entrepreneurship

Cisco’s John Chambers on the digital era: “It’s the biggest technology transition in history.” [mckinsey.com]

On 03/18/2016, in 21st century, business, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, disruption, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, internet, new business models, pace of change, technology (general), workplace, by Daniel Christian

Cisco’s John Chambers on the digital era — from mckinsey.com
How significant is the digital era? It’s the biggest technology transition in history, according to Cisco’s executive chairman—and requires a proportional response from companies.

Excerpts:

If you’re a leader in today’s world, whether you’re a government leader or a business leader, you have to focus on the fact that this is the biggest technology transition ever. This digital era will dwarf what’s occurred in the information era and the value of the Internet today. As leaders, if you don’t transform and use this technology differently—if you don’t reinvent yourself, change your organization structure; if you don’t talk about speed of innovation—you’re going to get disrupted. And it’ll be a brutal disruption, where the majority of companies will not exist in a meaningful way 10 to 15 years from now.
…
This digital age is the connectivity of going from a thousand devices connected to the Internet to 500 billion. It will transform business.
…
Business models will rise and fall at a tremendous speed. It will create huge opportunities—probably $19 trillion in economic value over the next decade, incremental above what we’re seeing today. That’s the size of the US economy, plus some.
…
But it will also result in tremendous disruption. And this is where it’s so important…that you either disrupt or you get disrupted.
…
It’s simple to describe, but it really means you’re dealing with intelligent networks—a next generation of the Internet, if you will. But connecting 500 billion devices doesn’t get the job done. It’s the process change behind it. So you’ve got technologies like cloud or mobility and cybersecurity and the Internet of Things that are very important. That’s actually the easy part. The hard part is how do you change your organization structure? How do you change your culture to be able to think in terms of outcomes for your customers? It’s all about speed of innovation and changing the way you do business. The majority of companies will be digital within five years, yet the majority of their digital efforts will fail, which speaks to what a CEO has to do differently.
…
They have to reinvent themselves. They have to reinvent their company. Not stay doing the right thing too long, if you will.
…
Not enabled by technology—technology will become the company.
…
The first step is merely making it an independent group, because if you do it inside your organization, your existing culture will kill it.
…
Companies fail to understand the implications of how quickly this technology will transform their business. And they underestimate what it really means to their economic growth or that of their competitors.

From DSC:
Some graphics come to my mind:

The pace has changed significantly and quickly

ExponentialNotLinearSparksNHoney-Spring2013

From DSC:
This is the world that our students are and will be graduating into. Are they ready to handle this kind of pace? Of exponential — not linear — change? How can we better prepare them to be successful in the future that they will inherit?

#DesignInTech Report 2016 [KPCB]

On 03/16/2016, in business, career development, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, curriculum, design, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, MBA, microlearning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, online learning, platforms, professional development, programming, real-world assignments, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

#DesignInTech Report 2016 — from kpcb.com

Some excerpted slides:

Labster: Empowering the Next Generation of Scientists to Change the World
Laboratory Simulations for Educators to Empower their STEM Students

From DSC:
I recently met Maaroof Fakhri at the Next Generation Learning Spaces Conference. It was a pleasure to meet him and hear him speak of the work they are doing at Labster (which is located in Denmark). He is very innovative, and he shines forth with a high degree of energy, creativity, and innovation.

Keep an eye on the work they are doing. Very sharp.

Also see:

2015 with Labster in review, and ahead to 2016

Learnathons, on the other hand are optimized sessions that teach participants how to apply what they learn as soon as possible. They are on the opposite end of how classroom teaching is organized, with lessons spread out over the course of a semester focusing on theory and weekly practice. They are a fairly new concept, but have created an environment for learning that is speeding up comprehension and application to levels that aren’t seen elsewhere.

Addendum on 3/16/16:

What are Remote Labs? <– from ilabcentral.org

Making high school science labs more real, more engaging, and more accessible
Remote Online laboratories (iLabs) are experimental facilities that can be accessed through the Internet, allowing students and educators to carry out experiments from anywhere at any time.

Interactive app brings 4th-century thinker to life — from campustechnology.com by Toni Fuhrman
At Villanova University, a student-developed app version of Augustine’s Confessions brings contemporary vitality and relevance to a classic 4th-century work.

