1/16/10

1/7/10

Are U.S. Colleges Failing to Meet the Demands of the Labor Market? -- from Education-Portal.com
A paper presented this week at the American Economic Association conference indicates that American colleges are only 'moderately responsive' to the changing needs of the labor market.

1/6/10

The advantages of eLearning -- by Karen L. Jones. Technology has revolutionized business; now it must revolutionize learning.
In the 21st century, people have to learn more than ever before. Especially for global organizations, live classroom-based training is becoming too costly and cumbersome. Even if employees had the time to attend all the courses and seminars and to read all the books and reports they should to remain up-to-date in their area of work, the cost of such learning would be prohibitive. The need to transform how organizations learn points to a more modern, efficient, and flexible alternative: eLearning. The mission of corporate eLearning is to supply the workforce with an up-to-date and cost-effective program that yields motivated, skilled, and loyal knowledge workers.

1/5/10

The decade in business -- from The Guardian [UK]
From dotcoms to the Dubai debt crisis: the biggest business stories of the last 10 years

PBS Launches Online Resources for Finance and Economics Teachers -- from The Journal by Scott Aronowitz

12/31/09

How Joblessness Hurts Us All -- from The Committed Sardine by Ian Jukes
Misery, it turns out, doesn't love company. Distressing new research shows that unemployment fosters social isolation not just for the unemployed but also for their still-employed neighbors. Moreover, the negative consequences last much longer than the unemployment itself. Policymakers have focused on short-term help for the jobless, but they must address these longer-term community effects, too. “ Unemployed Americans are significantly less involved in their communities than their employed demographic twins.” Recent studies confirm the results of research during the Great Depression — unemployment badly frays a person's ties with his community, sometimes permanently.

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie -- #602- Updates on Learning, Business & Technology

• Drive by Dan Pink
  The book focuses on what motivates workers - including the three elements of true motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
  
  
• Cool eReader About to Launch
  There are 4 different eReaders in my office. 2 Kindles, a Sony Reader and a Kindle App on my iPhone. For the past few years, I have become a user and fan of the digital book. And, on Christmas Day, Amazon sold more digital Kindle titles than print books. So, my eyes went wide today, when I read the preview announcement of a new eReader "platform" from Ray Kurzweil, one of my favorite thinkers and innovators. He will announce this color based eReader technology at CES in a week. Check out the preview.

12/23/09

Top Training blogs in the year 2009 -- from CommLab India

The Diverse And Digital Workforce -- from Forbes.com by Sarah Sorensen
Employers must meet the needs of a new generation of workers.
The face of the workforce is changing. It is increasingly female, global and digital. To attract and retain the best and brightest talent to sustain your competitive advantage, you'll need to create a new work order. You will need a workplace that is much more flexible, interactive and connected to maximize the value of your increasingly diverse workforce. Oh, and like almost everything else, it should have been put in place yesterday. Women already make up half the workforce and are the primary or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of American households, according to the Shriver Report.

12/22/09

Creating a culture of innovation. 20 lessons from W. L. Gore & Associates -- from Strategic Inspiration for You by Frank Calberg

-- from Blending Learning with Social Technology Components at Upside Learning blog by Abhijit Kadle 

A lot of companies today face a resource situation that’s not unique in this age. A few key individuals holding important technical and project management knowledge is quite common. Such key knowledge in the hands of few prevents it from being disseminated broadly and leads to an unhealthy dependence on those individuals.

Recently, I was asked to propose a solution that addressed just such a business concern. To change a purely instructor-led-program for leadership development that runs over eight months and involves these key individuals is a large and complex activity. The [above] diagram represents just what converting such a program to a modern blend might look like. Each blend is unique and purposed to address a specific need. All the components we show may not be a part of the solution.

12/21/09

Five Words To Describe Corporate Learning in 2010 -- from eLearning Weekly by B.J. Schone

THE BIG SHIFT
Corporate returns are under pressure from far more than the recession. The patterns we’ve uncovered at the Deloitte Center for the Edge span decades and deeply affect even the highest performing companies, with the single greatest driver of these challenges, and indeed future opportunities, being our underlying digital infrastructure that continues its exponential advancement, disrupting one business model after another, increasingly shifting power to the customer and challenging the very purpose of the 20th century firm. Yet firms, from our point of view, are now more important than ever. They must be reframed as do our learning institutions.

This year we unveiled the “Shift Index,” a new economic indicator that suggests the current recession is masking long-term competitive challenges for U.S. businesses.

SEE ALSO: The Big Shift: Why It Matters (PDF), by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison

 

12/15/09

Paul Samuelson: How I Became an Economist -- from openculture.com
Paul Samuelson, America’s first Nobel laureate in economics, died this weekend at age 94. In 2003, Samuelson wrote a short essay called How I Became an Economist. What caught my eye is the last line: “Always, I have been overpaid to do what has been pure fun.” We should all be lucky enough to achieve that. Related posts:

1. Paul Krugman’s Nobel Prize in Economics
2. Paul Krugman On The Financial Crisis And the Coming Recession
3. A Song for Paul Krugman

12/14/09

12/9/09

Top 125 Workplace eLearning Posts of 2009 -- from Tony Karrer

Learn the five secrets of innovation -- from CNN.com
Professors from Harvard Business School, Insead and Brigham Young University have just completed a six-year study of more than 3,000 executives and 500 innovative entrepreneurs, that included interviews with high-profile entrepreneurs including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell, founder of Dell computers...

Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at Booz Allen: Part One Overview of Business Drivers and Components -- from fastforwardblog.com by Bill Ives

12/4/09

Harvard Business School Faculty Seminar Series -- from James Moore at Depaul

Online Games for Teaching Business Concepts and Ideas -- from Karl Kapp, back in Oct.

12/3/09

2009 book from:
Byron Reeves & J. Leighton Read

12/2/09

Related items:
P2P And The Social Cloud - The Emergence Of Peer Economic Systems - Part 2 -- from Robin Good's blog by Rafael Pezzi
P2P and The Social Cloud is a two-part white paper which discusses some of the limitations of the current economic system, in particular its dependence on non-renewable resources to sustain infinite growth. It also suggests considering the opportunity to move to a sustainable economy based on a new concept for building social networking services. This new concept, the Social Cloud can be summarized as  cloud computing running in a peer-to-peer social network.

Also see:
P2P And The Social Cloud - The Emergence Of Peer Economic Systems - Part 1

11/25/09

4 Trends Getting Executive Attention in the Workshifting World -- from workshifting by Eric Bensley

Study: Inc. 500 CEOs Aggressively Use Social Media for Business -- from Inc. bBy Tamara Schweitzer
Fast-growing companies are particularly visible on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, according to a new study.

11/20/09

11/19/09

100 Excellent Open Courses for International Businessmen -- from onlinecolleges.net

Economics
Get a handle on how the world economic system functions through these courses.

1. Economic History: Get a foundational course in world economic history here. [MIT]
2. Applied Macro- and International Economics: This course uses case studies to understand key economics issues. [MIT]
3. Working in a Global Economy: This course introduces the main debates about the new global economy with perspectives from scholars and businessmen. [MIT]
4. Political Economy of Globalization: Take this course to learn more about the ways in which changes in the international economy and governance interact with domestic politics, policy-making, and the institutional structures. [MIT]
5. International Trade: Here you can learn more about the theory of international trade and finance. [MIT]
6. International Economics I: This course takes a more advanced look at international trade and trade theory. [MIT]
7. International Political Economy: In this course students take a look at some of the policy and theoretical issues that come into play in economics. [MIT]
8. International Political Economy of Advanced Industrial Societies: This course focuses on the topics of international trade and international monetary and financial relations in industrialized nations. [MIT]
9. International Economics: Try out this course to learn some new skills that can help you when working in international business, from trade theory to international finance. [USU]
10. Capital Markets: Through this course students will examine the many purposes and facets of capital markets around the world. [UC Irvine]
11. Economy and Business in Modern China and India: As China and India become ever bigger players in the international economy, this course will help you keep pace and know how to understand and relate to these markets. [MIT]
12. Political Economy of Latin America: In this course students learn about the politics of economic reform in Latin American countries. [MIT]

Professors Who Blog about Business from Learning Online - Top 10 Professors Who Blog

Professor Robert Salmon:
Professor Salmon is an accomplished associate professor of management at the Stern School of Business. He has conducted many researches in the area business studies including one on the management and economics of international expansion. Professor Robert salmon is also well known in the blogosphere for his many blogs on topics such as “Cost to attend University continue to rise”, “Does Russia belong in the BRIC Club” and “The Horn of Plenty”.

Professor Michael Roberto:
Professor Roberto is a trustee professor of management at the Bryant University. He is known for his online blogs of various economic issues such as ‘Why Corporate Initiatives Fail and “Should you purchase Extended Warranty?”

 

11/16/09

Learnings from Learning 2009 -- from Elliot Masie

• Video:
  There is a strong interest and deployment of video in the world of learning. Our experiment with CNN yielded fascinating results - watching colleagues get MUCH better in just 3 days at using video to tell a story. I was impressed with the idea of shooting almost "stills" with video - to focus the story.
• Capt. Sully:
  Our time with Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger was fascinating. I am still thinking about his comments about the need to balance Teamwork, Trust, Shared Work Process Expectations and Learned Procedures. He is a humble man, very focused on the role of training, experience and practice as the key to performance.
• Social Media, Twitter and Back Channel Learning:
  Interesting to have a Twitter Scan going on in back of some of our keynote speakers. I had to develop a new skill of speaking and monitoring twitter for questions. The conversation is contiuning on #L2009 if you search on Twitter for comments and contributions.
• Virtual Leadership Skills:
  Lots of focus on how to add Virtual Leadership to the skillsets of new and existing leaders. How to build Digital Rhythm and More.
• Deconstructing Content:
  A number of speakers talked about reducing the investment in formal content and harvesting more of the content from Open Source or existing corporate content. I experimented with this myself, using 2 YouTube segments to introduce Sully and the tribute to Veterans. A number of organizations shared plans to reduce the amount of formal content they are developing and to design around discoverable content elements.

We will post a series of segments from Learning 2009 on our websites starting on Wednesday. I will send out a Learning TRENDS with linkage information. Thanks for all of our readers for your support of this event and we look forward to sharing content and conversations with the wider learning community in the weeks ahead.

11/13/09

Related item from the world of corporate training:
Moodle - the wrong tool for the job? -- from Learning Conversations blog
Perhaps we need a halfway house. A system that:

• allows organisations to push content to all or groups of their learners - learning from Amazon's marketing model
• allows learners to connect with other learners in similar situations and with similar needs
• allows learners to select content based on ratings, recommendations and what their network is doing
• allows tutors/trainers to provide a sense of direction, synthesise ideas, coach...

If your organisation is content-centric, then give them content plus connections. Show them Amazon. That way you'll start to pull them towards a more learner-centric approach to learning.

11/10/09

11/7/09

Challenges and Misconceptions of Collaborative and Social Learning in the Workplace -- from Jane Hart

11/2/09

10/29/09

From DSC...re: the use of technology in the workplace:
Using technology to improve workforce collaboration -- from McKinsey & Company by James Manyika, Kara Sprague, and Lareina Yee

10/22/09

--image from DSC

The New, Faster Face of Innovation -- from MIT Sloan Management Review by Erik Brynjolfsson and Michael Schrage
Thanks to technology, change has never been so easy—or so cheap
Call it innovation on steroids. Or innovation at warp speed. Or just the innovation of rapid innovation.

But the essential point remains: Technology is transforming innovation at its core, allowing companies to test new ideas at speeds—and prices—that were unimaginable even a decade ago. They can stick features on Web sites and tell within hours how customers respond. They can see results from in-store promotions, or efforts to boost process productivity, almost as quickly.

The result? Innovation initiatives that used to take months and megabucks to coordinate and launch can often be started in seconds for cents.

10/20/09

10/19/09

UK workforce will be 'increasingly mobile' by 2012 -- from BCS.org
The workforce in the UK will become increasingly efficient and flexible through mobile working, a communications expert has claimed. According to Damovo UK, more people are expected to and want to work flexibly as communication occurs via email, SMS and social networks. Increasing numbers of workers are recognising the potential of these channels and want to deploy them in the corporate environment, the company explained.

10/16/09

Decentralized work: The final frontier -- from George Siemens
The ideologies that give birth to systems remain long after they cease being valuable. End result: we have systems and policies that function under ideologies/views that are no longer needed, and in many instances, have an overall negative impact. Consider work. Many people are now involved in work that doesn't require physical presence at an office. Yet, how we define and value work still carries the views from 50+ years ago. Taylorism is still reflected in how we see work and employees. Inside Higher Ed considers decentralized work: "Whether you call it teleworking, Web working, telecommuting, distance working, or e-working, the concept is the same: Work isn’t some place you go, it’s something you do. It focuses on the information-age idea of decentralizing the office, as opposed to the industrial-age idea of bringing everyone to one single location."

From Strength in Numbers -- from David Armano

* IBM Lotus Connections - Enterprise Social Networking tools
* Telligent Community Server - Customer and enterprise facing forums, profiles and social networking
* Atlassian Confluence - Wiki-based collaboration
* ThoughtFarmer - Social Intranet Software
* Cotweet.com - Twitter for Business
* SocialWare - Social Media risk management
* Socialcast - Enterprise Dynamic Signal platform
* Photon Infotech - Social Media Framework, Open Source Development
* Bamboo Networks - Custom Application Development and Rehabilitation
* Starpoint Solutions - Telligent implementation and integration

10/14/09

10/9/09

-- Interactive timeline of "Times of Crisis"; resource from Jeffrey Hill

10/7/09

Following links/resources are from Study Tactics > Economics (A service of MBS Books)

