adult learning

DC: 12,000+ skills on Amazon’s new platform — Alexa. What will this new platform mean/deliver?

On 05/18/2017, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, Natural Language Processing (NLP), platforms, programming, society, streams of content, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
There are now more than 12,000+ skills on Amazon’s new platform — Alexa. I continue to wonder…what will this new platform mean/deliver to societies throughout the globe?

From this Alexa Skills Kit page:

What Is an Alexa Skill?
Alexa is Amazon’s voice service and the brain behind millions of devices including Amazon Echo. Alexa provides capabilities, or skills, that enable customers to create a more personalized experience. There are now more than 12,000 skills from companies like Starbucks, Uber, and Capital One as well as innovative designers and developers.

What Is the Alexa Skills Kit?
With the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), designers, developers, and brands can build engaging skills and reach millions of customers. ASK is a collection of self-service APIs, tools, documentation, and code samples that makes it fast and easy for you to add skills to Alexa. With ASK, you can leverage Amazon’s knowledge and pioneering work in the field of voice design.

You can build and host most skills for free using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Very interesting: Purdue University to Acquire Kaplan University [wsj.com’s Belkin & Korn]

On 04/28/2017, in adult learning, business side of he, changing business models, leadership, lifelong learning, new business models, online learning, strategy, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Purdue University to Acquire Kaplan University — from wsj.com by Douglas Belkin and Melissa Korn
Purdue President Mitch Daniels calls deal major push into online education

Excerpt:

Purdue University, a flagship public institution in Indiana, is jumping into online education by buying for-profit Kaplan University with the aim of creating a new, public online university.

Also see:

Purdue Buys For-Profit Kaplan University for $1 to Create New Kind of Public University — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
Excerpt:

It’s kind of a head-spinner. Purdue University agreed today to buy one of the largest for-profit universities, Kaplan University, and turn it into a public, non-profit university in the Purdue system. Except that this new public university will apparently operate without state funding (though financial aid will be available to students).

The sale price for Kaplan University’s 15 campuses was $1, though with one important catch: The new nonprofit university operated by Purdue promised to give a percentage of its revenue back to its former owner, Kaplan, Inc., for the next 30 years.

Addendum on 5/3/17:

Purdue’s Purchase of Kaplan Is a Big Bet — and a Sign of the Times — from chronicle.com by Goldie Blumenstyk

Heads-up higher ed! These vendors can help us bring remote learners into our face-to-face based classrooms! [Christian]

On 04/20/2017, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, blended learning, change, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, face-to-face, faculty/staff, formal learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, geography / geology, global / globalization, Google, higher education, hybrid learning, ideas, informal learning, innovation, internet, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, microlearning, multimedia, online learning, participation, platforms, professional development, reinvent, student-related, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, tools, training / L&D, trends, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
In terms of learning, having to be in the same physical place as others continues to not be a requirement nearly as much as it used to be. But I’m not just talking about online learning here. I’m talking about a new type of learning environment that involves both hardware and software to facilitate collaboration (and it was designed that way from day 1). These new types of setups can provide us with new opportunities and affordances that we should begin experimenting with immediately.

Check out the following products — all of which allow a person to contribute to a discussion or conversation from anywhere they can get Internet access:

When you go to those sites, you will see words and phrase such as:

Visual collaboration software
Virtual workspace
Develop
Share
Inspire
Design
Global teams
A visual collaboration solution that links locations, teams, content, and devices in an immersive, shared workspace
Teamwork
Create and brainstorm with others
Digital workplace platform
Eliminate the distance between in-office and remote employees
Jumpstart spontaneous brainstorms and working sessions

So using these types of software and hardware setups, I can contribute regardless of where I’m located. Remote learning — from anywhere in the world — being combined with our face-to-face based classrooms.

Also, the push for Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) continues across higher education. Such hands-on, project-learning based, student-centered approaches fit extremely well with the collaboration setups mentioned above.

Then, there’s the insight from Simon Dudley in this article:

“…video conferencing is increasingly an application within in a larger workflow…”

Lastly, if colleges and universities don’t have the funds to maintain their physical plants, look for higher education to move increasingly online — and these types of solutions could play a significant role in that environment. Plus, for working adults who need to reinvent themselves, this is an extremely efficient means of picking up some new skills and competencies.

