professional wordpress themes

Degreed.com — from David Blake, David Wiley, and Co.

On 07/17/2012, in dangers of the status quo, game-changing environment, new business models, open courseware and systems, by Daniel Christian

http://degreed.com/about/what_is_degreed

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • •  

Hhhhhmmmmmm…reflections on “Apple’s revolutionary move into robotic manufacturing”

On 07/03/2012, in Apple, Asia, career development, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, engineering, robotics, STEAM-related, student-related, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Apple’s revolutionary move into robotic manufacturing — from seekingalpha.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Apple (AAPL) is about to become one of the world’s biggest buyers of industrial robots. The company has announced a 78% increase in its non-retail capital expenditure to $7.1bn. Analysts in Asia and America believe that the size of Apple’s robot purchases could tie up the market for several years, making it difficult for companies such as Samsung (SSNLF.PK), Nokia (NOK) and HTC (HTCXF.PK) to compete.

Up to 700,000 people are employed in China, making products like the iPhone and iPad for Apple. It takes 141 steps to make an iPhone and each iPad will, over the course of the 5 days that it takes to build it, pass through 325 pairs of hands. Although labor only represents about 3% of the cost of building these products for Apple, the wages of Chinese factory workers have been rising at about 15% a year for much of the last decade. Problems managing this workforce have also harmed Apple’s image in a region that has become the most important engine of its growth.

Apple’s move represents an important step in the use of robots in manufacturing. Robots have long been used to build cars, but not so widely used in consumer electronics because these products are more difficult to make.

From DSC:
Some questions that come to my mind:

  • What happens to jobs in this new environment?
  • What needs to happen to people in this new workplace/environment?
  • How do we educate and train students to enter this ever-changing workplace?
  • How can we make STEM-related subjects more approachable and less “weeder” like?

 

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • •  

Calvin College: An online education report card [Anderson]

On 07/02/2012, in dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, global / globalization, Michigan, online learning, reinvent, strategy, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I’m a member of the team working at Calvin College to get online learning implemented for the College.  I’m grateful for — and proud of — our team and what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far.  (BTW, I use the word pride knowingly but carefully.)   My hope/dream/vision is that people from all over the world will be able to get a solid, Christian-based education at a significantly-reduced price!

 

Calvin Online -- Students and faculty appraise the online classes offered through Calvin's 2012 pilot program.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • •  

A great video that foreshadows the sorts of functionalities “TV’s” and second screen-based experiences will bring to us in the future

On 06/28/2012, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, convergence, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, educational games / serious games, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), interactivity, internet, online learning, personalized/customized learning, second screen apps, transmedia, trends, by Daniel Christian

 

 

Videos from Qualcomm Uplinq 2012 show the future of Smart TV
— from hexus.net by Mark Tyson

Excerpt:
Here are the feature highlights of these “redefined” Smart TVs:

  • Console quality gaming
  • Concurrency of apps
  • Miracast wireless technology allowing smartphone and tablet screens to partake in multi-screen interactivity
  • Personalisation and facial recognition
  • Gestures
  • HD picture quality
  • HD video calling

 

From DSC:
…and add to that list the power of customized learning and analytics!

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

University of Virginia — “…a few early raindrops and gusts of wind before the real storm hits.”

On 06/27/2012, in change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, elearning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, internet, leadership, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
My cousin helps Fortune 500 companies innovate and deal with change management-related issues.  Something he once said is rather haunting to me now…

“Often when organizations start feeling the pain, it’s too late at that point.” (Think Blockbuster, Kodak, Borders, and many others.)

So that has been the question I’ve been pondering these last couple of years — are we already too late to the game?

 

Public universities see familiar fight at Virginia — from the NYT by Tamar Lewin on 6/25/12

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The tumult at the University of Virginia …reflects a low-grade panic now spreading through much of public higher education.

…

But the 10-point outline she offered — listing state and federal financing challenges, the changing role of technology, a rapidly changing health care environment, prioritization of scarce resources, faculty workload and the quality of the student experience, faculty compensation, research financing and the like — was almost generic, and would have applied to nearly every public university in the nation.

