user experience (UX)

With thanks to Fred Steube for this resource

Virtual reality facilitates higher ed research and teaches high-risk skills — from edtechmagazine.com by Jacquelyn Bengfort
From neuroscience to ship navigation, virtual environments deliver real-world learning inside the classroom.

Excerpt:

Simulators are an important part of their education. Stepping into one of three full-mission bridge simulators replicates the experience of standing in an ocean liner’s pilothouse and lets students practice their skills in handling a ship — without risk.

“In the simulator, you can push the limits of the environment: increase the amount of current that’s there, go to the limits of the amount of wind that can be handled by the tugs,” says Capt. Victor Schisler, one of Cal Maritime’s simulator instructors.

Oculus Launches Virtual Reality Program in High Schools — from thejournal.com by Sri Ravipati
The new initiative provides students with VR equipment to create short films on social issues.

Excerpt:

Oculus has announced a new pilot program for high school students to use virtual reality as a tool for social change.

As part of the VR for Good initiative, the 360 Filmmaker Challenge will connect nine San Francisco Bay Area high schools with professional filmmakers to create three- to five- minute 360 degree films about their communities. Students will receive a Samsung Gear VR, a Galaxy S6, Ricoh Theta S 360 cameras and access to editing software to make their films, according to Oculus.

How Adobe is connecting virtual reality with the world of product placement: 360-degree video mixes atmosphere and ads — from adweek.com by Marty Swant

Excerpt:

Interested in watching the 2015 hit film The Martian from the surface of the moon? Adobe wants you to take you there.

Adobe isn’t entering the latest next-generation space race to compete with SpaceX, Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic anytime soon. But it is for the first time entering the worlds of virtual reality and augmented reality through new Adobe Primetime products.

[On May 17th] Adobe debuted Virtual Cinema, a feature that will allow Primetime clients to develop experiences for users to enter a virtual environment. According to Adobe, users will be able to view traditional video in a custom environment—a cinema, home theater or branded atmosphere—and watch existing TV and motion picture content in a new way. There’s also potential for product placement within the virtual/augmented reality experience.

From Samsung Gear 360 Unboxing and Video Test — from vrscout.com by Jonathan Nafarrete

Could HoloLens’ augmented reality change how we study the human body? — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
Case Western Reserve University is helping to revolutionize medical-science studies with a new technology from Microsoft.

Excerpt:

While the technology world’s attention is on virtual reality, a team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is fixated on another way to experience the world — augmented reality (AR).

Microsoft’s forthcoming AR headset, HoloLens, is at the forefront of this technology. The company calls it the first holographic computer. In AR, instead of being surrounded by a virtual world, viewers see virtual objects projected on top of reality through a transparent lens.

CWRU was among the first in higher education to begin working with HoloLens, back in 2014. They’ve since discovered new ways the tech could help transform education. One of their current focuses is changing how students experience medical-science courses.

How to make a mixed reality video and livestream from two realities — from uploadvr.com by Ian Hamilton

Excerpt:

Follow these steps to record or stream mixed reality footage with the HTC Vive
A mixed reality video is one of the coolest ways to show people what a virtual environment feels like. A green screen makes it easy for a VR-ready PC to automatically remove everything from a camera’s feed, except for your body movements. Those movements are then seamlessly combined with a view from another camera in a virtual environment. As long as the two cameras are synced, you can seamlessly combine views of two realities into a single video. In essence, mixed reality capture is doing what Hollywood or your weatherman has been doing for years, except at a fraction of the cost and in real-time. The end result is almost magical.

Per Jack Du Mez at Calvin College, use this app to randomly call on your students — while instilling a game-like environment into your active learning classroom (ALC)!

Description:
Randomly is an app made specifically for teachers and professors. It allows educators to enter their students into individual classes. They can then use the Random Name Selector feature to randomly call on a student to answer a question by one of two ways: Truly random, where repeated names are allowed, or a one pass – where all students are called once before they are called again. The device you’re using will even call out (vocally) the student’s name for you!

This app can also be used to randomly generate groups for you. You can split your class into groups by number of groups or by number of students per group. It intelligently knows what to do with any remaining students too!

This app supports Apple Watch, so you can call on your students with the use of your Apple Watch!

From DSC:
In the future, given facial and voice recognition software, I could see an Augmented Reality (AR)-based application whereby a faculty member or a teacher could see icons hovering over the students — letting the faculty member/teacher know who has been called upon recently and who hasn’t been called upon recently (with settings to change the length of time for this type of tracking — i.e., this student has been called upon in this class session, or in the last week, or in the last month, etc.).

AR-based-call-on-me-DanielChristian-5-10-16

Virtual reality: The Next Big Thing for college creatives — from college.usatoday.com by Morgan Buckley, University of Southern California

Excerpt:

College students across the country — from the University of Southern California to the University of Minnesota to Southern Methodist University — are also experimenting with virtual reality applications via clubs, design labs and hackathons.

