trends

Grade Increase: Tracking Distance Education in the United States [Seaman, Allen, & Seaman]

On 01/16/2018, in adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, distance education, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Grade Increase: Tracking Distance Education in the United States
Julia E. Seaman, Ph.D. | Research Director, Babson Survey Research Group
I. Elaine Allen, Ph.D. | Professor of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, UCSF
Jeff Seaman, Ph.D. | Director, Babson Survey Research Group

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Distance education enrollments increased for the fourteenth straight year, growing faster than they have for the past several years. From 2002 to 2012 both distance and overall enrollments grew annually, but since 2012 distance growth has continued its steady increase in an environment that saw overall enrollments decline for four straight years and the largest for-profit distance education institutions continue to face serious issues and lose their enrollments.

The number of distance education students grew by 5.6% from Fall 2015 to Fall 2016 to reach 6,359,121 who are taking at least one distance course, representing 31.6% of all students. Total distance enrollments are composed of 14.9% of students (3,003,080) taking exclusively distance courses, and 16.7% (3,356,041) who are taking a combination of distance and non-distance courses.

Year-to-year changes in distance enrollments continue to be very uneven with different higher education sectors, with continued steady growth for public institutions, similar levels of growth (albeit on a much smaller base) for the private non-profit sector, and the continuation of the decline in total enrollments for the private for-profit sector for the fourth year in a row.

Distance education enrollments are highly concentrated in a relatively small number of institutions. Almost half of distance education students are concentrated in just five percent of institutions, while the top 47 institutions (just 1.0% of the total) enroll 22.4% (1,421,703) of all distance students. This level of concentration is most extreme among the for-profit sector, where 85.6% of the distance students are enrolled at the top 5% of institutions. Concentration rates for private not-for-profit institutions are lower, while public institutions show very low levels of concentration.

Distance enrollments remain local: 52.8% of all students who took at least one distance course also took an on-campus course, and of those who took only distance courses 56.1% reside in the same state as the institution at which they are enrolled. Virtually no distance enrollments are international: only 0.7% of all distance students are located outside of the United States.

The total number of students studying on campus (those not taking any distance course or taking a combination of distance and non-distance courses) dropped by over a million (1,173,805, or 6.4%) between 2012 and 2016. The largest declines came at for-profit institutions, which saw a 44.1% drop, while both private not-forprofit institutions (-4.5%) and public institutions (-4.2%) saw far smaller decreases.

The number of students who are not taking any distance courses declined even more from 2012 to 2016, down by 11.2% (1,737,955 students) by the end of the period. The private for-profit sector fared worse (down 50.5%) as compared to both private not-for-profit institutions (-9.5%) and public institutions (-7.7%).

DC: Reflections on “TV is (finally) an app: The goods, the bads and the uglies for learning” [Norris & Soloway]

On 01/11/2018, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, analytics, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital video, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, RSS, second screen apps, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, teachers, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), television, tools, training / L&D, trends, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

TV is (finally) an app: The goods, the bads and the uglies for learning — from thejournal.com by Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway

Excerpts:

Television. TV. There’s an app for that. Finally! TV — that is, live shows such as the news, specials, documentaries (and reality shows, if you must) — is now just like Candy Crunch and Facebook. TV apps (e.g., DirecTV Now) are available on all devices — smartphones, tablets, laptops, Chromebooks. Accessing streams upon streams of videos is, literally, now just a tap away.

…

Plain and simple: readily accessible video can be a really valuable resource for learners and learning.

…

Not everything that needs to be learned is on video. Instruction will need to balance the use of video with the use of printed materials. That balance, of course, needs to take in cost and accessibility.

…

Now for the 800 pound gorilla in the room: Of course, that TV app could be a huge distraction in the classroom. The TV app has just piled yet another classroom management challenge onto a teacher’s back.

…

That said, it is early days for TV as an app. For example, HD (High Definition) TV demands high bandwidth — and we can experience stuttering/skipping at times. But, when 5G comes around in 2020, just two years from now, POOF, that stuttering/skipping will disappear. “5G will be as much as 1,000 times faster than 4G.” Yes, POOF!

