DeepMind allies with Oxford academics — from ft.com
Google artificial intelligence group buys university spinouts
.
Addendum on 10/27/14:
On 10/16/2014,
in Adobe, business, career development, corporate / business world, creativity, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, higher education, innovation, student-related, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 10/13/2014,
in business, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, economics, entrepreneurship, global / globalization, ideas, society, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
The following article from McKinsey would be a source of a great assignment for students and faculty members who are studying Economics (and I could also add those studying Social Work, Healthcare, Political Science, and some other fields):
- Redefining capitalism — from mckinsey.com by Eric Beinhocker and Nick Hanauer | September 2014
Despite its ability to generate prosperity, capitalism is under attack. By shaking up our long-held assumptions about how and why the system works, we can improve it.
Potential questions:
- What are the basic tenets of capitalism?
- How is it taught?
- What are the main points that the authors want you to grapple with?
- Do you agree or disagree with their main points? If so, why? Do you have some resources that back up your viewpoints?
- What are your views on capitalism and what it should achieve?
- Do robotics, algorithms, and automation impact any of your arguments/perspectives?
Excerpt:
What problems do you solve?
Once we understand that the solutions capitalism produces are what creates real prosperity in people’s lives, and that the rate at which we create solutions is true economic growth, then it becomes obvious that entrepreneurs and business leaders bear a major part of both the credit and the responsibility for creating societal prosperity. But standard measures of business’s contribution—profits, growth rates, and shareholder value—are poor proxies. Businesses contribute to society by creating and making available products and services that improve people’s lives in tangible ways, while simultaneously providing employment that enables people to afford the products and services of other businesses. It sounds basic, and it is, but our economic theories and metrics don’t frame things this way.
Today our culture celebrates money and wealth as the benchmarks of success. This has been reinforced by the prevailing theory. Suppose that instead we celebrated innovative solutions to human problems. Imagine being at a party and rather than being asked, “What do you do?”—code for how much money do you make and what status do you have—you were asked, “What problems do you solve?” Both capitalism and our society would be the better for it.
On 09/15/2014,
in art, creativity, entrepreneurship, experimentation, ideas, innovation, participation, play,
by Daniel Christian
Opening minds to critical knowledge on play, creativity and learning — from legofoundation.com
Cultures of Creativity (foundation research) — from legofoundation.com
Cultures develop when people find ways to play, make, and share. This report describes how human cultures can be characterised by their similarities rather than their differences, and emphasises the importance of recognising playfulness and creativity to develop societies prepared to accommodate the rapid changes associated with technology and globalisation.
Cultures of Creativity, nurturing creative mindsets (video) — from legofoundation.com
Creativity is one of the most important competencies of the 21st Century. Yet, the puzzling question is how to nurture it? Children are creative from the day they are born and the film describes how to support creativity across cultures. The content is based on the report, Cultures of Creativity, published by the LEGO Foundation, 2013. Authors: David Gauntlett and Bo Stjerne Thomsen and 20 leading international experts on play, learning and creativity.com
Inviting the world to play –– from cardboardchallenge.com/
This fall, the Imagination Foundation invites the world to participate in our 3rd Annual Global Cardboard Challenge.
.
With a shout out to Mitch Resnick for posting
these resources on Twitter. Mitch is going to be talking about
“Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society” this Wednesday w/ Adobe.
From Calvin College-based staff and faculty:
- A whack on the side of the head : how to unlock your mind for innovation / Roger von Oech ; foreword by Nolan Bushnell ; illustrated by George Willett.
- Sparks of genius : the thirteen thinking tools of the world’s most creative people by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein
- The learner-directed classroom : developing creative thinking skills through art — edited by Diane B. Jaquith, Nan E. Hathaway ; foreword by Patrick Fahey.
Jaquith, Diane B. (Added Author). Hathaway, Nan E. (Added Author). - Nurturing creativity in the classroom — edited by Ronald A. Beghetto, James C. Kaufman.