The tech industry is taking note.

Among the bigger showcases for the technology took place last month, when the University of Southern California’s Virtual Reality Club (VRSC) hosted its first annual Virtual Reality Festival and Demo Day, a showcase of projects and panels with The Walt Disney Company as its title sponsor.

Students traveled from the University of California-San Diego, UCLA, Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University and the University of Colorado-Boulder to attend the fest. The judges were industry professionals from companies including NVIDIA, Google, Maker Studios and Industrial Light and Magic’s X Lab.

Some $25,000 in prizes were split among winners in four categories: 360 Live-Action Videos, 360 Animation, Interactive VR Games and Immersive Technology/Augmented Reality (AR). VR/AR categories ranged from health care to games, journalism, interactive design and interpretive dance.

The differing roles of the UX Designer [Allabarton]

On 04/29/2016, in design, research, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

The differing roles of the UX Designer — from uxmag.com by Rosie Allabarton
…different companies expect vastly different things from the same job.

Excerpt:

What does it mean to be a UX designer?
Whether you land a job at a startup or a larger corporation, your role as UX designer will be directly involved in the process to make a product useful, usable and delightful for that company’s intended target user group. Whether you are managing a large team of UXers or flying solo, the UX process itself remains the same and in general works in this order:

User Research
User research involves speaking to real users in your target audience about your product. If the product doesn’t exist yet, it’s about speaking to users of similar products and finding out what they want from this kind of platform. If it’s a pre-existing product, you’ll be asking questions about how they feel navigating your current design, their success in reaching their goals, and if they find the information they’re looking for easily and intuitively. A number of methods are usually adopted for this part of the process, including: questionnaires, focus group discussion, task analysis, online surveys, persona creation and user journey map.

Design
During the design phase you’ll be primarily thinking about how your product/service can accommodate how the customer already behaves (as seen during User Research). The design of your product revolves around functionality and usability, rather than colors or pictures (these are established later by a visual designer). Having established during your user research what your users expect from your product or site, what their goals are and how they like to operate a system, it is functionality and usability that will be your focus now. During this phase you will be using the following techniques to design your user’s journey through the site: information architecture, wireframing, prototyping.

Testing
Testing allows you to check that the changes you made during the design phase (if redesigning an existing product) stand up to scrutiny. It’s a great way to eliminate problems or user difficulties that were unforeseen in the design phase before getting started on the implementation phase. Testing methods include: usability testing, remote user testing, a/b testing. (Bear in mind that testing can be repeated at any stage in the process, and often is to increase the quality of the design and fix any errors.)

Implementation
If you’ve not had much experience working with web developers, then it’s important to consider this crucial aspect of the role. During implementation you will be working intimately with developers to reach your end goal for a project. The developers will be working to transform your design ideas into a real, working website; how you approach this relationship will determine the success or failure of your project. Keeping your developers in the loop throughout the process will make this final phase easier for everyone involved; you as the UX designer will have realistic expectations of what the developers can produce (and in what time-frame) and the developers won’t get any nasty shocks at the last minute.

Officially, a UX designer is responsible for this entire process, and its execution. However, larger companies tend to break this role down into a few, smaller roles that focus entirely on one section. We will look at what these roles are in the next section.

What other roles fall under the ‘UX Design’ umbrella?…<read more here>

From DSC:
A UX Designer, ideally, would be one of the people around the table in higher education that’s helping to create excellent learning experiences. How many organizations are using one? Probably not many. Instead, such duties are most likely being lumped into the role of the Instructional Designer or the Instructional Technologist — or is yet another hat that the faculty member is supposed to be wearing.

Why can’t the “One Day University” come directly into your living room — 24×7? [Christian]

On 04/21/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, economics, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, future of higher education, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, history, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, lifelong learning, love of learning, marketplaces, mathematics, media/film, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, music, new business models, online learning, online media, personalized/customized learning, platforms, psychology, reinvent, religion, science, second screen apps, social learning / networks, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, student-related, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

An idea/question from DSC:
Looking at the article below, I wonder…“Why can’t the ‘One Day University‘ come directly into your living room — 24×7?”

This is why I’m so excited about the “The Living [Class] Room” vision. Because it is through that vision that people of all ages — and from all over the world — will be able to constantly learn, grow, and reinvent themselves (if need be) throughout their lifetimes. They’ll be able to access and share content, communicate and discuss/debate with one another, form communities of practice, go through digital learning playlists (like Lynda.com’s Learning Paths) and more. All from devices that represent the convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer (and likely converging with the types of devices that are only now coming into view, such as Microsoft’s Hololens).

You won’t just be limited to going back to college for a day — you’ll be able to do that 24×7 for as many days of the year as you want to.

