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Kno breaks new ground with the world’s first single screen tablet textbook

On 09/27/2010, in digital textbooks, e-books, e-readers, education technology, innovation, mobile learning, mobile technologies, tablets, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Kno breaks new ground with the world’s first single screen tablet textbook
Kno continues the pace of innovation in integrated learning with a smaller version of the Kno

TechCrunch Disrupt Conference — San Francisco, CA – September 27, 2010 –Kno, Inc., the groundbreaking tablet textbook and dynamic learning platform, today announced its further commitment to the education market with a single screen version of its tablet textbook. The single screen version extends the breakthroughs and functionality of the dual screen version announced in June.

“Kno fundamentally improves the way students learn,” said Osman Rashid, the CEO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. “We are driven to innovate in a category that has been static for too long. Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform.”

Kno, short for knowledge, is a transformative learning platform that blends a touch-screen tablet, digital textbooks, course materials, note-taking, web access, educational applications, digital media, sharing and more into a powerful and engaging educational experience that is not available on any other tablet or eReader today.

“From day one, we designed the Kno with flexibility in mind,” said Babur Habib, CTO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. “We developed the product to have multiple configurations and meet different student needs. The single screen maintains the elegance of our fluid, intuitive interface while capturing the richness and ‘page fidelity’ of the original textbook.”

The company plans to ship both the single and two-screen tablet textbooks to consumers by the end of 2010. Pricing and pre-order announcements will be made in the coming months.

Also see:

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YouMedia: A new vision for learning

On 09/27/2010, in 21st century, education reform, engagement / engaging students, innovation, teaching & learning, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian
YouMedia: A new vision for learning — from dmlcentral.net by Akili Lee
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YouMedia: A New Vision for Learning Blog Image

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In July 2009, YouMedia launched as an ambitious attempt to re-imagine the library as a more relevant learning resource for today’s teens. Understanding that the landscape has changed how teens learn, socialize and self-identify, how do we remix the public library experience so it can truly engage teens in a way that supports its core mission? A partnership between the Chicago Public Library and the Digital Youth Network, YouMedia took on this task through the creation of a unique 21st century physical learning space and an innovative online space to connect learners 24/7. The 5,500-square-foot space is open seven days a week to any Chicago teen, where they have access to more than 100 laptops and desktop machines, professional grade cameras and software, and a full music studio all at no cost.

From the “About Us” page at YouMedia:

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YOUmedia is an innovative, 21st century teen learning space housed at the Chicago Public Library’s downtown Harold Washington Library Center. YOUmedia was created to connect young adults, books, media, mentors, and institutions throughout the city of Chicago in one dynamic space designed to inspire collaboration and creativity.

High school age teens engaging with YOUmedia can access thousands of books, over 100 laptop and desktop computers, and a variety of media creation tools and software, all of which allow them to stretch their imaginations and their digital media skills. By working both in teams and individually, teens have an opportunity to engage in projects that promote critical thinking, creativity, and skill-building.

More here…

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Some items to consider re: innovation…

On 09/27/2010, in innovation, by Daniel Christian

From The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success

These are the Seven Principles of Innovation, inspired by the master himself:

  1. Do What You Love.
    Think differently about your career.
  2. Put a Dent in the Universe.
    Think differently about your vision.
  3. Kick Start Your Brain.
    Think differently about how you think.
  4. Sell Dreams, Not Products.
    Think differently about your customers.
  5. Say No to 1,000 Things.
    Think differently about design.
  6. Create Insanely Great Experiences.
    Think differently about your brand experience.
  7. Master the Message.
    Think differently about your story.

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The convergence continues…

On 09/16/2010, in Apple, computer science, convergence, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital video, emerging technologies, innovation, media/film, by Daniel Christian

‘My Generation’ iPad app syncs with TV — from CNN.com by John D. Sutter

A new app for Apple’s tablet computer will listen to the ABC television series “My Generation” with you, and serve up content to augment the experience.

