Learning Innovation

Every project that technology touches (which now means most things we do in higher ed) should be looked at through the lenses of quality, access and costs. It is no longer adequate to address one or two legs of this three legged stool.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the 65th Education Writers Association (EWA) National Seminar, held this year at the University of Pennsylvania. I was invited to sit on a panel discussion with the topic "Will Open Source College Courses Roil the Waters?" The session description read:

How do you choose your books? We need to choose books that offer a high R.O.T. (return on time). The opportunity costs of reading are heavily weighted toward time rather than dollars.

Why should higher ed and ed tech people care about the valuation of Facebook? Does it really matter if a bunch of young technologists and investment bankers get fabulously rich, and if a group of wealthy, visionary or gullible investors make or lose tons of money?

This is one of those books that I wouldn't buy at $10.87, the paperback price, but was happy to pickup at as an e-book for $3.95. This is not an argument about the quality of the book (we will get to that in a minute), but more about its publication date.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and technology and media investor, is getting some buzz around the web for his blog post "The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why the Economy Won't Get Better Any Time Soon".

What would Detroit look like today if the University of Michigan had not moved from the city (after the university's founding in 1817) to Ann Arbor in 1837? Imagine what U of M's $8 billion endowment and 40,000 students would mean to the city today?

The great thing about my job is that I get to combine theory (on how technology is changing higher ed) with practice (choosing and running ed tech platforms). The tough thing about my job is the clarity in which I see the limits of my ed tech management and decision making powers.