Then when some sophisticated technologies are integrated into this type of platform — such as artificial intelligence, cloud-based learner profiles, algorithms, and the ability to setup exchanges for learning materials — we’ll get some things that will blow our minds in the not too distant future! Heutagogy on steroids!

Want to go back to college? You can, for a day. — from washingtonpost.com by Valerie Strauss

Excerpt:

Have you ever thought about how nice it would be if you could go back to college, just for the sake of learning something new, in a field you don’t know much about, with no tests, homework or studying to worry about? And you won’t need to take the SAT or the ACT to be accepted? You can, at least for a day, with something called One Day University, the brainchild of a man named Steve Schragis, who about a decade ago brought his daughter to Bard College as a freshman and thought that he wanted to stay.

One Day University now financially partners with dozens of newspapers — including The Washington Post — and a few other organizations to bring lectures to people around the country. The vast majority of the attendees are over the age 50 and interested in continuing education, and One Day University offers them only those professors identified by college students as fascinating. As Schragis says, it doesn’t matter if you are famous; you have to be a great teacher. For example, Schragis says that since Bill Gates has never shown to be one, he can’t teach at One Day University.

…

We bring together these professors, usually four at at a time, to cities across the country to create “The Perfect Day of College.” Of course we leave out the homework, exams, and studying! Best if there’s real variety, both male and female profs, four different schools, four different subjects, four different styles, etc. There’s no one single way to be a great professor. We like to show multiple ways to our students.

Most popular classes are history, psychology, music, politics, and film. Least favorite are math and science.

See also:

Addendum:

LinkedIn makes all Lynda.com courses available on Apple TV — from venturebeat.com

We know the shelf-life of skills are getting shorter and shorter. So whether it’s to brush up on new skills or it’s to stay on top of evolving ones, Lynda.com can help you stay ahead of the latest technologies.

Announcements from Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference [April 12-13, 2016]

On 04/15/2016, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), bots, emerging technologies, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, global / globalization, social learning / networks, social media, telecommunications, tools, trends, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, by Daniel Christian

Everything announced at Facebook’s F8 conference.

Everything Facebook announced at F8 2016 — from thenextweb.com by Natt Garun

Excerpt:

Two days of Facebook’s F8 Conference have come and gone, so here’s a look back at all the things you may have missed from the event. To learn more about each topic, click the links below for full stories.

The 5 Biggest Things Facebook Announced This Week — from time.com by Victor Luckerson
Messaging bots, live video in drones and 360-degree cameras

Excerpt:

In a wide-ranging keynote April 12, CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out the company’s 10-year plan to “Give everyone the power to share anything with anyone.” To do so, Facebook plans to move far beyond its original role as a social network. The firm aims to launch new virtual reality projects, beam Internet across the world using drones and unleash complex artificial-intelligence bots that can fulfill our every digital need.

Before all that can happen, Facebook has to deal with the here and now of improving its current products. On that front, the company made several announcements that will reshape the way people and brands use Facebook and its constellation of apps this year.

Here’s a breakdown of Facebook’s biggest F8 announcements.

How Facebook’s Social VR Could Be The Killer App For Virtual Reality — from fastcompany.com by
It’s going to take time, but Facebook is committed to developing realistic and satisfying social experiences in VR.

Excerpt:

When Facebook bought Oculus VR in 2014 for $2 billion, many observers wondered what the world’s largest social networking company wanted with a virtual reality company whose then-unreleased system was pretty much all about single-user experiences. Today at F8, Facebook’s annual developers conference in San Francisco, the company showed off some of the most fleshed-out examples of how it sees VR as a rich social tool. During his F8 keynote address, CTO Mike Schroepfer talked at length about what Facebook explicitly calls “social VR.”

Facebook Shows Us What It Means to Be ‘Social’ in Virtual Reality (Video) — from recode.net by Kurt Wagner

Excerpt:

One of the key knocks on virtual reality, the gamer-heavy industry Facebook is betting big on, is that wearing a headset intended to block out the real world in favor of a virtual one isn’t a very social activity. Facebook, an inherently social company, thinks it can change that.

At its F8 developer conference on Wednesday Facebook demoed what it calls “social VR,” which is exactly what it sounds like: Connecting two or more real people in a virtual world.

Oculus Demos VR Selfie Sticks and 360 Photo Spheres — from vrscout.com by Jonathan Nafarrete

Excerpt:

During the second day keynote of Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference, Oculus showed off an entirely new way to get social in VR.

On stage, Facebook’s CTO Mike Schroepfer showed how 360-degree photos can instantly be shared with a friend in VR, with 360 photos appearing as handheld spheres. You can virtually grab the floating sphere and smash it against your face, you will then be instantly teleported into the content of the spherical photo.

