On 03/04/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, future, innovation, interactivity, learning spaces, Microsoft, smart classrooms, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 02/14/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online tutoring, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, streams of content, ubiquitous learning, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Below are some reflections after seeing these items:
- IBM’s Watson is better at diagnosing cancer than human doctors — from wired.co.uk by Ian Steadman
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- Watson is now commercially available, set to help doctors treat cancer — from singularityhub.com by Peter Murray
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- Watson supercomputer goes to college, Revenge Of The Nerds style antics imminent — not an exemplary article from geekosystem.com, but the underlying topic has enormous implications
Excerpt:
…the team developing Watson is sending the computer to college, where it will bone up on coursework in English and math.
…
While the original Watson will be staying put at the IBM research center it calls home, the hardware to run the program is being installed at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York, where researchers and grad students will be spend the next three years teaching Watson all they can while also hoping to learn more about how the software learns and make it more effective.
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From DSC:
The current set of MOOCs are very powerful, but, like a bush that needs pruning, they can become unwieldy and hard to control. Not only do the current set of MOOCs help me to see the importance of instructional design, but trying to drink from the firehose often presents problems (i.e. wading through thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts, etc.). How can we still provide openness and yet provide people with better methods/tools for setting their desired level of drinking from this firehose? Tags are helpful, but for most people, they are not doing enough to filter/curate the content at this point.
Enter the technologies being developed in IBM’s Watson, Apple’s SIRI, or in Knewton’s product lines. End-user controllable setting might include:
- Full throttle — like current form of MOOCs — thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts, etc.
- IBM Watson-enabled curation/filtering only — each individual adjusts how many items they want to see in the various portions of the interface (see above); these settings control how many items and/or streams of content get presented to you
The ideas involving learning agents, artificial intelligence, intelligent tutoring, intelligent systems and more seem to get roped in here…hmm…just thinking out loud and sharing potentially-useful ideas.
On 02/06/2013,
in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, learning spaces, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, tools, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC — with a special thanks to Mr. Michael Haan, Technology Integration Specialist at Calvin College, for this resource
Now we’re talking! The Mondopad from InFocus is starting to morph into what I thought the “chalkboard of the future” might look like. Now I’d like to see:
- An entire wall offer this sort of functionality
- More content from publishers flow into this sort of setup — i.e the kind of content that leverages the interactivity and flexibility that these sorts of technologies now make available
- The ability of students and employees to transmit their content up to these devices/walls — have it be scanned for viruses — and then moved into a viewing area (with an option for folks to download that file if they want to)
Key features:
- Multi-touch high definition 55 inch display (From DSC: A 70″ version is also available I believe)
- Flexible and expandable with built-in Windows PC
- Digital interactive whiteboard and document annotation
- Business-class video conferencing
- Share, view and control from your tablet or smartphone
- Full copy of Microsoft® Office ensures file compatibility
Also see the information out at Precision Data Products:
On 02/05/2013,
in internet, learning spaces, smart classrooms, technology (general), trends, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Technology trends that are driving Internet of Things markets — from onworld.com
ON World has identified the key technology advances that are making 2013 a pivotal year for the Internet of Things (IoT). Dozens of cloud addressable wireless sensors were demonstrated at CES and Bluetooth Smart products increased by 5X from last fall.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
San Diego, CA , Jan. 30, 2013 — Within the next five years, billions of Internet connected wireless smart objects will be in use, according to global technology research firm ON World.
“Cloud services combined with smart mobile devices have created a new landscape of opportunities for service providers, manufacturers and developers,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director. “As demonstrated by dozens of cloud addressable wireless sensing systems shown at CES this year, a new generation of Internet connected systems is underway.”
The major technology trends that are driving Internet of Things (IoT) markets include the following…
On 02/01/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, online media, participation, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, project-based learning, real-world assignments, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, transmedia, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
As a team of us have been charged with putting together a new collaborative workspace/conference room, I’ve been thinking about some ideas for a new type of interface as well as some new types of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to be used in group collaboration/web-based collaboration. I was thinking it would be good to not only display files from various devices but also to be able to share files/URLs/other resources with each other. (Some type of storage device that processes files — and scans them for viruses would be needed in addition to a large display or an interactive multitouch surface/wall.)
