The fundamental question we should be asking children as they grow up is no longer what they want to “be” but rather what they would like to “do.” What problems are they passionate about solving, and what are the skills that will enable them to achieve their goals.

Traditional education models are at odds with this type of thinking, however, as they are still built largely around the mythology of finite goals. The concept that there are clear milestones and an eventual finishing line to learning was never ideal, but it is even more woefully inadequate in a technology-enabled world. To thrive in volatile environments, we must embrace life-long learning.

Traditional education is still built upon the mythology of finite goals
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One solution that educators are deploying to bridge that gap between traditional learning delivery systems and newer workflows and expectations, is the use of gamified learning platforms. Gamified learning is very helpful in cultivating a mind-set where problem-solving becomes a fun activity, and failure is seen as a stepping stone.

If, like myself, you’re old enough to have earned your gaming chops alongside Mario or Sonic, you’re unlikely to recall exactly how many times you “died” along the way, or exactly how you adapted your strategy incrementally after each setback. The moments when you beat that boss and rescue the princess, however, tend to stick with you.

Vice President of Education at Microsoft Anthony Salcito spoke with me during this week’s Education Exchange conference (E2 in Paris), which brought together a diverse group of educators from all over the world to discuss how best to leverage technology such as Minecraft to deliver better learning outcomes for students.

One solution that educators are deploying to bridge that gap between traditional learning delivery systems and newer workflows and expectations, is the use of gamified learning platforms
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For those unfamiliar with Minecraft, it is a game that allows players to construct 3D worlds out of textured cubes, but players must explore and gather resources in order to do so. There are individual and collaborative multi-player modes. It was originally published in 2011 before being acquired by Microsoft in 2014. To date it has sold over 121 million copies making it second only to Tetris in terms of popularity. Microsoft has since developed Minecraft: Education Edition which is used in schools and has additional pedagogical tools and functionalities.

Learning by Teaching

“When you find something joyful, you will discover that fully. I learn more from students than the people actually coding the game in Redmond, says Meenoo Rami ,Educator Advocate at Minecraft and Microsoft.

Since many students are already familiar with the platform from playing the game at home, educators are able to draw upon the student’s own expertise and to focus on the learning aspects rather than covering the mechanics of the technology itself. It also prompts situations where “expert” users mentor younger learners and also help teachers who might not be as familiar with the platform as their students, further fostering a collaborative ethos in the classroom.

When you find something joyful, you will discover that fully
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Building Modular Skillsets

Another advantage of Minecraft is that it helps to encourage a modular approach to building skillsets. When each new problem demands you to find and leverage different resources, materials and collaborations, you start to envisage those as pieces of a puzzle, for which there are multiple possible solutions. This is why LEGO and Minecraft have proven so popular and effective in those contexts, as their core design is in itself modular.

A recently published survey polled teachers across 11 countries and four continents. It revealed that students’ decision-making and communication ability were positively impacted by the time they spent playing Minecraft, and that it cultivated a creative problem-solving mind-set.

In Minecraft, starting over represents a new opportunity rather than a regrettable ordeal. Remaining calm and focusing on solving a problem is a skill that is likely to serve students well throughout their academic and professional careers.

Another advantage of Minecraft is that it helps to encourage a modular approach to building skillsets
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Growth Mind-set

Surveyed teachers reported that students using the platform were confident interacting freely during lessons, exercising agency often without prompts from teachers and overcoming challenges as teams. They found that working through the game made it easier to bridge accessibility issues, in that students with different learning styles and abilities were more easily able to find common ground, and to share what they discover in multiple formats.

Surveyed teachers reported that students using Minecraft were confident interacting freely during lessons, exercising agency often without prompts from teachers and overcoming challenges as teams.
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They also felt comfortable experimenting, and perceived failure as part of the creative learning process. This resilience and growth mind-set is very much recognized as a key desirable trait by employers, specially in innovative industries such as technology.

Paradoxically, however, the more teachers and students utilized the Minecraft platform to deliver pedagogical content and improve learning outcomes, the less emphasis they placed on the game itself. As is often the case with successful technology solutions, the measure of their success hinges on how invisible they become, allowing the content to shine through.

Social Emotional Learning

Considering how videogaming is often perceived as being socially isolating , it is somewhat surprising that one of the areas that was most dramatically improved by engagement with the Minecraft for Education platform was social and emotional learning (SEL).

A study conducted by Microsoft has shown that an increasing number of schools across the SEL, an approach that builds skills and competencies that help students be successful in school, work, and life.

In the context of K–12 education, SEL is the process through which students acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

SEL initiatives thrive when woven into subjects across the curriculum throughout the traditional school day, tackling real-world problems, or at the very least problems that “feel” real to students.

Research has shown that students exposed to SEL are better equipped to manage themselves and exhibit agency over their own academic experience, have a greater understanding of the perspectives of others and a better ability to relate effectively to them, and are able to make sound choices about personal and social decisions.

Social emotional learning comes to life when knowledge is applied to solving relevant problems, whether in the context of real-world scenarios or disguised as play. One of the best examples that Rami showed me was how students needed to leverage basic chemistry to obtain materials such as latex. This could in turn can be used to make balloons. And those balloons can be attached to the whimsical pigs that populate the game (once you manage to catch them, that is). I have a feeling that applying chemistry to make pigs fly is the sort of thing that might make a student remember what that chemical components of latex are far better than memorizing the periodic table ever could. I know the image of those floating square pigs stuck in my mind.

Social emotional learning comes to life when knowledge is applied to solving relevant problems, whether in the context of real-world scenarios or disguised as play
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Educators have the opportunity to help students develop empathy through gaming and imagine how they’d like to be treated
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Comprehensive SEL goals include developmental benchmarks across five key social and emotional competency domains, encompassing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making skills.

Minecraft creates opportunities for transformational learning experiences. says Dr. Michelle Zimmerman, an educational researcher who works at Renton Prep Christian School, an institution which makes extensive use of the platform in delivering its curriculum.

Educators have the opportunity to help students develop empathy through gaming and imagine how they’d like to be treated, talk through scenarios in gaming and in their personal lives, and discuss how they would do something differently (or have wanted to be treated differently), then practice those skills. Technology doesn’t impede our ability to build relationships; conversely, with regard to gaming in the classroom, it can serve to further bolster them. We know that human connection can be powerful in many settings and environments. Gaming is no exception, Zimmerman concludes.

I have a feeling that applying chemistry to make pigs fly is the sort of thing that might make a student remember what that chemical components of latex are far better than memorizing the periodic table ever could
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Educators are champions, without them we can’t do this
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It’s somewhat ironic, Salcito says, that as the world becomes ever more digital, companies like Microsoft are more than ever in need of hiring people with interpersonal skills. As artificial intelligence transforms the labour market, the importance of human skills like creativity, interpersonal understanding, and empathy becomes exponentially more valuable.

