higher education

Tagged with: educational • higher education • IT • student-related

Concept, graphics, idea from Daniel S. Christian:
But free for your taking and implementing!

What:

Choir Practice: A mobile-based method of practicing one’s part

Features

The ability for the choir member to go directly to measure ____
The ability for the choir member to highlight measures ____ through ____ (like highlighting text in Microsoft Word), then click on the play button to loop through those measures
One could speed up a song up or slow it down (without affecting pitch)
The application would allow for all of the vocal parts to begin playing upon downloading a pre-packaged song or the application could always start playing with a certain part (i.e. 1st or 2nd soprano, alto, tenor, or bass)
The musical notes could be the same color or one could choose to display the notes in different colors
Bonus features might include a video of a director directing this song

Why:

This type of thing would be a great cross-disciplinary assignment for your institution’s curriculum — Music and Computer Science come to mind for this application
Your institution could sell this application on Apple’s App Store to develop a new revenue stream
Your choirs could produce the packaged songs / tracks
Plus, such an app would help choir members learn their parts — 24x7x365 — in the car, on the road, in the gym, etc.
Enhances one’s ability to listen to other parts as well
Aids your marketing departments as you point to this as a solid deliverable from your programs
Creates “study aids” for your own school’s choirs/students as well as for choirs at smaller churches and institutions (worldwide)
Helps those choir members who don’t have access to a piano or don’t know how to play a piano

Have fun whomever takes this idea and runs with it! The choirs of the world will appreciate you — and so will their audiences! 🙂

Along these lines…another win-win here includes:

That students in the future (I hope) will be able to choose from a multitude of potential roles when presented with multi-disciplinary projects/assignments/courses:

Vocalists, pianists, and other type of musicians
Composers
Programmers
Graphic artists
Videographers / video editors
Audio specialists
Writers
Project Managers
Actresses/Actors
etc.

As such, students could:

Learn to appreciate other disciplines
Participate in/contribute to projects that could be published on the web
Exercise their creativity
Practice being innovative

Daniel Christian

Tagged with: Apple • budgetary • business side of he • collaboration • computer science • creativity • cross-disciplinary assignments • curriculum • Daniel S. Christian • digital audio • digital learning • digital video • educational technology • emerging technologies • engagement • higher education • ideas • iPad • iPhone • iPod • iTunes • K-12 • Mobile learning • mobile technology • multimedia • music • new business models in he • programming

Very applicable lessons for those of us within higher education

On 10/26/2010, in higher education, leadership, strategy, by Daniel Christian

5 lessons from outgoing Microsoft software architect Ray Ozzie — from Fast Company by E.B. Boyd

From DSC:
Key quotes that directly relate to those of us in higher education:

1. Take time to paint a vision of the future

2. Put past successes “in perspective”
Once a company has done something well, it’s easy to keep doing that thing. In fact, it’s hard to stop doing it, because your company–its structure and incentives–get organized around enabling that successful thing to keep happening. But if the bigger picture in your industry changes, as it is in the tech sector, that successful thing may no longer be optimized to the new environment. Continuing to do it (from DSC: i.e. the status quo), and not shifting to a product line better suited to the new landscape, will put you at a disadvantage against competitors who do adapt, not to mention new entrants who have designed themselves with the new needs front of mind.

…

“This will absolutely be a time of great opportunity for those who put past technologies & successes into perspective,” Ozzie writes, “and envision all the transformational value that can be offered moving forward.”

3. Recognize what’s inevitable in your industry
The flip side of putting past successes in perspective is recognizing what new developments are inevitable. The news industry, for example, spent a lot of time fighting the Web and digital news before finally accepting their inevitability. Think of how much energy would have been saved–and, more, put to better use–had the industry sought to dive into the digital world, rather than fight it.

