professional wordpress themes

Amazing! Check out this videoconferencing system!

On 04/03/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, disruption, distance education, elearning, emerging technologies, innovation, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, mobile learning, mobile technologies, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, telepresence, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

NTT videoconferencing system transplants faces onto mobile telepresence screens

 

From DSC:

  • Another innovation that aids web-based collaboration.
  • Make that one more movement up the disruptive innovation curve (of online learning).

 

 

As an addendum on 3/4, check out:

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

A Parent’s Guide to 21st Century Learning [Edutopia.org]

On 03/29/2012, in 21st century, K-12 related, by Daniel Christian

A Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning - Edutopia - March29, 2012

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: •  

Microsoft puts more TV in the living room via the Xbox

On 03/29/2012, in 21st century, convergence, future, future of higher education, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Microsoft, TVs, by Daniel Christian

Computers in the living room: Xbox has never been a game system — from wired.com by Tim Carmody

Also see:

Excerpt:

TV is changing. The idea of what  “TV” is,  is changing. As technology marches onwards it will continue to change consumer behavioral patterns. It will continue to change the nature of the living room. To think otherwise is to be left behind.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • •  

Cisco unveils visual collaboration solutions in the Post-PC era

On 03/27/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, collaboration, innovation, mobile learning, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Cisco unveils visual collaboration solutions in the Post-PC era

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • •  

The potential of cloud-based education marketplaces [Christian]

On 03/27/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, emerging technologies, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, marketing/social marketing, mirroring and/or multiple devices, reinvent, social learning / networks, staying relevant, streams of content, technologies for your home, trends, TVs, by Daniel Christian

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.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Some items — and reflections — re: robotics

On 03/20/2012, in 21st century, career development, faith, future, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, robotics, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

.

Opinion from DSC:
Technologies — by themselves — are neither good nor bad.  It’s what we do with them that makes them good or bad. The concerns I have are when people try to play God.   His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. So when the We Robot Conference puts up a banner that would normally look like the hand of God touching a human hand — but in their case, they put a robot’s hand reaching out to touch a man’s hand — something just doesn’t set well with me re: that image.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think robotics can be very helpful — especially in manufacturing, fire safety, other.  But in some of the robotics space/spheres of work, when we think we can “do better” than the LORD — to make a better mind than what He gave us  — I get a bit nervous.

 

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •  

CBS’ 60 Minutes asks, “Khan Academy: The future of education?”

On 03/19/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, analytics, blended learning, change, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, elearning, future, global / globalization, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, more voice more choice more control, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, personalized/customized learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, trends, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Arguably, Sal Kahn has become the most famous, influential educator on the planet today — his videos are watched millions of times a day now.  The question — which Eric Schmidt answers in the piece — I couldn’t help but ask was, “Why didn’t this type of innovation come from someone who was working in education at the time of their innovation?”

My thanks to Dr. Kate Byerwalter and her colleagues for passing along this resource.
The tags/associated categories for this posting point out the relevant areas covered.

 

Khan Academy: The future of education?

Also see:

  • Khan Academy: The future of education?
    (CBS News) Sal Khan is a math, science, and history teacher to millions of students, yet none have ever seen his face. Khan is the voice and brains behind Khan Academy, a free online tutoring site that may have gotten your kid out of an algebra bind with its educational how-to videos. Now Khan Academy is going global. Backed by Google, Gates, and other Internet powerhouses, Sal Khan wants to change education worldwide, and his approach is already being tested in some American schools. Sanjay Gupta reports.

From DSC:
A relevant graphic comes to mind with what Sal is trying to achieve with analytics:

i.e. Highly-effective diagnostic tools for the educators and trainers out there!

 

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

[Item on learning spaces/21st century learning] “What we’d really like” – a slide re: views from principals, educators, students

On 03/12/2012, in 21st century, learning spaces, by Daniel Christian

.

.

Also see:

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: •  

Items re: “Learning from the Living Room”

On 03/09/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), Learning from the Living [Class] Room, marketplaces, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, social learning / networks, student-related, technologies for your home, transmedia, trends, TVs, using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Here are some items related to what I call “Learning from the Living Room” — a trend that continues to develop that involves:

  • Using high-end, personalized, multimedia-based, interactive, team-created content — packed with new reporting tools for better diagnostics/learning analytics — available via a cloud-based “education store”/marketplace/exchange
  • Web-accessible content that’s available 24x7x365
  • The power of social networks/learning
  • Riding the wave of the massive convergence of the computer, the telephone, and the television.

.

Smarter TV: Living room as digital hub from Samsung and Microsoft to Apple and Google — from wired.com by Tim Carmody
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
  • In the future, the living room will replace the home office as most households’ home for the stationary personal computer. Instead of printers and mice and other corded accessories, networked appliances and post-PC machines share data with one another and with the cloud. Play and productivity both become decentered; gaming and entertainment might be on a tablet or a television, with recipes at the refrigerator, a shopping list for the smartphone, and an instructional video on the television set. All of these experiences will be coherent, continuous and contextual. And like the personal computer at the height of Pax Wintel, the living room will be a platform characterized by triumphant pluralism.“The thing about the living room is that it’s universal; everyone in the household uses it,” Samsung VP Eric Anderson told me at today’s event. “We know that we’re not going to capture every single member of the household. In my family, my wife and my daughter are Apple, me and my sons are Android,” he noted, pointing out that the majority of devices introduced today can interact with either mobile platform.

.

The modern mechanics of app stores: today, tomorrow and connected TV — from guardian.co.uk by Dean Johnson

Excerpt:

What’s next for app stores?
It’s time for each platform to up its game – smart TVs are coming. The small and medium screen experience will shortly be translated to the bigger screen as connectivity and discoverability takes on even greater importance.

Google and Apple will further interweave themselves into our daily lives as iOS and Android seamlessly combine our smartphones and tablets with our new smartTVs. Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) and the programmes themselves will suggest related content, from apps to music to film to books. This must all be presented in an approachable, then browsable manner to encourage additional discovery.

The quest for the perfect meta-data will become increasingly important and voice commands will need to deliver the best search results with the minimum of fuss. This time next year, the battle of the app stores will be fought on the move, on the desktop and on the living room wall.

.

Samsung Launches Smart TVs With Gestures, Voice Control — from by Douglas Perry

Excerpt:

A Kinect-like feature is made possible via camera and microphone integration that comes standard with the LED ES7500, LED ES8000 and Plasma E8000 models. According to Samsung, consumers can launch apps such as Facebook or YouTube, or search the web via voice commands. Waving the hand will move the cursor and select links. The TVs integrate a Samsung dual-core processor as well as a new Webkit-based web browser to improve overall performance. The high-end 7500 and 8000 TVs ship with a remote with an integrated touchscreen. A wireless keyboard that is compatible with Samsung’s TVs as well as the Galaxy Tab tablet is sold as an option.

.

New TV experiences through companion apps — from moxie pulse

.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

“Bully” shows that we have too many hearts of stone

On 03/07/2012, in 21st century, ethics, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, United States, by Daniel Christian

"Bully" shows that we have too many hearts of stone

Please also see:

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • •  

Instruction for masses knocks down campus walls [Lewin]

On 03/05/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, convergence, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, online learning, by Daniel Christian

Instruction for masses knocks down campus walls -- from the New York Times by Tamar Lewin

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • •  

This is exactly what I was getting at with “The Forthcoming Walmart of Education”

On 02/29/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, interactivity, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, mobile learning, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, open courseware and systems, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, staying relevant, teaching & learning, using teams, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
This is exactly what I was getting at with The Forthcoming Walmart of Education (2008) and it points out, again, that innovation is much faster and stronger in the online world than it is in the face-to-face world. The tools being developed to engage, track, diagnose, and adapt continue to be developed. What may have once been poo-pooed continues to pick up steam. (Christensen, Johnson, & Horn are right on track.) The trend will be towards more team-based endeavors that can be made available at a greatly reduced price. They will be multimedia-based, highly-interactive, and state-of-the-art (technically and pedagogically).

Treating Higher Ed’s ‘Cost Disease’ With Supersize Online Courses — from The Chronicle by Marc Parry

Excerpt (with emphasis from DSC):

Professors should move away from designing foundational courses in statistics, biology, or other core subjects on the basis of “intuition,” she argues. Instead, she wants faculty to work with her team to put out the education equivalent of Super Bowl ads: expensively built online course materials, cheaply available to the masses.

“We’re seeing failure rates in these large introductory courses that are not acceptable to anybody,” Ms. Thille says. “There has to be a better way to get more students—irrespective of where they start—to be able to successfully complete.”

Her approach brings together faculty subject experts, learning researchers, and software engineers [from DSC — a TEAM-based approach] to build open online courses grounded in the science of how people learn. The resulting systems provide immediate feedback to students and tailor content to their skills. As students work through online modules outside class, the software builds profiles on them, just as Netflix does for customers. Faculty consult that data to figure out how to spend in-person class time.

From DSC:
Such learner profiles will most likely reside in the cloud and eventually standards will be established to insert new data into these profiles. The access to view/edit these profiles will be controlled by the individual learners (hopefully!).  What if learners could selectively grant corporations access to this type of profile as their new resume?

For items concerning team-based approaches, see this recording (June 2009) as well as this collection of items.

For items concerning consortia and pooling resources, see here and here.

 

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Learning Without Frontiers Conference presentations/talks now online (from UK Jan 2012)

On 02/27/2012, in 21st century, curriculum, design, economics, education, education reform, education technology, leadership, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, more voice more choice more control, passions, personalized/customized learning, policy, strategy, student-related, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

My notes on two presentations from the Learning Without Frontiers Conference, London, 26th January 2012:

My notes for:
Sir Ken Robinson’s talk

Practice <–>Theory <–> Policy

  • People who practice don’t often have time to get the latest and greatest information re: theory
  • Theorists don’t have much time for practice
  • Policy makers don’t know much about either 🙂

Purposes of education:

  • Economic.  Not solely, but there are economic reasons for providing education. Academic vs vocation programs – Sir Ken doesn’t subscribe to this dichotomy in educational DNA. Need new sorts of education
  • Cultural. Aim to pass on cultural genes – values, beliefs
  • Personal. The most important! In the end, education is ultimately, personal. Too much impersonal testing that students aren’t engaged in.

Key point:

  • There is everything you can do – at all levels; many of us ARE the educational system – at least for the group(s) of students that we are working with. So we can make immediate changes; and collectively this can create a revolution.

Education not linear, not monolithic. Rather, it’s a complex, adaptive system – many moving parts, like a vortex…not like an undistributed canal; more like an ocean with different forces tugging this way and that. (From DSC: I agree with what Sir Ken is saying here, but I especially agree with this particular perspective — thus the name of this blog.)

Personalization is key! Education needs to be customized to the communities where it’s taking place.

Principles

  • Curriculum – towards disciplines (skills, processes, procedures) and away from subjects
  • Teaching & Learning – dynamic; flow of knowledge; not static; forms need to tap into streams; move towards collaborative activities; active learning trumps passive learning
  • Assessment – must move from judgment to description

 

My notes (part way) for:
Jim Knight – If Steve Jobs Designed Schools

What if Steve Jobs had re-invented the education system rather the computer and consumer electronics industry?

Steve Jobs was a contradictory character, combining control freak and Zen Buddhist, and technology with design. He had a revolutionary impact on computing, animation, the music industry, printing, and publishing. Last year he and Bill Gates together expressed surprise at how little impact technology had had on schools. Jobs’s wife is an educational reformer, he was a college dropout; but what would it have been like if Steve Jobs had focused on education? What would the Jobs School be like?

How do we make an insanely great school?

  • Must go really deep to create something that’s easy to use (from DSC — I call this “Easy is hard.”) Need to de-clutter the teaching & learning environment, the curriculum, the qualifications, and the people.
  • How does it make me feel when I walk through the doorway of your school?
  • Get to choose who you want to learn with and from
  • Simple, beautiful space; flexible; social; reflective, all year round
  • More seductive, intuitive, enthralling
  • Does it inspire curiosity?
  • “Don’t need instructions”
  • Not just a school – learning doesn’t stop when school bell rings
  • 24×7 thing
  • Curriculum
  • Is there a range of things to interest everyone?
  • Need more choice; selection; more control of their learning
  • All ages
  • Enterprising
  • Creative, technical, practical…but most of all, it would be fun!

More here…

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Early reflections on “Blackboard launches solution to improve developmental education”

On 02/22/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, career development, disruption, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, innovation, K-12 related, leadership, online learning, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, vendors, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Blackboard launches solution to improve developmental education
Fully online courses now include built-in assessment, analytics tools

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON – February 22, 2012 – Blackboard Inc. today announced the official launch of Blackboard Developmental Education™ (Blackboard DevEd), an innovative approach aimed at improving student outcomes and increasing completion rates in an area where many institutions have struggled. The solution, which was first piloted by several institutions in the fall, now includes built-in assessment and analytics tools that enable course instructors to further personalize their instruction.

.

Blackboard Developmental EducationTM (Blackboard DevEd) is a comprehensive program of blended instruction and online remedial courses designed to improve student achievement levels cost-effectively.

Early reflections from DSC:

  • First of all, my congratulations go out to Blackboard for innovating! Nice work.
  • This is another example of the innovation occurring in the online/digital learning world — yet more tools and diagnostic powers are being made available to online-based teaching and learning environments
  • This should be another shot across the bow of how institutions of higher education are training our future teachers — student teachers NEED to know how to teach online!!!
  • Too early to tell how such endeavors will affect career paths (for teachers, administrators, counselors, nurses, and such)

 

Also see:

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

University of California to start YouTube channel [Brown]

On 02/22/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, digital learning, elearning, innovation, online learning, online media, by Daniel Christian

University of California to start YouTube channel — San Francisco Business Times by Steven E.F. Brown, Web Editor

Excerpt:

On March 1, the University of California system will start its own dedicated channel on YouTube.

The UC system plans to run “15 minutes of fresh content” every week on the channel using San Bruno-based YouTube’s service. News on the channel will include documentaries, interviews, commentaries and video shorts based on events and research at all 10 university campuses as well as its medical schools like UCSF. Content may also come from UC-managed labs like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • •  
Previous Entries Next Entries
© 2025 | Daniel Christian