Category Archives: Technology

Stream Globally, Save Locally: Key Benefits of Webcasting Your Event for Live and On-Demand Viewing

Posted by nicolew on 17/10/2012 No comments

New Research Shows Hybrid Events Won’t Cannibalize Your On-Site Attendance

Earlier this month Sonic Foundry sponsored the The Future of Technology in Education (FOTE) conference. Hundreds of individuals interested in educational technology flocked to London, England to hear from experts in the field and learn what the future holds for classrooms.

One reason the conference was a success: The discussion extended far beyond the physical confines of the conference. The sessions were webcast live to a remote audience via Mediasite by Sonic Foundry.

If would-be attendees weren’t able to get a ticket to attend the in-person event or were unable to make it due to geography, time or budget restraints, they could still participate remotely. All they had to do to feel like they were actually there in person was register using a passcode to get access to sessions via their internet browser. Through the magic of Mediasite they didn’t miss out on anything, and they were able to ask questions and participate in discussions via the Ask button.

Creating hybrid or blended events – meaning a meeting or event has at least one group of face-to-face participants connecting with other participants in one or more additional locations – is becoming more and more common.

New research released by the Meeting Professionals International Foundation and sponsored by Sonic Foundry shares some interesting insights on the topic. MPI surveyed nearly 1,800 meeting planners, attendees, technology vendors and consultants and conducted in-depth interviews with nearly 40 people, and research shows that 70 percent of respondents feel that hybrid meetings will be important to the future of meetings.

Meeting professionals are using hybrid meetings to share content, ideas and experiences with attendees across multiple geographies and time zones. Plus, on-demand content is also important because attendees may not be able to participate at the exact moment the meeting is happening.

The research cited that the potential for cannibalization of the face-to-face meeting is a concern of 50 percent of those surveyed. However, this concern appears to be largely unsubstantiated. The data suggests that face-to-face attendance increased or remained flat – 88 percent of planners who have done hybrid meetings say there’s been no negative impact on onsite attendance.

By going hybrid and streaming your content live and on-demand you’ll be extending your reach, creating instant online video libraries of knowledge that can be reviewed anytime and you’ll allow many more people to attend your event. Just ask the University of London Computer Centre (organizer of FOTE). Going hybrid is a win-win.

Mediasite by Sonic Foundry is used for video management and academic, enterprise and event webcasting. Its Mediasite Events group is a leading provider of event webcasting for hybrid events and high-profile meetings. Voted one of the “Best Technology Tools” by Professional Convention Management Association’s Convene Magazine readers, the group supplies technical webcasting services and expertise to organizations who seek to complement their conference or event with viewing over the web. The Mediasite Events group provides live and on-demand webcasting for Fortune 500 corporations, university associations, sporting events and charitable organizations globally.

For more information, please visit http://www.sonicfoundry.com/ or call 877.783.7987 toll free. You can also download the research report at http://mpiweb.org/hybrid (free to MPI members and available for purchase for non-members) and read a recent blog post from Sonic Foundry called “10 Tips to Create A Successful Hybrid Event.”

- Nicole Wise, Sonic Foundry

One Company’s Use of Webcasting Brings Employees Together

 

Video learning at the Royal Veterinary College

Posted by James Cross on 08/10/2012 No comments

As one of the leading institutions in its field, the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London has a reputation for providing one of the finest veterinary educations in the world. And through the use of online video, the RVC is amplifying the power and reach of the learning that takes place inside and beyond its gates.

MediaCore gives the RVC the power to quickly and simply share mobile, media-rich learning content with its students – who can then access it on demand, whenever and wherever they need it – from high-definition recordings of complex surgical procedures, to videos showing how to cast a cow and turn a sheep.

In this video, Nick Short, Head of E-Media at the RVC, explains how online video has become an essential part of their toolkit – and how MediaCore has enabled them to leverage video like never before for the benefit of their students’ learning.

