Since November 2017, Sony Electronics has worked alongside faculty and administration from 11 forward-thinking colleges and universities in the U.S. to gain a better understanding of the role technology plays in teaching and learning. For the past two years this group of public and private schools, known as The Future Learning Collaborative, has held regular meetings, summits and trips to discuss the education landscape and ways to incorporate new technology and design insights that create a more meaningful, collaborative and engaging learning environment.

Since the Future Learning Collaborative’s launch, higher ed members have tested forthcoming and new Sony technology and helped to influence the design and development of these educational products and solutions, based on real-world input and validation. In the past year, the focus of the community was to deepen the co-creation between members and Sony, as well as to explore ways to create active learning opportunities. To meet this goal, member schools have begun implementing “sandboxes,” a learning environment equipped with Sony’s early stage technology for the purpose of testing, experimenting and validating potential new applications, use cases and user experiences. Kiho Kim, PhD, executive director, Center for Teaching, Research & Learning, American University, said the sandbox program “allows us to rigorously evaluate cutting edge technologies in authentic learning spaces and settings on site. In doing so, we are able to gather real-world assessments of how to best deploy these solutions to enhance student learning.”

Recently launched Sony solutions that have been tested in conjunction with Future Learning Collaborative schools include Vision Exchange, for interactive presentations and active learning; Edge Analytics, an AI-based video analytics solution; and the UbiCast interactive video learning solution, among others--in addition to solutions still under development.

Charter Collaborative members come from American University, Arizona State University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Houston Community College, Indiana University, Montclair State University, Northwestern University, San Francisco State University, University of California at San Diego, and the University of Central Florida.