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Microsoft HoloLens Team – AR\VR\Mixed Reality – Creating the University of the Future

Oct 31, 2018 | Meeting Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a very interesting, and promising, meeting with the HoloLens team at Microsoft last week. Parenthetically, it was a nostalgic visit for me, as the meeting was in Building #6…the first of about a dozen buildings that were my home away from home during my 20 years at Microsoft.

I must admit, up until this point in time, I had been rather dubious about the value of augmented and virtual reality.  This has mostly been caused by a lack of pedagogical content available for use on HoloLens or any of the other mainstream VR platforms that I’ve experimented with.

My meeting with the HoloLens team gave me my first real glimpse of how VR might soon be a viable tool in education. While it still may not be ready for prime time today, I do believe it has turned a corner and should be considered for our Digital Learning Initiative.

Here are some education videos that Microsoft shared with me.  I think that they are very compelling, especially, the healthcare videos.  They are well worth a watch.

-Jim

 

 

 

 

Will Big Brands Disrupt Higher Education?

Oct 3, 2018 | News & Insights

Interesting article in TechCrunch, “Will big brands disrupt higher education?”  The general thesis is the threat and opportunity created by commercial brands that have expertise and credibility in specific domain areas (e.g., Amazon-cloud computing; The Four Seasons-hospitality management; GlaxoSmithKline; bench chemists) and the potential for universities to collaborate with them.

I believe that this trend is still in the early stages but could quickly accelerate.  Many higher education institutions are partnering with commercial entities but, to date, it has mostly been at the entry skill level.  The question is, do we fight this trend or leverage it?

-Jim

Episode 0: Podcast Series

Oct 1, 2018 | Podcasts

Each week, and especially after each major milestone meeting of the digital learning business case research project, Gates Bryant of Tyton Partners and Jim Ptaszynski will provide a short 5 – 10 minute audio podcast.  The purpose is to identify and address some of the current issues in the project that could benefit from additional discussion and thought.  In addition, they will highlight what new issues are on deck to be addressed. They decided to do an audio podcast hoping that you can listen to it on your drive home rather than when you are pinned down with a hundred different things at your office.  You can access the podcast series through the DLI blog on your phone or laptop