Visualizing the future urban world — from fastcoexist.com by Ariel Schwartz
A new app called Urban World beautifully projects how cities around the world are going to explode in growth and economic power by 2025.
Also see:
On 03/22/2013,
in 21st century, Australia, business, Canada, corporate / business world, economics, Europe, future, global / globalization, graphics, sociology, United States, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
The future of higher ed according to Richard DeMillo; some thoughts/perspectives worth reflecting on
On 03/20/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accreditation, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, internet, journalism, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, surviving,
by Daniel Christian
Traditional institutions will close, number of colleges and universities will rise (audio and transcript) — from evoLLLution.com (where LLL stands for lifelong learning) by Richard DeMillo | Director of the Center for 21st Century Universities, Georgia Institute of Technology
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
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Well, for me, it always boils down to value. People misunderstand this as assigning value based on salaries or employability, but I mean value in the larger sense. You have to have a reason to ask students to pay more than the marginal costs of delivering education. And with all these revolutions in technology for course delivery, that marginal cost is going to zero very, very quickly [think journalism]. So, every institution that’s going to survive, I think, over the next 50 years, is going to have to make that case. Why is it that tuition at this institution is justified?
The interesting thing about this is it’s going to be accelerated because the old bureaucracies, the old institutional models… are crumbling. At least, their boundaries are crumbling. Let me tell you what I mean by that.
The accrediting agencies, which I think traditionally have had — at least for the last 120 years or so—an institutional focus, are now shifting their focus to students; to competencies, to demonstrations of what students know. And that really starts to cut against institutional entitlement.
I think the conclusion of all this is that, as it becomes harder and harder for… a “Me-Too Institution” to argue for a marginal increase in price, the amount of money that those institutions are going to have available to them to spend on anything but core mission for students is also going to go to zero. So, this is kind of a virtuous cycle; … institutions that are unable to make the value proposition will find themselves more and more strapped for discretionary funds in order to move themselves into a different space. And that’s an ending that’s not very good for most institutions.
From DSC:
How will our/your organization keep from becoming a commodity? What are we/you all going to bring to the table that’s different, unique, and worth paying for?
Also see:
- Higher Education’s turn in the vortex of change — from evoLLLution.com by Karen Sibley | Dean of Continuing Education, Brown University
Excerpt:
Here’s the mind-bending question that prompts this thought:
What will brand value and marketing in higher education look like in 2023?
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MOOCS likely to be integrated into traditional university programming — from evoLLLution.com by Larry Cooperman | Director of OpenCourseWare, UC Irvine
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Traditional instructors will remain, but online learning heralds a new breed — from evoLLLution.com by Pepper Lynn Werner | Doctoral Student, University of Wyoming
On 03/18/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, innovation, marketplaces, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
Princeton Review founder’s startup Noodle acquires Lore to build an education marketplace around search — from techcrunch.com by Rip Empson
Excerpt:
Last summer, we told you about the launch of Noodle Education, a startup co-founded and led by John Katzman, perhaps better known as a co-founder of The Princeton Review and 2U (formerly 2tor). The startup is on a mission to bring a Netflix-style recommendation engine to the fragmented and noisy world of education. Not unlike Google, Noodle Education wants to organize the world’s learning platforms and aggregate the huge amount of educational info out their on the Web into a learning-centric, personalized search and recommendation engine.
On 03/13/2013,
in 21st century, communities of practice, Daniel S. Christian, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, social learning / networks,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
How long before we have an OVEE for communities of practice?
How long before we have an OVEE for communities of practice?
On 03/11/2013,
in 21st century, analytics, business, corporate / business world, data related items, future, social learning / networks, technology (general),
by Daniel Christian
IBM CEO predicts three ways technology will transform the future of business — from forbes.com by Jenna Goudreau
Virginia Rometty
- Data analytics will revolutionize decision-making
- The social network will drive value
- Consumer segments will cede to the individual
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“The greatest contribution of this shift,” Rometty concluded,
“is that it will force every entity to become an authentic organization.”
