Charting a Course for the Future Having spent the past decade in the support of higher education faculty, I have had an opportunity to observe the evolution of the faculty development ecosystem. Increasingly, institutions are recognizing the value of providing centralized and systematic faculty development support services, programs and workshops. Providing this level of support for faculty seems to be at an all-time high with studies and reports from practitioners in the field confirming the need for such efforts and administrators giving priority on those initiatives. As we look to the future of higher education faculty development, several trends will persist. Image: MourgeFile In addition to the faculty development programs at their home institutions, there are also more opportunities to participate in a wide range of workshops, webinars, and open courses through other organizations and institutions. The rapid growth of virtual attendance options for faculty, combined with the sheer volume of information and resources available online have resulted in a large selection of programs from which to chose. Faculty are also developing professional learning networks and leveraging social media where they can share their own tips, recommendations and best practices. As new technologies and pedagogical approaches are continually perfected, there are no shortages of opportunities for experimentation and innovation in today’s college classrooms, both physical and virtual. It is easier than ever for faculty to select a new technology tool or instructional methodology and incorporate it into their teaching repertoire. Adaptations of "traditional" teaching methods in physical and virtual classrooms are just a few of the many forces converging to bring about a significant transformation of higher education in both the short and long term. Despite all that has changed in the field, many constants remain. Faculty requiring assistance still seek out personalized support and appreciate having someone they can call or email for a prompt response. Many needs are localized to specific technology or academic system configurations making support provided by the institution critical. As we adopt new systems and processes for meeting evolving student requirements, faculty training on new features and workflows are necessary for envisioned outcomes to become fully realized. Institutions must also continue to serve faculty at varying stages in their academic career, from junior to mid-career to senior faculty status. Furthermore, tracking completion of professional development programs and expressed support continues to provide important data points that can inform both administrators and support staff on the progress made and challenges still to be met. As I look to the future of higher education faculty development, I see several trends that I believe will persist in the coming years: 1. More ‘Just-In-Time’ Training and Resources As technology for easily creating and sharing information and learning artifacts becomes even more commonplace, the number of training aids and resources will continue to grow. Faculty are becoming quite comfortable searching online for quick answers to technical and/or pedagogical questions as they arise and likely will not wait for a formalized training session. Educators are seeking training materials and resources made available in bite-sized pieces; easy to find and readily at hand. 2. Curation of Available Professional Development Resources As the vast number of resources expand, so will the necessity for curating and help options that highlight the most applicable and relevant needs for a given scenario. While we are beginning to see the use of bookmarking and other social sharing tools with surface resources that a mass of users have viewed, liked, etc., there is room for continued tool improvement and systems to augment manual curation approaches. I envision an Amazon-style recommendation paradigm to become commonplace; where after accessing a resource, faculty are advised on other helpful alternatives. In the meantime, collections of links, tutorials, and other resources curated by faculty development staff will continue to be sought. 3. Flexible Participation Options for Live Programs and Workshops With workloads continuing to increase for a growing number of part-time and adjunct faculty in face-to-face and online programs, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a large number of faculty to attend live programs and workshops. Flexible participation options for live programs and workshops will go on to flourish and may cover a wide range of possibilities: such as live/online simulcast workshops and archiving programs for on demand access. 4. Recognition of Prior Learning Given the availability of resources and a move toward credentialing prior learning experiences, faculty will continue to seek credentialing and reporting of their professional development activities for career advancement. This emphasis toward recognition will likely involve badges and other digital certification, but will certainly rely on institutions embracing faculty development initiatives completed while at other institutions, or through alternate organizations like the Sloan Consortium. It will be up to institutions to decide how they will accept and recognize certifications and trainings procured through other establishments while simultaneously ensuring that faculty possess skills deemed necessary. 5. Data-Driven Decision-Making As it becomes easier to gather a wide range of data on faculty development outcomes, ever-increasing opportunities exist for this information to be used in guiding future offerings. As data is purposefully collected and analyzed, resulting trends can provide valuable insight into the utility of offerings and inform future decisions on prioritization of finite efforts and resources. 6. Renewed Focus on Mission and Offering Programming and Services to Meet Stated Higher education is facing a time of unprecedented change and those leading faculty development initiatives will be well-served to sharpen their focus on their mission and offer programs and services to meet designated objectives. Initiatives that once met stated needs or requirements may need to be revamped, renewed, or perhaps in some cases discarded so that available resources can be best utilized. Looking Ahead What trends would you add to this list? What will shape the future of faculty development? Leave a comment and join the conversation! Orignally posted 2/4/2014 on Sloan Consortium blog