Oculus Social VR Full Demo – Facebook F8 Conference 2016

Has Facebook achieved what AOL could have a generation ago? — from medium.com by Gary Vaynerchuk

Excerpt:

[On 4/12/16], Facebook opened up Instant Articles to all publishers. If you don’t know, Instant Articles are Facebook’s new way to natively load articles within the app using an adapted RSS feed. These native articles, which have a lightning bolt in the top right corner, load in half a second?—?10x faster than if user was to click out to a website. From what I’ve seen so far, they really do load instantaneously and have a great layout and user experience. And if you’re paying attention, you’ll understand that this is their third push for native media consumption: first photos, then videos, and now written content.
…
However, as of [4/13/16], Instant Articles become available to anybody with a Facebook page and a blog. This is a key opportunity for small blogs and publications to get ahead of the game and really understand how best to use the new product.
…
Has Facebook been able to achieve what AOL could have a generation ago? By that I mean: Has Facebook become a layer on top of the Internet itself?

Let’s take these same powerful concepts into the living room, & then let’s talk about learning-related applications. [Christian]

On 04/14/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, communications, convergence, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, marketplaces, microlearning, mirroring and/or multiple devices, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, motivation, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, staying relevant, surviving, technologies for your home, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Let’s take some of the same powerful concepts (as mentioned below) into the living room; then let’s talk about learning-related applications.

Google alum launches MightyTV for cable cord-cutters — from bizjournals.com by Anthony Noto

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

MightyTV, which has raised more than $2 million in venture funding to date, launched today with a former Google exec at the helm. The startup’s technology incorporates machine learning with computer-generated recommendations in what is being touted as a “major step up” from other static list-making apps.
…
In this age of Roku and Apple TV, viewers can choose what to watch via the apps they’ve downloaded. MightyTV curates those programs — shows, movies and YouTube videos — into one app without constantly switching between Amazon, HBO, Netflix or Hulu.
…
Among the features included on MightyTV are:

* A Tinder-like interface that allows users to swipe through content, allowing the service to learn what you’d like to watch
* An organizer tool that lists content via price range
* A discovery tool to see what friends are watching
* Allows for group viewings and binge watching

From DSC:
What if your Apple TV could provide these sorts of functionalities for services and applications that are meant for K-12 education, higher education, and/or corporate training and development?

Instead of Amazon, HBO, Netflix or Hulu — what if the interface would present you with a series of learning modules, MOOCs, and/or courses from colleges and universities that had strong programs in the area(s) that you wanted to learn about?

That is, what if a tvOS-based system could learn more about you and what you are trying to learn about? It could draw upon IBM Watson-like functionality to provide you with a constantly morphing, up-to-date recommendation list of modules that you should look at. Think microlearning. Reinventing oneself. Responding to the exponential pace of change. Pursuing one’s passions. More choice/more control. Lifelong learning. Staying relevant. Surviving.

…all from a convenient, accessible room in your home…your living room.

A cloud-based marketplace…matching learners with providers.

Now tie those concepts in with where LinkedIn.com and Lynda.com are going and how people will get jobs in the future.

BlueJeans Unveils Enterprise Video Cloud as Businesses Hang Up on Audio-Only Communications
Global Enterprises Adopt Video as a First-Line Communications Strategy

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

April 12, 2016 — Mountain View, CA—BlueJeans Network, the global leader in cloud-based video communication services, today unveiled the Enterprise Video Cloud, a comprehensive platform built for today’s globally distributed, modern workforce with video communications at the core. New global research shows that 85% of employees are already using video in the workplace and 72% believe that video will transform the way they communicate at work.

“There is a transformation happening among business today – face-to-face video is quickly rising as the preferred communications medium, offering new opportunities for deeper personal relations and outreach, as well as for improved internal and external collaboration,” said Krish Ramakrishnan, CEO of BlueJeans. “Once people experience the power of video, they ‘hang-up’ on traditional conference calling. We are seeing this happen with the emergence of video cultures that power the most innovative cultures—from Facebook and Netflix to Viacom and Del Monte.”

From DSC:
I wonder if we’ll see video communication vendors such as BlueJeans or The Video Call Center merge with vendors like Bluescape, Mezzanine, or T1V with their collaboration tools. If so, some serious collaboration could all happen…again, right from within your living room!

Microsoft Build: the 10 most important announcements — from theverge.com by Ben Popper and Dieter Bohn
Here come the bots!

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Every year, Microsoft holds a developer event called “Build.” And recently, those events have gone from snoozers to exciting showcases. Microsoft has a winner with Windows 10 (as long as you ignore the phones), a robust personal assistant in Cortana (that works just fine on a laptop), and a wild holographic future to plan with HoloLens. It’s a lot to take in, and at this year’s Build Microsoft we got updates on all of it. And a few surprises.

Going in, we weren’t totally sure what would be coming next for Windows 10, but it turns out there’s a lot that Microsoft has planned. It’s not just that there are new apps, there are also new bots, which will help people handle all sorts of small tasks. In fact, those bots and Microsoft’s vision of how they should work stole the entire show. Windows, Xbox: you’re cool, but the future is bots.

