On 02/15/2013,
in disruption, game-changing environment, higher education, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, research,
by Daniel Christian
On 02/15/2013,
in Daniel S. Christian, design, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, learning ecosystem, online learning, online media, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, tools, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
First of, when I saw the article:
Lynda.com acquires online video training rival Video2brain to boost its international expansion — from thenextweb.com
…it reminded me of taking a class with Lynda Weinman years ago out at SFSU’s Multimedia Studies Program. She relayed a lot of very valuable information in a short time. She knows how to explain things well — using helpful techniques and understandable vocabulary. She struck me as not only a creative person with a heart for teaching and learning, but she surrounds herself with people who also can effectively teach others. Our institution gives a thumbs up to this solid resource and I wish Lynda & all of the other entrepreneurs at Lynda.com all the best.
On 02/14/2013,
in higher education, K-12 related, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning,
by Daniel Christian
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Excerpt: (emphasis DSC)
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Building on the success of the Stanford Online High School (OHS), OHSx will allow middle- and high-school students everywhere to engage in real-time, seminar-based online courses without being formally enrolled in the OHS. Students who successfully complete a course through OHSx will receive a Stanford University Online High School transcript reflecting their achievement.
We are fortunate that our first course will be “Introduction to Mathematical Thinking,” by Dr. Keith Devlin, whose distinguished career includes authoring numerous textbooks as well as a recurring presence as “the Math Guy” on National Public Radio.
This course was originally designed for undergraduates considering a mathematics major in college and has been previously offered to over 70,000 students using the Coursera platform. OHSx is offering this course to advanced high school juniors and seniors. The OHSx course will incorporate Dr. Devlin’s absorbing lectures and will include additional material including regular real-time video-conference seminars should be lead by a Stanford OHSx instructor.
On 02/14/2013,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online tutoring, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, streams of content, ubiquitous learning, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Below are some reflections after seeing these items:
- IBM’s Watson is better at diagnosing cancer than human doctors — from wired.co.uk by Ian Steadman
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- Watson is now commercially available, set to help doctors treat cancer — from singularityhub.com by Peter Murray
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- Watson supercomputer goes to college, Revenge Of The Nerds style antics imminent — not an exemplary article from geekosystem.com, but the underlying topic has enormous implications
Excerpt:
…the team developing Watson is sending the computer to college, where it will bone up on coursework in English and math.
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While the original Watson will be staying put at the IBM research center it calls home, the hardware to run the program is being installed at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York, where researchers and grad students will be spend the next three years teaching Watson all they can while also hoping to learn more about how the software learns and make it more effective.
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From DSC:
The current set of MOOCs are very powerful, but, like a bush that needs pruning, they can become unwieldy and hard to control. Not only do the current set of MOOCs help me to see the importance of instructional design, but trying to drink from the firehose often presents problems (i.e. wading through thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts, etc.). How can we still provide openness and yet provide people with better methods/tools for setting their desired level of drinking from this firehose? Tags are helpful, but for most people, they are not doing enough to filter/curate the content at this point.
Enter the technologies being developed in IBM’s Watson, Apple’s SIRI, or in Knewton’s product lines. End-user controllable setting might include:
- Full throttle — like current form of MOOCs — thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts, etc.
- IBM Watson-enabled curation/filtering only — each individual adjusts how many items they want to see in the various portions of the interface (see above); these settings control how many items and/or streams of content get presented to you
The ideas involving learning agents, artificial intelligence, intelligent tutoring, intelligent systems and more seem to get roped in here…hmm…just thinking out loud and sharing potentially-useful ideas.
On 02/06/2013,
in creativity, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, education technology, elearning, engagement / engaging students, interactivity, online learning, platforms, UK,
by Daniel Christian
FrogOS video walkthrough – The future of learning technology — from frogtrade
Excerpt:
Well here it is, two years in the making, 1000’s of man hours and finally we can proudly show you the new software we have been showcasing at Bett 2013.
What better way to whet your appetites than to give you a simple video walkthrough that shows you just how easy it is to create a site in FrogOS.
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On 02/03/2013,
in CMS/LMS, corporate universities / corporate training, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, informal learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, online learning, professional development, social learning / networks, technology (general), training / L&D, trends,
by Daniel Christian
On 01/30/2013,
in blended learning, blogs / blogging / vlogging, communities of practice, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, face-to-face, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, hybrid learning, innovation, learning ecosystem, more voice more choice more control, online learning, open courseware and systems, passions, personalized/customized learning, social learning / networks, strategy, tools, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpt from Beyond school choice — from Michael Horn
With the rapid growth in online and mobile learning, students everywhere at all levels are increasingly having educational choices—regardless of where they live and even regardless of the policies that regulate schools.