General Economics
	About.com: Economics
	Information and links about economics.
	Brookings Institution
	The Brookings Institution functions as an independent analyst and critic, committed to publishing its findings for the information of the public.
	Cato Institute
	A non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C.
	econDash
	A free economics tutorial.
	Economist.com
	On-line business and economics news.
	FRED: Economic Data
	Through the FRED× database, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis provides consumers, students, economists, and financial institutions around the world with economic and financial information in an easy-to-use format.
	MERLOT: Business
	Links to online learning materials are collected here along with annotations such as peer reviews and assignments.
	Moving Ideas
	Dedicated to explaining and popularizing complex policy ideas to a broader audience. Goal is to improve collaboration and dialogue between policy and grassroots organizations, and to promote their work to journalists and legislators.
	Nobel e-Museum
	Nobel e-Museum offers information on all 736 Prize Winners to date, the Nobel Organization, Alfred Nobel, and Nobel events, as well as educational material and games.
	SparkNotes
	Welcome to SparkNotes.com, the most popular educational web site in the world!
	The Automated Payment Transaction Tax
	Can we live without the IRS? This Professor of Economics Emeritus from the University of Wisconsin-Madison thinks so.
	The Information Economy
	The Economics of the Internet, Information Goods, Intellectual Property and Related Issues.
	The International Economics Network
	A collection of key resources for international economics, as well as other related disciplines, including, inter alia, global business and finance, international law, and international development.
Government Resources
	Bureau of Economic Analysis
	BEA seeks to strengthen the understanding of the U.S. economy and its competitive position by providing the most accurate and relevant GDP and economic accounts data in a timely and cost-effective manner.
	Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB)
	The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) formulates and carries out U.S. foreign economic policy.
	International Monetary Fund
	Established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements.
	NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement
	Information on the trade agreement.
	U.S. Department of Commerce
	U.S. Department of Labor
	U.S. Economic and Trade Policy
	The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) at the U.S. Department of State formulates and carries out U.S. foreign economic policy in cooperation with U.S. companies, other U.S. Government agencies in Washington and U.S. Embassies abroad.
	U.S. Economy At A Glance
	From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
	United Nations Environment Programme : Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics
	World Trade Organization
	Global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
Professional Organizations
	AFL-CIO
	The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the voluntary federation of America's unions, representing more than 13 million working women and men nationwide.
	Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
	The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise is a non-partisan education and research organization which works on free enterprise studies, public policy research, book publishing, conferences, white papers, and media outreach.
	Economic History Services
	EH.Net, a chartered organization, was created in 1993 to assist economists, historians and related social scientists through the use of electronic communication and information technology.
	Foundation For Economic Education
	The oldest research organization promoting, individual freedom, private property, limited government and free trade.
	Institute for International Economics
	The Institute for International Economics is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of international economic policy.
	Inter-American Development Bank
	Helps accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
	International Economics Study Center
	Features at the site include links to current international trade news stories, a site devoted to the issue of fairness in international trade, preliminary notes for an international finance webtext, and much more.
	International Institute for Sustainable Development
	Advances policy recommendations on international trade and investment, economic policy, climate change, measurement and indicators, and natural resource management to make development sustainable.
	National Bureau of Economic Research
	The NBER is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works.
	Organization For Economic Co-Operation and Development
	International organization helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalized economy.
	The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability
	The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development is a policy-oriented research and consulting organization.
	World Business Council for Sustainable Development
	A coalition of 160 international companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress.

10/2/09

The 2009 Horizon Report: Economic Development Edition -- from NMC
...explores the landscape of emerging technologies as it pertains to small to medium-sized businesses.

Business Travel Declines With Telepresence Conference Calls -- from Singularity Hub by Aaron Saenz

10/1/09

-- from Marc Rosenberg's March 2009 presentation:
"What Every Manager Should Know about e-Learning 2.0"

Simulations & Learning e-Games -- from agelesslearner.com by Marcia L. Conner
What types of games are being created?

• Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)
• Military Applications
• Massively Multiplayer Simulation (MMP)
• Agent-Based gaming, Avatars, and Distributed environments
• Game based Learning
• Simulations and Games for Strategy and Policy Planning
• Business Gaming Using Expert Systems
• Simulations Utilizing Problem Solving Tools
• Customizable, Computer-based Interactive Simulations
• Simulation gaming for Management Training

9/30/09

100 Best iPhone Apps for Business Students -- from accreditedonlinecolleges.org

9/25/09

Top 47 eLearning & Workplace Learning Blogs -- from Upside Learning

9/24/09

Business Applications Of Social Media Inside Organizations: An Overview -- from Robin Good's Latest News by Josh Gordon

9/23/09

"Mobile Learning Gains Momentum"
Date:  Wednesday, October 21, 2009  | Time: 8:00AM Pacific / 11:00AM Eastern
The pieces are falling into place to make mobile learning a bigger part of overall learning strategy. Be ready to realize its full potential. Learn the most effective way to harness mobile learning as part of an overall enterprise learning strategy. Free white paper "The Role of Technology-Based Learning"

9/22/09

9/21/09

How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0 -- from Social Media In Learning by Jane Hart

Work Snug (could be associated eventually with mobile learning also)

9/15/09

What Causes Webinar Attendees to Bail? -- from Citrix
Webinars are a mainstay of many marketing programs. The dynamic platform can explain your offerings, establish thought leadership and grow house lists. Companies that see visitors return to their webinars, despite increased competition, do a good job of addressing the needs of their attendees. The chart below shows the top webinar turnoffs for marketers. Lack of honesty about content heads the list, followed closely by less-than-dynamic presenters who need better communication skills.

9/14/09

Learning & Development 2020 – almost passed me by -- Clive Sheperd

9/12/09

Blogging through the economics crisis – from Liberal Education Today by Bryan Alexander
One economist is revising his academic practice by blogging about it.  Simon Johnson, who teaches at MIT’s Sloan School, explains that he uses his site to ground his exploration of the crisis in economics. I now try to run everything I do, from classroom materials to op eds to technical papers, through my website, Baseline Scenario. This serves partly as a way to make explicit links between these various activities, but it also opens up both the MIT classroom to anyone interested, anywhere in the world, at the same time as allowing outside voices — from the experienced and savvy community that regularly comments on the blog — into our MIT face-to-face discussions.

9/8/09

9/2/09

Stock Markets In Plain English -- from CommonCraft.com

From DSC: I'm note sure if these are good or not...but I thought that I'd pass them along
Some Simulation Packages -- from the Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning

Management Simulations

• AIRLINE: A Business Simulation
• Alacrity Team Simulation Exercise
• Capstone: The Business and Financial Strategy Simulation
• Business Policy Game, The - An International Strategy Simulation
• CEO: A Business Simulation for Policy and Strategic Management
• BusSim: An Integrated Business Instruction System
• The Global Business Game
• Glo-Bus: A Competition-Based Simulation using the Global Digital Camera Industry
• DEAL III: An Entrepreneurship Gaming Simulation
• Entrepreneur: A Business Simulation in Retailing
• Executive Perspectives
• GEO III: An International-Business Gaming Simulation
• INTOPIA: International Operations Simulation/Mark 2000
• Micromatic, A Business Simulation Game
• MAGEUR: A General Business Game
• Manager: A Simulation Game
• The Multinational Management Game

Marketing Simulations

• Brand Management Mini-Microworld
• COMPETE: A Dynamic Marketing Simulation
• Marketer: A Simulation Game
• Marketplace: A web based business simulation game with several levels of difficulty.
• Edition, MikesBikes-Intro: A general Business Simulation and music2go: A Marketing Simulation.
• Threshold Competitor: A Management Simulation, Merlin: A Marketing Simulation, Threshold Entrepreneur

Finance Simulations

• FinanceSim -  Corporate Finance Simulation
• Income/Outcome Business Simulations for developing business skills relating to finance and decision-making. Workshops run 3-hours to 3-days with variable complexity to meet audience needs.

Accounting Simulations

• The Management Accounting Simulation

Economic Simulations

• ForecastSim – Business Forecasting Simulation
• ManecSim – Managerial Economics Simulation

Other Types of Simulations

• BEAT-THE-MARKET: A Microeconomics Game
• Collective Bargaining Simulated
• Hotcalc Business Simulator - Experiential Learning for Hospitality and Event Planning
• The Human Resources Management Simulation
• INFOGAME: Game for Research and Education in Information Systems
• Customizable business board game in a classroom format.
• MANAGEMENT 500: A Business Simulation for Production and Operations Management
• Mobile Phone Subscribers Mini-Microworld
• Oil Producers' Microworld
• Professional Services Microworld
• SimBank – Bank Management Simulation
• Smart Sims Includes many different simulations including MikesBikes-Advanced: An Advanced Business Simulation, MikesBikes-Advanced: Accounting
• The Oakland Baseball Simworld

 

9/1/09

3 Ways Online Learning Benefits Organizations -- from Go2Meeting.com by Lynda Goldman
"The virtual classroom can bring e-learners together. More companies are asking for this type of e-learning, and have the infrastructure to support it," says David Werboff, Group Director, eLearning Solutions, Informa Training Partners, a company that trains sales professionals in pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices.

Live online learning creates a group learning experience that is designed around the needs of the learner, offering these 3 benefits:

1. E-learning is moving away from self-paced learning modules and has become much more collaborative. Participants can interact with experts and peers in ad hoc discussions or in structured small group activities, teach-backs and role plays.
2. E-learning can increase retention and application. Short, targeted learning experiences offer participants an opportunity to apply the concepts, principles and procedures before the next class. Participants who travel to a training session don't always have time to practice and apply concepts between classes.
3. Live online learning provides a diverse setting. Participants from many geographical locations can bring different ideas and backgrounds to the learning activities.

David Werboff, Group Director, eLearning Solutions, Informa Training Partners offers these e-learning best practices:

• Visualize how learners will experience the learning environment and anticipate and answer their unspoken questions.
• Don't waste learners' brain power on how to access online learning. Use programs that are clear and easy to use.
• Balance audio, text, visual media and interactivity to meet different users' needs.
• Cater to the younger, sophisticated workforce with top-quality graphics. Clip art just doesn't cut it anymore.

Lynda Goldman is the author of 31 business and communication books. She writes corporate communications that tell your story: white papers, case studies and articles, and ghostwrites books. www.LyndaGoldmanInk.com

 

Excerpt from Senator Levin (8/31/09) in response to my wondering if an Opinion in the New York Times was true concering financial regulation

Last fall, Congress and the previous administration took unprecedented steps to prevent the collapse of Wall Street and the resulting blow to the U.S. economy. In the wake of this crisis and the dramatic economic downturn that followed, it became clear that our country’s financial regulatory system was in need of a broad evaluation and overhaul.

On June 16, 2009, in response to the growing call for a more effective financial regulatory system, the Obama administration released the following comprehensive white paper [http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/regs/FinalReport_web.pdf]. This report lays out the administration’s broad proposals for reforming our nation’s financial regulatory system, with the aim of mitigating systemic risk and assisting our economic recovery.

