Learning Innovation

Moretti's The New Geography of Jobs is the perfect companion to Bill Bishop's fine book The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Where Bishop talks about the social and cultural impact of the geographic clustering by education and skills, Moretti explains the economic outcomes of this trend.

How can we possibly review Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise after the election? Silver is perhaps the most overexposed pollster of all time. His NYTimes FiveThirtyEight blog was a must read for many of us during the run-up to 11/6/12.

Apple's iTunes U app and the accompanying web based iTunes U Course Manager remains the least noticed but potentially the most important edtech innovation of 2012.

Blackboard is at a critical point in the company's development. No longer in LMS or product acquisition mode. No longer public. No longer led by one of its founders. No longer able to buy up its competition and grow market share by acquisition. No longer a single flagship LMS provider. No longer a predominantly platform company.

Close your eyes. Now answer the question, what pops into your mind when you hear "Desire2Learn"? Okay, you can open your eyes.

Did you check out the Pearson's OpenClass booth at EDUCAUSE? If not, it is worth spending some time on the new OpenClass site www.openclass.com.

Every job is in some way fascinating. I'm particularly interested in how you earn your living. Those of us who are in some way associated with higher ed, and who gather in this community to learn and share what we know. Jeanne Marie Laskas is one of us, an associate professor and director of the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh. Maybe in her next book she will turn her attention closer to home (or maybe your campus or office), but the lack of higher ed people in Hidden America should not dissuade you from reading this terrific book.

What are your big takeaways for EDUCAUSE 2012?