InfoComm in Las Vegas, Day 3

The days are bleeding into each other, with a somewhat late night from Day 2 carrying over into Day 3, with musical fountains and musical paint buckets (awesome street performer using the most basic pots, pans and buckets for percussion).

Inside Caesar's Palace

My second (and final) day in the Exhibit Hall brought the challenge of getting to at least see the remaining booths -- and with a total of 1000 exhibitors, that was a formidable task.  I think I may have almost accomplished this, but of course it means that I literally just saw the booth and decided to keep walking for a large number of these.  The two buzz words in the booths I saw were definitely collaboration and huddle (as a prefix). 

Curved moving display

 This day brought a larger number of options for video conferencing, some interesting interactive boards/tables, a few more collaborative options, and of course the random cool stuff.  Lots of displays of multiple displays merged together to create large, interactive walls or differently shaped surfaces for display (curves, crystals).  Some of these displays (multiple monitors managed) raise the question if we need something like this in our School of Communication and Journalism

Video conferencing:
Ubiety, bought by Cisco, claims to have a different licensing model
Starleaf:  video conference in the cloud
Videxio:  also in the cloud
beam max is the video conference system on wheels -- as in, I am at a remote location, and you can talk to me through a quasi robot on wheels that can move through a space and thus have more personal contact than the usual static video conferencing position
Infocus Monopad can connect to up to 46 screens

Collaboration:
HP collaboration with intel unite -- allows for easy file sharing
Displaynote Technologies Montage:  remote users can connect into the collaboration
QVS collaboration allows for up to 64 users to connect to one display who have their content to be shared queued up for up to 4 displayed on one monitor
Mersive has a system called Solstice that is designed around its own app for Windows, Mac, iOS, with unlimited connections and a neat way to shift content about
AMX Enzo:   the latest version now has a Firefox browser, so we definitely want to get ours upgraded to that to see how it fares with virtual machines.  The web site is kind of cool with its Campus Explorer module.

Interactive boards/tables:
Display 10:  has an endless interactive board
Scalable Display has a Huddle Wall that is magnetic, looks like a very thin white board with magnetic backing
QuirkLogic :  they market themselves as digital paper
Salamander Design had some nice models of foldable tv
Odin Tech has a very interesting display that can be turned black and then also written with chalk on -- and I saw a cool eraser with built in water supply -- be aware that the site is in Chinese and I cannot make heads or tail out of it.
Cybertouch was touting Touch Overlays -- if I understand this correctly, this could turn any display into a touch screen

Miscellanous:
I saw a couple of room scheduling solutions, focusing on small displays next to rooms that allow for on the fly scheduling (Eventboard, Condeco claims to sense occupancy
Phoenix has a Condor microphone array that they had set up under their display and could capture sound to at least 26 feet.

Connectrack prototype

Connecttrack has very low wire covers and are about to come out with a cover that can go under the carpet, similar to Thread -- key difference is that this solution can also bundle network cables, and it appears to have a very neat way to bring the power into the room.  I just cannot find them online...
ISmart lecture capture follows the lecturer.
Audience Response System has clickers that look rather outdated but they can cover up to 2000 responders at the same time
The couple of companies I saw for acoustic panels had very creative looking solutions

Waveion

Waveion -- I don't know what it does, but it looks cool!

Las Vegas Sunset

InfoComm in Las Vegas, Day 2

InfoComm 2016

InfoComm is just enormous -- 1000 exhibitors, over 40,000 attendees, way too many square feet, and the conference even has food trucks and its on tv channel -- just mind boggling.

View of Exhibit Hall

I spent almost 6 hours working my way through the exhibit hall - and I am not done yet...
Here are some products that peeked my interest.





