videoconferencing

Massive issues coming up re: evictions: A potential nightmare coming down the pike.

On 12/07/2020, in Access to Justice (A2J), health, law schools, leadership, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, policy, political science, society, surviving, telelegal, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Logging in to get kicked out: Inside America’s virtual eviction crisis — from technologyreview.com by Eileen Guo

Excerpts:

An unprecedented, imperfect moratorium
Before the pandemic, an average of 3.6 million Americans lost their homes to evictions every year, according to Princeton University’s Eviction Lab. By the end of 2020, this number could increase exponentially, with one report from the Aspen Institute estimating that, without further federal aid, between 30 to 40 million people may be at risk of eviction in the next several months. The financial hardship exacerbated by covid-19 has left many in a precarious situation.

.

Legal aid attorneys chart course for 2021 after spike in demand — from law360.com by Justin Wise

Excerpts: (emphasis DSC)

The coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn it caused sparked a massive spike in demand for legal aid services from America’s most marginalized communities, leaving a field already under-resourced facing even greater strain in 2020.

At the same time, many organizations had to close their offices in the spring and significantly reduce in-person communication with clients to comply with health guidelines. It all amounted to a “pretty crushing” year in which attorneys transitioned to a primarily remote operation with new channels including a COVID-19 legal intake line, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Executive Director Laura Tuggle said.

Tuggle said 3 in 4 of the calls on the SLLS hotline are from people seeking assistance on matters relating to housing and evictions. Overall, the group has had a 300% increase in eviction cases this year. It also had a 600% increase in unemployment assistance cases in the first few months of the pandemic.

“The most pressing legal need America faces as we enter 2021 is the tsunami of potential evictions that threaten the millions of people who have lost jobs during the pandemic,” LSC Executive Director Ronald Flagg said, pointing to a study showing that evictions can cause increases in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

A potential nightmare is coming down the pike: Massive # of evictions — which will further exacerbate the Covid19 crisis (at minimum).

DC: How can #highereducation help people reinvent themselves quickly and affordably?#learningfromthelivingclassroom https://t.co/TV5InkWHwn pic.twitter.com/5OgplxXuMO

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) December 7, 2020

Addendum on 12/9/20:

Black households face greater financial devastation due to COVID-19 shutdowns — from bigthink.com by Molly Hanson
New research spotlights how low-income Black households face greater financial distress and vulnerability as a result of the pandemic economic crisis.

5 things we’ve learned about virtual school in 2020 — from npr.org by Anya Kamenetz

Excerpts:

The digital divide is still big and complex.
Relationships are everything when it comes to keeping kids engaged remotely.
Digital teaching can be good, even great with the right support for teachers. But that’s far from the norm.
Hybrid models are extremely challenging.
Some kids are not learning much online. They’ll be playing catch-up in years to come.

DC: This is not right! When will there be justice?! We need to help Native American colleges, universities, & communities out!

On 12/04/2020, in Access to Justice (A2J), adjunct faculty, Amazon, Apple, business, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, economics, education, education reform, education technology, ethics, Facebook / Meta Platforms, faculty/staff, faith, funding / grants, future, future of higher education, geography / geology, Google, health, higher education, history, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Michigan, Microsoft, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, morals/values, new media literacies, online learning, platforms, policy, remote teaching and learning, society, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, telecommunications, ubiquitous learning, United States, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

The Digital Divide for Tribal College Students — COVID, CARES Act, and Critical Next Steps — from diverseeducation.com

Excerpt:

In this episode staff writer Sara Weissman shares a story that focuses on the digital divide for Native Americans by bringing in voices of tribal college leaders and their students during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Many don’t know but Native American colleges and universities have long struggled with the worst internet connectivity in the nation while ironically paying the highest rates for service. Hear first-hand how students from Diné College and other institutions are currently affected. Carrie Billie (Big Water Clan), President & CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and Dr. Cynthia Lindquist (Star Horse Woman), President of Cankdeska Cikana Community College in North Dakota, break down the data and lay out critical next steps necessary to address the digital divide.

Many don’t know but Native American colleges and universities have long struggled with the worst internet connectivity in the nation while ironically paying the highest rates for service.

From DSC:
When will there be justice!? Let’s join in and make amends and provide the funding, concrete assistance, products, and services to Native American colleges, universities, and communities. Some potential ideas:

For the short term, could there be Loon balloons deployed immediately to provide free and stronger access to the Internet?