From DSC:
Learning via apps is here to stay. “TV” as apps is here to stay. But what’s being described here is but one piece of the learning ecosystem that will be built over the next 5-15 years and will likely be revolutionary in its global impact on how people learn and grow. There will be opportunities for social-based learning, project-based learning, and more — with digital video being a component of the ecosystem, but is and will be insufficient to completely move someone through all of the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

I will continue to track this developing learning ecosystem, but voice-driven personal assistants are already here. Algorithm-based recommendations are already here. Real-time language translation is already here. The convergence of the telephone/computer/television continues to move forward. AI-based bots will only get better in the future. Tapping into streams of up-to-date content will continue to move forward. Blockchain will likely bring us into the age of cloud-based learner profiles. And on and on it goes.

We’ll still need teachers, professors, and trainers. But this vision WILL occur. It IS where things are heading. It’s only a matter of time.

Workplace learning trends 2018 — from elearninglearning.com

Excerpt:

The beginning of a year is a great time to take stock of the year gone by and plan for the year ahead. In this blog post, we will have a quick glimpse of what we believe would be some of the key trends in workplace learning this year.

Also see:

Learning Experience Design Trends For 2018 — from elearninglearning.com. & theelearningcoach.com by Connie Malamed
8 Ways Things are Changing for Practitioners

Here are the trends I’ve been seeing, reading and hearing about.

Integrating Learning with Work
From Instructional Designer to Learning Experience Designer
ADDIE Who?
Embracing Design Thinking
Increased Awareness of Universal Design
Working Out Loud Circles
Seeing the Value in Metrics
Openness to All Types of Learning Experiences

“3 ways AR will find its way into your life in 2018 and beyond” + 4 items on AR, VR, & MR

On 01/06/2018, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), emerging technologies, health, history, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, Mixed Reality (MR), society, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

3 ways augmented reality will find its way into your life in 2018 and beyond — from entrepreneur.com by Han-Gwon Lung
Up to 40 percent of nurses miss the patient’s vein on their first attempt at taking blood. That’s changing, because of augmented reality.

Excerpt:

A pair of glasses you can’t live without
More immersive (and personalized) marketing
Less guesswork in health care

The race for AR glasses starts now — from wired.com by Steven Levy

Excerpt:

Though the Next Big Thing won’t appear for a while, we know pretty much what it will look like: a lightweight, always-on wearable that obliterates the divide between the stuff we see on screens and the stuff we see when we look up from our screens.
…
Not every company working on post-reality glasses shares an identical vision; some have differing views of how immersive it should be. But all have quietly adopted the implicit assumption that a persistent, wearable artificial reality is the next big thing. The pressure of the competition has forced them to begin releasing interim products, now.

And he added that “these glasses will offer AR, VR, and everything in between, and we’ll wear them all day and we’ll use them in every aspect of our lives.”

Meet the scientists immortalizing African heritage in virtual reality — from by Chris Giles

Excerpt:

Concerned with the decay of African heritage sites, The Zamani Project, based at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is seeking to immortalize historic spots in three-dimensional, virtual reality-ready models.

Professor Heinz Ruther steers the project. He ventures up and down the continent — visiting Ghana, Tanzania, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya and elsewhere — recording in remarkable detail the structure and condition of tombs, churches and other buildings.

“I’ve seen how sites are deteriorating visibly,” Ruther told CNN.

The project’s aim is to build a database of complex, lifelike 3-D models. Presently, they’ve mapped around 16 sites including Lalibela in Ethiopia, Timbuktu in Mali and Kilwa in Tanzania.

4 augmented and virtual reality projects that point to the future of education — from edsurge.com by Justin Hendrix

Excerpt:

Education has been a recurring theme throughout the many programs of the NYC Media Lab, a public-private partnership where I serve as an Executive Director. How will virtual and augmented reality change the classroom? How can teachers use immersive media to educate citizens and keep our communities vibrant? In what ways can enterprises leverage innovation to better train employees and streamline workflows?

These are just a few of the top-of-mind questions that NYC Media Lab’s consortium is thinking about as we enter the next wave of media transformation.

Researchers and professionals at work across the VR/AR community in New York City are excited for what comes next. At NYC Media Lab’s recent Exploring Future Reality conference, long-time educators including Agnieszka Roginska of New York University and Columbia University’s Steven Feiner pointed to emerging media as a way to improve multi-modal learning for students and train computer systems to understand the world around us.

