addressing the demand for more career-focused information and learning that is available online (24×7). Even in 2015, with the U.S. government saying that 40% of today’s workers now have ‘contingent’ jobs and others saying that percentage will continue climbing to 50% or more, people will be forced to learn quickly in order to stay marketable. Also, the 1/2 lives of information may not last very long, especially if we continue on our current trajectory of exponential change (vs. linear change).

However, keeping up with that pace of change is currently proving to be out of reach for most institutions of higher education, especially given the current state of accreditation and governance structures throughout higher education as well as how our current teaching and learning environment is set up (i.e., the use of credit hours, 4 year degrees, etc.). By 2025, accreditation will have been forced to change to allow for alternative forms of learning and for methods of obtaining credentials. Organizations that offer channels with a more vocational bent to them will need to be extremely responsive, as they attempt to offer up-to-date, highly-relevant information that will immediately help people be more employable and marketable. Being nimble will be the name of the game in this arena. Streams of content will be especially important here. There may not be enough time to merit creating formal, sophisticated courses on many career-focused topics.

With streams of content, the key value provided by institutions will be to curate the most relevant, effective, reliable, up-to-date content…so one doesn’t have to drink from the Internet’s firehose of information. Such streams of content will also offer constant potential, game-changing scenarios and will provide a pulse check on a variety of trends that could affect an industry. Social-based learning will be key here, as learners contribute to each other’s learning. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will need to be knowledgeable facilitators of learning; but given the pace of change, true experts will be rare indeed.

Microcredentials, nanodegrees, competency-based education, and learning from one’s living room will be standard channels in 2025. Each person may have a web-based learner profile by then and the use of big data will keep that profile up-to-date regarding what any given individual has been learning about and what skills they have mastered.

For example, even currently in 2015, a company called StackUp creates their StackUp Report to add to one’s resume or grades, asserting that their services can give “employers and schools new metrics to evaluate your passion, interests, and intellectual curiosity.” Stackup captures, categorizes, and scores everything you read and study online. So they can track your engagement on a given website, for example, and then score the time spent doing so. This type of information can then provide insights into the time you spend learning.

Project teams and employers could create digital playlists that prospective employees or contractors will have to advance through; and such teams and employers will be watching to see how the learners perform in proving their competencies.

However, not all learning will be in the fast lane and many people won’t want all of their learning to be constantly in the high gears. In fact, the same learner could be pursuing avenues in multiple tracks, traveling through their learning-related journeys at multiple speeds.

The more traditional liberal arts track

To address these varied learning preferences, another part of the menu will focus on channels that don’t need to change as frequently. The focus here won’t be on quickly-moving streams of content, but the course designers in this track can take a bit more time to offer far more sophisticated options and activities that people will enjoy going through.

Along these lines, some areas of the liberal arts* will fit in nicely here.

*Speaking of the liberal arts, a brief but important tangent needs to be addressed, for strategic purposes. While the following statement will likely be highly controversial, I’m going to say it anyway. Online learning could be the very thing that saves the liberal arts.

Why do I say this? Because as the price of higher education continues to increase, the dynamics and expectations of learners continue to change. As the prices continue to increase, so do peoples’ expectations and perspectives. So it may turn out that people are willing to pay a dollar range that ends up being a fraction of today’s prices. But such greatly reduced prices won’t likely be available in face-to-face environments, as offering these types of learning environment is expensive. However, such discounted prices can and could be offered via online-based environments. So, much to the chagrin of many in academia, online learning could be the very thing that provides the type of learning, growth, and some of the experiences that liberal arts programs have been about for centuries. Online learning can offer a lifelong supply of the liberal arts.

But I digress…
By 2025, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) will be able to offer excellent, engaging courses chocked full of the use of:

Engaging story/narrative
Powerful collaboration and communication tools
Sophisticated tracking and reporting
Personalized learning, tech-enabled scaffolding, and digital learning playlists
Game elements or even, in some cases, multiplayer games
Highly interactive digital videos with built-in learning activities
Transmedia-based outlets and channels
Mobile-based learning using AR, VR, real-world assignments, objects, and events
…and more.

However, such courses won’t be able to be created by one person. Their sophistication will require a team of specialists – and likely a list of vendors, algorithms, and/or open source-based tools – to design and deliver this type of learning track.

Final reflections

The marketplaces involving education-related content and technologies will likely look different. There could be marketplaces for algorithms as well as for very granular learning modules. In fact, it could be that modularization will be huge by 2025, allowing digital learning playlists to be built by an SME, a Provost, and/or a Dean (in addition to the aforementioned employer or project team). Any assistance that may be required by a learner will be provided either via technology (likely via an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled resource) and/or via a SME.

