Cheap solar is a new trend changing the world.
It’s hard to keep up with what’s going on in the world these days. Some facts are familiar to anyone who reads the news. Unemployment is high. Growth is slow. Shale gas is a big deal. But beyond the headlines, shifts are changing the U.S. economy and reshaping the global financial order. Here are ten that have surprised.
Continue reading… “Top 10 stealth economic trends that are changing the world”
What you can’t typically get from online study—yet—is a degree from a reputable and accredited university.
“You just spent 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.” That is one of Matt Damon’s best lines in Good Will Hunting when he chastised a book smart scholar.
Continue reading… “There may not be as much as you think in a college degree”
Gene Wade, CEO and founder of UniversityNow.
UniversityNow is receiving $20.4 million in funding to bring U.S. education out of a “code red.”UniversityNow is building a network of accredited, online universitieswhere students earn undergraduate and graduate degrees at a low cost and in a flexible environment. Its goal is to make higher education more affordable and accessible for people everywhere through the intelligent use of technology.
Continue reading… “College degrees are now accessible to anyone with a computer with UniversityNow”
The aim of open online massive courses is to provide instruction similar to what students can get in a traditional college atmosphere, only more cheaply and conveniently.
Why would you pay thousands of dollars to sit in a university lecture hall as a professor drones away in front of bored students when you could instead take some of the world’s greatest courses online? For free?
Continue reading… “Is the traditional university lecture dead?”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Last year the DaVinci Institute launched a computer programmer training school, DaVinci Coders, and one of the key people we tapped to be one of our world-class instructors was Jason Noble. On Friday I attended a talk given by Jason at the Rocky Mountain Ruby Conference in Boulder, Colorado titled “From Junior Engineer to Productive Engineer.”
Continue reading… “Trimming the Fat – Introducing the Lean Micro-College Model for Education”
The internet has made it possible for people to educate themselves, independently or in groups large and small, on an unprecedented scale.
There hasn’t been much change in universities since the Middle Ages. Universities have the campus with its lecture halls, dormitories, libraries, and laboratories surrounded by leafy quadrangles. They have added giant sports complexes, gyms and swimming pools, and gourmet restaurants, but the basic layout is the same. And the production process hasn’t changed since around 1200. Professors give lectures, students read books and take notes, there are examinations and grades, along with the occasional tutoring session, and a great deal of hanky panky. The professors wear tweed jackets instead of gowns, and the students wear – well, just about anything, including pajamas – but otherwise the university remains one of society’s most conservative institutions.
Continue reading… “Are universities terrified of MOOCs?”
The Maker movement emphasizes products and processes born from tinkering, playing, experimenting, expressing, iterating and collaborating.
Learning in our schools is poised to be transformed by the Maker movement. This fresh approach emphasizes creation and creativity and counteracts educational standards, testing and uniformity. Its emphasis is on products and processes born from tinkering, playing, experimenting, expressing, iterating and collaborating — and exploits new digital tools to make, share and learn across space and time, DIY style. Museums, libraries, community centers and after-school programs have designed physical and virtual “makerspaces” to host communities of supportive peers and mentors invested in creating everything from nail polish design and webpages to jewelry and robots . . . and now, even school curriculum.
Continue reading… “Designing classroom ‘makerspaces’ to transform learning in schools”
Coursera students who completed the verified certificate program.
Online education startup Coursera, for the first time is sharing details on how it’s faring on the money-making front: the company said it’s earned $1 million from the verified certificate program it launched in January.
Ninety percent of the overall decline in enrollment was from students over 25.
For the first time in six years the number of college students has declined, according to new Census figures released this week. The half-a-million-student drop is “a huge decline,” Census Bureau statistician Julie Siebens told me. This sounds like bad news, but it could actually be a sign of good news. It means the labor market is — slowly, but surely — getting better.
Continue reading… “College enrollment declined in 2012, but for good reasons”
In 2004, 30% of undergraduate computer science degrees awarded at Carnegie Mellon were to women.
Allan Fisher, the Associate Dean of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, realized there was a gender ratio problem in the department in 1995. Only 7% of freshman computer science majors were women. Along with Jane Margolis, a social scientist, Fisher tried to figure out what they could do to change the ratio. By 2000, 42% of the freshman class was made up of women.
Revenues for game-based learning will grow to $2.3 billion by 2017.
According to recent analysis, the global market for learning games and simulations is growing and likely to continue to expand over the next few years, driven in large part by the booming use of mobile technologies.
Continue reading… “Global demand for learning games and simulations is surging”
In 2009, over 4 million students were taking some sort of course online.
The insertion of the internet into our daily lives sure has changed the landscape of how distance learning has evolved and is consumed, there was certainly a lot of history that preceded it. The infographic below takes a look at the strides distance learning has made over the years and really highlights how the internet has really helped to expand the offerings to many more people.
Continue reading… “The history of distance learning: Infographic”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.