Posts Tagged ‘K12 technology’

Educators in VR

Info on all presentations: https://account.altvr.com/channels/1182698623012438188

Charlie Fink: Setting the Table for the Next Decade in XR

Translating Training Requirements into Immersive Experience

Virtual Reality Technologies for Learning Designers

Virtual Reality Technologies for Learning Designers Margherita Berti

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Technology Acceptance and Learning Process Victoria Bolotina part 1

Technology Acceptance and Learning Process Victoria Bolotina part 2

Assessment of Learning Activities in VR Evelien Ydo part 2

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VR: So Much More Than a Field Trip Shannon Putman, Graduate Assistant/PhD Student, University of Louisville SPED special education https://account.altvr.com/events/1406092840622096803

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VR and Health Professionals Rob Theriault

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Transform Your History Lessons with AR and VR Michael Fricano II

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Transform Your History Lessons with AR and VR Michael Fricano II, Technology Integration Specialist https://www.arvreduhub.com/transform-history

Qlone App for 3D scanning

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2020 Educators in VR International Summit

The 2020 Educators in VR International Summit is February 17-22. It features over 170 speakers in 150+ events across multiple social and educational platforms including AltspaceVRENGAGErumiiMozilla Hubs, and Somnium Space.

The event requires no registration, and is virtual only, free, and open to the public. Platform access is required, so please install one of the above platforms to attend the International Summit. You may attend in 2D on a desktop or laptop computer with a headphone and microphone (USB gaming headphone recommended), or with a virtual device such as the Oculus Go, Quest, and Rift, Vive, and other mobile and tethered devices. Please note the specifications and requirements of each platform.

The majority of our events are on AltspaceVR. AltspaceVR is available for Samsung GearSteam Store for HTC ViveWindows Mixed Reality, and the Oculus Store for RiftGo and Quest users. Download and install the 2D version for use on your Windows desktop computer.

Charlie Fink, author, columnist for Forbes magazine, and Adjunct Faculty member of Chapman University, will be presenting “Setting the Table for the Next Decade in XR,” discussing the future of this innovative and immersive technology, at the 2020 Educators in VR International Summit. He will be speaking in AltspaceVR on Tuesday, February 18 at 1:00 PM EST /

International Summit

Setting the Table for the Next Decade in XR 1PM, Tues, Feb 18 https://account.altvr.com/events/1406089727517393133

Finding a New Literacy for a New Reality 5PM, Tues, Feb 18

https://account.altvr.com/events/1406093036194103494 schedule for new literacy

Finding a New Literacy for a New Reality

Dr. Sarah Jones, Deputy Dean, De Montfort University

This workshop with Dr. Sarah Jones will focus on developing a relevant and new literacy for virtual reality, including the core competencies and skills needed to develop and understand how to become an engaged user of the technology in a meaningful way. The workshop will develop into research for a forthcoming book on Uncovering a Literacy for VR due to be published in 2020.

Sarah is listed as one of the top 15 global influencers within virtual reality. After nearly a decade in television news, Sarah began working in universities focusing on future media, future technology and future education. Sarah holds a PhD in Immersive Storytelling and has published extensively on virtual and augmented reality, whilst continuing to make and create immersive experiences. She has advised the UK Government on Immersive Technologies and delivers keynotes and speaks at conferences across the world on imagining future technology. Sarah is committed to diversifying the media and technology industries and regularly champions initiatives to support this agenda.

Inter-cognitive and Intra-cognitive Communication in Virtual Reality

Inter-cognitive and Intra-cognitive Communication in Virtual Reality

Michael Vallance, Professor, Future University Hakodate

Currently there are limited ways to connect 3D VR environments to physical objects in the real-world whilst simultaneously conducting communication and collaboration between remote users. Within the context of a solar power plant, the performance metrics of the site are invaluable for environmental engineers who are remotely located. Often two or more remotely located engineers need to communicate and collaborate on solving a problem. If a solar panel component is damaged, the repair often needs to be undertaken on-site thereby incurring additional expenses. This triage of communication is known as inter-cognitive communication and intra-cognitive communication: inter-cognitive communication where information transfer occurs between two cognitive entities with different cognitive capabilities (e.g., between a human and an artificially cognitive system); intra-cognitive communication where information transfer occurs between two cognitive entities with equivalent cognitive capabilities (e.g., between two humans) [Baranyi and Csapo, 2010]. Currently, non-VR solutions offer a comprehensive analysis of solar plant data. A regular PC with a monitor currently have advantages over 3D VR. For example, sensors can be monitored using dedicated software such as EPEVER or via a web browser; as exemplified by the comprehensive service provided by Elseta. But when multiple users are able to collaborate remotely within a three-dimensional virtual simulation, the opportunities for communication, training and academic education will be profound.

