Romans 11:33-36 — from biblegateway.com
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[a] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”[b]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”[c]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Will a Rise in Online Learning Open Remote Teaching Opportunities for Faculty? — from edsurge.com by Robert Ubell (Columnist)
Excerpts:
Liberating campus-bound faculty.
Of the many remarkable things about online learning—its principal benefit—is to give students the freedom to learn almost anywhere. And that goes for faculty members, too, who might now have access to new opportunities to teach remotely for institutions around the globe—and let colleges hire online faculty with attractive strengths who happen to live far away.
That has already started to happen during the pandemic, with so many faculty and staff working and teaching from home. Since it has made no difference to their students where they were living, some, quite privileged, took off for country homes or slipped away to vacation spots, continuing to teach online as if they were at a nearby campus.
109 New University Partnerships with OPMs, Bootcamps and Pathways in Q1 2021 — from holoniq.com
Universities around the world are accelerating their adoption of Academic Public-Private Partnerships.
Excerpt:
Based on the rate of partnership growth in Q1, 2021 may deliver over 400 new academic partnerships if growth continues at the same rate.
Other key points:
A lack of devices but a heroic effort by teachers — from global-edtech.com by Dorothy Lepkowska
EDUCATE webinar hears how countries coped with the Covid school shutdown
Excerpts:
As in many countries, including the UK, schools and students in Portugal were hindered by a lack of devices, Huge Fonseca, an EdTech innovator, told the webinar. He said teachers were “superheroes” and did what they could to connect with pupils, including distributing work on bicycles.
He said: “In Portugal there is a lack of devices and a lack of teacher training. The profession is among the oldest in Europe, and half of teachers are more than 50 years old. There is no government support to develop them, and if you leave teachers without learning new skills for 20 years or more then it is hard for them to adapt. We need more young people to go into teaching.”
In Uruguay, more coherence was needed between the distribution of technology and teacher training.
…
Meanwhile, in Brazil, there was a roll-out of technology but little training for teachers.
…
In Zambia, however, the pandemic offered an opportunity for project-based learning to address some of the problems faced by communities.
She said the pandemic had shone a light on the heroic work of teachers and there was a “shift in perceptions about teachers, and the importance of face-to-face teaching as a valued part of civil society”.
Also see:
Blockchain 50 2021 — from forbes.com by Michael del Castillo
(From DSC: I missed this one…yet wanted to get this out there.)
Excerpt:
No longer dismissed as a haven for criminals and drug dealers, Bitcoin and blockchain have gone mainstream. Bitcoin’s 2020 surge grabbed the attention of C-suite executives worldwide; not only are companies employing the technology underlying Bitcoin to perform tasks such as reconciling invoices and verifying product provenance, but dozens are now holding Bitcoin as a treasury asset. Our third annual Blockchain 50 features companies that lead in employing distributed ledger technology and have revenue or a valuation of at least $1 billion. Twenty-one newcomers—including the world’s largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and four others from Asia—make their debut. They take the spots of such U.S. companies as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Ripple, all of whom are still active in blockchain but kept lower profiles in the space over the past 12 months.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the future of…everything — from fierceelectronics.com by Matt Hamblen
Excerpt:
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed his reputation as a futurist, predicting every single car, truck, cell tower—indeed every single edge device—will in effect be a data center in a decade.
He also said in a call with reporters on Tuesday that the chip shortage hurting automakers will sort itself out in a couple of years.
The concept of edge devices acting with the capabilities of a data center might not be completely new, but Huang cemented it.
“Every single data center will have its infrastructure computing platform isolated from the application platform in five or 10 years,” he told reporters as part of the company’s GTC21 event. “It’s going to be complete. Every single edge device will be a data center…Every single cell tower will be a data center, every base station…Every single car… truck, shuttle will be a data center.”
From DSC:
In my senior year at college, it was on a Maundy Thursday that I came out of one of the deepest, loneliest deserts that I’ve been in during this lifetime. I’ve been in others, but not like that one. In the fall of my senior year, I had to see if all of this faith stuff was a hoax. So I went into a 7-8 month time in the desert. I questioned the LORD’s existence. Everyone felt a million miles away…even my closest friends. The LORD felt a million miles away too. After having three good years on the court, the sport that I played in college did not go well — at all. I couldn’t wait to get off the court.
But as it turned out — and looking in the rearview mirror — I could see that He was at work. How I saw myself, the LORD, and the world changed that year. My identity changed that year.
On that Maundy Thursday, I went to the Alice Millar Chapel on NU’s campus. Normally, I would have been with my family, but they were away that year. I was sitting alone, in the back of the church…it was dark. I watched the pastor get down on his knees, reach for a wet towel, and wash the feet of a dozen or so people from the congregation. The pastor was doing what Christ had done to His disciples, many years prior.
All of the sudden, the many years’ worth of singing the doxology around the family table came flooding back into my mind. And what I can only describe as a sort of full-body warmth came over me. I have never doubted the LORD’s existence since that time. It was nice to be out of the desert.
(My pastor at that time, Rev. David Handley, used to say that the Holy Spirit was active on Maundy Thursday…and I believe it. 🙂
All that said, I hope that once we make it through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, that those of you who celebrate Easter have a great one this year!
Thank you LORD for your love, grace, forgiveness, patience, gentleness, and kindness. Thank you for your creation. Thank you for your provision. Thank you for our work. Thank you for running, clean water. Thank you for all the food and drinks we have. Thank you for roofs over our heads and clothes on our backs.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
And from Isaiah Chapter 53:
Isaiah 53:3-6
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. –
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Bitcoin – The Currency Of The Future — from bitrebels.com by Faizan Javaid
Excerpt:
In its relatively short lifespan, Bitcoin has managed to grow from only a small movement of computer fanatics, Cypherpunks, and cryptographers into an increasingly mainstream phenomenon. Not only that but it is supported by a blueprint and ethos that could very well lead to a redesign of the internet and the financial system we know today. In its wake, many financial analysts, supporters as well as skeptics seem to be faced with the same question: Could Bitcoin be the currency of the future?
From DSC:
I like the last sentence. That should have been the title of the article — i.e., “Could Bitcoin be the currency of the future?”
Hebrews 4:15-16 — from biblegateway.com
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Isaiah 25:1 — from biblegateway.com
Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done wonderful things,
things planned long ago.
From DSC:
This is what we’re up against –> Reskilling 1 billion people by 2030” — from saffroninteractive.com by Jessica Anderson
Excerpts:
According to the World Economic Forum, this statistic is a critical economic imperative.
Does this shock or scare you? Perhaps you’re completely unflappable? Whatever your reaction, this situation will undoubtedly impact your organisation and the way you tackle skills development.
…
What are the roadblocks?
So, we’ve laid down the gauntlet; an adaptable, agile, multi-skilled workforce. What stands in the way of achieving this? A recent survey of the top 5 challenges facing learning leaders sheds some light:
1. Building a learning culture
2. Learning in the flow of work
3. Digital transformation
4. Learner engagement and ownership
5. Keeping informed of best practices
From DSC:
The article mentions that nations could lose billions in potential GDP growth. And while that is likely very true, I think a far bigger concern is the very peace and fabric of our societies — the way of living that billions of people will either enjoy or have to endure. Civil unrest, increased inequality, warfare, mass incarcerations, etc. are huge concerns.
The need for a next-gen learning platform is now! The time for innovation and real change is now. It can’t come too soon. The private and public sectors need to collaborate to create “an Internet for learning” (in the sense that everyone can contribute items to the platform and that the platform is standards based). Governments, corporations, individuals, etc. need to come together. We’re all in the same boat here. It benefits everyone to come together.
40 Spectacular Sights of Nature You Should Know, Vol. 1 — from hongkiat.com by Nancy Young
From DSC:
I realize that I’m biased here…but I say, “Glory to God!” when I see these pictures. He’s an awesome designer and creator. Only He can “paint a canvas” like this.
From DSC:
Talk about streams of content! Whew!
I received an email from Adobe that was entitled, “This week on Adobe Live: Graphic Design.” (I subscribe to their Adobe Creative Cloud.) Inside the email, I saw and clicked on the following:
Below are some of the screenshots I took of this incredible service! Wow!
From DSC:
So Abobe — via Behance — is already doing several pieces of the “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” vision. I knew of Behance…but I didn’t realize the magnitude of what they’ve been working on and what they’re currently delivering. Very sharp indeed!
Churches are doing this as well — one device has the presenter/preacher on it (such as a larger “TV”), while a second device is used to communicate with each other in real-time.
