Changing the way we learn with Video, TEDxPresidio w/ Carlos Dominguez

Video Chat’s Time Is Coming by Steve Wildstrom

Video calling, video chat, and video conferencing are ideas that have been around for years, in some cases, for decades, without ever gaining much mainstream traction. Now the idea seems to finally be catching on, spurred by a combination of better technology and, perhaps as important, a much higher level of comfort with video.

Not that long ago, appearing „on television“ was an extraordinary event for most people. But in an age of YouTube and Facebook, when most of us carry a device capable of recording video—mobile phone, digital camera, or Flip—nearly all the time, video has lost its mystery. As a result, we are much more at ease with the idea of appearing on the screen.

At the same time, improving networks have made real-time streaming video practical.  The Picturephone that AT&T introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 used voice telephone lines and transmitted a black-and-white frame every two seconds (15 frames per second is now considered the bare minimum for quality video). Today a typical home broadband connection can easily handle full-screen standard definition video and a good one can do high-def,. In addition, nearly all laptops also feature built-in cameras. And there are conferencing rigs designed to work with a high-definition TV display,.

Mobile devices, however, are still a challenge because of the challenges of moving quality video over wireless networks.  3G wireless networks are generally designed on the assumption the people may want to download large quantities of data at high speeds to mobile devices, but are unlikely to upload much. This assumption works fine for watching a Netflix movie, but falls apart when you are streaming video in both directions.

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2011/ts_040411.html

Monash University Leads the Way in Educating and Training Medical Students in Rural Australia with Cisco TelePresence

Cisco today announced that Monash University, Australia’s largest university, will use Cisco TelePresence^TM to provide a virtual, real-time connection between medical students on work placement in rural Victoria and teaching staff located at central campuses.

Monash University’s Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences is extending the in-person classroom environment to medical students on work placement in rural Victoria through Cisco TelePresence, an immersive, lifelike communications experience that combines high-definition video and high-quality audio to realistically convey the body language and human elements that are critical to the interactive nature of a classroom.

BBC: Going to Harvard from your own bedroom

„In the online world you don’t need to fill buildings or lecture theatres with people and you don’t need to be trapped into a lecture timetable,“ says Peter Scott, director of the Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12766562#main-content

Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

Video: Podiumsdiskussion Interaktiver Hörsaal auf der Cisco Expo

Fast Company: Radical Idea #13 Build a Better Classroom

B| Telepresence:

„A French-language class could connect with students in Paris for two-way communication or a class could invite a remote lecturer. At one pilot program in Arizona, the district delivered Calculus III to three different schools with five students per site, and it was cost effective. Learning today is not confined to the four walls of a classroom.“

— Renee Patton, U.S. public sector director of education at Cisco

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/152/radical-idea-13-build-a-better-classroom.html

Huff Post: Why Low Performing Schools Need Digital Media

When the social and digital media revolution gained momentum at the dawn of the new millennium, no one would have predicted that less than a decade later black and Latino youth would be just as engaged as their white, Asian, and more affluent counterparts. Across a number of measures — use of mobile phones and gaming devices, social network sites, and the mobile web — young blacks and Latinos are beginning to outpace their white counterparts. For years the dominant narrative related to race and technology in the U.S. pivoted around the question of access. Today, the most urgent questions pivot around participation and more specifically, the quality of digital media engagement among youth in diverse social and economic contexts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-watkins/breaking-the-ice-why-low-_b_804117.html

Mashable: The Case for the Virtual Classroom

Online education is often dismissed as a pipeline for expensive degrees of little value and a sponge for veterans’ tuition payments. But while it’s true that for-profit universities have made a hefty business out of e-learning, it’s becoming apparent that learning online can also benefit almost everyone else.

“It’s very clear that five years from now, on the web, for free…you will be able to find the greatest lectures in the world on the web,” Bill Gates recently predicted in an interview at Techonomy 2010.

Gates is not the only smart guy pulling for online education to extend the reach, affordability, and even quality of education. Here’s why the virtual classroom counts deans of prestigious universities, entrepreneurs, and people who want to change the world as its advocates.

http://mashable.com/2011/01/03/virtual-classroom/

Cisco: Creating Connected Learning Societies: Connect, Collaborate, Innovate.

Connected learning inspires new connections: between students, with faculty, within the campus, and with the wider community. Colleges and universities can thrive by taking advantage of Cisco solutions to create connected, on-demand learning environments. The rewards are increased administrative efficiency, enhanced safety and security, and engaged students who are drawn by the interactivity and collaboration they have grown up to expect. We want to join in your vision for a connected campus that inspires students, faculty, and staff to engage in lifelong learning.

http://campustechnology.com/microsites/cisco-connected-learning_10a/home.aspx?pc=e175nl01&utm_source=webmktg&utm_medium=E-Mail&utm_campaign=e175nl01