NYC Media Lab merges engineering and design research happening at the city’s universities with resources and opportunities from the media and technology industry—to produce new prototypes, launch new companies and advocate for the latest thinking.

In the past year, the Lab has completed dozens of rapid prototyping projects; exhibited hundreds of demos from the corporate, university and entrepreneurship communities; helped new startups make their mark; and hosted three major events, all to explore emerging media technologies and their evolving impact.

4 virtual reality desktops for Vive, Rift, and Windows VR compared — from roadtovr.com by Dominic Brennan

Excerpt:

While it’s all too easy to lose ourselves in the countless VR worlds at our fingertips, sometimes we just need to access the desktop and get things done in Windows. Thanks to a few innovative apps, this is possible without removing your headset.

The legal and ethical minefield of AI: ‘Tech has the power to do harm as well as good’ [Goodman]

On 01/05/2018, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, change, ethics, ideas, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, society, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, by Daniel Christian

The legal and ethical minefield of AI: ‘Tech has the power to do harm as well as good’ — from theguardian.com by Joanna Goodman

Excerpt:

Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are already embedded in our lives, but how should businesses that use such technology manage the associated risks?

As artificial intelligence (AI) penetrates deeper into business operations and services, even supporting judicial decision-making, are we approaching a time when the greatest legal mind could be a machine? According to Prof Dame Wendy Hall, co-author of the report Growing the Artificial Intelligence Industry in the UK, we are just at the beginning of the AI journey and now is the time to set boundaries.

“All tech has the power to do harm as well as good,” Hall says. “So we have to look at regulating companies and deciding what they can and cannot do with the data now.”

AI and robotics professor Noel Sharkey highlights the “legal and moral implications of entrusting human decisions to algorithms that we cannot fully understand”. He explains that the narrow AI systems that businesses currently use (to draw inferences from large volumes of data) apply algorithms that learn from experience and feed back to real-time and historical data. But these systems are far from perfect.

Potential results include flawed outcomes or reasoning, but difficulties also arise from the lack of transparency. This supports Hall’s call for supervision and regulation. Businesses that use AI in their operations need to manage the ethical and legal risks, and the legal profession will have a major role to play in assessing and apportioning risk, responsibility and accountability.

Also see:

Computer says no: why making AIs fair, accountable and transparent is crucial — from the guardian.com by Ian Sample

18 striking AI Trends to watch in 2018 – Part 1 as well as 18 striking AI Trends to watch in 2018 – Part 2 — from datahub.packtpub.com by Sugandha Lahoti

Excerpt:

Artificial Intelligence is the talk of the town. It has evolved past merely being a buzzword in 2016, to be used in a more practical manner in 2017. As 2018 rolls out, we will gradually notice AI transitioning into a necessity. We have prepared a detailed report, on what we can expect from AI in the upcoming year. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride through the future. (Don’t forget to wear your VR headgear! )

Here are 18 things that will happen in 2018 that are either AI driven or driving AI:

Artificial General Intelligence may gain major traction in research.
We will turn to AI enabled solution to solve mission-critical problems.
Machine Learning adoption in business will see rapid growth.
Safety, ethics, and transparency will become an integral part of AI application design conversations.
Mainstream adoption of AI on mobile devices
Major research on data efficient learning methods
AI personal assistants will continue to get smarter
Race to conquer the AI optimized hardware market will heat up further
We will see closer AI integration into our everyday lives.
The cryptocurrency hype will normalize and pave way for AI-powered Blockchain applications.
Advancements in AI and Quantum Computing will share a symbiotic relationship18 striking AI Trends to watch in 2018 – Part 1
Deep learning will continue to play a significant role in AI development progress.
AI will be on both sides of the cybersecurity challenge.
Augmented reality content will be brought to smartphones.
Reinforcement learning will be applied to a large number of real-world situations.
Robotics development will be powered by Deep Reinforcement learning and Meta-learning
Rise in immersive media experiences enabled by AI.
A large number of organizations will use Digital Twin.

Inside AI — from inside.com
The year 2017 has been full of interesting news about Artificial Intelligence, so to close out the year, we’re doing two special retrospective issues covering the highlights.

