Computer ties human as they square off on ‘Jeopardy!’ — from CNN.com

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IBM's Watson computer is competing against former champs Ken Jennings, left, and Brad Rutter on "Jeopardy!" this week.

.From DSC:
To be clear, I celebrate what the LORD has created and given to us in our amazingly-complex minds! I do not subscribe to the idea that robots are better than humans or that technologies are to be glorified and that technologies will save the world — not at all. (In fact, I have some concerns about the havoc that could easily occur if certain technologies wound up in the wrong hands — with those who have no fear of the LORD and who have massive amounts of pride…with hearts of stone.)

Getting back to my point…
The phenomenon that Christensen, Horn, and Johnson describe in Disrupting Class continues to play out in higher education/K-12. The innovations are mainly happening outside the face-to-face T&L environments.

Also see:

Elementary, my dear Watson: Jeopardy computer offers insight into human cognition — from Sentient Developments by George Dvorsky

Also see:

  1. Massive parallelism:
    Exploit massive parallelism in the consideration of multiple interpretations and hypotheses.
  2. Many experts:
    Facilitate the integration, application and con-textual evaluation of a wide range of loosely coupled probabilistic question and content analytics.
  3. Pervasive confidence estimation:
    No single component commits to an answer; all components produce features and associated confidences, scoring different question and contentinterpretations. An underlying confidence processing substratelearns how to stack and combine the scores.
  4. Integrate shallow and deep knowledge:
    Balance the use of strict semantics and shallow semantics, leveraging many loosely formed ontologies.

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IBM's Watson -- incredible AI!

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies TLT is a scholarly archival journal published quarterly using a delayed open access publication model.

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) is an archival journal published quarterly. TLT covers research on such topics as Innovative online learning systems, Intelligent tutors, Educational software applications and games, and Simulation systems for education and training.

The Web revolution, the popularity of on-line learning, and the broad availability of computers in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces and in other social settings has caused a qualitative change in the field of learning technologies. Both the variety and the complexity of e-learning tools have increased dramatically over the last 10 years. A number of new conferences emerged to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners in the field of learning technologies to discuss their work. Yet, there are very few journals, which embrace the field as a whole and provide a space to publish archival quality papers. The goal of IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) is to bridge this gap.TLT covers all advances in learning technologies, including but not limited to the following topics:

  • Innovative online learning systems
  • Intelligent tutors
  • Educational software applications and games
  • Simulation systems for education and training
  • Collaborative learning tools
  • Devices and interfaces for learning
  • Interactive techniques for learning
  • Personalized and adaptive learning systems
  • Tools for formative and summative assessment
  • Ontologies for learning systems
  • Standards and web services that support learning
  • Authoring tools for learning materials
  • Computer support for peer tutoring
  • Learning via discovery, field, and lab work
  • Learning with mobile devices
  • Social learning techniques
  • Social networks and infrastructures for learning and knowledge sharing
  • Creation and management of learning objects

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
The IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies will publish archival research papers and critical survey papers. Topics within the scope include technology advances in online learning systems; intelligent tutors; educational software applications and games; simulation systems for education and training; collaborative learning tools, devices and interfaces for learning; interactive techniques for learning; tools for formative and summative assessment; ontologies for learning systems; standards and web services that support learning; authoring tools for learning materials; computer support for peer tutoring and learning via discovery or project work or field or lab work; and creation and management of learning objects. A paper must either describe original research or offer a critical review of the state of the art in a particular area. Papers concerned with evaluation of technology are only appropriate if the technology itself is novel or if significant technical insights are provided. In order to best serve the community, the TLT will be published online, using a delayed open-access policy under which paying subscribers and per-article purchasers have access to newly published content, and then 12 months after the publication of each issue, all readers will have access to the content, free of charge.

Commentary: Universities on the brink — from Forbes.com by Louis E. Lataif
The ever-increasing cost of education is not sustainable.

From DSC:
Regular readers of this Learning Ecosystems blog can point to numerous postings that illustrate that those of us in higher education are in a game-changing environment. Alternative methods of acquiring an education are springing up more frequently now — disruption is here. The status quo is a dangerous path to be on.

If…

  • learning engines hooked into web-based learner profiles occurs — ushering in an era of unprecedented customization/personalization of learning on demand…
  • web-based educations cost a small fraction of what you have to pay elsewhere…
  • the rates of tuition increases continue in colleges and universities across the land…
  • the Internet brings the level of disruption to higher education that it has brought to other industries…

…then what are our plans for remaining relevant and accessible? How are we planning to deal with these trends? What is our response(s)? What is our vision?