Beghetto, Ronald A., 1969- (Added Author). Kaufman, James C. (Added Author). - Improving Learning of Computational Thinking Using Creative Thinking Exercises in CS-1 Computer Science Courses — by Miller, Soh, Chiriacescu, et al. (2013)
- Fostering the Creative Development of Computer Science Students in Programming and Interaction Design — by Ferreira (2013)
- Integrating Creativity into Computer Networks Course Teaching — by Hsiao, Liang, & Lin (2003)
- Pixar Cofounder Ed Catmull on failure and why fostering a fearless culture is the key to groundbreaking creative work – from brainpickings.org by Maria Popova
Why the greatest enemy of creative success is the attempt to fortify against failure.
Excerpt:
We need to think about failure differently. I’m not the first to say that failure, when approached properly, can be an opportunity for growth. But the way most people interpret this assertion is that mistakes are a necessary evil. Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil. They aren’t evil at all. They are an inevitable consequence of doing something new (and, as such, should be seen as valuable; without them, we’d have no originality). And yet, even as I say that embracing failure is an important part of learning, I also acknowledge that acknowledging this truth is not enough. That’s because failure is painful, and our feelings about this pain tend to screw up our understanding of its worth. To disentangle the good and the bad parts of failure, we have to recognize both the reality of the pain and the benefit of the resulting growth. - How Disney’s Imagineers keep the magic ideas coming – from fastcompany.com by Rebecca Greenfield
Peter Rummell, the former chairman of Disney’s Imagineers, shares inside stories and secrets about how Disney’s teams work together to make magic happen again and again. - 10 ways to teach innovation — from blogs.kqed.org/mindshift by Thom Markham
Excerpt:
One overriding challenge is now coming to the fore in public consciousness: We need to reinvent just about everything. Whether scientific advances, technology breakthroughs, new political and economic structures, environmental solutions, or an updated code of ethics for 21st century life, everything is in flux—and everything demands innovative, out of the box thinking. The burden of reinvention, of course, falls on today’s generation of students. So it follows that education should focus on fostering innovation by putting curiosity, critical thinking, deep understanding, the rules and tools of inquiry, and creative brainstorming at the center of the curriculum. This is hardly the case, as we know. In fact, innovation and the current classroom model most often operate as antagonists. The system is evolving, but not quickly enough to get young people ready for the new world. But there are a number of ways that teachers can bypass the system and offer students the tools and experiences that spur an innovative mindset. Here are ten ideas… - How schools kill creativity — from TED.com by Sir Ken Robinson
- Barriers to Creativity in Education: Educators and Parents Grade the System [Adobe]
- Perhaps some ideas at a Do It Yourself (DIY) type of site could be relevant, such as org/skills/innovator
- Perhaps have the students use digital storytelling in an assignment, see:
- Digital Storytelling Helps Students Practice Essential Skills – from elearningindustry.com by Tiziana Saponaro
- 5 reasons why you should be using storytelling in training – from dashe.com by Ben Nesvig
Excerpt:
Storytelling has been a popular tool for learning since the dawn of civilization, but thanks to technology bringing new mediums for storytelling, it has been on the rise in training in the workplace. Despite the fact that storytelling is a powerful vehicle for teaching, some still prefer to do a “data dump” because it’s easier than constructing a narrative, though not more effective. Below I provide 5 reasons why storytelling should be used more frequently in the workplace. - Mesmerizing fairy tale on the power of transmedia storytelling – from frametales.com by DRAFTFCB Madrid and posted by Filip Coertjens
- Expanding learning opportunities with transmedia practices – Parts 1-6 [Laura Fleming]
- erikjohanssonphoto.com
On 08/14/2014,
in art, Augmented Reality (AR), biology, business, career development, chemistry, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, design, drama/theater, engineering, entrepreneurship, geography / geology, higher education, history, instructional design, interaction design, interface design, K-12 related, leadership, liberal arts, library / librarians, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mathematics, MBA, media/film, music, new media literacies, organizational change, photography, political science, professional development, programming, psychology, publishing, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, tools, user interface design, web design and production, workplace, writing, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Does Studying Fine Art = Unemployment? Introducing LinkedIn’s Field of Study Explorer — from LinkedIn.com by Kathy Hwang
Excerpt:
[On July 28, 2014], we are pleased to announce a new product – Field of Study Explorer – designed to help students like Candice explore the wide range of careers LinkedIn members have pursued based on what they studied in school.