So the growth of these types of setups — where the software and hardware work together to support worldwide collaboration — will likely create a powerful, new, emerging piece of our learning ecosystems.

Remote learning — from anywhere in the world — being combined with our face-to-face based classrooms.

What are the ramifications for higher education re: the massive changes beginning to take place due to AI, automation, & robotics?

On 04/13/2017, in 21st century, accreditation, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Michigan, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, pace of change, passions, reinvent, robotics, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, the downsides of how people use tech, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The recent pieces below made me once again reflect on the massive changes that are quickly approaching — and in some cases are already here — for a variety of nations throughout the world.

They caused me to reflect on:

What the potential ramifications for higher education might be regarding these changes that are just starting to take place in the workplace due to artificial intelligence (i.e., the increasing use of algorithms, machine learning, and deep learning, etc.), automation, & robotics?
The need for people to reinvent themselves quickly throughout their careers (if we can still call them careers)
How should we, as a nation, prepare for these massive changes so that there isn’t civil unrest due to soaring inequality and unemployment?

As found in the April 9th, 2017 edition of our local newspaper here:

When even our local newspaper is picking up on this trend, you know it is real and has some significance to it.

Then, as I was listening to the radio a day or two after seeing the above article, I heard of another related piece on NPR. NPR is having a journalist travel across the country, trying to identify “robot-safe” jobs. Here’s the feature on this from MarketPlace.org

What changes do institutions of traditional higher education
immediately need to begin planning for? Initiating?

What changes should be planned for and begin to be initiated
in the way(s) that we accredit new programs?

Keywords/ideas that come to my mind:

Change — to society, to people, to higher ed, to the workplace
Pace of technological change — no longer linear, but exponential
Career development
Staying relevant — as institutions, as individuals in the workplace
Reinventing ourselves over time — and having to do so quickly
Adapting, being nimble, willing to innovate — as institutions, as individuals
Game-changing environment
Lifelong learning — higher ed needs to put more emphasis on microlearning, heutagogy, and delivering constant/up-to-date streams of content and learning experiences. This could happen via the addition/use of smaller learning hubs, some even makeshift learning hubs that are taking place at locations that these institutions don’t even own…like your local Starbucks.
If we don’t get this right, there could be major civil unrest as inequality and unemployment soar
Traditional institutions of higher education have not been nearly as responsive to change as they have needed to be; this opens the door to alternatives. There’s a limited (and closing) window of time left to become more nimble and responsive before these alternatives majorly disrupt the current world of higher education.

Addendum from the corporate world (emphasis DSC):

From The Impact 2017 Conference:

The Role of HR in the Future of Work – A Town Hall

Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Nicola Vogel, Global Senior HR Director, Danfoss
Frank Møllerop, Chief Executive Officer, Questback
David Mallon, Head of Research, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Massive changes spurred by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, mobile platforms, sensors and social collaboration have revolutionized the way we live, work and communicate – and the pace is only accelerating. Robots and cognitive technologies are making steady advances, particularly in jobs and tasks that follow set, standardized rules and logic. This reinforces a critical challenge for business and HR leaders—namely, the need to design, source, and manage the future of work.

In this Town Hall, we will discuss the role HR can play in leading the digital transformation that is shaping the future of work in organizations worldwide. We will explore the changes we see taking place in three areas:

Digital workforce: How can organizations drive new management practices, a culture of innovation and sharing, and a set of talent practices that facilitate a new network-based organization?
Digital workplace: How can organizations design a working environment that enables productivity; uses modern communication tools (such as Slack, Workplace by Facebook, Microsoft Teams, and many others); and promotes engagement, wellness, and a sense of purpose?
Digital HR: How can organizations change the HR function itself to operate in a digital way, use digital tools and apps to deliver solutions, and continuously experiment and innovate?

Student debt was at $1.3 trillion in 2016 per a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of NY

On 04/10/2017, in 21st century, adult learning, cost of getting a degree, funding / grants, higher education, parents/guardians, reinvent, society, student-related, surviving, United States, by Daniel Christian

Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Press Briefing on Household Debt, with Focus on Student Debt — with thanks to Mr. Bryan Alexander for his post on this

Excerpts:

Student Debt Overview

Student debt was $1.3 trillion at the end of 2016, an increase of about 170% from 2006.
Aggregate student debt is increasing because:
- More students are taking out loans
- Loans are for larger amounts
- Repayment rates have slowed down
About 5% of the borrowers have more than $100,000 debt in 2016, but they account for about 30% of the total debt.
Recent graduates with student loans leave school with about $34,000, up nearly 70% from 10 years ago.

