Digito Society

Useful iPad Apps

2011-12-04T12:26:00.005-05:00

To complement my list of useless iPad apps, here's a list of useful iPad apps ... apps I use daily. The list is in no particular order:

Google search for iPad. Love the hands-free voice search feature. Beyond search, this app also provides a portal to all of my Google App services. One negative is that the Google Search app does not afford easy switching between Google accounts.
Safe Gmail for the iPad. This app provides for easy switching between multiple Google accounts. A real frustration reducer.
Gmail for the iPad. If/when Google enables quick account switching, this will be my go-to app for email. On the margin, the archieve and trash icons are too close together. It is too easy to trash a message by mistake.
MobileRSS for the iPad. I keep hoping that Google will publish a reader app that is as convenient as the Google Reader for Android. Until that happens, MobileRSS, is my go to feed reading app. MobileRSS integrates seamlessly with my Google Reader account. It also makes sharing posts via Twitter , email, Facebook, etc. a simple two-tap process.
Safari. Safari is an OK browser. The recent addition of Chrome-like tabs is a mixed blessing. The tabs use precious screen real estate. I rather liked Safari's previous "view all open windows" navigation scheme.
WSJ for the iPad. Because of this app, I now prefer to read the Wall Street Journal on my iPad, rather than the dead trees version. Dow Jones is to be commended for this!
DrudgeReport for the iPad. What can I say?
Facebook for iPad. This app is better than accessing FB via Safari, but that's not saying much.
Twitter for the iPad. As with the FB app, the Twitter iPad app beats accessing Twitter via Safari. However it's annoying and confusing to use. Why, for example, is the compose new tweet button located at the bottom left of the window?
WeatherBug for the iPad. My favorite weather app.
Google Maps. Gmaps on the iPad is just as useful as it is on the Android platform. Endless fun.
Google Earth. Ditto. Fun to pinch to zoom and swipe to relocate the earth.
Netflix. Gotta have it.
Kindle for the iPad. Essential for accessing and reading our household library of Kindle books.
Kno Textbooks. Useful for organizing technical reports and other documents in PDF format.

The iPad's lack of Flash support means that I cannot access the vast media library that accompanies my Amazon Prime account and makes impossible use of the myriad websites that use Flash.

See my companion post: Useless iPad Apps.

Useless iPad Apps

2011-12-04T12:06:00.004-05:00

An iPad 2 (32 GB with Verizon 3G) has been in my bag for about six months. I use the iPad for:

Email. The iPad makes for an OK email device. Editing typos remains more difficult than with an Android device. Android provides a convenient way to locate an insertion point. iOS does not. The lack of SWYPE for iOS makes text entry more tedious than necessary.
Reading books and technical reports.
Reading blogs and news sources.

Here's a run down on the iPad apps that I've found to be useless (as in I've never used them or rarely use them):

Messages (New with iOS 5. I have now clue what it does).
Videos. Never used it.
iTunes. Ditto.
Photo Booth. Huh?
Photos. Why?
Music. How different from iTunes?
Face Time. Google + hangouts and Skype are better.
Mail. Awkward.
Calendar. Apple FINALLY added the ability to use swipe gestures to change months, etc. Generally awkward to use.

Most of these apps reflect Apple's legacy approach to content. Apple has historically assumed content is loaded on the device. In contrast, I operate in a cloud based environment. Google Apps is my primary tool for personal and work email, etc. iOS5 is a step in the cloud direction.

See my companion post Useful iPad Apps.

Overall, it's an OK device. Android provides a superior user experience. iOS lacks key information display features (such as widgets). And I find more consistency across Android apps than I find in Apple Apps.

Adobe Turing Test Fail

2011-08-03T08:44:00.003-04:00

In anticipation of updating my Adobe Creative Suite, I probed the Adobe.com website in search of a chart that compares the myriad CS suite versions. Failing to find the chart, or any other tools useful for comparing Adobe's various CS5.5 suite offerings, I initiated a chat with Adobe's sales support system expecting a quick and direct answer to a simple question. As the chat transcript below reveals, Adobe's automated customer support chat service is unhelpful and fails the Turing test:

Please hold as we route your chat to an Adobe Representative.

Welcome to Adobe.com! My name is Robin. May I assist you with your selection today?

Robin: Hi, How are you doing today?

rob: i'm seeking a chart that compares the various 'suites'

Robin: I'll be glad to help you with that.

Robin: For me to assist you better, can you tell me what kind of tasks would you like the software to help you accomplish?

rob: i have 'cs3 design premium' installed now. curious how the various bundles compare.

Robin: I'm afraid, just to clarify, when did you installed 'CS3 Design Premium'?

rob: don't know an exact date. it's been a while.

rob: the website used to have a link to a chart that compared the contents of the various bundles. it was very useful. i'd like to find it again.

Robin: I'm sorry, you're using older version of the software, Adobe released new version of the software CS5.5.

rob: my question is about cs5.5

rob: is this a turing test fail?

Robin: Let me explain you clearly.

Robin: Rob, CS5.5 Design Premium includes Dreamweaver CS5.5 for web site designing, Photoshop CS5 Extended which will help you in editing photos in more advance way, Illustrator CS5 to create images for printed productions and logos, InDesign helps you to designs and publishes documents for print , Acrobat X Pro to edit, create, manage and convert PDF file and all Flash related software.

rob: please point me to a chart that compares the different CS5.5 suite offerings.

Robin: Please give me moment.

Robin: Please click here

Robin: Did you get the link?

rob: yes, thank you. that is exactly what I was seeking.

Robin: Lets go ahead and placed the order, okay.

Robin: Rob, are we still connected?

Robin: I haven't heard from you in a while. Would you like to continue chatting?

Robin: I'm sorry, we have not heard from you. We're happy to help. However, if you do not respond soon, this chat session gets terminated automatically.

rob: all purchases must go through our purchasing office

Robin: I can understand you're concern, is there any thing else?

rob: and all vendors must be able to articulate the significance of the number 42 in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy.

Robin: Thank you for visiting Adobe.com today! Please come back online if you need any assistance. We will be happy to help.

Robin: We'd like to hear your comments. Please click on the 'Close' button in the upper right corner and take a moment to complete a short survey. Thank you! Have a Nice Day!

The convoluted grammar, and the repeated failure to respond appropriately to my specific questions, leads me to wonder: Does Adobe have a strategy of actively discouraging people from learning about and purchasing their products? As I've used Adobe products for more than 20 years, this is very disappointing.

First Look at the Kno iPad App: WTF?

2011-06-05T15:56:00.007-04:00

Kno set out to reinvent the textbook with a proprietary hardware/software solution. After the iPad took off Kno did a hard pivot to become a software solution. Yesterday, Kno rolled out the Kno iPad App. After taking the Kno iPad app for a spin, all I have to say is: WTF?

