collaboration

EdX and Qualcomm to build the next generation mobile learning experience

On 05/13/2015, in collaboration, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, vendors, by Daniel Christian

EdX and Qualcomm to build the next generation mobile learning experience — from marketwatch.com
Collaboration will help edX increase access to education for millions around the world

Excerpt:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SAN DIEGO, May 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — EdX, a nonprofit learning destination, and Qualcomm Education, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM, +1.37% the leading global provider of wireless technology, today announced a collaboration to further develop edX’s MOOC (massive open online course) mobile capabilities and enhance its open source platform to benefit connected learners around the world. As part of the collaboration, Qualcomm Education will contribute engineering resources and will license elements of its SDK code, which edX will distribute to the Open edX community.

This collaboration brings together two industry leaders who share a common vision that mobile technologies are a critical enabler for open access to education for everyone. Together they will harness the power of more than 7 billion mobile connections globally, with more than 1 million being added daily, to meet the growing demand for mobile learning.

7 collaboration opportunities beyond the display [Heinze]

On 05/13/2015, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, higher education, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, productivity / tips and tricks, smart classrooms, technology (general), vendors, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

7 collaboration opportunities beyond the display — from avnetwork.com by Carolyn Heinze

Excerpt:

Traditionally—as in just a couple of years ago—collaboration was relatively limited to the display: from their laptops, participants in a meeting space could throw up documents and images onto a main display for everyone to see and, eventually, annotate. The prevalence of BYOD and scattered workforces brought mobile into the mix, enabling those who couldn’t physically attend a session to collaborate remotely, transforming smartphones and tablets into, if not primary, but secondary displays. As professionals grow increasingly comfortable incorporating these tools into their workflow, the concept of collaboration has expanded past the display and into the nitty-gritty of how organizations operate.

Resources re: the flipped classroom

On 05/12/2015, in 21st century, active learning, blended learning, collaboration, education technology, elearning, face-to-face, faculty/staff, flipping -- inverted learning, hybrid learning, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, pedagogy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

First of all, a shout out to the originators of the flipped classroom approach from back in 2009 (as I understand it and see it being practiced today):

Jon Bergmann — website & Twitter
Aaron Sams — website & Twitter

Also see the following article from 2009:

The Vod Couple | From The Journal by Dian Schaffhauser | 08/01/09
High school chemistry teachers Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann have overturned conventional classroom instruction by using video podcasts to form the root of a new learning model.

The Vod Couple

GOOD CHEMISTRY
Sams (left) and Bergmann
together practice a
student-centered pedagogy

Some resources re: the flipped classroom approach:

If you’re interested in #flipclass at the university level, I recommend this volume, available for pre-order now: http://t.co/ODijffCSyq

— Robert Talbert (@RobertTalbert) May 11, 2015

Description:

Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom provides a comprehensive overview and systematic assessment of the flipped classroom methodology in higher education. The book:

Reviews various pedagogical theories that inform flipped classroom practice and provides a brief history from its inception in K–12 to its implementation in higher education.
Offers well-developed and instructive case studies chronicling the implementation of flipped strategies across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, physical environments, and student populations.
Provides insights and suggestions to instructors in higher education for the implementation of flipped strategies in their own courses by offering reflections on learning outcomes and student success in flipped classrooms compared with those employing more traditional models and by describing relevant technologies.
Discusses observations and analyses of student perceptions of flipping the classroom as well as student practices and behaviors particular to flipped classroom models.
Illuminates several research models and approaches for use and modification by teacher-scholars interested in building on this research on their own campuses.

The evidence presented on the flipped classroom methodology by its supporters and detractors at all levels has thus far been almost entirely anecdotal or otherwise unreliable. Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroomis the first book to provide faculty members nuanced qualitative and quantitative evidence that both supports and challenges the value of flipping the college classroom.

The Flipped Classroom FAQ — from cirtl.net by Derek Bruff

Excerpts:

The usual approach:

The flipped approach:

Okay, I’m in. How can I learn more? Some starting points: This blog post by the University of Colorado’s Stephanie Chasteen, this resource guide from the University of Indiana at Bloomington, the K12-focused-but-still-helpful Flipped Learning Network, and the weekly #flipclass Twitter chat.

