Here it is: The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 — from c4lpt.co.uk by Jane Hart

Excerpt:

The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 list (released today, 30 September 2013) was compiled from the votes of over 500 learning professionals (from education and workplace learning) from 48 countries. Here are some of the highlights from this year’s list. For a fuller analyis, visit Analysis 2013

  • Twitter retains its no 1 position for the 5th year running
  • Google Drive/Docs moves up to #2.
  • PowerPoint moves up to #5.
  • Evernote moves into the top 10 at #6.
  • Google +/Hangouts moves into the top 10 at #10.
  • There are 10 new tools on the list topped by Feedly (an RSS reader/aggregator) at #19 and Coursera (a MOOC platform) at #38, and 3 returning tools to the list, including Storify at #58.
  • The highest movers within the list are Skydrive (Windows file storage area) at #43 up 55 places since last year, and Keynote and iMovie up 40 and 32 places respectively (showing the increase in popularity of Apple software).
  • A significant descent down the list for some tools including Google Sites (down 60 places) and Wikispaces (down 50 places).
  • Tools moving off the list include Google Reader (now retired by Google), Bing and Scribd.
  • Although the list is still dominated by free online social tools, a number of e-learning authoring tools have had a good showing this year.
  • As for trends over the last 5 years, it is interesting to note that Firefox (#1 in 2007) is now at #97 on the list, and Delicious (#1 in 2008) is now at #60.  What will topple Twitter from the top of the list?
 

IBM-WatsonAtWork-Sept2013

 

From DSC:
IBM Watson continues to expand into different disciplines/areas, which currently include:

  • Healthcare
  • Finance
  • Customer Service

But Watson is also entering the marketing and education/research realms.

I see a Watson-type-of-tool as being a key ingredient for future MOOCs and the best chance for MOOCs to morph into something very powerful indeed — offloading the majority of the workload to computers/software/intelligent tutoring/learning agents, while at the same time allowing students to connect with each other and/or to Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) as appropriate.

The price of education could hopefully come way down — depending upon the costs involved with licensing Watson or a similar set of technologies — as IBM could spread out their costs to multiple institutions/organizations.  This vision represents another important step towards the “Walmart of Education” that continues to develop before our eyes.

Taking this even one step further, I see this system being available to us on our mobile devices as well as in our living rooms — as the telephone, the television, and the computer continue to converge.  Blended learning on steroids.

What would make this really powerful would be to provide:

  • The ability to create narratives/stories around content
  • To feed streams of content into Watson for students to tap into
  • Methods of mining data and using that to tweak algorithms, etc. to improve the tools/learning opportunities

Such an architecture could be applied towards lifelong learning opportunities — addressing what we now know as K-12, higher education, and corporate training/development.

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The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

 

 

E-books could be the future of social media — from fastcolabs.com by Michael Grothaus

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Both Apple and Amazon were designing e-book readers by copying the 2,500-year-old idea of books as self-contained collections of words, completely missing how readers share and discuss content online today. While most e-readers allow you to share passages or links to the book you are reading, and sites like Goodreads let you share what you’ve read, their implementations treat the book and the discussions around them as separate collections. Worse, these apps force users to venture into the distracting world of the open Internet when they want to share, making it hard to stay focused on reading.

This didn’t sit well with Berggren, so he came up with an ingenious solution: Make each and every book its own self-contained social network.

 

From DSC:
When people urge us to do things differently due to the technologies at our disposal, this is a great example of that.  It rethinks what can be done now vs. how it has been done in the past.  I like the increased opportunities this type of big-thinking, innovative solution offers for increased participation, collaboration, and discussion.

Questions that come to my mind:

  • How might this affect what’s possible with digital storytelling? With transmedia?
  • Could each MOOC/course/stream of content be its own social network?
  • “The app itself is free, so the company makes money by selling anonymized data it collects about its users’ consumption habits to publishers.”  Will we see more of this type of business model?