Rebuilding Mr. Jefferson’s University — from insidehighered.com by Kevin Kiley

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In a statement before the vote, Dragas said the events of the past two weeks have actually unified the campus around a series of questions it needs to address. “Prior to these events, there seemed to be a roadblock between the board’s sense of urgency around our future in a number of critical areas, and the administration’s response to that urgency,” she said. “Also, many of our concerns about the direction of the university remained unknown to all but a few. This situation has now keenly focused the attention of the entire university community on the reality and urgency of the specific challenges facing the university  – most of which, once again, are not unique to U.Va. – but whose structural and long-term nature do require a deliberate and strategic approach.”

University of Virginia: Only the Beginning — from The American Interest by Walter Russell Mead

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

What we see at UVA this month is just a foretaste of the storm that is coming — a few early raindrops and gusts of wind before the real storm hits. The country needs more education than the current system can affordably supply, and the pressure on the educational system will not abate until this problem is resolved.

Fixing college — from the NYT by Jeff Selingo, editorial director at The Chronicle of Higher Education, who is writing a book on the future of higher education

Excerpt:

Other information industries, from journalism to music to book publishing, enjoyed similar periods of success right before epic change enveloped them, seemingly overnight.We now know how those industries have been transformed by technology, resulting in the decline of the middleman — newspapers, record stores, bookstores and publishers.

Colleges and universities could be next, unless they act to mitigate the poor choices and inaction from the lost decade by looking for ways to lower costs, embrace technology and improve education.

 

Ousted Head of University Is Reinstated in Virginia — from the NYT by Richard Perz-Pena

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Facing a torrent of criticism, the University of Virginia trustees made a stunning turnabout on Tuesday, voting unanimously to reinstate the president they had forced to resign over concerns that the university was not adapting fast enough to financial and technological pressures.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Plasma First: Apple TV, SmartGlass and the New World of Multi-Screen Cloud Content [Kosner]

On 06/18/2012, in A/V -- audio/visual, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, smart/connected TV, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, web design and production, by Daniel Christian

Plasma First: Apple TV, SmartGlass and the New World of Multi-Screen Cloud Content –– from forbes.com by Anthony Wing Kosner

Excerpt:

The future for web developers is big. 50 inch plasma screen big. After an intensive cycle of trying to figure out how to take desktop websites and make them look and work great on mobile devices (often by starting from scratch) the pendulum is swinging to the other end of the multi-screen spectrum—the family TV, the conference room monitor, the classroom SmartBoard.

Also see:

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

The future of higher education and other imponderables [Siemens]

On 06/18/2012, in business side of he, Canada, change, dangers of the status quo, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, leadership, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

The future of higher education and other imponderables — from elearnspace.org by George Siemens

Excerpt:

Educators are not driving the change bus. Leadership in traditional universities has been grossly negligent in preparing the academy for the economic and technological reality it now faces. This failure is apparent in interactions I’ve had with several universities over the past several months. Universities have not been paying attention. As a result, they have not developed systemic capacity to function in a digital networked age. In order to try and ramp up capacity today, they have to acquire the skills that they failed to develop over the last decade by purchasing services from vendors. Digital content, testing, teaching resources, teaching/learning software, etc. are now being purchased to try and address the capacity shortage. Enormous amounts of organizational resources are now flowing outside of education in order to fill gaps due to poor leadership. Good for the startups that were smart enough to anticipate the skill and capacity shortage in higher education. Bad for the university, faculty, and support staff.

I have delivered two presentations recently on the scope of change in higher education, one in Peru at Universidad de San Martin Porres and the other at the CANHEIT conference. Slides from CANHEIT are below…

.

Addendum on 6/20/12:

Addendum on 6/21/12:

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

The Higher Education Bubble [Reynolds]

On 06/11/2012, in cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, United States, by Daniel Christian

The Higher Education Bubble

Book Description
Publication Date: June 26, 2012

America is facing a higher education bubble. Like the housing bubble, it is the product of cheap credit coupled with popular expectations of ever-increasing returns on investment, and as with housing prices, the cheap credit has caused college tuitions to vastly outpace inflation and family incomes. Now this bubble is bursting.

In this Broadside, Glenn Harlan Reynolds explains the causes and effects of this bubble and the steps colleges and universities must take to ensure their survival. Many graduates are unable to secure employment sufficient to pay off their loans, which are usually not dischargeable in bankruptcy. As students become less willing to incur debt for education, colleges and universities will have to adapt to a new world of cost pressures and declining public support.

About the Author
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is the Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee. He writes for such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, Forbes, Popular Mechanics, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Examiner. He blogs at InstaPundit.com.

Also see:

.

