On 03/14/2012,
in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, disruption, education, education reform, education technology, entrepreneurship,
by Daniel Christian
On 03/05/2012,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, convergence, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, innovation, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, online learning,
by Daniel Christian
On 02/22/2012,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, analytics, career development, disruption, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, innovation, K-12 related, leadership, online learning, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Blackboard launches solution to improve developmental education
Fully online courses now include built-in assessment, analytics tools
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON – February 22, 2012 – Blackboard Inc. today announced the official launch of Blackboard Developmental Education™ (Blackboard DevEd), an innovative approach aimed at improving student outcomes and increasing completion rates in an area where many institutions have struggled. The solution, which was first piloted by several institutions in the fall, now includes built-in assessment and analytics tools that enable course instructors to further personalize their instruction.
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Early reflections from DSC:
- First of all, my congratulations go out to Blackboard for innovating! Nice work.
- This is another example of the innovation occurring in the online/digital learning world — yet more tools and diagnostic powers are being made available to online-based teaching and learning environments
- This should be another shot across the bow of how institutions of higher education are training our future teachers — student teachers NEED to know how to teach online!!!
- Too early to tell how such endeavors will affect career paths (for teachers, administrators, counselors, nurses, and such)
Also see:
- Innosight’s Michael Horn on how ‘blended learning’ and technology can bridge the education gap — from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
On 02/14/2012,
in dangers of the status quo, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment,
by Daniel Christian
TEDxAshokaU — Arizona State University on February 10, 2012
…the TEDxAshokaU event featured leaders speaking on the topic of “Disruptive Innovation in Higher Education”.
Speakers
- Barbara Bush, President & Founder, Global Health Corps
- Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
- Desh Deshpande, Co-Founder & Chairman, Sycamore Networks
- Anne Dwane, CEO, Zinch
- Liz Dwyer, Education Editor, GOOD Magazine
- Abby Falik, Founder & CEO, Global Citizen Year
- Dale Stephens, UnCollege
- Christer Windeløv Lidzélius, CEO & Principal, KaosPilots
- Greg Van Kirk (MC), Co-Founder, The New Development Solutions Group
- George Glickley (MC), Co-Founder, The New Development Solutions Group
- John Cooper, TEDx faculty wildcard
- Fernando Padilla, TEDx student wildcard
On 02/13/2012,
in 21st century, business, business side of he, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, disruption, higher education, innovation, IT in HE, leadership, organizational change, pace of change, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Whether you’re talking the corporate world or the world of higher education…in this fast-paced and increasingly technology-driven world, the role that technology plays in our organizations’ strategic plans needs to escalate. That is, if our organizations want to survive, we cannot view IT as a cost center.
Instead, we need to wake up and realize the world in which we are living in. As such, our IT groups should be playing key roles in determining new business models and helping our organizations identify new sources of income. IT is not just about infrastructure and plumbing anymore (although that’s important as well). IT should be about becoming thee key leading group on campus or in your company. No joke.
If you doubt that or don’t think your IT group has it in them, than you need to identify which other group/dept is developing the strategic plans on how to ride the enormous waves of change being caused by the Internet, shifting consumer expectations, changing methods of tech-enabled communications, and the massive convergence of the TV, telephone, computer (as well as other forces).
A poster in our shop asserts that you can either ride the waves of change or be crushed by them. Along those lines, my father-in-law wisely reminds me that it’s much easier to ride on the front side of a wave than trying to play catch up on the backside of the wave.
Excerpt from Succeeding in the New Normal (from CampusTechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser)
As IT administrators struggle to come to terms with the new normal, one truth is becoming clear: CIOs need to change the conversation about IT on campus. First, instead of driving their beleaguered IT staffs ever harder while service levels drop, they need to reset campus expectations about what IT can realistically achieve. Second, CIOs must rebrand their own organization. They need to start taking credit for how IT saves their institutions money. In the eyes of the university, IT has to go from cost center to efficiency expert.
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“Technology people are inherently working to make things more efficient,” Carter points out. “But they do a lousy job of publicizing their results. They do a lousy job of measuring them. As we get more and more into things like performance funding, accreditation, and accountability, what you’re going to find is that IT leaders are going to have figure out a way to justify their existence, or they’re going to end up out of a job.”
