How Complex Systems Fail
Richard I. Cook, Cognitive technologies Laboratory, December 27, 2013

Harold Jarche links to this classic 1998 post by Richard Cook describing how complex systems fail. Complex systems are more than just complicated - both have many parts, but in complex systems the parts interact with each other, resulting in an unpredicable outcome. Power grids, traffic systems and neural networks are all complex systems. This article is a great description of how such systems fail. In brief, there's no single cause of pailure (though we are often inclined to identify one, usually at the working or 'pointy' end of the system). Some great bits about the role of humans in such systems, how change increases the potential for failure, and how learning needs constantly evolve. And there's a great example of an emergent property: "Safety is an emergent property of systems; it does not reside in a person, device or department of an organization or system. Safety cannot be purchased or manufactured; it is not a feature that is separate from the other components of the system. This means that safety cannot be manipulated like a feedstock or raw material." Just like learning. [Image: Wikipedia, Complex Systems]

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McDonald's Takes Back Its Awesome Gift to the Media
Simon Dumenco, Ad Age, December 27, 2013

For a while, the McDonald's employee support site was one of the most honest corporate learning sites out there. Sadly, the McResource site is now gone. Last July, the site recommended that McDonald's employees get a second job and sign up for food stamps to make ends meet. In November it advised workers to save money by eating less. "Breaking food into pieces often results in eating less and still feeling full," it advised. But what finally foced McDonald's corporate to pull the plug? It would be the December offering recommending to workers that they avoid fast food: "'it is hard to eat a healthy diet when you eat at fast-food restaurants often,' adding that large portions make it easy to overeat." At least this was useful, compared to the tipping advice the store gave employees, recommending "a gift from your family (or one week's pay), plus a small gift from your child for an au pair, one day's pay for a housekeeper and cost of one cleaning for a pool cleaner."

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Online Learning Curriculum for Data Scientists
Shane Lynn, Personal site, December 27, 2013

It's still a pretty short curriculum, but it's interesting to see Shane Lynn pull together a set of courses from various institutions to form the basis for a data scientist curriculum. This shows the longer term potential of MOOCs. Before open online learning, if you wanted to create what is essentially a new program of study from various institutions, you couldn't. Courses weren't open; you couldn't just take them. You signed up for one institution or another, and paid your tuition there. There has been a lot of criticism of MOOCs in the last year, but unless traditional education can pull off this simple trick, it will face increasingly formidable competition from systems that can.

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Is an MBA Bubble Popping?
Jordan Weissmann, The Atlantic, December 27, 2013

There has been discussion regading whether the 'MBA bubble' is popping following the release of a report by the Graduate Management Admission Council saying MBAs graduates this year will be given the same offers they were last year. That may seem like the tiniest of indicators, but as John Byrne says, "it's become common sport to bash the world's most successful educational degree in the past half century." But is it true? In a follow-up report for Poets and Quants, Byrne argues that "the optimistic vibe in MBA hiring has apparently met or exceeded expectations," citing the same report. Top schools for job offers were Emory, Wharton and Columbia. But Bloomberg is negative, noting that pay hasn't kept up with inflation. And the Atlantic explicitly uses the 'bubble' word, pointing out that "Michigan State's Collegiate Employment Research Center projected that recruitment would tumble nearly 25 percent next near, based on a survey of hiring plans by some 6,500 employers."

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