Remarkably, the Kno app has a WTF button. The WTF button concisely sums up my impression of the Kno app. WTF? An app targeted to the primary, secondary, and higher ed market has a WTF button? We all know that WTF is short hand for what the fuck. Right? Um, not in Kno-land. In Kno-land WTF stands for Words To Friends. Huh?

What else does the Kno offer? Stickies and highlighting! Who-hoo! The ability to add notes and to highlight key passages are basic study tools. The highlight tool worked intermittently for me. Can I search my notes or highlighted passages within a book? Across all of my Kno books? Unclear. I can with the Kindle app.

Navigation within a book? I like the option of chapter level navigation and to then drill down to sub sections within a selected chapter. The Kno lacks, as far as I can tell, chapter level navigation. Navigation occurs via a tedious page oriented nav system in which each page is represented as a rectangle with the page number on it. Chapter home pages are designated, but selecting them simply takes you to the first page of the chapter. The sample Psychology text included with the Kno app download, has chapter front pages formatted with what appear to be links to the section. Nope, they are faux links. WTF?

How do book and PDF files render in the Kno app? OK. At times, pages of the sample textbooks would render larger than the screen of my iPad 2 and no amount of shaking, pinching, or flicking would readjust the page to fit the screen properly. I find the Kindle App provides a better reading experience.

Can the Kno reader play interactive media? It appears it cannot. Kno appears locked into a vision of textbooks locked into the dead tree text era. WTF?

The Kno app offers an academic calendar metaphor for grouping together books or materials rendered in PDF format. Assets can be grouped into Courses. Courses can be grouped into terms. This organization seems appropriate only for courses that have relatively few assets.

Ultimately, the Kno app appears to be little more than a ebook store. One can purchase books from the Kno store that are downloaded into the Kno app. Presumably, these books are accessible exclusively via the Kno app. Pricing? I shopped the Kno Bookstore for several titles I use in my classes. In each case, Kno is offering the book for the full sticker price of the dead tree edition. WTF?

Let's take a look at how the Kno fares against my eTextbook dream criteria:

1. Device independent? No. the Kno currently lives on the iPad exclusively.

2. Platform independent. No. iOS only.

3. Consistent reading experience. As the Kno is iOS only this is an n/a

4. No connection required. Yes. Once material have been downloaded to the iPad, an active internet connection is not required.

The Kno App scores a one out of a possible four.

Another challenge facing the Kno is that it does not appear to interact with learning management systems (LMS). For the Kno to be useful in the higher ed context, it is essential that faculty can distribute class assets via the LMS and that students can easily pull those assets into their working environment. The Kno App appears to be an island in a land of LMS connectivity.

Ultimately, the Kno App's value proposition eludes me. Why would anyone purchase etext (or other) books from the Kno Bookstore as opposed to, say the Kindle bookstore or CourseSmart? The Kno App offers no apparent distinctive difference that enhances value to students, faculty, or institutions.

Don't Kno.

eTextbooks: A Wish List

2011-06-02T09:42:00.009-04:00

I'm a fan of ebooks. My Kindle Reader is my primary reading device for trade books. Text books, and some professional research books, render better on my . The iPad's larger screen and color display is a better fit for rendering tables and figures. Many eTextbooks are not available in Kindle format. For eTextbooks, published on proprietary platforms such as CourseSmart, a tablet device provides a reading experience vastly superior to reading texts on a laptop, netbook, or desktop machine.

I prefer to purchase digital books in Kindle format for three key reasons:

Purchase ease: Amazon.com provides an excellent shopping experience.
Safe keeping: Amazon.com stores my ebooks so I always know where to find them.
Ubiquity: I can read Kindle format books on every digital device I own: my laptop, my netbook, my iPad, my desktop machine, my Droid X Android phone.
Future proof. I have confidence Amazon will make it possible for me to read my Kindle books on any device I may own in the future.

A recent email exchange with Steven Joos, Product Development Manager for 4LTR Press | Cengage Learning, suggests that some textbook publishers misunderstand the Kindle platform. Text publishers appear to equate Kindle with the Kindle device. Viewed narrowly, I agree that the original Kindle, due to its 7" screen, does not provide an optimal textbook reading experience (I've not tried reading texts on the larger Kindle DX, which seems a better fit with textbooks).

Texbook publishers appear to misunderstand (or prefer to ignore) is that Kindle is a publishing platform that integrates acquisition and distribution to almost any device a person is likely to own and use. If textbook publishers were to prioritize market access, the Kindle publishing platform would seem to have much going for it. I am confident that 100% of my students own one or more devices that support the Kindle platform.

Cengage dismisses the Kindle as incompatible with how students use text books; claiming that the Kindle is too linear. This video is offered as evidence of the superiority of Cengage's proprietary etext publishing platform. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but the video seems to confirm that the Cengage platform is (a) linear and (b) offers functionality very similar to that of the Kindle platform. The Kindle apps enable jumping around a text, search, highlighting, etc. The key features demonstrated in the cengage video. I do appreciate that the Kindle publishing platform has some limitations with regard to incorporation of interactive elements. Consequently, the Cengage claim of platform superiority of the Kindle platform appears without merit.

As a faculty member, the proliferation of ePublishing formats discourages adoption. I presume my students have a similar reaction. Keeping track of which platform I must access to use a particular text book -- must I log onto the publisher's website? do I use a dedicated app? what device do I have to use? -- is a distraction. The CourseSmart delivery platform offers less functionality than I experience with the Kindle platform. Flat Earth publishing offers wonderful customization features, but is weak on delivery options. The demise of the Kno Tablet illustrates the hazards of device dependence.

My take is that the textbook publishers efforts to develop proprietary eTextbook distribution systems is retarding, rather than encouraging, eTextbook adoption. By focussing on developing proprietary publishing platforms (i.e., by decreasing compatibility), textbook publishers are increasing complexity and failing to leverage ubiquity of availability (a key relative advantage of eTexbooks). The net result is to diminish customer value of eTextbooks relative to traditional dead tree textbooks.

My dream eTextbook (one I would readily recommend to my students) is:

Device independent. I can read my eTextbooks on every device I own today or may own in the future; I'm not locked to reading the eTextbook on a specific device.
Platform independent. I can read my eTextbooks using any OS platform.
A consistent reading experience across devices and platforms. I want a similar reading experience and suite of reading tools (e.g., search, highlighting, etc.) now matter the device or platform on which I read an eTexbook.
No connection required. Affords the ability to use materials when not connected to the internet. Yes, internet connectivity is near universal, but it is not universal. I want to know that I can read my eTextbooks anytime anywhere I happen to be and have a device available.

At present, the Kindle platform appears to be the publishing solution that comes closest to delivering on my dream list.

The Chronicle Perpetuates Myths and Biases Against Undergraduate Business Students

2011-04-14T09:15:00.003-04:00

The Chronicle has an article, Business Educators Struggle to Put Students to Work, that, I believe perpetuates a number of myths about undergraduate business students that are tied to flawed analysis reported in Arum and Roska's book Academically Adrift. My comments on the fatal flaw in Arum and Roska's analysis of undergraduate business students can be found here.