We will likely either have moved away from using Learning Management Systems (LMSs) or those LMSs will allow for access to far larger, integrated learning ecosystems.

Functionality wise, collaboration tools will still be important, but they might be mind-blowing to us living in 2015. For example, holographic-based communications could easily be commonplace by 2025. Where tools like IBM’s Watson, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google’s Deepmind, and Apple’s Siri end up in our future learning ecosystems is hard to tell, but will likely be there. New forms of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) will likely be mainstream by 2025.

While the exact menu of learning options is unclear, what is clear is that change is here today and will likely be here tomorrow. Those willing to experiment, to adapt, and to change have a far greater likelihood of surviving and thriving in our future learning ecosystems.

PRAISE: a social network for online music learning [ec.europa.eu]

On 07/24/2015, in collaboration, communities of practice, elearning, Europe, multimedia, music, online learning, online tutoring, social learning / networks, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

PRAISE: a social network for online music learning — from ec.europa.eu
Community feedback and advanced analytics, combined with lesson planning and monitoring tools for teachers make this social learning platform, PRAISE, a step forward in collaborative online learning.

Excerpt:

Feedback is essential for learning,’ says Carles Sierra, Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council and coordinator of the PRAISE project. The project aims at filling a gap in online learning by creating a social network for music education with tools for giving and receiving feedback.

Using PRAISE’s Music Circle platform, music students can upload recordings of their playing and receive detailed feedback from other members of the community. Advanced tools let reviewers place their comments as annotations at exactly the right place in the audio signal representation.

‘Students’ peers can say “this crescendo is very nice” or “this passage is very expressive”,’ explains Professor Sierra. ‘This timeline of structured comments and this level of granularity have been lacking in online approaches to giving feedback on music.’

Also see their videos at:

What Learners Really Want — from clomedia.com by Todd Tauber
Listen to your learners: They want speed, diversity and adaptability in internal development programs.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Everyone knows most learning happens beyond the classroom walls and outside learning management systems. But new research shows just how much — and the data are startling.

In the past year, learning technology company Degreed conducted two separate surveys that show workers spend four to five times more time on self-directed learning than on internal or external learning offerings. They invest more than 14 hours a month, on average, learning on their own but just two to three hours on employer-provided learning.

Those numbers should inform how and why development needs to evolve — urgently.
…
Learners want easier and faster access to answers. Degreed found almost 70 percent of workers say the first thing they do when they need to learn something for their jobs is Google it, then read or watch what they find. About 42 percent look for a live or online course, but they do it on their own. Fewer than 12 percent turn to their learning organization first.

Learning and development people do pretty much the same thing. They are “Googling it” too, and not just because it’s expedient. By a 3.5 to 1 margin, people believe self-directed learning is more effective in helping them succeed at work than taking part in company sponsored learning. These are mature adults. They have a good idea what they need.
…
Learners want to leverage the whole learning ecosystem. Informal learning initiatives should be valued because workers believe as much as 60 percent of the knowledge and skills they use on the job comes from informal learning.

From DSC:
I agree with Todd that this is where learning ecosystems come in. Employees are trying to use a variety of tools and methods to tap into streams of up-do-date content.

To me, the charter of those involved with corporate training/development should be to help employees learn about the current set of tools available to them and how to use such tools. Then do the necessary research to give employees a place to begin using those tools — such as whom should a particular group of employees should follow on Twitter or Scoop.It, which websites/blogs are especially well done and applicable to their particular positions and area of expertise, etc.

The pace of change has changed and at times, it’s moving too fast to create formal learning materials. We need to tap into streams of content. Perhaps those in corporate U’s could even be helping to curate and create the most beneficial streams of content for their employees in key strategic areas — and doing so using small, bite-sized chunks. They could recommend — and to some degree even provide — the platforms employees could use for self-directed learning. This self-directed learning wouldn’t be all alone though — each employee would be building and interacting with folks within their own Personal Learning Network (PLN); each person’s learning ecosystem would likely look different from others’ learning ecosystems.

Also relevant/see:

Heutagogy Community of Practice

IRIS.TV Finds Adaptive Video Personalization Increases Consumption by 50% — from appmarket.tv by Richard Kastelein

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

IRIS.TV, the leading in-player video recommendation engine, reports that its programmatic video delivery technology, Adaptive StreamTM, has increased video consumption by 50% across all its clients. The results of these findings just further solidifies that consumption of online video is significantly enhanced by a personalized user experience.

By integrating Adaptive StreamTM in their video players and mobile apps, IRIS.TV’s clients are able to deliver the most relevant streams of video to their viewers, just like TV. Yet unlike TV, viewers’ feedback is captured in real-time through interactive buttons, allowing the stream to dynamically adapt to the changing preferences.

