Daniel S. Christian

Advice for students: Be adaptable. Be agile. Be lifelong learners. [Christian]

On 01/22/2025, in business, career development, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, ideas, lifelong learning, productivity / tips and tricks, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, training / L&D, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

‘Lazy and Mediocre’ HR Team Fired After Manager’s Own CV Gets Auto-Rejected in Seconds, Exposing System Failure

On 01/21/2025, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, career development, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, intelligent systems, IT in HE, UK, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

‘Lazy and Mediocre’ HR Team Fired After Manager’s Own CV Gets Auto-Rejected in Seconds, Exposing System Failure — from ibtimes.co.uk by Vinay Patel
The automated system’s error highlights the potential for bias and inefficiency in technology-driven HR practices

An entire HR team was terminated after their manager discovered and confirmed that their system automatically rejected all candidates — including his own application.

The manager wrote in their comment, “Auto rejection systems from HR make me angry.” They explained that while searching for a new employee, their HR department could not find a single qualified candidate in three months. As expected, the suspicious manager decided to investigate.

“I created myself a new email and sent them a modified version of my CV with a fake name to see what was going on with the process,” they wrote. “And guess what, I got auto-rejected. HR didn’t even look at my CV.”

When the manager reported the issue to upper management, “half of the HR department was fired in the following weeks.” A typographical error with significant consequences caused the entire problem.

The manager works in the tech industry and was trying to hire developers. However, HR had set up the system to search for developers with expertise in the wrong development software and one that no longer exists.

From DSC:
Back in 2017, I had survived several rounds of layoffs at the then Calvin College (now Calvin University) but I didn’t survive the layoff of 12 people in the spring of 2017. I hadn’t needed to interview for a new job in quite a while. So boy, did I get a wake-up call with discovering that Applicant Tracking Systems existed and could be tough to get past. (Also, the old-school job replacement firm that Calvin hired wasn’t much help in dealing with them either.)

I didn’t like these ATSs then, and I still have my concerns about them now. The above article points out that my concerns were/are at least somewhat founded. And if you take the entire day to research and apply for a position — only to get an instant reply back from the ATS — it’s very frustrating and discouraging.

Plus the ATSs may not pick up on nuances. An experienced human being might be able to see that a candidate’s skills are highly relevant and/or transferable to the position that they’re hiring for.

Networking is key of course. But not everyone has been taught about networking and not everyone gets past the ATS to get their resume viewed by a pair of human eyes. HR, IT, and any other relevant groups here need to be very careful with programming their ATSs.

Reflections on “The Rise of the Heretical Leader” [Fitzpatrick]

On 01/17/2025, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, liberal arts, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

The Rise of the Heretical Leader — from ditchthattextbook.com; a guest post by Dan Fitzpatrick

Now is the time for visionary leadership in education. The era of artificial intelligence is reshaping the demands on education systems. Rigid policies, outdated curricula, and reliance on obsolete metrics are failing students. A recent survey from Resume Genius found that graduates lack skills in communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Consequently, there is a growing trend in companies hiring candidates based on skills instead of traditional education or work experience. This underscores the urgent need for educational leaders to prioritize adaptability and innovation in their systems. Educational leaders must embrace a transformative approach to keep pace.
…
[Heretical leaders] bring courage, empathy, and strategic thinking to reimagine education’s potential. Here are their defining characteristics:

Visionary Thinking: They identify bold, innovative paths to progress.
Courage to Act: These leaders take calculated risks to overcome resistance and inertia.
Relentless Curiosity: They challenge assumptions and seek better alternatives.
Empathy for Stakeholders: Understanding the personal impact of change allows them to lead with compassion.
Strategic Disruption: Their deliberate actions ensure systemic improvements.
These qualities enable Heretical leaders to reframe challenges as opportunities and drive meaningful change.

From DSC:
Readers of this blog will recognize that I believe visionary leadership is extremely important — in all areas of our society, but especially within our learning ecosystems. Vision trumps data, at least in my mind. There are times when data can be used to support a vision, but having a powerful vision is more lasting and impactful than relying on data to drive the organization.

So while I’d vote for a different term other than “heretical leaders,” I get what Dan is saying and I agree with him. Such leaders are going against the grain. They are swimming upstream. They are espousing perspectives that others often don’t buy into (at least initially or for some time).

Such were the leaders who introduced online learning into the K-16 educational systems back in the late ’90s and into the next two+ decades. The growth of online-based learning continues and has helped educate millions of people. Those leaders and the people who worked for such endeavors were going against the grain.

We haven’t seen the end point of online-based learning. I think it will become even more powerful and impactful when AI is used to determine which jobs are opening up, and which skills are needed for those jobs, and then provide a listing of sources of where one can obtain that knowledge and develop those skills. People will be key in this vision. But so will AI and personalized learning. It will be a collaborative effort.

By the way, I am NOT advocating for using AI to outsource our thinking. Also, having basic facts and background knowledge in a domain is critically important, especially to use AI effectively. But we should be teaching students about AI (as we learn more about it ourselves). We should be working collaboratively with our students to understand how best to use AI. It’s their futures at stake.

The number of 18-year-olds is about to drop sharply, packing a wallop for colleges — and the economy — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
America is about to go over the ‘demographic cliff’

That’s because the current class of high school seniors is the last before a long decline begins in the number of 18-year-olds — the traditional age of students when they enter college.

This so-called demographic cliff has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Demographers say it will finally arrive in the fall of this year. That’s when recruiting offices will begin to confront the long-anticipated drop-off in the number of applicants from among the next class of high school seniors.

“A few hundred thousand per year might not sound like a lot,” Strohl said. “But multiply that by a decade and it has a big impact.”

From DSC:
I remember seeing graphics about this demographic cliff over a decade ago…so institutions of traditional higher education have seen this coming for many years now (and the article references this as well). But it’s still important and the ramifications of this could be significant for many colleges and universities out there (for students, faculty, staff, and administrations).

Will there be new business models?
More lifelong learning models?
Additions to the curricula?

I sure hope so.

Higher Ed’s Governance Problem — from chronicle.com by Brian Rosenberg; via Ryan Craig
Boards are bloated and ineffectual.

According to the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, the average size of a private nonprofit college or university board is 28 (larger than a major-league baseball roster), though boards of elite colleges tend to skew even larger: closer to 40, according to a study done by McKinsey.
…
By way of comparison, the average size of the board of directors of a publicly traded company in the United States is nine. If that seems too “corporate,” consider that the average size of the board of a nonprofit health-care institution is 13…

Still, anyone who studies organizational effectiveness would tell you that college and university boards are much too large, as would almost any college or university president when speaking off the record. Getting 12 people to spend significant time studying serious challenges and then reaching consensus about how to tackle those challenges is a heavy lift. Doing this with 25 or 35 or 45 people is close to impossible.

From Google ads to NFL sponsorships: Colleges throw billions at marketing themselves to attract students — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Marketing and branding are getting big budgets and advertising is setting new records

In fact, the sum is small compared to what other colleges and universities are investing in advertising, marketing and promotion, which has been steadily rising and is on track this year to be nearly double what it was last year.

Among the reasons are a steep ongoing decline in enrollment, made worse by the pandemic, and increasing competition from online providers and others.

“Private schools in particular are acutely conscious of the demographics in this country. They’re competing for students, and marketing is how you have to do that.”

John Garvey, president, Catholic University

From DSC:
And for you students out there, check this sound advice out!

“Your Map To The Future lays out tools and techniques futurists have been using for decades” [Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD]

On 12/17/2024, in Daniel S. Christian, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, health, productivity / tips and tricks, by Daniel Christian

Your Map to the Future: New Book! — from medicalfuturist.com by Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD
Your Map To The Future lays out tools and techniques futurists have been using for decades so you can start using them immediately to shape your personal and professional futures.

Futures thinking shouldn’t be reserved for experts. Whether you’re a leader, a professional, or simply someone striving to make sense of a complex world, this book is for you.
…
The futures methods I’ve used as The Medical Futurist for decades in analyzing the future of medicine and healthcare have, for some reason, not become widely accessible.

However, everyone can obtain these methods to approach the future with confidence, clarity, and control.

While the future is believed to be a fixed, singular path, in fact, multiple futures exist, and Your Map To The Future gives you the science-based tools to explore and prepare for them. With fresh perspectives, I illustrate why looking forward is crucial in addressing today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to artificial intelligence.

From DSC:
I haven’t read this book and I hesitate to post this…as it leans heavily into an advertisement for this particular book. But I DO post it because I also believe that future thinking shouldn’t be reserved for experts. In fact, I assert that all K-12 students — and college/vocational students as well — should have some exposure to futures thinking. We need to be looking up and around and pulse-checking the trends. We need to posit future scenarios and our plans to address those potential scenarios.

Also, I have read Dr. Mesko’s postings for years and he’s solid.

“Predictions for Journalism, 2025.” [Lowe at Nieman Lab] + “Why You Need a News Vacation” [Epstein]

On 12/12/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), Daniel S. Christian, ethics, global / globalization, journalism, morals/values, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Nieman Lab.Predictions for Journalism, 2025. — from niemanlab.org by Mira Lowe
Prediction: Journalism education leads the change we seek

In this evolving landscape, journalism educators continue to prepare their students for technological advancements and shifting consumer behaviors driving the industry. In 2025, college journalism programs will push forward and adapt to meet workforce demands, student expectations and community needs. Keep an eye on developments in these key areas:

Ethics and misinformation:…
Global perspectives:…
Artificial intelligence: …
Local news and community engagement:…
Diversity and belonging:…

“Training the next generation of journalists means preparing them to be global citizens.”

Why You Need a News Vacation — from davidepstein.substack.com by David Epstein
We’re not made for 24/7 feeds of catastrophe

I’ve noticed a small trend among journalists I follow — writing about their own versions of news vacations. Amanda Ripley, the author of High Conflict (who I interviewed recently), wrote in 2022 about how she stopped reading the news after two decades as a news junkie. The news, she wrote, had become too constant, and too uniformly negative with too few “solutions stories,” and left her feeling hopeless and like she had a lack of agency in the world.

I don’t think this means that we should abandon keeping up with the news. I think it would be disastrous if we all did that. (And I happen to have an extra-special place in my heart for local news.) But I think regular breaks are healthy, and helpful. As I prepare to turn in the first draft of my new book, I’m grateful that focusing on the project forced me into a few breaks from the news, and to turn to slower sources of information and wisdom. From now on, I plan to take a news vacation every year.

From DSC:
My news consumption varies throughout the days, weeks, and months. Sometimes I catch a lot of it…sometimes not much at all. I get bummed out about a lot of what’s called news these days. I call the news on TV the “Death & Dying Report.” Even the weather seems to have to be deadly if it is to qualify for coverage. Then there’s the “Who killed who report” (dating back years ago if current material is running scarce). Then there’s the “How are we going to survive this new virus or that new disease?” Etc.

It’s an agenda of fear that the networks are focused upon. Hmmm…I’ll stop there for today.

Reflections on “US College Closures Are Expected to Soar, Fed Research Says” [Bloomberg.com]

On 12/07/2024, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, economics, faculty/staff, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, new business models, parents/guardians, policy, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

US College Closures Are Expected to Soar, Fed Research Says — from bloomberg.com

Fed research created predictive model of college stress
Worst-case scenario forecasts 80 additional closures

The number of colleges that close each year is poised to significantly increase as schools contend with a slowdown in prospective students.

That’s the finding of a new working paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, where researchers created predictive models of schools’ financial distress using metrics like enrollment and staffing patterns, sources of revenue and liquidity data. They overlayed those models with simulations to estimate the likely increase of future closures.

Excerpt from the working paper:

We document a high degree of missing data among colleges that eventually close and show that this is a key impediment to identifying at risk institutions. We then show that modern machine learning techniques, combined with richer data, are far more effective at predicting college closures than linear probability models, and considerably more effective than existing accountability metrics. Our preferred model, which combines an off-the-shelf machine learning algorithm with the richest set of explanatory variables, can significantly improve predictive accuracy even for institutions with complete data, but is particularly helpful for predicting instances of financial distress for institutions with spotty data.

From DSC:
Questions that come to my mind here include:

Shouldn’t the public — especially those relevant parents and students — be made more aware of these types of papers and reports?
.
How would any of us like finishing up 1-3 years of school and then being told that our colleges or universities were closing, effective immediately? (This has happened many times already.) and with the demographic cliff starting to hit higher education, this will happen even more now.
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Adding insult to injury…when we transfer to different institutions, we’re told that many of our prior credits don’t transfer — thus adding a significant amount to the overall cost of obtaining our degrees.
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Would we not be absolutely furious to discover such communications from our prior — and new — colleges and universities?
.
Will all of these types of closures move more people to this vision here?

Relevant excerpts from Ray Schroeder’s recent articles out at insidehighered.com:

Winds of Change in Higher Ed to Become a Hurricane in 2025

A number of factors are converging to create a huge storm. Generative AI advances, massive federal policy shifts, broad societal and economic changes, and the demographic cliff combine to create uncertainty today and change tomorrow.

Higher Education in 2025: AGI Agents to Displace People

The anticipated enrollment cliff, reductions in federal and state funding, increased inflation, and dwindling public support for tuition increases will combine to put even greater pressure on university budgets.

On the positive side of things, the completion rates have been getting better:

National college completion rate ticks up to 61.1% — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Those who started at two-year public colleges helped drive the overall increase in students completing a credential.

Dive Brief:

Completion rates ticked up to 61.1% for students who entered college in fall 2018, a 0.5 percentage-point increase compared to the previous cohort, according to data released Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The increase marks the highest six-year completion rate since 2007 when the clearinghouse began tracking the data. The growth was driven by fewer students stopping out of college, as well as completion gains among students who started at public two-year colleges.
“Higher completion rates are welcome news for colleges and universities still struggling to regain enrollment levels from before the pandemic,” Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said in a statement dated Wednesday.

Addendum:

Attention Please: Professors Struggle With Student Disengagement — from edsurge.com

The stakes are huge, because the concern is that maybe the social contract between students and professors is kind of breaking down. Do students believe that all this college lecturing is worth hearing? Or, will this moment force a change in the way college teaching is done?

DC: From a box of Post cereal, a deep reflection.

On 12/05/2024, in business, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, ethics, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, leadership, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, sociology, strategy, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I opened up a BRAND NEW box of cereal from Post the other day. As I looked down into the package, I realized that it was roughly half full. (This has happened many times before, but it struck me so much this time that I had to take pictures of it and post this item.)
.

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Looks can be deceiving for sure. It looks like I should have been getting a full box of cereal…but no…only about half of the package was full. It’s another example of the shrinkflation of things — which can also be described as people deceptively ripping other people off.

“As long as I’m earning $$, I don’t care how it impacts others.” <– That’s not me talking, but it’s increasingly the perspective that many Americans have these days. We don’t bother with ethics and morals…how old-fashioned can you get, right? We just want to make as much money as possible and to hell with how our actions/products are impacting others.

Another example from the food industry is one of the companies that I worked for in the 1990’s — Kraft Foods. Kraft has not served peoples’ health well at all. Even when they tried to take noble steps to provide healthier foods, other food executives/companies in the industry wouldn’t hop on board. They just wanted to please Wall Street, not Main Street. So companies like Kraft have contributed to the current situations that we face which involve obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, and other ailments. (Not to mention increased health care costs.)

The gambling industry doesn’t give a rip about people either. Look out for the consequences.

And the cannabis industry joins the gambling industry...and they’re often right on the doorsteps of universities and colleges.

Bottom line reflection:
There are REAL ramifications when we don’t take Christ’s words/commands to love one another seriously (or even to care about someone at all). We’re experiencing such ramifications EVERY DAY now.

This Thanksgiving, I say “Thank you LORD!!!”

On 11/27/2024, in Daniel S. Christian, Emotion, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, relationships, religion, by Daniel Christian

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:16

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

For a true meritocracy, education must not be one-size-fits-all [Chung]

On 11/27/2024, in career development, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, Europe, experimentation, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, more voice more choice more control, skills, strategy, teachers, United States, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, youth, by Daniel Christian

For a true meritocracy, education must not be one-size-fits-all — from edsource.org by Eric Chung

What we can do is stop deciding who is educated, intelligent and successful based on only one type of student. Instead, we should recognize the value of all students, and offer more mainstream career and technical opportunities across K-12 education.

From DSC:
Note the power of CHOICE in this next excerpt:

There is another possibility. Consider Finland, which in the 1970s switched from the German model to one that teaches a combination of academic and technical subjects until age 16, when students choose a track. The vocational path for students interested in highly -skilled trades includes carpentry and culinary arts, but it also offers applied sciences, health care, and social services, which in the United States would require attending traditional academic universities.

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Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

Reflections on “Introducing Copilot Actions, new agents, and tools to empower IT teams” [Spataro]

On 11/21/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, Daniel S. Christian, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, Microsoft, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Introducing Copilot Actions, new agents, and tools to empower IT teams — from microsoft.com by Jared Spataro

[On November 19th] at Microsoft Ignite 2024, we’re accelerating our ambition to empower every employee with Copilot as a personal assistant and to transform every business process with agents built in Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Announcements include:

Copilot Actions in Microsoft 365 Copilot to help you automate everyday repetitive tasks.
New agents in Microsoft 365 to unlock SharePoint knowledge, provide real-time language interpretation in Microsoft Teams meetings, and automate employee self-service.
The Copilot Control System to help IT professionals confidently manage Copilot and agents securely.

These announcements build on our wave 2 momentum, including the new autonomous agent capabilities that we announced in October 2024.

Per the Rundown AI:

By integrating AI agents directly into Microsoft’s billion-plus users’ daily workflows, this release could normalize agentic AI faster than any previous rollout. Just as users now reach for specific apps or plugins to solve particular problems, specialized agents could soon become the natural first stop for getting work done.

Along these lines, also see:

AI agents — what they are, and how they’ll change the way we work — from news.microsoft.com by Susanna Ray

An agent takes the power of generative AI a step further, because instead of just assisting you, agents can work alongside you or even on your behalf. Agents can do a range of things, from responding to questions to more complicated or multistep assignments. What sets them apart from a personal assistant is that they can be tailored to have a particular expertise.

For example, you could create an agent to know everything about your company’s product catalog so it can draft detailed responses to customer questions or automatically compile product details for an upcoming presentation.

Microsoft pitches AI ‘agents’ that can perform tasks on their own at Ignite 2024 — from techxplore.com
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told customers at a conference in Chicago on Tuesday that the company is teaching a new set of artificial intelligence tools how to “act on our behalf across our work and life.”

From DSC:
I am not trying to push all things AI. There are serious concerns that I and others have with agents and other AI-based technologies especially:

When competitive juices get going and such forces throw people and companies into a sort of an AI arms race, and
When many people haven’t yet obtained the wisdom of reflecting on things like “just because we CAN build this doesn’t mean we SHOULD build it”, or
When governments seek to be the leader of AI due to military applications (and yes, I’m looking at the U.S. Federal Government especially here)
Etc, etc.

But there are also areas where I’m more hopeful and positive about AI-related technologies — such as providing personalized learning and productivity tools (like those from Microsoft above).

What DICE does in this posting will be available 24x7x365 in the future [Christian]

On 11/20/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, changing business models, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, MBA, microlearning, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), neurodivergent/special needs, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, remote teaching and learning, skills, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, universities, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First of all, when you look at the following posting:

What Top Tech Skills Should You Learn for 2025? — from dice.com by Nick Kolakowski

…you will see that they outline which skills you should consider mastering in 2025 if you want to stay on top of the latest career opportunities. They then list more information about the skills, how you apply the skills, and WHERE to get those skills.

I assert that in the future, people will be able to see this information on a 24x7x365 basis.

Which jobs are in demand?
What skills do I need to do those jobs?
WHERE do I get/develop those skills?

And that last part (about the WHERE do I develop those skills) will pull from many different institutions, people, companies, etc.

BUT PEOPLE are the key! Oftentimes, we need to — and prefer to — learn with others!

College sports are out of hand! [Christian]

On 10/29/2024, in business, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, Daniel S. Christian, higher education, parents/guardians, student-related, trends, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The following reflections were catalyzed by Jeff Selingo’s Next posting from 10/22, specifically the item:

Student fees for athletics, dark money in college sports, and why this all matters to every student, every college.

All of this has big risks for institutions. But whenever I talk to faculty and administrators on campuses about this, many will wave me away and say, “Well, I’m not a college sports fan” or “We’re a Division III school, so that all this doesn’t impact us.”

Nothing is further from the truth, as we explored on a recent episode of the Future U. podcast, where we welcomed in Matt Brown, editor of the Extra Points newsletter, which looks at academic and financial issues in college sports.

As we learned, despite the siloed nature of higher ed, everything is connected to athletics: research, academics, market position. Institutions can rise and fall on the backs of their athletics programs – and we’re not talking about wins and losses, but real budget dollars.

And if you want to know about the impact on students, look no further than the news out of Clemson this week. It is following several other universities in adopting an “athletics fee”: $300 a year. It won’t be the last.

Give a listen to this episode of Future U. if you want to catch up quick on this complicated subject, and while you’re at it, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Clemson approves new athletics fee for students. Here’s what we know — from sports.yahoo.com by Chapel Fowler
How much are student fees at other schools?

That’s true in the state of South Carolina, when comparing the annual fees of Clemson ($300) and USC ($172) to Coastal Carolina ($2,090). And it holds up nationally, too.

DC: Having played a sport at the NCAA Div I collegiate level, I can say sports are out of hand in our country. Increasingly, ALL students are being billed new athletic-related fees. One wonders…in the future, how much will future Ss/parents pay per yr? https://t.co/P64plKVdH2

— Daniel S. Christian (@dchristian5) October 22, 2024

From DSC:
The Bible talks a lot about idols….and I can’t help but wonder, have sports become an idol in our nation?

Don’t get me wrong. Sports can and should be fun for us to play. I played many an hour of sports in my youth and I occasionally play some sports these days. Plus, sports are excellent for helping us keep in shape and take care of our bodies. Sports can help us connect with others and make some fun/good memories with our friends.

So there’s much good to playing sports. But have we elevated sports to places they were never meant to be? To roles they were never meant to play?

An AI/robotic-based idea for automakers/suppliers out there [Christian]

On 10/17/2024, in 21st century, assistive technologies, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, future, ideas, innovation, robotics, tools, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, vision/possibilities, visualizing information, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Whenever we’ve had a flat tire over the years, a tricky part of the repair process is jacking up the car so that no harm is done to the car (or to me!). There are some grooves underneath the Toyota Camry where one is supposed to put the jack. But as the car is very low to the ground, these grooves are very hard to find (even in good weather and light).

What’s needed is a robotic jack with vision.

If the jack had “vision” and had wheels on it, the device could locate the exact location of the grooves, move there, and then ask the owner whether they are ready for the car to be lifted up. The owner could execute that order when they are ready and the robotic jack could safely hoist the car up.

This type of robotic device is already out there in other areas. But this idea for assistance with replacing a flat tire represents an AI and robotic-based, consumer-oriented application that we’ll likely be seeing much more of in the future. Carmakers and suppliers, please add this one to your list!

Daniel

Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them? — from insidehighered.com by Ashley Mowreader
Colleges and universities are considering new ways to incorporate generative AI into teaching and learning, but not every student is on board with the tech yet. Experts weigh in on the necessity of AI in career preparation and higher education’s role in preparing students for jobs of the future.

Among the 5,025-plus survey respondents, around 2 percent (n=93), provided free responses to the question on AI policy and use in the classroom. Over half (55) of those responses were flat-out refusal to engage with AI. A few said they don’t know how to use AI or are not familiar with the tool, which impacts their ability to apply appropriate use to coursework.

But as generative AI becomes more ingrained into the workplace and higher education, a growing number of professors and industry experts believe this will be something all students need, in their classes and in their lives beyond academia.

From DSC:
I used to teach a Foundations of Information Technology class. Some of the students didn’t want to be there as they began the class, as it was a required class for non-CS majors. But after seeing what various applications and technologies could do for them, a good portion of those same folks changed their minds. But not all. Some students (2% sounds about right) asserted that they would never use technologies in their futures. Good luck with that I thought to myself. There’s hardly a job out there that doesn’t use some sort of technology.

And I still think that today — if not more so. If students want good jobs, they will need to learn how to use AI-based tools and technologies. I’m not sure there’s much of a choice. And I don’t think there’s much of a choice for the rest of us either — whether we’re still working or not.

So in looking at the title of the article — “Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them?” — those of us who have spent any time working within the world of business already know the answer.

#Reinvent #Skills #StayingRelevant #Surviving #Workplace + several other categories/tags apply.

For those folks who have tried AI:

Skills: However, genAI may also be helpful in building skills to retain a job or secure a new one. People who had used genAI tools were more than twice as likely to think that these tools could help them learn new skills that may be useful at work or in locating a new job. Specifically, among those who had not used genAI tools, 23 percent believed that these tools might help them learn new skills, whereas 50 percent of those who had used the tools thought they might be helpful in acquiring useful skills (a highly statistically significant difference, after controlling for demographic traits).

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Learning Ecosystems

“Higher Ed’s Governance Problem — Boards are bloated and ineffectual.” [Rosenberg] + other items re: HE in general

“Your Map To The Future lays out tools and techniques futurists have been using for decades” [Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD]

DC: From a box of Post cereal, a deep reflection.

This Thanksgiving, I say “Thank you LORD!!!”

An AI/robotic-based idea for automakers/suppliers out there [Christian]

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