“Learning in the Living [Class] Room” — as explained by Daniel Christian [Campus Technology]

Learning from the Living [Class] Room  — from Campus Technology by Daniel Christian and Mary Grush; with a huge thanks also going out to Mr. Steven Niedzielski (@Marketing4pt0) and to Mr. Sam Beckett (@SamJohnBeck) for their assistance and some of the graphics used in making these videos.

From DSC:
These 4 short videos explain what I’m trying to relay with a vision I’m entitling, Learning from the Living [Class] Room.  I’ve been pulse checking a variety of areas for years now, and the pieces of this vision continue to come into fruition.  This is what I see Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) morphing into (though there may be other directions/offshoots that they go in as well).

After watching these videos, I think you will see why I think we must move to a teambased approach.

(It looks like the production folks for Campus Technology had to scale things way back in terms of video quality to insure an overall better performance for the digitally-based magazine.) 


To watch these videos in a higher resolution, please use these links:


  1. What do you mean by “the living [class] room”?
  2. Why consider this now?
  3. What are some examples of apps and tech for “the living [class] room”?
  4. What skill sets will be needed to make “the living [class] room” a reality?

 

 


Alternatively, these videos can be found at:


 

DanielSChristianLearningFromTheLivingClassRoom-CampusTechnologyNovember2013

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Circle Twelve introduces new video conferencing and immersive multi-user collaboration system — from businesswire.com

 

DiamondTouchImmersion-Sept2013

DiamondTouch Immersion is a new video conferencing system from Circle Twelve designed for connecting two remotely located teams. It combines a the multi-user DiamondTouch table with a second display for video conferencing. It features several patented technologies, including the multi-user DiamondTouch table hardware used for interacting with shared content and collaborative whiteboarding, a method for indicating which remote user is interacting (check out the virtual arms at 3:45), and a multi-camera system so you can see all the people at the remote table. More information at http://www.circletwelve.com/products/…

 

From DSC:
Can you imaging this type of web-based collaboration in blended learning environments?!!

 

Also see:

 

 

 

True personalization is the next big thing in multiscreen TV [Moulding]

True personalization is the next big thing in multiscreen TV — from .v-net.tv by John Moulding

 

 

 

From DSC:
Not a far stretch to see some applications of this in the future aimed at learning objects/learning agents/and personalized streams of content.

 

 

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

 

 

Addendum:
(With thanks going out to Mr. Richard Byrne over at the Free Technology for Teachers blog for this item
)

 

 

SchoolsWorldTV-Sept2013

 

From DSC:
First, take a look at this interactive video from the Wall Street Journal:

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WSJ-interactive-video-Obamacare-7-9-13

 

For further information on that video, you can also see:

  • ‘Obamacare’ Made Easy to Understand — from /live.wsj.com
    David Wessel discusses a new WSJ.com interactive video that helps viewers better understand the Affordable Health Care Act as well as its slate of rules and penalties.

 

WSJ-interactive-video-Obamacare2-7-9-13

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From DSC:

Excellent, creative use of technology!   Lifelong learners of the world, let me hear some noise!  Your learning futures just got much more interesting, dynamic, and interactive! 

You will be given more choice and more control than you’ve ever had before. You will be able to interact with digital videos, drill down, take some rights turns and come back again, and more.

For example, during the WSJ video, you can click on the radio within the digital video in order to “drill down” and listen to more about a certain topic — while the main presentation “holds on”…

 

WSJ-interactive-video-Obamacare3-7-9-13

 

…you can jump ahead to the next marker…pause…rewind…click to get some further text-based information/details on a topic of interest:

 

WSJ-interactive-video-Obamacare4-7-9-13

 

…and more. In other words, you have more choice, more control in your learning experience. This, at minimum, is a piece of online learning’s — and digital video’s — future.

But I hear you saying, so what? Flash has been doing this for a while now.  And that, my friends, is the only downside I see in this implementation from the WSJ — it was done using Flash. 

As Flash won’t fly on iOS-based devices, an HTML5-based solution needs to come into the picture…and this is where Touchcast shines!

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Touchcast-July2013

 

As Paul Sawers explains, you can add interactive, browsable layers onto your video and deliver it in an HTML5-based format.

