web-based collaboration

Swedish Online Store Features Live, Interactive Salespeople [VIDEO] — from Mashable.com
Excerpt:

Swedish telecom company 3 Sweden has bridged the gap between Internet commerce and brick and mortar with 3LiveShop. The new site features employees interacting with customers, live, over videoscreens. As the video above shows, the Chatroulette-like site was made possible with custom-built touchscreens that look like they’re right out of The Minority Report. Using the screens, the online salespeople are able to bring up images of phones the company sells and field questions about them.

Questions/reflections from DSC:
If this does turn out to be the case:

Should students have a solid comfort level with technology in order to be marketable in the future?
What changes do we need to make to our curriculums — at all levels — to insure their success in this type of world?
Will this setup be similar for the online teachers/professors out there?
Will this type of setup lead to incredible levels of individualized attention? Or will such services only be for people who can afford this level of personalized attention?
What changes will the corporate world need to make to incorporate this type of channel?
Will this offer 24x7x365 access, with certain call centers either online 24 hours a day, or different call centers spread throughout the world coming online and offline in synch w/ each other?

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • 24x7x365 • A/V • business • change • collaboration • corporate / business world • Daniel S. Christian • digital video • future • innovation • learning ecosystem • learning spaces • marketing/social marketing • marketplaces • online learning • online tutoring • organizational change • teaching online • web-based collaboration

Harvesting your organization’s ideas to produce innovation: If this takes off, it could prove to be hugely important for an organization’s future health

On 04/01/2011, in collaboration, corporate / business world, higher education, innovation, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
A reflection upon 3 Trends in Idea Management – from ReadWriteWeb.com by Klint Findley

Excerpt:

Idea management software seeks two “holy grails” of enterprise collaboration technology: 1) innovation and 2) the breaking down of silos.

If such software and systems could breakdown silos — and if the culture of one’s organization could support it — this type of endeavor could be hugely important in catapulting an organization ahead of other organizations within its industry.

Many of us can look back in our careers where we have had solid ideas that we tried to get adopted or pursued. However, such ideas may have made it up a layer or two in one’s job family/ladder — but then the idea was halted. Thus, those ideas are never heard by others in different departments/parts of the organization — people that might have seen an application for the idea and might have pursued it. Or perhaps, other people who might have built upon/modified the idea to produce something even more useful to the organization. Far too often the people on “the front lines” within an organization do not talk to each other enough.

A related line of questioning:

Could such systems be made available to students? Prospective students?
Would there be value in that? (That is, what classes would students like to see…what topics would they like to learn about…what ideas do they have for teaching topic ABC.)

From Spigit.com

Overview:
Higher education around the country has not been immune to economic decline over the last few years, and the education industry all over has been looking for new ways to help solve their problems. There will always be a place for education, as there will be for improving it, and improving the way it is implemented. Improvements in student-faculty collaboration are a necessity now more than ever, as many educators, students, and administrators have learned.

Challenge:
With nearly 70,000 faculty, staff and undergraduate students, the president of the University of Texas at Austin expressed the desire to better connect people and increase collaboration between departments. The need for a centralized and focused platform to discuss ideas and improvements that would advance the university’s mission was a top priority for the school.

Solution:
By implementing Spigit’s idea management platform, UT is able to gather ideas from students and staff and collaborate on ways to improve the school and further the university’s mission. This centralized platform has increased engagement, stimulated participation and facilitated creative problem solving in the Education Industry. Due to the overwhelming success with faculty and staff, University of Texas has now created another community for students and alumni, totaling nearly 500,000 people.

Also see:

Collaboration in the Era of Crowdsourcing — from cmswire.com by Hutch Carpenter

Tagged with: collaboration • corporate / business world • higher education • innovation • web-based collaboration

Skype Community Comes to the Classroom [Nagel]

On 03/31/2011, in 21st century, education technology, engagement / engaging students, global / globalization, K-12 related, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Skype Community Comes to the Classroom — from The Journal by David Nagel

Skype in the classroom offers teachers a free platform for communications and collaboration.