Using the iPad’s built-in microphone, the free “My Generation Sync” app literally syncs up with the TV show so it can give you information about what’s happening at that very moment on the television.

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announces $100 million Innovation Fund to invest in education initiatives globally

On 09/14/2010, in education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, innovation, new business models, publishing, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announces $100 million Innovation Fund to invest in education initiatives globally — from businesswire.com
HMH Innovation Fund will help develop and bring to market groundbreaking new products for delivering individualized learning solutions and classroom technologies; company also investing an additional $300 million in broader technology initiatives over the next three years

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today announced the formal creation of a $100 million fund to support innovative ideas for new products to promote and enhance student achievement, individualized learning and effective technology integration in the classroom. The HMH Innovation Fund will be aimed at supporting emerging education initiatives and programs, as well as accelerating new technology development with the goal of bringing to market and spurring adoption of innovative solutions that can play a critical role in transforming education.

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We have to turn this situation around…

On 09/09/2010, in community colleges, creativity, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, passions, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

Here in the United States, the waste continues…

As I was reading the article mentioned below, I was reminded of a graphic I saw a while back after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion:

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Oil spill -- day 53!

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This graphic reminds me of a very valuable resource that still isn’t being “realized” — and, as a result, the leakage continues to cause a mess. And that has to do with the amazing amount of talents, abilities, and gifts that are being wasted daily when students drop out of school or college.

So I appreciated hearing about what some of the community colleges are doing to try to “cap the spill” — to stop this waste of talent.

We must help students find and develop their passions. Should we look at changing some of the requirements/curriculums out there? If an emphasis on STEM isn’t working, is it time to try something else like arts, music, game design, shop/woodworking, automotive work, or something else that many of these same students might be more passionate about?

Addendum 4/5/11:

Also see:

Community Colleges Get Creative With Remedial Education — from edweek.org by Caralee Adams

Record numbers of students are arriving on community college campuses this fall, but a majority of them—nearly 60 percent—aren’t academically prepared to handle the classwork.

Three out of every five community college students need at least one remedial course, and fewer than 25 percent of those students successfully earn a degree within eight years, according to the National Education Longitudinal Study.

“We really have to figure out how to get developmental education right, or any dream that we have of increasing the number of college graduates in this country or eliminating disparities across racial and ethnic groups—that dream is going to tank,” said Kay McClenney, the director of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and an adjunct faculty member in the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Pushed by federal expectations, tightening budgets, expanding enrollments, and what the foundation-supported Strong American Schools campaign estimatedRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader  to be a $2 billion-and-rising annual cost for remedial education, community colleges have started experimenting with a range of strategies to address those numbers.

 

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World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers Of 2011: See the 31 most innovative start-ups

On 09/07/2010, in business, innovation, by Daniel Christian

World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers Of 2011: See the 31 most innovative start-ups — from The Huffington Post

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The Wild World of Massively Open Online Courses

On 09/02/2010, in Canada, disruption, higher education, innovation, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

The Wild World of Massively Open Online Courses — from unlimitedmagazine.com by Emily Senger
Would you participate in a class with 2300 other online students?

In a traditional university setting, a student pays to register for a course. The student shows up. A professor hands out an outline, assigns readings, stands at the front and lectures. Students take notes and ask questions. Then there is a test or an essay.

But with advancing online tools innovative educators are examining new ways to break out of this one-to-many model of education, through a concept called massively open online courses. The idea is to use open-source learning tools to make courses transparent and open to all, harnessing the knowledge of anyone who is interested in a topic.

George Siemens, along with colleague Stephen Downes, tried out the open course concept in fall 2008 through the University of Manitoba in a course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, or CCK08 for short. The course would allow 25 students to register, pay and receive credit for the course. All of the course content, including discussion boards, course readings, podcasts and any other teaching materials, was open to anyone who had an internet connection and created a user profile.

“The course was the platform, but anyone could build on that platform however they wanted,” says Siemens. “There’s this notion that technology is networked and social. It does alter the power relationship between the educator and the learner, a learner has more autonomy, they have more control. The expectation that you wait on the teacher to create everything for you and to tell you what to do is false.”

More here…

Also see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA
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Some items re: innovation in education

On 09/02/2010, in education, education reform, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, innovation, by Daniel Christian

Partnership for Innovation in Education: Moving education forward

Also see:

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Also see:

Startup Weekend -- Education -- fall 2010 -- from bayarea.startupweekend.org

Also see:

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Apple’s announcements from earlier today

On 09/01/2010, in Apple, convergence, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital video, education technology, educational games / serious games, innovation, media/film, mobile technologies, multimedia, music, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Apples announcements from 9-1-2010
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Also see:

  • iPod Touch Adds Video Calling, HD Recording
  • Apple introduces new Apple TV and iPods
  • From Live from Apple’s fall product launch
    In sum, Steve Jobs delivered on most of the rumored new products and services. The headlines:

    • A new $99 Apple TV that streams (rather than downloads) $4.99 movie rentals and 99-cent TV rentals from ABC and Fox
    • A new lineup of iPods, chief among them the iPod touch equipped with two cameras, one a front-facing camera that can do Facetime video chats
    • A new version of iTunes with a social networking feature called Ping that tracks the downloads of friends and celebrities
    • A new version of iOS 4.2, promised for November, that will bring multitasking, folders and other goodies to the iPad.
  • Addendum from Analysts weigh in on the new Apple TV
    Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster:
    We see the Apple TV as an important step toward an all-in-one Apple television. We continue to expect Apple to launch an all-in-one Apple television in CY12. As consumers gain comfort with connected TVs and apps on their TVs, we believe Apple will eventually take its all-in-one philosophy to the digital living room like it has with the iMac and the iTunes ecosystem.
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Well…there goes another one who discounted the impact/value of technology…

On 08/27/2010, in disruption, education technology, game-changing environment, innovation, internet, leadership, staying relevant, strategy, by Daniel Christian

Blockbusted: A Netflix Knock-Out, Bad Metaphors on the Path to the Movie Monster’s Bankruptcy — from Fast Company – Technology by Austin Carr

The Blockbuster age is fading, and at last the company is preparing for bankruptcy. In the past two years, the shrinking video-rental store has struggled to stay afloat with $920 million in debt, drowning all the while in revenue losses of $1.1 billion. The LA Times reports that Blockbuster executives and senior debt holders have entered discussions with major movie studios for a “pre-planned” bankruptcy mid-September.

But for everyone other than Blockbuster’s sunny faced spin masters, bankruptcy was about as surprising as another Rocky comeback. Blockbuster’s brick-and-mortar business was unviable in the digital world, and competitors Netflix and Redbox took every advantage to pick apart the dinosaur’s carcass. The company’s numbers have signaled extinction, too, with value withering from $8.4 billion when Viacom purchased it in 1994 to total market value of $24 million today. Continuing the Mesozoic metaphor, here’s why bankruptcy hit Blockbuster like a surprise asteroid.

Netflix Who?

From DSC:
And I would add the questions:

  • “Who cares about the iPod?”
  • “What does Internet-related technology have to do with our business anyway?”

In a presentation I created last year (see Section II), I used Blockbuster as an example of an organization who completely discounted the disruptive impact of technology..and now they are paying the price (along with much of the newspaper industry).

There IS a lesson here for those of us in higher ed.

I’ll end this posting with the following quote/excerpt:

“This is a pattern we see over and over,” he said, of the many parallels he could draw to Blockbuster’s financial troubles. “If a company is not able to keep up with the changing needs of its customer, it will become irrelevant,” he said.

Ultimately, it was these words which may have saved the company. Blockbuster was not able to keep up with the changing needs of its customers.

Blockbuster has become irrelevant.