Press Release: IRIS.TV Launches Personalized End-screen for Online Video with Kaltura — from iris.tv
IRIS.TV Partners with Kaltura to offer programmatic content delivery and in-player thumbnail recommendations

Excerpt:

Los Angeles, May 4, 2015 – IRIS.TV the leading programmatic content delivery system, today announced a new dynamic, personalized end-screen plugin for Kaltura, provider of the leading video technology platform.

IRIS.TV’s new plugin for Kaltura will offer clients of both a personalized and dynamic stream of video along with a personalized end-screen framework. Publishers can now provide users with both dynamic streams of video – powered by consumption and interaction – along with thumbnail choices specific to their real-time consumption habits. This new integration supplies publishers with additional tools to deliver a more personalized viewing experience in order to maximize viewer retention and video views. The partnership is aimed to help consumers discover relevant and engaging content while viewing across all connected devices.

From DSC:
Now imagine these same concepts of providing recommendation engines and personalized/dynamic/interactive streams of content, but this time apply those same concepts to delivering personalized, digital learning playlists on topics that you want to learn about. With the pace of change and a shrinking 1/2 life for many pieces of information, this could be a powerful way to keep abreast of any given topic. Team these concepts up with the idea of learning hubs — whereby some of the content is delivered electronically and some of the content is discussed/debated in a face-to-face manner — and you have some powerful, up-to-date opportunities for lifelong learning. Web-based learner profiles and services like Stack Up could continually populate one’s resume and list of skills — available to whomever you choose to make it available to.

Along these lines, also see:

Nearly 1 billion TV sets Internet connected by 2020 — from appmarket.tv
Excerpt:

The number of TV sets connected to the Internet will reach 965 million by 2020, up from 103 million at end-2010 and the 339 million expected at end-2014, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.Covering 51 countries, the Connected TV Forecasts report estimates that the proportion of TV sets connected to the Internet will rocket to 30.4% by 2020, up from only 4.2% at end-2010 and the 12.1% expected by end-2014. South Korea (52.7%) will have the highest proportion by 2020, followed by the UK (50.6%), Japan (48.6%) and the US (47.0%). – See more at: http://www.appmarket.tv/connected-tv/2572-nearly-1-billion-tv-sets-internet-connected-by-2020.html#sthash.BJWdCgbv.dpuf

McDonnell – HTML5 is the true Second Screen, Social TV winner — from appmarket.tv
Excerpt:
After years of evolution, the W3C has finally declared the HTML5 standard complete. When Steve Jobs “declared war on Flash” he gave HTML5 a fighting chance of dominance. In parallel, businesses started to recognise the potential of Social TV or “Second Screen” behaviour to re-invigorate old media and drive revenue to newer social platforms like Twitter. The ensuing debate centred on winners and losers, but with such a diverse global broadcasting market and no social network with dominance in all countries, could the web standard be the ultimate winner? I think it already is.

Designing learning spaces for both online and on-campus delivery [Schaffhauser]

On 06/24/2015, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, distance education, hybrid learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, online learning, smart classrooms, telecommunications, telepresence, universities, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

Designing learning spaces for both online and on-campus delivery — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser
Purdue University found a way to create a flexible and inviting learning space for on-campus learners while also delivering high-quality audio and video recording for distance students.

Purdue’s new Engineering Professional Education classrooms
are designed for lecture capture while providing a flexible
space for on-campus students. (Photo by Phil Conrad)

From DSC:
Couple this with the concept of having the same student be able to attend in either a face-to-face manner or via online and you’re providing some serious opportunities for:

MoreChoiceMoreControl-DSC2

Very interesting & powerful possibilities: “Oculus Rift technology may improve online learning”

On 06/22/2015, in distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, online learning, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Oculus Rift technology may improve online learning — from educationnews.org

Excerpt:

A professor at Penn State is experimenting with how the immersive virtual reality system Oculus Rift and related technologies can be used to improve online learning.

Assistant professor of engineering design and industrial engineering Conrad Tucker and his students have been designing virtual reality technology with the goal of using it for distance learning that is more effective by introducing a tactile element that previously could only be achieved in an in-person classroom.

Their study has found that it’s working. Using the Oculus Rift goggles and a haptic glove, which allows users to interact with the world as if they were really using their hands, improves student performance compared to a traditional flat screen and traditional keyboard and mouse controls.

54 undergraduate engineering students were given the task of assembling a virtual coffee pot from disparate pieces. Half did this with the virtual reality technology, and the rest used a simple computer program. The median time for the virtual reality group was 23.21 seconds, but those using a keyboard and mouse took a median of 49.04 seconds — more than double the time.

