Group items tagged

Some interesting commentary on the future of touch screens. Potentially has implications for educational uses as well: "Anyone who has used one for a long time will tell you that they quickly revert to using the keyboard and mouse. And it isn't because of the software or touch technology - both are fine.The problem is that you get tired keeping your hands up and on the screen for a long period of time. Touch experts I've spoken with say it's because your hands are above your heart, which isn't comfortable for very long."

Company in Taiwan claims to be only two years from a commercially available Folding computer touch screen. ... This was 6 months ago. The lighter weight, ultra portable nature of a folding screen increase the ability of educators to move learning outside the classroom, and allow learners of all ages to access information on demand anywhere.

iPod touch, and most are usable with the iPhone as well, apps listed by subject matter. English, Math, Music...

Interesting article on why touch screens are dominating in new technologies--and the basis for why they're more attractive to us.

Reading assessement via Ipod Touch. Hope to see more of this.

"A new, federally funded project will test students' ability to learn fractions on mobile apps through the theory of "embodied cognition"-or, to put it in non-science speak, manipulating and moving images and information on screens with their fingers."

This is a very insightful article on the obstacles to digital learning. It is closely linked to topics we touched on in section this week and next week's reading.

Trip to zoo without leaving classroom! This tool is interactive and students can see and hear rear animals, including multi-touch, multi-user interactive tool. Another interesting aspect is that it never gives negative feedback. "Instead of telling you that it's wrong, it just tells you that it isn't right. So students can work together to find the correct answer, which increases collaboration among students." Similarities with EcoMUVE?

A former Apple interface designer critiques Microsoft's 'Productivity Future Vision (2011)' video that has been spreading on the web (and a couple of you have shared here on Diigo).  The Apple guru's biggest gripe? Microsoft portrays a future dominated by single finger interaction with touch-enabled devices. But we are already seeing more elaborate Human-Computer interaction involving more of  our bodies and communication modes-- full body (Kinect, Microsoft), and voice & hearing (Siri, Apple). Mr. Victor says that Microsoft's vision wasn't as revolutionary as it seems.

I agree with the author on Microsoft's lack of vision about future technologies (which I also ranted about on facebook). At the same time, we have to note that Microsoft currently has devices that enable 'full body' communication and Apple does not. And their latest wonder 'Siri' was acquired, not developed internally. I respect Apple for their innovations but we haven't seen any 'vision' from Apple yet and I am curious to know what they might be thinking.

Upcoming conference on the use of iPads in education at Harvard Medical School - Joseph B. Martin Conference Center November 7-8 (pre-conference Nov 6) Educators, researchers, industry - all represented Organized by EdTechTeacher 2012

This conference takes place at Hynes Nov 13-15. I am in touch with the co-founder who is an alumnus and may be able to offer us student rates. Let me know if you're interested!

Articles gets into the details of how the tech is designed. I'm more interested in the implication of touch screens that are flexible and thus potentially made more ubiquitous than we can currently imagine. Like in the Microsoft video, what if every surface we interact with is a digital portal? What implications not only for technology, but all forms of human action and interaction?

That takes care of the display challenge, now if we could only develop a more sophisticated and biologically intuitive method of data entry (no keys or multi-touch surface), the world will be a very different place. Def. an emerging technology with wild educational/training implications.

Anything that involves 'instant' such as twitter, texting, and youtube, hurt your 'working memory' and thus make you dumber. Facebook, on the other hand, expands your working memory as you seek to keep in touch with all your 'friends'. Really?

But what if the people finding me on Facebook were better left fogotten.

Check out where our professor will be speaking in Feb. If anyone has the chance and wants to get out of the cold and get in touch with teachers, publishers and hardware vendors, the FETC is a great conference.

"...If you involve them you can teach them" ... "keep them confised for a moment to give them the aha moment"  a similar theme touched upon at last class

One university gives all freshman and iPhone/iPod Touch. Let the learning begin!

Review of pilot program that gave iphone/ipod touches to college students in Texas. Mentions other initiatives at Stanford and UK universities.

Article on how iPhones could change education.

Physical toys can be recognized by the iPad touch screen, utilized by free game app. The interaction (maybe requirement?) of physical toys, that must be purchased, in order to utilize a free app... curious to see if this kind of interaction will gain footing in education

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

The future of smartphones, including "an electroactive polymer that vibrates beneath the glass, and gives your fingers the sense of touching individual keys." NYTimes article, may require login