Learning Innovation

The idea that Google is better positioned than Apple to impact global higher education may seem counterintuitive.

The Good News: Audible.com has finally started to roll out some social features designed to crowdsource audiobook buying recommendations by connecting subscribers with reviewers (and reviews) that may be of interest. The Bad News: I only have 2 followers.

There was an interesting exchange in the comments section In Audrey Watters' recent (terrific) review of the new Chromebook over at her Hack Education home.

Maybe I expect too much from Apple. Each time that I watch a WWDC Keynote I hold out some degree of hope that education will move from the periphery to the core in Apple's strategy.

When I was in 9th grade (in 1984) I subscribed to 4 car magazines: Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, and & Automobile. Today, my fondest dream is to own zero cars and to rent an occasional Zip Car (preferably a Prius, Volt, or Leaf) whenever the need for driving should arise.

The other day I sat in on an online synchronous session in a graduate blended degree program. As I watched the session I kept thinking to myself "YES!" Yes - this is the sort of learning that technology can catalyze. Yes - this is the educational experience we would would construct if getting learners and faculty together at one place around an oval table is not feasible. And yes - we need to find a way to share the potential of education at a distance to match the quality of a face-to-face seminar.

Dean Dad kicked off a great discussion in his column yesterday asking "What Should a Year of College Cost?". His post, and the dialogue that followed, got me thinking about this question from an academic technology perspective.

I've been thinking about the library, and the librarian, as a campus hub. The role of the library in connecting academic disciplines and functional staff areas (computing, admissions, student affairs etc.) together seems to grow in proportion to the degree that these areas become more and more specialized. The library, and the librarians connected to the library space, seem to have some key advantages as connectors.