One of the many changes outlined in the report is a proposal to create a new executive agency, the CFPA, which would be charged with protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices in the financial products industry. The CFPA would have broad jurisdiction over consumer financial products, including credit cards, savings accounts, home mortgages, and mortgage insurance. Regulatory enforcement would be granted under existing consumer protection laws and would be coordinated with the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and other regulators.

On July 14, 2009, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing to discuss issues related to the proposed CFPA. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has introduced legislation (H.R.3126) that closely mirrors the administration’s proposal for the CFPA. Currently, there is no legislation pending in the Senate related to this matter.

8/25/09

Top 47 eLearning & Workplace Learning Blogs -- according to another source, the Upside Learning blog

8/18/09

• What Lies Ahead: The Next Evolution of Learning Leaders
  by David Lamb, CLO for Rollins/Orkin
  
  
• Publish or Perish: The Crucial Component of Communication
  by Chuck O'Keefe, formerly with University of Toyota
  
  
• The Strategic Value of Customer Training
  by Kaliym A. Islam, CLO of Depository Trust and Clearance Corp.
  
  
• Newell Rubbermaid: A Fresh Approach to Learning, a case study of how the company transformed learning into a global initiative

8/17/09

Calvin Economics -- from John Tiemstra and Steven McMullen
This blog is a "dialogue on economics and faith from faculty and friends of the Calvin College economics department. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Calvin College or the economics department."

Webinar-Directory.com Launches -- from The Webinar Blog by Ken
New listing service for live and on-demand webinars: www.webinar-directory.com. This joins similar online directories such as EventSpan and Finervista, as well as vendor-specific archives of recorded presentations such as Insight24 and the Brainshark Content Network. But as far as I know, this is the first listing portal to be developed outside the United States.

8/12/09

A Fork in the Road -- from Chief Learning Officer, by Josh Bersin
While more than 70 percent of large organizations already have a [Learning Management System], almost one-third of these companies are considering replacing their systems. The reasons? Many said they want support for informal learning, such as coaching, mentoring, collaborating and information sharing. Many also cited the need to integrate their LMSs with other talent management software.

Skills Training à la Carte -- from InsideHigherEd.com
Community colleges have long tailored courses to meet the demands of local employers, but Kellogg Community College’s Regional Manufacturing Technology Center has taken customizable workforce training to a whole new level. The community college’s workforce training center, in Battle Creek, Mich., has done away with traditional classroom-bound courses altogether and, instead, has cut up its offerings into more than 1,200 individual skills, or “modules,” that students can take whenever they wish on a walk-in basis. These modules, which can be purchased independently or as part of a larger program of study, are worth fractions of a credit hour. Students have an unlimited amount of time to prove their competency in the specified skill to an on-site instructor; some of the skills can be learned in few short hours.

8/11/09

Mapping the global recession -- from The Economist and Moody's
MOODY'S Economy.com has mapped the geographic spread of the worst global downturn since the Depression.

8/6/09

Five Learning Trends for 2009 -- from Chief Learning Officer and Brandon Hall

1. Mobile learning
2. Do-it-yourself (DIY) learning
3. Flexible learning environments
4. Virtual worlds
5. Games and simulations

8/5/09

Teaching the financial crisis with blogs -- from Liberal Education Today by Bryan Alexander

7/30/09

5 Tips for Beating the Credit Crunch with e-learning -- from Towards Maturity

7/29/09

The "Shift Index" -- from Innovate-Ideagora by Steve Knode
Because so many firms view technology as simply a cost center and something they must have to maintain the current business approach, opportunities to leverage technology to totally improve business processes by radically revising them is lost. Evidence of the lost opportunities is now being quantified by something called the 'Shift Index'. I think this document lays out in an excellent manner what has happened and the implications of what needs to be done. The evidence and metrics in this document are extremely persuasive and enlightening.

Developments in business profitability over the last forty years are stunning. Here are just some of the findings:

• The gap in Return On Assets (ROA) performance between winners and losers has increased over time. However, winners are barely maintaining their returns, while losers have taken a tremendous tumble.
• The "topple rate" at which industry leaders lose their leadership positions has more than doubled, suggesting that winners are precariously placed at best.
• Customers are gaining power rapidly, increasing customer disloyalty
• U.S. competitive intensity has more than doubled for forty years.
• The exponentially advancing price/performance capability of computing, storage, and bandwidth is driving an adoption rate that is two to five times faster than previous adoption cycle rates.

Related item (and quote below) is from the "Click of the Month" from The Futurist:
THE WORLD MIND NETWORK

Lest you still think social networking on the Web is a waste of your time, here is an opportunity to deploy the real world-changing tools of the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. Among the projects established by World Mind Network members are a forum for improving science education co-moderated by Nobel laureate Peter Doherty (1996, Physiology or Medicine) and an interactive blog on the world economic crisis co-hosted by another Nobelist, Edmund Phelps (2006, Economics).

Music and literature also offer ripe opportunities for social networking on the site, including poetry challenges to fit the 140- character limitations of Twitter (though I confess I thought I'd never see a tweet as lovely as a tree.)

"We're not against those things. We do them sometimes. But we have also discovered that the capacity of these tools to build community, to do research, to enlighten, educate, and inform, and to effect humanitarian aid is almost unexplored."

Innovators' Insight: Google Grows Up
Advice for Google's management as it seeks to continue to build its innovation capabilities -- by Scott D. Anthony

Over the past decade, Google has inspired envy in trench-dwelling managers around the world. It's not just the unparalleled benefits. It's the way Google approaches innovation. Engineers are encouraged to dream up pet projects in their spare time. Teams self-form around the best ideas. Market-based principles ensure that the best ideas receive funding. It sounds chaotic, democratic — and intoxicating. “Why can't we do that?” countless managers wonder. “Instead, we have to deal with crushing bureaucracy that favors our leaders' personal whims over the most game-changing ideas.” Management guru Gary Hamel praised Google in his book The Future of Management, positing that more and more companies would adopt the company's market-based system. There is indeed much to admire about Google's approach, and much to learn from it. The system ensures that interesting ideas — even those that aren't obvious fits for Google's capabilities or core business model — receive some degree of attention. However, Google's approach hasn't demonstrated that it can actually, you know, create successful businesses. Despite the hype, more than 95 percent of Google's revenues trace back to Web-based search advertising. Further, as the company's explosive growth has slowed, innovative employees have left to form new ventures. For example, Twitter was formed by former Google employees.

7/28/09

A quick presentation where I highlight some features in an Acton Business School simulation -- from Clark Aldrich's Style Guide for Serious Games and Simulations

7/27/09

100 Awesome Blogs for Your Business Education -- from Learn-Gasm

Best Practices for Integrating Game-Based Learning into Online Teaching -- from MERLOT
Table 1 : Games for Teaching

7/17/09

New Report Shows Employers Struggle with Ill-Prepared Workforce, as White House Highlights Future of Workforce Skills -- from B2E and Corporate Voices for Working Families
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2009/via PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the Obama administration shines a light on the training and skills workers will need for the jobs of tomorrow, a new report shows that U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills.

Quote from How Women Are Redefining Work and Success
(This is an article based on an excerpt from the book Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay. Copyright Copyright 2009 by Claire C. Shipman and Katty Kay. To be published by Harper Business.)

The fact that we don't stay in one place for 40 years anymore gives us enormous latitude to move sideways, backward, in, and out—to define our own paths. We're looking for our security and fulfillment and confidence elsewhere. Our employer's definition of "straight up the ladder" success is becoming meaningless, even suspect.

7/16/09

Online training: fundamentals of a successful intranet -- from Step Two Designs

James Robertson is a sought-after expert on intranets, and he has keynoted conferences and workshops across the globe. For the first time, there is a now a full online training course that gives you access to this latest thinking on intranet strategy and management.

Published as a joint initiative of CMS Watch and Step Two Designs, this five-hour course covers key topics for all intranet teams, and gives insight into a range of practical methodologies, models and techniques.

7/15/09

Corporate University for Less Than $100 per Employee -- from interactyx by Bob Brogan

Learning in 3D Book Information -- from Kapp Notes

TITLE:
Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration

READING LINE:
How the Immersive Internet will shape the future of learning and work within the Enterprise.

7/14/09

Is Less More? -- The Long Tail Consumer (Part 1) -- from Nielsen by Jon Gibs, VP of Media Insights

Related item:
inteliCall Launches Web Conferencing and Online Meetings for the Apple iPhone -- from PR.com
Conferencing Users Can Enjoy the Consumer-Friendliness of the iPhone While Keeping High End Mobile Business Communications Fully Available.
Dallas, TX, July 13, 2009 -- InteliCall Conferencing, a fast growing SaaS conferencing specialist, has launched it's web conferencing and online meeting application for the Apple iPhone. inteliCall now combines conferencing, online presentations, application sharing and chat messaging with Audo conferencing directly on the iPhone. With its easy interface, inteliCall is the only compatible conferencing provider to run directly on the iPhone, due to its standards-based AJAX platform.

 

7/13/09

Related item:

6/29/09

Investor education

Learning Leaders Fieldbook -- from The Masie Center
The Masie Center is pleased to announce their latest free e-Book, created by Learning CONSORTIUM colleagues: Learning Leaders Fieldbook

From DSC:
Several notable/relevant quotes I saw:

The future will be like:
a) a rollercoaster
b) whitewater rafting
c) Niagara Falls in a barrel…

Global competition and surging technology will cause it to look like “all of the above”.

First, do the math. Next, hang on!!
By 2010, there will be 8 billion people, 4 billion cell phones, 2 billion computers, 1 billion hosting websites, 40 million robots and our global knowledge will double every year. Eight out of ten U.S. workers will be employed in knowledge industries that will require massive technology to stay competitive globally. Learning the latest competitive hot skills, mostly through your “device”, is the only way to protect your professional career. Fast learning focused on performance and capability will be the greatest demand.

