There's no time for baby steps -- Wireless Generation

Also see their information on Burst — for early literacy

and their estimate product launch dates:

 

From DSC:
I’ve been hoping that Steelcase would move towards implementing their puck-like devices — from their  MediaScape product line — on tables throughout a classroom…whereby these pucks would be wireless and whereby students could plug in whatever device they brought to class with them, and then hit the puck to begin “playing their media for the classroom.” No pauses, no interruptions to the flow of the class.

Along these lines, check this out:

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Report: By 2015, Mobile Internet Usage Will Increase by Factor of 26

The Connected Life at Home — from Cisco

The connected life at home -- from Cisco

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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:

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High Speed Ahead– from CampusTechnology.com

Excerpt re: expanding WiFi coverage :

“WiFi is local; that’s the trouble with it,” said McCartney. “With the 4G network, users will have wireless coverage both indoors and while outside walking around between the buildings. That’s a whole lot of coverage that we didn’t have before.”

Besides the clear advantages of faster, more reliable Internet access, the 4G service helps Purdue’s faculty and staff deliver and use bandwidth-intensive applications and solutions to students in a more seamless fashion. Known for developing proprietary mobile technologies to enhance traditional college classroom experiences, the school’s latest developments include the Facebook academic application Mixable and a student discussion tool, HotSeat, which allows students to interact with their classmates and faculty using Twitter and text messages.

Another new application that was implemented in 2010 finds students making instructional use of video in the institution’s forensics classes, among others. The program and the material produced with it are bandwidth-intensive and difficult to manipulate on a traditional WiFi network. The new 4G access will help fill that gap. “To use this application solution, you have to be able to take video, deliver it and [watch] it,” said McCartney. “You can’t do that on 3G.”

With Purdue’s 4G tower activated since early-December, staff and students are already developing new applications that will have a “measurable and material impact on learning,” said McCartney, who added he expects more colleges to jump on the 4G bandwagon as the successful implementations are documented. “As a leading university, we have to keep up with the plumbing around here, and make sure that all of our services work as expected, and as advertised.”

Top ten wireless predictions 2011

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Working group takes on challenges of WiFi growth on campus — from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

A new working group dominated by IT representatives from higher education is tackling the problems and solutions of running WiFi networks that need to support a dramatic proliferation of wireless devices on campus and in business. A major goal of the Multimedia-Grade Working Group is to encourage vendors to design and deploy “multimedia-grade” devices and equipment.

“The demand being placed on WiFi networks is increasing at a blistering pace,” said David Morton, director of mobile communications at the University of Washington, one participating institution. “Handheld devices like the iPhone and iPad now account for nearly a third of all devices that are using WiFi on campus. At the same time we are seeing a mobile app explosion that has transformed how people use the network. Gone are the days when a typical user might occasionally check e-mail on a laptop. Users now do everything from streaming media to video chat to placing phone calls while mobile and expect all of that to work no matter where they are.”

FCC heralds a new era of super wi-fi
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(CNN) — It’s more powerful than your current home network — able to leap through tall buildings from a single port.

Look, up in the sky.

It’s “SUPER Wi-Fi!”

At least that’s what U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is calling a new class of bigger-faster-better internet connections, which could jump from fiction to reality after a commission vote on September 23.

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— the above items are just 2 of the items from KevinRose.com’s 2010 products I can’t live without

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From DSC:
Which question is dead? This one:

Where is the return on investment in all of this technology?

Through the last several decades, as we’ve invested in PCs, Macs, cabling/telecommunications infrastructure, wireless access points, LANs, servers, routers, etc…the question kept being asked, “Where’s the return on investment with all of this technology?”

To me, that question is being put to rest once and for all (at least in terms of those sets of technologies.) Why? Because that infrastructure is the foundation of an ever-growing, sprawling, network of connections that people are using more and more to communicate, socialize, learn, and grow. Sure, there are downsides to the Internet, but there are many upsides as well:

  • You want a lesson plan? It’s out there.
  • You want to hear a lecture on topic A, B, or C? It’s out there and able to start playing on your PC, Mac, iPhone, etc. in seconds
  • You need to find directions to place XYZ? As you know, a huge timesaver can be found in services like Mapquest or with GPS-enabled services.
  • You want to take a break and watch a show? It’s on your PC or Mac in a short period of time.
  • You want to quickly orchestrate an event to catch up with a group of your friends? No problem.

I could go on and on, but you get my point: We are at the embryonic stages of an explosion in innovation that is now possible due to the Internet and the blazingly-fast exchanges of information. Surely, there has been an excellent ROI here!

Social Media and Young Adults — from Pew Internet, by Amanda Lenhart (Senior Research Specialist), Kristen Purcell (Associate Director, Research), Aaron Smith (Research Specialist), and Kathryn Zickuhr (Research Assistant)

From DSC:
Change…change…and more change…hmmm…how do we best prepare our students for a world that is changing so quickly?

© 2024 | Daniel Christian