The planned acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft could either sound the death knell for colleges and universities put out of business by the coming "competency marketplace," or it could help schools raise their retention and graduation rates, thereby ensuring their long-term success. Those are the opposing perspectives on the pending deal offered by two education technology experts.
When I first heard Clayton Christiansen's prediction that, via disruption, 50 percent of all colleges and universities would go out of business by 2030, I understood the dynamic forces to which he was referring. Though I believe deeply in his theory of disruption, I thought the prediction was a bit over the top.
These extra-cost college programs promise to shape up students' job skills.
As if college isn't expensive enough these days, some students are now paying thousands of dollars, over and above their normal tuition, for specialized courses in everything from business fundamentals to computer programming.
In its $26 billion bid for LinkedIn this week, Microsoft made a bold move, paying almost 50% more per share than the price at which the social network last traded. So... why?
Various articles along the lines of Is Competency-Based Education Worth The Investment have surfaced in recent weeks. And no wonder. Something like 500 colleges and universities are preparing to launch new competency-based education (CBE) programs, up from an estimated 52 last year. But where are all...
Opening Plenary: 21st Century Credentials: Learners + Institutions + Workforce
Growing a business is like running a marathon. But instead of jogging 26.2 miles, that's how many dollars-in billions-Microsoft forked over to acquire LinkedIn.
Practice makes perfect, and one company is willing to bet on it. Video learning platform ApprenNet is changing its name to Practice XYZ.
The tech community isn't so much a community as it is a sprawling metropolis, with more and more programmers released into the Silicon Valley wilds by the year. IBM alone hopes to train 1 billion data scientists over the next few years. It's training these scores of...
A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of meeting Commerce Secretary Pritzker when she visited Galvanize - a startup that believes in making education and growth accessible to anyone - especially underrepresented groups in the tech industry. As a recent graduate of Galvanize...