Archive for April, 2012
From Silicon Valley, A New Approach To Education
Posted: April 19, 2012 at 9:11 pm
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Four major universities are joining forces with Coursera, a Silicon Valley startup, to offer free online classes in more than three-dozen subjects.
Four major universities are joining forces with Coursera, a Silicon Valley startup, to offer free online classes in more than three-dozen subjects.
Last year when Andrew Ng, a computer science professor at Stanford University, put his machine-learning class online and opened enrollment to the world, more than 100,000 students signed up.
"I think all of us were surprised," he says.
Ng had posted lectures online before, but this class was different.
"This was actually a class where you can participate as a student and get homework and assessments," he said.
The class was interactive. There were quizzes and online forums where teaching assistants, fellow students and Ng answered questions. In the end, tens of thousands of students did all the same work and took the same tests that Stanford students took; thousands passed.
"Stanford has always been a place where we were not afraid to try bold new things, often without knowing exactly what the consequences were going to be," said Jim Plummer, the dean of engineering. "And this is an instance of that."
Now Ng and Daphne Koller, a Stanford colleague, are launching a company called Coursera to bring more classes from elite universities to students around the world for free online.
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From Silicon Valley, A New Approach To Education
Craftsy sews up $15 million
Posted: at 9:11 pm
By Dan Primack April 18, 2012: 12:43 PM ET
Online education site snares new funding.
Sympoz, an online education company focused on the crafting space, has raised $15 million in new venture capital funding. Tiger Global Management led the round, while existing shareholders Foundry Group, Harrison Metal and Access Venture Partners also participated.
The Denver-based company was founded two years ago by a group of eBay and ServiceMagic veterans, and is focused on producing high-quality educational videos that sell for between $30 and $60 each.
To do so, it identifies a topic and then seeks out talented instructors who may already be known to niche communities via trade show appearances or blogs. It then flies them out to Denver to produce the videos, and keeps them involved by having them respond to student questions (which can be left at specific minute marks within the video -- with all students also being able to see and respond).
So far, Sympoz has sold approximately 142,000 videos.
The company's initial focus is on crafting -- videos on quilting, knitting, etc. -- via a vertical called Craftsy. It also is beginning to branch into other areas like cooking and gardening, although it's unclear if a second vertical is planned.There also is an e-commerce piece, although it is secondary to the videos.
Sympoz previously raised around $6 million. Some of the new funding will be used to increase headcount to from 50 to between 75 and 80.
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Craftsy sews up $15 million
Online Education Startup Coursera Lands $16M From Kleiner & NEA, Adds John Doerr To Its Board
Posted: at 9:11 pm
It has already been a year since Peter Thiel called public attention to the bubble growing in American higher education. Yet, the cost of receiving a college degree in the U.S. has continued to grow, as student debt in the U.S. today has pushed north of $1 trillion, with the average debt per student standing at more than $25,000.
With the current fiscal trajectory of our educational system now unsustainable, an infusion of new blood has begun to enter the space, and a growing number of startups and entrepreneurs have turned their focus to upgrading educations legacy infrastructure. In turn, investors now seem ready to provide edtech companies with the type of capital that has typically been reserved for consumer businesses.
The latest example of this trend is the Mountain View-based Coursera, one of a growing set of edtech startups looking to combat the rising costs now endemic to higher education with smart, scalable, web-based solutions. Traditionally, online education has been seen as an underwhelming, ineffectual approximation of its on-campus sibling defined by micro-correspondence courses that are supplemental to the classroom experience, rather than a viable alternative.
Thats why Coursera is on a mission to bring Ivy League-caliber courses to online education for free. To help steer it down this path, the startup is today announcing that it has raised $16 million in venture funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). As part of its investment, veteran investor, long-time KPCB partner, and public education reform advocate John Doerr and NEA General Partner Scott Sandell, have joined the startups board of directors.
The startup plans to use its new capital to expand its content and feature set and to continue developing partnerships with institutions in the hopes of increasing its global student body. And part of what I think defines this new set of edtech companies is the understanding that, to bring true innovation to education, issues cant be addressed from the outside. In democratizing content and in bringing historically exclusive material to the masses, for it to be most effective, this cant be something that is forced on institutions by entrepreneurs, but instead, in partnership.
Like edtechs top-funded 2tor and newly capital-flush StraighterLine, Coursera is partnering with top-tier universities to co-develop course material. Unlike 2tor, which focuses its web and mobile platforms on post-graduate education, and thus specific vocations, (and just like StraighterLine), the startup is looking to provide courses across a broad range of disciplines, including medicine, literature, history, and computer science.
