Augmented Learning — from Kirsten Winkler at bigthink.com
Excerpt:

A technology that keeps me excited for a while now is augmented reality in combination with QR codes and geo tagging. One start-up that caught my attention early on was StickBits.

From DSC:
I’m thinking of a related application here — it involves Geology courses. That is, what if the rocks or other types of materials (that students were trying to learn about) were assigned their own QR codes? Then the students could walk around the room, scan in the QR codes, and the relevant information about that rock/material would appear on their device.


From DSC:
Crestron’s Media Controllers do a nice job of moving the complexities of technology into the background — providing an easy to use, touch-panel interface to their media controllers (i.e. to control such “sources” as desktop computers, laptops, DVD/VHS players, document cameras, audio inputs from iPods/iPads, etc.).  So no longer do you need to search for the correct remote (of the 5-10 remotes on your lectern) — you just use the touch-sensitive panel to drive your media. Very nice. The downsides to this set of technologies are the costs involved to purchase and install the equipment, as well as developing the necessary skillset to configure and maintain them.

 

 

Also see:

 

…and http://www.crestron.com/markets/classroom_campus_room_and_building_automation/

… and Crestron Debuts Versatile TPMC-9L Wall Mount Touch Panel Delivering Speed, Performance And Style At A Great Value
Crestron announced today [3/31/11] that the new TPMC-9L Wall Mount Touch Panel, the latest addition to its family of Core 3 OS-ready panels, is now shipping. TPMC-9L is the perfect-sized touch screen – large enough to enjoy a full, rich interactive user experience with a minimalist design that remains discreet in any setting. A 9” widescreen provides more space for designing custom graphical interfaces, and a larger display for viewing cover art, control apps and scores of other dynamic content. TPMC-9L also offers a slew of cool new media and communications tools like widgets and high-definition streaming video for IP/Web security cameras that instantly enhance whole home and building automation systems.


There’s an app for that class at Va. universities — from timesdispatch.com by Karin Kapsidelis

VCU App

VCU and other universities are exploring the uses of
smartphones and mobile applications in and outside classrooms.

 

With the help of his smartphone, D. Kirk Richardson taught a class last summer on Edgar Allan Poe’s last hours in Richmond. The walking tour took on a different dimension for his Virginia Commonwealth University students when he augmented his lesson with vintage images from the poet’s day. On his iPhone, they could see Poe haunts that no longer exist and even a menu from a restaurant where he dined during his last 30 hours here in 1849. For Richardson, who teaches focused inquiry classes at VCU’s University College, it was a way of adding context to Poe’s life and “moving history out of books.” He has since adapted that mobile lesson plan to a mytourguide.com application and is showing his students this semester how to use the app to create their own walking tours. Later this month, the class will set out to digitally explore the Civil War prison camp on Belle Isle, famous hotels and the last days of Jefferson Davis.

 

http://mytourguide.com/

Originally saw this at
Ray Schroeder’s Online Learning Update blog

EdWeek’s 2011 Technology Counts — from The Future of Education by Jesse Moyer

 

Also see the report at:

K-12 seeks a custom fit -- Ed Week's Technology Count 2011

SENSUS and Open Exhibits – Easy Sharing Between Tables, Tablets & Phones — from ideum.com by Jim Spadaccini

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The concept is simple:
Make networking and sharing transparent across
multitouch devices and operating systems.

 

Powerful collaboration! Sharing files amongst tables, phones, tablets -from Jim Spadaccini - March2011

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From DSC:
Even more powerful if such a file could be quickly sent/shared with a remote classroom/student!

 

From DSC:
I’ve been hoping that Steelcase would move towards implementing their puck-like devices — from their  MediaScape product line — on tables throughout a classroom…whereby these pucks would be wireless and whereby students could plug in whatever device they brought to class with them, and then hit the puck to begin “playing their media for the classroom.” No pauses, no interruptions to the flow of the class.

Along these lines, check this out:

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polyply1

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polyply8

The Education Game-Changer — from the Huffington Post by Neal Bascomb (author of THE NEW COOL, a story about science, education, and robots)

Charter schools, standardized tests, merit pay, teacher tenure — worthy topics, but ones about incremental movements in an American educational system desperate for a game-changer.

A noble ambition, but the truth is we already have the technology to transform education and return American schools to their preeminence in the world. The game-changer is the creation of a first-class, digital educational platform with enhanced, immersive lessons across a range of subjects at all grade levels. Technology will be in our schools, the focus should be on the quality of content on their screens.

For generations calculus has been taught the same way.

Now imagine learning calculus in a new way. Color tablet computer in hand, students choose their preferred learning style (lecture-based, symbolic, text, or visual). They set their own pace and level of interactivity. They select the avatar of their choice to deliver lectures (will.i.am, anyone) and how often they need to be quizzed to determine/aid retention. The standards of what is taught do not change, but their presentation is remarkably transformed. Instead of a blur of equations and two-dimensional graphs, imagine calculus illustrated with 3-D animations and defined in terms of its real-world applications. Solving a differential equation to determine trajectory is a lot more interesting if we make it about a doomsday scenario of an asteroid crashing into Earth — or just missing. Such video game-like techniques would be part and parcel of this new platform. Add in a social network, where students can interact with their peers, and an “app” market where experts offer their own pieces of the puzzle, and this platform comes even more alive.

More here…

Senate passes patent office reforms –from TheStreet.com

BOSTON (TheStreet) — The most comprehensive overhaul of U.S. patent law since the 1950s was approved by the U.S. Senate last week.

The America Invents Act, approved by a 95-5 vote, is intended to minimize the 700,000-application backlog faced by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, deter the diversion of its revenue to other government agencies and establish a system that grants patents to the first person to file an application, rather than having to determine who was first to produce a product.

From DSC:
I’m hopeful that this will encourage innovations within the world of educational technologies and better support educational entrepreneurship.

Edudemic 2.0 -- March 11, 2011

Tagged with:  

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

Disrupting the learning dynamic with technology — from Cisco

So how can technology disrupt the academic learning dynamic as effectively as it has disrupted the process for becoming more adept with social engagements? A new PBS documentary, Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century, explores this subject in depth. View an excerpt from the documentary…

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ViewPure -- get rid of the extraneous items while viewing a typical YouTube video

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