SOPHISTICATED FINANCE

Computer Technology and Test Scores in Education

Much has been written to show that technology does not improve student learning. More precisely, what this statement typically means is that student test scores do not improve after laptops are introduced in the classroom. If we step back and look at the results of computer technology in classrooms, we have four possible conclusions:

1. The laptops and software are being used to reinforce traditional methods of teaching (so why would one expect better test scores)
2. The laptops have no software that allows learning in new ways which might improve test scores
3. The laptops and software are allowing children to learn faster but this benefit is not captured in test scores by the grade level measurement system
4. The laptops and software are allowing the children to learn new skills that are not measured by the test scores

3 out 4 chances (1, 3 and 4) for testing to show that laptops do not improve education. 3 out of 4 chances (2, 3, 4) to have a meaningful contribution from laptops and software, if only we asked the right questions. 

As Clayton Christensen, the famous HBS professor, showed in "Disrupting Class", we should not expect better results if we use technology to reinforce traditional teaching methods. The question (3) that intrigues me is whether we could educate children faster using self-paced technology, graduating children faster and thereby freeing up resources for other students such as the disabled. The new discoveries in neuroscience have not yet been incorporated into learning and education and software based on this new knowledge may improve the way children learn (2). Of course, if we realized that education needs to change to reflect the easy access to information through the Internet we would focus on the need for children to develop new skills (4) for the 21st century. Any of these questions are more relevant than does technology improve test scores.

Note: Another possible conclusion is that the teachers do not know how to use the laptops in the classroom, but I think there is enough evidence to show this is not the case. Many groups have the know-how to train teachers to successfully adopt laptops in the classroom. South Kent School is one such group. 

 

Other post on education are here.

These views are my personal views and do not reflect the views of any client, company or other organization with whom I am affiliated.

Infographic: The Psychology of Social Networks

Lately I have gotten a lot of requests for guest posts. The recent post "Apple Retail Store Statistics" was particularly popular, in part because it was a well done infographic. Today's infographic comes from Sarah Wenger at PsychologyDegree.net.

 

The Future of Streams

RWW has an interesting post on streams, as in information not fishing. Streams are defined as:

"A constant flow of information ordered chronologically and (ideally) topically too. In the near future, the theory goes, it won't matter where you enter content - a blog platform, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etcetera - because all of it will be accessible to other people as a stream."

The Wall Street Journal is an early adopter in the use of streams. Formating and style of their streams suggests that streams will look particularly good on mobile devices.

I have been intrigued by the idea of streams since this SF post in 2010, which I quote below:

"I think that where the web will evolve is toward a model where all your content will be generated from a single web-based app and you will merely choose what distribution channels you want to use (public, private, group, company, etc.), similar to the Google Reader feature "share". As soon as you can choose easily where content is distributed, Facebook and Twitter become much less valuable."

As I correctly predicted, Twitter and Facebook are fighting streams according to RWW.

AI May Replace Your Job

For the last 50 years computer automation and other IT technologies have replaced many jobs. Most of the jobs were low value-added positions. In the next 50 years many jobs that required a college education will be replaced by the same computing technology applied in new areas.

This story from Wired, "Can an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter?", illustrates the point. Narrative Science, a company based on AI technology developed at Northwestern University, is developing high quality news stories without reporters. Can lawyers or accountants be far behind.

We can argue about the pace of this trend and what jobs will be replaced, but students should be considering fields that cannot be duplicated or replaced by AI. Should I mention entrepreneurship?

The last post on Narrative Science eleven months ago is here.

A Perplexing Issue about Note Taking

I recently attended an important meeting where the host asked everybody to turn off their phones and computers. The objective was to insure everyone paid attention. The problem was that everyone was reduced to taking notes with pen and paper. Half the people had no pen and half had no paper. Result almost no one took any notes.

Roll forward two days. Gentleman is giving someone advice on a complex subject. One of the attendees starts taking notes on their smart phone. Another attendee asks the person to stop texting and pay attention. When it was pointed out that it was note taking and not texting everyone was noticeably pleased.

We need new rules of behavior but dictating those rules will not work. Perhaps we should trust people to pay attention to what is important and perhaps just discourage multi-tasking. Multi-tasking has been shown to reduce productivity and effectiveness.

Another point. When everyone is ignoring the speaker it is the speaker's fault.

I was tempted to put in a link to explain "pen and paper", but I will refrain.