Michael Vallance Ed.D. is a researcher in the Department of Media Architecture, Future University Hakodate, Japan. He has been involved in educational technology design, implementation, research and consultancy for over twenty years, working closely with Higher Education Institutes, schools and media companies in UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. His 3D virtual world design and tele-robotics research has been recognized and funded by the UK Prime Minister’s Initiative (PMI2) and the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST). He has been awarded by the United States Army for his research in collaborating the programming of robots in a 3D Virtual World.

Create Strategic Snapchat & Instagram AR Campaigns

Create Strategic Snapchat & Instagram AR Campaigns

Dominique Wu, CEO/Founder, Hummingbirdsday

Augmented Reality Lens is popular among young people thanks to Snapchat’s invention. Business is losing money without fully using of social media targeting young people (14-25). In my presentation, Dominique Wu will show how businesses can generate more leads through Spark AR (Facebook AR/Instagram AR) & Snapchat AR Lens, and how to create a strategic Snapchat & Instagram AR campaigns.

Domnique Wu is an XR social media strategist and expert in UX/UI design.She has her own YouTube and Apple Podcast show called “XReality: Digital Transformation,” covering the technology and techniques of incorporating XR and AR into social media, marketing, and integration into enterprise solutions.

Mixed Reality in Classrooms Near You

Mixed Reality in Classrooms Near You

Mark Christian, EVP, Strategy and Corporate Development, GIGXR

Mixed Reality devices like the HoloLens are transforming education now. Mark Christian will discuss how the technology is not about edge use cases or POCs, but real usable products that are at Universities transforming the way we teach and learn. Christian will talk about the products of GIGXR, the story of how they were developed and what the research is saying about their efficacy. It is time to move to adoption of XR technology in education. Learn how one team has made this a reality.

As CEO of forward-thinking virtual reality and software companies, Mark Christian employs asymmetric approaches to rapid, global market adoption, hiring, diversity and revenue. He prides himself on unconventional approaches to building technology companies.

Designing Educational Content in VR

Designing Educational Content in VR

Avinash Gyawali, VR Developer, Weaver Studio

Virtual Reality is an effective medium to impart education to the student only if it is done right.The way VR is considered gimmick or not is by the way the software application are designed/developed by the developers not the hardware limitation.I will be giving insight about the VR development for educational content specifically designed for students of lower secondary school.I will also provide insights about the development of game in unity3D game engine.

Game Developer and VR developer with over 3 years of experience in Game Development.Developer of Zombie Shooter, winner of various national awards in the gaming and entertainment category, Avinash Gyawali is the developer of EDVR, an immersive voice controlled VR experience specially designed for children of age 10-18 years.

8:00 AM PST Research Virtual Reality Technologies for Learning Designers Margherita Berti ASVR

Virtual Reality Technologies for Learning Designers

Margherita Berti

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated experience that simulates presence in real or imagined environments (Kerrebrock, Brengman, & Willems, 2017). VR promotes contextualized learning, authentic experiences, critical thinking, and problem-solving opportunities. Despite the great potential and popularity of this technology, the latest two installations of the Educause Horizon Report (2018, 2019) have argued that VR remains “elusive” in terms of mainstream adoption. The reasons are varied, including the expense and the lack of empirical evidence for its effectiveness in education. More importantly, examples of successful VR implementations for those instructors who lack technical skills are still scarce. Margherita Berti will discuss a range of easy-to-use educational VR tools and examples of VR-based activity examples and the learning theories and instructional design principles utilized for their development.

Margherita Berti is a doctoral candidate in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) and Educational Technology at the University of Arizona. Her research specialization resides at the intersection of virtual reality, the teaching of culture, and curriculum and content development for foreign language education.

Wed 11:00 AM PST Special Event Gamifying the Biblioverse with Metaverse Amanda Fox VR Design / Biblioverse / Training & Embodiment ASVR

Gamifying the Biblioverse with Metaverse

Amanda Fox, Creative Director of STEAMPunks/MetaInk Publishing, MetaInk Publishing

There is a barrier between an author and readers of his/her books. The author’s journey ends, and the reader’s begins. But what if as an author/trainer, you could use gamification and augmented reality(AR) to interact and coach your readers as part of their learning journey? Attend this session with Amanda Fox to learn how the book Teachingland leverages augmented reality tools such as Metaverse to connect with readers beyond the text.

Amanda Fox, Creative Director of STEAMPunksEdu, and author of Teachingland: A Teacher’s Survival Guide to the Classroom Apolcalypse and Zom-Be A Design Thinker. Check her out on the Virtual Reality Podcast, or connect with her on twitter @AmandaFoxSTEM.

Wed 10:00 AM PST Research Didactic Activity of the Use of VR and Virtual Worlds to Teach Design Fundamentals Christian Jonathan Angel Rueda VR Design / Biblioverse / Training & Embodiment ASVR

Didactic Activity of the Use of VR and Virtual Worlds to Teach Design Fundamentals

Christian Jonathan Angel Rueda, research professor, Autonomous University of Queretaro (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro)

Christian Jonathan Angel Rueda specializaes in didactic activity of the use of virtual reality/virtual worlds to learn the fundamentals of design. He shares the development of a course including recreating in the three-dimensional environment using the fundamentals learned in class, a demonstration of all the works developed throughout the semester using the knowledge of design foundation to show them creatively, and a final project class scenario that connected with the scenes of the students who showed their work throughout the semester.

Christian Jonathan Angel Rueda is a research professor at the Autonomous University of Queretaro in Mexico. With a PhD in educational technology, Christian has published several papers on the intersection of education, pedagogy, and three-dimensional immersive digital environments. He is also an edtech, virtual reality, and social media consultant at Eco Onis.

Thu 11:00 AM PST vCoaching Closing the Gap Between eLearning and XR Richard Van Tilborg XR eLearning / Laughter Medicine ASVR

Closing the Gap Between eLearning and XR

Richard Van Tilborg, founder, CoVince

How we can bridge the gap between eLearning and XR. Richard Van Tilborg discusses combining brain insights enabled with new technologies. Training and education cases realised with the CoVince platform: journeys which start on you mobile and continue in VR. The possibilities to earn from your creations and have a central distribution place for learning and data.

Richard Van Tilborg works with the CoVince platform, a VR platform offering training and educational programs for central distribution of learning and data. He is an author and speaker focusing on computers and education in virtual reality-based tasks for delivering feedback.

 

Thu 12:00 PM PST Research Assessment of Learning Activities in VR Evelien Ydo Technology Acceptance / Learning Assessment / Vaping Prevention ASVR
Thu 6:00 PM PST Down to Basics Copyright and Plagiarism Protections in VR Jonathan Bailey ASVR

 

Thu 8:00 PM PST Diversity Cyberbullying in VR John Williams, Brennan Hatton, Lorelle VanFossen ASVR

blockchain against college admissions scandal

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-12-19-companies-say-blockchain-could-have-prevented-college-admissions-scandal

the service can be used for a variety of functions at schools and colleges, including verifying credentials, tracking donations and payments, or handling other student records.

a K-6 educational app called SpoonRead

Blockchain is a decentralized system where every record is linked and transparent, and any alterations leave a trail that supposedly can’t be hidden.

Some have questioned whether there is a need for blockchain in student records, considering that other kinds of encryption techniques already exist to protect and verify things like credentials.

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more on blockchain in education in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=blockchain+education

change in the K12 sector

Twelve Years Later: What’s Really Changed in the K-12 Sector? (Part 1)

By Dave Stevenson     Apr 3, 2019

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-04-03-twelve-years-later-what-s-really-changed-in-the-k-12-sector-part-1

In fall 2007, Larry Berger, CEO of Wireless Generation (now Amplify) was invited to submit a paper to an “Entrepreneurship in Education”

As education entrepreneurs know, growth in K-12 comes hard. Sometimes very hard. We were living Marc Andreessen’s startup mantra: “You only ever experience two emotions: euphoria and terror.”