 

d11 730x547 TouchCast for iPad brings the future of the Web to video authoring with interactive browsable layers

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An excerpt from Paul’s article:

Things start to get really interesting with video apps (vApps). TouchCast lets you create videos that are layered with live Web pages, video clips, maps, Twitter streams and other facets of the digital world. “We’re actually claiming that this is the future of the Web,” says Segal, TouchCasts’s CEO.

Indeed, TouchCast’s vApp library is ‘open’, so developers can create and customize their own vApps.

 

Bottom line:
“Digital textbooks” will never be the same again (not to mention learning modules, transmedia, ads, presentations, digital storytelling, and more)!

 

 

Also see:

 

Example slides from
Will Richardson’s solid presentation at ISTE 2013, entitled ” Abundant Learning: Four newish ideas for powerful classrooms”

 

AbundantLearning-WillRichardson-June2013

 

 

From DSC:
This idea of self-directed/owned learning is spot on — and not just for those in K-12, but also for those in higher education and for those in the corporate world as well! It unleashes an enormous amount of intrinsic energy, motivation, drive, grit.

Each person needs to own and build their learning ecosystem — identifying one’s gifts, talents, passions, interests and then going out and developing those things.  If we each do what we do best, the whole world benefits.  As we will need others along the way — a team-based approach, communities of practice, and several of the other things/skills Will alluded to will be very important as well.

 

 

 

Lake Forest school unveils high-tech classroom — from by Danielle Gensburg

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The new space, previously home to administrative offices, is colored with blues, greens, oranges and yellows and contains movable furniture, a green room for recording and filming movie projects, three large monitors, iPads, computers, digital recording equipment and library bookshelves.

“They wanted it to be set up where it would be more of a learning lab for life-long learners to engage and have student-directed learning,” Zeeman said.

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Deerpath Middle School unveiled “The Cube,” a new technology classroom, in April.

From DSC:
As a team of us have been charged with putting together a new collaborative workspace/conference room, I’ve been thinking about some ideas for a new type of interface as well as some new types of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to be used in group collaboration/web-based collaboration.  I was thinking it would be good to not only display files from various devices but also to be able to share files/URLs/other resources with each other.  (Some type of storage device that processes files — and scans them for viruses would be needed in addition to a large display or an interactive multitouch surface/wall.)

People within the same room could contribute files/items to a variety of “areas” — and so could others who joined in via the Internet.  Here’s what I had wanted to be able to do and I had pictured in my mind:

 

New-types-of-collaboration--DChristian-2-1-13

 

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
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  • People could select which files/URLs/resources that they wanted to contribute
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  • People could select which files/URLs/resources that they wanted to download to their own devices (during and after the meeting)
    .
  • Could be powerful in the next generation of our Smart Classrooms as well as in corporate training/learning spaces
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  • Could be powerful in the what I’m envisioning in “Learning from the Living [Class] Room”
    .
  • Could be powerful in conference room situations
    .

 

 It’s very similar to what Tidebreak has created/envisioned in their product lines.
Check out their innovative work/products/concepts!

 


Transforming learning spaces: 3 big ideas — from Tidebreak


 

 

Also see:

 

Tidebreak-Jan2013

 

 

 

Higher education used to be on deck, but is now at bat. [Christian]

 

From DSC:
My way of thinking about what’s happening to higher education these days borrows from the sport of baseball: Higher education used to be on deck; but now, we’re at bat.

I’ve watched as the former power brokers throughout many other industries reluctantly got out of the dugout, nervously began their warm up on deck, and then timidly moved up to bat as well. They were trying to cling to the status quo. Which didn’t work. We’ve all seen the results. There are new power brokers in those industries now. (Which is I why I assert that there is danger in the status quo — our organizations need to always be at the work of reinventing ourselves.)

If I had to pick the top 2 forces driving change throughout the higher education landscape, I would have to say the cost of obtaining a degree and technology-enabled innovation.

Control is an illusion; people will find a way.

 

 

Three steps to improving your tech literacy — from onlineuniversities.com by Justin Marquis

Excerpt:

For anyone who lacks confidence using today’s advanced information and communication technology, overcoming the fear of failure and the unknowns of the digital world can be a daunting task. I regularly teach introductory technology classes to adults returning to college to get a degree or enhance their career options with a new credential, and this fear of technology is the biggest obstacle that these individuals face in learning to use computers in ways that will make them more productive and more attractive candidates for employment.

