Networks and the Nature of the Firm — from medium.com by Tim O’Reilly
The discussion around companies like Uber and Airbnb is too narrow. The issue isn’t just employment, but a huge economic shift led by software and connectedness.

Excerpt:

One of the themes we’re exploring at the Next:Economy summit is the way that networks trump traditional forms of corporate organization, and how they are changing traditional ways of managing that organization. Uber and Airbnb are textbook examples of this trend. Uber has ambitious plans to manage hundreds of thousands?—?eventually even millions?—?of independent drivers with a small core of employees building a technology platform that manages those workers. Airbnb is on track to have more rooms on offer than large hotel chains, with under a thousand employees.

But the Internet takes the networked firm to a new level. Google, the company that ended up as the prime gateway to the World Wide Web, provides access to a universe of content that it doesn’t own yet has become the largest media company in the world. 13–24 years olds already watch more video on YouTube, much of it user-contributed, than they watch on television. And Amazon just surpassed WalMart as the world’s most valuable retailer by offering virtually unlimited selection, including marketplace items from ordinary individuals and small businesses

 

 

 

Google sounds the death knell for Adobe Flash — from businessinsider.com.au by Matt Weinberger

Excerpt:

Starting in September, the Google Chrome web browser will no longer automatically show Adobe Flash advertisements, the search giant announced [on 8/27/15].

Chrome is the second most popular browser for desktop and laptop computers, with about 28% market share, behind only Microsoft Internet Explorer, according to NetMarketshare.

The change, first announced in June, is just Google’s latest attack against Adobe Flash.

Flash had been the standard for interactive web content since it was introduced in the early 2000s. But there’s been a huge industry pushback in the last few years, mainly from Apple — which never supported Flash on the iPhone or iPad — and more recently Google.

 

From DSC:
Are we neglecting to ask some key questions within higher education? I’ll get to those questions in a moment, the ones that came to my mind after seeing the following posting:


The robots are coming for your job! Why digital literacy is so important for the jobs of the future — from theconversation.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In a report released this week, the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) claims that up to 70% of young people are preparing for jobs that will no longer exist in the future. The report also raises concerns about decreasing entry-level occupations for school leavers and the impacts of automation.

In another recent report, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia predicts that:

almost five million Australian jobs – around 40% of the workforce – face the high probability of being replaced by computers in the next 10 to 15 years.

The FYA report also makes the case for increased emphasis on developing digital literacy and the implementation of a digital technologies curriculum in primary school.

Digital literacy includes skills such as coding, data synthesis and manipulation, as well as the design, use and management of computerised, digital and automated systems. Success in the new work order requires these skills alongside lateral thinking, innovation, problem-solving, collaboration and entrepreneurship. Add these to the traditional literacy skills of reading and writing and you have a very complex picture of what literacy is.

 

With automation a real threat to future jobs, school curricula have to keep up with the times.

 

 


From DSC:
The article raises an important point: “At the same time, the question of how we are preparing students in our schools for the new work order also bears serious consideration.”

I couldn’t agree more, as there are enormous ramifications to this topic/question: Are we, in fact, preparing our students for the future that they will inherit? 

I suppose I could have also titled this posting, “More reasons to support the liberal arts,” as the liberal arts lay a strong foundation for many of the twists and turns that our students (and ourselves) will encounter down the road. 

However, I fear that even within our liberal arts programs, we aren’t offering quite enough new courses that would help our students deal with a rapidly changing world.  For example, I would like to see more courses on futurism offered — training students to look up and pulse check a variety of items that could impact them, their families, or their businesses in the future. Also, I don’t think they are going to know how to run their own businesses or to effectively freelance, something that 30-50% of them are going to need to do (depending upon which articles and reports one reads).

Also, why aren’t we offering more online-based opportunities for students to encounter learning opportunities and discussions that involve people from all over the globe? Won’t they be on project teams like that in the future? Isn’t that occurring already?

What do you think…how are we doing here? How are things in your city, state, or country?

