Category Archives: technology

Should toddlers be on your phone or tablet?

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Here is an article about this topic: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/04/living/screen-free-week-schools-susan-linn/index.html?hpt=hp_bn11

Personally, we do not allow our 3 or 1 year old to use our devices. The reason why: We are scared they will break them. They do watch TV so I cannot say that is any better or worse than the tablet. Having said that, neither of our kids show any interest in our devices either. If they were interested it might be a different story but at this point they do not use them. My advice to parents is that technology can be good or bad – you just need to set limits and know what your children are doing. And this goes for everything, not just technology.

College Tuition

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Complaining that college tuition is too high and going to a school that is 60k a year is like owning a ferrari and complaining that cars cost too much. Just as there are new cars for under 10k, there are colleges that cost around 40-50k for the entire 4 year degree.

Amazon TV

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Amazon TV was just announced yesterday. This device seems pretty cool. It has games, like minecraft, which is pretty nice (but its the android version). It also has amazon prime, which apple tv doesnt. It does not have hbogo though:( Here is a breakdown:

Amazon Fire
Amazon Fire TV		 Roku 3
Roku 3		 Apple TV
Apple TV		 Google Chromecast
Google Chromecast
Pricing $99 $99 $99 $35
Form Factor Box Box Box Dongle that sticks into TV
HDMI Compatibility Yes Yes Yes Yes
Voice Commands Yes No No No
Processor Quad-core Dual-core Single-core Single-core
Memory 2 GB 512 MB 512 MB 512 MB
Video Apps Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Crackle, Showtime Anywhere, Bloomberg TV HBO Go, Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Crackle, Showtime Anywhere iTunes, Disney Anywhere, HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, YouTube, Bloomberg TV, WatchABC Google Play, HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, YouTube
Music Apps Vevo, Pandora, Vimeo Vevo, Pandora, Vimeo, Spotify Vevo, Vimeo, iTunes Google Play, Vevo, Pandora, Rdio, Songza
Sports Apps Watch ESPN, NBA League Pass Watch ESPN, NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, NHL Gamecenter, Major League Soccer Watch ESPN, NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, NHL Gamecenter None
Number of Games 100+; “thousands” more coming Less than 100 None None
Remote Voice search, physical remote (no line of sight needed) Physical remote, iOS app available Physical remote, iOS/Android app available (no line of sight needed) App controlled
Gaming Controller Yes; $39.99 (sold separately) No No No

 

Occulus Rift Review

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I had the chance last night to try out Occulus Rift in my Gaming and Simulation class and thought I would share my thoughts. Keep in mind I only had the opportunity to try it one time as did each of my students. Here are my thoughts:

Its awesome, there are tons of possibilities for it, I am really excited for it, but there is still a glitch in VR tech.

So….its awesome. It has a tons of cool demos, that come with it, so that you can test the technology and its really fun to go through them. You really feel like you are in a virtual world. You can look around, move around, etc. in these virtual worlds. Some of these demos are fun and some are geared towards education.

When you first look at the goggles, you notice that there are two eyes, rather than just one screen, in the unit. You also need to put ear phones (really ear plugs) on to get a better effect. The unit is very light though, you dont even notice it is on except for the wires and I am sure they eventually come out with a wireless one.

There are tons of possibilities for the technology. I am most excited for this to use Kinect technology so that your whole body can be used with the VR screen.

There is one glitch that is slowly being solved – you can get motion sickness from it. I did after about a minute and when I took the goggles off I felt like I had just been on a roller coaster ride. Other students felt the same way after using it but I was one of the only ones that got motion sickness while using. Apparently the motion sickness goes away as you get used to the technology. This is why VR technology failed in the 90s. Apparently they are still working on this issue though and believe they have a solution. It should also be noted that I used an older version of the occulus rift – they have an even newer version out now, which solves this problem even more. This problem, in my opinion, will make or break this technology as it just wont be used on large scales if people get sick from it. But my fingers are crossed that it gets solved.

If you are interested in purchasing this, its only $300 for the developer kit, which is a beta version of the technology: http://www.oculusvr.com/

Here is a picture of me in the goggles during my class:

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Get certified to teach online!

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The Watson College of Education at UNCW Introduces New Online Teaching & Learning Certificate Program

Beginning this summer, the Watson College of Education will offer a post-baccalaureate certificate in Online Teaching and Learning (OT&L).  The 18-credit hour program is designed to meet growing demand from K-12 schools, colleges and universities and businesses for professionals who are interested to gain knowledge and skills to design, develop, implement, manage and evaluate effective online and blended learning programs.

WCE’s Online Teaching and Learning certificate is the first program of its kind in the state.  Courses are offered in the evening and led by faculty with real-world experience in K-12, government and corporate settings.  Full time students and working professionals who enroll in the program can participate either face-to-face or online through synchronous conferencing technology.

The Watson College of Education is now accepting applications for summer and fall 2014. For more information please see the attached flyer, visit http://uncw.edu/ed/mit/otlcertification.html or contact Florence Martin, Instructional Technology Program Coordinator (martinf@uncw.edu or 910-962-7174).

See attached brochure:  MIT_OTLCertbrochure

Friendster founder in 2014

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For those that remember friendster in the early 2000s, this is an interview with the founder. Pretty to read it. Friendster was the original social network before myspace and facebook. It had a lot of users and seemed promising when it was first released. If they would have pushed the marketing I think it would have been bigger.

“It was a really weird time. Friendster at the time was still a very small company,” he says. “We viewed ourselves as the David, not the Goliath. There were the Yahoos and the AOLs and we were this tiny, little startup. But the moment Friendster got the publicity, people started to copy it. Of course we were aware of all of them.” Even with all that competition, Abrams recognized early on that Facebook might pose a unique threat. On Friendster, users could set up profiles, connect with friends and family, search for new contacts (and, yes, potential dates) based on the people you were already connected to and interact with people on the social network through messages and groups. It was essentially a more pared down version of Facebook and the latter had the added benefit of quickly gaining popularity among college students.

Full article

Online learning: Have we reached market saturization?

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A new report suggests that online course growth is slowing. This is not new either – there have been reports over the last 2-3 years that online growth has stagnated. We have hit a point in the market where demand is being met. We all knew this point would come and it took about 10 years to get there. Of course online learning has been around longer but it wasn’t really mainstream until the early 2000s and I think I am being generous by saying that.