Fortunately there are no obstacles to learning about technology that can’t be overcome with a positive attitude and some perseverance. Here are three steps that you can take to improve your tech literacy and become more confident using computers.

Your future TV is not about Tele-Vision [Eaton]

Your future TV is not about Tele-Vision — from FastCompany.com by Kit Eaton

Excerpt (emphasis below from DSC; also see the above categories to see how I see this as a highly-relevant component to our future learning ecosystems):

Then imagine what a hybrid of Apple’s tech and efforts like GetGlue, Shazam, and other interactive systems will be like when they’re more integrated into your 2017 smart TV. The big screen in your living room won’t be a one-way window into another world you can’t touch anymore. It’ll be a discovery engine, a way to learn facts, interact with the world, talk to people, find new and surprising content to absorb. Advertisers will love it, and companies like Nielsen–which largely has to guess all those stats about who watches which show at primetime nowadays–will be able to get accurate data…which may mean more appealing shows.

 

 

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

 

 

Also see:

When the technologies behind Watson and Siri get perfected and integrated into the “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” environment [Christian]


From DSC:

When the technologies behind IBM’s Watson and Apple’s Siri get perfected and integrated into products and services that will make up the near future “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” environment— there will be:


 

  • A high degree of personalization and customization — available 24x7x365 on multiple kinds of devices
    .
  • The option to turn on tracking and analytics — reporting from which can be moved into the learner’s cloud-based profile upon completion of the unit/activity/badge
    .
  • Students of all ages will have access to their own virtual tutors so to speak
    .
  • When a virtual tutor is unable to resolve or address the student’s issue to the student’s satisfaction, the student will be able to instantly access a human tutor (with the option of keeping the existing work/issue/problems visible to the human tutor)

 

IBM's Watson -- incredible AI!

 

 

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

 

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Addendums:

 

“Learning from the living room” — Part I [Christian]

Learning from the living room -- a component of our future learning ecosystems -- by Daniel S. Christian, June 2012

 

 

Legal size PDF here

 

 

Addendum on 7/3/12 from an article I wrote for EvoLLLution.com (for LifeLong Learning):
Establishing better collaboration between the corporate world and higher education [Christian]

In the near future, perhaps we could have second screen-based activities whereby corporate leaders are giving TED-like presentations or expressing the current issues in their worlds via a program on Smart TVs, and the students are communicating and collaborating about these presentations via tablets or smart phones.  Perhaps there will be electronic means whereby students could submit their ideas and feedback to the presenting companies (and whereby selected ideas could be rewarded in terms of free products or services that the company produces).

From DSC:
I recently wrote a piece for EvoLLLution.com — a site focused on LifeLong Learning:

 

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Some linked up resources along these lines:


  • RSS feeds
    (understand RSS feeds; obtain a feed aggregator such as Google Reader; subscribe to the relevant blogs and websites in one’s discipline; create your own blog, using WordPress for example; post your own relevant items on it, while not forgetting to point people towards your own RSS feed!)
  • Twitter
    (get an account; identify knowledgeable people; follow them on twitter; post your own items on twitter)
  • See if there are some Yammer-based communities of practice in your enterprise or in your desired discipline (there are other social networking/learning applications as well)
  • LinkedIn
    Join groups that line up with your industry, your profession and your professional aspirations, engage in discussions on best practice and use your groups and connections as a network of colleagues.
  • Facebook
    “Like” institutions or organizations that are relevant to your area of interest and reach out to individuals within your field.
  • Community bookmarking tools such as Delicious or diigo
  • Ways to discover content on the web such as StumbleUpon or Digg

The potential of cloud-based education marketplaces — from evoLLLution.com (LifeLong Learning) by Daniel Christian; PDF-based version here

Excerpt:

Such organizations are being impacted by a variety of emerging technologies and trends – two of which I want to highlight here are:

  • Online-based marketplaces – as hosted on “the cloud”
  • The convergence of the television, telephone, and the computer

One of the powerful things that the Internet provides is online-based marketplaces. Such exchanges connect buyers with sellers and vice versa. You see this occurring with offerings like Craig’s List, e-Bay, PaperBackSwap.com, and others.

 

© 2025 | Daniel Christian