Therefore, those who can make connections and foster collaboration in globally distributed teams, who are capable of relating to, empathise with, and inspire their peers. And that valuing of so-called “soft skills” in the workplace is far from a trend that’s unique to Microsoft. Because more companies are demanding this, universities are also pivoting towards offering “mission based” degrees. In other words, you enrol in order to explore how to solve a problem rather than to “become” something.

It’s somewhat ironic that as the world becomes ever more digital, companies like Microsoft are more than ever in need of hiring people with interpersonal skills
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Stephane Cloatre, Minecraft Global Mentor who works in partnership with Microsoft, says that this flexibility also allows the platform to evolve and incorporate emerging technologies as they become more prevalent for students. Mixed Reality, which is a big focus for Microsoft’s own strategy, is a prime example of this.

Rami adds that students and teachers ask all the time about when immersive functionality will be rolled out on the platform, but for Cloatre, the pieces are in place for that to happen, since Minecraft is pretty much a 3D design platform already. It is easy to see how that could actually become quite an exciting avenue in future, as immersive tech becomes pervasive it will require lot of fresh talent and skilled professionals to develop the ecosystem to its full potential.

Yet none of this, Salcito stresses, can happen without proactive educators leveraging the platform to appropriately support learning outcomes for students. “Educators are champions, without them we can’t do this,” he concludes.

This article was originally published on IDG Connect

Is #Minecraft the future of #education? – https://t.co/ErwDgvXk7Q @alicebonasio @IDGCN @CIOonline#edtech

— IDG Contributor Network (@IDGCN) April 8, 2019

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. You can follow @alicebonasio on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or subscribe to her Inside VR/AR Newletter for all the latest curated immersive news.  

The post Building the Future of Education appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Katherine Lutz

Technology has become integral to pretty much every industry at this point, whether it be technology, medicine, law, farming, education or anything in between. This means that computer science and other tech skills are more vital to possess than ever before.

Even if a student has no interest in going into computer science as a career field, coding can be immensely beneficial in their development. Here are three reasons why:

1 – Promoting Useful Skills

One of the best and most useful things about coding is that it comes with a number of other useful skills as well.

The nature of coding project requires a great deal of creativity and problem-solving. Creating code for things like games or web pages is a lot like putting together a puzzle or structuring sentences in a language, so it stretches the creativity muscles quite a bit.

Additionally, the project-based nature of coding promotes a great deal of discipline and dedication. Finishing a coding project is a lot like mastering a song on the piano or successfully completing an essay in a foreign language: a lot of patience and determination is needed, but it feels incredibly rewarding.

For projects that may require more than one individual to complete efficiently, teamwork and communication can also be built up.

Lastly, coding really helps students learn how to think critically and more outside of the box. Just like how coding develops creativity and problem-solving, it pushes students to explore dynamic solutions to the things they come across. While this skill will obviously help them develop higher level coding skills as they go along, the ability to think critically will absolutely spread to other areas of their life and help them in pretty much any subject they encounter in the future.

2 – Aiding Motivation

It can be hard to find motivation at any age, but students often have particular difficulty since they are still developing good habits and figuring out how to productively harness their energy. For instance, if a student feels that their surroundings (teachers, the school system, negative home life, etc.) are responsible for the outcomes of their efforts, it is much more likely for them to struggle to maintain motivation.

Alternatively, if they feel more in control of the way things turn out (practice leading to more successful soccer games, studying resulting in better test grades, etc.), they will feel more motivated to bring about those positive results.

One of the ways to bring about motivation after knowing this is to give them more access to project-based activities instead of tedious, smaller assignments and responsibilities. If a student is tackling a project, they are pushed to be more organized and in charge of the way the project and goals are broken up. If students are exposed to these long-term assignments that require more dedication and investment earlier on, they are more likely to secure solid and regular motivational skills that can help them later in life in just about any area.

2 – Helping Build a Successful Career

For students who are interested in computer science (or those who are still searching for a career path), it’s great to realize just how secure jobs in that field can be. By 2020, there will be an anticipated one million positions open in the U.S. tech industry. Even outside of the tech industry, computer science and coding skills are needed across the board in every industry from medicine, education, farming, law, business and everything in between.

As of 2017, the median annual salary of software developers was around $103,000. In terms of hourly pay, the median rested around $50/hr.

“The upcoming generations are some of the most competitive that we have ever seen. Luckily, it’s no longer a secret that technology and the skills that come along with it are more needed than ever, giving an easy way to give students an edge when entering the job market. Solid computer science skills make for the easiest path to a middle or upper-class lifestyle, and starting students as soon as possible is critical,” says David Dodge, CEO of Codakid,

It’s easy for any parent, teacher or even students themselves to feel anxiety about the approaching job hunt. Whether that search is years away or just on the horizon, it’s best to make sure they are as prepared as they can be to chase and develop a fulfilling and fruitful career when the time comes. Though coding may not even be on the list of skills you want to develop in your students, it’s absolutely something to look into. While it seems like a niche skill that only older students might even find interest in, it is excellent for the promotion of basic useful skills, motivation and the foundation of a successful career for all age groups.

The post 3 Reasons Students Should Learn to Code appeared first on Tech Trends.

If ever there was an example that to me encapsulates how one individual, empowered by knowledge and technology, can make a real difference to the lives of so many others, it’s the company founded by my friend Müjde Esin, who I first met in London just after she graduated from her MA and had set up KizCode in 2015.

KizCode is a social enterprise that seeks to empower girls and young women in ethnic minority groups and disadvantaged communities using digital education technologies and pedagogies that involve making and playing.

The project, Müjde explains, also crucially addresses the wellbeing and mental health of those girls, something which she feels is often overlooked, but is key in a addressing the issue of gender equality and access to opportunities for women in tech.

KizCode has so far received several awards: in 2016 it was recognised by the UK Home Office in England for its contribution to Social Enterprise. Müjde was awarded the 2018 the Women Social Entrepreneur of the year in Turkey and she also received Microsoft’s Women Leaders of Technology award as the most successful Woman Educator in 2017. KizCode is currently collaborating with Koc Holding and Arcelik in Turkey to empower girls in underprivileged communities.

Müjde Esin from @kizcode is one of the finalists for the ninth annual FDM everywoman in Technology Awards @everywomanUK #ewTechAwards #womendotech #techshecan
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Adding to that, Müjde herself has just been nominated as one of the finalists for the ninth annual FDM everywoman in Technology Awards. The International Inspiration Award is given to an individual in recognition of their active commitment to encouraging, advancing, sponsoring or championing the progress of women working in technology. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on March 6^th.

The judges @everywomanUK Awards were united in their admiration and respect for the achievement of this year’s finalists. Congratulations to @mujdesin
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Taking place to celebrate International Women’s Day, the awards are a timely reminder that only 15% of people working in STEM roles in the UK are female and just 5% of leadership positions in the tech industry are held by women. The 2019 awards programme’s rally cry is “Achieve, Elevate and Inspire” and this year’s finalists, whilst diverse in many ways, all have something in common – they do just that.

“The judges were united in their admiration and respect for the achievement of this year’s finalists,” says Maxine Benson MBE, Co-Founder of everywoman. Without question, each of them has the ability to inspire more women and girls into a career in technology. Research by PWC shows that there could be a £180billion boost to UK GDP just by increasing female employment rates. This shows just how valuable female talent is and why this programme is so important in ensuring that more women enter the industry.

@mujdesin collaborates with companies in Turkey and the UK, as well as Turkey’s Education Minister, to deliver computer-coding workshops to girls
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“I grew up in a patriarchal and conservative society and have experienced the reality of girls being discouraged from learning and in engaging in creative practice. While I learned technology skills by myself mostly while I was at university – and with some help from friends – I realised how other girls and young women in a similar situation would benefit from being taught such skills. Technology is at the heart of future developments in society, the economy and international relations. For me it has been an amazing journey to be in Tech as I can say that what I have achieved has been directly as a result of my interest in technology and coding.”

This is what spurred her on to set up her social enterprise to address the issue of gender imbalance in the technology sector by providing training to girls and young women in underprivileged communities in Turkey and Africa.

“I collaborate with companies in Turkey and the UK, as well as Turkey’s Education Minister, to deliver computer-coding workshops to girls and young women. The workshops – which over the past three years have reached over 2000 girls – aim to give them the skills they need to gain financial independence,” she explains. “I am very proud of our workshops participants. Two girls from an underprivileged community in Turkey, after completing my KizCode workshops, were inspired to continue working on their own projects, which they won a prize for. Both are now pursuing a career in the tech industry.”

Her work focuses on diversity and girls’ education, addressing culture from an internal perspective in migrant and minority group communities, and she also provides consultancy services leveraging that expertise to companies looking to address such issues internally.

KizCode is a social enterprise that seeks to empower girls and young women in ethnic minority groups and disadvantaged communities using digital education technologies
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So what’s next for Müjde and KizCode?

“I would like to see gender balance in the technology sector and make education facilities and technologies more accessible to girls in underprivileged societies,” she tells me, adding that KizCode has managed to become a ‘bridge’ between England and Turkey. “We are going to start a new project in Istanbul in collaboration with the Mayor; the project is called ‘KizCode Digital Skills Institute’ and it aims to give high technology skills to young women and improve diversity in the tech industry.”

I know without a shadow of a doubt that Müjde has the grit and determination to achieve all this and much more in the coming years, and look forward to cheering her on as she does.

There’s some serious ROI from investing in the future generation’s digital skills, and enabling entrepreneurs that make a real difference
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The best mentorships are the ones where you become lifelong friends, and also where the mentor learns at least as much (if not more) than what she teaches. Both are true of my relationship with Müjde, and I wish her many more well deserved awards and recognition, as well as a big fat load of investment at some point that will allow her to scale like crazy. Because there’s some serious ROI – in every sense – from investing in the future generation’s digital skills, and in enabling entrepreneurs that make a real difference.

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our VR Consultancy service offers comprehensive support in strategic deployment of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Tech Making the World a Better Place appeared first on Tech Trends.

In 2018, millions of people used Pluralsight to learn and update their digital skills, and the site has compiled a list of the most popular ones

“2019 promises to be another year where software dominates the tech and IT landscape, so knowing which languages and programs are coming out on top is useful to both companies trying to keep up with competition as well as developers to stay relevant in a highly competitive jobs market.”

Top 10 most popular software development technologies in 2018:

1. JavaScript
2. Java
3. HTML
4. C
5. Git
6. C++
7. Python
8. CSS
9. Blockchain
10. SQL

The more things change in the world of software, the more they remain the same
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“Pluralsight platform usage in 2018 shows that the more things change in the world of software, the more they stay the same. Java, C++, SQL and HTML are annual staples on our top 10 lists because they are the bedrock of modern business,” says Sean Farrington, SVP EMEA at Pluralsight. “These are the languages that organisations have relied upon from inception and the vast majority of what today’s users experience is this code. These four heavyweights power everything from simple websites to the complex, rich web applications,” he explains.

In 2018, millions of people used Pluralsight to learn and update their digital skills, and the site has compiled a list of the most popular ones
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Highest growth software development technologies:

1. Svelte
2. Apple MDM
3. Jest
4. Kotlin
5. Dart
6. Microsoft Powerapps
7. Microsoft Flow
8. Oracle Cloud Platform
9. Apache Knox Gateway
10. Apache Nifi

Java, C++, SQL and HTML are the languages that organisations have relied upon from inception and the vast majority of what today’s users experience is this code
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“Svelte, Jest and Kotlin’s growing popularity underscores the importance of JavaScript to modern programmers. It goes without saying that the ubiquity, flexibility and extensibility of JavaScript will make it one of the most important programming languages of the century. “What surprised us this year, is that Microsoft Flow and PowerApps feature so highly. They are both fundamental to a growing trend that empowers non-programmers to create automations that often go on to become mission-critical to a business. If you think back on how important Microsoft Access was to business in the 1990s, it’s easy to draw a parallel to these two new technologies that are quietly enabling innovation and self-service at every level of a modern organisation.

These four heavyweights power everything from simple websites to complex, rich web applications
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Pluralsight also allows users to test their knowledge on any given topic and last year over 1 million of these assessments were taken. The top 5 were:

1. Javascript
2. C#
3. Python
4. Java
5. HTML

The ubiquity, flexibility and extensibility of JavaScript will make it one of the most important programming languages of the century
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“If past is prologue, 2019 will follow a similar pattern to 2018. However, enterprises should keep in mind that if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Organisations wanting to stand out from the competition should certainly test the waters with new approaches to software development. It could be the difference between success and failure in the year ahead,” Farrington concludes.

Check out the Infographic below for the highlights!

Microsoft Flow and PowerApps are fundamental to a growing trend that empowers non-programmers to create automations that often go on to become mission-critical to a business
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Organisations wanting to stand out from the competition should certainly test the waters with new approaches to software development
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Infographic: Top Coding Languages to learn in 2019 appeared first on Tech Trends.

How Pluralsight wants everyone to access the skills they need to thrive in the digital age.

Tech Trends went back to the Silicon Slopes of Salt Lake City last week to check out this year’s Pluralsight LIVE. After last year’s amazing line-up which included Michelle Obama, expectations were pretty high, but the conference managed take a leaf from the former FLOTUS’ own book and reach even higher, delivering – among other things – an inspirational fireside chat with the world’s youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai

Pluralsight 2018 featured an inspirational fireside chat with the world’s youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai
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Technology and education are incredibly empowering forces
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One of my favourite Malala quotes ever – and I might be paraphrasing a bit – goes something along the lines of “nothing scares an extremist or dictator as much as a girl with a book. She told Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard that she often wished governments around the world would realize the power of education to empower women as keenly as the Taliban has. “They understood it perfectly, which is why they tried to stop us going to school.” In today’s digital world, a logical extrapolation of that would be that despots should be even more scared of girls with computers.

Technology and education are incredibly empowering forces, and giving people all over the world access to the resources they need to develop technology skills would unlock amazing possibilities for everyone.

“We’re committed to help close the opportunity gap, and we’re doing it by addressing it at the root cause by magnifying the efforts of successful non-profits,” Skonnard told the attendees.

This is something he’s is very passionate about: His father first taught him to code when he was eight years old and he believes that every child should have access to the sort of opportunities that those skills unlocked for him throughout his life.

Using cloud, people have a choice. The only way we can earn their business is by having the skills to deliver value
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After their IPO in May, Pluralsight is in the enviable position to have over $200 million on its balance sheet to invest and grow the company, and social responsibility remains a cornerstone of that future growth and investment strategy. Which is why one of Pluralsight’s major announcements made sound strategic sense as well as chiming with the company’s philanthropic mission.

After their IPO in May, Pluralsight is in the enviable position to have over $200 million on its balance sheet to invest and grow the company
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In addition to partnering with non-profits to amplify their mission by providing them with discounted access to its platform, the Pluralsight One Fund will also give a $1.5 million grant to Code.org over three years to deepen opportunities for girls and students of color to access computer science education. Students taking Code.org’s Computer Science Principles course will also have the chance to gain free access to Pluralsight’s courses to further their learning.

The Pluralsight One Fund will also give a $1.5 million grant to Code.org
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Joining Skonnard on stage, Code.org CEO and Founder Hadi Partovi said that the problem that lies at the core of the digital skills crisis today is that formal education systems are simply not designed to keep up with the pace of technological change we’re experiencing. “As a society we’re not prioritizing technology enough. We’re not starting early enough, it’s not seen as a basic skill like reading, writing or maths,” he added.

Yet there has definitely been progress, much of it driven by organizations like Code.org which teamed up with the College Board to make the AP (Advanced Placement) Computer Science course more accessible. This year, out of the 135,992 who took the course, 38,195 were female. So while girls still make up only 28% of students taking the AP exams, females and under-represented minorities were among the fastest growing groups. African-American students rose 44 percent to 7,301, Hispanic and Latino participation gained 41 percent to 20,954 and female participation rose 39 percent compared to last year.

As a society we’re not prioritizing technology enough
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Among all the high-level tech companies attending the Pluralsight conference there seemed to be a clear understanding that addressing these issues – getting more people from all backgrounds to learn – and keep learning – those skills is not only about promoting equality of opportunity, but crucial to building a sustainable (and profitable) business strategy.

Formal education systems are simply not designed to keep up with the pace of technological change we’re experiencing
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This is easier said than done, however, as in order to do that, companies need to – in addition to providing access to learning tools and content – create a culture of learning which tolerates failure. As Oracle President of Product Development, Thomas Kurian put it during his keynote, building the future and being at the technology leading edge requires a sense of mission which goes beyond any individual product:

“If you don’t have at least 10% of products failing it means you’re not pushing hard enough, failure is part of the organic development process.”

“Agile is a culture,” agrees Cody Sanford, EVP & CIO of T-Mobile, which is another of Pluralsight’s Fortune 500 customers. Sanford believes it is imperative for companies like his to also create flexible paths for new talent to gain the skills they need, and constantly keep them updated as strategy evolves.

Role IQ gives a clear path to determining a technology professional’s expertise level by deploying their machine learning algorithms Iris
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Which is where Pluralsight’s latest product announcement fits in; Role IQ gives a clear path to determining a technology professional’s expertise level by deploying their machine learning algorithms Iris. Where the company’s previous product – Skill IQ, unveiled at last year’s conference – measures an individual’s proficiency in a specific software technology with a short five-minute test involving about 20 questions, Role IQ measures a collection of skills an individual needs to be successful in their role.

Nate Walkinshaw, Chief Experience Officer at Pluralsight said this will allow the platform to offer a highly personalized learning experience. “Iris will constantly tailor content based on the way each individual learns, but also benchmarking their existing skills against others in the industry and suggesting ways in which it would be most advantageous for them to develop further. It tells you where the gaps are.”

At the time of launch, over 120 skill assessments were already available across a variety of technologies such as Security Analyst, Unity Game Developer, Server Administrator or Node Web Developer. These also include three roles specifically tailored for Pluralsight’s launch partner Microsoft Azure.

Iris will constantly tailor content based on the way each individual learns, but also benchmarking their existing skills against others in the industry
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Jeff Sandquist, GM of Cloud and AI Developer Relations at Microsoft “This is not your mother and father’s Microsoft” much more flexible and dynamic, which also means being a lot more agile in supporting skills within the developer community. “Using cloud, people have a choice. The only way we can earn their business is by having the skills to deliver value. But how do you get your people trained, and how do you do that consistently? How do you assess that? It’s what Microsoft is looking to solve with Role IQ,” Sandquist added.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Closing the Opportunity Gap appeared first on Tech Trends.

These coding school graduates are showing off some cool immersive tech applications.

Fullstack Academy is one of the nations top coding schools which so far has helped over 1,000 people enter the field of software development. And many of those technology jobs these days involve working with Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality applications; something Fullstack is supporting through its Y Combinator-backed immersive software engineering program.

“Many of today’s top developers coming out of our program are changing the way AR/VR is looked at by big companies – from “pie-in-the-sky” sci-fi stuff to real apps using machine learning, facial recognition and more,” says Fullstack Co-founder David Yang.

Fullstack Academy is one of the nations top coding schools which so far has helped over 1,000 people enter the field of software development
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Indeed, it’s a reflection on the boom (and continued expected growth) in the Immersive Technology market that many of the students completing the academy’s programmes chose to work on AR or VR projects as part of their final. We collected some of the best ones here to give you a flavour of what the next generation of devs has in store for this exciting space.

It’s a reflection on the boom in the Immersive Technology market that many of the students who have recently completed the program have chosen to work on AR or VR projects
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augMenu

Team: Michaela Adams; Lindsay Maher; Madhuwanti Jadhav; Dhara Naik

augMenu is an app that lets you preview menu items in a restaurant before purchasing.
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augMenu is an app that lets you preview menu items in a restaurant before purchasing. It can also let users browse items not written in English…even non Latin alphabets!

“This was our first experience working in AR, so the challenges were extensive and we learned a lot,” said Dhara Naik. “Camera components only work with React Native, but we eventually overcame this by using screen capture functionality in Viro.”

Blacklight

Team: Minami Kato; Alex Tartarinov; Trevor Storey; Brian McCann

Blacklight is an AR application for associating memories to a location
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“The Backlight team believes catalogued memories can be more integrated into your immediate experience,” said Minami Kato. “When I was here studying at Fullstack, the solar eclipse happened and a stranger let me borrow glasses to watch. I left the memory there, which was made possible by React Native Maps, a framework provided by AirBnB.

ScavengAR

Team: Luke Pura; Wayne Temple ; Eric Roth ; Tom Sziler

ScavengAR is an augmented reality scavenger hunt
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ScavengAR is an augmented reality scavenger hunt that give users the unique experience of traveling through a city and following clues and hints to find locations. Whatever subject you fancy–history, architecture, true crime, literature, music–stories are embedded in the world around you, and AR can help expose them.

“For players we needed to be able to track their location as well as the location of the next clue,” said Tom Sziler. “To locate our users React Native gave back latitude and longitude coordinates, but in order to make those in feet for users, we used a library called geolib.”

DataVR

Team: Robin K. Wilson; Daniel Ong; Jing Jia

DataVR reimagines the way that people deal with large sets of data
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If you aren’t good at visualizing or if you’re not an abstract thinker, data-heavy fields can prove really frustrating. VR can help you see right in front of your eyes the information you’re having trouble conceptualizing (for example by offering an immersive visualization of real-time cryptocurrency transactions) and organizing it in your brain.

“We started off with classic bar charts, scatterplots, and cluster analyses, and finally combined two cutting-edge technologies,” said Jing Jia. “We really explored React VR and learned to render objects and models from data.

For technologies like AR/VR to become mainstream, ordinary people have to realize how accessible they are and how we can use them for good
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“In order for “sci-fi” technologies like AR/VR, machine learning, and facial recognition to move more into the mainstream, ordinary people have to realize how accessible they are and how we can use them for good–to improve our day-to-day lives, help us feel good, and teach us about our world,” reflects Yang. “Fullstack Academy and Grace Hopper students are precipitating that shift in our understanding by consistently pushing the envelope and finding novel ways to incorporate these underutilized technologies. At Fullstack, students are encouraged to be curious, try new things, and solve the problems you see around you, even if that means letting the robots help.”

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedInand follow @alicebonasioon Twitter.

The post Developing the Future of VR Apps appeared first on Tech Trends.

These cool goodie boxes are a fun way for children to learn digital skills and have fun in the process.

Teaching children the skills they need to understand – and make – tech products (as opposed to just using them) is something I’m very passionate about. Even for kids who don’t go on to become programmers or anything along those lines, the knowledge of what goes on “under the hood” is always going to be valuable, as are the concepts of applied logic, persistence, and collaboration which come with building things with code.

The kits are developed so that you don’t need any previous coding experience of any sort to keep up
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Which is why I was keen for my niece and nephew to try Bitsbox, a subscription service which sends you everything needed to get the little ones started with cool coding projects.

Even for kids who don’t go on to become programmers or anything along those lines, the knowledge of what goes on “under the hood” is always going to be valuable
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Unlike platforms such as Scratch or code.org which they had already been using, Bitbox uses “real” coding. By which I mean that you have to get stuck into some proper typing rather than dragging and dropping blocks that visually represent the code. Both approaches have their own merits I find, and actually complement each other. The kits are developed so that you don’t need any previous coding experience of any sort to keep up though.

You have to do proper typing rather than dragging and dropping blocks
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After some predictable frustration when things didn’t initially work, they got the hang of it
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When you miss something out from your code, the platform gives you helpful debugging tips that hint at where the error is hiding
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One, called “Run Dodo Run” was particularly fun, as they could make said Dodo jump frantically higher and higher at ridiculous supersonic speeds. There is a playfulness to all these activities, and that helps sugar coat the hard work of paying attention to whether you remembered to close a bracket properly or add a comma in the right place.

“We got this for my 9 y.o. son’s birthday, we laminated the intro cards and his first actual box arrived yesterday. He loved the binder and has been coding constantly since it arrived. He said he felt “accomplished” when he coded his first game tonight. He has thanked me 2 dozen times and I saw him admiring his cards. Happy to see his screen time put to use with practice keyboarding and brainstorming!” Liz O’Neill Rich, Iowa

The kit is meant to appeal to a broad age range, and indeed the materials lived up to that promise. My seven-year-old guinea pig got stuck into a paint-by-stickers book (the concept is really the same as coding, in that you are following instructions to build up a bigger picture using blocks (much like they do in code.org or scratch) while my nephew, who’s 12, started creating an original app without using the activity cards.

With Bitsbox, children learn to program by creating fun apps that work on computers and gadgets like iPads and Android tablets
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The kit is meant to appeal to a broad age range, and indeed the materials lived up to that promise
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The Bitsbox platform has a large number of template assets you can use
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Bitsbox is a successful start-up that has been getting a lot of traction and attention (they were recently featured in Shark Tank) and it is a really well-thought-out concept and product which feels solid both from a pedagogical and entertainment perspective. It’s one of those things that makes me wish I was a kid again.

“I purchased this for my 7 year old who loves creating the apps from the codes supplied. It is a great way to introduce children to the world of coding and getting them to think about interactivity. I would recommend this to individuals and schools to use as part of the curriculum. In particular as coding has been placed on the national curriculum in the UK. This would be a great way to introduce this subject to children and assist teachers no doubt!” Gafin Morgan, UK

Parents wanting to try it out can subscribe to the service (monthly prices range from $16.95 for the digital-only version to $37.95 for a Deluxe version with extra goodies. You can also just buy a one-off kit with multiple units as a gift.

It is a great way to introduce children to the world of coding and getting them to think about interactivity
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With Bitsbox, children learn to program by creating fun apps that work on computers and gadgets like iPads and Android tablets. The Bitsbox.com website provides each child with a virtual tablet and a place to type their code.

The Bitsbox.com website provides each child with a virtual tablet and a place to type their code
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“So far we love it. I have a 7 year old daughter who wants to grow up and be a computer nerd. Thanks for helping make her dream come true!” Allison

The experience starts with lots of guidance, first showing learners exactly what to type, then quickly encouraging them to modify and expand their apps by typing in new commands.

“Wanted to give a big bouquet to you all for the excitement and enjoyment my 9 year old daughter got when she received her first Bitsbox yesterday in Middle Earth (New Zealand). Fantastic job with the design, love the recycled packaging, and the first impressions of the coding experience is thumbs up. Only problem now is that the 7 year old younger sister might have to be signed up too, to avoid WW3. Cheers!” Hassan Wong, New Zealand

Tech Trends readers can use the Promo Code TRENDY to get $20 off any 3 or 12 month subscription

• Kids look through the materials and pick an app.
• Every box comes with a mix of coding projects, ranging from simple to more advanced.
• Kids type the app into the Bitsbox website.
• Kids start with the code from the materials, then change it to make it their own.
• Kids use and share their apps on any mobile device.
• Bitsbox apps run on any computer, tablet, or phone with a web browser
• A new coding concept every month
• Perfect for curious kids 6 to 12 years old
• Kids’ apps work on real phones and tablets
• Unlimited email help with any subscription
• Free separate coding accounts for siblings

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Product Review: Bitsbox Coding Kits appeared first on Tech Trends.

How a coding coach in Idaho is helping to plug the digital skills gap, one knowledge token at a time.

Newton Antoniuk describes himself primarily as a coach (he goes by “Coach Newton” in fact) but his official title is Technology Education Ambassador. We met recently during a week-long summer class he was delivering at my local library in Boise, Idaho, to which I brought my nephew Logan (12) and niece Roxie (7).

When looking at the massive scale of the digital skills gap problem, it is easy to forget that the success or failure of such initiatives comes down to whether or not you manage to engage students
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While Logan had previously done various coding and programming activities, Roxie hadn’t, so she was quite unsure of herself as we walked into a room full of strangers and laptops. Yet within less than half an hour I watched her go from clinging onto me and mumbling that she “didn’t want to do this” to asking me with a beaming smile whether we could come back the next day, “and always.” Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Coach Newton strictly enforced dancing breaks every twenty minutes, but whatever it was, it certainly did the trick. She was hooked.

When looking at the massive scale of the digital skills gap problem, it is easy to forget that the success or failure of such initiatives comes down to whether or not you manage to engage students. In this case, attending the camp was not necessarily about how much coding knowledge the children could cram in a week (although it turned out to be quite a lot) but rather about showing kids like Roxie that this is something they can do – that learning coding is  fun and something they can be really proud of.

Learning that flexes a person’s creative muscles while engaging them in a fun, playful way delivers a lifelong benefit, independent of career choice
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And the peripheral skills they learn in the process are arguably just as important in this equation: The approach encourages them to navigate through problems using logic and persistence, to work as a team in helping others – or asking for help – and to enjoy the process of continuous learning. These are all invaluable life skills, whether or not they choose to become “coders” in the future.

“Any learning that flexes a person’s creative muscles while engaging them in a fun, playful way delivers a lifelong benefit, independent of a specific career choice,” agrees Newton, pointing to academic research that demonstrates how courses that provide an introduction to computer science have broad-reaching benefits such as building reasoning skills via lessons that teach computational thinking. This is also backed up by his own experience working in the consumer electronics industry:

“I was privileged to work with extremely bright and motivated people from many disciplines, not just engineering. My career exposure helped me to glean some of the fundamental traits that empowered these successful people and I found the elements of computational thinking to be foundational.”

After a decades-long Silicon Valley tech career, Newton started exploring ways to combine his expertise and passions with serving the local community, and in the fall of 2013, he came across code.org as Hadi Partovi and his team launched their first Hour of Code event.

My career exposure helped me to glean some of the fundamental traits that empowered successful people and I found the elements of computational thinking to be foundational
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After decades in Silicon Valley , Newton started exploring ways to combine his expertise and passions with serving the local community
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“As a technology geek, I was pleasantly surprised to find that almost all of the young learners, both girls and boys, embraced this great learning tool,” he explains. Working with Scratch – a visual programming language that uses a simple gamified, block-like interface to create flexible online projects – made him realize that the type of exposure to coding that he had only got once he was in college was now potentially within reach of all elementary, middle and high school learners – if only there was someone to show them.

Newton then quit his job earlier this year to launch Panucation, an Idaho-based non-profit that promotes STEM learning. He explains how worldwide – but specially in the U.S.) code.org and others have been enabling the scalable deployment of teacher training using a viral approach that empowers educators and spreads from state-to-state, school-to-school, right down to the individual student level. Panucation’s strategy is to leverage the grassroots power of the platform to impact many more students.

Coach Newton is committed to building Panucation as a non-profit, and is starting a pilot program in the fall with elementary schools in the Boise to complete the entire code.org curricula over the course of the next academic year
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It was interesting to see how diverse in terms of age, gender and ethnicity our coding group was. There are many worthy initiatives out there which encourage kids to engage with technology and coding in a hands-on way, but the advantage of this sort of program is that – as long as we keep funding places like libraries – they remain accessible to everyone. Everything we needed was provided during the session, which is a great equalizer, putting every attending student on an equal footing regardless of their background or economic status.

“Building a person’s confidence in learning technology at a young age has the ability to break down future barriers since their own vision of their capabilities can be transformed. Making these courses available to as many youth as possible helps to address the need for their success in the work place of the future,” adds Newton.

He’s now committed to building Panucation as a non-profit, and is starting a pilot program in the fall with two elementary schools in the Boise to complete the entire code.org curricula over the course of the next academic year. Yet their future focus is also going to be on building a range of government and commercial partnerships that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the program and allow it to reach a great many more students.

Building a person’s confidence in learning technology at a young age has the ability to break down future barriers
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The way that Coach Newton was able to teach students across a broad age range, with such different grades and level of coding proficiency, demonstrates how this can indeed be a scalable solution. A key part of this is the code.org curriculum, which gives the students a common platform which is customizable to their level and on which they can practice both during classes and at home.

The way that Coach Newton was able to teach students across a broad age range, with such different grades and level of coding proficiency, demonstrates how this can indeed be a scalable solution
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Giving girls (and boys) REAL career choices means making sure they get the chance to try out a range of skills in safe, comfortable and fun settings
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As I watched my niece speed through the modules (first thing she’d do in the evenings as we came home was ask for her pi-top so she could do extra exercises) and add to her growing pile of knowledge tokens, I thought about how easy it is to “call BS” on people such as James Damore, who insist there is an inescapable biological reason why we don’t see as many women as men working in tech.

Seeing her flutter between extremes of confidence and insecurity reminded me that giving girls (and boys) real future career choices means making sure they get the chance to try out a range of skills in safe, comfortable and fun settings. Only then can they truly decide which path suits them best. In the meantime, however, they can also have a whole lot of fun.

This article was originally published on IDG Connect

How a grassroots approach can tackle the digital skills gap, by @alicebonasio from @CIOonline https://t.co/ANea4BrhJW

— IDG Contributor Network (@IDGCN) July 30, 2018

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Dancing About Programming appeared first on Tech Trends.

Microsoft’s latest research has found that Brits are increasingly changing their passions into careers.

 Key findings included:

• One in five (21%) under 25s would like to turn coding into a career, whilst 25% would like to earn a living from computer games
• The rise of vloggers such as Zoella and Alfie Deyes has led to nearly a quarter (23%) under 25s wishing to make a career out of vlogging or blogging.
• Four-fifths (81%) of those aged 18-24 said that technology is either a vital part of, or helps facilitate, their hobbies
• Three-quarters of British adults (76%) agree that technology makes completing ‘life admin’ tasks quicker and easier, saving them on average 17.4 hours a month

The role of technology is increasingly multifaceted
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One in eight British adults (12%) have already turned a passion into a living but younger Brits are most likely to plan to turn technology-based passions into a living, with a quarter wanting to be professional vloggers, 25% hoping to enter the computer games industry, and 21% wanting to have a career in coding.

Young Brits are most likely to turn technology-based passions into a living
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Amongst millennials (broadly defined as 25-34-year olds) one in five (19%) have done so, whilst a further 17% are planning on doing so. And amongst Generation Z (adults under the age of 25) a whopping 61% have already or plan to so do.

Technology is the interest that most Brits have already turned into a career (15%), followed by music (11%) and food and drink (10%). When it comes to the hobbies that Brits would most like to turn into a career, photography (10%), cookery (9%), coding (8%) and technology (8%) topped the list. However, there was a clear difference amongst younger generations.

Technology is the interest that most Brits have already turned into a career
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The rise of vloggers such as Zoella and Alfie Deyes has led to nearly a quarter (23%) of those under 25 stating that they would like to make a career out of vlogging or blogging. Perhaps due to the rise in professional Instagrammers and growing up as camera-phone natives, 23% of under 25s also state that they would like to turn their passion for photography into a career.

Wider technology was a strong career-choice theme for those under 25, with one in five (21%) stating they would like to turn coding into a career, whilst 25% would like to earn a living from computer games – something which is now not as far-fetched as it was just five years ago, thanks to the rise of e-Sports (professional computer gaming).

The rise of vloggers such as Zoella and Alfie Deyes has led to nearly a quarter (23%) of those under 25 stating that they would like to make a career out of vlogging or blogging
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The research found that different generations define themselves by different aspects of their lives. Instead of primarily defining themselves by their career (e.g. describing themselves as a lawyer, doctor, waiter, student etc), younger Brits are most likely to define themselves by their hobbies and passions – something 43% of 18-24-year-olds and 28% of 25-35-year olds said. Those over the age of 35, however, were more likely to define themselves by their role within their family – for example, mother, father, breadwinner, and so on.

Whilst younger Brits are most likely to expect to have a career that they are passionate about (just 5% say a job is something you don’t need a passion for) they are also the most money-motivated generation.

Instead of primarily defining themselves by their career younger Brits are most likely to define themselves by their hobbies and passions
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Forty-five per cent of under-25s list ‘making money’ as a passion and were the only generation in the study to say they would rather have a ‘job that they weren’t passionate about, but paid more’, than vice versa. Conversely, those over 65-years-old were most likely to say that being passionate about a career is more important than earning lots of money.

The research also found that technology is having a very significant impact on Brits’ hobbies. Four-fifths (81%) of those aged 18-24 said that technology is either a vital part of, or helps facilitate, their hobbies, whilst the figure is 68% for millennials (aged 25-34). This figure falls to 47% for adults over 35.

Three-quarters of British adults (76%) agree that technology makes completing ‘life admin’ tasks quicker and easier, saving them on average 17.4 hours a month
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And tech also allows Brits more time to pursue those hobbies and passions. Three-quarters of British adults (76%) agree that technology makes completing ‘life admin’ tasks quicker and easier, saving them on average 17.4 hours a month.

“Some of the findings for Generation Z, who are at the start of their careers, were particularly interesting. The influence of social media and technology has had a prominent impact, with the desire to pursue careers in areas like vlogging, photography and coding coming out very strongly. The role of technology is increasingly multifaceted and the need for reliable devices and software that keep people connected anywhere and anytime is increasingly demanded,” says Microsoft’s Director, Windows Nick Hedderman.  “Microsoft is really about empowering people to achieve their goals. Windows plays a key role in helping people find the time and tools they need to achieve in their work and passion pursuits. We therefore wanted to understand more about the interplay of passions, hobbies, and careers, and just how much this differs for different generations,” he concluded

To find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your enterprise, Tech Trends offers bespoke Virtual Reality Consultancy support

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Report: Tech Blending Work and Play appeared first on Tech Trends.

Even in an Antarctic research ship, ninja tech skills can come in handy, as one software engineer found in the trip of a lifetime.

A research trip around the Antarctic gave a Software Engineer Carles Pina i Estany a new perspective on how the very product he helped build was being used by scientists. Aboard a research vessel thousands of miles from shore and the nearest reliable internet connection, these modern explorers routinely relied on Mendeley to do their work, even in subzero temperatures.

A research trip around the Antarctic gave a Software Engineer Carles Pina i Estany a new perspective on how the very product he helped build was being used by scientists
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The opportunity to take part in this unique expedition came when Carles’ partner, Jen Thomas, was invited to become Data Manager on a a research trip led by the newly created Swiss Polar Institute, which has a mission to connect researchers active in polar or extreme environments, promotes public awareness of these environments, and facilitates access to research facilities in those extreme environments. As they were short of an IT person and Carles was already on a sabbatical from his work at Elsevier – during which he had already planned to travel around the world – he seized the opportunity to fulfill a longstanding ambition to take part in a polar expedition.

Aboard a research vessel thousands of miles from shore, modern explorers rely on technology to do their work in subzero temperatures
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Carles joined the Mendeley team as a developer in June 2009, back when the start-up consisted of about a dozen people working in a small office near Farringdon, a historic section of London. Four years later, the company he helped build was acquired by Elsevier. Carles, along with the founders and the now much larger team, stayed on through the transition. Now he’s a Senior Software engineer.

I first met Carles when I was also part of the Mendeley team back in 2013-15 and saw how resourceful and creative he and his colleagues were with technology (specially during the monthly hack days he helped organise). I also knew he had a penchant for adventure, as many a fascinating tale was told by the espresso machine at our old White Bear Yard office when he returned from trips to places like China and Africa.

Carles joined the Mendeley team as a developer in June 2009, back when the start-up consisted of about a dozen people working in a small office near Farringdon
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So I wasn’t exactly surprised when I learned that he had taken this rather adventurous sabbatical as IT Systems Engineer aboard the Akademik Tryoshnikov research vessel on an ambitious Antarctic circumnavigation via Cape Town, South Africa, Hobart, Tasmania and Punta Arenas, Chile.

When he returned to London and his work at Mendeley — now in the Alphabeta building in London’s Tech City — I caught up with him to find out more about the trip. As it turns out, the experience had been an eye-opener about how important the work he had done for all those years has helped to advance science. Seeing the sometimes unexpected ways researchers in this Antarctic expedition used tools like Mendeley left him with a sense of renewed appreciation for how his own work has played a part in enabling scientific research.

The opportunity to take part in this unique expedition came when Carles’ partner, Jen Thomas, was invited to become Data Manager on a a research trip led by the newly created Swiss Polar Institute, which has a mission to connect researchers active in polar or extreme environments, promotes public awareness of these environments, and facilitates access to research facilities in those extreme environments. As they were short of an IT person and Carles was already on a sabbatical from his work at Elsevier – during which he had already planned to travel around the world – he seized the opportunity to fulfill a longstanding ambition to take part in a polar expedition.

Carles joined the Mendeley team as a developer in June 2009, back when the start-up consisted of about a dozen people working in a small office near Farringdon, a historic section of London. Four years later, the company he helped build was acquired by Elsevier. Carles, along with the founders and the now much larger team, stayed on through the transition. Now he’s a Senior Software engineer.

I first met Carles when I was also part of the Mendeley team back in 2013-15 and saw how resourceful and creative he and his colleagues were with technology (specially during the monthly hack days he helped organise). I also knew he had a penchant for adventure, as many a fascinating tale was told by the espresso machine at our old White Bear Yard office when he returned from trips to places like China and Africa.

So I wasn’t exactly surprised when I learned that he had taken this rather adventurous sabbatical as IT Systems Engineer aboard the Akademik Tryoshnikov research vessel on an ambitious Antarctic circumnavigation via Cape Town, South Africa, Hobart, Tasmania and Punta Arenas, Chile.

When he returned to London and his work at Mendeley — now in the Alphabeta building in London’s Tech City — I caught up with him to find out more about the trip. As it turns out, the experience had been an eye-opener about how important the work he had done for all those years has helped to advance science. Seeing the sometimes unexpected ways researchers in this Antarctic expedition used tools like Mendeley left him with a sense of renewed appreciation for how his own work has played a part in enabling scientific research.

Here, Carles talks about those experiences and shares the photos he and Jen took during the voyage. (He explained that they were not allowed to go on deck or outside when the weather was rough, so all of the pictures are in calm weather.)

What was this expedition about, and what role did you actually have in it?

I was the software engineer on board the ACE expedition, which had 22 cross-disciplinary teams of scientists, about 150 researchers in all, who changed around at various stages of the expedition, each of which lasted about a month. Some were PhD students, some veterans of many expeditions with many years of experience, so it was a real mix.

Carles Pina i Estany diagnoses a broken hard disk. (Photo by Jen Thomas)

On the ship, each team set their own equipment up for their labs. Quite often these pieces of equipment are either connected to a computer or have a computer built into them already, to collect data and operate a machine, for example. I’d help them with things such as backing up data and any other issues that came up with those computers. I learnt a lot about oceanography and had to think on my feet because of the limited resources. Think of programming almost off-line for four months! No Google, Stack Overflow or any documentation besides the off-line versions.

Were many of those scientists using Mendeley, and how did you find them?

I knew that many of them would be Mendeley users. I do like talking to users and finding out how they use Mendeley (specially Mendeley Desktop, since that is the part of it I’ve been most involved in for many years). As they explain to me their favourite features and tell me what they would add, I can often point out useful features in the product that they are missing out on. Sometimes the features they ask for are already there, so I love helping them discover these.

 

Personally though, I like meeting users because what I do every day is for them, and it reminds me that there are humans using the software and that they have feelings. So if the software works well they love it, but they can also hate it if it ends up causing them stress, makes them lose work, miss a deadline for writing a paper or a thesis… At the end of the day, it’s very emotional and personal work, and it helps to keep that into perspective, even when you’re deep in the code. I like it when I can put faces to our users – I think in terms of “this user does this” rather than “just 23 percent of our users do this.”

How did the researchers react when they learned about your background?

Sometimes I’d get talking to them, and as I explained that this was my “year off” from my job working on the Mendeley Desktop team, their first reaction was that it was pretty intense for a year off. But the second one was that often they would say, “Oh, Mendeley Desktop – I love it! Ah, OK, OK, do whatever you want with this equipment!” So I ended up getting extra leeway for doing things around the ship because they liked and trusted Mendeley (and therefore me).

If I worked on some unrelated industry that they didn’t know about, they would have been more reluctant to let me change things around, I believe. They were really happy that I came from a place where I actually understood part of their work, what they actually do, etc. But I have to say that after this trip I now know waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than before!

An iceberg near Mount Siple in February. (Photo by Jen Thomas)

Were there any awkward moments?

One user was scared about the fact that Mendeley had been acquired by Elsevier, so we had a long talk about how Mendeley was publisher agnostic, and how that could still work in the Elsevier business model. Many users came up with long lists of ideas. Some of them turned out to be things that we already had tools for – deduplication, for example – but sometimes there were things that we could do, or that we hadn’t considered. I always encouraged them to tell me about these so I could either email them to the Desktop team back in London or consider them once I got back – which I have!

Did you get any surprising product insights during your time on the ship?

We were mostly working from the “expedition office,” where we had two “hot desks,” so lots of different people were coming and going to do their printing, use the intranet, send something over the Internet, etc. One of my favourite things to do was spot whether they were using Mendeley Desktop, and if they were, I’d sometimes ask if they liked it or not before confessing that I’d actually done part of that. I felt a bit like a “mystery shopper” or perhaps an undercover “Mendeley investigator.”

 

One really amazing thing for me was seeing how Mendeley Desktop was being used offline during the expedition because the Internet connection was almost non-existent (we only had a limited satellite link, but this was only for email and data, not normal use). It was good to see that users really appreciated that they could carry on accessing all their notes and information easily even when there was no Internet connection.

One of the researchers said to me (and I think he was only half joking) that usually he did not use Mendeley himself because he was a professor now, and “that’s the reason why I have assistants –they use it for me!” I thought, well, maybe that’s one of the reasons that some of our users stop using Mendeley – they become professors!

 

Some days, when I was feeling like talking to more researchers about Mendeley, I’d just put on my Mendeley T-shirt, and that would soon get some conversations started.

King penguins in South Georgia in March (Photo by Carles Pina i Estany)

My favourite day was when four of us were having dinner round a table – myself, my partner Jen, who was the expedition’s Data Manager, one researcher who already knew I worked at Mendeley, and one who didn’t.

The one that didn’t know where I was from saw the T-shirt and started saying, “OH WOW! MENDELEY! I LOVE MENDELEY! I use it every day! It’s fantastic! I added all my papers, I can find them, cite them, share. I really like how it’s done and what it can do! It’s AWESOME!”

So I was sitting there blushing, until she asked me where I got the t-shirt, and when I told her I worked at Mendeley, she actually jumped up and went “WHAAAAAAAAAAT??!!! YOU WORK AT MENDELEY?!?! It’s best thing ever!!!!”

As I said, it can be an emotional thing for researchers, and it sometimes feels good to be reminded of that.”

This article was originally published on Elsevier Connect

Antarctic exploration in the digital agehttps://t.co/EAkPBDwQya (w/ @mendeley_com) pic.twitter.com/Lmz0MrMvGa

— Elsevier (@ElsevierConnect) January 16, 2018

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

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