After studying children ages 4 to 11 on their use of screen time, a University of Michigan study found that “how children use the devices, not how much time they spend on them, is the strongest predictor of emotional or social problems connected with screen addiction.”
According to an Australian study on active and passive screen uses, there are actually two types of active screen use: physical and cognitive. Kids can actually get similar benefits to physical exercise when they play with active video game systems like the Nintendo Switch, XBox Kinect or Pokemon Go.
Playing active games has been proven to have similar effects to moderate walking, skipping and jogging. There are also plenty of active screen uses that spark the cognitive side of the brain.
Studies show that children respond to activity-based programming when it is fun, designed for them and encourages imitation or participation.
Acquisitions and partnerships are a cornerstone of Byju’s early learning programs: It bought Palo Alto-based Osmo in 2019, which combines digital learning with manipulatives, an approach the companies call “phygital.” For instance: Using a tablet’s camera and Osmo’s artificial intelligence software, the system tracks what a child is doing on a (physical) worksheet and responds accordingly to right and wrong answers. “It’s almost like having a teacher looking over you, My note: this can be come disastrous when combined with the China’s “social credit” system.
By contrast, Byju’s FutureSchool (launched in the U.S. this past spring) aims to offer one-to-one tutoring sessions starting with coding (based in part on WhiteHat Jr., which it acquired in August 2020) and eventually including music, fine arts and English to students in the U.S., Brazil, the U.K., Indonesia and others. The company has recruited 11,000 teachers in India to staff the sessions
In mid-July, Byju’s bought California-based reading platform Epic for $500 million. That product opens up a path for Byju’s to schools. Epic offers a digital library of more than 40,000 books for students ages 12 and under. Consumers pay about $80 a year for the library. It’s free to schools. Epic says that more than 1 million teachers in 90 percent of U.S. elementary schools have signed up for accounts.
That raises provocative questions for U.S. educators. Among them:
How will products originally developed for the consumer market fit the needs of schools, particularly those that serve disadvantaged students?
Will there be more development dollars poured into products that appeal to consumers—and less into products that consumers typically skip (say, middle school civics or history curriculum?)
How much of an investment will giants such as Byju’s put into researching the effectiveness of its products? In the past most consumers have been less concerned than professional educators about the “research” behind the learning products they buy. Currently Gokulnath says the company most closely tracks metrics such as “engagement” (how much time students spend on the product) and “renewals” (how many customers reup after a year’s use of the product.)
How will products designed for home users influence parents considering whether to continue to school at home in the wake of viral pandemics?
Virtual reality has proven to provide successful social and physical benefits to those 65 and older.
Physical movement is essential as we age, and different virtual reality programs encourage older adults to play fun and safe games that allow us to move our legs, arms, feet and hands.
Other research is showing that virtual reality can even ease the nerves when it comes to touring other retirement facilities. Some virtual reality programs are designed for mom and dad to tour a facility in the comfort of their own home before possibly seeing it in person.
Instructional Design focuses on instruction, User Experience Design focuses on the user, and Learning Experience Design focuses on the learner. This is not to say that IDs don’t care about learners, or that UX designers do not work on educational products, or that LXDs spend no time thinking about instruction or users. The difference lies in who these designers orient their process towards the most – instruction, user, learner.
ID as a field tends to be more scientific and organized, following academic frameworks
UX tends to be both scientific and artistic in its approach. UX designers are informed by academic theories and frameworks, but are also flexible and artistic in finding engaging, intuitive solutions to usability issues.
LXD tends to be more artistic than scientific. While LX designers care about the learning process deeply though understanding of related learning theories and cognitive processes of learners, their primary focus is on designing visually stunning, useful, and engaging learning experiences.
IDs are typically working on products such as Courses, e-learning modules, curriculum, workshops. UX designers are typically working on products such as mobile apps, websites, digital games, software. LXDs are typically working on all these things – courses, apps, AND other forms of learning experiences which could take the form of museum exhibits, summer camps, AR interactive booklets, children’s books, movies, toys and games or any other medium that can be used to generate a learning experience.
software tools are just like paintbrushes, they don’t make an artist. Some popular paintbrushes for IDs are Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Brainshark. For UX designers some popular tools are Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma, Balsamiq. For LXDs everything Adobe Creative Cloud has to offer – and many other ID/UX tools as well (depending on what the experience design needs) come in handy.
For IDs, one of the popular frameworks is ADDIE: Analyze, Design, Development, Implement, Evaluation
For UX designers, a popular framework quoted often is Design Thinking: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test
For LXDs, Neils floor outlines this LXD process: Question, Research, Design, Build, Test, Improve, Launch
Nurse’s Escape is a VR game that simulates an escape room based on the five stages of the Sepsis Bundle. The purpose is to supplement nurse’s lecture-style curriculum with an interactive way to test nurse’s Sepsis knowledge. Sepsis is one of the leading causes of deaths and hospitalizations yearly, so equipping nurses with the right skills and information to treat sepsis in a timely manner can save lives and money. Help treat the millionaire’s illness before time runs out!
This game is sponsored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Nursing-Lincoln.
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Australian hospitals leveraging VR tech to fast-track clinician training
It only takes 10 minutes to practice a procedure in a session through a VR platform such as Vantari VR.
Using flight-simulator technology, Vantari VR provides medical training using a VR headset and laptop. Its modules cover 90% of medical procedures as part of doctors’ core training and deliver steps that are recommended by college guidelines.
In Fiona Stanley Hospital, for example, over 20 registrars have been educated to perform chest drain insertions.
Vantari VR was awarded a $100,000 grant from Epic Games, the American video game company behind the online game Fortnite. Presently, the startup seeks to raise $2 million from a funding round that will close in August.
State of XR & Immersive Learning 2021 Outlook Report
p. 12 about VR and AR
p. 15 about social VR platforms
p. 39 CAVE like environment for Nursing students
p. 43 The FUTURE Time Traveller is a project developed and co-funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme and coordinated by Bulgaria’s Business Foundation for Education in partnership with seven national organizations.
p. 46 obstacles – disabilities
p. 48 California State University Northridge, which has developed an MA in Instructional Design with a focus on XR and immersive games and simulations
EdSurge recently talked with Linda Sellheim, Education Lead at Epic Games
Interactive 3D is the ability to interact with the digital world the same way you do with the real world. These experiences can take many forms, from dynamic web-based content to immersive VR, AR or MR experiences. You know those realistic simulations of storms you see on the Weather Channel? That’s interactive 3D.
Burning Glass to identify the types of 3D skills needed in the workplace. They found that jobs requiring real-time 3D skills are growing 601 percent faster than the job market overall, and pay 57 percent above the average advertised salary