The cool part about StraighterLine is that its courses are ACE Credit recommended, meaning that they can be transferred for credit at a number of degree granting institutions. Its solution acts as a great complement to community colleges and equivalent feeder programs that funnel students into four-year institutions. In our coverage last week, I noted that the one thing missing was big name institutions accepting StraighterLine credit.
Coursera, on the other hand, seems to be going directly after top-tier universities. Accompanying its funding news, the startup also announced that Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and UPenn will be using its platform to make web-based courses available online for free. The startup believes that it is the first education platform to host content from multiple top universities in one place.
The one drawback, however, is that its courses, while emanating from respected institutions, arent offered for formal credit. Theres a chance they might offer certificates, but the startup will likely need to work this out if it has hopes of building a legitimate online university. Or making money, for that matter.
Of course, all this theoretical talk is fine, but we have yet to address what Courseras platform actually does. Currently, the startups platform includes video lectures with interactive quizzes, mastery-building interactive assignments, and collaborative community forums that encourage students to participate actively with classmates from across the globe. In other words, Courseras offers lectures that are broken down into 10 to 15 minute-long video chunks, with these interactive quizzes embedded into its lecture videos. It also enables students to complete auto-graded exercises that provide them with instant feedback.
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Online Education Startup Coursera Lands $16M From Kleiner & NEA, Adds John Doerr To Its Board
Online education panel to address Faculty Senate on Thursday
Posted: at 9:10 pm
In its first meeting of spring quarter, the Faculty Senate will hear a five-member panel including John Mitchell, special assistant to President John Hennessy for educational technology discuss online courses at Stanford.
The panelists are:
Last month, Stanford announced it was introducing new online classes, following a successful pilot last fall that drew more than 350,000 participants around the world.
A company founded by two Stanford professors, Coursera, is hosting the free online classes, including Game Theory and Cryptography. Stanford expects to launch five more free online courses next week: Automata, Computer Science 101, Compilers, Introduction to Logic and Machine Learning.
The online classes are taught by regular Stanford faculty and are highly interactive. Participants view short video clips that include live quizzes and instant feedback that allow them to quickly determine their understanding of the material and to work on problem areas. At the same time, participants help each other through online discussions similar to a comment thread on a social networking site.
Those enrolled in the free classes do not get Stanford credit for their work, but they do receive a statement of accomplishment if they successfully complete a course.
For Stanford students, online content supplements the classroom experience.
Professors teaching online courses are experimenting with a "flipped classroom," shifting classroom time from lectures to interactive activities such as solving problems, reviewing difficult material and working in teams.
The senate meeting will begin at 3:15 p.m. in Room 180 of the Law School. Discussion is limited to members of the senate, but members of the Stanford community may request to attend the meeting by contacting the Academic Secretary's Office at 723-4992 or Trish Del Pozzo at delpozzo@stanford.edu.
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Online education panel to address Faculty Senate on Thursday
Online Education Venture Lures Cash Infusion and Deals With 5 Top Universities
Posted: at 9:10 pm
April 18, 2012 1:00 pm
By JOHN MARKOFF/The New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO -- An interactive online learning system created by two Stanford computer scientists plans to announce Wednesday that it has secured $16 million in venture capital and partnerships with five major universities.
The scientists, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, taught free Web-based courses through Stanford last year that reached more than 100,000 students. Now they have formed a company, Coursera, as a Web portal to distribute a broad array of interactive courses in the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and engineering.
Besides Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, where the venture has already been offering courses, the university partners include the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton.
Although computer-assisted learning was pioneered at Stanford during the 1960s, and for-profit online schools like the University of Phoenix have been around for several decades, a new wave of interest in online education is taking shape.
"When we offer a professor the opportunity to reach 100,000 students, they find it remarkably appealing," Dr. Koller said.
Last fall a course in artificial intelligence taught by Sebastian Thrun, then at Stanford, and Google's director of research, Peter Norvig, attracted more than 160,000 students from 190 countries.
The free course touched off an intense debate behind the scenes at Stanford, where annual tuition is $40,050. Ultimately, the 22,000 students who finished the course received "certificates of completion" rather than Stanford credit. And Dr. Thrun, who also directs Google's X research lab, left his tenured position at Stanford and founded a private online school, Udacity.
Coursera (pronounced COR-sayr-uh), based in Mountain View, Calif., intends to announce that it has received financial backing from two of Silicon Valley's premier venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates. The founders said they were not ready to announce a strategy for profitability, but noted that the investment gave them time to develop new ways to generate revenue.
