On 01/10/2014,
in business, economics, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, United States, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
As of January 10, 2014
From DSC:
Who is going to pay for the now $17+ trillion in national debt? Let’s bite the bullet and whittle this down as quickly as possible — so our children don’t have to (nor their children either).
Be forewarned!!! If you let your eyes and mind take in how fast the debt is increasing, it will amaze — and depress — you. Are we seeing a nation in decline right in front of our faces?
A true or false question for the Econ Students/Faculty out there:
If we don’t get a handle on this, 100% of every dollar will have to be applied towards paying our national debt.
If true, what can we do to turn this around, ASAP?
If false, why is it false and what are the more relevant concerns?
What are the ramifications of this on the American people? On people throughout the world? On education? On healthcare? Other?
On 12/20/2013,
in 21st century, economics, education, education reform, faith, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, health, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, history, journalism, learning, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, media/film, Michigan, music, presentations, professional development, psychology, religion, society, sociology,
by Daniel Christian
Many of these presentations will be live streamed at:
Also see:
On 12/17/2013,
in business, economics, legislatures / government / legal, United States,
by Daniel Christian
Fed’s $4 trillion in assets draws lawmakers’ scrutiny — from bloomberg.com by Jeff Kearns
Excerpt:
The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is poised to exceed $4 trillion, prompting warnings its record easing is inflating asset-price bubbles and drawing renewed lawmaker scrutiny just as Janet Yellen prepares to take charge.
From DSC:
- What does it mean that the Fed has close to $4 trillion in assets? So what? What implications/effects might that have?
- What is easing?
- Why is easing good or bad? When does one know when to stop the easing?
- Why does Wall Street pay very close attention to what Ben Bernanke says? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
- What do you think…does Main Street know what’s happening as thoroughly as Wall Street does?
From DSC:
Paraphrasing some great insight from my father-in-law over Thanksgiving, it’s hard to worry about the Pythagorean Theorem when you are wondering where you are going to get your next meal…or when you are freezing cold…or when…
Also, from edSurge:
Pause for a moment.
Amid the exams, crush of shopping, heady aroma of cookies and glittering lights, take a breath.
Think of those whom you love. See their eyes; imagine their touch. Better–if you can hold them this week, of all weeks, hold them tight. Children die all over the world, not just in small Connecticut towns. Honor them–wherever they are, honor the courage of their families and friends. Do something kind and share it, via #26Acts, a stream of tweets about acts of kindness in memory of those lost. Forgive someone. Then fight for peace.
On 11/08/2013,
in 21st century, business, corporate / business world, economics, future, global / globalization, technology (general), vision/possibilities, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
On 08/27/2013,
in 21st century, creativity, economics, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, hearts -- matters of the heart, K-12 related, learning preferences, passions, personalized/customized learning, social learning / networks, society,
by Daniel Christian
Changing education from the ground up — published on Jul 18, 2013; with thanks to Mr. Michael Haan, from Calvin College’s IT Department, for the resource
Sir Ken Robinson addresses the fundamental economic, cultural, social and personal purposes of education. He argues that education should be personalised to every student’s talent, passion, and learning styles, and that creativity should be embedded in the culture of every single school.
On 08/27/2013,
in 21st century, business, corporate / business world, economics, global / globalization, interactivity, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, new business models, society, telecommunications,
by Daniel Christian
Is connectivity a human right? — by Mark Zuckerberg
Also see:
- Zuckerberg’s Internet sharing push draws doubts, praise — from PCWorld.com by Colin Neagle, NetworkWorld
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
In the initiative, called Internet.org, Facebook is joined by Samsung, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, Opera, and MediaTek. Naturally, these companies’ business interests have led many to approach their new collective altruistic effort skeptically.
. - Facebook, Zuckerberg rally partners to connect the whole wide world — from PCWorld.com by Mark Hachman
. - Internet.org could drive $27 billion in online work — from by Matt Cooper
Internet.org is trying to give the world better Internet access. If they succeed, it will mean more people can work together online.