MOOCs emerge as disruptors to corporate learning [Meister]

On 06/16/2015, in 21st century, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, disruption, experimentation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, social learning / networks, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

MOOCs emerge as disruptors to corporate learning — from forbes.com by Jeanne Meister

Excerpts:

Our company, Future Workplace, wanted to uncover how pervasive this revolution was in corporate learning. Our survey entitled Leveraging MOOCs and Open Learning Assets In The Workplace was fielded to 222 heads of Human Resources, Corporate Learning and Talent Management. We also conducted a number of interviews with senior HR leaders to understand the drivers behind creating a company MOOC, the benefits and barriers, and the long term impact of MOOCs on corporate learning.

Four findings emerged as a wake-up call for Chief Human Resource Officers, Chief Learning Officers as well as senior business leaders.

Finding #1: MOOCs offer companies an innovative online learning design for employees plus the ability to externally offer MOOCs to attract potential new hires and new customers.

Finding #2: Companies want to go beyond creating MOOCs to also curate a wide range of open learning assets.

Finding #3: The top three barriers to experimenting with MOOCs inside companies include a lack of budget, technical and security issues and a lack of skills among corporate learning professionals to design MOOCs.

Finding #4: Top resistors to experimenting with the MOOC model were employees in the Corporate Learning Department.

Institutions say this is the new priority in higher education — from ecampusnews.com by Ron Bethke; with a shout out to eduwire.com for their comments/posting on this
Survey reveals institutions, like UC Irvine, are putting greater effort into tracking graduates’ success and helping them continue learning through short-term programs.

Excerpt:

The days of warmly wishing graduates farewell and good luck after four years is not a sustaining strategy for colleges and universities, says a new report. Instead, offering online programs to keep graduates coming back to the institution for continuing career education is quickly becoming higher-ed’s newest must-offer.
…
Simply better understanding how graduates are doing isn’t the only way institutions are showing their commitment to lifelong career success. Though only 4 percent of respondents currently offer short-term alternative credentials such as digital badges and short-term certificates for graduates changing careers or looking to learn new skills, 50 percent of responding senior executives plan to add these customizable certificates to their portfolio in the next five years, with another 30 percent planning to offer digital badges in the same time frame.

“Universities and colleges want better ways to connect with alumni for years to come,” said EAB Practice Manager Carla Hickman. “This means offering not just surveys, but also new, intensive learning opportunities that support lifelong achievement and success of students.”

UC Irvine, for example, is currently working on setting up special communities for alumni taking various MOOCs on Coursera, in order to bring more graduates back to learn in more meaningful ways.
…
“[Millennials] are seeking short-format courses and credentials for ‘just-in-time’ and ‘just enough’ education.

From DSC:
Given the pace and far-reaching impact of today’s changes, lifelong learning is now a requirement. Learning new things, staying on top of trends, peering out into the future to see what’s coming down the pike — these are important actions that we all need to take to remain marketable. If we see robots, algorithms, and automation coming into the neighborhood of our particular jobs, then we had better be looking and preparing for something else. At that point, we’ll need to pivot…to adapt…to change.

Speaking of change, the article above reminds me of a potentially more utilized “distribution channel” — or model, if you will — that universities, colleges, and businesses could be moving towards in the future. And that is, that organizations could be moving towards providing streams of relevant, curated, dependable content to learning hubs around the globe. Hubs that feature blended learning where some of the content is beamed in from Subject Matter Experts (such as professors, teachers, trainers, and others) and some of the content is dealt with in a face-to-face manner. The beamed in content could be done synchronously and/or asynchronously. And as people often like to learn with others around a physical location, I could see this type of model taking off.

It would feature smaller, bite-sized chunks of content and investigations into a topic. But the model would have to allow for such a learning provider to be nimble and responsive — always up-to-date. That way they could provide such “just-in-time” and “just enough” learning.

Other words that come to my mind here — both as individuals and as institutions — are the following:

Reinvent
Staying relevant
Surviving
Being responsive

7 things you should know about developments in Instructional Design [educause]

On 06/08/2015, in adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, faculty/staff, higher education, instructional design, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, teaching & learning, universities, using teams, by Daniel Christian

7 things you should know about developments in Instructional Design — from educause.edu

Excerpt:

What is it?

In recent years, instructional design has been undergoing significant changes resulting from developments in areas including pedagogy, learning science, and technology. Whereas instructional design had often been somewhat circumscribed, almost templatized, the complexity of the learning environment is turning instructional design into a more dynamic activity, responding to changing educational models and expectations. The science of learning is showing us how people learn, leading to new educational activities, such as active learning and peer learning. Flipped classrooms, makerspaces, and competency-based learning are changing how instructors work with students, how students work with course content, and how mastery is verified. Mobile computing, cloud computing, and data-rich repositories have altered ideas about where and how learning takes place. Now anyone with a mobile device can photograph a leaf, submit the image to a database for matching, and receive prompt plant identification. In this complex climate, instructional designers face unfamiliar challenges and explore new opportunities.

