K-12 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards — from The Journal’s October/November edition
Also see:
On 10/19/2018,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, library / librarians, lifelong learning, microlearning, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Inside Amazon’s artificial intelligence flywheel — from wired.com by Steven Levy
How deep learning came to power Alexa, Amazon Web Services, and nearly every other division of the company.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Amazon loves to use the word flywheel to describe how various parts of its massive business work as a single perpetual motion machine. It now has a powerful AI flywheel, where machine-learning innovations in one part of the company fuel the efforts of other teams, who in turn can build products or offer services to affect other groups, or even the company at large. Offering its machine-learning platforms to outsiders as a paid service makes the effort itself profitable—and in certain cases scoops up yet more data to level up the technology even more.
It took a lot of six-pagers to transform Amazon from a deep-learning wannabe into a formidable power. The results of this transformation can be seen throughout the company—including in a recommendations system that now runs on a totally new machine-learning infrastructure. Amazon is smarter in suggesting what you should read next, what items you should add to your shopping list, and what movie you might want to watch tonight. And this year Thirumalai started a new job, heading Amazon search, where he intends to use deep learning in every aspect of the service.
“If you asked me seven or eight years ago how big a force Amazon was in AI, I would have said, ‘They aren’t,’” says Pedro Domingos, a top computer science professor at the University of Washington. “But they have really come on aggressively. Now they are becoming a force.”
Maybe the force.
From DSC:
When will we begin to see more mainstream recommendation engines for learning-based materials? With the demand for people to reinvent themselves, such a next generation learning platform can’t come soon enough!
- Turning over control to learners to create/enhance their own web-based learner profiles; and allowing people to say who can access their learning profiles.
- AI-based recommendation engines to help people identify curated, effective digital playlists for what they want to learn about.
- Voice-driven interfaces.
- Matching employees to employers.
- Matching one’s learning preferences (not styles) with the content being presented as one piece of a personalized learning experience.
- From cradle to grave. Lifelong learning.
- Multimedia-based, interactive content.
- Asynchronously and synchronously connecting with others learning about the same content.
- Online-based tutoring/assistance; remote assistance.
- Reinvent. Staying relevant. Surviving.
- Competency-based learning.
![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)
We’re about to embark on a period in American history where career reinvention will be critical, perhaps more so than it’s ever been before. In the next decade, as many as 50 million American workers—a third of the total—will need to change careers, according to McKinsey Global Institute. Automation, in the form of AI (artificial intelligence) and RPA (robotic process automation), is the primary driver. McKinsey observes: “There are few precedents in which societies have successfully retrained such large numbers of people.”
Also relevant/see:
Online education’s expansion continues in higher ed with a focus on tech skills — from educationdive.com by James Paterson
Dive Brief:
- Online learning continues to expand in higher ed with the addition of several online master’s degrees and a new for-profit college that offers a hybrid of vocational training and liberal arts curriculum online.
- Inside Higher Ed reported the nonprofit learning provider edX is offering nine master’s degrees through five U.S. universities — the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Arizona State University and the University of California, San Diego. The programs include cybersecurity, data science, analytics, computer science and marketing, and they cost from around $10,000 to $22,000. Most offer stackable certificates, helping students who change their educational trajectory.
- Former Harvard University Dean of Social Science Stephen Kosslyn, meanwhile, will open Foundry College in January. The for-profit, two-year program targets adult learners who want to upskill, and it includes training in soft skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. Students will pay about $1,000 per course, though the college is waiving tuition for its first cohort.
On 06/22/2018,
in 21st century, adjunct faculty, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, online media, platforms, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, universities, using teams, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
How blockbuster MOOCs could shape the future of teaching — from edsurge.com by Jeff Young
Excerpt:
There isn’t a New York Times bestseller list for online courses, but perhaps there should be. After all, so-called MOOCs, or massive open online courses, were meant to open education to as many learners as possible, and in many ways they are more like books (digital ones, packed with videos and interactive quizzes) than courses.