Education Does Not Produce Innovation

The It's Good blog has a short story on Daphne Koller's recent Ted talk about Coursera. The writer makes the following argument about online education:

1. Online education makes it possible to offer a "top quality education to everyone around the world for free."
2. Which goes a long way toward "making education a fundamental human right"
3. Which may make 'lifelong long learning the norm"
4. .... and paves "the way for a new era of innovation"

Nice argument with many themes I support. Only one problem...education does not produce innovation. Innovation is brought about by access to information. Yes, one needs to be literate to interpret information but access to information is equally important to spawn innovation. The computing device connected to the Internet and all its information is more powerful than the "top quality education" in spawning innovation. 

Innovation is defined as the commercialization of invention. Neither commercialization nor invention requires a top quality education, as evidenced by the very large number of entrepreneurs without such an education. However, every entrepreneur started with access to the information that enabled them to draw the insight which spawned their commercial venture (Kirzner).

I occassionally teach and lecture at some of the highest quality educational institutions in the U.S. I obviously believe in such a high level of education. However, I believe that access to information through connected computing devices combined with basic literacy training may be a more effective way to help the greatest number of people in the world.

One might also suggest that this view contradicts the premises of OLPC. I would point out that the 4Cs and the 300 Sugar educational apps on the XO laptop are provided at no marginal cost. Basic literacy and access to information are necessary but a higher quality education at little or no marginal cost is the ideal, which of course is the attractiveness of online education.

Apple Retail Store Statistics

Some amazing statistics on the Apple retail stores courtesy of Onlinemba.com.

Teaming, Pioneer in Crowd Funding, Enters the U.S.

In March 2011 I spoke in Barcelona at the "Do Good Do Well" conference and met Jil Van Eyle.  Back in 1998 Jil was one of the early developers of what is now commonly called crowd funding. Jil founded Teaming, which he explains as follows:

"Teaming is a simple, but powerful story of how leveraging individuals’ consciousness and creative thinking through teamwork can generate great positive impacts and results for people, business and society."

After its start in Europe, Teaming now has a U.S. website here.

My original post on Teaming, which explains how and why Teaming started, is here. Teaming is a great example of how passion and entrepreneurship can combine for social benefit. 

Thoughts on UI

Two of the oldest interfaces are the abacus and the map and both are still widely used. They have survived because of their simplicity and ability to serve a narrowly defined need. However, Rebecca Rosen at The Atlantic thinks maps will go away. By integrating more and more information into a location (weather, restaurants, gas stations, etc.) the notion of "map" breaksdown replaced by a new interface for "geospatial information".

Of course, the really big question in interface is whether the tablet will replace the keyboard. The keyboard was invented about 170 years ago and was unchallenged until the iPad. Where I now think interface will go is toward combined devices--both a physical keyboard and a touch interface. The advantages of each interface combined outweigh the advantages of either interface. Just need somebody to come up with a design. Maybe a 6 inch Samsung note would be big enough to have a decent keyboard on the horizintal axis.

I Missed My Fifth Anniversary

No I did not miss my wedding anniversary. BTW I am way past five years married to the same woman.

Over five years ago in June 2007 Sophisticated Finance was launched. The first post on June 18 is here. A typically short post, with just the barest details. Somethings do not change. Did I stick to the proposed agenda? Maybe, maybe not.

I have written quite alot on strategy, startups and technology. Strategy post are far and away the most popular. In the last two years I have also written quite alot on education and social entrepreneurship. These topics were never anticipated when I started the blog, but social entrepreneurship posts are almost as popular as strategy. 

The best device I have found to increase readership is LinkWithin, which probably adds about 30% of daily page views. A good post on Hacker News (no affiliation) can bring 3,000 readers to the blog. Commenting on other blogs also brings alot of readers. Also, I have discovered that I am a natural SEO expert. The number of SF posts that are in the top ten Google search results is much higher than the readership of the blog would suggest. About 40% of viewers come from Google searches.

What would I do differently:

1. Use more posts that relate to a single theme and string them together in a week of posts
2. Write longer posts where I better show the logic of my thinking
3. Ask for more suggested topics from friends (hint: leave your ideas in the comments)
4. Do the blog in both Spanish and English
5. Discover why there are so few comments (in my opinion) in this blog 

To anyone who started with me five years ago, a special thank you, and to everyone else thanks for reading Sophisticated Finance.

Almost forgot--my favorite post--from October 2007. If you enjoy this post, you might want to review this topic archive from SF.

 

 

 

App Log In Complaint

Recently I have seen a trend in iPhone apps that bugs me. To log into a new app I must use either my facebook or Twitter ID. When I asked the developer of one app why they did this, they said they only wanted people who had a FB or Twitter account to use the app. 

I have been on Twitter since the beginning and I joined FB about a year after it went public, but I delete apps that demand only these logins. I prefer to get to know an app before I link it to other accounts. Does any one else feel the same way? Post a comment.