Image from “The Definition Of The Flipped Classroom” — from by teachthought.com

Items re: the flipped classroom from educatorstechnology.com

Items re: the flipped classroom from teachthought.com

Items re: the flipped classroom from edudemic.com

Confronting my flipped classroom bias — from middleweb.com by Jody & Shara | 12/29/2013

Excerpt:

I’d always thought that the flipped classroom was mostly for teachers who lectured. So how could classroom flipping be useful to me? I only really lectured twice a year. And, wasn’t it about watching videos for homework? Not according to Cheryl, who talked about using the flipping strategy for instructions, assignments, procedures and review – in class.

The wheels in my head began turning as I remembered all those times I stood in front of my students trying to explain complicated instructions — again and again and again. I recalled the times where I modeled a skill for the students, had them practice, and then sent them home to do it on their own – and how challenging that often was for them without any ready means of support.

What in our course could be easily conveyed by video? What concepts did students often need to review at their own pace? What instructions would be more easily explained with a combination of audio and visual rather than (me upfront) whole-class discussion?

Also see:

My Flipped History Classroom: Year Two — from middleweb.com by Jody & Shara | 05/03/2015
Excerpt:
I still maintain that since I don’t lecture all that much, the flipped model of “watch lecture at home and then discuss at school” isn’t a good fit for me and my inquiry oriented classroom.
…
What might I do differently next year? For sure, I would limit the number of videos shown at any given time – especially at the beginning of the year. I would also involve the students in making the videos themselves. It would be an interesting project near the end of school to have the current students make instructional videos for next year’s classes – how to submit a paper, how to take notes, how to complete a particular assignment. I suspect videos by last year’s veterans would be more engaging for new students to watch and respond to.

Also see:

Mobile Learning and the Inverted Classroom — by Derek Bruff
What, Why, and How to Flip Your Classroom — from edsurge.com by Scott Haselwood

MoreChoiceMoreControl-DSC2

Addendum on 5/13/15:

What Can We Learn from Flipped Learning for Business Training? — from td.org by Jillian Douglas

World’s first open online MBA to be launched by MOOC platform Coursera [Murray]

On 05/05/2015, in business, collaboration, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, marketing/social marketing, MBA, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, strategy, student-related, training / L&D, United States, using teams, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

World’s first open online MBA to be launched by MOOC platform Coursera — from by Seb Murray
The world’s first open digital MBA degree will be launched in a tie-up between Mooc maker Coursera and US b-school the University of Illinois.

Excerpt:

The world’s first open online MBA will launch in 2015 after a landmark decision from a top business school which is expected to pave the way for further digitization of the business degree and disrupt an already shaken education market.

The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign College of Business has received the seal of approval from its senate to launch the “iMBA”, in collaboration with Coursera, the $300 million-plus Silicon Valley start-up that produces MOOCs and has amassed nearly 13 million users.

Also see:

U. of Illinois to offer a lower-cost M.B.A., thanks to MOOCs — from chronicle.com by Jeff Young

Excerpt:

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign plans to start a low-cost online M.B.A. program in partnership with Coursera, the Silicon Valley-based MOOC provider, hoping to meet its land-grant mission of improving access and also to create a new stream of revenue at a time of shrinking state support for higher education.

Students enrolling in the new online master’s program, dubbed the iMBA, could complete the entire degree for about $20,000 — far less than the approximately $50,000 for the on-campus version or the $100,000 for the university’s executive M.B.A.

Click here to download the PDF of the report.
Click here to view the report in HTML.