To recap, the Arum and Roksa findings about undergraduate business students are fatally flawed. Most undergraduate business programs do not admit students until the end of their sophomore year. Consequently, the Arum and Roska data concern students that may intend to become business majors. This implies that the Arum and Roska data include as business students a segment of students that, due to poor academic performance during their freshman and sophomore years, will not be accepted into business programs.

The Chronicle article is populated with myths about undergraduate business students, documented via anecdotal data rather than by data. Myths designed to perpetuate bias against undergraduate business students. and programs. This is unfortunate.

It strikes me as bizarre for the faculty faculty (quoted in the Chronicle article) to claim students are not engaged. Student engagement is usefully viewed as a course design issue. If engagement isn't designed into a course's DNA, students likely won't engage. Viewed thus, lack of student engagement is a more a reflection of the faculty member teaching the class than of the students taking the class; a reflection of a faculty member that has not, or cannot, design an engaging course experience.

Managing Google Calendars with Multiple gApps Domains

2011-02-23T18:23:00.000-05:00

I've been a happy user of Google Apps standard edition since it was first launched. Tied to my personal domain, the suite of email, calendar, docs, etc. have bee worth far more than their (Free!) price would suggest. Above, all gCal has kept our hectic family life as close to coordinated as is possible. Each family member has an account. Family rule is that all events must go on your gCal. gCal is configured so that everyone sees everyone else's calendar. Scheduling family events is much easier.

Google Calendar Sync has further simplified keeping calendars up to date. gCal sync automatically and seamlessly allowed my work Outlook calendar, on Exchange, to sync events both ways with my Google calendar. Ditto for Susan. With gCal Sync it doesn't matter whether I use the Outlook calendar or the Google calendar. Sync is configured to sync changes both ways. This capability was especially valuable when I had a Treo 700P and then a Samsung Saga smartphone. Both connected via the Exchange server. Seamless, as long as gSync was running.

Last week, ONU transitioned -- finally! -- to Google Apps for Education. (In celebration I retired my WinMo phone for a Droid X ... but that's another story.) So, now I have two Google Apps accounts: a personal account and a work account. Work-Life separation is good. Right? Maybe.

I've discovered that there is a big difference in gCal calendar sharing within an Apps Domain vs. across Apps Domains. Within an Apps Domain, one can share a calendar and allow the other person the ability to modify entries. Within an Apps Domain, one can see all details on shared calendar events. Sharing calendars across domains allows, apparently, only sharing of free/busy status. That's helpful, but if I'm sharing my work calendar with family members, I'd like for them to know whether that blob on the calendar is a class session or office hours, for example.

What to do?

My (non-optimal) work around is to create an event to my work calendar. When creating the event I invite myself using my personal domain email address. This has the effect of getting the event on both calendars in a way that can be seen by all family members on my private domain gCal.

Ideal? Nope. But servicable until Google modifies gCal to expand calendar sharing abilities across Google Apps domains.

Drifting Through Academically Adrift

2011-02-13T13:03:00.003-05:00

Arum and Roska's book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses has created quite a stir lately. The book reports a study of student learning in college. The data are from students that have completed their sophomore year at a small number of diverse institutions. The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) instrument, a device designed to measure critical thinking skills, is their key measure of academic performance.

Arum and colleagues interpret their data – which tracks students through 50% of their undergraduate college experience – to suggest that today's college students are "academically adrift." This catchy phrase is intended to convey that today’s college students lack purpose, lack an understanding of the academic foundation necessary for aspired career paths (or a lack of an aspired career path altogether), and that today’s college students spend more of their waking hours on non-academic activities than they allocate to their studies.

"Academically adrift" makes great headlines. However, the connection between the reported findings and the “academically adrift” conclusion is tenuous. The authors provide no historical data to support that what they observe in today's college students is any different than what a similar study may have revealed if conducted twenty, thirty, or fifty years ago. They provide no evidence that today's college students are any more (or less) "academically adrift" than college students of yore. Further, the conclusion appears to emanate from the authors’ normative stereotype of undergraduate college students specifically, and the undergraduate college experience, generally. The reported data could be interpreted to suggest that the data don’t align with the authors’ stereotype of the undergraduate college experience.

The authors’ observe that many college students lack a clear understanding of their career path and of the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) necessary for career paths they may aspire to pursue. And, some undergraduate students are found to be unclear on their career aspirations. It is unclear to me how this lack of understanding or clarity of career aspirations affords evidence that students are academically adrift in college. This symptom could evidence failure of multiple systems: our high schools, parenting, and/or other institutions that socialize young Americans about their options ahead of their progression to college. Besides, isn’t it common knowledge that one purpose of the traditional four year undergraduate experience is to afford opportunities to identify one’s destiny?

Courses that require reading and writing are are key factors in improved CLA performance. Whether a student took at least one course that required more than 40 pages of reading per week and at least one course that required more than 20 pages of writing over the course of the semester. It is difficulty for me to conceive of any college course that does not require at least 40 pages of reading per week and in which students generate at least 20 pages of written material. That said, it appears that such experiences are in fact rare for many of the freshman and sophomore college students in the CLA database.

The analysis of how CLA performance varies across fields of study is problematic (p. 104). Their data suggest that business students evidence significantly lower scores on the CLA relative to all other fields studied (science/math, humanities/social sciences, health, engineering/computer sciences). This finding holds after partialling out variance attributable to other factors (e.g., social background, academic preparation, prior CLA performance, institutional factors, reading/writing requirements encountered in college course work). This finding is problematic because most undergraduate business schools do not admit students until they achieve junior standing and they survive a screening process. This implies that students self-identifying as business majors as freshman and sophomores are not yet in the business program; they are taking courses in hope of successfully achieving the GPA and other requirements for enrolling in a business program. (These students might be more usefully classified as 'undeclared.' ) A consequence is that we would expect substantial variance in the ability of freshman and sophomore students that self-identify as business majors. The performance of business students on the CLA would be more appropriately measured if the analysis categorized as business majors only those students that successfully matriculated into a business program at the end of their sophomore year.

What explains variance in CLA performance? Two class activities consistently emerged as predictors of CLA performance. One, students that took a course that required more than 40 pages of reading per week tented to perform better. Two, students that took a course that required writing 20 or more pages during the semester tended to predict better performance. Students that fell into both of these categories – i.e., took a course the required reading more than 40 pages per week and took a course that required writing more than 20 pages over the course of the semester – proved even more powerful as predictors of CLA performance. The authors suggest that courses with this sort of academically rigorous activity further in meaningful ways the critical thinking skills the CLA is designed to measure.

Unsurprisingly, academic preparation also emerged as a significant predictor of CLA performance; better prepared students tended to exhibit greater increase in CLA scores in the first two years of their college experience. This finding speaks to the preparation of students for college and not to the value added by the college experience.

