A new wave of educational efforts across Africa exploring the use of ICTs
Michael Trucano, EduTech, April 11, 2013

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An update on e-learning initiatives in Africa. Includes this bit: "A low-cost, pay-as-you-go model is at the heart of many of the innovative business models 2iE is pursuing. By breaking payments into small pieces, and not requiring that (for example) a student pay an entire semester's tuition. ...  'An African solution for the Africa economy' is how 2iE describes this approach, which is labels the taxi model ('taxi-brousse'):
 - you start when the car is full;
 - you drive for as long as you need -- and can afford;
 - if you don't like the ride, you can get out and find another taxi.

2iE's efforts in these areas were featured in the 2012 WISE  publication, 'Learning a Living: Radical Innovation in Education for Work' , one of fifteen case studies of innovative models for education around the world."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Online Learning, Tuition and Student Fees, Africa]

The Post-PC Age is Upon Us
Wesley Fryer, Moving, April 11, 2013

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The frightening news for PC manufacturers:

• “Gartner May Be Too Scared To Say It, But the PC Is Dead” (5 April 2013 by Mark Gartner for ReadWriteWeb)
• “FU, Windows 8, PC shipment decline is worst EVER” (10 April 2013 by Joe Wilcox for Betanews)

But wait. In most cases, rapidly expanding growth has a terminus point. You can't keep increasing sales indefinitely, because eventually the market reaches saturation. There's a similar logic for declining growth. Shrinking markets eventually stop shrinking, because they've reached their core market. People still buy horseshoes, they still buy vinyl LPs, and they will still buy desktop PCs. And I think that before people start leaping off the ledge they should consider that the core market for PCs is very strong - indeed, offices will continue to support the large monitor and powerful computer sitting under the desk, simply because if you're on the thing all day, you want size and speed, not portability.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Microsoft]

The One Laptop Per Child Correlation With Massive Open Online Courses
Wayan Vota, Education Technology Debate, April 11, 2013

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Wayan Vota gets to the core purpose of MOOCs, at least as I see them. "What we need to bear in mind is that the MOOCs are trying to make better quality education available to a great mass of people who are currently “non-consumers” of education and such quality is currently superior by far to whatever they may be getting right now. The MOOCs are not aimed to people who are willing to cheat but to those willing to learn." Good article, with an interesting comparison between MOOCs and OLPC.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Quality]