Report on Benefits of Hybrid Learning

Hybrid learning usually invovles a combination of classroom and online instruction. A report by Ithaka S+R reveals the results of a recent study on hybrid learning in a university setting. Key findings were:

1. Student learning outcomes were not better in the hybrid environment
2. Students learned the material 25% faster in the hybrid environment than classroom students
3. Productivity gains from fewer teachers and smaller facilities were a significant economic benefit

Finding 1 could be used to conclude that IT approaches to learning are not effective. However, as Clayton Christensen, the HBS Professor, makes clear in his book, "Disrupting Class", we should not expect better outcomes in learning when the technology is used in traditional ways. To get better learning outcomes the technology must be used in new ways that develop new skills.

Finding 2 reaffirms the concept of student centric learning. When students direct the pace (and scope) of their learning they enjoy it more. The trend for faster paced education is a huge issue that has been barely discussed in the education literature. I believe that the technology is going to cause a "compression" in education wherein more and more advnced courses are going to be taught to younger children. Quite possibly in this IT environment students could complete a college degree while still in high school.

I think everyone has realized the economic benefits of IT in learning, particularly in reducing textbook costs. I wonder what some of the large public universities will do with their extra facilities in 10-20 years.

The report was referenced in this article from brainshark.

Some Good Articles on Innovation and Strategy

Two themes that interest me are strategy and innovation and how they are applied to economic development, entrepreneurship and social ventures. Two articles this weekend on these themes were noteworthy.

In "The Hardest Question Any Leader Can Ask" there is a particularly good point on strategy as it relates to business model:

"Business model innovation must be a strategic objective or it won’t happen.

One of my biggest pet peeves is setting strategy one tactic at a time. It drives me crazy to be surrounded by people and organizations that think if they just work hard enough and do more things that a strategic direction and destination will emerge. It seems that most of the world works this way. It is terribly inefficient. How many people and organizations do you know that pedal the bicycle like crazy but never seem to arrive anywhere. They just keep pedaling harder hoping that something will eventually stick. It is exhausting watching them. Why not establish business model innovation as a strategic objective, a specific destination, and work hard on those things that help you get there. It seems so simple. Setting a strategic direction provides a way to know which tactics are aligned and contribute to reaching the destination. The destination may change along the way requiring different tactics, and that is OK, but not having a destination at all is a ticket to nowhere."

In "A 5-point checklist to create lucrative opportunities with disruptive technologies" the author list five ways to disrupt a market and gets it absolutely correct:

1. Destroy your product
2. Make your product solve meaningful problems
3. Make your product insanely simple
4. Make your product smart
5. Give your product away

Read the article to understand the logic of each method.

Vanity

With the increasing popularity of LinkedIn I now get two or three requests per day to connect. Students are the most popular but a lot of people who hear me speak also make requests. Here is my idea.

Maybe LinkedIn could offer an option selected by me where the person requesting the connection pays $1 if the request is accepted and the money goes to a charity I designate.

In return for the payment LinkedIn could offer to put that persons messages at the top of my LinkedIn mailbox.

Information Curation

I am always intrigued by companies trying to curate information. I continue to believe it is huge business opportunity. Last post on this theme is here.

From the Live to Close website comes Industry Dive, described here. Industry Dive provides original content as well as a collection of articles, posts and tweets by industry.

I have been following Live to Close for about ten days and they consistently post on interesting startups.

Most Recent Popular Post

No blogging this week due to travel so I have posted some links to recent popular posts:

Lessons from 100 Years at IBM 

Cisco Strategy vs Huawei

The Digital Age is Not a Solution

Hands on Learning

Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility and Shared Value

 

 

Related articles

• The Ten Best Posts of 2011 (sophisticatedfinance.typepad.com)

LinkedIn News

In July 2010 I wrote a very popular post titled "A Strategy for LinkedIn". In the post I recommended:

"The second feature I would add to LinkedIn is a Hacker News for business. Hacker News is a very simple site where people post the best posts on technology from a wide range of sources including blogs, corporate media (e.g. NYT) and white papers. The content is not moderated but the users create such rich content that I sometimes think that if I had only one RSS feed to read every day it would be Hacker News. A "Business News" on LinkedIn would bring readers to the website more often to post articles, would over time probably produce a better source of business information for the members than the automated sites such as Google News or Yahoo News and again could be a new revenue source for LinkedIn through ad revenue."

In mid-2011 LinkedIn started LinkedIn Today, member curated business news. I have been a reader every day since it launched and the quality of the articles is very high. I recommend it.