4. “Inevitable” is not the same as “imminent”

5. Real transformation has to come from within

Also relevant here:

Dawn of a New Day by Ray Ozzie (Oct 2010) — for his look at what’s coming down the pike and
Ray’s memo from 2005 entitled, The Internet Services Disruption

Tagged with: higher education • leadership • strategy

Society for College and University Planning

On 10/25/2010, in higher education, leadership, strategy, trends, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

Tagged with: higher education • leadership • strategy • trends

The university lacks capacity to change education (George Siemens)

On 10/23/2010, in business side of he, change, changing business models, higher education, leadership, new business models, organizational change, staying relevant, strategy, traditional / tradition, by Daniel Christian

The university lacks capacity to change education — from George Siemens

Make no mistake, dramatic changes are occurring in education. These changes, due to the reluctance of the academy to map activities to the reality of the external world, are driven by external innovation. Quite simply, higher education is not in control of its fate as it has failed to develop the capacity to be self-reliant in times of change. I’ve seen universities (such as University of Manitoba) reach out to consulting and accounting firms to provide structural and funding change recommendations. I’ve seen universities begin to partner with online course providers such as StraighterLine to extend course offerings because they (the university) are simply not capable of fulfilling these roles themselves – they lack capacity to participate in this new space of learning. I used to think that higher education and open access would do away with the dominant role of traditional publishers. It looks like I was wrong. Publishers are now offering full course content packages that blend textbooks with faculty-produced materials (i.e. McGraw-Hill’s purchase of Tegrity – a lecture capture software). The university’s reliance on external offerings to fill their capacity gaps is a growing trend. For some (traditional liberal education advocates) it’s a concern. For others (entrepreneurs) it’s a blessing. And for still others (traditional publishers and content creators), it’s a way to stay relevant and perhaps even become more integrated with educational institutions than was possible with a textbook publishing model.

From DSC:
Sorry George, but I just have to post this in its entirety, as I think that you are right on the mark here!

From behind my “lenses” the way I “see” this is that:

Higher ed must become more nimble, willing to change, and work to address our shortcomings.
We must be responsive to changes outside of our control (which is the majority)
We must experiment with things and be willing to fail. Because…

…we are not nearly as in control of things as we suppose.

Tagged with: business side of he • change • higher education • new business models in he • organizational change • publishing • staying relevant • traditional • willingness

Welcome, now start slashing

On 10/22/2010, in dangers of the status quo, higher education, leadership, strategy, by Daniel Christian

Welcome, now start slashing — from InsideHigherEd.com by Jack Stripling
Hiring provosts who will be immediately charged with budget-cutting presents dilemma for presidents, who debate whether task is best suited for someone new.

The economic downturn presents a stark dilemma for colleges and universities seeking provosts, and presidents are somewhat split on whether to move forward. On the one hand, bringing in someone with fresh eyes who’s not attached to any sacred cows on campus makes sense. On the other hand, thrusting new chief academic officers into situations where they may be immediately tasked with cutting programs, increasing workloads or laying off employees sounds to some like a recipe for burnout or failure.

Tagged with: higher education • leadership • strategy

Student debt and the Class of 2009

On 10/22/2010, in budgets, career development, cost of getting a degree, higher education, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Student debt and the Class of 2009 — from projectonstudentdebt.org

Our new report, released today, finds that college seniors who graduated from public and private nonprofit four-year colleges in 2009 carried an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6 percent from the previous year. Meanwhile, unemployment for recent graduates climbed from 5.8 percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009 – the highest annual rate on record for college graduates aged 20-24.

The report shows that average student debt levels vary widely by state as well as by college. To view debt levels for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and more than 1,000 public and private nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, visit our interactive online map.

Download the report, Student Debt and the Class of 2009.

Read the press release

New Data on College Insight

The Institute’s dynamic higher education data site, College InSight, lets users view student debt levels in context with data on affordability, diversity, and student success. Through its user-friendly interface, College InSight makes a wide variety of data easy to find, compare, and analyze.

Tagged with: budgetary • cost of getting an education • higher education • student-related

Massive cut in Britain

On 10/21/2010, in budgets, business side of he, change, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, UK, by Daniel Christian

Massive cut in Britain — from InsideHigherEd.com

Government funding for higher education in Britain is to be cut by 40 percent over four years, suggesting that public funding for teaching in the arts, humanities and social sciences may come to an end.

The Comprehensive Spending Review unveiled Wednesday includes a reduction in the higher education budget of £2.9 billion – from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion – by 2014-5.