On April 25, Globe University-La Crosse Massage Program Instructor, Kevin Schulz, and his students teamed up with the University of Wisconsin La Crosse (UWL) football players. These devoted students and their instructor offered some rest and relaxation for the tired and sore Division Three American Football Intercollegiate athletes by hosting a Deep Tissue and Sports Massage Clinic. The massage clinic was designed for these athletes. They were treated to a full body sports massage that included: basic sports massage, trigger point therapy, muscle energy techniques and PNF stretching. One of the football players let us know that "the massage had a wonderful flow to it and the therapist did an amazing job really listening to and addressing my areas for need." The goal of this clinic for the Globe-La Crosse massage therapy students was to gain an idea of what it takes to improve the quality and rate of recovery in non-traditional season American football intercollegiate athletes. The students were concentrating on improving the rate of recovery for these athletes and utilizing sports massage techniques on a sub-population of male athletes. One player let us know that "currently we are in our non-traditional spring football season and between our football and strength training sessions our bodies are becoming pretty beat up.  The massage therapy session really helped with my recovery and restoration." UWL Football Players Participate in Globe Massage Clinic Kevin, the instructor, came up with the idea to work with UWL athletes.  Kevin is not only an instructor here at Globe-La Crosse, but also is the Director of Sports Performance and Assistant Football Coach at UWL. It was the perfect match to have his massage students work with his football players. He plans on offering the clinic on an ongoing basis with this unique pairing of two different schools working together for a common goal. Kevin stated that offering this clinic "prepares the massage student for working on actual athletes who have drastically different muscle dimensions and make up as compared to recreational trained individuals.  They are able to learn modified techniques based on working on substantially larger human beings." The post Globe-La Crosse Campus Teams Up with the University of La Crosse Football Players appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Back in my pre-startup life running corporate development for a large educational publisher I saw dozens, if not hundreds, of education technology companies passionately focused on solving a single problem for instructors, students or administrators. While the focus should have simplified everything they were doing very few of them emerged from the morass to become compelling, scalable businesses with sustainable economics. Why is that? In speaking with educators - across K-12 and higher education - they were literally drowning in the number of small point solutions available, none of which talked to each other. So the educators most willing to experiment might try a polling tool, linking some videos from YouTube or an online simulation in addition to their core curriculum but struggled to put it all together into a cohesive and coherent experience for students. In speaking with hundreds of students, they were similarly overwhelmed by the number of things to click on, download, manage in new windows, tabs or on different devices. From the consumer side, one significant lesson learned since the launch of the iPhone in 2007 is the entirety of the user experience matters and that the bits of friction that all of us dealt with for the first 20 years of PC's can be carefully, and thoughtfully, removed allowing users to focus on -- wait for it -- the experience that they are seeking.  Nothing more, nothing less. Chris Dixon at A16Z, the current Valhalla of Silicon Valley VC, has a great post about the entirety of the experience being what matters. His short-hand is the Full Stack Startup, if you haven't yet read his post I'd highly recommend it. Uber, Nest and Tesla are some of the examples he cites - all end-to-end user experiences where the complexity of what they do is largely, if not completely, invisible. Back to education, when we started on the path two years ago to what has become Junction we unfortunately didn't have the benefit of Chris' insights, but we knew it was critical to deliver a complete experience in a simple, easy-to-use wrapper because focus and time on task matter. So we shrugged off the advice of more than a few friends and industry pundits to build an integration layer for college course materials. Fast forward to what happened next. Instructors and students find Junction to be MORE engaging, MORE effective and MORE affordable than anything else out there. Remove the distractions and you've created an environment where learning can happen. And it scales. And we're already generating millions of rich data points informing how to improve the study and learning process for students. And we're using data to drive recommendations on how to improve the course design and development process for instructors and instructional designers.  And... we're still just getting started. Is it hard to deliver a beautiful user experience, collect rich data and turn it into valuable insights and directed actions and interventions without it looking like a Frankenstein application? You bet. But the payoff in terms of user delight is massive. With over $1 trillion a year in education spending in the U.S. annually (2.6% of GDP just on post-secondary) and sub-par degree attainment and completion rates it's just a question of time until the investment community finds its way into education in bigger numbers where the impact - social and economic - will be more profound than a ride-sharing app or two. We're long the full-stack / whole product approach as being a prerequisite to outsized success in education, come join us on the journey. Picture License  Some rights reserved by Robert S. Donovan

For the next 3 days (April 9-11), I’m attending the 7th Annual International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning, a joint symposium of the Sloan Consortium and MERLOT. This conference is devoted to the emerging and innovative uses of technology designed to improve teaching and learning online. The conference focuses on the technologies that drive online learning effectiveness, highlighting research, applications and best practices of important emerging technological tools. Not only will there be fantastic keynote and plenary sessions, workshops, featured and information sessions, but also an unconference where participants set the agenda, discuss, and share just-in-time! I look forward to participating and on-site as well as the backchannel conversation on Twitter, hashtags #et4online and #unet4online. The Launch Pad is one signature element of this conference, showcasing online education startups who are helping shape tomorrow’s online learning spaces. Whether you are attending in person, virtually, or simply wish to follow the backchannel, I encourage you to take advantage of this great opportunity to learn more about cutting-edge uses of emerging technologies for online teaching and learning. Follow @SloanConsortium, @MERLOTorg, and @et4online on Twitter as well as hashtags #et4online and #unet4online. Also, follow Sloan Consortium on Instagram @SloanConsortium Looking for an easy way to follow the conference backchannel? Try setting-up a custom subscription for #et4online in Flipboard following steps here. My blog posts related to the conference are here.