Why Microsoft wants to help developers build bots — from pcworld.com by Blair Hanley Frank
Conversations are cross-platform and mobile, even when Windows 10 Mobile isn’t winning

Excerpt:

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is pushing developers to create virtual assistants and intelligent chatbots to help users do everything from managing their calendars to booking hotel reservations.

To that end, Microsoft has published a new Bot Framework, which makes it easier to build chatbots using either C# or Node.js. Working with the tools isn’t so easy that anyone could do it, but they can help reduce some of the difficulties of conversing with a computer.

It was one of the main announcements from Nadella’s keynote address at Microsoft’s Build developer conference Wednesday.

Also see:

Microsoft’s Build 2016 message: ‘we love Cortana’ (but should users?) — from thenextweb.com by Nate Swanner
Excerpt:
Build 2016 has one clear takeaway: Cortana is what matters, at least for now. At almost every product or service announcement at this morning’s keynote, Microsoft made a point to mention that it would also work with Cortana. At a deep dive event for press later in the day, Microsoft further highlighted its commitment to the digital assistant.
.
Microsoft’s new Bot Framework will let anyone build assistants for their apps — thenextweb.com by Napier Lopez

From DSC:
Questions/relevance for those working higher ed:

Are Computer Science programs able to keep up with the pace of these Human Computer Interaction (HCI)-related changes? The changes in AI/cognitive computing? Are courses being created to address these new skills? These developments also impact those teaching about user experience design, application/product design, and more.
.
How will such personal assistants be used by the students? By faculty members?

Interesting use of AR: Combining AR into 3D printing makes “animated physical models” [Relentless Designs]

On 04/04/2016, in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), design, emerging technologies, experimentation, ideas, innovation, tools, trends, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

From Relentless Designs LLC

Description:

Combining Augmented Reality into 3D Printing makes it “Animated Physical Models.” Combining new technology to grab the attention people will change the whole business meeting world.

Highlights:

Use of 3D models vs. static drawings on paper
Use of augmented reality to show things that aren’t really there…yet

Also see:

Relentless Designs add fourth augmented reality dimension to 3D printed models

“The promise of virtual reality in higher education” + 6 other items re: VR

On 03/24/2016, in art, business, corporate / business world, creativity, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interactivity, media/film, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual field trips, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The promise of virtual reality in higher education — from er.educause.edu by Bryan Sinclair and Glenn Gunhouse

Excerpt:

Just as hypertext, digital publishing, and other digital media have transformed the ways in which we engage with documents and collections, the technologies surrounding virtual reality (VR) may ultimately transform the ways in which we teach, learn, engage with each other, and experience the world writ large. In a not-too-distant future, as VR technologies advance at a steady pace and become embedded in our lives, we may one day look back with a sense of amazement at students once bound to a physical classroom, campus setting, locale, or even place in time.

VR may be seen as the next logical extension of cyberspace.

Five ways virtual reality is reshaping industries — from by Daniel Terdiman
Gaming is only the beginning.

Excerpt:

It’s rare that a consumer technology is a giant leap forward rather than the next iterative step. Virtual reality represents just that kind of leap. With the spring launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, as well as the imminent release of Sony’s PlayStation VR, high-end virtual reality has arrived. Add to that lower-end headsets like Samsung’s Gear VR, Google’s Cardboard, and many other players and it’s clear that 2016 is the year the technology goes mainstream. While none of the hardware makers are promising to sell millions of units this year, estimates peg the VR market—hardware and content—at $30 billion by 2020. It’s not just gaming and entertainment that are poised for transformation. Here are some of the most interesting—and potentially lucrative—ways VR is being deployed.

Why you should try that crazy virtual reality headset — from wsj.com by Joanna Stern
VR isn’t just for gamers—take a journey through the virtual experiences that will make the real world better

Excerpt:

You’re going to own a virtual reality headset one day.

Yes, you’re going to put those funny-looking goggles on your face and your eyes won’t be rolling at me like they are right now.

I’ve been there. My interest in gaming stops at Monopoly. The promise of virtual reality meant little more to me than a funny photo opp.

But the buzz! It’s the future, they say! So I went on a journey to find virtual reality’s practical uses.

You can take a class of fifth-graders across the world without needing permission slips. You can inspect the countertops in that dream house you’ve been eyeing. You can feel your heart pound as you practice your big speech in front of a room of people who aren’t actually there.

John Carmack calls ‘Minecraft’ for Gear VR ‘the best thing’ on Oculus — from uploadvr.com by Ian Tingen

Excerpt:

After a hands-on with Minecraft VR – an in-development title for the Samsung Gear VR – Oculus CTO John Carmack gave a speech where he proclaimed Minecraft VR to be, “the best thing to come out on Oculus…Not just for the Gear VR but everything”.

Virtual reality headsets are roaring in 2016 : What’s your pick? — from unimersiv.com by Sanjay Bojan

Excerpt:

In 2016, although still in their infant stages, VR headsets are advancing thick and fast. On that note, here is a selection of the best VR headsets you could buy at the moment.

How virtual reality will democratize learning — from readwrite.com by Jacob Tempchin

Excerpt:

Still, I am confident that virtual reality will revolutionize how we learn, and the reason is simple. Virtual reality is not just a technology, it’s a medium. And I’ve seen how powerful that medium can be.

Jaunt’s ‘cinematic VR’ tech will take you around the world — from engadget.com by Mariella Moon
First stop: Machu Picchu.

Addendum on 3/25/16:

Step Inside a Salvador Dali Painting in Virtual Reality — from vrscout.com by Jonathan Nafarrete
.
Academia Tackles Storytelling in Virtual Reality — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
The University of Southern California’s School for Cinematic Arts is studying how virtual reality can be used to tell stories in the next generation of movies.
.
Virtual Reality Headsets are Roaring in 2016 : What’s your Pick? — from unimersiv.com by Sanjay Bojan

“How the ‘Internet of Things’ will affect the world” plus 3 other items re: the Internet of Things

On 03/24/2016, in 21st century, business, communications, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, innovation, internet, machine-to-machine communications, Near Field Communication (NFC), trends, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, wearables, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How the ‘Internet of Things’ will affect the world — from businessinsider.com by John Greenough and Jonathan Camhi

Excerpt:

Here are some key points from the report:

In total, we project there will be 34 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020, up from 10 billion in 2015. IoT devices will account for 24 billion, while traditional computing devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc.) will comprise 10 billion.
Nearly $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years.
Businesses will be the top adopter of IoT solutions. They see three ways the IoT can improve their bottom line by 1) lowering operating costs; 2) increasing productivity; and 3) expanding to new markets or developing new product offerings.
Governments are focused on increasing productivity, decreasing costs, and improving their citizens’ quality of life. We believe they will be the second-largest adopters of IoT ecosystems.
Consumers will lag behind businesses and governments in IoT adoption. Still, they will purchase a massive number of devices and invest a significant amount of money in IoT ecosystems.

As IoT emerges, UX takes on greater urgency within enterprises — from zdnet.com by Joe McKendrick
User experience isn’t just a luxury — emerging Internet of Things, wearable, mobile, and virtual reality-based computing make it essential.

Excerpt:

Perhaps the renowned techno-futurist Mark Pesce said it best in a recent tweet: “I’d like to point out that [virtual reality] is the only display layer with profound UX implications. Fundamental ones. Ponder that,”

Pesce is spot on, of course, but we need to take his argument for heightened, immersive and interactive user experience a step further — not only is VR bringing it to the fore, but there is also the intense emphasis on connecting things — including wearables and mobile devices — into the emerging Internet of Things, as well as the ongoing challenges of the consumerization of IT, to make enterprise computing as intuitive and satisfying as consumer-based computing.
…
A recent survey of 7,725 executives and professionals shows that interest in UX — and UX testing — is on the rise. As summarized by Dennis McCafferty in CIO Insight, “respondents say that multi-device interaction–a.k.a., machine-to-machine tech–will greatly influence UX over the next five years. Which means CIOs and their tech teams should expect to devote more attention to UX for the indefinite future.”

The Internet of Things: It’s not quite here yet, but it’s definitely coming — from edtechmagazine.com by Nicci Fagan
Colleges and universities should take steps now to prepare for the impending barrage of connected devices and for the rise in IoT data.

Gartner warns of coming IoT data management overload — from readwrite.com by Donal Power

Excerpt:

The growth of Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly increasing the amount of data generated, and industry experts warn that the current river of unstructured data will soon turn into a flood. Alarmingly, a recent study highlighted concerns that most proposed approaches could lead to data management overload ineffective for the coming torrent of data.

Enterprise Tech cited a recent Gartner report that examined the impact IoT will have on enterprise infrastructure. The report warned that “due to a lack of information capabilities adapted for the IoT” an estimated 25% of attempts to utilize IoT data will be abandoned before deployment ever occurs.

The State of Content | Rules of Engagement for 2016 [Adobe]

On 03/24/2016, in Adobe, design, marketing/social marketing, relationships, second screen apps, trends, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

RULE #1: DESIGN FOR THE MULTISCREEN REALITY
Consumers are multiscreening more than ever before — optimize your content for it

On average, 83 percent of global consumers report they multiscreen, using 2.23 devices at the same time.

As attention spans shrink, 59 percent of consumers globally would rather engage with content that’s beautifully designed than simple — even when short on time.