"This pattern suggests that higher education in general reproduces social inequality" (p. 40). This seems a specious conclusion. Implicit in this statement is the assumption that differential ability on the input end of a process will somehow disappear or be eliminated by the educational process. A fairer conclusion is that higher education, in general, does not eliminate differences in ability.

The final chapter, A Mandate for Reform, strikes is oddly disconnected with the reported findings. The chapter reads more like the author's dream for the educational process rather than a discussion of potential implications of their findings.

The data for their study were collected from freshman and sophomore students. Accordingly, the findings afford some insight into what happens during the first two years of college for a sample of undergraduate students attending a finite number of institutions. Consequently, the data set affords a platform for offering recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of these first two years of the college experience. To extrapolate data collected from freshman and sophomores to the totality of the undergraduate collegiate experience is unsupported by their data.

This is too bad. Their findings, to my eye, afford the foundation for some very pragmatic recommendations. For example, it would seem to flow naturally from their data that institutions should expand the number of courses that require reading more than 40 pages per week and/or require writing more than 20 pages over the course of the semester. Simple.

Ultimately, Academically Adrift affords interesting insights into the experience of some students, at some institutions, during their first two years of college. Arum’s extrapolation of their findings into an indictment of the entire educational system -- as they choose to do -- takes their rhetoric into territory not supported by their data.

Sand in the Vaseline: The Ed Schmidt Service Experience

2011-02-12T15:57:00.000-05:00

For reasons that escape me currently, I took the '03 Passat to Ed Schmidt, the local VW dealer, yesterday for a scheduled oil change, and to have a couple items checked out. Thinking it would be a short event, I decided to take advantage of the WiFi in the waiting area and work while the car was serviced. How long can an oil change and a quick diagnostic take? Over two hours, as it turns out. Yep, for a scheduled appointment.

Oh, well, as the service dude explaind, the "secondary hood release" dongle needed to be replaced. He interestingly explained that it was worn. That's more than hilarious for a variety of reasons. Hint: as far as I can tell, it was missing altogether. Guess who last did work on the car? But I digress.

This morning, I found a pool of oil under the Passat, Dark, dirty oil. Huh? Again? Yeah, this has happened before. And has only happened after an Ed Schmidt oil change. One time, rather than remove the aerodynamics improving belly pan that covers the oil plug, the crack Ed Schmidt mechanic emptied the oil into the belly pan. Naturally, I'm wondering: did they do that again?

Just after discovering the oil puddle in the garage, a Customer Satisfaction Survey from Ed Schmidt landed in my email. So, I launched the survey. All I wanted to do was query about the oil puddle. The genius that designed the VERY LONG survey configured it such that a respondent must answer every single question in order to submit the survey. All I wanted to do was submit a question. Nope, can't do.

Ah, ha! Instead I'll reply to the survey invitation email. An email sent to rrandall@edschmidt.com should get my question to a living breathing Ed Schmidt employee. Right?

Nope. Email sent in reply to the customer satisfaction survey generates this response:

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:
rrandall@edschmidt.com
The recipient's e-mail address was not found in the recipient's e-mail system. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please check the e-mail address and try resending this message, or provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator.

Brilliant!

So, I pulled up Ed Schmidt's web site in search of a contact. A live chat dialog appeared. A Todd queried as to how he could assist me. (Immediately, I'm wondering if he has a sister or girl friend named Margo). OK, game on! I shared with Todd the fact of the pool of oil on the garage floor and the saga of the bounced customer satisfaction email. Todd promised to have someone contact me.

Amy, Ed Schmidt's Internet Manager, called me a short while later. She promised to have the service manager call me and asked that I forward to her the customer satisfaction survey invite email with the bouncy return address. I did.

Jeff, the SM, called a short while later, and "Sir'd" me a lot. Jeff says, "sir" in a way that implies an effort to put one in his/her proper place (not to be confused with the respectful "sir!" as voiced by military personnel). "Sir, I can't know for certain with out examining the car, but it could be, what we cal a 'messy oil change.' Sometimes the guys fumble the oil filter when removing it and oil gets spilled in nooks and crannies in the engine. You would need to bring the car in, sir, for us to examine it and make sure everything is OK."

So, this is a problem that happens so frequently that Jeff has a name for it? Not a good sign. This is the fourth time a simple oil change has required a repeat trip to Ed Schmidt to have post-service service performed on the car. If I've experienced problems subsequent to oil changes at Ed Schmidt this often, it suggests major gaps in their quality control. Rather than name the error, how about instituting processes aimed at eliminating the occurrence of the error?

Don't Kno, Do Kindle

2011-01-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

Ebooks are the future of higher education. A compelling and inexpensive reader device is necessary for that to happen. We're getting there, but the sweet-spot hasn't been hit yet. I love my Kindle. It is great for leisure reading. And I do a lot of that. However, the screen on the standard Kindle is too small to view the full page figures and tables that populate much of my work related reading. Fortunately, the Kindle platform is ubiquitous. I can view my Kindle books on myriad other devices. So, when I encounter a full page table with text too small to read on the Kindle's screen -- I can leverage the Kindle platform's ubiquity and switch to reading the Kindle book on my laptop or netbook. Ideal? No. However, it gets the job done.

The Kindle DX addresses the viewability concerns with its larger screen (9.7" vs 6" diagonal). At a current price of $379, the DX almost has me adopting a second Kindle. Almost. But is it a compelling value proposition for higher ed students? I don't think so. At $199, maybe.

Key is whether work flow (research or studying, for students) is most efficient with special purpose devices (such as the Kindle reader) or with multi purpose devices (such as the iPad). Or does it matter? The Kindle platform's support for highlighting of passages and insertion of comments/notes yields a powerful research/study tool that I find easier to use than my conventional practice of having a PDF open on one monitor and a Google Docs doc open on a second to capture my notes. Ultimately, the Kindle not about the Kindle Reader hardware but about the Kindle Platform.

The ubiquity of the Kindle Platform is the key strength of the Kindle solution relative to a conventional dead tree book. A conventional book exists in one point in the time space continuum. A book can be in my backpack, in my home office, or at my campus office, for example. A physical book can't be all three places simultaneously. There is nothing more frustrating than getting home only to realize that a book I need is at my campus office (50 miles away). A Kindle book is always available to me. Even when I don't have my Kindle reading device with me. Amazon is about to launch Kindle for the Web which means my books will never be further away than the closest web browser. No special app required.

Which brings me to the Kno, The Kno -- billed as a "tablet textbook" -- is a large (14" diagonal) tablet computer available in single- or hinged dual-screen versions (to resemble a book). The Kno's USP is that it operationalizes how students study: read, take notes, highlight text, watch videos, read web based content, etc. The Kno is a locked down proprietary platform (built on Linux) that supports three proprietary apps: Reader, Notes, and Browser. The reader app is for viewing digital textbooks. The notes app is for taking notes. The browser is for accessing the web.

