vision/possibilities

14 Predictions for Higher Education in 2022 [Schaffhauser]

On 01/10/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), blended learning, Blockchain, business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, disruption, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, immersion, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, law schools, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

14 Predictions for Higher Education in 2022 — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Excerpt:

Ask people working in higher education what they expect will happen in the new year, and the outlook is filled with visions that build on what we’ve been experiencing on college and university campuses for the last two years: a major focus on learning formats; continued exploitation of new technology; and the use of new digital models that move users “beyond Zoom.” Here we present the collective predictions of 14 IT leaders, instructional folks and a student about what they anticipate seeing in 2022. As one put it, “Let’s go, 2022! We have work to do!”

From DSC:
I’d like to thank Dian Schaffhauser, Rhea Kelly, and Mary Grush for letting me contribute some thoughts to the various conversations that Campus Technology Magazine hosts and/or initiates. I inserted some reflections into the above article and I hope that you’ll take a moment to read my and others’ thoughts out there.

Today’s announcements from NVIDIA

On 01/04/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, innovation, IT in HE, Metaverse, NVIDIA, play, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, Web3, by Daniel Christian

Nvidia expands its GeForce Now game streaming ecosystem — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois

Excerpt:

At CES, Nvidia today put a strong emphasis on its GeForce Now game streaming service, its competitor to the likes of Google’s Stadia (that’s still around, right?), Amazon’s Luna and Microsoft’s increasingly popular Xbox Cloud Gaming service. All of these use a different business model, with GeForce Now making it easy for players to bring games they bought elsewhere to the service, with Nvidia offering a restricted free tier and then charging a membership fee for access to its servers, starting…

Nvidia launches the $249 GeForce RTX 3050 — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois

Excerpt:

You can now add another set of Nvidia-based graphics cards to the graphics cards you probably won’t be able to buy anytime soon, as the company today launched the GeForce RTX 3050 for desktops. Starting at $249, the budget-friendly card — assuming Nvidia and its partners can produce enough to keep prices from escalating — will feature 8GB of GDDR6 memory and promises to be able to run the latest games at over 60 frames in a 1440p resolution with ray-tracing enabled. Like its more powerful …

Nvidia expands its Omniverse — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois

Excerpt:

Omniverse is Nvidia’s platform for allowing creators, designers and engineers to collaboratively build virtual worlds. Until now, Omniverse and the various Nvidia tools that support it were in beta, but at CES today, the company took off the beta label and made Omniverse generally available to creators. The company says Omniverse has already been downloaded by almost 100,000 creators and with today’s update, it is bringing a number of new features to the platform, too.

Nvidia embraces the metaverse with new software, marketplace deals — from reuters.com by Stephen Nellis

Excerpt:

Jan 3 (Reuters) – Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) on Tuesday said that it would give away software for free to artists and other creators building virtual worlds for the metaverse and that it has made technology deals with several marketplaces where artists sell the three-dimensional content they create.

Education Has Been Hammering the Wrong Nail. We Have to Focus on the Early Years. [Hau]

On 12/27/2021, in education, ideas, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, legislatures / government / legal, policy, society, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Education Has Been Hammering the Wrong Nail. We Have to Focus on the Early Years. — from edsurge.com by Isabelle Hau
This article is part of the guide Survival Mode: Educators Reflect on a Tough 2021 and Brace for the Future.

Excerpt:

Moreover, children who are expelled in preschool or early elementary are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated. Those later societal costs might have been avoided if the children are provided the nurturing attention in their early years to regulate their emotions and buffer toxic stress, which often results from exposure to trauma.
…
The value of the human potential unlocked by early education and social and emotional interventions is more difficult to assess: it is arguably limitless.

Several items re: NFTs and the pros and cons of using them in our society today. How can the legal realm assist here?

