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Addendum on 1-20-11:
The future of the TV is online — from telegraph.co.uk
Your television’s going to get connected, says Matt Warman
On 01/12/2011,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Apple, blended learning, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, face-to-face, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, love of learning, mathematics, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, passions, play, podcasting, reading, simulations, storytelling, student-related, tablets, teaching & learning, tools, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
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From DSC:
I post this here — with higher ed included in the tags/categories — because if the trend within K-12 continues (i.e. that of using such technologies as the iPad, digital textbooks, mobile learning devices, etc.), students’ expectations WILL be impacted. When they hit our doorsteps, they will come with their heightened sets of expectations. The question is, will we in higher ed be ready for them?
On 01/10/2011,
in change, education reform, education technology, future, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, pace of change, play, social learning / networks, social media, teaching & learning, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
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Original posting from:
A New Culture of Learning — weblogg-ed.com
Addendum on 1-31-11:
I just saw this posting from Catherine Lombardozzi on the Learning Journal blog, as she comments on Thomas’ & Seely Brown’s book. She concludes:
“I’m thinking that the new culture of learning doesn’t replace the old, it enriches it.”
See:
http://learningjournal.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/thenew-culture-of-learning/
On 12/09/2010,
in design, education technology, elearning, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, online learning, play, tools, user experience (UX), vendors,
by Daniel Christian
An e-Learning Tool Revolution — from Allen Interactions by Ethan Edwards, chief instructional strategist
Allen Interactions had a highly visible presence at the [DevLearn 2010] conference, announcing the official Private Beta Program for a new authoring system, currently under development and code-named Zebra.
…
The experience of using it has really illustrated for me in a fresh way why current authoring systems always fall so short. The challenge of designing instruction for computer delivery is how to craft an experience that engages the learner and creates unique opportunities for that learner to solve challenges. Instructional interactivity is at the core of this design process. Ideally, an authoring tool ought to put the designer at the center of manipulating interactivity.
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What is so exciting to me about the possibilities that Zebra suggests is that for the first time in my recollection designers will be able to directly and easily manipulate those design elements that define instructional interactivity–Context, Challenge, Activity, and Feedback–in a seamless design environment. Of course, we’re just beginning this journey and there is much unknown about the significance that Zebra might have, but for the first time in a long time, I feel optimistic about authoring potential, which has been rather stalled in its tracks for almost 15 years. I can imagine this dramatically increasing the influence that instructional designers can have in the overall creating of outstanding e-learning applications.
On 10/11/2010,
in 21st century, assessment, digital storytelling, higher education, instructional design, memory, pedagogy, play, story, storytelling,
by Daniel Christian
The test has been canceled — from Boston.com by Keith O’Brien
Final exams are quietly vanishing from college
The change, which was first reported in Harvard Magazine, is not a statement on the value of final exams one way or the other, Harris said. But the shrinking role of big, blockbuster tests at Harvard and colleges elsewhere is raising serious pedagogical questions about 21st century education: How best do students learn? And what’s the best way to assess that? Is the disappearance of high-stakes, high-pressure final exams a sign that universities are failing to challenge today’s students, or is it just a long overdue acknowledgment that such tests aren’t always the best indicator of actual knowledge?
From DSC:
Perhaps like many others, I don’t remember a lot from the final exams taken during my college days. My hope is that whatever methods we use, we can foster deeper, longer-lasting ROI’s from students’ studying time. We can create more “hooks” on which to hang things 5-10 years down the line (if that’s possible these days!). One thought along these lines, is to use the ideas of story, play, and promoting the creativity of our students.
The greatest teacher of all time used story — in the form of parables — all the time. I’ll bet that many of us can still recall to this day the parable of the sower, or the prodigal son…the good Samaritan or the lost coin. With enough repetition, we remember these stories and the deeper meaning behind them. They provide hooks to hang other things upon (i.e. scaffolding).
Ask the Expert | James Paul Gee on video games and learning — from the NY Times Learning Network by Katherine Schulten
In this week’s New York Times Magazine article about video games in the classroom, Sara Corbett asks:
What if teachers gave up the vestiges of their educational past, threw away the worksheets, burned the canon and reconfigured the foundation upon which a century of learning has been built? What if we blurred the lines between academic subjects and reimagined the typical American classroom so that, at least in theory, it came to resemble a typical American living room or a child’s bedroom or even a child’s pocket, circa 2010 — if, in other words, the slipstream of broadband and always-on technology that fuels our world became the source and organizing principle of our children’s learning? What if, instead of seeing school the way we’ve known it, we saw it for what our children dreamed it might be: a big, delicious video game?
We’ve invited James Paul Gee, an expert on how video games fit within an overall theory of learning and literacy (and how they can help us in thinking about school reform), to take readers’ questions this week.
From DSC:
Be sure to check out the comments as well.
On 08/16/2010,
in animation, cost of getting a degree, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, play, simulations, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning,
by Daniel Christian
The type of learning materials that can be produced by an organization such as Virtual Heroes is the type/quality of material that will be produced in a vision that I have been calling “The Forthcoming Walmart of Education.”
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Also see:
- Duke U School of Medicine Expands Virtual Game Use for Future Doctors — from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser [via SteveKnode.com]
The Duke University School of Medicine is expanding its efforts to train future doctors in clinical skills through 3D virtual games. The school, which has about 421 students in its MD program, is once again teaming up with Virtual Heroes, a company that creates training products for healthcare, federal systems, and business. Virtual Heroes, a division of research and engineering firm Applied Research Associates, worked with the school in 2007 to create 3DiTeams, an immersive environment that allows participants to play a role in a team medical setting.
From DSC:
This is why I would encourage the U.S. government to see if they can get 1-2 billion — from the billionaires who are donating much of their wealth to charitable causes — in order to create such professionally-done, interactive, engaging, team-created learning materials. Then make those materials available — free of charge — throughout the world.