user experience (UX)

“Personalized learning seeks to accelerate student learning by tailoring the instructional environment — what, when, how, and where students learn — to address the individual needs, skills, and interests of each student. Students can take ownership of their own learning, while also developing deep, personal connections with each other, their teachers, and other adults.”

WE’VE ALWAYS HAD FOUR STRONG BELIEFS:

Students’ ownership of their learning is critical to long-term success.
When it comes to learning, students should get more of what they need exactly when they need it.
Ensuring equity requires getting each student what he or she needs to succeed.
It is possible to redesign schools to work much better for students and teachers.

We do not believe that there is yet definitive proof that personalized learning works better than other models. Ultimately, we hope that personalized learning will improve life outcomes for students, with clear evidence to support its efficacy. In the interim, we look to traditional academic measures (e.g. state assessments or assessments like NWEA MAP), to provide early signs of the efficacy of personalized learning.

Despite the lack of conclusive proof, there are two important data sets that we find compelling. First, RAND conducted a study of 11,000 students and 62 personalized learning schools nationally and found that “students made significant gains in mathematics and reading overall, and in elementary and middle schools [1].” More recently, RAND published the third of its studies of personalized learning. It again found statistically significant gains in math, however, the effect size had decreased notably [2].

Stroll along the canals of Venice, stand at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, or soar through the sky faster than a speeding bullet; explore Street View imagery from 85 countries! Amazing!!!

On 09/16/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Asia, augmented reality, Australia, Canada, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Europe, Geography / Geology, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, India, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Lifelong learning, Microlearning, more choice more control, online media, participation, platforms, play, society, sociology, teaching & learning, UK, United States, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual field trips, virtual reality / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Google AR and VR: Get a closer look with Street View in Google Earth VR

Excerpt:

With Google Earth VR, you can go anywhere in virtual reality. Whether you want to stroll along the canals of Venice, stand at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro or soar through the sky faster than a speeding bullet, there’s no shortage of things to do or ways to explore. We love this sense of possibility, so we’re bringing Street View to Earth VR to make it easier for you to see and experience the world.

This update lets you explore Street View imagery from 85 countries right within Earth VR. Just fly down closer to street level, check your controller to see if Street View is available and enter an immersive 360° photo. You’ll find photos from the Street View team and those shared by people all around the world.

Great resources from Inside AR & VR’s “Back to School” edition

On 09/15/2017, in attention, augmented reality, communications, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Google, health, learning ecosystem, student-related, tools, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual reality / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Inside VR & AR

Inside VR & AR (Sep 15th, 2017)

It’s that time of year again, and we’re bringing you a special “Back to School” edition of Inside VR & AR. Virtual and Augmented Reality technology is more than just fun and games; there are a lot of apps and tools that are meant to educate and help people learn in an immersive environment. Today’s issue highlights some of the newest educational apps.

Math Alive Kit

Discovery VR for Cardboard

Anatomyou

VirtualSpeech – Public Speaking VR

Mel Chemistry VR

MondlyVR

The Body VR

MediVis

MyLab

Universe Sandbox ²VR

Addendums on 9/18/17:

Augmented Reality Comes to the Classroom — from invisible.toys

From DSC:
This posting includes “32 Augmented Reality Apps for the Classroom”

MasterpieceVR Lets Four People Paint and Sculpt Together in VR — from vrscout.com by Jesse Damiani

Best question I’ve heard in a while: “K-12 & higher education are considered separate systems. What if they converged?” [Young]

On 09/15/2017, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, adult learning, career development, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, design, expectations, faculty, heutagogy, higher education, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Lifelong learning, Microlearning, pedagogy, social learning / networks, social media, society, streams of content, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

K-12 and higher education are considered separate systems. What if they converged? — from edsurge.com by Jeff Young

Excerpt:

Education in America is a tale of two systems. There’s K-12 education policy and practice, but a separate set of rules—and a separate culture—for higher education. A new book argues that it doesn’t have to be that way.

In “The Convergence of K-12 and Higher Education: Policies and Programs in a Changing Era,” two education professors point out potential benefits of taking a more holistic view to American education (in a volume that collects essays from other academics). They acknowledge that there are potential pitfalls, noting that even well-intentioned systems can have negative consequences. But they argue that “now more than ever, K-12 and higher education need to converge on a shared mission and partner to advance the individual interests of American students and the collective interests of the nation.”

EdSurge recently talked with one of the book’s co-editors, Christopher Loss, associate professor of public policy and higher education at Vanderbilt University. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Which is to say that we have tended not to think of the sector as most people actually experience it—which is one continuous ladder, one that often is missing rungs, and is sometimes difficult to climb, depending on a whole host of different factors. So, I think that the research agenda proposed by Pat and I and our collaborators is one that actually gets much closer to the experience that most people actually are having with the educational sector.