While the total level of household debt has nearly returned to the 2008 peak, debt types and borrower profiles have changed.
- Debt growth is now driven by non-housing sectors, and debt is held by older, more creditworthy borrowers.
Student debt has expanded significantly because of higher levels of borrowing and slower rates of repayment.
Student debt defaults peaked with the 2011 cohort and have improved somewhat since. However, payment progress has declined.
College attendance is associated with significantly higher homeownership rates regardless of debt status. Yet, student debt appears to dampen homeownership rates among those with the same level of education.
College attendance appears to mitigate the impact of economic background on homeownership rates.

Also see:

An update on the staggering mass of student loan debt — from Bryan Alexander who links to the article immediately below
A new look at the lasting consequences of student debt — from npr.org by Anya Kamenetz

The Blockchain Revolution and Higher Education — from er.educause.edu by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott
The blockchain provides a rich, secure, and transparent platform on which to create a global network for higher learning. This Internet of value can help to reinvent higher education in a way the Internet of information alone could not.

Excerpt:

What will be the most important technology to change higher education? In our view, it’s not big data, the social web, MOOCs, virtual reality, or even artificial intelligence. We see these as components of something new, all enabled and transformed by an emerging technology called the blockchain.

OK, it’s not the most sonorous word ever, sounding more like a college football strategy than a transformative technology. Yet, sonorous or not, the blockchain represents nothing less than the second generation of the Internet, and it holds the potential to disrupt money, business, government, and yes, higher education.

The opportunities for innovators in higher education fall into four categories:

Identity and Student Records: How we identify students; protect their privacy; measure, record, and credential their accomplishments; and keep these records secure
New Pedagogy: How we customize teaching to each student and create new models of learning
Costs (Student Debt): How we value and fund education and reward students for the quality of their work
The Meta-University: How we design entirely new models of higher education so that former MIT President Chuck Vest’s dream can become a reality¹

The blockchain may help us change the relationships among colleges and universities and, in turn, their relationship to society.

Let us explain.

What if there was an Internet of value — a global, distributed, highly secure platform, ledger, or database where we could store and exchange things of value and where we could trust each other without powerful intermediaries? That is the blockchain.

From DSC:
The quote…

In 2006, MIT President Emeritus Vest offered a tantalizing vision of what he called the meta-university. In the open-access movement, he saw “a transcendent, accessible, empowering, dynamic, communally constructed framework of open materials and platforms on which much of higher education worldwide can be constructed or enhanced.”

…made me wonder if this is where a vision that I’m tracking called Learning from the Living [Class] Room is heading. Also, along these lines, futurist Thomas Frey believes

“I’ve been predicting that by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet,” Frey, the senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute think tank, tells Business Insider. (source)

Blockchain could be a key piece of this vision.

Description:
A portrait of the tools and technology that students of the future might encounter.

A smorgasboard of ideas to put on your organization’s radar! [Christian]

On 03/15/2017, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, Amazon, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, bots, business side of he, career development, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, online tutoring, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, robotics, RSS, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, trends, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
At the Next Generation Learning Spaces Conference, held recently in San Diego, CA, I moderated a panel discussion re: AR, VR, and MR. I started off our panel discussion with some introductory ideas and remarks — meant to make sure that numerous ideas were on the radars at attendees’ organizations. Then Vinay and Carrie did a super job of addressing several topics and questions (Mary was unable to make it that day, as she got stuck in the UK due to transportation-related issues).

That said, I didn’t get a chance to finish the second part of the presentation which I’ve listed below in both 4:3 and 16:9 formats. So I made a recording of these ideas, and I’m relaying it to you in the hopes that it can help you and your organization.

Presentations/recordings:

Audio/video recording (187 MB MP4 file)

Again, I hope you find this information helpful.

Thanks,
Daniel

The 4 Common Characteristics of Personalized Learning — from thejournal.com by Leila Meyer
iNACOL offers ideas for implementing personalized learning in K-12 schools with the support of families and the community.