Could our Federal Government make amends and do the right thing here? (e-rate program, put Internet access in, make policy changes, offer more grants, other?)
Could Silicon Valley assist with hardware and software? For example:
- Can Apple, HP, Microsoft, and others donate hardware and software?
- Can Zoom, Adobe, Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, and others donate whatever these communities need to provide videoconferencing licenses?
Could telecom providers provide free internet access?
Could MOOCs offer more free courses?
Could furniture makers such as Steelcase, Herman Miller, and others donate furniture and help establish connected learning spaces?
How might faculty members and staff within higher education contribute?
How could churches, synagogues, and such get involved?
Could the rest of us locate and donate to charities that aim to provide concrete assistance to Native American schools, colleges, universities, and communities?

We need to do the right thing here. This is another area* where our nation can do much better.

* Here’s another example/area where we can do much better and make amends/changes.

Addendum on 12/7/20:

How to Implement Long-Term Remote Learning in a Rural Area— from techlearning.com by Ray Bendici

THE Journal 2020 New Product Award Winners

On 12/03/2020, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, CMS/LMS, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, engagement / engaging students, graphics, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, mobile learning, multimedia, online learning, platforms, remote teaching and learning, robotics, STEAM-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, tools, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

THE Journal 2020 New Product Award Winners

For THE Journal’s first-ever New Product Award program, judges selected winners in 30 categories spanning all aspects of technology innovations in K–12 education, from the classroom to the server room and beyond. We are proud to honor these winners for their outstanding contributions to the institution of education, in particular at this time of upheaval in the way education is being delivered to the nation’s 50 million students.

Some scenes from a wonderful, artistic, creative “Bitmoji Classroom” [Clay, Young, Thomas, Smith, Koch, & Verddugo]

On 11/29/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, animation, art, attention, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, Google, graphics, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, love of learning, mathematics, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, online media, parents/guardians, platforms, professional development, reading, remote teaching and learning, science, STEAM-related, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Our oldest daughter showed me a “Bitmoji Classroom” that her mentor teacher — Emily Clay — uses as her virtual classroom. Below are some snapshots of the Google Slides that Emily developed based on the work of:

Kayla Young (@bitmoji.kayla)
MaryBeth Thomas
Ms. Smith
Karen Koch
The First Grade Creative — by C. Verddugo

My hats off to all of these folks whose work laid the foundations for this creative, fun, engaging, easy-to-follow virtual classroom for a special education preschool classroom — complete with ties to videoconferencing functionalities from Zoom. Emily’s students could click on items all over the place — they could explore, pursue their interests/curiosities/passions. So the snapshots below don’t offer the great interactivity that the real deal does.

Nice work Emily & Company! I like how you provided more choice, more control to your students — while keeping them engaged!

A snapshot of a Bitmoji Classroom created by Emily Clay

From DSC:
I also like the idea of presenting this type of slide (immediately below, and students’ names have been blurred for privacy’s sake) prior to entering a videoconferencing session where you are going to break out the students into groups. Perhaps that didn’t happen in Emily’s class…I’m not sure, but in other settings, it would make sense to share one’s screen right before sending the students to those breakout rooms and show them that type of slide (to let them know who will be in their particular breakout group).

The students in the different breakout sessions could then collaboratively work on Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides and you could watch their progress in real-time!

A snapshot of a Bitmoji Classroom created by Emily Clay

$A snapshot of a Bitmoji Classroom created by Emily Clay$

A snapshot of a Bitmoji Classroom created by Emily Clay

Also see:

Educators Turn to Bitmoji to Build Community and Engagement — from edutopia.org by Emelina Minero
Both fun and practical, Bitmoji classrooms are adding some levity to fall planning this year.

2020 in review: Legal software for working remotely [Black]

On 11/29/2020, in law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, telecommunications, telelegal, tools, trends, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

2020 in review: Legal software for working remotely — from abajournal.com by Nicole Black

Excerpts:

January: Virtual and chatbot assistants
February: Client relationship management tools
March: Top tools to help lawyers set up virtual practices
April: Document management software
May: Online payment tools
June: Secure online communication
July: Legal billing software
August: Time-tracking software
September: Contract review software
October: Litigation analytics software

Musical Mentors collaborative mobilizes and expands in response to pandemic — with thanks to Bristol Jones for this resource/information
Organization connects musicians in need of work with students lacking access to music instruction
(Emphasis below from DSC)

New York, NY — November 12, 2020 — Musical Mentors Collaborative (“MMC”), which provides free private music instruction and instruments to students who would not otherwise have access, announced today its Winter Gala to benefit the 1:1 Music Fund which will enable the organization to provide 10,000 more lessons in the years to come.