What’s so exciting about this movement beyond school choice is the customization that it allows students to have. Given that each student has different learning needs at different times and different passions and interests, there is likely no school, no matter how great, that can single-handedly cater to all of these needs just by using its own resources contained within the four walls of its classrooms.
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With the choices available, students increasingly don’t need to make the tradeoff between attending a large school with lots of choices but perhaps lots of anonymity or a small school with limited choices but a deeply developed personal support structure.
Excerpt from Cooperating in the open — from Harold Jarche
I think one of the problems today is that many online social networks are trying to be communities of practice. But to be a community of practice, there has to be something to practice. One social network, mine, is enough for me. How I manage the connections is also up to me. In some cases I will follow a blogger, in others I will connect via Google Plus or Twitter, but from my perspective it is one network, with varying types of connections. Jumping into someone else’s bounded social network/community only makes sense if I have an objective. If not, I’ll keep cooperating out in the open.
From DSC:
Perhaps helping folks build their own learning ecosystems — based upon one’s gifts/abilities/passions — should be an objective for teachers, professors, instructional designers, trainers, and consultants alike. No matter whether we’re talking K-12, higher ed, or corporate training, these ever-changing networks/tools/strategies will help keep us marketable and able to contribute in a variety of areas to society.
Addendum on 2/5/13:
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On 01/24/2013,
in career development, changing business models, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, experimentation, professional development, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
I wonder…are we migrating more towards brands and products/services provided by individuals or smaller teams of people? Consider Ian Byrd’s recent announcement re: Byrdseed.TV.
On 01/22/2013,
in design, digital learning, elearning, instructional design, learning theories, multimedia, online learning, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, UK,
by Daniel Christian
Mayer & Clark – 10 brilliant design rules for e-learning — from Donald Clark
Excerpt:
Richard Mayer and Ruth Clark are among the foremost researchers in the empirical testing of media and media mix hypotheses in online learning. Their e-Learning and the Science of Instruction (2003) covers seven design principles; multimedia, contiguity, modality, redundancy, coherence, personalisation, and practice opportunities. Clear explanations are given about the risks of ignoring these principles – with support from worked examples and case study challenges. It should be a compulsory text for online learning designers.
On 01/19/2013,
in online learning,
by Daniel Christian
The 30 biggest myths about online learning — from edudemic.com by Julie DeNeen
Excerpt:
For as long as eLearning has been around, it has been haunted by the voices of those who aim to criticize its authenticity, viability, and quality. But is it true? Do students of traditional institutions boast more success than those who’ve chosen distance learning?
It’s time for some of these myths to die.
On 01/19/2013,
in accreditation, business side of he, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
- Sebastian Thrun: Udacity announces for-credit course pilot with San Jose State University — from Udacity’s blog; with thanks to Mr. Peter Snyder, Assistant Professor of Business at Calvin College for the resource
Excerpt:
Today Udacity is thrilled to announce a partnership with San Jose State University to pilot three courses — Entry-Level Mathematics, College Algebra, and Elementary Statistics — available online at an affordable tuition rate and for college credit. To my knowledge, this is the first time a MOOC has been offered for credit and purely online. Much credit for this partnership goes to Mo Qayoumi and Ellen Junn, president and provost of SJSU, and to the five fearless SJSU professors who have chosen to work with us at Udacity to explore this new medium. The offices of Governor Brown and CSU Chancellor White have also been critically important to this partnership for their leadership and expediency. Last but not least, I want to personally thank our great Udacians who, like everyone on this list, have worked endless hours to drive innovation.
Over the past year, MOOCs have received a lot of attention in the media and education circles mostly because so many students are taking advantage of the course for free. Predictions that MOOCs would fundamentally change higher education often revolved around the fact that the courses have unprecedented reach and affordability.
From DSC:
Given that such “Walmarts of Education” (i.e. solid learning at a greatly reduced prices) continue to develop, what’s our/your plans for responding to this trend? How are we/you going to compete? What’s our/your vision and strategy? By the way, you can look all you want to for data — but at the end of the day, it’s likely with this sort of thing that you won’t find all of the data that you require to make a decision. Examples:
- When I began working for Kraft Foods in 1990 (brought in to roll out email to 66 plants at the time), I believed in the power of email when few others did. Email was viewed as “fluff” and it would never be used for solid business practices; management put the project on hold. But I kept working with email at Kraft — trying to get others to use it. If you looked for data back then, you wouldn’t find it. But by the time I left Kraft in 1997, thousands of people could communicate with thousands of other people throughout the world — within minutes.
. - When Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone, what data would support the success of his invention? I suppose you could have pulled some data on the usage of the telegraph, but even then, vision would have had to trump the data (the ancestor of Western Union rejected his invention, as they questioned why anyone would need/use a telephone when there was already the telegraph in usage).
. - Such technological developments often are not so easy to back up with data; they require some vision, experimentation, and risk taking.
On 01/16/2013,
in experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, leadership, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, strategy, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Also from Campus Technology re: the elements in a collaborative classroom:
On 01/09/2013,
in colleges, community colleges, higher education, online learning, trends, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
![Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States [Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board]](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ChangingCourse-Babson2012Report.jpg)
I. Elaine Allen, PhD | Jeff Seaman, PhD
Co-Directors, The Babson Survey Research Group
Babson College
Babson Park, MA 02457-9985
January 2013
On 01/08/2013,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
In this series of periodic postings re: experimentation (see here and here), this week’s Consumers Electronics Show prompts me to think about different types of experiments, prompting such questions as:
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- When will we see more educationally-related second screen apps?
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- How might this type of setup dovetail with MOOCs provided by institutions of higher education? With MOOCs offered by the corporate world?
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- What sorts of technologies will weave their way into what could be offered here?
(The following possibilities come to my mind: Artificial Intelligence (AI), learning agents, recommendation engines, course or topic playlists, web-based learner profiles, data mining/analytics, videoconferencing, educational gaming, virtual tutoring, BYOD, and/or cloud-based computing. Other…?)
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- Will Internet-enabled marketplaces and exchanges — between learners and teachers — become commonplace?
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- Will technologies involved with endeavors like IBM’s Watson or with Knewton be deployed in this kind of convergent environment? If so, what sorts of doors/job opportunities/new skillsets would that open up or require?
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![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
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Some relevant items on this include:
Flingo reveals Samba, a first of its kind dual interactive TV and second screen platform — from pandodaily.com byasdf
Excerpt:
This week at CES in Las Vegas (the Consumer Electronics Show), San Francisco-based Flingo will release the latest version of its platform, dubbed Samba, aimed at changing this. Samba will make four-year-old Flingo one of the first to offer a combined Interactive TV and Second Screen experience.
“We saw a surge of Smart TV and tablet adoption in 2012, but realized that a seamless TV experience across all screens was missing,” says Flingo co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin, formerly of BitTorrent. “Samba will blur the lines between linear television and the Web.”
Flingo is unique in that it uses video, not audio to identify what content is being viewed…
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Samba offers viewers the ability to actively engage with programming in real-time through their primary screen. This can take the form of polls, social conversations, recommendations, or consumption of related media. In the case of Second Screens, aka internet-connected laptops, tablets, and smartphones used simultaneously while watching TV, the company can offer an even wider array of complementary content and engagement, such as aggregated social feeds relating to live programming or an ability to watch past episodes of a live show. This can all be delivered across multiple screens, in concert.
Also see:
Also see:
- Panasonic, IBM, ABOX42 and others join LG and Toshiba’s Smart TV Alliance to solve fragmentation
- YouTube bringing Google TV AirPlay-like pairing feature to new devices in 2013 — from 9to5google.com by Jordan Kahn
- Audible Magic unveils cross-platform solution for interactive TV commercials — from cnbc.com
- CES: Samsung unveils 4K TVs; upgrades Smart TV service — from forbes.com by Eric Savitz
- Samsung rethinks Smart TV (and we’re impressed) — from nbcnews.com by Wilson Rothman
- Slick new Bravo app personalizes your Smart TV experience — from mashable.com by Brian Anthony Hernandez
- In the digital living room, there’s something in the air — from pro.gigaom.com by Paul Sweeting
- Usage of connected TVs rose 25% in 2012 — from therealtimereport.com [Addendum on 1/9/13]
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- Here’s your complete look at Samsung’s new Smart TV — from businessinsider.com by Kevin Smith [Addendum on 1/9/13]
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Kevin Smith/Business Insider
More tangentially, but still relevant:
- McGraw-Hill to debut adaptive e-book for students — from blogs.wsj.com by Shalini Ramachandran
Excerpt:
The SmartBook…works like this: All readers essentially see the same textbook as they read for the first five minutes. But as a reader answers review questions placed throughout the chapter, different passages become highlighted to point the reader to where he or she should focus attention.