There have been many exciting announcements coming from the massage therapy program here at Globe University-Eau Claire in recent months. From the new offering of a Friday/Saturday program, which allows working students more flexibility when earning their degree, to numerous on campus events aimed at promoting self-care and wellness, there is certainly a lot to talk about. Adding to all the buzz is now a series of continuing education courses here on campus for existing licensed massage therapists. According to the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, "Beginning with the renewal period commencing on March 1, 2015, each Massage Therapist/Bodywork Therapist must complete 24 hours of continuing education, including two (2) hours of ethics, to renew a license." The series offered here at Globe University-Eau Claire, includes a wide variety of topics such as ethics, aromatherapy and also self-care. Program Chair, Joan Hamilton, is excited to be able to offer continuing education classes here on campus, which have been approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Joan says, "The classes are a great way to expand the offerings here on campus and help massage therapists in need of continuing education.  They also allow us to increase our interaction with the massage therapy community and create a strong partnership among all therapists as the profession continues to grow." Therapists can choose to attend individual classes or the entire series, which will take place on campus Friday June 12th and Saturday June 13th, 2015.  The schedule of classes is as follows:  Ethics Class: June 12, 2015 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Registration Fees: Early Bird - $90, Non-Early Bird - $120 (After May 22nd) Aromatherapy Class: June 12, 2015 from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Registration Fees: Early Bird - $150 plus $20 for Essential Oils, Non - Early Bird - $200 plus $20 for Essential Oils (After May 22nd)   Self-Care Class: June 13, 2015, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM  Registration Fees: Early Bird - $120, Non - Early Bird - $170 (After May 22nd) Those interested in attending can contact the massage therapy program chair, Joan Hamilton, at 715-855-6639 or by e-mail at jhamilton@globeuniversity.edu for more information or to register. *Continuing education (CE) courses are for the purpose of massage professional development activity and are not recognized within the scope of Globe University’s accreditation.  Completion of CE hours does not result in a recognized credential and the hours will not count toward course credit from the institution. The post Globe University Massage Therapy Program Offers CE Classes appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Wed, 4/9/14, 10:30amUnconference Lounge, Exhibit Hall Let’s talk during this unconference spark session at ET4Online about incorporating mobile technologies into the online learning environment. How does the online learning environment change when participants all have mobile devices (and expect to use them See findings of recent study by Chen & Denoyelles (2013) at http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/exploring-students-mobile-learning-practices-higher-education for background on student preferences for mobile. What strategies can we incorporate in the design and delivery of online courses to make them mobile-inclusive? How can we actively engage students online using their mobile devices? Join us at the Unconference Lounge in the Exhibit Hall and bring your ideas! We’ll take notes in the Google Doc here as well as tweet our shared ideas and takeaways using hashtag #unet4online

On this episode of MEP, CEO & Founder of Straighterline, Burck Smith, joins me to chat about self paced learning, educational policy, and where he sees the future of education moving.  DO NOT miss this! Guest Bio: Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Ten years before launching StraighterLine in 2009, he co-founded SMARTHINKING, the largest online tutoring provider for schools and colleges. Burck has written chapters for two books on education policy for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and is working on a third. He is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Higher Education Working Group. Prior to starting SMARTHINKING, Burck worked as an independent consultant who contracted with for-profit and non-profit educational organizations, including clients such as the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Computer Curriculum Corporation, the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, the Milken Exchange on Education and Technology, Teaching Matters Inc., Converge Magazine and others. As a writer about education and technology issues, Burck has been published by Wired Magazine, Wired News, Converge Magazine, University Business and the National School Boards Association. In the early 1990′s, he wrote articles on a variety of subjects including creating community telecommunication networks, electronic access to political information, telecommunications deregulation and the ability of utilities to serve as telecommunications service providers. Burck holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. from Williams College. Recent publications include: Post-secondary, Post "Access" Higher Ed Reform, from the Chapter "Rethinking Accreditation," College 2.0, an Entrepreneurial Approach to Reforming Higher Ed, Kauffman Foundation, June 2012 Public Policy Barriers to Post-Secondary Cost Control - Prepared for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference, "Increasing Accountability in American Higher Education," November 17, 2009. It was published by Macmillan/Palgrave in a book with the equally scintillating title of Accountability in American Higher Education. Price Competition and Course-Level Choice in K-12 Education: Lessons from Higher Ed - Prepared for the American Enterprise Institute Conference, "More Than Just Schools: Rethinking the Demand for Educational Entrepreneurship," December 7, 2009. It was published by Harvard Education Press in The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship. College by Subscription - American Enterprises Institute, September, 2009. For more episodes featuring thought leaders in education visit MeetEducationProject.com, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow Nick DiNardo on Twitter.