Also see:

Key findings from [the April 30th, 2015 Project Tomorrow] briefing include — from projecttomorrowblog.blogspot.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

When students have access to technology as part of their learning, especially school-provided or enabled technology, their use of the digital tools and resources is deeper and more sophisticated.
The availability of online learning continues to increase with only 27 percent of high school principals reporting that they are not yet offering any online courses for students. Interest among students continues to grow, with 24% of high school students saying they wish they could take all their classes online – a large increase from 8% in 2013.
Almost three-quarters of students with school-provided devices as well as students with limited or non-existent technology access at school agreed that every student should be able to use a mobile device during the school day for learning.
Students connect the use of technology tools within learning to the development of college, career, and citizenship skills that will empower their future capabilities.
Digital experiences for students in a 100 percent virtual environment are much different than those in traditional schools. For instance, 72 percent of high school students in virtual schools take online tests, compared with 58 percent of traditional students.
Students see the smartphone as the ideal device for communicating with teachers (46%) and classmates (72%) and for social media (64%).
A gender bias exists in STEM interest –middle school girls are 38% less likely and high school girls are 32% less likely than their male peers to say they are very interested in a STEM career.

Excerpt from Press Release (emphasis DSC):

Students Report Digital Learning Supports Goals of Self-Directed and Collaborative Education, National Survey Finds
Nearly 60 Percent of High School Students Report Using Their Own Mobile Devices in School for Learning
Report Explores Differences Among Students in Blended Learning, Online Learning, STEM Learning and School-Sponsored Mobile Device Environments

Washington, D.C. – The ultimate learning experience for students is both highly collaborative and extremely personalized, supported by mobile devices and digital content, reports Project Tomorrow in their latest Speak Up report.

Over the last few years of the Speak Up survey, more students and administrators have signaled the importance of being able to access mobile devices in the classroom, whether through Bring Your Own Device policy consideration and implementation or through school-provided technology. This year, nearly half of teachers (47 percent) said their students have regular access to mobile devices in their classrooms. Among high school students, 58 percent said they now use their own mobile device at school to support learning activities.

From DSC:
This is a great pulse check on students’ use of ed tech — and on some things that they might be coming to expect.

The skills agenda: Preparing students for the future [Google; The Economist Intelligence Unit]

On 04/17/2015, in career development, collaboration, communications, creativity, entrepreneurship, languages and translation, student-related, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

The skills agenda: Preparing students for the future — from Google and The Economist Intelligence Unit

Excerpt:

As technology becomes more pervasive, traditional trades disappear and the world of work becomes more globalised, the skills considered to be valuable for the future are shifting.

Problem solving, team working, and communication (a trifecta commonly known as “21st century skills”) are the most-needed skills in the workplace, according to our recent surveys of business executives, students and teachers. Digital literacy and creativity— and the latter’s close relative, entrepreneurship—are expected to grow more important in the next three years.

Addendum on 4/23/15:

The college degrees ad skills employers most want in 2015 — from forbes.com by Susan Adams

Excerpt:

The hiring picture keeps getting better for college graduates. According to a new survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers are planning to hire 9.6% more graduates for their U.S. operations than they did from the class of 2014. That’s a one percent hike from the 8.6% gain a year ago and a significant jump from 2013, when employers said they would boost hiring by just 2.1% over the previous year.

…

The NACE survey also asked employers to rate the skills they most value in new hires. Companies want candidates who can think critically, solve problems, work in a team, maintain a professional demeanor and demonstrate a strong work ethic. Here is the ranking in order of importance:

desired skills

Embracing failure to spur success: A new collaborative innovation model [Wilcox & Ray]

On 04/08/2015, in collaboration, consortiums, experimentation, higher education, innovation, leadership, strategy, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Embracing failure to spur success: A new collaborative innovation model — from educause.com by Kim Wilcox and Edward Ray

Excerpt:

The implied message is clear: We’d prefer not to talk about what isn’t working at the postsecondary level.

We’re in a competitive sector, and there is misplaced pressure on all higher education institutions to achieve top placement in U.S. News & World Report and other annual rankings, regardless of whether or not those rankings make any sense. We all feel significant pressure to make sure that our constituents—from board members to faculty to parents to legislators—are happy with the direction of the institution. And we also know that those constituents can be impatient in waiting for substantive change to produce positive results. Honest discourse on new initiatives that seem unproductive or in need of modification is likely to lead to unpleasant conversations that few of us would relish.