The colleges and companies offering MOOCs can be pretty guarded these days about releasing specific numbers on how many people enroll or pay for a “verified certificate” or microcredential showing they took the course. But both Coursera and EdX, two of the largest providers, do release lists of their most popular courses. And those lists offer a telling snapshot of how MOOCs are evolving and what their impact is on the instructors and institutions offering them.
Here are the top 10 most popular courses for each provider:
Coursera Top 10 Most Popular Courses (over past 12 months)
edX Top 10 Most Popular Courses (all time)
So what are these blockbuster MOOCs, then? Experiential textbooks? Gateways to more rigorous college courses? A new kind of entertainment program?
Maybe the answer is: all of the above.
On 06/09/2018,
in blogs / blogging / vlogging, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education technology, elearning, learning, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, online learning, online media, simulations, tools, training / L&D, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
I found the following graphic out at a posting entitled, Continuous Learning & Development; more than just continuous training (from modernworkplacelearning.com/magazine). I thought it was an excellent example of a learning ecosystem!
On 06/04/2018,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, bots, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, computer science, corporate / business world, data related items, digital video, economics, emerging technologies, Europe, Facebook / Meta Platforms, global / globalization, Google, ideas, innovation, internet, learning, lifelong learning, Microsoft, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, online learning, online media, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, presentations, programming, reinvent, research, society, sociology, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Below are some excerpted slides from her presentation…
Also see:
- 20 important takeaways for learning world from Mary Meeker’s brilliant tech trends – from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark
Excerpt:
Mary Meeker’s slide deck has a reputation of being the Delphic Oracle of tech. But, at 294 slides it’s a lot to take in. Don’t worry, I’ve been through them all. It has tons on economic stuff that is of marginal interest to education and training but there’s plenty to to get our teeth into. We’re not immune to tech trends, indeed we tend to follow in lock-step, just a bit later than everyone else. Among the data are lots of fascinating insights that point the way forward in terms of what we’re likely to be doing over the next decade. So here’s a really quick, top-end summary for folk in the learning game.
“Educational content usage online is ramping fast” with over 1 billion daily educational videos watched. There is evidence that use of the Internet for informal and formal learning is taking off.
- Here’s Mary Meeker’s essential 2018 Internet Trends report — from techcrunch.com by Josh Constine
10 Big Takeaways From Mary Meeker’s Widely-Read Internet Report — from fortune.com by Leena Rao
On 04/20/2018,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, Augmented Reality (AR), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, Microsoft, mirroring and/or multiple devices, Mixed Reality (MR), mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, online media, platforms, presentations, second screen apps, smart classrooms, student-related, tablets, teaching & learning, tools, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, vision/possibilities, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
Click on the image to get a larger image in a PDF file format.
From DSC:
So regardless of what was being displayed up on any given screen at the time, once a learner was invited to use their devices to share information, a graphical layer would appear on the learner’s mobile device — as well as up on the image of the screens (but the actual images being projected on the screens would be shown in the background in a muted/pulled back/25% opacity layer so the code would “pop” visually-speaking) — letting him or her know what code to enter in order to wirelessly share their content up to a particular screen. This could be extra helpful when you have multiple screens in a room.
For folks at Microsoft: I could have said Mixed Reality here as well.
#ActiveLearning #AR #MR #IoT #AV #EdTech #M2M #MobileApps
#Sensors #Crestron #Extron #Projection #Epson #SharingContent #Wireless
On 03/15/2018,
in adjunct faculty, attention, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital textbooks, digital video, engagement / engaging students, faculty/staff, higher education, hybrid learning, ideas, instructional design, learning, microlearning, multimedia, online learning, online media, pedagogy, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
A Microlearning Framework — from jvsp.io and Pablo Navarro
This infographic is based on the experience of different clients from different industries in different training programs.
From DSC:
I thought this was a solid infographic and should prove to be useful for Instructional Designers, Faculty Members, and/or for Corporate Trainers as well.
I might also consider adding a “Gotcha!” piece first — even before the welcome piece — in order to get the learner’s attention and to immediately answer the WHY question. WHY is this topic important and relevant to me? When topics are relevant to people, they care and engage a whole lot more with the content that’s about to be presented to them. Ideally, such a piece would stir some curiosity as well.