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Online Education Venture Lures Cash Infusion and Deals With 5 Top Universities
Lincoln Life Coaching – Video
Posted: April 1, 2012 at 11:03 pm
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Lincoln Life Coaching - Video
Bernie: Simple life just fine for Hitchcock
Posted: at 11:03 pm
At this stage of his life, Ken Hitchcock claims he's an uncomplicated man. This belies his previous image as an intense, restless and occasionally volatile coach. The Hitchcock soul has endured plenty of torment through the years, but he's 60 now, and people change.
When he took over as Blues coach on Nov. 7, Hitchcock had to find a home for his new wife Corina and their two pugs, Billy and Buster. Their choice was a condo in University City, near Delmar and I-170.
"It's been exactly what I wanted: simple," Hitchcock said. "On one street, I have my whole life. I have the barbershop, the Starbucks, the dry cleaners, and the grocery store. I have everything on one street. That's how I like to live my life, on very simplistic terms."
Since hiring Hitchcock, the upwardly mobile Blues have moved into a much better NHL neighborhood.
An elite NHL neighborhood, where the residents have an impressive trophy case, always leaving room for a Stanley Cup.
True to his code, Hitchcock has kept things simple on the ice by implementing a north-south, tempo-based, pesky-forecheck style that best utilizes the Blues' roster.
Saturday night at Scottrade Center, the traditionally hard-luck Blues missed out on a chance to clinch first place in the Central Division in front of their passionate home fans, inexplicably losing 5-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
As it turned out, the Blues managed to clinch later Saturday when Chicago defeated Nashville in overtime. It isn't the way the Blues wanted to lock in first place in the Central for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, but we'll take it.
The Blues have flattened out late during the regular season, going 3-3-3 since March 13. They've been at least temporarily bumped from the top spot in the Western Conference, with Vancouver holding a one-point lead over the Blues with three games remaining for each team.
The Blues must raise their game to make noise in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but that's another conversation for another day. It's special to win the Central, easily the NHL's toughest division.
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Bernie: Simple life just fine for Hitchcock
Serving Niles since 1886
Posted: at 11:03 pm
Published 6:22pm Sunday, April 1, 2012
BUCHANAN Michael Harris knows what its like to grow up with parents that are less than supportive. Because of that, Harris struggled with confidence and finding his calling in life. But a series of events in life brought him into life-coaching classes. And now as a certified life coach, the Buchanan resident is helping others discover their passions and instilling them with confidence and guidance to pursue them. I see myself as an encourager more than anything else, Harris said. They need to know the lies they were told as kids that you cant do this, you wont amount to anything in this world arent true. Its my job to get them past that garbage. Thirteen years in the making, Harris is launching his life coaching business in Buchanan, Succeed in Life LLC. For now, the business is located in the Rubicon Computers Building, 122 E. Front St., although Harris has plans to expand. He envisions 12 centers throughout the Michiana area for life-coaching sessions and seminars. Succeed in Life focuses on growth in all aspects of life, including personal, financial, career, relationship, business and physical growth. Harris also has plans for a childrens growth division. He says all divisions of the company are rooted in Christian morals and principles. Im not an expert in any of those areas, Harris said. But Im about giving guidance and encouraging people. Harris, who formerly hosted a radio program in Phoenix about succeeding in business with honesty, says he wants to help en- trepreneurs and potential business owners. Statistically, 75 percent of all working Americans are just two paychecks from bankruptcy, Harris said. My passion is helping these people to succeed. Harris used to work as a training coordinator in the Naval Reserve, helping people determine their career goals and how to get there. The life coaching came as an extension of that, said Harris, explaining that his programming can be fit for anyone. It doesnt matter if youre unemployed, underemployed or making $100,000 a year and know that you should be doing something else, Harris said. Harris plans to offer group coaching seminars and one-on-one sessions. He also has a childrens program, centered on a product called Piano Wizard, which helps children grow musically and in self-esteem. There will be a week- long grand opening for the company 1 to 5:30 p.m. today through Thursday and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Friday.
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Serving Niles since 1886
Battle Rope Training with Switch On Fitness – Video
Posted: at 11:03 pm
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Battle Rope Training with Switch On Fitness - Video
TBM Conversations – Dr. Amanda Gabrielle Jones (Pt 2) – Health and Fitness – Video
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TBM Conversations - Dr. Amanda Gabrielle Jones (Pt 2) - Health and Fitness - Video