This is not the way to foster innovation and improvement in higher education. The best innovators in the world typically follow the mantra that failure is acceptable, helpful, and sometimes even necessary to ultimately achieving an objective. Many of the products we rely on today, from Post-it Notes to pacemakers, resulted from mistakes or failures in the search for other innovations. And just about any founder of a successful Silicon Valley start-up has a track record of ventures that failed.

Successful innovation requires experimentation and learning from failure.

…

At the University of California, Riverside, and Oregon State University, we are engaged in one effort to achieve these goals: the University Innovation Alliance. The UIA is a consortium of eleven major public research universities that are working together to identify new solutions to challenges found throughout the higher education community, and then to share information about failures and successful solutions among institutions.

From DSC:
Some images that are along these lines:

RealEstate-HigherEd-DanielSChristian11-1-13

TheTrimtabInHigherEducation-DanielChristian

Mind the Gap: Connecting K–12 and Higher Education Educators to Improve the Student Experience [educause.edu]

On 04/07/2015, in collaboration, corporate / business world, higher education, K-12 related, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Mind the Gap: Connecting K–12 and Higher Education Educators to Improve the Student Experience — from educause.edu by Matthew W. Stoltzfus, Ben Scragg, and Cory Tressler

Excerpts:

With such vastly different and equally important skill sets in the educational spectrum, it’s unfortunate that high school teachers and college professors do not collaborate more often. Strong collaborations would enhance instruction for both parties, would increase the understanding of what types of teaching and learning are happening in each setting, and would assist students in their transition from high school to college. The increasing popularity of MOOCs, open-education resources such as OpenStax College, and freely available course content on platforms such as iTunes U brings an incredible opportunity for high school teachers and college instructors to collaborate and enhance each other’s instruction.

Ohio State is leading one such project. College Ready Ohio seeks to provide K–12 teachers with college-level content and professional development related to digital pedagogy, the incorporation of mobile technology for teaching and learning, and digital content creation. Through a partnership between Ohio State, the Ohio STEM Learning Network, two regional Education Service Centers, and ten participating school districts across the state, College Ready Ohio aims to expand students’ access to—and increase the affordability of—higher education for Ohio’s students. By piloting dual enrollment, known as College Credit Plus in Ohio, for students in the partner districts, College Ready Ohio will help ease the financial burden of higher education by providing students with an opportunity to earn college credits in high school, while simultaneously preparing students for the rigor of college-level coursework.

From DSC:
I love to see this type of collaboration! It makes a world of sense and I wish that there were more of these kinds of efforts/collaborations — and efforts that help bridge the gaps between higher education and the workplace. Such efforts would make for smoother transitions from K-12 to higher ed — and then from higher ed to the workplace.

Piggybacking on Jay Cross’ thoughts on “Flipping the Meeting”, I wonder if…

On 04/06/2015, in collaboration, corporate / business world, higher education, K-12 related, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, vendors, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

We’ve got to stop meeting like this! – Guest post by Jay Cross — from litmos.com

Excerpt:

You can re-jigger your meetings to make them relevant, challenging, and fun by adopting an approach that is revolutionizing secondary school learning.

It’s called Flipping the Meeting. Flipped meetings focus people’s face-to-face time on working with one another to solve problems. You prepare in advance at your own pace with resources framing the business issue. When people convene, they spend their time collaborating to solve a problem. Conversations cross-fertilize ideas and fuel learning. In the flipped meeting, you focus on making the decision before the bell goes off.

Two teachers pioneered the philosophy of flip starting back in 2007. Students read their homework before class and use the classroom for discussion, not presentation. Grades go up, as does retention. Millions of students have signed up for flipped instruction through The Khan Academy. This is the same philosophy that underlies the Flipped Meeting. Be prepared to be inspired and listen to the founders of the flip…

From DSC:
Piggybacking on what Jay is saying in that piece re: “Flipping the Meeting”, I wonder if tools like VoiceThread could also help obtain peoples’ thoughts and perspectives prior to holding a meeting — and to do so per what works for each individual’s schedule.