Accolades are in order to the 145 Globe University-Online  and 165 Minnesota School of Business-Online students who have had exceptional academic performance to meet the recognition of Honors or Highest Honors for the Winter 2015 quarter. In order to receive Honors recognition a student must achieve a quarterly grade point average of 3.5 or above.  To achieve Highest Honors a student must have a quarterly grade point average of 4.0. Congratulations to the students who have dedicated themselves to their class work to achieve Honors and Highest Honors. Globe University Honors Minnesota School of Business Honors   The post Honors Announced for Globe U & Minnesota School of Business Students appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Thu, 4/10/14, 10:10-11:00amLone Star C4 During this session at the 7th Annual International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning, learn about one instructor’s use of YouTube’s free and easy-to-use features for recording, editing, captioning, and embedding video into his online course. An overview of the steps for recording, editing, captioning, video in YouTube were provided as well as examples shared for various approaches for seamlessly incorporating video into any online course. While the session featured the integrated "video anywhere" YouTube features in Blackboard, the principles provided will be applicable to an online course in any learning management system. A summary of feedback survey results from students regarding their experiences with video in the course was shared as well as lessons learned by the instructor for those wishing to follow the same suggested steps for incorporating video in their own course. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions throughout the session and see first-hand a demo by the instructor of how the video was seamlessly incorporated into the LMS. Accompanying slides are available here and links included in slides shared below. Resource Links Blackboad Learn Quick Hit: Video Everywhere Building Block Sample YouTube Account Profile Verify Your YouTube Account Sample Course Playlist on YouTube Sample Captioned Course Welcome Video Sample Screencast Course Tour Sample Screencast Group Tour Sample How-To Screencast for Video Discussion

Name: +1 Math Website: www.plus1math.com Headquarters: New York, USA Vertical: K-12, STEM Tech: Web App, Mobile App Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. We are creating an online and mobile math app that will help students of all levels master math in a fun and relaxed way. +1 Math is a gamified, social app for smartphone, tablet and desktop computer that prepares students for standardized tests such as The Common Core, and it lets them learn at their own pace. We want everyone to have this program, regardless of income, so we're giving this program away for free to students from low-income families. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. Elie Venezky - Educational Director Phil Cohen - CEO Founder Bios: www.profnetconnect.com/philcohen www.profnetconnect.com/elievenezky We met through mutual friends many years ago and discovered similar interests and philosophies about education and helping children grow and learn. We came together to form Prestige Prep, an academic tutoring and test preparation company in NYC. How was the idea for your startup born? When The Common Core was first introduced, we got a frantic call from Phil's son's math teacher, who said he didn't have enough questions to prepare his students for the test. So Elie created 200 questions that the school used to help kids get ready. The stress around The Common Core is clear. And Elie and Phil both realized that teachers and students needed something extra to get them prepared and confident about the test. So +1 Math was born. What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. Students aren't learning math in a way that's usable or in a way that sticks. Government tests and standards are moving us away from true math knowledge, not towards it. And on top of that, it's adding stress and anxiety. When you see an 8 year-old crying because she's afraid of an exam, you know we have a problem. So we're trying to teach math in a fun, relaxed way that meets students where they are (technology, games, social interaction) and relieve the anxiety around math that so many students and their parents feel. Who are your main competitors? What sets you apart from them? Ixl, Udemy, Aleks. +1 Math is gamified and has a strong social component that makes it more attractive to students. +1 Math is easier to use for both students and parents. The presentation of questions on +1 Math is more similar to actual tests than our competitors' presentation of questions, so our program is better at preparing students for their actual tests. In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. We'll be active all over the US. Who is your target audience. Student users grades 4-12 Parents Teachers who would like to use technology in or outside of the classroom for student-personalized skill building, and to augment standard curriculum. Any student who wants to improve in math. Any student who loves math. Any student who fears math. Parents who want their child to succeed in math and feel more relaxed around the subject. Parents who are nervous about standardized tests. Parents who care about education. How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product. We're meeting students where they are, which means a mixture of gaming and technology. Plus, students have a lot of anxiety around math. When they see that +1Math is a calming, fun way to learn, they'll want to play. On top of that, there are built in social and (optional) competitive aspects that will attract students. What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. You can find our executive summary as part of our online pressroom: http://budurl.com/plus1math $60 for a year's subscription. Free for students from low-income families. If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding. We will have raised over $75,000 from a Kickstarter campaign, and we are now talking with investors to raise a half million. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. We are very proud of achieving our Kickstarter goal. It shows that there is a real need for a math program that students want to use. There is so much anxiety around math. The fact that we are helping alleviate that, and can bring calm to families, makes us very proud. What are the next steps in growing your startup. Our beta is in production and we're starting testing with students. We're also speaking with investors to raise capital. How can people get in touch with you. Email: plus1math@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/plus1mathapp Twitter: www.twitter.com/plus1math Instagram: www.instagram.com/plus1math Web: www.plus1math.com Virtual Press Room: http://budurl.com/plus1math Operation Top 10 Grassroots Movement Google Group Google Community Email: operationtop10@gmail.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/operationtop10 Facebook: www.facebook.com/operationtop10 Instagram: www,instagram.com/operationtop10 Prestige Prep: www,prestigeprep.com Telephone: 800.381.3266 Anything else you would like to add. Math does not have to cause such anxiety. There are clear and direct ways to teach math so that most people can understand and use it. These skills are important for a lot of jobs. We love helping students and we love helping families feel relaxed around education, so they can enjoy each other and concentrate on being together and having fun and less on math homework. With this program, we can help a lot of people.

