ideas

Can I borrow that robot for a minute? Using remotely-controlled devices to bring distance learners into face-to-face classrooms! [Daniel Christian]

On 06/11/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, active learning, assistive technologies, Bring your own device (BYOD), communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, face-to-face, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, mirroring and/or multiple devices, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, professional development, reinvent, robotics, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, staying relevant, student-related, tablets, technology (general), telepresence, television, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

What if you want to allow some remote students to come on into your face-to-face classroom?
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What if you want to allow those remote students to be seen and communicated with at eye level?
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What if you want Remote Student A to join Group 1, and Remote Student B to join Group 2?
.

Well…how about using one of these devices in order to do so!

New video collaboration robot: TelePresence gets moving — from cisco.com by Dave Evans

Excerpt:

That is why Cisco’s new joint effort with iRobot—demonstrated publicly this week for the first time—is so exciting: We’ve created a mobile Cisco TelePresence unit that brings collaboration to you—or, conversely, brings you to wherever you need to collaborate. Called iRobot Ava 500, this high-definition video collaboration robot combines Cisco TelePresence with iRobot’s mobility and self-navigation capabilities, enabling freedom of movement and spontaneous interactions with people thousands of miles away.

iRobot Ava™ 500 Video Collaboration Robot — published on Jun 10, 2013
iRobot and Cisco have teamed to bring the Ava 500 video collaboration robot to market. The robot blends iRobot’s autonomous navigation with Cisco’s TelePresence to enable people working off-site to participate in meetings and presentations where movement and location spontaneity are important. The new robot is also designed to enable mobile visual access to manufacturing facilities, laboratories, customer experience centers and other remote facilities.

Double Robotics Double

MantaroBot™ TeleMe

From Attack of the Telepresence Robots! — from BYTE by Rick Lehrbaum

Kubi


MantaroBot “TeleMe”	VGo Communications “VGo”	Anybots “QB”	Suitable Technologies “Beam”

RP-7i ROBOT

Also see:

Cisco, iRobot’s new bot lets workers roam the office from afar. — from smartplanet.com by Kirsten Korosec
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Meet the next generation of smartphone-based robot companions — from popsci.com by Miriam Kramer

Tagged with: 21st century • 24x7x365 • A/V • accessibility • active learning • assistive technologies • Bring your own device (BYOD) • communications • corporate / business world • corporate training / universities • Daniel S. Christian • digital audio • digital learning • digital video • educational technology • emerging technologies • engagement • experimentation • face-to-face • future of higher education • game-changing environment • higher education • homeschooling/homeschoolers • human-computer interaction (HCI) • ideas • IT • K-12 • learning ecosystem • learning from the living [class] room • learning preferences • learning spaces • Lifelong learning • love of learning • mirroring / multiple devices • multimedia • new business models in he • online learning • online tutoring • personalized learning • professional development • reinvent • Skype • smart classrooms • social learning • staying relevant • student-related • technologies for the home • technology (general) • telecommunications • telepresence • training • TV • ubiquitous learning • user experience • videoconferencing • virtual field trips • vision • web-b • webinars • workplace

National Music Week 2013, “Online music lessons in the key of see” [Romney] & “Choir Practice” on the web

On 05/02/2013, in Daniel S. Christian, education technology, higher education, ideas, K-12 related, music, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

From DSC:
Reminds me of this graphic/idea I was thinking of a while back…

ChoirPracticeByDanielSChristian

Tagged with: Daniel S. Christian • digital video • educational technology • higher education • ideas • K-12 • music • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

How Washington could make college tuition free (without spending a penny more on education) [Weissmann]

On 03/14/2013, in cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

How Washington could make college tuition free (without spending a penny more on education) — from theatlantic.com by Jordan Weissmann

From DSC:
This article reminds me of this graphic I created a few years ago…

From DSC:
Back in April 2009, I added these comments to that graphic:

For students: Bring costs waaaayyyyy down and access waaayyy up!
Plus, no more defaulted loans, students could experience richer content, students wouldn’t have to wait as much on financial aid decisions. There would be fewer financial aid headaches; and the resources devoted to figuring out & processing financial aid could be reduced. The issue will be how an institution can differentiate itself in such a new world…but that issue will have to be dealt with in the future anyway.

