IBM

IBM wants to put Watson in hands of every teacher [McEnery]

On 02/13/2015, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

IBM wants to put Watson in hands of every teacher — from crainsnewyork.com by Thornton McEnery
IBM’s Watson team is in the early stages of developing a mobile app that will help educators use artificial intelligence to create lesson plans.

Excerpt:

Are you a public-school teacher in need of a lesson plan but faced with the crushing ennui of having to find something fresh in your dreary curriculum?

There’s an app for that! Well, almost.

IBM’s Watson team is in the early stages of developing a mobile app that will leverage “thinking computer” technology to put a digital teacher’s assistant in the palms of educators everywhere. Watson’s artificial intelligence is designed to synthesize volumes of data when asked a question like “Watson, can you help me with a lesson plan on the Civil War?” IBM is working with educators to collect and collate vetted content.

Addendum on 2/16/15:

CogniToys’ huggable dinosaur is connected to IBM’s supercomputer — from engadget.com by Daniel Cooper

EMLYON Business School to create a ‘Smart Business School’ via IBM Cloud [finance.yahoo.com]

On 01/27/2015, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, education, education technology, emerging technologies, Europe, IBM, innovation, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, by Daniel Christian

EMLYON Business School to create a ‘Smart Business School’ via IBM Cloud — from finance.yahoo.com
New digital learning environment based on the SoftLayer infrastructure will personalize education experience globally

Excerpt:

ECULLY, France, Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and EMLYON today announced a program to develop a ‘Smart Business School’ higher education environment that is capable of delivering personalized, on-demand business education on a global basis via the IBM Cloud. EMLYON will work with IBM to place educational innovation and digital entrepreneurship at the heart of its strategy, to create better outcomes for its students and a more engaging environment for its teachers.

The changes in the world of education given rising globalization forces, new uses related to digital content and higher expectations of learners and teachers is putting a pressure on higher education. In response, EMLYON turned to IBM to transform the current ways in which their students are acquiring knowledge and skills to be better prepared for the world outside the classroom.

“What we believe is genuinely new about this initiative is that it will allow us to deliver content and coaching that are absolutely relevant to each participants’ needs and aspirations, wherever they are in the world and at every step on their career path,” said Bernard Belletante, dean of EMLYON. “So, in a similar way that users today can cherry-pick their entertainment, our community will be able to choose when, where and how much it learns.”

From DSC, a somewhat related comment to the above item…
Even if and when technologies such as IBM’s Watson, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Deepmind, or Amazon’s Echo get baked into MOOCs and/or other forms of online or blended learning, teachers/professors/trainers will still be critically important. They always have been and likely always will be. However, the heavy lifting of learning a subject may be able to be done with such tools and technologies. Learners will then come to the Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) with their questions and requests for further guidance.

Along these lines, a somewhat-related graphic from a while back:

Watson-MOOCs-NewTypesCollaboration-DChristian-2-14-13

IBM Awards University of Texas at Austin Top Spot in Watson Competition — from indiaeducationdiary.in

Excerpts/applications (emphasis and numbering via DSC):

New York: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the first winner of its Watson University Competition, part of the company’s partnership with top universities through its cognitive computing academic initiative. The winning team of student entrepreneurs from the University of Texas at Austin will receive $100,000 in total in seed funding to help launch a business based on their Watson app, which offers the promise of improved citizen services.
…
The University of Texas at Austin took home top honors with a new app called 1) CallScout, designed to give Texas residents fast and easy access to information about social services in their area. Many of Texas’ 27 million residents rely on the state’s social services – such as transportation, healthcare, nutrition programs and housing assistance – though they can have difficulty finding the right information.
…
“These academic competitions expose students to a new era of computing, helps them build valuable professional skills, and provides an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.”

