Innovation - what's all the fuss ?

Via Marc Wachtfogel, Ph.D.

Via Kim Flintoff

I’m not a MOOC completer. I am zero for life. My longest duration has been maybe 2 weeks, and more typically, much less. I am not denying that others get value of them and develop rich connec…

Via Ana Cristina Pratas

Every morning at the construction site down the street from my office, the day starts with a familiar hum. It’s the sound of the regular drone scan, when a small black quadcopter flies itself over the site in perfect lines, as if on rails. The buzz overhead is now so familiar that workers no longer look up as the aircraft does its work. It’s just part of the job, as unremarkable as the crane that shares the air above the site. In the sheer normalness of this — a flying robot turned into just another piece of construction equipment — lies the real revolution.

Via The Learning Factor

The push for educational technology exists within a broader political, economic, ideological, and technological context. The all-too-common ignorance of this context and the subtleties of learning itself may prove problematic for edtech — and higher education's future.

Via Dr. Susan Bainbridge

IN JULY 2011 Sebastian Thrun, who among other things is a professor at Stanford, posted a short video on YouTube, announcing that he and a colleague, Peter Norvig, were making their “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” course available free online.

Via Dr. Susan Bainbridge

The sheer volume and force of change on higher education is causing institutions to reassess long standing beliefs and assumptions about the teaching an

Highlights • Big Data is expected to have a large impact on Smart Farming and involves the whole supply chain. • Smart sensors and devices produce big amounts of data that provide unprecedented decision-making capabilities.

Via juandoming

At the center of every significant innovation is always an idea. Clarence Birdseye's idea about freezing fish revolutionized the food industry and American diets. Charles Schwab's idea about flat commissions changed investing forever. Steve Jobs's idea about creating a device that could hold 1,000 songs in your pocket turned around Apple's fortunes.

Yet we shouldn't confuse a great idea with where it came from. Truly useful ideas don't arise from out of the ether or through fancy techniques like brainstorming or divergent thinking. The best ideas come in response to an important problem and thrive under constraints.

In researching my book, Mapping Innovation, I found that the most innovative firms aren't necessarily any more creative or even better at solving problems than most. Rather, what set them apart was how they aggressively sought out new problems to solve. The truth is that if you want to create a truly innovative culture, it isn't ideas you should glorify, but problems.

Via John Evans

Technology is leading a new wave of disruption in our society. While powerful governments are worried about the potential implications of “intelligent” systems and robots displacing jobs, we're seeing more examples of such systems enabling business transformations.

Via EDTECH@UTRGV

"Is Educational Innovation Overrated?" Ben Riley, Executive Director, Deans for Impact Kate Walsh, President, National Council on Teacher Quality Moderate