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Also see:
On 08/11/2010,
in Apple, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-readers, innovation, journalism, new business models, new media literacies, publishing, trends,
by Daniel Christian
On 08/10/2010,
in 21st century, digital learning, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, learning theories, telepresence, tools, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Here are some slides from a Cisco WebEx presentation by Marcus Lim
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On 08/09/2010,
in Apple, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, multimedia, new business models, trends,
by Daniel Christian
Murdoch says iPad is a game changer — from PadGadget.com
News Corp announced their 4Q numbers [August 4] and during the earning call News Corp CEO, Rupert Murdoch, said the iPad was a “game changer” for the media industry.
News Corp has eagerly embraced the iPad and was one of the first media companies to launch a newspaper title for Apple’s new device. The Wall Street Journal app quickly shot to the top of the apps charts and has been a top download since the launch of the iPad back in April.
News Corp management is very excited by the tablet format with Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey saying the iPad has “transformed people’s expectations and the opportunities around mobile.” Carey went on to say “it is also a device that for the first time really starts to deliver on the promise of multimedia, where you can see how you could…go between what traditionally would be video content, printed content, advertising that really is attractive that you could penetrate through and engage with.”
Also see:
New online business model will succeed, says Rupert Murdoch
On 08/09/2010,
in disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment,
by Daniel Christian
Bill Gates: In five years the best education will come from the web — from TechCrunch.com by MG Siegler
Bill Gates
thinks something is going to die too.
No, it’s not physical books like Nicholas Negroponte — instead, Gates thinks the idea of young adults having to go to universities in order to get an education is going to go away relatively soon. Well, provided they’re self-motivated learners.
“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world,” Gates said at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA today. “It will be better than any single university,” he continued.
He believes that no matter how you came about your knowledge, you should get credit for it. Whether it’s an MIT degree or if you got everything you know from lectures on the web, there needs to be a way to highlight that.
He made sure to say that educational institutions are still vital for children, K-12. He spoke glowingly about charter schools, where kids can spend up to 80% of their time deeply engaged with learning.
But college needs to be less “place-based,” according to Gates. Well, except for the parties, he joked.
But his overall point is that it’s just too expensive and too hard to get these upper-level educations. And soon place-based college educations will be five times less important than they are today.
From DSC:
One could argue that Bill’s background is very different than most people…and that would be true. One could also argue that such a view is an exaggeration of what may actually occur — and you’d probably be right again.
However, such arguments miss the point. We are in a game-changing environment and planning now for the major disruptions already underway is a wise move. There is a perfect storm that has been forming — with trends/pressures from the worlds of technology, economics/business, education, demography, sociology, and more — that won’t be disappearing any time soon.
Glenn Harlan Reynolds’ article from yesterday is worth checking out for some practical advice here.
On 07/23/2010,
in change, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, future of higher education, innovation, learning ecosystem, new business models, new media literacies, publishing,
by Daniel Christian
McGraw-Hill Education: Product Manager – Student Innovations
Profession: Marketing -> Product Management
The McGraw-Hill Companies is driving the education, financial services, and business information markets through leading brands such as McGraw-Hill Education, Standard & Poor’s and J. D. Power and Associates. McGraw-Hill Education addresses virtually every aspect of the education market from pre-K through professional learning.
Using traditional materials, online learning and multimedia tools, we empower the growth of teachers, professionals and students of all ages. Our technical innovations are changing the way people learn, with e-books, online tutoring, customized course Web sites and subscription services. We are also a leading provider of reference and trade publishing for the medical, business, engineering and other professions. McGraw-Hill is investing in and committed to innovation, both in its business and in shaping the future of higher education.
The Learning Ecosystems Group is the team responsible for defining that vision of the future. We are building businesses that meet the needs of higher education students – products that can be directly marketed to students and to institutions, including our current GradeGuru product as well as the significant digital platform products in our short-term pipeline. The Learning Ecosystems Group is thus offering a unique and exciting opportunity for an experienced Product Manager in our New York City offices. The ultimate aim for this Product Manager is loosely to develop, deliver and monetize products/ services that will give students the tools they need to meet their course goals, as well as to drive the research, ideation and vision for new product(s)/ service(s) that are responsive to the needs of students.
Essential Accountabilities
- Manage and conduct research to understand and synthesize student tasks, presenting and sharing the findings across the MHHE business.