From DSC:
Note many of the relevant categories and tags I put this under — items I’ve been covering for years:

  • Walmart of Education
  • Cost of obtaining a degree
  • Reinventing oneself
  • Dangers of the status quo
  • Game-changing environment
  • Future of higher education
  • Leadership
  • Strategy
  • Staying relevant
  • Disruption
  • Surviving

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • •  

How would you like a graduate degree for $100 [Anders]

On 06/07/2012, in dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, by Daniel Christian

How would you like a graduate degree for $100 — from forbes.com by George Anders
Sebastian Thrun wants to fix what’s broken with higher ed. How about a master’s degree for $100?

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • •  

Changing the economics of education [Hennessy & Khan at 2012 All Things Digital Conference]

On 06/04/2012, in budgets, business side of he, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, elearning, flipping -- inverted learning, future of higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, by Daniel Christian

Changing the Economics of Education -- John Hennessy and Salman Khan at 2012 All Things Digitall

 

Excerpt:

Is there anything to be done about the rising price of higher education? That was the question posed to John Hennessy, president of Stanford University, and Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, a nonprofit online-learning organization. They sat down with The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg to discuss how technology might be part of the solution.

Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.

 

Addendum on 6/7/12:

  • D10: Stanford, Khan Academy, and the future of higher ed — from techhive.com by Jason Snell
    Excerpt:
    Though the crushing cost of college education wasn’t a major topic of Khan and Hennessy’s conversation with D10 co-host Walt Mossberg, it’s certainly a major cause of anxiety for parents. But most of the time, the conversation dwelled on the simple issue that technology is going to radically transform education—and right now everyone’s trying to figure out how to manage that change. “There’s a tsunami coming,” Hennessy said. “I don’t know how it’s going to break, but my goal is to try to surf it, not just stand there.” At its simplest form, technology needs to find ways to make education more efficient. That means serving more students, but also teaching them more effectively.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

7 things colleges worry about [O’Shaughnessy] and associated whitepaper from Lawlor

On 06/02/2012, in budgets, colleges, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, game-changing environment, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

7 things colleges worry about –– from CBSNews.com by Lynn O’Shaughnessy

Excerpts from “What’s worrying college administrators?”

  1. After peaking in 2008, the number of high school students has been declining slowly.
  2. While high school grads in the West and South have remained mostly stable, the number of teenagers has declined significantly in the East and Midwest.
  3. Between 2000 and 2010, the real median income for families dropped nearly 11 percent.
  4. High unemployment remains persistent.
  5. Many families owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
  6. With flat and falling income and high unemployment, many American families are poorer now than they were five years ago.
  7. Looking further into the future, the financial reality for younger families (ages 25 to 34), who will eventually be sending their children to college, is grim.

Also see the below items from Lawlor.com

From DSC:
Just looking at the title one of the above items — “When Market Conditions and Public Perception Collide: A Looming Crisis for Higher Education” (by Amy Foster) — those of us working within higher education don’t want to be in the “Have you driven a Ford lately?” mode. That is, once we lose the public’s confidence and trust in our products and/or services, it will be very hard to get those things back. Not impossible, but difficult.

Two additional thoughts here:

  • Reputation, like china, is easily cracked and hard to mend.
  • There is tremendous and lasting power in the ideas and perceptions that reside within people’s thoughts. Once an idea catches hold, it’s hard to stop.

 

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • •  

Reflections on “A generation hobbled by the soaring cost of college” [Martin & Lehren]

On 05/14/2012, in cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

A generation hobbled by the soaring cost of college

My thanks to Academic Impressions who sent out the above item and the interactive graphic below.

 

From DSC:
I am not posting these to put down liberal arts colleges/universities/programs.  In fact, I went through a liberal arts program in college and I’m currently working at a liberal arts college.  Rather, I’m posting them to say, “Houston, we have a problem.”  And to then prompt us all to ask, “What are we going to do about it?” 

Which reminds me again of a graphic I created a while back:

.

 

Daniel S. Christian: My concerns with just maintaining the status quo

 

 

Addendum on 5/15/12:

 

Andrew Spear for The New York Times

E. Gordon Gee, the president of The Ohio State University, says that public colleges and universities need to devise a new business model to pay for the costs of education, beyond sticking students with higher tuition and greater debt.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a wood-paneled office lined with books, sports memorabilia and framed posters (including John Belushi in “Animal House”), E. Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University, keeps a framed quotation that reads, “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • •  

“Stay tuned: The future of TV” <-- with educationally-related apps on deck

On 05/07/2012, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, multimedia, online learning, online media, smart/connected TV, technologies for your home, television, transmedia, trends, by Daniel Christian

The Future of TV - special from CNBC which airs tonight - May 7, 2012

.

Also see:

and…

 

Addendums on 5/8/12:

Double vision: TV gets interactive — from thetowntalk.com by Fraizer Moore

Piers Fawkes: The future of TV — from psfk.com by Piers Fawkes

A solid Q&A with such questions as:

  • The old hierarchical vertical order of: channel – series – episode, seems to be in danger, letting the horizontal disorder take its place. What do you think broadcasters can do to serve people during this shift?
  • The TV channel is being challenged, first by VOD and now by internet based services. How do you think the TV channels’ role will evolve in the next 5 years? Will the traditional push-based model maintain its centrality or will users be looking for search-only and pull-based alternatives?
  • A new form of TV means new revenue models. Who do you think will finance the next successful TV show in 10 years and how? Will the new channels’ role generate new business models? How you imagine them?
  • To protect our brain from information overload we need to filter and recommendations are a form of filtering. How do you think people’s recommendations will shape the future role of TV channels in the next years to come?
  • Artificial Intelligence, Smart Agents and algorithms are directing us into a world of Adaptive User Interfaces capable of recognizing different users and provide them with an anticipated, personalized experience. How do you think the future TV will shape around people’s habits and tastes?
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

The Campus Tsunami [Brooks]

On 05/04/2012, in 21st century, change, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, staying relevant, surviving, by Daniel Christian

The Campus Tsunami — from The New York Times by David Brooks

Excerpts:

But, over the past few months, something has changed.The elite, pace-setting universities have embraced the Internet. Not long ago, online courses were interesting experiments. Now online activity is at the core of how these schools envision their futures.

…

What happened to the newspaper and magazine business is about to happen to higher education: a rescrambling around the Web.

From DSC:
What David Brooks said in this last bolded sentence (above) is what I have been saying, but in a slightly different way:

Other industries have been up to bat, and the Internet was pitching.  Higher education used to be on deck. But now, higher education is at bat.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

The “Innovator’s Dilemna” strikes again; another solid example of the need to reinvent one’s organization.

On 05/02/2012, in business, change, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, higher education, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, by Daniel Christian

Sayonara Sony: How industrial, MBA-style leadership killed a once great company — from forbes.com by Adam Hartung

Excerpt:

Who can forget what a great company Sony was, and the enormous impact it had on our lives?  With its heritage, it is hard to believe that Sony hasn’t made a profit in 4 consecutive years, just recently announced it will double its expected loss for this year to $6.4 billion, has only 15% of its capital left as equity (debt/equity ration of 5.67x) and is only worth 1/4 of its value 10 years ago!

 

From DSC:
Blockbuster, Kodak, and now Sony — and I’m sure there are countless others who have moved in and out of prosperous times — but those three come instantly to my mind as more recent examples of The Innovator’s Dilemna — which strikes again!

It reminds me of a Steve Jobs’ quote (and I’ll use the item found at Yastrow.com)

One of Jobs’ business rules was to never be afraid of cannibalizing yourself. “If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will,” he said. So even though an iPhone might cannibalize the sales of an iPod, or an iPad might cannibalize the sales of a laptop, that did not deter him.

 

Addendum (with emphasis from DSC):
Another thought comes from Guy Kawasaki’s talk at TEDxHarkerSchool entitled, “The 12 Lessons I Learned from Steve Jobs”

  • You need to jump to the next curve — don’t duke it out w/ others on the current curve (DSC: Like from the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull...don’t fight it out on the beach with the other seagulls. Instead, learn how to fly. <– that’s been my prayer, LORD teach me how to fly.)
  • Customers cannot tell you what they need  — they can only describe things in terms of what they already have; bigger, faster, cheaper, status quo
  • Challenging your mind is a sign of intelligence  (DSC: Reinvent, staying relevant, be able to completely reverse a viewpoint, cannibalizing own business)
  • “Experts” are clueless
  • The biggest challenges beget the best work
  • Design counts
  • Use big graphics and big fonts
  • Value does not equal price

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • •  
Previous Entries Next Entries
© 2024 | Daniel Christian