…

What are the implications for teaching and learning?
Developments in the role of the instructional designer in higher education have the potential to benefit both teachers and learners in important ways. By helping align educational activities with a growing understanding of the conditions, tools, and techniques that enable better learning, instructional designers can help higher education take full advantage of new and emerging models of education. Instructional designers bring a cross-disciplinary approach to their work, showing faculty how learning activities used in particular subject areas might be effective in others. In this way, instructional designers can cultivate a measure of consistency across courses and disciplines in how educational strategies and techniques are incorporated. Designers can also facilitate the creation of inclusive learning environments that offer choices to students with varying strengths and preferences. In these and other ways, instructional designers are becoming an important part of face-to-face as well as online and blended learning environments.

An increasingly popular job perk: Online education [McIntire]

On 06/03/2015, in business, change, changing business models, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, experimentation, higher education, innovation, lifelong learning, new business models, online learning, workplace, by Daniel Christian

An increasingly popular job perk: Online education — from chronicle.com by Mary Ellen McIntire

Excerpt:

Southern New Hampshire University has become the latest institution to team up with a major employer to make online courses a benefit of employment.

A partnership between Southern New Hampshire and Anthem Inc., a health-insurance company, will allow some 55,000 Anthem employees to earn associate or bachelor’s degrees through the university’s College for America, a competency-based assessment program.

The announcement is one of several recent deals between a college and a corporation that will expand higher-education opportunities for employees at no or reduced cost, following a high-profile deal, announced last year, between Starbucks and Arizona State University. On Monday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced a similar arrangement with Strayer University.

Alternatives to traditional higher education continue to develop:

Google partners with Udacity to launch Android development nanodegree — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois

Excerpt:

At its I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Google announced [on 5/28/15] that it has partnered with Udacity to launch a six-course Android development nanodegree.

The idea here is to help developers learn how to write apps for Google’s mobile operating system “the right way” up to the point where they could potentially be hired by Google itself.

Udemy alternatives for selling video courses online — from robcubbon.com

Excerpt:

Udemy is currently the leading online learning platform. Their top 10 instructors all made over $500,000 last year and the top earner makes over $8 million. I make $4000+ each month by selling courses on Udemy.

16 startups poised to disrupt the education market — from inc.com by Ilan Mochari
Colleges and universities are facing new competition for customers–students and their parents–from startups delivering similar goods (knowledge, credentials, prestige) more affordably and efficiently. Here’s a rundown of some of those startups.

.

PayWhatYouWantBootcamp-Jan2015

New MOOC Platform Provides Free IT Certification Courses — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Ideo U

Yieldr Academy

Lessons Go Where

ClassDo

Udemy

C-Suite TV.com

Simon & Schuster to sell online courses taught by popular authors — from nytimes.com by Alexandra Alter; with thanks to Sidneyeve Matrix for her Tweet on this

Excerpt:

Simon & Schuster is making a push into paid online video, with a new website offering online courses from popular health, finance and self-help authors.

The cost of the first batch of online courses ranges from $25 to $85, and includes workbooks and access to live question-and-answer sessions with three authors: Dr. David B. Agus, the best-selling author of “The End of Illness”; Zhena Muzyka, who wrote the self-help book “Life by the Cup”; and Tosha Silver, the author of the spiritual advice book “Outrageous Openness.” The courses will be available on the authors’ individual websites and on the company’s new site, SimonSays.

.

The real revolution in online education isn’t MOOCs — from hbr.org by Michelle Weise

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Something is clearly wrong when only 11% of business leaders — compared to 96% of chief academic officers — believe that graduates have the requisite skills for the workforce. It’s therefore unlikely that business leaders are following closely what’s going on in higher education. Even the latest hoopla around massive open online courses (MOOCs) amounts to more of the same: academics designing courses that correspond with their own interests rather than the needs of the workforce, but now doing it online.

But there is a new wave of online competency-based learning providers that has absolutely nothing to do with offering free, massive, or open courses. In fact, they’re not even building courses per se, but creating a whole new architecture of learning that has serious implications for businesses and organizations around the world.

It’s called online competency-based education, and it’s going to revolutionize the workforce.
…
The key distinction is the modularization of learning.
…
Here’s why business leaders should care: the resulting stackable credential reveals identifiable skillsets and dispositions that mean something to an employer. As opposed to the black box of the diploma, competencies lead to a more transparent system that highlights student-learning outcomes.

Should your institution consider a nanodegree program? — from by Rebecca Lundberg
Students seeking to build technical skills and credentials are enrolling in nanodegree programs.