- Analyze market and product opportunities in the context of primary, secondary and competitive research. Continually collect, distill, and disseminate foundational research to inform product development.
- Build prototypes and/ or wireframes to define functional requirements that can be market tested to determine and prove market potential.
- Develop and thoroughly document/ articulate the vision and business case for the product(s) to gain buy-in from stakeholders across the organization. Clearly communicate a cohesive strategy and product road map.
- Drive product implementation in collaboration with vendors and business analysis and design partners. Build out the detailed functional requirements and design of the initial product/ service based on research, wire-framing, prototyping, user testing, experimentation and iteration.
- Drive the growth of the product/ service(s) over time, both in terms of the product road map/ functionally and customer base and revenues.
- Build out the monetization plans and business model elements to drive the product to ultimate profitability, setting aggressive targets.
- Ensure all resources are in place across the product and working in concert to achieve the ultimate success of the business, including analytical, design, technical and sales/ marketing resources as appropriate. Articulated accountabilities for team members for successful execution and delivery of the overall business objectives and targets.
- Work in collaboration with the existing MHHE sales, marketing and strategy team for maximum productivity, efficiency and product success as well as manage customer needs in collaboration with the existing MHHE customer service group
- Resource and lead a marketing team to drive rapid growth through a sound marketing and PR plan based on our understanding of our market segmentation motivations, our stakeholder interests, social media marketing tools, the power of PR and a grassroots, viral approach.
- Bachelor’s degree; Master’s degree preferred
- 8-12 years experience in related field, at least 2-3 as a lead product manager
- Proven ability to deliver…
On 07/23/2010,
in Apple, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-readers, engagement / engaging students, multi-touch, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Kiwa Media Group is an award winning media company developing iPhone/iPod Touch & iPad Apps, digital content for books, producing film & television programs & digital content for the mobile music industry. Kiwa Media also provides software solutions for ADR and Language Dubbing across the globe. The company is led by President, Rhonda Kite.
Kiwa Media Group brands include QBook, SingQ, VoiceQ & Kiwa TV & Film Production. Kiwa is a registered Mac OS and iPhone developer.
Example product –> QBook – Bringing your stories to life
QBook™ is an interactive read-along digital colour picture book format designed by Kiwa Media for young children. QBook is an eBook, iPhone and iPad app that combines a narrators voice with original picture illustrations and touchable text that is synchronised to highlight and sound when words are touched.
From DSC:
Let’s picture that you are a 3-4 year old…and your parents get you one of these iPads. You begin to learn to read like this using an app like QBook. You grow up knowing this type of technology exists and you use gadgets like this all the time. They keep you engaged…they give you control of the content, pacing, etc.
Now fast forward to college. You’ll quickly see why I preach the dangers of the status quo.
On 07/23/2010,
in Apple, convergence, disruption, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design,
by Daniel Christian
…
Original posting from:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/abc-digital-releases-abc-news-for-ipad/
On 07/23/2010,
in disruption, global / globalization, higher education, online learning,
by Daniel Christian
Online university aims to build sites in 6 developing countries — from The Chronicle by Kelly Truong
Through a new partnership with World Computer Exchange, the upstart online institution University of the People hopes to build communication centers in six developing countries over the next six months, allowing students without good Internet access to take online courses.
University of the People, founded in 2009, promises tuition-free education in business administration and computer science. The university says its enrollment includes approximately 500 students from nearly 100 countries.
On 07/23/2010,
in Apple, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, education technology, higher education, mobile learning, mobile technologies,
by Daniel Christian
Podcast: William Rankin on Mobile Learning with the iPhone and iPod — Educause
William Rankin is Associate Professor and Director of Educational Innovation at Abilene Christian University. In this interview from the EDUCAUSE 2009 Conference, Rankin discusses ACU’s mLearning Initiative, which deployed mobile devices to the entire freshman class. This created unique opportunities to pilot applications, overcome challenges, and create partnerships.
On 07/21/2010,
in 24x7x365 access, business, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, disruption, education reform, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, leadership, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, strategy, teaching & learning, traditional / tradition, universities, using teams, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From Spring 2010
…
From DSC:
If you are even remotely connected to higher education, then you *need* to read this one!
