Itunes U, Post four

The Hidden Value Of "Free" Education

There are many advantages to universities giving away free material.  Although it appears that there is little advantage to the universities, the real advantage is hidden. 

The Iceberg Concept

The Iceberg concept?  Right.  The true value of giving away free education is a lot like observing an iceberg.   Only a small fraction of it's monstrous size is visible.

What is Seen? (the tip of the iceberg)

Universities that give out free material and courses appear to be very generous.  We know that the courses must be taught whether we (the general public) look at the material or not,  so what harm does it cause the universities to share?

What hidden value's there are? (All the underwater hidden values)

Universities have many advantages of providing courses in an online library, such as Itunes U.  By providing this free information, universities gain free publicity,  have a potential to make money, and can maintain a more diverse student base.

1.  Free Advertising

Some of the universities that put out courses online are not widely known.  Since students now see these courses, they may consider enrolling in the university.  Other universities may already have a prestigious reputation.  Regardless, universities are getting free publicity.

2.  To Make Money


It is possible to access these courses however, universities do not supply the degree or certificate of completion... at least not for free.  For many of the courses it is possible to write exams on the material which would, upon completion, reward you with a certificate.  These exams are not free, and universities make more money off of a course that's already been taught.  This means that a new professor need not be hired.  In addition,  the potential money that they can make is limitless, since the lectures are recorded and may be distributed an unlimited amount of times.

3.  Provide more opportunity and choice for students


The volume of applications vary year to year and university to university.  Sometimes there are not enough students that applied to a course to run it.  Since a university will have recorded all of the lectures from the last time the course ran, it is possible to just have the students do the course online.  Students may now still do a certain course at their university of choice, instead of resorting to switching universities.  This means universities can sustain a bigger student body, regardless of application volume.

My Course

To be honest, I have only listened to six lectures.  To defend this,  I must state that these six lectures however add up to just under three hours of my time and I have been very busy with my regular school schedule.  My apologies.  

Reflection

Personally I think it is a wise move by Universities to give away the information as there are many different advantages that can occur because of it.  It is evident that free information can potentially be profitable for universities. At the same time these universities acquire the reputation of being generous.  As far as I'm concerned it's a win-win situation.

On another note, from what I've listened to, owning a business is going to be a lot more complex than I thought.  I will need to keep a day job to pay for living, whilst attempting to start up my business... and that's if I even get funding.  Seriously I'm going to have to organize my time better in the future, in order to make owning a business a worthwhile consideration.

And Finally on a completely unrelated note... this video is hilarious.  Business competition at it's finest.

Itunes U, Post three

Yale Entrepreneurial Institute

First off, this Picture sums up how I felt listening to these lectures brilliantly...

The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) was formed to help undergraduate and graduate Yale students start scalable new ventures.  The YEI podcast series features talks given at the summer institute's leadership lecture series.  The Itune's U course can be found Here.  So far, my two favourite lectures are "How to write a business plan" lectured by Maureen Burke, and "starting a startup" lectured by Chris Penner.

Lectures

How To Write A Business Plan

Laureen Burke, of the Yale School of Management, and the Yale School of forestry environmental science lectures aspiring entrepreneurs about the importance of a business plan.

After listening to this lecture I have learned that as an entrepreneur, a good, well written business plan is essential if one is expecting to get funding for a project.  According to Laureen Burke, seventy-five percent of business plans she's received lack one or more of the essential qualities of a good business plan.  5-7 minute's in the audio,  Laureen state's that a well written business plan must be exciting, entertaining, knowledgable and, have proper format.  Plans should include a market: a market section, management section, sources section, a detailed description of the production of your product, and most importantly an executive summary.  Laureen describes how to make each of these sections good at twenty-one to twenty-eight minutes in.  


Maureen closes her lecture stating that a good business plan should be totally realistic.  Investors are not going to believe hyped up projected stats, and this will definitely not help a business plan get picked in fact the unrealistic plan may actually even decrease the chances of getting selected.   Finally, it is stressed that a good plan will not be subjective in the sense of saying, it's products will be "better".  It must be stressed how the product will be better, it is simply not enough to state that it is better just because.  


If one wishes to find this lecture it is the first clip in the series, found Here

Starting a Startup

Chris Penner, president and CEO of RemoTV, discusses how to start a startup. 

In this lecture, Chris Penner describes both the positive's and negatives about the entrepreneurial lifestyle.  Being a CEO and owner of many various company's, Chris speaks from personal experience.  When starting a business, there are three main parts which must be reviewed  at startup to ensure success: the team, the market and, the technology.

1.  The team

As an entrepreneur you must make sure that you have a team that is knowledgeable, and devoted.  It takes a lot of commitment for a business to explode, so a genuine team is a necessity.

2. The Market

An entrepreneur must check that there is a market for his business before the business goes public.  It is stated that, the only way sale's are going to happen is if there is a demand.

3. The Technology

In chris' case he had various digital businesses.  In his businesses he had to make sure that the newest technologies were acquired.  This is because people hate change and he had to give them reason to.  Although not all businesses will require the newest tech,  the idea of a quality product is a universal necessity among successful businesses.

Chris describe's how an idea can explode into a thriving business that reaches millions and I thought the above picture was fitting.

Reflection

Next year I will hopefully be attending Western University for their business program for two years.  Following that hopefully I will be accepted into Richard Ivey's School of Business to get an HBA.  I have always considered the possibility of starting a business and I thought this program would enlighten in the idea.  

Itunes U, Post Two

                              The World's A busy place!

Schooling - Problem and solution.  

There are time management issues in classic school environments.  These issue's are solved when put online, because students may look at material whenever they choose to.  Here are some qualities of the different environments. 

Old School

Traditionally, schools ran at specific times during the day.  People attended the classes to get the knowledge they needed to pass their exams.  If for some reason, a student missed a class, it was entirely their responsibility to figure out what they missed, and learn it.  When teacher's missed classes, the class was left with a supply teacher.... that usually knows absolutely nothing on the subject they are supposed to be teaching. 

Time was, and still is a problem in the classic school environment.  Many tough situations arise with this old system such as,  when teachers or students missing vital classes such as review periods.  Communication is missed, and it's not fair to either party to be responsible for problems related to time.   

New School, "Always on" Schooling

The new school experience provides students with freedom.  With their course being on Itune's, students are able to learn the material on their own time, and at their own pace.  They may take as long as they need to thoroughly understand a material, and always have the opportunity to watch their lecture again and again and again.    For teachers, I'm assuming this new method helps with time management as well.  This way as long as students take responsibility and do their learning, they will never miss any material because of other commitments.  I find this a much fairer environment where everyone is provided with the same opportunities.

Reflection

Using new technology available,  it is possible to learn online.  Many different industries could use this technology to reduce costs.  For example: businesses can now do all their training online, which prevents the need to pay a trainer and  schools no longer need to limit class sizes anymore, which reduces the need to pay an extra professor.

Looking forward, the new learning technologies that are available overcome various barriers such as time, distance, and quantity.  Training and learning can now be done on one's own time, regardless of where they are in the world, and as many people as like may participate.

Overall I feel that Itunes U courses are going to be increasingly more popular in the next few years because of the advantages they provide to everyone.  

Itunes U, Post One

Online learning

This is going to be a comparison and personal reflection between a tradition learning style, and a new learning tactic found online.  The Khan academy is a collection of video's that provide an alternative to the classic in class learning style.

Khan Academy

I actually discovered Khan academy earlier this semester when I joined a data class extremely late.  All of the concepts that I missed, were available on the youtube channel as mini video lessons.  These little lessons taught me how to solve permutations & combinations better than any standard teacher could have, as far as I'm concerned.  I feel that because I have self initiative, these lessons are able to teach me concepts extremely effectively, without the need to be in class.

With these lessons, I could actually go back and review any material that I found confusing  whereas, in a classic setting, the class will wait for no one.  I also found that the Khan Academy displayed math concepts in their most basic forms, this provided me with a quick learning curve.

Here is the video, that saved my life!

Personal Results

Personally, I aced my data test.  In fact, I only managed to have a 2% margin of error.  Compared to the class that learned the concepts in class for weeks, I got the second highest mark.  Somehow this new learning method taught me Permutations & combinations more effectively than the teacher in front of the class could.  

Since I originally discovered Khan Academy, I've used it's video's  to study and learn in various subject areas.  A problem that arose from the academy however is that,  you need to have initiative to actually be productive.  Unlike a standard classroom, there is no obligation to "attend" Khan Academy's study session. 

Reflection

Overall I feel like the Khan Academy's a great addition to the standard classroom for anyone, that has self initiate, and will take responsibility for their own learning.   Although the video tutor's are a great substation for those independent people, there are always going to be people that will not take advantage of the lesson's because they feel they have "better things to do."  For the soul reason that people exist like that, I don't feel Khan's academy, or any similar online tool will replace standard high schools.  As I'm sure it was not designed to, either.

What might happen, and I feel should happen however is the ability to write high school course exams without spending months of your life in the class.  It shouldn't matter whether a student gets their knowledge from in class, or online  if they know the material than they should be able to write an exam for a credit.