Anyone Can Be a Teacher at Skillshare, an Online School — from nytimes.com by Jonah Bromwich
Excerpt:
Skillshare is an online video platform that allows anyone to sign up and teach a class. The company has proved adept at recruiting experts to teach on its website. Aside from Ms. Orlean’s class on creative nonfiction, the website has a class on visual storytelling from the design maven Debbie Millman and a marketing course taught by the entrepreneur Seth Godin. At one point, it even offered screenwriting instruction from James Franco.

Canvas.net

worldacademy.tv

Addendum on 6/3/15:

Disrupting Higher Education — from Campus Technology
Can colleges and universities break out of traditional models and compete with the disruptive forces changing the nature of higher ed?

Excerpts:

Also, traditional colleges and universities have turned away from the growing population of “nonconsumers” who need workforce skills. Only one in five freshmen actually have that residential college experience that we tend to glorify, she said. Close to 71 percent of students are what we now call non-traditional students, but which are fast becoming the norm.

These kinds of students are “overserved” by those bundled services of traditional brick-and-mortar institutions, she said. Many feel underprepared for the workforce, and they’re looking for something different.

“Higher education institutions are now competing with organizations they have never even heard of,” Weise said. “These are organizations that are really getting at the inadequacies of the system…. things like coding boot camps, where you can pay $10,000 to $20,000, spend six to 12 weeks learning to code, and get recruited by places like Google or Facebook and start earning about six figures…. Your shot at getting a job is better than if you went to law school.

“This is just to emphasize that it’s not who you think you’re competing with,” she said.

Per Michelle Weise p. 8 pf 45

IBM-Affiliated Brooklyn School Graduates Its First Students Ahead of Schedule With Both High School & College STEM Degrees — from finance.yahoo.com and the PR Newswire
Young trailblazers pave way for national education model for tens of thousands of students

Excerpt:

BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Six students from Brooklyn are graduating from P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) two years early with both their high school diplomas and college degrees in computer systems technology, fast tracking through the nation’s first school that blends public high school, community college, and work experience into one.

Addendums on 7/1/15:

Boot camp classes may offer a peek at the future of higher ed — from cnbc.com by Bob Sullivan
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Udacity has abandoned the idea of giving classes away to huge numbers of people in favor of “nanodegrees”—boot-camp style, short-term programs with a laser-like focus on preparing students for a career. Nanodegree subjects include Web developer, Android developer, iOS developer … you get the picture.

What you don’t get is a huge student loan debt. Udacity classes start at $1,200 for a six-month program. The fees have actually helped with online classes’ biggest problem: High dropout rates. Turns out, more people stick with classes if they have to pay for them.

Are small, private online courses the future of higher education in America? — from theweek.com by James Poulos
Excerpt:
Rather than trying to get universities to shape up, we should recognize that the SPOC (Small and Private Online Courses) model will flourish best outside the confines of today’s campus environment. In small, private forums, pioneers who want to pursue wisdom can find a radically alternate education — strikingly contemporary, yet deeply rooted in the ancient practice of conversational exegesis.

Addendum on 7/24/15:

HowZone Collaborative Learning Communities™
Connecting you with people from around the world who are passionate about the same topics as you.

What We Do:
HowZone connects people around topics of shared interest and gives them tools to help each other learn. Beginners get the foundational knowledge they need and experts get special ways to take their expertise as far as they want to go.

Addendums on 7/24/15 — with thanks to Thomas Frey for his posting mentioning these resources

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Addendum 8/7/15:

Addendums on 8/26/15:

Addendum on 10/15/15:

33 websites that will make you a genius — from medium.com

Reflections on “Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader” [educause.com]

On 05/20/2015, in business side of he, career development, colleges, community colleges, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, IT in HE, leadership, new business models, online learning, strategy, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader — from educause.edu

Excerpts:

Two major changes have helped in defining the strategic IT leader of today and tomorrow. The first is specific to higher education: There has been an evolution in the business of higher education, with institutions needing to adopt new models to stay competitive and focus on outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and responsiveness. The second has been experienced at all levels in society: the pervasive nature and rapid development of technology. Within a higher education context, technology’s expanded presence impacts all areas of an institution. The IT leader occupies a unique position at the center of massive change, making this role both a challenging one and one that will continue to evolve in the coming years. The profession must be ready for both the changes and the opportunities.

Perhaps the greatest opportunity is for the IT leader to demonstrate the value of technology. Technology advances the institutional mission and the business of higher education. Regardless of the size or maturity of your IT organization, we think the concepts discussed here will be relevant and useful. As your IT organization moves to become a significant campus player, understanding the role of the IT leader will increase your institutional impact and enable your organization to truly lead.