From DSC:
This is a great 50,000-foot level question and one that reminds me of a graphic I created a couple of years ago that speaks of the continuum that we need to more holistically address — especially as the topic of lifelong learning is increasingly critical to members of our workforce today.

Because in actuality, the lines between high school and college continue to blur. Many students are taking AP courses and/or are dually-enrolled at colleges/universities already. Some high school graduates already have enough credits to make serious headway in obtaining a college degree.

The other thing that I see over and over again is that K-12 is out innovating higher education and is better at communicating with other educators than most of higher education is. As an example, go look at some of the K-12 bloggers and educators out there on Twitter. They have tens of thousands of followers — and many of those followers being other K-12 educators. They are sharing content, best practices, questions, issues/solutions, new pedagogies, new technologies, live communication/training sessions, etc. with each other. Some examples include:

Eric Sheninger 127 K followers
Alice Keeler 110 K followers
Kyle Pace 63.6 K followers
Monica Burns 44.5 K
Lisa Nielsen 32.4 K followers

The vast majority of the top bloggers within higher ed — and those who regularly are out on social media within higher education — are not even close to those kinds of numbers.

What that tells me is that while many educators within K-12 are out on social media sharing knowledge with each other via these relatively new means, the vast majority of administrators/faculty members/staff working within higher education are not doing that. That is, they are not regularly contributing streams of content to Twitter.

But that said, there are few people who are trying to “cross over the lines” of the two systems and converse with folks from both higher ed and K-12. We need more of these folks who are attempting to pulse-check the other systems out there in order to create a more holistic, effective continuum.

I wonder about the corporate world here as well. Are folks from the training departments and from the learning & development groups pulse-checking the ways that today’s students are being educated within higher education? Within K-12? Do they have a good sense of what the changing expectations of their new employees look like (in terms of how they prefer to learn)?

We can do better. That’s why I appreciated the question raised within Jeff’s article.

Is is time to back up a major step and practice design thinking on the entire continuum of lifelong learning?

Daniel Christian

This week’s announcements/coverage from Apple’s 9/12/17 Special Event.

On 09/14/2017, in Apple, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, augmented reality, computer science, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, iPhone, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, programming, Smart/Connected TV, Technologies for your home, television, tools, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

Everything Apple Announced — from wired.comby Arielle Pardes

Excerpt:

To much fanfare, Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the next crop of iPhones [on 9/12/17] at the new Steve Jobs Theater on Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino. With the introduction of three new phones, Cook made clear that Apple’s premiere product is very much still evolving. The iPhone X, he said, represents “the future of smartphones”: a platform for augmented reality, a tool for powerful computing, screen for everything. But it’s not all about the iPhones. The event also brought with it a brand new Apple Watch, upgrades to Apple TV, and a host of other features coming to the Apple ecosystem this fall. Missed the big show? Check out our archived live coverage of Apple’s big bash, and read all the highlights below.

iPhone Event 2017 — from techcrunch.com

From DSC:
A nice listing of articles that cover all of the announcements.

Apple Bets on Augmented Reality to Sell Its Most Expensive Phone — from bloomberg.com by Alex Webb and Mark Gurman

Excerpt:

Apple Inc. packed its $1,000 iPhone with augmented reality features, betting the nascent technology will persuade consumers to pay premium prices for its products even as cheaper alternatives abound.

The iPhone X, Apple’s most expensive phone ever, was one of three new models Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook showed off during an event at the company’s new $5 billion headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Tuesday. It also rolled out an updated Apple Watch with a cellular connection and an Apple TV set-top box that supports higher-definition video.
…

Augmented Reality
Apple executives spent much of Tuesday’s event describing how AR is at the core of the new flagship iPhone X. Its new screen, 3-D sensors, and dual cameras are designed for AR video games and other more-practical uses such as measuring digital objects in real world spaces. Months before the launch, Apple released a tool called ARKit that made it easier for developers to add AR capabilities to their apps.

These technologies have never been available in consumer devices and “solidify the platform on which Apple will retain and grow its user base for the next decade,” Gene Munster of Loup Ventures wrote in a note following Apple’s event.

The company is also working on smart glasses that may be AR-enabled, people familiar with the plan told Bloomberg earlier this year.

