A roadmap to online college student decision making [infographic] — from learninghouse.com
Excerpt:
On 06/25/2014,
in Amazon, Apple, business, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, future, game-changing environment, Google, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, Microsoft, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, platforms, programming, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, strategy, streams of content, student-related, tablets, technologies for your home, technology (general), trends, ubiquitous learning,
by Daniel Christian
Mobile Megatrends 2014…uncovering major mobile trends in 2014 — from visionmobile.com
Excerpt:
This report examines five major trends that we expect to shape the future of mobile in the coming years:
- Apps: The Tip of the Iceberg
- Mobile Ecosystems: Don’t Come Late to the Game
- OTT Squared: Messaging Apps are the new Platforms
- Handset Business Reboot: Hardware is the new Distribution
- The Future of HTML5: Beyond the Browser
From DSC:
In looking at the below excerpted slide from this solid presentation, I have to ask…
“Does this same phenomenon also apply to educationally-related products/services?”
…
Yes, I think it does.
That is, the educationally-related products and services of an organization will compete not by size, but how well the experience roams across screens. Lifelong learners (who are using well-designed learning experiences) will be able to tap into streams of content on multiple devices and never skip a beat. The organizations who provide such solid learning experiences across multiple “channels” should do well in the future. This is due to:
- The affordances of cloud-based computing
- The increasing power of mobile computing
- The convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer — which is opening up the door for powerful, interactive, multi-directional communications that involve smart/connected televisions
- Generation Z’s extensive use of screens*
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
* From Here Comes Generation Z — bloombergview.com by Leonid Bershidsky
If Y-ers were the perfectly connected generation, Z-ers are overconnected. They multi-task across five screens: TV, phone, laptop, desktop and either a tablet or some handheld gaming device, spending 41 percent of their time outside of school with computers of some kind or another, compared to 22 percent 10 years ago.
On 06/24/2014,
in adult learning, education technology, ideas, innovation, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, podcasting, teaching & learning, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Graduate School 2.0: Three ways to put technology to work for graduate student success — from evolllution.com by Susan Aldridge | President of Drexel University Online, Drexel University
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Podcasting and Vodcasting
Although these digital techniques are becoming a popular enhancement for “flipping” classrooms and furnishing supplemental course materials, they’re also a great way to teach professional skills. For example, Karl Okomoto created LawMeets, an online moot court experience for budding transactional attorneys who, up until now, have been expected to learn the art of negotiation by reading textbooks and listening to lectures.
As a result, law students across the country can now use this unique virtual platform to practice and perfect their deal-making skills, by posting videos of themselves counseling their moot clients, which are peer-reviewed through a digital voting device. Top-rated performances are then critiqued by seasoned attorneys, who furnish a demonstration video of their own. Equally important, professors in other law schools are incorporating these online exercises into their own classroom activities, with excellent results, while Okomoto is making plans to deploy his platform for role-playing job interviews and salary negotiations.
By the same token, an inventive cardiologist and professor at the Temple University School of Medicine employed podcast technology to help students learn how to listen for heart murmurs. Appropriately called Heartsongs, this MP3 teaching tool provides audio recordings of common murmurs, complete with running commentary — and, so far, its track record is nothing short of amazing. Among the medical students and residents using it, diagnostic accuracy rates have skyrocketed to 90 percent compared to the average of 20 to 30 percent.
On 06/10/2014,
in change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, trends, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Can disruption save higher education? — from eCampus News by Meris Stansbury
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Christensen: “The question now is: ‘Is there something that can’t be displaced within a traditional university’s value offering?'”
…
However, Christensen outlined three ways traditional colleges and universities, like his own Harvard Business school, could survive into the future:
Focus on professors
[when recruiting faculty]…focus less on their publishing capabilities and expert knowledge of material, and more on their ability to connect to others.
Understand why technology, like online learning, is disruptive.
Don’t try to change from the inside — you will fail. [Use offsets.]
On 06/10/2014,
in career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, expectations, future of higher education, higher education, online learning, open courseware and systems, student-related, universities,
by Daniel Christian
The University of the Future: The Student Perspective — from laureate.net
Excerpt:
In the interest of changing the debate about the future of higher education to include more students’ perspectives, we commissioned Zogby Analytics, a leading international opinion research firm, to survey students at 37 Laureate network institutions in 21 countries. More than 20,800 students responded to the survey, making it the largest international survey ever of student attitudes.
In the survey, students express the belief that the “university of the future” will be accessible, flexible, innovative and job-focused. Students foresee classes being offered at a variety of times throughout the day and year, courses being affordable and online, and learning being a lifelong process through degree and certificate programs that are geared to market needs.
Some of the specific findings of the survey include…
Also see:
Report: Students expect future universities to be flexible, accessible, career-oriented — from campustechnology.com by Joshua Bolkan
Excerpt:
Students expect universities to be more accessible, flexible and focused on jobs, according to a new survey commissioned by Laureate International Universities and compiled by Zogby Analytics.
The “2014 Global Survey of Students” compiled responses from more than 20,800 students at 37 institutions in the Laureate network. Students from 21 countries participated in the survey, which sought student opinions on what universities would look like in 15 years.
On 06/03/2014,
in business, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning,
by Daniel Christian
The seven habits of highly effective digital enterprises — from mckinsey.com by Tunde Olanrewaju, Kate Smaje, and Paul Willmott
To stay competitive, companies must stop experimenting with digital and commit to transforming themselves into full digital businesses. Here are seven habits that successful digital enterprises share.
Excerpt:
The age of experimentation with digital is over. In an often bleak landscape of slow economic recovery, digital continues to show healthy growth. E-commerce is growing at double-digit rates in the United States and most European countries, and it is booming across Asia. To take advantage of this momentum, companies need to move beyond experiments with digital and transform themselves into digital businesses. Yet many companies are stumbling as they try to turn their digital agendas into new business and operating models. The reason, we believe, is that digital transformation is uniquely challenging, touching every function and business unit while also demanding the rapid development of new skills and investments that are very different from business as usual. To succeed, management teams need to move beyond vague statements of intent and focus on “hard wiring” digital into their organization’s structures, processes, systems, and incentives.
From DSC:
“The age of experimentation with digital is over. … To take advantage of this momentum, companies need to move beyond experiments with digital and transform themselves into digital businesses.”
Though this may be true for the corporate world (the audience for whom this piece was written), the experimentation within higher education is just beginning. With that said, I still couldn’t help but wonder if some of these same habits might apply to the world of higher education. For example, three habits that the article mentioned jumped out at me as being highly relevant to those of us working within higher education:
1. Be unreasonably aspirational
4. Challenge everything
7. Be obsessed with the customer
Rising customer expectations continue to push businesses to improve the customer experience across all channels. Excellence in one channel is no longer sufficient; customers expect the same frictionless experience in a retail store as they do when shopping online, and vice versa.
A potentially-related item, at least from the perspective of the higher ed student of the near future:
- Accelerating the digitization of business processes — from by Shahar Markovitch and Paul Willmott
Customers want a quick and seamless digital experience, and they want it now.
Excerpt:
Customers have been spoiled. Thanks to companies such as Amazon and Apple, they now expect every organization to deliver products and services swiftly, with a seamless user experience.
Business School, Disrupted — from nytimes.com by Jerry Useem
Excerpt:
The question: Should Harvard Business School enter the business of online education, and, if so, how?
Universities across the country are wrestling with the same question — call it the educator’s quandary — of whether to plunge into the rapidly growing realm of online teaching, at the risk of devaluing the on-campus education for which students pay tens of thousands of dollars, or to stand pat at the risk of being left behind.
On 05/28/2014,
in blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, experimentation, higher education, hybrid learning, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, teaching & learning, Uncategorized, user experience (UX), using teams,
by Daniel Christian
Harvard MOOCs up ante on production quality — from educationnews.org by Grace Smith
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
It’s called HarvardX, a program begun two years ago, that films professors who are creating lessons that act as an adjunct to their coursework. The catch is, the production value is equally proportioned to the subject matter. The underproduced in-class lecture being filmed by a camera at the back of the lecture hall is being updated, in a big way.
Two video studios, 30 employees, producers, editors, videographers, composers, animators, typographers, and even a performance coach, make HarvardX a far cry from a talking head sort of online class.