Excerpt:

According to the report, there are many different approaches to personalized learning, but most of them share these common characteristics:

Student ownership of their learning process;
Focus on the learning process rather than “big end-of-year tests”;
Competency or mastery-based student progression; and
Anytime, anywhere learning.

See also:

From DSC:
In the spirit of pulse-checking the landscapes…those of us working in higher education, take heed. These are your future students. What expectations from students might you encounter in the (not-too-distant) future? What are the ramifications for which pedagogies you decide to use?

Further out, for those of you working in the corporate learning & development world or in corporate training/universities, your time may be further out here…but you need to take heed as well. These are your future employees. They will come into your organizations with their expectations for how they prefer to learn and grow. Will you meet them where they are at?

We operate in a continuum…we’d be wise to pulse-check what’s happening in the earlier phases of this continuum.

You can be sitting ‘courtside’ at NBA games with virtual reality — from mercurynews.com by Bill Oram

Excerpt:

“The result is a really strong sense of presence,” said David Cole, who helped found NextVR as a 3D company in 2009. “A vivid sense.”

“In some ways, we could still be at a point in time where a lot of people don’t yet know that they want this in VR,” said David Cramer, NextVR’s chief operating officer. “The thing that we’ve seen is that when people do see it, it just blows away their expectations.”

From DSC:
Hmm…the above piece from The Mercury News on #VR speaks of presence. A vivid sense of presence.

If they can do this with an NBA game, why cant’ we do this with remote learners & bring them into face-to-face classrooms? How might VR be used in online learning and distance education? Could be an interesting new revenue stream for colleges and universities…and help serve more people who want to learn but might not be able to move to certain locations and/or not be able to attend face-to-face classrooms. Applications could exist within the corporate training/L&D world as well.

Also related/see:

Watch (parts of) the Super Bowl (sort of) in VR this weekend — from theverge.com by Adi Robertson
Excerpt:
But this experience might be more interesting as a sign of where the industry’s going than as an actual piece of entertainment.

From DSC:
First, some items regarding the enormous emphasis being put towards the use of robotics and automation:

$18.867 billion paid to acquire 50 robotics companies in 2016 — from robohub.org by Frank Tobe
Excerpt:
2016 was a banner year for acquisitions of companies involved in robotics and automation: 50 sold; 11 for amounts over $500 million; five were over a billion. 30 of the 50 companies disclosed transaction amounts which totaled up to a colossal $18.867 billion!
.
2017: The year people are forced to learn new skills… or join the Lost Generation — from enterpriseirregulars.com by Phil Fersht
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Let’s cut to the chase – there have never been times as uncertain as these in the world of business. There is no written rule-book to follow when it comes to career survival. The “Future of Work” is about making ourselves employable in a workforce where the priority of business leaders is to invest in automation and digital technology, more than training and developing their own workforces. As our soon-to-be-released State of Operations and Outsourcing 2017 study, conducted in conjunction with KPMG across 454 major enterprise buyers globally, shows a dramatic shift in priorities from senior managers (SVPs and above), where 43% are earmarking significant investment in robotic automation of processes, compared with only 28% placing a similar emphasis on training and change management. In fact, the same number of senior managers are as focused on cognitive computing as their own people… yes, folks, this is the singularity of enterprise operations, where cognitive computing now equals employees’ brains when it comes to investment!
…
My deep-seated fear for today’s workforce is that we’re in danger of becoming this “Lost Generation” of workers if we persist in relying on what we already know, versus avoiding learning new skills that business leaders now need. We have to become students again, put our egos aside, and broaden our capabilities to avoid the quicksand of legacy executives no longer worth employing.