Kno's business model is based on two primary revenue streams: hardware sales and sales through their textbook store. Adoption of the Kno implies double lock-in: One is locked in to purchasing textbooks through a single source: the Kno textbook store. The second lock-in is that textbooks purchased for the Kno can only be viewed on the Kno. It is a closed system. The Kno duplicates one of the biggest hassles of dead-tree books: if you don't have your Kno with you, you don't have access to your books. Or your notes. Oops.

Kindle for the Web exposes a major flaw in the Kno's business model. Kindle for the Web suggests that users already have a key for unlocking Kno's proprietary bookstore. There goes that revenue stream.

The single screen limited function 16GB Kno, priced at $599, is more expensive than the very versatile 16GB Apple iPad (with a smaller 9.7" screen). And you can read all of your Kindle books (as well as books from other vendors) on the iPad. How's that value proposition, Kno?

As a faculty member, I cannot, in good conscious, lock my students into a restricted purpose limited function device. Apple and an increasing cast of others offer tablet devices. Apple's system has attributes amenable to enterprise management. If Kno has a competitive advantage (and it is unclear whether they do), it is in their claim that they understand better than anyone how folks study. Kno should shift from bundling hardware and software. I think that Kno should channel what they have learned about student study habits into note taking apps for the iOS and Android platforms. Such an approach would leverage the source of Kno's competitive advantage.

BGSU Students Against Faculty Unionization Deliver Knock-Out Blow to BGSU Faculty Union Organizers

2010-09-15T20:57:00.004-04:00

The BGSU faculty unionization effort populates Facebook. Public pro-union and anti-union groups are in evidence. Is one more persuasive? Let's take a look:

Hmm ... the BGSU Faculty Association group page features a nice photo gallery of images of faculty gathered around a table littered with with pens, paper, and red cups. Photo captions aren't provided, so one can only imagine what the photos depict. Perhaps these images are intended to illustrate what organizing looks like? And why red cups? To symbolize solidarity among comrades? Support for Ohio State? Are the pictures intended to illustrate commodities undeserving of tenure?

And what is one to make of this image? Should one infer that the group has no data to support their position? That the group advocates and intends to propagate a climate of fear and intimidation? Does this image afford insight into how the group is conducting their "card campaign"? Does this image reflect a group capable of critical thought and analysis?

A wall post by David L. Jackson offers "some thoughts about the BGSU-FA, our campaign, our future, and potential costs associated with collective bargaining." Several paragraphs of meandering prose distill to two key points:

Questions regarding what a union might do regard hypotheticals and it is "impossible to answer hypothetical questions about future decisions.
A union, if deployed would require collection of dues. The necessity of collecting dues is not regarded as a hypothetical. The amount of dues to be collected, however, remains a hypothetical.

Absent from Mr. Jackson's "thoughts" is any reference to how unionizing the faculty will further the mission of the institution. Also absent is any indication of how students would benefit from faculty unionization.

The BGSU FA FAQ page is similarly focussed on warm fuzzies and how faculty unionization will necessitate collection of dues. The document is stunningly silent on how the mission of the institution and BGSU students might benefit. Indeed, the document is silent on how BGSU or its faculty would materially benefit from the addition of a unionized faculty beyond the impressive benefits already codified in the BGSU Academic Charter.

Collectively, these documents lead one to wonder if the BGSU faculty supporting unionization apprehend the connection between their jobs and the institutional mission of educating students and expanding knowledge.

The BGSU Students Against Unionization evidence comparative intellectual maturity. The student group is collaboratively constructing a list of ways unionization would impact students. I applaud the students for their open-mindedness: "Opposing viewpoints welcomed openly to comment. I believe that this should be a "marketplace of ideas" just as a university should be.. "

If these Facebook groups afford an indication, BGSU students better apprehend the purpose and culture of a university, and the impact of unionization on that culture, than do the BGSU faculty for unionization.

I'd score this a knock-out blow for the students and an embarassment for the faculty.

Cycle Werks Should Take a Page from the Ohio Department of Transportation

2010-09-13T18:45:00.005-04:00

A friend who works for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is proud of their mission. It is (my paraphrase):

Keep motorists motoring.

This simple mission has had dramatic impact on how ODOT does business. For example, road construction is now scheduled at times, such as overnight, that minimize impact on traffic flow. ODOT now has motorist assist services to aid motorists experiencing a mechanical or other problem on the road way; to help stranded motorists resume their travels quickly and safely.

Today (Monday) I took my bike to Cycle Werks for service. My front dérailleur lost shifting functionality eighty-some miles into yesterday's HHH century ride (on the bright side, the chain was stuck on the small ring ... and after 21 years of use I can't complain). So, we're talking a fairly simple repair. Most likely, the shift levers will require replacement. A 30 minute job (max) for a trained bike mechanic.

Here's what I experienced this afternoon:

"Dude, your bike will be ready by the end of the week."

"Um, what does that mean?"

"Thursday or Friday, dude."

"Um, I was hoping to ride with the group (which gathers outside your shop) Wednesday night."

"Sorry dude, with the weekend and all we're all backed up."

"Shit!" (I'm pissed and going to go blog about this)

Let's envision an alternate scenario. How would this scenario have played out if Cycle Werks adopts as their mission: "Our job is to keep cyclists peddling":

"Bummer about the dérailleur, dude. When do you plan to ride next?"

"Wednesday evening, with the crew that gathers here."

"No problem, dude. We'll have your 'Dale ready for you by Wednesday afternoon at the latest."

"Excellent. Thanks!" (imagine the resulting blog post)

Cycle Werks the choice is yours: you can keep me peddling and blow me away with stunning service, or you can piss me off by keeping me off the road. Your choice. Guess which I'd pay a premium for and which would increase the likelihood that I'd buy more stuff from you?

The Echo Chamber and Personal Accountability

2010-07-27T10:39:00.000-04:00

@kyenne, a recent ONU grad, tweeted about this blog post, which was scraped from this article published by TheStar on April 30, 2010, about EduMetry's Virtual TA service. That tweet generated a torrent of reaction and calls for an email to ONU's President.Why the raised fur? The article lists ONU as an EduMetry client.

Let's take a look at the article published by TheStar.com. Basically, it's a nice PR piece for EduMetry's newest product Virtual TA. The article includes a paragraph in which several EduMetry clients are listed. ONU is included in that list:

A western Canadian college or university is among EduMetry’s dozen clients, but Rajam declined to identify it. The University of Houston director of business law and ethics, Lori Whisenant, is a client, as are professors at the University of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration, West Hills Community College in Coalinga, Calif., Ohio Northern University and George Washington.

