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The College Scorecard — as mentioned in last night’s State of the Union Address — is now available

On 02/13/2013, in accreditation, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, curriculum, future of higher education, higher education, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, universities, by Daniel Christian

CollegeScorecard-2-13-13

 

Also see:

On notice, again — from insidehighered.com by Libby A. Nelson

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday night called for major changes to the criteria accreditors use to evaluate colleges, asking Congress to either require accreditors to take college prices and educational value into account or to create an alternative system based on “performance and results.” Either could mark a significant shift in how the federal government judges higher education quality and eligibility for financial aid programs.

 

From DSC:

  • This speaks directly to higher ed’s ability — or inability — to stay relevant, be responsive, and to reinvent itself.
    .
  • Accreditation teams should include many others who do not work for — nor are in any way connected to — a current institution of higher education.
    .
  • If higher ed can’t respond, the conversation will continue to move away from traditional pathways/institutions and people will find their own ways of getting ahead/surviving.

 

 

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Game-changing reflections re: “College branding: The tipping point” [Dooley]

On 02/10/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, change, changing business models, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, consortiums, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, education reform, education technology, elearning, experimentation, faculty, funding / grants, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, marketplaces, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, reinvent, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, universities, using teams, by Daniel Christian

College branding: The tipping point — from forbes.com by Roger Dooley

Excerpt:

Change is coming to this market. While there are multiple issues of increasing importance to schools, two stand out as major game-changers.

 

From DSC:
Important notes for the boards throughout higher education to consider:

Your institution can’t increase tuition by one dime next year. If you do, you will become more and more vulnerable to being disrupted. Instead, work very hard to go in the exact opposite direction. Find ways to discount tuition by 50% or more — that is, if you want to stay in business.

Sounds like the scene in Apollo 13, doesn’t it? It is. (i.e. as Tom Hanks character is trying to get back to Earth and has very little to do it with. The engineers back in the United States are called upon to “do the impossible.”)

Some possibilities:

  • Pick your business partners and begin pooling resources and forming stronger consortia. Aim to reduce operating expenses, share the production of high-quality/interactive online courses, and create new streams of income. Experimentation will be key.
  • Work with IBM, Apple, Knewton and the like to create/integrate artificial intelligence into your LMS/CMS in order to handle 80% of the questions/learning issues. (Most likely, the future of MOOCs involves this very sort of thing.)
  • Find ways to create shorter courses/modules and offer them via online-based exchanges/marketplaces.  But something’s bothering me with this one..perhaps we won’t have the time to develop high-quality, interactive, multimedia-based courses…are things moving too fast?
  • Find ways to develop and offer subscription-based streams of content


 

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Could this be a new purpose/goal within K-12, higher ed, and the training departments out there? [Christian]

On 02/06/2013, in 21st century, career development, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, emerging technologies, future, global / globalization, higher education, K-12 related, reinvent, robotics, social learning / networks, social media, society, streams of content, surviving, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First, what prompted the questions and reflections that are listed below?  For that, I turn to some recent items that I ran across involving the use of robotics and whether that may or may not be affecting employment:

 

The work of Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee; for example their book Race Against the Machine

Excerpt of description:

But digital innovation has also changed how the economic pie is distributed, and here the news is not good for the median worker. As technology races ahead, it can leave many people behind. Workers whose skills have been mastered by computers have less to offer the job market, and see their wages and prospects shrink. Entrepreneurial business models, new organizational structures and different institutions are needed to ensure that the average worker is not left behind by cutting-edge machines.

 

How to freak out responsibly about the rise of the robots — from theatlantic.com by Derek Thompson
It’s fun to imagine an economy where machines are smarter than humans. But we don’t need  an artificial crisis over artificial intelligence.

Excerpt:

Let’s say it upfront: Technology can replace jobs and (at least temporarily) increase income inequality. From the spinning jenny to those massive mechanical arms flying wildly around car assembly lines, technology raises productivity by helping workers accomplish more in less time (i.e.: put a power drill in a human hand) and by replacing workers altogether (i.e.: build a power-drilling bot).

