disruption

The MOOC Business Plan — from campustechnology.com by David Raths
With millions of students taking high-quality MOOCs for free, schools and course providers are now searching for a viable business model.

Excerpt:

Name a product sold in stores for thousands of dollars that can be obtained for free online. If you’re struggling for an answer, don’t be surprised–no company would last very long under those circumstances. Yet that’s exactly the predicament in which higher education finds itself as MOOCs begin to disrupt the traditional post-secondary model. Schools are giving away what was once their most valued treasure–the intellectual property of their faculty–for nothing.

Obviously, it’s not a sustainable business model, so what’s next? Where will the money come from? While it may seem surprising, no one really seems to know. For many colleges and universities, the current environment more closely resembles a high-stakes game of musical chairs–everyone is terrified of being left without a chair when the music stops. But the game is being played by more than just schools. From a business standpoint, higher education is ripe for reinvention, and it has attracted a slew of companies–both old and new–that smell significant profit.

…

For Coursera, this task is already under way. “Some business models are becoming clear,” says Andrew Ng, cofounder of the for-profit company. “Some we are confident will work; others we are still experimenting with.”

“You could have a certificate of a course completed at Duke University [NC]–that could be a valuable credential,” adds Ng. “We have projected that this alone will lead us to sustainability. In the first quarter of the signature track, we brought in $220,000, and in the second quarter, which hasn’t ended yet, we roughly doubled that amount. So we project that by itself that will make us sustainable.”

Higher ed can find some value in these Bezoz’ comments after purchasing Wash Post [Christian]

On 08/06/2013, in business, digital learning, disruption, experimentation, higher education, innovation, internet, new business models, online learning, online tutoring, reinvent, staying relevant, surviving, by Daniel Christian

Jeff Bezos on Post purchase — from washingtonpost.com

David McNew/Getty Images – The Washington Post Co. has agreed to sell its flagship newspaper
to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos for $250 million August 5, 2013.

Excerpt of comments:

The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs. There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about – government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports – and working backwards from there. I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention.

Gazing through mud: The campus and you in 50 years — from evoLLLution.com (where LLL stands for lifelong learning) by John Ebersole, President, Excelsior College

Excerpts:

Both types of institutions will be fewer in number as consolidations and closures continue, at an accelerated pace. Those that overcome the academy’s inherent aversion to change and risk are the most likely to survive.
…
Let’s remember that the half-life of knowledge is falling at an astonishing rate. What is relevant today, especially in technical fields, can become obsolete within a matter of a few years, if not months. At the same time, there is an explosion in information. It has been noted that we’re now exposed to more information in one year than our grandparents were in a lifetime.
…
In summary, the units extending the reach of universities in the future will no longer be on the fringe. Their academic and professional development offerings will instead become central to the institution’s mission.

From DSC:
Some additional reflections:

1) Curated streams of content — broken out by discipline/topic — will be key. Lifelong learning. Keeps you relevant/informed throughout your career. A potentially-prominent format might be learning “channels” — populated with information from bots, presented on “Smart TV’s,” with quick access available to a human Subject Matter Expert (SME) or tutor upon request. Perhaps there will be different levels of SME’s, tutors, mentors, etc. with corresponding $$ rates.

2) Interactive video — such as we’re beginning to see with Touchcast — could be very powerful in online-based learning materials.

3) Educational gaming will likely be a powerful, engaging format.

4) We could likely be moving towards more of a team-based approach –as one person likely won’t be able to do it all anymore (at least not at a level that will successfully compete). The higher production qualities and sophistication necessary to compete may force many institutions to pool their resources with other institutions (i.e. more consortia).

5) The unbundling process will likely continue throughout higher ed (i.e. think of iTunes and the album/CD).

Example slides from
Will Richardson’s solid presentation at ISTE 2013, entitled ” Abundant Learning: Four newish ideas for powerful classrooms”

From DSC:
This idea of self-directed/owned learning is spot on — and not just for those in K-12, but also for those in higher education and for those in the corporate world as well! It unleashes an enormous amount of intrinsic energy, motivation, drive, grit.

Each person needs to own and build their learning ecosystem — identifying one’s gifts, talents, passions, interests and then going out and developing those things. If we each do what we do best, the whole world benefits. As we will need others along the way — a team-based approach, communities of practice, and several of the other things/skills Will alluded to will be very important as well.

Gerd Leonhard’s slides from LSG13 in London: Working, learning and living in the future

Excerpted slides:

Heads up Jony Ive! You need to see this brilliant concept for the Apple TV! Superb work by Sam Beckett!

On 05/31/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, Microsoft, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, simulations, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, social media, streams of content, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Now picture this from the educational standpoint — and what MOOCs could morph into. The foundation for some serious learning power (from the living room) seems to be developing!

Streams of content/learning channels/cloud-based applications that each of us can create and make available.

Voice recognition, learning analytics, machine-to-machine communications, transmedia and more! Wow!

Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy [McKinsey & Co]

On 05/24/2013, in 3D, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, disruption, emerging technologies, innovation, internet, mobile technologies, robotics, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy — from mckinsey.com by James Manyika, Michael Chui, Jacques Bughin, Richard Dobbs, Peter Bisson, and Alex Marrs

Netflix CEO: ‘TV in the future will be like a giant iPad’ [Ligaya ]

On 05/17/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, presentations, publishing, reinvent, second screen apps, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, social media, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, webinars, by Daniel Christian

Netflix CEO: ‘TV in the future will be like a giant iPad’ — from business.financialpost.com by Armina Ligaya

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Q: What do you think is going to happen over the next five or 10 years in internet video?

A: Well, you know, the fundamental thing is the internet has been getting faster. And now it’s video capable, which is really a last-five-years phenomenon. And, internet video will be very transformative across all societies for telemedicine, for online learning, for education. For communication of various sorts. And it brings, whether it’s person to person, or a recorded video like a movie or a TV show, to a person it will be very transformative.

And, TV in the future will be like a giant iPad. It will have a bunch of apps on it, each app will have a unique experience.

…

So we’re getting beyond just a stream of video, which is all broadcast technology can do, to really try to be innovative about the interaction.

Reflections on “Why the lean start-up changes everything” [Blank]

On 05/03/2013, in corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, entrepreneurship, experimentation, higher education, innovation, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

But recently an important countervailing force has emerged, one that can make the process of starting a company less risky. It’s a methodology called the “lean start-up,” and it favors experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional “big design up front” development. Although the methodology is just a few years old, its concepts—such as “minimum viable product” and “pivoting”—have quickly taken root in the start-up world, and business schools have already begun adapting their curricula to teach them.

From DSC:
This fits into my thinking/recommendation that each institution of higher education should create a much smaller, more nimble group within itself — whose goal is to experiment, pivot, adapt, etc. — in order to find out what’s working and what’s not working. It’s why I have categories and tags for words like “experimentation,” “staying relevant,” “reinvent,” “innovation,” “surviving,” and “disruption.”

The trick is/will be how NOT to be a commodity –what’s going to differentiate your college or university?

Tagged with: corporate / business world • creativity • Daniel S. Christian • disruption • entrepreneurship • experimentation • higher education • innovation • reinvent • staying relevant • strategy • surviving

Part of the perfect storm in higher ed — A rise in wealth for the wealthy; declines for the lower 93% [Fry & Taylor]

On 04/24/2013, in disruption, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, interaction design, programming, teaching online, Uncategorized, by Daniel Christian

BII REPORT: Here’s why the “second screen” industry is set to explode — BusinessInsider.com

On 04/19/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, flipping -- inverted learning, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, second screen apps, social learning / networks, social media, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, television, transmedia, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

BII REPORT: Here’s why the “second screen” industry is set to explode — BusinessInsider.com

Excerpt:

Here’s why the second screen industry will ultimately succeed:

Usage is growing rapidly
And mass acceptance isn’t even necessary
Second screen isn’t really a new activity
Second screen apps and sites are bridges

From DSC:
As this article alludes to, I wouldn’t rule the living room out in terms of where interactive, multimedia-based, educationally-related, second screen-based applications will turn up (apps backed up by data mining, AI, and opportunities for social learning). This area is poised for some serious growth.

Ability to do creative, non-routine work will be a must in the coming automation era. Is this realistic for most workers? [Ford]

On 04/16/2013, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, change, creativity, disruption, robotics, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Ability to do creative, non-routine work will be a must in the coming automation era. Is this realistic for most workers? — from robohub.org by Martin Ford

Excerpt:

There can be no doubt that technological progress has resulted in a far more prosperous society. Technology has often disrupted entire industries and, in some cases — as with the mechanization of agriculture — destroyed millions of jobs. In the long run, however, the economy has always adjusted and new jobs have been created, often in entirely new industries. Why then should we be concerned that the revolution in robotics and artificial intelligence will lead to sustained unemployment? I think the answer has to do with the nature the work that most members of our workforce are best equipped to perform.

Tagged with: career development • change • creativity • disruption • workplace

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

On 04/10/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, animation, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bring your own device (BYOD), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, computer science, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new media literacies, online learning, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, programming, real-world assignments, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, social learning / networks, storytelling, streams of content, TVs, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

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…

.
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
  .
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.
.
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:

Delbanco’s interview in The Hedgehog Review

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • 24x7x365 • A/V • adjunct faculty • AI • analytics • Bring your own device (BYOD) • cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related • computer science • creativity • cross-disciplinary assignments • customized learning • Daniel S. Christian • data mining • design • digital storytelling • faculty-staff • graphic design • instructional design • interaction design • interface design • Learning Agents • learning from the living [class] room • Media/film • mirroring / multiple devices • multi-touch • multimedia • online learning • online tutoring • personalized learning • programming • second screen apps • simulations • Smart/Connected TV • Using teams • vendors • virtual reality / worlds / learning • virtual tutoring • visual design • Walmart of Education • web design

New test for computers: Grading essays at college level [Markoff]

On 04/04/2013, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

New test for computers: Grading essays at college level — from nytimes.com by John Markoff
.

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
EdX, a nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
will release automated software that uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers.

Excerpt:

EdX, the nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to offer courses on the Internet, has just introduced such a system and will make its automated software available free on the Web to any institution that wants to use it. The software uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers, freeing professors for other tasks.

Tagged with: AI • cost of getting an education • dangers of the status quo • Daniel S. Christian • disruption • game-changing environment • higher education • reinvent • staying relevant • Walmart of Education

Previous Entries Next Entries

Learning Ecosystems

The MOOC Business Plan [Raths]

Higher ed can find some value in these Bezoz’ comments after purchasing Wash Post [Christian]

Some additional reflections on “Gazing through mud: The campus and you in 50 years” [Ebersole]

Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy [McKinsey & Co]

Reflections on “Why the lean start-up changes everything” [Blank]

Categories

Tags