Changing Focus...

A few years back, I started this blog to discuss educational technologies and interventions for improving human performance. I borrowed the blog's byline from the movie The Matrix, trading spoons for calcium carbonate. My point in selecting this quote was to note the ever-changing nature of what a "solution" is, and that true solutions never really fit in molds or follow conventions.

I want to redirect the meaning of my borrowed metaphor by shifting this blog to focus on the emergence - or rather, re-emergence - of VR, virtual reality, as a viable technology for solving problems. I will also be including augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), as I envision a future that harnesses all three of these technologies rather than pitting them against each other. But other technologies that will rapidly change how we learn are those that power how the machines around us learn. Machine learning (ML) and data mining (DM) will allow computers to begin to generate VR environments for organizations. The big data (BD) that enterprises have been gathering for a few years now will become the database from which the data mining can be done.

The other obvious augmentation to all of these is to bring mobile into the mix, but for now, I want to emphasize my shift to a technology focus, here. I want to make sure I note that simply using tech isn't enough to serve as an OD/OM/JIT solution in itself. In that spirit, here is a smattering of the VR/MR/AR and DM/ML/BD developments from the last few years, that will fuel the next decade of advancements:

• Magic Leap and the future of mixed reality 
• Microsoft HoloLens
• IGN Reviews the First-Generation Consumer-Edition Oculus Rift
• How HTC and Valve Built the Vive
• Machine Learning
• Data Mining Machine Learning at Arizona State University
• AstroML: Machine Learning and Data Mining for Astronomy
• What's the Difference Between Data Mining, Statistics, Machine Learning, and AI?