InformationWeek Stories by Michael Fitzgerald

InformationWeek Stories by Michael Fitzgeraldhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-05-21T09:06:00ZShould CIOs Hire Cyber Pinkertons?If a full-on cyberwar breaks out, what will your company do? Avoid the Internet or hire a cyber Pinkerton?http://www.informationweek.com/security/cybercrime/should-cios-hire-cyber-pinkertons/240155186?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/the-syrian-electronic-army-9-things-we-k/240155028"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/994/Syrian-Electronic-Army-Tank_01_tn.jpg" alt="The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know" title="The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view) <div class="storyImageTitle">The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know</div></div>If a cyber war breaks out, what's a CIO to do? Prepare for cyber bombings? Get off the Internet and avoid the virtual front? Let the government step in and take over cyber defense for private networks? Hire Pinkerton-style paramilitaries to go out and crack cyber skulls? These are some of the questions raised in a recent talk about cyber war and civil liberties given at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society by Timothy H. Edgar, the first White House <a href="http://www.watsoninstitute.org/contacts_detail.cfm?id=976 ">director of privacy and civil liberties</a>. [ How can you avoid punching some granny in Akron whose PC is a zombie? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/cybercrime/4-steps-for-proactive-cybersecurity/240146573?itc=edit_in_body_cross">4 Steps For Proactive Cybersecurity</a>. ] Edgar told a crowded room that we are not in a cyber war, at least not now. But some would consider Stuxnet an act of war -- although the U.S. does not. And what company wouldn't want a little help <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/anonymous-takes-on-state-department-more/240148770">staving off Anonymous</a>? <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2013/05/Timothy_Edgar_175.jpg" alt="Timothy Edgar" title="Timothy Edgar" class="img175" /><div class="storyImageCaption">Timothy Edgar</div></div> "In some ways … we are in a September 10th moment," said Edgar. "The intelligence community is screaming that we have problems and we need to do something about it." Edgar argued that as attacks from all sorts of sources have increased, the U.S. government is increasingly concerned with protecting computer networks, particularly those at companies involved with critical infrastructure. But security concerns must be balanced with expectations of privacy that are a basis of our democracy, and also with the need to maintain a competitive economy. "How are we going to maintain a free Internet with personal privacy?" Edgar asked. "Will we destroy the Internet to try to save it?" Rearchitecting the Internet to make it more secure would likely disrupt some of the things that have made the Internet popular and commercially useful. He pointed out that although President Obama has said the government won't dictate security standards to private companies, and won't monitor private sector networks and Internet traffic, it is already doing so. "What I take this promise to mean is we will not have a comprehensive Internet monitoring program to use cyber security to do programmatic monitoring of all kinds," Edgar said. CIOs can help themselves by adopting technologies such as private information retrieval, a cryptography technique that will let a company give limited access to records in its databases. Edgar also says CIOs in firms considered part of the U.S.'s critical infrastructure need to expect that they will be asked, or possibly told, to adopt the <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy/PIAs/PIA%20NPPD%20E3A%2020130419%20FINAL%20signed.pdf">Einstein intrusion detection system</a> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"><div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a><div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div>Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.</div> </div>   "The pros would be a central command and control structure, access to the latest technology (ideally), and it's funded by the taxpayers rather than each company," said a cyber security special agent at the Department of Defense, who asked that his name not be used. CIOs would likely gain access to classified intelligence on geopolitical threats that could enrich understanding about certain markets. They would be less likely to run into international incidents, and if they chose to respond to an attack, they would have federal blessing. The drawbacks, he said, could include 24/7 government attention, limited threat data sharing -- because the government doesn't need to share if it's doing the protecting -- more intimate knowledge of your specific corporate network, and the potential that the government might make mistakes that damage corporate bottom lines. CIOs also should be aware of the http://www.nist.gov/itl/cyberframework.cfm">NIST Cybersecurity Framework</a>, and be prepared to adopt its best practices recommendations, he said. A CIO could argue that the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/us-cybersecurity-status-weak-reports-cha/240150168 ">government can't protect itself</a>, so how will it protect the rest of us? But does that mean CIOs should prepare to go on the offensive? In the physical world, it would be unthinkable. But Edgar says cyber law is a greyer area. The U.S. itself has declined to sign treaties that ban cyber weapons. And what would they ban? Social networks are seen by some governments as destabilizing forces. Edgar thinks some companies could decide to go on the offensive in their own right, particularly multinationals, whose personnel outside the U.S. might be exempt from U.S. anti-hacking laws. "A lot of companies aren't going to go there," he said. But he told InformationWeek that companies could certainly hire their own cyber-Pinkertons, who could have the freedom to try to take down cyber attackers. Of course, doing so could land CIOs in the middle of an international incident, if they go after a cyber attacker that turns out to be part of a foreign government. The same holds true for CIOs overseas, who could find themselves engaged with U.S. cyber forces. It's a complicated issue. CIOs need to know the terms of engagement.2013-05-16T11:46:00ZH-1B At Center Of Immigration Reform DebateH-1B is just one of the hot-button issues in the immigration reform act now being debated by the Senate Judiciary Committee.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/h-1b-at-center-of-immigration-reform-deb/240155054?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/galleries/social_networking_consumer/linkedin-10-important-changes/240154479"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/990/LinkedIn-original-screen_birthday-hat_01_tn.jpg" alt="LinkedIn: 10 Important Changesr" title="LinkedIn: 10 Important Changes" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) <div class="storyImageTitle">LinkedIn: 10 Important Changes</div> </div>Don't look for a short, sweet process of H-1B reform. The H-1B, once dubbed the high-tech visa, now seemingly the outsourcing visa, is a focus of special debate in the ongoing push for immigration reform in Congress. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/h-1b-ripe-for-reform/240152922">H-1B</a> has become a focal point because of outsourcing firms' heavy use of the visa. Those firms' clients are seen as dumping American workers in favor of cheaper workers overseas in a kind of labor arbitrage. Some high-tech firms, such as Facebook, are seen as supporting expansion of the H-1B in part because they cannot get specialized skills they need due to the large number of H-1Bs sucked up by outsourcing firms. H-1B is just one of the hot-button issues in the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act now being debated by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But it is the one that matters most to IT. [ Is the U.S. talent pool really as dangerously shallow as some companies want you to believe? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/it-talent-shortage-or-purple-squirrel-hu/240150215?itc=edit_in_body_cross">IT Talent Shortage Or Purple Squirrel Hunt?</a> ] Up for debate is increasing the number of H-1Bs available, from 65,000, plus 20,000 more for immigrants who've just graduated with master's and Ph.D. degrees. The bill proposes expanding that to a base level of 110,000, plus 25,000 for new graduates. It could allow for as many as 180,000 visas, depending on factors such as demand for visas and unemployment levels. Companies would be expected to pay more for these temporary work visas -- as much as $2,500 apiece -- especially if more than 50% of their U.S. employees use one. Part of the bill clearly targets outsourcers: It says companies with more than 15% of U.S. staff on an H-1B visa cannot place those employees at client sites. Gordon Coburn, president of outsourcer Cognizant, told Bloomberg News he <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-13/cognizant-expects-immigration-bill-debate-to-extend-into-2014.html">did not expect the immigration debate to be resolved quickly</a>. "The process for changes to the bill we expect goes late this year into next year," he said. Several amendments failed in <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/299757-senate-judiciary-panel-wraps-up-debate-on-h-1b-visa-measures ">discussion Tuesday</a>. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, tried to amend the bill so that one in every 100 firms that apply for an H-1B visa would be audited to ensure it was not engaging in fraud or violations of the program. His amendment failed. Grassley also tried to require that American firms make an effort to hire an American worker before they can fill a position with an H-1B worker. That failed, too. Another was Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) attempt to amend the bill so that there would be <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legislation/immigration/amendments/Cruz/Cruz5-%28MDM13527%29.pdf">325,000 H-1Bs</a>. That prompted a statement from the IEEE-USA, which noted "when exemptions are included, this would equal roughly 10% of the total U.S. engineering workforce." The IEEE-USA asked the Senate Judiciary committee not to increase the number of H-1Bs. IEEE argued that H-1B will encourage more <a href="http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/releases/2013/051313.asp">jobs to be outsourced overseas</a>. It did say in its statement that it would accept the increase to 110,000. IEEE supports unlimited green cards for foreign nationals who've received a Ph.D. in a STEM (science, technology engineering and mathematics) field. The immigration bill will make it easier for STEM graduates to stay here. All the amendments considered Tuesday currently can be seen on the <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/">Senate Judiciary Committee's website</a>. Deliberations will continue Thursday. H-1B-related amendments by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are expected to be discussed.2013-05-15T09:07:00ZCIO Profile: James Knight Of ChubbIn his continuing role as insurer's chief information exec, Jim Knight's top goal is developing Chubb's data analytics capabilities.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/cio-profile-james-knight-of-chubb/240154868?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<table width="175" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right"> <tr> <td rowspan="3" width="10"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/spacer.gif" width="10" height="5" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0"> </td> <td width="175"><img src=" http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2013/03/Jim-Knight.jpg" width="175" height="175" alt="James P. Knight, Executive Vice President & Global CIO, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies" border="0"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="175" align="center"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/spacer.gif" width="175" height="4" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0"> James P. Knight Executive VP & Global CIO, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies </td> </tr> </table> Chubb has a decentralized structure for IT, with individual CIOs running IT for their units and reporting to Jim Knight, who was once one of them, as CIO of the claims unit. Knight, 51, has led the group for the last five years, including through a significant department restructuring to make it faster and more aligned with Chubb's businesses. One such project was <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/chubb-cio-explains-his-no-stress-social/240151063">supporting the rollout of a major social media platform</a>. Career Track How long at <a href="http://www.chubb.com/">Chubb Group</a>?: 17 years, and in my current role a little over five years. Most important career influencer: In my last couple of years at Home Insurance Company, 1994-'95, my boss, Vic Guyan, became my mentor. Vic is a lighthouse in a storm. He's very polished and doesn't have a political agenda -- he just does the right thing. He helped me understand the business landscape, the role, being more collaborative, a leader. He's probably the one who first instilled in me that if you have a brand that talks about value add, no matter what you do, you're going to do quite well. Here at Chubb, three years prior to me becoming the global CIO, the CIO at the time retired and I was in the mix of potential replacements. They narrowed it down to two internal candidates and deemed that neither one of us was ready yet. They brought in a transitional CIO instead, June Drewry. She helped me develop a sense of leadership, that it's okay to lead the way Jim Knight leads, to understand and exploit the things that work and minimize or delegate where I'm not as strong. My current boss, Dino Robusto, co-president, has taken me and pushed me from an IT exec into a business executive. Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: A series of things where I was given a certain challenge that others couldn't seem to solve and I got it solved. At Home Insurance we implemented a claims system that clearly went off the tracks. I got it back together. Similar story here, also with a claims system. We outsourced our back office HR function, and for the new system, the person in charge of governance was an HR person, great guy but his strength was not in implementing systems. That project was severely off the tracks. They asked me to fix it and do it without ruffling political feathers. Everything came to a successful conclusion, no dead bodies left behind and relationships were forged that were better than before I started these initiatives. Why do you do what you do? I'm lucky. I always knew what I wanted to do and pursued it. In 10th, 11th grade, I took computer math and learned basic programming. It's the challenge and the problem solving, and now technology is so critical to any information-based corporation such as Chubb that the impact is extremely visible. You know you're making a difference in terms of what IT does. Decisions I wish I could do over: I don't have many. It was like there was someone looking out for me. Understanding the business executive side of it, having an MBA would have been helpful. Hardest thing about what I'm doing: In this continuing transformation of IT, we're making some tough choices. Over the last couple of years, we clarified roles. Some people who were very, very good jack-of-all-trades but master of none, kind of fell out. They were high performers but they didn't fit our model anymore. People who survived the transformation didn't quite get it at the time. They would say, "Oh, how could they let her go, how could they let him go?" We also had compression at the middle layer of the team. We were starting to get too many at that level. Another tough decision was we had to downgrade some of them. They could keep their job but had to level it. We're getting through it fine, but it wasn't easy. One thing I'm looking to do better: Inspire and motivate already highly effective leaders, to take them to the next level. On The Job <hr noshade style="border-bottom:solid 4px #FFFF00; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:8px;" /> Size of IT team: Flirting with 1,400 people, about 1,000 in the U.S. Our infrastructure is outsourced to IBM, our quality assurance is outsourced, and those are not counted in the employment numbers. Top initiatives <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tr> <td> <ul class="normalUL" style="margin-left:24px;"> <li style="margin-bottom:5px;">I just hired a chief business analytic scientist. What we're trying to do is create business analytics as a core competency in Chubb IT. We see where the world is going in analytics and big data. Chubb has rich data, and some of our markets are niche and the data is exclusive to us. The data should allow us better insights and allow us some distance from competitors if we do it right. We have a lot of predictive modeling initiatives going on. </li> <li style="margin-bottom:5px;">Rationalizing our portfolio is another one on our screen. </li> <li style="margin-bottom:5px;">Information security, always. Ask me that next year or the year after and it'll still be on the top of the list. </li> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> Vision <hr noshade style="border-bottom:solid 4px #FFFF00; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:8px;" /> What I want from tech vendors: Real partnerships. Like in a marriage, one partner is going to stumble and the other is going to pick them up, and it doesn't mean you're going to owe more money. Also, integrity. Most disruptive force in my industry: The pace of technology change. Most overrated IT movement: Cloud computing. It is not a panacea. It's good, don't get me wrong. I just think it's overrated. Personal <hr noshade style="border-bottom:solid 4px #FFFF00; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:8px;" /> Degrees: BS in computer science from Utica College, Master's in management Information science from Kennedy-Western University. Person I'd like to have lunch with: This is going to make my Republican friends angry, but Bill Clinton. There's negativity around this country and where it's heading. I'd just like to get his thoughts on that, and I'd love to speak to him about the real inner workings of the White House. If Ronald Reagan was alive, I'd choose him. First job: I was 10 years old and I worked in lower Manhattan delivering microfilm for my dad, who owned his own microfilming service. My first non-family job was at McDonald's, flipping burgers. If you weren't doing what you do: I'd run a hospitality business, a bed-and-breakfast or a restaurant or small resort. <div style="margin-left:40px; font-size:.9em; font-weight:bold;">Ranked <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/1343/">No. 54</a> in the 2012 <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/1343/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1284/iwk500rank_logo.jpg" width="200" height="20" border="0" alt="InformationWeek 500"></a> </div>2013-05-13T09:06:00ZBeware Batch Processing Of Kids: Ed Tech ExpertOnline learning should not supplant kids coming together to participate in teams, says researcher Justin Reich.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/beware-batch-processing-of-kids-ed-tech/240154675?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/inside-eight-game-changing-moocs/240152508"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/976/MOOC_canvas_01_tn.jpg" alt=" 8 MOOCs Transforming Education" title="8 MOOCs Transforming Education" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 MOOCs Transforming Education</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>It's hard not to get hepped up about education technology. The combination of perceived need for an immense rethink of public education and our belief in the huge potential of technology seem made for each other. But there's a dark side to the hype, warned <a href="http://www.edtechresearcher.com/">Justin Reich</a>, co-founder of <a href="http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/about/people ">EdTechTeacher</a> and a Berkman Center Fellow conducting research on the field. Reich raised a fundamental question in his talk this week at Harvard Law School, entitled "Personalized Learning, Backpacks Full of Cash, Rockstar Teachers and MOOC Madness": what's technology bringing to education that's new? The answer is not "nothing." But, he says, it's unclear what new approaches and technology will work. He half-joked that half of the ideas out there will fail. And he worries about the long-term impact on our society. "I'm pretty certain some of these ideas and technologies have tremendous potential to expand human achievement, learning and development," Reich said. "I'm also absolutely certain that a lot of things are taking some very old, and in some cases some very tired ideas in education and putting them in shiny new form factors." [ How are top education IT pros dealing with online competition? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/moocs-what-university-cios-really-think/240154120?itc=edit_in_body_cross">MOOCs: What University CIOs Really Think</a>. ] He said everyone interested in using technology to reform education must keep three ideas in mind: -- Students learn as much from the structure of the educational system as from what they are taught; -- Technology can take old ideas and jazz them up, but they are still old ideas; -- We do not know the long-term impact of the decisions we make now. Reich cited <a href=http://www.nearpod.com>Nearpod</a> as an example of a technology approach that looks new but he says is not. Nearpod is an iPad app that makes it easier for teachers to create interactive presentations. He pointed out that in essence, it is just a variation on the chalkboard, a way to force students to look at notes about a subject. He also said that the emergence of "rock star" teachers such as Coursera's Sebastian Thrun and Khan Academy's Salman Khan means little in innovation and does not personalize the process. He noted that they don't actually interact individually with the throngs who look at their classes, so they clearly aren't individualizing instruction. He praised Khan Academy for its lectures, but said that the idea of using it to supplement classroom instruction, called blended learning, or even to use Khan Academy to replace math teachers, or "unbundle" that part of education, hearkens back to Edward Thorndike, who helped popularize the idea that modern public education was something of an assembly line. In this model, online courses like Khan's simply let each student run the assembly line at their own pace. Reich said we might soon see educational assessment companies putting 360-degree cameras in classrooms and sending their video feed off to low-level grunts who will spend their days grading teachers on their work. That idea should set efficiency pioneer <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/taylor_lo.html ">Frederick Winslow Taylor</a> to quivering appreciatively in his grave. Reich himself is not as excited; he raised the question of whether you want your kids' teachers assessed by people in cubicle farms. Meanwhile, Reich said, ideas pushing more customized, personal learning, such as the <a href="http://connectedlearning.tv/">connected classroom</a> touted by the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation, hearken back to John Dewey, whose ideas for the most part lost out to Thorndike's. Reich is not a technophobe. But he says he's deeply concerned about how online learning will change society. He says the pay-for-play model that online learning represents could change the nature of American polity. Public education exists in part to educate young citizens, he noted. Online learning "positions them as consumers, and hopes that market will efficiently distribute these resources," Reich said. He warns that this is a fundamental shift in education. Schools of almost every stripe have been places where students shared experiences, and developed and deviated from social norms. In such a system, he argues, children are involved in collaboratively authoring their learning experiences. What happens to that experience, and that way of being in society, when a large enough number of students no longer participate in it? Reich said it absolutely seems right to let a smart child in a rural school district take an AP math class online, and skip out on the school's classroom experience. But "if 10 or 15% of kids opt out, team and interdisciplinary activities no longer make sense," he said. In the existing mode, kids are learners, and have reciprocal obligations to one another. In the consumer mode that seems to be emerging, kids will optimize their individual opportunities. Reich said teaching history showed him that "when students have choices they don't always pick in ways that would be most valuable to them." For instance, most kids will not opt to learn about things like the Holocaust or the Civil Rights movement, but they need to learn about them, and they should learn about them in a group. "We should make students study these things and should make them study together," he said. In the end, he said, education technology is not just about gaining relief from "batch processing" students. "There are all kinds of things we lose when we stop treating students as communities of learners and treat them as individuals. We should not let those changes happen without a serious discussion of the consequences." Of course, he's told us we can't know the consequences. Reich is suggesting that the changes we're gearing up to make to education will be good for the individual and bad for society. The question, then, is are we turning our education system into our financial system? What do you think?2013-05-08T14:26:00ZDigital Globes: New Spin On Classroom StapleRight now digital globes are too expensive for most classrooms, but promise an exciting new way to teach geography and more.http://www.informationweek.com/education/instructional-it/digital-globes-new-spin-on-classroom-sta/240154468?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/inside-eight-game-changing-moocs/240152508"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/976/MOOC_canvas_01_tn.jpg" alt=" 8 MOOCs Transforming Education" title="8 MOOCs Transforming Education" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 MOOCs Transforming Education</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>The classic image of education features a chalkboard, books on desks and a classroom globe. All are still in use, but smart boards and digital textbooks are spreading rapidly. The newest player? The digital globe. But it's not as widespread, at least not yet. That's because digital globes cost tens of thousands of dollars, versus an array of smart boards available for under $2,000, or digital textbooks, which can be free. Digital globes, as the name suggests, are spherical but capable of displaying different global images, controlled by a PC or other video source. Operators -- museum personnel, corporate speakers, teachers -- can toggle between familiar static images such as terrain and newer views such as real-time weather patterns or animal habitats. [ Want more on online courses? See our slideshow, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-shaking-up/240150477?itc=edit_in_body_cross">12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT</a>. ] The <a href="http://www.msinnovation.info/">MathScience Innovation Center</a> spent $39,500 for an 18-inch digital globe, called a Magic Planet, a carrying case and related software from Global Imagination. The MSIC serves 170,000 students in the Richmond, Va., area. "Funding was an issue," said Carroll Ellis, Earth and environmental science educator at the MSIC. "We had to look at grant funding." Ellis felt the money was worth it to use an actual sphere for teaching astronomy, and for the Center's innovation mission. "When you go into a classroom you want something different and here at the Center that's what people expect from us," he said. Ellis developed a curriculum built around an alien named Bob, who can change into any planet in the solar system, as well as other objects in outer space. Ellis goes out into the schools four days a week to teach the 90-minute lesson on the planets, primarily to area sixth graders. He says the globe, in its case, weighs about 50 pounds. He's now developing climate-related curriculum. The MSIC has anecdotal evidence that the digital globe improves learning, and is developing some ways to measure its impact. There are no hard numbers available to measure the impact at the Rochester, Minn., public schools, either. There's been a 36-inch Magic Planet in the school district's planetarium since 2007, said Larry Mascotti, planetarium director for the Rochester Public Schools. The district spent nearly $50,000 to acquire its Magic Planet. He, too, cites anecdotal evidence based on observation of how students engage with the globe. <div class="centeredStoryImage"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2013/05/Carrol_Ellis_590.jpg" width="590" height="459" alt="Carroll Ellis" title="Carroll Ellis" /></div> "One reason why we purchased it is it's a dynamic virtual teaching tool," Mascotti said. "It evolves with time. When new datasets are available we can use them. It's a very democratic teaching tool." In Rochester, students come to the facility. Mascotti has a 90-minute session with third graders, teaching them how to tell the difference between stars and planets in the night sky, among other things. He also has developed lessons for eighth graders on plate tectonics on Mars and on Earth. He's working with teachers in the district to develop materials on geography, and is also exploring using the Magic Planet to teach math.One place that has looked at the impact of digital globes on education is China. A study by the Chinese Ministry of Education's Educational Equipment Research Institute looked at 700 students who spent a year with the Magic Planet in class, using it with 15 different topics, and a control group of 700 that did not. It found that students in the Magic Planet classrooms averaged comprehension levels 16.5% higher than the students in the control groups. It also found that 100% of students in classes with the Magic Planet participated, while just 80% of the control group participated. China has recommended the Magic Planet as a piece of standard classroom equipment, which has swamped Global Imagination's production in Campbell, Calif. "We can't keep up with demand," said Mike Foody, CEO of Global Imagination. China was already by far the company's largest market, with more than 1,500 globes installed in 800 schools. In contrast, there are six school districts in the U.S. using its globes. (Others might use digital globes from rivals such as iGlobe or ARC Science.) Foody said his company has about 1,200 globes on order, 1,000 of those bound for China. But he can envision hundreds of thousands of orders. He says if he can get prices down to about $2,500, every one of China's 440,000 schools will buy one. To meet that $2,500 price, he's hoping to convince a Chinese manufacturer to produce globes. China is the main source for the specialized projector components that power the digital globe's display. Schools are a breakout market for the Magic Planet, first sold to NASA and to museums. Foody said they work well for teaching, because they offer 3-D visualization for objects that are indeed three-dimensional. He says the brain has to do a lot of work to convert a flat map into a 3-D image. However, he said that entrepreneurs often underestimate how much time it takes adopters of new education technology to do new things. "You hear a lot about revolutionizing education and completely revamping the way it's done," Foody said. "One of the biggest challenges is teachers don't have a lot of time." Ellis, for instance, spent nearly three months developing his Magic Planet curriculum in Richmond. But as the globes spread in education, resources should increase, which might help teachers round out their lesson plans.2013-04-30T09:06:00ZGroundbreaking Online Library Intrigues EducatorsDigital Public Library of America gives researchers access to new collections, lets librarians augment their schools' education.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/groundbreaking-online-library-intrigues/240153850?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-shaking-up/240150477"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/961/creative-commons_tn.jpg" alt="12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT" title=" 12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle"> 12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>The launch of the Digital Public Library of America earlier this month creates new opportunities for schools to educate students, without a major technology upgrade. Almost three years in the making, the <a href="http://dp.la/">DPLA</a>, the U.S.'s first public online-only library, allows free access to collections from university libraries, archives and museums. Previously, such collections could not be seen without going to the library that held them. The DPLA changes that, benefitting librarians -- but it also has special potential for educators. The DPLA gives librarians an open platform, with tools that in principle will let them curate materials to help students in classrooms. For universities, the DPLA will help "scholarship will go faster," said Mary Molinaro, associate dean for library technologies at the University of Kentucky. She's been involved in a 15-year project to bring the UK library online, as manager of the <a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/">Kentucky Digital Library</a>. The UK library is one of the service hubs, or content aggregators, for the DPLA. Among other things, it will save researchers from having to fund trips to see materials that are in a specific place. A medieval researcher told her that many of the manuscripts he studies are now available online, meaning he had much quicker access to things he needed for his research, she said. [ Massive online open courses are complementing the traditional college education. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/moocs-are-here-to-stay-profs-say/240151139?itc=edit_in_body_cross">MOOCs Are Here To Stay, Profs Say</a>. ] Molinaro believes the DPLA will improve education by allowing librarians to do things like geotagging maps so people can see what was written in a place, the newspapers it had, and whether there were oral histories taken of people in an area. "Those are the kinds of things [you'll get] as you look at collections across the country, with open data coming together in a way will be magical," Molinaro said. She said that little in the new way of new technology is needed to use the DPLA, though as a service hub Kentucky does need to add storage. The DPLA brings content online that has not previously been digitized. "A lot of this content would never be discoverable otherwise. It's in small libraries and historical societies," said Emily B. Gore, DPLA director of content, and formerly associate dean for digital scholarship and technology services at Florida State. The DPLA "would [have meant] a lot to me" in helping to bring collections online in her previous job, she said. Gore agreed that the technology needed to use the online library's resources are minimal -- it does the hosting and the aggregating, meaning that even small libraries at schools should be able to use it. The DPLA grew out of a project hosted at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Currently, 18 institutions partnering with the DPLA serve as content providers or service hubs that aggregate content. The largest contributors of content are the Mountain West Digital Library, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Smithsonian. That the DPLA has its own application programming interface means libraries can create their own look around DPLA content, such as filtering for content from their own region. Gore bills the DPLA as a way to allow easier access to data at a time when content is being put behind pay walls. "We're not going to change the fact that a student can't get access to a lot of these paid resources," she said. "[But] we are going to change the fact that you don't have to drive to the campus for special, unique collections." She said that now the DPLA has launched, a major goal would be adding more content from many more institutions. It will also work to improve metadata usage. For instance, the South Carolina digital library project uses "upstate" to define a specific region in South Carolina. But that term will not make sense to people from New York, where upstate means some place else entirely. Molinaro said the DPLA will soon leave those growing pains behind. "Give it another couple of years as we build this out, and people will just be blown away."2013-04-23T09:06:00ZNeeded: CIO As StrategistCIOs should impart to their staff what the IT department does and why it matters. Cynthia Montgomery's book on strategy is a good template.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/needed-cio-as-strategist/240153301?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/office-2013-10-questions-to-ask/240150037"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/959/01_Intro_175.jpg" alt="Office 2013: 10 Questions To Ask" title="Office 2013: 10 Questions To Ask" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Office 2013: 10 Questions To Ask</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>We expect the CIO to know technology, and how to run a tight budget. But what businesses really want from their CIOs is someone who can <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/what-makes-a-cio-effective/204701895">strategize</a>. The CIO, as someone who sees across the company, is well positioned to shape corporate strategy. But the CIO is often asked merely to be tactical, and strategy isn't something most CIOs are expected to study in school. Even if a CIO did, the strategy course would probably be misguided, said Cynthia Montgomery, who teaches strategy at Harvard Business School. Her 2012 book <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780062071019">The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs</a> is getting attention, in part because it seems to fly in the face of everything Michael Porter taught businesses about strategy. She says her current book builds on his work but reframes the broader questions of strategic thinking. [ Do you agree? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/7-tech-trends-cios-call-overrated/240150822?itc=edit_in_body_cross">7 Tech Trends CIOs Call Overrated</a>. ] Although she aims her comments at CEOs, any C-level executive can learn about strategy from her comments. The CEO needs some help, as she told strategy+business, because <a href="http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00163?gko=f0c49">it's hard for the CEO to be a strategist</a>. "Everybody says that strategy is the CEO's responsibility. But it's just one of many things that the CEO is responsible for," she said in the article. "So strategy becomes an area for experts. The company draws on specialists to help with external analysis, to do a deep dive on competitors, and to look at trends around the world." <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2013/04/strategist.jpg" alt="The Strategist" title="The Strategist" class="img175" /></div>  She said that inside a business, leaders must know the answer to the questions: "What will this firm be, and why will it matter?" That sounds like squishy existentialism, especially in a world that believes, a la Michael Porter, that strategy should be driven by economic analysis. She argues that the qualitative question of "What matters?" is actually quite hard-nosed, from a business perspective. It is also quite difficult. Imagine that as a CIO you had to answer, every day, in the face of intense pressure to outsource or to adopt off-the-shelf cloud solutions for pretty much everything you do, the question, "Why should my department be here?" She told strategy+business that most executives struggle to articulate their company's purpose. Students in her executive courses can make great arguments about the strategies of companies she features in her case studies, but cannot do the same for their own companies. In other words, even top executives cannot make the leap from theory to practice. So she guides them through developing their own strategic plan, and then spends multiple hours with them in strategy critiques and study sessions. It's obviously hard for any working executive to do this, but Montgomery says that strategy cannot be left to company and department retreats and then forgotten. It must be an ongoing conversation. Montgomery says that a good CEO will engage in these kinds of discussions with senior executives. A CIO can adapt this technique for ongoing conversation with his or her peers, and with IT department leaders, so everyone in the group understands what IT does and why it matters -- especially at a time when businesses like to argue that it doesn't. The good news for CIOs is that strategy boils down to a few simple questions: what do you do that's distinctive? Why does your business or your department matter? Or, as she put it in Forbes, ask the following <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/06/11/the-four-questions-behind-all-corporate-strategy-a-conversation-with-cynthia-montgomery/2/">four questions</a>: <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"><div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a><div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div>Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.</div> </div>   -- What does your company bring that customers value? -- Of these things, which are vitally, even uniquely, important to customers? -- If you closed your doors today, would your customers suffer a real loss? -- Are you doing today what your company needs to do to matter tomorrow? CIOs should substitute department for company when talking within IT. By developing a strong understanding of your department's purpose, you as CIO should also be able to help lead your company in new directions that are good for the business. This is the kind of effective strategic thinking that CEOs crave, and it's also something CIOs are in a good position to do.2013-04-16T09:06:00ZH-1B: Ripe For Reform20% of H-1B petitions granted last year went to just four firms, all outsourcers. That's just one proof that the controversial visa program is hurting tech.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/h-1b-ripe-for-reform/240152922?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/social-network/5-new-linkedin-tools/240152212"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/972/LinkedIn-collage_tn.jpg" alt="5 New LinkedIn Tools" title="5 New LinkedIn Tools" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">5 New LinkedIn Tools</div>(click image for slideshow) </div>What to do about the H-1B? It's either abuse of immigrants not seen since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle">The Jungle</a> or it's the only thing keeping our innovation economy from falling apart. That's how people seemed to react to the H-1B visa program <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/h-1b-rush-sparks-broader-debate/240152533">hitting its cap</a> a mere week after petitions were opened. The H-1B lets U.S companies bring in immigrants with special skills, and should serve as a leading indicator that U.S. companies want to lift all their boats. But in a time of anemic job growth, people question whether we need immigrants with special skills. [ Is the U.S. talent pool really that dangerously shallow? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/it-talent-shortage-or-purple-squirrel-hu/240150215?itc=edit_in_body_cross">IT Talent Shortage Or Purple Squirrel Hunt?</a> ] <a href=https://www.informationweek.com/high-five-meet-john-miano-founder-of-the/197002664>John Miano</a>, who founded the <a href="http://www.programmersguild.org/">Programmers Guild</a> and now is a fellow at the <a href="http://www.cis.org/About ">Center for Immigration Studies</a>, wrote me in an email that "the economy is in the toilet. Job creation sucks. Yet the H-1B cap gets hit." Miano's not against talented immigrants coming to the U.S., but thinks they can cost talented Americans their jobs. Although the tech industry is the most aggressive lobby in favor of the H-1B, Miano documented that in 2011 we hit the H-1B cap despite <a href="http://cis.org/node/3419">substantial net job losses in the computer science, engineering and scientific fields</a>. Besides evidence of unemployed American tech workers who might be losing out to this program, there's also evidence that the <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/global- cio/h1b/h-1b-workers-not-best-or-brightest-study/240149839">typical H-1B recipient isn't particularly talented</a>. Other numbers show wages as a share of U.S. gross domestic product are at the lowest they've been since the Great Depression, as is the percentage of Americans working, despite <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/profits-at-high-wages-at-low-2013-">record corporate profits</a>. Those are ugly economic numbers. We humans expect they'll continue, a phenomenon called <a href="http://www.skepdic.com/recencybias.html ">recency bias</a>, which makes them extra scary. Fear drives a lot of the heat around the H-1B. That heat will almost certainly forge a new H-1B system in the current push for immigration reform on Capitol Hill. How many jobs are we talking about? There are only 85,000 H-1B visas issued each year. Of those, 20,000 go to newly minted holders of advanced degrees from U.S. universities, presumably the best and brightest of immigrants. We want these 20,000 people here, although they should get green cards, not H-1Bs. Of the other 65,000, more than half the jobs given to H-1B workers go to <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20Studies/H-1B/h1b-fy-11-characteristics.pdf">not-so-high-tech jobs, such as pharmacist, architect and nurse</a>. So let's say on average 45% of H-1Bs go to high-tech workers. That's 29,250 a year. An H-1B holder can stay in the U.S. for three years, plus up to three more if extensions are requested and granted. If every high-tech H-1B visa holder stayed for six years, that'd be a rolling average of 175,500 jobs a year. One hundred and seventy-five thousand jobs doesn't even make a good monthly jobs report.Even so, "companies such as York Solutions and thousands of other IT based companies would simply not exist was it not for the fact we had access to a pool of overseas based resources that were able to work on U.S. soil," Richard Walker, managing partner at IT service provider York Solutions, said via an email interview. He also raises the question of why American companies would hire workers from overseas if they could hire American talent. There's no way thousands of IT-based companies exist solely because of the H-1B, but let's forgive Walker some hyperbole. He seems like a good guy; he's also chairman of a Minneapolis non-profit called <a href="http://thinkitassociation.org/">Think IT</a>, which develops U.S. IT talent through mentoring programs. I'm sure he would hire only Americans if he could. But less trusting folks might note that one obvious potential reason to hire H-1B workers is that they are chained to their sponsoring company until they get a green card. Nor do H-1B workers have to be paid the same wage as comparable U.S. workers. An unscrupulous company, or one focused on the short-term numbers, might want to play labor arbitrage. Here's another reason: not being a U.S. company, you want to staff up in America with people from your base of operations. For instance, an outsourcing firm. Those workers should get L-1B visas. But outsourcers and companies with outsourcing units, such as IBM and Amazon.com, dominate the list of companies receiving H-1Bs. In fact, Farah Stockman made a strong case in the Boston Globe that the H-1B process has been "hijacked" by outsourcers. Stockman found that 20% of H-1B petitions granted last year went to just four firms, all outsourcers. Her analysis is worth <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/03/30/visa-program-has-been-hijacked-outsourcers/VAg6o9KgS2tuoZ3WbmaqeK/story.html?event=event12">paying for</a>. She reviews some examples of outsourcers abusing the H-1B system, both proven and alleged (that is, still in the courts). She talks to the congressman who crafted the 1990 Immigration Act that gave us the H-1B, who told her the visas should be replaced with automatic green cards to reduce the potential for abuse. Not every H-1B recipient gets abused, displaces an American or goes to work at an outsourcer. But the H-1B is ripe for reform. No matter what you think of the H-1B program, we don't outsource to innovate. We outsource to cut costs. Cut enough, and eventually we can't innovate without outsourcing, as has happened in vast parts of what used to be our manufacturing economy. (See <a href="http://hbr.org/product/producing-prosperity-why-america-needs-a-manufactu/an/10345-HBK-ENG?Ntt=Producing%2520Prosperity%253A%2520Why%2520America%2520Needs%2520a%2520Manufacturing%2520Renaissance">Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs A Manufacturing Renaissance</a>, by Gary P. Pisano and Willy Shih.) It can happen to our IT economy, too. True, reformers rarely get what they hope for. When Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, he wanted labor reform, and instead got the Pure Food and Drug Administration. He rued, "I aimed for the public's heart and by accident hit them in the stomach." The H-1B isn't supposed to aim at our wallets, except by boosting our collective brainpower. That's gone off track. Let's make sure we change the H-1B so it's no longer the outsourcing visa, but the innovation visa. 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Join us June 17-19 for three days of 40+ conference sessions and workshops across eight tracks and discover the latest insights in enterprise social software, big data and analytics, mobility, cloud, SaaS and APIs, UI/UX and more. <a href="http://www.e2conf.com/boston/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register for E2 Conference Boston today</a> and save $200 off Full Event Passes, $100 off Conference, or get a FREE Keynote + Expo Pass! 2013-04-12T12:36:00ZDistance Learning Regulation Needs Simplification, Officials SayFormer education secretary Richard Riley heads effort to make it easier for students to take online classes by standardizing state regulations.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/distance-learning-regulation-needs-simpl/240152835?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/inside-eight-game-changing-moocs/240152508"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/976/MOOC_canvas_01_tn.jpg" alt=" 8 MOOCs Transforming Education" title="8 MOOCs Transforming Education" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 MOOCs Transforming Education</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>In an effort to make it easier for students to take classes online, a commission headed by former education secretary Richard Riley set out a series of recommendations it wants states to adopt. If adopted, the recommendations would eliminate vastly different regulations states set in place to govern academic institutions, making it easier for state colleges to allow students who live outside their borders to take their classes. "Distance online learning is going to increase. This gives it some uniformity," Riley said during a press call to announce the regulations. Riley was Bill Clinton's secretary of education. Riley chaired the Commission on the Regulation of Post-Secondary Education, which brought together representatives from organizations like the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. It issued a report Thursday: <a href=" http://www.aplu.org/rileyreport">Advancing Access through Regulatory Reform: Findings, Principles and Recommendations for the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement</a>. The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an important step, Nancy Coleman, Boston University's director of distance learning, said in an email. BU is in the process of trying to comply with regulations in every state, which she described as a "complicated and expensive process." "We are excited by the possibility [of SARA]," Coleman said. "The approval of SARA has a long way to go once it gets vetted and approved by state legislators, but we are hoping it passes." [ California is seeing some positive results with blended online and real-world classes. Read more at <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/california-expands-use-of-moocs/240152703?itc=edit_in_body_cross">California Expands Use Of MOOCs</a>. ] The commission's report has three aims: To bring uniformity to state regulation of distance education; to reduce the burden on institutions for providing opportunities in multiple states; and to ensure quality for students. The commission estimates that it can cost a public university system $5.5 million to accept distance learners from all 49 other states. For a community college to comply with requirements in, say, five neighboring states it could cost $76,100. These estimates do not include staff time, which could add another $195,000. Meanwhile, distance learners lack consumer rights common to other forms of interstate commerce. If a student pays for a class at a university outside their home state, they have little recourse for lodging complaints right now. That's a lot of potential unhappiness: Riley said nearly 7 million students in America are taking classes online at schools outside their home state. There are currently four regional compacts on higher education, in the Midwest, New England, the South and the West. Those compacts will oversee efforts to adopt the recommendations within their regions. Three states -- Delaware, Hawaii and New York -- do not belong to a compact; nor does the District of Columbia. The 47 other states will be on hand next week in Indianapolis for a conference aimed at working through the Commission's report and beginning the process of adopting it, which will vary from state to state. If state legislators adopt the recommendations, it should increase the number of students taking distance courses, according to Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and previously president of Michigan State University. "We know some states are uneasy about expanding their online offerings," he said. "It costs a lot to comply with regulations all over the country. This will make it easier." McPherson said that at minimum, public universities face issues with distance learning if a student happens to move, partway through a course. "It's a practical compliance problem for universities," he said. "There is a need for some sort of system nationwide to take care of this issue." McPherson acknowledged that the Riley Report recommendations are purely voluntary. Still, 47 states will send official delegations to a conference next week to hear about the agreement and how to take it state legislatures. If it does gain momentum, it will still take a year or two to come into effect in most states. Currently, McPherson does not expect legislation to affect MOOCs, though colleges do offer courses through these platforms. To date, most of those courses are offered for free, so they are not regulated. But at the Canvas Network, a burgeoning MOOC, Josh Coates told Information Week, "We have a waiting list of about half a dozen institutions that want to charge for their courses, for credit." Coates is CEO of Instructure, which runs the Canvas Network. Coates said that the Riley Report was recommending things that are needed to spread online learning. He sees it as a step towards creating a system where it is easier to for colleges to accept credits from other schools. "That's the lifeblood of democratization of education -- making transferable credits a commodity that can be transferred." For now, every step helps advance online learning, Coates said. "We can't democratize education unless these gears mesh." Can data analysis keep students on track and improve college retention rates? Also in the premiere all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/012813ed/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Analytics' Big Test</a> issue of InformationWeek Education: Higher education is just as prone to tech-based disruption as other industries. (Free with registration.) 2013-04-11T11:55:00ZCalifornia Expands Use Of MOOCsCalifornia expands edX "blended" classroom experiment, sees increase in course pass rates.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/california-expands-use-of-moocs/240152703?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/inside-eight-game-changing-moocs/240152508"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/976/MOOC_canvas_01_tn.jpg" alt=" 8 MOOCs Transforming Education" title="8 MOOCs Transforming Education" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 MOOCs Transforming Education</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div> California will expand its experiment in blended online and real-world classes after a successful pilot between <a href="http://www.sjsu.edu/">San Jose State University</a> (SJSU) and <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/8-moocs-transforming-education/240152508?pgno=3/">edX</a>, the Harvard/MIT-led consortium for online classes. Blended classes bring massive open online courses, or MOOCs, to physical classrooms. San Jose State piloted an introductory engineering class where students watched an edX class on circuits and electronics, MITx 6.002x, and came to physical classes to work on course-related activities such as quizzes and collaborative work. Students who passed received full credit and did not pay extra for the blended course. The course saw much higher pass rates than traditional courses at SJSU in the same subject. The students' success prompted 11 of the 23 California State University campuses to consider offering blended versions of the engineering course. San Jose State is also going to add three to five more edX blended courses, including courses in the humanities, business and social sciences. The university and edX are working out licensing fees for these courses, <a href="http://www.sjsu.edu/unbounded/conversation/">said Anant Agarwal, edX president</a>, during a press event at San Jose State. [ MOOCs save universities money, but might cost students in other ways. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/moocs-valuable-innovation-or-grand-diver/240147875?itc=edit_in_body_cross">MOOCs: Valuable Innovation Or Grand Diversion?</a> ] At the press event, California officials said blended courses might help ease capacity issues. California expects 320,000 students to apply to its universities, but has capacity to accept only 124,000 of them. "This is just the beginning," said Gavin Newsom, California's lieutenant governor. "We don't know what we don't know. This is an evidence-based approach to a new form of learning." Newsom said the state would make about $10 million available to the state's universities to help develop educational enhancements like blended classes. Newsom joked that MOOC "is a horrible name." It was clear that the name won't really bother anyone if it helps California address its educational needs. What is not clear is how well the blended classes will scale, said <a href="http://www.innosightinstitute.org/who-we-are/staff/michelle-rhee-weise/">Michelle Rhee-Weise</a>, a senior research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, formerly known as the Innosight Institute, in San Mateo, Calif. She said that for now, "what's most exciting is that the university is willing to experiment and try to adapt to this tide of technology coming its way." <a href="http://www.claytonchristensen.com">Clayton Christensen</a>, a Harvard Business School professor, coined the idea of disruptive innovation in business, where new technologies supersede established ones, affecting and often dismantling existing companies. Christensen's 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma used the examples of steel mini-mills and personal computers, both of which revolutionized established industries and killed existing companies. He has since developed his ideas on disruption for healthcare and education. MOOCs are seen by many as a disruptive force in education because they are far less expensive than university courses, if not free, and can have tens of thousands of students in a class. Rhee-Weise said that what California was doing was not disruptive, but could be termed a sustaining innovation, where an established organization applies a new idea in a way that improves its current product. Blended classes show promise. SJSU ran three sections of its introductory electrical engineering course; two were normal lecture courses, one was blended. San Jose State's president, Mohammad Quayoumi, said the blended class achieved a 91% pass rate vs. 59% for the traditional classes. "It suggests we are experiencing a significant breakthrough in this area," Quayoumi said. Higher pass rates mean fewer students need to retake the class, saving taxpayer dollars and Pell grant money. Quayoumi said he hopes that it will also lead to a more diverse group of students, and more students in general, taking classes in the so-called STEM majors of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. San Jose State also offers a blended class from another MOOC maker, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/8-moocs-transforming-education/240152508?pgno=5">Udacity</a>. Quayoumi said there would be information on that course forthcoming. San Jose State will create a Center for Excellence in Adaptive and Blended Learning. In part, that center will help train faculty to work in blended class environments. Education IT directors are leveraging technologies and technology models that allow them to implement the right products and services for schools right now. In this <a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/104/8955/Government/best-practices-top-tech-tools-for-educators.html?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Top Tech Tools For Educators</a> report, we'll look at some of the tools schools are using and how they're being put to work in the classroom to engage students and improve learning. (Free registration required.)2013-04-10T10:19:00Z8 MOOCs Transforming EducationThe early market for massive open online courses (MOOCs) brings more approaches than you might realize. Take a look at 8 game changers.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/8-moocs-transforming-education/240152508?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cioAs the reputation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has grown in higher education, a few of these initiatives have attracted the lion's share of attention. There are a greater number of MOOCs, taking more different approaches, than you might realize. The famous ones are Coursera, Udacity and edX. These three have big-name backers and are associated with some of the world's best-known universities. Coursera and Udacity were founded by Stanford professors looking to shake up higher education, and have venture backing. EdX, a non-profit, has the stellar educational brands of Harvard and MIT behind it, as well as more cash than any other MOOC. These MOOCs have lofty aims, to bring aspects of an elite college education to the masses, especially masses who live in countries where it's almost impossible to get access to an Ivy League-caliber education. These MOOCs also tend to focus on subjects that lend themselves to problem sets and multiple-choice quizzes, courses such as computer science, economics and mathematics, with a smattering of survey courses that, unlike their real-world counterparts, don't assign term papers, at least not yet. But there are MOOCs for the rest of us as well. Canvas, which sells a platform used by colleges to provide classes online, is working with its customers to make those classes available as MOOCs. Pictured here: Canvas Network's "Gender Through Comic Books" course. ALISON, perhaps the oldest MOOC, focuses on providing job skills and certification courses, with content provided by companies, trade associations and even individual experts. Udemy is a catch-all kind of MOOC, with classes for job seekers, hobbyists and casual learners, driven by people who want to teach something. Peer to Peer University is a grassroots approach to online education, reminiscent of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua" target="_blank">Chautauqua movement</a> of the late 19th century, which brought people together in learning communities. Khan Academy is on our list, too. Although it's not as focused on complete courses as the MOOCs, in many ways it has inspired the MOOC frenzy. Aimed largely at K-12 students, its 10-minute videos and folksy, almost crude graphics showed that online education can be effective without being stuffy, and that millions of people were hungry for education. Today's MOOC is as democratic in its sensibilities as the lyceums of Socrates and Aristotle. Learners come and go as they will, and nobody hands out diplomas just yet. MOOCs might not stay informal, they might supplant traditional education, or they might remain a supplement; we are in the early phases of the medium, and what we hype now will be seen as humble first steps by the future. The MOOC is on mother's milk -- little miracles that are full of possibility and not much more. Expect more experiments and some stumbles as those engaged in this new endeavor educate themselves.MOOC: <a href="http://alison.com/" target="_blank">ALISON</a> ALISON (Advanced Learning Interactive Online) claims to be the <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">world's oldest MOOC</a>, having started in 2007. Courses: ALISON offers 500 certificate and diploma courses in 11 categories, among them IT, languages, business and health. Focus: Job skills and vocational training. Sources for courses: Multinational organizations such as Microsoft and The British Council, individual publishers who have qualifications and reputations in specific areas of knowledge, industry experts in their fields. Cost: Free for the basic version. A premium version provides faster downloading. Backed by: Founder Mike Feerick and angel investors. Status: For profit. Leadership: Mike Feerick, CEO and founder. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="https://www.edx.org/" target="_blank">edX</a> EdX is Harvard and MIT's open-source university, offering college-level courses free online. The very first class was in spring 2012. Currently, it offers classes from three universities: Harvard, MIT and University of California at Berkeley. In 2013, Wellesley, Georgetown and the 15-school University of Texas system will begin offering courses. Six more schools will be added in 2014, including several international universities. Courses: As of spring 2013, EdX offers 26 courses, ranging from computer science to chemistry to economics to political science. Pictured here: Eric Lander in the introduction to his biology MOOC. Focus: Opening elite college instruction to a much larger audience. Sources for courses: Started with Harvard, MIT and the University of California at Berkeley. Cost: Free. Backed by: A consortium of universities headed by Harvard and MIT, which have put $60 million into the effort. Status: Not for profit. Leadership: President Anant Agarwal, an MIT computer science professor. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="https://www.coursera.org/" target="_blank">Coursera</a> Courses: 313 courses in 21 subject areas. Pictured here: a Coursera video. Focus: Offering the masses access to elite college classes. Sources for courses: 62 universities in 11 countries. Cost: Free. Backed by: $22 million in venture capital from the likes of Kleiner Perkins and New Enterprise Associates. Status: For profit. Leadership: Co-CEOs are co-founders Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="https://www.udacity.com/" target="_blank">Udacity</a> Courses: 22 courses in four categories. Pictured here: Sebastian Thrun's pen is one of your guides to Udacity's artificial intelligence class. Focus: Increasing access to college-level courses. Sources for courses: Udacity, corporate partners such as Google, university partners such as San Jose State. Cost: Free. Backed by: $21 million in venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures and others. Status: For profit. Leadership: CEO and co-founder Sebastian Thrun. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org" target="_blank">Khan Academy</a> Courses: 4,020 videos and 350 exercises on math, biology, chemistry, physics, finance and history. Pictured here: Khan Academy's American civics class includes a section on SOPA/PIPA. Focus: Primarily K-12 education, but the 10-minute topical videos are designed to help anyone who wants to learn about the subject. There is content in at least 16 languages. Sources for courses: Khan Academy. Cost: Free. Backed by: Donations and at least $12.5 million in grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, the O'Sullivan Foundation, the Valhalla Charitable Foundation and private individuals. Status: Not for profit. Leadership: President Shantanu Sinha and founder Salman Khan. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="https://www.udemy.com/" target="_blank">Udemy</a> Courses: More than 5,000 courses in 16 categories. Focus: Offers access to practical expertise in a variety of subjects; includes certifications and adult education. Sources for courses: Experts who want to teach. Cost: Mostly free. Backed by: $16 million raised from Insight Venture Partners and others. Status: For profit. Leadership: CEO and co-founder Eren Bali. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/pages/about/" target="_blank">Peer 2 Peer University</a> Courses: About 50 six-week-long courses organized in five "schools." Focus: Community-driven learning built around open education resources. Sources for courses: Open education materials, organized primarily by interested volunteers. Cost: Free. Backed by: $900,000 from the Hewlett Foundation, Shuttleworth Foundation and others. Status: Not for profit. Leadership: Philipp Schmidt, director, co-founder. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> MOOC: <a href="https://www.canvas.net/" target="_blank">Canvas Network</a> Courses: More than 30 classes in a variety of subjects. Pictured here: Canvas Network's "Gender Through Comic Books" course. Focus: Traditional university education in a MOOC format. Sources for courses: Some of the more than 350 universities already using the Canvas online learning platform, as well as learning organizations such as Lumen Learning and the Open Course Library. Cost: Free. Backed by: $20 million from OpenView Venture Partners, EPIC Ventures and others funding Instructure, the company behind the Canvas online learning platform. Canvas is the primary product, with Canvas Network as an offshoot. Status: For profit. Leadership: Josh Coates, CEO. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892">How To Make A MOOC, MIT Style </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/early-mooc-takes-a-different-path/240147364">Early MOOC Takes a Different Path </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/edx-mooc-software-goes-open-source/240150815">edX MOOC Software Goes Open Source</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/240150477">12 Open Educational Resources From Khan To MIT</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/khan-academy-launches-first-state-wide-p/240149801">Khan Academy Launches First State-wide Pilot In Idaho</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-adds-29-university-partners-fro/240149011">Coursera Adds 29 University Partners From 13 Countries</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/coursera-courses-approved-for-college-cr/240148119">Coursera Courses Approved for College Credit </a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/sxswedu-a-mooc-love-fest/240150227">SXSWedu: A MOOC Love Fest</a> <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a>2013-04-09T11:39:00ZH-1B Rush Sparks Broader DebateU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division holds computerized lottery to distribute visas in random fashion. IT talent shortage debate continues.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/h-1b-rush-sparks-broader-debate/240152533?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/government/enterprise-apps/232601128"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/741/01_NYC_mayor_on_twitter_tn.jpg" alt="Top 14 Government Social Media Initiatives" title="Top 14 Government Social Media Initiatives" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Top 14 Government Social Media Initiatives</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  The technology business is back, if H-1B visas are any indicator. There was a rush for the specialty long-term visa this year, and on Friday the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division said H-1B petitions exceeded the number of visas available. The division held a computerized lottery on Sunday to <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c91dea8c9eadd310VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=a2dd6d26d17df110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD">distribute the visas in random fashion</a>. There are 65,000 H-1B visas available each year, and an additional 20,000 available to students from overseas who have received an advanced degree at a U.S. university. The USCIS said it received 124,000 petitions between April 1 and April 5, and that the cap was exceeded for both the general and advanced degree categories. Applicants for the advanced degree exemption who did not receive one were put into the general lottery. [ CIOs need to do more than chase H-1B visas. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/cios-must-innovate-or-go-home/240152220?itc=edit_in_body_cross">CIOs Must Innovate Or Go Home</a>. ] The H-1B cap was reached in a single day in 2008. But since then they have not filled this rapidly. The quota was not filled at all in especially lean years like 2002 and 2003. Last year the cap was not reached until June. "It responds to demand. It's also an indicator of [economic] confidence," said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy. Anderson said at least some of the demand had built up since last June, as companies looked to expand and hire new talent. The H-1B petitions are used to <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD">bring in specialized talent</a> from overseas, and applies to any job that requires at least a bachelor's degree. They've become synonymous with importing high-tech talent, and computer-related occupations make up about 40% of the list; occupations in architecture, engineering and surveying are next, followed closely by education. (See <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20Studies/H-1B/h1b-fy-11-characteristics.pdf">page 16 of this report</a>.) More than half of recent H-1B visas have gone to Indian nationals. The <a href="http://www.garamchai.com/TopH1b.htm">list of H-1B petitioners</a> is dominated by Indian outsourcers like Tata and Wipro, and U.S.-based technology firms like Microsoft, IBM and Amazon.com. In a time of near-stagnant hiring in the U.S., when even recent engineering and computer science graduates seem to <a href="http://cew.georgetown.edu/unemployment/">have trouble finding jobs</a>, the H-1B is a source of political controversy. There are groups that think there should be more of them, as was temporarily the case in 2000, 2001 and 2002, when Congress approved an additional 110,000 visas. The Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan immigration reform lobbying group of U.S. mayors and business leaders, including Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, issued a release highlighting <a href="http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2013/2013-01-24.asp">Canada's new Start-up Visa</a> program that encourages foreign-born innovators to come to Canada. Jeremy Robbins, director of the PNAP, issued a statement calling for immigration reform saying "the urgency to reform our laws has never been greater." Kim Berry, president of the <a href="http://www.programmersguild.org/">Programmers Guild</a>, also wants reform. "They shouldn't be doing the lottery," Berry said. Instead, the USCIS should accept applications for 60 days and then award visas to the most skilled applicants. "H1-Bs are going to $12-an-hour pharmacy techs and dental techs," Berry said. "We've been proposing the solution and it's very clear that industry is opposed because they don't want the best and brightest." He says the H-1B program prevents young Americans with science, technology, engineering and math degrees from getting jobs, which instead go to immigrants who are here at the whim of their employer, facing a kind of modern indentured servitude. Anderson acknowledged that H-1B visas do offer companies a guarantee that they will have an employee for several years, longer if the employee wants to get a green card. But he said that "in a practical sense it's often the only way to hire a foreign national to work long-term for a company," he said. That includes hiring graduate students trained at American universities. Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research in Boston, sees the rush for H-1Bs as a sign of the decline of the U.S. technology economy. "The reason H1-Bs are becoming used so quickly is the Indian economy has developed a factory for IT talent. They're very, very good at it." The U.S. is no longer as good at developing technology workers, he said. "I talk to CIOs all the time and their number one complaint is that the talent they've got isn't good enough. Even those that have never outsourced now say it's the only way they can get the talent they need." But U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (D-Iowa) have long argued that the H-1B system is rife with abuse by companies seeking lower-cost labor. H-1B reform is part of the broader immigration debate under way on Capitol Hill this month. The IEEE-USA endorsed Grassley's recent <a href="http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/releases/2013/032213.asp">H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2013</a>. Among that bill's aims are ensuring H-1B workers receive comparable wages to U.S. citizens with the same jobs, and barring employers from advertising jobs only to H-1B holders.2013-04-08T09:06:00ZIT Needs To Think Like SalesYou don't need to always be closing, but you should always be challenging.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/it-needs-to-think-like-sales/240152387?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cioCIOs don't have sales quotas, but they may want to think more like salespeople. Not that they need to always be closing, a la Blake (Alec Baldwin) in Glengarry Glen Ross. But it may make sense to always be challenging. That was the premise of a webinar on what IT can learn from sales, hosted by officials at the research and consulting firm <a href="http://www.executiveboard.com/">Corporate Executive Board></a>. "Whether you carry a quota or not, a big part of most jobs is selling," says David Anderson, a "member advisor" on CEB's Sales Leadership Council. "Selling new ideas, new ways of thinking, new approaches. Trying to get other individuals to explore new alternatives, change their behavior, do something we recommend." CEB says up to 70% of IT organizations have at least one employee who works as what CEB calls a "business liaison." These IT business liaisons identify customer needs, manage demand, pitch new ideas and services and hope to become trusted advisors on the best IT solutions. [ Senior IT managers also need to do more than just think like salespeople. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/cios-must-innovate-or-go-home/240152220?itc=edit_in_body_cross">CIOs Must Innovate Or Go Home</a>. ] Sounds a lot like a salesperson, doesn't it? "We have been able to apply this [sales] idea to IT because it holds true," says Leda Nelson, a member advisor on CEB's CIO Leadership Council. The question comes down to what kind of salesperson should an IT person be. CEB surveyed more than 6,000 salespeople, and found the data showed they fit into five profiles: -- Hard Workers -- Relationship Builders -- Challengers -- Problem Solvers -- Lone Wolfs [The research was published as "<a href="http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd-resources/content/challenger/index.html">The Challenger Sale</a>" in 2011.] CEB says only three of these types will typically be found as an IT business liaison: the Relationship Builder, the Hard Worker and the Challenger. Lone Wolfs aren't going to be made a liaison, and Problem Solvers deal with problems after the fact, a customer support role in IT. In sales, the data shows the best performers are "Challengers." A Challenger, in CEB lingo, is contrarian, enjoys debating with customers and pushes them to think differently about things. It's counterintuitive to think that debating or pushing signal effective practices for IT, usually a service organization. But "Challenger" does not mean "confronter." Anderson says Challengers do build relationships. They do it by engaging with their business-side counterparts and "challenging" their thinking. A Challenger is an educator, who teaches the customer something new. In an IT context, they'd give the business insight into how technologies will improve competitive position. They may stand their ground against business requests that they think don't make sense. By offering useful reasons why, they build respect for IT from the business side. In contrast, Hard Workers aim to please and impress through their sheer effort, and Relationship Builders want to be liked, want to please their customer through meeting the needs they express. Anderson called this IT's version of filling orders. A Challenger, he said, will "help someone think differently about their problems, their risks and opportunities. People want new insights into business needs." A Challenger has a four-part model for negotiation:   <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"> <div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a> <div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div> Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy. </div> </div>   -- Acknowledge and defer -- Deepen and broaden -- Explore and compare -- Create plans Here's how Anderson said it would work for IT: A business executive asks for a certain product or service. The Challenger might say they aren't sure that the product is right for the company. The customer would respond "Hey, trust me, we've been researching this for months and know what we need. You don't understand finance like we do." The IT Challenger would first acknowledge: "I know you've spent a lot of time researching this and the vendor says there won't be any problems. I'm not disagreeing with you." Then, defer: "All I'm saying is we need to make sure we set this up the right way, otherwise it's likely to cost us five times as much to fix problems. So with your permission can we just take this up as conversation?" In that way, Anderson says, the Challenger will be able to take the next step, to deepen and broaden the conversation. That lets them bring up issues that the business side hadn't considered, or broader business needs they didn't know about. After that, the Challenger would explore and compare, discussing different approaches or products and their potential impact on the business. In this part of the conversation, the Challenger and the business side would work together to establish priorities, get a clear sense of the business side's needs, and discuss any potential issues for IT that might prevent those from being met. At this point, the IT liaison and the business side will create a plan that will work well for both the company and IT. It may in fact be the initial option asked for by the business side. "But now you're confident that everyone will get benefits they expect," Anderson said. In sales, the Challenger model far outperforms the more accommodating Relationship and Hard Worker models. Is it time for CIOs to take this challenge?2013-03-29T12:06:00ZHow To Make A MOOC, MIT StyleHere's how MIT professor Eric Lander's introduction to biology course is being turned into a massive open online course for remote students.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/how-to-make-a-mooc-mit-style/240151892?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-shaking-up/240150477"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/961/creative-commons_tn.jpg" alt="12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT" title=" 12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle"> 12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>Eric Lander is in the thick of lecture 15 for MIT's class 7.012, "Introductory Biology," his voice dropping and rising as he tells the story of recombinant DNA. Every now and then he glances over the heads of the students here in a third-floor auditorium in MIT's Building 46, as if something else has his attention. Something else does: he's looking at the face of a woman who works for EdX, the MIT/Harvard consortium for open learning. The woman herself is sitting off to the side of the room, but her image is projected onto a teleprompter-like screen above one of the cameras filming Lander's lecture. She's the proxy for the 36,000 students registered to take the course online, people drawn by the chance to take basic biology from one of the world's most famous scientists, a leading researcher on the Human Genome Project. Otherwise, he teaches the way he usually does. He interacts with the roughly 90 students in the room, sometimes digressing from his lecture notes to work through an interesting question a student raises. These digressions might get cut from the main lecture and turned into optional "shaggy dog" stories for the students online. He writes things on the room's sliding whiteboards. He calls up the occasional image on his laptop. [ Do your employees need to learn new skills? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Could A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?</a> ] Ironically, his in-person students cannot use computers during his class, to prevent them from falling prey to Facebook, chat sessions or even homework for other classes. Introductory biology classes not being filmed for use as a massive open online course (MOOC) are taught in 55-minute sessions three days a week. Lander teaches his MOOC class from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. two nights a week. Students get a free dinner beforehand outside the auditorium. Then he stays and records "bumpers," short video introductions to each class, to quizzes and problem sets and other components of the course. Getting this course online requires immense effort for both MIT and EdX. On MIT's side, Lander tapped Michelle D. Mischke, a PhD in pharmacology who for the last 15 years has been technical instructor for the department of biology at MIT, meaning she develops problem sets and exams and works to support students day-to-day. <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="background-color: #eee; padding: 10px; width: 590px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><img itemprop="image" src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/education/2013Q1/edxrotate.png" alt="edX protein animation" title="edX protein animation" height="499" width="590"> A rendering of the protein lysozome, with some of its amino acids highlighted. In the course, students can rotate it and zoom in or out.</div> Lander and Mischke first met in May 2012 to discuss developing a MOOC version of the course. "I said, 'this is an enormous undertaking, we need about three of me to even consider doing this,'" Mischke recalls. "He said, 'build the team.'" To build out the courseware, she's hired a project manager, a curriculum development specialist and a programmer who is building things like problem sets that include three-dimensional models of proteins, which can be viewed from 360 degrees. She also has help from MIT biology graduate students. For EdX, developing the course meant "double or triple our investment in any other course," said Rob Rubin, EdX's VP of engineering. It has a learning management system in place, but the needs of specific professors drive new features in it, and there's plenty of custom coding that needs to take place. It was the first time a biology class had been taught on its platform, so EdX engineers had to build all the potential problem types that biology students would normally see on problem sets, to understand the economics of building the sets. Lander wanted to be able to go into the forums and take a good student answer to a basic question and "pin" it to the top of that discussion thread, so Rubin's team had to figure out how to build a pinning feature. "It's a huge engineering and software development project to get our problems to work," admitted Mischke, who said the course's demands mean she spends probably another 40 hours a week on top of her normal job.The course has six problem sets, plus a practice problem set, and many of those feature three-dimensional graphics. Some of the most complicated problem sets, such as the one that includes protein-folding simulations, can take close to 100 hours of development time. These are written in Java, and then converted into JavaScript by EdX. That conversion requires as much as another 60 hours of work. EdX had to develop custom tools to make interactive, three-dimensional graphics work in browsers. It also helped develop a new tool called "deep dives" -- an in-depth look at parts of the course "where the students get hung up. We know this because (MIT students) are in our office all the time" asking questions, said Mischke. There are about two deep dives per week, each requiring about 10 hours of a graduate student's time to build, and EdX time to support and code. No one is talking specific numbers for total development cost, but the project from scratch would probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's not counting Lander's time investment, which is significant. He, Mischke and her team met weekly over the summer to develop the course and its materials. He went in to EdX to review at least four different types of video technology to see what worked best for him, and went through coaching sessions to ensure he would do things like look at the camera. Now that he's lecturing he sometimes does not finish taping the "bumpers," the introductions to the various materials students will watch, until after 10 p.m. Still, Lander volunteered for this, for two reasons. "It's giving us a chance to rethink the whole course," he said, still enthusiastic despite a full day of work followed by teaching and filming. He's also filming segments aimed at helping K-12 biology teachers use the material in their teaching. This came out of his role as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. "Great MOOCs being freely available to high schools will be an enormous service to American education," Lander believes. He isn't sure his MOOC could be described as "great." "We have to recognize we don't know how to do MOOCs yet. They're highly experimental," he said. "I hope that four or five years from now we'll be embarrassed by how we're doing things now." "We are in the early days in terms of experimentation," agreed EdX's Rubin, but he predicted that EdX will see big payback from this course. EdX will apply what it did for the forums and for problem sets to future courses, he said, and "biology courses will never be the same again." <div style="background-color:#eee;padding: 5px; width: 560px;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qwYFGBkJRVA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Eric Lander's welcome video for high school teachers.</div> Attend Interop Las Vegas, May 6-10, and learn the emerging trends in information risk management and security. Use Priority Code MPIWK by April 29 to save an additional $200 off All Access and Conference Passes. Join us in Las Vegas for access to 125+ workshops and conference classes, 300+ exhibiting companies, and the latest technology. <a href="http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register for Interop today</a>! 2013-03-27T09:06:00ZIs There A Viz Wall In Your Future?Some companies are installing visualization walls -- big banks of high-definition screens -- to see the big picture on their big data.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/trends/is-there-a-viz-wall-in-your-future/240151751?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/slideshows/big-data-analytics/7-tips-on-closing-the-big-data-talent-ga/240012658"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/895/01_BigD_Talent_Gap_tn.jpg" alt=" Big Data Talent War: 7 Ways To Win" title=" Big Data Talent War: 7 Ways To Win" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle"> Big Data Talent War: 7 Ways To Win</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>CIOs the world over are having trouble getting big insights from their big data. More than half of executives who responded to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey in late 2012 said it's difficult to get something useful out of the troves of data they have. Anand Rao, a principal at PwC, thinks it's because too few firms use visualization for their data. "Only 26% are using it," he said. That creates trouble for companies as they get more data. "You're talking about petabytes or exabytes of data," Rao said. "The data we have is far more than what people can comprehend in their heads. You can't do the analytics if you're not able to visualize the data." Traditional business intelligence tools have nifty dashboards with lots of graphics on them, "but those are very static, very much backward looking, telling us what has happened and why," Rao said. [ Know an analytics student who could use a visualization tool? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/tableau-makes-visual-analytics-tool-free/240150394?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Tableau Makes Visual Analytics Tool Free For Students</a>. ] Companies that want to look at things like relationships between customers, for instance, need new techniques and tools when they are dealing with hundreds of thousands of customers. The cost of visualizing is dropping rapidly, said Rao. Visualization walls -- 'viz walls' -- banks of high-definition monitors that companies can use to display and manipulate vast amounts of data in one place, are moving from the province of futuristic movies and TV shows to actual companies. Rao says the costs of such a wall are falling into the "tens of thousands" of dollars range, affordable for most medium-size companies. He mentioned but would not name a consumer products company that has a viz wall it uses to look at its product sales across the globe, to help it make sure it has supply to meet demand. At another company, top executives use a viz wall to evaluate strategy. The University of Texas at San Antonio built a viz wall in 2011 as part of its <a href="http://vizlab.utsa.edu/">Center for Visualization, Simulation and Real-time Prediction</a> (SIVIRT). Yusheng Feng, director of SIVIRT, said he knew the viz wall would be great for displaying very large and high-resolution images, but it's had some unexpected bonuses. "We had a student defend his thesis in the viz lab on optimization for a medical device. So when he goes through the optimization process, he posted all the different configurations over 22 monitors, and on another two monitors he displayed the convergence and different configurations and physical features they are looking into." With the "one global view," it was clear to viewers what "optimal structures they were looking at," said Feng. "That's something we didn't know. The tiled configuration actually helps us to give a global view. We thought that was very neat." Feng said he's had several companies come look at the viz wall. He's currently helping one of them, a large construction company based in San Antonio, build its own viz wall. The PwC survey suggests that companies investing in visualization outperform their rivals. Thirty-seven percent of those that have already invested in visualization told PwC they will expand their investment in 2013. Globally, companies based in Asia-Pacific will begin investing in visualization tools this year, a first. However, almost half of Asian respondents said their IT systems were incapable of integrating data from multiple systems, compared with 41% of American respondents and only a third of European respondents. Though viz walls might be the future, Rao says CIOs should not get too caught up in the bells and whistles offered by analytics vendors. Instead, CIOs need to help their businesses use data to make decisions that will immediately help the company out in the field, where it meets customers. CIOs always should start with their business needs, then assess which data, analysis techniques, visualization and skillsets will meet those needs. That will help to not "get carried away by the nice gizmos vendors will try to sell you," Rao said. InformationWeek is conducting a survey on IT spending priorities. Take the <a href="http://informationweek.2013ITspending.sgizmo.com/s3/?iwid=pl">InformationWeek 2013 IT Spending Priorities Survey</a> today. Survey ends March 29.2013-03-20T09:06:00ZMOOCs Are Here To Stay, Profs SayProfessors who teach massive open online courses predict they will reduce the cost of higher ed -- but should MOOCs offer credits?http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/moocs-are-here-to-stay-profs-say/240151139?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-shaking-up/240150477"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/961/creative-commons_tn.jpg" alt="12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT" title=" 12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle"> 12 Open Educational Resources: From Khan to MIT</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>Do those who teach MOOCs think it's worth it? A new survey indicates the answer is a qualified yes. The Chronicle of Higher Education attempted to survey all 184 college professors who have taught a MOOC to date. It got responses from 103 of the professors and published the data <a href="https://chronicle.com/article/The-Professors-Behind-the-MOOC/137905/#id=overview">here</a>. The Chronicle asked, "What is it like to teach 10,000 or more students at once, and does it really work?" The answer is that it can work, though the median class size reported was a mere 2,600. And while most of the professors surveyed are not economists, they expect that MOOCs will work well enough to reduce the cost of attending college. A full 64 percent of respondents said they thought MOOCs would at least marginally reduce the cost of getting a degree from the institutions where they teach. When asked the broader question of whether MOOCs will lower the costs of college overall, 86 percent said yes, apparently because they expect that even if their institutions may not offer credit for their courses, others will. [ MOOCs are generating plenty of buzz, but they might not be the answer for all students. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/moocs-valuable-innovation-or-grand-diver/240147875?itc=edit_in_body_cross">MOOCs: Valuable Innovation Or Grand Diversion?</a> ] Harvard or Humboldt State? There's a divergence between top universities and those generally perceived as lesser. That split -- 68 percent think students at their own schools will save money, but 86 percent think students overall will save money -- offers a look at the divide within education: Those who run top universities believe their courses are better than courses taught at supposedly lesser schools. (NEA Today offers <a href="http://neatoday.org/2013/03/15/are-moocs-overhyped/">a more skeptical view</a>). The Chronicle's Steve Kolowich cautioned that the survey was not scientific, pointing out that the people who are teaching MOOCs are probably not a representative sample of all teachers. "[It could be that] the most enthusiastic of the MOOC professors were the likeliest to complete the survey," he explained. "These early adopters of MOOCs have overwhelmingly volunteered to try them -- only 15 percent of respondents said they taught a MOOC at the behest of a superior -- so the deck was somewhat stacked with true believers." He also noted that those who taught MOOCs that did not succeed did not respond to the survey. On the other hand, the survey focused primarily on well-known professors at elite institutions, who are often critics of online education, so their enthusiasm may signal a shift. An annual <a href=" http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/changing_course_2012">Babson Survey Research Group survey</a> found that university administrators say only about 30 percent of faculty "accept the value and legitimacy of online education." That's a drop from 2004. A common criticism of MOOCs is that they have very low completion rates -- the elite professors reported that on average only 7.5% of their students complete their classes. Another downside is the time it takes to create a MOOC: Professors said they averaged 100 hours of preparation time. Professors also reported spending 8 to 10 hours a week on their MOOC once class started, largely in discussion forums. The Chronicle created <a href="https://chronicle.com/article/The-Professors-Behind-the-MOOC/137905/#id=quotes">a slideshow of some of the professors' responses</a>. A notable one comes from Nicholas M. Llewellyn at the University of Illinois: "MOOCs . . . may simply be a new evolution of borrowing a textbook from the library." See the full survey and its results <a href="https://chronicle.com/article/The-Professors-Behind-the-MOOC/137905/#id=results">here</a>. Attend Interop Las Vegas May 6-10 and learn the emerging trends in information risk management and security. Use Priority Code MPIWK by March 22 to save an additional $200 off the early bird discount on All Access and Conference Passes. Join us in Las Vegas for access to 125+ workshops and conference classes, 300+ exhibiting companies, and the latest technology. <a href="http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register today</a>! 2013-03-19T09:11:00ZChubb CIO Explains His No-Stress Social RolloutJim Knight, global CIO for Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, says the company's move to Jive is all about innovation and collaboration.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/chubb-cio-explains-his-no-stress-social/240151063?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2013/03/Jim-Knight.jpg" alt="Jim Knight" title="Jim Knight" class="img175" /><div class="storyImageCaption">Jim Knight</div></div>Jim Knight's company is about to roll out an important social business platform, but he's barely thinking about it. "From an IT point of view, I will not lose a minute of sleep" over the rollout of Jive, said Knight, the global CIO at Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, a $15.8 billion specialty insurer based in Warren, N.J. A major enterprise software rollout across 10,200 employees used to guarantee at least headaches. But about 40% of Chubb's employees already use the Jive social business platform, so testing issues are long since dealt with. Jive is a cloud application, so adding more people has no impact on Chubb's systems. Enrolling people isn't even the province of IT -- the decision to implement it companywide comes from Chubb's other CIO, chief innovation officer Jon Bidwell. Bidwell and Knight did work closely together on developing the company's social business platform. The idea of social business at Chubb started in June 2008 as an effort to push new innovations further out in the organization. Knight and some other Chubb executives had attended an innovation day at IBM, and liked IBM's innovation process. [ Afraid social business tools will waste employees' time? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_consumer/240150131/10-ways-to-foster-effective-social-employees?itc=edit_in_body_cross">10 Ways To Foster Effective Social Employees</a>. ] Knight found that underlying IBM's now well-known <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/innovationjam/">Innovation Jams</a> was software from <a href="http://www.imaginatik.com/">Imaginatik</a>, a cloud-based software provider dedicated to helping groups develop new ideas. Bidwell wanted to launch a company-wide innovation event on Sept. 24, 2008, just three months after the innovation process idea had been presented to the board. Knight's IT team worked with IBM and Imaginatik and made the event happen on time, replete with video presentations from top Chubb executives. That event involved a competition for best new product ideas, with the top five ideas getting funding. People with particularly bold ideas were given Giraffe Awards -- for sticking their necks out. Knight won't disclose the price, other than to say "it wasn't like breaking the bank." To employees participating, it looked like they were logging into a Chubb system called Motivate+Drive+Deliver, or MDD. That first MDD event has spawned dozens more, and yielded ideas that led to multiple new products. Departments, including IT, have used the Imaginatik platform to foster internal innovations. <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"><div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a><div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div>Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.</div> </div>   Knight says that the value of a platform like Imaginatik is that it is built specifically to help create and rate ideas, both company wide and in specific departments. He said that at one point, Chubb had tried to create a way to use Lotus Notes to brainstorm cost-cutting ideas. Notes, though, became "a repository of ideas, not a collaboration system," said Knight. The Imaginatik system was tied to specific events, with set goals and the ability to rate. Because of the success of its Motivate-Drive-Deliver events, built on the Imaginatik platform, Knight asked the IT department's 2009 summer interns to brainstorm the best ways for the business to use social networking. Their presentation on the uses of social networking for the business ultimately led to Chubb deciding to pilot Jive, a cloud-based social enterprise tool. Chubb started with some small communities, including one in IT dedicated to project management. Knight says IT wanted the community because Chubb IT operates as a federation, with individual IT units and heads, and it hoped Jive would help the units communicate more effectively. "It just picked up steam," said Knight. He credits Bidwell with taking the project and sponsoring it in other departments, driving growth. Where Imaginitik's platform is about one specific thing, ideas, Jive is more free form. Jive communities can be open, or can be closed, depending on their purpose. Knight says one of his units devised a Google-like workspace with low cubicle walls, a "jam space" and lots of color, and he was able to post the concept to his direct reports in Jive and get their feedback. Internally, Jive looks like an internal Chubb system, called ChubbConnX. (There is also a ChubbConnEX, used to collaborate with external parties such as insurance agents.) Mark Schussel, Chubb's VP of public relations, says the system helps him do his job. One of the groups he joined is the appraisers' group. He noticed it was having a discussion about sinkholes. He posted some questions, and thinks he can use what he learned to develop a pitch that would highlight expertise within the company on a topic in the news. Chubb is not alone -- <a href="http://www.mfauscette.com/software_technology_partn/2013/02/new-data-on-social-business-communities-are-the-1-initiative-in-2013.html">79% of companies use some sort of social enterprise network</a>, according to a recent survey by International Data Corp. In his blog on the survey, IDC analyst Michael Fauscette noted that 28% of companies are, like Chubb, using more than one network, and said, "The #1 initiative is now online communities." He said the reason is that enterprise social networks comprise "the new vehicle for enterprise collaboration and knowledge sharing." Knight says the social business platform is the sort of project that does not need to be cost justified. "It's hard to put a dollar figure on, 'Oh, now I know how to underwrite in-floor heating,''' he said. "But any good decision maker will see that [having this ability] makes complete sense. The value is just in your face." Cloud services enable IT to streamline systems and application management functions and redirect resources to business-focused projects. But the public cloud isn't "set it and forget it." CIOs are finding it challenging to hire people who are familiar with IT fundamentals but who also have relevant business and soft skills. Download our <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/CloudSecurity/util/10079/download.html?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Public Cloud Management Talent Shortage</a> report today. (Free registration required.)2013-03-14T13:53:00ZEducation CIO Profile: Yale's Len PetersYale University's CIO discusses his career path, disruptive forces in education technology and more.http://www.informationweek.com/education/leadership/education-cio-profile-yales-len-peters/240150810?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1360/Len_Peters.jpg" alt="Len Peters" title="Len Peters" class="img175" /><div class="storyImageCaption">Len Peters</div></div>Yale is one of the nation's premier educational institutions, and a model of stability in IT management; former CIO Philip Long spent 10 years in that job and 40 in IT at Yale before retiring in 2011. Yale stayed in the Ivy League, plucking Columbia Business School CIO Len Peters as Long's successor. Peters is now developing a long-term vision for Yale IT. Before working in higher education, Peters spent years working in corporate IT at firms including Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway and Cendant. He continues to teach a graduate-level course on enterprise-wide applications and project management at Columbia. Name and title: Len Peters, chief information officer and associate VP, Yale University. Lecturer at Columbia University on enterprise-wide applications and project management. How long in job? One year, 11 months (two years in May). Most important career influencer: There've been many. I worked at Merrill Lynch for a long time and had some great mentors. I worked for Lenny Accardo, who was a young, dynamic leader and, me being young myself, I saw him as a role model. He pushed me out of my comfort zone. Before we called things <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_office">PMOs</a>, he asked me to organize his portfolio. I worked for Madge Meyer, the chief innovation officer at State Street Bank now. She was my manager for a while at Merrill. I always felt I could learn something from her. [ Take a spin through the history of education technology. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/leadership/tablets-rock-on-education-tech-through-t/240149241?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Tablets Rock On: Education Tech Through The Ages</a>. ] Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: The development of people and organizations. That then results in other things, like better technology solutions and increased customer satisfaction. At one point I ran Merrill's global support system, supporting about 125,000 workstations worldwide. When I took over, customer satisfaction was about 65%. By the time I left that job four years later, we were at 93%. When I joined Columbia Business School, student satisfaction [with IT] was less than 50%, and when I left it was over 90%. We've started down the same path here at Yale. When I got here, community satisfaction with IT was less than 50%. Now it's 79%, which is a major improvement. Why do you do what you do? As a kid I was always fascinated with technology. I bought a Timex Sinclair computer and taught myself how to program on it in high school. I've always loved technology. And I still love it. I wish I had more time to dig into the details. One thing I wish I could do over: I'm kind of like Frank Sinatra -- no regrets. I took a little bit of the path less traveled, in that after high school I went to work and many of my friends went off to college. I was on the extended part-time college program. Maybe I would change that. Then again, after I was in the workforce for four years my friends came out and didn't find jobs as good as the one I had. Top initiatives: One of the priorities is to think about how ITSM (IT service management) and traditional IT governance co-exist. The person who's running ITSM is also managing governance. We have a lot of work ahead of us in research data services. At a research institution like Yale, we have a number of high-performance clusters and amazing instrumentation [that are] producing terabytes and petabytes of data on a daily basis. We need better ways to capture that information, manage it and preserve it. Plus we have unstructured data like video, images and so on. We need to create a smoother, more efficient user perspective. We've had hundreds and hundreds of websites and apps developed over the years. We've got a project we dubbed the Yale Hub, all about creating a unified, simplified user experience, that incorporates social and mobile capability. We're also moving off of Oracle ERP and transitioning to a cloud-based solution called Workday. One thing I want to do better: Accelerate the pace of change. I've never seen technology evolve so quickly. We need to be more agile and quicker. Hardest thing about what you're doing: It's related to accelerating the pace; how do you get the right level of community engagement while moving quickly? IT budget: Operating budget is $110 million. The capital budget is about $30 million. Size of IT team: I'm the associate VP of ITS, the central IT organization. If you include contractors, about 500 people. I'm the university CIO, so I oversee technology for the university, and there are IT partners that are not part of the central group and don't report in through me. There's probably another 300 people on campus, at schools like management and law, who are IT professionals that aren't part of my budget. What I want from tech vendors: I want them to understand what my challenges are, to really spend the time, not necessarily with me but with my staff, understanding what it is we're trying to accomplish. The most disruptive force in my industry Massive open online courses. Is it disruptive? That's yet to be determined. We don't know. It appears to be disruptive. We'll have to see how this turns out in the course of the next year or two. The most overrated IT movement: Big data. I think it's a marketing term. <center> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 10px; width:560px;"> <div style="border:1px solid #000000; padding:0;"> <div style="margin:0; padding:4px; font-size:1.2em; text-align:center; color:#ffffff; background-color:#CC0000;"> Len Peters At A Glance </div> <div style="margin:0; padding:8px; text-align:left;"> Education: Bachelor of Arts from Molloy College, master's degree in technology management from Columbia University.<div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> Person I'd most like to have lunch with: Probably the new pope. It's kind of current news, and I'd love to talk with him. Yes, I am Catholic. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> First job: Delivery boy for Boone's Deli when I was 14 years old. I delivered fruits and vegetables in Brooklyn. Sometimes I worked the deli counter. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> If I weren't a CIO: I'd probably be a full-time teacher. I love teaching. </div> </div> </div> </center> The Enterprise Connect conference program covers the full range of platforms, services and applications that comprise modern communications and collaboration systems. Hear case studies from senior enterprise executives, as well as from the leaders of major industry players like Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, Google and more. Register for <a href="http://www.enterpriseconnect.com/orlando?_mc=IWKPREM">Enterprise Connect 2013</a> today with code IWKPREM to save $200 off a conference pass or get a free Expo Pass. It happens March 18-21 in Orlando, Fla. 2013-03-14T09:47:00ZBoston, IBM Plot Smarter CityPublic-private partnership in Boston aims to deliver services that cash-strapped cities can't provide on their own.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/boston-ibm-plot-smarter-city/240150800?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/ibm-smarter-cities-challenge-10-towns-ra/240142572"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/913/01_Smarter_Cities_tn.jpg" alt="IBM Smarter Cities Challenge: 10 Towns Raise Tech IQs" title="IBM Smarter Cities Challenge: 10 Towns Raise Tech IQs" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">IBM Smarter Cities Challenge: 10 Towns Raise Tech IQs</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  The city of Boston seems brainy enough, with its 35 universities and 150,000 college students. But at an event to tout technologies that make cities "smarter," Boston CIO Bill Oates said the city had a long way to go. "We've only scratched the surface here in Boston" Oates told Information Week during Wednesday's <a href="https://www.bu.edu/energy/smarter-cities/">Smarter Cities: A Roadmap for the Future</a> event put on by the city, IBM and Boston University. Cities look to technology to help them keep up with population growth in a time of flat or shrinking budgets. [ What else is IBM up to? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/ibm-ceo-rometty-shares-vision-of-big-dat/240150326?itc=edit_in_body_cross">IBM CEO Rometty Shares Vision Of Big Data Era</a>. ] "We are drowning in the complexities of city functions," said Kenneth Lutchen, dean of the college of engineering at Boston University. He said cities able to effectively use mobile, sensors, analytics and other technologies will do better than rivals at improving quality of life and economic development. An example of cities thinking smarter is <a href="http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/citizensconnect.asp">Boston's Citizens Connect</a>, an iPhone and Android app that lets residents report potholes, broken street signs and other problems directly to the city. Oates said that the Citizens Connect app had helped the city communicate better with its residents, and respond to them more quickly. The app, first launched in 2009, has been updated multiple times, spawned a similar app for city workers and, later this year, will be updated again to version 4.0, which will merge the city workers app with the citizens app, as well as adding in a recommendation feature called "Street Cred." It's also being made available to other Massachusetts cities. Oates said that by the end of March it will be available in 35 other communities. Smarter Cities also look to cut costs via technology. IBM, Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced a series of projects Wednesday. Two of the initiatives announced are ongoing. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) says it's using IBM predictive software to reduce unnecessary maintenance and has cut work orders by 38%. The Massachusetts Port Authority will expand its use of predictive software at Logan Airport from Terminal A to all terminals and a new rental car facility opening this fall. It's also adding vehicles to the system. Pilot projects announced included: -- In Boston, the Mayor's Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events is testing an "Intelligent Operations Center," a software dashboard that draws in cross-departmental data. Its goals include reducing traffic congestion and improving public safety during major events such as the Boston Marathon. -- Boston's Public Works Department is using an asset management system from IBM Maximo to help maintain its 60,000 streetlights. If the program works well, it will expand to other uses. -- Boston University's <a href="http://www.bu.edu/energy/sustainable_neighborhood/">Sustainable Neighborhood Laboratory</a> has partnered with IBM to examine energy usage in residential areas. -- At the state level, Massachusetts said it will work with IBM to change how it manages maintenance, energy usage and space management across its 72 million square feet of property. The state says it gets 120,000 work orders related to its properties each year. IBM declined to say what the pilots would cost, but one official said efficiency projects can pay for themselves within a year. Oates said more efficient management of events and assets indeed yields "short-term benefits to the taxpayer." Cost savings are crucial, as the daylong event made clear that cities lack the skills and finances to develop smarter infrastructure. "Cities have no money," said Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, director of International Data Corp.'s Smart Cities research program. Cities touted for their smart infrastructure investments tend to be places like Rio de Janeiro, where governments are spending heavily to prepare for hosting the World Cup and the Olympics. Clarke said cities might be able to adopt the Boston model of matching technology vendors, city and state IT and university talent. Adding foundation and non-profit support may be the best way to increase momentum for implementing technology to manage cities more effectively. For IBM, the event was a tactical extension of its Smarter Cities <a href="http://smartercitieschallenge.org/">challenge grants</a>, a three-year program where IBM is donating $50 million worth of employee time to help cities address their challenges. Boston received a grant in 2012, which spawned the working relationships between Boston, the state of Massachusetts and IBM, a major employer in the state. Relationships, not technology, matter most for cities. Oates said "the real valuable part of today is this conversation about partnership between the private sector, academia and cities."2013-03-07T13:07:00ZBoundless Seeks Court Ruling On Free Online TextbooksAt stake is the future of a free online alternative to expensive college textbooks, says open-source textbook maker.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/boundless-seeks-court-ruling-on-free-onl/240150272?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/leadership/educational-technology-across-the-ages/240149241"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/954/1_tn.jpg" alt="Tablets Rock On: Education Tech Through The Ages" title="Tablets Rock On: Education Tech Through The Ages" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Tablets Rock On: Education Tech Through The Ages</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Boundless, an online open-source textbook maker being sued by traditional textbook publishers, has asked the judge in its case to rule on whether its current products infringe on the claims. <a href="https://www.boundless.com/schools/new-york-unive/">Boundless</a> has argued that it is being sued for a beta version of its product that is no longer available. Ariel Diaz, founder and CEO of the Boston-based startup, said that "the entire litigation is focused on that one-year-old dead product." A declaratory judgment could limit potential damage to Boundless if the court rules against it in the current case. The request is the latest move by Boundless in a case brought against it in March 2012 by Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and Macmillan Higher Education. The <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/88132655/Publisher-Complaint">suit alleges</a> that Boundless copied their intellectual property, specifically the way they organize and present their materials, as well as four other counts. Boundless last June asked the court to dismiss two of the counts, false advertising and unfair competition. In January, the court denied Boundless’ request. In February Boundless asked the court for a jury trial. [ For more on how textbooks are moving online, read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/instructional-it/e-textbook-pilot-puts-college-books-in-c/240150097?itc=edit_in_body_cross">E-Textbook Pilot Puts College Books In Cloud</a>. ] Diaz said that its current products are not part of the suit, or any other. Boundless has added features such as flash cards and subject quizzes and interactive study guides not available in print textbooks. He said Boundless had asked the plaintiffs whether they think its current products infringe. "They hadn’t looked at that. But they do believe the old project should impact the future of Boundless," Diaz said. Counsel for the three publishers was not immediately available for comment. At stake is the future of a free alternative to many leading textbooks used in college courses, which can cost up to $300 apiece. The high price of college textbooks has created a call for open-source textbooks. Boundless is not the only company attempting to change the market for education textbooks. Its product, however, is designed to map to the chapter outlines of popular textbooks such as Campbell and Reece’s Biology. Boundless now offers online open-source textbooks in 18 subjects. It has released 18 open textbooks via the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. It says that students on more than 2,000 college campuses are using its texts. Diaz said that outside of the suit, "things are great." He said the company was continuing to develop new offerings and features such as community study guides. Attend Interop Las Vegas, May 6-10, and attend the most thorough training on Apple Deployment at the NEW Mac & iOS IT Conference. Use Priority Code DIPR03 by March 9 to save up to $500 off the price of Conference Passes. Join us in Las Vegas for access to 125+ workshops and conference classes, 350+ exhibiting companies, and the latest technology. Register for <a href="http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/?CID=MP_ILV_IWK_Article_TL&_mc=DIPR03">Interop</a> today!2013-03-07T10:50:00ZFCC Chairman Outlines Plans To Free Up SpectrumWhether FCC Chairman Genachowski is reappointed or not, he says a multi-fold vision for making better use of wireless spectrum will proceed.http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/fcc-chairman-outlines-plans-to-free-up-s/240150236?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/mobile/mobile-government-10-must-have-smartphon/240149858"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/958/01_Spacex_tn.jpg" alt="Mobile Government: 10 Must-Have Smartphone Apps" title="Mobile Government: 10 Must-Have Smartphone Apps" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Mobile Government: 10 Must-Have Smartphone Apps</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski this week laid out a multi-fold vision for making better use of wireless spectrum, including some that should be earmarked for special new projects, in hopes of spawning Wi-Fi-like innovations. "We spend a lot of time thinking about spectrum policy to meet the opportunities we all sense in mobile," Genachowski told an audience at an MIT event on Tuesday. Among the major initiatives he cited are incentive auctions to open up spectrum long held by broadcasters, new ways to allocate licensed spectrum more efficiently, new unlicensed spectrum and sharing of spectrum long reserved for government use. [ Will government spending cuts hurt this plan? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/how-sequestration-impacts-federal-it-spe/240150062?itc=edit_in_body_cross">How Sequestration Impacts Federal IT Spending</a>. ] Genachowski made his remarks in a "fireside chat" discussion with two MIT professors, Dina Katabi and Hari Balakrishnan, who head <a href="http://wireless.csail.mit.edu/">MIT's Wireless@MIT Center</a>. The event was a bit of a pep rally for Genachowski, whose term as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission expires in June. It is unclear if Genachowski will be re-appointed to the influential post. <a href="http://business.time.com/2013/02/21/as-fcc-chiefs-term-nears-end-speculation-mounts-over-possible-successor/#ixzz2MnSKXpPq">Time magazine recently noted</a> he has "managed to annoy almost every constituency" since taking office in June 2009. He may not be widely liked, but Genachowski can point to a powerful legacy as the backer of the well-regarded National Broadband Plan. Over the last four years, he noted, the U.S. has gone from also-ran to reclaiming leadership in many aspects of wireless innovation. "The U.S has leapfrogged other countries," he said. "Mobile innovation is U.S-driven today." He cited several key developments: -- The U.S. has more 4G LTE (long-term evolution) users than the rest of the world combined. -- The U.S. has the fastest growing rate of capital expenditures for networks, projected to reach $35 billion in 2013, up 60% during the past four years. -- U.S.-made mobile operating systems own more than 90% of the market today, up from less than 20% four years ago. -- U.S. companies lead in the development of mobile applications. But he said the U.S. faces significant challenges, including opening up more spectrum, maintaining Internet openness and improving speed and capacity in wired networks. Spectrum dominated the questions Genachowski received. He sounded optimistic that next year will see the first so-called incentive auctions, where television broadcasters will be paid for spectrum in the 300-MHz band licensed to them, and the FCC will then repackage the spectrum and auction it off to wireless carriers. "In New York there are 28 full-power over-the-air TV stations. No one can identify 28 full-power over-the-air TV stations in New York," he said. The incentive auctions will give broadcasters cash for spectrum they don't need, and boost spectrum for everyone else, he said. Genachowski added that "we're seeing increasing broadcaster interest in this." Unlicensed spectrum, which has produced breakthroughs like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, drew particular interest from the MIT audience. Genachowski told Katabi that he thought the FCC would reserve "a significant amount" of spectrum for unlicensed use. He noted that last Friday, the <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/tv-white-space-database-administrator">FCC authorized database operators</a> to begin using "white spaces" between TV channels on a nationwide basis (it was previously limited to parts of the East Coast). Will such initiatives continue if Genachowski is not reappointed? He told Information Week that his policies built on previous FCC policy and he expected it would continue with or without him. MIT's Katabi said she hoped that whoever leads the FCC will pursue the broad vision Genachowski has pushed, saying she was "very excited" about the policies around increasing spectrum, especially unlicensed spectrum.2013-03-04T11:45:00ZWhat's Excel's Place In Big Data Age?Microsoft has its own opinion. But do CIOs want to make Excel the analytics engine for the masses?http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/whats-excels-place-in-big-data-age/240149917?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cioVendor hype, helped along by us journalists, sometimes succeeds in obscuring reality. Big data is a case in point -- what's so great about having even more data that tells us nothing? It was almost painful sitting in a Microsoft conference room Thursday listening to executives say that Excel -- Excel! -- was going to help the corporate masses put the capital letters on Big Data. "Excel can now manipulate over 100 million rows of data in memory on the computer and give you analysis," we heard from Craig Hodges, the silver-haired head of Microsoft's New England district. "Two years ago you could only process 64,000 rows of data in Excel." How trivial. It's in vogue now to invoke the moon landing as the pinnacle of innovation, and <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429690/why-we-cant-solve-big-problems/">wonder what's happened to us</a> since. There is truth to this. But trivial things can matter. Our innovations tend to need lots of small steps to catch on. [ For more on Microsoft's vision for big data, see <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/software-platforms/microsofts-big-data-strategy-an-insiders-view/240148458?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Microsoft's Big Data Strategy: An Insider's View</a>. ] Case in point: Predictive analytics, the great hope represented by big data. "Regression's been around for 200 years and people have been making prediction for a long time," acknowledges Sham Kakade, a senior researcher at Microsoft New England Research. "What is interesting now is the promise of having automated tools that can do this. People are getting broader accessibility to these tools." One problem is that analytics algorithms require peculiar skillsets not available to most companies. In Microsoft's favor, says Hodges: "We have an analysis tool on your desk so you can build your own algorithm." It is true that most companies employ somebody who knows a lot about Excel. The question for CIOs is can they use Excel as an analytic engine for the masses? Microsoft, ever agile with its public relations, offered up a customer in its TAP (Technology Adoption Partner) program: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. John Halamka, CIO at BIDMC, needs a way to get a handle on unstructured data -- that is, data that isn't defined in a database or other structure that a computer can easily understand. For healthcare, unstructured data ranges from the obvious (doctor's notes about patients) to the arcane (audit logs for servers, needed for HIPAA compliance). Halamka's been thinking about the problem for a few years, as <a href="http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2011/03/freeing-data.html">this blog post from 2011</a> shows. Halamka is no stranger to those looking for innovation in healthcare IT. Under Halamka's technology leadership, BIDMC was named No. 1 among the InformationWeek 500 in 2012. See our related article, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/beth-israel-deaconess-medical-center-emb/240006766">Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Embraces Analytics</a>. Halamka told me that big data was one of his five top priorities for this year, and pointed me to his point person on analytics, Ayad Shammout, principal business intelligence consultant at BIDMC. Shammout has been working with Microsoft's version of Apache Hadoop, a popular analytics tool, since January 2012, months before <a href="https://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/microsoft-releases-hadoop-on-windows/240009632">Microsoft announced its support for Hadoop</a>. He says the tool is "neat" and has allowed BIDMC to analyze its SQL server transaction logs far more effectively, in part because it has excellent compression tools that can take, say, a 22 GB log file and compress it down to 120 MB. That's important because BIDMC can generate terabytes of SQL transaction data in just days, creating huge needs for storage and putting pressure on the network.   <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"> <div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a> <div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div> Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy. </div> </div>   Shammout says BIDMC is building predictive analytical models in Excel. The project on audits is about 70% to 80% complete, and then he will move towards applying analytics to structured and unstructured patient-oriented data. He says the combination of Excel and Hadoop on Microsoft has saved BIDMC's development team countless hours in developing models and will sharply reduce the learning curve for BIDMC employees as they start to integrate structured and unstructured data. "We have a lot of Excel users," he says. The question is how many CIOs still have a cadre of advanced Excel users available to them? Rob Enderle, head of the market researcher Enderle Group, thinks Excel skills have languished at many companies. He says custom tools aimed at analytics, or cloud analytics services will prove better suited to the needs of most CIOs than Microsoft's integrated tools, with Excel as the front end. Has Excel become an afterthought in corporations? For Microsoft, the answer is not trivial. 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Join us in Las Vegas for access to 125+ workshops and conference classes, 300+ exhibiting companies, and the latest technology. <a href="http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register today</a>! 2013-02-27T09:06:00ZCould A MOOC Ease Your Talent Problems?Boston's EdX partnership with MIT should spur CIOs to consider creating their own massive open online courses to fill skills gaps.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/could-a-mooc-ease-your-talent-problems/240149503?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/20-top-masters-degrees-for-big-data-analytics-professionals/240145673"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/934/IntroImage_tn.jpg" alt=" Big Data Analytics Masters Degrees: 20 Top Programs" title=" Big Data Analytics Masters Degrees: 20 Top Programs" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle"> Big Data Analytics Masters Degrees: 20 Top Programs</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>BostonX exists right now only on whiteboards and hard drives and other tools of modern planning, but it represents a structural shift in the way people might learn. Corporate executives struggling to find employees with the right skills, take note: It might be time to start planning your own massive open online course (MOOC). BostonX is a collaboration between the City of Boston and EdX, the Harvard/MIT MOOC platform. It aims to bring EdX courses to classrooms in Boston high schools, libraries and community centers. Which raises the question: If EdX can come to the city, why not the company? Especially with McKinsey predicting that by 2020, a mere seven years off, the global economy will face a skills gap between available jobs and workers that will mean 85 million medium- and high-skill jobs going unfilled. [ MOOCs could be poised to take off. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/is-2013-year-of-the-mooc/240146431?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Is 2013 Year Of The MOOC?</a> ] "The job market is not static," said Anant Agarwal, CEO of EdX. He questions why the education model is set up so people are done with school by 22 or 23. "You're educated once and use the knowledge for 70 years. That's crazy!" he said. Agarwal thinks MOOCs present an approach that will help drive continuous learning for workers. "I see real impetus for the whole movement of free training of people in areas where jobs are," he said. He cites technology skills and life sciences training as two areas that could see big demand. Executive education is already something in high demand. "Skills in this day and age have a very short shelf life," noted Sanjay E. Sarma, director of digital learning and professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. As director of digital learning, Sarma is in charge of building courses that appear on EdX. He said that companies already ask MIT's executive education program to develop custom content for them. If it seems like a stretch for companies, or trade groups, to decide to create their own custom content, it's already happening. For one, the resources needed tend to be already in place at companies. For another, EdX is an open-source platform. Anybody can use it to build a course. One company already has. 10gen, which provides commercial services for MongoDB, an open-source database tool, launched two courses of its own last year using EdX's platform. 10gen hosted an instance of EdX's software on Amazon Web Services as the host; students log in to it on the 10gen site, and 10gen does all the promotional work for it. The hard part was developing the courses, said Andrew Erlichson, 10gen's VP of education. Although the company already teaches conventional courses, those are run over two days, accommodating between eight and 15 students. Its online classes, dubbed m101 (<a href="https://education.10gen.com/courses/10gen/M101P/2013_Spring/about">MongoDB for developers</a>) and m102 (MongoDB for database administrators), were built as seven-week courses with about two hours of content per week. Video segments were followed by built-in quizzes, and there were weekly homework assignments and a final exam. Automatic grading had to be created. Video of the classes was shot in "Khan style," an overhead camera looking down at a tablet, after the style used in Khan Academy videos. "We spent 17 hours editing every single hour of content we created," Erlichson said. "I was pulling all-nighters like I hadn't done since college."The total cost to develop the classes was about <a href="http://ed-blog.10gen.com/post/41073812219/costs-of-teaching-online-classes">$250,000</a>. The classes are being run again, and Erlichson said they now take less than five hours of his time a week. 10gen expects 50,000 students to take the classes in the first year, meaning it has invested about $5 a student. Of course, completion rates in MOOCs are an issue -- 5% of attendees completed the first EdX course, for instance. Erlichson said of the 30,000 people who have taken his two classes, about 18% completed them. That still more than quadruples the 1,000 or so students who have taken 10gen's in-person training classes. The in-person classes are primarily attended by students in the U.S. and western Europe, said Erlichson, while a large number of the online students were from eastern Europe and Latin America. The top six were Russia, the U.S., Ukraine, Argentina, Spain and Bulgaria. More than half the online students said they would use the projects for work. He sees a bright future for MOOCs in companies. "A lot of companies are going to do it," he predicted. "It's extremely effective from a cost standpoint and you open up new markets." Erlichson also thinks it will help address the skills gap, at least for technology firms. "The skills that go wanting in software right now are some of the easiest things to teach online," he said. One educator is not so sure. "The dropout rates are pretty high for those types of classes," said Jesse M. Thompson, executive VP and CFO at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Mass. America's community colleges are often cited as the institutions best placed to help address skills gaps. But Thompson is excited by Bunker Hill's own collaboration with EdX. Bunker Hill is one of two community colleges offering an EdX class on introductory software for credit to its students. It is combining the online course with a classroom led by faculty members. Combining online classes with on-site support could prove effective at increasing class completion rates. "In the long term, (MOOCs) could have some impact on this whole skills gap, but it's too early to tell right now," Thompson said. "Especially as it relates to community college students." But if other companies can do what 10gen did, MOOCs might mean they can address their own skills gaps. Attend Interop Las Vegas, May 6-10, and attend the most thorough training on Apple Deployment at the NEW Mac & iOS IT Conference. Use Priority Code DIPR02 by March 2 to save up to $500 off the price of Conference Passes. Join us in Las Vegas for access to 125+ workshops and conference classes, 350+ exhibiting companies, and the latest technology. Register for <a href="http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/?CID=MP_ILV_IWK_Article_TL&_mc=DIPR02">Interop</a> today!2013-02-14T09:06:00ZNetbooks Hang Strong In ClassroomsNetbooks will continue to lead tablets and laptops in education sales this year, predicts ABI Research.http://www.informationweek.com/education/mobility/netbooks-hang-strong-in-classrooms/240148535?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/mobile/6-ways-iphone-5-ios-6-amp-up-social-oppo/240008245"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/878/ios6_image_full.png" alt="Six Ways The iPhone 5 and iOS 6 Amp Up Social Opportunities" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Six Ways The iPhone 5 and iOS 6 Amp Up Social Opportunities</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>The education market remains a stronghold for netbooks, according to a recent report by ABI Research. InformationWeek Education interviewed ABI analyst Joshua Flood by email about this phenomenon. InformationWeek: ABI found that netbooks continue to sell well in education markets. How well are they selling? What are the top five device types you track in the education market, by share? Joshua Flood: Netbook shipments in the education market are projected to increase from 5.5 million in 2012 to 5.7 million in 2013, a 4% increase year-on-year. We only covered netbooks, media tablets [such as the iPad] and laptops in the report. By comparison, the numbers for media tablets and laptops in education are expected to increase a bigger percent in 2013 -- but they will still lag behind netbooks. IW: How are you defining the education market? Flood: Computing device shipments are only through education channel sales and do not include consumer purchases of products intended for the use in classrooms. IW: You note that many of the largest vendors no longer sell netbooks. What significant vendors are left? Flood: OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), Intel/Lenovo, PC Classmate CTL are the major ones. There are a few smaller vendors also dedicated to the education market. An example of a tablet vendor purely focused on education is LearnPad (Avantis Systems). IW: Will the reduction in competition affect netbook pricing? What about potential innovations? Flood: I don't believe the reduction of pricing will have a major effect on netbook pricing. Organizations like OLPC and Intel's education computing program are based more upon achieving the objective of higher shipments, and increasing prices because there are [fewer] competitors doesn't really work with their aim. <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1357/netbooks_chart3.jpg" width="580" height="162" alt="Computer Devices in Education Market" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /> </center> An example of OLPC's latest XO-4.0 netbook, I believe the non-touch version, is approximately $190 and the touch version is $210. I believe the potential innovation will occur in how these companies/organizations develop their netbook solutions over the coming years and begin developing media tablets. IW: Why do netbooks continue to be successful in education markets? Flood: The affordability and potential use of computing devices has enhanced learning in several ways: -- Students can access learning material relevant to their level of knowledge and understanding. -- Learners can work through relevant material and modules at their own pace with little supervision. Previously, everyone had to keep pace with the teacher and some children could fall behind or lose track, leading to distraction and wasted time. <div class="inlineStoryImageRight"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1357/pie-2.jpg" width="300" height="326" alt="Computer Devices in Education Market" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /></div> -- Children in disadvantaged communities and regions previously unable to afford computing devices now have a chance to develop their computer skills. -- Class sizes can be much larger as children are focused on their own learning targets. The U.K. education authority recently introduced academies with advanced ICT capabilities with an abundance of computing devices and it is not unheard of for some core subject classes to have in excess of 90 pupils in one room. -- Different learning styles can be incorporated into the software and applications to cope with different environments and educational levels. -- Learners can receive instantaneous feedback, encouraging them to progress and improve. -- Students can obtain computer skills and knowledge of the Internet that will help throughout their lives and careers. -- In advanced education, students can reduce travel time and travel costs by studying off site or remotely.As for netbooks over media tablets, a netbook enables children to create content to a greater extent than primarily consuming data. Additionally, no significant scientific data points to a greater benefit with children using a tablet instead of a keyboard. The OLPC has already begun offering a netbook product with touch capabilities. Netbooks also tend to be a lot easier to repair than media tablets. Concerns have also been expressed regarding battery charges. Media tablets are usually good for approximately 500 to 600 recharges; once the battery has gone, it is unheard of to purchase a replacement battery, which is not the case for netbooks. IW: Is the continued use of netbooks primarily due to long-term contracts signed by school district IT specialists? Flood: Yes, however, in some countries it's slightly higher than school district IT specialist. I believe in Latin America, and some countries in Africa it is virtually at the federal government level. Contracts usually range from 12-36 months. IW: Is the netbook phenomenon of more impact in certain geographies and demographics? Flood: Within the education sector, the biggest regions/markets for netbooks is Asia-Pacific and Latin America, respectively. We project Asia-Pacific will remain flat at about 1.6 million units shipped in 2013, and Latin America will see an increase from 1 million units in 2012 to 1.3 million units. North America will dip from 900,000 to 800,00 units. For age ranges in education, netbooks currently are used most by children ages 12 to 16. IW: You note that netbooks hold inherent advantages for education markets in size, price and flexibility. Nonetheless, you see them fading away and replaced by tablets. Why? Flood: We do not project netbooks to fade away completely. There will still be a netbook market in excess of one million devices per annum in five years' time. However, we believe there will be a bigger shift to tablets and other laptops. It may become the case that the tablet form factor mutates as we're currently observing with ultrabooks [into] convertibles and detachables. Media tablets offer several advantages over laptop and netbook devices: -- Usually smaller (no larger than 10 inches) and lighter, making it easy for children to handle. -- The compact designs enable easy storage in limited spaces like elementary and primary schools. -- Better battery life than netbooks and laptops—usually a netbook/laptop with good battery life is substantially heavier than a tablet. -- Tablet OEMs have begun developing extensive software, applications, and, in some cases, a unique content ecosystem for tablet devices, which can enhance children's learning. IW: How long will it take for tablets to become a primary device in education? Flood: I believe the turning point will be around 2014. IW: How do you think the shift to tablets will affect the education market? Will it change content delivery? Flood: As content creation is limited on a pure tablet device, the OS will need to be highly customized and this is probably going to be a closed system, as with iOS or LearnPad. However, it is also likely we will see mutations of tablets with keyboards in the education sector which could use a Linux operating system and thus content delivery will remain similar. Can data analysis keep students on track and improve college retention rates? Also in the premiere all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/012813ed/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Analytics' Big Test</a> issue of InformationWeek Education: Higher education is just as prone to tech-based disruption as other industries. (Free with registration.) 2013-02-11T09:14:00ZBig Data Profile: Jayanth Garlapati, DonorsChooseNewly hired data scientist Jayanth Garlapati talks about blazing trails and his job helping DonorsChoose mine trends in teaching innovations.http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/big-data-profile-jayanth-garlapati-donorschoose/240148220?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Executive_insights/interviews_global_cio<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1357/Jayanth-Garlapati.jpg" alt=" Jayanth Garlapati, DonorsChoose" title="Jayanth Garlapati, data scientist, DonorsChoose" class="img175" /><div class="storyImageCaption">DonorsChoose Jayanth Garlapati, data scientist</div> </div> <a href="http://www.donorschoose.org/">DonorsChoose.org</a> connects innovative teachers directly with donors who want to fund their projects. The non-profit was started in 2000 by a New York City public school teacher, Charles Best, and has since coordinated $170 million in donations, made to teachers at half the nation's public schools. Last year, it hired a data scientist, Jayanth Garlapati, to help it learn new things about its donors, requesters and impact. For instance, it wanted to know whether it could show that its grant recipients outperformed other teachers. Name: Jayanth Garlapati, data scientist Tenure at current job: Started July 1, 2012. Career accomplishment of which I'm most proud: That's a hard thing for me to answer [because] I'm very early in my career. Right now we're talking with the superintendent of the San Juan school districts, one of the top 10 school districts, as well as budgeting head for some schools in Connecticut, about ways to spend their money. I would feel extremely accomplished if I could influence their budget. We have looked at whether teachers who use our site are higher performers, using value-added scores from New York City. [The New York City public schools try to measure teachers' "value add" by looking at standardized scores while attempting to control for factors such as the level of student being taught.] We found that teachers who use our site do perform better. Why do you do what you do? As I was graduating college I was contemplating going to grad school. But I wanted to be working in a situation where I'd be able to use my quantitative skills and ability to work with and do statistics, which I believe is a useful perspective on the world, and bring those tools to bear on a problem of importance to everybody. So I started looking for a job that was working with data. I was looking at several startups, but was really drawn to DonorsChoose, because the core of this organization is its social mission. Decision I wish I could do over: There are some educational choices I would have maybe made differently, maybe arranged my curriculum differently and learned more statistics early on. Most important career influencer: A combination of people. One was John Lafferty, a professor in statistics and computer science at Chicago. I took a great class from him. My research advisor is Nina Hinrichs. I was learning this math and it was abstract and I enjoyed learning it, but doing my work with her I got a sense of how I could use that more abstract knowledge to create models and understand the world. Current top initiatives: We have a lot of raw project data of what teachers need for their classroom. We'd like to get a sense of what are the most important, most requested items. I'm working on aggregating that information, which I think ought to be an easier thing than it is. It's important in terms of understanding what resources are needed and being asked for by innovative teachers in public schools. Other questions that I'm noodling on, we do a lot of things on our site to encourage or help fundraising. A lot of people draw comparisons between our site and a site like Kickstarter. On Kickstarter you have a group of enterprising entrepreneurs asking for money. They're comfortable doing that. Teachers might not be as comfortable asking friends for money. So we want to know if there is a way in which our site helps teachers fundraise and ask people for money. We're also trying to get an idea of who the donors are who come to our site. Do they have preferences for certain types of projects, are there relationships between donors and projects.? It's a high-performance marketplace we're trying to optimize, but we also have room to ask questions that are broader, socially interesting questions that could matter outside our site. These questions don't change or affect the site, but could be informative to the education reform community or non-profits trying to understand their site. Most disruptive force in my industry: It's really I think the whole paradigm of using data to make decisions. There a lot of questions people have been interested in asking for a lot of years. But before, those were answered by gut feeling, or whatever it is people went by. Suddenly, we're able to have factual grounding or data that speaks, in a significant way, to whether we should do "A" or "B." That data, based on concrete decisions rather than feeling, is what makes data science extremely disruptive. One thing I'm looking to do better: I want to improve the way I communicate results. It's a really important part of the job to take all the mathematical machinery and computing machinery and be able to represent them and communicate them to non-experts or people without quantitative background, so they can understand the strength and the limitations of what you've produced. Hardest thing about what I'm doing: This whole field is extremely new. As a result, unlike more established fields, you don't have very established best practices, or role models, or people who've done it and you can follow in their paths. A lot of things you have to cobble together as you go. You have to make a lot of judgment calls about what you think is a best practice. <center> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 10px; width:560px;"> <div style="border:1px solid #000000; padding:0;"> <div style="margin:0; padding:4px; font-size:1.2em; text-align:center; color:#ffffff; background-color:#CC0000;"> Jayanth Garlapati At A Glance </div> <div style="margin:0; padding:8px; text-align:left;"> Education: BS in mathematics from the University Of Chicago. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> Person I'd most like to have lunch with: Robert Noyce. He really started the silicon revolution in a big way, invented the integrated circuit, started Intel labs, is the one that initiated this counterculture of creating organizations with a philosophy of work in mind. He was really an originator in many ways of the startup culture, the flat organization, the open plan office, that's all Robert Noyce. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> First job: I was a lab assistant/tech at the University of Pennsylvania, near where I lived in high school. I helped with IT support. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> If I weren't a data scientist: A lot of people I know went into quantitative finance. I would probably be in graduate school if this job didn't exist, studying machine learning. </div> </div> </div> </center> Can data analysis keep students on track and improve college retention rates? Also in the premiere all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/012813ed/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Analytics' Big Test</a> issue of InformationWeek Education: Higher education is just as prone to tech-based disruption as other industries. 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