The edtech boom of the past two decades promised efficacy and new instructional models. Many teachers instead experience it as “clutter.” But poorly integrated standards, curriculum, assessment, and intervention materials have always been a problem.

When it comes to instruction, the work consists of four segments: core curriculum, supplemental (intervention, test prep, little books) curriculum, assessment, and technology (hardware, infrastructure and connectivity). Each of these workstreams are run by separate teams, using independent funding streams, only rarely coordinating. Schools rely—as they always have—on the hero in the classroom, who has to somehow synthesize everything for a roomful of children, every single day.

Twelve Years Later: How the K-12 Industry and Investment Landscape Has Shifted (Part 2)

By Dave Stevenson     Apr 5, 2019

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-04-05-twelve-years-later-how-the-k-12-industry-and-investment-landscape-has-shifted-part-2

Twelve years ago, Amplify CEO Larry Berger and I wrote about the “pareto distribution” of companies in the K-12 sector.

The “oligopoly” was the natural outcome of a highly decentralized system and fragmented demand. To serve 15,000-plus districts and more than 100,000 school buildings, a company needed huge sales and service teams; to afford them, the company needed a bookbag full of products across content areas, grade ranges, and use cases. The structure of demand created the “Big Three”—McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson.

Meanwhile, the number of small players—further right on the pareto distribution—has grown dramatically. Online distribution and freemium business models have enabled companies like Flocabulary, Newsela, Nearpod, and others

few alternative models to consider:
companies like Remind, ClassDojo, and Edmodo, who all adopted a “West Coast” approach: collect active users now, with plans to monetize later.

The second includes the “platform” players—Schoology, itslearning, Canvas, and other LMS-like platforms. They have set out to do something differently, only possible by means of technology—to be the search, storage and distribution platform for instructional content.  Google Classroom has instead emerged as the de facto standard platform, fueled by the runaway adoption of Chromebooks.

The third includes “policy responsive” players—companies like Panorama, Ellevation or Wireless Generation. hese companies help school systems meet a new policy requirement—social-emotional learning, English Language Learning, and reading assessment, respectively.

capital investment K12 US education

But we’re not “decluttering” our classrooms or in our schools. What would it take for the private and public sectors to work shoulder-to-shoulder?
a catch-22: so long as buying is fragmented, it’s hard to justify the integrated product investment; so long as products are fragmented, it’s hard for a district to create an integrated instructional model.

social media and K12

Common Sense Media: the new report, titled “Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences,” was released Monday. It’s the first update of a 2012 survey by the same name, creating a unique window through which to view the rapid, dramatic shifts in how teenagers communicate and relate to each other.

Among the most striking findings:

  • 70 percent of teens now say they use social media more than once a day, compared to 34 percent of teens in 2012.
  • Snapchat is now the most popular social media platform among teens, with 41 percent saying it’s the one use most frequently.
  • 35 percent of teens now say texting is their preferred mode of communication with friends, more than the 32 percent who prefer in-person communication. In 2012, 49 percent of teens preferred in-person communication.
  • One-fourth of teens say using social media makes them feel less lonely, compared to 3 percent who say it makes them feel more lonely.
  • Nearly three-fourths of teens believe tech companies manipulate them to get them to spend more time on their devices and platforms.

Back in 2012, Facebook dominated the landscape, and social media was something for teens to periodically check in on.

In 2018, though, “social media” is no longer a monolith. Teens now communicate, express themselves, share experiences and ideas, rant, gossip, flirt, plan, and stay on top of current events using a mix of platforms that compete ferociously for their attention.

Sixty-three percent of teens say they use Snapchat, and 41 percent say it’s the platform they use most frequently.

Instagram, meanwhile, is used by 61 percent of teens.

And Facebook’s decline among teens has been “precipitous,” according to the new report. Just 15 percent of teens now say Facebook is their main social media site, down from 68 percent six years ago

For many teens, social media is the primary vehicle for organizing and participating in their social lives.