…
Two other innovative projects rounded out the top three finalists in the competition. Students from the University of Toronto took second place with 2) “Ross,” an app that allows users to ask Watson legal questions related to their case work, speeding research and guiding lawyers to pertinent information to help their case. In third place, students from the University of California, Berkeley, designed a new app called 3) “Patent Fox” that conceptualizes patent ideas, simplifies queries, streamlines filing processes and provides confidence-ranked, evidence-based results.
…
“Through this program we have been able to create a unique experience that not only enabled our students to develop skills in cognitive computing, app development and team work, but also in business development.”

Stanford 2025, a mobile app to advise undergrads, “What if students made a school?”, plus other interesting ideas

On 01/19/2015, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, data related items, emerging technologies, future, IBM, ideas, innovation, student-related, by Daniel Christian

.

NYC students spark innovative ideas to improve higher education, city services using IBM Watson
CUNY and IBM announce winners in Student App Competition

3^rd place –Education: Advyzr
A mobile app that would advise undergraduates and college counselors on ideal courses and schedules based on learning preferences, graduation requirements, majors, and career goals. It would seamlessly integrate academic targets and user preferences.

Also see:

Student teams to present final ideas — from baruch.cuny.edu
For CUNY-IBM Watson Case Competition | Watch Videos to Learn More About the Teams and Their Ideas

What if students made a school? — from nextgenlearning.org by Tom Carroll

Excerpts:

What would happen if we trusted students to design their schools? Student voice and choice are core principles of a personalized learning movement that is empowering today’s youth to take responsibility for the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to thrive in college, careers and life.

As new education models grow to support this movement, are we ready to take the next step: asking students to help us customize the staff, space, curriculum, tools, and time they need for deeper learning?
…
Although these competitions took place over a decade ago, the students developed five design concepts that are as relevant today as when they were originally drafted.

Co-Created Curriculum
Collaborative Learning
Commitments from Capable Adults
Connected Learning – Doing Real Work
Comfortable, Customizable Learning Space

10 classroom ideas to try in 2015 — from blogs.edweek.org by Jennie Magiera

Karl Kapp “The Case of the Disengaged Learner” #ATDTK — from cammybean.kineo.com by Cammy Bean
These are my liveblogged notes from Karl Kapp’s session at ATD TechKnowledge, happening this week in Las Vegas. Forgive any typos or incoherencies.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Start instruction with ACTION and not objectives. Draw the learner in with action and encourage engagement. Make the learner do something. Have them identify something right away; make a decision right away; answer a question. Give them a complicated problem to solve. Confront a challenge. Create a curiosity gap — something you can do before hand that will raise a question that they want to know the answer to.

Law & Order (the tv) creates open loops — you HAVE to watch to the end to find out what happens. Leave them on a cliffhanger…it pulls you along.

In ID we create a closed loop: “by the end of this module, you will learn…” Instead open with “Do you know the #1 method to close sales in our company. Find out in this module.”

Start with a question that pulls the learner in – this creates an OPEN LOOP that draws them into the instruction. Don’t lead with the objectives (you still need ’em to design your instruction).

Create a challenging experience. Don’t make it frustrating, but create some struggle to get to the answer. Our best experiences are when we have that ah-ha moment, that breakthrough.
…
Add novelty. New and different catches our attention.

Also see Karl’s slides of “The Case of the Disengaged Learner“

Excerpt from Cammy Bean’s posting: David Kelly “Building a Learning Strategy from an Ecosystem of Resources” #ATDTK (emphasis DSC)

So what is a learning and performance ecosystem? It’s an organic entity that evolves over time. It’s finding the resources all around that support performance (not just training!). We’ve got multiple systems in our orgs — in a well-run org, those systems are all connected.

It’s a new mindset for those in L&D and training.

3 predictions for the future of jobs — from agenda.weforum.org by Kristel Van der Elst and Trudi Lan

A coming age of entrepreneurship:
Advances in technology will make self-generated livelihoods increasingly more viable
Retire first, work later?
In the future, our work-life duality patterns may change substantially
The new jobs robots can’t take:
We will soon see a plethora of jobs that currently do not exist

Also see:
Global Strategic Foresight Community – Members’ Perspectives on Global Shifts
As an extension of its own Strategic Foresight practice, the World Economic Forum has established a new community initiative, the Global Strategic Foresight Community (GSFC). A diverse, multistakeholder group, it brings together eminent and forward-looking thought leaders and senior practitioners from leading public, private and civil society organizations. The purpose of the Global Strategic Foresight Community is to provide a peer network to compare and contrast insights as well as to positively shape future-related industry, regional and global agendas. Below you will find information about the members as well as their foresight perspectives on “global shifts”. These shifts concern topics or issues which GSFC members believe should be highlighted now and added to the agendas of the Forum and relevant organizations to inspire constructive action for the future.

From Jobs of the future — from theguardian.com

Example job titles in 2020 — for education

Online education broker
Tailors a bespoke learning package for the client, dovetailing relevant modules from courses and syllabuses around the world.
Space tour guide
With Virgin Galactic planning commercial flights from 2011, space tourists will need cosmic enthusiasts to shed light on all that darkness.

What Are the Top Jobs and Skills of the Future? [Infographic] — from youtern.com

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. Linus Pauling #smallbiz #business

— Shawn Winkler-Rios (@Soloprenur) January 18, 2015

Reflections on “The University of Southern California, Condé Nast and WIRED launch Master of Integrated Design, Business and Technology”

On 11/18/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Amazon, analytics, Apple, art, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, career development, changing business models, collaboration, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, IBM, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, MBA, Microsoft, new business models, pace of change, professional development, real-world assignments, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, technology (general), workplace, by Daniel Christian

Following up on yesterday’s posting, History Channel bringing online courses to higher ed, I wanted to thank Mr. Rob Kingyens, President at Qubed Education, for alerting me to some related work that Qubed Education is doing. Below is an example of that work:

The University of Southern California, Condé Nast and WIRED launch Master of Integrated Design, Business and Technology — from qubededucation.com
New Learning Model Combines Network and Access of WIRED with Academic Strength and Vision of the USC Roski School of Art and Design

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

MARIN, Calif., October 1, 2014 – The University of Southern California, Condé Nast and WIRED today announced a partnership to create a new online Master’s degree in Integrated Design, Business and Technology. The partnership creates an unprecedented learning experience, combining the expertise of the editors, writers, and designers at WIRED with the academic rigor of USC, a leading research university known for its pioneering interdisciplinary programs. The aim of the 18-24 month degree is to educate creative thinkers and technologists to better equip them to transform the world of industry and enterprise. The first cohort is scheduled to begin in the 2015-2016 academic year.

…

“The pace of technology development requires higher education to continue to respond with programs that are flexible and adaptable, and that meet the needs of future cultural and business leaders,” said Dean Muhl.

“We’ve been thinking for years about what a university curriculum with WIRED would look like, and now we have a chance to build it with a terrific partner,” said Dadich. “Taking the best from USC and WIRED, we can teach discipline and disruption, business fundamentals, and the very latest innovation models from Silicon Valley. This is going to be thrilling.”

…

USC’s program development and build out will be powered by higher education partners Synergis Education and Qubed Education.

From Qubed’s website:

Qubed is the gateway for world-class, global brands to enter the education market with top tier universities.

From DSC:
I’ve long wondered if institutions of higher education will need to pool resources and/or form more partnerships and collaborations — either with other universities/colleges or with organizations outside of higher education. This reflection grows stronger for me when I:

Think that team-based content creation and delivery is pulling ahead of the pack
Hear about the financial situations of many institutions of higher education today (example1; example2)
See the momentum building up behind Competency Based Education (CBE)
Witness the growth of alternatives like Ideo Futures, Yieldr Academy, Lessons Go Where, ClassDo, Udemy, C-Suite TV.com and others
Hear about the potential advantages of learning analytics
See the pace of change accelerating — challenging higher education to keep up

For some institution(s) of higher education out there with deep pockets and a strong reputation, I could see them partnering up with an IBM (Watson), Google (Deepmind), Apple (Siri), Amazon (Echo), or Microsoft (Cortana) to create some next generation learning platforms. In fact, this is one of the areas I see occurring as lifelong learning/self-directed learning opportunities hit our living rooms. The underlying technologies these companies are working on could be powerful allies in the way people learn in the future — doing some heavy lifting to build the foundations in a variety of disciplines, and leaving the higher-order learning and the addressing of gaps to professors, teachers, trainers, and others.

IBM grants UK universities unprecedented access to AI system Watson [Rossi]

On 11/13/2014, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, computer science, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, programming, UK, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt from IBM grants UK universities unprecedented access to AI system Watson — from information-age.com by Ben Rossi

The University of Southampton and Imperial College London have today announced partnerships with IBM to offer students and staff cognitive computing education with unprecedented access to IBM‘s Watson technology and experts.

Imperial College London will offer new courses to provide students with opportunities for hands-on learning as they work to develop cognitive computing solutions to address business and societal challenges.

The partnership extends cognitive systems activities in Imperial’s Department of Computing as well as in other college departments already involved in related interdisciplinary research.

Also see:

EDUCAUSE 2014: What IBM’s Watson could bring to higher education [Smith]

On 10/03/2014, in computer science, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, by Daniel Christian

EDUCAUSE 2014: What IBM’s Watson could bring to higher education — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
Cognitive computing-powered tutors could spark a new age of discovery for students.

Excerpt:

IBM’s Watson, a cognitive computing system that simulates the human thought process, could soon be peering over teacher’s shoulders in classrooms, the company said at EDUCAUSE 2014 on Wednesday.

Several of IBM’s top education leaders hosted a panel at the conference laying out Watson’s trajectory in higher education. The cognitive computer’s ability to digest large data sets and communicate with humans could open new avenues for teaching, said Michael D. King, vice president, IBM Global Education Industry.

“I think the real impact on learning will start to come in the classroom, if you can imagine intelligent tutors — a system that can truly be interactive with the learner as they’re engaging and learning the materials,” King said.

A room where executives go to get help from IBM’s Watson [Simonite; MIT Technology Review]

On 08/06/2014, in business, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, research, strategy, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

First, Watson was brought up to speed by being directed, verbally, to read over an internal memo summarizing the company’s strategy for artificial intelligence. It was then asked by one of the researchers to use that knowledge to generate a long list of candidate companies. “Watson, show me companies between $15 million and $60 million in revenue relevant to that strategy,” he said.

After the humans in the room talked over the results Watson displayed on screen, they called out a shorter list for Watson to put in a table with columns for key characteristics. After mulling some more, one of them said: “Watson, make a suggestion.” The system ran a set of decision-making algorithms and bluntly delivered its verdict: “I recommend eliminating Kawasaki Robotics.” When Watson was asked to explain, it simply added. “It is inferior to Cognilytics in every way.”

Reflections on “C-Suite TV debuts, offers advice for the boardroom” [Dreier]

On 07/21/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, social learning / networks, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, telecommunications, television, training / L&D, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

C-Suite TV debuts, offers advice for the boardroom — from streamingmedia.com by Troy Dreier
Business leaders now have an on-demand video network to call their own, thanks to one Bloomberg host’s online venture.

Excerpt:

Bringing some business acumen to the world of online video, C-Suite TV is launching today. Created by Bloomberg TV host and author Jeffrey Hayzlett, the on-demand video network offers interviews with and shows about business execs. It promises inside information on business trends and the discussions taking place in the biggest boardrooms.

The Future of TV is here for the C-Suite — from hayzlett.com by Jeffrey Hayzlett

Excerpt:

Rather than wait for networks or try and gain traction through the thousands of cat videos, we went out and built our own network.

See also:

Mind your own business
From the About page:
C-Suite TV is a web-based digital on-demand business channel featuring interviews and shows with business executives, thought leaders, authors and celebrities providing news and information for business leaders. C-Suite TV is your go-to resource to find out the inside track on trends and discussions taking place in businesses today. This online channel will be home to such shows as C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett, MYOB – Mind Your Own Business and Bestseller TV with more shows to come.

From DSC:
The above items took me back to the concept of Learning from the Living [Class] Room.

Many of the following bullet points are already happening — but what I’m trying to influence/suggest is to bring all of them together in a powerful, global, 24 x 7 x 365, learning ecosystem:

When our “TVs” become more interactive…
When our mobile devices act as second screens and when second screen-based apps are numerous…
When discussion boards, forums, social media, assignments, assessments, and videoconferencing capabilities are embedded into our Smart/Connected TVs and are also available via our mobile devices…
When education is available 24 x 7 x 365…
When even the C-Suite taps into such platforms…
When education and entertainment are co-mingled…
When team-based educational content creation and delivery are mainstream…
When self-selecting Communities of Practice thrive online…
When Learning Hubs combine the best of both worlds (online and face-to-face)…
When Artificial Intelligence, powerful cognitive computing capabilities (i.e., IBM’s Watson), and robust reporting mechanisms are integrated into the backends…
When lifelong learners have their own cloud-based profiles…
When learners can use their “TVs” to tap into interactive, multimedia-based streams of content of their choice…
When recommendation engines are offered not just at Netflix but also at educationally-oriented sites…
When online tutoring and intelligent tutoring really take off…

…then I’d say we’ll have a powerful, engaging, responsive, global education platform.

IBM and Apple form partnership to bring big data & analytics capabilities to your iPhone/iPad

On 07/17/2014, in analytics, Apple, business, computer science, corporate / business world, data related items, IBM, innovation, mobile technologies, programming, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Apple joins with IBM on business software — from nytimes.com by Brian Chen and Steve Lohrjuly

Excerpt:

In a deal that could deepen Apple’s sales to corporations and strengthen IBM’s position in business software, the two companies announced a wide-ranging partnership intended to spread advanced mobile and data analysis technology in the corporate world.

IBM and Apple have been working together on the venture for several months, and they are jointly working on more than 100 business software programs developed exclusively for Apple’s iOS operating system and for use on iPhones and iPads. The applications will be tailored for use in industries including retail, health care, transportation, banking, insurance and telecommunications.

Apple and IBM forge global partnership to transform enterprise mobility — from apple.com

Excerpt:

CUPERTINO, California and ARMONK, New York—July 15, 2014—Apple® and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an exclusive partnership that teams the market-leading strengths of each company to transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps—bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to iPhone® and iPad®.

The landmark partnership aims to redefine the way work will get done, address key industry mobility challenges and spark true mobile-led business change—grounded in four core capabilities…

The next level of enterprise mobility: where data meets engagement — from IBM.com

Breaking down the Apple – IBM Announcement for our Ecosystem and Developers! — from socialbusinesssandy.com by Sandy Carter

Excerpt:

What did we announce? An exclusive partnership that teams the market-leading strengths of each company to transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps—bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to iPhone® and iPad®.

Apple-IBM: Infographic of announcements! — from socialbusinesssandy.com by Sandy Carter

Why the Apple-IBM deal matters more to banking than you might think — from by JJ Hornblass

Apple teams up with IBM for huge, expansive enterprise push — from techcrunch.com by Darrell Etherington

From DSC:
It would be very interesting times, indeed, if Watson merged with Siri! Here’s a posting to that effect:

When Watson met Siri: Apple’s IBM deal could make Siri a lot smarter — from venturebeat.com by Richard Byrne Reilly & Devindra Hardawar

Excerpt:

One of the long-term results of Apple’s new partnership with IBM — which the two announced yesterday as a joint effort to give both a stronger standing in the mobile enterprise — could be an eventual union between Watson and Siri, a “cognitive” technology expert familiar with both tells VentureBeat.

