sociology

IBM Awards University of Texas at Austin Top Spot in Watson Competition — from indiaeducationdiary.in

Excerpts/applications (emphasis and numbering via DSC):

New York: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the first winner of its Watson University Competition, part of the company’s partnership with top universities through its cognitive computing academic initiative. The winning team of student entrepreneurs from the University of Texas at Austin will receive $100,000 in total in seed funding to help launch a business based on their Watson app, which offers the promise of improved citizen services.
…
The University of Texas at Austin took home top honors with a new app called 1) CallScout, designed to give Texas residents fast and easy access to information about social services in their area. Many of Texas’ 27 million residents rely on the state’s social services – such as transportation, healthcare, nutrition programs and housing assistance – though they can have difficulty finding the right information.
…
“These academic competitions expose students to a new era of computing, helps them build valuable professional skills, and provides an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.”

…
Two other innovative projects rounded out the top three finalists in the competition. Students from the University of Toronto took second place with 2) “Ross,” an app that allows users to ask Watson legal questions related to their case work, speeding research and guiding lawyers to pertinent information to help their case. In third place, students from the University of California, Berkeley, designed a new app called 3) “Patent Fox” that conceptualizes patent ideas, simplifies queries, streamlines filing processes and provides confidence-ranked, evidence-based results.
…
“Through this program we have been able to create a unique experience that not only enabled our students to develop skills in cognitive computing, app development and team work, but also in business development.”

Team-based content creation/delivery is pulling ahead of the pack!

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?

What an incredible piece! This young inventor from Sierra Leone shows how young people change our world!

On 06/17/2014, in engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, heutagogy, higher education, innovation, maker movement, media/film, music, passions, real-world assignments, society, sociology, student-related, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Thanks Jennifer for posting the above item! What a wonderful video! I loved watching it. Congratulations and thanks go out to MIT, David Moinina Sengeh (see here and here) and Kelvin Coe for maximizing the gifts that they’ve been given! They are changing the world!

An incredible example of heutagogy at work! In Kelvin’s story, you see passion, self-directed learning, and intrinsic motivation to make a difference — to help his community and to positively change his world.

From the video’s description:

To support Kelvin and young innovators like him, please visit https://www.crowdrise.com/InnovateSalone/fundraiser/gmin

15-Year-Oid Kelvin Doe is an engineering whiz living in Sierra Leone who scours the trash bins for spare parts, which he uses to build batteries, generators and transmitters. Completely self-taught, Kelvin has created his own radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music under the moniker, OJ Focus. Kelvin became the youngest person in history to be invited to the ‘V isiting Practitione(s Program” at MIT. THNKR had exclusive access to Kelvin and his life-changing journey – experiencing the US for the first t ime, exploring incredible opportunities, contending
with homesickness, and mapping out his future.

Here is a link to the Bobby Fala track in the video on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/karen-kilberg/kpei-ragga

PRODIGIES is a bi-weekly series showcasing the youngest and brightest as they challenge themselves to reach new heights and the stories behind them.

Created and produced by @radical. media, THNKR gives you extraordinary access to the people, stories, places and thinking that will change your mind.

Follow THNKR on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thnkr
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thnkrtv
Check out our Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/thnkr/
SUBSCRIBE! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c …

Song featured in that clip:

Also see:

Where the Internet of Things could take society by 2025 — from centerdigitaled.com by Tanya Roscorla

Excerpt:

The Pew Research Center Internet Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center released the report on Wednesday, May 14, as part of an ongoing future of the Internet series inspired by the Web’s 25th anniversary. Eighty-three percent of these experts, which included education leaders, agreed that the Internet of Things would have “widespread and beneficial effects on the everyday lives of the public by 2025.” The remaining 17 percent said it would not, and both camps elaborated on their answers in paragraph form.

Their explanations fall under six major points:

The Internet of Things and wearable computing will take major steps forward in the next 11 years.
Increased data from connected things will cause privacy concerns to come to the forefront and encourage the growth of profiling and targeting people, which will greatly inflame conflicts in various arenas.
Despite advancement in information interfaces, most people won’t be connecting their brains to the network.
Complicated, unintended consequences will arise.
A digital divide could deepen and disenfranchise people who don’t choose to connect to the network.
Relationships will change depending on people’s response to the Internet of Things.

From DSC:
As with most technologies, there will be positives and negatives about the Internet of Things. To me, the technologies are tools — neutral, not value-laden — and it’s how we use them that adds moral, political, legal, ethical, or social perspectives/elements to them. With that said, I’m quite sure that the IoT will have unintended consequences (#4 above). Also, item #5 — “A digital divide could deepen and disenfranchise people who don’t choose to connect to the network” — is especially troublesome to me, along with the topic of privacy concerns as mentioned in #2.

20 forecasts for 2014-2030 from the World Future Society
Trends and breakthroughs likely to affect your work, your investments, and your family

Excerpts:

At the outset, let me say that futurists do not claim to predict precisely what will happen in the future. If we could know the future with certainty, it would mean that the future could not be changed. Yet this is the main purpose of studying the future: to look at what may happen if present trends continue, decide if this is desirable, and, if it’s not, work to change it.

The main goal of studying the future is to make it better. Trends, forecasts, and ideas about the future enable you to spot opportunities and threats early, and position yourself, your business, and your investments accordingly.

How you can succeed in the age of hyperchange
Look how quickly our world is transforming around us. Entire new industries and technologies unheard of 15 years ago are now regular parts of our lives. Technology, globalization, and the recent financial crisis have left many of us reeling. It’s increasingly difficult to keep up with new developments—much less to understand their implications.

And, if you think things are changing fast now, you haven’t seen anything yet.

In this era of accelerating change, knowledge alone is no longer the key to a prosperous life. The critical skill is foresight.

7 ways to spot tomorrow’s trends today

Scan the media to identify trends
Analyze and extrapolate trends
Develop scenarios
Ask groups of experts
Use computer modeling
Explore possibilities with simulations
Create the vision

Will our children need to know how to interface with robots? — from quib.ly by Daniel Christian

Also see:

4 robots that teach children science and math in engaging ways– from scientificamerican.com by David Greer
Modular, programmable automatons make STEM learning fun

National All-Star [robot trading cards] Lineup for 2014 — from robotics.gatech.edu

CeBIT 2014: Three ways machine learning is changing the world — from businessinsider.com.au by Alex Heber

Excerpt:

‘Intelligent machines’ are increasingly interconnecting. The Internet of Things is imminent, with sensor networks and mobile devices connecting everyone and everything everywhere in the near future., Singularity’ – the moment of when machines become as capable as humans – is quickly becoming a buzzword that rivals Social Media. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is certain to play a role everywhere, and robots are dropping in price dramatically while gaining quickly in functionality and skills. Exponential technological progress is evident everywhere – but how will we – as linear beings – cope with this increasing empowerment of software and machines, the tremendous gain in the flow of real-time information, and the far-reaching implications that these developments will have? How will we keep up with thousands of real-time datafeeds, the ever-increasing volume, variety and depth of input, the tsunami of incoming communications and the rapidly improving smartness – and increasingly deep intelligence – of software, devices and machines? Will humans need to be ‘augmented’, soon, in order to keep up, and if so, where will this take us? What will happen to our ethics in a world of ultra-smart intelligent agents, artificial intelligence and the coming ‘trans-humanism’?

Technology and jobs: Coming to an office near you
The effect of today’s technology on tomorrow’s jobs will be immense—and no country is ready for it — from economist.com by

Excerpts:

INNOVATION, the elixir of progress, has always cost people their jobs. In the Industrial Revolution artisan weavers were swept aside by the mechanical loom. Over the past 30 years the digital revolution has displaced many of the mid-skill jobs that underpinned 20th-century middle-class life. Typists, ticket agents, bank tellers and many production-line jobs have been dispensed with, just as the weavers were.

…

No time to be timid
If this analysis is halfway correct, the social effects will be huge. Many of the jobs most at risk are lower down the ladder (logistics, haulage), whereas the skills that are least vulnerable to automation (creativity, managerial expertise) tend to be higher up, so median wages are likely to remain stagnant for some time and income gaps are likely to widen.

Anger about rising inequality is bound to grow, but politicians will find it hard to address the problem. Shunning progress would be as futile now as the Luddites’ protests against mechanised looms were in the 1810s, because any country that tried to stop would be left behind by competitors eager to embrace new technology. The freedom to raise taxes on the rich to punitive levels will be similarly constrained by the mobility of capital and highly skilled labour.

The main way in which governments can help their people through this dislocation is through education systems. One of the reasons for the improvement in workers’ fortunes in the latter part of the Industrial Revolution was because schools were built to educate them—a dramatic change at the time. Now those schools themselves need to be changed, to foster the creativity that humans will need to set them apart from computers. There should be less rote-learning and more critical thinking. Technology itself will help, whether through MOOCs (massive open online courses) or even video games that simulate the skills needed for work.