Excerpt:

Augustine of Hippo, who lived from A.D. 354 to 430, might be surprised to find his Confessions in circulation today, including a number of e-book versions. Still widely read, popular in great books programs and studied in university classes, The Confessions of St. Augustine is autobiography and confession, spiritual quest and emotional journey.

One of the most recent electronic versions of the Confessions is an interactive app developed at Villanova University (PA), the nation’s only Augustinian Catholic University. Released three months ago on Augustine’s birthday (Nov. 13), the Confessions app is required for all freshmen as part of a “foundation” course. Available for both Apple and Android devices, the app includes the 13 books of the Confessions, authoritative commentaries, photo gallery, timeline, map and text-highlighted audio, as well as search, note-taking, annotation and bookmark options.

“What better way to reflect on and update this struggle than for today’s students to use technology to bring the text to life through visual, audio and analytical components?”

Confessions-Feb2016

From DSC:
Love the idea. Love the use of teams — including students — to produce this app!

Maker-related postings

On 01/08/2016, in active learning, attention, creativity, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, learning spaces, maker movement, project-based learning, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

5 steps for creating a custom makerspace — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

The maker movement has created opportunities for all educators to give students authentic learning opportunities that go beyond the typical classroom experiences and to rethink traditional learning environments to include those that nurture the kinds of creativity and innovation that will benefit our students both in school and beyond. We know children learn by exploring and playing and doing and making and that these kinds of things lead to deeper engagement. The maker movement embodies opportunities for experimentation and innovation to occur across all grade levels and all content areas.

Physical makerspaces have allowed us the opportunity to pull some of this excitement of the maker movement into our schools. Makerspaces can help set the stage for meaningful student learning, as well as help cultivate a culture of innovation within a school. My makerspace inspires innovation, passion, and personal motivation and interests, and has encouraged students to pursue STEM subjects and careers.

Top ten makerspace favorites of 2015 — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming

Excerpt:

The most successful makerspaces include tools, materials and resources that inspire and allow for an environment rich with possibilities, allowing all students the opportunity for open-ended exploration. In addition to tried-and-true favorites such as Spheros, Makey-Makey kits, littleBits, and Legos, there is now such a vast array of makerspace-related products available.

As this year draws to a close, we can’t help but reflect upon some of our favorite makerspace things. Upon doing so, Travis Lape and I, have compiled a list of our ‘Top Ten Favorite Makerspace Items of 2015’. In this post, we have provided links to all of the products, as well as a brief description of each. It is our hope, that this versatile and fun list will get you thinking about things you have never thought of before and help your makerspaces to continue to grow and evolve.

Resources for youth makerspaces — from makered.org

6 Back to the Future projects as cool as the movie — from makezine.com by Lisa Martin

From DSC:
Some of the items that I see at Singularity Hub — and the perspectives held and lifted up by some of the authors therein — are over the top…at least for me they are. Nevertheless, at other times I think that there are some pretty solid articles at the site. Along these lines, the following two postings are worth a read.

Automation is eating jobs, but these skills will always be valued in the workplace — from singularityhub.com by Alison Berman
If you’d asked farmers a few hundred years ago what skills their kids would need to thrive, it wouldn’t have taken long to answer. General skills for a single profession that only changed slowly.

Excerpt:

Finland recently shifted its national curriculum to a new model called the “phenomenon-based” approach. By 2020, the country will replace traditional classroom subjects with a topical approach highlighting the four Cs—communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. These four skills “are central to working in teams, and a reflection of the ‘hyperconnected’ world we live in today,” Singularity Hub Editor-in-Chief David Hill recently wrote.

Hill notes the four Cs directly correspond to the skills needed to be a successful 21st century entrepreneur—when accelerating change means the jobs we’re educating for today may not exist tomorrow. Finland’s approach reflects an important transition away from the antiquated model used in most US institutions—a model created for a slower, more stable labor market and economy that no longer exists.

In addition to the four Cs, successful entrepreneurs across the globe are demonstrating three additional soft skills that can be integrated into the classroom—adaptability, resiliency and grit, and a mindset of continuous learning.

These skills can equip students to be problem-solvers, inventive thinkers, and adaptive to the fast-paced change they are bound to encounter. In a world of uncertainty, the only constant is the ability to adapt, pivot, and get back on your feet.

