1. A smorgasbord of ideas to generate innovative, big thinking at your institution
Panelists: Vinay Narayan, Carrie Shaw, Mary Spio
Moderator: Daniel Christian
February 28, 2017

2. Agenda Brief introductory piece Panel discussion
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), & Mixed Reality (MR)
Q&A
If time, several other ideas

3. Metaphors For this brief introductory piece: Radars Pulse-checking*
* Surveying the relevant landscapes is an increasingly important skill for our students to have

4. “Are the following ideas and areas on your institution’s radar?”
Going with the radar metaphor, the important question is:
“Are the following ideas and areas on your institution’s radar?”
New ideas are very fragile; but if given a chance, they can grow and have a significant impact.

5. Blockchain
A distributed database that’s shared and constantly reconciled
“Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.”
Transactional history = the “chain”

6. Blockchain: Lifelong, cloud-based learner profiles

7. AI, machine learning, deep learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is usually defined as the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans
Applications of deep learning:
Speech recognition
Image recognition
Natural language processing (NLP)
Recommendation systems
Other

8. AI, machine learning, deep learning, NLP
Personal assistants
Amazon’s Alexa
Apple’s Siri
Microsoft’s Cortana
Facebook’s M
Google Assistant
Apps that integrate Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Voice-based interfaces
Speech recognition

9. AI, machine learning, deep learning, NLP
Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter filmed answering Q’s, generating ~25 hrs of footage
Using NLP, learners are able to ask Gutter’s projected image Q’s that trigger relevant responses

10. IBM Watson: Cognitive computing

11. AI, machine learning, deep learning, NLP
What does it mean for skills to be added to Alexa, the intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon?
Developers released 4,000 new skills for the voice assistant in just the last quarter! Techcrunch.com
100 skills per day! Zacks.com
Amazon’s Alexa is becoming a platform!

12. Other areas (if time, after panel)
Chat bots
Internet of Things / M2M communications
Exponential pace of change
Need for more TrimTab Groups
Need for more team-based content creation & delivery
Software/algorithms needed to help select which space to renovate next
9.7 billion people by 2050: Systems of education going to hold up?

13. New forms of Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), & Mixed Reality (MR)
Which brings us to our panel discussion!

14. Vinay Narayan
ED, Virtual Reality Product Management, HTC Vive

15. Carrie Shaw
CEO & Founder Embodied Labs

16. Mary Spio
Founder & Chief Product Architect, CEEK VR INC

17. Panel discussion I’ll introduce several topics
Then we’ll open it up to your questions

18. Panel discussion
An example of VR from Carrie – link

19. Panel discussion

20. Are these things on your radar?
If there’s time…
…we can briefly discuss the topics/areas listed below
Again, the question is:
Are these things on your radar?

21. Chatbots
Chat bots are computer programs that mimic conversation w/ people using AI
Via written or spoken text
Can plug into messaging platforms such as Facebook’s WhatsApp and/or Messenger
Applications for traveling, online shopping, banking, tech support, the weather, etc.

22. Chatbots could answer questions about:
Prospective students (recruitment)
Your mission, campus, academic programs
If an application was received and what’s the status of the application
Current students
What’s my balance and when’s it due?
What courses am I taking next semester and where/when do they meet?
Where is a certain building?
Bus routes/times
…and more

23. Internet of Things (IoT)
Machine-to-machine communications
Faculty member walks into room
System recognizes who it is
Obtains that faculty member’s preferred room settings
Projector goes on
Lights dim to desired level
CMS/LMS gets launched and, based on the time of day it is, the appropriate course is displayed

24. Pace of technological change has changed
Now on exponential curve
AI, automation, robotics likely to have major impact on jobs & employment
People will need to reinvent themselves over & over again
Lifelong/constant learning

25. Need for TrimTab Groups w/in higher education
Need to be more responsive
Update curricula faster
Create smaller, more nimble TrimTab Groups to innovate, experiment
Hand over to the larger organization what’s working
Move on to next endeavor/project

26. Speaking of groups & teams…
Faculty’s plates getting overloaded
Teaching
Research
Advising
Committee meetings & related work
Professional development / new pedagogies/tools
Other
Now, with new forms of HCI coming, do we expect faculty to learn all of that too?
We need more team-based content creation & delivery
The team can – and likely should -- include students!

27. Are we ok or are changes needed?
With the world’s population to hit 9.7 billion by 2050:
Systems of education going to hold up?
Handle additional demand?
Given current cost trajectory, will people be able to afford higher education in 2030? 2040? In 2050?

28. Software needed to help select which space to renovate next
For you entrepreneurs out there…we need software to help us select which space to renovate next
General availability throughout the year
Size in square feet
Current layout of the room
Current age of furniture
Date of last improvement
Willing faculty member(s) with ALC-based pedagogies
# of help desk calls (i.e., # of smart classroom-related rescues)
Potential layouts/designs
Links to preferred vendors for obtaining quotes
Other

29. How do we keep informed about all of these areas?
2 effective possibilities to tap into the ever-flowing streams of content are:
Using an RSS feed aggregator such as Feedly & subscribing to a variety of blogs & RSS feeds
Check out Up and Running with RSS and Podcast Subscriptions on Lynda.com
Using Google alerts
google.com/alerts
Search items for certain keywords or phrases

30. Thank you for your time & attention!
Panelists: Vinay Narayan, Carrie Shaw, Mary Spio
Moderator: Daniel Christian
February 28, 2017