…

What ails us today isn’t a surplus of robots, but a deficit of demand. Yes, we have a manufacturing industry undergoing a sensational, but job-killing, productivity revolution — very much like the one that took farm employment from 40 percent in 1900 to less than 5 percent today. But the other nine-tenths of the economy are basically going through an old-fashioned weak-but-steady recovery, the kind that hundreds of years of financial crises would predict.

 

America has hit “peak jobs” — from techcrunch.com by Jon Evans

Excerpt:

“The middle class is being hollowed out,” says James Altucher. “Economists are shifting their attention toward a […] crisis in the United States: the significant increase in income inequality,” reports the New York Times.

Think all those job losses over the last five years were just caused by the recession? No: “Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market,” according to an AP report on how technology is killing middle-class jobs.

 

Technology and the employment challenge — from project-syndicate.org by Michael Spence

Excerpt:

MILAN – New technologies of various kinds, together with globalization, are powerfully affecting the range of employment options for individuals in advanced and developing countries alike – and at various levels of education. Technological innovations are not only reducing the number of routine jobs, but also causing changes in global supply chains and networks that result in the relocation of routine jobs – and, increasingly, non-routine jobs at multiple skill levels – in the tradable sector of many economies.

 

 

Man vs. robot — from macleans.ca by Peter Nowak

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industrial-robots

 

 

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Secondly, some reflections (from DSC)

I wonder…

  • What types of jobs are opening up now? (example here)
  • What types of jobs will be opening up soon? How about in 3-5 years from now?
  • Should these trends affect the way we educate and prepare our kids today? 
  • Should these trends affect the way we help employees grow/reinvent themselves?

Again, for me, the answer lies at least partly in helping people consistently obtain the knowledge that they need — i.e. to help them build, grow, and maintain their own learning ecosystems — throughout their lifetimes.  We need to help people dip their feet into the appropriate streams of content that are constantly flowing by.

Perhaps that’s one of the key new purposes that K-12, higher ed, and the corporate training departments out there will play in the future as they sift through the massive amounts of information coming at us to help individuals identify:
.

  • What are the most effective tools — and methods — that people can use to connect with others?
    (Then allow folks to pick what works best for them. Current examples: blogging/RSS feeds, Twitter, social bookmarking.)
    .
  • Who are some of the folks within each particular discipline/line of work that others (who want to learn about those disciplines) should know about?
    .
  • What trends are coming down the pike and how should we be preparing ourselves — and/or our organizations — for those changes?
    .

 

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Sebastian Thrun: Udacity announces for-credit course pilot with San Jose State University

On 01/19/2013, in accreditation, business side of he, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

SanJoseStatePlus-UdacityPartnership-Jan2013

 

Also see:

Excerpt:

Today Udacity is thrilled to announce a partnership with San Jose State University to pilot three courses — Entry-Level Mathematics, College Algebra, and Elementary Statistics — available online at an affordable tuition rate and for college credit. To my knowledge, this is the first time a MOOC has been offered for credit and purely online. Much credit for this partnership goes to Mo Qayoumi and Ellen Junn, president and provost of SJSU, and to the five fearless SJSU professors who have chosen to work with us at Udacity to explore this new medium. The offices of Governor Brown and CSU Chancellor White have also been critically important to this partnership for their leadership and expediency. Last but not least, I want to personally thank our great Udacians who, like everyone on this list, have worked endless hours to drive innovation.
Over the past year, MOOCs have received a lot of attention in the media and education circles mostly because so many students are taking advantage of the course for free. Predictions that MOOCs would fundamentally change higher education often revolved around the fact that the courses have unprecedented reach and affordability.