From DSC:
I’m glad to see that they added 3 additional soft skills to the 4 C’s mentioned above: adaptability, resiliency and grit, and a mindset of continuous learning.

These skills can equip students to be problem-solvers, inventive thinkers, and adaptive to the fast-paced change they are bound to encounter. In a world of uncertainty, the only constant is the ability to adapt, pivot, and get back on your feet.

Given the pace of change, I think that one of the most overlooked competencies that is quickly becoming critical is the ability to scan the horizons to see what’s coming down the pike. We often have our eyesight turned downwards, focusing on the tasks at hand. But we don’t always do a good job of looking up, glancing around the various relevant landscapes to one’s job/position, and ascertaining which of the developing trends might impact us. We often either don’t know how to strategize or we don’t take the time to come up with plans for what we should do if those trends might adversely affect us. Instead, we move forward with our eyesight pointing downwards — then we suddenly get blindsided.

Also see:

How would today’s smartest teens overhaul education? We asked them — from singularityhub.com by Libby Falck
What happens when you gather 14 of the world’s brightest teenagers at Singularity University and ask them to design the future of education? During last summer’s Exponential Youth Camp, we found out.

Excerpts:

The first thing that became very clear during our conversation was that our group of “Generation Me” millennials expect their learning to be highly personalized. It should be “my choice” to pursue “my interests” at “my pace,” they argued. Although this may at first sound childish, these demands are far from selfish. Why? Because personalization is necessary to compete in today’s intricately specialized world.
…
Nonetheless, our XYC teens told us they are looking for more than hands-on practice in the classroom; they want opportunities to work on projects in the real world as well. For them, contributing to the local community sparked engagement and motivation in a way that classroom work couldn’t match. Furthermore, the teens told us that most tests “just don’t make sense.”
…
The teens told us online courses are “great for educated specialists” but don’t cater to beginners. They cited a lack of time to complete online coursework and internet connectivity issues faced by many schools as additional issues. Mostly, the teens didn’t like the idea of “going it alone.” The problem wasn’t that online learning content was bad, the students simply desired guidance in navigating the material.
…
The teens told us they value traditional subject matter, but opportunities to build more practical skills were lacking. Interest in learning more about money management and soft skill development — like teamwork, problem solving and conflict resolution — was mentioned multiple times.

Will setting up nanodegrees become a competitive necessity for OS providers?

On 10/27/2015, in Apple, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, entrepreneurship, Google, higher education, Microsoft, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, new business models, platforms, programming, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Google teams up with Udacity to introduce a new tech entrepreneurship nanodegree — from thetechportal.in by Mir Juned Hussain

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Google, during its I/O 2015 developer conference in May had announced a partnership with Udacity to launch a six-course Android Development Nanodegree. The company wanted to allow developers to learn how to write apps for Google’s mobile operating system.

Surprisingly, these new Nanodegrees turned out to the most popular ones by Udacity, attracting more than 300,000 people to enrol in the courses. The web giant wanted anyone, technical or not, to learn not just the basics of how to build Android, iOS, and web apps, but also to explain what it takes to design, validate, prototype, monetize, and market app ideas.

As a part of that initiative, Google has now introduced a new Nanodegree, which will consist of a Tech Entrepreneurship certificate, access to coaches, guidance on your project, help staying on track and career counseling. If all you want is the content, quizzes, and projects, all of that is available online for free at udacity.com/google.

From DSC:
This item made me wonder:

Will setting up nanodegrees become a trend for OS providers? That is, will Google be more successful in the marketplace than either Apple or Microsoft if they develop a series of nanodegrees? In fact, taking that one step further…will doing so become a competitive necessity for OS providers? For other software-related vendors?

Hmmm….

Reinventing the company [economist.com]

On 10/23/2015, in business, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, disruption, economics, entrepreneurship, innovation, reinvent, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Reinventing the company — from economist.com
Entrepreneurs are redesigning the basic building block of capitalism

Excerpt:

NOW that Uber is muscling in on their trade, London’s cabbies have become even surlier than usual. Meanwhile, the world’s hoteliers are grappling with Airbnb, and hardware-makers with cloud computing. Across industries, disrupters are reinventing how the business works. Less obvious, and just as important, they are also reinventing what it is to be a company.

