Why Finland's Unorthodox Education System Is The Best In The World

How Would You Like A Graduate Degree For $100?

This story appears in the June 25, 2012 issue of Forbes Magazine.


Check out:
 http://2u.com/
https://www.edx.org/
http://www.udacity.com/
https://www.coursera.org/

How The iPad Mini Could Be A Massive Success For Apple In The Classroom

Seriously, If You Pick The Wrong Major Then Prepare To Be Unemployed

More And More Students Are Deciding To Enroll In Community College

Why Chinese Parents Are Better Than American Parents

How Important is the iPad?

On two occasions, Steve Jobs has called the iPad the "most important product" he has ever worked on. Keep in mind, this is the guy who, along with Steve Wozniak, essentially invented the personal computer. Jobs was also the driving force behind Apple's desktop publishing vision. He also gave the world the iPod and iPhone, products that have gone on to redefine the way we think about their respective spaces.

Yet Jobs calls the iPad the most important product he has ever worked on. I've been pondering this statement since the Apple CEO first proclaimed it upon the launch of the device in late January. Jobs clearly believes that there is something "magical" about the iPad. To understand his thinking, one has to realize that Jobs doesn't think like a techie. He doesn't concern himself with speeds and feeds. Jobs focuses on the ways in which people use technology. He is also interested in how the finished product looks and feels and how it becomes a part of a person's lifestyle.

How Important is the iPad?

Kindle Lover Oprah Fawns Over the iPad
The question comes to mind following some comments by Winfrey–a prominent past booster of Amazon’s Kindle–during a short segment of her influential TV show last week that featured tech analyst Omar Wasow and the Apple iPad.

Winfrey gushed about the “amazing” new device, which she said she got the day of its launch. One reason is that “books move,” she said, as she demoed how the iBooks app (featuring the Oprah Book Club) keeps e-books on a virtual shelf and how some books can feature interactive elements. “It’s going to change the way kids learn,” she said.

She also said that she loved the iPad because it is back-lit, which makes the screen good for sharing digital photos and playing games like Scrabble. “Gosh, those Apple folks,” she said.

Read the WSJ article By Geoffrey A. Fowler

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Кен Робинсон рассуждает о том, как школы подавляют творчество

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, a deep look at human creativity and education, was published in January 2009.

Сэр Кен Робинсон предлагает создавать образовательные системы, нацеленные на развитие, а не подавление творческих способностей

Nicholas Negroponte’s XO-1 ($100 Laptop) in the Wild

The Entertainment Gathering 2008
Monterey, CA
Dec 13th, 2008
via FORA.tv

One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte discusses the release and global impact of the XO-1, formerly known as the $100 Laptop, from Uruguay to Afghanistan.

EG is the celebration of the American entertainment industry. Since 1984, Richard Saul Wurman has created extraordinary gatherings about learning and understanding. EG is a rich extension of these ideas - a conference that explores the attitude of understanding in music, film, television, radio, technology, advertising, gaming, interactivity and the web - The Entertainment Gathering

Student loans turn into crushing burden for students

Natalie Hickey picked up $140k in student debt, some of it at interest rates as high as 18%. Her monthly payments are roughly $1,700, more than her rent and car payment combined. Caught in an increasingly common trap in the nation's $85-billion student loan market, Hickey borrowed heavily, presuming that all her debt was part of the federal loans

Hickey knew she would need loans to complete her degree, so she went to the campus financial aid office as a freshman. After she filled out paperwork, Brooks Institute set her up in a loan program administered by Sallie Mae, the nation's biggest student lender.

Sallie Mae was chartered by the federal government in 1972, and most of its business is in issuing federally insured student loans. But while it may appear to be a quasi-government agency, it is in fact a for-profit company whose stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hickey ended up with $20,000 in low-interest federally guaranteed loans issued by Sallie Mae, and $120,000 in higher-interest private loans issued by Sallie Mae.

Hickey said no one explained the difference to her.

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