From DSC:
I would argue that if IT leaders (at least those leaders who are effective in developing their organization’s strategy and who see the role of IT as different from its past roles) are going to end up out of a job, then the entire organization will end up out of jobs. No kidding. The world is changing rapidly, and people can no longer afford to view IT as simply a cost center. As Thomas Friedman recommends, “Know the world you’re living in.” As such, IT needs to be one of thee key drivers of business model change and overall strategy within your organization.
Addendum/also see:
- We’re ripe for a great disruption in higher education— theglobeandmail.com by Margaret Wente
- 61-year tenure for average firm in 1958 narrowed to 25 years in 1980—to 18 years now.
- A warning to execs: At current churn rate, 75% of the S&P 500 will be replaced by 2027.
- To survive and thrive, leaders must “create, operate and trade” their business units without losing control of their company.
- Study led by Innosight director Richard N. Foster, co-author of Creative Destruction.
On 02/08/2012,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, computer science, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, open courseware and systems, reinvent, staying relevant,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
I originally saw this at
Stanford Professors Daphne Koller & Andrew Ng
also launching a massive online learning startup [Watters]
On 02/07/2012,
in budgets, cost of getting a degree, disruption, higher education, innovation, new business models, publishing,
by Daniel Christian
On 01/24/2012,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, business side of he, change, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
Stormy waters ahead as ‘disruptive forces’ sweep the old guard — from timeshighereducation.co.uk by Sarah Cunnane
Online education will turn the academy inside out, argue US authors.
Excerpt:
Graduation rates in the US have fallen, and states have slashed funding for higher education. As a result, public universities have raised tuition fees, and many are struggling to stay afloat during the recession. But two authors working in the US higher education sector claim that the academy has a bigger battle on the horizon: the “disruptive innovation” ushered in by online education.
This disruption, they say, will force down costs, lure prospective students away from traditional “core” universities, transform the way academics work, and spell the end for the traditional scholarly calendar based around face-to-face teaching.
Clayton M. Christensen, the Kim B. Clark professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and Henry J. Eyring, advancement vice-president at Brigham Young University-Idaho, outline their ideas in The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out.
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Also see:
On 01/19/2012,
in 21st century, Apple, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital textbooks, disruption, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, future of higher education, game-changing environment, innovation, interactivity, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, publishing, smart classrooms,
by Daniel Christian
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On 01/13/2012,
in career development, corporate / business world, creativity, disruption, economics, future, global / globalization, innovation, morals/values, political science, reinvent, society, staying relevant, United States, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
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From DSC:
I originally saw this at Gerd Leonhard’s MediaFuturist.com where he entitles a blog posting:
- Thomas Friedman video on ‘That used to be us’: Must-watch for everyone in the U.S.!
(Thanks Gerd!!!)
Some of my notes on this video — Friedman’s main talk finishes around 35:45 w/ a Q&A beginning at 36:00
(From DSC: I’ve added my own thoughts in red)
- Non-routine work — is the kind of work that you want to be able to do (there’s also the non-routine, local work — butcher, grocier — but that wasn’t the focus here)
- Routine work — has been crushed via algorithms, outsourcing, (robotics), etc.
The bar has risen in non-routine work as we’ve moved from connected to hyper-connected world.
We are in the middle of an IT revolution/transformation — cloud, mobile, social, other — where Information Technology changes and globalization are creating global supply changes. Tom’s key point is that the United States needs to be involved in these changes or we’ll get left in the dust.
In their Help Wanted chapter, the following skills are wanted:
- Critical reasonsing
- Problem solving
- Non-routine work oriented
- But most of all, you must be able to invent and reinvent your job WHILE you are doing the job
- Creative
- Innovative
- (Pulse-checker and responder; which is why universities and colleges must begin offering classes on futurism/developing scenarios)
- Unique value creation
- Be able to bring your EXTRA
Average is over. Now that we are hyper-connected, “average” is over. If average is over — you must bring your “extra”.
From DSC:
If “average” is over, are we developing and raising up a generation of students who are learning how to bring their “extra”? Does standardized testing help us or hurt us in this regard?