More than half of consumers (57%) would prefer to watch videos on breaking news vs. read an article and 63 percent would rather skim several short stories than read deeper articles.

Globally, consumers use an average of 5 devices and 10 services

From DSC:

Problem/question:

If you wanted to, how do you make a digital version of 20+ feet worth of writings and drawings on 2+ chalkboards or whiteboards that are put together?

The applications that I’ve run across so far — whether they are meant for PCs, Macs, tablets, or smartphones — don’t do it, as they’re too limited on screen real estate.

Some have tried using lightboards and making recordings of their equations or other work….

…but those solutions seem to fall short, at least in my mind, if you need to reference something early on in the long equation…you know, on that first “board” of information that you completed and then erased. (I suppose if a student was watching a recording, you could tell them to go back to Marker 1 in the video…and they can go back and review that portion of the video…but that requires more time/editing/setup. Time that faculty members often don’t have.) So, again, lightboards seem somewhat limited in their real estate.

Then, a while back, I saw this 360-degree ring of display screens at Washington State University…

WSU-ActiveLearningClassroom-Nov2015

and it got me to thinking…hmmm…yes…if, as a faculty member was using an application that they could write on and the equation could appear on the screens overhead. Faculty could use something akin to a pen & touch display from Wacom in order to write the equations — but the software would need to allow them to scroll backwards and forwards throughout their long equations. They could use those tools to highlight or further annotate something that was previously covered.

In this type of physical/AV-related solution, it would seem that the students would be best situated on the inside of the circle, looking upwards to watch the equation build on itself. Having a huge amount of digital space to work with could mean that they could turn their Node Chairs around to see any portion of the equation. Faculty members could also, I suppose, use laser pointers to point to something up on the displays.

Again though, they would need to be able to scroll left to right, top to bottom, say on something like the 160 acres (vs 20+ feet of chalkboard/whiteboard) you get on a workspace in Bluescape…

…then you would have a lot of digital real estate to work with. So that was one approach I was wondering about.

But then, I saw some interesting items regarding Virtual Reality, and POW! There it is! An enormous amount of digital screen real estate where the users could go where they wanted to on it. That is, the vision here would be that each student could control where they want to go within the digital canvas.

Some related items to this:

See:
Virtual Desktop 1.0 Trailer

Obviously, I need to further think this through and investigate what’s possible as time goes by. But I wanted to get this out there in case some vendor can help us get there sooner rather than later.

A relevant link:

Playing games on a 19-foot TV, climbing mountains and shooting bows — from polygon.com by Brian Crecente
Excerpt:

But the one I found most compelling was the most mundane creation for Vive: The SteamVR Desktop Theater Mode. Slip on the black plastic headset and instead of dropping into a fantastical world of mouthy orbs, atop a mountain with a robot dog or inside a game, I found myself sitting in a chair in a fairly non-descript room facing a big television screen. To be specific, in this case big means about 19 feet.

Addendum of something that’s relevant here and that I just ran across today:

The Future of AV Displays — from thejournal.com by Dennis Pierce
Today, students are interacting with content on large touchscreen flat panels. Soon, they could be using immersive head-mounted displays.

App to the Future | Entering the Age of TV Apps [kaltura.com]

On 03/18/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, interactivity, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, second screen apps, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

App to the Future | Entering the Age of TV Apps — from blog.kaltura.com

Excerpt:

We’re just starting to see the potential for TV apps. Now that half of US internet homes own a connected TV device (an overall trend you can see worldwide), the potential is enormous.
…
TV Apps today are much like mobile apps 8 years ago. It shows promise, but the best is yet to come. At their core, TV apps are about a better user experience. The big screen offers a better way to browse through massive video libraries and to watch HD video.

From DSC:

TV Apps today are much like mobile apps 8 years ago.
It shows promise, but the best is yet to come.

I couldn’t agree more.

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

Digitally-based means of learning are going to skyrocket!!! Here’s why. [Christian]

On 03/18/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, analytics, assessment, assistive technologies, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, face-to-face, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, second screen apps, smart classrooms, student-related, teaching & learning, telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, trends, TVs, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

Key point from DSC:
Digitally-based means of learning are going to skyrocket!!! Far more than what we’ve seen so far! There are several trends that are occurring to make this so.

As background here, some of the keywords and phrases that are relevant to this posting include:

Wireless content sharing
Wireless collaboration solutions
Active learning based classrooms
Conference rooms
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Enterprise wireless display solutions
Enterprise collaboration solutions
Cross platform support: iOS, Android, Windows
Personalized learning
Learning analytics

Some of the relevant products in this area include:

Bluescape
Mezzanine from Oblong Industries
Montage from DisplayNote Technologies
ThinkHub and ViewHub from T1V
Mersive Solstice
Crestron AirMedia
Barco Clickshare
Haworth Workware Wireless
Christi Brio
AMX enzo
NovoConnect from Vivitek
Arrive MediaPoint
Apple TV
Chromecast

From DSC:

First of all, consider the following products and the functionalities they offer.