Also see:

Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader — from educause.edu

From DSC:
What higher ed institutions need right now are more leaders who are visionary, innovative, creative, and bold — those who understand the strategic value that a variety of technologies can bring to the table. The problem is, many in leadership/executive positions didn’t grow up with the technologies that are being used today (and the new ones that will be launched tomorrow)…so they don’t see the value in pursuing them. They’re not sold on them.

So my advice in filling any senior level position today — as well as in filling open positions on the boards that oversee our institutions of higher education — is to ask:

Is this candidate visionary? Innovative? Creative? Can they think outside the box? Or at minimum, are they open to other visionaries’ perspectives? (This type of person is in direct contrast to the person who seeks to do higher ed the same way that it’s always been done; i.e., a person who simply seeks to maintain the status quo.)
Do they understand that the heat is in the kitchen throughout higher education today? Do they understand that alternatives to traditional higher ed continue to arise on almost a monthly basis? (i.e., this is likely not the same environment as when the candidate went through college.)
If they understand that higher ed is in a major spotlight with an increasingly skeptical society (i.e., that some people think it’s too costly, that others call into question the return on their investments, that others assert that it’s not preparing students for the workplace, etc.), what do they propose to do about it? What are their solutions?
Are they tech-savvy? Do they use technology in how they communicate, how they achieve their daily tasks, in how they stay informed on the higher ed landscape, and/or in other areas such as establishing their online footprints?

Technology is key from here on out — in every area of running a university, college, or community college. Those who use technologies strategically will survive and thrive; those who minimize the value of technology are now a major handicap and a stumbling block for an institution of higher education. Such perspectives might have been acceptable years ago…but they are no longer acceptable as they completely ignore:

The state of the world today, and how increasingly, technology is permeating almost every area of the workplace as well as in the ways that we communicate and connect with each other; in fact, the very ways we live and accomplish things
The changing K-12 student and how technology is increasingly being integrated in that arena
The skills that our graduates will need
The threats to traditional higher education

Discarding the strategic value of technologies is an operational perspective that institutions of higher education simply can no longer afford — the 21st century learner will have other alternatives to choose from.

LinkedIn’s Blockbuster deal w/ Lynda.com: What it means to the online learning industry [Meyer]

On 05/14/2015, in A/V -- audio/visual, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, elearning, lifelong learning, media/film, online learning, online media, training / L&D, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

LinkedIn’s Blockbuster deal w/ Lynda.com: What it means to the online learning industry — from forbes.com by Stephen Meyer

Excerpt:

The press coverage of LinkedIn’s recent acquisition of Lynda.com for $1.5 billion has largely overlooked a key aspect of the deal. Yes, it integrates learning into a powerful social media site. Yes, per LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, it’ll “connect our members to opportunity,” giving them access to skills training that will enhance their careers.

But what does it mean to corporate e-learning? Lynda.com, based in Carpinteria, CA, used to be strictly a consumer company, but its strategy for the past couple years has clearly been to muscle into workplace training. What does the acquisition mean to market leader Skillsoft and other providers of online corporate learning? (Disclosure: I am the CEO of Rapid Learning Institute, an e-learning company)

Well, it’s an atomic bomb.

…

What’s different is that Lynda.com’s “content producers” know they’re creating a video, a medium that operates under a different set of rules from traditional learning vehicles. Content producers know that an instructionally sound e-learning module fails if people don’t watch it.

The most important thing Lynda.com does is find credentialed subject matter experts who speak comfortably in front of a camera. That’s a one-in-20 quality. Ivy League professors who excel in a classroom often look wooden on camera. You don’t have to be pretty. In fact, actors usually bomb in e-learning. You need to be credible and hold people’s attention by combining tight scripts and captivating delivery. Lynda.com’s e-learning, especially their soft-skills content, does it better than Skillsoft and other major players in the industry.

…

The message for corporate e-learning insiders is clear: The quality of content matters.

From DSC:
Learning is messy. Teaching & learning is messy.

In my experience, teaching is both an art and a science. Ask anyone who has tried it and they will tell you that it’s not easy. In fact, it takes years to hone one’s craft…and there are no silver bullets. Get a large group of Learning Theorists together in the same room and you won’t get 100% agreement on the best practices for how human beings actually learn.

Besides that, I see some issues with how we are going about trying to educate today’s learners…and as the complexity of our offerings is increasing, these issues are becoming more apparent, important, visible, and costly:

Professors, Teachers, & Trainers know some pieces of the puzzle.
Cognitive Scientists, Cognitive Psychologists, and Neuroscientists know some other pieces of the puzzle.
Learning Theorists and Instructional Designers know some other pieces of the puzzle.
Learning Space Designers know some other pieces of the puzzle.
And yet other specialties know about some other pieces of the puzzle.

