Innovations on campus — onlineuniversities.com

 

 

Latitude looking to kids for technology innovation — from technapex.com by Caity Doyle

 

 

Excerpt:

On their website, Latitude explains why they made the interesting choice to reach out to children for new ideas in technology:

Young people shouldn’t be merely passive recipients of media and technology, as they’re often thought to be — rather, they should be active participants in imagining and creating the future of the Web. Why? Because “digital natives” have a more intuitive relationship with new technologies than many adults have, and because they have different expectations about technology. They instinctively expect it to respond to them in very human-like ways — to motivate and empower them, often serving as a sort of companion, rather than merely a tool for solving specific problems.

Embedded ubiquitous learning — from the Upside Learning blog by Abhijit Kadle

Excerpt:

What would ubiquitous learning look like? Well, there isn’t an easy answer to that. It is hard to foresee what will come about personal computing technologies in the next decade. In my eyes, from a learning perspective, there are a few key themes (emphasis DSC):

  1. Discovery and delivery – the ability to use agents that comprehend context, are able to make ‘coherent’ sense of varied data streams to search for information, discover, and provide content – just in time, in the correct context and in the appropriate format.
  2. Machine to Machine communication – While there is no doubt that this will happen, and that the ‘internet of things’ isn’t very far away in the future. One thing I found fascinating is the idea that you could create a ‘learning profile’, an identity that is essentially a digital package of your learning preferences and the contents of your past learning, that can be accessed by machines. This would let the ‘machine’ actually tailor its user interfaces, learning content and the experience itself, and present information in a way that suits the preferences of the human.
  3. Embedded learning – networked learning that is built into every device, every tool, every physical resource humans use; there is no need for specific training; the latest information is available just in time, from authentic sources, judged valuable by network analysis, provided with the right context and assists humans to complete tasks

This is new! Record a video of iPad’s screen in any app— from Andrew Douch

From DSC:
I haven’t seen or used this app, but thanks Andrew for your posting here.  I’ll add this to my list of apps that I need to check out! A Captivate or Camtasia Studio like app for one’s iPad sounds veeeeerryy interesting.

 

Take a picture of your homework and get help from volunteer tutors — from The Innovative Educator blog by Lisa Nielsen

Excerpt:

Dittles is a free, fun, and simple way to connect students with tutors right on an iOS device. It works like this…a student takes a picture of the problem they are having trouble answering. The picture gets posted for anyone to see. Tutors can then post a targeted video lesson that addresses the student’s problem. Students will receive notification when a lesson is posted for them. If a student likes the lesson, a tutor has made an impact.

http://edcetera.rafter.com/

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The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - The Siege of Academe [Kevin Carey]

Excerpt:

The ongoing carnage in the newspaper industry provides an object lesson of what can happen when a long-established, information-focused industry’s business model is challenged by low-price competitors online. The disruptive power of information technology may be our best hope for curing the chronic college cost disease that is driving a growing number of students into ruinous debt or out of higher education altogether. It may also be an existential threat to institutions that have long played a crucial role in American life.

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From DSC:
If higher ed doesn’t respond more forcefully/significantly to the perfect storm it finds itself in, people will find other ways of getting employed and staying employed. The conversation continues to move away from institutions of traditional higher education (here’s but one example). Control is an illusion.

iTunes U Course Manager hands on — from UCL – London’s Global University  by Matt Jenner

Excerpt:

iTunes U is known as a wonderful platform for finding recorded lectures and podcasts from academics and institutions across the world. But recently it’s also become a location for entire courses, with students, multiple resources and some interaction all happening on devices such as the iPad. It’s all very Apple-based, which means anyone without this hardware can’t access it and thus it remains a little elitist. BUT there’s still some good reasons to look into it – and I hope this begins to explain why.

From DSC:
Thanks Matt for the helpful screenshots and overview of what iTunes U is offering these days!

If Apple were to devote more resources to create a fully-stocked CMS/LMS, they could add a significant piece to the overall ecosystem they continue to build.  But this time, it would have significant benefits to those who want to learn and to reinvent themselves over time.

For example, what if:

  • Faculty members worked with students to create the textbooks using iBooks Author?
  • And the textbooks were free?
  • iPads were used in BYOD type of settings and audio/video/text/graphics-based files could be “beamed” up to a larger presentation display? (Or all of the materials that they would need are already on the iPad from their orientation day and onward — and would constantly be updated throughout their collegiate days?  In fact, a supplemental charge could provide the ability for alumni to subscribe to constantly updated streams of content as well.)
  • CMS/LMS functions like discussion boards, wikis, blogs, podcasts, videoconferencing and more could be built into iTunes U?