We’ve all been there. You’re about to get dressed for something important and you look in your closet and think to yourself, "I have nothing to wear." As a member of the Globe University-Madison East Career Services team, I can tell you, we’ve hear this a lot from students or new grads about to embark on interviews. We wanted to eliminate that frustration. Thus, the Career Closet was created! Madison East staff, faculty, and students celebrate the ribbon cutting of the Career Closet. The Career Closet is a closet located on campus in room 214 which acts as an amazing resource for students and alumni in need of some interview clothes. Students or alumni can check out a piece or pieces of clothing just like they would in the library to wear for an upcoming interview or networking event. How does it work? There are four easy steps: Students or Alumni check out a key from the front desk. Head to the closet and pick out the items they’d like to check out. Lock the closet, return the key, and check out the clothing at the front desk. When you are finished with the items, simply launder the items and return them to the front desk. Not only does the Career Closet offer dress pants, suit jackets, ties, blouses, cardigans, skirts, and shoes, but it also has professional padfolios for students to check out and use for job interviews. "Our goal is to support our students and grads through every step of the job search process," said Director of Career Services Elizabeth Disch. "This clothing resource is one more way we are helping our students become successful professionals, particularly as they take on that all-so-important job interview." The post Nothing to Wear? Visit the Career Closet appeared first on Globe University Blog.

I recently attended this fantastic WCET webcast, The Upcoming Higher Education Act Reauthorization: Why the e-Learning Community Should Pay Attention in which a moderated panel will began with a brief history of past HEA reauthorizations and then turn to a conversation among policy experts about what to expect, when to expect it, and how to engage. Anyone involved in the administration or support of distance education or interested in federal policies that impact higher education will find this webcast of value. The chat log, presentation slides, and recorded webcast are all available.

Anne Pfennig is a well-known fixture on the Madison East campus. She has an infectious laugh and is always ready to share a joke or listen to a story. What’s not as known about Anne is that she was so shy during her school years that she wouldn’t speak with other students. During college, Anne made some scary decisions to break free of her shyness. She can now empathize with quiet students in class, but also pushes them to step out of their comfort zones. Anne has been with Globe since its beginnings in the Madison area. She joined the team in 2009 with the opening of the Madison West location. Since then, she’s been a steady presence at both the East and West campuses. Before coming to Globe, Anne racked up quite a lot of experience teaching in a variety of settings. She spent seven years teaching 6-12 grades and has also taught at a community college. Thinking about this background, Anne commented that "my favorite part of working at Globe is developing relationships with my students.  It’s so exciting to see students who value their education and put their all into succeeding. When I taught high school, I dealt with many students who did not want to be there.  I love that our motto is ‘We Care’ because it fits well with my teaching philosophy that all students deserve a chance for success." Anne earned the title of Faculty of the Quarter this term. This distinction is voted on by Globe Madison East faculty and staff. Anne said she was surprised and thrilled to be chosen. "It’s an honor to be chosen by one’s peers for an award," Anne remarked, "I know that we have many excellent teachers here, so I consider myself blessed!" Be sure to congratulate her and thank her for all her hard work. The post Meet Anne Pfennig - Faculty of the Quarter appeared first on Globe University Blog.