Classroom Design:
As you know part of my mission I chose to accept is to find collaborative technologies that will work for the EASL classrooms.  This conference has quite a few, and they are all starting to look rather similar.
Blackbox's Coalesce system    This system looks like it would work best in a conference room setting.
Wolfvision Cynap  promising system that even allows annotation across multiple displayed devices
Qomo's Ormi and Ormiboard:  brand new company that allows for the building of interactive exercises, games, etc - and the students can build, too. I am thinking some of the natural sciences where you need to build molecules, DNA, and other graphically based artifacts.  The software they showed is released June 26, so nothing is quite online about it yet.  They also have a document camera that can be mounted to the wall and stored in a little cabinet when not in use -- an interesting concept I had not seen before.
Epson interactive portable whiteboard table -- can be adjusted from whiteboard to table to easle, making it an interesting option for any class dealing with design.  The table is on wheels but not quite what I would call portable.
Crestron
Phillips D-live
VIA (Kramer): promising system, they think linux collaboration may be possible (for our splinter group on campus), system integrates with Skype for Business, and shared content can be annotated and saved locally.  Document camera feed can be annotated as well.
cyviz:  This Norwegian company focuses on collaboration - what I found interesting was their remote management of and training on their control touch panels
Barco:  Yes, they still have the hockey pucks (Clickshare) but are moving into the same direction of no longer needing that kind of device and using Airplay etc to connect.  Their set-up was nice, with the teacher being able to have up to 8 displays on the main screen, to control which student feed needs to be shared to all, to lock the screens for greater focus

I also found some interesting video conference solution that may work for synchronous distance education:
1 beyond - has a portable system, a concept that appears to pick up momentum
onescreen:  is software based, with the beginning license covering 25 seats that may accomodate quite a few classes.
vyopta for video conference management was in the innovation corner -- they manage video conference traffic across multiple platforms to trouble shoot, analyze data, and claim that their product can cut down on cost.

Finally, some miscellaneous finds:
Flexglass - so flexible you can roll it up and store
IDEA Screen from Chief: I am wondering if they are connected to IDEA paint - the logo looked the same
Brown Innovations has physical cone of silence solutions
Samsung's large displays synced to mobile devices
Mybeam explained to me how their system together with sound masking could create a cone of silence.
Drywall Trapper:  for when you have to cut holes in to the ceiling
Nureva Span sticky note wall uses multiple projectors to create one long interactive wall -- looks quite interesting.


My findings are of course barely scratching the surface - one space is covered in stage light, stage audio system exhibits, with fog machines and light shows (and live music).  One place has an artist's installation:  Refik Anadol's Infinity Room

Infinity Room

Animation display

Another area has lots of switches, wires, tools, different systems to mount displays, and another area has a lot of projection system, with the big screens at front and center.

curved display

Finally, the hall also has an innovation corner with brand new products that you can vote on as the most likely success.

Speaking of large displays -- we zip lined under the largest display last night at the Fremont Street Experience -- quite the cultural experience, rounded out by a visit to the El Cortez casino which is one of the older ones in town.  Just like in the movies...

largest video display at Fremont

zipline

downtown Vegas

downtown Vegas

Praying Mantis at Container Park

Container Park

bizarre place to eat

UBTech and InfoComm 2016 in Las Vegas, Day 1

I am spending a couple of days in Las Vegas to see what kind of new classroom technologies I can find at the UBTech and InfoComm 2016 events.  As this is my first time in Vegas, that in itself is rather overwhelming.
First impression (although I have been told this is an exception) -- my flight was quite the carnival.  With a rather lively flight attendant (I am wondering if he has as his night job a comedy routine) who asked riddles, told jokes, sang, and even asked us to participate in, what he called, low-stakes illegal gambling, the flight was certainly one of the noisier ones I have been on.

My first stop this morning was at the convention center to pick up my badge -- what a massive place and the conference is rather enormous as well although this is not so much about sessions (I have the sense fewer than at Educause) but about gear, so lots of vendors.
To get started, I went to the Exhibit hall at UBTech.  Most of the venues I saw I was familiar with but a couple of items struck me as worth a second look.

For classroom technology:
HoverCam showed me a couple of very compact document cameras but also a movable (on wheels) interactive monitor connected via an extended arm to a lectern shelf on which they have a document camera and a tablet computer.  It looks impressive and rather heavy, can be lowered and raised and may be the ultimate flexible teaching station:  HoverCam CenterStage

A couple of camera folks were showing ways to keep the camera focused on a moving target -- so, similar to what we have been doing with the swivl, but possibly more stable.  Vaddio has a beacon you can hang around your neck to keep the camera trained on you but also some pads to stand on to trigger adjustment of the camera -- I was thinking that that kind of pad might be useful in a larger classroom when students want to be captured on camera.  Another company is using face recognition software to keep the camera trained, so nothing around your neck that may look awkward but 2 minutes of training.  Dycap connects this feature with their lecturecapture system.

