Free Webinar on Professors and Technology

The new study Digital Faculty: Professors, Teaching and Technology, 2012, found that professors are excited about technology trends in education, including the growth of e-textbooks. This is the type of information that should be important to collegiate retailers as the industry moves forward.

Inside Higher Education is now offering a free hour-long webinar Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. Eastern to discuss the findings. The panel will be made up of Inside Higher Ed editor Scott Jaschik; Joshua Kim, a blogger for the publication and director of learning and technology, Dartmouth College; technology reporter Steve Kolowich; and Jeff Seaman, co-director, Babson Survey Research Group.

Registration information will be shared with sponsor companies CourseSmart, Deltak, Pearson, and Sonic Foundry.

EPIC 2020: A Bleak Future for Higher Ed

William Sams, recently appointed interim associate provost for information technology and chief information officer at Ohio University, has a rather dark view of the future of higher education.

In his world, campuses will be reserved for the ultra-wealthy or athletically gifted because most college degrees will have been replaced by badges earned through free online courses. In addition, Apple will buy Amazon to become a learning resource giant, Google will deliver free online classes called Evolving Personal Information Construct (EPIC) where students can earn those badges, and all of it will happen by 2020. Sams presented his observations in a web video called EPIC 2020 (embedded below).

“It’s not my sole objective to be right or wrong here, but to get people talking about things that need to be discussed,” Sams told eCampus News. “All of us are trapped in the paradigm of how things have been, the system we’ve existed in all our lives. A lot of [educators] have a worldview that makes it impossible for them to even see solutions to problems that exist today.”

In the video, Sams predicts Congress will eliminate Pell Grants next year, students will demand colleges only charge for learning assessment, and new funding will go to free online learning platforms to fill the void left by the disruption of traditional higher education. In addition, Apple buys Amazon to create the world’s largest content-distribution site, called Applezon.

“I see some of those things happening,” Martin Van Der Werf, a blogger for The College of 2020 ed-tech site, told eCampus News. “They won’t replace higher ed altogether, but serve some pockets of higher ed. The video is almost a work of science fiction, and the value in sci-fi is that it helps you image worlds that don’t exist yet. Sci-fi stories draw plausible scenarios that make you think of what is possible, and that’s why this video might be valuable.”

One of Sams’ projections is already starting to come to fruition. On July 10, Google launched its first free online class, called Power Searching with Google. Students will use Google+ groups to discuss class materials and will earn a certificate when they finish the course.

Technology Giving Classrooms a New Look

A new study shows that technology is leading to new ways for teachers to teach and students to learn. In fact, 75% of college students and 72% of faculty are using notebooks or netbooks as learning tools in the classroom, and 69% of students and 73% of faculty are making use of digital content, according to an article in Campus Technology.

The report Learn Now, Lecture Later, funded by CDW-G, a company providing technology to government, education, and healthcare industries, suggests students prefer a mix of teaching methods, such as hands-on projects (17% of participating students), independent study (14%), and group projects (12%), and that 69% of students would like to see more technology used. The study also showed that 64% of high school teachers are using class time for group projects and 45% of their students have used smartphones in class as learning tools.

“Students told us they want more interaction with teachers during class, as well as the opportunity to incorporate more technology into their classes,” said Andy Lausch, vice president of higher education at CDW-G. “In fact, students who are very satisfied with how their teachers use class time also use more technology in class with all types of learning models.”

The greatest obstacle facing to using more technology in the classroom for secondary and postsecondary education is securing funds to provide it. Lack of time and lack of technical support were also cited by IT staffers participating in the survey.

The complete report is available for free at the CDW-G web site.

Inkling Announces New Publishing Tool

Inkling recently announced the launch of their new Inkling Habitat, an e-book publishing tool.  According to the company, the new tools are more versatile, faster, and have more interactive capabilities than Apple’s iBooks Author.  The functions of Habitat include 3-D rendering, guided tours, HD Videos, interactive quizzes, and more.  What the company claims is amazing about Habitat is that with a click of the button it can push updates to every target platform at once, with customized, device-specific layouts.  It also allows for collaborative authoring since all work is taking place in the cloud.  Inkling will be offering Habitat products and services to publishers.