The minimum viable product approach to taking digital products to market presents a conundrum for anyone whether within an organisation or as an entrepreneur. The balance is between delight, a good enough product and the biggest one of them all - budget. Once you have pitched for a rough funding figure only to find that it was half of what you need, you are faced with three questions: go to market with a shoddy product, go to market late once you receive that extra funding, or don’t go to market at all. After all, we don’t usually launch products for charity’s sake. I’ve been there - we’ve all been there. But there is another way, and it’s about conceiving the minimum viable product to take to market, but before we explore that, let’s take a step back and look at product. How do you conceive a product in the first place? There are 3 core ways: Find a problem - If you can wedge yourself into someone’s life by solving a problem that they always have, you will be well on the way to creating a real need for your product. Facebook did this by remembering birthdays for you and Dropbox solved the eternal problem of the missing USB. Solve a problem- If you can understand the problem that is apparent for a particular niche and state the solution by means of a cool bit of tech, then customers will flock very quickly. Instagram’s rise was all to do with the sharing and upload of photos easily. It saved everyone time and made life easy. Create delight- All the successful games create delight (and some addition!) amongst users. Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja are the best of the new breed in this genre, but there are also games that live off the delight that other create, such as words with friends or whole new worlds such as Grand Theft Auto. That’s perhaps a simplistic approach, but there is usually more that you need to consider - such as does the benefits of solving the problem outweigh the obstacle and others such as: Is the barrier to entry low enough - will you be able to woo new users? Discovery - how will your product be found in the first place - and how will you make them take the conversion jump? How immediate and frequent is the need? Competition - what’s everyone else doing to solved the problem? And how can you garner local placement on the screen of the user? These are all important questions but what must you do with regards to take to market. In my opinion, the best possible approach is one that is focused on the minimum viable product. A minimum viable product, when talking in digital terms is a strategy for deploying a product with the minimal amount of features. The main reason to use a minimal viable product approach is to get feedback. If you use a feedback approach from real users, then the benefit is threefold: one, you are building a product users actually want; two; you have a user base of dedicated users who feel part of the product; three, by trusting a select group, you have created an underground maven marketing team of users who will want to push your product for you. On the flip side, utlising a minimum viable product strategy allows a minimum cost fail strategy. Perhaps the product is completely unviable and the product may only be of benefit to a small selection of people - or maybe it’s too early or too late to market. If you launch with a minimum viable product, you can fail at low cost and move on to your next great product and learn from the lessons of this one. Using a minimum viable product strategy, you are essentially going forward with ongoing loop approach: test - refine - test - refine. Others use the build-measure-learn loop - it all depends on what kind of product you have. Eric Ries popularised the concept of minimal viable product in his book the Lean Startup - and in it he says: "The minimum viable product lacks many features that may prove essential later on. However, in some ways, creating a MVP requires extra work: we must be able to measure its impact. For example, it is inadequate to build a prototype that is evaluated solely for internal quality by engineers and designers. We also need to get it in front of potential customers to gauge their reactions. We may even need to try selling them the prototype." It’s an important point. There is more work using MVP as an approach - but the chances of success are higher because the process of learning is happens as quickly as possible. Asking a potential target market that consists of friends and associate a select number of questions on survey monkey gives some viability but it simply doesn’t compare to the experience of a live product. Ultimately, MVP is all about the consumer. Creating an MVP strategy is creating a consumer driven strategy. If you can create a ‘deep well’ of users as Paul Graham calls it, it’s likely that those users will become your market. This strategy of focusing a product on a small number of people who need a product a lot of the time rather than a large number of users who need the product a little bit of the time garners excellent and rich feedback data. What are the extremes of an MVP? Imagine that you need funding for your product - but the concept is too difficult or too expensive to even get to prototype phase. You are left with a few choices: the explanation approach - use a video or some great marketing material to explain what you (will) do. This costs between $1000 and $10,000; the eluding approach - just create a promise of what you hope to achieve and get feedback on the concept; or go manual - trial the whole process without using technology - find customers and ask them what they want and deliver the process using a manual approach. These all seem obvious approaches, but the MVP doesn’t always work as a build, learn and grow strategy. And sometime it’s worth being traditional and spending excessive time upfront to research, plan and predict. That doesn’t mean the going with a minimal viable product removes this process, it just means there is less of a focus on this and more down a Steve Blank approach to customer acquisition.Using a minimum viable approach is a deeply strategic approach to new products. It is pre-planned with rules and guidelines and is prepared to become the best in its niche. It’s good for bootstrappers, for entrepreneurs and for product developers within large corporates - and ultimately works because it’s all about creating a problem solving product that consumers actually want. And that’s what your MVP is your MVP - your minimum viable product is your most valuable person, your secret strategy for product success. Editor’s Note: This post has first been published on Rahim’s personal blog medeleon. Picture License  Some rights reserved by freefotouk

In this 4/15/14 webinar Jenny Parks, director of the Midwestern State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, and other experts in this field presented information for institutions navigating the complex landscape of state authorization. Topics included the history and current state of federal involvement in the process, ways to organize institutional data and oversight for state authorization, a discussion of "good faith" efforts, the facets of state authorization that will and will not be addressed by SARA (state authorization reciprocity agreement), and an update on the status of SARA across the nation. slides | slides notes | webinar archive

Larry Montgomery on FaceTime with the Economics class. Globe University-Woodbury campus economics class used FaceTime to interview Larry Montgomery who works in an oil rig in Williston, N.D. The students interviewed Montgomery about how the current economy is effecting the oil industry and how that impacts the oil workers and the surrounding area. "Interviewing Larry via FaceTime was not only a convenient method, but an effective one in order to illustrate to the students that what we are learning in the textbooks happens in real life and this interview gave the students a first-hand view of someone who is affected by the current economy, said Business Program Chair at Globe University-Woodbury, Thomas Hakko. Students interviewing Larry Montgomery. "Overall, this was an extremely beneficial way to give the students a first-hand look and learn the true value of what they study," said Hakko. Globe University and the iPad® Globe replaced dated textbooks with the interactive iPad nearly two years ago, giving students access to the most relevant industry information, eBooks and thousands of apps, including FaceTime. What is FaceTime? According to Apple, FaceTime is a video chat application that can be used across a range of platforms, and other manufacturers can leverage FaceTime’s protocol. For more information on the business programs and degrees available at Globe University & Minnesota School of Business call 877-303-6060. The post iPad’s for Interviewing: Students Gain First-Hand Knowledge via FaceTime appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Udemy, a global marketplace for online courses, has raised a $65 million Series D led by Stripes Group, with participation from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Insight Venture Partners. Stripes Group Founder and Managing Partner Ken Fox will join Udemy’s Board of Directors. The Series D comes one year after a $32 million Series C and shortly after LinkedIn’s acquisition of Udemy’s main competitor, lynda.com for $1.5 billion. This latest round brings the total funding raised by Udemy to $113 million. Udemy previously raised $32 million in May 2014, $12 million in November 2012, $3 million in October 2011, and $1 million in August 2010. Founded in 2010, Udemy was set up as an alternative to market leader lynda.com. Other than the established platform that offers mainly in-house produced content from select instructors, Udemy chose a free marketplace approach, enabling anyone to launch and sell an online course on the platform. To date, the marketplace offers 30.000 courses from 16.000 instructors with 2.000 new courses being added every month. Udemy claims to have attracted 7.000.000 learners from 190 countries, 30% of them learn on a mobile device. 50% of Udemy’s revenue is generated outside the U.S. which led to the opening of the company’s first overseas office in Dublin, Ireland, and the translation of the course catalog into seven different languages. Udemy’s top instructors managed to rake in sizeable revenue from their online courses, ranging from $500.000 to $8 million, with the top ten instructors generating over $17 million in combined revenue. Further Reading Udemy raises $65 million to continue pioneering a global marketplace and disrupt the future of education | Press Release

Click here to enlarge : Courtesy Entrepreneur.com

Students work to cut out patterns from donated t-shirts to make dog toys for the Neenah Animal Shelter. Globe University-Appleton’s Winter 2015 Global Citizenship class tested out their crafting skills while completing their Applied Learning Project for the Neenah Animal Shelter. The class made over 50 tie toys for dogs served by the organization. Globe University-Appleton’s veterinary technology program has been partnering with the shelter for several years.   Before beginning the project, the class first discussed why organizations such as the Neenah Animal Shelter are vital to the welfare of animals. Shelters rely on help from the community in the form of donations, volunteer time, and adoptions. This was part of a larger discussion about the existence and importance of non-profit organizations in our area. About the project, instructor Amanda Loewen said "Completing this applied learning project provided an opportunity for students to learn more about community needs. In addition, it allowed the class to collaborate in order to achieve a common goal." Winter 2015 Global Citizenship class show off their newly made dog toys for the Neenah Animal Shelter. The students first collected t-shirts on campus for a little over a month. They created a collection "dog house" as a class project. These activities emphasized working together as a team, creativity, and the importance of communication. The students created tie toys of all different shapes and sizes, in order to accommodate the many different shapes and sizes of dogs. The shelter was appreciative of the toys, which is a huge need! The post GU-Appleton Students Make Dog Toys for Area Shelter appeared first on Globe University Blog.

In this episode of MEP, Stephen Gilman from Maker State joins the program to discuss the maker movement, why its important, and "making" school fun.  Such a fun discussion! Guest Bio : Stephen started teaching in Harlem Middle School in 2000. He saw a lot of flaws in the public school system and decided to take it upon himself to make the changes.  After becoming a non profit after schools program administrator, he began seeing how to implement these changes outside of the public school model. For the last three years, Stephen has been creating learning environments called maker spaces where kids can take a creative idea and learn how to apply it into a real life skill. Along with founding MakerState, Stephen also founded the Carnegie Learning Center (a micro-schools incubator) and a founding teacher & dean of Bronx Collegiate (a public school grounded in Outward Bound experiential learning). His proposal for an experiential, badge and mastery-based school/learning model, "Student Union," was a finalist in the international Mozilla and MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media & Learning Competition. Stephen was recently named to the Professional Journal Committee of the Association of Teacher Educators. He is the president and founding board of UlsterCorps, a volunteer network in New York. He is also the author of Nightshade, an historical thriller set in 1702 about a conspiracy to take over the Atlantic slave trade. Stephen enjoys pottery, beekeeping, geocaching, fiction writing, social entrepreneurism, making and playing games, and creativity of all kinds. He and his seven year old Ben started MakerState together to bring their love of making and learning new things to kids everywhere. Show Notes: (02:16) Stephen’s background (07:59) Tell us about Maker State, why you started it and what you guys do. (08:54) Expeditionary learning model in a Bronx high school (10:21) Asking the Center for Creative Education to let him try out the maker space idea that he’s dabbling in with kids after school. (12:21) The MakerState Program (13:43) Teaching kids fundamental math and science principles, computer programming, and how to build computer hardware using Minecraft (17:10) Schools give you the students that they haven’t been able to help. Can you talk about the demographics and the age groups that you’re really seeing a lot of impact with? (24:52) What sort of results are you seeing? Are you seeing early results or numbers from this implementation? (27:58) How are your current public school partners responding? Do you think that we can get to a tipping point with these schools? Can we get from those early adopters to the early majority or do we have to build a completely new maker culture from scratch? (32:22) If you could have dinner with someone you admire, past or present, who would it be and why? * Ray Croc * Benjamin Franklin (36:20) How to contact and support MakerState http://www.maker-state.com/ @MakerState For more episodes featuring thought leaders in education visit MeetEducationProject.com, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow Nick DiNardo on Twitter.