Excerpt:

A Reality Check For IBM’s A.I. Ambitions. MIT Tech Review.
This is a must read piece about the failures, and continued promise, of Watson. Some of the press about Watson has made IBM appear behind some of the main tech leaders, but, keep in mind that Google, Amazon, Facebook, and others don’t do the kinds of customer facing projects IBM is doing with Watson. When you look at how the tech giants are positioned, I think IBM has been vastly underestimated, given that they have the one thing few others do – large scale enterprise A.I. projects. Whether it all works today, or not, doesn’t matter. The experience and expertise they are building is a competitive advantage in a market that is very young where no other companies are doing these types of projects that will soon enough be mainstream.

The Business of Artificial Intelligence. Harvard Business Review.
This cover story for the latest edition of HBR explains why artificial intelligence is the most powerful general purpose technology to come around in a long time. It also looks into some of the key ways to think about applying A.I. at work, and how to expect the next phase of this technology to play out.

The Robot Revolution Is Coming. Just Be Patient. Bloomberg.
We keep hearing that robots and A.I. are about to make us super productive. But when? Sooner than we think, according to this.

An excerpt from A2Apple.com:

Alexa Wants You to Talk to Your Ads — from wired.com by Ricki Harris

Excerpt:

There are few electronic devices with which you cannot order a Domino’s pizza. When the craving hits, you can place an order via Twitter, Slack, Facebook Messenger, SMS, your tablet, your smartwatch, your smart TV, and even your app-enabled Ford. This year, the pizza monger added another ordering tool: If your home is one of the 20 million with a voice assistant, you can place a regular order through Alexa or Google Home. Just ask for a large extra-cheese within earshot, and voila—your pizza is in the works.

Amazon’s Alexa offers more than 25,000 skills—the set of actions that serve as applications for voice technology. Yet Domino’s is one of a relatively small number of brands that has seized the opportunity to enter your home by creating a skill of its own. Now that Amazon Echoes and Google Homes are in kitchens and living rooms across the country, they open a window into user behavior that marketers previously only dreamt of. But brands’ efforts to engage consumers directly via voice have been scattershot. The list of those that have tried is sparse: some banks; a couple of fast food chains; a few beauty companies; retailers here and there. Building a marketing plan for Alexa has been a risky venture. That’s because, when it comes to our virtual assistants, no one knows what the *&^& is going on.

But if 2017 was the year that Alexa hit the mainstream, 2018 will be the year that advertisers begin to take her seriously by investing time and money in figuring out how to make use of her.

8 emerging AI jobs for IT pros — from enterprisersproject.com by Kevin Casey
What IT jobs will be hot in the age of AI? Take a sneak peek at roles likely to be in demand

Excerpt:

If you’re watching the impact of artificial intelligence on the IT organization, your interest probably starts with your own job. Can robots do what you do? But more importantly, you want to skate where the puck is headed. What emerging IT roles will AI create? We talked to AI and IT career experts to get a look at some emerging roles that will be valuable in the age of AI.

Getting Intelligent About Artificial Intelligence: 6 Ways Executives Can Start — from forbes.comby Davia Temin

Excerpt:

This past June, Fortune Magazine asked all the CEOs of the Fortune 500 what they believed the biggest challenge facing their companies was. Their biggest concern for 2017: “The rapid pace of technological change” said 73% of those polled, up from 64% in 2016. Cyber security came in only a far second, at 61%, even after all the mega hacks of the past year.

So, what does “technological change” entail? For almost all Fortune 500 CEOs, it means, in part, artificial intelligence. And, as we wrote in our piece yesterday on Forbes.com, “Forget The Hype: What Every Business Leader Needs To Know About Artificial Intelligence Now,” AI is on the lips of almost every global CEO and Board of Directors.

But apart from the Big 8 technology companies – Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba – business leaders, especially of earlier generations, may feel they don’t know enough about AI to make informed decisions.

Artificial intelligence is helping astronomers discover new planets — from wired.co.uk
AI could help us discover planet nine, dark matter and more gravitational waves

Excerpt:

For the first time, artificial intelligence has been used to discover two new exoplanets. One of the discoveries, made by Nasa’s Kepler mission, brings the Kepler-90 solar system to a total of 8 planets – the first solar system found with the same number as our own.

“Utilize virtual showrooms | See stores in your living room.” DC: If this is how retail could go, what might be the ramifications for learning-related environments & for learners’ expectations?

