LinkedIn to a New Degree
Nina Fink, Morgane Taquet, EducPros.fr, 2015/09/25

People here at the MOOC conference are saying traditional institutions are in no danger of disruption. How wrong they are. They assume disruption would come from withing, for example, from MOOCs created by Stanford or Harvard. Not a chance. Disruption will come from outside. From, say, LinkedIn (or Pearson, or as Brian Lamb notes, Monsanto). "By shifting the focus from degrees to skills and certifications, LinkedIn has the power to upset the economic model of education", maintains Sylvain Léauthier. Henri Isaac, Dauphine University professor, agrees. "LinkedIn has high profits, few competitors and lots of agility. It's only getting started!"

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Why Apple Music Missed a Beat
Mark Bonchek, William Patrick, Harvard Business Review, 2015/09/25

Educators also could learn from Apple's failures. "Apple, like most companies, updated its technology without updating its thinking. These days, if you want to shift your market, you first have to shift your mindset... They failed because they were stuck in an old mindset, confusing the distribution of content with the exchange of social currencies. ... The problem is that Apple Music is still a distribution channel rather than an experiential platform, a collaborative community, and an artistic accelerator." Sound familiar? I'm at a MOOC conference right now, and so far it has all been about content (and a little about monetizing).

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Evernote vs. Google Keep: Which Does More?
Christina Warren, Mashable, 2015/09/25

Interesting comparison. Both are applications that allow you to clip, tag and save things from the web. Google's strength appears to be integration with other services, such as Google Drive, while Evernote shines in specialized services such as photos with OCR (optical character recognition). The big issue with Google isn't discussed, though - with the company shutting down one after another of these services - Orkut, Wave, Reader - why would anyone trust Google to support their product in the long term?

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Who’s Benefiting from MOOCs, and Why
Chen ZhenghaoBrandon AlcornGayle ChristensenNicholas ErikssonDaphne KollerEzekiel J. Emanuel, Harvard Business Review, 2015/09/25

Interesting study that makes us focus on the people for whom MOOCs were actually designed (hint: it's not rich kids or teachers already in educational institutions): "Among the education seekers who are not in a traditional academic setting, disadvantaged populations are more likely to report educational benefits. Education seekers from developing countries were more likely to report educational benefits; those with low socioeconomic status were more likely to report benefits than those with higher status; and those without a postgraduate degree were more likely to report benefits than those with one."

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What Happens Next Will Amaze You
Maciej Cegłowski, Idle Words, 2015/09/25

Excellent talk on the dysfunction of internet advertising networks and the skewed foundations (and general incompetence) of the Silicon-Valley-based new world order. "If you go back and read Orwell, you'll notice that Oceania was actually quite good at data security. Our own Thought Police is a clown car operation with no checks or oversight, no ability to keep the most sensitive information safe, and no one behind the steering wheel."Don't miss this talk!

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Introducing The Institute for Performance and Learning
Learning, Institute for Performance, 2015/09/25

The Canadian Society for Training and Development has renamed itself to the Institute for Performance and Learning. I find it interesting that their name change so closely aligns with our own Learning and Performance Support Systems program. It's the new Zeitgeist. Here's their new website address: http://performanceandlearning.ca/

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