3 key attitudes you need if you want to “lean into this world”:
- Think like a new immigrant
No legacy place waiting for me; I better figure out what world I’m living in, and then I better work hard to uncover and pursue the opportunities that current world presents; nothing is owed to me - Think like an artisan
Unique, hand-made; one-off’s, work in ways that you would be proud to carve your initials into your work - Think like the waitress at Perkins Pancake House in MN
Where she gave Thomas’ friend extra fruit and she mentioned that to them both; she brought her extra in areas where she had the control to do so
United States may be in relative decline — as we experience the “rise of the rest”; but what the US has to worry about it absolute decline
American exceptionalism — hogwash; no one owes us anything; have to earn our way; formula for success was a great private public partnership going back to Alexander Hamilton and built upon by Lincoln, Eisenhower, other (person asking question used the word ecosystem). 5 main pillars of this formulate for success/ecosystem:
- Education
- Infrastructure
- Open immigration policy
- Best rules for capital formation and risk taking
- Solid gov’t funded research
We’ve moved away from these 5 puillars of success and we’ve treated our nation like it’s a football that can be dropped w/ no resulting issues; the reality is we’re more like an egg; in another analogy, we can cut and hit arteries quickly…doing actual damage.
We misread environment — at end of cold war we put our feet up, thinking victory was won; the U.S. chased Al Queda instead of China, Brazil, other
Q&A
- Q: Influence — how changed and how stay the same
A: To have influence, must get substance right — content is key; diamond-hard realities are key; not the spins; still need to do grunt, basic work; can never be a Thor throwing down lightning bolts from on high - Q: Labor arbitrage
A: Rebalancing happening, but may take time; what was outsourced may not stay where originally went to - Q & A about Occupy Wall Street — was/is about injustice; taking $ and treating it like they were in a casino; people doing that got away with it; what will leadership look like in a hyperconnected world?
Final thoughts:
- Idea of OODA loop from the world of Air Force pilots — observe, ___ decide, act — speed of OODA loops are key; our political leaders are talking about A when X,Y, and Z are really happening (and the two circles rarely intersect)
- How long can we be a great country when our political systems cannot deliver optimal results?
- Our political system needs shock therapy — Friedman argues that we need a 3rd party — see AmericansElect.org
From DSC:
Each of us must be able to continually do pulse checks on a variety of forces that may be affecting our domains/places of work. We must be able to develop future scenarios and our responses to those scenarios. The ability to do that will become even more important as we move forward at ever-increasing speeds.
We can’t be looking 5-10 feet ahead when we’re driving at 180 miles per hour in this new, hyper-connected world!
On 01/10/2012,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, change, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, disruption, distance education, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, human-computer interaction (HCI), interactivity, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile technologies, multimedia, online learning, online media, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, technologies for your home, television, transmedia, trends,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Some items that caught my eye (so far) from CES 2012:
- CES 2012: The convergence of TV and mobile platforms — from readwriteweb.com by Dan Rowinski
…mobile operating systems are on a path to fundamentally change how content is delivered.
. - Prepare yourself: Kinect is coming to Windows Feb. 1 — from Mashable.com by Sarah Kessler
. - LG unveils giant 84″ TV with voice, gesture control — from Mashable.com by Samantha Murphy
. - Introducing The MakerBot Replicator™
January 10, 2012 (Brooklyn, NY) – MakerBot Industries is excited to announce the launch of its latest product, The MakerBot Replicator™, which will debut at CES in Las Vegas, NV on Tuesday, January 10th. The MakerBot Replicator™ is the ultimate personal 3D printer, with MakerBot Dualstrusion™ (2-color printing) and a bigger printing footprint, giving you the superpower to print things BIG! Assembled in Brooklyn by skilled technicians, the MakerBot Replicator™ is ready within minutes to start printing right out of the box. Starting at $1749, The MakerBot Replicator™ is an affordable, open source 3D printer that is compact enough to sit on your desktop. Want to print in two colors? Choose the Dualstrusion™ option!
. - USA Network taps Yap.tv for branded social TV app
Yap.tv said the deal will make it the first independent social TV developer to create a custom-branded version of its app for the iPad and iPhone for a major network.??
NEW YORK – NBCUniversal’s USA Network has partnered with Yap.tv, a maker of a social TV guide app for mobile devices, to launch a USA-branded app for its shows and fans as it and other channels continue to expand the use of social media to reach and engage viewers.
. - Samsung unveils a motion-controlled TV and the U.S. Galaxy Note [PICS]— from Mashable.com by Sarah Kessler
During its keynote address at CES on Monday, Samsung unveiled a connected TV with voice and gesture recognition, WiFi-enabled cameras and its thinnest ultrabook yet. It also introduced its Galaxy Note smartphone to the U.S. for the first time.
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- Coincident announces ScreenSync TV Technology — from marketwatch.com
New solution allows companies to create interactive experiences for viewers that synchronize their tablets with shows they are watching on their televisions
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Also see:
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- 2012 CES Unveiled press event: Interactive television highlights — from itvt.com by Will Keller