Probably just a coincidence that LinkedIn did what I said in a post, but if anyone needs a consultant to increase web traffic maybe I can help:)

Thoughts from a Day at MIT

Schopenhauer, not Christensen from Wikipedia

Clayton Christensen, the well known HBS professor, once said that MIT has the highest density of creativity on the planet. Every time I spend a day at MIT I come to the same conclusion. Two observations inspired by things at MIT last week:

1. In the early days of artificial intelligence (AI) the focus was on the algorithms as the means to make AI productive. This approach proved only marginally effective and AI adoption grew slowly. Recently with the improvement in large database infrastructure and the exponential growth in digital data, researchers have realized that it was the lack of data rather than immature algorithms that was holding back the growth in AI. There are many implications to the accelerating use of AI. One that intrigues me is that computers will increasingly identify the "value" in the data and that this value will be commercialized and subsequently marginalized much faster. Therefore, the opportunity to create large value will increasingly come from outside the bounds of current knowledge, outside the data set. While this has always been true, the easier opportunities in the existing data may quickly be disappearing.
2. Arthur Schopenhauer, the well known 19th century German philosopher, said that music and art make physical the emotions. In most real time digital media one of the challenges is interpreting the emotions and changes in emotional state of the other party. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are developing sensors to capture and communicate changes in emotion from all parts of the body. Their most well known demonstration is their opera, "Death and the Powers". A possible commercialization of the technology would be for Skype participants to wear sensors during a call. 

Wonder if Schopenhauer would have received a Ph.D from MIT?

 

Access to Ideas

It is well documented that new information is being created at the fastest pace in history. For much of history new information was developed at a pace where it was comparatively easy to disseminate the new ideas to students.

Today curating information is a challenge for which there are yet no really effective tools. Curators, such as text book writers, have a much greater challenge and responsibility. Abusing this responsibility has always been a problem (e.g. Japanese textbooks on WWII). As information proliferates the tendency toward abuse probably increases either purposefully or by accident. Given the power of lobbyists in Washington and at the state level, particularly in education matters, one becomes even more concerned about selective presentation of information.

The solution may be to give the students more autonomy in shaping their reading and experiences. Tools for students such as computers and Internet connectivity provide the access in real time to information. Learning to tell "truth from fiction" and critical thinking are important life skills and probably increasingly important in this age of Twitter, Google search and open access to government information. Teachers would become the guides to this student process of discovery.

This post was inspired by a quote from Seymour Papert in the Daily Papert:

“I do not suppose that all children were ever given full access to the ideas of any society. But at least in times of slower change, an equilibrium could be maintained between what society needed its members to know and the learning opportunities it offered (deliberately or mostly not) to its children. Since there is no reason to suppose that this is true today, and since, in any case, it is no longer acceptable that blind social forces be allowed to assign stations in life through differences in access to learning, deliberate effort is needed to bring to children knowledge that was not intended for them. School, even at its best, is too sluggish and timid to do this.”

Papert, S. (1993) The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer. NY: Basic Books. Page 180.

This quote from Friedrich Hayek's the Fatal Conceit appears to support the same point:

"Life exists only so long as it provides for its own continuance.  Whatever men live for, today most live only because of the market order.  We have become civilized by the increase of our numbers just as civilization made that increase possible: we can be few and savage, or many and civilized.  If reduced to its population of ten thousand years ago, mankind could not preserve civilization.  Indeed, even if knowledge already gained were preserved in libraries, men could make little use of it without numbers sufficient to fill the jobs demanded for extensive specialization and division of labour." Source: cafehayek.com

Yet another thought on the same theme comes from Harvard Business Review in the article "Are You Learning as Fast as the World is Changing?".

Tablet Tip for Sales People

I give alot of presentations and about half of them are sales presentations. With the popularity of Powerpoint, everybody expects to sit in a room and watch the projected information. With the advent of the iPad I have abandoned projectors in sales presentations in favor of sitting next to the decisionmaker and showing them the iPad screen. Anybody else in the room can look over my shoulder.

The great advantage of using the iPad this way is that you establish a very personal connection with the audience when everybody huddles around the device. Establishing that personal connection increases trust and credibility and there is an inherent openness through close physical proximity. Also, there is much less tendency for confrontation because most people need distance to argue. 

Of course, in such a setting the content becomes even more important. Good presentations today use large images and very little text. This approach is particularly important when the audience is sitting next to you. Nobody expects a lecture from somebody sitting next to them showing them pictures. 

Also remember that in such a setting the presentation needs to be shorter. People get uncomfortable sitting close to strangers for too long. 

I do not know if this technique works for selling enterprise software, but it works for any product where the customer is emotionally engaged.

Image credit: Amillionlives.net