Visit http://MediaCore.com to learn more, and to sign up for a free educator account.

FOTE12 Goes Hybrid with Mediasite by Sonic Foundry

Posted by nicolew on 04/10/2012 No comments

One Company’s Use of Webcasting Brings Employees Together
Photo credit: Sonic Foundry, Inc.

The Future of Technology in Education (FOTE) conference in London, England always sells out fast to IT directors and managers, learning technologists, practitioners and anyone else interested in educational technology.

But if you weren’t able to secure a ticket to this week’s conference, you can still participate and feel like you’re actually there, because FOTE is being webcast for the first time to a remote audience via Mediasite by Sonic Foundry. That way, even more people from all over the world will be able to watch online from the comfort of their offices or homes.

All of the sessions will be live streamed via Mediasite 6, which will allow attendees, both on-site and online, to watch sessions from their mobile devices in real time. The recordings will also be archived for on-demand viewing, creating an instant online video library of knowledge about IT trends in classrooms that can be reviewed at any time.

To join remotely all you need to do is register on the Mediasite events website using the ‘FOTE2012‘ passcode. If you are planning to watch the FOTE12 live stream from a desktop computer please make sure you install the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight.

Making FOTE a hybrid event this year by simultaneously offering face-to-face and online experiences, allows the University of London Computer Centre, the conference organizer, to reach and engage a much larger audience.

Worldwide, 1,100 colleges and universities use Mediasite and its video content management system to quickly and cost-effectively automate the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand streaming videos and rich media presentations. Sonic Foundry has been named Frost & Sullivan’s Global Market Share Leader in Lecture Capture Solutions for six consecutive years.

Check out www.sonicfoundry.com/mediasite to learn more.

– Nicole Wise, Sonic Foundry

A year with Kinect looking back to FOTE11

Posted by L.Stott on 25/08/2012 1 comment

So its now been nearly a year, since I introduced Microsoft Kinect for the 1st time to the majority of attendees at FOTE11 http://fote-conference.com/wordpress/2011/09/lee-stott-microsoft-kinect/.

So with FOTE12 just around the corner, I wanted to give you all a insight into the amazing things Kinect and new version of the Kinect for Windows SDK has achieved.

So in the following blog I want to share some of the amazing Kinect projects which have been implemented over the last year.

With the launch of the new Kinect for Windows Device which now supports near mode, including facial recognition and the user being seated.

Firstly lets look at Academia

Amazing Academic research with Microsoft Kinect: Quantifying human behaviour to enhance productivity” video from the Media X team at Stanford University

Microsoft Research

KinÊtre a project from Microsoft Research in the UK that was presented at SIGGRAPH 2012 in Los Angeles. It uses the capabilities of Kinect for Windows to map your virtual limbs to the geometry of a variety of household objects and has Core77 amongst others excited about the potential.

 

Retail

The auto industry is very active in its explorations with Kinect and in partnership with Razorfish, reimagined their showroom in London.

Watch the video here – 46022904

Performance and Media

The Kinect V Motion Project is from Fructus who are making music with Kinect, just by using body movement. read more here http://www.custom-logic.com/blog/v-motion-project-the-instrument/

Display and Exhibitions

Another amazing Kinect projectfrom Second Story shows us what the future of art galleries or retail displays with its ability to track large groups of users.

 

Innovative use for consumers and education

And finally, at this year Microsoft World Wide Partner Conference we had two amazing Kinect demos from Ubi Interactive and MANCTL. The former uses Kinect to turn any surface in to an interactive display, the latter turns a Kinect sensor in to a low cost 3D scanner and when hooked up to a 3D printer, the results are amazing.

In conclusion 2012 has been an amazing year for Microsoft Kinect projects and with the release of the Windows 8 in October you can expect to see lots more amazing technology and innovation. To keep up to date on the announcements keep an eye on the UK Faculty Connection blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/uk_faculty_connection

Shrinking Budgets = Increased Outsourcing?

