Looks like a very interesting set of tools/technologies out at livefyre.com — a piece of which is subtitled, the “Web’s first Engagement Management System.”
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Addendum on 12/14/12:
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:
From DSC:
Some reflections on New platform lets professors set prices for their online courses — from InsideHigherEd.com by Jeffrey R. Young
Excerpt:
Professors typically don’t worry about what price point a course will sell at, or what amenities might attract a student to pick one course over another. But a new online platform, Professor Direct, lets instructors determine not only how much to charge for such courses, but also how much time they want to devote to services like office hours, online tutorials, and responding to students’ e-mails.
The new service is run by StraighterLine, a company that offers online, self-paced introductory courses. Unlike massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, StraighterLine’s courses aren’t free. But tuition is lower than what traditional colleges typically charge—the company calls its pricing “ultra-affordable.” A handful of colleges accept StraighterLine courses for transfer credit.
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From DSC:
The power of online-based marketplaces. We’ve seen it in other industries. Are we now going to see more of this within higher education as the unbundling of higher education seems to be a possibility? Will there be an increased importance of professors’ individual brands? Could be.
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From DSC:
Congrats Burck & Co. on your continued innovative thinking and business models! Way to help keep a college education accessible to many!
“Mom! Check out what I did at school today!”
If you’re a parent, don’t you love to hear the excitement in your son’s or daughter’s voice when they bring home something from school that really peaked their interest? Their passions?
I woke up last night with several ideas and thoughts on how technology could help students become — and stay — engaged, while passing over more control and choice to the students in order for them to pursue their own interests and passions. The idea would enable students to efficiently gain some exposure to a variety of things to see if those things were interesting to them — perhaps opening a way for a future internship or, eventually, a career.
The device I pictured in my mind was the sort of device that I saw a while back out at Double Robotics and/or at Suitable Technologies:
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The thoughts centered on implementing a growing network of such remote-controlled, mobile, videoconferencing-based sorts of devices, that were hooked up to voice translation engines. Students could control such devices to pursue things that they wanted to know more about, such as:
For accountability — as well as for setting aside intentional time to process the information — students would update their own blogs about what they experienced, heard, and saw. They would need to include at least one image, along with the text they write about their experience. Or perhaps a brief/edited piece of digital video or audio of some of the statements that they heard that really resonated with them, or that they had further questions on. The default setting on such postings would be to be kept private, but if the teacher and the student felt that a posting could/should be made public, a quick setting could be checked to publish it out there for others to see/experience.
Real world. Engaging. Passing over more choice and control to the students so that they can pursue what they are passionate about.
Citing IT skills shortage, IBM wants to expand presence at universities — from wiredacademic.com
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
“We want to be the scale up partner of choice for these universities,” said Jim Sporher, head of IBM’s university programs. “We want to make sure they have access to technology and understand our strategy.” He also sees massive open online courses (MOOCs) as a mega-trend and will be considering ways for IBM to be part of the MOOC trend in the future, particularly as many of the MOOC providers such as Udacity and Coursera offer classes in computer science.
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As a big blue-chip progenitor of the tech industry, IBM is worth listening to in many regards. For one, corporate computing trends often filter down into the education space. The corporate world often has the money to purchase and deploy game-changing technologies. IBM sees that it also works the other way too, where computing at the university level creates new businesses and ideas that move up into the corporate realm.
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From DSC:
I wonder…will the corporations develop their own MOOCs? Their own digital “playlists” and associated exams? (i.e. that someone needs to go through and pass in order to work for them…show me what you can do.) Hmmm…
Also see:
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Also see:
From DSC:
The educational “store” part of this graphic could take several forms:
Excerpts from John Katzman’s Keynote:
Higher ed is made up of a series of smaller markets — niches [From DSC: What’s your niche?]
Might have 2-3 high quality programs; and many smaller programs with lower production levels.
Fewer players of larger size
Consolidation is going to occur w/in higher ed. Besides consolidation, there will be collaboration/pooling of resources, and/or the hollowing out within higher ed.
From DSC:
Not that this is new…but looking at the above image, I wonder if more 100% online-based courses and schools will adopt this sort of “space”/interface as a sort of entryway into their institution’s materials.
From DSC:
Starting immediately, all traditional and non-traditional institutions of education should develop this type of program — and more — and integrate such programs into their offerings/curriculum. The targets are simply moving too fast. As such, students need to know how to constantly pulse check a variety of landscapes, develop scenarios/strategies, and then execute on those strategies. Given the pace of change, don’t expect to bat a thousand.
Reminds me of this graphic I created back in 2009:
To further support this perspective, check out the #1 item from Educause’s Learning Initiative (ELI) below:
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From DSC:
I’ve been trying to figure out the best ways to incorporate a BYOD/BYOT into the Smart Classroom. That is, how can students’ devices seamlessly communicate with the main displays around the classroom? How can they quickly display a blog posting or a Google doc for example…or play a song they wrote, etc. So I was excited to wake up this morning with the following concept/idea:
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Other features/thoughts:
So…what if the 4 screen’s on Julong’s Ultra-IPBOARD were coming from 4 different sources? Perhaps:
Also see:
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From DSC, some examples:
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:
From DSC:
Experimentation. Innovation. Experimentation. Innovation. Fail. Fail. Succeed. Fail. Succeed. Fail.
Connected learning: The Power Of Social Learning Models — from teachthought.com
Excerpt:
Connected Learning “is an answer to three key shifts as society evolves from the industrial age of the 20th century and its one-size-fits-all factory approach to educating youth to a 21st century networked society.”
1) A shift from education to learning. Education is what institutions do, learning is what people do. Digital media enable learning anywhere, anytime; formal learning must also be mobile and just-in-time.
2) A shift from consumption of information to participatory learning. Learning happens best when it is rich in social connections, especially when it is peer-based and organized around learners’ interests, enabling them to create as well as consume information.
3) A shift from institutions to networks. In the digital age, the fundamental operating and delivery systems are networks, not institutions such as schools, which are one node of many on a young person’s network of learning opportunities. People learn across institutions, so an entire learning network must be supported.
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From DSC:
This reminds me of the animated video that I recently ran across at remixteaching.com entitled, “I, Pencil”:
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If that’s what’s involved with creating a pencil, what does the family tree look like for creating the Internet?!
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:
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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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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The work of Christensen, Horn, and Johnson is highly-relevant here as well:
Addendums on 11/20/12:
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