 

Also see:

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readmill-Sept2013

 

Also see:

 

Addendum on 9/10/13:

Content as a Service (CaaS) — from knowledgestarblog.wordpress.com by David Grebow

Excerpt:

The etextbook in 2018 will be dramatically different than the etextbook of today. It will be coupled to an app that will provide you with Content as a Service (CaaS). CaaS will include many of the following features (and more that have yet to be imagined):

Multimedia
Simulations
Educational Games
Animations
Pre- and post-tests
Formative and Summative Quizzes
Adaptive testing
Networked Social Learning
Study groups
Analytic Datasets
Virtual and Flipped classes
Communities of Learning and Practice
Virtual classes.

 

The battle of the ecosystems: Apple, Google, Microsoft, & Amazon.com — by Daniel Christian with thanks to Krista Spahr, Michael Mandeville, Bill Vriesema, and Adam Tozer from Calvin College for their feedback/inputs on this.

 

BattleOfTheEcosystems-DanielChristian-August2013

PDF version here [1.35MB]

 

 

Also see:

 

Ecosystem value metrics

 

Ecosystem value metrics - developer perspective

 

Addendums on 8/13/13:

 

From DSC:
I love multimedia because it enables me to craft a message using audio, video, text, graphics, and even animations.  The Internet extends the power of this communication by allowing that message to go forth 24 x 7 x 365 in multi-directional ways — even allowing others to join in the conversations and participate.

The following item made me reflect upon on how important this is becoming to business:

Excerpt:

How (and why) is Marketing Changing?
The first thing to understand about marketing today is that it’s all about shared experience. Consumer behavior is radically changing with respect to content consumption. No longer are people consuming most of their content on the TV, a newspaper, or even their computer. Rather, they are using a combination of channels:

 

 

From DSC:

  • Won’t this trend also impact students’ expectations/hopes/engagement?
  • What do we need to do to help youth build these skillsets?

 

 

Also related/see:

  • The rise, implications & benefits of the second screen — from newsworks.org.uk by Mark Challinor
    Telegraph Media Group’s director of mobile Mark Challinor says in this new era of second screens, news companies must create content that helps consumers to multi-task on multiple platforms with multiple devices.

Excerpt:
Watching television – or even reading a newspaper – with a smartphone and/or tablet device is becoming one of the most popular leisure activities of this “mobile age”. In turn, publishers such as ourselves are trying to find ways to capitalise on this somewhat new consumer behaviour of real-time interaction, which, more often than not, includes social media. This type of interaction, referred to as “the second screen” or “the companion device”, has become not just a latest hot topic of discussion all over social media blogs; it is a huge development for the mobile app industry and a target-rich environment for our advertisers.

  • Emerging markets’ second-screen boost with 1BN smart devices by 2014 — from rapidtvnews.com by Joseph O’Halloran
    Excerpt:
    New research by IDC has revealed that it won’t just be Western Europe and North America forming happy hunting grounds for second-screen services and applications. The analyst says it is clear that demand for smart connected devices is quickly shifting from developed to emerging markets and that by the end of 2014, global shipments of smart connected devices such as PCs, tablets, and smartphones will exceed surpass 1.7 billion units, with roughly one billion units delivered to emerging markets. The emerging markets are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% over the 2012-2017 forecast period, compared to the 7% CAGR expected in developed markets.
 

Exploring curation as a core competency in digital and media literacy education — from the Journal of Interactive Media in Education (jime.open.ac.uk); with thanks to Robin Good for the Scoop

Paul Mihailidis
Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson College, United States

James N Cohen
School of Communication, Hofstra University, United States

Abstract:

In today’s hypermedia landscape, youth and young adults are increasingly using social media platforms, online aggregators and mobile applications for daily information use. Communication educators, armed with a host of free, easy-to-use online tools, have the ability to create dynamic approaches to teaching and learning about information and communication flow online. In this paper we explore the concept of curation as a student- and creation-driven pedagogical tool to enhance digital and media literacy education. We present a theoretical justification for curation and present six key ways that curation can be used to teach about critical thinking, analysis and expression online. We utilize a case study of the digital curation platform Storify to explore how curation works in the classroom, and present a framework that integrates curation pedagogy into core media literacy education learning outcomes.

MarkOToole-11Reasons-June2013

 

From DSC:
Internships may set you apart, but from my experience, it used to be very difficult to get one and only existed in any sort of quantity for certain fields (such as Engineering or Computer Studies).  How can the corporate world and higher education better support our students in this area? Perhaps more efforts akin to Qeyno Labs…?

Qeyno Labs works with local partners and schools to close the STEM diversity gap in K-12 education by transforming the interests of under-served youth into STEM career pathways using web and mobile-based technology.

Using game-like rewards and mentorship from real-life professionals, Qeyno makes “career day” an everyday experience for the 40+ million students that can’t afford private college and career guidance.

Students earn badges, win prizes, internships, and scholarships endorsed through the $124 billion talent acquisition market spending by non-profits and companies.

 

Also, somewhat relevant here:

 

Addendum on 7/2/13:

Tagged with:  

The New Storytelling Frontier — from huffingtonpost.ca by Katherine Brodsky

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Long gone are the days of static content. Consumers are looking for more and transmedia storytelling offers an increasingly popular approach for creating property-based universes. Transmedia content itself is also evolving. It’s becoming more dynamic, more interactive, offering greater opportunities to engage audiences with creative user-generated content that adds to the storytelling experience. It is becoming more communal.

Although traditional models allow for greater control of content, strategies that can engage fans more actively and allow them to express themselves and even contribute to the development of a show, get them more involved and, ultimately, more willing to buy in.

 

From DSC:
As the use of storytelling is a powerful tool for learning, I can’t help but wonder…

  • What might be some creative possibilities arising from the developing world of transmedia that students and/or educational organizations could develop?
  • In what ways could we build more interactivity and social networking into our “digital textbooks” and mobile-based applications?
  • Would transmedia-based content help maintain interest, engagement, attention?
  • Would it help establish longer term memories/recall?
  • How might it help build students creativity and foster more experimentation/play/participation?
  • What roles might students play? (Writer, videographer, sound designer, actress, programmer, game designer, project manager, entrepreneur, etc.)
  • What tools and skills would students need to create their own transmedia-based experiences?
  • What new forms of storytelling might evolve from these efforts?
  • Could transmedia work its way into blended learning models?
  • Are new opportunities for immersing oneself in a particular subject matter becoming more available through transmedia-based experiences?
  • Could streams of content be wrapped in transmedia-based experiences?

 

 

 

 

Heads up Jony Ive! You need to see this brilliant concept for the Apple TV! Superb work by Sam Beckett!

BrilliantTVConceptBySamBeckett-May2013

 

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From DSC:
Now picture this from the educational standpoint — and what MOOCs could morph into.  The foundation for some serious learning power (from the living room) seems to be developing!

Streams of content/learning channels/cloud-based applications that each of us can create and make available.

Voice recognition, learning analytics, machine-to-machine communications, transmedia and more!  Wow!

 

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The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

 

 

KPCB Internet Trends 2013by Mary Meeker and Liang Wu on May 29, 2013

Description:

The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report finds continued robust online growth. There are now 2.4 billion Internet users around the world, and the total continues to grow apace. Mobile usage is expanding rapidly, while the mobile advertising opportunity remains largely untapped. The report reviews the shifting online landscape, which has become more social and content rich, with expanded use of photos, video and audio. Looking ahead, the report finds early signs of growth for wearable computing devices, like glasses, connected wrist bands and watches – and the emergence of connected cars, drones and other new platforms.

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Excerpts:
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Meeker-Wu-InternetTrends-5-29-13

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Meeker-Wu-2-InternetTrends-5-29-13

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Meeker-Wu-3-InternetTrends-5-29-13

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Meeker-Wu-4-InternetTrends-5-29-13

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Meeker-Wu-5-InternetTrends-5-29-13

10-breakthrough-techs-2013--MIT

 

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10-breakthrough-techs2-2013--MIT

 

From DSC:
With thanks going out to Mr. Steve Knode for his excellent newsletter (his April 2013 Emerging Information Technologies (EIT) newsletter in this case) that pointed this resource out.

 

 

 

 

Netflix CEO: ‘TV in the future will be like a giant iPad’ [Ligaya ]

Netflix CEO: ‘TV in the future will be like a giant iPad — from business.financialpost.com by Armina Ligaya

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Q: What do you think is going to happen over the next five or 10 years in internet video?

A: Well, you know, the fundamental thing is the internet has been getting faster. And now it’s video capable, which is really a last-five-years phenomenon. And, internet video will be very transformative across all societies for telemedicine, for online learning, for education. For communication of various sorts. And it brings, whether it’s person to person, or a recorded video like a movie or a TV show, to a person it will be very transformative.

And, TV in the future will be like a giant iPad. It will have a bunch of apps on it, each app will have a unique experience.

So we’re getting beyond just a stream of video, which is all broadcast technology can do, to really try to be innovative about the interaction.

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The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

The emergence of Chief Digital Officers — from sloanreview.mit.edu by Robert Berkman
As social and other digital technologies shift responsibilities in the C-suite, businesses are creating a new position, the chief digital officer or CDO, to focus their digital strategy. This is the fifth and final piece in our series on how social business is changing power dynamics in the C-suite.

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Also see:

  • The coming era of ‘on-demand’ marketing — from mckinsey.com by Peter Dahlström and David Edelman
    Emerging technologies are poised to personalize the consumer experience radically—in real time and almost everywhere. It’s not too early to prepare.

The folks needed to create the next generation of learning: Computers can’t touch this. [Christian]

From DSC:
What we need is a major hackathon — or an organization with deep pockets — that can bring together folks from a variety of disciplines including:

  • Subject Matter Experts
  • Instructional Designers
  • Cognitive Psychologists
  • Computer Scientists and/or those exerienced with learning analytics/data mining, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Those gifted in film/media/videography/photography
  • Great storytellers/writers (including writing for transmedia-based learning experiences)
  • Folks who can create engaging, educational games
  • Designers
    • Web
    • Graphic
    • Interface
    • User experience
    • User interaction
    • Those gifted in creating multimedia-based content
  • Musicians
  • Human Computer Interaction (HCI) experts
  • Mobile learning experts
  • Those knowledgeable with second screens/M2M communications
  • Animators
  • Illustrators
  • Social media experts
  • Accessibility experts
  • Researchers
  • Those gifted in creating augmented reality-based apps
  • Legal/copyright experts
  • & others

We need for these specialists to collaborate in order to create the next generation of learning.  Anyone who can bring these skillsets together and experiment with creating materials will have significantly contributed something to the current generations and to future generations! 

And, in the words of M.C. Hammer,  computers “can’t touch this!”  Why? Because “learning is messy!”

What fields did I miss?
Please leave your thoughts and
feedback in the comments section.

 

 

 

 

Notes from DSC:

  • Some of the material in this presentation or the website may not be appropriate for a younger audience.
  • Notice how many potential jobs/roles/positions/skillsets can be explored here!

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TransmediaStoryProductionIntro-April2013

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TransmediaStoryProduction-April2013

From DSC:
The word Bible is here not quite I think of as the Bible…but you’ll get the point if you review Gianluca’s presentation.
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TransmediaStoryProduction2-April2013

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TransmediaStoryProduction3-April2013

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Questions from DSC:

  • What opportunities might be presented by this type of trend within the worlds of education/training? (i.e. within K-12, higher ed, the corporate world)
  • What sorts of streams of contents could be created for educational/training-related purposes?
  • What sorts of open doors are now present within the world of communications? For a church, a school, a college, a business?
  • How can we incorporate the use of story more effectively in our teaching and learning environments? (If we could do this, we could greatly increase our students’ ROI.)

 

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian