business

Global EdTech Funding 2021 – Half Year Update — from holoniq.com
A record half year in EdTech funding with 568 rounds raising $10B of investment as, ready or not, the world turns to technology to support learning and education delivery.

No, it doesn’t need to be a Zoom — from wired.com by Chris Stokel-Walker
We’re wasting hours of our lives on inefficient video calls. Here’s how to decide when you should jump on a Zoom – and when not to

Excerpt:

Academic research has pinpointed four reasons why we’re growing sick of video calls. For one thing, we’re engaged in an unnaturally large amount of eye contact, which can prove exhausting, according to Jeremy Bailenson professor at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab. We’re also stressed out by being confronted with our own face for hours on end (even if you can’t stop staring at it). Bailenson compares it to be followed around with a mirror all day.

From DSC:
What comes to my mind here is that videoconferencing — and meeting in general — requires mental work — and thus energy. Why? Because, as I mentioned in this posting, we are constantly processing auditory and visual channels.

Transcript here.

From DSC:
So having to process auditory and visual information hour after hour takes major energy! And some presentations/presenters require a lot more energy than others.

Nvidia’s AI LaunchPad: A comprehensive AI platform in the cloud

On 06/23/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, innovation, IT in HE, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Nvidia builds AI LaunchPad in the cloud with Equinix — from fierceelectronics.com by Dan O’Shea

Excerpt:

If we fail to evolve to a point where almost everyone in the world relies on AI in some fashion, it won’t be for Nvidia’s lack of commitment to that vision. The company continues to hammer away at the notion of democratizing AI so that a broader array of businesses can leverage the technology.

Its newest offering, announced today, is a comprehensive AI platform made available for easy consumption through hybrid cloud providers. This platform, AI LaunchPad, initially will be available through Nvidia cloud partner Equinix. Nvidia explained that as AI proliferates through enterprises and their applications, companies will need to access application resources that might be distributed across public and private clouds. AI LaunchPad via Platform Equinix will allow them to access those resources in minutes for an hourly fee and deploy them to distributed locations…

Two (more) items re: systemic issues that we need to address in the U.S.

On 06/22/2021, in 21st century, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, culture, Daniel S. Christian, legal reform, society, sociology, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Black College Grads Borrow 35% More for a Public Education but Earn 22% Less Than Their Peers — from Kamaron McNair with thanks to Frankie Rendón for this resource

KEY FINDINGS

Census data shows that Black millennials with a Bachelor’s earn 22% less ($44,498 versus $56,731) on average than other degree-holding millennials.

Black millennials outpaced their peers in just three states — Oregon, Maine and Alaska. But only by an average of 2% — or roughly $1,200.
The earnings gap for recent graduates widened in more than half of U.S. states. From 2014 to 2019, the earnings gap for graduates widened in 28 states and the District of Columbia. The gap widened by more than 29 percentage points in Vermont, the most of any state.
The worst wage gap for Black millennials was in Montana, where Black bachelor’s degree graduates working full time earn 50.3% less on average than non-Black workers.
North Dakota recorded the smallest earnings gap at 2.7%. Here, Black millennial bachelor’s degree-holders earn just $1,400 less on average than non-Black earners.
Black students borrowed more in student loans than their fellow students. At four-year public schools, Black students and their families borrowed 35% more. Non-Black families contributed an average of $14,434 to their student’s education, more than double the $5,545 Black families contributed.

Also see:

Design is a particularly white profession. Depending on the poll, only 3% to 4.8% of designers are Black. But a powerful new collective of design companies is looking to change that.

DC: Good deal. Thanks @keesav for the resource.https://t.co/DkEFTGhTi4

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) June 21, 2021

Addendum on 6/23/21:

California judges don’t reflect the state’s diversity — how that could change — from calmatters.org by Byrhonda Lyons
Whites make up a little more than a third of California’s population but nearly two-thirds of its Superior Court judges. Advocates are devising ways to get more people of color into law and onto the bench.

10 AI tech trends data scientists should know [Morgan]

On 06/16/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, corporate / business world, data related items, emerging technologies, pace of change, trends, by Daniel Christian

10 AI tech trends data scientists should know — from by Lisa Morgan
The rising environmental and monetary costs of deep learning are catching enterprises’ attention, as are new AI techniques like graph neural networks and contrastive learning.

Excerpt:

AI adoption is accelerating across industries, driven by a combination of concrete results, high expectations and a lot of money. Among the many new AI concepts and techniques launching almost daily, 10 AI tech trends in particular grab data scientists’ attention.

Accenture Extended Reality: Immersive learning for the future workforce

On 06/16/2021, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), business, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, future, immersion, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, Mixed Reality (MR), tools, training / L&D, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Accenture Extended Reality (XR)
Immersive learning for the future workforce

The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready? — from Microsoft

“Over the past year, no area has undergone more rapid transformation than the way we work. Employee expectations are changing, and we will need to define productivity much more broadly — inclusive of collaboration, learning, and wellbeing to drive career advancement for every worker, including frontline and knowledge workers, as well as for new graduates and those who are in the workforce today. All this needs to be done with flexibility in when, where, and how people work.”

Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft

Also see:

What executives are saying about the future of hybrid work — from mckinsey.com by Andrea Alexander, Rich Cracknell, Aaron De Smet, Meredith Langstaff, Mihir Mysore, and Dan Ravid.
What’s next for consumers, workers, and companies in the post-COVID-19 recovery — from mckinsey.com by Susan Lund, Anu Madgavkar, Jan Mischke, and Jaana Remes
For mothers in the workplace, a year (and counting) like no other — from mckinsey.com by Jess Huang, Alexis Krivkovich, Ishanaa Rambachan, and Lareina Yee

Move over, blue- and white-collar jobs: The workforce color spectrum is expanding [Britt]

On 06/11/2021, in 21st century, business, career development, change, corporate / business world, future, generational differences, organizational change, parents/guardians, society, student-related, technology (general), training / L&D, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Move over, blue- and white-collar jobs: The workforce color spectrum is expanding — from chieflearningofficer.com by Frank F. Britt
Here’s how gray-, green- and pink-collar jobs will define the post-COVID future of work.

Excerpt:

In 2015, a report from Burning Glass and General Assembly called attention to the rise of a new type of occupation. These roles combine technology skills with positions that haven’t historically required them, like analysis, design or marketing. Burning Glass called those positions “hybrid jobs.” Today, in a rapidly digitizing labor market where tech skills are fast becoming table stakes, we might just call them “jobs.”

Back when that report came out, so-called hybrid jobs were largely a white-collar phenomenon. But today, we’re witnessing a rise in demand for digital skills that is transcending desk work — and, in fact, may be transforming the entire “color spectrum” of the American workforce.

None of these are really white- or blue-collar jobs. We might think of them, instead, as gray-collar (at the intersection of manufacturing and technology), pink-collar (allied health and the care economy) and green-collar (clean energy). These are the jobs that will define the future of work. And they’ll be the majority of jobs in the U.S. before we know it.

It’s like Netflix for education: UND considers subscription tuition model — from grandforksherald.com by Sydney Mook; with thanks to Ray Schroeder for this resource out on LinkedIn
Think of it as Netflix or Hulu – popular television subscription services – but for a UND education. Students could pay a flat rate and take as many (or as few) online courses as preferred, so long as they aren’t considered a full-time, degree-seeking student.

Excerpts:

UND wants to add a flat-rate subscription option to its tuition model.

Think of it as Netflix or Hulu – popular television subscription services – but for a UND education. Students could pay a flat rate and take as many (or as few) online courses as preferred, so long as they aren’t considered a full-time, degree-seeking student.

“You enroll, you have a subscription and during that subscription, you can binge watch,” said Jeff Holm, vice provost for online education and strategic planning at UND.

UND says it wants to “provide competency-based, online education that provides ‘micro-pathways’ or smaller targeted units of learning to individuals as a way to enhance their skill set and knowledge for advancing in the labor market or reskilling for a new employment opportunity.”

The Short-term Credentials Landscape — from newamerica.org by Monique O. Ositelu, PhD, Clare McCann, and Amy Laitinen
What We See and What Remains Unseen

Abstract

Given the rapid growth in short-term programs, and policymakers’ fast-growing interest to invest federal higher education dollars into very-short-term credentials, we explore what the research does—and does not— show us about such credentials’ utility in the labor market. With concerns about equity, our review of the literature guides us towards caution, as a strong push for short-term certificates may run the risk of reifying socioeconomic stratification.

From DSC:
I wonder…will accreditation move towards the use of crowd-sourced methods? Similar to rating one’s driver or one’s experience with a product, will microcredentials get into more reviews and recommendations from the users of various learning/training-related sites and services?

Will users of a service comment on whether the credential helped them (with a salary increase, with practical knowledge, with an expanded scope of projects at work, etc.)?

2 Chronicles 10 (NIV) — from biblegateway.com (emphasis DSC)

Excerpt:

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. ³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: ⁴“Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

⁸But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

From DSC:
The new, younger king didn’t listen to the older, more experienced people (i.e., the elders) who had worked with King Solomon (a king who reigned over a united Israel for 40 years…and a person whom the Bible says was the wisest king of all time). Instead the younger king sought the counsel of his younger peers and went with that advice. This led to Rehoboam’s downfall — at least in terms of keeping a strong, united Israel. He was only a king of a much smaller kingdom due to his decision and actions.

What might the youth of today learn from this? How might entrepreneurs learn from this? What might companies like Google, Facebook, and others learn from this? How might this impact how we go about developing the culture of a company? What’s valued and what’s not valued?

There are probably different lessons one can learn from 2 Chronicles Chapter 10. But here’s one example that comes to my mind…

…just because we can…

…doesn’t mean we should.

