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5 Trends Guiding Future ‘Changemaker Universities’

May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This is a great article. What is your university doing to be a “Changemaker” in Education?

educationfuture

Image via Google Image

Innovators in education, those leading universities and those working at the fringe to disrupt them, have been debating the future of higher education. That future was at the heart of discussion at the at the 2013 Ashoka U Exchange at the University of San Diego, which featured presidents and provosts from four countries representing a dozen diverse universities.

Five broad themes are expected to be relevant to future entrepreneurship education models and university curricula: open systems with continuous access, blended boundaries, human connectivity, integrated wholeness, and a focus on solutions.

What follows is a synthesis and further reflection on what we can expect from the universities of tomorrow.

Open Systems with Continuous Access
Future educational models will focus on providing both quality and scalability of learning resources by adopting open systems designs. Universities will increasingly become more accessible to underserved students both locally and globally. Universities will also become more flexible and agile in allowing students to leave and re-enter the system, and there will be the same intentionality placed on attracting students to return to school as there is on attracting first-time students.

Learning will incorporate new tracking mechanisms that document educational outcomes throughout individuals’ lifetimes from pre-school to workforce and beyond.

Blended Boundaries
Tomorrow’s education system will recognize and respect that our human endeavors and life stages have moved from discrete to blended. Play-learn-work are still segmented activities, but not for much longer. Not only will we increasingly be learning while playing and working, we also will conceptualize less and less that our life span is segmented into four segments: play (childhood), learn (childhood to adult), work (adult), and play (retirement).

Universities have focused the largest portion of their educational resources on the learning phase from childhood to adulthood. However, with longer life spans and improved health outcomes, universities are increasingly seeing a demand for education preparation for a second phase of work, or the “encore years.” Career and work choices at this time are likely to be less driven by livelihood factors and more likely to be driven by passion and perceived impact. Thus, there is a large and growing interest in “encore” careers in the social sector.

Today, older college students stand out like a streaker on campus, but future changemaker educational models will find ways to tap into and connect the rich, real-world experiences of encore learners with the creativity and spirit of younger learners. Universities will increasingly become age-free as they develop and facilitate peer-to-peer learning and teaching across generations.

Human Connectivity
Embracing technological advances will not devalue, but rather redefine the human value component of learning and teaching. Students often learn most from teaching their fellow students. The old adage, “The best way to learn something is to teach it,” remains true. In a world where humans across the planet are increasingly connected to each other through technology, peer-to-peer learning takes on an added dimension of scalability and potentially effective crowd-based learning.

The future role of the professor in the changemaker university classroom setting may increasingly revert back to the personal tutor and mentor roles of the earliest university professors. More knowledge dissemination will effectively occur outside the classroom, and a greater degree of knowledge integration and personalized tutoring likely will occur within the classroom.

Integrated Wholeness
While technology and open access can provide a proliferation of discrete educational opportunities, the changemaker university of the future will play a role in designing and providing the meaning and purpose to the education experience. This will occur by ensuring that individual skills like leadership and empathy, and the realignment of values from profits or products to people, are integrated into curricular and experiential learning opportunities.

See Full Article (Forbes): Here

 

See related articles here:

 

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Five Sweet Tips To Help You Master iTunes On Mac OS X

May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I have to be honest with you, I get confused a lot with how to use iTunes. And I use a mac everyday! My music and apps are a mess and it often takes me some time to step back and reacquaint myself with how to use iTunes effectively. Well — Cult of Mac has some great tips to help you get your iTunes in order and may actually become an expert user. Enjoy! – Rusty

iTunes has gone from a basic mp3 player based on SoundJam in 2000 to a full-fledged movie and music media player, digital media distribution center, and repository of all your iOS apps. That’s quite a lot of functionality for a music player.

iTunes is still a pretty decent media player, even if it feels rather bloated at times when your music and movie collection grows out of control. However, like anything else complex, it can be a little tricky to figure out how to use iTunes most effectively.

