Virtual reality — once the stuff of science fiction — is still in its infancy. But there’s already a gold rush around the technology, which plunges viewers into a simulated 3-D environment and lets them explore their surroundings as if they were really there.
Technology and entertainment giants are betting billions that virtual reality is much more than a passing fad, one that will revolutionize the way we experience movies, news, sporting events, video games and more.
Meanwhile, filmmakers and other creators are grappling with an entirely new storytelling language and dealing with some formidable challenges — claustrophobic headsets that can make people cybersick.
…
Here, some of the other pioneers in film, journalism, sports and gaming talk about the potential and struggles of building a new art form from the ground up.
…
“You really engage on scene in a way that gives you this incredible connection to where you are,” Ms. de la Peña said. “And that’s why, early on, I was calling it an empathy generator, an empathy machine.”
8 characteristics of good online video — from ecampusnews.com by Meris Stansbury Instructor-led video is a must in online learning, but not all videos are successes. Here are eight tips to help educators create effective online videos for their courses.
Excerpt:
According to a report published in the MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, instructor-generated video can have a positive influence on student satisfaction with, and engagement in, online courses. But not all videos are created equal.
Research conducted by the American Academy of Neurology also reveals that “watching videos helps boost brain plasticity,” or the ability of the brain to undergo physical changes at any age. Learners who were trained to perform a particular task through videos performed better than those who learned through images and text, the researchers found—and they concluded that video has a “higher impact on the brain.”
However, researchers emphasize that the format of the video, its platform, and the subject are all variables in the video’s effectiveness.
“Creating interesting, professional videos does take some planning and technical skill,” says eLearn Magazine. “There’s also a fear of perceived high cost. But none of these barriers are insurmountable. By employing … tips to know when to use it, how to maximize its effectiveness, and how to keep costs reasonable, you can make video a key part of your next online course.”
Here are eight tips to help educators create videos for their online courses…
From DSC: A quick reflection here. Frame rates, compression, having the right equipment and recording facilities, how best to frame a shot, knowing about proper lighting and placement of microphones, and more…hmmm…and we expect the faculty member to know/do all this as well as keep up with their knowledgeabase of their particular discipline? Not likely in many cases. Time’s too limited — even if all of the required gifts and/or interest levels were there (which is asking a lot).
This is why I’m big onusing TEAMS of specialists.Depending upon the quality of your products/services that your organization is willing to accept, flipping the classroom or using video in online-based learning requires a team of specialists.
“Here’s looking at you, Kid” – Presentation From BSD Future Ready Summit
Getting students started creating videos can seem like a daunting task. There isn’t enough time in the day to get your regular subjects done, how are you supposed to give students time to create videos? I am here to tell you it can be done. I hope that this post/presentation will provide what you need to get started.
Students can create videos on a variety within the context of what they are learning right now. Video story problem for math, a how to science experiment, or a book trailer that covers important story traits are all good ideas. Here is a list of apps, PDF Templates, and equipment that can be helpful when creating movies.
Switcher Studio is a mobile video app that lets you sync up to four iPhones and iPads to record and stream LIVE video to services like YouTube and Ustream. Insert photos and graphic overlays, manage multi-view effects, and more.
From DSC: Now let’s take this one step further.
If REMOTE learners could switch between cameras at any point, NOW we’re talking! That is, it would be great if we could set up 3-4 cameras in a face-to-face classroom, and let the remote learners switch between whichever viewing angle/feed that they want to see at any given point in time (i.e., the professor, the whiteboard, the computer, other).
Addendum on 10/15/15: also see:
Touchcast Studio in a Box: Excerpt:
TouchCast Studio in a Box allows you to transform your iPad into a full, interactive video studio. The TouchCast Studio includes a green screen, lapel mic, mini-tripods, iPad and iPhone holders. Paired with the TouchCast App, you will be able to use the green screen to transport yourself.
…
And don’t forget to add video apps (vApps) to make your video interactive. Your audience can tap these to dive deeper into other videos, web pages and more.
From DSC: Imagine what learning could look like w/ the same concepts found in theSkreens kickstarter campaign? Where you can use your mobile device to direct what you are seeing and interacting with on the larger screen? Hmmm… very interesting indeed! With applications not only in the home (and on the road), but also in the active classroom, the boardroom, and the training room.
Packed house at WilmerHale for the Robot Launch 2015 judging – although 2/3rds of the participants were attending and pitching remotely via video and web conferencing.