The image below was excerpted from:

6 Training Situations Where Blended Learning Is the Best Fit [SlideShare] — from blog.commlabindia.com
Blended learning strikes the perfect balance between offline and online learning formats. However, there are a few situations where it’s a godsend. Read on to understand when to serve blended learning for your corporate learners.

A great example of a learning ecosystem from CommLab India!

Snap Spectacles Finally Evolve into Full AR Smartglasses with Standalone Immersive Superpowers [Palladino]

On 05/26/2021, in Augmented Reality (AR), business, collaboration, creativity, emerging technologies, immersion, innovation, vendors, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Snap Spectacles Finally Evolve into Full AR Smartglasses with Standalone Immersive Superpowers — from next.reality.news by Tommy Palladino

Also see:

Snap Now Lets You Build Lego in AR Remotely with Others, Reveals AR Tie-Up with Disney, Plus AR Business Tools — from next.reality.news by Adario Strange

Excerpt:

On Thursday, during the company’s Snap Partner Summit 2021, a wide range of tie-ups and new features were unveiled, with some of the biggest brands on the planet joining the AR fray.

Perhaps the most notable partnership is Snap’s new effort with the Lego company. Although Lego is known for allowing kids of all ages to use plastic building blocks to create art, toys, and even robots, now Lego fans will be able to build Lego constructs together, remotely, via a new feature from Lens Studio called Connected Lens. The new feature is available immediately via Snapchat.

Yet another similar problem to be solved that’s going on in the too-often-siloed worlds of business, HE, and K12

On 05/25/2021, in business, change, higher education, K-12 related, law schools, marketplaces, reinvent, society, surviving, training / L&D, trends, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

If You Thought Working From Home Was Messy, Here Comes Hybrid Work — from wsj.com by Chip Cutter
Mandatory Mondays and Fridays. Unused desks and crowded conference rooms. Employers and workers navigate a return to offices.

Excerpts:

Some companies that are hiring say they can’t find knowledge workers willing to come into an office five days a week, according to chief executives, human-resource chiefs and recruiters.

…
It’s become really sort of a requirement if you’re looking for top talent,” Mr. Herrington says. “Those folks are pretty much saying, ‘Hey, if I can’t have a bit of a hybrid work environment, then I’m probably not going to be interested.’”

From DSC:
I’ve often noticed that the problems that we work on in higher ed are occurring in K12 and also in the corporate world. How to move forward from this Covid19 situation is another similar problem being worked on. Perhaps with some different/additional questions for HE and K12:

Where do the students prefer to be? In face-to-face (F2F)-based situations? 100% online? Hyflex? Hybrid? Other?

But really, I wonder if things don’t boil down to what the market will dictate…?

Counting U.S. Postsecondary and Secondary Credentials — from Credential Engine; with thanks to Will Richardson for this resource
February 2021

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Learners, educators and policymakers understand that high school completion and education beyond high school are critical to thrive in the workforce. However, until recently an inventory of the number or type of secondary and postsecondary credential opportunities in the United States did not exist. This is the third annual report from Credential Engine that attempts to count all these credentials. The report identifies 967,734 unique credentials in the U.S. in 16 detailed credential categories across four types
of credential providers:

Postsecondary educational institutions—359,713 degrees and certificates
Massive open online course (MOOC) providers—9,390 course completion certificates, micro-credentials, and online degrees from foreign universities
Non-academic providers—549,712 badges, course completion certificates, licenses, certifications, and apprenticeships
Secondary schools—48,919 diplomas from public and private secondary schools

Also see:

NLET Releases “Newest Economy” Paper

In The Newest Economy: Welcome to the Credential Currency Revolution, Gordon Freedman, NLET’s president, examines the discontinuity between high schools, community colleges, career and technical education, and workforce development programs and their alignment and linkages to high demand jobs and careers. The paper suggests moving beyond the current array of offerings and labor market tools to a marketplace solution using modern technology and data analytics to link credentials (badges, certifications, degrees) to hiring outcomes.

The paper is a collaboration among NLET, Credential Engine, Southern Regional Economic Board (SREB) and GoEducate, Inc. who together are building a Credential Alliance to further the work described in the report.

Press Release
Executive Summary
Download the Report

Learning Ecosystems

Reflections on “No, it doesn’t need to be a Zoom” [Stokel-Walker]

Two (more) items re: systemic issues that we need to address in the U.S.

Accenture Extended Reality: Immersive learning for the future workforce

The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready? [Microsoft] + 3 items from McKinsey.com

It’s like Netflix for education: UND considers subscription tuition model [Mook]

The Short-term Credentials Landscape [Ositelu, McCann, & Laitinen]

Great example of a learning ecosystem from CommLab India!

Snap Spectacles Finally Evolve into Full AR Smartglasses with Standalone Immersive Superpowers [Palladino]

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