The Treasury says in a statement that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees higher education, will “continue to fund teaching for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.”

However, no mention is made of other subjects.

Tagged with: budgetary • business side of he • change • cost of getting an education • dangers of the status quo • future of higher education • game-changing environment • higher education • UK

I wonder if this is where things are heading…the power of online exchanges

On 10/20/2010, in business side of he, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, K-12 related, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Examville.com — the power of online exchanges comes to learning

Also see:

Examville launches education marketplace
But can it compete with the likes of other big name online education platforms?

http://vator.tv/company/examville
http://www.udemy.com

The power of online exchanges

Tagged with: exchanges • future • future of higher education • higher education • K-12 • new business models • new business models in he • online learning

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010: Final list, presentation and more

On 10/20/2010, in 21st century, Adobe, Apple, blogs / blogging / vlogging, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-books, e-readers, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, higher education, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, open courseware and systems, platforms, podcasting, presentations, productivity / tips and tricks, RSS, social learning / networks, social media, storytelling, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, training / L&D, UK, United States, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010: Final list, presentation and more — from Jane Knight

Yesterday I finalised the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 list. Many thanks to the 545 people who shared their Top 10 Tools for Learning and contributed to the building of the list. Although this list is available online, I also created this presentation which provides the information as a slideset – embedded below.

Jane Hart, a Social Business Consultant, and founder
of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies.

Tagged with: 21st century • Apple • blogging • browsers • cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • CMS/LMS • collaboration • corporate / business world • corporate training / universities • creativity • digital audio • digital learning • digital storytelling • digital video • e-books • e-readers • educational technology • emerging technologies • engagement • Google • higher education • illustration • iPad • iPhone • iPod • iTunes U • K-12 • learning ecosystem • Mobile learning • Moodle • multimedia • new media literacies • ocw • personal learning networks (PLNs) • podcasting • presentations • productivity • RSS • Skype • social learning • social media • social networking • storytelling • student-related • task-oriented software • teaching & learning • teaching online • tools • training • UK • United States • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration • workplace

Be careful out there…

On 10/18/2010, in career development, higher education, K-12 related, student-related, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Be Careful Out There…. — from Powerful Learning Practice by Susan Carter Morgan

Or at least think before you click “send.”
.

Our recent Virtual Academy on Digital Citizenship featured Robin Ellis, Alec Couros, and Clarence Fisher, who presented on variety of topics focused on Digital Citizenship for Classroom Teachers. You can catch the Elluminate conversation here and read more about it on Nancy Caramanico’s post, too.

The virtual sessions are offered regularly to PLP cohorts, and this one produced some great resources we want to share. Check out the one-liners Nancy shared from Robin’s session…

Tagged with: career development • digital citizenship • higher education • K-12 • student-related • workplace

Another example of pooling resources; bringing teams of people together

On 10/12/2010, in change, changing business models, consortiums, education technology, emerging technologies, game-changing environment, new business models, online learning, publishing, using teams, by Daniel Christian

ASU partners with Pearson to expand online learning services — from PRWeb.com
Partnership will enhance the online student experience and reach new students

Arizona State University (ASU) and Pearson today announced an innovative partnership to develop new technology and management services to support ASU’s online students. The agreement will equip ASU with various capabilities designed to maximize learning outcomes through student engagement and retention, as well as increase overall course offerings. It will enable the university to reach potential students around the country who are not served by brick and mortar or other online institutions.

“When it comes to learning online, there is a direct correlation between quality services and student success,” said Philip Regier, Executive Vice Provost and Dean of ASU Online. “The reality is that learning online is very demanding and most students already have family and work responsibilities. The more support they receive, the better their learning outcomes and overall experience will be.”

From DSC:
With the pace of technological innovation and the costs involved in creating engaging, interactive, multimedia-based materials, it seems that such pooling of resources is wise, efficient. That is why I’m a fan of consortiums and pooling resources. This type of thing also quickly brings TEAMS of people together.

Tagged with: change • consortiums • educational technology • game-changing environment • higher education • new publishing models • online learning • pooling resources • Using teams

New initiative will advance the best uses of technology to improve college readiness and completion

On 10/11/2010, in budgets, education technology, funding / grants, higher education, by Daniel Christian

New initiative will advance the best uses of technology to improve college readiness and completion — from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Multi-year “challenge” grant competition will identify and fund most promising innovations

SEATTLE — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced the Next Generation Learning Challenges, a collaborative, multi-year initiative, which aims to help dramatically improve college readiness and college completion in the United States through the use of technology. The program will provide grants to organizations and innovators to expand promising technology tools to more students, teachers, and schools. It is led by nonprofit EDUCAUSE, which works to advance higher education through the use of information technology.

Next Generation Learning Challenges released the first of a series of RFPs today to solicit funding proposals for technology applications that can improve postsecondary education. This round of funding will total up to $20 million, including grants that range from $250,000 to $750,000. Applicants with top-rated proposals will receive funds to expand their programs and demonstrate effectiveness in serving larger numbers of students. Proposals are due November 19, 2010; winners are expected to be announced by March 31, 2011.

Tagged with: educational technology • funding • grants • higher education

The test has been canceled

On 10/11/2010, in 21st century, assessment, digital storytelling, higher education, instructional design, memory, pedagogy, play, story, storytelling, by Daniel Christian

The test has been canceled — from Boston.com by Keith O’Brien
Final exams are quietly vanishing from college

The change, which was first reported in Harvard Magazine, is not a statement on the value of final exams one way or the other, Harris said. But the shrinking role of big, blockbuster tests at Harvard and colleges elsewhere is raising serious pedagogical questions about 21st century education: How best do students learn? And what’s the best way to assess that? Is the disappearance of high-stakes, high-pressure final exams a sign that universities are failing to challenge today’s students, or is it just a long overdue acknowledgment that such tests aren’t always the best indicator of actual knowledge?

From DSC:
Perhaps like many others, I don’t remember a lot from the final exams taken during my college days. My hope is that whatever methods we use, we can foster deeper, longer-lasting ROI’s from students’ studying time. We can create more “hooks” on which to hang things 5-10 years down the line (if that’s possible these days!). One thought along these lines, is to use the ideas of story, play, and promoting the creativity of our students.

The greatest teacher of all time used story — in the form of parables — all the time. I’ll bet that many of us can still recall to this day the parable of the sower, or the prodigal son…the good Samaritan or the lost coin. With enough repetition, we remember these stories and the deeper meaning behind them. They provide hooks to hang other things upon (i.e. scaffolding).

Tagged with: 21st century • assessment • creativity • digital storytelling • higher education • instructional design • memory • pedagogy • play • scaffolding • story • storytelling

White House Summit touches on K-12, college link

On 10/08/2010, in colleges, community colleges, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, education reform, expectations, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, K-12 related, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

White House Summit touches on K-12, college link — from edweek.org by Caralee Adams

Buoyed by White House attention to the importance—and needs—of community colleges, some in the K-12 community are waiting to see if that spotlight will generate momentum for improved college readiness and better alignment of high schools with higher education.

This week’s White House Community College Summit was largely a symbolic event drawing about 150 leaders in education, business, and philanthropy and aimed at focusing attention on what is often labeled an undervalued sector of higher education.

But while the summit produced no big policy recommendations, the issues of high school preparation and college access hovered in the background as participants broke up into working groups after opening remarks by President Barack Obama.

More here…

From DSC:
Some might look at what I cover in the Learning Ecosystem blog and comment, “What the heck is he doing? He can’t know everything about the teaching and learning worlds within the K-12, college, and the corporate training spaces!” And they would be right. But I don’t base my work here on myself. As a regular follower of this blog would know, I look to the expertise of others. While I will often interject my own thoughts and contributions here, I try to aggregate the valuable experiences and insights of others.

Along these lines, I want to interject that those of us in higher ed need to be very aware of what’s happening in K-12. Students’ expectations are the key items to note here. Graduates from high school will come to our doors (physical and virtual) with a set of expectations and skill sets. To me, these expectations seem to be changing. We must meet them where they are at.

So this item caught my attention. More later…

Tagged with: colleges • community college • dangers of the status quo • future of higher education • higher education • K-12 • student expectations • student-related • United States • universities

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