doublerobotics dot com -- wheels for your iPad

50 interesting ways to use Skype in your classroom — from edudemic.com by Jeff Dunn

Excerpt:

I’m a so-so fan of Skype. I’ve used it on an infrequent basis and have had more than a few dropped calls. Audio and video alike. However, it’s a cheap way to make long distance calls and seems to work better over wi-fi and the video quality is improving on a regular basis. So therefore it’s probably a great tool for the classroom. But how can you use Skype to do more than just make calls? Well, there’s a pantload of interesting ways! Check out these fun ideas:

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From DSC:
And for “Skype on steroids”, consider using Blackboard Collaborate:

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Blackboard Collaborate - Skype on Steroids

 

 

From DSC:
I created this graphic, so I ask for
mercy from you lawyers  at
Microsoft and/or at Blackboard! 🙂

 

 

Also see:

 

Your future TV is not about Tele-Vision [Eaton]

Your future TV is not about Tele-Vision — from FastCompany.com by Kit Eaton

Excerpt (emphasis below from DSC; also see the above categories to see how I see this as a highly-relevant component to our future learning ecosystems):

Then imagine what a hybrid of Apple’s tech and efforts like GetGlue, Shazam, and other interactive systems will be like when they’re more integrated into your 2017 smart TV. The big screen in your living room won’t be a one-way window into another world you can’t touch anymore. It’ll be a discovery engine, a way to learn facts, interact with the world, talk to people, find new and surprising content to absorb. Advertisers will love it, and companies like Nielsen–which largely has to guess all those stats about who watches which show at primetime nowadays–will be able to get accurate data…which may mean more appealing shows.

 

 

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

 

 

Also see:

If this works well, it could be great for Smart Classrooms, collaborative workspaces, BYOD environments

 

From DSC:
The ability for students to contribute content and instantly share that content would be great! Not just display it, but share it! These are the types of concepts, tools, and technologies that I enjoy pursuing as they facilitate learning and collaboration. They have applications not only in K-20, but in the corporate world as well. (I realize there are some issues to work through with virus detection and potential copyright infringement.)

Speaking of not only displaying files but sharing them as well, it seems like this may be possible with Steelcase’s upcoming FrameOne with media:scape — when combined with HD videoconferencing. But I’m not positive about that.

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FrameOne with mediascape

 

 

When the technologies behind Watson and Siri get perfected and integrated into the “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” environment [Christian]


From DSC:

When the technologies behind IBM’s Watson and Apple’s Siri get perfected and integrated into products and services that will make up the near future “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” environment— there will be:


 

  • A high degree of personalization and customization — available 24x7x365 on multiple kinds of devices
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  • The option to turn on tracking and analytics — reporting from which can be moved into the learner’s cloud-based profile upon completion of the unit/activity/badge
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  • Students of all ages will have access to their own virtual tutors so to speak
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  • When a virtual tutor is unable to resolve or address the student’s issue to the student’s satisfaction, the student will be able to instantly access a human tutor (with the option of keeping the existing work/issue/problems visible to the human tutor)

 

IBM's Watson -- incredible AI!

 

 

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

 

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Addendums:

 

 

Also see:

Bridging Our Future, envisioned by Intel  -- June 2012

 

Description:

By connecting education with smarter technology, Intel offers a look into the future of K-12 education. Watch as students use technology to collaborate with peers and industry experts to build a bridge model, from the initial design phase through the final structure testing. Intel’s education solutions help teachers provide innovative, personalized and secure learning environments to prepare students for successful futures in the 21st century.

I originally saw this at

 

 

“Learning from the living room” — Part I [Christian]

Learning from the living room -- a component of our future learning ecosystems -- by Daniel S. Christian, June 2012

 

 

Legal size PDF here

 

 

Addendum on 7/3/12 from an article I wrote for EvoLLLution.com (for LifeLong Learning):
Establishing better collaboration between the corporate world and higher education [Christian]

In the near future, perhaps we could have second screen-based activities whereby corporate leaders are giving TED-like presentations or expressing the current issues in their worlds via a program on Smart TVs, and the students are communicating and collaborating about these presentations via tablets or smart phones.  Perhaps there will be electronic means whereby students could submit their ideas and feedback to the presenting companies (and whereby selected ideas could be rewarded in terms of free products or services that the company produces).

Finds and tracks the talker -- nice!

 

From DSC:
My thanks to Mr. Adam Tozer, in the A/V Department at Calvin College for this item. If you are looking at some mics for lecture capture or for doing some videoconferencing,  this model is worth checking out.

Addendum on 7/2/12 — also see:

 

Cisco brings online collaboration solutions under WebEx name — from eWeek.com by Jeffrey Burt
The company is adding Office and greater email integration to its WebEx Social enterprise social networking solution, which previously was known as Quad.

Excerpt:

Cisco Systems executives are bringing their disparate Web collaboration solutions under the WebEx umbrella, and expanding the capabilities of its enterprise social networking offering formerly known as Cisco Quad.

Blackboard launches mobile beta program for Blackboard Collaborate — from Blackboard.com
Company plans to bring live classes and collaboration to mobile devices

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Blackboard Inc. today announced the launch of a Beta program for an interactive mobile application for Blackboard Collaborate, the leading Web conferencing platform built for education. The new app would let learners participate in live Web conferencing sessions from smartphone and tablet devices, significantly expanding access to sessions delivered through the platform.

The app, Blackboard Collaborate Mobile, would let users join a live Web conference through a learning management system (LMS) link, email link or calendar invite. After the session launches automatically, users would access a range of interactive tools enabling them to view content, communicate through chat and audio, respond to surveys, raise a hand, see the status of other participants, join breakout rooms and more.

From DSC:
As the massive convergence of the computer, the telephone, and the television continues, other trends are also taking place that may eventually impact how we interact with educationally-related content.  That is, the main screen of our living rooms might be delivering a 5-10 minute “lecture”, but our tablets and smart phones may be in our laps as we interact around this content with others. 

Along these lines, as transmedia storytelling develops, the use of multiple devices and methods to consume and contribute to content may be setting the stages for how things can get done with more educationally-related applications.

Consider this excerpt from Complex TV: Transmedia Storytelling — by Jason Mittell, Associate Professor of American Studies and Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College:

As television series have become more complex in their narrative strategies, television itself has expanded its scope across a number of screens and platforms, complicating notions of medium-specificity at the very same time that television seems to have a clearer sense of distinct narrative form. This chapter explores how television narratives are expanded and complicated through transmedia extensions, including video games, novelizations, websites, online video, and alternate reality games. With specific analyses of transmedia strategies for Lost and Breaking Bad, I consider how television’s transmedia storytelling is grappling with issues of canonicity and audience segmentation, how transmedia reframes viewer expectations for the core television serial, and what transmedia possibilities might look like going forward.

 

Also relevant/see:

  • Please don’t ruin the second screen — from techcrunch.com by Somrat Niyogi
    Excerpt:
    The second screen space is going to be a multi-billion dollar market. Just last week, Tim Cook announced that 67M iPads were sold in less than two years. It took more than 24 years to sell that many Macs.  With the growing trend of second screen activity (i.e. using tablets while you watch TV), there is bound to be major disruption in the TV industry.
  • Comcast connects Skype HD videoconferencing to the living room TV — from networkworld.com by Larry Hettick
    Excerpt:
    With the Skype on Xfinity service customers will also be able to:
    • Make and receive Skype-to-Skype video and audio calls or send instant messages via Skype on a TV while watching their favorite TV show at the same time, and accept incoming Skype calls during a TV show with the help of Caller ID.
    • Import Skype friends into a global address book which can also contain Facebook, Outlook, Gmail and smartphone contacts so subscribers can find friends who already use Skype and see when contacts are online and available to talk.
    • Communicate with the hundreds of millions of connected Skype users around the globe, whether on a Skype-enabled TV, PC or mobile device.
  • A TV platform so disruptive everyone’s suing it — from fastcompany.com by David Zax
    Excerpt:
    We chat with Chet Kanojia of Aereo, the new TV-where-and-when-you-want-it service that has a few legal troubles. Could Aereo finally disrupt the loathed cable bundle–and TV altogether?
  • Now serving the latest in exponential growth: YouTube!— from singularityhub.com by David J. Hill.
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Addendum on 6/2/12

Polycom® RealPresence® Video Content Management Solutions Deliver Live Video Streaming and Video Recordings to Android and Apple Devices
Polycom extends secure user access to video content beyond traditional PCs and laptops to tablets and smartphones, providing easy access to view live and recorded videos on-demand

PLEASANTON, Calif. – May 15, 2012 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC), today unveiled updates to Polycom® RealPresence® Video Content Management solutions  that deliver anytime, anywhere secure access to view live-streaming webcasts and video recordings on-demand through a Web portal from any device. New features for RealPresence Video Content Management include updates for Polycom® RSS™ 4000 Recording and Streaming Server and Polycom® RealPresence® Media Manager that make the solution compatible with existing and future technologies, while extending users’ access to video content from traditional computer systems to Android and iOS-based mobile devices. Polycom’s RealPresence Video Content Management solution was recently recognized by Gartner with a “Positive” rating in the latest MarketScope for Video Content Management and Delivery, April 2012.1

Automated grading software in development to score essays as accurately as humans — from singularityhub.com by David J. Hill

See the iphone – Diorama piece at mike-ko.com

Beam me up Scotty: Life-size hologram-like telepods revolutionize videoconferencing — from the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University

Disney Research invents amazing new touch sensing tech — from DVICE.com

A smart city

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When we think of computer networks, we think of routers and servers and fiber optic cables and laptops and smartphones — we think of the internet. In actuality, though, the visible internet is just the tip of the iceberg. There are secret military networks, and ad hoc wireless networks, and utility companies have sprawling, cellular networks the track

 

30 specialist (and super smart) search engines — from thenextweb.com by Adam Vincenzini

The home 3-D printer is more real than ever–and costs as much as an iPad — from fastcompany.com by Kit Eaton

A ride on MIT Media Lab’s digital bandwagon — from CNET.com by Martin LaMonica
Digital technologies are reaching deeper into the physical world, opening up new ways for people to interact with their surroundings, say researchers at MIT’s Media Lab.

 

 

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