Meet the iPhone X, Apple’s New High-End Handset — from wired.com by David Pierce

Excerpt:

First of all, the X looks like no other phone. It doesn’t even look like an iPhone. On the front, it’s screen head to foot, save for a small trapezoidal notch taken out of the top where Apple put selfie cameras and sensors. Otherwise, the bezel around the edge of the phone has been whittled to near-nonexistence and the home button disappeared—all screen and nothing else. The case is made of glass and stainless steel, like the much-loved iPhone 4. The notched screen might take some getting used to, but the phone’s a stunner. It goes on sale starting at $999 on October 27, and it ships November 3.
…
If you can’t get your hands on an iPhone X in the near future, Apple still has two new models for you. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus both look like the iPhone 7—with home buttons!—but offer a few big upgrades to match the iPhone X. Both new models support wireless charging, run the latest A11 Bionic processor, and have 2 gigs of RAM. They also have glass backs, which gives them a glossy new look. They don’t have OLED screens, but they’re getting the same TrueTone tech as the X, and they can shoot video in 4K.

Apple Debuts the Series 3 Apple Watch, Now With Cellular — from wired.com by David Pierce

Ikea and Apple team up on augmented reality home design app — from curbed.com by Asad Syrkett
The ‘Ikea Place’ app lets shoppers virtually test drive furniture

The New Apple iPhone 8 Is Built for Photography and Augmented Reality — from time.com by Alex Fitzpatrick

Excerpt:

Apple says the new iPhones are also optimized for augmented reality, or AR, which is software that makes it appear that digital images exist in the user’s real-world environment. Apple SVP Phil Schiller demonstrated several apps making use of AR technology, from a baseball app that shows users player statistics when pointing their phone at the field to a stargazing app that displays the location of constellations and other celestial objects in the night sky. Gaming will be a major use case for AR as well.

Apple’s new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus will have wireless charging as well. Users will be able to charge the device by laying it down on a specially-designed power mat on their desk, bedside table or inside their car, similar to how the Apple Watch charges. (Competing Android devices have long had a similar feature.) Apple is using the Qi wireless charging standard for the iPhones.

Why you shouldn’t unlock your phone with your face — from medium.com by Quincy Larson

Excerpt:

Today Apple announced its new FaceID technology. It’s a new way to unlock your phone through facial recognition. All you have to do is look at your phone and it will recognize you and unlock itself. At time of writing, nobody outside of Apple has tested the security of FaceID. So this article is about the security of facial recognition, and other forms of biometric identification in general.

Historically, biometric identification has been insecure. Cameras can be tricked. Voices can be recorded. Fingerprints can be lifted. And in many countries?—?including the US?—?the police can legally force you to use your fingerprint to unlock your phone. So they can most certainly point your phone at your face and unlock it against your will. If you value the security of your data?—?your email, social media accounts, family photos, the history of every place you’ve ever been with your phone?—?then I recommend against using biometric identification.

Instead, use a passcode to unlock your phone.

The iPhone lineup just got really compleX — from techcrunch.com by Josh Constine

Apple’s ‘Neural Engine’ Infuses the iPhone With AI Smarts — from wired.com by Tom Simonite

Excerpt:

When Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the iPhone X Tuesday he claimed it would “set the path for technology for the next decade.” Some new features are superficial: a near-borderless OLED screen and the elimination of the traditional home button. Deep inside the phone, however, is an innovation likely to become standard in future smartphones, and crucial to the long-term dreams of Apple and its competitors.

That feature is the “neural engine,” part of the new A11 processor that Apple developed to power the iPhone X. The engine has circuits tuned to accelerate certain kinds of artificial-intelligence software, called artificial neural networks, that are good at processing images and speech.

Apple said the neural engine would power the algorithms that recognize your face to unlock the phone and transfer your facial expressions onto animated emoji. It also said the new silicon could enable unspecified “other features.”

Chip experts say the neural engine could become central to the future of the iPhone as Apple moves more deeply into areas such as augmented reality and image recognition, which rely on machine-learning algorithms. They predict that Google, Samsung, and other leading mobile-tech companies will soon create neural engines of their own. Earlier this month, China’s Huawei announced a new mobile chip with a dedicated “neural processing unit” to accelerate machine learning.

The End of Typing: The Next Billion Mobile Users Will Rely on Video and Voice — from wsj.com by Eric Bellman
Tech companies are rethinking products for the developing world, creating new winners and losers

Excerpt:

The internet’s global expansion is entering a new phase, and it looks decidedly unlike the last one.

Instead of typing searches and emails, a wave of newcomers—“the next billion,” the tech industry calls them—is avoiding text, using voice activation and communicating with images.

From DSC:
The above article reminds me that our future learning platforms will be largely driven by our voices. That’s why I put it into my vision of a next generation learning platform.

