NECC 2009 Conference June 28-July 1st: Technology in Education

If you are interested in virtual worlds, serious games, interactive multimedia technology, and emerging technologies in education, the 2009 NECC conference is the place to be!

NECC 2009 Conference Website

ISTE Website

Live Streaming from the NECC conference

CITEd (Center for Implementing Technology in Education) will be at NECC at the end of this month, where CITEd staffers will be keeping in touch via Twitter and Facebook.

The following information about virtual worlds and learning is from CITEd-e-News:

"Follow CITEd as we attend NECC 2009, the largest educational computing conference of the year. If you're attending this year, check out the agenda to see where we'll be; if you can't make it, we'll be Twittering the conference at TechnologyinEd. New to Twitter? Check out The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter or Twitter in Plain English. "

Source: NMC Second Life Flicker Photostream

Virtual Worlds for Teaching and Learning

Virtual worlds, particularly Second Life and Teen Second Life, are a hot topic in education as schools and universities around the world begin to make use of virtual learning environments. With a wide variety of educational projects, Second Life is home to virtual conferences, professional development workshops, "field trips" to exotic locales, in-world classrooms and collaborative learning activities. In this issue of eNews, we take a look at some of the ways educators are using Second Life to enhance learning and teaching. Learn more at www.cited.org.

	Avatars Teach Teens about Self-Image Read about how one health teacher used avatars (alter egos) in Second Life to teach students about body image issues, media representations of beauty, and self-image.
	ICT for the Non-Specialist - Virtual Worlds If you've ever wondered about using virtual worlds with your students, but don't know where to start, check out this short video highlighting several schools as they explore using Second Life in their teaching.
	Teen Second Life Guide for Schools Suffern Middle School in Suffern, NY has maintained a virtual presence in Teen Second Life since 2006, with a focus on standards-based curriculum. Based on their experiences, teachers have created an in-depth guide for moving your school or classroom into the virtual world.
	Global Kids Second Life Project Thinking about using virtual worlds in your school? Global Kids has used Second Life to work with urban youth since 2006 and offers free sample curriculum materials and professional development opportunities. Be sure to visit the blog written by teens in the project!

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Whatever your technology need, CITEd's web site offers unbiased, reliable and timely resources and information for implementing technology in the classroom, school, and district. Want to know more? Visit our home page!

www.CITEd.org

(I'm on a cruise vacation, otherwise I'd be at NECC!)

A visit to Trinity College: The Elektra Project and 80Days Games for Learning

Today I visited Trinity College in Dublin and had an opportunity to discuss some educational gaming with Dr. Owen Conlan. Dr. Conlan has been involved in some interesting projects which I'll discuss further in an update of this post.

For now, you can visit the following links. The Elecktra project was recently completed, and 80Days is a newer project. Both projects were collaborative efforts between several universities.

ELEKTRA: "Enhanced Learning Experience and Knowledge TRAnsfer"

80Days Project Overview (pdf)

80Days Goes Public:

"80Days International Open Workshop on Intelligent Personalization and Adaptation in Digital Educational Games is organized by the 80Days Project (www.eightydays.eu), a cutting-edge research initiative of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7). The project’s goal is to explore new frontiers in DEGs by combining effective learning with fun and pleasure. Core objectives of the project are intelligent mechanisms for non-invasive knowledge assessment and the establishment of a higher-level adaptation framework that merges educational adaptation and interactive storytelling. '

My Summer Emerging Technology "Wish to Play" List!

Yes, it is summer, and I need new sunglasses. But not the usual kind.

I just had to post this picture from the Optical Vision Site. Too bad "iShades" are just in the prototype level of development.



There are other fashionable options:



Maybe this prototype would look better:

Photo from the Wired Gadget Lab

Or perhaps this pair?

Human Media Lab at Queen's University

I guess the glasses will help me interact with the next in emerging technology: the organic user interface!

Twp guys and their flexible "gummi".

And here is the next-gen version of Readius, a flexible pocket e-book from Polymer Vision. (I posted a video clip of the earlier version of "Readius" on YouTube two years ago.)













(Photo from Engaget: "Polymer Vision has Readius ready to go, needs case to get it out of the door".)

You can learn more about organic and flexible user interfaces from a video on the Daily Planet Discovery Channel. Organic user interfaces allows computers to take any shape or form. The concept reminds me of the flexible haptic interfaces I've dreamt about.

So what what else is emerging?

Here are a couple of pictures of a Google Earth browser on a spherical screen:



And here is a smaller, collapsible multi-touch sphere from Moxia:









More to come!

More from LM3LABS: Interactive Multimedia Content Distribution Kiosks based on AirStrike and the touchless Ubiq'Window

re-inventing kiosk: media stations from Nicolas Loeillot on Vimeo.

Related

AirStrike

Interactive Touch Tables are Multiplying! Ideum's new 100" multi-touch museum display; Ubisoft's Ruse on a Surface....

Photo from the Museum Exhibit and Design News/Ideum Blog

The above table is 100", created for Nashville's Adventure Science Center's Sudekum Planetarium, is based on Ideum's mt2 table: "Built for museum environments, the high-resolution mt2 Table supports intuitive gestures, allowing visitors to interact and explore custom exhibits. With multiuser support, mt2 Table serves as digital gathering place, allowing visitors to interact with museum content and each other."

Two computers power this table. Natural User Interface's Snowflake handles the optical support and tracking, and the second computer will be running the EM spectrum application, which is developed in Adobe Flash. It is a work in progress. For more information, visit the Ideum blog.

Here is a video trailer of Ubisoft's R.U.S.E. played on a multi-touch table. Much of the trailer appears to be a simulation. I liked the part where the battleships are traveling over the water. According to a blog post, the table depicted in the trailer is the Intuiface, by Intuilab.

Photos of Ubisoft's R.U.S.E. game, running on a multi-touch table:




Photo from the Ubisoft Blog

Intuiface Information PDF
Intuilabs Website

If you visit the Intuilabs website, be sure you interact with the photos of the team! I couldn't get the pictures to change when I touched the screen of my HP TouchSmart PC, so I think they are activated by a mouse-over. It would be nice if they could touch-enable their website.)

Information about Touch Screens, Multi-Touch, & Gesture Interaction is Spreading

Since the news about Windows 7 multi-touch capabilities has spread around, I haven't had enough time to keep up all of information related to multi-touch interaction. Fortunately there are a few bloggers out there who are doing a great job filling in the gaps.

The Touch User Interface blog has a wealth of information in the form of pictures, video clips, slides, and links that I'd like to share.

The following slideshow/videos were highlighted in the Touch User Interface blog post, "Touch UI: HCI Viewpoint":

Untold Stories of Touch, Gesture, & NUI
Joe Fletcher, Design Manager, Microsoft Surface

Touch and Gesture Computing, What You Haven't Heard
Dan Saffer

Tap is the New Click

Other posts of interest on the Touch User Interface blog:
Touch screens and vision impairment
Link: Designing the Palm Pre: An Interview with Michelle Koh

Touch User Interface Overview

I've updated some additional information about UX,interactive multimedia, multi-touch, and gesture interaction on my Multimedia and Interaction Resources page, which is a work in progress.