Skype has launched a global community for educators called Skype in the classroom.

The free service is focused on connecting teachers from around the world to allow them to communicate, collaborate on projects, draw expertise from one another, and share learning materials and best practices. It also serves as a launchpad for connecting students with their peers in classrooms across the planet using Skype video.

Addendum on 4/1/11:

Skype’s New Education Platform Connects Classrooms Around the Globe — from Good Education by Liz Dwyer

Tagged with: 21st century • educational technology • engagement • Global learning • K-12 • Skype • videoconferencing • virtual field trips • web-based collaboration

Presentations from Langwitches.org re: blogging, videoconferencing w/ Skype

On 03/28/2011, in blogs / blogging / vlogging, K-12 related, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Presentations from Langwitches.org

Tagged with: blogging • K-12 • Skype • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

Cisco, Polycom Top Video Conferencing/Telepresence Market

On 03/28/2011, in telepresence, vendors, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Cisco, Polycom Top Video Conferencing/Telepresence Market — from The Web Conferencing Blog by David Chao

Tagged with: telepresence • vendors • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

GoTo Meeting, Centra, Wimba, and other web conferencing solutions…be afraid, be very afraid

On 03/21/2011, in future, innovation, Microsoft, tools, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

GoTo Meeting, Centra, Wimba, and other web conferencing solutions…be afraid, be very afraid — from Kaplan EduNeering by Karl Kapp

Excerpt:

PowerPoint is slowly starting to broaden its capabilities and will, I predict, soon infringe on some well known software applications in the field of e-learning such as…web conferencing tools (and others).

This video is one of the first inroads PowerPoint is making into the Web Conferencing software and I don’t think they are going to stop here.

Will it be PowerPoint 2014 with full capabilities and robust conferencing, when will they announce a more robust authoring capability? Will PowerPoint ever be SCORM compliant…..?

Tagged with: future • innovation • Microsoft • tools • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration • Wimba

What’s the best way for learners, employees, organizations, & publishers to deal with constantly-moving streams of content?

On 03/18/2011, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adult learning, career development, change, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital textbooks, distance education, informal learning, instructional design, learning ecosystem, learning theories, lifelong learning, microlearning, online learning, online media, pace of change, professional development, publishing, RSS, social learning / networks, social media, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, textbooks, training / L&D, ubiquitous learning, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
After looking at some items concerning Connectivism*, I’ve been reflecting upon the following questions:

What’s the best way for us to dip our feet into the constantly moving streams of content?
(No matter the topic or discipline, the streams continue to flow.)
What’s the optimal setup for K-12 based “courses”?
What’s the optimal setup for “courses” within higher education?
How should L&D departments deal with this phenomenon?
How do publishers and textbook authors want to address this situation?

Thinking of Gonzalez (2004; as cited in Siemens (2005)) description of the challenges of rapidly diminishing knowledge life:

“One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The “half-life of knowledge” is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. Half of what is known today was not known 10 years ago. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is doubling every 18 months according to the American Society of Training and Documentation (ASTD). To combat the shrinking half-life of knowledge, organizations have been forced to develop new methods of deploying instruction.”

Stephen Downes addresses this and points to a possible solution to this phenomenon in his presentation from 3/15/11 entitled “Educational Projection: Supporting Distributed Learning Online.”

Excerpt/slides:

I need to put more thought into this, but wanted to throw this question out there…more later…

* From DSC: Some of the items I looked at regarding Connectivism — some directly related, others indirectly-related — were:

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm.

Downes, S. (2005). An introduction to connective knowledge. Retrieved from http://www. downes. ca/post/33034. Downes noted that this was published in Hug, Theo (ed. ) (2007): Media, knowledge & education – exploring new spaces, relations and dynamics in digital media ecologies. Proceedings of the International Conference held on June 25-26, 2007. November 27, 2007.

