This product is a better user experience than reading a physical book. But it’s also a prime example of identifying a neat technology, and then finding a reason to use it in school, which is ass backwards.

Educators need to figure out what they want students to learn, and then find a technology that helps them learn it. Students could play forever with this book, but all they would learn is Al Gore’s view of how we solve our environmental problems. They would not learn contrary views, and they would not be taught to think critically about whose views they accept.

The successors to textbooks surely will be digital, but they won’t be a textbook at all.

They won’t be created by an education company that bends to politically driven agendas, a phenomenon that has been around long before last year’s Texas controversy;

“chapters” won’t reflect the perspective of just a few writers and editors, but rather the voices of thousands of scholars and educators;

in subjective areas, they won’t require students to memorize particular “facts” and viewpoints, but rather will encourage them to think for themselves, and form their own perspectives; and

they won’t impose a “one size fits all” approach to learning on a diverse group of students, with different interests, abilities and needs.

The successor to textbooks will be created by a group of passionate educators who collectively decide that no one should have “ownership” over what is taught in schools. It will leverage a curated collection of the best free content online, supplemented by some traditional textbook content in the sciences and math.

I was just thinking that there are already names for this sort of thing. We call them applications, interactive multimedia presentations, even websites. If someone put that in front of me and asked, “Do you know what this is?” I would confidently have several names for it, and book wouldn’t make the list. And I’m a huge fan of ebooks, I have two Kindles, so I don’t think it’s just that I’m biased towards bound material.

I’d really like to see some reading comprehension statistics on things like this versus more linear presentations of information too. I’m not just being critical, I’m genuinely curious about whether being able to interactively explore presented information leads to better, worse or the same retention as reading through it in the more traditional linear, guided way.

It’s incredible to uncover how our brain works, which once done, huge step for human beings. But still a ton of people who learn their second or third language not at the golden age can utilize the language freely as a native. When set in a place only the second language speaking, you’re pushed to learn and greater and faster improvement are made than only in language courses.

This proves how important it is to look after our babies and give them everything we possibly can to help them become happy adults. I’d like to take a moment to draw attention to Australia’s under-recognised childcare system. It always amazes me that people complain bitterly about the cost of child care, but it is this grossly underpaid industry that can ensure our babies get the best possible care available. Child care workers are highly trained in helping our babies learn, are taught the latest and greatest in cognitive development theory, and some of our babies spend up to a third of their time with carers. I don’t think our society praises these people enough for the great work they do. Child care is not a job for dummies, it’s probably one of the most important jobs out there.

here are some more figures on the critical period of language with colleagues following a discussion we had on this topic this morning and saw that it is in one of Patricia Kuhl’s papers here, if anyone is interested: www.life-slc.org/docs/Kuhl-brainmechanisms2010.pdf. It’s a fascinating article she wrote on this topic for Neuron Review.

This video points out many very current issues with our lack of evolution in the education system. The section on community learning and self teaching reminds me of the ted talks by Sugata Mitra. He portrays self learning as individuals teaching themselves, but also by students teaching students with the direction of a teacher. His studies show that students learn the material faster and retain it for a longer duration when they are actively teaching each other in a communal environment. Here is a link if you are interested. http://www.ted.com/speakers/sugata_mitra.html

If we adapt to be more discriminating, within the existing sea of media, it might help us learn to master our attention spans.

Are children learning how to be discriminating on levels adults (with their ‘comprehensive education’) don’t appreciate or are children truly all at sea?

I know I can’t bear to watch “Horizon” anymore due to its repetitive nature (dumbing-down), but perhaps more information sinks in over the length of a modern “Horizon” in comparison to how much we really took in watching an old-style 1970s version. After all, if we only watch the first and final three minutes of a programme, we probably know the same as we would from watching the full show.

There may be two main functions of an educational system. One is about having a certain set of skills: the ability to multiply or list uses for a paper clip.

The other function is about developing members of a society, teaching people how to get on and interact with each other. This way people know how to use their skills to be successful. So we share stories with the next generation. We transmit culture.

I think this is a useful way to frame the decision-making process: what skills do students need now that the current system doesn’t teach well? And what social values should we be sharing with students that we aren’t now?

Students probably do need to learn more “divergent thinking” skills (problem identification, solution generation, decision-making) and implementation skills. In UK they call these “Enterprise” skills.

As far as the society side of things, I think the system is… continued here: http://www.timwoods.org/2010/12/28/the-innovation-gap-in-public-schools

UX Design Workshop – Presentation Transcript

1. User Experience Design Workshop
2. What is UX?
   Workshop
   Techniques
   Fun
   Dialog
   UI Design
   Discussions
   UI Process
3. Do you really believe
   what your eyes see?
4. Do you really believe
   what your eyes see?
5. Charlie Chaplin – Illusion
6. Now that we know,
   what next?
7. Some Background
8. Usability Definition
   [Usability refers to] the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use." – ISO 9241-11
9. Who would be using this application?
   Where this user would be achieving this goal?
   What this user would like to achieve?
10. Persona
    UserWho would be using this application?
    Tasks profiling
    Can’t be “ALL USERS”
    Create Scenarios
11. More features less usability
    Understand primary tasks
    Focus on important things
    Goal What this user would like to achieve?
12. Personal Interview
    Email
    Surveys
    Context Where this user would be achieving this goal?
    Contextual Inquiry
    Focus Group
    Support Line
13. Enough theories, How
    do I design a web app?
14. This is where it all begins.
    What user want?
    Application Feature?
    BRS
15. This step transforms strategy into requirements.
    SRS
    Functional & UI requirement
16. This gives shape to the scope.
    Navigation
    Sitemap
17. It makes the site concrete.
    Wireframes
    Storyboards
    Prototype
    IA
18. Surface brings everything together visually.
    Graphics
    Icons
    Colors
19. Go low level and talk
    about design elements
20. Create accessible links
    Web users scan text
    User short & simple words
    Inverted pyramid writing
    Online vs. print content
21. Font
    Times New Roman is a common serif font
    Font
    Verdana is a common sans serif font
    Font
    Times New Roman is a proportional spaced font
    Font
    Courier is a monospace font
    Some gyan about fonts
22. Aoccdrnig to rseerach at Cmabrigde
    Uinervtisy, it deosn'tmttaer in waht
    oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
    olnyiprmoatnttihng is taht the frist
    and lsatltteer be at the rghitpclae.
    The rset can be a total mses and you
    can sitllraedit wouthitporbelm.
    Tihs is bcuseae the huamnmnid
    deos not raederveylteter by istlef,
    but the wrod as a wlohe.
    Amzanig huh?
    Avoid italics
    Capital = 14-20% less readable
    Sans serif are build for web
    10 points or larger is safe
    font gyan continues
23. C a yureat is?
    You a e not radigths.
    W at arourea in ?
24. Get user attention
25. Do not use pure red or blue
    Do not use more than 6 colors
    7% of population is color blind
    Blue is a safe color
    Use of colors
26. Try this color illusion
27. Familiarity reduces learning
    Meaning less icons
    Inconsistent icons
    Unlabeled icons
    Avoid Popular metaphors
    Use of icons
28. Button = Action
    Link = Navigation
    Consistency
    Affordance
    Usage of buttons
29. Number of items
    Usage pattern
    Space constrain
    Searching capability
    Auto complete
    Radio button, dropdown, or shuttle
30. Suggest solution
    Prevent error
    Keep it together
    Think about the message
    Never show system errors
    Error handling
31. User Experience Design
    User Experience Design
    User Interface Design
    Human Factors Engineering
    Information Architecture
    Usability
    Human Computer Interaction

Presentation Transcript

Elearning has not changed

• elearning or “electronic learning” is very broadly classified as a learning imparted using some electronic media .
• Basic delivery methodology has not changed.

1. Content has moved from WBT (CDs) to Web
2. More LMS functionalities developed
3. Some development in reporting and assessment has been made

3. Why eLearning is not so effective

• Human being learn when we want to learn for whatever motivation there is for learning. eLearning will fail when it is pushed
• Difficult to assess and report
• Emotionless
• Not action oriented
• Generally a lot of theory and boring

4. New eLearning

• Immersive learning: using technology that would use visual, tactile, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli
• On demand learning: learn when I want to learn and what I want to learn (bio- technology)
• Augmented reality learning: creating imparting content using augmented reality and game technology (more fun)

5. How to Measure

• Compare: teach the same content with both, old fashion e-learning and the new elearning techniques and assess the trained person
• Effectiveness can be compared by knowing how the person is performing in the field after imparting the content

This is a concept for a language learning game. Idea is to use voice and video for an immersible experience. Goal for the gamer is to teach meet and greet skills that are very basic for conversation in some other culture.

This is… amazing, just… wow! I am attending RPI this fall as a freshmen, and i plan on going into mechanical engineering and design. As soon as i saw this video i was literally agape and on the edge of my seat! I gave the link to all the other people going to RPI next year including Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and other Mech. Eng.
I have a Nintendo Wii, and an extra controller, so you can count on me bringing this set up to my Dorm room next year. With the interactive 2-point white-board alone i can think of either great fun or great ways to improve on how I do my work. Can this be set up to a CAD software or similar software for 3-D design?

Honestly Mr. Lee, I have so much respect for you right now. First for realizing this could be done, second for developing the software to make it happen, and last but far from least, for making the information widely distributed, the software free to everyone, and as you said, opening the field of research to such a broad range of people. You certainly deserve that standing ovation. Bravo!!!

Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world.

I think that this is a great idea. I was always hoping that textbooks were going to be the next thing that would be shared since education is the most important aspect of a person’s life and should not have to be so costly. If everyone has an opportunity to learn and share their knowledge with others in an open source format that is only better for the world as a whole. Unfortunately, many universities still use textbooks and schools rather not use open source because they make a lot of money from selling textbooks to students. Thus, students have to look all over the web for cheap textbooks and places to sell their textbooks. I just want to mention a website called skoolboy.com that does both, you can list your textbooks for free and find cheap textbooks as well as other things that college students need like cellphones they might have lost, and laptops that were stolen or are broken. its a new site but i think its worth checking out.