Below are some other resources along these lines:

Our Automated Future — from newyorker.com by Elizabeth Kolbert
How long will it be before you lose your job to a robot?
Artificial Intelligence: Silicon Valley’s Next Frontier – from toptechnews.com by Ethan Baron
The Great A.I. Awakening – from the nytimes.com by Gideon Lewis-Kraus
2017 will be big year for AI thanks to tech giants — from cio.com by Matt Kapko
The Robotic Grocery Store of the Future Is Here — from technologyreview.com by Jamie Condliffe
IBM & Rice University Partner to Build a Robot for the Elderly — from finance.yahoo.com
If a Robot is Going to Take My Job, Should it Pay My Taxes? – from datafloq.com
The White House is prepping for an AI-powered future — from wired.com by April Glaser
Artificial intelligence could cost millions of jobs. The White House says we need more of it. — from gazette.com by The Washington Post
Retail inventory robots could replace the need for store employees — from interestingengineering.com by Trevor English
Apple supplier Foxconn replaces 60,000 humans with robots in China — from marketwatch.com
There are now 260,000 robots working in U.S. factories — from marketwatch.com by Jennifer Booton
Robots expected to run half of Japan by 2035 — from engadget.com by Andrew Tarantola
and many, many more…

From DSC:
Given that these trends continue (i.e., to outsource work to software and to robots), what will the ramifications be for:

Society at large? Will enough people have enough income to purchase the products/services made by the robots and the software?
Will there be major civil unrest / instability? Will crime rates shoot through the roof as peoples’ desperation and frustration escalate?
How we should change our curricula within K-12?
How should we change our curricular within higher education?
How should corporate training & development departments/groups respond to these trends?
Is there some new criteria that we need to use (or increase the usage of) in selecting C-level executives?

People don’t want to hear about it. But if the only thing that the C-level suites out there care about is maximizing profits and minimizing costs — REGARDLESS of what happens to humankind — then we are likely going to be creating a very dangerous future. Capitalism will have gone awry. (By the way, the C-level suite is probably making their decisions based upon how their performance is judged by Wall Street and by shareholders. So I can’t really put all the blame on them. Perhaps the enemy is ourselves…?)

Bottom line: We need to be careful which technologies we implement — and how they are implemented. We need to create a dream in our futures, not a nightmare. We need people at the helms who care about their fellow humankind, and who use the power of these technologies responsibly.

CES 2017: Intel’s VR visions — from jwtintelligence.com by Shepherd Laughlin
The company showed off advances in volumetric capture, VR live streaming, and “merged reality.”

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Live-streaming 360-degree video was another area of focus for Intel. Guests were able to watch a live basketball game being broadcast from Indianapolis, Indiana, choosing from multiple points of view as the action moved up and down the court. Intel “will be among the first technology providers to enable the live sports experience on multiple VR devices,” the company stated.

After taking a 3D scan of the room, Project Alloy can substitute virtual objects where physical objects stand.

From DSC:
If viewers of a live basketball game can choose from multiple points of view, why can’t remote learners do this as well with a face-to-face classroom that’s taking place at a university or college? Learning from the Living [Class] Room.

From CES 2017: Introducing DAQRI’s Smart Glasses™

Excerpt:

Data visualization, guided work instructions, remote expert — for use in a variety of industries: medical, aviation and aerospace, architecture and AEC, lean manufacturing, engineering, and construction.

Third-party Microsoft HoloLens-based mixed reality headsets coming soon, prices to start at $299 — from bgr.in by Deepali Moray
Microsoft has partnered with companies including Dell and Acer which will release their own HoloLens compatible devices.

Excerpt:

The company said that it is teaming up with the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer, which will release headsets based on the HoloLens technology. “These new head-mounted displays will be the first consumer offerings utilizing the Mixed Reality capabilities of Windows 10 Creators Update,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. Microsoft’s partner companies for taking the HoloLens technology forward include Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and 3 Glasses. Headsets by these manufacturers will work the same way as the original HoloLens but carry the design and branding of their respective companies. While the HoloLens developer edition costs a whopping $2999 (approximately Rs 2,00,000), the third-party headsets will be priced starting $299 (approximately Rs 20,000).

Verto Studio 3D App Makes 3D Modeling on HoloLens Easy — from winbuzzer.com by Luke Jones
The upcoming Verto Studio 3D application allows users to create 3D models and interact with them when wearing HoloLens. It is the first software of its kind for mixed reality.

Excerpt:
How is The Immersive Experience Delivered?

Tethered Headset VR – The user can participate in a VR experience by using a computer with a tethered VR headset (also known as a Head Mounted Display – HMD) like Facebook’s Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, or the HTC Vive. The user has the ability to move freely and interact in the VR environment while using a handheld controller to emulate VR hands. But, the user has a limited area in which to move about because they are tethered to a computer.

Non-Tethered Headset VR/AR – These devices are headsets and computers built into one system, so users are free of any cables limiting their movement. These devices use AR to deliver a 360° immersive experience. Much like with Oculus Rift and Vive, the user would be able to move around in the AR environment as well as interact and manipulate objects. A great example of this headset is Microsoft’s HoloLens, which delivers an AR experience to the user through just a headset.

Mobile Device Inserted into a Headgear – To experience VR, the user inserts their mobile device into a Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear 360°, or any other type of mobile device headgear, along with headphones if they choose. This form of VR doesn’t require the user to be tethered to a computer and most VR experiences can be 360° photos, videos, and interactive scenarios.

Mobile VR – The user can access VR without any type of headgear simply by using a mobile device and headphones (optional). They can still have many of the same experiences that they would through Google Cardboard or any other type of mobile device headgear. Although they don’t get the full immersion that they would with headgear, they would still be able to experience VR. Currently, this version of the VR experience seems to be the most popular because it only requires a mobile device. Apps like Pokémon Go and Snapchat’s animated selfie lens only require a mobile device and have a huge number of users.

Desktop VR – Using just a desktop computer, the user can access 360° photos and videos, as well as other VR and AR experiences, by using the trackpad or computer mouse to move their field of view and become immersed in the VR scenario.

New VR – Non-mobile and non-headset platforms like Leap Motion use depth sensors to create a VR image of one’s hands on a desktop computer; they emulate hand gestures in real time. This technology could be used for anything from teaching assembly in a manufacturing plant to learning a step-by-step process to medical training.

VR/AR Solutions

Oculus Rift – www.oculus.com
HTC Vive – htcvive.com
Playstation VR – playstation.com
Samsung VR Gear – www.samsung.com
Google Daydream – https://vr.google.com/daydream/
Leap Motion – www.leapmotion.com
Magic Leap – www.magicleap.com
Most mobile devices

Goggles that are worn, while they are “Oh Myyy” awesome, will not be the final destination of VR/AR. We will want to engage and respond, without wearing a large device over our eyes. Pokémon Go was a good early predictor of how non-goggled experiences will soar.

Elliott Masie

Top 8 VR & AR predictions for 2017 — from haptic.al by Christine Hart

Excerpt:

Education will go virtual
Similar to VR for brand engagement, we’ve seen major potential for delivering hands-on training and distance education in a virtual environment. If VR can take a class on a tour of Mars, the current trickle of educational VR could turn into a flood in 2017.

Published on Dec 26, 2016
Top 10 Virtual Reality Predictions For 2017 In vTime. Its been an amazing year for VR and AR. New VR and AR headsets, ground breaking content and lots more. 2017 promises to be amazing as well. Here’s our top 10 virtual reality predictions for the coming year. Filmed in vTime with vCast. Sorry about the audio quality. We used mics on Rift and Vive which are very good on other platforms. We’ve reported this to vTime.

Addendums

5 top Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology trends for 2017 — from marxentlabs.com by Joe Bardi
Excerpt:
So what’s in store for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in 2017? We asked Marxent’s talented team of computer vision experts, 3D artists and engineers to help us suss out what the year ahead will hold. Here are their predictions for the top Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology trends for 2017.

AR becomes the killer app for smartphones

Cinematic VR from Jaunt — the one entitled “Chapel” was a very powerful piece:

Don’t discount the game-changing power of the morphing “TV” when coupled with AI, NLP, and blockchain-based technologies! [Christian]

On 01/03/2017, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, Blockchain, Bring your own device (BYOD), career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, communications, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, computer science, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, smart classrooms, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

Don’t discount the game-changing power of the morphing “TV” when coupled with artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), and blockchain-based technologies!

When I saw the article below, I couldn’t help but wonder what (we currently know of as) “TVs” will morph into and what functionalities they will be able to provide to us in the not-too-distant future…?

For example, the article mentions that Seiki, Westinghouse, and Element will be offering TVs that can not only access Alexa — a personal assistant from Amazon which uses artificial intelligence — but will also be able to provide access to over 7,000 apps and games via the Amazon Fire TV Store.