 


 

 

The future of learning spaces is open ended — from eschoolnews.com by Lucien Vattel

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The spaces we inhabit have a profound effect on how we inhabit them. Space induces a particular way of feeling, of being. What are we saying to our children with we line them up in 5×8 rows facing the same direction toward a voice of authority? What do we say about desks that lock us in place, where the majority of movement within our gaze is eyes forward, eyes down? I remember my surprise when I walked into first grade for the very first time. The change from kindergarten to first grade was extreme. I looked at the arrangement of desks and thought, “what game is this?” It was a game I would play for the rest of my developing years. I was disappointed. I knew it could be better than this.

We look inside current learning spaces and look at the world; there is a big disconnect. It’s not reflective. We as a society have agreed by doctrine that our children will come together in a building and learn, and yet we allow our kids to be behind desks for a majority of their developing years. We evolve behind desks. Think of that! Students don’t need places to sit, listen and write. Instead, they need places to connect, explore, discover and relate. They need places of support. We spend over a decade being conditioned to receive and compete, imagine if space invoked us to support each other, everyday and in every way.

We need environments that help realize that within us there are unbounded treasures. We need environments that shine a light on our potential and provide opportunities to express ourselves.

 

Schools at their heart should be human potentiality incubators.

 

 

HBX Intros HBX Live Virtual Classroom — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Excerpt:

Harvard Business School‘s HBX digital learning initiative today launched a virtual classroom designed to reproduce the intimacy and synchronous interaction of the case method in a digital environment. With HBX Live, students from around the world can log in concurrently to participate in an interactive discussion in real time, guided by an HBS professor.

Built to mimic the amphitheater-style seating of an HBS classroom, the HBX Live Studio features a high-resolution video wall that can display up to 60 participants. Additional students can audit sessions via an observer model. An array of stationary and roaming cameras capture the action, allowing viewers to see both the professor and fellow students.

 

HBX Live

HBX Live’s virtual amphitheater
(PRNewsFoto/Harvard Business School)

 

Also see HBX Live in Action

I think that this type of setup could also be integrated with a face-to-face classroom as well (given the right facilities). The HBX Live concept fits right into a piece of my vision entitled, “Learning from the Living [Class] Room.”

Several words/phrases comes to mind:

  • Convenience. I don’t have to travel to another city, state, country. That type of convenience and flexibility is the basis of why many learners take online-based courses in the first place.
  • Global — learning from people of different cultures, races, backgrounds, life experiences.
  • The opportunities are there to increase one‘s cultural awareness.
  • HBX Live is innovative; in fact, Harvard is upping it’s innovation game yet again — showing a firm grasp/display of understanding that they realize that the landscape of higher education is changing and that institutions of traditional higher education need to adapt.
  • Harvard is willing to experiment and to identify new ways to leverage technologies — taking advantage of the affordances that various technologies offer.

BTW, note how the use of teams is a requirement here.

 

HBXLive-8-26-2015

 

 

Also see:

Harvard Business School really has created the classroom of the future — from fortune.com by  John A. Byrne

Excerpt:

Anand, meantime, faces the images of 60 students portrayed on a curved screen in front of him, a high-resolution video wall composed of more than 6.2 million pixels that mimics the amphitheater-style seating of a class HBS tiered classroom

 

Flipped Classroom Survey Highlights Benefits and Challenges — from facultyfocus.com

Excerpt/Key findings:

Results from the survey are based on the responses from the 1,089 Faculty Focus readers who completed the survey. Highlights include:

  • More than two-thirds (69.5%) have tried flipping an activity, class, or course, and plan to do it again. Another 5.49% have tried flipping, but don’t plan to do it again.
  • Roughly one-third (31.8%) of those who have flipped did so within the past year.
  • The majority of faculty who have flipped rated the experience as positive for themselves (70.3%) and their students (64.8%).
  • The top reasons for flipping include a desire to increase student engagement (79.3%) and improve student learning (75.8%).
  • In terms of the actual benefits, nearly three-fourths of respondents saw greater student engagement (74.9%), while just over half noticed evidence of improved student learning (54.66%).
  • More than 80% said students are more collaborative and 76.61% said they ask more questions, while almost half (48.75%) also noted some student resistance.
  • The most frequently reported barrier to experimenting with flipped learning practices came down to one word: time—a combined 70% of faculty said it was a significant or very significant challenge.
  • Of those respondents who are not interested in flipped learning, 38.9% said they don’t know enough about it and 27.4% felt it was a fad.
 

Psalm 94:18-19 New International Version (NIV)

18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
    your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
19 When anxiety was great within me,
    your consolation brought me joy.

 

Start the School Year by “Awakening Your Dreamers” — from edutopia.org by Suzie Boss

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

When your students return to the classroom this fall, how many will bring along the interests, talents, and dreams that inspired or delighted them over the summer months? Will they see any connection between school assignments and their own passions?

Bernajean Porter (@bernajeanporter), a longtime advocate of digital storytelling and engaged learning, has a suggestion to get the year off to a good start: “What if your first project was about getting to know the hopes and dreams and talents of your kids?” By investing time to build a positive classroom culture, while also introducing project-based learning practices, you’ll set the stage for more meaningful inquiry experiences all year long.

Imagination Plus Research
Porter has developed and field-tested a classroom resource called, I-imagine: Taking MY Place in the World that guides students on a multimedia journey into their own future. After a series of guided writing and reflection exercises, students eventually produce “vision videos” in which they star as protagonists of the lives they are living, 20 years into the future.


 

From DSC:
Along these lines of trying to figure out what one’s passions, gifts, and talents are — as well as seeing the needs of the world around us — I recently read a book entitled, “Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good.”  One of the key questions from that book is:

Knowing what you know about yourself and the world, having read what you’ve read, having seen what you’ve seen, what are you going to do?

Here are some of my notes from that book, in case you know of someone who is trying to ascertain their purpose in this world…someone who is trying to find out more about their calling.  It’s a good book, prompting deep reflection.

 

VisionsOfVocation-2014

 

 

The NMC Releases the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 Library Edition — from nmc.org

Excerpt:

Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six important developments in educational technology are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, giving library leaders and staff a valuable guide for strategic planning. The format of the report was designed to provide these leaders with more in-depth insight into how the trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of technology, along with their implications for policy, leadership, and practice.

“Nowhere on university campuses has technology had a more sweeping impact than on their libraries,” says Larry Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of the NMC and co-principal investigator for the project. “It is critically important for the field that the unique needs and perspectives of those who work in academic and research libraries are at the center of this second annual report.”

 

NMCReport-LibraryEdition2015

 

NMCReport-LibraryEdition2015-TOC

 

Should You Buy the Hype? An Inside Look at the Virtual Reality Landscape — from singularityhub.com by Howie Leibach

Excerpts:

Consequently in 2014, less than two years after the Kickstarter, Facebook acquired Oculus for $2.2 billion dollars, and in doing so legitimized the VR industry overnight.

“We’re making a long-term bet that immersive, virtual and augmented reality will become part of people’s daily life,” said Zuckerberg.

With his track record for sniffing out “what’s next” and a distribution network of 1+ billion people, many have been quick to infer VR has a very bright future. Some analysts are already predicting VR will generate $30 billion in revenue by 2020, and many of Zuckerberg’s Silicon Valley counterparts haven’t hesitated to make similar predictions.

VR is still perhaps one or two years away from going mainstream, but more consumers are being exposed to it than ever before. Advancements in headset technology regularly make front page news on CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and Wired. VR has even infiltrated the holy grail of pop-culture, prominently featured (and lampooned) on a recent episode of South Park.

But none of this VIP treatment matters if the product can’t sell. With the consumer Oculus Rift six to twelve months away, some are still on the fence, debating if they should buy the hype.

Realistically, many businesses don’t have time to wait and are already bracing for a future with VR in it. As executives scramble to  invest in their own VR initiatives, many want to know what’s actually happening in the space.

Below are excerpts from Greenlight VR’s July Research Report, which investigate trends on the state of the industry, including VR growth, investments and opportunities.

 

 

image02

 

 

image05

 

 

 

Also see:

 

WhichWayNext-SingularityHub2015

 

From the Inter-American Dialogue and the Inter-American Development Bank: A new foresight resource freely available to the public entitled, A Database of Reports on Global Trends and Future Scenarios.

This database includes nearly 800 foresight publications and reports from around the world, and it provides governments, banks, corporations, universities, think tanks, and other institutions continuous access to information and analyses on trends and future scenarios.

GlobalTrendsFutureScenariosDatabase2015

 

From DSC:
Given that the pace of change has changed & given that disruption seems to be upending one industry after another, futurism should be taught throughout K-12 & throughout higher education. (There are some programs out there within higher education, but not many.)

If more of us were trained in looking up to see what’s happening around us — or what’s about to happen around us — the chances of us being broadsided or surprised by something are greatly diminished. Also, we can better plan for — and create — our futures.

 

 

Establishment goes alternative — from insidehighered.com by Paul Fain

Excerpt:

Traditional colleges have been mostly on the sidelines for the early development of online microcredentials or badges — the kind that aren’t linked to conventional courses and the credit hour. Educational technology companies and other alternative providers have taken the lead in working with employers on these skills-based credentials.

A new prototype from a group of seven brand-name universities could change that.

Tentatively dubbed the University Learning Store, the project is a joint effort involving the Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, the University of Washington, the University of California’s Davis, Irvine and Los Angeles campuses, and the University of Wisconsin Extension.

 

The Lassonde Studios — a first-of-its-kind hybrid residence hall and startup incubator at the University of Utah — was conceived in much the same way that university officials hope students will dream up their own projects once the building opens next year.

— Calvin Hennick

 

Higher Ed Expands Reach Through Video Conferencing — from edtechmagazine.com by Calvin Hennick
Don’t call them dorms — 21st century residence halls offer flexible spaces where students can connect and collaborate using high-tech tools.

Excerpt:

“I started talking to students about what I could do to help them make their companies more successful,” recalls Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the university’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. One student told D’Ambrosio that he had all the engineering help he needed, but lacked ways to connect with students who had design and sales backgrounds. Another student, who was making a product that used boiling water to run lights and charge smartphones, worked primarily at a garage off campus, at the home of his business partner’s mother. He told D’Ambrosio that he simply wanted access to an on-campus working space. Still other students said such a space should be open around the clock, in case entrepreneurial inspiration struck at 3 a.m.

“That’s where the residential component tied in to create a 24-hour, immersive experience,” says D’Ambrosio. “That all gelled together.”

 

 

Also relevant/see:

Richard Branson: Three ways higher education can create more entrepreneurs — from virgin.com by Jack Preston

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Here the Virgin Group founder outlines three changes that he would make to the system in order to produce more entrepreneurs.

  1. Encouraging students to start-up
  2. Shorten degrees
  3. Install the importance of networking in students
 

Can we interest you in teaching? — from nytimes.com by Frank Bruni; with thanks to Jim Lerman for his Scoop on this

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Teaching can’t compete.

When the economy improves and job prospects multiply, college students turn their attention elsewhere, to professions that promise more money, more independence, more respect.

That was one takeaway from a widely discussed story in The Times on Sunday by Motoko Rich, who charted teacher shortages so severe in certain areas of the country that teachers are being rushed into classrooms with dubious qualifications and before they’ve earned their teaching credentials.

It’s a sad, alarming state of affairs, and it proves that for all our lip service about improving the education of America’s children, we’ve failed to make teaching the draw that it should be, the honor that it must be. Nationally, enrollment in teacher preparation programs dropped by 30 percent between 2010 and 2014, as Rich reported.

To make matters worse, more than 40 percent of the people who do go into teaching exit the profession within five years.

 

Also see:

  • Teacher shortages spur a nationwide hiring scramble (credentials optional) — from nytimes.com by Motoko Rich
    Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
    ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — In a stark about-face from just a few years ago, school districts have gone from handing out pink slips to scrambling to hire teachers. Across the country, districts are struggling with shortages of teachers, particularly in math, science and special education — a result of the layoffs of the recession years combined with an improving economy in which fewer people are training to be teachers. At the same time, a growing number of English-language learners are entering public schools, yet it is increasingly difficult to find bilingual teachers. So schools are looking for applicants everywhere they can — whether out of state or out of country — and wooing candidates earlier and quicker.

    In California, the number of people entering teacher preparation programs dropped by more than 55 percent from 2008 to 2012, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Nationally, the drop was 30 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to federal data. Alternative programs like Teach for America, which will place about 4,000 teachers in schools across the country this fall, have also experienced recruitment problems.