On 12/27/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Blockchain, business, career development, change, changing business models, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, game-changing environment, innovation, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Metaverse, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, pace of change, platforms, play, society, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As with many emerging technologies, there appear to be some significant pros and cons re: the use of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

The question I wonder about is: How can the legal realm help address the massive impacts of the exponential pace of technological change in our society these days? For examples:

How is — or should — the American Bar Association respond?
Law schools?
Lawyers?
Legislatures?
Judges?
Politicians and others?

Technicians, network engineers, data center specialists, computer scientists, and others also need to be asking themselves how they can help out in these areas as well.

Emphasis below is mine.

NFTs Are Hot. So Is Their Effect on the Earth’s Climate — from wired.com by Gregory Barber
The sale of a piece of crypto art consumed as much energy as the studio uses in two years. Now the artist is campaigning to reduce the medium’s carbon emissions.

Excerpt:

The works were placed for auction on a website called Nifty Gateway, where they sold out in 10 seconds for thousands of dollars. The sale also consumed 8.7 megawatt-hours of energy, as he later learned from a website called Cryptoart.WTF.

NFTs And Their Role In The “Metaverse” — from 101blockchains.com by Georgia Weston

Many people would perceive NFTs as mere images of digital artworks or collectibles which they can sell for massive prices. However, the frenzy surrounding digital art in present times has pointed out many new possibilities with NFTs. For example, the NFT metaverse connection undoubtedly presents a promising use case for NFTs. The road for the future of NFTs brings many new opportunities for investors, enterprises, and hobbyists, which can shape up NFT usage and adoption in the long term.

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are a new class of digital assets, which are unique, indivisible, and immutable. They help in representing the ownership of digital and physical assets on the blockchain. Starting from digital artwork to the gaming industry, NFTs are making a huge impact everywhere.

The decentralized nature of the blockchain offers the prospects for unlimited business opportunities and social interaction. Metaverse offers extremely versatile, scalable, and interoperable digital environments. Most important of all, the metaverse blends innovative technologies with models of interaction between participants from individual and enterprise perspectives.

From DSC:
How might the developments occurring with NFTs and the Metaverse impact a next-gen learning platform?

—–

Artist shuts down because people keep their work to make NFTs — from futurism.com by Victor Tangermann
NFT theft is a huge problem

Someone is selling NFTs of Olive Garden locations that they do not own — from futurism.com by
And you can mint a breadstick NFT — for free, of course

Animating Kids — Learn Media-Making Superpowers!

On 12/22/2021, in A/V -- audio/visual, animation, art, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital video, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, media/film, participation, passions, project-based learning, skills, story, storytelling, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

AnimatingKids.com — with thanks to Mrs. Julie Bender (an excellent art teacher within the K-12 space) for this resource

Free examples:

4 New Animation Kits Below
PDFs with How-to videos, secret animation recipes, and printable coloring sheets.

Web 3.0 vs Metaverse: What’s the difference? — from homo-digitalis.net by Fabian Schmidt

Excerpt:

So what is Web 3.0?

On Twitter, a user asked if someone could explain the term in baby talk. I thought one answer was good:

- Web 1.0 = Read
- Web 2.0 = Read/Write
- Web 3.0 = Read/Write/Own

This is a sufficient simplification to gain an initial understanding. Yet a bit more information is still important.

Let’s get one thing straight right away. As with all things in the making, there is not yet a clear-cut definition of Web 3.0. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the classic web, thinks of the semantic web as the next big step.
…
Since 2020/2021, there is another idea of Web3, and it is inspired by a new form of technology: Blockchains. At its core is a new wave of decentralization.

Besides decentralization, other key topics related to Web 3.0 include Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), Non-fungible-tokens (NFT), and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

The metaverse is a digital world that is meant to feel as real as possible and can represent all concerns of human existence. From leisure to work.

Fabian Schmidt, Homo Digitalis, 2021

Bill Gates: Most Work Meetings Will Happen In The Metaverse In 3 Years — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Excerpt:

“Within the next two or three years, I predict most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids—which I call the Hollywood Squares model, although I know that probably dates me—to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars,” said Gates in the post. “Both Facebook and Microsoft recently unveiled their visions for this, which gave most people their first view of what it will look like”.

Adidas to enter the metaverse with first NFT products — from dezeen.com by Rima Sabina Aouf

Excerpt:

Adidas has announced its next collection will be a mix of digital and physical items, and will be sold as NFTs produced with collaborators such as Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Titled Into the Metaverse, the collection will comprise virtual wearables that buyers can use in online platforms, but also the physical clothing to match.

It is Adidas’ first collection of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens – essentially, digital collectibles with proven authenticity. NFTs act as a blockchain-based certificate of ownership, allowing pieces to be authenticated, bought and collected.

How Coinbase thinks about the Metaverse — from blog.coinbase.com by Brian Armstrong & Alex Reeve

Excerpt:

Primitive Metaverse platforms are selling virtual land for millions of dollars. Billions more are being invested in Metaverse startups. And Mark Zuckerberg recently renamed his entire company to reflect a focus on building the Metaverse.
…
Recently, our team put together an internal presentation about the Metaverse, who’s working on it, and how crypto will help make it real. I thought the presentation was well done, so I’m sharing most of the slides here.
…
Like Matt[hew Ball], we define the Metaverse as:

The future of the internet: A massively-scaled, persistent, interactive, and interoperable real-time platform comprised of interconnected virtual worlds where people can socialize, work, transact, play, and create.
…
The Metaverse is the distant evolution of Web3. In its most complete form, it will be a series of decentralized, interconnected virtual worlds with a fully functioning economy where people can do just about anything they can do in the physical world.

A provocative claim from DeepMind!

On 12/14/2021, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, communications, computer science, emerging technologies, Google, innovation, languages and translation, vendors, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, by Daniel Christian

DeepMind Says Its New AI Has Almost the Reading Comprehension of a High Schooler — from futurism.com by Victor Tangermann
A provocative claim!

Excerpt:

Alphabet’s AI research company DeepMind has released the next generation of its language model, and it says that it has close to the reading comprehension of a high schooler — a startling claim.

It says the language model, called Gopher, was able to significantly improve its reading comprehension by ingesting massive repositories of texts online.

Reflections on “The Humanities May Be Declining at Universities — But They’re Thriving on Zoom” [Koenig]

On 12/13/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, art, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, culture, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, drama/theater, education technology, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, higher education, history, ideas, instructional design, languages and translation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, love of learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, music, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, participation, platforms, religion, society, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, writing, by Daniel Christian

The Humanities May Be Declining at Universities — But They’re Thriving on Zoom — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

Excerpt:

Throughout the pandemic, versions of this close-reading conversation have taken place week after week. Organized through new nonprofits and small startups including the Catherine Project, Night School Bar and Premise, they bring together adults who want to spend their free time talking to strangers about literature and philosophy.

It sounds at first like an ambitious book club—except for the fact that many of these seminars are organized and led by college professors, some so eager to participate that they do it for free.

“Mostly it’s a way for them to do a kind of teaching they can’t do at their regular jobs,” explains Zena Hitz, founder of the Catherine Project and a tutor (faculty member) at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

From DSC:
I’ve often thought that online-based learning may be the thing that saves the liberal arts (i.e., available throughout one’s lifetime and would be far less expensive). It would be ironic though, as many liberal arts institutions have not been proponents of online-based learning.

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment [Penn Law]

On 12/09/2021, in Access to Justice (A2J), Canada, game-changing environment, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, podcasting, society, strategy, technology (general), United States, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment — from law.upenn.edu with Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack

Excerpt:

Bridget Mary McCormack is Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and is a leading voice on modernizing court systems to expand access to justice and deepen public confidence in legal systems.

On this episode, she joins us to share her thoughts on how courts can learn from the experiences COVID-19 has created to better serve the public in a post-pandemic world. She also shares her views on how regulatory reform can transform legal services and why improving legal systems matters for the entire American experiment.