Kop, R. & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, v9 n3 p1-13 Oct 2008.

Tracey, R. (2009). Instructivism, constructivism or connectivism? Training & Development in Australia, December, 2009. p08-09, 2p. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. ISSN 0310-4664.

Kerr, B. (2007). A challenge to connectivism. Retrieved at http://learningevolves. wikispaces. com/kerr.

Sims, R. (2008). Rethinking (e)learning: A manifesto for connected generations. Distance Education Vol. 29, No. 2, August 2008, 153–164. ISSN 0158-7919 print/ISSN 1475-0198 online. DOI: 10. 1080/01587910802154954

Lisa Dawley. (2009). Social network knowledge construction: emerging virtual world pedagogy. On the Horizon, 17(2), 109-121. Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1880656431).

Hargadon, S. (2011). Ugh. Classic politics now extends to social networking in education. Retrieved from http://www. stevehargadon. com/2011/03/ugh-classic-politics-now-extends-to. html.

Cross, J. (2001). Crowd-inspired innovation. Retrieved from http://www.internettime.com/2011/03/crowd-inspired-innovation.

Rogers-Estable, M.. (2009). Web 2.0 and distance education: Tools and techniques. Distance Learning, 6(4), 55-60. Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 2017059921).

Marrotte-Newman, S.. (2009). Why virtual schools exist and understanding their culture. Distance Learning, 6(4), 31-35. Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 2017059881).

Hilton, J., Graham, C., Rich, P., & Wiley, D. (2010). Using online technologies to extend a classroom to learners at a distance. Distance Education, 31(1), 77-92. Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 2074810921).

Attwell, G. (2010). Personal learning environments and Vygotsky. Retrieved from http://www.pontydysgu.org/2010/04/personal-learning-environments-and-vygotsky.

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • 24x7x365 • active learning • adult learners/learning • change • collaboration • Connectivism • content • Content aggregration • corporate training / universities • dangers of the status quo • Daniel S. Christian • digital textbooks • distance ed • informal learning • information overload • instructional design • learning and study strategies • learning ecosystem • learning theories • Lifelong learning • mash-ups • online learning • online media • pace of change • personal learning networks (PLNs) • professional development • RSS • social learning • social media • staying relevant • strategy • student-related • surviving • teaching & learning • textbooks • training • ubiquitous learning • web-based collaboration • workplace

Doing online presentations: Some tips from the front lines [Tom Werner]

On 03/16/2011, in presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Doing online presentations: Some tips from the front lines — from Brandon-Hall.com by Tom Werner

Tagged with: best practices/tips • presentations • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

Items from today’s Cisco Virtual Forum for Education Leaders

On 03/09/2011, in change, changing business models, education reform, emerging technologies, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Notes and most of the slides from the Keynotes [11.02MB]

John Chambers, CEO, Cisco
John reflects on why he believes we are better positioned than ever, as a global community, to take advantage of the major transitions that are occurring in education and technology today.

Michael Stevenson, Vice President, Global Education, Cisco
Michael discusses the journey for 21st century learning around the world, and how Cisco is working on critical partnerships to advance education transformation globally.

Gregory B. Whitby, Executive Director of Schools, Diocese of Parramatta
Leading learning for today’s world requires a deep understanding of learners, pedagogy, content and cultural change. Good teachers positively influence student learning outcomes so every school leader has a responsibility to lead and sustain educational change.

Salman Khan, Founder, Khan Academy
There is a lot of talk of how to use technology to improve technology, but very little discussion about using technology to RETHINK education. Salman Khan will outline his path to building the Khan Academy–used by over 1 million students every month–and think through what it means for transforming what happens inside and outside of the classroom.

Gay Krause, Founder, Krause Center for Innovation
The Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) was established to design and implement innovative professional development emphasizing technology integration and STEM subjects, to support the diverse workforce needed to compete in the knowledge economy. Our programs include: (1) MERIT (Making Education Relevant and Interactive through Technology) for enhancing curriculum, pedagogy, and technology skills for educators; (2) FAME (Faculty Academy for Mathematics Excellence) for using Internet technology to support student learning in Algebra; (3) FASTTech – short technology classes to enhance software-based skills. This presentation will address what we’ve learned from our ten years of professional development experience as well as the recommended future direction for PD in order to train educators to guide students to succeed in a global economy.

Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director, Council Chief State School Officers
What do today’s graduates need to know to succeed in tomorrow’s world? In the US and around the globe there are heightened expectations for education, and the multiple attributes students need to acquire to become active contributors in a complex global society. In this session, you will learn how the Council of Chief State School Officers is reshaping American public education, through clear, focused standards, more robust assessment designs, and accountability systems; redesign of our education workforce: and enhanced and dynamic information systems.

Notes and most of the slides from the College and University Breakout Session [9.52MB]

Tagged with: change • education reform • emerging technologies • new business models in he • vendors • videoconferencing • vision • web-based collaboration

CLEAR – Spring 2011 Newsletter — Rich Internet Applications for Language Learners

On 03/06/2011, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, ideas, instructional design, internet, languages and translation, pedagogy, tools, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

In 2006, CLEAR launched its “Rich Internet Applications for Language Learning” initiative. Web-based tools were designed to offer functionality that is beneficial to language learning, while exploring how technology can enhance language teaching. This article discusses the design principles behind the RIA initiative, explains how the tools are intended to be used, and shares some examples of classroom use.

From DSC:
The article mentions tools such as Wimba (now a part of Bb Collaborate), VoiceThread, and others.

Tagged with: cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • ideas • internet • languages • pedagogy • tools • videoconferencing • Web 2.0 • web-based collaboration • Wimba

DEMO: SocialEyes wants to make video social networking a reality

On 03/01/2011, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, social learning / networks, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

DEMO: SocialEyes wants to make video social networking a reality — from VentureBeat.com by Anthony Ha

Tagged with: 21st century • social learning • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

The Connected Life at Home — from Cisco

On 02/28/2011, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communications, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-readers, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, informal learning, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, lifelong learning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, personalized/customized learning, social learning / networks, social media, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

How will these types of technologies affect what we can do with K-12 education/higher education/workplace training and development? I’d say they will open up a world of new applications and opportunities for those who are ready to innovate; and these types of technologies will move the “Forthcoming Walmart of Education” along.

Above item from:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns934/networking_solutions_market_segment_solution.html

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • 24x7x365 • 3D • A/V • adult learners/learning • cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • communications • content repositories • convergence • corporate / business world • corporate training / universities • cost of getting an education • customized learning • dangers of the status quo • Daniel S. Christian • digital audio • digital learning • digital photography • digital storytelling • digital textbooks • digital video • distance ed • e-books • e-learning • e-readers • educational gaming • educational technology • emerging technologies • future • future of higher education • game-changing environment • higher education • intelligent tutoring • internet • iTunes U • K-12 • learner profiles • Learning Agents • learning ecosystem • learning spaces • lecture recording • Mobile learning • mobile technology • online learning • online media • online tutoring • open • personalized learning • social learning • social media • social networking • technologies for the home • technology (general) • telecommunications • telepresence • tools • TV • ubiquitous learning • user experience • vendors • videoconferencing • virtual field trips • virtual reality / worlds / learning • virtual schools • virtual tutoring • vision • VLE • Walmart of Education • web-based collaboration • webinars • Wireless • workplace

TutorMe [item on online-based tutoring]

On 02/25/2011, in innovation, online tutoring, UK, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I wish they would be more upfront about their pricing — i.e. how many credits each “course” is. You purchase credits…and then you find out how many credits you will need to get their services. I mainly post this to show the level of innovation occurring out there in the online-based world; and online-based tutoring will only grow.