Some of the questions that come to my mind:

Why can’t there be more educationally-related games and apps available on this type of platform?
Why can’t the results of the assessments taken on these apps get fed into cloud-based learner profiles that capture one’s lifelong learning? (#blockchain)
When will potential employers start asking for access to such web-based learner profiles?
Will tvOS and similar operating systems expand to provide blockchain-based technologies as well as the types of functionality we get from our current set of CMSs/LMSs?
Will this type of setup become a major outlet for competency-based education as well as for corporate training-related programs?
Will augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) capabilities come with our near future “TVs”?
Will virtual tutoring be one of the available apps/channels?
Will the microphone and the wide angle, HD camera on the “TV” be able to be disconnected from the Internet for security reasons? (i.e., to be sure no hacker is eavesdropping in on their private lives)

Forget a streaming stick: These 4K TVs come with Amazon Fire TV inside — from techradar.com by Nick Pino

Excerpt:

The TVs will not only have access to Alexa via a microphone-equipped remote but, more importantly, will have access to the over 7,000 apps and games available on the Amazon Fire TV Store – a huge boon considering that most of these Smart TVs usually include, at max, a few dozen apps.

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

Addendums

A top futurist predicts the largest internet company of 2030 will be an online school — from businessinsider.com by Chris Weller

“I’ve been predicting that by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet,” Frey, the senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute think tank, tells Business Insider.

.

Once thought to be a fad, MOOCs showed staying power in 2016 — from educationdive.com
Dive Brief:
- EdSurge profiles the growth of massive online open courses in 2016, which attracted more than 58 million students in over 700 colleges and universities last year.
- The top three MOOC providers — Coursera, Udacity and EdX — collectively grossed more than $100 million last year, as much of the content provided on these platforms shifted from free to paywall guarded materials.
- Many MOOCs have moved to offering credentialing programs or nanodegree offerings to increase their value in industrial marketplaces.

From DSC:
Recently, my neighbor graciously gave us his old Honda snowblower, as he was getting a new one. He wondered if we had a use for it. As I’m definitely not getting any younger and I’m not Howard Hughes, I said, “Sure thing! That would be great — it would save my back big time! Thank you!” (Though the image below is not mine, it might as well be…as both are quite old now.)

Anyway…when I recently ran out of gas, I would have loved to be able to take out my iPhone, hold it up to this particular Honda snowblower and ask an app to tell me if this particular Honda snowblower takes a mixture of gas and oil, or does it have a separate container for the oil? (It wasn’t immediately clear where to put the oil in, so I’m figuring it’s a mix.)

But what I would have liked to have happen was:

I launched an app on my iPhone that featured machine learning-based capabilities
The app would have scanned the snowblower and identified which make/model it was and proceeded to tell me whether it needed a gas/oil mix (or not)
If there was a separate place to pour in the oil, the app would have asked me if I wanted to learn how to put oil in the snowblower. Upon me saying yes, it would then have proceeded to display an augmented reality-based training video — showing me where the oil was to be put in and what type of oil to use (links to local providers would also come in handy…offering nice revenue streams for advertisers and suppliers alike).

So several technologies would have to be involved here…but those techs are already here. We just need to pull them together in order to provide this type of useful functionality!

Some reflections/resources on today’s announcements from Apple

On 10/27/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, Bring your own device (BYOD), business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, convergence, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, formal learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, lifelong learning, microlearning, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, tablets, technologies for your home, television, training / L&D, TVs, ubiquitous learning, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
How long before recommendation engines like this can be filtered/focused down to just display apps, channels, etc. that are educational and/or training related (i.e., a recommendation engine to suggest personalized/customized playlists for learning)?

That is, in the future, will we have personalized/customized playlists for learning on our Apple TVs — as well as on our mobile devices — with the assessment results of our taking the module(s) or course(s) being sent in to:

A credentials database on LinkedIn (via blockchain)
and/or
A credentials database at the college(s) or university(ies) that we’re signed up with for lifelong learning (via blockchain)
and/or
To update our cloud-based learning profiles — which can then feed a variety of HR-related systems used to find talent? (via blockchain)

Will participants in MOOCs, virtual K-12 schools, homeschoolers, and more take advantage of learning from home?

Will solid ROI’s from having thousands of participants paying a smaller amount (to take your course virtually) enable higher production values?

Will bots and/or human tutors be instantly accessible from our couches?

Will we be able to meet virtually via our TVs and share our computing devices?