re-inventing education

 Posted by on March 1, 2011 at 16:27  education, internet, telepresence, video calling  No Responses »
Mar 012011
 

We’re on the brink of an education re-invention. I know that sounds weird, especially considering the dismal state of most school budgets these days, but perhaps that will actually become an opportunity for innovation to slip in the door.

Pervasive Internet, video and telepresence apps for education, collaboration software and mobile apps are the ingredients for this re-invention. We don’t know exactly how the recipe will come together, but we’re seeing key events. Three recent ones:

Cisco cities in the clouds

Video-based curriculum, like Khan Academy

Skype education directory to help facilitate more video collaboration

The idea of static words in a dead textbook serving as the basis to try to engage live students in a constantly changing world will soon keep fax modems and Wang computers company.

    videoconferencing – future from the past

     Posted by on December 18, 2010 at 23:30  telepresence, video calling, video conferencing  No Responses »
    Dec 182010
     

    The general theme of this video calling reinvention is failed technology of the past (videoconferencing) finding success today (video calling and telepresence). Compare netbooks and iPads to their ancestors of the past as another current example.

    Want to predict the future of technology? Look at today’s technology that doesn’t succeed, and consider whether it would succeed in the future as we pass new inflections points in networks, chips and processing. Easier said than done – not sure many folks struggled to setup videoconferencing over ISDN years ago and could have made the leap to the telepresence systems of today – but today’s failures are tomorrow’s successes.

    Video calling and telepresence is a great example. Look at how consumer video calling is heating up. MG Siegler writes that Google’s rumored +1 social service will include videoconferencing services. Skype is already a leader and will likely make interesting announcements leading up to their IPO. Cisco is also playing, with a recently announced retail telepresence product, Umi.

    Enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence is also hot, after it was left for dead. Like Apple in retail, Cisco is using their marketing muscle to reinvent a market segment, instigating the enterprise video calling reinvention with their immersive telepresence products.

    Soon mobile videoconferencing will join the party, and mobile, retail and enteprise videoconferencing and video calling spaces will overlap and conflict. But more on that and on videoconferencing and telepresence in future posts (my job is building telepresence services).