MMC was founded in 2009 as a partnership between Columbia University students and PS 145, a neighboring elementary school in Morningside Heights, and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in New York State in 2011. Since 2009, MMC’s university chapters have provided over 7,500 lessons to more than 450 students in the United States.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 caused dramatic and painful changes in the musical community. Many performing arts institutions were forced to close indefinitely, and many talented musicians found themselves out of work.

In response, MMC launched a teaching fellowship in early April to pay professional musicians to teach one-on-one virtual lessons to students without access to private instruction. Teachers include members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as collaborators of Herbie Hancock, Lauryn Hill, and others. The organization has since onboarded over 35 teaching artists and nearly 200 students. Since the onset of the pandemic, MMC has paid more than $150,000 to its Teaching Fellows and shipped over $30,000 worth of instruments to students, collectively in support of over 1,300 virtual lessons.

“We are inspired by the response from the musical community, and immensely grateful for the support musicians have shown MMC students. These students represent our musical future and would otherwise lack access to the instruction and mentorship they deserve,” said Zack Susel, Co-Founder and Executive Director of MMC. “We are excited to announce our Winter Gala in support of our 1:1 Music Fund, through which we aim to provide 10,000 more private lessons in the coming years.”

In support of its growth and response to the pandemic, MMC has recruited 12 Grandmentors to lead pedagogical development, including GRAMMY® award winning pianist Emmanuel Ax, and Tony® award winning composer Jeanine Tesori, social work experts, and faculty from The Juilliard School and Curtis Institute of Music.

About Musical Mentors Collaborative
Musical Mentors Collaborative connects musicians with underserved students around the country. Since launching in 2009, MMC has taught over 8,800 free private lessons across instruments and genres, furthering their goal to support young musicians through one-on-one instruction. MMC operates chapters at universities across the United States, and mobilizes professional musicians through their selective Teaching Fellowship.

For more information, visit www.musical–mentors.org. | Instagram | Twitter

Also see:

MMC is thrilled to announce our newest campaign, the 1:1 Music Fund, which brings free, one-on-one lessons and instruments to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have access.

To learn more about the campaign and to donate, visit the link: https://t.co/A0eDNwJI3Q #1to1music pic.twitter.com/oc7TJqJFEX

— MMC (@musicalmentors_) November 12, 2020

The Dice Q3 Tech Job Report | Tech Hiring and COVID-19: What You Need to Know

On 11/11/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, IT in HE, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, microlearning, Microsoft, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, programming, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, trends, TVs, United States, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The Dice Q3 Tech Job Report: Tech Hiring and COVID-19: What You Need to Know — from techhub.dice.com
The report, issued quarterly by Dice, provides exclusive statistics and analysis on the tech hiring landscape, including top cities and states, top employers and the most sought-after skills and occupations.

From DSC:
One can quickly see how valuable this information would be as a data feed into an AI-based, next-generation learning platform.

The platform would connect the marketable skills with the courses, websites, blogs, RSS feeds/streams of content, etc. that would help a learner quickly and affordably build such in-demand skills. Given the shortening half-lives of many kinds of information, such a service is needed desperately…especially now with the impact of the Coronavirus.

Also relevant: See how ISTE built its upcoming virtual event!

How to Work Remotely as a Lawyer: A Guide [Matich]

On 11/05/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Access to Justice (A2J), law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, technologies for your home, telelegal, tools, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

How to Work Remotely as a Lawyer: A Guide — from clio.com by Teresa Matich; with thanks to Nelson Miller for this resource

Excerpt:

Whether you’ve looked at working remotely as a lawyer in the past (or as a paralegal, legal assistant, legal professional) with dreams of traveling the world, or whether you’re looking into it for the first time now, this guide contains clear, practical tips for opening a remote legal practice without interruption. We’ll cover:

10 steps to follow for successful remote work
What to do if you still need to meet clients in person
Tips for how larger legal teams can succeed when transitioning to remote work
A basic list of tools to use for remote lawyering
Examples of law firms that have worked remotely in some capacity (or are currently doing so)

State of Remote Work 2020 [owllabs.com]

On 10/31/2020, in business, corporate / business world, trends, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

State of Remote Work 2020 — from owllabs.com

Excerpts:

Almost 70% of full-time workers in the U.S are working from home during COVID-19
1 in 2 people won’t return to jobs that don’t offer remote work after COVID-19
77% of respondents agree that after COVID-19, being able to work from home (WFH) would make them happier
75% of people are the same or more productive during COVID-19 while working from home

During COVID-19, on average, people are saving $479.20 per month.

Illinois Supreme Court Issues Pandemic-Related Court Orders, Expands Criminal Appeals Pro Bono Program [Bagby]

On 10/30/2020, in Access to Justice (A2J), law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, society, telelegal, tools, United States, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Illinois Supreme Court Issues Pandemic-Related Court Orders, Expands Criminal Appeals Pro Bono Program — from legaltechmonitor.com by Laura Bagby

Excerpt:

The Order on Remote Jury Selection in Civil Matters permits circuits to conduct jury selection in civil cases via video conference. This expands upon rules that were amended in May to support the use of remote hearings.

The Advantages of Teaching Soft Skills to CS Undergrads Online — from cacm.acm.org by Orit Hazzan; with thanks to Sarah Huibregtse for posting this out on LinkedIn.

Excerpt:

At first, I wondered whether teaching soft skills online is even possible since, unlike theoretical courses, I assumed that close face-to-face (F2F) interaction is required in order to practice such skills. Eventually, I realized that teaching this course online has, in fact, some advantages, that this teaching format opens up new opportunities, and that this medium can even foster several soft skills that I had not previously considered teaching in the F2F format. This blog demonstrates these advantages by focusing on the use of the breakout rooms option available in Zoom, which I used extensively in the course.

Attorneys create free, virtual clinic to give immigrant Asian business owners legal help [Malagón]

On 10/26/2020, in Asia, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, United States, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

Attorneys create free, virtual clinic to give immigrant Asian business owners legal help — from chicago.suntimes.com by Elvia Malagón
Lawyers Helping Our Community helps the Chinatown business community with civil issues ranging from evictions to insurance claims.

Excerpt:

Those memories are why Yang, a commercial finance attorney at the Katten Muchin Rosenman law firm, recently co-founded a free, virtual legal clinic aimed at those in the Asian community in Chicago whose primary language isn’t English.

Lawyers Helping Our Community, under the umbrella of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, launched in June as a completely virtual clinic to help the Chinatown business community with civil issues such as evictions and insurance claims.
…
The clinic, which includes about 60 volunteer attorneys and law students, has worked with about 30 clients. The volunteers speak various languages like Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese, Yang said.

Expert Tips for Using PowerPoint Presenter View (2 screens, Windows) in Zoom or Teams — from thinkoutsidetheslide.com; with thanks to Tamara Kravits for this resource

Except:

In this article I want to share some of the expert tips for using the features of Presenter View. I will use the common scenario of Presenter View showing on one screen while the slides show on a second screen which is shared in the meeting platform. This allows easy access to all the Presenter View features.

If you need to add a second screen, check out the options in this article and if you want to learn more about using Presenter View in different setups, I have complete guides to using Presenter View in Zoom and in Teams.

From DSC:
Along the lines of using two monitors with a videoconferencing application, below is a graphic I created for our faculty members at the WMU-Cooley Law School.

Ways to setup your two monitors and jump around different applications

Also relevant/see:

6 Microsoft Teams features Zoom doesn’t have — from legaltechmonitor.com by Jim Calloway

Will the growth of telemedicine/telehealth influence the growth of telelegal? [Christian]

On 10/23/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, communications, Daniel S. Christian, health, research, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, trends, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
When reading the abstract of the article/research entitled, “Does Telemedicine Reduce Emergency Room Congestion? Evidence from New York State,” I wondered again:

Will the growth of telemedicine/telehealth influence the growth of telelegal?

I think it will.

We show that, on average, telemedicine availability in the ER significantly reduces average patients’ length of stay (LOS), which is partially driven by the flexible resource allocation. Specifically, the adoption of telemedicine leads to a larger reduction in ER LOS when there is a demand surge or supply shortage.

Also see:

Holopatient Remote Uses AR Holograms For Hands-On Medical Training — from vrscout.com by Bobby Carlton

Care over IP

Learning Ecosystems

Massive issues coming up re: evictions: A potential nightmare coming down the pike.

2020 in review: Legal software for working remotely [Black]

How to Work Remotely as a Lawyer: A Guide [Matich]

State of Remote Work 2020 [owllabs.com]

Illinois Supreme Court Issues Pandemic-Related Court Orders, Expands Criminal Appeals Pro Bono Program [Bagby]

The Advantages of Teaching Soft Skills to CS Undergrads Online [Hazzan]

Attorneys create free, virtual clinic to give immigrant Asian business owners legal help [Malagón]

Will the growth of telemedicine/telehealth influence the growth of telelegal? [Christian]

Categories

Tags