“It is a ridiculous irony that FAFSA is too intimidating a process for many of the very people it is designed to assist. Margaret Spellings, secretary of education in the Bush administration, estimated that 8 million American families never applied for aid for which they were eligible because they were scared off by the FAFSA process.”

— from College loan ritual an absurd maze

Tagged with: cost of getting an education • ideas • legislation • Walmart of Education

Let’s expand upon the idea of providing digital playlists. [Christian]

On 03/07/2013, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, ideas, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Lynda.com, an excellent resource, now uses digital playlists.

Here’s an idea. How about, in the future, students will be able to run through a series of digital playlists:

Focusing on a particular topic and/or a course from:
- A particular college or university
- A consortium of colleges and universities
- A group of approved subject matter experts

If and when a person gets stumped — and the artificial intelligence has reached the end of its usefulness — provide a way for that student to connect with a TA, a professor, the subject matter expert, and/or with other students.

Tagged with: AI • consortiums • Daniel S. Christian • digital learning • etmooc • ideas • intelligent systems • intelligent tutoring • MOOCs • pooling resources

Congrats to Davenport University on this innovative idea/work!

On 02/07/2013, in colleges, community colleges, innovation, organizational change, universities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Crowdsourcing innovation on campus — from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser
By combining innovation management with crowdsourcing, Davenport University has found a potent formula for achieving continual improvement and encouraging organizational change.

Tagged with: colleges • community college • higher education • ideas • organizational change • strategy • tools • universities • vendors • web-based collaboration

Experiment: Provide more flexible/customized learning spaces [Christian]

On 01/08/2013, in accessibility / UDL, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), Daniel S. Christian, education technology, experimentation, ideas, K-12 related, learning preferences, learning spaces, learning theories, more voice more choice more control, personalized/customized learning, smart classrooms, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The other day, I mentioned how important it will be for institutions of higher education to increase the priority of experimentation. But, for a variety of reasons, I believe this is true for the K-12 world as well. Especially with the kindergarten/early elementary classroom in mind, I created the graphic below. Clicking on it will give you another example of the kind of experimentation that I’m talking about — whether that be in K-12 or in higher ed.

From DSC:
I’m trying to address the students that are more easily distracted and, due to how their minds process information, have a harder time focusing on the task at hand. In fact, at times, all of the external stimuli can be overwhelming. How can we provide a learning environment that’s more under the students’ control? i.e. How can we provide “volume knobs” on their auditory and visual channels?

Along these lines, I’m told that some theaters have sensory-friendly film showings — i.e. with different settings for the lights and sound than is typically offered.

Also see — with thanks going out to Ori Inbar (@comogard) for these:
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Google gets in your face — from spectrum.ieee.org by Elise Ackerman / January 2013
Google Glass offers a slightly augmented version of reality
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Point brings augmented reality ads to your phone, now with interactive videos — from engadget.com by Zachary Lutz
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Disney partners with toy company, LA billionaire to make augmented reality toy app — from polygon.com by Alexa Ray Corriea

A relevant addendum on 1/10/12:

Tagged with: accessibility • attention • augmented reality • cognition • cognitive psychology / computing • customized learning • Daniel S. Christian • educational technology • experimentation • ideas • learning preferences • learning spaces • learning theories • more choice more control • personalized learning • smart classrooms

Interesting…”The Web’s first Engagement Management System” — livefyre.com

On 12/14/2012, in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, ideas, innovation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, participation, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, by Daniel Christian

Looks like a very interesting set of tools/technologies out at livefyre.com — a piece of which is subtitled, the “Web’s first Engagement Management System.”
.

How might this set of technologies/functionalities affect what’s possible with MOOCs?
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Could universities and colleges use something like this to talk to their constituencies?
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As the computer, the telephone, and the television continue to converge, what educationally-related opportunities might be possible here?

Tagged with: 21st century • Daniel S. Christian • engagement • ideas • innovation • MOOCs • participation • Smart/Connected TV • social learning • social media • social networking

A network of remote-controlled, mobile, videoconferencing-based sorts of devices [hooked up to voice translation engines] that students could travel the world with! [Christian]

On 12/13/2012, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, blogs / blogging / vlogging, career development, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, global / globalization, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, machine-to-machine communications, metacognition / metacognitive skills, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, professional development, real-world assignments, robotics, student-related, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

“Mom! Check out what I did at school today!”