On 12/21/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, expectations, experimentation, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, informal learning, innovation, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, platforms, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, trends, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Cisco:
“Utilize virtual showrooms | See stores in your living room.”

DC:
If this is how retail could go, what might be the ramifications for learning-related environments & for learners’ expectations?

See Cisco’s whitepaper and the vision that I’m tracking along these lines.

From DSC:
Looking at the trends below, again I wonder…how might learners’ expectations be impacted by these developments on the landscapes?

Also see:

Some predictions for 2018: Learning-wise & tech-wise

On 12/20/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, Amazon, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, Blockchain, bots, business, career development, change, CMS/LMS, collaboration, communications, corporate / business world, data related items, education technology, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, Google, health, higher education, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, online learning, pace of change, robotics, social media, society, technology (general), trends, United States, universities, vendors, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

eLearning: Predictions for 2018 — from news.elearninginside.com by Cait Etherington

Excerpts:

The educational technology sector grew substantially in 2017 and all signs point to even greater growth in 2018. Over the past year, the sector was buoyed by several key factors, including a growing recognition that as big data restructures work at an unprecedented pace, there is an urgent need to rethink how education is delivered. In fact, there is now growing evidence that colleges and universities, especially if they continue to operate as they have in the past, will simply not be able to produce the workers needed to fill tomorrow’s jobs. Ed tech, with its capacity to make education more affordable, flexible, and relevant, is increasingly being embraced as the answer to the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s growing talent pipeline challenges.

…

K-12 virtual schools will become a preferred choice
Voice-activation will transform the Learning Management System (LMS) sector
Data will drive learning
Higher ed will increase online course and program offerings

12 tech trends that will define 2018 — from businessinsider.com by Chris Weller

Excerpts:

No one can predict how the future will shake out, but we can make some educated guesses.

Global design and strategy firm frog has shared with Business Insider its forecasts for the technologies that will define the upcoming year. Last year, the firm correctly predicted that buildings would harness the power of nature and that businesses would continue using artificially-intelligent bots to run efficiently.

Get ready to step into the future.

Artificial intelligence will inspire how products are designed
Other companies will join Google in the ‘Algorithm Hall of Fame’
Virtual and augmented reality will become communal experiences
Democracy will cozy up to the blockchain
Augmented reality will invite questions about intellectual property
Consumer tech will feel even friendlier
Tech will become inclusive for all
Anonymous data will make life smarter but still private
Ultra-tiny robots will replace medicine for certain patients
The way we get around will fundamentally transform
Businesses will use data and machine learning to cater to customers
Social media will take on more corporate responsibility

Education must transform to make people ready for AI — from ft.com by Jo Owen
Schools will need to teach know-how, not know-what

Excerpts:

A recent study by Oxford university estimates that nearly half of all jobs in the US are at risk from automation and computers in the next 20 years. While advancing technologies have been endangering jobs since the start of the Industrial Revolution, this time it is not just manual posts: artificial intelligence — the so-called fourth industrial revolution — promises to change the shape of professional work as well.

For instance, lawtech is already proving adept at sorting and analysing legal documents far faster and more cheaply than junior lawyers can. Similarly, routine tasks in accounting are succumbing to AI at the expense of more junior staff.

The next generation will need a new set of skills to survive, let alone thrive, in an AI world. Literacy, numeracy, science and languages are all important, but they share one thing in common: computers are going to be far better than humans at processing these forms of explicit knowledge. The risk is that the education system will be churning out humans who are no more than second-rate computers, so if the focus of education continues to be on transferring explicit knowledge across the generations, we will be in trouble.

…

The AI challenge is not just about educating more AI and computer experts, although that is important. It is also about building skills that AI cannot emulate. These are essential human skills such as teamwork, leadership, listening, staying positive, dealing with people and managing crises and conflict.

Evaluation and league tables are a barrier to success — you get what you measure in education as much as you do in business.

From DSC:
“Teamwork, leadership, listening, staying positive, dealing with people and managing crises and conflict.” Do our standardized tests measure these types of things? No, I agree with you. They don’t. They measure “know-what skills.”

“We are doubling down on the idea that if we get children to know things and regurgitate them in a certain way in an exam, then we are setting them up for success in life.”