Many of these presentations will be live streamed at:

Also see:

January 2014: Remote Webcast Locations

The Invisible Achievement Gap, Part 1 – Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in California’s Public Schools

On 10/15/2013, in assessment, education, education reform, K-12 related, society, sociology, United States, by Daniel Christian

The Invisible Achievement Gap, Part 1 – Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in California’s Public Schools — from cftl.org

From the email I rec’d on this:

The Invisible Achievement Gap, Part 1 – Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in California’s Public Schools is a first-of-its-kind analysis that links data from California’s education and child welfare systems for the 2009-10 academic year to create an education snapshot of K-12 students in foster care in California. The report reveals a previously invisible achievement gap between children in foster care and other students, including other at-risk subgroups such as low-Socio-Economic Status (SES), English learners, and students with disabilities. The research shows that students in foster care:

constituted an at-risk subgroup that was distinct from low-SES students.
were more likely than other students to change schools during the school year.
were more likely than the general population of students to be enrolled in the lowest-performing schools.
had the lowest participation rate in California’s statewide testing program.
showed an achievement gap in statewide tests when compared to other at-risk students.
had the highest dropout rate and lowest graduation rate.

The Invisible Achievement Gap is the result of a unique collaboration between the California Department of Education, the California Department of Social Services, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, and other agencies. Funded by the Stuart Foundation, the findings are particularly relevant and timely as California becomes the first state in the nation to attempt to track the academic progress of students in foster care as part of its new school finance reform plan. This research offers new evidence for policymakers to use in their continuing efforts to improve the academic success of students in foster care.

To learn more about the report or download it for free, please visit: http://cftl.org/What’s_New.htm

Reflections on “Detroit goes bankrupt, the largest city to do so in U.S.” [Davey]

On 07/18/2013, in business, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, hearts -- matters of the heart, Michigan, society, sociology, United States, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Detroit goes bankrupt, the largest city to do so in U.S. — from nytimes.com by Monica Davey

Excerpt:

DETROIT — Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once the nation’s fourth-most-populous city, has filed for bankruptcy, an official said Thursday afternoon, the largest American city ever to take such a course.

.

From DSC:
First of all, thanks to George Siemens for posting this item on Twitter. Secondly, as I mentioned there, many people have left Detroit through the years, leaving an aging infrastructure that still needs to be paid for, but with a constantly dwindling tax base.

What are some of the lessons other cities, towns, and villages can learn from this?

One potential item that comes to my mind is to not put all of our eggs into one basket. Detroit was too focused on the automobile; we should have diversified more. (This could also be said of our careers/skillsets I suppose…)

Anyway, the people of Detroit have been on my heart and mind for years now. I internally pitched an idea a while back whereby our student teachers in our Education Department could employ web-based collaboration tools to help the youth of Detroit in their studies. It seemed like a potential WIN-WIN situation — providing real-world teaching experience to our current EDUC students (and most likely opening up completely new experiences for them) while at the same time providing some solid/free tutoring/assistance for the students of Detroit.

Addendums on 7/19/13:

Quote from Governor Snyder today
I’d like to take a moment to explain why I made that decision and what it means for the city — and for the State of Michigan. In many respects, this day has been six decades in the making. Detroit is buried under $18 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities. In fact, 38 cents of every city dollar goes toward debt repayment, legacy costs and other obligations. By 2017, that figure will go up to 65 cents per dollar. That level of debt is unsustainable.
.
And this could help:
The Federal Communications Commission begins its restructuring on Friday of the “E-rate” the government uses to provide schools with funds to connect to the Internet.
.
I tried flipping an inner-city, impoverished class and… — from bamradionetwork.com by Jon Bergmann and Kathy Swanger
.
Consider bringing in remote teachers/experts via tools and technologies such as these

A powerful prayer from Linda Naranjo-Huebl

On 07/15/2013, in 21st century, dangers of the status quo, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, society, sociology, by Daniel Christian

From Linda Naranjo-Huebl on Sunday, July 14, 2013 — a day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder in Trayvon Martin’s death

After discussions with my African American friends and a morning of intense prayer and tears, mingled with despair, a prayer:

God of the Universe, come to us in our despair and broken heartedness, and minister life to your children. God of Justice, reach us in our mourning over our African American brothers, fathers, and sons who are not safe on our streets. Stepping outside their homes–as objects of hatred, suspicion and fear–they face the very real threats of harassment, molestation, assault, and death by both police officers and citizens. Let me stand with my sisters who are mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters of black boys and men in the United States. Forgive me when I have let my own privileged position keep me at a safe distance from the fear and heartache that weighs on their hearts and souls every day. Let their despair, fear, anger, and heartbreak be my own. Help them as they struggle to support their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers as they walk in this hostile world, as they try to encourage them to trust in a God who calls them beloved when the world will not, who will never forsake them in their trials.

Oh how hard it is right now to believe with our brother Martin Luther King Jr. that the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We cry out with the prophet, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24). Holy Spirit, grant us faith; help us believe that your justice reigns, that you record all our tears in a bottle and write them in your book (Ps. 56:8), that you will judge the unrighteousness, that you will one day wipe every tear from the eyes of the victims of injustice. Keep us from falling into hopelessness, cynicism, and despair. Take our anger and hopelessness and turn our energies into the work of justice and reconciliation between God and humans and among our human family, for this is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Regards,

Linda Naranjo-Huebl
Associate Professor of English
Calvin College

—————-

Also see:

This video that the Howard University School of Law posted last year.

Lament From a White Father — from huffingtonpost.com by Jim Wallis
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
It’s time for white people — especially white parents — to listen, to learn, and to speak out on the terribly painful loss of Trayvon Martin. If my white 14-year-old son Luke had walked out that same night, in that same neighborhood, just to get a snack, he would have come back to his dad unharmed — and would still be with me and Joy today. Everyone, being honest with ourselves, knows that is true. But when black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin went out that night, just to get a snack, he ended up dead — and is no longer with his dad and mom. Try to imagine how that feels, as his parents.
…
Listen to the stories from Saturday and Sunday nights, of 12-year-old black boys who asked to sleep in bed with their parents because they were afraid. If black youth in America can’t rely on the police, the law, or their own neighborhood for protection — where can they go?
…
Finally, there is a religious message here for all Christians. If there ever was a time that demonstrated why racially and culturally diverse congregations are needed — that time is now. The body of Christ is meant, instructed, and commanded by Christ to be racially inclusive. If white Christians stay in our mostly-white churches and talk mostly to each other we will never understand how our black brothers and sisters are feeling after a terrible weekend like this one. It was the conversation of every black church in America on this Sunday, but very few white Christians heard that discussion or felt that pain. White Christians cannot and must not leave the sole responsibility of telling the truth about America, how it has failed Trayvon Martin and so many black Americans, solely to their African-American brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s time for white Christians to listen to their black brothers and sisters, to learn their stories, and to speak out for racial justice and reconciliation. The country needs multi-racial communities of faith to show us how to live together.

The Harvard Implicit Bias test
Take this free test with a) the racial ethnic group you are most comfortable with and b) the racial ethnic group you are least comfortable with. Then read the book BlindSpot: Hidden Biases of Good People (2013) by Banaji and Greenwald.

Check out SEA Biofuels for some excellent news! Then consider helping out.

On 03/28/2013, in future, geography / geology, global / globalization, health, hearts -- matters of the heart, society, sociology, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Check out this very cool news from my friend and Bible Study fellow — Mr. Patrick Mohney, President of SEA Biofuels, LLC

This is really amazing.

First of all, people in the developing world, even today, use either campfires or some other smokey cooking system. This type of cooking is the norm for three billion people today, this leads to millions of deaths per year, as well as a leading contributor of greenhouse gases. Also, I learned that in some parts of the world, women that normally collect the cooking fuel, are the subject of physical violence and rape as they collect fuel in a territory that another clan, family or tribe feel belongs to them. I hear these things and think, “Seriously, we have to fix this!”

We could fix this, if we had a clean and environmentally friendly alternative fuel that they could afford. Now we have just that. We make fuel from excess agricultural waste like rice husks, coconut shells or almost any woody bio-material.

The stove-fuel combo is the most efficient in the world, but the reason that I am excited about it, is that it is less expensive to operate for the consumer than the alternative fuels. As it turns out, people that use wood or charcoal to cook with, usually pay for it, and it is not cheap. Our fuel is usually half to three quarters of the price of the status quo fuel at retail to the consumer. This is why our stove and fuel is presently the only option that is scale-able and can help millions, or billions of people.

I know you are busy, but we can solve this for half of the worlds people, if you could just pass this on or make some noise. Like us on FB.

Our mission statement is, “Be a Blessing to others and you will be Blessed”.

God Bless you and your family.

Patrick Mohney
President
SEA Biofuels, LLC

From DSC and Patrick:
Contribute something today — make the world a better place to live in.

Visualizing the future urban world [Schwartz]

On 03/22/2013, in 21st century, Australia, business, Canada, corporate / business world, economics, Europe, future, global / globalization, graphics, sociology, United States, visualizing information, by Daniel Christian

Visualizing the future urban world — from fastcoexist.com by Ariel Schwartz
A new app called Urban World beautifully projects how cities around the world are going to explode in growth and economic power by 2025.

Also see:

Learning Ecosystems

The Internet of Things will thrive by 2025 [Pew Research; Anderson & Rainie]

20 forecasts for 2014-2030 from the World Future Society

Calvin College’s January Series 2014: Some excellent presentations coming up!

Reflections on “Detroit goes bankrupt, the largest city to do so in U.S.” [Davey]

A powerful prayer from Linda Naranjo-Huebl

Check out SEA Biofuels for some excellent news! Then consider helping out.

Visualizing the future urban world [Schwartz]

Categories

Tags