A hugely powerful vision: A potent addition to our learning ecosystems of the future

 

Daniel Christian:
A Vision of Our Future Learning Ecosystems


In the near future, as the computer, the television, the telephone (and more) continues to converge, we will most likely enjoy even more powerful capabilities to conveniently create and share our content as well as participate in a global learning ecosystem — whether that be from within our homes and/or from within our schools, colleges, universities and businesses throughout the world.

We will be teachers and students at the same time — even within the same hour — with online-based learning exchanges taking place all over the virtual and physical world.  Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) — in the form of online-based tutors, instructors, teachers, and professors — will be available on demand. Even more powerful/accurate/helpful learning engines will be involved behind the scenes in delivering up personalized, customized learning — available 24x7x365.  Cloud-based learner profiles may enter the equation as well.

The chances for creativity,  innovation, and entrepreneurship that are coming will be mind-blowing! What employers will be looking for — and where they can look for it — may change as well.

What we know today as the “television” will most likely play a significant role in this learning ecosystem of the future. But it won’t be like the TV we’ve come to know. It will be much more interactive and will be aware of who is using it — and what that person is interested in learning about. Technologies/applications like Apple’s AirPlay will become more standard, allowing a person to move from device to device without missing a  beat. Transmedia storytellers will thrive in this environment!

Much of the professionally done content will be created by teams of specialists, including the publishers of educational content, and the in-house teams of specialists within colleges, universities, and corporations around the globe. Perhaps consortiums of colleges/universities will each contribute some of the content — more readily accepting previous coursework that was delivered via their consortium’s membership.

An additional thought regarding higher education and K-12 and their Smart Classrooms/Spaces:
For input devices…
The “chalkboards” of the future may be transparent, or they may be on top of a drawing board-sized table or they may be tablet-based. But whatever form they take and whatever is displayed upon them, the ability to annotate will be there; with the resulting graphics saved and instantly distributed. (Eventually, we may get to voice-controlled Smart Classrooms, but we have a ways to go in that area…)

Below are some of the graphics that capture a bit of what I’m seeing in my mind…and in our futures.

Alternatively available as a PowerPoint Presentation (audio forthcoming in a future version)

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

— from Daniel S. Christian | April 2011

See also:

Addendum on 4-14-11:

 

Tagged with:  
Tagged with:  

EDUCAUSE Review Latest Issue Cover

EDUCAUSE Review
Volume 46, Number 2 | March/April 2011

Getting a Handle on Mobile: Perspectives

 

Features

On teaching
Mobile Literacy
David Parry
“The future our students will inherit is one that will be mediated and stitched together by the mobile web, and I think that ethically, we are called on as teachers to teach them how to use these technologies effectively.”
David McCarthy
“The current optimal e-reading solution for higher education is a robust laptop home base with an ecosystem that interacts with tablets and e-readers for mobile consumption.”
On iPads
Why Mobile?
Mary Ann Gawelek, Mary Spataro, and Phil Komarny
“With their students, faculty have become co-learners and pioneers in the classroom. With no models to work from, they had to explore, practice, and discover the iPad’s potential for expanding learning.”
Susan T. Evans
“Mobile is the future for content delivery. Colleges and universities need to establish a strategy now and make the decisions necessary to take advantage of this communication opportunity.”
Jim Davis and Rosemary A. Rocchio
“This device-agnostic framework and approach has huge practical advantages in that we can reach the vast majority of our mobile community regardless of what device they are using and we can readily accommodate ever-changing devices.”
“The best I can hope to do is keep an eye on the high level industry trends and directions, and then once we’ve identified those trends, ride them as best we can to where we think they’ll take the market.”

Pearson & McGraw-Hill make multi-million dollar investment in Inkling — from Kirsten Winkler

It seems as if the latest study from Xplana in which they predict that the tipping point for digital textbooks is as near as 2015 has opened up the wallets of two major publishers for an undisclosed “multi million Dollar” investment.

Inkling, the maker of the iPad application and platform which delivers enhanced and engaging textbooks, leaving the “flat, PDF-based digital textbooks” behind is the beneficiary and it could give the startup a competitive edge over the well funded competitor the Kno.

But as money is not everything Inkling, Pearson and McGraw-Hill also made some significant content commitments, boosting the number of titles available on the Inkling platform…

 

Also see:

Apple iPad 2 ‘sold out’ — from telegraph.co.uk
Analysts at Piper Jaffray and Deutsche Bank claim the Apple iPad 2 is now totally sold out after its Friday launch, with 70% sold to new purchasers

iPad 2 Sold Out, 70% Went to New Buyers — from Mashable.com by Stan Schroeder

Also see:
Tablet devices: iPad takes over as the lecture hall aid of choice — from ft.com by Tim Bradshaw

Textbook publisher announces ‘app’ approach to learning materials — from The Chronicle by Jeff Young

Long Beach—The phrase “there’s an app for that” may be coming to textbooks.

Today a major textbook company, Cengage Learning, announced a new e-textbook publishing platform that lets professors plug in apps, some made by other software companies, to add to traditional textbook content features like tutoring services or the ability to trade margin notes with other students.

The system is called MindTap, and it is scheduled to be announced at the annual TED conference here. When Chris Vento, Cengage’s executive vice president for technology and development, explained the system to a reporter, he felt the need to put the word “textbook” in air quotes, since traditional textbook content is a small part of the new product. These digital textbooks essentially bundle together several products sold by Cengage and its subsidiaries, including their electronic test-bank system, called Aplia, as well as videos and other materials that the company owns the rights to, including the archives of Newsweek.  And MindTap allows professors to customize the presentation of the material, by adding their own slides, video lectures, articles, or free online content from elsewhere.

Tagged with:  

The Connected Life at Home — from Cisco

The connected life at home -- from Cisco

.

.

From DSC:

How will these types of technologies affect what we can do with K-12 education/higher education/workplace training and development? I’d say they will open up a world of new applications and opportunities for those who are ready to innovate; and these types of technologies will move the “Forthcoming Walmart of Education” along.

Above item from:

Tagged with:  

What trends really matter? Rob Reynolds presentation -- 2-9-11

.

.

This is a presentation prepared for the “What College Students Think: Making Information Pay for Higher Ed Publishing” conference sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group on February 9.

The 2011 Horizon Report — from the New Media Consortium; via Educause

.

The 2011 Horizon Report -- from the New Media Consortium

.

Time-to-Adoption: One Year or Less

  • Electronic Books
  • Mobiles

Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years

  • Augmented Reality
  • Game-Based Learning

Time-to-Adoption: Four to Five Years

  • Gesture-Based Computing
  • Learning Analytics


Also see:

Tablet Commerce Expected to Explode in 2011 [STATS] — from Mashable

.

Mobile Traffic Report

.
Also see:

Tagged with:  

How will technologies like AirPlay affect education? I suggest 24x7x365 access on any device may be one way. By Daniel S. Christian at Learning Ecosystems blog-- 1-17-11.

.


Addendum on 1-20-11:
The future of the TV is online
— from telegraph.co.uk
Your television’s going to get connected, says Matt Warman


© 2024 | Daniel Christian