By Angie Norbeck, Business Program Chair. Globe University Minneapolis graduate, Afton Glander, took her final master’s project to the next level when a new position was created by her employer for her based on her presentation. Afton’s project included a review of patient appointments over the course of one year at a local orthopedic clinic, research of current studies, and interviews conducted to determine the most appropriate triage method for the clinic’s 200 new patients. The organization’s leadership saw the potential that Afton and her project would provide to the clinic and a quality department was established based on the momentum created by her presentation.  Afton is now the quality coordinator, and works closely with the newly appointed quality manager to improve patient access to care while containing costs for the organization.  "I never envisioned that I would be going into quality and with the tools my instructor, Mr. John Jordan, provided to the class I am overseeing projects at work that are making an impact" said Glander.  Afton Glander Mr.Jordan adds, "The process of writing a business plan or project in the final course for our master’s students ensures they understand the impact they can have on an organization. A primary goal is to increase their ability to develop and implement concepts that balance sales and service with information technology and human resources, and to communicate with all personnel from staff to the CEO of the organization." The post Project Creates Position For Master’s Graduate appeared first on Globe University Blog.

The 2014 Blackboard update at NIU to Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 14 delivers helpful enhancements to existing tools and a few exciting new tools. For example, the new test exception feature makes it easier to adjust test settings for individual students, group management is quicker, and the inline grading side-bar is added to additional tools like blogs and discussions. The new Quick Links button makes it easier to navigate Blackboard with a screen reader, the new Achievements tool adds the ability to recognize students with badges and certificates, and the new Date Management feature helps update availability and due dates after performing a course copy. To prepare for the anticipated update, watch this preview offered 4/18/14 to learn more about these (and more!) enhancements and features. For complete details about NIU’s planned upgrade to Blackboard 9.1 Service Pack 12/14 during Summer 2014, visit niu.edu/blackboard/upgrade For archives of other online workshops offered by NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, visit our YouTube channel. Follow Jason Rhode on Twitter @jrhode

Language learning startup Duolingo has raised a $45 million Series D led by Google Capital with participation from existing investors Union Square Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The round brings the total raised to over $83 million, valuing the company at $470 million. Along with the investment announcement comes the news that Duolingo now has over 100 million registered users. Furthermore, 100.000 teachers have registered for Duolingo for Schools. Founded in 2011, Duolingo quickly became a global leader in the language learning space based on its free and mobile first approach. The startup generates revenue from low cost certifications via its Test Center. Crowdsourced translations by the community for international brands like CNN and Buzzfeed, which were the first source of revenue, are being phased out. Co-founder Luis van Ahn told WSJ that he does not want to get into the current price war in the translation industry and has other revenue streams planned for the near future. Further Reading Duolingo grabs $45 mln from Google Capital | PE Hub Google Capital Backs Duolingo to Help Language-Learning App Go Global | WSJ

Globe University graduate, Salvador Fuentes is passionate about raising awareness for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A veteran himself, Sal is working to spread the word about the disorder. Salvador is one of nine participants who completed a 22-mile march this month to help raise awareness for PTSD and help support those veterans who are currently suffering. The Eau Claire AMVETS post 654, who organized the march, was started here in Eau Claire and meets regularly at the Globe University Eau Claire campus. This is part of the University’s commitment to giving back to the community, by offering free use of available rooms to community members, including the AMVETS. Globe University student, Michael Hanke, veteran and member of the Bloomer AMVETS chapter, sat down with me to explain why the event was so important. He said, "The event was designed to help raise awareness of both PTSD and veteran suicide. The Eau Claire chapter organized and executed the event in only six weeks, quite an accomplishment."  He also went on to describe how Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s Aid and former Senator Dave Zein both spoke at the event. Congressman Sean Duffy’s aid was also in attendance and participated in the march. Participants in the march stand proud in support of PTSD awareness Each participant marched for nine hours and some even completed it with rucks on their backs, weighing between 30 to 40 lbs.  The march took place on HWY 128 in western Wisconsin, recently renamed the 128th Infantry Memorial Highway in 2013, an initiative headed by Hanke. Salvador was able to complete the entire 22-mile march with the assistance of his service dog, which he uses as an important part of his own PTSD treatment.  Salvador is currently training other service dogs to assist other veterans in need. "The event was so successful that we are looking to hold another event in October." Hanke said.  Mike’s goal is to not only increase participation, but also offer varying distances, so that veterans and participants of all physical abilities can participate. The post Eau Claire AMVETS March to Raise Awareness of PTSD appeared first on Globe University Blog.