My Day

Introducing THATCamp Kentucky

This June 1-2, 2013, the University of Kentucky will be hosting in the W.T. Young Library the first THATCamp in the state of Kentucky. We’re hoping to attract students and scholars of all levels and experience who are interested in the intersection of technology and the humanities (broadly defined). THATCamp is an “unconference” which means that (among other things) what we do during the camp is entirely up to you, the participants. All you need to bring is your laptop or tablet computer and your ideas. THATCamp is also affordable; in fact, there isn’t a registration fee at all.

Registration is now open at http://kentucky2013.thatcamp.org. You can read more about what is a THATCamp at http://thatcamp.org/about/. Please spread the word and apply today come to Lexington on June 1-2. You can also send questions to thatcampky@gmail.com.

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." H.G. Wells, (1866-1946) The Outline of History (1920) Ch. 41

While this might seem a big extreme to many, it has been underlying many conversations for those of us in the business of education. Change is coming - and it's coming fast. Drew Faust, president of Harvard University and historian, on change management.  Her interview focuses on what she's learned from Lincoln and what the Civil War teaches us about the human tendency to resist change. Her recommendations for higher education leaders are compelling: to work closely with the very people who are impacted the most by that change.  Yet, this short interview does not address how leadership can best "work with" those who are at such a distance from the leadership in both economic and powerholding status. In a time of great disruption and distrust on all sides, there is much to be done to address the chasms between values and beliefs that is becoming more evident every day inside and around higher education.

In the Edfuture MOOC, we're studying Big Data and Analytics this week.  If we agree that learning analytics is more than just metrics projected on a ledger sheet, then we can envision the strategic plan behind the metrics... and how it can be revised or even destroyed.   In Jacqueline Bichsel's "Analytics in Higher Education: Benefits, Barriers, Progress, and Recommendations (Research Report)" for ECAR in August 2012, we learned that analytics is a process that has the following steps:

(a) starting with a strategic question,
(b) finding or collecting the appropriate data to answer that question,
(c) analyzing the data with an eye toward prediction and insight,
(d) representing or presenting findings in ways that are both understandable and actionable, and
(e) feeding back into the process of addressing strategic questions and creating new ones (p. 6).

Sally Johnstone, Vice President for Academic Advancement at Western Governors University, says they have a clear understanding of what "student success" is and all the different components of this nontraditional university work toward these common understandings in their everyday activities and in their strategic planning (see the two minute video of her interview here on Vimeo). Many times these concepts and design infrastructures are left behind administrative doors and the students are left to navigate the system on their own - see Tristan Denley speaking on how the students at Austin Peay are encouraged to use institutional data to make informed decisions in their choices of learning pathways (see the Vimeo of Provost Denley here).

Think of learning analytics and think of ribosomes.  In the animation above, you see a ribosome (a learning environment that facilitates all the processes).  The dark blue tRNA (course mentors? faculty? teaching assistants? peer mentors?) follow the codes laid out by the mRNA (the academic discipline? the major?) and bring the amino acids (lessons in a curriculum? assessible problems to solve as students work toward course goals?) to the ribosome to be integrated into the final chain to create the proteins (final projects? capstone experiences?) to fuel all living organisms.

We too often envision higher education as a sort of two-dimensional linear experience: freshman then sophomore then junior then senior then graduation then career (or graduate school which becomes the gateway for other careers). There is much we can learn about the interrelationships and moving parts inherent to learning analytics.

P.S. I wish to thank my daughter, a science geek currently at Vassar College and whose work has already been published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, for helping me to explain this analogy. If the analogy is still an awkward fit, it is my fault for not learning more from her as she explained the biological principles to me last night.

Quazzo ended her talk with an important lesson for us all.  For education innovation to "stick," companies and organizations must "deliver a higher ROE" that is, a return on education.  This includes higher visibility of learning outcomes achieved, accessibility, and capacity - while at the same time decreasing cost.

At the ASU/GSV Education Innovation Summit 2012 in Scottsdale last April, GSV Advisors offered up a 93-page document of company profiles poised to redefine the traditional models of education.

http://gsvadvisors.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GSV-ASU-EdInnovation-Summit-2012-Company-Profiles.pdf

I have quickly scanned the document and list the following three that intrigued me the most:

1. Artistotle Circle (www.aristotlecircle.com) founded in 2008 out of New York City  that "leverages social networking, local word of mouth referrals and regional commission-based advisors" in a "hyper-local business model" that offers child assessment, peer tutoring services for preparation, and guidance in school admissions.  Even as the elite schools begin offering open access to their most prized lecturers, the haves-and-have-nots culture in an increasingly conservative U.S. continues.
2. Corporate University Xchange (www.corpu.com) out of Mechanicsburg, PA is rising on the global corporate training market with is set to double in five years. Using a multi-year subscription agreement for both research and executive education programs, the CorpU Academy uses a social-learning platform and content accessible via mobile devices to connect subscribers' employees "to solve complex problems, generate and spread ideas, teach and learning, and capture and share knowledge."  I thought that's what higher education was in business to do?
3. Educurious (www.educurious.org) has a deep bench of executives with experience and has been funded by the Gates Foundation to "break down the barriers between the classroom and the real world, increases students' self-confidence and competencies as they solve real problems and see the results of their work, expands student's career possibilities by connecting them to experts from a range of careers and professions through the Educurious Expert Network (TEEN)."  They are going for the top skills that employers want to see coming out of our schools: collaboration, communication and technology skills. They are using "standards-aligned" lessons with gaming and badges for mastery using "personalized learning pathways" to address the growing drop-out rates (and/or school-to-prison pipelines).  They're working with the University of Washington College of Education and the Institute for Math and Science.  Sounds to me like they need humanities experts too or else the most important components of ethics, critical thinking and creativity will be lost in a barrage of social science "rock on rock" learning.

These are just a few of the extraordinary profiles I stumbled across.  I'll continue to peruse this document, but I'd love to hear from you.  Which companies are your favorites to think about and why?