All posts by Léa Peersman Pujol

The talent gap between school and the job market is currently being discussed and exposed internationally. At every higher ed institution there is a concern about closing this gap for its students. Some universities address this need better than others and the University of Phoenix is among the ones setting an example.

They have revamped all their career services options and now provide a very personalized and dynamic tool to their prospective and current student to better chose their studies (online, offline, degrees’ options, etc.) and to facilitate their access to the job market (trends, offers, videos of practitioners, articles, etc.). Both content and framework are fantastic to help students build their own path towards professional success.

Also, they have created the PhoenixConnect academic social network. This first of its kind online network is available to all students, alumni and staff for them to take advantage of student support communities, get advice from faculty members and enjoy a true sense of community that can be customized to their area of study/work, personal interests and career goals. This private, academic focused network showcases what new learning communities could be like. A true innovation serving the community and using technology very efficiently. 

A model to look at !

http://www.phoenix.edu/career-services.html

http://www.phoenix.edu/students/how-it-works/online-resources/phoenix-connect.html

Teachers and education professionals often have access to a lot of data on the students. Sometimes even they have collected it over the years. But most of this data is never actually translated into useful information.

Learnsprout cleverly addresses that issue and helps educators put their data to work. They can provide information on college readiness, on attendance awareness or student’s health, for free! It is very simple to connect, there is a very high level of security and analytics available at a state level.

Learnsprout paves the way to a better managed educational system and shows that data is only important because of the information it contends and that the key to data is the usage you will make out of it.

https://www.learnsprout.com

NikoNiko is a new app enabling you to measure the mood of everyone in your team. It facilitates performance management.

Imagine if a teacher could know about how the students feel. It would be easier to form groups, to identify why a student is learning more slowly on that day, etc. Educators would be able to follow up on students needs more closely and the classrooms atmosphere would improve as well as their degree of concentration when learning.

http://www.nikoniko.co/

Product Hunt buzz is growing and growing, and that’s totally normal. This website is simple and efficient. Everyday you receive by email the 9 best new tech products, you only need to subscribe to their newsletter. No adds, no pollution, only key information and you can directly look into the products you like. The website is also obviously great for funders as they see their product showcased to a qualitative crowd. Should you need to do a benchmark, should you be a tech addict, should you be a product manager, this is a fantastic way to learn about the Tech industry latest hits.

Personally I use it for the « Imagine if applied to learning » posts of the Mirror Network blog. Check them out in the « Knowledge Economy » section. Good tech models are good processes and should be able to impact many sectors, so let’s find the next apps for the killing apps!

http://www.producthunt.com/

Learning how to code is urgent, learning how to deal with data seems to be the next step.

Datamonkey understood that and now provides us with an easy and simple option to learn how to work with data. You ignore what SQL is? You are scared by numbers? Your analytical skills aren’t very strong? You can find answers and improve your resume in a fun way.

Oh and, yes, it’s free!

http://datamonkey.pro/

Storytelling is big now. Well this new app allows you to tell your story in your own soapy way.

Imagine if students could use this for their own learning journals and as a tool to improve their writing skills as well as learn how to present themselves better.

A whole world of pedagogical opportunities!

http://soapapp.co/

This is the first post under the category « Imagine if applied to learning ». The objective of these posts will be to present you with models that could be used with a teaching/learning purpose. Maybe some of you will want to take the next step… So here comes the inspiration!

Language barriers are a big problem when it comes to teaching and learning because some interesting material is only available in a certain language and translation costs are very high. In Cambodia for example, teachers have to translate some passages of interesting pedagogical material in English to Khmer. The problem is: certain words don’t exactly translate and the Khmer language, as we previously mentioned, is very figurative and doesn’t really allow conceptual thinking.

Well imagine if we could speak with images. Certain images are indeed recognizable by anyone on the planet and could very well substitute words. So here is an app doing exactly that:

http://www.emojimo.com/

Maybe we could now use it for teaching material?!

Mr. Chade-Meng Tan is someone I’d love to work with. When I came across his TED talk « Everyday compassion at Google » and then read his bio, I instantly wanted to introduce him to the whole world. Because people like Mr. Tan should be widely known as they see the key problems and provide you not with solutions but with the right tools to find your owns, and that is impressive!

His current job’s description at Google is « enlighten minds, open hearts, create world peace ». I hope to be proud with such achievement one day. One of his projects at Google is the « Search Inside Yourself » course. He also created the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. He aims at people being able to become drinking  fountains for happiness and enlightenment.

Next step: send him a letter – I shall keep you posted!

https://www.ted.com/speakers/chade_meng_tan

http://www.chademeng.com/

http://www.siyli.org/

Esalen is a preeminent alternative education center charged with helping to transform and evolve world culture through its public workshops and its Center for Theory & Research (CTR) projects. 

For over 50 years, Esalen has initiated new areas of research, theory, practice, and action, all of which have fostered social change and the realization of the human potential. For example, they are now working on: political polarization, citizen diplomacy with China and Russia, somatics and ecoactivism, meditation, etc. 

Esalen organizes many invitational conferences and helps forming and enriching international networks. For example, they just hold the « Conscious Business Conclave » and the event brought together progressive business leaders with systems thinkers and spiritual teachers to share their personal values and discuss the emergence of new business models that honor employees and the environment.  Current or former CEOs and senior executives from companies picked by Fortune magazine as the best 100 to work for were invited to share what they know with the others.

They are also now working on complexity economics. They organize a conference where the old approach looked at the economy through the physicist’s metaphor of a closed system that always finds an even equilibrium between supply and demand, the new, more biological/evolutionary approach sees an open and dynamic system that is often far from equilibrium.  By building a fellowship among the leaders in this nascent and very important field, Esalen can do for economics what the famous Solvay conferences did for modern physics: create a new and better paradigm for discovery, understanding, and a more reliable creation of sustainable wealth.

A unique institution, at the center of today’s and tomorrow’s key debates linking all the decision makers in an opened and proactive discussion. A place we should all know about.

http://www.esalen.org/

CIIS is a higher education institution which understood that today we need to apprehend, comprehend and make the most of the world in its complexity. CIIS’s students have the opportunity to mix disciplines, to integrate traditions, cultures and the future into their approaches in order to get more efficient as well as satisfied and happy in shaping the world.

The Institute offers interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and applied studies in psychology, philosophy, religion, cultural anthropology, transformative studies and leadership, integrative health, women’s spirituality, counseling, community mental health, and the arts. With its personal learning environment and supportive community, CIIS provides an extraordinary education for people committed to transforming themselves and the world.

CIIS offers the incredible opportunity to bring together all the usually fragmented pieces of learning to build a your knowledge as a meaningful whole. Studies there aren’t only about ideals, they are about wisdom and that is a question that we hardly ever find ourselves confronted with. An opportunity to learn, an opportunity to be.

http://www.ciis.edu/