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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?
    .
  • What if you want to allow those remote students to be seen and communicated with at eye level?
    .
  • 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.

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irobot-june-10-2013
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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.

 

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Double Robotics Double

http://www.doublerobotics.com/img/use-office.jpg

 

 

MantaroBot™ TeleMe

 

 

 

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

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Kubi

http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/reviews/2013-Jan/robotic-telepresence/kubi.jpg

 

 

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

 

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RP-7i ROBOT

RP-7i Remote Presence Robot

 

Also see:

 

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Microsoft unveils Xbox One: the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system [Microsoft.com]

On 05/21/2013, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, educational games / serious games, human-computer interaction (HCI), Microsoft, smart/connected TV, television, by Daniel Christian

Microsoft unveils Xbox One: the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system — from microsoft.com

Excerpt:

REDMOND, Wash. — May 21, 2013 — A new vision for the future comes to life today as Microsoft Corp. unveils Xbox One , the all-in-one gaming and entertainment system created for today and the next generation. At Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company showcased how Xbox One puts you at the center of all your games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype.

“Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.”

…

With Xbox One, games push the boundaries of realism, and TV obeys your commands. Say “Xbox On” to launch your personalized Xbox One Home screen, discover what is popular on TV or see friends’ latest gaming achievements all using the most natural interface — your voice. The more you interact with Xbox One, the more it gets to know you and learns what you like.

 

From DSC:
Here’s the item I find particularly interesting (emphasis DSC):

  • Skype for Xbox One.
    Specially designed for Xbox One, talk with friends on your TV in stunning HD, or for the first time ever, hold group Skype calls on your TV.

 

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Looks like a promising HD camera — thanks for the info here Elliott!

On 02/01/2013, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, digital audio, digital video, Google, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt from Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie – February 1, 2013 (emphasis DSC)

#760 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
55,887 Readers – www.masie.com – twitter: emasie – The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Directions Blended Seminars

2. Logitech Business Camera – Skype for the Classroom! I almost never endorse or highlight a product, as Learning TRENDS is vendor-neutral. But, we have been on a quest for a simple technology that finally arrived.

We wanted a camera, with High Definition capability, that could [offer remote Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) capabilities] – and also worked perfectly with both Skype, Gmail Video as well as a capture camera for content.  Why? In all of our classrooms, we have multiple large Plama/LCD Screens and wanted to add cameras for both video conferencing, class capture and knowledge clips.  While we could mount a nice single focus camera, the PTZ capability was missing.

Logitech BCC950 Conference Cam Video Conferencing Camera is perfect! We have tested in multiple settings and are delighted with the focus, quality and ease of use in a classroom or meeting room.  It has extensions that allow it to be mounted apart from the base and it would be ideal to add video capacity to a classroom – in our effort to evolve to the “connected classroom”.  The price is around $220 and we have purchased several for our Center.

 

Also see:

 

Conference Cam
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Techs related to transmedia storytelling may pave the way nicely for more educationally-related apps

On 05/29/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, digital storytelling, emerging technologies, future, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, smart/connected TV, storytelling, television, transmedia, trends, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As the massive convergence of the computer, the telephone, and the television continues, other trends are also taking place that may eventually impact how we interact with educationally-related content.  That is, the main screen of our living rooms might be delivering a 5-10 minute “lecture”, but our tablets and smart phones may be in our laps as we interact around this content with others. 

Along these lines, as transmedia storytelling develops, the use of multiple devices and methods to consume and contribute to content may be setting the stages for how things can get done with more educationally-related applications.

Consider this excerpt from Complex TV: Transmedia Storytelling — by Jason Mittell, Associate Professor of American Studies and Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College:

As television series have become more complex in their narrative strategies, television itself has expanded its scope across a number of screens and platforms, complicating notions of medium-specificity at the very same time that television seems to have a clearer sense of distinct narrative form. This chapter explores how television narratives are expanded and complicated through transmedia extensions, including video games, novelizations, websites, online video, and alternate reality games. With specific analyses of transmedia strategies for Lost and Breaking Bad, I consider how television’s transmedia storytelling is grappling with issues of canonicity and audience segmentation, how transmedia reframes viewer expectations for the core television serial, and what transmedia possibilities might look like going forward.

 

Also relevant/see:

  • Please don’t ruin the second screen — from techcrunch.com by Somrat Niyogi
    Excerpt:
    The second screen space is going to be a multi-billion dollar market. Just last week, Tim Cook announced that 67M iPads were sold in less than two years. It took more than 24 years to sell that many Macs.  With the growing trend of second screen activity (i.e. using tablets while you watch TV), there is bound to be major disruption in the TV industry.
  • Comcast connects Skype HD videoconferencing to the living room TV — from networkworld.com by Larry Hettick
    Excerpt:
    With the Skype on Xfinity service customers will also be able to:
    • Make and receive Skype-to-Skype video and audio calls or send instant messages via Skype on a TV while watching their favorite TV show at the same time, and accept incoming Skype calls during a TV show with the help of Caller ID.
    • Import Skype friends into a global address book which can also contain Facebook, Outlook, Gmail and smartphone contacts so subscribers can find friends who already use Skype and see when contacts are online and available to talk.
    • Communicate with the hundreds of millions of connected Skype users around the globe, whether on a Skype-enabled TV, PC or mobile device.
  • A TV platform so disruptive everyone’s suing it — from fastcompany.com by David Zax
    Excerpt:
    We chat with Chet Kanojia of Aereo, the new TV-where-and-when-you-want-it service that has a few legal troubles. Could Aereo finally disrupt the loathed cable bundle–and TV altogether?
  • Now serving the latest in exponential growth: YouTube!— from singularityhub.com by David J. Hill.
    .

Addendum on 6/2/12

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Skype announces Facebook-to-Facebook calling [Carter]

On 11/18/2011, in Microsoft, telecommunications, tools, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Skype announces Facebook-to-Facebook calling — from wired.co.uk by Beth Carter

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Core 77 Design Awards: Skype in the Classroom

On 09/13/2011, in collaboration, global / globalization, teachers, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

skype-in-the-classroom- wins core77 award

Also see:

 

 

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Microsoft to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion

On 05/10/2011, in Microsoft, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Microsoft to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion — from CNET by Don Reisinger

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Japan crisis showcases social media’s muscle

On 04/13/2011, in global / globalization, Google, internet, social media, society, tools, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Japan crisis showcases social media’s muscle — from USAToday.com by Steve Sternberg; my thanks to Mr. Steven Chevalia for this resource

Japan’s disaster has spotlighted the critical role that social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube and Skype increasingly are playing in responses to crises around the world. They may have been designed largely for online socializing and fun, but such sites and others have empowered people caught up in crises and others wanting to help to share vivid, unfiltered images, audio and text reports before governments or more traditional media can do so.

“Often, it’s not the experts who know something, it’s someone in the crowd,” says Sree Sreenivasan, a social media specialist at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

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A hugely powerful vision: A potent addition to our learning ecosystems of the future

On 04/09/2011, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, change, colleges, convergence, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-readers, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, immersion, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, lifelong learning, marketplaces, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, podcasting, professional development, reinvent, RSS, simulations, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, social media, society, storytelling, strategy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, surviving, tablets, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

 

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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The complete educator’s guide to using Skype effectively in the classroom [Waters]

On 04/07/2011, in collaboration, global / globalization, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

The complete educator’s guide to using Skype effectively in the classroom — from The Edublogger by Sue Waters

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Skype Community Comes to the Classroom [Nagel]

On 03/31/2011, in 21st century, education technology, engagement / engaging students, global / globalization, K-12 related, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Skype Community Comes to the Classroom — from The Journal by David Nagel

Skype in the classroom offers teachers a free platform for communications and collaboration.
Skype in the classroom offers teachers a free platform for communications and collaboration.

Skype has launched a global community for educators called Skype in the classroom.

The free service is focused on connecting teachers from around the world to allow them to communicate, collaborate on projects, draw expertise from one another, and share learning materials and best practices. It also serves as a launchpad for connecting students with their peers in classrooms across the planet using Skype video.

 

 

Addendum on 4/1/11:

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Presentations from Langwitches.org re: blogging, videoconferencing w/ Skype

On 03/28/2011, in blogs / blogging / vlogging, K-12 related, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Presentations from Langwitches.org

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How Skype is changing the interview process

On 03/04/2011, in career development, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How Skype is changing the interview process — from The Chronicle by Stephen Winzenburg

Careers Illustration -- Skype Interviews 

Brian Taylor for The Chronicle

For years, search committees conducted preliminary job interviews for academic positions by telephone, making it easy for a candidate to sit at home in shorts while answering serious questions.

But times have changed, and Skype is now the preferred method many institutions use to conduct long-distance interviews. Some job listings are even warning candidates that they may have to make an initial appearance before the committee via Webcam.

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Educators move beyond the hype over Skype

On 02/09/2011, in expectations, K-12 related, languages and translation, tools, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Educators move beyond the hype over Skype — from Digital Directions by Ian Quillen

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Olivia Flick, a 3rd grader at Washington Street Elementary School in Brewer Maine,
shares facts about her state via Skype with students in South Dakota.
—Carl D. Walsh_Digital Directions
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Educators are now using the videoconferencing tool to connect foreign-language students to native speakers, hold virtual field trips and host conversations with scientists and other experts

…

While conceding the potential for frivolous use of Skype, its advocates say the tool can be particularly valuable for connecting foreign-language students to native speakers, holding virtual field trips, and visiting with real-world subject experts while saving precious funds and preventing logistical headaches. In many cases, teachers are reporting that aspects of video communication actually make teaching and learning more effective than the comparable in-person experiences.

Also see:

Framing a Skype Learning Experience — from Langwitches blog by Silvia Tolisano

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10 ways technology supports 21st century learners in being self directed

On 01/29/2011, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, education technology, ideas, metacognition / metacognitive skills, online learning, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, publishing, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

10 ways technology supports 21st century learners in being self directed — from the Innovative Educator

  1. Personal Learning Networks
  2. Tweet to Connect with Experts
  3. Skype an Expert
  4. Free Online Educational Resources
  5. Online Learning
  6. Authentic Publishing
  7. Use YouTube and iTunes to Learn Anything
  8. Passion (or talent) Profiles
  9. Develop Authentic Learning Portfolios
  10. Empower Students to Assess and Learn Themselves
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