Most certainly, not everything that Thomas Frey says will take place…but I’ll bet you he’s right on a number of accounts. Whether he’s right or not, the potential scenarios he brings up ought to give us pause to reflect on ways to respond to these situations…on ways to spot and take advantage of the various opportunities that arise (which will only happen to those organizations who are alert and looking for them).
On 07/21/2010,
in convergence, digital audio, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, personalized/customized learning, social learning / networks, social media,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
What if we had a “textbook” like this? One that targeted your social/learning network on a particular topic? Personalized…customized…and constantly up-to-date. Interesting…
(Quality may or may not be a concern…depending upon one’s social/learning network.)
On 07/20/2010,
in Adobe, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-readers, higher education, interactivity, K-12 related, multimedia, new business models, publishing,
by Daniel Christian
Creating Digital Magazines — from Adobe by Dave Dickson on July 19, 2010
Earlier this year when WIRED Magazine launched its digital edition (and sold more issues than the newsstand version without cannibalizing print sales) we noted that it was created with InDesign CS5 along with new publishing technologies. Today, we’ve released a short video that overviews these new technologies, including more detail on how they fit into the digital magazine authoring workflow.
Late this summer, we’ll post these new publishing technologies on Adobe Labs so a broad set of media, corporate and retail catalog publishers will be able to create compelling content experiences. Using this Digital Magazine Solution, these publishers can create immersive content without having to hire additional developers or invest in extensive retraining for staff. Publishers can add interactivity without writing code via InDesign and create monetizable digital magazines for the Apple iPad – with other platforms and devices expected in the future.
InDesign CS5 + Digital Content Bundler
…
The “.issue” Format + Digital Content Viewer
This new .issue format is a compressed file format that contains vertical and horizontal magazine layouts, metadata, code to enable interactivity, and associated assets (images, video, etc.) Once the layouts have been packaged into the .issue format, the file is then rendered and displayed to the end-user using a publisher-branded Digital Content Viewer. The WIRED Reader, for example, is the first instance of a publisher-branded viewer. This Digital Content Viewer allows readers to interact with and navigate through the magazine content (including via the innovative “browse” mode). Previously we announced the Digital Content Viewer for Apple iPad; in the future we also expect to develop the Digital Content Viewer on Adobe AIR for desktops and other devices.
On 07/19/2010,
in cost of getting a degree, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education,
by Daniel Christian
***Check out this announcement:***
Straighterline and Assumption College Continuing and Career Education partner to offer adult learners an exceptionally-flexible and affordable way to earn a business degree
Alexandria, VA – StraighterLine (http://www.straighterline[dot]com) announced today that the Assumption College Continuing and Career Education (www.assumption.edu/cce), a leading provider of quality online education, has joined StraighterLine’s expanding partner college network. Assumption College — a not-for-profit New England College — has provided education and student enrichment since 1904. StraighterLine partner colleges are all regionally accredited institutions that award post-secondary credit upon transfer for successfully completing its online college courses. Assumption College is StraighterLine’s first Massachusetts partner college and its first Catholic College.
Through this partnership, students who successfully complete StraighterLine distance learning courses may transfer their courses for full credit when they enroll with Assumption College Continuing and Career Education, Online Business program. Students can use these transfer credits towards the completion of their associate and bachelors degrees.
Students can take freshman and introductory-level classes from StraighterLine and save thousands of dollars on a four-year college degree. With StraighterLine, students pay only $99 per month plus $39 per course started and can move as quickly or slowly through the material as they like.
StraighterLine courses have been evaluated and recommended by the American Council on Education (ACE)’s Credit Recommendation Service and have met or exceeded the Distance Education and Training Council’s standards for online course quality.
From DSC:
Is this “The Forthcoming Walmart of Education?” Quite possibly at maximum, but at minimum, a sign of what’s coming down the pike.
And by the way, when I say “Walmart of Education”, I am not speaking derogatively. I mean no disrespect at all. In fact, quite the opposite. The disruptions taking place now — and continuing in the near future — will create opportunities to learn better and more efficiently, but at far less expensive prices.
Congrats to StraighterLine on their pursuit of making a tangible, concrete impact on reducing the cost of getting a degree! For the rest of us, we had better take note and develop a range of options, pricing, etc. We need to respond to the disruption being caused by the Internet — and take advantage of it, not shy away from it or stick our heads in the sand and pretend that it’s not happening. We don’t want to go the way of the Blockbusters of the world who minimize/discard the impact that technology brings to the table.