On 03/04/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, future, innovation, interactivity, learning spaces, Microsoft, smart classrooms, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 02/20/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, more voice more choice more control, motivation, multimedia, online learning, participation, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, television, transmedia,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpt:
It’s not unusual for a science fiction television show to spin off a video game. What is unusual is linking the show and the game together on an ongoing basis, with plot elements and characters from each crossing over to the other. In April, gaming company Trion Worlds and the Syfy cable television channel will unveil Defiance, the first such crossover massively multiplayer online game (MMO) and TV show.
From DSC:
Transmedia.
Multimedia.
Interactivity.
Participation.
Gamification.
Sounds like there must be something here for the next gen of learners — and learning from the living room.
Also see:
- Six fascinating, informative, and just plain good lectures on videogames in iTunes U — from forbes.com by Carol Pinchefsky
On 02/14/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online tutoring, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, streams of content, ubiquitous learning, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Below are some reflections after seeing these items:
- IBM’s Watson is better at diagnosing cancer than human doctors — from wired.co.uk by Ian Steadman
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- Watson is now commercially available, set to help doctors treat cancer — from singularityhub.com by Peter Murray
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- Watson supercomputer goes to college, Revenge Of The Nerds style antics imminent — not an exemplary article from geekosystem.com, but the underlying topic has enormous implications
Excerpt:
…the team developing Watson is sending the computer to college, where it will bone up on coursework in English and math.
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While the original Watson will be staying put at the IBM research center it calls home, the hardware to run the program is being installed at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York, where researchers and grad students will be spend the next three years teaching Watson all they can while also hoping to learn more about how the software learns and make it more effective.
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From DSC:
The current set of MOOCs are very powerful, but, like a bush that needs pruning, they can become unwieldy and hard to control. Not only do the current set of MOOCs help me to see the importance of instructional design, but trying to drink from the firehose often presents problems (i.e. wading through thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts, etc.). How can we still provide openness and yet provide people with better methods/tools for setting their desired level of drinking from this firehose? Tags are helpful, but for most people, they are not doing enough to filter/curate the content at this point.
Enter the technologies being developed in IBM’s Watson, Apple’s SIRI, or in Knewton’s product lines. End-user controllable setting might include:
- Full throttle — like current form of MOOCs — thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts, etc.
- IBM Watson-enabled curation/filtering only — each individual adjusts how many items they want to see in the various portions of the interface (see above); these settings control how many items and/or streams of content get presented to you
The ideas involving learning agents, artificial intelligence, intelligent tutoring, intelligent systems and more seem to get roped in here…hmm…just thinking out loud and sharing potentially-useful ideas.
On 02/06/2013,
in 21st century, career development, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, emerging technologies, future, global / globalization, higher education, K-12 related, reinvent, robotics, social learning / networks, social media, society, streams of content, surviving, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
First, what prompted the questions and reflections that are listed below? For that, I turn to some recent items that I ran across involving the use of robotics and whether that may or may not be affecting employment:
The work of Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee; for example their book Race Against the Machine
Excerpt of description:
But digital innovation has also changed how the economic pie is distributed, and here the news is not good for the median worker. As technology races ahead, it can leave many people behind. Workers whose skills have been mastered by computers have less to offer the job market, and see their wages and prospects shrink. Entrepreneurial business models, new organizational structures and different institutions are needed to ensure that the average worker is not left behind by cutting-edge machines.
How to freak out responsibly about the rise of the robots — from theatlantic.com by Derek Thompson
It’s fun to imagine an economy where machines are smarter than humans. But we don’t need an artificial crisis over artificial intelligence.
Excerpt:
Let’s say it upfront: Technology can replace jobs and (at least temporarily) increase income inequality. From the spinning jenny to those massive mechanical arms flying wildly around car assembly lines, technology raises productivity by helping workers accomplish more in less time (i.e.: put a power drill in a human hand) and by replacing workers altogether (i.e.: build a power-drilling bot).
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What ails us today isn’t a surplus of robots, but a deficit of demand. Yes, we have a manufacturing industry undergoing a sensational, but job-killing, productivity revolution — very much like the one that took farm employment from 40 percent in 1900 to less than 5 percent today. But the other nine-tenths of the economy are basically going through an old-fashioned weak-but-steady recovery, the kind that hundreds of years of financial crises would predict.
America has hit “peak jobs” — from techcrunch.com by Jon Evans
Excerpt:
“The middle class is being hollowed out,” says James Altucher. “Economists are shifting their attention toward a […] crisis in the United States: the significant increase in income inequality,” reports the New York Times.
Think all those job losses over the last five years were just caused by the recession? No: “Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market,” according to an AP report on how technology is killing middle-class jobs.
Technology and the employment challenge — from project-syndicate.org by Michael Spence
Excerpt:
MILAN – New technologies of various kinds, together with globalization, are powerfully affecting the range of employment options for individuals in advanced and developing countries alike – and at various levels of education. Technological innovations are not only reducing the number of routine jobs, but also causing changes in global supply chains and networks that result in the relocation of routine jobs – and, increasingly, non-routine jobs at multiple skill levels – in the tradable sector of many economies.
Man vs. robot — from macleans.ca by Peter Nowak
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Secondly, some reflections (from DSC)
I wonder…
- What types of jobs are opening up now? (example here)
- What types of jobs will be opening up soon? How about in 3-5 years from now?
- Should these trends affect the way we educate and prepare our kids today?
- Should these trends affect the way we help employees grow/reinvent themselves?
Again, for me, the answer lies at least partly in helping people consistently obtain the knowledge that they need — i.e. to help them build, grow, and maintain their own learning ecosystems — throughout their lifetimes. We need to help people dip their feet into the appropriate streams of content that are constantly flowing by.
Perhaps that’s one of the key new purposes that K-12, higher ed, and the corporate training departments out there will play in the future as they sift through the massive amounts of information coming at us to help individuals identify:
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- What are the most effective tools — and methods — that people can use to connect with others?
(Then allow folks to pick what works best for them. Current examples: blogging/RSS feeds, Twitter, social bookmarking.)
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- Who are some of the folks within each particular discipline/line of work that others (who want to learn about those disciplines) should know about?
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- What trends are coming down the pike and how should we be preparing ourselves — and/or our organizations — for those changes?
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On 02/01/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, online media, participation, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, project-based learning, real-world assignments, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, transmedia, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
As a team of us have been charged with putting together a new collaborative workspace/conference room, I’ve been thinking about some ideas for a new type of interface as well as some new types of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to be used in group collaboration/web-based collaboration. I was thinking it would be good to not only display files from various devices but also to be able to share files/URLs/other resources with each other. (Some type of storage device that processes files — and scans them for viruses would be needed in addition to a large display or an interactive multitouch surface/wall.)
People within the same room could contribute files/items to a variety of “areas” — and so could others who joined in via the Internet. Here’s what I had wanted to be able to do and I had pictured in my mind:
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
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- People could select which files/URLs/resources that they wanted to contribute
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- People could select which files/URLs/resources that they wanted to download to their own devices (during and after the meeting)
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- Could be powerful in the next generation of our Smart Classrooms as well as in corporate training/learning spaces
. - Could be powerful in the what I’m envisioning in “Learning from the Living [Class] Room”
. - Could be powerful in conference room situations
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It’s very similar to what Tidebreak has created/envisioned in their product lines.
Check out their innovative work/products/concepts!
Transforming learning spaces: 3 big ideas — from Tidebreak
Also see:
On 01/28/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital textbooks, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, multimedia, new business models, online learning, personalized/customized learning, publishing, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, trends,
by Daniel Christian
The object formerly known as the textbook –– from The Chronicle by Jeff Young
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Holly Gressley for The Chronicle
Excerpt:
Textbook publishers argue that their newest digital products shouldn’t even be called “textbooks.” They’re really software programs built to deliver a mix of text, videos, and homework assignments. But delivering them is just the beginning. No old-school textbook was able to be customized for each student in the classroom. The books never graded the homework. And while they contain sample exam questions, they couldn’t administer the test themselves.
One publisher calls its products “personalized learning experiences,” another “courseware,” and one insists on using its own brand name, “MindTap.” For now, this new product could be called “the object formerly known as the textbook.”
From DSC:
Imagine how this sort of thing might fit into the “chalkboard of the future” — as applications and content flow onto the “board” from open source repositories and/or from the publishers’ cloud-based repositories of content…
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or in learning from the living room…
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![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
Also see:
On 01/25/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assessment, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, new media literacies, personalized/customized learning, real-world assignments, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, tools, trends, using teams, vendors, virtual tutoring,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
In real estate, one hear’s the mantra:
Location. Location. Location.
In higher education, I have it that we’ll be hearing this for a while:
Experimentation. Experimentation. Experimentation.
Consider the following reflections on Steve’ Kolowich’s solid article, The new intelligence (from InsideHigherEd.com)
Excerpt:
And for the largest public university in the country, it is hardly fiction. Arizona State University has become ground zero for data-driven teaching in higher education. The university has rolled out an ambitious effort to turn its classrooms into laboratories for technology-abetted “adaptive learning” — a method that purports to give instructors real-time intelligence on how well each of their students is getting each concept.
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From DSC:
Besides being used in blended learning environments…some predictions:
- These technologies will become integrated into what MOOCs eventually morph into and provide a significant piece of the assessment/guidance puzzle
- Such tools will be a part of one’s future learning ecosystem
- Such tools will be part of interactive, massively open online educationally-related games
- Such tools will be integrated into personalized learning agents — spiders/recommendation engines that scan the web for relevant items that one needs to complete one’s cognitive gaps in a subject/topic
- They will be accessible from your living room as well as from your mobile devices
- They will integrate into web-based learner profiles
It’s the sort of thing I was trying to get at with this graphic from 3 years ago:
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Please don’t misunderstand me, the human mind is far beyond the complexity of an engine. But I still think that there will be more tools & technologies developed that will help the teachers/professors in their efforts to guide students into the knowledge of a discipline.
I beseech the corporate world to get involved more here — and not with the end goal of earning profits — but rather, with the aim of making the world a better place and giving a huge gift to the generations yet born.
I urge the corporate world to reach into their deep pockets (1.X trillion in cash at this point in time) and team up with our youth/teachers/professors/instructional designers/programmers/etc. to develop sophisticated, educationally-related, engaging games that are relevant to the world that our youth will be growing up in; and/or create interactive simulations that provide more choice/more control to the learners.
I urge more of the corporate world to join Knewton and Pearson and allocate some significant resources to help develop the next gen learning tools. I’ll bet that we’ll be amazed at what can be produced! Your daughters, sons, granddaughters, and grandsons will really appreciate the work that you did for them!!!
On 01/11/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, convergence, human-computer interaction (HCI), Learning from the Living [Class] Room, mobile learning, mobile technologies, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV,
by Daniel Christian
A tale of two television strategies — from IEEE.org by Steven Cherry
Excerpt:
At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, back-to-back visits to LG and Panasonic reveal two very different approaches to selling, and maybe making, televisions. At LG the focus was on display technologies, picture quality, size, and form factors. Panasonic put its Smart TV features front and center.
…
I saw a voice-commanded Google search.
…
At yet another station, Panasonic showed a proof-of-concept of some friends all chatting by text message (like an old-style AOL chatroom), with the messages showing up on at the bottom portion of a television screen showing the program that everyone is watching.
…
LG had a few user scenarios—collaborative picture drawing between users of 5-inch tablets, for example—but they mostly weren’t very well developed, nor very smart.
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Also see:
- Smart TV Trends in 2013 — from adotas.com by Michael Lantz
. - CES 2013: Pretend you’re at CES by watching Samsung’s keynote — from webpronews.com by Zach Walton
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