Addendum on 12/13/21:
Ontario Court Lays Down the Law on Technology Competence and Video Proceedings — from legaltechmonitor.com by Bob Ambrogi

An Ontario judge has laid down the law on technology competence, ruling in no uncertain terms that every lawyer has a duty to keep pace with changing technology, and that a lawyer’s discomfort with new technologies — in this case, video depositions — is no excuse for reverting to pre-pandemic methods.

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work [Ganta]

On 12/09/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, assistive technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, experimentation, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, immersion, innovation, interface design, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, ubiquitous learning, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, wearables, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work — from blog.webex.com by Kedar Ganta

Excerpts:

Webex [on 12/7/21] announced the public preview of its native meeting experience for Glass Enterprise Edition 2 (Glass), a lightweight eye wearable device with a transparent display developed by Google. Webex Expert on Demand on Glass provides an immersive collaboration experience that supports natural voice commands, gestures on touchpad, and head movements to accomplish routine tasks.

Reflections on “EDUCAUSE’s 2022 Top 10 IT Issues” [Christian]

On 12/08/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, IT in HE, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, lifelong learning, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, pace of change, platforms, skills, strategy, student-related, technology (general), traditional / tradition, trends, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

EDUCAUSE 2022 Top 10 IT Issues — from educause.edu

EDUCAUSE's 2022 Top 10 IT Issues

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The EDUCAUSE 2022 Top 10 IT Issues take an optimistic view of how technology can help create the higher education we deserve —through a shared transformational vision and strategy for the institution, a recognition of the need to place student success at the center, and a sustainable business model that redefines “the campus.”

See the 2022 Top 10 IT Issues

Almost two years into a global pandemic, it’s clear the higher education we knew will never return and now we can focus on getting the higher education we deserve.

From DSC:
I’m assuming that the we in the we deserve (as highlighted above) includes the students, as *the students* are the ones who most need for things to change.

That said, I’m doubtful such profound change will occur within higher education as it stands today. The existing cultures may prevent such significant and necessary change from occurring — and higher ed isn’t used to dealing with the current exponential pace of change that we’re experiencing. Plus, the downward spirals that many institutions are in don’t always allow for the new investments, programs, and/or experiments to occur. But who knows? When institutions of traditional higher education have their backs pressed up against the walls, perhaps such institutions and the people within them will be forced to change. There are innovative individuals and institutions out there. (I’m just not sure how much they’ve been listened to in many cases.)

To help students truly succeed means to change one’s core products/services — one’s story. But higher ed loves to play around the edges…rarely letting the core products/services get touched.

To me, student success includes having students pay far less and, while still getting a solid liberal arts education/foundation, can get solid jobs immediately upon graduation. At least that’s my hope as we head into 2022.

But what student success looks like may be different in the future.

Perhaps in 5 years, we will have moved much more towards a lifelong learning situation. Individuals may have joined a global, next-generation learning platform whereby one teaches for X minutes of the day, and learns for Y minutes of that same day. AI-based dashboards let people know which skills are in high demand, and then offer a menu of choices for how to acquire those skills.

A couple of lasts comments:

Being data-driven won’t save an institution. Vision might. But being data-driven has its limits.
The digital transformations being talked about within institutions of traditional higher education may be too little, too late. This conversation should have taken place a decade or more ago. (I think I just heard an “Amen!” from some folks who used to work at Blockbuster. They didn’t think a transformation was necessary either….but they learned their lesson the hard way. We should have learned from their situation…a long time ago. And I’m sure that you can think of other examples as well.)

Learning Ecosystems

Today’s announcements from NVIDIA

Frequently Asked Questions About Metaverse [Weston]

Some potential future scenarios, predictions, trends, and forecasts for the year 2022

Several items re: NFTs and the pros and cons of using them in our society today. How can the legal realm assist here?

Some items re: Web3 and the Metaverse

Reflections on “The Humanities May Be Declining at Universities — But They’re Thriving on Zoom” [Koenig]

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment [Penn Law]

Cisco and Google join forces to transform the future of hybrid work [Ganta]

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