skills

Making a Digital Window Wall from TVs — from theawesomer.com

Drew Builds Stuff has an office in the basement of his parents’ house. Because of its subterranean location, it doesn’t get much light. To brighten things up, he built a window wall out of three 75? 4K TVs, resulting in a 12-foot diagonal image. Since he can load up any video footage, he can pretend to be anywhere on Earth.

From DSC:
Perhaps some ideas here for learning spaces!

In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning [Gilreath]

On 11/18/2022, in education, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, play, relationships, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning — from hechingerreport.org by Ariel Gilreath
Play supporters point to improved literacy, fewer achievement gaps, and better motor skills for students

Excerpt:

It can be difficult to explain what play-based learning looks like, said Mara Krechevsky, senior researcher at Project Zero, an education research group in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Over the past seven years, Krechevsky and her research team have been working on a project called the Pedagogy of Play, studying play-based learning at schools in Boston, Denmark, South Africa and Colombia.

Through their research, Krechevsky’s group came up with three basic tenets for playful learning: students should be able to help lead their own learning, explore the unknown, and find joy. Under this framework, play time doesn’t have to be the reward for completing work and learning. Play can actually be the work, Krechevsky said.

Addendums on 11/20/22:

Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play — from hechingerreport.org by Jackie Mader
Research shows play has enormous learning and social benefits across all ages
Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too — from hechingerreport.org by Christina A. Samuels
Adolescents need unstructured time to build connections with other students and learn how to recover after failure
The complex world of pre-K play — from hechingerreport.org by Jackie Mader
Young kids benefit from play. But what should it look like?

The Impact of Storytelling on Learning — from campustechnology.com by Ruth Reynard
The benefits of storytelling in teaching and learning are well established — and digital tools can help make stories more interactive, boost engagement, and convey ideas more effectively. Here’s how to make the most of technology and sidestep common mistakes in the use of storytelling for learning.

Excerpts:

Research.com provides a lot of helpful information on digital storytelling, including a breakdown of the tools and media used to tell stories or present ideas: audio capture devices (e.g. microphones and voice recorders), image capture devices (such as digital cameras and scanners), computers (with multimedia capabilities and ample storage), and digital media software (for creating and editing image, video, and audio).
…
While digital tools evolve rapidly, there are several useful tools listed for teachers and students by Med Kharbach (2022). These include:

- StoryboardThat – this storyboard design tool helps to support good design and planning for effective storytelling.
- Canva – this provides already developed templates to use in any story design and development.
- Adobe Spark – useful if you are already familiar with Adobe products.

To future-proof a workforce, kill the perpetual hiring machine and embrace lifelong learning [Dillow]

On 11/10/2022, in adult learning, business, career development, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, leadership, lifelong learning, new business models, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

To future-proof a workforce, kill the perpetual hiring machine and embrace lifelong learning — from fortune.com by Clay Dillow

Excerpt:

A looming economic slowdown, the Great Resignation, a relentlessly expanding skills gap, and employees that would simply rather work from home. This week at Fortune’s CEO Initiative forum, a panel of company executives discussed the litany of challenges they face in developing and maintaining their workforces over the next several years.

Recent Advancements In Artificial Intelligence — from forbes.com by Gaurav Tewari

Excerpts:

As the founder of a technology investment firm, I’ve seen firsthand just how much AI has advanced in such a short period of time. The underlying building blocks of the technology are getting astonishingly better at an exponential rate, far outpacing our expectations. Techniques like deep learning allow us to run complex AI models to solve the most difficult problems. But while those who work in technology-centric careers are aware of AI’s explosive capabilities, the public at large is still largely unaware of the depth of AI’s potential.

Enterprise functions such as marketing, sales, finance and HR are all areas that can utilize new AI-enabled applications; these applications include providing customers with 24/7 financial guidance, predicting and assessing loan risks and collecting and analyzing client data.

Also relevant/see:

What is the Future of Artificial Intelligence? — from thedigitalspeaker.com by Dr. Mark van Rijmenam

Excerpts:

Let’s explore some real-life artificial intelligence applications.

Using Artificial Intelligence for Navigation
Marketers Use Artificial Intelligence to Increase Their Efficiency
The use of Artificial Intelligence in robotics
Gaming and Artificial Intelligence
Incorporating Artificial Intelligence into Lifestyles

Artificial intelligence (AI): 7 roles to prioritize now — from enterprisersproject.com by Marc Lewis; with thanks to Mr. Stephen Downes for this resource
Which artificial intelligence (AI) jobs are hottest now? Consider these seven AI/ML roles to prioritize in your organization

While these seven AI roles are critical, finding talent to fill them is difficult. AI, machine learning, and data analytics are new fields, and few people have relevant experience.

This leads us back to the fact: We are dealing with a Great Reallocation of the labor force to an AI/Machine learning, data-driven world.

3 ways AI is scaling helpful technologies worldwide — from blog.google by Jeff Dean
Decades of research have led to today’s rapid progress in AI. Today, we’re announcing three new ways people are poised to benefit.

Excerpts:

Supporting 1,000 languages with AI
Empowering creators and artists with AI
Addressing climate change and health challenges with AI

25 Transferable Skills Employers Look For in 2022 [Dale]

On 11/05/2022, in analytics, career development, communications, leadership, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, UK, vocational / trades, workplace, by Daniel Christian

25 Transferable Skills Employers Look For in 2022 — from wikijob.co.uk by Nikki Dalea; with thanks to Ryan Mein for this resource

Excerpt:

Transferable skills combine competencies, knowledge and skills that you have gained from the workplace during your career path, from school, internships or elsewhere and take with you to your next employment or career change.

General skills that can be used in different employment roles come under the transferable skills banner; they can be used in various industries and in roles at other seniority levels.

These can be hard skills – technical knowledge like using specific software – and soft skills, the competencies and abilities that are harder to be taught, like active listening and communication.

Communication, problem solving and teamwork are all examples of transferable job skills because they can be used in any employed role, your education or vocational training.

What’s Stopping You from Reinventing Your Career? [Cairns-Lee & Fischer]

On 11/05/2022, in business, career development, corporate / business world, Design Thinking, leadership, MBA, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, surviving, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What’s Stopping You from Reinventing Your Career? — from hbr.org by Heather Cairns-Lee and Bill Fischer; with thanks to Mr. Roberto Ferraro for this resource

Summary (emphasis DSC):

In the authors’ work teaching and coaching thousands of managers, they have identified four traps – self-sufficiency, overthinking, procrastination and searching for the answer – that prevent leaders from taking the first steps necessary for considering and exploring possible new versions of themselves for the future. The authors have found ways to help leaders recognize which traps they are falling into and start imagining a way out — largely inspired by design thinking principles such as rapid prototyping, making ideas visual, and getting quick feedback.

“Using Virtual Reality for Career Training” + “AI interviews in VR prepare students for real jobseeking”

On 11/03/2022, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, animation, Canada, career development, communications, education, education technology, Europe, human-computer interaction (HCI), immersion, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, multimedia, participation, pedagogy, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, real-world assignments, simulations, skills, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, workplace, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Using Virtual Reality for Career Training — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Indiana have had success using virtual reality simulations to teach students about career opportunities.

a Woman with a virtual reality set on occupies one half of the screen. The other shows virtual tools that she is controlling.

Excerpts:

Virtual reality can help boost CTE programs and teach students about potential careers in fields they may know nothing about, says Lana Taylor from the Indiana Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
…
One of those other resources has been a partnership with Transfer VR to provide students access to headsets to participate in career simulations that can give them a tactile sense of what working in certain careers might be like.

“Not all kids are meant to go to college, not all kids want to do it,” Taylor says. “So it’s important to give them some exposure to different careers and workforce paths that maybe they hadn’t thought of before.”

AI interviews in VR prepare students for real jobseeking — from inavateonthenet.net

Are Microcredentials Finally Gaining Traction? — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kim

Excerpt:

This month, the London School of Economics expanded its degree partnership with 2U to launch a series of edX microcredentials that provide learners with a flexible, stackable pathway towards pursuing a fully online undergraduate education. Wim Van der Stede, LSE’s new academic dean for extended education, graciously agreed to answer my questions about these new programs.

In that time, we’ve seen the power that online learning has to meet learners’ needs at every stage of their lives and careers.
…
The world around us is changing, rapidly, and we need to support professionals, alumni and students in refreshing and adapting their knowledge and skills, as and when they need, through evolving lives and careers. This is at the heart of LSE’s mission as a global social science hub of research and education, and plays a key role in achieving our mission to educate for impact by empowering students to develop the skills to solve society’s most pressing issues in an ever-changing world.

A side thought from DSC:
Speaking of Economics, I wonder if and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will impact the field of Economics?

It’s time to redesign organized learning [Albertini]

On 11/02/2022, in business, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, culture, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, skills, social learning / networks, training / L&D, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

It’s time to redesign organized learning — from chieflearningofficer.com by Eric Albertini

Excerpt:

Organizations will need to think about three layers of learning content and access methods:

Thoughtfully curated by the organization for business fit.
Semi-curated with the learner having some control of what they learn.
Open for all, where the learner makes all the choices of what and how they learn.

Employee-centric learning approach. There must be a match of learning to organizational objectives as well. Non-curated, open content on platforms is great for focused and deeply aware employees but may not work for everyone, especially in cultures where self-direction is not very strong. Moreover, too much open, non-curated content, driven by non-contextual algorithms, is as detrimental to choice-making for the learner as is too little quality content.

To enable effective learning, technology must be part of a more systemic learning eco-system that includes things such as rewards (the “what’s in it for me”), building blocks from one intervention to the next and post-learning support.

Also from chieflearningofficer.com, see:

Three steps every new L&D leader should take: A tactical guide — by Megan Dillon

“Get Ready to Relearn How to Use the Internet” + several other items re: AI

On 11/02/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, data related items, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, languages and translation, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Natural Language Processing (NLP), NVIDIA, platforms, programming, skills, social learning / networks, society, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Get Ready to Relearn How to Use the Internet — from bloomberg.com by Tyle Cowen; with thanks to Sam DeBrule for this resource
Everyone knows that an AI revolution is coming, but no one seems to realize how profoundly it will change their day-to-day life.

Excerpts:

This year has brought a lot of innovation in artificial intelligence, which I have tried to keep up with, but too many people still do not appreciate the import of what is to come. I commonly hear comments such as, “Those are cool images, graphic designers will work with that,” or, “GPT-3 is cool, it will be easier to cheat on term papers.” And then they end by saying: “But it won’t change my life.”

This view is likely to be proven wrong — and soon, as AI is about to revolutionize our entire information architecture. You will have to learn how to use the internet all over again.
…
Change is coming. Consider Twitter, which I use each morning to gather information about the world. Less than two years from now, maybe I will speak into my computer, outline my topics of interest, and somebody’s version of AI will spit back to me a kind of Twitter remix, in a readable format and tailored to my needs.

The AI also will be not only responsive but active. Maybe it will tell me, “Today you really do need to read about Russia and changes in the UK government.” Or I might say, “More serendipity today, please,” and that wish would be granted.

Of course all this is just one man’s opinion. If you disagree, in a few years you will be able to ask the new AI engines what they think.

Some other recent items from Sam DeBrule include:

Natural Language Assessment: A New Framework to Promote Education — from ai.googleblog.com by Kedem Snir and Gal Elidan

Excerpt:

In this blog, we introduce an important natural language understanding (NLU) capability called Natural Language Assessment (NLA), and discuss how it can be helpful in the context of education. While typical NLU tasks focus on the user’s intent, NLA allows for the assessment of an answer from multiple perspectives. In situations where a user wants to know how good their answer is, NLA can offer an analysis of how close the answer is to what is expected. In situations where there may not be a “correct” answer, NLA can offer subtle insights that include topicality, relevance, verbosity, and beyond. We formulate the scope of NLA, present a practical model for carrying out topicality NLA, and showcase how NLA has been used to help job seekers practice answering interview questions with Google’s new interview prep tool, Interview Warmup.

How AI could help translate extreme weather alerts — from axios.com by Ayurella Horn-Muller

Excerpt:

A startup that provides AI-powered translation is working with the National Weather Service to improve language translations of extreme weather alerts across the U.S.