VoiceThread is a cloud application, so there is no software to install. The only system requirement is an up-to-date version of Adobe Flash. VoiceThread will work in any modern web browser and on almost any internet connection.

Creating
Upload, share and discuss documents, presentations, images, audio files and videos. Over 50 different types of media can be used in a VoiceThread.

Commenting
Comment on VoiceThread slides using one of five powerful commenting options: microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload.

Sharing
Keep a VoiceThread private, share it with specific people, or open it up to the entire world. Learn more about sharing VoiceThreads.

Resources, ideas, questions, & more regarding the topic of learning spaces

On 03/17/2015, in active learning, collaboration, communications, higher education, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, participation, pedagogy, smart classrooms, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Below are some resources, ideas, questions, and more regarding the topic of learning spaces:

Per Jeanne Narum (Principal, Learning Spaces Collaboratory and Founding Director, Project Kaleidoscope), we’ve been asking the following key questions for several years now:

What do we want our learners to become?
What experiences make that becoming happen?
What spaces enable those experiences?
How do we know?

The Learning Spaces Collaboratory

NOTE:
Be sure to see The LSC Guide: Planning for Assessing 21st Century Spaces for 21st Century Learners

Derek Bruff’s Learning Spaces gallery

Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics – a meta-analysis of 225 studies

Abstract
To test the hypothesis that lecturing maximizes learning and course performance, we metaanalyzed 225 studies that reported data on examination scores or failure rates when comparing student performance in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses under traditional lecturing versus active learning. The effect sizes indicate that on average, student performance on examinations and concept inventories increased by 0.47 SDs under active learning (n = 158 studies), and that the odds ratio for failing was 1.95 under traditional lecturing (n = 67 studies). These results indicate that average examination scores improved by about 6% in active learning sections, and that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than were students in classes with active learning. Heterogeneity analyses indicated that both results hold across the STEM disciplines, that active learning increases scores on concept inventories more than on course examinations, and that active learning appears effective across all class sizes—although the greatest effects are in small (n ? 50) classes. Trim and fill analyses and fail-safe n calculations suggest that the results are not due to publication bias. The results also appear robust to variation in the methodological rigor of the included studies, based on the quality of controls over student quality and instructor identity. This is the largest and most comprehensive metaanalysis of undergraduate STEM education published to date. The results raise questions about the continued use of traditional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teaching practice in regular classrooms.

Building Community with FLEXspace: The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange — from educause.com by Lisa Stephens

Key Takeaways

FLEXspace is a large-scale community solution to capture detailed information, images, and video of learning environment exemplars.
The ELI Seeking Evidence of Impact principles encouraged further development of FLEXspace.
Discussions are underway on how to leverage and combine the Learning Space Rating System and FLEXspace.

Seven Principles for Classroom Design: The Learning Space Rating System — from educause.com by Malcolm Brown

Key Takeaways

The Learning Space Rating System tool enables scoring a classroom’s design to see how well it supports active learning.
If the design meets the criteria for a specific credit, a point or points are added to a compiled score.
The higher the score, the better the design for active learning.

Steelcase Education

Herman Miller Education

Gordana Latinovic’s Learning Spaces on Pinterest

Kelley Tanner’s Learning Spaces on Pinterest

Greg Swanson’s Learning Spaces on Pinterest

Bill Duncan’s Learning Spaces on Pinterest

The SCALE-UP Project
The primary goal of the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) Project is to establish a highly collaborative, hands-on, computer-rich, interactive learning environment for large-enrollment courses.

Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader [Educause & Jisc]

On 03/09/2015, in change, collaboration, communications, future of higher education, higher education, IT in HE, leadership, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, using teams, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader. Research report. Jisc and EDUCAUSE, March 2015.

Abstract:

Information technology is so much the fabric of the university that its presence is often not fully recognized. The focus in the IT organization has shifted from a tactical to a strategic perspective. With the demand for IT only growing, understanding how IT leaders can best lead in these efforts is essential.