Posted by Frank Steiner on 14/06/2011 1 comment

This was the theme of the second FOTE Round Table session which took place last Friday (10 June 2011) at Microsoft’s offices in Central London. A more detailed report will be published shortly but here are our key take-aways from the day.

  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and financial flexibility are key concerns for IT directors
  • Yet, cost is often not the main reason for outsourcing but support & business continuity are
  • IT services (in HE) often can’t be or aren’t costed properly which can lead to over-optimistic cost-saving estimates
  • Some institutions will always consider outsourcing as part of an IT service review
  • ‘Opportunistic outsourcing’ being suggested as tactical tool to use outsourcing on a short-term project basis
  • The point for ‘insourcing’ services was made to manage risk and realise savings
  • Re-educating staff in vendor management is a key issue when outsourcing services
  • Aim for a mutually beneficial partnerships within academic circles to find suitable vendors, negotiate SLAs and take advantages of economies of scale

Towards the end of the round table session the need to collaborate more actively, by for example combining resources and secure competitive SLAs with external service providers was raised. The JANET (UK) broker service was mentioned as sector initiative, yet it seemed unclear to what extend it would address the issues raised by the panel members and what service would be catered for.

What is your experience in outsourcing services to third parties? What would your top tips for vendor management and SLA negotiation be?

If you would like to take part in future FOTE Round Table session, please contact us.

 

 

The Horizon Report

Posted by Frank Steiner on 16/03/2011 No comments

With the first FOTE round table session on Shared Services written up and February fast becoming nothing else but a distant memory we are starting to put our minds to this year’s FOTE conference. Looking back at the previous three events and scouring the interweb is always a good way to start a) to see which of ‘our predictions have come true’ and b) what technological topics the education community is discussing.

What is The Horizon Report?

Part of our research uncovered The Horizon Report, 2011 Edition, an annual paper produced in collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative “examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry.”

The report covers critical challenges, key trends and technologies to watch. The former “considering important constraints and challenges” associated with technology adoption whilst key trends being based on “an extensive review of current articles, interviews, papers, and new research to identify and rank trends that are currently affecting the sphere of education and the world at large.” Finally “the six technologies featured in the 2011 Horizon Report are placed along three adoption horizons that indicate likely time frames for their entrance into mainstream use.”

Challenges & Trends

Challenges

Key trends
Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession The world of work is increasingly collaborative, giving rise to reflection about the way student projects are structured.
Appropriate metrics of evaluation lag behind the emergence of new scholarly forms of authoring, publishing, and researching The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized.
Economic pressures and new models of education are presenting unprecedented competition to traditional models of the university People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want.
Keeping pace with the rapid proliferation of information, software tools, and devices is challenging for students and teachers alike The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing.

Technologies to watch

The report features six key technologies to watch and maps them along three adoption horizons: near-term (12 months), mid-term (2-3 years) and far-term (4-5 years), indicating the likely time frame for uptake in the mainstream use for teaching and learning. Four of those were covered at last year’s FOTE conference and we embedded the videos accordingly.

Near-term

e-Books continue to generate strong interest in the consumer sector and are increasingly available on campuses as well. James Clay argued in his talk ‘The iPad is the future of reading!’ that books are wonderful things, but still, the iPad is the future of reading…



Mobiles enable ubiquitous access to information, social networks, tools for learning and productivity and much more. Mobiles are capable computing devices in their own right — and they are increasingly a user’s first choice for internet access. Hugh Griffiths, the founder and owner of oMbiel, has developed campusM™ which has become a leading mobile application for UK Universities providing an integrated suite of services for students, staff, alumni and prospective students that are available on the iPhone, iPod Touch and hundreds of other smart phones.


Mid-term

Augmented Reality brings a significant potential to supplement information delivered via computers, mobile devices, video, and even the printed book. Much simpler to create and use now than in the past, augmented reality feels at once fresh and new, yet an easy extension of existing expectations and practices. James Alliban, an Augmented Reality specialist and interactive artist from London (UK) showcased some of his experiments in AR which have developed a great deal of interest in the last year, leading to the founding of his company Augmatic.




Game-based Learning has grown in recent years as research continues to demonstrate its effectiveness for learning for students of all ages. For a variety of reasons, The Horizon Report sees the realisation of this potential is still two to three years away. in his talk at FOTE10 ‘Unlocking Learning: Computer Games in Education‘ he looked at the use of computer games in education, with a particular emphasis on schools. In this 20 minute whirlwind session a number of topics were covered including learning from games, learning about games, commercial games in education and games design. Short case studies illustrated a number of examples from the Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Consolarium.



Far-term

Gesture-based computing moves the control of computers from a mouse and keyboard to the motions of the body via new input devices. Depicted in science fiction movies for years, gesture-based computing is now more grounded in reality thanks to the recent arrival of interface technologies such as Kinect, SixthSense, and Tamper, which make interactions with computational devices far more intuitive and embodied. It would be interesting to see if any UK (or international) institution is currently using gesture-based computing to deliver teaching and learning, a perfect showcase for this year’s FOTE12 conference.


Learning analytics loosely joins a variety of data-gathering tools and analytic techniques to study student engagement, performance, and progress in practice, with the goal of using what is learned to revise curricula, teaching, and assessment in real time. Building on the kinds of information generated by Google Analytics and other similar tools, learning analytics aims to mobilize the power of data-mining tools in the service of learning, and embracing the complexity, diversity, and abundance of information that dynamic learning environments can generate.


Which of these trends are currently impacting your institution?
How are you addressing the challenges associated with the integration of e-books and mobiles into your delivery of teaching and learning?
Are you already using augmented reality or game-based learning? If so how has it changed teaching and learning?




Reference: 2011 Horizon Report Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

iTunes U & YouTube Edu Comparison

Posted by Frank Steiner on 02/12/2010 6 comments

iTunes U has arguably been the core driver in making the use of podcasts for teaching and learning purposes hit the mainstream.

With over 800 content providers from 26 countries and available in almost 100, gaining a presence on iTunes U is now a ubiquitous item on many institutions strategic plans.

As a provider of media services, podcasting and video streaming, to a wide range of academic institutions, we are regularly included in discussions about the mechanics of organising an institutions presence on iTunes U. Aside from advising on infrastructure and content creation etc, one of the topics that come up is YouTube Edu.

With another option in the mix for publishing content, many institutions are faced with the decision of which platform to hang their hat on, so to speak.

While the level of awareness and understanding of iTunes U is quite high now, there seems to be some confusion about what YouTube Edu is all about and the criteria for access.

With this in mind, we thought that a short blog post that outlines the core features  for each would prove to be useful. Brian Kelly’s YouTube Edu post is also worth a read. Let me know if I have missed out anything or if you have any questions by leaving a comment below.

YouTube Edu

youtube 3

  • Collection of video content from universities and colleges.
  • Launched 2009
  • Includes content from over 300 institutions, spanning 10 countries and seven languages, including University of Cambridge, Yale, Stanford and MIT
  • At the time of writing, 18 UK based institutions are featured within YouTube Edu. These include; Open University, Imperial College London, Nottingham University and University College London
  • Contains over 65,000 videos
  • Offers auto-captioning feature which allows users to automatically transcribe lectures from English to other languages
  • Application criteria:
    • Only accepting qualifying two and four year degree granting institutions
    • Channel name should reflect the name of the institution
    • One channel per institution
    • Only academic content can be showcased. No promotional content allowed
    • Institution should have an active YouTube account with approximately 100 videos and 100K views to be considered for YouTube Edu account
    • A presence on YouTube Edu is free

iTunes U

iTunes U

  • Offers institutions the ability to showcase their digital media within a fully branded environment
  • Over 800 content providers from 26 countries and available in almost 100
  • Launched 2007
  • 18 UK institutions currently featured within iTunes U with many more due to launch soon
  • UK institutions include; Cambridge University, Open University, University of Nottingham and University of Edinburgh
  • Easily download content and view on any PC, Mac, iPod and MP3 device. Offers the ability to provide anytime anywhere learning (access offline when downloaded)
  • Easy to subscribe to whole series of lectures which proactively pushes content to students
  • Learning tool for students with disabilities – VoiceOver compatible
  • Public or internal access – ability to provide content to members of your educational community via an internal site (can use institutional password authentication)
  • Full branding capability using Apple’s built in template tools
  • Application process:
    • Stakeholder agreement across IT, Academic Staff, Legal and Marketing
    • Ability to create RSS feeds, compress files and manage storage & bandwidth
    • 150 pieces of content with an ongoing commitment to release content on an ongoing basis
    • Commitment to drive awareness and traffic to the iTunes U site
    • A presence on iTunes U is free

So what is the right option for your institution? Is one better than the other?

In many ways, iTunes U seems like the better option for many institutions. Content via iTunes U can be consumed both on the desktop and on mobile devices, which offers mobile learning opportunities. Furthermore, with the ability to develop internal private sites which can be closely integrated with the institutions VLE, such as Moodle, iTunes U becomes a tightly integrated component of an institutions teaching and learning delivery engine.

The exposure that an institution can receive via iTunes U also makes it a highly compelling tool for brand building and student acquisition purposes.

The obvious downsides about iTunes U, though, are that some students may be running operating systems such as Ubuntu which excludes them from accessing the platform. Complementary solutions for these students, therefore, need to be considered.

Alternatively, YouTube Edu is 100% browser based so is a more open and accessible option. Students would need to be online, though, to consume the content so the anytime anywhere learning potential is limited. Furthermore, as part of the Google portfolio, certain areas of the world, such as China where Google is banned, cannot access the site.

Being part of the Google portfolio, though, obviously has benefits from a search perspective. I would be almost certain that Google’s algorithms favour content within YouTube Edu, for example!

Ultimately, and as mentioned earlier, I would probably opt for the iTunes U option if I was going to only go for one over the other. That being said, though, with similar content requirements for both iTunesU and YouTube Edu, it may be beneficial to actually opt for both platforms. The best of both worlds is definitely a reality!

What do you think? iTunes U or YouTube Edu? Look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below.

The Mobile Internet: Thoughts on the iTunes U conference

Posted by Frank Steiner on 12/11/2010 1 comment

Only a few days after FOTE10 ended and with most post-conference actions ticked off, it was time to leave for good old Germany to attend the iTunes U conference in Munich. Tim and I were invited along with a handful of selected suppliers that address a variety of challenges associated with running an institutional iTunes U presence.

It was great – and slightly surreal experience – to be at the other side of the (conference) fence so to speak – shortly after running our 3rd Future of Technology in Education conference. Apple did a great job in putting on the first dedicated iTunes U conference and the few presentations we managed to enjoy – after all we travelled to the Bavarian capital as exhibitors – were something to behold. Jason Ediger (@jsunediger) Director, iTunes U and Mobile Learning at Apple took us on whirlwind journey of adoption rates (120million iPhone/iPod users), iTunes U stats (800 content providers from 26 countries & available in almost 100) and future gazing (by 2013 content access via mobile will overtake traditional desktop access).

I have no intention to weigh up the institutional benefits or challenges of ‘using’ iTunes U, Jeremy Speller did a great job in his guest post over at Brian Kelly’s blog. I’m more interested in the overall market trends for mobile and what the implications are.

As I’m a sucker for a nicely put together chart, whether this is something personal or comes with my profession I don’t know – most likely a mixture of both; I did some digging around and found Morgan Stanley’s ‘The Mobile Internet Report’ and thought I share 2 highlights of the 659-slide presentation.