On 03/03/2018,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assistive technologies, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, online media, parents/guardians, podcasting, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, youth,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Why aren’t we further along with lecture recording within K-12 classrooms?
That is, I as a parent — or much better yet, our kids themselves who are still in K-12 — should be able to go online and access whatever talks/lectures/presentations were given on a particular day. When our daughter is sick and misses several days, wouldn’t it be great for her to be able to go out and see what she missed? Even if we had the time and/or the energy to do so (which we don’t), my wife and I can’t present this content to her very well. We would likely explain things differently — and perhaps incorrectly — thus, potentially muddying the waters and causing more confusion for our daughter.
There should be entry level recording studios — such as the One Button Studio from Penn State University — in each K-12 school for teachers to record their presentations. At the end of each day, the teacher could put a checkbox next to what he/she was able to cover that day. (No rushing intended here — as education is enough of a run-away train often times!) That material would then be made visible/available on that day as links on an online-based calendar. Administrators should pay teachers extra money in the summer times to record these presentations.
Also, students could use these studios to practice their presentation and communication skills. The process is quick and easy:
I’d like to see an option — ideally via a brief voice-driven Q&A at the start of each session — that would ask the person where they wanted to put the recording when it was done: To a thumb drive, to a previously assigned storage area out on the cloud/Internet, or to both destinations?
Providing automatically generated close captioning would be a great feature here as well, especially for English as a Second Language (ESL) students.
On 03/03/2018,
in A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, assistive technologies, bots, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, formal learning, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning theories, liberal arts, lifelong learning, microlearning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
After seeing the article entitled, “Scientists Are Turning Alexa into an Automated Lab Helper,” I began to wonder…might Alexa be a tool to periodically schedule & provide practice tests & distributed practice on content? In the future, will there be “learning bots” that a learner can employ to do such self-testing and/or distributed practice?
From page 45 of the PDF available here:
On 01/03/2018,
in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, art, attention, colleges, community colleges, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital photography, education technology, engagement / engaging students, higher education, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, microlearning, multimedia, online media, passions, photography, platforms, smart classrooms, teachers, technologies for your home, tools, TVs, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, youth,
by Daniel Christian
From Elliott Masie’s Learning TRENDS – January 3, 2018.
#986 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology Since 1997.
2. Curation in Action – Meural Picture Frame of Endless Art.
What a cool Curation Holiday Gift that arrived. The Meural Picture Frame is an amazing digital display, 30 inches by 20 inches, that will display any of over 10,000 classical or modern paintings or photos from the world’s best museums.
A few minutes of setup to the WiFi and my Meural became a highly personalized museum in the living room. I selected collections of an era, a specific artist, a theme or used someone else’s art “playlist”.
It is curation at its best! A personalized and individualized selection from an almost limitless collection. Check it out at http://www.meural.com
Also see:
From DSC:
As I understand it, you can upload your own artwork and photography into this platform. As such, couldn’t we put such devices/frames in schools?!
Wouldn’t it be great to have each classroom’s artwork available as a playlist?! And not just the current pieces, but archived pieces as well!
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to walk down the hall and swish through a variety of pieces?
Wouldn’t such a dynamic, inspirational platform be a powerful source of creativity in our hallways? The frames could display the greatest works of art from around the world!
Wouldn’t such a platform give young/budding artists and photographers incentive to do their best work, knowing many others can see their creative works as a part of a playlist?
Wouldn’t it be cool to tap into such a service and treasure chest of artwork and photography via your Smart/Connected TV?
Here’s to creativity!
On 12/21/2017,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, expectations, experimentation, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, informal learning, innovation, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, online media, online tutoring, platforms, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, trends, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Cisco:
“Utilize virtual showrooms | See stores in your living room.”
DC:
If this is how retail could go, what might be the ramifications for learning-related environments & for learners’ expectations?
See Cisco’s whitepaper and the vision that I’m tracking along these lines.
From DSC:
Looking at the trends below, again I wonder…how might learners’ expectations be impacted by these developments on the landscapes?
Also see: