Next-Gen Classrooms: Aces of Space — from CampusTechnology.com by Jennifer Demski
Four schools use cutting-edge design principles and technology to create next-gen learning spaces, with a focus on collaboration and student engagement.

 

 

 

media:scape with HD videoconferencing

Designing learning spaces — from Edmagine, posted by sonsangnim

Some of the links mentioned:

 

Wi-Fi enabled smart lighting ecosystem– TrendBird

Excerpt:

What if every light bulb had its own unique Internet IP address? The possibilities are endless: You could monitor, manage and control every light bulb from any Internet-enabled device – turning lights on and off individually, dimming or creating scenes from your smartphone, tablet, PC or TV – to save energy as well as electricity costs.

Your “smart lighting” network could have dozens or even hundreds of appliances connected through a wireless network designed for maximum energy savings, communicating information about their environment, about power consumption levels, and alerting you to any problems. Today, NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) is introducing itsGreenChip™ smart lighting solution that makes the Internet-enabled, energy-efficient lighting network a reality – not only for businesses, but also for consumers trying to make the most of energy savings in the home.

Beginning tomorrow at LIGHTFAIR International, NXP and partners TCP and GreenWave Reality will be showcasing a consumer-ready, Internet-enabled Smart Lighting network powered by the GreenChip smart lighting solution in the NXP booth (no. 2823) and TCP booth (no. 2659).

NXP’s GreenChip smart lighting solution opens an entirely new dimension in energy efficient lighting


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Taking next-gen classrooms beyond the pilot — from campustechnology.com by Jennifer Demski
How the University of Minnesota moved its Active Learning Classroom concept to prime time

 

Active Learning Classrooms at the University of Minnesota are used for courses covering a wide range of subjects, including engineering, humanities, and social sciences.

Future of Television – Video Podcast — from Phil Leigh’s Inside Digital Media, Inc.

 

The Future of TV -- Phil Leigh -- May 2011

 

Related item:

20th Century Classroom vs. 21st Century Classroom— from collaborativelearningspaces.com by Doug McIntosh

Excerpt from K-12 related article:

We are eleven years into the 21st century, yet many classrooms in the United States reflect the typical 20th century classroom described below. Compare your school and/or individual classroom with this chart and see where millions of students live six hours a day five days a week.

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Connected TV Summit: TV apps and second screen strategies — from tvgenious.net by Emma Wells

Excerpts (emphasis by DSC — especially as it relates to education & learning-based apps):

Connected TV has been around for a while, and 2010 has seen connected devices, especially smartphones, go mainstream.  One of the key highlights of today’s Summit was the fact that the second screen is becoming an important part of the TV environment.

New consumer behaviour patterns and the rapid pace of technology have given birth to TV everywhere strategies, companion apps, TV apps, and VoD adoption.

The TV App Experience

At the event, it was hypothesised that “consumers are starting to redefine what they see as television”. This is good news for TV app developers, as they seek to mould a new, modern, TV experience.

TV apps are seen as an ideal way to hand control over to the viewers.  Additionally, TV apps can be used as the gateway to personalised viewing, and social media-integrated content. According to BT’s Andy Heselwood, the connected TV winner will be “the company who makes the shared TV experience personal. How to do this effectively without cluttering the TV screen and ruining the “lean back” experience still remains to be seen.

The main benefit of TV apps is that they are lightfooted and require substantially less effort to update than the set top box (STB) or TV. This means that lifecycles can be accelerated, and there is more room for experimentation and development. During the summit, Siemens even went so far as to say that  TV apps on connected TVs can “throw the set top box out of your operations plan”.  If true, this prediction could spell trouble for STB manufacturers.

echalk — from www.echalk.de

 


From DSC:
I’m looking for a technology that can capture 20 feet worth of “chalkboard” for longer mathematical problems and solutions and equations. How can we capture that?

Perhaps I’m not thinking clearly, but tablets don’t seem nearly large enough to fit these types of work on them in their entirety. Document cameras are another potential option, but again, the writing surface is too small. That goes for PolyVision’s Eno Board, Smart’s Interactive Whiteboards, BrightLink Projectors from Epson and other similar products.

That’s why E-Chalk caught my attention.

I’m trying to free up students’ minds — to allow them to be cognitively engaged with — and present with — the content being discussed (vs. having to madly write down the equations before the professor erases the board). I want them to walk away with such writings on a device and/or accessible somewhere on the cloud.



 

E-chalk is more than a traditional chalkboard because it integrates multimedia elements:

  • Pictures can be directly retrieved from the Internet or from the local computer.
  • Mathematical functions can be plotted.
  • Mathematical expressions can be evaluated on the fly via handwriting recognition.
  • Interactive web services (CGI scripts) can be integrated in the lecture.

 

E-Kreide Vorlesung

 

In a class room

 

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A hugely powerful vision: A potent addition to our learning ecosystems of the future

 

Daniel Christian:
A Vision of Our Future Learning Ecosystems


In the near future, as the computer, the television, the telephone (and more) continues to converge, we will most likely enjoy even more powerful capabilities to conveniently create and share our content as well as participate in a global learning ecosystem — whether that be from within our homes and/or from within our schools, colleges, universities and businesses throughout the world.

We will be teachers and students at the same time — even within the same hour — with online-based learning exchanges taking place all over the virtual and physical world.  Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) — in the form of online-based tutors, instructors, teachers, and professors — will be available on demand. Even more powerful/accurate/helpful learning engines will be involved behind the scenes in delivering up personalized, customized learning — available 24x7x365.  Cloud-based learner profiles may enter the equation as well.

The chances for creativity,  innovation, and entrepreneurship that are coming will be mind-blowing! What employers will be looking for — and where they can look for it — may change as well.

What we know today as the “television” will most likely play a significant role in this learning ecosystem of the future. But it won’t be like the TV we’ve come to know. It will be much more interactive and will be aware of who is using it — and what that person is interested in learning about. Technologies/applications like Apple’s AirPlay will become more standard, allowing a person to move from device to device without missing a  beat. Transmedia storytellers will thrive in this environment!

Much of the professionally done content will be created by teams of specialists, including the publishers of educational content, and the in-house teams of specialists within colleges, universities, and corporations around the globe. Perhaps consortiums of colleges/universities will each contribute some of the content — more readily accepting previous coursework that was delivered via their consortium’s membership.

An additional thought regarding higher education and K-12 and their Smart Classrooms/Spaces:
For input devices…
The “chalkboards” of the future may be transparent, or they may be on top of a drawing board-sized table or they may be tablet-based. But whatever form they take and whatever is displayed upon them, the ability to annotate will be there; with the resulting graphics saved and instantly distributed. (Eventually, we may get to voice-controlled Smart Classrooms, but we have a ways to go in that area…)

Below are some of the graphics that capture a bit of what I’m seeing in my mind…and in our futures.

Alternatively available as a PowerPoint Presentation (audio forthcoming in a future version)

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

— from Daniel S. Christian | April 2011

See also:

Addendum on 4-14-11:

 

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© 2024 | Daniel Christian