NetGenEd Project

This site has a good video about learning analytics.

A Massive Open Online Course(MOOC) is a way of learning analytics.

Why laptops are helpful, but why tablets are better

The New York Times reports on how Microsoft is buying a company based completely on gesture technology, which could have a huge impact on its emerging technology. "We have a really broad mission to enable everyday devices with the ability to see."

This is quite informative and has a few examples about gesture based compting is already beign used in the educational system.

I love this! Gmail motion was Google's april fools day prank and many people fell for it. Heck, if I'd had time, I might have played with it but after thinking I realized what day it was! Tee hee. But a lot of people WANTED this -even though the gestures were designed to be silly (who is going to do a jumping jack for making a star on an email.) so ICT used a kinect camera and actually made Gmail actions work! Watch the video and enjoy. People actually WANT this just not with the exaggerated motions and definitely not a shot that requires the camera to see your feet.

this article is about how gesture based computing is integrated into learning environments and how old beliefs are changing.

this website is an example of a university that understands that freedom can increase a students motivation and therfore help kickstart 

The 2012 Horizon Report from the Educause site

This article is one people still point to when discussing personalizing learning for students. It is a great op-ed in the Atlantic. Software customizes the learning process so that students learn in ways that help them and progress at their own pace. 

This wiki is about the gamification of websites including those in education. The entire wiki is dedicated to this technique. This was also one of the trends in the 2012 HOrizon Report.

this is a gesture based computing blog that various people have posted on, saying what they think about gesture based computing

I know that some are saying that we can't gamify education. But what happens when problems become a game and we compete to find answers? This article talks about foldit and how crowdsourcing has become a possibility for something that can work when it becomes a game. This is a great read for those exploring how we will use games in education. I would suggest that this is an approach that we could use. ". Foldit, a novel experiment created by a group of scientists and game designers at the University of Washington, had asked the gamers-some still in middle school and few boasting a background in the sciences, much less microbiology-to determine the how proteins would fold in the enzyme. Within hours, thousands of people were both competing against (and collaborating with) one another. After three weeks, they had succeeded where the microbiologists and the computers had failed. "This is the first example I know of game players solving a long-standing scientific problem," David Baker, a Foldit co-creator, wrote at the time."

This is a winner in the digital media badges for lifelong learning competition. "In the Youth APPLab, middle and high school students in the District of Columbia design software and mobile apps in an after-school program that supplements their formal learning in computer science. They conceive, develop and co-create their own Android Apps. Ultimately, students and their apps will compete for internships with technology-based startup companies in and around the DC area."

This article shows that society desire to be able to customize their devices could result in someone's fortune. Pimp your Screen was a recently published app that allows people to select their own skins, screens, and icon shelves for only 99 cents. The article also mentions other mobile apps that are predicted to be Apple's top grossing apps.

This workshop session at WebWise 2012 shows that museums are looking at gamifying just like everyone else. Anything to increase engagement. Whether you like it or not, it is time for some serious scholarly research. "Last year, Nielsen Research found that online games overtook personal email to become the second most heavily used internet activity behind social networks. While most museum and library professionals aren't aiming to create the next FarmVille or Angry Birds, games have the potential to be meaningful learning tools and prompt real-world action."

Learning analytics presentation (a trend from the Horizon 2011 report) from George Siemens.

near field communication with contactless payments and infotags

This website talks about how this is used in our daily life. I think that there are a lot of good examples on how this is used in our daily life such as; info tags, smart objects, and contactless payments. This is very handy for many different kinds of job and it even works in the school systems.

This is a website with printouts and activities that are supposed to help young students learn and have fun!

The horizon report is out and will be the subject of our NetGenEd Project this year. Current trends: Time to adoption: One Year or Less * Electronic Books * Mobiles Time to adoption: Two to Three Years * Augmented Reality * Game-based Learning Time to adoption: Four to Five Years * Gesture-based Computing * Learning Analytics

simSchool is a simulated classroom that supports rapid accumulation of a teacher's experience in analyzing student differences, adapting instruction to individual learning needs, gathering data about the impacts of instruction, and seeing the results of their teaching. This is a place where instructors can explore instructional strategies, examine classroom management techniques, and practice building relationships with students that will translate into increased learning. The results are highlighted below and are proved to be real and measurable.