Tom Ravenscroft

Also see:

Capitalism that Works for Everyone — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Excerpts:

Inequality Gets Worse From Here
Our new report on the future of work and learning illustrated how the combination of artificial intelligence, big data and enabling technologies like robotics are changing the employment landscape fast.

…

Our new paper on the future of work and learning suggests a couple solutions…

“Program Easily Converts Molecules to 3D Models for 3D Printing, VR & AR” + 7 other items re: AR, VR, & MR

On 12/13/2017, in 3D, Augmented Reality (AR), biology, chemistry, collaboration, education technology, human-computer interaction (HCI), Microsoft, tools, training / L&D, trends, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Program Easily Converts Molecules to 3D Models for 3D Printing, Virtual and Augmented Reality — from 3dprint.com

Excerpt:

At North Carolina State University, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Denis Fourches uses technology to research the effectiveness of new drugs. He uses computer programs to model interactions between chemical compounds and biological targets to predict the effectiveness of the compound, narrowing the field of drug candidates for testing. Lately, he has been using a new program that allows the user to create 3D models of molecules for 3D printing, plus augmented and virtual reality applications.

RealityConvert converts molecular objects like proteins and drugs into high-quality 3D models. The models are generated in standard file formats that are compatible with most augmented and virtual reality programs, as well as 3D printers. The program is specifically designed for creating models of chemicals and small proteins.

Mozilla just launched an augmented reality app — from thenextweb.com by Matthew Hughes

Excerpt:

Mozilla has launched its first ever augmented reality app for iOS. The company, best known for its Firefox browser, wants to create an avenue for developers to build augmented reality experiences using open web technologies, WebXR, and Apple’s ARKit framework.

This latest effort from Mozilla is called WebXR Viewer. It contains several sample AR programs, demonstrating its technology in the real world. One is a teapot, suspended in the air. Another contains holographic silhouettes, which you can place in your immediate vicinity. Should you be so inclined, you can also use it to view your own WebXR creations.

Airbnb is replacing the guest book with augmented reality — from qz.com by Mike Murphy

Excerpt:

Airbnb announced today (Dec.11) that it’s experimenting with augmented- and virtual-reality technologies to enhance customers’ travel experiences.

The company showed off some simple prototype ideas in a blog post, detailing how VR could be used to explore apartments that customers may want to rent, from the comfort of their own homes. Hosts could scan apartments or houses to create 360-degree images that potential customers could view on smartphones or VR headsets.

It also envisioned an augmented-reality system where hosts could leave notes and instructions to their guests as they move through their apartment, especially if their house’s setup is unusual. AR signposts in the Airbnb app could help guide guests through anything confusing more efficiently than the instructions hosts often leave for their guests.

This HoloLens App Wants to Kickstart Collaborative Mixed Reality — from vrscout.com by Alice Bonasio

Excerpt:

Now Object Theory has just released a new collaborative computing application for the HoloLens called Prism, which takes many of the functionalities they’ve been developing for those clients over the past couple of years, and offers them to users in a free Windows Store application.

Virtual and Augmented Reality to Nearly Double Each Year Through 2021 — from campustechnology.com by Joshua Bolkan

Excerpt:

Spending on augmented and virtual reality will nearly double in 2018, according to a new forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC), growing from $9.1 billion in 2017 to $17.8 billion next year. The market research company predicts that aggressive growth will continue throughout its forecast period, achieving an average 98.8 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2021.

A look at the new BMW i3s in augmented reality with Apple’s ARKit — from electrek.co by Fred Lambert

Scope AR brings remote video tech support calls to HoloLens — from by Dean Takahashi

Excerpt:

Scope AR has launched Remote AR, an augmented reality video support solution for Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headsets.

The San Francisco company is launching its enterprise-class AR solution to enable cross-platform live support video calls.

Remote AR for Microsoft HoloLens brings AR support for field technicians, enabling them to perform tasks with better speed and accuracy. It does so by allowing an expert to get on a video call with a technician and then mark the spot on the screen where the technician has to do something, like turn a screwdriver. The technician is able to see where the expert is pointing by looking at the AR overlay on the video scene.

Virtual Reality: The Next Generation Of Education, Learning and Training — from forbes.com by Kris Kolo

Excerpt:

Ultimately, VR in education will revolutionize not only how people learn but how they interact with real-world applications of what they have been taught. Imagine medical students performing an operation or geography students really seeing where and what Kathmandu is. The world just opens up to a rich abundance of possibilities.