 

From DSC:
Given that such “Walmarts of Education” (i.e. solid learning at a greatly reduced prices) continue to develop, what’s our/your plans for responding to this trend? How are we/you going to compete?  What’s our/your vision and strategy?  By the way, you can look all you want to for data — but at the end of the day, it’s likely with this sort of thing that you won’t find all of the data that you require to make a decision. Examples:

  • When I began working for Kraft Foods in 1990 (brought in to roll out email to 66 plants at the time), I believed in the power of email when few others did. Email was viewed as “fluff” and it would never be used for solid business practices; management put the project on hold. But I kept working with email at Kraft — trying to get others to use it. If you looked for data back then, you wouldn’t find it. But by the time I left Kraft in 1997, thousands of people could communicate with thousands of other people throughout the world — within minutes.
    .
  • When Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone, what data would support the success of his invention?  I suppose you could have pulled some data on the usage of the telegraph, but even then, vision would have had to trump the data (the ancestor of Western Union rejected his invention, as they questioned why anyone would need/use a telephone when there was already the telegraph in usage).
    .
  • Such technological developments often are not so easy to back up with data; they require some vision, experimentation, and risk taking.

 

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The Perfect Storm in Higher Ed has been amassed; change is in the air. [Christian]

On 12/17/2012, in budgets, business side of he, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, economics, education reform, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, United States, by Daniel Christian

Combine the trends listed in this graphic:

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Trends-ReportFromDeptOfEdu-2012

— from The Economics of Higher Education, Dec 2012 (pg 2)

 

…with the next several graphics…

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Surging college costs price out middle class -- from CNNMoney.com on June 13, 2011

 

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The middle class falls further behind

 

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Daniel S. Christian: My concerns with just maintaining the status quo (from 2009).

From 5/21/09

 

 

…and you can see that the Perfect Storm in Higher Ed has been amassed.  Massive change is in the air. People will find a way to achieve their goals/objectives — one way or another. College is still a good call — but what “college” and “university life” will look like in 5 years will likely be very different from what they look like today.

There is no returning to the “good ol’ days” — things are not going back to the way they were 5-10 years ago.  It’s time for massive — but controlled/intentional — experimentation within higher ed, to find out how best to use the Internet in order to promote learning (and, hopefully, to still make a living!).

.

 

asdfsadf

 

 

 

Some examples that illustrate that change is in the air…and that the conversation continues to move outside traditional institutions of higher education (I mention these not to dog higher ed, but to get us to innovate, to reinvent ourselves, and to stay relevant!)

 

Big idea 2013: College becomes optional — from LinkedIn.com by Ben Smith

Jailbreaking the degree: The end of the 4 year diploma — from onlineuniversities.com by Justin Marquis

Excerpt:

What’s wrong with getting a college degree? According to the grassroots movement, “Jailbreaking the Degree,” being pushed by radical education startup Degreed.com, quite a bit. The organization has identified several fundamental flaws with the long standing college degree process. It aims to overcome them and dramatically change the nature of learning and credentialing in the process. In order to justify their initiative they present some dramatic numbers on their website…

Degreed wants to jailbreak the college degree — from techcrunch.com by Rip Empson

Saying no to college — NYT.com by Alex Williams

Do a Google search on uncollege.org and see what you get

The rise of college alternatives— from huffingtonpost.com by Dan Schawbel

educreations.com: Teach what you know. Learn what you don’t.

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Higher education’s perfect storm — viewed from other angles

On 12/13/2012, in budgets, business side of he, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, experimentation, game-changing environment, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, by Daniel Christian

Higher education and the fiscal threat -- from The Parthenon Group - November 2012

 

Addendum on 12/14/12:

  • Big construction costs, MOOC disruption mean ominous cocktail for higher ed — from educationdive.com by Davide Savenije
    Dive Summary:

    • After years of aggressive expansion efforts, higher education is facing the consequences — according to Moody’s, overall debt levels for rated institutions more than doubled from 2000 to 2011 while donations and investments shrank by more than 40% relative to the debt.
    • While debt has swiftly reached a tipping point for universities, they are not alone —  the total amount of student debt currently exceeds $1 trillion and nearly one in every six borrowers’ student loan balance is in default.
    • Experts and school officials are predicting an imminent reshaping of the field of higher education — Harvard’s annual fiscal report claims “the need for change is clear” as institutions face a decreased “ability to generate […] new resources”.
    • As prospective students become aware of the decreasing value of the higher ed degree, the sudden emergence of MOOCs are becoming an increasingly viable and economically-friendly alternative.