Future Forward: The Next Twenty Years of Higher Education [Blackboard, w/ a variety of contributors]

On 09/08/2017, in 21st century, active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, algorithms, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, augmented reality, Blackboard, change, changing business models, CMS/LMS, cognitive computing, colleges, community colleges, Content aggregration, content development, content repositories, cost of getting a degree, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, face-to-face, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, leadership, learner profiles, learning, Learning Agents, learning ecosystem, learning from the living [class] room, learning hubs, learning preferences, learning theories, Lifelong learning, Microlearning, more choice more control, new business models, online learning, pace of change, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, platforms, student-related, teaching & learning, technology (general), tools, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual reality / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Future Forward: The Next Twenty Years of Higher Education — from Blackboard with a variety of contributors

Excerpts:

As you read their reflections you’ll find several themes emerge over and over:

Our current system is unsustainable and ill-suited for a globally connected world that is constantly changing.
Colleges and universities will have to change their current business model to continue to thrive, boost revenue and drive enrollment.
The “sage on the stage” and the “doc in the box” aren’t sustainable; new technologies will allow faculty to shift their focus on the application of learning rather than the acquisition of knowledge.
Data and the ability to transform that data into action will be the new lifeblood of the institution.
Finally, the heart and soul of any institution are its people. Adopting new technologies is only a small piece of the puzzle; institutions must also work with faculty and staff to change institutional culture.

Some quotes are listed below.

“What’s more, next-generation digital learning environments must bridge the divide between the faculty-directed instructivist model our colleges and universities have always favored and the learner-centric constructivist paradigm their students have come to expect and the economy now demands.”

…

It will be at least 10 years before systems such as this become the standard rather than the exception. Yet to achieve this timeline, we will have to begin fostering a very different campus culture that embraces technology for its experiential value rather than its transactional expediency, while viewing education as a lifelong pursuit rather than a degree-driven activity.

Susan Aldridge

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing higher education right now?

A: I think it is a difficult time for decisionmakers to know how to move boldly forward. It’s almost funny, nobody’s doing five-year strategic plans anymore. We used to do ten-year plans, but now it’s “What’s our guiding set of principles and then let’s sort of generally go towards that.” I think it’s really hard to move an entire institution, to know how to keep it sustainable and serving your core student population. Trying to figure out how to keep moving forward is not as simple as it used to be when you hired faculty and they showed up in the classroom. It’s time for a whole new leadership model. I’m not sure what that is, but we have to start reimagining our organizations and our institutions and even our leadership.

Marie Cini

One of the things that is frustrating to me is the argument that online learning is just another modality. Online learning is much more than that. It’s arguably the most transformative development since the G.I. Bill and, before that, the establishment of land-grant universities.
…
I don’t think we should underestimate the profound impact online education has had and will continue to have on higher education. It’s not just another modality; it’s an entirely new industry.

Robert Hansen

From DSC:
And I would add (to Robert’s quote above) that not since the printing press was invented close to 500 years ago have we seen such an enormously powerful invention as the Internet. To bypass the Internet and the online-based learning opportunities that it can deliver is to move into a risky, potentially dangerous future. If your institution is doing that, your institution’s days could be numbered. As we move into the future — where numerous societies throughout the globe will be full of artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, algorithms, business’ digital transformations, and more — your institutions’ credibility could easily be at stake in a new, increasingly impactful way. Parents and students will want to know that there’s a solid ROI for them. They will want to know that a particular college or university has the foundational/core competencies and skills to prepare the learner for the future that the learner will encounter.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing higher education right now?

A: I think the biggest challenge is the stubborn refusal of institutions to acknowledge that the 20th century university paradigm no longer works, or at least it doesn’t work anymore for the majority of our institutions. I’m not speaking on behalf of our members, but I think it’s fair to say that institutions are still almost entirely faculty-centered and not market-driven. Faculty, like so many university leaders today who come from faculty ranks, are so often ill-equipped to compete in the Wild West that we’re seeing today, and it’s not their fault. They’re trained to be biologists and historians and philosophers and musicians and English professors, and in the past there was very little need to be entrepreneurial. What’s required of university leadership now looks very much like what’s required in the fastpaced world of private industry.

…

If you are tuition dependent and you haven’t figured out how to serve the adult market yet, you’re in trouble.

Robert Hansen

It’s not just enough to put something online for autodidacts who already have the time, energy, and prior skills to be able to learn on their own. You really need to figure out how to embed all the supports that a student will need to be successful, and I don’t know if we’ve cracked that yet.