Here, then, are five simple yet helpful tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your iTunes experience.

Find and Delete Duplicate Songs From iTunes On Your Mac

duplicateitunes

One of the changes in iTunes 11, which debuted in November of last year, was the loss of a “find all duplicates” feature that was really handy for finding and deleting duplicate files in our rather voluminous iTunes libraries. Luckily, Apple re-included the feature in the latest version of iTunes 11, version 11.0.1. Here’s where to find it, and how to use it to help yourself clean up that iTunes library.

Make sure you have the latest copy of iTunes, of course–head into Software Update and let it do its thing. UPdate iTUnes to the latest version

Once you have iTunes launched, head up to the View menu and choose “Show Duplicate Items.” The iTunes media window should then update, showing you all the files that are considered duplicates. The list will include all versions of the files that seem to be the same, so be careful you don’t just Select All and Delete.

Which file should you dump? Well, if they’re exact duplicates, it won’t matter. The best way to figure out whether they are, in fact, twinsies, is to use the Information window, which can be brought up with a Command-click on each of the duplicated files, then hitting Command-I on your keyboard. Click over to the Info tab and then use the arrows in the lower left to flip through the info about each file. If you don’t notice any difference in bit rate or encoding, or whatever might change from one file to the next, you have perfect duplicates. Delete either one. If, however, you see that one file is at a lower encoding rate, or is perhaps a lower-quality recording, get rid of that one.

Update: One of our readers points out that there’s another way to make sure the duplicates are exactly the same: hit the Option key when selecting the Show Duplicate Items in the View menu. The option will change to Show Exact Duplicate Items, and you can use that to be super sure you’ve got the same files duplicating up the place. (Thanks, Technochick!)

Multiple Artists–Building A Better Smart Playlist

multipleart

Smart Playlists are fantastic, and they really do work to help you listen to the kind of music you’re in the mood for, using a variety of user-controlled criteria. You can create a Smart Playlist for any given Artist in your iTunes library fairly easily.

But what if you want a playlist that includes more than one Artist? Well, that’s pretty simple, too.

First up, launch iTunes. We’re using iTunes 11.0.2 for this tip, so if you’re using an earlier version, your options may (or may not) vary.

Once iTunes is launched, click on the iTunes menu, and choose New, then Smart Playlist. The dialog box that shows up will look familiar to anyone who’s created a mail rule/filter before. Fill in the first artist you want to include in your Smart Playlist (iTunes will try and autofill from the Artists in your collection), and then click on the plus button to the right. A second Artist field will show up. Fill in the second artist you want to add, and hit the plus button for every new artist you want to include in your playlist.

Then, above, where it says “Match all of the following rules,” click on the word “all” and change that to “any.” Feel free to limit the number of items or time, and allow for Live updating if you want the Smart Playlist to include new music you add after you’ve created it.

Click on the OK button in the lower right, and you’ll get to name the playlist in the sidebar, which just calls it “playlist” by default. Name it how you want, hit Return, and then you’ve got a playlist that includes music from any of the artists in your ruleset. Nifty, huh?

Via: Addictive Tips

See Full Article (Cult of Mac): Here

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An event for Men that will change your life!

April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I wanted to open this up to any of the men who read my blog. I would love to invite you to the Mighty Men’s Conference 2013 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. It’s going to be a life changing event. If you’ve never seen Angus Buchan speak, then you haven’t lived.

If you’re struggling with life, looking for God or just want to be strengthened in your daily walk, this is for you. Come join me, I would love to see you there. – Rusty

Might Men’s Conference Site: Here

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Leadership starts from where your are

April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Not from someone or somewhere else!

Leadership is a term that commands a certain respect. When I typically think of the great leadership, I often look at great leaders as just being predestined or that God had given them gifts that the average person just didn’t get. Not True!

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. —Max DePree

That’s just a perception, and as you know with most perceptions — they’re wrong. The truth is, anyone can develop the skills and the attitude it takes to become a great leader, you just have to recognize it in yourself and take the right steps to make it happen.

Here are 4 easy steps that you can take today to become the leader you wish to be.

  1. Develop Influence – Leadership is essentially about influence. Effective leadership is about the effect that you have on someone else and what you can do to make the greatest impact. You may be saying to yourself that you don’t influence anyone, but the reality is — you do! Just by working with others, you have a direct influence on their lives and attitudes. This doesn’t just go for anyone that works below you but anyone that works above you as well. Even if you still don’t believe you have influence on others, you still have the ability to influence yourself and that’s where you can make the greatest difference.
  2. Be Intentional – You’ll never become a the leader you want to be unless you take the first step and make an intentional choice to become one. And once you choose, you’ll have to be very intentional about the choices you make from that moment forward. I’m not saying that you have to question every decision or action you make everyday but it will change how you want others to see you and it will make you be more intentional about the actions you take.
  3. Foster a Positive Attitude – The ol’ adage “Attitude is Everything” is critical if you want to have effective leadership. Your ideas and thoughts shape your mindset, which in turn shapes your outcomes on everything you do. Let’s face it, the reality is that the negative side of situations will always be there but a positive perspective can help you decide if you’re going to be a positive influence on others or a negative one. The choice is up to you.
  4. Serve Others - You can’t lead if you’ve never followed. And one of the greatest ways to follow is to serve others. Effective leaders know this and this is what separates the good leaders from the great ones. It will give you great perspective as well. If you walked a mile in someones shoes, they will tend to follow.

Leadership can happen anywhere. All it takes is a the right mindset and a few simple actions. Don’t wait for someone else to give it to you, take the steps and become the effective leader you were born to be.

 

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College Degrees With the Highest Starting Salaries

April 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A new salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has some good news for 2013 college graduates. The average starting salary for 2013 grads earning bachelor’s degrees has risen to $45,000, up 5.3% from the average starting salary for the class of 2012. (I’ve rounded NACE’s numbers to the nearest $1,000).

Image via Google Image

Image via Google Image

A Bethlehem, Pa. non-profit, NACE links college placement offices with employers. Its employer members tend to be large companies. For its salary survey it went beyond its members and combed through data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau and a master set of data developed by a compensation measurement company called Job Search Intelligence. The new survey is NACE’s first look at starting salaries for the class of 2013. It will put out an updated survey in September.

“The sizable gains in several disciplines—particularly in health sciences and business—have helped to drive up the average starting salary for the class of 2013,” said NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes in a statement.

Health sciences grads are enjoying the biggest increase, 9.4%, over 2012, with a starting salary of $50,000.The gain for business majors is 7.1%, bringing the average salary for the discipline to $54,000. Salaries are also increasing for education and computer science grads. Education majors are making $40,000, 5.1% more than in 2012, and computer science grads are earning $60,000, a 4.3% hike from 2012.

Though salaries for engineers didn’t increase as much as salaries for other specialties, engineering is still the top-earning degree, with an average 2013 starting salary of $63,000. That’s up 4% from 2012. Computer science majors come in second. Business majors make the third-highest salaries at $54,000.

See Full Article (Forbes): Here

See related articles here:

  • The Value of a Major « Citizen Economists – … for its own collapse. And this collapse will come at the hands of those who have fully committed themselves to the government’s own propaganda. How fitting. Economic Theory · civil unrest, college, education, salaries …
  • The Real Benefits of a College Education | – Blogs@Baruch – CUNY – These articles and blogs normally discuss average salaries of college grads, and compare them to people who did not go to college, and then compare the costs of colleges to these stats; however, these discussions normally …

 

Filed Under: Business, Education, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Barriers To Innovation, And How To Break Through

April 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This is a a very good, thought provoking article and I would love to know what you think. When you think of Innovation in business, “Does the US lead the rest of the world in Innovation?” – Rusty

This article is by Janie Curtis, lead brand architect for The Telocity Group, a strategy and innovation company.

In an economy that desperately needs a kick-start, why is innovation still not playing the central role that it needs to play? GE’s 2013 Global Innovation Barometer returned results that indicated that over 90% of global executives and 88% of U.S. executives believe that innovation is a strategic priority and that 92% said that it was the main ingredient for a more competitive economy. At the same time, over 90% of all new products introduced to the U.S. market every year fail, and the U.S. ranks only 10th in innovation behind countries such as Finland and Hong Kong.

Image via Google Images

Image via Google Images

With innovation so important to the general health of our economy and the ability of our businesses to compete in a global environment, why are U.S. consumers not being introduced to a plethora of exciting new products and services? Most of us in the United States tend to feel that quality of life and the innovations that make life easier are miles ahead of those in other countries. Yet, I recently was exposed to a Korean innovation where busy people can buy products from a pharmacy by taking pictures of those products on a computer screen right on the store window. I am sure that most people would be surprised to hear that such innovations exist in Asia that don’t exist here. InBrazil, international clothing retailer C&A recently introduced hangers that have digital displays showing how often each item has been liked on Facebook. Very cool!

However, if you ask the average consumer in the U.S. to name an innovative company, the first name that will probably come to mind is Apple. If you ask them to name innovative products, they will probably mention the iPhone or the iPad. Surely with the thousands of companies in the U.S. that are pursuing innovation programs on an ongoing basis, a few more should rise to the top?

So even though U.S. companies continue to place a high priority on innovation, much of it ends up being manifested in small tweaks on current products, rather than ideas that represent significant steps forward–think the light bulb or even the good old wheel. Somehow a new type of washing powder seems to pale in comparison. So does this mean that there is no more room for really significant, life-changing innovations, or has the business environment changed to the degree that it is almost impossible to innovate on that level?

One of the interesting statistics coming out of the GE study was that over 50% of U.S. executives believe that new innovation models or processes are needed in order to accelerate the rate of introduction of market-changing ideas. In some ways, I’m surprised this number isn’t higher, and this is why. Based on some of the innovation processes that are in place at some of the Fortune 500 companies, I would make the observation that these processes are thorough but perhaps not exactly inspiring. When it comes to steps within the process and the checks and balances that are in place to make sure that sub-standard ideas don’t move forward, there is a great deal of rigor. However, within those same processes, there is often a lack of rigor around the need to engender a level of inspiration and creativity that would enable the members of the innovation team to launch new products that are more than tweaked facsimiles on what is already on the market. Frequently, the idea-generation part of the process doesn’t go beyond getting a group of smart people in the room with a pad and starting to put ideas up on the wall. This can work very well in terms of generating those marginal adjustments on the existing category reality, but often does not provide enough fodder for real leaps of the imagination.

See full Article (Forbes): Here

 

See more great article:

  • Stimulating Business Innovation – New Economy Working Paper … – The New Economy report launched this week provides a solid foundation on which to build Manchester’s prominent position as UK’s second City. We now need to move policy and strategic thinking into tangible activities that generate a pipeline of gazelles and gorillas. These are the terms that define businesses, which employ skilled people, generate foreign earnings and help to create vibrant and thriving local economies.
  • How Facebook Finds The Best Design Talent, And Keeps Them … – digital stories about people, music and the industry…historias demacondo.
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Coca-Cola’s content strategy video to gain more customers

March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you haven’t seen the content marketing strategy from Coca-Cola, then you should take a look. It will give you insight into how traditional marketing is being disrupted and changed by social media. As you well know, I make my living in a world of disruptive technology and this fits perfectly into the message that I hope my customers hear in education.

How you connect and share with your customers has changed forever. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, it’s the way to grow your business.

- Rusty

Do you think Social Media has changed what you pay attention too and the products you buy? Leave me a comment in my comments section.

 

Filed Under: Business, Featured, Technology

Why I monitor my kids’ Social Media and why you should too!

March 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I recently read an article on Forbes called, “Don’t fear your kids’ technology use“ and it really hit home with me. Monitoring my kids are using social media activities has always been a hobby of mine because I believe that it’s every parents responsibility to monitor what their kids are doing on social media and give guidance on how to use it responsibly. If you’re afraid of how kids’ are using social media, then maybe it’s time you joined the community and started looking around.

Image via spotonlists.com

Image via spotonlists.com

My teenagers have been using social media for years, and typically, refrained from a lot of the horror stories that are keeping parents up at night. I’m not saying it’s been a smooth ride, but for the most part, they’ve been able to use it and not make me want to hide my face in public. I attribute a lot of their actions to discussing the expectations and best practices, but more importantly because they know “Big Brother” is watching.

Let’s face it, kids have seven ways to Sunday to stay connected to their friends today. And with the ever abundant app store bringing us new ways to share, it’s almost overwhelming to try and keep up. But keep up, we must!

Here are 5 reason’s “Why” I monitor my kids’ Social Media and why you should too!

  1. Monitor their actions – I hate to say it, but kids are stupid. Well, maybe not stupid but definitely not smart enough to make wise choices. They believe that what they do in this moment is “no harm, no foul”. Even when your kids know that you’re monitoring their lives, they still put stuff on-line, like no one’s watching. This is simply not the case. I watch, and if you want to find out what is going on, you should watch too.
  2. Follow them – Require that your kids let you follow them. That way they know you’re there, but more importantly, it doesn’t give them a sense of free reign. This is not just for Twitter, it’s for everything. Even the sites that you don’t know about and then happen to stumble across by mistake. It’s like letting the leash out a little at a time.  Don’t get me wrong, you’re not trying to keep them from using social media, you just want to give them guidance on how to use it best.
  3. Set the example – This one is a tough one, especially if you’re not a fan of social media, but you gotta do it. Get on-line, get yourself an account and take off! I’m not saying you have be the next social media expert but how can you give your kids guidance if you’ve never used it. There is a ton of information on-line for best practices for using social media and they’re just a click away. Go find it, repurpose it for your situation and help set the best example of the right way to represent themselves. Who knows, you may even enjoy it.
  4. Build community – My kids give me a hard time about this one. I tend to say a lot of dumb dad stuff on-line and they’re the first ones to see it. I think I’m very cool, but apparently, that’s in my own mind. Whether your not as cool as you think or are super cool in your kids eyes, social media can bring you closer to your kids. Social Media is about being social, and about a community, so why not use it as a way to stay connected to their everyday lives. You may actually have learn a lot about your kids personalities just by staying connected.
  5. Social Media last forever – Here’s where it gets serious. Social media goes viral in a millisecond and long standing opinions by others can be formed instantly. Even if you think that you can stop it by deleting your account, once it hits someone else’s device, it’s public. And there is nothing you can do about it. Not to mention that once it’s out, it’s permanent and open for every future employer, husband/wife or friend to see. Kids need to be careful of the opinions and images they share because that will become their social reputation. Just like you didn’t want to be that girl or that guy in school, neither do you on-line.

I hope you gained a little insight as to why I think it’s important to follow my kids on social media and why you should too. If you think I’m crazy, or spot on, I would love for you to leave a comment. One last thing as I go.

What are you doing to monitor your kids on-line?

Rusty Boozer is the founder of rustyboozer.com, a blog about living and working with purpose. He writes about Leadership, Technology, Education and how to add value to the lives of others. Follow him @rusbooz1

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5 Lessons in Learning and Leadership

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This is a great post from Meghan M. Biro in Forbes on Leadership. Enjoy! – Rusty

leadlearnfeature

Here in the Boston, Cambridge we are lucky, there’s a college around every corner. Harvard, M.I.T., Wellesley, Boston University, the list goes on and on. Our streets, libraries and local coffee shops are clogged with passionate  students shelling out 40k (plus extras) a year for the privilege of earning those coveted diplomas.

I hate to be a bubble-burster, but some of them may be overpaying. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge proponent of education, and a degree from a top-flight school still counts. But we’re seeing a sea change in the kind of learning the marketplace is demanding. That start-up in Silicon Valley or Williamsburg, Brooklyn cares more about your passion, social-media skills and ability to keep learning than it does about that little piece of paper from your alma mater. And established companies are realizing that they need people who have their pulse on emerging knowledge, innovation and markets. In a nutshell: these days the learning curve stops at the grave and starts very early in our careers.

So whether you’re a leader, manager, employee or freelancer, it’s time to start actively learning to maintain career momentum. Please, no groans. I’m not talking about homework and pop quizzes. I’m talking about igniting your curiosity, following your bliss, and exploring the infinite possibilities of real-world, social media and online learning.

Here are 5 steps to jump start your adventure in learning:

1. Take inventory. What are your strengths, and more importantly, what are your weaknesses and limitations? This is both in relation to your organization, and to the larger world of work. Write them down. Be honest. This inventory is your roadmap to action.

2. Know your options. You need to know what’s out there: where are the on-line courses, social media, and real-world, non-digital opportunities to learn? Stay focused on two things: first, what will help you bolster your strengths, up your performance, and grow as a leader; and second, what excites you. Which leads me to:

3. Follow your passion. We all remember sitting through classes that bored us to tears. Invariably we did poorly in those subjects. There may be some basics you need to know for the specific demands of your work. Nail those. Then turn to what turns you on. Follow your natural curiosity. Obviously, this can’t be the extinct birds of Borneo? Or can it? If some subject or endeavor really stimulates you, it may well contain nuggets of applicable, actionable wisdom. Make a list of what excites you. Find online communities of like-minded people. And watch the sparks fly and the learning start.

See Full Article (Forbes): Here

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Is Your Org Chart Driving Customers Away?

March 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I heard a quote one time that said “Culture eats Strategy everyday”! It really is true that most companies still make decisions in a vacuum with a narrow view. Are you still more interested in ogr. charts or are you looking outside your comfort zone to understand the reason “Why” you are serving your customers? What’s your Purpose?

- Rusty

Image via Google

Image via Google

Companies today accept an abhorrent level of dysfunction as the status quo. Studies show that knowledge-workers spend half their day in meetings and employee engagement is at an all-time low. More people than ever hate their jobs and many feel they are drowning in bureaucracy and politics.

It affects everything: the top-line, the bottom-line and employee esteem.

When company culture encourages employees to seek performance feedback from their peers instead of customers, reporting is skewed to impress rather than assess; problems that impact customers are hidden instead of fixed. Departments play blame games between each other to save their own derrières rather than fix problems and serve customers. Knowledge workers spend more time collaborating than getting work done and are measured by how well they play politics instead of customer satisfaction and repeat purchases.

It all started when the division of labor proved triumphant for manufacturers in the early 1900s. This established an accepted status quo that stronger specialization improves productivity, leading to the hierarchical structure of organizations we all know today. We treat knowledge-workers like an assembly line and force, unnatural, extreme specializations using the same rationale as the division of labor. This obsession with specialization has become an engrained part of our thinking since childhood, but the assembly line doesn’t translate well to modern work environments.

The assembly line utopia many think of as being the target for work processes, except that each person has to have a meeting with their neighbors before any task can be completed. As the company grows, your neighbors grow from a few, to a few dozen and before you know it ten meetings need to take place before you complete a simple task.

We have to abandon the assembly line mindset and adopt new models of organizing employees; one that is organized around the customer. Specialization is needed to an extent, but what we need more of are experts on individual customers and markets.  Generalists with cross-functional experience and diverse backgrounds improve organizational agility, productivity and decision-making.

Just as technology and business culture have evolved since the early 1900s, so must our antiquated organizational structure. Dion Hinchcliffe’s model of pods of employees, who are each organized around a business process or customer interaction offers a much better model by putting workers into smaller, more functional teams that are organized around the customer.

See Full Article (Forbes): Here

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