 

From DSC:
We had better step up the pace of innovating/experimenting – and move to do so quickly. But the problem is, moving quickly is not in the cultures of most of the more traditional institutions of higher education.

 

Also relevant:

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Dual transformation — a strategy for those of us working within higher ed to consider

On 12/13/2012, in business side of he, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, disruption, experimentation, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

Dual Transformation: Rebuild Your Core While You Reinvent Your Business Model By Clark Gilbert, Matthew Eyring and Richard N. Foster

 

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Innovation Imperative: The Future of Higher Education [Brookings]

On 11/28/2012, in 21st century, change, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, economics, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

 

 

Excerpt:

With the public’s continued focus on value and affordability, higher education finds itself at a critical juncture. Cost pressures and increased global demand for access have given rise to innovations that have unleashed new delivery models into the education marketplace. Such innovation is required if universities are to thrive, compete, and bring new relevance and meaning to the value of college in the 21st century.

Also see:

  • Americans believe higher education must innovate — from Northeastern News
  • President: Witt must adapt to survive — from springfieldnewssun.com by Tom Stafford
    Excerpt:
    Liberal arts colleges that ignore market realities “absolutely won’t exist in the next decade,” Wittenberg University President Laurie M. Joyner told Springfield Rotarians on Monday.  But the practical or applied liberal arts education that she predicts can sustain Wittenberg will encourage deeper connections with Springfield, she said while speaking at the Hollenbeck-Bayley Conference Center, because “our students learn better when dealing with real-world problems.” A shrinking pool of price-sensitive high school graduates has combined with a bad economy to produce “the equivalent of a perfect storm for some of us,” said Joyner, who succeeded Mark Erickson on July 1.
  • Surviving disruption — from hbr.og by Maxwell Wessel and Clayton M. Christensen
    Excerpt:
    …to meet disrupters with disruption of their own, but also to guide their legacy businesses toward as healthy a future as possible.
  • Sanjay Sarma appointed as MIT’s first director of digital learning — from MIT by Steve Bradt
    Mechanical engineering professor will shepherd efforts to integrate elements of online education into traditional MIT courses.

From DSC:
Experimentation. Innovation. Experimentation. Innovation. Fail. Fail. Succeed. Fail. Succeed. Fail. 

 

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The education giant adapts [Leber]

On 11/26/2012, in change, changing business models, content development, aggregation, repositories, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, digital textbooks, disruption, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, IT in HE, new business models, online learning, online media, publishing, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, using teams, by Daniel Christian

The education giant adapts — from MIT Technology Review by Jessica Leber
Pearson is the world’s largest book publisher. Now it wants to be a one-stop shop for digital education.

Excerpt:

Pearson pulled this off with a decade-long string of acquisitions that helped it shift its emphasis from selling books to selling education services. The London-based company styles itself as the “world’s leading learning company,” even if that learning isn’t delivered through traditional books. These days, Pearson is more like an IT department for classrooms and schools. It sells technology infrastructure, software, and consulting services to schools—services that in turn help deliver the vast stock of textbook content Pearson owns. The company says its revenue from online content and services will surpass those of the traditional publishing business this year.

From DSC:
I congratulate Pearson on reinventing itself.  The words of Steve Jobs ring in my mind…something about cannibalizing one’s business before someone else does it for you.  Several other words and phrases come to my mind after seeing the above article — that regular readers of this blog and my archived website will instantly recognize:

  • Dangers of the status quo
  • Staying relevant
  • Survival
  • Disruption/change
  • New business models
  • Game-changing environment
  • Using teams of specialists

Also relevant here/see:

 

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The need for “Centers of Innovation” within each institution of higher education [Christian]

On 11/19/2012, in change, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, organizational change, reinvent, social learning / networks, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Mr. Rob Bobeldyk and I were brainstorming last week about the need to create A Center for Innovation — a smaller organization within our overall organization — that can be far more nimble and responsive.  Such a Center could be:

  • Constantly pulse-checking the relevant landscapes (technological, pedagogical, business models, other)
  • Researching potential approaches
  • Experimenting
  • Innovating
  • Failing
  • Succeeding some of the time — and handing off/transitioning the projects that gain traction to others in the larger organization (which may require building some new groups and/or departments at that point)

As I discovered HBR’s interview with John Kotter today, I felt our idea/direction/brainstorming is heading in the right direction!

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A revolutionary approach to strategic change -- John Kotter -- November 2012

 

That is, we are trying to keep the plane in flight while making some significant changes. Put another way, we are trying to keep the bread and butter in tact while experimenting with new business models and/or new products and services.

Kotter’s “Dual Operating System” affirms that a new/smaller/more nimble organization is appropriate.  Here are some graphics of Kotter’s “dual operating system”:

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 .

 

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The work of Christensen, Horn, and Johnson is highly-relevant here as well:

  • Disrupting Class
  • Disrupting College
  • The Innovator’s Dilemna


 

Addendums on 11/20/12:

.

 

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The power and potential of mobile learning [Christian]

On 10/15/2012, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, distance education, e-books, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, flipping -- inverted learning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), using teams, videoconferencing, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

The power and possibility of mobile learning — as cross posted from evoLLLution.com (for LifeLong Learning)
Daniel S. Christian | October 2012

As I sat down to write about mobile learning, I struggled with narrowing down the scope of what I was going to attempt to address.  Which angle(s) should I take?

And then I reflected on my morning so far. I helped my daughter wake up to the sounds of a song coming from my iPhone.  She opened one eye, then the other, and soon, she was dancing around the room.  Success!

I then proceeded to listen to my iPhone as I drove my car into work – it gave me the energy I needed to start my internal engines.  (By the way, the idea of automobile-based technologies continues to grow, opening up further possibilities; but that’s a topic for another day.)

Then I caught up with a friend for coffee and he reached for his iPad.  He showed me an app for the local Art Prize competition that’s currently going on in our area.  He mentioned that if a person wasn’t in the immediately vicinity of the Art Prize event, that person could not vote on any of the pieces.  However, if the GPS-based coordinates were within the approved range, a person could use that app to:

  • Vote on which pieces of artwork that they liked
  • Find out where the artwork was located (at numerous locations on a map)
  • Learn more about the pieces themselves – what the pieces were made of, hear the artists’ thoughts on why they created what they created, etc.

So by the time I pulled up to my PC at 9:00am, I had already been positively impacted by mobile technology in several ways.  The common words and phrases that are often used to describe mobile learning and mobile technologies rang true and popped back into my mind: ubiquitous, always on, always connected, 24x7x365, convenient, etc.

As I enjoy peering into the future as well as pulse checking a variety of items, I would like to ask the following questions concerning the potential power and possibility of mobile learning as well as the relevant, emerging set of technologies that enable it:

  • Q:  What happens when the technologies behind IBM’s Watson and Apple’s Siri get perfected and integrated into learning-based products and services? What types of devices will be able to tap into those products and services?
    A:  IBM’s Watson beat the best human players in a game of Jeopardy and is now being used as a data analytics engine for the medical community, wading through terabytes of patient healthcare information and research data in order to determine how best to treat illnesses.  So, such technologies hold some serious promise in terms of at least addressing the lower to mid-levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. For 2012, tablets, smart phones, laptops, notebooks would be likely candidates of accessing these types of products/services. But we are just at the embryonic stages of the Smart/Connected TV, and I have it that such a device will become an important and commonly-used mechanism for accessing such cloud-based applications and services in the future.
    .
  • Q: Will students of all ages have access to their own virtual tutors so to speak? From any device at any time?
    A: Yes; this is highly likely, especially given the current (and increasing) levels of investments being made in educational technology related areas.  It’s very feasible to think that Apple, IBM, Google, Microsoft, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, or some other organization with deep pockets will develop such virtual tutoring products and services.
    .
  • Q:  What will happen when a virtual tutor is unable to resolve or address the student’s issue to the student’s satisfaction?  Will the student be able to instantly access a human tutor – with the option of keeping the existing work/issue/problem visible to the human tutor?
    A:  Yes, again…highly likely. This will open up new opportunities for faculty members, teachers, instructors, trainers, and tutors.  Getting experience in teaching online is a solid career move at this point in history.  (Also relevant will be those people creating applications and technically supporting them. An understanding of web-based videoconferencing and collaboration tools will be helpful here.)
    .
  • Q:  How will the convergence of the television, the computer, and the telephone impact what can be done with learning-based applications and experiences?
    A:  We are just beginning to see the ecosystems changing and adapting to deal with the convergence of the television, the computer, and the telephone.  The Smart/Connected TV – along with “second screen” based applications – is being driven by innovations involving the entertainment, marketing, and advertising industries.  But it’s not a stretch to think that educationally-related content will be right behind such innovative solutions.
    .
  • Q:  How will the multiple screens phenomenon affect how content can be consumed and discussed?
    A:   I created a couple of graphics along these lines that attempt to capture a potential vision here. I call it “Learning from the Living [Class] Room,” and it continues to develop in front of our eyes. We could be watching a “lecture” on a big screen and simultaneously interacting with people throughout the world on our smaller screens.

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

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Learning from the living room -- a component of our future learning ecosystems -- by Daniel S. Christian, June 2012

  • Q:  How will mobile conferencing affect what can be achieved?
    A:  Mobile-based conferencing will provide 24x7x365 opportunities for learning – and communications – to occur.  Such technologies have applications even in more traditional face-to-face classroom settings.  For a few possibilities here, see how mobile technologies are used in this vision by Intel  as well as in this vision by Corning.

 

Great vision from Intel!

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Great vision from Corning!

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  • Q:  What sort of creative doors are opened when a story can be told across a variety of “channels” and means?  And what sorts of skill sets do we need to start building – or continue to build – in order to help students find work in these emerging fields?
    A:  Create a Google Alert on transmedia and/or transmedia-based storytelling and you will get a sense of what’s happening in this arena.  There will be huge opportunity for creative, innovative folks out there!  Being versed in new media would be a solid idea if one hopes to pursue careers in these burgeoning fields. That is, building at least a rudimentary skill set of how to creatively use text, graphics, animations, digital audio, digital video, and interactive programming to deliver and obtain information would be very beneficial here.
    .
  • Q:  What types of analytics will be tracked and fed into one’s cloud-based learner profile?
    A:  It will depend upon where we want such technologies to take us.  However, think about the applications and implications of this approach if a web-based profile were used to:

    • Feed a workplace-based exchange – matching buyers and sellers of services
    • Inform a learning agent on which topics/disciplines that person wants to learn more about – helping that person obtain a highly-personalized, customized, relevant, engaging, productive learning experience with a solid ROI
    • Inform a cloud-based app on what prior knowledge one has and where to begin the “next lesson”
      .
  • Q:  Will courses become apps?  Will what we know of TV programs become apps and, if so, how will that affect what each of us can contribute to our own communities of practice?
    A:  Just as the web has enabled individuals to deliver their own podcasts, information, etc. – essentially becoming their own radio stations to a degree – the ecosystems being built up around the Smart/Connected TVs could help each of us become our own TV station. The potential is huge in terms of further developing and sharing knowledge within communities of practice.
    .
  • Q:  Will educational gaming dove-tail nicely with mobile learning and emerging technologies such as augmented reality, 3D, and connected television?
    Yes, the synergies and foundational pieces are already coming into place.
    .
  • Q:  How will the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) situation affect what can occur in the face-to-face classroom?
    A:  Students will be able to seamlessly and efficiently contribute content to the discussions in a face-to-face classroom without breaking the flow of the classroom.  An example graphic can be found here.

 

A piece of the Next Generation Smart Classroom -- Daniel Christian -- June 2012

 

The topics and potential routes that additional articles could take are almost endless.  But I think it’s safe to say that mobile, lifelong learning is here to stay.

Listed below are some recent articles and resources if you are interested in pursuing the topic of mobile learning.  I also have a section on my Learning Ecosystems blog dedicated to mobile learning.

If you are interested in what I’m calling Learning from the Living [Class] Room, you might be interested in these postings.

 

Some recent articles/resources regarding mobile learning:

 

Addendum:

 

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9/30/12 NPR piece re: online learning

On 10/01/2012, in business side of he, change, changing business models, computer science, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, innovation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

Online Education Grows Up, And For Now, It's Free -- from NPR.org

 

 

From DSC:
Sending a special thanks out to Dr. Kate Byerwalter,
Professor at Grand Rapids Community College for this resource!

 

Also see:

 

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The dropout crisis can be likened to the oil spill of 2010, but this time, what’s being lost is far more valuable.

On 09/14/2012, in business, career development, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, education reform, future, hearts -- matters of the heart, K-12 related, student-related, surviving, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The dropout crisis can be likened to the oil spill of 2010, but this time, what's being lost is far more valuable.

Graphics combined from:

 

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California needs a new master plan [Reed]

On 09/12/2012, in change, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, United States, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Charles B. Reed, chancellor for the last 14 years of the 23-campus California State University,
the nation’s largest university system, is retiring at the end of the year.

Excerpt:

California’s public higher education system, once the envy of the world, is struggling. To survive in a way that continues to fulfill its mission, we need to break the mold on how it operates.

State budget cuts have stripped our universities to the bone. And the promise of nearly free, accessible higher education has all but disappeared as cuts have forced tuition increases. What was once a rite of passage for all qualified young people is increasingly becoming untenable for many prospective students.

Some lucky people may have the option to simply choose another university, perhaps a private institution. But many more students, particularly those from low-income and traditionally underserved backgrounds, may have no choice but to forgo a university degree. This situation has caused those of us who have spent our careers advocating for accessible public higher education to ask: Is this the direction our state — and sooner or later our country — should be taking?

 

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Do you sense a bit of the build-up/angst against Higher Ed in this article from TIME?

On 07/16/2012, in dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, leadership, learning ecosystem, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

The glorious end of higher education’s monopoly on credibility — from business.time.com by  Michael Ellsberg
In the past, the only way to get professional credibility was with a college degree.  Now young people are using many different tools to gain a foothold in the business world.

From DSC:
Do you sense a bit of the build-up/angst against higher education in this article from TIME? If you’ve been reading much about higher ed these days, this type of perspective is increasingly being voiced.

As such, those of us working in higher education — especially those in leadership positions — need to work much harder at reinventing ourselves.  At least part of the solution involves significantly lowering the price of higher education to make it much more accessible, but still maintaining the quality of our programs. Online learning will play a large part in the solution; I realize that it can be expensive to create high-quality materials, but it doesn’t come with nearly as much overhead.

Higher ed institutions are starting to find themselves in the “Have you driven a Ford lately?” mode.  If the public’s perspective continues to move down this trajectory/path, it will be an uphill battle to regain the public’s trust and respect. Relevancy will become a much harder battle to win at that point.

 

Other examples of the changing conversation and where it’s being held:
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