Don’t rush the pacing
Structuring Lost through thinking of it as “moments” and not “actions” helped find the right pace without losing our story structure.
Respect the ritual of “Settling in & Setting the scene”
Let go of forcing the viewer to look somewhere
Be aware of Spatial Story Density
Simplify scope
We eventually redefined the relationship between storyteller, listener, and the story itself. Even though time for the viewer unfolds in a linear fashion, the discovery of the story might not. This realization, of course, had big implications on staging and timing. It also sparked discussion around something we call “Spatial Story Density”.
“People aren’t going to sit still for a feature-length cartoon. Are you nuts?”
But Walt was a visionary.
Walt saw beyond what people were used to. They were used to the short cartoon.
There’s a famous statement by Henry Ford that before the Model T if you asked people what they wanted, they would say, “A faster horse.”
My own partner at Pixar for 25 years, Steve Jobs, never liked market research. Never did market research for anything.
“It’s not the audience’s job to tell us what they want in the future, it’s for us to tell them what they want in the future.” — Steve Jobs
It was because people didn’t understand what the technology ***could*** do. — John Lasseter
I wanted to learn as much as I could.
The more you dig into the technology and the more you learn it, you are going to get ideas you would never have thought of without knowing your technology.
While gamers wait patiently for their virtual-reality headsets to go on sale, there’s another industry ripe for the VR picking: movies. That means, as VR technology matures, filmmakers have to work out a new approach to their craft. But if they get it right, audiences are in for a far more immersive and interactive ride.
Companies like Samsung, Google and Oculus have been evangelizing VR cinema experiences, hoping to bring the sorts of videos that make their virtual-reality platforms a real destination for movie watchers. But to make their campaigns work, they need filmmakers and video producers who know what they’re doing.
“My students were able to apply their understanding of the technology to learning activities (labs, research projects, etc.) that could be made possible using virtual reality. For students to draw those connections on their own gives me hope that engineers, teachers, and students will be able to collaborate and create great opportunities for learning inside of a virtual world.” – Matt Cobb
“As an educator with 20+ years’ experience integrating technology into curriculum, it is exciting for me to see a technology that so quickly captures the attention of the students, motivates them to make the effort to learn the procedures, and then opens them up to the relevant content.“ – Larry Fallon, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Arlington County Public Schools
…
But ultimately, will VR become a proven medium to help students learn faster, be more motivated, and expand the boundaries of what is possible? Let’s take a moment to survey the state of the field right now and see what the future of virtual reality in education could look like.
Reilly’s football software is among a tidal wave of VR programs being developed for introduction to consumers in the next year. The military already uses VR in some training exercises, but the technology has potential uses in other areas, such as entertainment and home improvement. Architects, for instance, can create life-size virtual models of buildings rather than relying on traditional physical models.
…
Raymond Wong, a product analyst for Mashable, said: “I’m not sure if people want to put these goggles on at home. It’s a very isolating experience.” Indeed, total immersion in a world that occupies most of the users’ senses could lend itself to previously unseen consequences.
…
Wong sees more potential for VR in commercial industries such as marketing or engineering.
Research has already pointed to VR’s advantages in the medical field, Rizzo said. Once interactive intelligent agents — virtual characters — are advanced enough to respond like people, surgeons in training may be able to practice procedures with these characters. VR simulations could also be used as a way to distract patients from painful procedures, possibly becoming an alternative to pain medicine.
Education may also benefit from advances in virtual reality.
If a student struggles with conceptualizing the atomic structure, for instance, he could plop on the headset and be immersed within a virtual atom.
The development of new technologies and techniques, combined with the increasingly interdisciplinary approach of archaeological investigation, are producing results that, for the archaeologist of 20 years ago, might have been the stuff of science fiction. Who would have known then that scientists would resurrect in startling detail an entire ancient Roman town after only fractional excavation? And who would have known that thousands of people from nearly every corner of the world would be able to ‘walk’ through that town without ever physically setting foot within?
This, however, is exactly what has happened for an obscure archaeological site located in Portugal—a relatively small ancient Roman town whose few visible remains have attracted comparatively few visitors—at least as compared to the iconic Roman city of Pompeii in the south of Italy.
NeoS: The Universe This is a fantastic demo that takes you from the smallest level of scale (surrounded by protons and neutrons) through to the largest (galaxies and the observable universe). As you progress through the scales you are in first overlooked by a penny that seems the size of a building, before seeing it get smaller in front of you and other objects such as basketballs and a T-Rex come into view.
