From DSC:
Yesterday, I had posted an item re: interactive video. As I looked at the credits for the piece out at the Wall Street Journal, it made me reflect upon this thought:

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UseOfTeams-DChristian-July2013

 

This will be true whether we’re talking about K-12, higher ed, and/or the corporate training/L&D world.

 

Designing Higher Learning — from learnlets.com by Clark Quinn

Excerpt (additional emphasis DSC):

I’ve been thinking a lot about the higher education situation, specifically for-profit universities. One of the things I see is that somehow no one’s really addressing the quality of the learning experience, and it seems like a huge blindspot.

I realize that in many cases they’re caught between a rock and a hard place. They want to keep costs down, and they’re heavily scrutinized.  Consequently, they worry very much about having the right content.  It’s vetted by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and has to be produced in a way that, increasingly, it can serve face to face (F2F) or online.  And I think there’s a big opportunity missed.  Even if they’re buying content from publishers, they are focused on content, not experience. Both for the learner, and developing learner’s transferable and long-term skills.

 

From DSC:
I commented on Clark’s blog how much I appreciate him putting that posting out there and helping us think through things.  I like his emphasis on creating an effective, engaging learning experience. This is why I think it will take a team-based approach in the future, as no one person has all of the skills to provide this type of experience. Clark alluded to this as well in his posting when he discusses some of the various roles out there (SME, ID, etc.). It reminds me of a graphic I did back in 2008 (with higher ed in mind):

 

Table-2015

 

My reflections on “MOOCs of Hazard” – a well-thought out, balanced article by Andrew Delbanco


From DSC: Below are my reflections on MOOCs of Hazard — from newrepublic.com by Andrew Delbanco — who asks:  Will online education dampen the college experience? Yes. Will it be worth it? Well…


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While I’m not sure that I agree with the idea that online education will dampen the college experience — and while I could point to some amazing capabilities that online education brings to the table in terms of true global exchanges — I’ll instead focus my comments on the following items:

 

1) Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are recent experiments — ones that will continue to change/morph into something else.
They are half-baked at best, but they should not be taken lightly. Christensen, Horn, Johnson are spot on with their theories of disruption here, especially as they relate to innovations occurring within the virtual/digital realm.  For example, the technologies behind IBM’s Watson could be mixed into the list of ingredients that will be used to develop MOOCs in the future.  It would be a very powerful, effective MOOC indeed if you could get the following parties/functionalities to the table:

  • IBM — to provide Watson like auto-curation/filtering capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, as well as data mining/learning analytics expertise, joined by
  • Several highly-creative firms from the film/media/novel/storytelling industry, who would be further joined by
  • Experts from Human Computer Interaction (HCI)/user interface/user experience design teams, who would be further joined by
  • Programmers and interaction specialists from educational gaming endeavors (and from those who can design simulations), joined by
  • Instructional designers, joined by
  • The appropriate Subject Matter Experts who can be reached by the students as necessary, joined by
  • Those skilled in research and library services, joined by
  • Legal experts to assist with copyright issues, joined by
  • Other specialists in mobile learning,  3D, web development, database administration, animation, graphic design, musicians, etc.

It won’t be long before this type of powerful team gets pulled together — from some organizations(s) with deep pockets — and the content is interacted with and presented to us within our living rooms via connected/Smart TVs and via second screen devices/applications.

2) The benefits of MOOCs
  • For colleges/universities:
    • MOOCs offer some serious marketing horsepower (rather than sound pedagogical tools, at this point in time at least)
    • They are forcing higher ed to become much more innovative
    • They provide great opportunities to build one’s personalized learning networks, as they bring forth those colleagues who are interested in topic A, B, or C
    • They move us closer to team-based content creation and delivery
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  • For students:
    • They offer a much less expensive option to go exploring disciplines for themselves…to see if they enjoy (and/or are gifted in) topic A, B or C
    • They provide great opportunities to build one’s personalized learning networks, as they bring forth those colleagues who are interested in topic A, B, or C
    • They provide a chance to see what it’s like to learn about something in a digital/virtual manner

3)  The drawbacks of MOOCs:
  • MOOCs are not nearly the same thing as what has come to be known as “online learning” — at least in the higher ed industry. MOOCs do not yet offer what more “traditional” (can I say that?) online learning provides: Far more support and pedagogical/instructional design, instructor presence and dialog, student academic support services, advising, more student-to-student and student-to-faculty interaction, etc.
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  • MOOCs are like drinking from a firehose — there are too many blogs/RSS feeds, twitter feeds, websites, and other resources to review.

4) It would be wise for all of us to be involved with such experiments and have at least a subset of one’s college or university become much more nimble/responsive.

 

Also see:

Adobe launches collaboration platform for video pros — from creativebloq.com
The software giant lends a hand to teams using its professional video tools with the launch of new service ‘Adobe Anywhere for Video’.

 

adobe advance
Adobe Anywhere for video aims to make your life easier

Excerpt:

Adobe have been keen to attract the attention of web designers this week, announcing updates to Flash Pro, Edge Reflow and Dreamweaver. But video professionals haven’t been forgotten, with the big news being the launch of Adobe Anywhere.

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Also see (from Adobe’s site):

AdobeAnywhereForVideo-April2013

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


 

ToolsForTeamWork-CampusTechFeb2013

 

Addendum on 2/6/13:

 

Proverbs 18:13 (NIV)

13 To answer before listening—
that is folly and shame.

 

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

 

 

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From DSC:
I wonder…are we migrating more towards brands and products/services provided by individuals or smaller teams of people? Consider Ian Byrd’s recent announcement re: Byrdseed.TV.

 

ByrdseedDotTV-Jan2013

The year ahead in IT, 2013 — from InsideHigherEd.com by Lev Gonick

Excerpt (emphasis by DSC):

The functional organization model makes it increasingly more difficult for IT on campus to be a meaningful partner and contributor to the strategic future of the University if and as it gets painted into the corner of being an expensive infrastructure cost center.

The alternative models to the functionally organized IT organization are many. The challenge for IT leaders is to cede a modicum of control and embrace the need to experiment in new, more porous, organizational models that facilitate and support the co-production of innovative solutions that meet the needs of higher education moving forward. Becoming a solutions-focused and internal consulting organization is at the core of what I take to be the opportunity for IT in higher education.

From DSC:

If other staff, faculty, students, and members of administration see everyone from the IT Department — and the IT Department as a whole — as only the folks who “install Microsoft Word and keep my PC running” — then we are in for some real trouble ahead. 

Endeavors originating out of — or significantly enabled by the IT department — have the potential to create massive new revenue streams. For example, this can be seen in  the growth of online learning these last few years and will most likely be true (at least in a significant part) for what MOOCs morph into.

Taking a cue from other industries that have gone to bat against the Internet, if you were the person in charge of picking members of the team that’s responsible for the future vision and strategies of your organization, who would you pick to be on your team?

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asdfsadf

TheFutureOfWork-Jan2013

 

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TheFutureOfWork2-Jan2013

 

 

learningbydoing-futureofwork-2013

 

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From DSC:

  • Note the need for being tech-savvy here — the more familiarity our students have with videoconferencing, web-based collaborating tools, tapping into streams of content, etc., the better things will go for them in their future careers.
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  • Note also the need for constant, lifelong learning. 
  • Note the possibility that we might be heading more towards online-based exchanges and marketplaces — and that includes teaching and learning.

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The Power of Online Exchanges

 

Re: the idea of exchanges:

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:

 

Virtual U. -- College of future could be come one, come all

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From DSC:
I don’t think that what we know today as “MOOCs” are anywhere’s nearly fully-baked and ready for prime time.  They will be refined, altered , and new systems/software will be further developed for them.   But the idea of reducing costs, increasing access, and experimenting sounds good to me!  As illustrated above, the idea of “Rock Star Professor” or “Super Professor” is gaining traction.   Also, note the team-based approach here.

 

 

 

How to disrupt yourself — from innovationexcellence.com by Greg Satell

Excerpts:

However, disruptive innovation happens in the face of no such threat, but when things are going great. Operations are profitable, the needs of the most demanding customers are being met and the business press applauds the company’s thoughtful and visionary leadership.

Then comes along something like Google or Netflix or social media and everything is turned upside down.

That’s what makes disruptive innovation so dangerous and so interesting. It upends an existing order that seems to be working well. The reality is that incumbent firms tend to get better and [better] at things people care less about. Eventually, the basis of competition will change and old metrics of success become useless.

The biggest innovation pitfall is falling into the myth of the mad scientist. People often assume it comes from the work of a lone genius – a Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison – who works behind closed doors and then one day comes out and shouts “Eureka!”

In actuality, innovation is combination. It most often arises through active collaboration among people with diverse skills and perspectives. That’s why so few enterprises can do it effectively. Large organizations breed conformity, strong leaders encourage a singular vision and don’t like to incorporate ideas that are off-script.

 

Transform education by measuring what matters. Hint: It’s not test scores. — from the Innovative Educator by Lisa Nielsen

Excerpts:

What if instead we measured success in things that really mattered to students, parents and teachers.  For example…

Students have:

  • A plan to find and develop their passion(s).
  • A team of mentors, guidance, and/or advisors to help guide them in discovery and development of their passions.
  • Customized success plans that they help design.
  • Advisors who are deeply involved in and responsible for their lives and their success.
  • An opportunity to learn about what they are interested in the world with real world experts.
  • Reported they are satisfied with support they receive from the school.
  • An authentic portfolio that can be used for career, academic, or civic pursuits.

If we work to move the conversation to measuring success by meeting our student’s personal goals in college, career, and/or life experiences we accomplish these goals:

  • Instead of teaching to the test we teach to the student.
  • Billions of dollars are restored toward resources for students.
  • Schools are held accountable, not for test scores, but for placement in what matters: college, career, and/or civic duty.

 

From DSC:
Some reflections arising from
Digital Faculty: Professors and Technology, 2012 — from Inside Higher Ed by Steve Kolowich

A very brief review of this solid piece brought the below graphic to my mind again.  I created it back in 2008 and it still captures my thoughts after a brief review of this kind of piece.

I’m again prompted to ask and assert:

  • When are we going to realize that the current model of expecting one person to do it all simply won’t work anymore?  For the majority of us, the bar has risen too high for one person to create highly-competitive educational products and services.
  • We can’t expect one person to have all of the passions, interests, gifts, and abilities — as well as the time and energy — to do all that needs to be done in order to offer up a competitive product any more.  Those organizations who continue down this path will be routed by those organizations who move to the use of teams of specialists.
  • Also…what about the incentive systems?  Are they in place to reward those faculty members who are jumping through new hoops all of the time?
  • How can we move from a model based largely on one person to a new model that’s based on a team of specialists?

 

 

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