People who are in the same physical space can collaborate with people from all over the world — no matter if they are at home, in another office, on the road, etc.

For several of these products, remote employees/consultants/trainers/learners can contribute content to the discussions, just like someone in the same physical location can.

ThinkHub-March2016

From DSC:

Many of these sorts of systems & software are aimed at helping people collaborate — again, regardless of where they are located. Remote learners/content contributors are working in tandem with a group of people in the same physical location. If this is true in business, why can’t it be true in the world of education?

So keep that in mind, as I’m now going to add on a few other thoughts and trends that build upon these sorts of digitally-based means of collaborating.

Q: Towards that end…ask yourself, what do the following trends and items have in common?

The desire to capture and analyze learner data to maximize learning
Colleges’ and universities’ need to increase productivity (which is also true in the corporate & K-12 worlds)
The trend towards implementing more active learning-based environments
The increasing use of leveraging students’ devices for their learning (i.e., the BYOD phenomenon)
The continued growth and increasing sophistication of algorithms

A: All of these things may cause digitally-based means of learning to skyrocket!!!

To wrap up this line of thought, below are some excerpts from recent articles that illustrate what I’m trying to get at here.

Embrace the Power of Data
A continuous improvement mindset is important. Back-end learning analytics, for example, can reveal where large numbers of students are struggling, and may provide insights into questions that require new feedback or content areas that need more development. Data can also highlight how students are interacting with the content and illuminate things that are working well—students’ lightbulb moments.

— Five Principles for Your Learning Design Toolkit
from edsurge.com by Amanda Newlin

Mitchell gave the example of flight simulators, which not only provide students with a way to engage in the activity that they want to learn, but also have data systems that monitor students’ learning over time, providing them with structured feedback at just the right moment. This sort of data-centric assessment of learning is happening in more and more disciplines — and that opens the door to more innovation, he argued.

…

A promising example, said Thille, is the use of educational technology to create personalized and adaptive instruction. As students interact with adaptive technology, the system collects large amounts of data, models those data, and then makes predictions about each student based on their interactions, she explained. Those predictions are then used for pedagogical decision-making — either feeding information back into the system to give the student a personalized learning path, or providing insights to faculty to help them give students individualized support.

…

“We need the models and the data to be open, transparent, peer-reviewable and subject to academic scrutiny.”

…

“We began to actually examine what we could do differently — based not upon hunches and traditions, but upon what the data told us the problems were for the students we enroll,” said Renick. “We made a commitment not to raise our graduation rate through getting better students, but through getting better — and that gain meant looking in the mirror and making some significant changes.”

…

A 21st-century learning culture starts with digital content. In 2010, Jackson State University was looking for ways that technology could better address the needs of today’s learner. “We put together what we call our cyberlearning ecosystem,” said Robert Blaine, dean of undergraduate studies and cyberlearning. “What that means is that we’re building a 21st-century learning culture for all of our students, writ large across campus.” At the core of that ecosystem is digital content, delivered via university-supplied iPads.

— 7 Things Higher Education Innovators Want You to Know
from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

On Bennett’s wish list right now is an application that allows students to give feedback at specific points of the videos that they’re watching at home. This would help him pinpoint and fix any “problem” areas (e.g. insufficient instructions for difficult topics/tasks) and easily see where students are experiencing the most difficulties.

TechSmith’s now-retired “Ask3” video platform, for example, would have done the trick. It allowed users to watch a video and ask text-based questions at the point where playback was stopped. “I’d like to be able to look at my content and say, ‘Here’s a spot where there are a lot of questions and confusion,'” said Bennett, who also sees potential in an “I get it” button that would allow students to hit the button when everything clicks. “That would indicate the minimum viable video that I’d need to produce.” Learning Catalytics offers a similar product at a fee, Bennett said, “but I can’t charge my students $20 a year to use it.”

— 6 Flipped Learning Technologies To Watch in 2016
from thejournal.com by Bridget McCrea

Learning Ecosystems

The differing roles of the UX Designer [Allabarton]

Interesting use of AR: Combining AR into 3D printing makes “animated physical models” [Relentless Designs]

“The promise of virtual reality in higher education” + 6 other items re: VR

“How the ‘Internet of Things’ will affect the world” plus 3 other items re: the Internet of Things

The State of Content | Rules of Engagement for 2016 [Adobe]

Potential solutions when you need a digital version of 20+ feet worth of whiteboards to explain those long equations! Could be powerful. [Christian]

App to the Future | Entering the Age of TV Apps [kaltura.com]

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A: All of these things may cause digitally-based means of learning to skyrocket!!!

All of these trends lend themselves to causing a major increase in the amount of learning that occurs via digitally-based means and methods.

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