The Harvard idea is to produce excellent videos, on subject matters that might be difficult to pull off in a lecture hall or class. Then, to bring these videos into the class for enrichment purposes. An example is Ulrich’s online class, “Tangible Things”.
Also see:
Sea change of technology: Education — from the Harvard Gazette, Christina Pazzanese, May 26, 2014
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
After centuries of relative torpor, technology breakthroughs have begun to reshape teaching and learning in ways that have prompted paradigm shifts around pedagogy, assessment, and scholarly research, and have upended assumptions of how and where learning takes place, the student-teacher dynamic, the functions of libraries and museums, and the changing role of scholars as creators and curators of knowledge.
“There are massive changes happening right now,” said Robert A. Lue, the Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and faculty director of HarvardX (harvardx.harvard.edu). “What has brought it into particularly tight focus now is that the revolution in online education has raised a whole host of very important questions about: What do students do with faculty face-to-face; what is the value of the brick-and-mortar experience; and how does technology in general really support teaching and learning in exciting, new ways? It’s been a major catalyst, if you will, for a reconsideration of how we teach in the classroom.”
…
Classrooms of the future are likely to resemble the laboratory or studio model, as more disciplines abandon the passive lecture and seminar formats for dynamic, practice-based learning, Harvard academicians say.
“There’s a move away from using the amphitheater as a learning space … toward a room that looks more like a studio where students sit in groups around tables, and the focus is on them, not on the instructor, and the instructor becomes more the ‘guide outside’ rather than the ‘sage onstage,’ facilitating the learning process rather than simply teaching and hoping people will learn,” said Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
It’s a shift that’s changing teaching in the humanities as well. “It’s a project-based model where students learn by actually being engaged in a collaborative, team-based experience of actually creating original scholarship, developing a small piece of a larger mosaic — getting their hands dirty, working with digital media tools, making arguments in video, doing ethnographic work,” said Jeffrey Schnapp, founder and faculty director of metaLAB (at) Harvard, an arts and humanities research and teaching unit of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
From DSC:
HarvardX is a great example of using teams to create and deliver learning experiences.
Also, the “Sea change…” article reminded me of the concept of learning hubs — whereby some of the content is face-to-face around a physical table, and whereby some of the content is electronic (either being created by the students or being consumed/reviewed by the students). I also appreciated the work that Jeff Schnapp is doing to increase students’ new media literacy skills.
On 05/16/2014,
in change, changing business models, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, elearning, experimentation, MBA, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, training / L&D, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
From the WSJ’s Morning Ledger:
The online MBA comes of age.
You’d think that of all the academic pursuits, business school would remain most immune to online learning. Beyond studies, MBA programs offer up-and-coming C-suiters access to the graduate-level schmoozing that could come in handy later on. Nevertheless, the online MBA program is growing, Delta Sky Magazine’s Kevin Featherly reports. What they lack in post-exam cordials with the professor, they make up for in a more diverse, more experienced student body, say advocates. “In ground-based programs, you’re connected to a more local audience,” the dean of the University of Bridgeport’s Ernest C. Trefz School of Business tells Delta. “In the online program, you’re interacting with business professionals from around the world.” But not everything is so encouraging. A professor at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina tells Mr. Featherly how surprised he was “when a course designer suggested he use a cartoon character to illustrate a hard-core economics principle.”
Also see:
From DSC:
Consider this. Steve Jobs lived by the philosophy of cannibalizing Apple’s own business, as he held that Apple needed to cannibalize itself or someone else would do it for them. And here’s the key thing to consider: Apple is the largest company in the world, based on market cap (505.92B as of this morning) and market value.
The point is, we in higher ed can’t be afraid of change. We must change. It’s time for more Trimtab Groups within higher education.
On 05/13/2014,
in 21st century, adult learning, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, new business models, online learning,
by Daniel Christian
A Case for Applied Liberal Arts: Adapting to Disruption — from evollution.com by Michelle Rhee-Weise | Senior Research Fellow, Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation
Excerpt:
This is neither another defense of the liberal arts nor another piece that pits the liberal arts against vocational training. We’ve all grown weary of commentators who ennoble without question the ideal of the liberal arts while denigrating vocation as factory work or corporate training.
In lieu of these tired tropes, I would suggest the notion of applied liberal arts. It’s time we shed vocation of its connotations of career education, corporate training and utility. Vocation does not preclude the liberal arts but can fuse a liberal education with the application of knowledge, effective citizenship, well roundedness and even artistry.
…
The instinct for some institutions might be to give into the “threat rigidity,” or to cease being flexible in the face of such major, systemic shifts. If, however, traditional institutions double down on a static curriculum, then how will they compete with these lower-cost, briefer and targeted programs that lead directly to high-skills opportunities at desirable companies? The oncoming disruption must be viewed as an opportunity to tie education to economic relevance — to offer more than a trajectory, but a well-defined pathway, to employment.
The $10,000 Degree: Fundamentally Changing the Way Universities Do Business — from evollution.com by Jean Floten | Chancellor, Western Governors University Washington
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
The reset button has been pushed in this country. We have the choice to either participate in the reshaping of higher education to help more prospective students reach for their aspirations or live in denial.
Most Americans have changed how they do business and manage their personal finances. We must, too. The recession of the last decade spawned more leery consumers and led far too many to question the value of an investment in education.
That’s the importance of the $10,000-degree challenge. It recognizes the need for fundamental change in higher education. Furthermore, it provides a tangible finish line to which the academy may strive.
It’s time we, the leaders of colleges and universities, raise educational attainment levels — not costs.
MOOCs’ disruption is only beginning — from studentforce.wordpress.com; reposted from The Boston Globe written by Clayton M. Christensen and Michelle R. Weise
Excerpt:
JOURNALISTS, as 2013 ended, were busy declaring the death of MOOCs, more formally known as massive open online courses. Silicon Valley startup Udacity, one of the first to offer the free Web-based college classes, had just announced its pivot to vocational training — a sure sign to some that this much-hyped revolution in higher education had failed. The collective sigh of relief from more traditional colleges and universities was audible.
The news, however, must have also had the companies that had enthusiastically jumped on the MOOC train feeling a bit like Mark Twain. When newspapers confused Twain for his ailing cousin, the writer famously quipped, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Undoubtedly pronouncements over MOOCs’ demise are likewise premature. And their potential to disrupt — on price, technology, even pedagogy — in a long-stagnant industry is only just beginning to be seen.
Tuition costs have been ballooning faster than general inflation and even faster than health care. And what do we get in return? Nearly half of all bachelor’s-degree holders do not find employment or are underemployed upon graduation. At the same time, employers have not been satisfied with degree candidates. Two recent Gallup polls showed that although 96 percent of chief academic officers believe they’re doing a good job of preparing students for employment, only 11 percent of business leaders agree that graduates have the requisite skills for success in the workforce. And this is all occurring while higher education leaders were convinced that they were innovating all along.
It was just the wrong kind of innovation.
Education-as-a-Service: 5 ways higher ed must adapt to a changing market — from venturebeat.com by
Excerpt:
Within a few years, some students will come to higher education with an understanding of their current competencies, the competencies required for their dream job, and the resulting gap. Colleges will need to respond to these students with more than just a course catalog.
For example, for an 18-year-old who wants to start a career in video game design, colleges will offer courses that produce the requisite skills for an entry-level position – in addition to some general education – and will award a meaningful credential at completion of those courses (a process that will be completed likely in less than four years).
Or a laid-off marketing manager, whose time-to-job is six months rather than four years, may come to a university for reskilling in social media marketing, taking four targeted courses and earning a credential that employers can understand.
5 reasons the college student loan debt crisis could top subprime mortgages — from educationdive.com by Keith Button
Excerpt:
As the U.S. higher ed student loan debt continues its ascent, more warnings are sounding about the consequences.
Student debt currently amounts to $1.08 trillion owed by nearly 37 million borrowers. Richard Cordray, president of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has warned that the student loan problem is comparable to the home mortgage market prior to the Great Recession that began in 2008.
Could the economic impact of the student debt crisis one day match (or even exceed) the credit crunch created by subprime mortgages? Here are five reasons for concern…
Taking the Liberal Arts Online in the Summer — from chronicle.com by William Pannapacker
New ways of delivering courses can be compatible with small-college values
Excerpt:
A major reason we created the program was to assist students in completing their degrees within four years. Several of our preprofessional programs have demanding sequences that do not mesh easily with the schedules of courses in our core curriculum. In addition, a growing proportion of our students want to spend a semester off-campus, which places even greater constraints on their academic schedules.
…
Adopted cautiously, in a critical, evolutionary, decentralized way, a variety of online approaches to learning—beyond what we already have—can allow faculty members to improve their teaching by placing lecture content online and using classes for high-impact experiences, allowing professors and students to become more interactive with each other. And—by making it less necessary for students to transfer credit for entire courses from outside parties—online courses developed within an institutional context can preserve rather than undermine our unique missions as liberal-arts colleges.
Also see:
.
Created by Knewton and Column Five Media
On 05/01/2014,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, hybrid learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, United States,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
The idea of a learning hub — where some of the learning content is accessed electronically and where some of the learning takes place in a face-to-face manner — seems to be picking up steam. Conceptually, it makes a huge amount of sense, especially if it’s done well. It combines the best of online learning and face-to-face learning. Though not new, blended or hybrid learning, has often been said to be the Holy Grail of learning. So some of the learning could be accessed remotely — via a live videoconference or via a previously recorded lecture — and some of the learning could take place around a table.
With that in mind, it was interested to see the following postings:
- N.Y. Public Library Plans Face-to-Face ‘Classes’ for MOOC Students — from chronicle.com by Steve Kolowich
Excerpt:
In a pilot program with Coursera, the New York Public Library plans to organize meet-ups at which people taking massive open online courses can gather and discuss the courses with help from “trained facilitators.”The partnership is part the MOOC company’s effort to build an infrastructure for in-person learning around its free online courses. Research has suggested that MOOC students who receive offline help earn higher scores on their assessments.
. - New Learning Hubs Locations Hosted by The New York Public Library and Seven Other International Partners– — coursera.com
Excerpt:
[On April 30th] we are happy to announce eight new Learning Hubs partners including The New York Public Library, the largest library system in the US and our first domestic Learning Hubs network. Fitting we think that one of our first US Learning Hubs partners is located in New York, Coursera’s most popular city in the world by enrollment with more than 50,000 users located in New York City and 160,000 in the greater state of New York!
…
We launched the Learning Hubs program last year to give communities around the world the ability to access online courses for free, and also to engage with others in a blended learning setting. We’ve since partnered with a total of 17 trusted institutions around the world including the US Department of State to establish physical spaces where students can access the necessary technology and a global community of learners.
From DSC:
Combine that vision with the vision that I’ve put forth on this blog before — and which the recent blog posting discusses below – and you have one pumped up learning environment!
What will the active learning classroom look like in the not-so-distant future? — from lakelandlearningtechnologies.wordpress.com
The next generation interactive classroom…
1) will support students bringing their smartphones and tablets (BYOD) into the classroom. Students can expect to interact with their peers and the content / media on-the-fly, at the same time, discovering new ways to use classroom and web-based technologies to support their own learning.
2) will be increasingly wireless. Apple TV is already being used in classrooms where students and their teachers share their assignments and class projects on high definition TV screens. Emerging wireless technologies such as 802.11 ac, mean faster connection speeds and improved quality of shared media.
3) will mean classrooms are more configurable around the people using them rather than the fixtures and technology in the room. The use of multiple surfaces fosters collaboration, creativity and design, permitting students and instructors the ability to display, capture and share these interactions.
New learning spaces are emerging as a blend of the formal and informal – with flexibility driving design.
On 04/10/2014,
in digital learning, education technology, K-12 related, mobile learning, online learning, student-related,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpts:
On April 8, 2014, Project Tomorrow released the report “The New Digital Learning Playbook: Understanding the Spectrum of Students’ Activities and Aspirations” at a Congressional Briefing held in Washington, DC and for the first time, online in a special live stream of the event. Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow CEO, discussed selected student national findings from the Speak Up 2013 report and moderated a panel discussion with students who shared their insights and experiences with digital learning.