This is not a tool for stores, so why should we care?  Well, such tools continue to make it easier to create and package Native Digital content for course materials.  One thing disruptive technologies do when entering an industry is make the prior process or approach easier, faster, cheaper, or just plain better.  These and similar technologies could represent a shift in how course materials are created by publishers in the future.  Stores must ultimately determine how they gain access to and then help sell or distribute the content that tools like these produce. 

On the Inkling side, as we see them do more work with retailers, it could provide a future opportunity that allows the store to help faculty create more Native Digital content.  At the same time, Inkling has mostly been on Apple devices up to this point.  If they are going to start producing content, particularly educational content, for other platforms it raises the risk that they may need to do more direct work themselves to address accessibility requirements and concerns. 

Robots in Campus Stores

Thinking about 24/7/365 service to students? Buy yourself a robot.  That’s what SUNY New Paltz did.  Well, not really, but close.  This story highlights a self-contained, refrigerated vending machine that looks like an aisle in a supermarket.  The machine offers up to 200 items that are must needs for campus living.  Referred to as the “ultra-convenience store” the system accepts cash, credit cards, dining cards, and flex cards.  The article mentions that there are other university locations including Ohio Northern University.  Perhaps soon we can start offering textbooks this way too. 

New Page Turning Technology

Check out this video that demos the new page turning technology developed by researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.  The demo shown in the link was implemented using a private Apple API.  With South Korea planning on going all digital we can expect to see more innovations coming out of that country.

Phasing Out Paper Receipts

We posted a blog about digital receipts a while back but there is a recent post on the Retail Consumer Experience website that provides another good take on this topic.   This is a website many of our readers might be interested in reading in general, with a number of interesting stories.  We chose to highlight this story as a rapidly emerging technology that has a range of potentially positive business implications for retailers.

Samsung's New Flexible Display on Video

Samsung releases videos of their new flexible display technology here.  The video is filled with transparent, flexible screens, and augmented reality that Samsung hopes to rival Apple.  At first, it appears unreal but Samsung plans to introduce this technology in the market in 2012. 

Step closer to Instant Learning

Here’s a recent story on current research into instant learning similar to how Neo learned how to fly a plane in the Matrix.  So, if you are interested in learning how to play the piano downloaded into your brain keep an eye on this science.  Based on a techniques known as decoded neurofeedback, or DecNef, an individual can be trained to alter brain function, in order to match that of someone already possessing a certain skill.  The researchers hope to apply this technique to mental disorder patients that could be trained to match the brain activity patterns of a healthy person.  Just think about the ways THAT kind of technology could be misused.

Investments in digital continue

Here is a couple stories about digital content companies that received venture funding over the last couple of months.  The first story notes that iStoryTime (creator of children's apps) was awarded a $2 million investment from CFP & Founders Investments.  This is a sign that the digital content marketplace is still growing and investors are betting that the convergence of digital content and tablet type devices are going to lead the charge in growing this market.

We also found yet another story about a new start-up company in the higher education space.  This one is offering a new course management tool.  Started by three University of Pennsylvania dropouts has raised more than $1million for their venture thus far.  The software called Coursekit, is an online course platform that highlights social networking and easy-to-use interface.  Coursekit allows discussions, grade posting, calendar and link sharing, and creates student profiles.  Currently, thirty universities are piloting Coursekit and the company has hired 80 students to act as ambassadors to other colleges.

Read Books on Contact Lens?

Don’t blink you might miss something.

This CNN article says researchers at the University of Washington and Finland's Aalto University have developed a prototype of a contact lens that would project digital images onto the retinas of its wearer. According to the story, the researchers published in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, says, contact lenses that display digital information are the holy grail for this genre of reality-bending work.   Ultimately, projected displays from contact lenses can replace all the other screens we look at.

Those of you sorry to give up books for screens might soon be able to lament the loss of those screens as well!

When technology trends (and textbooks) collide...

There have been a couple interesting studies out lately involving textbooks and tablets. A classic collision of technology trends as mobile devices and digital content converge among college students.

A few weeks ago we wrote about the study by the Pearson Foundation. Among some of the interesting quotes:

[W]hile 55 percent of students still prefer print over digital textbooks, among the 7 percent of students who own tablets devices like iPads, 73 percent prefer digital textbooks. With 70 percent of college students interested in owning a tablet, and 15 percent saying they plan to buy one in the next six months, the survey suggests that there may be a coming rise in the e-textbook market.