Could be a potent learning setup as such cloud-based materials are available to everyone throughout the globe — at very attractive prices.

 

[video_lightbox_vimeo5 video_id=46294572 width=800 height=600 anchor=”http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ExploringDisruptions-Mark-Elgart-August2012.jpg”]

(Click on above image to see the video)

Also see:
http://www.advanc-ed.org/

Educreations grabs $2.2M from Accel, NewSchools to turn your iPad into your classroom — from techcrunch.com by Rip Empson

Excerpt:

Khan Academy has attracted the attention of millions of students and parents (and has even impressed Bill Gates) by flipping the traditional classroom and homework model on its head with videos on a variety of academic subjects. While it’s easy to admire Khan’s devotion to teaching, the truth is he’s not a trained educator. There are millions of professional teachers who would relish the opportunity to create their own educational videos and interactive lessons, but the vast majority lack the resources to flip their own classrooms.

Also see:

Apple's iTunes U may be leading a global revolution in higher education

 

From DSC:

Apple has been putting together a solid ecosystem of hardware and software that allows for the creation and distribution of content.  “Easy is hard” I like to say and Apple’s done a great job of creating easy-to-use devices and apps. They have a long way to go before iTunes U has all the built-in functionality needed to replace a Blackboard Learn or a Moodle type of CMS/LMS.  But given their solid history of creating highly-usable hardware and software, they could deal a smashing blow to what’s happening in the CMS/LMS world today. 

Plus, with Apple TV, Airplay mirroring, the growth of second screen-based apps, and machine-to-machine communications, Apple is poised to get into this game…big time. If my thoughts re: “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” come to fruition, Apple would be positioned for some serious worldwide impact on lifelong learning; especially when combined with the developments such as the use of MOOCs, AI and HCI-related innovations, learning agents, web-based learner profiles, and potential/upcoming changes to accreditation.

Too far fetched do you think? Hmmm….well considering that online learning has already been proven to be at least as affective as f2f learning — and in some studies has produced even greater learning outcomes/results — I wonder how things will look in mid-2015…? (That is, where is the innovation occurring?)


 Addendum:

  • Connected TV penetration to top 50% by 2017 — from worldscreen.com by Mansha Daswani
    Excerpt:
    SCOTTSDALE: ABI Research forecasts that more than 50 percent of television homes in North America and Western Europe will have Internet-connected TV sets by 2017, up from just 10 percent last year, while Blu-ray player penetration is expected to rise to more than 76 percent from about 25 percent. The report notes that the popularity of connected TV is not limited to developed markets—there have been increasing shipments to China, ABI notes.
    .
  • Advertisers need to pay attention to connected TV [INFOGRAPHIC] — from Mashable.com
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  • The future of TV is two screens, one held firmly in your hands — from FastCompany.com by Kit Eaton
    Excerpt:

    The connected TV, sometimes called the smart TV (and even branded as such by Samsung) is a growing phenomenon: TV makers are adding limited apps, Net connectivity, and even streaming media powers to their newer TVs in the hope they’ll persuade you to upgrade your newish LCD for a flatter, smarter unit. They’re desperate to, given how flat this market is. But according to new research from Pew, the future of TV may actually be a little more closely aligned with the notion of a “connected TV viewer,” an important distinction. Pew spoke to over 2,200 U.S. adults a couple of months ago and discovered that 52% of all adult cell phone owners now “incorporate their mobile devices into their television watching experiences.”

 

Educreations adds to interactive whiteboard lesson app — from betakit.com by Justin Lee

Excerpt:

White boards are a key tool for creative learners, who use them to write down ideas, brainstorm, and wipe it away when the next inspiration hits. Startup Educreations is looking to move beyond the static whiteboard with their free educational app for iPad, which allows teachers to create video whiteboard lessons. Launched in December 2011, the app allows teachers to record their lessons on a virtual whiteboard, record their voice alongside the text, and share them with students. This mont,h Educreations launched a new version of their app, which gives users the option to add text and images to their presentations.

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20 exciting teaching tools of tomorrow — from onlineuniversities.com

Excerpt:

These tools offer new and often very promising ways to connect with students and improve the quality of education offered in schools. Read on to learn about just a few of the websites, programs, and amazing technologies of the future teachers and students alike will soon be using.

© 2024 | Daniel Christian