People within the same room could contribute files/items to a variety of “areas” — and so could others who joined in via the Internet. Here’s what I had wanted to be able to do and I had pictured in my mind:
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
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- People could select which files/URLs/resources that they wanted to contribute
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- People could select which files/URLs/resources that they wanted to download to their own devices (during and after the meeting)
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- Could be powerful in the next generation of our Smart Classrooms as well as in corporate training/learning spaces
. - Could be powerful in the what I’m envisioning in “Learning from the Living [Class] Room”
. - Could be powerful in conference room situations
.
It’s very similar to what Tidebreak has created/envisioned in their product lines.
Check out their innovative work/products/concepts!
Transforming learning spaces: 3 big ideas — from Tidebreak
Also see:
On 01/28/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital textbooks, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, multimedia, new business models, online learning, personalized/customized learning, publishing, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, trends,
by Daniel Christian
The object formerly known as the textbook –– from The Chronicle by Jeff Young
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Holly Gressley for The Chronicle
Excerpt:
Textbook publishers argue that their newest digital products shouldn’t even be called “textbooks.” They’re really software programs built to deliver a mix of text, videos, and homework assignments. But delivering them is just the beginning. No old-school textbook was able to be customized for each student in the classroom. The books never graded the homework. And while they contain sample exam questions, they couldn’t administer the test themselves.
One publisher calls its products “personalized learning experiences,” another “courseware,” and one insists on using its own brand name, “MindTap.” For now, this new product could be called “the object formerly known as the textbook.”
From DSC:
Imagine how this sort of thing might fit into the “chalkboard of the future” — as applications and content flow onto the “board” from open source repositories and/or from the publishers’ cloud-based repositories of content…
.
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or in learning from the living room…
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![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
Also see:
On 01/21/2013,
in learning spaces, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
Study shows how classroom design affects student learning — from fastcodesign.com by Kyle VanHemert
A new study shows how color, lighting, and other classroom design choices can have a huge impact on student progress.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
As debate over education reform sizzles, and as teachers valiantly continue trying to do more with less, a new study suggests that it might be worth diverting at least a little attention from what’s going on in classrooms to how those spaces are being designed. The paper, published in the journal Building and the Environment, found that classroom design could be attributed to a 25% impact, positive or negative, on a student’s progress over the course of an academic year. The difference between the best- and worst-designed classrooms covered in the study? A full year’s worth of academic progress.
Also see:
- School design may affect a child’s grades — from Wired UK by Ian Steadman
From DSC:
Which reminds me of a recent idea I was thinking about and an accompanying 11″ x 17″ graphic:
.
From DSC:
I’m trying to address the students that are more easily distracted and, due to how their minds process information, have a harder time focusing on the task at hand. In fact, at times, all of the external stimuli can be overwhelming. How can we provide a learning environment that’s more under the students’ control? i.e. How can we provide — using the same exact learning space — “volume knobs” for students’ auditory and visual channels?
Along these lines, I’m told that some theaters have sensory-friendly film showings — i.e. with different settings for the lights and sound than is typically offered.
On 01/21/2013,
in A/V -- audio/visual, Adobe, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, immersion, innovation, K-12 related, learning spaces, multimedia, new media literacies, participation, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
Specialty classroom technologies — from centerdigitaled.com
- Kristy Chapman | Special Education Director | Union County | Board of Education, GA
- Kyle Li | Full-time Game & Learning Instructor | School of Art, Media, and Technology | Parsons, The Newschool for Design, NY
- Moses A. Ojeda | Principal (I.A.) | Thomas A. Edison Career & Technical Education High School, NY
- Denise Spence | Magnet Lead Technology Teacher | Academy for Technology Excellence | Academy for Digital Excellence | Academy for Game Design and Programming Excellence | Dunbar High School, FL
Session was moderated by Tom Ryan, Ph.D. | Sr. Fellow, Center for Digital Education | Former CIO, Albuquerque Public Schools
Resources
- View the recorded session
- View the final presentation (no audio)
- Visit www.centerdigitaled.com/events for more event information.
Example slides:
On 01/11/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, convergence, human-computer interaction (HCI), Learning from the Living [Class] Room, mobile learning, mobile technologies, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV,
by Daniel Christian
A tale of two television strategies — from IEEE.org by Steven Cherry
Excerpt:
At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, back-to-back visits to LG and Panasonic reveal two very different approaches to selling, and maybe making, televisions. At LG the focus was on display technologies, picture quality, size, and form factors. Panasonic put its Smart TV features front and center.
…
I saw a voice-commanded Google search.
…
At yet another station, Panasonic showed a proof-of-concept of some friends all chatting by text message (like an old-style AOL chatroom), with the messages showing up on at the bottom portion of a television screen showing the program that everyone is watching.
…
LG had a few user scenarios—collaborative picture drawing between users of 5-inch tablets, for example—but they mostly weren’t very well developed, nor very smart.
.
Also see:
- Smart TV Trends in 2013 — from adotas.com by Michael Lantz
. - CES 2013: Pretend you’re at CES by watching Samsung’s keynote — from webpronews.com by Zach Walton
.
On 01/08/2013,
in accessibility / UDL, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), Daniel S. Christian, education technology, experimentation, ideas, K-12 related, learning preferences, learning spaces, learning theories, more voice more choice more control, personalized/customized learning, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
The other day, I mentioned how important it will be for institutions of higher education to increase the priority of experimentation. But, for a variety of reasons, I believe this is true for the K-12 world as well. Especially with the kindergarten/early elementary classroom in mind, I created the graphic below. Clicking on it will give you another example of the kind of experimentation that I’m talking about — whether that be in K-12 or in higher ed.
From DSC:
I’m trying to address the students that are more easily distracted and, due to how their minds process information, have a harder time focusing on the task at hand. In fact, at times, all of the external stimuli can be overwhelming. How can we provide a learning environment that’s more under the students’ control? i.e. How can we provide “volume knobs” on their auditory and visual channels?
Along these lines, I’m told that some theaters have sensory-friendly film showings — i.e. with different settings for the lights and sound than is typically offered.
Also see — with thanks going out to Ori Inbar (@comogard) for these:
.
- Google gets in your face — from spectrum.ieee.org by Elise Ackerman / January 2013
Google Glass offers a slightly augmented version of reality
. - Point brings augmented reality ads to your phone, now with interactive videos — from engadget.com by Zachary Lutz
. - Disney partners with toy company, LA billionaire to make augmented reality toy app — from polygon.com by Alexa Ray Corriea
A relevant addendum on 1/10/12:
On 01/08/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
In this series of periodic postings re: experimentation (see here and here), this week’s Consumers Electronics Show prompts me to think about different types of experiments, prompting such questions as:
.
- When will we see more educationally-related second screen apps?
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- How might this type of setup dovetail with MOOCs provided by institutions of higher education? With MOOCs offered by the corporate world?
.
- What sorts of technologies will weave their way into what could be offered here?
(The following possibilities come to my mind: Artificial Intelligence (AI), learning agents, recommendation engines, course or topic playlists, web-based learner profiles, data mining/analytics, videoconferencing, educational gaming, virtual tutoring, BYOD, and/or cloud-based computing. Other…?)
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- Will Internet-enabled marketplaces and exchanges — between learners and teachers — become commonplace?
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- Will technologies involved with endeavors like IBM’s Watson or with Knewton be deployed in this kind of convergent environment? If so, what sorts of doors/job opportunities/new skillsets would that open up or require?
.
.
.
Some relevant items on this include:
Flingo reveals Samba, a first of its kind dual interactive TV and second screen platform — from pandodaily.com byasdf
Excerpt:
This week at CES in Las Vegas (the Consumer Electronics Show), San Francisco-based Flingo will release the latest version of its platform, dubbed Samba, aimed at changing this. Samba will make four-year-old Flingo one of the first to offer a combined Interactive TV and Second Screen experience.
“We saw a surge of Smart TV and tablet adoption in 2012, but realized that a seamless TV experience across all screens was missing,” says Flingo co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin, formerly of BitTorrent. “Samba will blur the lines between linear television and the Web.”
Flingo is unique in that it uses video, not audio to identify what content is being viewed…
…
Samba offers viewers the ability to actively engage with programming in real-time through their primary screen. This can take the form of polls, social conversations, recommendations, or consumption of related media. In the case of Second Screens, aka internet-connected laptops, tablets, and smartphones used simultaneously while watching TV, the company can offer an even wider array of complementary content and engagement, such as aggregated social feeds relating to live programming or an ability to watch past episodes of a live show. This can all be delivered across multiple screens, in concert.
Also see:
Also see:
- Panasonic, IBM, ABOX42 and others join LG and Toshiba’s Smart TV Alliance to solve fragmentation
- YouTube bringing Google TV AirPlay-like pairing feature to new devices in 2013 — from 9to5google.com by Jordan Kahn
- Audible Magic unveils cross-platform solution for interactive TV commercials — from cnbc.com
- CES: Samsung unveils 4K TVs; upgrades Smart TV service — from forbes.com by Eric Savitz
- Samsung rethinks Smart TV (and we’re impressed) — from nbcnews.com by Wilson Rothman
- Slick new Bravo app personalizes your Smart TV experience — from mashable.com by Brian Anthony Hernandez
- In the digital living room, there’s something in the air — from pro.gigaom.com by Paul Sweeting
- Usage of connected TVs rose 25% in 2012 — from therealtimereport.com [Addendum on 1/9/13]
.
.
- Here’s your complete look at Samsung’s new Smart TV — from businessinsider.com by Kevin Smith [Addendum on 1/9/13]
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Kevin Smith/Business Insider
More tangentially, but still relevant:
- McGraw-Hill to debut adaptive e-book for students — from blogs.wsj.com by Shalini Ramachandran
Excerpt:
The SmartBook…works like this: All readers essentially see the same textbook as they read for the first five minutes. But as a reader answers review questions placed throughout the chapter, different passages become highlighted to point the reader to where he or she should focus attention.
On 01/07/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, Bring your own device (BYOD), Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital textbooks, digital video, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, future of higher education, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, multi-touch, multimedia, online learning, platforms, publishing, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, strategy, tablets, television, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
The other day, I mentioned how important it will be for institutions of higher education to increase the priority of experimentation. Clicking on the graphic below will give you an example of the kind of vision/experiment that I’m talking about.
(Though, more practically speaking, to operationalize this type of vision would actually require a series of much smaller experiments; I just wanted to present the overall vision of how these pieces might fit together).
NOTE:
This 11″x17″ image is a 10MB PDF file, so it may take some time to appear.
Feel free to right-click on the graphic in order to download/save/print the file as well.
Also relevant is this upcoming event from educause:
1/8/13 addendum resulting from a Tweet from a great colleague, Mr. Travis LaFleur (@travislafleur), UX Designer at BiggsGilmore
- Check out the work of Fraser Speirs (@fraserspeirs) — example blog posting: Refresh: The Platform
On 12/19/2012,
in A/V -- audio/visual, computer science, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, human-computer interaction (HCI), learning spaces, programming, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
- Motion-control maker Leap, nearing retail launch, turns focus to apps — from allthingsd.com by Lauren Goode
- Leap Motion giving 10,000 developers free Leaps — from cnet.com by by Daniel Terdiman
Startup with revolutionary gesture control technology is giving 10,000 more developers free units, and it is updating its SDK with a new library of pre-defined interaction APIs. - AirHarp uses Leap Motion to let you play music with the air — from dvice.com
On 12/14/2012,
in A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education technology, learning spaces, multimedia, participation, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
On 12/06/2012,
in A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, digital learning, learning spaces, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
