The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a letter report to the President about opportunities for advanced education technologies to improve educational outcomes and lower costs in higher education. The report, which builds on insights from PCAST members and additional outside experts, underscores the promise of new high-tech educational tools and advocates for continued experimentation in the education technology domain. Rest
SkillTree India, a Global Knowledge Consortium today hosted the “Education Evangelist of India Convocation” at The Grand. The Convocation observed celebration of those passionate, rare breed visionaries – who have contributed towards the growth of knowledge economy and have brought change in Indian education system. …
The event was followed by a panel discussion with Mr. Vineet Nayyar (Executive Vice Chair, Tech Mahindra) as the key speaker. The topic for the discussion being “Taking Indian Education to International Knowledge Economy and Dynamic Changes in Indian Higher Education.” Entire article here
The country’s huge banking and financial sector needs a constant supply of smart, numerate people who know which way up to hold a balance sheet and where to place a decimal point.
“We have the Alps, we have tourism, but we have no resources. Financial services are very important and we need people who understand mathematics,” said Urs Moser, a professor of educational science and the director of the Institute for Educational Evaluation at the University of Zurich.
“Maths is a subject where we have really high expectations. The kids have to aim high. This is now a knowledge economy and everyone here knows that we need to be a knowledge-based country.” Could the Swiss talent for maths even be part of the national character for a people who are known not just for their banking skills but also for their punctuality and precision? … Full Article
Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324139404579016662718868576
Shorter bits of advice – as the url indicates
http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2013/11/11/how-to-get-the-best-return-on-your-college-investment/
http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2013/11/11/college-students-choose-a-major-youre-passionate-about/
Here is an excellent Forbes article about a recent OECD report. “With sweeping advances in technology over the last two decade business has become increasingly globalized and knowledge-based. Buildings, equipment, and workers are no longer the central drivers of growth. Now innovation, advanced organization, design (think Steve Jobs and Apple), and communication are the keys to economic prominence. … A new 362-page OECD report “Supporting Investment in Knowledge Capital, Growth and Innovation” provides a fascinating and useful overview of the new face of the world economy. It also is full of (admittedly preliminary) policy ideas to promote growth in a knowledge-based economy.”
A yearly “scorecard” that tracks the region’s economic progress shows that greater Charleston continues to outperform South Carolina and the nation in some key areas. The 2013 report released Thursday also pointed out lingering long-term challenges that need to be addressed “to maintain positive momentum,” such as transportation and education. “Charleston’s regional economy is performing well overall, while also undergoing a significant transformation into a more diversified, knowledge-based economy,” according to the scorecard. Rest of Post and Courier article
The Mark Zuckerberg interview with James Bennet of The Atlantic is at http://www.theatlantic.com/events/archive/2013/09/watch-mark-zuckerberg-talk-with-i-atlantic-i-editor-in-chief-james-bennet/279787/ – the best part begins about 13 minutes into it and runs for about 3 minutes – spoiler alert: Mark may be setting us up for a third party in America – not Republican, not Democrat, but the Knowledge Economy party
The first full day of the conference is done. The day kicked off with excellent keynotes from H.E. Dr. Tawfig Alrabiah, Saudi Arabian Minister of Commerce and Industry, and from The Hon. Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and both speakers noted Saudi Arabia’s drive to become more of a knowledge-based economy.
Secretary Pritzker noted “The Saudi economy is diversifying into fields like education, technology, and financial services. And the Saudi government is making transformative investments. U.S. businesses stand ready to partner with Saudi Arabia at this exciting moment – as it moves to become a more knowledge-based economy.”
H.E. Minister Alrabiah was equally eloquent in his comments regarding the successes of the Saudi economy and his complete remarks can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/74754509. “Under the leadership and vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia has been focusing more and more on promoting the transfer of know-how and technology to diversify outside the hydrocarbon sector. We are building today the foundations of a sustainable, long-term commercial and industrial relationship with our partners. The United States is host to almost half of all Saudi students studying abroad, helping fulfill King Abdullah’s vision of creating a knowledge economy.”
Facebook apparently had a great second quarter because the stock price jumped about 25% (about $7.00) yesterday. In the second quarter earning conference call two days ago, Mark Zuckerberg listed three main goals for Facebook for the next 5 or 10 years (quotes from transcript of the call that can be downloaded from http://investor.fb.com/eventdetail.cfm?EventID=132054):
“One of the questions I frequently get asked are, what are the big changes we want to make in the world over the next five or 10 years? Now that we’ve connected a billion people, what are the next big ambitions? There are three main goals I’d like us to achieve. Connect everyone, understand the world, and help build the knowledge economy. Connecting everyone is about growing our community to reach the next 5 billion people. …
Understanding the world is about helping people share not just day-to-day updates like text messages and photos but also building up long-term knowledge about the world …
Building the knowledge economy is about helping people create companies and jobs using information. The way I see our advertising product, we aren’t just building a strong monetization engine for our company, we’re creating tools to enable new growth to jobs and businesses through our platform and to support a larger economic shift in the world based on knowledge and information.”