If you’re a parent, don’t you love to hear the excitement in your son’s or daughter’s voice when they bring home something from school that really peaked their interest? Their passions?

I woke up last night with several ideas and thoughts on how technology could help students become — and stay — engaged, while passing over more control and choice to the students in order for them to pursue their own interests and passions. The idea would enable students to efficiently gain some exposure to a variety of things to see if those things were interesting to them — perhaps opening a way for a future internship or, eventually, a career.

The device I pictured in my mind was the sort of device that I saw a while back out at Double Robotics and/or at Suitable Technologies:

The thoughts centered on implementing a growing network of such remote-controlled, mobile, videoconferencing-based sorts of devices, that were hooked up to voice translation engines. Students could control such devices to pursue things that they wanted to know more about, such as:

Touring the Louvre in Paris
Being backstage at a Broadway musical or checking out a live performance of Macbeth
Watching a filming of a National Geographic Special in the Fiji Islands
Attending an IEEE International Conference in Taiwan
Attending an Educause Conference or a Sloan C event to get further knowledge about how to maximize your time studying online or within a hybrid environment
Touring The Exploratorium in San Francisco
Touring the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago
Being a fly on the wall during a Senate hearing/debate
Seeing how changes are made in the assembly lines at a Ford plant
Or perhaps, when a student wheels their device to a particular area — such as the front row of a conference, the signal automatically switches to the main speaker/event (keynote speakers, panel, etc. via machine-to-machine communications)
Inviting guest speakers into a class: pastors, authors, poets, composers, etc.
Work with local/virtual teams on how to heighten public awareness re: a project that deals with sustainability
Virtually head to another country to immerse themselves in another country’s language — and, vice versa, help them learn the students’ native languages

For accountability — as well as for setting aside intentional time to process the information — students would update their own blogs about what they experienced, heard, and saw. They would need to include at least one image, along with the text they write about their experience. Or perhaps a brief/edited piece of digital video or audio of some of the statements that they heard that really resonated with them, or that they had further questions on. The default setting on such postings would be to be kept private, but if the teacher and the student felt that a posting could/should be made public, a quick setting could be checked to publish it out there for others to see/experience.

Real world. Engaging. Passing over more choice and control to the students so that they can pursue what they are passionate about.

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • A/V • blogging • career development • cognitive psychology / computing • Daniel S. Christian • digital audio • digital learning • digital video • educational technology • emerging technologies • engagement • global • Global learning • ideas • ideas • innovation • iPad • learning ecosystem • machine-to-machine communications • metacognition • Mobile learning • mobile technology • more choice more control • professional development • real-world assignments • robotics • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

“The Internet of Things Ceiling” — A concept for our future Smart Classrooms by Daniel Christian

On 12/04/2012, in A/V -- audio/visual, Asia, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, face-to-face, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), online media, participation, play, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

I’ve been trying to figure out the best ways to incorporate a BYOD/BYOT into the Smart Classroom. That is, how can students’ devices seamlessly communicate with the main displays around the classroom? How can they quickly display a blog posting or a Google doc for example…or play a song they wrote, etc. So I was excited to wake up this morning with the following concept/idea:

Other features/thoughts:

Line of sight communications — students must be in the room to display something up on the main displays
Information travels many ways: From large multitouch displays/walls to students’ devices and vice versa; so a professor could hit “Save” in order to send his/her annotations to all of the students’ devices (allowing them to be more cognitively present — vs madly writing down what the professor is writing)
The Smart Classroom’s infrastructure becomes like a multi-thredded processor — instantaneously and simultaneously handling a far greater amount of data — going in multiple directions
What’s an interesting idea here is for discipline-specific, cloud-based storage mechanisms for students who want to contribute their pieces of content to their schools repositories of content
This topic reminds me of a graphic I created a while back, re: The “Chalkboard” of the Future:

So…what if the 4 screen’s on Julong’s Ultra-IPBOARD were coming from 4 different sources? Perhaps:

One from a publisher’s cloud-based content repository
Another from a stream of content originating from a student’s iPad
Another from a stream of content originating from the Smart Classroom’s PC or Mac
…and the last source originating from a student’s smartphone?

Also see:

Tagged with: A/V • Asia • corporate / business world • corporate training / universities • Daniel S. Christian • digital audio • digital learning • digital video • educational technology • emerging technologies • engagement • engineering • entrepreneurship • higher education • human-computer interaction (HCI) • ideas • internet • K-12 • learning spaces • machine-to-machine communications • Near Field Communication (NFC) • participation • smart classrooms • training • Wireless • workplace

Reflections on announcements re: the paradigm-shifting Lytro camera

On 11/16/2012, in Daniel S. Christian, digital photography, digital video, emerging technologies, photography, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

First of all, here are some announcements re: the paradigm-shifting Lytro camera:

Lytro camera adds perspective shift, interactive filters — from pcworld.com by John Mello Jr.
Lytro, the radical camera startup, introduces phase two — from fastcodesign.com by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan
Lytro unveils amazing new editing and sharing tools, but what’s even more clever is their product development strategy.
Lytro Perspective Shift — from coolhunting.com by Greg Stefano
Get creative with two new features that will change how you photograph
Lytro gives a sneak peek of Perspective Shift and Living Filters — from petapixel.com by Michael Zhang

Perspective Shift Gallery: http://pictures.lytro.com
Living Filters Gallery: https://pictures.lytro.com/lytroweb/stories/83282
The Lytro camera Learn Page: https://www.lytro.com/learn
For an overview of Perspective Shift, check out this video: Perspective Shift Video: http://youtu.be/qHso9uLc8Dg

Secondly, here is my key question/reflection:

I wonder if this same type of thing could be done with digital video? What if you could take a video of a symphonic band and could zoom in on whichever section (strings, brass, percussion, etc.) that you wanted to? Or zoom in on strings on the first play through, percussion on the second play through, etc.

Tagged with: Daniel S. Christian • digital photography • digital video • emerging technologies • ideas • innovation • photography • tools • vendors

Tagged with: e-books • e-readers • ideas • publishing

Future Scapes: Imagining technologies for a sustainable 2025

On 07/02/2012, in 21st century, change, future, global / globalization, technology (general), by Daniel Christian

Welcome to FutureScapes: What do you think life will be like in 2025?

FutureScapes is an exciting collaboration project that aims to explore the potential of technology and entertainment to create a better, more sustainable world in 2025. It’s not about predicting the future so much as imagining the possibilities. We face an infinite number of possible futures ahead of us. But one thing is clear: the world of 2025 will be very different from the one we live in today.

Since September 2011, the FutureScapes collaboration has brought together some of Europe’s best thinkers, doers, writers and inventors. Their brief was to explore how technology can help us live better, more sustainable lives in 2025. After an extensive research capture phase, specific concepts were developed in two workshops, one in Paris and one in London, and have since been refined by design and innovation partners Superflux, The Pipeline Project and Engage by Design.

Tagged with: change • future • global • ideas • sustainability • technology (general)

[Sharp innovation/project on Kickstarter] Galileo: Your iOS in motion

On 03/30/2012, in A/V -- audio/visual, distance education, hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I especially like this one:

Remote learning – follow professors around the classroom; see who is asking questions

Tagged with: A/V • distance ed • hybrid learning • ideas • innovation

My reflections on “Flick content from your phone to your TV with a single swipe” [Hutchings]

On 03/30/2012, in blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, ideas, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, by Daniel Christian

Flick content from your phone to your TV with a single swipe [Video] — from PSFK by Emma Hutchings

Excerpt:

Panasonic have recently added the Media Flick function to the Viera Remote Android app, which allows content to be shared between a smartphone and a TV with just the swipe of a finger.

From DSC:

What if students could quickly do this in class — without interrupting the flow of the class — and transfer a paper they wrote, or a song they composed, or a website they found, etc., up to the main “screen” to “play” it for the rest of the class?
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What if faculty could just as quickly send files/items to students’ devices?
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And/or, what if such gestures quickly sent such files up to a cloud-based repository for that course, accessible 24x7x365?

Right now, Apple and other vendors need to work out the wireless network (and related) issues to make this a more feasible idea for an entire campus to implement this.

But, it would sure be nice! 🙂

Tagged with: blended learning • Daniel S. Christian • digital learning • educational technology • emerging technologies • face-to-face • hybrid learning • ideas • smart classrooms • Smart/Connected TV

Concept MATCHBOX – A dream for architects! [Future Technology]

On 07/08/2011, in 21st century, architecture, art, by Daniel Christian

Concept MATCHBOX – A dream for architects! — from Future Technology

Tagged with: architecture • art • ideas

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