Staying Relevant

Relevant addendum:

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New Business Models for Higher Education

On 08/27/2010, in business side of he, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, new business models, traditional / tradition, by Daniel Christian

New Business Models for Higher Education — from David Collis, Yale University [via Educause]

Collis assesses the new higher education marketplace, replete with distance learning courses offered online. He reviews the business models of dozens of for-profit Internet based firms entering the higher education market, compares their strategies with those of traditional colleges and universities, and projects the effects of the new entrants on established institutions. Collis concludes that the new firms will move more quickly along a technology-enabled learning trajectory, which in the end will put them at a distinct advantage when they move from their most common point of entry — the corporate market — into the traditional higher education realm.

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The digital innovation and convergence continues…

On 08/26/2010, in Apple, convergence, digital audio, digital video, disruption, innovation, media/film, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, new business models, online media, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Netflix app for iPhone and iPod Touch launched — from thenextweb.com by Jeff Cormier

Fans of Netflix with an iPhone and/or iPod Touch, the time has come. As promised at the unveiling of iPhone 4 in June, Netflix has lauched their app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Get the free app here.

Netflix has been available on the iPad since its launch, and is one of my favorite apps as an iPad owner. The iPhone and iPod Touch version is equally as grand, albeit on a smaller screen.

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Netflix now available on the ipad, ipod and iphone

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Masie Center announces their 30 [Learning Profesionals] under 30

On 08/24/2010, in adult learning, corporate universities / corporate training, future, innovation, instructional design, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

30 under 30 — per Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie – August 24, 2010.
#632 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,106 Readers – http://www.masie.com – The MASIE Center

We have completed the assembly of the 30 Under 30 Learning Leadership Team for Learning 2010.  We are proud to announce these high energy learning leaders (all under the age of 30) that will be leading sessions and helping to articulate a view of the future of learning.  They include colleagues from Google, Verizon Wireless, Disney, Volkswagen, Farmers Insurance, General Mills, FM Global, IBM, Westinghouse and many more.  Check out their aspirations about learning.

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Are there lessons here for institutions of higher ed?

On 08/23/2010, in budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, innovation, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

BlackBerry crumble: Why RIM is in trouble — from cnn.com

chart_ws_stock_researchinmotionltd.top.png

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BlackBerry’s biggest problem: The app gap (From DSC: RIM didn’t build the infrastructure / ecosystem necessary to compete)
With that in mind, some worry that there are eerie similarities between Research in Motion and Palm, the once-hot smartphone maker that failed to keep up with Apple, Research in Motion and others.

After Palm’s Pre phone flopped, the company’s stock took a nasty dive and some feared that it may not have enough cash to make it for the long-term. Hewlett-Packard finally stepped in and agreed to buy the company earlier this year, however.

Chris Bulkey, an analyst with Technology Research Group in Narberth, Pa., said Research in Motion could suffer the same fate. For now, the company’s sales and profits are still growing, but the pace is slowing.

And without a hot product on the horizon, Bulkey, who has a “sell” rating on the stock, said it’s hard to envision a bright future for Research in Motion.

“Research in Motion sells a commoditized product. There is margin pressure and the revenue growth is weak,” Bulkey said. “Over the long-term, they may need someone to bail them out like HP did with Palm if they see value in the technology.”

From DSC:
Along these lines…I recently received a call from a colleague who mentioned that Novell has recently been pushing their new videoconferencing product…hmmm…WAAAAAYYY too late to the game in my opinion. Here is a company who could have dominated the web-based videoconferencing and collaboration space — had they been able to innovate better and to think just a tad outside their normal LAN box.

If what we are offering in higher ed is a commodity…we had better look out! Times ahead will be very rough indeed. That’s why I have been preaching innovation, change, the dangers of the status quo, planning for the “Forthcoming Walmart of Education” and trying to create a strategy whereby we are not a commodity — as we all must bring something unique and compelling to the table.

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