In early 2014, EDUCAUSE and Jisc came together to address a common concern: Understanding the skills required by technology leaders in higher education was an issue often overlooked and one needing immediate attention. The two organizations convened a working group of 10 leading U.S. and U.K. IT leaders to define a set of desired technology leadership characteristics and capabilities, now and in the future. This report identifies 10 key roles played by the IT leaders, describes what each of these roles entails, and outlines the essential skills required to perform them.

The higher education information technology (IT) enterprise has become complex. No longer simply responsible for provisioning IT infrastructure and services, the IT department increasingly helps re-envision business and service models—all in a context of cost and accountability pressures.

From DSC:
It’s good to see the emphasis on strategy and the strategic use of technologies — especially given the increasingly important role that technologies are playing throughout the majority of — if not all — industries in existence today (not to mention the exponential curve we’re on vs. a gradual/linear trajectory). This is true within higher ed as well, as new alternatives/models/methods continue to creep up on traditional institutions of higher ed.

8 characteristics of future schools [Crockett]

On 02/27/2015, in 21st century, assessment, collaboration, creativity, future, ideas, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, love of learning, new media literacies, teachers, by Daniel Christian

8 characteristics of future schools — from globaldigitalcitizen.org by Ross Crockett; with thanks to Tom D’Amico (@TDOttawa) for his scoop on this

Excerpts:

The best piece of classroom technology available still is, and always will be, a teacher with a love of learning. The way forward with technology in our future schools is remembering that it is a tool to augment the powerful human connections that are so much of a part of great teaching and effective learning. Global Digital Citizenship can help us make this happen.

Let’s Dream Brighter
Imagine future schools in which students are totally engaged in a class, totally immersed in working together to solve real world problems. Imagine that they are self-driven and that they are coming up with amazing ideas on the spot. Imagine that they are concerned with each other’s well-being as part of a team and that their concerns reache far beyond the classroom to others all over the globe. Even further, they may interact daily with those people.

While this may describe a vision of the future schools we are envisioning, you might be surprised that some of these things are already happening!

…

1. Will they even be called ‘schools’ in the future?
2. What would problem solving look like in the future?
3. What would information look like in the future?
4. What would creativity look like in the future?
5. What would media look like in the future?
6. What would collaboration look like in the future?
7. What would citizenship look like in the future?
8. What does assessment look like in the future?

A related item back from 2013:

A glimpse into the future of learning: An infographic — from knowledgeworks.org

Microsoft’s Productivity Future Vision – some sharp innovations here!

On 02/27/2015, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), business, collaboration, communications, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, Microsoft, mobile learning, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, second screen apps, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Example snapshots from
Microsoft’s Productivity Future Vision

How Google and Coursera may upend the traditional college degree — from brookings.edu by Stuart Butler

Excerpt:

Recently, the online education firm Coursera announced a new arrangement with Google, Instagram and other tech firms to launch what some are calling “microdegrees” – a set of online courses plus a hands-on capstone project designed in conjunction with top universities and leading high-tech firms. Coursera is one of America’s leading MOOC developers (Massive Open Online Courses).
…
Why does this announcement suggest such a shakeup is likely? Several reasons. Here are just four:

MOOCs are moving from novel sideshow to serious competition.
The partnership between online education and employers is likely a game-changer.
Accreditation as a restriction on competition is eroding.
Microdegrees are likely the pathway to customized degree programs.

Also see:

Top companies work with university partners to help create capstone projects with real world applications — from blog.coursera.org

Excerpt:

Experts at top companies like Google and Instagram have joined Coursera to help develop the final projects — called “Capstones” — for Coursera Specializations.

Combining a curated series of courses with a final Capstone Project, Specializations help you master new skills with the best of university teaching and the real-time market perspective of top industry partners. Hundreds of thousands of learners have enrolled in Specializations since their launch in January 2014.

But partnerships like Coursera’s include employers actually certifying groups of courses as meeting industry’s standards for skills and knowledge – essentially an end-run around traditional accreditation as a measure of quality.

Also see:

Udacity’s nanodegree program”
Credentials built and recognized by industry leaders to advance your career

From DSC:

First of all, that piece about the end-around traditional accreditation should make those of us working within higher ed veeeeerrrrry nervous — and much more responsive — as accreditation has been what’s kept traditional institutions of higher ed in the game. If that goes, well…hmmm…things could get very interesting.