Before rushing to discourage social media use, Robb said, grown-ups should think twice.

A recent survey by the Education Week Research Center, for example, found that more than half of U.S. K-12 school principals are ‘extremely concerned’ about their students’ social media use outside the classroom.

Digital distractions, for example, are clearly a problem, and teens have a “decidedly mixed track record” at regulating their own social media usage

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more on social media in education in this IMS blgo
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=social+media+education

schoology interoperability

How One District Created a Culture of Innovation Through Interoperability

Join the Executive Director of Technology for the School District of Pickens County in South Carolina, Barbara Nesbitt, on Thursday, February 22 at 1pm EST to hear how they used Schoology to:

  • Centralize their technologies and resources
  • Save teachers time to focus on student achievement
  • Ensure a consistent student experience from grade-to-grade
  • Expand learning outside the physical classroom

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more on schoology in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=schoology

Big Tech in schools

Former Google Design Ethicist: Relying on Big Tech in Schools Is a ‘Race to the Bottom’

By Jenny Abamu     Feb 7, 2018

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-02-07-former-google-design-ethicist-relying-on-big-tech-in-schools-is-a-race-to-the-bottom

Common Sense Media recently partnered with the Center for Humane Technology, which supports the development of ethical technological tools, to lay out a fierce call for regulation and awareness about the health issues surrounding tech addiction.

Tristan Harris, a former ethicist at Google who founded the Center for Humane Technology

To support educators making such decisions, Common Sense Media is taking their “Truth about Tech” campaign to schools through an upgraded version of their current Digital Citizenship curriculum. The new updates will include more information on subjects such as:

  • Creating a healthy media balance and digital wellness;
  • Concerns about the rise of hate speech in schools, that go beyond talking about cyberbullying; and
  • Fake news, media literacy and curating your own content

What Does ‘Tech Addiction’ Mean?

In a recent NPR report, writer Anya Kamenetz, notes that clinicians are debating whether technology overuse is best categorized as a bad habit, a symptom of other mental struggles (such as depression or anxiety) or as an addiction.

Dr. Jenny Radesky, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the American Academy of Pediatrics, notes that though she’s seen solid evidence linking heavy media usage to problems with sleep and obesity, she hesitated to call the usage “addiction.”

Dr. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist who studies hormones at the University of Southern California disagreed, noting that parents have to see the overuse of technology as an addiction.

K12 trends 2018

4 K-12 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2018

Analytics, virtual reality, makerspaces and digital citizenship top the minds of education experts for the year.

K12 technology preparation

Better teaching through technology? Only with thoughtful preparation

Nov. 30, 2017

https://www.educationdive.com/news/better-teaching-through-technology-only-with-thoughtful-preparation/511896/

Dive Brief:

  • Research from the Yale Center of Teaching and Learning highlights the ups and downs of classroom tech use, including the juxtaposition of increased engagement from using familiar platforms for assignments and decreased motivation and grades from limitless internet exposure, eSchool News reports.
  • Educators must ensure a cautious approach to tech use that doesn’t make students overly reliant upon it to complete tasks and solve problems, using social networking and collaborative platforms as a means to an end rather than the be-all solution.
  • Before adopting and implementing it, educators should consider how any given piece of classroom technology will improve studying, what the possible pitfalls are and how to avoid them, how it will help meet goals or close gaps, and how it will improve workflow, according to eSchool News.

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more on K12 technology in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=k12+technology

Curriculum and IT

from this Google+ entry: https://plus.google.com/+TessPajaron/posts/3TzdsyEfs3R

Bridging the Gap Between Curriculum and IT

Curriculum and IT leaders need to work together toward a common goal.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2016/01/bridging-the-gap-between-curriculum-it

Pitting two of the most important entities of our schools — curriculum and IT — against each other is the ultimate power struggle. What are we really trying to achieve when we address this battle using the phrase “bridging the gap?”

If the technology and the infrastructure supporting it doesn’t work, then why have the technology at all? Likewise, if professional development and training are not a priority, then the technology will become nothing more than a glorified paperweight.

both curriculum and IT leaders need to come together to discuss the decisions that can make or break a learning environment.