7 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2014 Technology trends in both higher ed and K-12 classrooms continue to evolve and transform traditional learning environments. New learning analytics, mobile devices, open online learning, and 3D printers are some of the many Educational technology trends to be on the lookout for in 2014. Here’s a detailed discussion. 1) 3D Printing 3D Printers which enable makers to create whatever they can imagine and design have exploded into mainstream culture over the past year. Libraries are creating DIY makerspaces and providing these new tools of production to their communities along with opportunities for skill-building in math and engineering which are required to design 3D objects. The Poland and Hong Kong based GADGETS3D has launched an initiative called the “3D Printer in Every School” project in which they have designed a low cost, small 3D printer specifically created for the classroom. Click for full infographic 2) MOOCs Click for full infographic 3) Big Data Click for full infographic
Hacking your BRAIN: Scientists reveal they can find out your PIN number using a cheap scanner Technique uses a freely available headset often used to control gamesResearchers used it to watch for numbers a person recognised, which triggered a spike in a certain type of brain activitySay it could be used by police to interrogate suspects By Mark Prigg Published: 11:45 GMT, 27 August 2012 | Updated: 20:01 GMT, 27 August 2012 It sounds like something out of a futuristic sci-fi blockbuster, but scientists today demonstrated how they can 'hack' someone's brain to find out their pin number - using a cheap headset. Researchers from the University of California, University of Oxford and University of Geneva figured out a way to pluck sensitive information from a person’s head, such as PIN numbers and bank information. They used a freely available games controller costing just £190 ($299). Researchers used a cheap headset called an Emotive, available to buy online for £190 (£299) for their research, and used to to accurately guess pin numbers and even where someone lives
Is Your Leadership Innovative? Are your leadership actions impeding innovation? Are your change initiatives successfully implemented and delivering the benefits you expected? How is YOUR behavior impacting their ability to delivery results? Innovative Leadership – Critical to Create a Culture of Successful Innovation Many traditional leaders spend more time perfecting their golf swings than they do updating their ability to lead in this interconnected and dynamic business environment. Innovative leadership is the type of leadership that allows already successful leaders to raise the bar on their performance and the performance of their organizations. An innovative leader is defined as someone who consistently delivers results using the following: While others differentiate leadership from management this definition includes both because, to fully implement innovative change, the organizational leaders need to both set the strategy and be sufficiently involved in the tactics to ensure innovation and changes happen.
Affective computing Affective Computing is also the title of a textbook on the subject by Rosalind Picard. Areas of affective computing[edit] Detecting and recognizing emotional information[edit] Detecting emotional information begins with passive sensors which capture data about the user's physical state or behavior without interpreting the input. The data gathered is analogous to the cues humans use to perceive emotions in others. For example, a video camera might capture facial expressions, body posture and gestures, while a microphone might capture speech. Recognizing emotional information requires the extraction of meaningful patterns from the gathered data. Emotion in machines[edit] Another area within affective computing is the design of computational devices proposed to exhibit either innate emotional capabilities or that are capable of convincingly simulating emotions. Technologies of affective computing[edit] Emotional speech[edit] Algorithms[edit] Databases[edit] Speech Descriptors[edit] Overview[edit]
Is Google Making Us Stupid? Illustration by Guy Billout "Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. I can feel it, too. I think I know what’s going on. For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. I’m not the only one. Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. Anecdotes alone don’t prove much. It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. Also see:
Feeling mad? New devices can sense your mood and tell — or even text — others. Cognitive psychologist Mary Czerwinski and her boyfriend were having a vigorous argument as they drove to Vancouver, B.C., from Seattle, where she works at Microsoft Research. She can’t remember the subject, but she does recall that suddenly, his phone went off, and he read out the text message: “Your friend Mary isn’t feeling well. You might want to give her a call.” At the time, Czerwinski was wearing on her wrist a wireless device intended to monitor her emotional ups and downs. Ain’t technology grand? Czerwinski is working in affective computing, which emerged in 2000 from the laboratory of Rosalind Picard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of Picard’s early projects involved helping autistic children. “Mood Wings” worn on a wristband beat at different rates depending on the wearer’s stress. “The sensors have provided data that has allowed people to see things that they were guessing about, and often guessing wrong,” Picard says. New directions Detecting what bugs you
9 Characteristics Of 21st Century Learning The label of “21st Century learning” is vague, and is an idea that we here at TeachThought like to take a swing at as often as possible, including: –weighing the magic of technology with its incredible cost and complexity –underscoring the potential for well thought-out instructional design –considering the considerable potential of social media platforms against its apparent divergence from academic learning Some educators seek out the ideal of a 21st century learning environment constantly, while others prefer that we lose the phrase altogether, insisting that learning hasn’t changed, and good learning looks the same whether it’s the 12th or 21st century. At TeachThought, we tend towards the tech-infused model, but do spend time exploring the limits and challenges of technology, the impact of rapid technology change, and carefully considering important questions before diving in head-first. The size of the circles on the map are intended to convey priority. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
How nanoparticles could be used to treat cancer | full Wired Health video Nanoparticles are making a huge impact on all aspects of science, as explained today at Wired Health by Dr Alexander Seifalian, whose team is using them as a scaffold to grow organs. The ability to grow ears, noses and even windpipes was not the only major breakthrough Seifalian spoke of, as his team and many others around the world are using several different types of ultrafine particles for a variety of future applications ranging from medical science to recreating the art of butterfly wings. Seifalian works with UCL at the Royal Free Hospital to discover how to use the unique properties of particles many thousands of times smaller than human cells. The smallest -- 8-10 nanometres (cells are around 10,000nm) -- that his team works with are fluorescent nanoparticles, also known as quantum dots, which are nanocrystals with semiconductor properties. Graphene, the recently discovered supermaterial, can be fashioned into carbon nanotubules a mere 24nm across.