Mona Lisa Room
This is one of those ‘transport you to a location’ demos that a lot of people are starting to get involved with. It seems like such an obvious use of VR technology, and you can really see how the cultural heritage and museum sector is going to jump on this once the technology is commercially available. Essentially what you have here is a solo tour of a very famous art gallery room in the Louvre museum in Paris, complete with atmospheric and well-produced audio guides for a number of different paintings. Most importantly, it’s a VIP viewing – you are escaping the hundreds of tourists crammed into the small space for a personal experience taken at your leisure. Unfortunately, this particular demo really exposes the need for a higher resolution screen than the DK2 has at hand. The Mona Lisa is a small painting, and so none of the detail comes out which is particularly jarring given that the audio tour is talking specifically about how perfect the painting is. Even the massive wall-size Biblical painting nearby comes across as too pixelated to really engage with. It’s a concept that is going to take off in the very near future, but not until we get nice high-res screens!
The press coverage of LinkedIn’s recent acquisition of Lynda.com for $1.5 billion has largely overlooked a key aspect of the deal. Yes, it integrates learning into a powerful social media site. Yes, per LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, it’ll “connect our members to opportunity,” giving them access to skills training that will enhance their careers.
But what does it mean to corporate e-learning? Lynda.com, based in Carpinteria, CA, used to be strictly a consumer company, but its strategy for the past couple years has clearly been to muscle into workplace training. What does the acquisition mean to market leader Skillsoft and other providers of online corporate learning? (Disclosure: I am the CEO of Rapid Learning Institute, an e-learning company)
Well, it’s an atomic bomb.
…
What’s different is that Lynda.com’s “content producers” know they’re creating a video, a medium that operates under a different set of rules from traditional learning vehicles. Content producers know that an instructionally sound e-learning module fails if people don’t watch it.
The most important thing Lynda.com does is find credentialed subject matter experts who speak comfortably in front of a camera. That’s a one-in-20 quality. Ivy League professors who excel in a classroom often look wooden on camera. You don’t have to be pretty. In fact, actors usually bomb in e-learning. You need to be credible and hold people’s attention by combining tight scripts and captivating delivery. Lynda.com’s e-learning, especially their soft-skills content, does it better than Skillsoft and other major players in the industry.
…
The message for corporate e-learning insiders is clear: The quality of content matters.
From DSC: The articles below illustrate the continued convergence of multiple technologies and means of communication. For example, what we consider “TV” is changing rapidly. As this space changes, I’m looking for new opportunities and affordances that would open up exciting new approaches and avenues for educationally-related learning experiences.
Tagboard is a social media aggregation and curation platform that allows users to manage incoming social media posts for display, either on television broadcasts, or on screens at live events, and Hootsuite is a social media campaign management program. Their partnership enables integration for mutual users for real-time engagement.
Adding social content to live TV broadcasts and sports games is a proven way to capture and keep your audience’s attention.
But the process isn’t that easy. For one, digital teams need to ensure that they review each piece of content (to keep it safe for the big screen), and this can create complicated and slow social media workflows.
To help streamline this process, Hootsuite has integrated with Tagboard, an innovative social media display tool, to provide an easy way to capture social content and incorporate it into on-air broadcasts, live event screens, or on digital platforms.
With the Tagboard app for Hootsuite, your team can put relevant and timely social content on air within seconds—when it matters most to the viewer.
Quickly search 50+ product and service categories, access thousands of IT solutions specific to the higher ed community, and send multiple RFPs—all in one place. This new Buyers Guide provides a central, go-to online resource for supporting your key purchasing decisions as they relate to your campus’s strategic IT initiatives.
Find the Right Vendors for Higher Education’s Top Strategic Technologies
Three of the Top 10 Strategic Technologies identified by the higher education community this year are mobile computing, business intelligence, and business performance analytics.* The new Buyers Guide connects you to many of the IT vendors your campus can partner with in the following categories related to these leading technologies, as well as many more.
Teaching in a Digital Age
A.W. (Tony) Bates Guidelines for designing teaching and learning for a digital age
The book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age when everyone, and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology. A framework for making decisions about your teaching is provided, while understanding that every subject is different, and every instructor has something unique and special to bring to their teaching. The book enables teachers and instructors to help students develop the knowledge and skills they will need in a digital age: not so much the IT skills, but the thinking and attitudes to learning that will bring them success.
college and university instructors anxious to improve their teaching or facing major challenges in the classroom,
school teachers, particularly in secondary or high schools anxious to ensure their students are ready for either post-secondary education or a rapidly changing and highly uncertain job market.
