Five alternative devices to replace the now-dead Flip cam — from mediabistro.com by Lauren Rabaino

 

 

Cisco to close Flip business; cut 550 jobs; take $300M Charge — from Forbes.com by Eric Savitz

Cisco Systems (CSCO) this morning announced a multi-part plan to revamp its consumer business, including shutting down the Flip video camera business. Cisco bought Pure Digital, the company that originally made the Flip, for $590 million in 2009. While the Flip line has admirers, the widespread availability of video-capable mobile phones undermined demand for the kind of simple stand-alone video cameras offered in the Flip business.

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:

 

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Campus ed tech ‘must haves’ by 2014 — from InsideHigherEd.com by Joshua Kim

 

Using screen capture software to improve student learning — from Faculty Focus by Rob Kelly

By using podcasts, vodcasts, and screen capture software to provide supplemental and remedial materials, instructors can focus on higher-order learning activities during class, says Dave Yearwood, associate professor and chair of the Technology Department at the University of North Dakota. In an email interview with The Teaching Professor, Dr. Yearwood shared some ideas for getting started.

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Lecture capture brings K-12 classes online

Lecture capture brings K-12 classes online — from The Journal by Bridget McCrea

A Pennsylvania school district is using lecture capture to offer online access to classroom content. As one of the early adopters of lecture capture in K-12, the district faced some unique challenges. But, according to Technology Director Ken Dunkelberger, it’s been worth the effort.

Ken Dunkelberger got his first taste of lecture capture in an educational setting at an EduComm conference in San Diego five years ago. There, a vendor introduced Dunkelberger, director of technology for the Tamaqua School District in Pennsylvania, to the idea of using technology to record what happens in the classroom, and then making that recording available in a digital format.

At the time, lecture capture was being used by higher education, but had yet to make inroads in the nation’s K-12 schools.

“The vendor told us that it was more of a collegiate solution, with the Big Ten and Ivy League schools as the biggest users of lecture capture,” said Dunkelberger, who was undeterred by the fact that K-12 had yet to embrace the technology. “We didn’t let go of the idea, and eventually the vendor decided to give it a shot because we were so interested.”

Not a Replacement for Teachers
And with that, a school district situated in the coal regions of northeastern Pennsylvania became one of the first public K-12 schools in the nation to integrate lecture capture into the classroom.

Dunkelberger said his department worked to get teachers on board with the idea first and spent time ensuring them that the technology would not “replace” the educators in the classroom, but that it would support and supplement their efforts.

“We spent the time explaining the solution and educating our teachers on its value,” said Dunkelberger. For example, instructors were versed on how the technology allows students who may not have absorbed a complete classroom lecture to access the content later via the Web and “get up to snuff with what’s going on in class,” he said.

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The Connected Life at Home — from Cisco

The connected life at home -- from Cisco

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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:

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From DSC:
I wish they would be more upfront about their pricing — i.e. how many credits each “course” is. You purchase credits…and then you find out how many credits you will need to get their services.  I mainly post this to show the level of innovation occurring out there in the online-based world; and online-based tutoring will only grow.

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Originally saw this at Ewan Mcintosh’s links for 2-24-11

 

The Backwards Class — from The Journal

A fairly new teacher has come up with a way to help her anxiety-ridden AP Calculus students relax more in class. She’s using an approach dubbed by her students as the “backwards classroom.” Results have been remarkable. She credits the method of an increase in test scores and says the teaching style suits motivated students…

What’s the approach?
The students watch pre-recorded lectures the night before the class, when homework problems are traditionally done, then spend the time in class getting answers to questions, working on additional problems with partners, and getting one-on-one assistance from the teacher. No more lectures in class.

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Also see:

  • Teachers turn learning upside down — from Meris Stansbury
    ‘Inverted learning’ allows students to practice what they learn under the guidance of their classroom teacher

“The main idea behind the ‘flipped’ classroom is for teachers to be available when students need them most. If I lecture for 30 minutes … in my chemistry classes, that would leave me about 20 minutes to assign homework and let students start on it,” he explained.

Spencer began to create screencasts of his lectures using Camtasia the day before. Those screencasts then became the homework—and class time was for doing “homework,” or answering questions and doing labs/demos.

“Many students are good at ‘playing school’ and going through the motions. Now that they have to demonstrate what they learn before moving on, some of them get quite upset when they scribble down a page of notes from a screencast without thinking about it and then are asked to redo it when it becomes obvious that they are just trying to work the system. Another complaint I have heard [from parents] is that ‘I’m not teaching them anything.’ Many students and parents expect the teacher to be the ‘sage on the stage’ and not a voice on an iPod.”

“My greatest challenge is time. It does take time to set this up and build in the flexibility to meet the students’ needs. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of compensation for extra hours invested, but for me, the investment in our future is worth it.”

His advice to other teachers and schools looking to implement this learning is to “start slow—one or two vodcasts a month is plenty to whet your students’ appetites. Build libraries collaboratively, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake. It is through experimentation and modification that we hone our art of teaching.”

In support of lecture capture…

Online learning official: Lecture capture helps students ‘review, review, review’ — from CampusTechnology.com by Dennis Carter
UMass Lowell leader eases faculty concerns over video lectures as program proves popular among students

Jacqueline Moloney wants college students to do less transcribing and more listening.

Moloney, executive vice chancellor and head of online learning at the University of Massachusetts Lowell campus, has overseen an effort to make lecture capture technology a standard feature in the university’s classrooms, along with a host of other technologies that can be tailored to fit instructors’ preferences.

Along with a suite of other technologies—digital document cameras and interactive LCD touch screens among them—about one-third of UMass Lowell’s classrooms have been equipped with lecture capture programs that, Moloney said, let students “review, review, review” by rewinding the video lectures and hashing over complex concepts.

Furiously jotting down every key point that instructors make, she said, isn’t for everyone.

“I personally love to take notes,” said Moloney, who has headed UMass Lowell’s online learning program since it launched in 1996. “But with lecture capture, we find that students are able to focus and listen to what faculty members are explaining, versus having to scribble down every single word.”

She added: “You lose a lot of what the faculty is trying to teach you when you focus more on transcribing. With [lecture capture], students don’t feel nearly the pressure to take down every word.”

From DSC:
I know such an endeavor/service such as lecture capture would have helped me in several of my classes during my college days.
It would have allowed me to be more “cognitively there” and actually free to reflect on what was being said (instead of madly trying to write down what the professor said before he/she erased the board.) Some faculty are using such tools as Wimba Classroom to do their own lecture capture, with students in mind who don’t have English as their primary language. Such a service allows these students to stop, rewind, play again, etc. — as many times as they need to without disrupting the rest of the class.

© 2024 | Daniel Christian