Amy Laitinen

The other company is Amazon. Their recent purchase of Whole Foods really surprised everybody. Now you have a massive digital retailer that has made billions staying in the online world going backwards into brick-and-mortar. I think if you look at what you can do on Amazon now, who’s to say in three years or five years, you won’t say, “You know what, I want to take this class. I want to purchase it through Amazon,” and it’s done through Amazon with their own LMS? Who’s to say they’re not already working on it?

Justin Louder

We are focused on four at Laureate. Probably in an increasing order of excitement to me are game-based learning (or gamification), adaptive learning, augmented and virtual reality, and cognitive tutoring.

Darrell Luzzo

I would wave my hand and have people lose their fear of change and recognize that you can innovate and do new things and still stay true to the core mission and values. My hope is that we harness our collective energy to help our students succeed and become fully engaged citizens.

Felice Nudelman

Amazon’s Alexa is finally coming to wearable devices for the first time [Newman]

On 09/05/2017, in Amazon, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), tools, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, wearables, by Daniel Christian

Amazon’s Alexa is finally coming to wearable devices for the first time — from yahoo.com by Peter Newman

Excerpt:

Manufacturers have thus far incorporated the voice assistant into speakers, phones, thermostats, and more — but being incorporated into a wearable device is a first for Alexa.

The headphones will let users tap a button to launch the voice assistant, which will connect to the device through the user’s mobile phone and the Bragi app. They will let a wearer engage with the voice assistant while on the go, searching for basic information, shopping for goods on Amazon, or calling for a vehicle from ride-hailing services like Uber, among other possibilities. While all of these capabilities are already possible using a phone, enabling hands-free voice control brings a new level of convenience.

AR and VR in STEM: The New Frontiers in Science — from er.educause.edu by Emory Craig and Maya Georgieva

Excerpt:

Virtual and Augmented Reality are poised to profoundly transform the STEM curriculum. In this article, we offer several inspiring examples and key insights on the future of immersive learning and the sciences. Immersive technologies will revolutionize learning through experiential simulations, modelling and spatial representation of data, and a sense of presence in contextual gamification.

Understanding our place in the universe, building the next Martian Rover, designing new transportation systems, fostering sustainable communities, modeling economic stability — finding the solution for these pressing and interconnected challenges brings us to STEM and STEAM in teaching and learning. The movement behind STEAM advocates incorporating the arts and humanities to the science, technology, engineering and math curriculum.

Also see:

“Learning is leaving the (school) building” — and other items from Will Richardson & Bruce Dixon

On 09/01/2017, in 1:1 / 1:World, 21st century, active learning, attention, change, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, education, education reform, education technology, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, game-changing environment, generational differences, ideas, innovation, internet, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, love of learning, more choice more control, motivation, pace of change, parents, participation, passions, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, real-world assignments, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, story, storytelling, strategy, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technology (general), traditional / tradition, United States, user experience (UX), vision, web-based collaboration, webinars, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I appreciated hearing the perspectives from Bruce Dixon and Will Richardson this morning, as I listed to a webinar that they recently offered. A few key takeaways for me from that webinar — and with a document that they shared — were:

The world has fundamentally changed. (Bruce and Will also mentioned the new pace of change; i.e., that it’s much faster.)
We need to have more urgency about the need to reimagine school, not to try to improve the existing model.
“Because of the advent of the Web and the technologies we use to access it, learning is, in a phrase, leaving the (school) building.”
There is a newfound capacity to take full control of one’s own learning; self-determined learning should be at the center of students’ and teachers’ work; co-constructed curriculum
And today, at a moment when learners of all ages have never had more agency over their own learning, schools must unlearn centuries old mindsets and practices and relearn them in ways that truly will serve every child living in the modern, connected world.
Will and Bruce believe that every educator — and district for that matter — should articulate their own “principles of learning”
Beliefs about how kids learn (powerfully and deeply) need to be articulated and consistently communicated and lived out
Everything we do as educators, administrators, etc. tells a story. What stories are we telling? (For example, what does the signage around your school building say? Is it about compliance? Is is about a love of learning? Wonder? What does the 20′ jumbo tron say about priorities? Etc.)
Bruce and Will covered a “story audit” and how to do one

“Learning is, in a phrase, leaving the (school) building.”

Richardson & Dixon

Also see:

These educators have decades worth of experience. They are pulse-checking their environments. They want to see students thrive both now and into the future. For these reasons, at least for me, their perspectives are highly worth reflecting upon.

Learning Ecosystems

This week’s announcements/coverage from Apple’s 9/12/17 Special Event.

This article reminds me that voice will eventually drive our future learning platforms

Amazon’s Alexa is finally coming to wearable devices for the first time [Newman]

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