That poorly written paragraph could be interpreted to imply that these schools, including ONU, are clients for EduMetry's Virtual TA service. Or, the paragraph could be taken at face value (i.e, taking "among EduMetry's dozen clients" as a clue) and infer that these are schools that have been EduMetry Clients, but not necessarily clients for EduMetry's Virtual TA service.

ONU contracted with EduMetry's D-Cube service to facilitate development of rubrics to operationalize ONU's new general education learning outcomes. I worked closely with EduMetry in 2008-2009 in my role as co-chair of ONU's General Education Implementation committee. Thanks to the power of EduMetry's web-based D-Cube collaboration system, faculty teams efficiently developed the general education rubrics that have been adopted for application starting Fall 2011, when the ONU's new General Education program is deployed. (Details about ONU's General Education program, and the rubrics themselves, are available here.)

Given the alternate interpretations of the paragraph in TheStar, I spoke with Chandru Rajam, EduMetry's Co-Founder and CEO, on May 4, 2010. In that phone conversation, Chandru expressed his frustration with the article. While thankful for the PR it provided for EduMetry's newest venture, he was concerned about how the paragraph quoted above portrays EduMetry's clients. Specifically, he expressed his regret that Lesley Ciarula Taylor, the article's author, conflated EduMetry's Virtual TA clients with clients for other EduMetry services. Chandru expressed his concern over any misunderstandings the article might create. Our conversation then shifted to discussing the cultural forces buffeting EduMetry's Virtual TA service.

Those who have recently discovered TheStar article now have the facts: ONU is not an EduMetry Virtual TA client. It is your responsibility, not the University's responsibility, to spread the facts. You have an ethical obligation to use your personal networks to set the record straight.

Bartleby the Scrivner Lives on at Verizon Wireless: "Unfortunately I can not."

2010-05-22T11:16:00.001-04:00

Perusing the VerizonWireless website this morning, a chat dialog popped up:

"May I help you?" it asked?

Hmm ... I do have a question. OK, I'm game. Here's what ensued:

Please wait for a Verizon Wireless sales representative to assist you with your order. Thank you for your patience!

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with Jonathon

Jonathon: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?

You: why does the 'new every two' date on my phone not match when I acquired the phone?

Jonathon: I'd be happy to assist you.

Jonathon: When did you purchase your phone?

You: i believe it was january 2009

Jonathon: May I have your 10 digit mobile number to better assist you today.

You: xxx-xxx-xxx

Jonathon: Thank you.

Jonathon: Can you please verify the last 4 social on the account for me.

You: xxxx

Jonathon: Please hold on while I check that information.

Jonathon: That is because you are getting a bigger discount on your phone. But I can provide you with customer service number for a early upgrade today.

You: could you clarify that for me?

You: are you suggesting that my corporate discount yields a 'new every two' window that is longer than two years?

Jonathon: You qualify for a upgrade up too $100 dollars off your new phone. And that upgrade is eligible every 23 months. But we will let you upgrade early at regular discount prices. I can provide you with customer care number to better assist you that today.

You: why does the upgrade window not align with the acquisition date of the phone/initiation date of the contract?

Jonathon: Unfortunately I do not have access to that information. May I assist you with customer care number to better assist you with that today.

You: can you confirm the start date of my contract?

Jonathon: Unfortunately I can not.

Jonathon: May I provide you with customer care number to better assist you with that information.

You: sure

Jonathon: 1-800-922-0204 Customer Care. May I assist you with anything else today?

Rather than Bartleby the Scrivner's infamous line, "I would prefer not to," VerizonWireless equipes their customer service reps with the variation, "Unfortunately I can not."

In response to the repeated, "May I provide you with customer care number to better assist you?" my Bartlebian response is: "I would prefer not to."

VerizonWireless: Can I charge you for the 20 minutes wasted on that unhelpful chat session?

URoomSurf's Questionable Marketing Tactics

2010-02-23T11:09:00.001-05:00

uRoomSurf.com offers a roommate matching service targeted to high school students anticipating their freshman year in college and college students. The concept behind uRoomSurf is a sound one that has the potential to deliver value to room-mate seeking students. This post by Brad at BlueFuego tipped me off to uRoomSurf.

I'm less enthusiastic about uRoomSurf's marketing tactics. Justin Gaither volunteered to me during a phone call today that uRoomSurf has tasked an intern with creating Facebook groups using this naming template:

University Name Here Class of 2014.

This naming convention, designed to deliver near-top listing in search results, intentionally creates the impression that the group is affiliated with the university. uRoomSurf us leveraging university brand awareness to create awareness of their service. In my opinion, this marketing tactic is unethical. It may also infringe on the institution's trade mark.

Yesterday, I tweeted:

Is Uroomsurf.com a scam? The anonymity of who is behind it fails the sniff test. I'd avoid. More background: http://bit.ly/8eDxNB

This morning, I received a phone call from:

JUSTIN GAITHER – CO-FOUNDER
Justin is the other Co-Founder of URoomSurf.com. Justin is a Class of 2008 alumnus of the University of Miami, graduating with a BBA in Finance with a minor in Marketing. While at the University of Miami, Justin served on the undergraduate student government executive board as Treasurer. Justin is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, does not like bugs, and is really good at basketball!

Justin was curious why I had concerns about uRoomSurf.com. I explained to Justin that I have no issue with uRoomSurf.com. However, I do have serious concerns with their marketing tactics.

Justin's primary responses to my expressed concerns about the ethics of creating Facebook groups with university names were: "But it works" or "I don't see an issue."

I suggested to Justin that contacting universities first, before using their name, might head off a lot of potential grief later. Justin dismissed this approach with, "we talked to some people who tried that, and it didn't work." Exactly! Schools aren't thrilled by organizations seeking to leverage the university's brand equity.

Justin also asked my opinion on uRoomSurf joining organic "class of" groups and pimping uRoomSurf via those platforms. I have fewer concerns about this approach, assuming (a) it is appropriate given the rules governing the FB group and (2) it is made crystal clear that uRoomSurf is unaffiliated with the institution in question.

To his credit, Justin did offer to take down the "Ohio Northern University Class of 2014" Facebook group created by a uRoomSurf.com intern. I just checked and it appears that Justin acted on his promise and removed the group. Thank you, Justin!

Beware of the Sgnome's

2009-12-30T18:37:00.001-05:00

Sgnome
Originally uploaded by rkleine

'Tis the season for sgnomes (snow gnomes). Beware!

Obsolete Learning Technologies

2009-12-30T08:50:00.001-05:00

Joshua Kim offers up an intriguing list of Obsolete Learning Technologies. Here's Kim's 10 obsolete learning technologies and my take on his rationale:

1. Scantron Sheets: When I first started teaching (in 1997) we would give multiple choice tests on Scantron sheets, which would then be graded by the Scantron scanner. Today, thankfully, high-stakes multiple choice testing has been replaced by the testing engines in the LMS. We also know that good pedagogy involves frequent, low-stakes testing - and that mid-term or final multiple choice exams most test students ability to take tests.