Using GPT-3 to augment human intelligence — from escapingflatland.substack.com by Henrik Karlsson

Excerpt:

When I’ve been doing this with GPT-3, a 175 billion parameter language model, it has been uncanny how much it reminds me of blogging. When I’m writing this, from March through August 2022, large language models are not yet as good at responding to my prompts as the readers of my blog. But their capacity is improving fast and the prices are dropping.

Soon everyone can have an alien intelligence in their inbox.

Instructure Research Reveals Higher Education’s New Directive as Students Demand Flexibility and Return on Investment

On 10/29/2022, in Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, career development, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, education technology, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, skills, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Instructure Research Reveals Higher Education’s New Directive as Students Demand Flexibility and Return on Investment — from prnewswire.com by Instructure

Excerpt:

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Instructure, the maker of Canvas, recently released its annual global report focused on the state of higher education. Key findings from the report include the factors that lead to student success, what’s hindering students from succeeding and important elements for measuring success, such as the importance of mental health support for students. View the full report: State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education.

“We are seeing a growing group of non-traditional students that demand change in the way institutions offer courses,” said Melissa Loble, chief customer experience officer at Instructure. “Learners are looking for flexibility and an emphasis on career skills in preparation for entering the workforce. Institutions that offer holistic solutions, such as mental health resources and mentoring programs, will go a long way in ensuring student success.”

In its third year, the “State of Higher Education” research reflects a survey of over 7,500 current students, administrators and faculty from 23 countries representing a mixture of two-year, four-year, public and private higher education institutions. The report uncovered six key trends:

Also relevant/see:

Instructure and ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management Partner to Provide Equitable Access to Education to 100 Million Learners Worldwide

Reflections on “Attention higher-ed leaders: Faculty and staff have something to say” [Landon]

On 10/29/2022, in adjunct faculty, blogs / blogging / vlogging, business side of he, career development, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, faculty, higher education, love of learning, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Attention higher-ed leaders: Faculty and staff have something to say — from ecampusnews.com by Jen Landon; with thanks to Ray Schroeder for this resource
Higher-ed leaders can apply the same listening skills and level of investment put forth for students toward their workers

Excerpts:

An organization’s greatest asset is its people. In no other industry is that more true than in higher education. The importance of faculty and staff can’t be overstated; they are, in every way, core to carrying out the mission of higher education.
…
Institutions should put employee satisfaction at the top of their list from day one: investing in the growth and success of faculty and staff with as much determination as they invest in student success. This mindset should extend to job candidates as well.

From DSC:
I appreciate some attention being paid here to the career/skill development of faculty and staff, as well as to the attempts to create caring cultures. Higher ed has a lot to learn from the corporate world in terms of training its managers, supervisors, and leadership. Provosts, for example, move out of the academic ranks and I’d bet that most of them have never had any training in being a leader — especially re: the business side of higher ed.

Staff members are key to all institutions of higher education, yet many of them are second-class citizens on many (most?) campuses. They have limited say and even more limited budgets. Even though they have transformed institutions — such as the case with providing online/blended/hyflex-learning — they aren’t lifted up.

For myself, if I didn’t feel like I was growing and learning, I felt stagnant. That’s why blogging has been so wonderful and important to me through the years. The budgets for training one’s staff are very important — as staff members need to stay marketable and relevant. As with most others in the workplace, staff and faculty members may need to reinvent themselves from time to time. Hopefully, this type of growth/reinvention is being supported by the institutions of traditional higher education out there.

Speaking of the workplace and higher education, you might be interested in The Job newsletter. This week’s edition was interesting indeed!

Great leaders ask great questions: Here are 3 steps to up your questioning game. — from bigthink.com by Christopher J. Frank, Oded Netzer, and Paul F. Magnone; with thanks to Roberto Ferraro for this resource
Questioning isn’t just a way to get the right answer — it’s also a means for sustaining relationships and creative thinking.

Excerpt:

Building an inquisitive team
One of the best LinkedIn profiles starts with “I am insatiably curious.” What would it take to build a team of insatiably curious, truly inquisitive people? Building an inquisitive culture involves a combination of what and how. The what is a combination of the types of questions previously outlined, and the how is the environment you create. Great leaders create great cultures. There are three basic steps to building an inquisitive culture:

Start with an open-ended question.
Respond, don’t react. Embrace silence.
Ask a stream of questions.

Also relevant/see:

We pose all of our Learning Intentions as questions to further the #InquiryMindset at #CVLittleLynx. This allows our students to recognize that learning is investigating. @Amy_Andersen_ pic.twitter.com/YFJHqf4sSQ

— Melissa Taylor (@mtaylor422) October 11, 2022

This week’s sketch: the 1o Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom.

Reflect on your own practice.

Which of these are strengths?

Which of these are stretches?

What are your next steps?#inquirymindset pic.twitter.com/jHu4gqlbGz

— Trevor MacKenzie (@trev_mackenzie) October 17, 2022

For some time I’ve been researching this: what are the conditions in which learning thrives?

My observations…

?Agency
?Curiosity
?Play
?Guidance
?Self-regulation
?Exploration
?Empathy
?Time
?Compassion
?Voice#InquiryMindset #DiveintoInquiry #inquiry #aussieED pic.twitter.com/XVYCFLTje3

— Trevor MacKenzie (@trev_mackenzie) November 20, 2019

Addendum on 10/29/22:

Innovation starts with the quality of your questions — from edte.ch by Tom Barrett
In the final publication of the October throughline we explore how to build a culture of innovation one question at a time.

Snapshot
A quick synthesis of this issue to share

Innovation starts with the quality of your questions. Asking the right questions leads to new possibilities and innovative solutions.
We are often drawn to ideas because we want to fix problems; starting with an idea feels safe and more fun than starting with a problem.
If we want an innovative culture in our teams, we need to start with questions instead of ideas.
Trust and psychological safety create the culture for collective negative capability, which John Keats coined as “the ability to live with ambiguity and uncertainty.”
Commit to action by being aware of your need for certainty, make space for ambiguity and uncertainty in development work, and build trust by encouraging questions.

Deloitte State of AI Report 2022 calls out underachievers — from venturebeat.com by Sharon Goldman

Excerpt:

Deloitte released the fifth edition of its State of AI in the Enterprise research report today, which surveyed more than 2,600 global executives on how businesses and industries are deploying and scaling artificial intelligence (AI) projects.

Most notably, the Deloitte report found that while AI continues to move tantalizingly closer to the core of the enterprise – 94% of business leaders agree that AI is critical to success over the next five years – for some, outcomes seem to be lagging.

What is a surprise, she added, is how quickly the AI landscape is changing – to the point that what began as an every-other-year Deloitte report is now created annually.

From DSC:
I’m reminded of some graphics here…

Also relevant/see:

‘State of AI in the Enterprise’ Fifth Edition Uncovers Four Key Actions to Maximize AI Value — from deloitte.com
Research reveals the key actions leaders can take to accelerate AI outcomes

Key takeaways

For Deloitte’s “State of AI in the Enterprise,” Fifth Edition, we surveyed 2,620 global business leaders representing six industry areas and dozens of sectors. Key findings include:

Ninety-four percent of business leaders surveyed agree that AI is critical to success over the next five years.
Seventy-nine percent of leaders say they have fully deployed three or more AI applications, compared to 62% last year.
There was a 29% increase in the number of respondents self-identifying as “underachievers,” suggesting that many organizations are struggling to achieve meaningful AI outcomes.
Top challenges associated with scaling according to respondents are managing AI-related risk (50%), lack of executive commitment (50%), lack of maintenance and post launch support (50%).

Learning Ecosystems

Perhaps some ideas for learning spaces from “Making a Digital Window Wall from TVs” [Drew Builds Stuff]

To future-proof a workforce, kill the perpetual hiring machine and embrace lifelong learning [Dillow]

25 Transferable Skills Employers Look For in 2022 [Dale]

What’s Stopping You from Reinventing Your Career? [Cairns-Lee & Fischer]

Are Microcredentials Finally Gaining Traction? [Kim]

Reflections on “Attention higher-ed leaders: Faculty and staff have something to say” [Landon]

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