At one table, I found mention of Auburn University, in particular the College of Business and their new Financial Training room that is managed using EBS's Alphadidact Digital system

I had a brief discussion with cboard, a company that focuses on student ID cards, and the future of student IDs -- think apps to show you how much money is left on your student card from Tiger dining, where you left your ID card, an app tied to your ID that may substitute as a way to get into buildings and rooms.

I also had a brief chat with IT Training Solutions as a possibility for a different way to do Auburn's required Securing the Human training.  I hope that we can look at their offers more carefully when we decide on the next version of this training.

Las Vegas Trip Fashion Show

Las Vegas Strip the Venetian

Las Vegas Strip Treasure Island

And then I did a brief dip into Vegas atmosphere by strolling through a casino cavern, admiring architecture and baking in the sun.

Distance Education Academy

Over the next two weeks, about 15-20 faculty in the College of Liberal Arts are coming together for our Distance Education Academy, a series of intense workshops to rethink courses that are traditionally taught face-to--face for complete online delivery.  The subject areas range from Art to Theatre, with English, Psychology, Political Science, Journalism, Foreign Languages (Spanish), Philosophy, and Sociology adding to the complexity.

http://detools.wikispaces.com/

We are using Canvas, our learning management system, and have all the participants in it as students so that they can experience all the tools, content delivery, and communication from a student perspective.  With an awesome line-up of guest speakers we are getting perspectives on

• Quality Matters
• Faculty who are teaching online
• Backwards Design
• Copyright
• Accessibility
• Library Resources
• Video/Multimedia integration
• FERPA

Teaching in EASL

Last semester I had the chance to teach real students in an EASL classroom -- so not "just" workshops with faculty who want to rethink their teaching, but first and second year students in a Freshman Composition class.

I could see if what I have been telling faculty, asking them to try out was actually working.  Here some of my experiences.

First of all one big caveat:  as I discovered relatively late that I would teach this class and had not taught this content in, oh, a middling while, I did not go through as rigorous a process of redesigning the course as I suggest needs to happen.  In particular, what I was not able to do as well as I wished was incorporate collaboration and collaborative technologies throughout the entire course.

Still, I was quite happy with student interaction, engagement, preparedness, and, most importantly, learning.   The class was MWF 8-9am, Spring semester -- for some courses that is the proverbial kiss of death in terms of participation, but with a couple of exceptions, my students were in class, ready to work every day.

What did not work that well:
Well, collaboration - students got very comfortable in their first round of groups, and only until they saw that the second set of groups was based in similarity of research topics were they willing to move to a different table.

Classroom technology:  It worked - I just did not use the monitors and monitor sharing capabilities as much as I hoped I would

Modelling resources:  I thought that if I forced them to come to one conference, they would see how useful these are and would do this again -- not.  I thought that if I extended a deadline so that they can go to the Writing Center, they would see how wonderful it is (and they did) and then go back -- not.

Audience Analysis

Rhetorical Triangle

What worked well:
Getting students used to the room:  on the first day, students were talking, writing on glass boards what they remembered learning in their previous writing classes, taking an online quiz in Canvas (yes, they all had a device with them),  The quiz helped me form the first set of groups in terms of diversity of learning/studying style and major

Gallery walks:  we did these a couple of times throughout the semester with different purposes:
1.  Grammar exercise:  every student received a bad sentence from me that she improved on the glass board.  Then students within that group improved on each others' sentences and then moved to the next group of sentences.  This low-stakes exercise helped them remember concise writing without critiquing their own writing.
2.  Thesis improvement and Audience analysis:   a little later in the term, two more gallery walks focused on improving each other's thesis statements and making suggestions on what a particular audience would be like, know, think, feel.
3.  Final presentations:  brochures and posters were presented as a gallery walk, with one half having their materials while the other half roamed the room to listen to the materials, commenting on them in a Google form

Reading ahead of time and working in class:  I am not claiming that everyone read everything for class but with a couple of minutes of thought gathering, we were able to use the readings for useful discussions about rhetorical strategies and how to apply these immediately to their own writing.

Writing in class:  Because we wrote a lot in class, students worked together on revision ideas, had me as a resource, and may not have felt quite as pressured to pull allnighters and turn in bad writing.

Final Exam:  I asked them to write about the lessons/skills/resources that they think they will use in their future courses, with the idea that if they have written it down, they are more likely to do it.  Of course, I have no way of knowing but the items covered were the library databases for future research, the Writing Center, audience analysis, time management in writing a longer draft.