Got science questions? Skype A Scientist can help — from bigthink.com by Scotty Hendricks
A non-profit dedicated to science communication offers to connect learners with over 11,000 scientists.
On 09/30/2020,
in biology, chemistry, colleges, community colleges, faculty/staff, higher education, research, science, society, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Academia needs a reality check: Life is not back to normal — from sciencemag.org by June Gruber, Jay J. Van Bavel , William A. Cunningham, Leah H. Somerville, Neil A. Lewis, Jr.; with special thanks to Dr. Kate Byerwalter for this resource
Excerpts:
The problems don’t end there. Many academics are also grappling with ongoing racial injustices and associated protests, wildfires, and hurricanes. We continue to see widespread effects on mental health, with roughly one-third of Americans reporting symptoms of clinical depression or anxiety. June and her colleague recently described the escalating mental health crisis as the next biggest coronavirus challenge.
We have struggled with our own mental and physical well-being—as well as challenges associated with canceled vacations, lack of child care, the illnesses and death of people close to us, and the mental weight of difficult conversations about racial injustices. We’ve also been worrying about our trainees and the undergraduate students in our classes. The academic and non-academic job markets have cratered, and some of our colleagues and students have lost internships and job offers as organizations have been forced to cut expenses.
Expecting the same output as in previous years, even though many people have less time and more stress than ever, is not a sustainable or humane solution. The world is not normal—so the way we do science cannot be normal either.
On 09/17/2020,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, Alternatives, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, assessment, Australia, Blockchain, business, business side of he, Canada, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, engagement / engaging students, Europe, faculty/staff, flipping -- inverted learning, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, immersion, India, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, productivity / tips and tricks, robotics, science, simulations, society, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, UK, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, workplace, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
From DSC:
If this isn’t mind-blowing, I don’t know what is! Some serious morphing lies ahead of us!
On 08/26/2020,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), biology, chemistry, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, multimedia, online learning, participation, physics, platforms, science, simulations, STEAM-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, visualizing information, web design and production, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
7 Things You Should Know About Virtual Labs — from library.educause.edu
Excerpt:
Virtual labs are interactive, digital simulations of activities that typically take place in physical laboratory settings. Virtual labs simulate the tools, equipment, tests, and procedures used in chemistry, biochemistry, physics, biology, and other disciplines. Virtual labs allow students to participate in lab-based learning exercises without the costs and limitations of a physical lab. Virtual labs can be an important element in institutional efforts to expand access to lab-based courses to more and different groups of students, as well as efforts to establish contingency plans for natural disasters or other interruptions of campus activities.
Addendum on 8/27/20:
- Ryerson U Intros AR-Enhanced Science Labs — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser
On 08/05/2020,
in art, education, educational games / serious games, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, physics, play, science, STEAM-related, teachers, teaching & learning,
by Daniel Christian
DC: There are likely several things a physics professor/teacher could do with this!https://t.co/KqFdyXgkQ3
— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) August 5, 2020
On 04/03/2020,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, cost of getting a degree, data related items, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, morals/values, more voice more choice more control, new business models, personalized/customized learning, platforms, science, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, STEAM-related, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Why education is a ‘wicked problem’ for learning engineers to solve — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
So, back to the wicked problem: How do we make education that’s both quality education and at the same time accessible and affordable?
“Now, we are building a new technology that we call Agent Smith. It’s another AI technology— and we’re very excited about it—that builds [a] Jill Watson for you. And Agent Smith can build a Jill Watson for you in less than 10 percent of the hours.”
…
So one question for online education is, can we build a new set of tools—and I think that’s where AI is going to go, that learning engineering is going to go—where AI is not helping individual humans as much as AI is helping human-human interaction.
Huge ethical issues and something that learning engineering has not yet started focusing on in a serious manner. We are still in a phase of, “Look ma, no hands, I can ride a bike without hands.”
…
Technology should not be left to technologists.
On 03/18/2020,
in 21st century, 3D, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, Blockchain, bots, business, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, education, global / globalization, ideas, India, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, media/film, memory, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, platforms, science, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, society, STEAM-related, strategy, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
- Welcome to the Synthetic Decade.
- You’ll soon have augmented hearing and sight.
- A.I.-as-a-Service and Data-as-a-Service will reshape business.
- China has created a new world order.
- Home and office automation is nearing the mainstream.
- Everyone alive today is being scored.
- We’ve traded FOMO for abject fear.
- It’s the end of forgetting.
- Our new trust economy is being formed.
On 03/18/2020,
in curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, engineering, face-to-face, ideas, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, love of learning, more voice more choice more control, science, society, STEAM-related, student-related, teachers, traditional / tradition, United States, user experience (UX), youth,
by Daniel Christian
My wife sent me this video from John Bennett, a math teacher. This was posted to YouTube back on 11/8/11.
In fact, if it were up to me, I’d would no longer require math to be taught…in middle school and high school.
NOTES:
- 300 million people in the U.S. (as John mentioned back in October 2011)
- 1.5 million engineers
- 1/2 of a percent; and you can add another 1/2 of a percent for other kinds of jobs that require that kind of math
- That leaves 99% of us in the United States who don’t use what we learned about in middle school and high school math classes. But the problem is, math has caused major stress for people in the last 40 years.
- John Bennett had some major cognitive dissonance to the reasons WHY he was suggesting his students know the math concepts that he was trying to relay.
- He came to ask, “When do most of us use math in real life?”
- Money. Financial stuff. Balancing checkbook. Tipping. Cooking and carpentry.
- Why are we still teaching algebra? Because it teaches us about inductive and deductive reasoning. Math helps us develop that kind of reasoning.
- So a better plan would be to:
- Let people who want to take math in middle school and high school take it.
- For the rest of the students, provide strategy games and logic puzzles that help develop those cognitive reasoning skills.
From DSC:
When this math teacher meets people out in society, people confess how much stress math brought to them in school….and they’re aren’t joking.
Given that we are all required to be lifelong learners these days, I love what John Bennett is saying here…because we really aren’t serving society at large by requiring math be taught in middle school and high school.
- It causes stress and very negative learning experiences for many people.
- We don’t use it. (By the way, I could plug and chug ok, but I had no idea what I was doing. No real understanding. I haven’t used algebra and/or calculus since my youth.)
What does it take to change our curricula like that?! Is it possible? I sure hope so.
On 02/27/2020,
in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, global / globalization, health, internet, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, privacy, science, society, STEAM-related,
by Daniel Christian
On 01/18/2020,
in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, Blockchain, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital video, Europe, India, marketing/social marketing, Microsoft, platforms, science, staying relevant, STEAM-related, UK, United States, user experience (UX),
by Daniel Christian
These are the most in-demand job skills in 2020, according to LinkedIn — from cnbc.com by Vicky McKeever
Blockchain is the most in-demand job skill in 2020, says LinkedIn
Free downloads to transform your teaching & unleash the science of learning! [RetrievalPractice.org]
On 12/04/2019,
in assessment, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, pedagogy, psychology, research, science, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Per RetrievalPractice.org:
Download ALL our free guides, research, and resources!
We’re here to make your life easier. In order to unleash the science of learning, we strive to make it easy to access and quick to implement.
That’s why we really want you to download everything from our library, including free practice guides, book club resources, research, and more.
On 10/17/2019,
in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, attention, bots, computer science, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, engineering, experimentation, formal learning, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, maker movement, multimedia, participation, passions, pedagogy, platforms, play, real-world assignments, robotics, science, second screen apps, STEAM-related, student-related, tablets, teachers, technologies for your home, tools, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, youth,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
The other day, I put this post out there.
Now, I’d like to add to that information with information from Mr. Joseph Byerwalter, who pointed me to the following videos re: LEGO BOOST!
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rREcEs_rbAk
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK4tkYWrTKw
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOTqGZ6eEyo
LEGO® BOOST lets children create models with motors and sensors, and then bring their creations to life through simple, icon-based coding commands. The free LEGO BOOST tablet app includes easy step-by-step building instructions for creating and coding multifunctional models.
P.S. I am not getting paid by LEGO or anyone else here.
I just think learning should be engaging and fun!
Addendum on 10/18/19:
- Rebuild The World With @Lego_Education — from blog.web20classroom.org by Steven Anderson
On 06/21/2019,
in biology, chemistry, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, design, education, education technology, engineering, faculty/staff, graphics, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, journalism, mathematics, productivity / tips and tricks, research, science, society, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Research Posters Are a Staple of Academic Conferences. Could a New Design Speed Discovery? — from edsurge.com by Jeff Young
Excerpts:
Scholars around the world share their latest research findings with a decidedly low-tech ritual: printing a 48-inch by 36-inch poster densely packed with charts, graphs and blocks of text describing their research hypothesis, methods and findings. Then they stand with the poster in an exhibit hall for an hour, surrounded by rows of other researchers presenting similar posters, while hundreds of colleagues from around the world walk by trying to skim the displays.
…
Not only does the exercise deflate the morale of the scholars sharing posters, the ritual is incredibly inefficient at communicating science, Morrison argues.
…
Morrison says he has a solution: A better design for those posters, plus a dash of tech.
To make up for all the nuance and detail lost in this approach, the template includes a QR code that viewers can scan to get to the full research paper.
From DSC:
Wouldn’t this be great if more journal articles would do the same thing? That is, give us the key findings, conclusions (with some backbone to them), and recommendations right away! Abstracts don’t go far enough, and often scholars/specialists are talking amongst themselves…not to the world. They could have a far greater reach/impact with this kind of approach.
(The QR code doesn’t make as much sense if one is already reading the full journal article…but the other items make a great deal of sense!)