New Media Literacy --ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media and to leverage these media for persuasive communication. . Over the weekend I ran across an interesting report in The Atlantic from the for-profit University of Phoenix. It looks at what they consider to be the six major drivers of change and the skills that will be necessary to thrive in this environment. . Six Drivers of Change. According to the report, there are six drivers of change: Extreme Longevity --an aging population worldwide. The 10 Skills. Implications for Professional Development. MORE >>

First, Steve Woodruff posted the “Twelve Most Important Questions About Your Identity,&#   and although it’s geared to for-profit corporations, you can easily adapt his questions for a quick assessment of your organization’s overall vision or plans for its learning component… Either way, great brainstorming starters. But, assuming you don’t have that kind of time, here’s another post worthy of special attention, “Future Skills 2020 and the Implications for Professional Development.&#. link]. *. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. **. MORE >>

Similarly, I could purchase a house for $500k that was a great value pre-2008 and is suddenly a terrible value in 2011. They’ve opted to raise value through a process of integration: content, evaluation/assessment, system to host the content, instructor resources and videos, and so on. India needs to build about 800 new universities by 2020. Higher education faces a value crisis. Value is a fuzzy concept. In theory, I can purchase a $3 steak that isn’t a good value. Or a $20 hamburger that is a great value. It is easy to duplicate. UNESCO states that (.pdf) MORE >>

TEDxSPSU was held on March 12, 2011 at Sir Padampat Singhania University, Udaipur, India, with the theme Order from Chaos. We have 200 million school going children, over 16 mn higher education students (expected to touch 40 mn in 2020), 35 geographical and ethnic units, 22 official languages, 1.25 It’s a pity that the largest education companies are built on standardizing content and assessments not enriching experience. It’s a pity that education technology today means Learning or Assessment Management Systems and page turning multimedia content in classrooms. MORE >>

It starts with the references to scale (40 mn Higher Ed students by 2020). Another surprising omission was a lack of discussion on new innovations (except for a brief session on New Frontiers in Assessments, which I thought was good and not just because I was one of the speakers) that could prove to be critical in a country this size. The good thing in the Assessments panel, moderated by Madan Padaki (from Manipal who incidentally was given a well deserved award for his contribution to the education sector), was that I heard something which was music to my years. Tharoor. MORE >>