Exactly, I couldn't have said it better. It takes a bit more effort to create a quiz/test, but the efficiencies for student and faculty are back-end loaded. The immediate feedback made possible by a CMS is crucial to learning.

2. Overhead Projectors and Transparencies.

I think Kim is a decade off on this one. Overhead projectors became extinct over a decade ago. I still have some transparencies created in the '80s for my consumer behavior class, but have used none of them for over a decade.

3. Classroom VCR/DVD Playesr:

Agree 100% that showing video in class, except for very short video clips, is not a good use of time. Students can watch the video outside of class and come prepared to discuss what they observed. Besides, any video shown in class should be available in digital format that can be streamed; no media required.

4. Course Packs and Course Readers.

Yep. Blackboard and related technologies have rendered course packs and course readers unnecessary.

5. Photocopiers ... Tomorrow we will download the articles to our e-readers.

Yep, a work in progress. To the degree that students bring their laptops to class they are now able to view class materials, including what have traditionally been hand-outs, rendering physical copies less useful. That said, the physicality of a handout, especially when it contains assignment details has some benefits. Some students benefit from the touch and smell of the document. Yet, these folks need to get comfortable operating in a digital environment as their future workplace will likely be digital.

6. Microfiche

Microfiche lives? Color me enlightened. Really?

7. Language and Computer Labs: Language labs are basically gone - computer labs are not far behind.

Yep, more than 90% of students on our campus own a laptop. With WiFi ubiquitous on campus and in the classrooms, every classroom can be a computer lab. More useful than 'labs' are spaces conducive to small group collaboration.

8. Paper Journals and Periodicals?

Ah, this strikes me to the core. I just received an email from the University of Chicago Press imploring me to renew my subscription to the Journal of Consumer Research. Lingering over the email, I was wondering: "Why? Why subscribe when I can access the journal online?" After 25 years, it may be time to let that subscription lapse.

UPDATE: A colleague emailed:

This list is clearly based on the assumption that both the student and the faculty member are technologically savvy. An assumption that is dangerous to make, but one often made by tech. savvy people.

To which I replied: Professional development for faculty and teaching students can easily eliminate gaps in the ability of faculty or students to use these basic tools. We are educators in a professional school, aren't we?

CRM the Time Warner Way

2009-12-21T21:55:00.002-05:00

To understand why we couldn't watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince via Time Warner's video on demand last night requires a bit of time travel. More than six months ago, a credit card vendor, believing my account had been compromised, changed my credit card number and issued new cards. The change, while welcome from a security perspective, required me to update the card information wherever I had the details stored.

I called Time Warner to query why video on demand wasn't working. "Your account is past due," was the answer.

"Impossible, the account is on auto pay."

"Your bank denied the charge."

"Impossible, the charge goes to a credit card. This doesn't make sense. Something's odd here."

"I agree. Let me check into this, please hold."

"Thank you for holding, sir. It appears your credit card is no longer valid. Please update your credit card information."

"Um, OK."

Extracting the most recent bill from to process stack, it indeed shows a balance due and over due. Pulling out the previous month's bill, it too shows an amount overdue, however it also includes the message, "Do not pay; your account is on auto pay." So, naturally, I filed the bill with no further action. The most recent bill doesn't include the autopay language. Autopay was discontinued without notifying me.

Yep, more than six months after the new credit card number went into effect, Time Warner's billing system finally noticed. Once the billing system did notice, it took three billing cycles, and accumulated overdue amounts, to trigger a "we've got a problem here" symptom.

This is wrong in so many ways. One, I found out by accident: a feature wasn't working so I called Time Warner. Two, when I called, I was miffed. I was primed for a fun movie night with the crew. Third, I'm pissed that overdue payments accumulated while the messaging on Time Warner's bill indicated that all was OK. I pay bills on time and am embarrassed when one slips by my. This one didn't slip by, it accumulated due to the design of Time Warner's system. Fourth, Time Warner discontinued a payment feature without notifying me. Don't you think they'd be on top of this stuff to ensure they receive payment in a timely manner?

Improving the situation further, the perky TW rep told me that the monthly fee for my triple-play bundle will increase on January 24, 2010 unless I take action. That was the first time TW had informed me my service bundle had a time limit on the pricing. To maximize convenience, the rep indicated that I couldn't switch to a new package now; that I need to call on January 24 to learn about new package pricing.

What sort of twisted logic leads a company to design a retention path with so many hurdles? TW had me on the phone last night inquiring about my services, what better time to discuss a new package (that ideally offers more features at a lower price)? And the rep had no idea what bundle pricing would be on January 24th.

Time Warner: do you want my business? You sure are acting as though you would prefer that I switch back to Verizon.

Addendum: The TimeWarnerCable.com site informs me it is designed to run on IE or FF. Sorry TW, I prefer Chrome.

Custodians to the Defense

2009-12-20T09:17:00.001-05:00

Ah, this is priceless:

In a letter (PDF) to the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries, say “active supervision of the settlement by the court and the United States will protect the public interest far more than any additional restructuring of the settlement.”

They also ask for representation of academic authors on the Book Rights Registry and remind the DOJ that libraries would be primary consumers of institutional subscriptions and thus deserved to have their voices heard. A fairness hearing is scheduled for February 18, 2010.

Ah, yes, the historical custodians of knowledge are scrambling for relevance. This should be interesting to watch. From a reader's perspective, digitized content is a wonderful thing. Access from anywhere, not just from brick and mortar custodians of the flame, is a reality. My Kindle Wireless Reading Device is hungry for more content.

Tight Common Sense

2009-10-15T19:41:00.000-04:00

A recent email from the high school principal reflects refreshing honesty and common sense:

Dear Parents of Female Students:

After a lot of deliberation, I'd like to clarify the Dress Code dealing with leggings, tights, and/or form fitting clothing covering the legs.

This type of garment is considered an undergarment and does not conform to the Dress Code. A proper outergarment must be worn outside of the tights or leggings and it must conform to the Dress Code. To be honest, I am not too familiar with the purpose of this type of clothing, I took the advice of our female administrators. They were adamant that the intention of this type of clothing was meant to be an undergarment.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Jeffrey J. Dever

Principal, Bowling Green High School

The Amazon Kindle Pricing Myth

2009-08-30T21:56:00.000-04:00

The Financial Times perpetuates the myth that Amazon.com charges "$9.99 for all its e-books in the US." Yes, Amazon does charge $9.99 for many books. Yet, there are many books for which Amazon charges less than $9.99 and many books for which Amazon charges more than $9.99. The Kindle edition of Christensen's excellent The Innovator's Prescription, sells for $17.40, for example. Myth. Busted.

Caution: Ostrich Posturing can be Hazardous to Your Future

2009-08-27T09:21:00.000-04:00

A colleague, reflecting on this NYT article about a recently published meta-analysis of studies examining the effectiveness of online and blended courses, observed:

But I don't think we should worry about online education being an adequate substitute for more traditional forms. That is.......yet.