Excerpt:

Artificial Intelligence has leapt to the forefront of global discourse, garnering increased attention from practitioners, industry leaders, policymakers, and the general public. The diversity of opinions and debates gathered from news articles this year illustrates just how broadly AI is being investigated, studied, and applied. However, the field of AI is still evolving rapidly and even experts have a hard time understanding and tracking progress across the field.

Without the relevant data for reasoning about the state of AI technology, we are essentially “flying blind” in our conversations and decision-making related to AI.

Created and launched as a project of the One Hundred Year Study on AI at Stanford University (AI100), the AI Index is an open, not-for-profit project to track activity and progress in AI. It aims to facilitate an informed conversation about AI that is grounded in data. This is the inaugural annual report of the AI Index, and in this report we look at activity and progress in Artificial Intelligence through a range of perspectives. We aggregate data that exists freely on the web, contribute original data, and extract new metrics from combinations of data series.

All of the data used to generate this report will be openly available on the AI Index website at aiindex.org. Providing data, however, is just the beginning. To become truly useful, the AI Index needs support from a larger community. Ultimately, this report is a call for participation. You have the ability to provide data, analyze collected data, and make a wish list of what data you think needs to be tracked. Whether you have answers or questions to provide, we hope this report inspires you to reach out to the AI Index and become part of the effort to ground the conversation about AI.

From DSC:
In this video, I look at how the pace of change has changed and I also provide some examples that back up this assertion. I end with a series of relevant questions, especially for those of us working within higher education.

What are we doing to get ready for the massive change that’s heading our way?

Reflections on “How AI-powered enterprise chatbot platforms are transforming the future of work” [Shaw]

On 12/05/2017, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, bots, business, career development, change, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, platforms, programming, tools, training / L&D, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How AI-powered enterprise chatbot platforms are transforming the future of work — from chatbotsmagazine.com by Gina Shaw

Excerpts:

WHAT IS AN ENTERPRISE CHATBOT PLATFORM?
To sum it up in a few words, a chatbot platform is a toolset which is used to build and deploy chatbots. Every organization has its own set of unique challenges that can be overcome by convenient automation provided by chatbots. After establishing a clear-cut chatbot strategy, enterprises can use a bot builder platform to build, train and manage customized bots. Before the advent of chatbot platforms, building a bot was a strenuous task and required sophisticated toolsets and advanced coding knowledge. However with time, several bot building platforms flooded the chatbot market and led to the creation of safe AI bots which need minimum deployment time and almost zero coding knowledge. Enterprise chatbot platforms also allow IT departments to have complete control and access to monitoring bots.

From DSC:
It is with some hesitation that I post this article. Why? Because:

I started out my career in a customer service related position at Baxter Healthcare, and it was one of the most important jobs that I’ve had because it taught me the value of a customer. Ever since then, I have treated everyone as my customer — whether they be internal or external to the organization that I was working for.
Then, there’s the idea of calling a Voice Response Unit (VRU) — which sometimes works well and sometimes I can’t stand it. There are times when I/we simply want to speak to a fellow human being.

So it is with some hesitation that I post this article. But I do so because it is yet another example of:

The increased usage of algorithms, software, bots, personal assistants, AI, etc. to obtain answers and information
The changing skillset employees will need and job seekers may want to develop (if such things are interesting to them)
The massive changes heading our way

As Pedagogy Changes, Learning Spaces Are Transforming Too — from thejournal.com by Dennis Pierce
The American architect Louis Sullivan coined the phrase “form follows function,” and this is true of classrooms as well.

Excerpt:

In Johnson’s classroom at H.D. Isenberg Elementary School in Salisbury, NC, students can choose from a variety of seating options. There are tables for students to collaborate in groups of four, as well as bar-style seating on taller stools and even a few couches where they can sit comfortably while they work or read independently. The school provided the tables, and Johnson supplied the rest of the furniture himself.

To teach his students about citizenship, Johnson operates his classroom like a community. “I call it the Johnsonville Learning Community,” he said.

