What technologies that have a solid user base in consumer, entertainment, or other industries should colleges and universities be actively looking for ways to apply?

• Cellphones and other mobile devices – Cellphone and mobile devices are moving faster than many other technologies. With TV appearing on cell phones, and other tools, what are the educational applications? with much improved software, video & Flash capability, plus social interaction tools, (SMS, chat) much might be possible. (Diana Oblinger) Concur, Cell Phones dominate student communications. Services emerging that provide "channels" of information that are accessed through common cell phones using mobile Internet browsers and text messages.(vincent doogan)
• Virtual Groups and Collaboration – these tools are very widely used in business, and their ability to support distributed work and processes is improving all the time (Diana Oblinger)
• 3-D Scans and Projection – these hologram-like tools increasingly allow visualization of context (Diana Oblinger) - and 3d printing (Bryan Alexander)
• Digital gaming - a domain which already defines a generation, constitutes a global industry, and has transformed media literacy, with no signs of stopping. New forms, fluencies, communities develop rapidly. (Bryan Alexander) Also, maybe rise of game console/media center as educational tech platform. (Alan Levine) Distributed, multi-player games will give students a taste of the global, multinational interactions they're likely to be involved in when they enter the workfoce. Also, tie with Virtual Groups above. (Richard Baraniuk)
• Tivo Apply same primciple to educational content, ability to capture learning, timeshift?? (Alan Levine) Tivo is changing the way advertisers think about getting their message out (Diana Oblinger)
• Instant/Text Messaging move from class annoyance or add-on to applied use, perhaps usurp email as primary communication tool (Alan Levine)
  
• PodCasts - the ease of capturing MP3 audio (see the iRiver N-series recorder/player) the option for a student to hear the lecture their faculty gave in class should be easy to scale and ubiquitously available. (Phil Long) And let's go beyond one way broadcasts- more on practice and tools for students oontributing audio content, perhaps an audio form of a wiki? (Alan Levine) Our NYU Medical Center/ NYU School of Medicine, Continuing Medical Education using Podcasting via Web and within Apple iTunes. (vincent doogan)
• Metadata search - if one knows when, how and/or where indormation is created it will greatly simplify searches in this continuously increasing flux of information. This applies nicely to college courses, homeworks, illustrations, etc. (Jean Paul)
• Active Community Driven Social Networks - Craigslist for education?
• Blogs - opportunity for public presentation of thoughts (Joeann Humbert) and something with more permanance then a course management system which evaporates every six months, e.g. idea of a digital backpack for life (Alan Levine)
• eBay, Amazon - for used books, books, school supplies (Joeann Humbert) or maybe a Netflix approach? Also Peerflix a new service for trading DVDs by posting "haves" and "wants" (Alan Levine)
• ATM like podiums - for Bursar, Registration, event tickets, etc (Joeann Humbert) and make them accept Bluetooth? (Alan Levine)
• GPS units - coordinates for rooms, parking lots, directions (Joeann Humbert)
• Mobility pseudo-devices such as projection keyboards, ie, keyboards projected by small boxes onto any surface where one can do touch-typing and the projection box would detect light interuption to find which key one typed. Another technology would be a display-anywhere where, again, one can project an image on any surface such as a file cabinet, a medicine cabinet, a desk, the ground, etc (Jean Paul)
• Improved quality video teleconferencing announced by companies such as Lifesize, Tandberg, and Polycom promise a better learning experience through high definition video and surround sound, as well as ease of use multipoint connectivity. The higher quality video and sound makes the technology more transparent to the learner; the multipoint capability allows for the bringing in of multiple "voices" — there is the possibility for this to be used both as a communication device among students at different locations (e.g. onsite on project, different schools) as well as by instructors bringing the world into their classrooms on a planned or ad hoc basis. (anonymous?)
• Self Serivce Video Capture - Technologies for capturing lectures and other fixed location group events now exist which enable a faculty member to walk into their classroom and initiate a capture of a class session that can be automatically uploaded to the web. When it saves time, faculty will adopt. (Phil Long)
• Individually controlled self-darkening 'glass' panels - They're here today - they're installed in the high-tech, and high cost luxury suites and board rooms - clear panels that give transparency to enclosed spaces (seminar rooms, CTL's etc.) but they are too costly. A market is ready for them by demonstrating the size fo the market, the prices will fall to make the market viable. (Phil Long)
• Mapping - NASA World Wind (Malcolm Brown)
• On demand printing - New ways to create customized (good) and cost-effective (better) course packs and texts from companies like FedExKinkos.com, Lulu.com, QOOP.com. (Richard Barainuk)
  
  
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