From the Chauvet Cave paintings of 30,000 years ago, to 6K digital cinema today, we’ve always told stories, we just do it differently as media changes. There’s a new leap in storytelling happening now. Virtual Reality (VR) is going to change the way we express ourselves, communicate with each other and experience the world. That may sound like hyperbole. If anything it’s an understatement. There are innumerable ways VR will change filmmaking that we can’t see yet. Here are a few changes that have already arrived:
From seeing to experiencing The leap from film to VR is even bigger than the leap from radio to film was. There was sound, then sight. With VR, an even more immersive sensation is added: presence. People who try it say, “I was at the Golden Gate Bridge,” not, “I saw the Golden Gate Bridge.” They describe it as if they’re there. And with live VR, it’s an almost indescribable sensation of being there. It’s different from VR that’s recorded. People will regard it as an experience they’ve never had before.
…
The leap from film to VR is even bigger than the leap from radio to film was.
Of course, young people are watching way less TV these days, TV is dying, and when they do watch stuff, it’s streamed, at a time that suits them. Education has to learn from this. I’m not saying that we need to replace all of our existing structures but moving towards understanding what the technology can deliver and what learners want (they shape each other) is worth investigation. Hence some reflections on Netflix.
Areas discussed:
Timeshifting
Data driven delivery — Netflix’ recommendations engine
Data driven content
Content that’s accessible via multiple kinds of devices
Going global
From DSC: I just wanted to add a few thoughts here:
The areas of micro-credentials, nano-degrees, services likestackup.net, big data, etc. may come to play a role with what Donald is talking about here.
I appreciate Donald’s solid, insightful perspectives and his thinking out loud — some great thoughts in that posting (as usual)
Various technologies seem to be making progress as we move towards a future where learning platforms will be able to deliver a personalized learning experience; as digital learning playlists and educationally-related recommendation engines become more available/sophisticated, highly-customized learning experiences should be within reach.
At a recent Next Generation Learning Spaces Conference, one of the speakers stated, “People are control freaks — so let them have more control.” Along these lines…ultimately, what makes this vision powerful is having more choice, more control.
At one point, the moderator asked Ms. Wojcicki if she thought cable television would still be around in 10 years. She paused for a moment before answering, with a bit of a sly smile, “Maybe.” The crowd laughed, even though just about everyone in the packed auditorium knew she was only half-joking.
If cable TV is gone in a decade, Ms. Wojcicki and the global digital video empire over which she presides will be one of the main causes. YouTube, founded in 2005 as a do-it-yourself platform for video hobbyists — its original motto was “Broadcast Yourself” — now produces more hit programming than any Hollywood studio.
Smosh, a pair of 20-something lip-syncing comedians, have roughly 30 million subscribers to their various YouTube channels.PewDiePie,a 24-year-old Swede who provides humorous commentary while he plays video games, has a following of similar size. The list goes on and on. For the sake of perspective, successful network television shows like “NCIS: New Orleans” or “The Big Bang Theory” average a little more than half that in weekly viewership. The 46-year-old Ms. Wojcicki — who will soon give birth to her fifth child — has quietly become one of the most powerful media executives in the world.
Also see:
Smart TV Alliance serves 58 million TV sets — from broadbandtvnews.com by by Robert Briel Excerpt: The Smart TV Alliance development platform is now compatible with one-third of the global smart TV market. App developers who use the Alliance’s common developer portal can reach 58 million smart TVs in a single, integrated process. The brands served include LG Electronics, Panasonic, TP Vision and Toshiba .
Netflix Launches Smart TV Seal of Approval Program — from variety.com by Todd Spangler Sony, LG, Sharp, Vizo and makers of Roku TVs are expected to be first certified under ‘Netflix Recommended TV’ program Excerpt: Netflix — in a smart bid to get its brand affixed onto smart TVs — has announced the “Netflix Recommended TV” certification program under which it will give the thumbs up to Internet-connected television sets that deliver the best possible video-streaming experience for its service.
From DSC: As you can see, BBBBBIIIIIGGGGG players are getting into this game. And there will be BBBBBIIIIIGGGGG opportunities that open up via what occurs in our living rooms. Such affordances won’t be limited to the future of entertainment only.
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