His fourth- and fifth-grade students can earn currency by coming to class each day and successfully completing assignments, and they also hold various classroom jobs. “The students who keep the classroom clean are part of our janitorial service,” he explained. “The student who brings things to the office is our delivery service.” Students use part of their currency to pay “rent” each month, and that entitles them to sit where they want.

Johnson’s school system is a 1-to-1 district, and every student is given an iPad to take home. Much of his instruction is project-based, with students working in small groups on tasks using curriculum from sources such as Defined STEM. In one recent project, his students used 3D modeling software on their iPads to create a multi-touch book about the human body systems.

Johnson’s classroom is an example of how changes in both the design of the learning space and the teaching that takes place there have combined to making learning much more engaging and effective for students.

A growing body of research suggests that the design of a learning space can have a significant effect on student success. For instance, a study by researchers at the University of Salford in England found that classroom design can have a 25 percent impact, either positive or negative, on student achievement over the course of an academic year — with factors such as color, complexity, flexibility, lighting and student choice having the most influence.

From DSC:
I saw the word CHOICE (or some variant of it) mentioned several times in this article. That’s a helpful step in developing the kind of mindset that our students will need in the future. Making choices, thinking on their feet, being able to adapt and pivot, NOT looking to be spoon fed by anyone — because that’s likely not going to happen once they graduate.

When redesigning learning spaces, let the type of learning experiences you want to foster be your guide, Jakes advised. “Focus on experiences, not things,” he said. “This is not about furniture; it’s about the learning. What experiences do I want to create for students? Then, what design would support that?”

David Jakes

McKinsey: automation may wipe out 1/3 of America’s workforce by 2030 — from axios.com by Steve LeVine

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In a new study that is optimistic about automation yet stark in its appraisal of the challenge ahead, McKinsey says massive government intervention will be required to hold societies together against the ravages of labor disruption over the next 13 years. Up to 800 million people—including a third of the work force in the U.S. and Germany—will be made jobless by 2030, the study says.

The bottom line: The economy of most countries will eventually replace the lost jobs, the study says, but many of the unemployed will need considerable help to shift to new work, and salaries could continue to flatline. “It’s a Marshall Plan size of task,” Michael Chui, lead author of the McKinsey report, tells Axios.

In the eight-month study, the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm’s think tank, found that almost half of those thrown out of work—375 million people, comprising 14% of the global work force—will have to find entirely new occupations, since their old one will either no longer exist or need far fewer workers. Chinese will have the highest such absolute numbers—100 million people changing occupations, or 12% of the country’s 2030 work force.

I asked Chui what surprised him the most of the findings. “The degree of transition that needs to happen over time is a real eye opener,” he said.

The transition compares to the U.S. shift from a largely agricultural to an industrial-services economy in the early 1900s forward. But this time, it’s not young people leaving farms, but mid-career workers who need new skills.

From DSC:
Higher education — and likely (strictly) vocational training outside of higher ed — is simply not ready for this! MAJOR reinvention will be necessary, and as soon as 2018 according to Forrester Research.

One of the key values that institutions of traditional higher education can bring to the table is to help people through this gut wrenching transition — identifying which jobs are going to last for the next 5-10+ years and which ones won’t, and then be about the work of preparing the necessary programs quickly enough to meet the demands of the new economy.

Students/entrepreneurs out there, they say you should look around to see where the needs are and then develop products and/or services to meet those needs. Well, here you go!

As a member of the International Education Committee, at edX we are extremely aware of the changing nature of work and jobs. It is predicted that 50 percent of current jobs will disappear by 2030.

Anant Agarwal, CEO and Founder of edX, and Professor of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
(source)

Addendum:

Automation threatens 800 million jobs, but technology could still save us, says report — from theverge.com by James Vincent
New analysis says governments need to act now to help a labor force in flux

Excerpt:

A new report predicts that by 2030, as many as 800 million jobs could be lost worldwide to automation. The study, compiled by the McKinsey Global Institute, says that advances in AI and robotics will have a drastic effect on everyday working lives, comparable to the shift away from agricultural societies during the Industrial Revolution. In the US alone, between 39 and 73 million jobs stand to be automated — making up around a third of the total workforce.

If a computer can do one-third of your job, what happens next? Do you get trained to take on new tasks, or does your boss fire you, or some of your colleagues? What if you just get a pay cut instead? Do you have the money to retrain, or will you be forced to take the hit in living standards?

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