So let’s explore the validity of this assumption: studying fine art = unemployment by looking at the careers of members who studied Fine & Studio Arts at Universities around the world. Are they all starving artists who live in their parents’ basements?
Also see:
The New Rankings? — from insidehighered.com by Charlie Tyson
Excerpt:
Who majored in Slovak language and literature? At least 14 IBM employees, according to LinkedIn.
Late last month LinkedIn unveiled a “field of study explorer.” Enter a field of study – even one as obscure in the U.S. as Slovak – and you’ll see which companies Slovak majors on LinkedIn work for, which fields they work in and where they went to college. You can also search by college, by industry and by location. You can winnow down, if you desire, to find the employee who majored in Slovak at the Open University and worked in Britain after graduation.
On 08/05/2014,
in business, business side of he, entrepreneurship, leadership, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Is there something here for institutions of higher education?
Examples:
- How can we become the company that would put us out of business? –Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group
- Are we relevant? Will we be relevant five years from now? Ten? –Debra Kaye, innovation consultant and author
- If I had to leave my organization for a year and the only communication I could have with employees was a single paragraph, what would I write? –Pat Lencioni, author and founder of The Table Group
Lencioni explains, “Determining the substance of this paragraph forces you to identify the company’s core values and strategies, and the roles and responsibilities of those hypothetically left behind.”
On 06/30/2014,
in 21st century, career development, collaboration, entrepreneurship, learning spaces, library / librarians, Michigan, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpt from custerworklab.com:
The floor plan includes 10,000 square feet of co-working space.
- 13 private offices
- Two mobile offices
- One executive office
- One team room that can accommodate up to four people
- Seven meeting spaces with seating for four to 35 people
All the meeting spaces include display and switching technology with video conferencing available in three of the rooms. Other features include a work lounge, cafe and a variety of other workstations. Plus more social accessibility, ergonomic furniture and the best technology available.
From DSC:
I recently toured this space and I can tell you that you can quickly get a sense of how much thought and effort went into the design of that collaborative workspace.
Check out the photo gallery and 360 degree tour to see what I mean.
I think you will agree that each and every thing that you see in that space is approached from a sense of design and functionality. Everything is there for a reason. The technology. The furniture. The esthetics and accessories. Everything. It’s very well done. If you get a chance to use it or tour it, I would highly recommend it. Custer’s Worklab lays out so many things that are helpful in a collaborative learning/workspace.
Also see:
- 8 Perks of Coworking Spaces for Savvy Entrepreneurs — from grasshopper.com by Allison Canty
On 06/17/2014,
in engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, heutagogy, higher education, innovation, maker movement, media/film, music, passions, real-world assignments, society, sociology, student-related,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Thanks Jennifer for posting the above item! What a wonderful video! I loved watching it. Congratulations and thanks go out to MIT, David Moinina Sengeh (see here and here) and Kelvin Coe for maximizing the gifts that they’ve been given! They are changing the world!
An incredible example of heutagogy at work! In Kelvin’s story, you see passion, self-directed learning, and intrinsic motivation to make a difference — to help his community and to positively change his world.
From the video’s description:
To support Kelvin and young innovators like him, please visit https://www.crowdrise.com/InnovateSalone/fundraiser/gmin
15-Year-Oid Kelvin Doe is an engineering whiz living in Sierra Leone who scours the trash bins for spare parts, which he uses to build batteries, generators and transmitters. Completely self-taught, Kelvin has created his own radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music under the moniker, OJ Focus. Kelvin became the youngest person in history to be invited to the ‘V isiting Practitione(s Program” at MIT. THNKR had exclusive access to Kelvin and his life-changing journey – experiencing the US for the first t ime, exploring incredible opportunities, contending
with homesickness, and mapping out his future.
Here is a link to the Bobby Fala track in the video on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/karen-kilberg/kpei-ragga
PRODIGIES is a bi-weekly series showcasing the youngest and brightest as they challenge themselves to reach new heights and the stories behind them.
Created and produced by @radical. media, THNKR gives you extraordinary access to the people, stories, places and thinking that will change your mind.
Follow THNKR on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thnkr
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thnkrtv
Check out our Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/thnkr/
SUBSCRIBE! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c …
Song featured in that clip:
On 06/01/2014,
in corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faith, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, new business models, universities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
The bolded text is what I want to highlight in this posting/reflection:
Ship your grain across the sea;
after many days you may receive a return.
2 Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
3 If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.
From DSC:
This advice may prove incredibly beneficial for businesspeople, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and innovators.
But I have it that these words could also apply to the future of education — especially to those of us trying to determine/influence the future of higher education. TRIMTAB Groups within higher ed will need to live by those words.
On 03/24/2014,
in art, creativity, entrepreneurship, experimentation, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, informal learning, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, love of learning, maker movement, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, social learning / networks, student-related, youth,
by Daniel Christian
DIY and IDEO Inspire the Next Generation of Innovators — from IDEO.com
The ultimate summer camp. The perfect snack for a picky eater? Why are we designing things for our kids when only they can truly know what they want? DIY and IDEO ask kids to tackle these challenges and more, to develop their inner innovator. Bonus: they get a Scout-style patch for their efforts.
DIY is a place for kids to go online to learn new skills and meet others who share their interests. Kids take photos or videos of the stuff they make, assemble personal portfolios on the site, and ultimately build their creative confidence.
IDEO is proud to have collaborated with DIY to launch the “Innovator” skill: 12 challenges that help kids understand people, identify problems, and create novel solutions. We hope these challenges help inspire a new generation of design thinkers. Posted: March 21, 2014
From DSC:
A brief review of this site turns up several interesting things:
- Students can explore areas, disciplines, topics that they are passionate about — or they might discover some things that turn into a passion for them; this could be hugely helpful as students see “what’s out there” for them to head towards (career-wise).
- Students can submit their own creations
- The format of the site is very visual, enticing…drawing one in to see what’s behind each area and to see what other students have contributed
- It employs social learning
- It employs badging — students can earn badges on their way to mastering a topic
- Students can build their own portfolios and show those portfolios to the world!
Some recent postings on their blog:
- The trailer for an amazing documentary about a 14-year-old girl sailing across the world on her own.
- LEGO Robot Breaks Rubik’s Cube World Record
- Fabric Hacker is the latest skill at DIY!
On 03/19/2014,
in business, Canada, career development, communications, entrepreneurship, innovation, student-related, United States, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Ten programs to help your child become more entrepreneurial — from Marjo Johne
Excerpt:
You’re never too young to learn the lessons of entrepreneurship. Education and business leaders say that even kids who don’t aspire to run their own business will have a competitive edge later in life if they’re armed with entrepreneurial skills such as innovative thinking, financial literacy and effective communication.
So where can kids today pick up these valuable skills? Here’s our list of top 10 entrepreneurship programs for young Canadians, from kindergarten tots to high school teens.
From DSC:
Though the target audience here is Canadians, the topic applies to most every nation in the world. Today’s youth will need to be able to pivot, to change on a dime, to freelance. In fact, Intuit’s 2020 study shows that within the U.S., the workforce will be 40%+ contingent workers by 2020.
Another workforce related item:
- New Problems, New Approaches: The Rise of the Generalist — from innovationexcellence.com by Reuven Gorsht
Excerpt:
Almost every company as we know it has specialist organizations to support its business priorities. Organizations such as Finance, HR, IT and Marketing have been in existence for as long as we can remember. In most companies, domain expertise, efficiency and process execution dominate the agenda for these organizations. You get hired, promoted and measured based on your expertise and value-add in your particular specialization. This is all good, but what happens when the organization needs to solve a big hairy problem or launches a new business model that requires all-hands on deck? While some companies have been successful in bringing together cross-functional teams to work together towards a common goal, the teams often have limited perspective and the lack of the capability to connect the dots. The result: problems are not getting fixed.