. - Internet.org and online work: By the numbers — from inc.com and oDesk
Here’s how oDesk calculated $27.6 billion in additional work if the entire world had access to the internet.
.
- Kirkpatrick: Internet.org aims for global connectivity — from techonomy.com by Ann Babe
Excerpt:
Kirkpatrick added that he believes Internet.org is in position to make substantial progress. “These are the companies that can make the technology for access cheaper and better—and they will, with Facebook’s help,” he said.
On 07/08/2013,
in 21st century, business, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, economics, higher education, robotics, society, surviving, United States, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Employment & Sustainability: Report of the Cornell ILR School 2013 Roundtable on Employment and Technology — from ilr.cornell.edu
Excerpt:
The Great Recession has compounded the ongoing forces of technological change and globalization to drive an even more profound transformation in the relationships between Americans and work. Jobs are disappearing, skill sets are a moving target and the evolving concept of earning a sustainable living is becoming increasingly complex and, for many, increasingly remote.
The Cornell ILR School, a renowned leader in advancing the world of work, recognizes that today’s and tomorrow’s challenges demand a new paradigm, one that joins together the many highly educated – but also siloed – discussions about employers’ use of new technologies and the impact on quality job creation.
On April 12, 2013, the ILR School convened 40 economists and engineers, academics and corporate executives, social scientists and philanthropists, policy makers and journalists and statisticians in a ground-breaking, cross-sector, invitation-only dialogue. It was a day full of agreement, fervently diverse opinions and insights – notably that most participants had never before discussed these issues with such a varied group of stakeholders, and that the country’s best hope for reaping widespread gains from technological progress rests on continuing and expanding such discourse.
Also see:
Should we fear “the end of work”? — from pbs.org by Frank Koller
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Key points raised and addressed:
- Technological advancement and globalization are significantly impacting U.S. jobs and raising the risk that more and more U.S. workers will be caught “in the middle” as jobs migrate to higher-skill and lower-skill work.
- Collection of U.S. economic data for measuring work and the labor market is not keeping pace with the rapidly changing world of work.
- As globalization and technology make it more efficient for companies to engage fewer U.S. workers, and more of them in countries such as India and China, these forces are also changing the U.S. innovation advantage.
- Current conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility isn’t enough.
Overall, there was widespread agreement that a much broader and more vigorous national discussion is needed regarding the short- and longer-term impacts of technological advances on the nature of work, the creation and elimination of jobs, and the ability of U.S. workers to earn a sustainable living.
…
“There is a real need for corporate leadership, and there is a need for accountability. When companies engage in productivity layoffs with record profitability, unprecedented levels of cash and all-time-high stock prices, no one in the media says, ‘Isn’t this terrible?’ No political leader speaks up to protest. We don’t hear anything from the labor unions. The companies are applauded for it because they’re cutting costs and improving profitability, and that’s supposedly what a company exists for. But it’s not that simple. They do have other responsibilities.”
…
“In terms of a market failure, it’s the reality that it’s not in the interests of any individual firm in the United States to try to solve the jobs problem. So, we’ve got to figure out a way to deal with that…and the only way that you solve this is by getting people and institutions and organizations to work together, to engage these issues collectively.
“It’s about an institutional failure over the last 30 years. With the decline of the labor movement, you’ve seen a lot of institutions go downhill equivalently. We don’t see the kind of dialogue, we don’t see the enforcement of our social norms and social policies that discipline corporations, and that really provided the kind of collective spreading of wage patterns and wage norms across the society.
“We’ve got to rebuild those, but we can’t try to rebuild them in an old-fashioned way. Now we’re in a more digital economy, a more knowledge-based economy, and we need to invent the new institutions that will cut across and aggregate these interests to address these challenges. We’ve got to get the education community working with business and employers, working with labor and civil society.
“I’m not a believer that technology is going to naturally eliminate jobs and cut income, but if we don’t do anything about it, if we just leave it, as we have, to individual market forces and to individual corporate actions and to individual technology innovations, then that’s probably where we are headed.