But, in practice, how often are these specialties siloed? How much information is shared between these silos? Are there people interpreting and distilling the neuroscience and cognitive science into actionable learning activities? Are there collaborative efforts going on here or are the Teachers, Professors, and Trainers pretty much on their own here (again, practically speaking)?

So…how do we bring all of these various pieces together? My conclusion:

We need a team-based approach in order to bring all of the necessary pieces together. We’ll never get there by continuing to work in our silos…working alone.

…

But there are other reasons why the use of teams is becoming a requirement these days: Accessibility; moving towards providing more blended/hybrid learning — including flipping the classroom; and moving towards providing more online-based learning.

Accessibility
We’re moving into a world whereby lawsuits re: accessibility are becoming more common:

Ed Tech World on Notice: Miami U disability discrimination lawsuit could have major effect — from mfeldstein.com by Phil Hill
Excerpt:
This week the US Department of Justice, citing Title II of ADA, decided to intervene in a private lawsuit filed against Miami University of Ohio regarding disability discrimination based on ed tech usage. Call this a major escalation and just ask the for-profit industry how big an effect DOJ intervention can be. From the complaint:

Miami University uses technologies in its curricular and co-curricular programs, services, and activities that are inaccessible to qualified individuals with disabilities, including current and former students who have vision, hearing, or learning disabilities. Miami University has failed to make these technologies accessible to such individuals and has otherwise failed to ensure that individuals with disabilities can interact with Miami University’s websites and access course assignments, textbooks, and other curricular and co-curricular materials on an equal basis with non-disabled students. These failures have deprived current and former students and others with disabilities a full and equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from all of Miami University’s educational opportunities.

Knowing about accessibility (especially online and via the web) and being able to provide accessible learning materials is a position in itself. Most faculty members and most Instructional Designers are not specialists in this area. Which again brings up the need for a team-based approach.

Also, when we create hybrid/blended learning-based situations and online-based courses, we’re moving some of the materials and learning experiences online. Once you move something online, you’ve entered a whole new world…requiring new skillsets and sensitivities.

The article below caused me to reflect on this topic. It also made me reflect yet again on how tricky it is to move the needle on how we teach people…and how we set up our learning activities and environments in the most optimal/effective ways. Often we teach in the ways that we were taught. But the problem is, the ways in which learning experiences can be offered these days are moving far beyond the ways us older people were taught.

Why we need Learning Engineers — from chronicle.com by Bror Saxberg

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Recently I wandered around the South by Southwest ed-tech conference, listening to excited chatter about how digital technology would revolutionize learning. I think valuable change is coming, but I was struck by the lack of discussion about what I see as a key problem: Almost no one who is involved in creating learning materials or large-scale educational experiences relies on the evidence from learning science.

We are missing a job category: Where are our talented, creative, user-centric “learning engineers” — professionals who understand the research about learning, test it, and apply it to help more students learn more effectively?
…
So where are the learning engineers? The sad truth is, we don’t have an equivalent corps of professionals who are applying learning science at our colleges, schools, and other institutions of learning. There are plenty of hard-working, well-meaning professionals out there, but most of them are essentially using their intuition and personal experience with learning rather than applying existing science and generating data to help more students and professors succeed.

Also see:

Why you now need a team to create and deliver learning — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush and Daniel Christian
Excerpt:
“Higher education institutions that intentionally move towards using a team-based approach to creating and delivering the majority of their education content and learning experiences will stand out and be successful over the long run.”

Addendum on 5/14/15:

Thinking different(ly) about university presses — from insidehighered.com by Carl Straumsheim

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Lynn University, to further its tablet-centric curriculum, is establishing its own university press to support textbooks created exclusively for Apple products.

Lynn University Digital Press, which operates out of the institution’s library, in some ways formalizes the authoring process between faculty members, instructional designers, librarians and the general counsel that’s been taking place at the private university in Florida for years. With the university press in place, the effort to create electronic textbooks now has an academic editor, style guides and faculty training programs in place to improve the publishing workflow.

EdX and Qualcomm to build the next generation mobile learning experience

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.

Learning Ecosystems

Designing learning spaces for both online and on-campus delivery [Schaffhauser]

Very interesting & powerful possibilities: “Oculus Rift technology may improve online learning”

7 things you should know about developments in Instructional Design [educause]

An increasingly popular job perk: Online education [McIntire]

Alternatives to traditional higher ed continue to develop

Reflections on “Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader” [educause.com]

LinkedIn’s Blockbuster deal w/ Lynda.com: What it means to the online learning industry [Meyer]

EdX and Qualcomm to build the next generation mobile learning experience

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