Chart 1: Adoption rate of mobile technology

According to the report mobile is the fastest growing ecosystem in history with the chart above illustrating adoption rates per quarter after launch.

Chart 2: The iPhone/iPod ecosystem

Taking a closer look at the  iPod/iPhone growth and the ecosystem of Apps & Downloads shows the rapid adoption and success of that particular mobile device as well as the growth of the ecosystem surrounding it. The fact that Morgan Stanley only features stats on Apple devices, might seem odd, but I assume having spot on figures of devices sold and app downloaded is one advantage of Apple’s closed ecosystem. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in an interview in August 2010 that about 200,000 new Android devices are being sold each day, which equals an 866% increase year-on-year for the same period (Q2) last year. Considering Android having 34% market share compared to Apple’s 21.7% in the US – as of Q2 2010 – gives an indication of the overall size of mobile market.

FOTE10: email clients and mobile access

Taking this a step closer to home I thought I have a look at how our FOTE10 delegates accessed our conference emails and website.

It turns out a third of delegates accessed our regular updates & RSS campaigns from their mobile devices with the majority of those coming from the iPhone.

Mobile visits to the FOTE conference website only made up 9% of total visits and compared to the site average show lower rates of engagement (lesser page views per visit, less time spent on site and higher bounce rate). If this is due to the website not being optimised for mobile access or different usage/access behaviour on mobile devices compared to desktop/laptop access I can only speculate. It would be interesting to know what the statistics for your organisation are. Are you monitoring mobile access?

FOTE10 website: Mobile statistics

Considering the rather tech-savvy FOTE fan-base it is likely that those percentages will increase come FOTE11, I shall make a note in RMT to keep an eye on them.

Coming back to the starting point of this post – the iTunes U conference in Munich – I can’t help but think that mobile access to content is less and less about being a unique selling point for an institution/organisation and more about offering the (paying) customer/student a level of interaction they have come to expect out in the ‘real world’.

In search for a good closing statement for this post, Twitter came to the rescue, with a tweet from Graham Brown-Martin: “Is the future mobile? Visualising smart phone growth: http://bit.ly/9K8llP #jiscel10 http://bit.ly/8YjG6I #lwf11″

As he points out in his blog post over at Learning Without Frontiers for his upcoming presentation at the JISC Online Conference:

I haven’t suddenly become anti-mobile learning it’s just that having promoted it since the mid-80′s I really think that it’s arrived, happened and is no longer a question anymore. I’d advise those still struggling with the concept to consider a new career.

Finally, thanks to Morgan Stanley for making ‘The Mobile Internet Report‘ available online and allowing us to refer to it in this post.

Second Life learning

Posted by Frank Steiner on 30/09/2010 No comments

If we are at all serious about the role of technology in Education, then the evolution of 3D virtual worlds, like Second Life, must surely play a part. For training professionals it represents a high engagement, low cost tool to improve learners’ skills in a role play environment.

Since 2003 Second Life has allowed users to control digital versions of themselves online. People build homes and businesses, buy and sell land and have relationships – all within the virtual world, accessible via their computer. For those of us with a fascination for how technology can improve lives, the possibilities for Second Life are endless.

There are a number of great examples of how Second Life is increasingly being used with learners – I’m sure you will know of many more yourselves.

For instance, thanks to Second Life technology, learners can now explore virtual reconstructions of ancient sites like Tutankhamun’s tomb in Heritage Key’s Virtual Experience series. In America, some of the world’s most prestigious universities such as Harvard and Stanford are already using Second Life to deliver courses.

At learndirect we wanted to do some research of our own, so we set up a pilot with a virtual world consultancy to investigate how Second Life could help us deliver courses to learners with low level skills. We tested this model by offering two specific exercises within Second Life – speaking and listening (Level 1), and elements of the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Customer Service (Level 2).

To see the pilot in action we’ve posted a video on our site.

The results demonstrated that bringing people together in a virtual world was best suited to help improve interpersonal skills such as speaking and listening, teamwork and customer service skills. In addition, learners reported they felt more confident than they would in a real classroom, looked out for each other more and worked better together as a team.

Our findings also suggest Second Life is best suited to courses which require learners to work together in groups. This promotes communication and a sense they are all pulling together to achieve a task. It gets around an issue many people face: not wanting to speak out in public when taking part in role play.

Also, we initially expected Second Life would be best suited to just technology savvy learners. Not so. Our older learners get just as much out of it. They came with open minds, embraced the technology and jumped at the chance to put their ideas forward. Also, the pilot was very cost effective when compared to classroom based learning: the cost to rent the land was inexpensive and learners and tutors didn’t incur travel costs.

But this is just the beginning for Second Life and virtual learning spaces (VLS). We predict 3D virtual worlds will appear in a variety of formats in the future – the iPhone and Android phones already have built in 3D accelerators. Their 3G internet connections mean mobile VLS’s are just around the corner.

In addition to mobile 3D VLS’s, we will see applications like Second Life fully integrated into social media platforms. Facebook already has a virtual presence in Second Life but what if a 3D virtual world was offered as an application on Facebook?

At learndirect we’re already using the social networking site to talk to adult learners informally. In the future it’s entirely possible learndirect’s Facebook page will feature a third party 3D VLS application. This will not only increase its reach and relevance but also introduce new social networking features into courses, for example inviting friends to join sessions and sharing course learnings and insights with others. It looks like 2011 is going to be an exciting year for learning technology.

Adrian Beddow, learndirect

Education: What technology wants

Posted by Frank Steiner on 22/09/2010 1 comment

Suppliers and institutions may want technology to enable a control, expensive rarity model with proprietary and protected features. People may want technology to enable freedom and choice with a cheap abundance model with open features (except of course where rarity and expensive are a feature of identity rather than function – think “designer” fashion). Initial phases of new technology are often balanced towards the supplier/institution and then competition shifts balance towards what people want from technology. The balance between supplier/institution and people will continue to play out into the future according to contexts but ultimately what technology wants ends up being what people want.

Information technology wants to be personal, abundant, cheap, easy, convenient, open, small, mobile and connected – “resistance is futile”.

The balance of technology in education is weighted to the institution – we depend upon institutionally provisioned hardware and software from data centres and servers to “end user” computers – this is an expensive, resource intensive, centralised and locked down model struggling to meet the demands of what people want from technology.

Continuing on the current trajectory every room will be eventually be an IT suite or every student will have a college computer – how could I provision, support, maintain and secure up to 20,000 computers – we need a new approach. Educational technology must seek a lighter, simpler less resource intensive approach to technology – it must learn to let go of technology, step away from the diminishing returns on the technology treadmill. Instead, education should provide a platform for technology use – a feasible and sustainable model for the next era – the “fifth wave of computing” – personal, abundant, cheap, easy, convenient, open, small, mobile and connected.

The traditional response is for education to provide resources but better choices can usually be readily selected by people from the web. Education needs to de-institutionalise and reduce its own technology – allow the balance to shift to personal technology by exploring DIY and self service approaches.

All our learners have on-line presence and identities – why provide institutional versions – allow learners to use their own resources and on-line identity. Allow learners to select their own email and their own applications – some will use Google apps, some will use Microsoft Live apps while others might prefer Zoho, Facebook office or local apps such as Openoffice or even Microsoft office. If learners don’t have on-line resources then this is an area for education, for education should be about learning for life.

Shift investment from computers and servers to the network. Shake off the ghost of internal client-server thinking – think global – think open – think web only. Create pervasive wireless guest access and increase both internal and Internet bandwidth. Encourage learners and staff to use their own IT on your guest network – let the network be our computer – let the network be the technology platform for learning

Education teaching and Education IT could both share a common new approach – facilitation. In the same way that teaching is considering facilitation, coaching, guidance styles so too could education IT.

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