—————–

Addendums:

Educating the ‘big data’ generation — from by Katherine Noyes
Classes—and even degree programs—focused on data analytics are cropping up all over the U.S. Behind them? Tech’s largest companies.

Report: Cognizant computing will have ‘immense’ impact on mobile computing — from by Joshua Bolkan

Excerpt:

Gartner has unveiled a new report forecasting that cognizant computing, which the company says is the next phase of the personal cloud movement, “will become one of the strongest forces in consumer-focused IT” in the next few years to “have an immense impact across a range of industries, including mobile devices, mobile apps, wearables, networking, services and cloud providers.”

…

With data analytics as its backbone, cognizant computing uses simple rules and data associated with an individual to create services and activities delivered across multiple devices. Examples include alarms, payments, health and fitness monitoring and management and context-specific advertisements.

—————–

Internet Trends 2014 — Mary Meeker [KPCB]

On 05/29/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Asia, business, Canada, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, convergence, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, data related items, disruption, emerging technologies, Europe, global / globalization, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, interactivity, internet, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, pace of change, platforms, social media, society, strategy, streams of content, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, television, trends, TVs, UK, United States, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Example slides:

IBM’s Watson goes to college

On 05/08/2014, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, computer science, higher education, IBM, intelligent tutoring, programming, universities, by Daniel Christian

Seven of the nation’s leading technology institutions unveil cognitive computing courses leveraging IBM Watson — from IBM.com
In Fall, 2014, new courses will inspire university students to build apps infused with Watson’s intelligence while gaining the entrepreneurial vision to deliver their innovations into the marketplace. Announcement marks the newest step in IBM’s strategy to fuel an ecosystem of innovators who will make cognitive computing the new worldwide standard of computing.

Excerpt:

ARMONK, N.Y. – 07 May 2014: IBM (NYSE: IBM) is partnering with the country’s leading technology universities to launch cognitive computing courses that give students unprecedented access via the cloud to one of the Company’s most prized innovations: Watson.

For the first time, enrollment is now open for fall 2014 cognitive computing courses at Carnegie Mellon University, New York University (NYU), The Ohio State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan and the University of Texas in Austin.

Co-designed by the Watson Group and leading academic experts in fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, the courses will empower students with the technical knowledge and hands-on learning required to develop new cognitive computing applications fueled by Watson’s intelligence.

IBM partners with universities on Watson projects — from abcnews.go.com by Bree Fowler

Excerpt:

Watson is going to college.

Students at seven of the country’s top computer science universities will get a chance to try out IBM’s famous cognitive computing system as part of new classes set for next fall.

The partnership between Armonk, New York-based IBM and the universities, which was set to be announced Wednesday, will let students use the “Jeopardy!” champion to develop new cognitive computing applications for a variety of industries ranging from health care to finance.

“If they’re interested in these kinds of technologies, when they graduate they’re going to have a natural proclivity to designing them,” says Michael Rhodin, IBM’s senior vice president overseeing Watson.

“The logic here is that the next generation of entrepreneurs is in universities today.”

CIO’s need to take on far more strategic roles — in corp world & in higher ed

On 03/14/2014, in 21st century, business, change, corporate / business world, IBM, innovation, IT in HE, leadership, strategy, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Moving from the back office to the front lines: CIO insights from the Global C-suite Study — from IBM Institute for Business Value
CIOs tell us that their place in the organizational pyramid has changed in the past five years. Many of them command more respect and possess more authority than before and they are working more closely with their C-suite colleagues.

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Introduction
In the first installment of our recent Global C-suite Study, we spoke in person with 4,183 top executives covering more than 20 industries to find out how CxOs are earning the loyalty of digitally enfranchised customers and citizens.1 In this report we delve more deeply into what the 1,656 CIOs we interviewed are doing to help their enterprises become more “customer-activated.”