To many managers, corporate life continues to involve dealing with largely anonymous owners, most of them represented by fund managers who buy and sell shares listed on a stock exchange. In insurgent companies, by contrast, the coupling between ownership and responsibility is tight (see article). Founders, staff and backers exert control directly. It is still early days but, if this innovation spreads, it could transform the way companies work.
…
New companies also exploit new technology, which enables them to go global without being big themselves. Startups used to face difficult choices about when to invest in large and lumpy assets such as property and computer systems. Today they can expand very fast by buying in services as and when they need them. They can incorporate online for a few hundred dollars, raise money from crowdsourcing sites such as Kickstarter, hire programmers from Upwork, rent computer-processing power from Amazon, find manufacturers on Alibaba, arrange payments systems at Square, and immediately set about conquering the world. Vizio was the bestselling brand of television in America in 2010 with just 200 employees. WhatsApp persuaded Facebook to buy it for $19 billion despite having fewer than 60 employees and revenues of $20m.

tvOS: The days of developing for a “TV”-based OS are now upon us.

On 10/22/2015, in 21st century, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), change, collaboration, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-books, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, journalism, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, second screen apps, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, story, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, tablets, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

Apple puts out call for Apple TV apps — from bizjournals.com by Gina Hall

Excerpt:

The company put out the call for app submissions on Wednesday for tvOS. The Apple TV App Store will debut as Apple TV units are shipped out next week.
…
The main attraction of Apple TV is a remote with a glass touch surface and a Siri button that allows users to search by voice. Apple tvOS is capable of running apps ranging from Airbnb to Zillow and games like Crossy Road. Another major perk of Apple TV will be universal search, which allows users to scan for movies and television shows and see results from multiple sources, instead of having to conduct the same search within multiple apps.

Apple CEO Tim Cook hopes the device will simplify how viewers consume content.

From DSC:
The days of developing for a “TV”-based OS are now upon us: tvOS is here. I put “TV” in quotes because what we know of the television in the year 2015 may look entirely different 5-10 years from now.

Once developed, things like lifelong learning, web-based learner profiles, badges and/or certifications, communities of practice, learning hubs, smart classrooms, virtual tutoring, virtual field trips, AI-based digital learning playlists, and more will never be the same again.

Also see:

tvOS for Developers – Apple Developer
An Introduction to tvOS Development — from code.tutsplus.com by Davis Allie

Addendum on 10/26/15:
The article below discusses one piece of the bundle of technologies that I’m trying to get at via my Learning from the Living [Class] Room Vision:

No More Pencils, No More Books — from by Will Oremus
Artificially intelligent software is replacing the textbook—and reshaping American education.
Excerpt:
ALEKS starts everyone at the same point. But from the moment students begin to answer the practice questions that it automatically generates for them, ALEKS’ machine-learning algorithms are analyzing their responses to figure out which concepts they understand and which they don’t. A few wrong answers to a given type of question, and the program may prompt them to read some background materials, watch a short video lecture, or view some hints on what they might be doing wrong. But if they’re breezing through a set of questions on, say, linear inequalities, it may whisk them on to polynomials and factoring. Master that, and ALEKS will ask if they’re ready to take a test. Pass, and they’re on to exponents—unless they’d prefer to take a detour into a different topic, like data analysis and probability. So long as they’ve mastered the prerequisites, which topic comes next is up to them.

Top wearables across 10 key sectors [Orton-Jones]

On 10/01/2015, in Apple, business, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, Google, health, ideas, innovation, wearables, by Daniel Christian

Top wearables across 10 key sectors — from raconteur.net by Charles Orton-Jones
Useful applications of wearable technology are multiplying fast as innovators across numerous sectors find lucrative ways of putting the tech to work. Here are ten of the best…

Sectors covered include:

Finance
Retail
Manufacturing
Entertainment
Insurance
Field Service
Transport
Security
Childcare
Fashion

Addendum on 10/2/15:

This is the first cellular Android Wear smartwatch: LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition — from techradar.com by Matt SwiderExcerpt:
Strap on the LG G Watch Urbane 2nd Edition and feel free to walk away from your smartphone, because this is the first Android Wear smartwatch with untethered cellular connectivity. Compatible with both Android and iPhone, this revision of the first LG Watch Urbane makes and receives calls and data over 4G and 3G as well as the normal Wi-Fi and Bluetooth methods.

From DSC:
The following app looks to be something that the “makers” of the programming world might be interested in. Also, it could be great for those learners interested in engineering, robotics, and/or machine-to-machine communications; using this app could help start them down a very promising path/future.

From their website:

Programming re-imagined for the connected world.
Learn to program Arduino, drones, robots, connected toys, and smart home devices, all wirelessly. Tickle is easy to learn, fun to use, and 1000x more powerful!

Easy to learn, yet incredibly powerful!
Start learning programming the same way as Computer Science courses at Harvard and UC Berkeley. Tickle is used by makers and designers around the world to create custom robots and interactive projects, including Stanford University computer scientists.

Spark your imagination.
Create stunning games and interactive stories using our library of animated characters and sounds. With the ability to program devices to interact with other devices and virtual characters, the possibilities are limitless.

1000X the super (programming) power.
If you’ve tried Scratch, Hopscotch, Tynker, Blockly, Scratch Jr, Kodable, Pyonkee, mBlock, or Code.org, now you can go beyond the screen and program your own connected future.

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

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

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The future of learning spaces is open ended [Vattel]

On 08/27/2015, in active learning, collaboration, creativity, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, innovation, K-12 related, learning spaces, maker movement, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, play, project-based learning, by Daniel Christian

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

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

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

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

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

Schools at their heart should be human potentiality incubators.

The Lassonde Studios: A first-of-its-kind hybrid residence hall and startup incubator [Hennick]

On 08/13/2015, in collaboration, communities of practice, entrepreneurship, higher education, ideas, innovation, maker movement, STEAM-related, student-related, United States, universities, videoconferencing, by Daniel Christian

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

— Calvin Hennick

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

Excerpt:

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

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

Also relevant/see:

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

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

Encouraging students to start-up
Shorten degrees
Install the importance of networking in students

That ‘useless’ liberal arts degree has become tech’s hottest ticket — from forbes.com by George Anders; with a shout out to Krista Spahr for bringing this item to my attention

Except:

What kind of boss hires a thwarted actress for a business-to-business software startup? Stewart Butterfield, Slack’s 42-year-old cofounder and CEO, whose estimated double-digit stake in the company could be worth $300 million or more. He’s the proud holder of an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Canada’s University of Victoria and a master’s degree from Cambridge in philosophy and the history of science.

“Studying philosophy taught me two things,” says Butterfield, sitting in his office in San Francisco’s South of Market district, a neighborhood almost entirely dedicated to the cult of coding. “I learned how to write really clearly. I learned how to follow an argument all the way down, which is invaluable in running meetings. And when I studied the history of science, I learned about the ways that everyone believes something is true–like the old notion of some kind of ether in the air propagating gravitational forces–until they realized that it wasn’t true.”
…
And he’s far from alone. Throughout the major U.S. tech hubs, whether Silicon Valley or Seattle, Boston or Austin, Tex., software companies are discovering that liberal arts thinking makes them stronger. Engineers may still command the biggest salaries, but at disruptive juggernauts such as Facebook and Uber, the war for talent has moved to nontechnical jobs, particularly sales and marketing. The more that audacious coders dream of changing the world, the more they need to fill their companies with social alchemists who can connect with customers–and make progress seem pleasant.

Addendum on 8/7/15:

STEM Study Starts With Liberal Arts — from forbes.com by Chris Teare
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Much has been made, especially by the Return on Investment crowd, of the value of undergraduate study in the so-called STEM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Lost in the conversation is the way the true liberal arts underpin such study, often because the liberal arts are inaccurately equated solely with the humanities. From the start, the liberal arts included math and science, something I learned firsthand at St. John’s College.

This topic is especially on my mind since reading the excellent article George Anders has written for Forbes: “That ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech’s Hottest Ticket” In this context, understanding the actual origin and purposes of the liberal arts is all the more valuable.

Learning Ecosystems

Cisco’s John Chambers on the digital era: “It’s the biggest technology transition in history.” [mckinsey.com]

Will setting up nanodegrees become a competitive necessity for OS providers?

Reinventing the company [economist.com]

Top wearables across 10 key sectors [Orton-Jones]

That ‘useless’ liberal arts degree has become tech’s hottest ticket [Anders; Forbes]

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