From Zeina Chalich:
On 07/28/2015,
in art, collaboration, communications, creativity, learning, learning ecosystem, maker movement, play, project-based learning, real-world assignments,
by Daniel Christian
On 07/24/2015,
in business, corporate / business world, design, learning spaces, play,
by Daniel Christian
Chicago office by Vladimir Radutny features industrial details and a glass-walled garage — from dezeen.com
Photography is by Mike Schwartz.
On 06/24/2015,
in educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, love of learning, mathematics, multimedia, participation, play, student-related, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Surprising insights: How teachers use games in the classroom — from ww2.kqed.org (MindShift) by Holly Korbey
Excerpt:
More teachers are using digital games in the classroom, and they’re using them more frequently, according to a new teacher survey just released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. But more surprisingly, the study reveals that teachers are finding that one of the most impactful use of games is for motivating and rewarding students, specifically those who are low-performing.
The survey, which interviewed 694 K-8 teachers with an average of 14.5 years of teaching experience, aims to understand how and why teachers are using digital games in the classroom.
…
Almost half the teachers surveyed — 47 percent — said low-performing students who’ve been struggling in traditional school settings benefited the most from using games. Conversely, only 15 percent of teachers said that high-performing students benefited from playing games.
How digital games can help kids learn — from thedianerehmshow.org
Description:
For as long as there have been schools, teachers have tried to find ways to keep children engaged in the classroom. Today a growing number of schools are using video and other digital games as teaching tools. Many of the games incorporate incentives and rewards to keep students engaged. Experts say the best of them are challenging as well as fun. But critics question whether game designers are promising too much. Some say not enough is known about how these games can affect the learning skills and developing brains of children. A discussion of the role of digital play in schools.
Guests
- Greg Toppo national education and demographics reporter, USA Today; author of a new book, “The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter.”
- Keith Devlin mathematician and co-founder and executive director of Stanford University’s H-STAR institute; he’s the co-founder and president of BrainQuake,an educational technology company. He’s also the “Math Guy” on NPR.
- Leah Hirsch science teacher and curriculum designer at Quest to Learn, a public middle school in New York City.
- Robert Pondiscio senior fellow with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank.
Also see:
- Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification — from upsidelearning.com
Excerpt:
Addendum on 6/29/15:
- Gamification or game-based learning? What’s the difference? — from knowledgedirectweb.com
Addendum on 6/30/15:
- Top 6 Benefits Of Gamification In eLearning — from elearningindustry.com by Asha Pandey
Gamification in eLearning helps create an effective learning system that enables learners to rehearse real-life scenarios and challenges in a safe environment. In this article, I will walk you through some of the benefits of Gamification for learners and how the experience of learning (recall and retention) can be enhanced through Gamification.
On 06/08/2015,
in creativity, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, parents/guardians, play, psychology, relationships, teachers, youth,
by Daniel Christian
7 things parents and teachers should know about teens — from edutopia.org by Maurice Elias; with a shout out to Brian Bailey for his Tweet on this
Excerpt:
What Teens Think About
Generally speaking, Rachael believed we give adolescents far too little credit. The passages in their lives are moments when they ask themselves important questions, such as these:
- How does my life have meaning and purpose?
- What gifts do I have that the world wants and needs?
- To what or whom do I feel most deeply connected?
- How can I rise above my fears and doubts?
- What or who awakens or touches the spirit within me?
…
What Can Parents and Educators Do?
While parents and educators may have a hard time addressing issues of soul and spirit with their teens, it can help to be aware of some ways into the hearts and minds of young people that can make a difference. Here is what Rachael Kessler suggests in her landmark book, The Soul of Education.
- Positive Belonging
- Silence and Solitude
- Reflections on Life
- Joy and Play
- Creativity
- Linking to the Large
- Shape the Passages
From DSC:
Along these lines, please see:
…and also:
On 05/21/2015,
in collaboration, communications, design, digital storytelling, experimentation, future, higher education, innovation, interactivity, K-12 related, play, story, storytelling, transmedia, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
Lance Weiler’s must-read story about the future of storytelling — from kidscreen.com by Wendy Smolen
Excerpt:
As the founder of the Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab, and its Director of Experiential Learning and Applied Creativity, you’ve convinced some major powers that work and learning begin with a story. What does that mean to those in the industry who make products for kids?
My work at Columbia University explores how story, play and design can be harnessed to create collaborative work and learning environments. A key takeaway from our experiments so far is the value of a diversity of perspectives. We often strive to embrace a designing “with” and “for” methodology. This is a fundamental shift for the entertainment industry but the reality is the audience has evolved into storytellers. They are now their own little media companies able to push-button publish for the world to see.
As creation and consumption blend, story and code continue to collide. At Columbia we are exploring new forms and functions of storytelling. How can stories be used as a discovery method? How can they enable people to connect to the world around them? How can they become a utility that can solve everyday challenges?
Story and Code have different development cycles and require different set of skills. So at Columbia and within my own work I often benefit from assembling a kind of 21st Century Writer’s Room. My core team has expanded to include creative technologists, data researchers and systems designers. What connects the team is a series of stories that we use to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the core vision and goals are communicated.
…
The Digital Storytelling Lab, therefore, is a place of speculation, of creativity, and of collaboration between students and faculty from across Columbia University. New stories are told here in new and unexpected ways.
Also see:
On 03/16/2015,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, business, changing business models, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, formal learning, future, global / globalization, health, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, immersion, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, play, second screen apps, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, training / L&D, transmedia, TVs, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpt:
AUSTIN, TX – Virtual reality is featured prominently at South By Southwest Sports this year, from using it to better train athletes with Oculus Rift to how it could transform the fan experience watching basketball, football and hockey at home.
…
The NHL had its first successful test of a 360-degree virtual reality experience at its Stadium Series game between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings last month, mounting cameras around the glass that filmed HD images in the round.
Excerpt:
When basketball lovers aren’t able to trek to stadiums near and far to follow their favorite teams, it’s possible that watching games on a bar’s widescreen TV from behind bowls of wings is the next best thing. This may no longer be true, however, as a wave of court-side, 3D virtual game experiences is becoming available to superfans with Oculus gear.
Earlier this month, NextVR showed off its new enhanced spectator experiences at the 2015 NBA All-Star Technology Summit with virtual reality (VR) footage of an October 2014 Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers match-up in Rio de Janeiro. The NBA also already announced plans to record VR sessions of the NBA All-Star Game, the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and the Sprite Slam Dunk event and practice.
From DSC:
In the future, will you be able to “pull up a seat” at any lecture — throughout the globe — that you want to?
Alternatively, another experiment might relate to second screening lectures — i.e., listening to the lecture on the main/large screen — in your home or office — and employing social-based learning/networking going on via a mobile device.
Consider this article:
- Twitter Aims To Hook TV Viewers With Radical New Mobile Service
Twitter’s TV Timeline lets viewers focus on one show while second-screening
TV-friendly social network Twitter is testing a new Social TV service on iPhones which provides users with content and interaction about only one TV show at a time.
The aim is to give users significantly better engagement with their favourite shows than they presently experience when they follow a live broadcast via a Twitter hashtag.
This radical innovation in Social TV design effectively curates just relevant content (screening out irrelevant tweets that use a show’s hashtag) and presents it in an easy-to-use interface.
If successful, the TV Timeline feature will better position Twitter as it competes with Facebook to partner with the television industry and tap advertising revenue related to TV programming.
On 03/10/2015,
in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, personalized/customized learning, play, student-related,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Given the above…what are the ramifications of that in our/your work?
Also see:
- Kickstarter campaign: CogniToys: Internet-connected Smart Toys that Learn and Grow
2,003 backers | $243,021 pledged of $50,000 goal - Elementalpath.com
- IBM Watson
- A somewhat-related resource: AlchemyAPI Now a Part of IBM Watson, following acquisition
A related addendum on 3/11/15
Look at the different expectations of the generations found in this article:
- What is work to a Millennial? — from clomedia.com by Ladan Nikravan
A related addendum on 3/17/15:
- MIT’s DragonBot Evolving to Better Teach Kids — from spectrum.ieee.org by Evan Ackerman
Excerpt:
The overall goal for DragonBot (which, as far as I can tell, is a common platform used for many different projects) is to develop “personalized learning companions” for children. In other words, MIT is finding ways in which robots like DragonBot can effectively help kids learn.
DragonBot isn’t intended to work like that IBM Watson-based dinosaur robot; it’s not a primary source of knowledge, and it’s not actively teaching a whole bunch of new facts to kids who use it. Rather, DragonBot is intended to help with the process of learning itself, encouraging kids to be interactively engaged in whatever they happen to be learning about.
On 02/26/2015,
in career development, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, education reform, entrepreneurship, innovation, new media literacies, play, professional development, social learning / networks, training / L&D, trends, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
digital workforce skills — from jarche.com by Harold Jarche
Excerpt:
Behaviour change comes through small, but consistent, changes in practice. So how do we move from responsibility, to creativity, and potentially to innovation? Play, explore, and converse. But first we need to build a space to practice. This is where management plays a key role: providing the space to ‘Do it Yourself’.
Our employer-employee marriages need counseling — from forbes.com by Dov Seidman
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Our Big Asks of employees have become so pervasive that they’re transforming into competencies. A report by Palo Alto-based non-profit research firm Institute for the Future identifies 10 increasingly important work skills. These include talents like: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication; cross-cultural competency; proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rules-based; and the ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning.
Andrew McAfee: The Second Machine Age is approaching. Here’s how we can prepare. — from huffingtonpost.com by Dawn Nakagawa , EVP, Berggruen Institute
Excerpt:
Nakagawa: Inequality is already a problem. How much worse will inequality get in this new future?
McAfee: The stratospheric wealth of the 1 percent presents some challenges. But I think it’s largely a distraction from the more important challenge, which is not about the people at the top pulling away. It is about the 50th-percentile worker or the 25th-percentile worker. It is about the stagnation in the prospects and earnings of the middle class. We need to focus on how to improve the prospects for the middle and the bottom, people who are finding themselves stagnating or sliding backwards. It could well be that higher marginal tax rates on top levels of income and wealth are part of the solution, but we need to broaden the conversation to look for comprehensive solutions to a complex problem.
…
Nakagawa: How do we need to change the education system, not to address the labor force skills gap we see today but to prepare our younger generation for the economy that is coming?
McAfee: Our education system is in need of an overhaul. It is frustrating that our primary education system is doing a pretty good job at turning out the kinds of workers we needed 50 years ago. Basic skills, the ability to follow instructions, execute defined tasks with some level of consistency and reliability. Machines can do all those things better than we can. What they can’t do, at least not yet, are things like negotiate, provide loving and compassionate care, motivate a team of people, design a great experience, realize what people want or need, figure out the next problem to work on and how to solve it and so on. And not all the items on that list require advanced degrees. We’re going to need people with all kinds of skills and training for some time to come, so let’s rethink our education system so that it provides the required variety.
On 12/17/2014,
in attention, creativity, engagement / engaging students, graphics, multimedia, new media literacies, play, social media,
by Daniel Christian
Educators and trainers take note!
Take a moment to check out “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Word Crimes” video. Then take a moment to reflect about the elements that “Weird Al” and Jarrett Heather used in this piece…what comes to your mind?
For me — and regardless what you think of his music here — “Weird Al” and Jarrett have come up with a solid piece of pedagogy here. In fact, this could be a fun intro piece to several classes out there!
I say this because it’s a clever, fun way to introduce and discuss grammar. It illustrates some examples of the sorts of mistakes we make in our use of language and words, but it does so via the creative use of animation, music, video, social media, text, graphics and more! Folks (of all ages!) will find themselves learning while they’re having some fun. This playful use of multimedia gets your attention. In fact, for me, the elements in this piece provide a recipe for maximum engagement.
On 11/25/2014,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, future, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, multimedia, online learning, participation, platforms, play, reinvent, social learning / networks, strategy, telepresence, TVs, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Here’s a peek at the Minerva Project’s classroom of the future — from washingtonpost.com by Matt McFarland
Check out five ideas that could impact the way we live, work and play.
Excerpt:
“Think of the fanciest version of Google Hangouts or Skype designed to be a classroom,” explains a student. “It’s very different than a traditional classroom, but in a way it’s what a traditional classroom distilled down to its purest form I feel like would look like,” says another.
Also see:
On 11/04/2014,
in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, higher education, immersion, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, love of learning, media/film, Michigan, multimedia, online learning, participation, play, psychology, real-world assignments, relationships, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, story, storytelling, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, transmedia, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Last week I attended the 20th Annual Online Learning Consortium International Conference. While there, I was inspired by an excellent presentation entitled, “A Disruptive Innovation: MSU’s Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Are You Ready to Survive a New Way of Learning?“ The four team members from Michigan State University included:
- Glenn R. Stutzky | Course Instructor
- Keesa V. Muhammad | Instructional Designer
- Christopher Irvin | Instructional Designer
- Hailey Mooney | Course Librarian
Check out the intro clip on the website about the course:
From the description for the presentation:
This session highlights MSU’s award winning, groundbreaking online course that fuses social theory, filmmaking, social media, and viral marketing while students survive an apocalyptic event. http://zombie.msu.edu/
MSU created and used powerful digital storytelling and multimedia to overlay real, experiential, immersive learning. Important content was relayed, but in a way that drew upon your emotions, your ability to solve problems and navigate in a world where you didn’t have all of the information, your ability to work with others, and more.
“This innovative course integrates current research and science on catastrophes and human behavior together with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. In doing so, we actively engage with students as they think about the nature, scope, and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations, and the Earth itself.”
“Our innovative approach to teaching and learning features: students as active participants, the instructor becomes the facilitator, storytelling replaces lectures, zombies become the catalyst of teaching, a “zombrarian” (librarian) drives research, and the students emerge as digital storytellers as a way of assessing their own learning.”
Others outside MUS have found out about the course and have requested access to it. As a result of this, they’ve opened it up to non-credit seeking participants and now various people from police forces, Centers for Disease Control, and others are able to take the course. To make this learning experience even more accessible, the cost has been greatly reduced: from $1600+ to just $500. (So this talented team is not only offering powerful pedagogies, but also significant monetary contributions to the university as well.)
For me, the key thing here is that this course represents what I believe is the direction that’s starting to really pull ahead of the pack and, if done well, will likely crush most of the other directions/approaches. And that is the use of teams to create, deliver, teach, and assess content – i.e., team-based learning approaches.
So many of the sessions involved professional development for professors and teachers – and much of this is appropriate. However, in the majority of cases, individual efforts aren’t enough anymore. Few people can bring to the table what a talented, experienced group of specialists are able to bring. Individual efforts aren’t able to compete with team-based content creation and delivery anymore — and this is especially true online, whereby multiple disciplines are immediately invoked once content hits the digital realm.
In this case, the team was composed of:
- The professor
- Two Instructional Designers
- and a librarian
The team:
- Developed websites
- Designed their own logo
- Marketed the course w/ a zombie walking around campus w/ brochures and a walking billboard
- Used a Twitter stream
- Used a tool called Pensu for their students’ individual journals
- Made extensive use of YouTube and digital storytelling
- Coined a new acronym called MOLIE – multimedia online learning immersive experience
- Used game-like features, such as the development of a code that was found which revealed key information (which was optional, but was very helpful to those who figured it out). The team made it so that the course ended differently for each group, depending upon what the teams’ decisions were through the weeks
- Used some 3D apps to make movies more realistic and to create new environments
- Continually presented new clues for students to investigate. Each team had a Team Leader that posted their team’s decisions on YouTube.
They encouraged us to:
THINK BIG! Get as creative as you can, and only pull back if the “suits” make you! Step outside the box! Take risks! “If an idea has life, water it. Others will check it out and get involved.”
In their case, the idea originated with an innovative, risk-taking professor willing to experiment – and who started the presentation with the following soliloquy:
Syllabi are EVIL
Syllabi are EVIL and they must die!
Listen to me closely and I’ll tell you why.
Just want students to know what is known?
See what’s been seen?
Go – where we’ve been going?
Then the Syllabus is your friend,
cuz you know exactly where you’ll end.
But if you want to go somewhere new,
see colors beyond Red, Green, and Blue.
Then take out your Syllabus and tear-it-in-half,
now uncertainty has become your path.
Be not afraid because you’ll find,
the most amazing things from Creative Minds,
who have been set free to FLY,
once untethered from the Syllabi.
Glenn Stutzky
Premiered at the 2014
Online Learning Consortium International Conference
October 29, 2014
“The number of infected in Michigan has reached critical mass.” CSM Quintero #sw290 pic.twitter.com/F6m8ZaoRyG
— MSU Zombie (@MSUZombies) June 19, 2014
They started with something that wasn’t polished, but it’s been an iterative approach over the semesters…and they continue to build on it.
I congratulated the team there — and do so again here. Excellent, wonderful work!
By the way, what would a creative movie-like trailer look like for your course?
On 10/27/2014,
in Apple, art, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interactivity, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, Near Field Communication (NFC), personalized/customized learning, play,
by Daniel Christian
iBeacons give visitors to the Palmer Museum of Art a customized experience — from news.psu.edu by Katie Jacobs
Excerpt:
Soon, there will be new, high-tech additions to the Palmer Museum’s galleries — small electronic devices that will be stuck to walls behind paintings, hidden under shelves or concealed in corners. You won’t be able to see them, but your mobile devices will.
The devices ares iBeacons, small transmitters created by Apple that communicate with nearby smartphones. If a visitor has the correct mobile app installed, content will be automatically sent to the phone with more information about the nearby artwork.
…
“Sometimes I’ll lead tours with visitors and focus on the works of art I think are particularly fascinating,” says Kletchka. “I thought it would be wonderful if everyone could have that experience here — they can learn more about the objects they are interested in on their own terms.”
On 10/16/2014,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, blended learning, communications, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, library / librarians, machine-to-machine communications, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC), participation, pedagogy, platforms, play, second screen apps, smart classrooms, tablets, teaching & learning, tools, training / L&D, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), wearables, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
iBeacons, sensors, & similar machine-to-machine (M2M) communications: Connecting the physical world with the digital world while opening up enormous possibilities for education & training-related applications.