One thing is immediately obvious: just how far some CIOs have come in the past five years. In 2009, we reported that CIOs were rising up the management hierarchy and developing a new, more powerful voice. But they often had to juggle different roles to deal with conflicting goals.2

In 2011, we identified that CIOs were starting to think more like CEOs. They were becoming essential members of the C-suite, although there were marked disparities in the mandates they held — i.e., what the enterprises they worked for expected of the IT function. Most CIOs were helping to expand or transform their organizations. The rest were tasked with leveraging IT to make their organizations more effective, or pioneering radical innovation in the form of new products, markets and business models.3

…

In short, while some CIOs remain confined to their traditional domains, a growing number are seizing the opportunity to take on a far bigger role on the front lines of the business.

…

From DSC:
The corporate world moves much faster than the world of higher ed (or K-12). So, higher ed should take a look at what this study is saying and note what’s happening to the role of the CIO. My bet is that many of the same dynamics discussed in this report/survey will be on our doorsteps soon, if they aren’t here already.

Reflections on “I failed my online course — but learned a lot about Internet education” [Larson]

On 03/10/2014, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, education technology, experimentation, higher education, IBM, innovation, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, by Daniel Christian

I failed my online course — but learned a lot about Internet education — from readwrite.com by Selena Larson (by way of eduwire.com)
Massive open online courses, or “MOOCs,” require a lot of motivation—and sometimes, a thick skin.

Excerpts (comments via DSC):

He provided great insight, paired it with interesting required readings, and led Google Hangouts throughout the course, though only a handful of students were able to participate. Time zone differences and limited space ultimately resulted in a select few students receiving the opportunity to participate in this more intimate online setting.

(From DSC: Last I knew, only 25 students can get into one of these sessions; this seems to be a major mistake to use Google Hangouts if you are talking MOOCs with thousands of students; Coursera should have required that the professor use a different tool.)

…

I’ll admit it: I had minimal motivation. Sure, I didn’t want to waste $49, but I certainly didn’t stay up all night finishing a 600-word essay—the goal of receiving a course completion certificate just wasn’t appealing enough.

…

The quizzes were easy—we were given multiple attempts to get a perfect score—but the essays were a different story. Since the professor was unable to grade them himself, each student was subject to peer reviews—five of them. And each review impacted your grade.

…

I failed my first essay. All but one reviewer gave me a failing grade, for reasons unknown.

…

In true Internet fashion, these peer reviews were totally anonymous. I couldn’t discuss with my reviewer why he or she thought my essay was lousy, and I couldn’t defend my link to Fox News. I felt uncomfortable and powerless. Stupid.

(From DSC: I don’t have a lot of confidence in asking other students, who aren’t trained in teaching/pedagogy/grading, to effectively use rubrics to grade other students’ papers. Though one could turn right around and say that of many faculty members as well, who often lack training in education-related courses. But in the case of professors, they often build up such expertise over time.)

How MOOCs Can Succeed
(from DSC, I’m paraphrasing below)

Get rid of anonymous grading
Get the price point right
(From DSC: This is tough though, as such a figure most likely differs for each student.)

From DSC:
The graphic below attempts to relay the potential power of technologies such as IBM’s Watson in auto-curating content for MOOCs. But there may be other uses for such technologies — such as if these technologies could be used to effectively grade papers, assignments, quizzes, etc. — then today’s MOOCs would be much more effective and would better address one of Selana’s key concerns.

Watson-MOOCs-NewTypesCollaboration-DChristian-2-14-13

Learning Ecosystems

EMLYON Business School to create a ‘Smart Business School’ via IBM Cloud [finance.yahoo.com]

EDUCAUSE 2014: What IBM’s Watson could bring to higher education [Smith]

A room where executives go to get help from IBM’s Watson [Simonite; MIT Technology Review]

CIO’s need to take on far more strategic roles — in corp world & in higher ed

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