Prompted me to respond as follows:

I find interesting that the NYT chose to characterize the study's findings so positively. Perhaps the reporter read the abstract only? For example, the study authors observe:

"the observed advantage for online learning in general, and blended learning conditions in particular, is not necessarily rooted in the media used per se and may reflect differences in content, pedagogy and learning time."

The study authors also observe:

"the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages. At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction."

One might take away from this that student time-on-task is the central factor driving differences observed in the meta-analysis; that online and blended (online combined with face-to-face meetings) expands student time on task. It would seem that any tool that expands the time students spend working with course material would be beneficial to the educational process.

Not addressed by the study is my hunch (yes, pure speculation) that on-line and blended course delivery requires that learning outcomes be specified with greater clarity than may be the norm for face-to-face classes. We know from the Brightman workshop that measureable student learning increases in parallel with the specificity of the learning outcomes communicated to students.

Overall, my take away is that the study suggests that course delivery method -- online, face-to-face, or blended -- is a comparatively minor factor in learning effectiveness. The study findings suggest that, from the perspective of student learning, online delivery is a viable substitute for and alternative to, face-to-face the delivery channel.

Following the classic path of a disruptive innovation, online and blended delivery bring to the table and leverage an attribute on which face-to-face instruction cannot compete. That attribute is convenience. Like it or not, students regard courses as commodities. Given a choice between commodities, consumers will choose the more convenient alternative. Indeed, convenience can trump better performance (as witnessed when you take a photo with your phone rather than a dedicated camera). Are our course offerings competitively convenient?

For digital natives – i.e., our current and future students -- online learning is a traditional form. Online delivery is non-traditional only from the perspective of digital immigrants (i.e., those of us old enough to have lived BC … where BC could be interpreted as Before Calculators and/or Before personal Computers). Bowling Green just opened a new middle school. The school is designed for distance learning. This is the norm, not an exception. Imagine the expectations those digital natives will have when they come to college!

We in higher ed ignore these market dynamics at great peril.

Patience may be Rewarded

2009-08-20T13:14:00.000-04:00

As my road bike -- a Cannondale R400 -- approaches its 20th birthday, I've begun giving thought to updating my ride. The notions of a softer ride -- the 'Dale's all aluminum frame is unrelentingly stiff -- and integrated break-shifters beckons. Working to my advantage is the economy. Bike sales have slowed to a crawl:

"The days of selling $4,000 to $6,000 bikes slowed down this summer," noted Trek presidentJohn Burke last week at the company's dealer gathering called Trek World. America's biggest bike company has lowered the price of its entry-level road model to $600 for 2010 (down from $900). For enthusiasts, its Madone 5.1, which features the Wisconsin-made OCLV black carbon frame and can be fully customized down to the paint job, starts at $3,099.

Interestingly,

Trek's main focus for 2010 will be on urban, city and commuter bicycles. Key will be the introduction of its new Ride+ line of electric-assist bikes. Trek plans to offer 3 e-bike models in the U.S. after partnering with BionX on the proprietary drive system, which consists of a hub motor and lithium ion battery. (Source:Bicycle Retailer and Industry News)

I'll pass on the BionX, thank you. I need and crave the exercise.

However, this does have me wondering: Will miniaturized electric motors, secreted aboard racing bikes, become the equivalent of yesterday's doping scandals?

Principles to Guide Discussion of Health Care Innovation: Some Initial Thoughts

2009-08-20T08:36:00.001-04:00

As discussion about the health care sector approaches a full howl, here are some thoughts, offered in no particular order, regarding principles I believe should be guiding discussion about health care innovation:

1. Change the reward structure. A major problem with the health care system is that it rewards treating the sick. I believe the system should be re-imagined as a wellness support system. By increasing the baseline wellness level, resources needed to treat illness due to preventable causes, overall cost of health expenditures would reduce freeing up resources that could be directed elsewhere (perhaps to aid those with catastrophic health issues such as your friend). This tool lets you fiddle with wellness ROI. Essential to wellness program success is careful targeting of behaviors to change.

2. Personal responsibility. I believe that health is a personal responsibility. We each have a responsibility to actively pursue a health. System incentives should be aligned with pursuit of healthful life.

Incentives in the form of modest co-pays, and the like, insulate consumers from the cost of health care. Consumers, rationally, are less price sensitive as a result. Consumers need to have incentive to be concerned about the cost of health services. Increasing price sensitivity of consumers will increase pricing pressure on health care providers.

3. Empower innovation. Innovation is the only path to reducing the cost of health services while simultaneously increasing the quality of health care. Encourage entrepreneurs to do what they do so well: create effective solutions to problems. Innovation is needed in myriad areas, including diagnostic and delivery technologies and in business models. Christensen, in The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care, provides an outstanding blueprint for how to empower innovation in the health care sector.

A challenge of innovation is that innovation spurs changes in consumer expectations. Expectations re. what the health care system can deliver (e.g., ., what can be treated) are a function of the system's ability to innovate and get rewarded for that innovation. The more the system can deliver, the more consumers expect of the system (i.e., consumer expectations regarding what constitutes 'basic' health care shifts out along the classic path of mature sustaining innovations.

4. Focus on outcomes rather than inputs or specific solutions. A focus on outcomes spurs innovation that can yield better outcomes at lower costs. A focus on outcomes is consumer-centric; it puts the focus on quality of patient care rather than on the caregiver.

5. Health care, is a complex adaptive system. System improvement is a function of the system being able to cycle, adapt, and 'emerge'. This implies identifying and removing barriers that inhibit system innovation and adaptation. Implicit in construing health care as a CAS is the implication that the system is smarter than any individual entity (human or organization). Ergo, the health care system will operate most efficiently -- and be more effective at yielding optimal patient outcomes -- when barriers to system function are systematically identified and removed. Put succinctly, the market will deliver more effective outcomes than can a bureaucracy.

6. Economic prosperity. Issues with the U.S. health care system are meaningfully a function of the state of the U.S. economy. The healthier the U.S. economy, the more wealth there is available in the private sector. Wealth in the private sector reflects job creation, salary and benefits expansion, increased charitable giving to non-profit hospitals and other community support organizations, and greater freedom of individual choice. Greater charitable giving, for example, expands the system's ability to provide those lacking resources access to care. Greater economic prosperity means that more people are employed. Greater economic prosperity means that companies are competing for employees by offering benefits, including health care coverage. Prosperity increases the ability of individuals to attend to their health care needs.

These thoughts are necessarily initial, incomplete and preliminary.

Apple Enabling "1984" 25 Years After 1984

2009-08-16T21:13:00.000-04:00

Apple's famous '1984' ad concluded, "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce MacIntosh. You'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984": Scott Ott illustrates how Apple is enabling 2009 to be like "1984". Yep, there's an app for that: