Insider is looking back on the last decade of musical greats with a series of opinion essays. Next up: Lady Gaga.

It's 2010, and everyone is angry. Lady Gaga, you see, has stepped out at the MTV Video Music Awards artfully smothered in raw beef.

The "meat dress," as it came to be known, immediately entered the pantheon of infamous media moments, drawing condemnation and fascination. It was a bizarre and delightfully garish example of Gaga's signature talent for breaking the rules. It also marked the beginning of a decade she would come to dominate.

That's the thing about Gaga: She's a mover and a shaker, and she elevates the conversation. You can argue that the meat dress was a savvy stunt that it was nothing but an attention grab but you can't argue that it didn't work. She's an entertainer in the purest sense of the word, and oozes glitz and glamour from every pore. And while she may draw comparisons to Cher or Madonna thanks to her audacious style, she's a true original in a decade populated by carbon copies.

Mother Monster is more than just a pop star she's a pioneer. Her unparalleled sense of who she is and uncompromised artistry make Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta the most influential artist of the decade.

Unlike the inoffensive bubblegum pop and monotonous club-happy dance music, Gaga's hits had personality and edge. The essence of her music loud, flamboyant, unignorable made her someone you couldn't take your eyes off of.

She's also no stranger to breaking records. At the top of the decade, she scored the most MTV Video Music Award nominations ever in a single year, when she was nominated 13 times. More recently, Gaga broke another record, when she became the first female artist with four No. 1 albums this decade.

What makes her special, though, is that she's crafted a career that far exceeds the boundaries of music. Gaga's creative genius has seeped into cinemas, runways, television screens, and even retail stores.

In 2019, she stole hearts and scooped up a number of awards thanks to her evocative performance in "A Star Is Born." She took home the award for best original song at the Oscars after writing and recording the much-memed "Shallow," and was also nominated for best actress. She also starred as a vampiric countess on "American Horror Story," and the dark role proved that she was capable of being as much of a chameleon onscreen as she is on the radio.

She's a bona fide fashion icon and a muse to countless designers. She even launched her own beauty line, Haus Laboratories, in 2019 and it's rooted in the fact that the power of makeup is what inspired her artistry to begin with. (She's said she'll "never" become a clothing designer herself because she respects their craft too much.)

Accolades and ostentatious public persona aside, her fans know that Gaga's true self is quite separate from Stefani Germanotta the person. "It's a bit of a creation," as she's admitted, but if you peel back the layers, the woman underneath is just as interesting: Take, for example, the time she stripped everything down to the core for 2016's "Joanne." With the more minimalist side of Gaga exposed to the world, she delivered some of her most personal songwriting to date.

The record proved that Gaga isn't afraid to kick her persona to the curb at times. In her earlier years, she demolished the pop star stereotype with her daring ensembles. (Billboard's collection of her wackiest outfits has a whopping 120 entries on it.) In more recent years, however, she quietly turned herself into a jeans-and-white-tee-shirt woman. And all the while, she manages to maintain her instantly recognizable Gaga-ness.

The name she has given herself says it all: "Mother Monster." Part of her cultural power comes from her innate ability to make people she's never even met feel like friends. She has the uncanny ability to make all of her 38 million Instagram followers feel like she is speaking directly to them, even when she's not, and they cling to her messages of love and empowerment.

One of the most impactful ways she's made a difference is through her relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. In 2011, she and her mother created the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on community building and advocates for acceptance. While she's received criticism in the past for the shifting language around her own identity she publicly came out as bisexual in 2009, but has also called herself an ally it has also opened up conversations about bisexual erasure within the LGBTQ+ community.

Her most recent endeavor is the Enigma Las Vegas residency, following in the footsteps of Celine Dion, Diana Ross, and Mariah Carey women who have arguably had many more years to build up their careers.

In a world of diet tea hawkers, Instagram personalities, and high-profile "influencers," Gaga has maintained an authenticity that can't be taught. Lady Gaga embodies the qualities a pop star should have, and as this decade comes to a close, she's still just getting started.

Brandy Robidoux is a contributing writer for Insider. In addition to Insider, her words can be read at HollywoodLife, Billboard, Elite Daily, Stylecaster, and more. Say hi to her on Instagram: @thebrandybaye

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Lady Gaga is the artist of the decade - INSIDER

In 2018, the UFC put on 38 events. Each event featured 10-15 fights, which means there were 450 fights last year, give or take. Of those 450, 18 were for title belts. So fans got to see a championship fight about once every three weeks. Even during this golden age of mixed martial arts and on-demand entertainment, meetings between the two best fighters in the world are rare.

Which makes UFC 245which features Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington in a main event that you can live stream on ESPN+something of an MMA miracle. As if making up for all those barren weeks and months, the event will feature not one but three title fights. The last time the UFC put that many championship fights on the same card, at UFC 217 in November 2017, all three belts changed hands.

Rose Namajunas knocked out the seemingly indestructible Joanna Jedrzejczyk, TJ Dillashaw reclaimed his bantamweight belt from arch-nemesis Cody Garbrandt, and former welterweight legend George St-Pierre reappeared after a three-year hiatus to beat Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship. The night was so full of tension and drama, it was almost unbearable to watch. And while theres no guarantee UFC 245 will provide anything like that, the chance to witness the greatest female fighter the world has ever known defending her belt, a prodigy angling to become the greatest featherweight the UFC has ever known, and a blood feud dripping with sociopolitical significance all in one night is too much to miss.

Heres everything you need to know to watch UFC 245 without cable.

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When UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (15-1) faces Colby Covington (15-1) in Las Vegas, their fight will be fraught with all kinds of extra-Octagon resonance. Of course, fight writers love to say that. We live to ascribe metaphorical, political, even spiritual meaning to bouts for the sake of literature. But every once in a while, a fight actually does become something more, a stand-in for some bigger struggle. Like in 1936, when boxing heavyweights Joe Louis and Max Schmeling were the unwilling representatives of American pluralism and German racial tyranny in the run-up to World War II. Or 1962, when the first bout between Floyd Patterson and contender Sonny Liston became a battlefield in the Civil Rights-era war over black identity. Or 1971, when Muhammad Ali made racial politics the selling point for his first fight against Joe Frazier.

If the Usman-Covington fight had happened a few years ago, there would have been no such added significance. It would have been a straightforward battle between two wrestlers that would have attracted almost no attention outside the MMA communityand even some indifference inside of it. As great as they were as fighters during the early years of their UFC careers, Usman and Covington didnt make much of an impression as personalitiesthis being the curse of wrestling-heavy fighting styles and genial dispositions. That all changed two years ago when Covington got tired of being just another mild-mannered soul lost among the UFC roster and rebranded himself as a MAGA hat-wearing troll, a caricature straight out of professional wrestling: the living id of Trumpian racial animus and paranoia.

Like Ali and early pro wrestling star Gorgeous George before him, Covington realized that pushing buttons meant more attention, higher pay, and more opportunitiesthat people would pay for the chance to watch him loseso he began going after foreigners and immigrants, even his own teammates, with an assault as fiery as it was incoherent. He called Brazilians angry animals and denounced NFL and NBA players who refused to visit the White House. He bragged about his sexual prowess in a barrage of shameless and excruciating self-promotion. And it worked. People began talking about him. Opportunities started coming his way.

None of which sat well with Usman, an American born in Nigeria who sees himself as a representative of Africa and a defender of immigrants against the Trumpist hate he sees embodied in men like Covington. He views their upcoming fight as a symbol of a larger struggle against xenophobia and white entitlement. But he, like Covington, surely also sees the dollar signs. By tapping into the anxieties of our anxious age, Usman and Covington have convinced the public that whats at stake next Saturday night isnt just for a title belt but for the soul of the country, raising a fight between two wrestlers to the level of historical drama.

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Whats a stronger indication of athletic genius: Reaching the highest levels of a sport at an impossibly early age or getting there with only a few years of training after starting late? Being a child prodigy or a brilliant late bloomer? I suppose its a question of nurture vs. nature. The best example for the nurture argument in MMA is UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway (21-4), who was raised from his youth to be a great mixed martial artist. He came up in the vanguard of MMAs renaissance generation. That was when fighters were raised in a world where MMA was established, where the early secrets had already been discovered and divulged. They were trained not as specialists, like their predecessors, but as masters of all fighting skills. He arrived in the UFC at the tender age of 20 with an air of inevitability about him. Of course he would win a championship; of course he would one day be listed among the best ever. It was fated.

On the other end of the debate stands Alexander Volkanovski (20-1), a born athlete of such innate physical gifts that he could take his first MMA class at 22, an age when Holloway was already five fights into his UFC run, and just a few years later find himself standing opposite the man. A professional rugby player in a previous life, Volkanovski is blessed with a kind of natural athleticism even most fighting geniuses could never hope to touch. His speed and punching power are God-given. But for all his athletic brilliance, for all his natural, unteachable physical prowess, hes going to need to pull off a perfect fight if he hopes to beat Holloway: perfect in strategy and in execution. Its a huge advantage to be a great athlete, but Holloway is an artist and a prodigy.

If the difference between the souls of fighters can be seen in their reactions to the same opponent, consider this: After Germaine de Randamie won the inaugural UFC womens featherweight belt in February 2017, she refused to fight No. 1 contender Cris Cyborg, claiming Cyborgs long-ago dalliance with performance-enhancing drugs disqualified her from a shot at the belt. MMA fans and pundits didnt buy de Randamies argument, branding her a coward for refusing to fight the woman most MMA fans had long considered the most dangerous and intimidating in the sport.

Nunes, on the other hand, dared to leave the relative safety of the bantamweight division, where she was (and still is) the dominant champion, to go up a weight class and fight Cyborg at 145 pounds. She not only took on that enormous challenge, she knocked out the previously unbeatable Cyborg in under two minutes, becoming the first-ever two-division womens champion in UFC history. Whether this signals a difference in disposition between Nunes (18-4) and de Randamie (9-3) is open to interpretation. What is clear, though, is that Nunes is the greatest female fighter in MMA history and de Ranadamie is now in the unenviable position of having to beat her just to salvage her reputation.

MMA legends dont get much bigger than that of former longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo (28-5). He was a dominant champion for what seemed like forever, and any list of the top fighters of all time has to include him. But time and anatomy dont care about who you were or what youve done. They conspire against everybody, slowing both reflexes and metabolisms. Which makes Aldos strategy in the face of his inevitable physical decline so surprising. Most aging mixed martial artists opt to move up a class, where they wont have to put their bodies through painful weight cuts and the people theyll be fighting wont be quite as terrifyingly fast.

But Aldo has chosen to spend his twilight years a weight class down, hoping to capitalize on his power against lighter, flightier men. Waiting to welcome him to his new home is Marlon Moraes, who, like Aldo, is in something of a bind. Though Moraes (22-6-1) is still very much in his prime, the man who holds the bantamweight belt, Henry Cejudo, beat him soundly in June, meaning hes got to re-create himself if he hopes to get another title fight. Unfortunately for Moraes, the road to redemption leads through Jose Aldo, a sentence no MMA fighter ever wants to read.

When Urijah Faber (35-10) retired from mixed martial arts in 2016, his timing seemed perfect. The perennial bantamweight contender had been a professional fighter for 13 years but had escaped relatively unscathed, both physically and neurologically, which was a miracle. He was still good enough to compete in the UFC but no longer great enough to compete for a title, so he wasnt leaving opportunities on the table. Plus, hed had a legendary career. Hed been a longtime champion in the WEC and was the first true superstar of MMAs smaller weight classes, a pioneer of the bantamweight and featherweight divisions at a time when no one, not even the UFC, seemed to care. Add to this the fact that Faber had made plenty of money, owned and ran one of the most successful fight teams in the world, and had a stake in at least 10 companies, and it was clear the smart thing for him to do was get out with his body intact and his wits about him.

But fighters are notoriously awful at staying retired, and Faber turned out to be no exception. Earlier this year, he returned to the Octagon after more than two years to fight Ricky Simon, winning by first-round knockout. Now, Faber is signed on to face 26-year-old Russian bruiser Petr Yan (13-1). It might sound ridiculous for Faber to try his luck against Yan, considering hes now 40 and has a brand-new daughter and considering Yan is known for his heavy hands. But the same pathology that leads people to fight professionally in the first place, that feeling of indestructibility and risk, is what keeps them coming back even when logic and the evolutionary demands of self-preservation are crying out against them. Faber is living proof that fighting is both a disease and its cure.

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Theres only one legal way you can watch UFC 245 from your home: ESPN+. While the prelims will be split between ESPN2 and UFC Fight Pass, the main event will exclusively be broadcast on ESPNs subscription streaming service. The good news is that its incredibly simple to use and works with pretty much every streaming device you might own.

There are two purchase options for UFC 245: You can pay $59.99 for that one PPV or you can get a full year of ESPN+ along with UFC 245 by paying $79.99. For UFC fans, you should really invest in the latter. ESPN+ now hosts 20 UFC Fight Nights per year, along with the exclusive series UFC Destined, Ariel Helwanis MMA Show, and Dana Whites Contender Series.

Need more convincing? ESPN+ also hosts Top Rank Boxing cards, daily MLB games, every out-0f-market MLS game, and tons of college football and basketball. Youll also be able to stream the complete 30 for 30 catalog on demand.

All times in ET.

Main card | 10pm on ESPN+

Prelims | 8pm on ESPN2

Early Prelims | 6:30pm on Fight Pass

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For a year-round sports fix, sign up here and check the sports box to receive our weekly boxing newsletter. Youll hear about all the biggest fights and best knockouts from the Daily Dots streaming sports guru Josh Katzowitz.

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Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington at UFC 245 highlights the best MMA card in years - The Daily Dot

Education is critical to growth, and online learning beyond traditional walls is transforming business unlike ever before. The relationship between learning and work is becoming more blurred as the two become part of the same integrated ecosystem.

So why is owning education so transformational for a business, its employees and customers?

Companies that invest in online learning have 218% higher revenue and 24% better profit margins. Thus, companies that arent already integrating online learning, are scrambling to catch up. By 2025 the global elearning market is expected to reach $325 billion.

On this episode of EdTech by MarketScale we talk with JW Marshall, a B2B Online Learning Consultant, about the technology and content in todays online learning management systems and the importance of integrating education into an organization.

There is a shift away from old school learning management systems that traditionally were thought of as a compliance tool by HR for employees to comply with rules. Today, online learning is meant to be so engaging that people want to learn to build more skills and advance their careers. IBM found that for every dollar they spent on eLearning, they saw $30 in increased productivity.

[In the] early stages of learning management, systems got a bad rap that they are boring, not engaging and a have-to. In the new digital world of Netflix and YouTube, you can binge-watch almost anything and now and we hope that training and online learning are moving that direction. That theyre so engaging that you want to learn more, says Marshall

Online learning helps people learn without an agenda. The missing link? Companies providing the platform for their employees so they dont have to go somewhere else to get it.

Unlocking the potential of online learning

Science and creativity are both vital in executing content for online learning systems. A lot of companies have great ideas but dont know how to create engaging content and design in engaging sequences with video, text, assessments, says Marshall.

Today is the golden age of online learning. The eLearning industry has grown by 900% since 2000. Learning has evolved from simple text-based documents, to PDFs, to powerpoints to what we have today video that is not just animated, but also 3D and interactive.

Historically, higher education had been the early adopter of online learning with technologies slowly trickling down to high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and lastly businesses. But in last two years the gaps are beginning to close and companies themselves are starting to innovate more and prioritize learning.

Why? Digital natives have entered the workforces and the status quo is no longer good enough. Today, 80% of US companies are using online learning.

Being able to curate content to guide employees and extend learning beyond just the core of a business helps in building a culture of learning which is incredibly powerful. Why? So you dont end up with workers that dont want to change, evolve and progress.

But its not just employees. Learners can be customers, employees, channel distribution partners really anyone that is taking the course, says Marshall.

Customer training is becoming more and more important as you want to make sure your customers know everything they need to know about your products, your services, that youre continuing to train them as your products evolve and that youre building that relationship so that they stay with you, says Marshall.

So why should a business invest in education not just for their company, but for their industry? Listen to the full episode of EdTech by MarketScale on Apple and Spotify, and learn more here.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in theEducation Technology Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

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Why You Should Be Investing In Online Learning for Your Customers and Employees - MarketScale

Punishing kids for bad behavior often doesn't correct the problem.

A dramatic rise in e-cigarette use among middle and high school students nationwide has prompted some suburban districts to take a different approach.

They are going beyond detention, suspensions and punitive measures when students are caught vaping.

Schools are using online vaping education curriculum through VapeEducate and 3rd Millennium designed to help students and families understand the dangers of e-cigarettes and learn strategies to prevent its use. Topics covered include vaping health risks, how e-cigarette marketing targets youths, addiction, and vaping marijuana and THC -- the main psychoactive compound that produces marijuana's high.

Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and Prospect High School in Mount Prospect are the first in Northwest Suburban High School District 214 to adopt VapeEducate's curriculum this year. Provided it's successful, officials might roll it out districtwide.

"We have a lot of different ways we are being proactive. This is one of the tools we are using," said Nick Olson, Prospect division head for student success, safety and wellness.

Huntley Unit District 158 has taken a comprehensive approach to addressing the vaping problem through education for teachers, parents and students since last school year. As a result, fewer students have been caught vaping this year, said Tony Venetico, principal of Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills.

"We're going to handle it on a case-by-case basis," Venetico said. "Sitting in suspension doesn't teach students anything. We're hoping they walk away from this and make better choices and help educate their friends as well. That is how we are going to have a lasting impact on this epidemic."

3rd Millennium's course can take between 45 minutes and two hours to complete depending on the student's ability and focus. It includes a test that students can take at home or during non-class times at school, said Janet Cook, Glenbard District 87's director of student services.

Students placed in detention for having or using vaping devices can complete the course to get out of detention.

"We're trying to use this as part of restorative justice," Cook said. "Our hope is that it changes future decisions."

VapeEducate's online course also is self-paced and includes six lessons and a test after each unit. Students must score a minimum of 80% to pass a unit. The course takes about 5 hours to complete and can be done at home or at school. Results are sent to school administrators and parents, and students receive a certificate of completion.

The McHenry County Substance Abuse Coalition used federal grant funding to purchase 1,000 licenses of VapeEducate's course, which it is providing for free to middle and high schools countywide. Each license can be used only once.

Health officials have been providing five weekly presentations in schools on the risks of tobacco use, vaping and nicotine addiction. But it's hard to gauge how much information students absorb or retain, said Laura Crain, Drug Free Program coordinator for the coalition.

"VapeEducate is similar in content, but it is more you watch and learn," Crain said. "It's just one more way of really reaching the students that we know are engaged in (vaping)."

Some high school athletic coaches are considering having entire sports teams take the course rather than just the players who might be vaping, Crain said.

VapeEducate's curriculum is developed by Ohio-based school administrators and teachers. It is updated frequently with new information about vaping-related health issues, the vaping industry and new laws.

"We have an average of about 25,000 online users that we are educating. ... It's growing immensely," said Dorothy Bishop, chief operating officer. "Some schools are being very proactive and using it to educate students in orientation, health class."

Many schools that piloted the program are returning to purchase additional licenses. "That's a strong signal that it's helping," she said.

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How schools are using online education, rather than punishment, to curb vaping - Chicago Daily Herald

BOSTON, Dec. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Berkeley Executive Education is collaborating with online education provider EMERITUS to offer Artificial Intelligence: Business Strategies and Applications, which launches December 5, 2019.

This online certificate is for professionals eager to upskill and boost their careers with recent advancements in applications of AI in business. A two-month program, this introduces basic applications of AI to those in business. AI: Business Strategies and Applications (Online) requires four to six hours of study per week and costs $2,800, which makes it both affordable and convenient for working professionals.

CEO of Berkeley Executive Education, Mike Rielly says, "We are building a growing portfolio of online courses in partnership with EMERITUS across the domains of digital transformation and data science within business applications. The AI program is a logical addition to the portfolio as we aim to extend the critical work of our faculty to industry professionals across the globe where AI is, and will penetrate almost every aspect of business need and opportunity."

Lisa Rohrer, Director of University partnerships at EMERITUS, adds, "We are inspired by the suite of courses we are developing with the Berkeley Executive Education team and we're thrilled to be able to bring this world-class learning to a global audience."

AI is transforming the personal and professional lives of people across the world. By 2025, the global AI market is expected to expand to almost $60 billion. There aren't enough trained professionals to fill the jobs needed in this new industry.

In addition to learning about the basics and potential of AI, participants will develop an AI-related project that they can apply to their own organization, will learn how to organize and manage successful AI application projects, grasp technical aspects of AI well enough to communicate effectively with technical teams, and learn how to avoid pitfalls associated with these new technologies.

A team of distinguished UC Berkeley faculty at the forefront of information and communication technology teach the program. Participants will learn from Haas School of Business faculty members including Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Fisher Center for Business Analytics, Zsolt Katona; Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Computational Culture Lab, Sameer B. Srivastava; Adjunct Professor and Research Scientist, Thomas Lee; and Visiting Scholar and Executive in Residence, Matthew Stepka. Participants will also learn from Engineering Professor and Director of UC Berkeley's Robot Learning Lab, Pieter Abbeel

For more information on Artificial Intelligence: Business Strategies and Applications (Online) by Berkeley Executive Education, interested applicants can apply and learn more here.

Berkeley Executive Education serves leaders and organizations who aspire to redefine the future of business. The organization's profound and unique learning experiences, led by renowned Berkeley Executive Education faculty, equip global executives and their organizations with the vision, culture, and capabilities to thrive in an ever-changing world. Its immersive programs offer both global and industry relevance that executives can immediately apply to shape their career to put themselves and their company ahead of the curve. Working with EMERITUS broadens access beyond on-campus offerings in a collaborative and engaging format that stays true to the quality of University of California, Berkeley.

EMERITUS (www.emeritus.org) offers professional education courses in collaboration with top-ranked universities: MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, Wharton, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, London Business School and others. Using technology and curriculum innovation, EMERITUS enables working professionals who cannot enroll in full-time courses to access a top-tier, affordable education that will give them the skills needed to be the business leaders of tomorrow. EMERITUS' global team includes 550+ employees located in Boston, Dubai, Mexico City, Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai and Singapore.

Contact: Kiki Keating Kiki@kikinetwork.com 1-603-858-2733

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EMERITUS Partners with UC Berkeley Executive Education to Offer New Online Artificial Intelligence Course in Business Strategies and Applications -...

As advances in artificial intelligence and automation continue, the distance between high-skilled elites and everyone else will only grow. To counter this bifurcation, we should be using new technologies to educate more people at lower cost.

LONDON In 2007, Harvard University economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz published The Race Between Education and Technology. Americas once-great education system, Goldin and Katz argued, was failing to keep pace with technological change and the economic disparity that comes with it. Even more concerning, they would likely make the same argument today. As we enter the third decade of this century, students in the United States and around the world are struggling to get an education that prepares them for a rapidly changing workplace.

Technology is clearly winning the race between man and machine. The current wave of technological change is affecting every industry, requiring skills that are far more advanced and diverse than what was expected of workers just a generation ago. With demand for high-skilled labor outpacing supply, a global elite of highly educated, highly paid professionals has emerged, leading increasingly insulated lives. Worse, access to basic education is still being denied to the bulk of school-age children in developing countries, and a university-level education lies far beyond the reach of millions around the world. We estimate that even in 2040, only 25% of the worlds adult population will have secondary education qualifications or degrees and that a higher percentage, 27%, will either have had no schooling at all or at best an incomplete primary education.

This divide between an education-rich elite with university degrees and the education-poor is thus likely to deepen, exacerbating within-country inequalities. Globally, higher education can increase ones wage earnings by 16% on average, and by as much as 27% in low-income countries. But with advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, this gap will widen even further, by boosting the capabilities (or augmented intelligence) of the privileged few who already have the skills to use the new technologies.

But this doesnt have to be the case. By leveraging technology in the service of education, we can end todays winner-takes-all race. Since 2012, the burgeoning MOOC (massive open online course) movement has demonstrated that high-quality education can be provided affordably and at scale to students around the world. Online education platforms have already helped millions of people achieve college readiness or upgrade their skills at prices far below those of more traditional approaches. For example, edX, a project backed by Harvard University, MIT, and other top institutions, has enrolled 25 million people, from every country in the world, and has so far awarded 1.6 million certificates of completion.

Digital technologies can also help us reach new audiences and reimagine the delivery of education. By making major investments to improve access to digital technology and fund tuitions, we can significantly expand the opportunities for more young people to pursue higher education, regardless of where they are.

Looking ahead, digital technology will play a critical role in supporting free or low-cost general education, by providing an on-ramp to college for traditional and non-traditional students in developed and developing countries alike. Institutions such as Arizona State University in the US are developing a new model for online courses. Together with edX, ASU has created the first MOOC program to offer first-year college-level courses for academic credit. The Global Freshman Academy is geared toward older adults who are returning to earn their Bachelors degree, as well as to high school-age students who want to prepare for college or reduce the cost of their undergraduate education.

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Innovation is also underway at the post-graduate level, where one can find competitively priced online Masters programs in cutting-edge fields like data science, computer science, AI, and business administration. Top-ranked universities such as Georgia Tech, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Queensland, and Boston University offer many of these courses, at a cost of just 20-25% of an on-campus course. Given this progress, the next natural step is to introduce online degrees at the undergraduate level, with curricula sub-divided into stackable, modular programs and credentials, enabling students to learn on-demand and affordably throughout their lifetimes.

Of course, such educational opportunities that should involve person-to-person coaching and mentoring what some call high-tech high-touch courses should also be accompanied by more opportunities for fulfilling work at decent wages. But in addition to nurturing new work opportunities, we also need to ensure that the education we deliver is a proper fit for future jobs, and that the accompanying credentials serve as effective labor-market signals. Just one-fifth of respondents to a recent edX survey believe that all of the knowledge from their college major is translatable to their current field. To stay ahead of the labor-displacing effects of AI and automation, digital-learning opportunities must be developed with employability in mind.

The rising popularity of coding boot camps and part-time, post-college online micro-credential programs shows that more workers are taking upskilling into their own hands. Job-relevant credentials from online programs like edX are also on the rise, with more than three million people having enrolled in various MicroMasters programs since this certification was launched by MIT on edX in 2015. This grassroots momentum can be maintained through support from employers, who should recognize the obvious advantages of lifelong educational opportunities for their employees.

But it is also time for governments and public policymakers to wake up. The inequality caused by lack of access to education is simply unsustainable. Now is the time to leverage digital technologies to improve college readiness and expand opportunities for students and workers at all points in their careers, and particularly for those who can least afford traditional educational channels.

Policymakers should see the growing skills gap as an urgent threat to social and political stability, as well as to economic growth. In addition to the divide between the educational haves and have-nots is a misalignment between what people are learning and what employers need. Closing these gaps will yield benefits for everyone and bring us closer to achieving the global Sustainable Development Goal for education. With the power of technology, we can reduce current economic disparities and become the first generation in history to have made universal, lifelong education a reality.

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Closing the Education-Technology Gap | by Gordon Brown & Anant Agarwal - Project Syndicate

The report titled, Global Online Education market, has been prepared based on an intense market analysis with inputs from industry professionals. The report covers the market scenario and its growth forecast from 2019 to 2026. The report also includes a discussion of the key players operating in this market.

This Online Education Market research study is a set of insights that translate into a gist of this industry. It is described in terms of a plethora of factors, some of which comprise the current scenario of this marketplace in tandem with the industry scenario during the forecast period 2019 to 2026.

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What Makes the Online Education Market Report More Effective:

Market competitive landscape:

This global Online Education market report focuses on the key competitors present in the market. The global market is highly split and the major players have used numerous strategies such as new product launches, agreements, expansions, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to dominate their presence in this market. In addition, business strategies utilized by the companies, their financial status, sales, etc. are also incorporated in this Online Education research report. The report includes market shares of the Online Education market for global, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa.

Some of the major companies profiled in the reports are

Chegg Ambow Education CDEL EF Education First TAL Tata Interactive Systems N2N Services Saba Software McGrawHill Tokyo Academics Knewton YY Microsoft And Others

Segmentation Analysis

The market segmentation for the global Online Education market is product type and application/end-users. The product type segment discusses the different kinds of products made available by the global Online Education market. The product application segment examines the different end-users operational in the global Online Education market space.

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Regional Glimpse

Online Education market analysts are experts in covering all types of regional markets from emerging to old ones. You can hope for an all-inclusive Online Education industry research study of key regional and country-level markets. With detailed statistical patterns and regional categorization, Research Industry US offers you one of the most detailed and very well and simply logical regional analyses of the global Online Education market. The regional category includes major regions such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa. Dominating region and the region with the highest growth are also described in the report.

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Online Education Market 2019| Size, Share, Global Trends, CAGR Status, Analysis and Industry Forecasts to 2026| Research Industry US - News Obtain

This years education scandal saw parents shelling out megabucks to gain college admittance for their children. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 50 people with participating in a scheme to get their children into colleges by cheating on entrance exams or bribing athletic coaches. They paid William Singer, a college-prep professional, more than $25 million to bribe coaches and university administrators and to change test scores on college admittance exams such as the SAT and ACT. As disgusting as this grossly dishonest behavior is, it is only the tiny tip of fraud in higher education.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2016, only 37% of white high school graduates tested as college-ready, but colleges admitted 70% of them. Roughly 17% of black high school graduates tested as college-ready, but colleges admitted 58% of them. A 2018 Hechinger Report found,More than four in 10 college students end up in developmental math and English classes at an annual cost of approximately $7 billion, and many of them have a worse chance of eventually graduating than if they went straight into college-level classes.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures,when considering all first-time undergraduates, studies have found anywhere from 28 percent to 40 percent of students enroll in at least one remedial course. When looking at only community college students, several studies have found remediation rates surpassing 50 percent.Only 25% of students who took the ACT in 2012 met the tests readiness benchmarks in all four subjects English, reading, math and science.

Its clear that high schools confer diplomas that attest that a student can read, write and do math at a 12th-grade level when, in fact, most cannot. That means most high diplomas represent fraudulent documents. But when high school graduates enter college, what happens? To get a hint, we can turn to an article by Craig E.Klafter,Good Grieve! Americas Grade Inflation Culture,published in the Fall 2019 edition of Academic Questions. In 1940, only 15% of all grades awarded were As. By 2018, the average grade point average at some of the nations leading colleges was A-minus. For example, the average GPA at Brown University (3.75), Stanford (3.68), Harvard College (3.63), Yale University (3.63), Columbia University (3.6), University of California, Berkeley (3.59).

The falling standards witnessed at our primary and secondary levels are becoming increasingly the case at tertiary levels.Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campusesis a study conducted byprofessors Richard Arum andJosipaRoksa. They found that 45% of 2,300 students at 24 colleges showed no significant improvement incritical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years.

An article in News Forum for Lawyers titledStudy Finds College Students Remarkably Incompetentcites a study done by the American Institutes for Research that revealed thatmore than75% of two-year college students and 50% of four-year college students were incapable of completing everyday tasks. About 20% of four-year college students demonstrated only basic mathematical ability, while a steeper 30% of two-year college students could not progress past elementary arithmetic. NBC News reported that Fortune 500 companies spend about $3 billion annually to train employees inbasic English.

Here is a list of some other actual college courses that have been taught at U.S. colleges in recent years:What If Harry Potter Is Real?,Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame,Philosophy and Star Trek,Learning from YouTube,How To Watch Television,andOh, Look, a Chicken!The questions that immediately come to mind are these: What kind of professor would teach such courses, and what kind of student would spend his time taking such courses? Most importantly, what kind of college president and board of trustees would permit classes in such nonsense?

The fact that unscrupulous parents paid millions for special favors from college administrators to enroll their children pales in comparison to the poor educational outcomes, not to mention the gross indoctrination of young people by leftist professors.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

MATTHEWS: Democratic voters are no longer buying what Elizabeth Warren is selling

BARONE: Give Thanks for Americas Increasing Fairness

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WILLIAMS: Fraud in higher education - North State Journal

Which is Better: School Online or a Standard Education? (Photo : pexels.com)

Online education has grown visibly over the last few years. It has a tendency to offer inexpensive and flexible learning alternatives as compared to the standard education system. You can clearly take a look at online and get a possible diploma certificate upon completing your tasks. Online training is honestly the ideal manner to strike a balance among work, own family and research.

However, we can't completely discredit standard schooling. Attending a physical discussion does not only permit students to have a one-on-one experience with the teacher but also exposes them to real skills that can be useful to their future profession. Fundamentally, each of those educational alternatives comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. It's all about choosing the one that works perfectly for your education needs.

Online Education Vs Standard Education: Which One Is Better?

There are different benefits of classroom learning vs. online learning. Before deciding on which choice to select between online education vs standard schooling, it is essential to first weigh the pros and cons of each. You must be responsible and have a look at the effect of each alternative and pick one that offers greater advantages for your current situation.

Here are two of the important factors that come into play when searching online vs traditional schooling differences:

1. Social Interaction

When searching about online education vs traditional one, people are concerned with regards to social interaction. One of the important questions college students need to ask themselves before enrolling is; do I need a one-on-one discussion with my teachers or friends? Online training typically provides an alternative for teachers and college students to interact with each other via an online classroom or video conferencing software. With the use of such online classroom system, it is less complicated to attend classes online from anywhere at any time. Usually, the platform lets the students enjoy the streaming of full HD and crystal clear audio lessons. It also gives them the opportunity to attend lessons with minimum distractions and can choose to be and their comfy place during each session. Teachers can use screen sharing function to share their modules to the students.

The traditional college or school is an amazing option for those looking for face-to-face communication. It makes it feasible for students to have direct engagements with teachers and college students. With this approach of learning, students are capable of getting exact discussions, asking lots of questions and overlaying many ideas in one topic. That will, in the long run, improve student's overall performance and competence within the field of his chosen specialization.

2. Flexibility

This is one of the main reasons that freshmen and working students should consider. Online schooling offers flexibility to students, especially those who are already committed to work or family life. With online-based courses, you can take lessons whenever and wherever you want, without being forced to attend classes except for the scheduled ones

On the other option, traditional education can be exceptional for students who have more time to spend learning. This option is right for a college student who isn't committed to other major responsibilities. However, some campus courses have classes scheduled for evenings, which may offer another alternative for students. Distance from home could be the most challenging factor when it comes to traditional schooling.

As you could see, each online and traditional academic establishments offer their own particular benefits. They equally come with their personal set of challenges. In either option, it will be your commitment and perseverance that will clearly matter the most.

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Which is Better: Online School or a Standard Formal Education? - University Herald

A Florida teacher is accused of having sex with her sons 15-year-old friend for more than a year.

Arrested on Monday, Susan Weddle, 40, has resigned from her position as a learning resource specialist position at the J.E. Hall Center. Last month, a high school guidance counselor contacted the Department of Children and Families after someone informed the counselor of explicit text messages between Weddle and the teen, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

The victim reportedly told authorities in late November that he and Weddle had sex several hundred times and that their sexual relationship began when he was 15 and Weddle was 39. According to the arrest report, he claimed they first had sex in October 2018, when he and Weddles son attended a football game and party before going to Weddles home to drink.

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The victim reportedly claimed he was drunk when he tried to convince Weddle to have sex with him. He said Weddle said she knew it was wrong but she eventually gave in.

According to NorthEscambia.com, a witness claimed he saw Weddle and the victim kissing in the kitchen during a party at Weddles house. He said the victim admitted to having sex with Weddle after the party.

The witness reportedly also told authorities that he saw a video that possibly depicted the victim and Weddle having sex. However, he noted that faces were not visible in the video.

Weddle allegedly gave the victim an iPhone, necklace, and bracelet during their illicit relationship. The victim also said that he and Weddle exchanged nude photos but claimed the phones used to send the messages were either destroyed or factory reset.

Weddle was charged with felony sexual battery on a victim 16 or 17 years old, lewd and lascivious behavior, and using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony. Her bond was set at $150,000.

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[Featured image: Susan Weddle/Escambia County Jail]

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Special education teacher has sex with son's teen friend 'several hundred times': Docs - CrimeOnline