Behavior Learning Engine from netuitive.com
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Along these lines, check out:
‘Jeopardy’ champs take on IBM’s Watson

“This is huge; this isn’t just about answering questions,” says computational linguistics expert George Luger of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, who was not part of IBM’s team. “Everything before this was just a run-up to computers as true personal assistants.”


10 ways technology supports 21st century learners in being self directed — from the Innovative Educator

  1. Personal Learning Networks
  2. Tweet to Connect with Experts
  3. Skype an Expert
  4. Free Online Educational Resources
  5. Online Learning
  6. Authentic Publishing
  7. Use YouTube and iTunes to Learn Anything
  8. Passion (or talent) Profiles
  9. Develop Authentic Learning Portfolios
  10. Empower Students to Assess and Learn Themselves


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“Every Prodigi ® lesson begins with Easy questions that review prerequisite concepts and get students warmed up. Based on student performance, questions increase in difficulty to Medium, and then to Hard (examination level), and finally Extreme (recreational). Not only that, but students have live access to hints and worked solutions to plug any gaps in their knowledge”

Smartphones as Cognitive Prosthetics — from insidedigitalmedia.com by Phil Leigh

From DSC:
Watch the Digimarc Discover video below — then think about how this might apply to anytime, anywhere learning!!! Wow!

Enable your phone to see and hear with Digimarc Discover; recognize all forms of media in your surroundings to enrich and simplify your life..

Digimarc Discover

2011 Market Trends: Brain Candy — from sparxoo.com by Ethan Lyon

Innovative companies are leveraging augmented reality to teach astronomy, combining food with learning, developing adaptive algorithms that understand individual learning preferences and expanding upon Mrs. Frizzle’s Magic Schoolbus. New education initiatives are helping children, high-schoolers, college students and graduates learn in ways that are most conducive their individual learning patterns. It’s about injecting creativity into education, whether manifested in technology or more traditional, person-to-person environments.

ALA 2011: Adaptive and Learning Agents Workshop held at AAMAS 2011 — from Intelligent Systems

Adaptive and Learning Agents, particularly those in a multi-agent setting are becoming more and more prominent as the sheer size and complexity of many real world systems grows. How to adaptively control, coordinate and optimize such systems is an emerging multi-disciplinary research area at the intersection of Computer Science, Control theory, Economics, and Biology.

The Ultimate Study Guide: Wolfram Alpha Launches “Course Assistant” Apps — from ReadWriteWeb by Audrey Watters

The computational knowledge engine Wolfram|Alpha is launching the first three of a series of new “course assistant” apps today. These apps, available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, are designed to take advantage of the Wolfram|Alpha technology in the service of supporting some of the most popular courses in high school and college.

The idea is to be able to quickly access the pertinent capabilities of Wolfram|Alpha relevant for specific subject areas. Currently, these subject areas are Algebra, Calculus, and Music Theory. But the company says it plans to add apps for other subjects – “for every major course, from elementary school to graduate school,” – including those fields outside math and science.

From DSC:
Notice the term engine (in bold maroon above).
This is the type of sophisticated programming that will increasingly be baked into future learning products — as the software seeks to learn more about each learner while providing each learner with a more customized learning experience…pushing them, but aiming to encourage — not discourage — them. I can see an opt-in program where each of us can build a cloud/web-based learner profile — and allow such an engine to be “fed” that data.



Is the Google-fication of education underway? — from cnnmoney.com by Scott Olster (emphasis below from DSC)
Among tablets and 3D TVs at CES, one-size-fits-all learning is facing a digital death knell.

Excerpt:

Similar to the way that Google collects data based on its users’ search patterns, Knewton collects data from every student that has taken one of its courses and uses it to improve its courses. Eduational content that achieves better student results will then be ranked higher in the system and be used more often. Ideally, the system becomes smarter and better over time.

“It’s like a giant recommendation engine on steroids,” says Ferreira.

The data that the company collects could potentially prove useful to educational researchers.

“We’re still trying to map out the way people learn. Collecting more data rather than looking at course grades is a welcome change,” says Miller.


Test-prep company Knewton takes online courses to next level: university — from VentureBeat.com by Matt Bowman

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Knewton, a company that provides personalized help to boost scores on tests such as the GMAT, is taking online education to the next level: It will now power actual university math programs for Arizona State University (ASU) students.

The announcement marks a shift for the New York based startup company, which to date had only provided test-prep programs. ASU’s decision to use online, instructorless remedial education raises the question of just how much new technologies could disrupt the traditional university model.

ASU students who score below a certain threshold on the math portions of a preliminary assessment will be required to use the Knewton-powered adaptive-learning program. The web-based program will generate homework assignments based on each student’s individual proficiency levels and learning styles, and adapts as students score better in a certain type of problem. Based on the data from the online program, ASU will also provide virtual and in-person tutoring. Once students demonstrate college readiness in mathematics, they will advance into ASU instructor-led math courses. The university hopes this will boost retention and graduation rates.

The world is my school: Welcome to the era of personalized learning — from the January/February issue of The Futurist by Maria H. Andersen — with special thanks to Paul Simbeck Hampson for this item

“Future learning will become both more social and more personal, says an educational technology expert.”

eLearning predictions for 2011 and beyond — from Web Courseworks.com by Jon Aleckson

Excerpts:

This summer I attended the 2010 Distance Teaching and Learning Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Some very interesting topics came up in the facilitated Think Tanks, and I wanted to share some of the predictions that were developed from these active group discussions regarding where eLearning will go in the next ten years.

Below you will find a table that summarizes the different opportunities and challenges that were predicted to arise in the next ten years by the participants in the conference Think Tanks and by [Jon Aleckson].

Opportunities Challenges
Learner
  1. Bridging informal and formal education
  2. Movement between schools to obtain courses needed for custom degrees
  3. Increase in shared knowledge among students and learners
  4. Networking and learning from each other
  5. Resumes will include informal and formal learning experiences acquired via the Internet
  1. Developing standards to gauge education and competency from multiple sources
  2. Providing an authoritative, reliable source for information (e.g. not just Wikipedia)
  3. Physical and psychological distance from other learners and instructors.
  4. Quality measures for informal and formal professional development attained on the Internet.
K-12 Instruction
  1. Reducing barriers to funding, certification, credit and accreditation
  2. Increase access to quality education for all students
  3. Open “course” concept to new blends of delivery and teaching
  4. Providing for more game-based learning experiences and techniques for a variety of learning styles
  5. Using new technology in the classroom
  1. Defining online and blended education
  2. Development of technical infrastructure, internet access and equipment
  3. Maintaining the custodial function of school
  4. Acquiring funding for bold Internet delivered experiences for the classroom
  5. Allowing use of new technology in the classroom
Corporate Training
  1. Just-in-time learning
  2. Greater access to information
  3. Peer coaching
  4. Cloud training
  5. Ability to reach those previously unreachable
  1. Intellectual property rights
  2. Resistance to using open content
  3. Peer review of resources
  4. Unknown impact of open universities
  5. Technical challenges related to size of offerings and rapidly changing technology
Content
  1. Tools allowing for easier collaboration and interaction
  2. Richer media experience (videos and simulations)
  3. Content repositories & Learning Object distribution and searchability
  4. Movement away from static textbooks as primary resource
  1. Growing tension between standard core content and differentiation of content
  2. Where will content for curriculum come from?
  3. What part will student-generated content play?
  4. More copyright issues
Learning Environment
  1. Customized learning spaces, i.e. personal learning environments (PLEs)
  2. Customization of content presentation and access
  3. eReaders and eBooks providing better and more interactive content (just in time)
  4. Changing paradigm of “bounded courses” to unbounded courses where learning is a continuous process that can occur anywhere and at any time
  1. Determining fit and purpose of new tools and pedagogical approaches
  2. Standards for smart phones/mobile apps
  3. Issues with accreditation, privacy and copyrights
  4. Universal access to technology, equipment, and the internet
Faculty
  1. More involvement and collaboration with online and distance learning initiatives
  2. More part-time faculty teaching for several institutions
  3. Faculty practices and entrepreneurs
  4. Changing role of faculty and PD instructors
  1. What will the primary role of faculty be?
  2. Faculty segmentation into master teachers, mentors, researchers, tutors, etc.
  3. Changing of promotion and tenure to accommodate different roles
  4. Changing pay structure
Administration
&
Management
  1. Continued growth of open education with some program stabilization
  2. Improved learner focus
  3. Increased blending/blurring of traditional on-campus with online options
  4. More collaboration with other administrators to influence policy makers
  1. Managing and maintaining growth
  2. How to blend on and off campus learner programs
  3. Regulatory and accreditation issues
  4. Student accountability issues (plagiarism/doctoring)
  5. Improving faculty/ instructor readiness
International Perspectives
  1. Providing access to education even to remote, rural, and developing areas
  2. Promote intercultural mixing and diversity through education
  3. Improving educational access in segregated societies
  4. Sharing resources and co-producing content to reduce cost
  5. Serve new growing customer groups
  6. Informal learning, sharing own learning with others via internet (e.g. blogs, wiki)
  1. Technological infrastructure of societies
  2. Understanding of different people and places
  3. Eliminating the “we and they” thinking
  4. Illiterate audiences
  5. International/cultural conflicts
  6. Developing culturally aware curricula
  7. Differences in cost of education and fees
  8. Selecting suitable types of content delivery
  9. Refiguring content for different learner communities
© 2025 | Daniel Christian