Blogs

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bill Gates (or, at least, Microsoft). Cisco and Philips, SAS and IKEA, Rajendra Pachauri and Gro Harlem Brundtland. What they have in common is called Sustainia. And what that attempts to be isn't common at all right now, but aspires to be so in the future. The near future.

As is the case with most teachers, I have a stash of tricks that I teach my students to help...

Jeremy Rifkin seems to be convinced that the world (at least the European world) is enamored with Jeremy Rifkin. Perhaps he is correct. Much of the The Third Industrial Revolution is spent recounting endless meetings with European Union technocrats.

We are pleased to announce the launch of The Gradhacker Podcast! Alex Galarza and Andrea Zellner co-host Episode 1: Flipping the Classroom, in which they interview Dr. Ken Frank, a professor at Michigan State who has employed the technique of ‘Flipping the Classroom’ in his courses. They also discuss a number of blog posts including: “Publishing Your Presentations Online”,“Negotiating the Dating Scene in Grad School”, and “Branding Yourself: Not as Painful as You Think”.

Universities are developing more strategies for students and faculty to engage with each other and communities outside of traditional educational settings. Right now I am traveling with students from my university “down the bayou” in Dulac, Louisiana, introducing them to the environmental story of disappearing wetlands and an estuary in crisis. The trip is part of an alternative spring break option — a competitive program at my university where students choose between either national or international trips that take them to communities with critical issues such as poverty, housing or the environment.

We had another great discussion in our Strategy and Competition in Higher Education class last night. This one was on disruptive innovation in higher education and featured a very special guest.

A new, young correspondent writes: "What departments/subjects, in your experience, do community colleges have the greatest demand for? Which, if any, departments do administrations have difficulty filling positions in? Simply put, which Masters degree would make me most valuable as a candidate: Political Science, Economics, History or an MBA?"

The first thing that strikes me about the new iPad is the inclusion of 4G LTE cellular, in addition to 3G networks including HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA. The assumption is that a combination of Wi-Fi and "two cellular antennas tuned to 12 different bands that access a larger frequency spectrum" will create constant web connectivity.