These findings are interesting on several points. First is the declining preference among students for print over digital -- dropping from 75% (widely found in a number of studies) down to 55% in the past 6 months. However, the preference of print over digital more than flips when you look at students with a tablet device -- with 73% of those students prefering digital to print.

Unless one wants to believe that this is just an abberation among early adopters, this week, a new study conducted at Abilene Christian University appeared in Campus Technology. Independent from the prior study, this study found similar preference for digital over print even among individuals exposed to a tablet for as little as three weeks. An interesting quote from this piece:

“After trying an iPad for a short period—about three weeks—three out of four college freshmen said they’d be willing to purchase an Apple iPad personally if at least half of the textbooks they used during their college career were available digitally.”

The article goes on to discuss the barriers to digital textbook adoption. Among top reasons they note lack of inventory, the cost of digital, and the need for truly media rich content. The first and last are on our list of factors. The second surprised me, as the physical print and distribution costs are not a substantive portion of current textbook cost -- so why should people expect the cost to be lower. Plus, the current cost of generating truly media rich content and integrating it in pedagogically proven ways can be quite high. Digital textbooks should probably cost more not less right now if we are just talking about costs and truly media rich versions. The costs for consumers are marginally lower currently as we look at "PDF equivalents" and publishers attempt to build market share for digital.

As we look at the inventory challenge, most textbooks currently available in digital are the large adoptions -- so mostly content oriented toward first- and second-year courses. If students start coming to campus with tablets in growing numbers, over a four-year period you could have more than half of all textbook content available digitally.

So what would that mean for the printed textbook in four years time -- i.e., 2015? What happens if tablet adoption follows patterns similar to iPod or smartphone adoption in recent years? (A reasonable projection, since most technologies are on accelerating adoption curves, and early projections say this technology is on a similar or faster trajectory than the identified counterparts). What if just half of students have a tablet device by 2015, and they acquire just half of all of their textbooks in digital format? That is 25% of course materials being sold digital right there.

Is there anyone credible out there who STILL does not think trends in digital content or mobile devices or technology in general does not matter in the textbook world?

The Secret to Effective QR Codes

QR codes, those two-dimensional bar codes resembling tiny crossword puzzles, are popping up in a lot of places, including product tags and labels, ads, articles, posters, books, tickets, receipts, and more. QR stands for "quick response." It’s a relatively easy way for retailers, manufacturers, organizations, and others to connect their customers and members to additional information or resources online through their smartphones.

But, in order to be effective, the QR code must link to content that’s viewable on a smartphone and matters to the user. This article, reprinted on Ragan.com, a site for communications professionals, offers several practical considerations for setting up a QR code the right way.

QR codes initiated in manufacturing as a way of tracking parts making their way into various businesses. Today they have a far greater range of uses. In fact, I was at a conference this past week where QR codes were integrated into several aspects of the event. Here is a pair of short videos that helps explain QR codes and some of the business implications:

E-lecture or lecture capture survey

Tegrity recently posted a presentation with data from their survey of 9,000+ students across 200+ colleges. The survey looks at student perceptions and reactions to lecture capture technology. As it does not appear the survey was conducted by an independent third party, the results could be questionable in spots.

However, if we take the data at face value, there are some interesting observations to highlight:

• The health sciences represent nearly half of the courses using lecture capture.
• Lecture capture was most often used to supplement face-to-face classroom experiences.
• About 40% of students reported using the lecture-captured sessions 1-5 times during the semester, and nearly a quarter of students reported using the technology to review a recorded class 20 times or more.
• Students responded highly to many benefits of the technology, such as impact on motivation and effectiveness of studying.
• Interestingly, the technology had little impact on the utilization of faculty office hours, peer collaboration, or class attendance.

I have seen other data presented by schools that their experiences with lecture capture is comparable. One presentation I saw noted that the faculty are using the lecture capture as a substitute for the textbook, requiring that for viewing prior to class, and then using class time for Q&A, interactive learning, or focusing on problem areas. Just another interesting example of changing technologies in education -- and further argumentation for a different view of digital course materials in the future.