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From DSC:
I post this here — with higher ed included in the tags/categories — because if the trend within K-12 continues (i.e. that of using such technologies as the iPad, digital textbooks, mobile learning devices, etc.), students’ expectations WILL be impacted. When they hit our doorsteps, they will come with their heightened sets of expectations. The question is, will we in higher ed be ready for them?
EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, Volume 45, Number 5, September/October 2010
If we want to discover how we can engage students as well as ourselves in the 21st century, we must move beyond skills and technologies. We must explore also the interconnected social media literacies of attention, participation, cooperation, network awareness, and critical consumption.
Web collaboration trends — from The Webinar blog by Ken Molay
Intercall put out a press release today summarizing results from a survey of college students about watching webcast courses. I have to admit I was surprised by how widespread some of the behavior characteristics are… I knew that streaming courses over the web was done, but I didn’t realize how many students relied on it.
Consider that 48 percent of students said they take multiple classes scheduled for the same time! That’s a far cry from my college days, when I would painstakingly juggle which classes to sign up for based on whether I could get from one side of campus to the other in time. 78 percent of students said that professors had made courses available online, either live or on demand. What do you think these students are going to expect of communications when they enter the workforce? Will they agree to attend multiple product briefings or team meetings scheduled for the same time because they figure they can watch the webcast recording later?
Excerpt:
The survey polled college students ages 18 to 25 about their attitudes and behaviors towards streamed video content of their college courses. Additional findings from the survey include:
Online collaboration: New innovations pave the way for convergence — from prnewswire.com
Merger of television and computer takes giant step closer as innovative online tool suite is released
CALABASAS, Calif., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Anticipating the coming paradigm shift that will merge your television and your computer, NxtGenTV has just released the most cohesive system of online tools to facilitate the ultimate interactive communication platform. Four years of innovating has resulted in NetConference.com, an elegant, easy-to-use online meeting system that supports the diverse requirements of single users, small and medium size businesses as well as enterprise and nonprofit organizations. Creating a new opportunity for the global audience to interact online in even greater and more efficient ways is only one of the many benefits of building a social media broadcasting system that facilitates Communication, Collaboration, Presentation and Education.
An industry leader in online games, apps, widgets, banners and rich media development for major entertainment brands, The Illusion Factory created a new company, NxtGenTV to develop and patent cutting-edge online technologies such as shared synchronized visual media and other key innovations that will further blur the lines between computers and television. “We have been passionate about creating the cumulative new systems that will drive Convergence,” shares Brian Weiner, CEO of The Illusion Factory, “our creation of NxtGenTV will lead the push for truly interactive television.”
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Innovate to Educate: [Re]Design for Personalize Learning — from mobl21.com/blog
The Symposium on [Re]Design for Personalized Learning has begun.
An initiative of the SIIA (Software & Information Industry Association) with ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), this collaborative effort asserts that the education system can more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of all students through a true paradigm shift from a mass production to a mass customization learning system.
An excerpt from the SIIA-ASCD-CCSSO Symposium Primer:
Some education leaders are becoming more focused on personalizing learning as critical to meeting the needs of all students. They understand that changing student outcomes requires transforming their experience and our current education system. They recognize the definition of educational insanity: offering the same type of education model over and over again, and expecting a different result. These leaders also see that educational equity is not simply about equal access and inputs, but as importantly requires that a student’s educational path, curriculum, instruction and schedule be personalized to meet her unique needs. Reform efforts that continue to focus on the factory model, one-size fits all approach to learning are unlikely to make a sufficient difference for too many students in this knowledge-age when expectations are higher than ever.
In contrast to trends in other industries to personalize products, services, and the user experience – in part by leveraging continually evolving technologies – education has only scratched the surface on the potential to personalize the learner experience. Such efforts continue to be the exception rather than the rule and often represent a “tweaking” of the traditional model rather than the necessary systemic redesign of how we educate our children. Similarly, students have come to expect personalization in every other aspect of their lives, including through services like Facebook, Netflix and iTunes, to name a few. If Google and Amazon can thoughtfully leverage customer data and virtual communities to better serve each person’s unique preferences and interests from afar, then education can do so for each student from a near — to understand each one’s performance level, learning style and learning preferences and then adjust instructional strategies and content to meet those needs.
Read the full primer here: http://www.siia.net/pli/primer.doc
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From DSC:
Eventually, we will have to deal with some major changing student expectations. Perhaps that’s this year..? Next year? 5 years down the line…? I’m not sure. But with the storm brewing, we don’t want to discount changing student expectations. We need to adapt and deliver and meet changing expectations.
Screencasts to support learning
I believe there are a number of reasons why screencasts are extremely effective as educational tools and I have outlined these below:
1. Time-flexible learning
2. Support Web 2.0 expectations of learners
3. Enhancement of the learning process
4. Enhancement of learning engagement
Let’s take a look at these one by one….