Secondly, those who talk of the demise of MOOCs are waaayyy too premature in their assessment/conclusion. Technologies and vendors such as IBM (Watson), Apple (Siri), Google (Deepmind), and Microsoft (Cortana and Azure Machine Learning) could bake their products into MOOCs. Also, what happens if vendors involved with developing personalized learning platforms and/or those vendors specializing with big data start approaching MOOC providers? (See Will micro-credentialing be an example of the use of big data in education and training?) The resulting offerings could have an enormous impact on how people learn and make a living in the future. Again, if those types of technologies get baked into MOOCs, I’m pretty sure that people won’t be discounting MOOCs any longer.

Also, it’s because of items like those mentioned above that sometimes make me wonder if online education and digitally-related delivery mechanisms are what will save the liberal arts. People could pick up courses in the liberal arts throughout their lifetimes — obtaining degrees…or not. (As a brief aside, I wonder to what extent faculty members will develop their own brands.) Anyway, it’s getting to the point that many people can’t afford the campus experience. But could they afford something online…? It could be…depending upon the pricing and associated business models involved. My guess is that those institutions who practice a team-based approach will survive and thrive — if they keep a steady eye on their pricing.

3 items re: necessary skills for the modern workplace

On 02/26/2015, in career development, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, education reform, entrepreneurship, innovation, new media literacies, play, professional development, social learning / networks, training / L&D, trends, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

digital workforce skills — from jarche.com by Harold Jarche

Excerpt:

Behaviour change comes through small, but consistent, changes in practice. So how do we move from responsibility, to creativity, and potentially to innovation? Play, explore, and converse. But first we need to build a space to practice. This is where management plays a key role: providing the space to ‘Do it Yourself’.

Our employer-employee marriages need counseling — from forbes.com by Dov Seidman

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Our Big Asks of employees have become so pervasive that they’re transforming into competencies. A report by Palo Alto-based non-profit research firm Institute for the Future identifies 10 increasingly important work skills. These include talents like: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication; cross-cultural competency; proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rules-based; and the ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning.

Andrew McAfee: The Second Machine Age is approaching. Here’s how we can prepare. — from huffingtonpost.com by Dawn Nakagawa , EVP, Berggruen Institute

Excerpt:

Nakagawa: Inequality is already a problem. How much worse will inequality get in this new future?

McAfee: The stratospheric wealth of the 1 percent presents some challenges. But I think it’s largely a distraction from the more important challenge, which is not about the people at the top pulling away. It is about the 50th-percentile worker or the 25th-percentile worker. It is about the stagnation in the prospects and earnings of the middle class. We need to focus on how to improve the prospects for the middle and the bottom, people who are finding themselves stagnating or sliding backwards. It could well be that higher marginal tax rates on top levels of income and wealth are part of the solution, but we need to broaden the conversation to look for comprehensive solutions to a complex problem.

…

Nakagawa: How do we need to change the education system, not to address the labor force skills gap we see today but to prepare our younger generation for the economy that is coming?

McAfee: Our education system is in need of an overhaul. It is frustrating that our primary education system is doing a pretty good job at turning out the kinds of workers we needed 50 years ago. Basic skills, the ability to follow instructions, execute defined tasks with some level of consistency and reliability. Machines can do all those things better than we can. What they can’t do, at least not yet, are things like negotiate, provide loving and compassionate care, motivate a team of people, design a great experience, realize what people want or need, figure out the next problem to work on and how to solve it and so on. And not all the items on that list require advanced degrees. We’re going to need people with all kinds of skills and training for some time to come, so let’s rethink our education system so that it provides the required variety.

Learning Ecosystems

EdX and Qualcomm to build the next generation mobile learning experience

Embracing failure to spur success: A new collaborative innovation model [Wilcox & Ray]

Technology in Higher Education: Defining the Strategic Leader [Educause & Jisc]

Reflections on “How Google and Coursera may upend the traditional college degree” [Butler]

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