 

From DSC:
Teaching is very difficult. If you doubt that statement, you probably haven’t taught in a while (or ever). Finding ways to engage 25-35+ students at once — while trying to provide a personalized, customized learning experience for each learner — is no small task.

I’m grateful for the solid teachers I had growing up. We need solid teachers. This is our future – no matter what nation that we’re talking about. Yet, as the article mentions for those of us in the United States, “It’s a sad, alarming state of affairs, and it proves that for all our lip service about improving the education of America’s children, we’ve failed to make teaching the draw that it should be, the honor that it must be.”

This is a major shot across the bow. We need action. We need to listen to the teachers/administrators/reformers out there now, and we need to listen to — and address in concrete fashions — the former teachers who have left the profession. Why did they leave? What would they recommend changing? After listening, we need to take action.

But even as I write this, I get a glimpse of the immensity and difficulty of the task. For example, who has solid ideas? What are solid ideas? Which direction should we go in? How will we get enough people on board with the proposed changes?

I’m grateful for all of those folks out there who are working to address this situation. Who work day after day to implement positive reforms and address these concerns — who are helping prepare our students for the future they will inherit. To those folks, I say thank you and may you come across reasons to be encouraged today.

 

“The whole point of things like curricula and classroom instruction, for example, is to prepare students for what they need to know tomorrow, not what yesterday’s students needed to know today.”

Source

 

From DSC:
I’d recommend that historians, geographers, geologists, archeologists — and many others as well — keep a sharp and steady eye on what’s happening with Virtual Reality (VR) — as the affordances that VR could bring seem very promising.  Establishing collaborations with teams of specialists could open up some amazing learning experiences for learners in the future.

Consider the items below for example.


 

Virtual reality bringing artifacts to life in London — from thestar.com

Excerpt:

Virtual reality has been increasingly making its way into the museum experience. At London’s National History Museum, visitors can currently experience First Life, a 15-minute VR experience also using the Samsung Gear VR headsets, in which David Attenborough narrates a 3D journey depicting sea creatures from 500 million years ago.

Only a few major museums have hosted their own VR experiences, but several projects are working on bringing the museum experience to the masses using the technology.

Google recently launched its Expeditions project, allowing students equipped with a Cardboard headset and a smartphone to view materials from major institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History.

 

vr-british-museum-2015

 

 

Virtual Reality Takes British Museum Visitors to Bronze Age — from augmentedrealitytrends.com by

Excerpt:

British Museum visitors will now be able to experience the past in a more vivid way. Apart from seeing the historical artifacts, you will be taken to the Bronze Age with the help of virtual reality headsets. You can don a Samsung Gear VR headset and explore a customary roundhouse from the Bronze Age. The exploration will consist of 3D scans of objects that are present in the museum. The museum is launching a VR weekend where this experience can be obtained.

Recreation of Three Bronze Age Objects
Three Bronze Age objects have been digitally recreated and will be shown to the visitors through virtual reality headsets.

One is a gold object which was recently discovered and is still caked with mud. The second object is a splendid bronze Beaune Dirk, which is a princely dagger. However, its shape suggests that it was not meant to be used, as the blade was never sharpened and the end was also not attached to a wooden hilt. The third object is a twist of bronze which looks simple but is most enigmatic. Over 50 such loops have been found within 18 miles of Brighton. They were not found anywhere else in Europe. What they were actually, is still a mystery. Users will be invited to try a replica and provide their opinions.

 

Virtual reality takes Baltimore students to Amazon — from wbaltv.com by Omar Jimenez
Armistead Gardens students use Alchemy Learning’s experiential learning

Excerpt:

Tech start up Alchemy Learning is using virtual reality as a tool for education.

“The ability to have a truly experiential learning moment has not been possible in traditional online education. Whereas with virtual reality you can see the students really are in a different world. They’re able to truly experience what’s around them,” Alchemy Learning co-founder Win Smith said.

 

VR-AlchemyLearning2015

 

 

Adopting Virtual Reality for Education — from alchemylearning.com

“As an educator with 20+ years’ experience integrating technology into curriculum, it is exciting for me to see a technology that so quickly captures the attention of the students, motivates them to make the effort to learn the procedures, and then opens them up to the relevant content.“

-Larry Fallon,
Instructional Technology Coordinator,
Arlington County Public Schools

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian