A closer look at the research shows that it is not really just anything and everything about online learning that help us learn better, but specific concepts and ideas focused primarily on engagement, social presence, encouragement, and immediacy. What I don’t see in the research is any mention of long lecture capture videos, digitizing standardized tests and uploading them online, 500-slide death by PowerPoint modules, or any of the other standards that we typically see in online courses.

In other words, the bad, boring teaching concepts that have been bad, boring teaching concepts for centuries will continue to be bad, boring teaching concepts no matter how much technology we wrap around them. [ahem.... iBooks 2?]

So many times when I read about certain colleges putting “free courses” online I cringe – when all they are really doing is putting popular lecture captures online. I have tried to watch these free videos and no matter how well spoken or humorous the professor is, I just can’t sit there and watch to the end without my attention wandering.

What these recent studies don’t necessarily say directly – but they still possibly prove – is that our brains are happy when we are actively engaged in the learning process. Passively sitting there and staring at the screen for a long time? Not so much. I hate to admit it, but that is why I have never been able to get into the Khan Academy that much. If you love it – great. I just need more engagement and less “sit and stare.”

In ten years, we may no longer have cell phones in our pockets, they will be built into our glasses and perhaps even contact lenses.

Sounds familiar to me :) But it looks like we are going to see augmented reality sooner rather than later – so I am going to start saving up for the iPhone 10 now….

This year, Harriet created a Prezi presentation.  Prezi is pretty cool in that it can be very non-linear.  You can click and scroll around on the presentation as you like. This gives me hope for a future of conference presentations that are free of PowerPoint overkill.  Here is what I am thinking:

Someday, someone will come up with an iPad competitor that doesn’t have all of Steve Job’s weird hang-ups about Flash.  Prezi is built in Flash, so this is key. Oh, and it will run a real operating system instead of iPhoneOS.  Then they will create a cheap adapter that hooks this superior iPad product to projectors. Then the fun will begin.

Image if you could just create a map of all the concepts you want to discuss in a presentations in Prezi.  Then use this better iPad model to run the presentation.  Using the touch screen, you can scroll around and zoom in on concepts as they come up in the discussion. Non-linear, interactive presentations, controlled by a light, portable touchscreen pad.  That would make any session much more active and connected.

Also consider how this could change your classes. Or maybe this already exists and I am just not buying the right products?

Anyways, here is the Prezi from our TxDLA session (which is still linear – we didn’t want to blow too many gaskets in one session):

Next time I hope to go in to some thoughts about some of the discussions and feedback we had at the conference – it was some great stuff.

What about computer graphics/modeling and virtual worlds in 3-D?  Chinnock discusses the need for content in 3-D.  Why not give students the ability to create content/images/etc?  Will the programs to do this be too expensive for schools to utilize in individual classes like they do with some programs such asMicroSoft Word?

These questions (and more) will all probably be asked and answered in the near future, I am sure.  Not to mention that the future of 3-D  is not just about projectors.  There are also advances being made in holographic displays and three-dimensional monitors.

But this is all leading to the fact that the walls between the real world and virtual reality are slowly crumbling away.  We now have the ability to create a virtual reality room.  Surround sound and cameras that can follow your movements already exist.  Combine that with the projectors that Chinnock discusses, pointing in all directions in a room, connected to a super-fast computer that can feed realistic CG to those projectors based on your movements, and you pretty much have the early version of a Star Trek holodeck.  Imagine what Second Life would be like then?

But the thought of a way to have your portable computing device actually interact not only with the World Wide Web, but also the actual world around you just seems so.. incredible.  But how close are we to making augmented reality a true reality in our lives?

Vuzix is working on a product that might just do that: the Wrap 920AV.   The 920AV is a pair of sunglasses that have a see-thru screen that allows you to watch a display from your iPhone and still see the world around you through the same display.  It even mentions on the page that the glasses are designed for augmented reality. Click on the accessories tab for some other cool options, like a motion sensor that tracks your head movements, and cameras that attach to the top of the glasses.

This is the kind of thing I was thinking of when I first blogged on iPhones and augmented reality.  Just think:  with these glasses you don’t have to have to hold the iPhone like in the video from that post – the metro map is just displayed on your glasses in front of you.  What if you mix this with Sixth Sense technology?  What if you just saw your iPhone display floating in front of you, and moved your hands to interact with the apps (kind of like a portable version of the computers in Minority Report)?

Talk about true mobile learning.  You know those audio tours you can rent at tour spots like Alcatrazz – the ones that talk you through the attractions?  Those can now make the jump from audio to visual – adding historical re-enactments, or showing you what lies behind the walls that they don’t want to tear down.

I’m sure this kind of thing will be expensive at first, and I really hope they don’t hype just watching movies on these things.  What I hope is that Apple catches a vision for this and makes it look really cool so that everyone will want it.

First of all, there is the Amazon Kindle.  Or it’s the Kindle 2 I guess.  Interesting features.  But the lack of color really seems to be a significant minus in my department.  I know it is new technology and all that, and they will probably figure that out some day.  So, really – significant but not huge.  The biggest drawback is the one that always seems to plague the technology world: it’s a separate device.

Yep – yet another device for you to find a storage space for.  It can’t do everything that your laptop, smart phone, digital camera, or even old school beeper can… so you will have to find yet another spot on your belt to hang it from.  Belt holders are quickly becoming the new pocket protectors.

So – maybe you don’t always need it with you, but think about those vacations now…. finding a place for your laptop, digital camera, smart phone, video camera, mp3 player, and now… eBook reader.  The apparent overlap of functionality there is mind boggling.

Or you could just read the eBook on your laptop… or iPod… or smart phone.  But that would be too simple, huh?

Maybe I could see the use of an eBook reader if you marketed them to schools as a replacement for the stacks of books that students are carrying around every day.  Well, at least, the books they should be carrying around.  Of course, for the price of a Kindle you can swing a decent smart phone that reads PDFs and does a whole lot of other things that would be useful.

Another head scratcher is the Follet Digital Reader.  It is not a product, but a whole new format designed to replace PDF files.  Basically, it looks like Follet didn’t like that some minor features were missing from PDF, so they decided to re-create the wheel… only with slightly different hubcaps.  Some nice, but ultimately unnecessary, differences.  Or so it seems.  You have to to have .Net 2.0 on your computer to download and try it out.  I avoid .Net 2.0 like the plague… and I don’t have admin privileges to install it in the first place.  This new reader could actually be the coolest thing since sliced bread, but I’ll never get to know.  That is a severely limiting factor in my opinion. You may never see this thing make the jump to mobile devices because of that.  Or even to a Kindle 2 for that matter.

Oh, and by the way – if you are already a Follet customer – you seem to have no choice in this change. That is what customers today love so much – lack of choice.

Of course, Gmail was sounded pretty redundant until people started using and realizing ‘hey, this really is better than anything out there right now.’  Maybe the same will happen with the Follet Digital Reader.

I guess you really can’t blame people for trying something new.  But… why? Especially when there are already good options already out there? My problem with so much of this is that so many companies just re-create overlapping technology.  Why not just create a PDF reader with the capabilities that you want, that works on multiple platforms?  Oh, wait – people have already done that and didn’t make that much money from it….

If you don’t want to learn from history….

Could this be technology’s version of the crystal ball? This makes me start imagining 3D objects rendered inside the sphere that we can zoom in on, manipulate, and view from different angles. Anyway, fun to think about.

PS — Matt, I’d like one of these so I can have it set as a globe to put on my desk. There should be enough in our EGJ budget, y’think?

PSS – Just found a related article at Ars Technica.

Best Google Earth Interface Videos

View Pico video.