On 07/02/2013,
in cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, student-related, United States, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
.
From DSC:
When I see this type of graphic, I can:
- Hear the air going into the higher ed bubble
- See more of the storm clouds gathering in higher ed’s perfect storm
- Understand why alternatives are receiving so much attention these days — things like MOOCs, badges, open educational resources, new players in the higher ed space, other
- See why the U.S. Federal Government is getting impatient with traditional institutions of higher education — but also understand why Americans have another reason to be frustrated with Congress
On 06/25/2013,
in change, economics, game-changing environment, higher education,
by Daniel Christian
4 ways higher ed has changed, post recession — from the Associated Press (via ABC News in this case) by Justin Pope, AP Education Writer
Excerpt:
More urgent. More crowded. More expensive. Also, more flexible and accessible to millions.
That, in a nutshell, is how higher education has changed around the world in the wake of the global financial crisis that struck five years ago, and the Great Recession that followed.
Here’s how it happened…
On 06/04/2013,
in Asia, business, Canada, creativity, economics, education reform, entrepreneurship, global / globalization, innovation, K-12 related, leadership, motivation, passions,
by Daniel Christian
Oceans of innovation: The Atlantic, the Pacific, global leadership and the future of education — from the Institute for Public Policy Research by Sir Michael Barber, Katelyn Donnelly and Saad Rizvi; with thanks to Stephen Harris (@Stephen_H) for posting this on Twitter
Description (emphasis DSC):
‘The economic and educational achievements of the Pacific region in the past 50 years are spectacular – unprecedented in fact. They lay a foundation for the next 50 years – a much better foundation than exists in many Atlantic systems – but the mix of factors that brought those achievements will not be capable of meeting the challenge ahead.’
This long essay by Sir Michael Barber, Katelyn Donnelly and Saad Rizvi assumes the near certainty that the Pacific region will take primary leadership of the global economy in the near future and explores the implications for their education systems, calling for a ‘whole-system revolution’ in the structure and priorities of teaching and learning in the region.
‘What is clear, though, is that education – deeper, broader and more universal – has a significant part to play in enabling humanity to succeed in the next half century. We need to ensure that students everywhere leave school ready to continue to learn and adapt, ready to take responsibility for their own future learning and careers, ready to innovate with and for others, and to live in turbulent, diverse cities. We need perhaps the first truly global generation; a generation of individuals rooted in their own cultures but open to the world and confident of their ability to shape it.
‘The growing pace of change and increasing complexity mean that global leadership will no longer be merely about summits behind closed doors. In an era of transparency, leaders will find themselves constantly in dialogue with those they purport to lead. Meanwhile, innovations which transform societies can and will happen anywhere. Leadership, in short, will be widely dispersed and will require increasing sophistication.’
From DSC:
Let’s help students identify, design, and develop their own businesses while they are still in K-20. We could provide them with mentoring, guidance, and teams of specialists from their “classmates” — wherever those classmates may be.
This business of studying for the standardized tests seems to fall far short of what the next generation will need to survive and thrive in the new global economy. With the dropout rates being what they are, it doesn’t appear that our current educational systems (at least in the U.S.) will get us to the place where our students are innovative, inventive, and are able to freelance with confidence — where they own their own learning, are engaged and motivated to learn, where they learn how to learn and know where to go to access the relevant streams of content that are flowing (constantly) by them. unleashed to be far more creative and entrepreneurial.
.
Is content the new currency? — from fastcocreate.com by Geoffrey Colon
.
Also see:
- 5 reasons content is the new currency — from slideshare.net by Ogilvy & Mather
On 04/04/2013,
in 21st century, business, change, economics, emerging technologies, global / globalization, innovation, internet, machine-to-machine communications, trends,
by Daniel Christian
The Internet of Things: When GE sees a $ trillion opportunity, you might want to take it seriously. — from thebln.com by Mark Littlewood
.
— The link/posting above is from March 12, 2013
— The item below is from November 26, 2012
Some sample images:
