SOMEWHAT FRANK

Online Education: More Than Elementary

Reflecting the increasing omnipresence of technology in our society, a recent Chicago Tribune article reported on Illinois’ first public virtual elementary school, which is preparing to open for the upcoming academic year.

The Chicago Virtual Charter School tailors an individualized curriculum depending on a student’s particular aptitude – an arguably advantageous approach for the gifted child or students with learning disabilities. Students are expected to spend roughly 20-40 percent of school time on the computer, enhanced with more hands-on education and parental guidance.   

Although the Illinois school is not the first of its kind (see Weblogg-ed’s post on Microsoft’s School of the Future and Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy), the issue of electronic education is highly debated and met with opposition from many home-school proponents, some teachers’ unions and more traditionally minded parents.

The debate also continues beyond elementary school; electronic higher education programs, such as MBAs, are also valued differently within the corporate sphere and among the universities themselves.

Education is truly coming to the masses, as teachers and students can share information in industry or peer forums, thanks to online sites like Moodle, Blackboard, Chalksite and MindPicnic, which can serve as think tanks or inspiration centers for the academic community. 3D virtual worlds like Second Life are creating another place environment to interact with others and learn virtually. Additionally, technology advances like that of EmSense which offer devices, like the one shown here. track and detect a students feelings. The EmSense software alters curriculum based on the collected sensations data to focus more intensely on  particular areas where a student may have lost focus.

Bottom line: with the Internet as an education resource for any student at any age, electronic education is on the rise and here to stay. 

Somewhat Frank Turns One

With the two posts today, numbers 567 and 568 respectively, the Somewhat Frank blog has turned one year 0ld - and what a year it has been. It has been a wonderful adventure through the blogosphere which started with a simple business trip to attend a (pre-Katrina) New Orleans conference. Upon returning home from a conference which featured blogging and podcasting seminars, curiosity got the best of me and Somewhat Frank was born to offer my candid perspective and knowledge to the blogosphere in the areas of technology, business and life.

Starting a blog is one of the best things I have ever done. I have shared and debated ideas with people across the globe (see last 100 visitors mapped above).  The network of contacts and friends I have made through blogging is quite unbelievable. Thank you to all of that have read, linked to, mentioned, commented or interacted with me via Somewhat Frank. I look forward to the conversations in the year ahead.   

Gearing Up For Supernova 2006

It’s the first day of summer and I have just arrived in sunny San Francisco where I will be attending Supernova 2006 at the Palace Hotel. The conference is hosted by Kevin Werbach and produced in partnership with The Wharton School of Business. The conference has an all-star cast of speakers and panelists. Here are just a few people who are participating (and there are a lot more!):

    Craig Newmark (Craigslist)
    Jonathan Schwartz (Sun Microsystems)
    Saul Klein (Skype)
    Mena Trott (Six Apart)
    Gil Penchina (Wikia)
    David Sifry (Technorati)
    Mary Hodder (Dabble)
    Mike Arrington (TechCrunch)
    Om Malik (GigaOm)
    Seth Goldstein (Root Markets)
    David Weinberger (JOHO)
    Dan Gilmor (Center of Citizen Media)
    Jeff Clavier (SoftTech VC)
    Robert Scoble (PodTech)
    Tantek Celik (Technorati)

Not to mention, TechCrunch is co-hosting the Connected Innovators Showcase on Thursday evening (June 22, 2006). Also the showcase presentation will be streamed into Second Life which was developed by Linden Lab. This means that players of Second Life will get to watch and interact with the Showcase. Attensa will be one of the companies showcased and have posted additional details on their blog. Sounds pretty innovative to me. It should be a super(nova) week - I am looking forward to it.

For additional information about the conference be sure to tune into the Supernova blog.

Educational Institutions Can Leverage iTunes Technology

Apple is attempting to lend a helping hand to the education system by creating 'iTunes U'. This new service which leverages the iTunes platform to offer a free, hosted service for colleges and universities that provides easy access to educational content, including lectures and interviews 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Stanford University worked with Apple back in October 2005 to release audio lectures via iTunes to make them global. The use of Apple technology should help number of legitimate and fully accredited distance learning or online degree programs like the programs at University of Massachusetts, Indiana University and Arizona State University to students with lectures and video course content. 

The Otter Group Offers Podcasting For Learning Whitepaper

The Otter Group recently released a report titled Podcasting for Learning you can find the whitepaper here. According to the Otter Group the article:

"Podcasting for Learning" captures the beginning of our journey using podcasts as a new medium for learning.”

The article skates over basic RSS and podcasting but goes into detail as it progresses. It also highlights the groups experience producing the Negotiating Tip of the Week Podcast with Dr. Josh Weiss, Associate Director of the Global Negotiation Project at Harvard's Program on Negotiation helps enrich the program using online resources. It is worth a read…you might learn something from it.

WSJ MBA Rankings Missing Key Programs

The Wall Street Journal yesterday (September 21, 2005)  released their MBA school rankings with Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth as number one overall MBA program nationally and Purdue University (one of my Alma Mater’s) ranking number one for regional programs. They can be found online here.

Interestingly, the WSJ determines its rankings from recruiter’s feedback which is different method then the rankings of Business Week, U.S. News & World Report or other media outlets. One of the articles "Take Full Advantage" in the WSJ special section emphasized the recruiter’s preference to recruit full time MBA students over part-time or online/distance learning students.  They had a number of reasons for this preference from students not being focused in part-time programs to online programs are to easy to do.  They even referred to part-time and online programs as MBA Lite programs which is completely unwarranted and in most cases untrue. StopBuyingCrap.com highlights the WSJ article well in this blog post. 

I strongly disagree with these recruiters and wonder what rock they have been living behind. I think this perspective by recruiters is very close minded and not with the times of the Business 2.0 environment where nearly everything is or has already moved online. These recruiters that totally discounted part time and online programs need to realize a few things:

1.) Part-time and online MBA students do not have time to put their career on hold to go back to school full time and lose valuable work time and experience.

2.) Part-time and online MBA students have current real life on the job experience to bring to class or online discussions while full time students may very well be out of touch with the true business marketplace.

3.) Part-time and online MBA programs are not easier then full time programs. As long as the part time and online MBA program in question is fully accredited by AACSB they are just as difficult as full time programs and sometime probably harder on the students due in part to outside distractions.

4.) Part-time and online MBA students become excellent at managing their time since they have such very little because of other obligations like a full time job and a family.

I think part-time and online programs will increase in value with time and eventually corporate recruiters will realize how ridiculous their past perspectives were. For example, many top Universities already have part time programs but are also starting to offer online programs. Schools like Babson,  Duke,  Indiana, Syracuse, Massachusetts,  Arizona State,  Tulsa, and Penn State  just to name a few are now offering online programs. While articles like "Do Online MBAs Make The Grade?" from BusinessWeek report on the popularity of online programs I do not feel it digs deep enough to highlight some of the better known schools offering MBA programs online and instead gives more emphasis on low light offerings that do not have full accreditation. This perspective makes it seem like there are not enough good online programs available which is not the case.

The WSJ, BusinessWeek and US News & World Reports should read this article  on Forbes.com and better understand the part-time and online student and programs since it is only a matter of time until they are commonplace. Not to mention, these media outlets should ditch the negative attitude they associate with part-time and online MBA programs and start giving them the respect they deserve since many students are going through more rigor to get them then a full time MBA student would. They should also start ranking them just like the full time programs because students deserve it. They would love to hear how part-time and online MBA programs stack up against one another. I believe it is only a matter of time until the next Bill Gates, Jack Welch or Craig Newmark proves the part-time and online programs a success by holding a part-time or online MBA themselves.