My favorite future place: eCampus! Learner-centric, 24X7 learning, support and tools – with IM Mentor!
Focus on the self-directed learner and give that professional talent a powerful mix of learning, support and competitive tools. Self-directed learners are the right talent to recruit and retain because they are also self-directed performers that have initiative, smarts and drive for success.

6/25/09

6/24/09

Workplace Learning is changing! -- from The Upside Learning Solutions Blog

A couple of months back I shared my thoughts on an interesting question relating to the ‘future of workplace learning’ at Learning Circuits Blog. The learning domain is undergoing change like never before; Social Media, Informal Learning, Communities, Virtual Worlds, Mobile Learning, Learning Games, Augmented Reality, and much else. Such is the force of change that the existence of the Training Department itself is under threat - at least in the ‘form’ we know of now. As Harold Jarche and Jay Cross point out in their excellent article “The future of training department”, the training personnel of the future need to reorganize and must try to achieve the following:

- Facilitating collaborative work and learning amongst workers, especially as peers.
- Sensing patterns and helping to develop emergent work and learning practices.
- Working with management to fund and develop appropriate tools and processes for workers.

6/22/09

6/16/09

Business Impact of Social and Informal Learning -- from Informal Learning Blog by Jay Cross

5/28/09

Related item:
Future of conferences, workshops and seminars - keynote for 4,500 people (MPI) -- from Patrick Dixon

So what does a third millennial corporate conferencing industry look like, in a world increasingly driven by time-pressures, online communities and networks, where attentions span is measured in seconds and multi-tasking in meetings is normal?

5/20/09

Meanwhile, in the corporate world:

5/18/09

More on online learning in the workplace -- from Learning Journal by Catherine Lombardozzi

New Topics in the Future of Corporate Universities:

• Social networking
• e-learning
• Informal and alternative learning
• Onboarding
• Game training
• Mobile learning

5/15/09

B-School Deans In The Hot Seat -- from BizDeansTalk - business management education blog; referring to article by Mat Symonds at Forbes.com
Leadership is the business-school best-seller, but the schools' own deans are trying to figure out how to lead in these tough times. There was a time when becoming the dean of a major business school was like winning the lottery. It meant a comfortable gig with good pay, prestige, the opportunity to mix with the great and good of business, politics and academia and, perhaps best of all, the kind of job security enjoyed now only by popes. In today's credit crunch world, however, things are very different. Schools around the world are scrambling for income as keenly as any corporation, and deans are having to go after recruiters for their graduating M.B.A.s. They're also finding themselves defending the roles business schools played in the financial meltdown. These are tough times in the academic hot seat...

5/11/09

Related item:
Publication: Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing -- from Smart Mobs by Mark A.M. Kramer
"This is a MUST read for anyone attempting to decipher and understand the ramifications of the cloud on a societal level."

5/1/09

Future of the Enterprize
Tuesday 5 May, 2009 | 6.30pm - 9.00pm
Join us for Advance's premier TEDx event with TEDx Talkers:

• Ross Dawson, Futurist, Chairman, Future Exploration Network
  "I will be drawing on the content and ideas from my recently launched book Implementing Enterprise 2.0, but also putting this in a far broader frame of what lies ahead for organizations of all kinds."
• Verna Allee, CEO, ValueNetworks.com and author, The Future of Knowledge
• Sam Diaz, Senior Editor, CBS Interactive
• Melissa Morel, Advance San Francisco Committee - TEDx

4/29/09

How much is a trillion dollars?? -- from FusionEcomonics.com
With all the talk of millions and billions and trillions flying around these days (the recent G20 summit proposed spending a trillion dollars to prop up the ailing world economy), it may be worthwhile for us who don’t deal with so many zero’s on a daily basis to find a way to visualize the numbers.

4/24/09

Interesting idea -- original link from Karl Kapp's "Online University in a Box"

4/20/09

Related article:
More companies meet virtually as conventions canceled -- from from webconferencingcouncil.com
Wise Gary Stoller from USAToday has some great input on how recessionary times have forced a wave of cancellations of conventions and business meetings around the country, costing local economies billions in lost visitor dollars since fall.

4/14/09

Bankers vs. Economists -- from The Big Money by Daniel Gross

4/10/09

Newssift -- from Educational Technology by Ray Schroeder
Sifting and winnowing through the web for high quality news sources, particularly those in business matters, can be an exhausting endeavor. Fortunately, the Financial Times has come up with Newssift, which can help persons who are looking for such information.

4/8/09

4/6/09

"Putting the heart back into business" -- Linda A. Livingstone dean of Graziadio School of Business and Management (Pepperdine University)

I will paraphrase Dr. Tippens to say that to be a successful business school, indeed to be a successful business, we need to be heart-centered.   Business people must recover the “heart side” of learning and business practice; the side that includes thinking as well as feeling and includes not only intellect, wisdom, and analysis, but also joy, sadness, and love.

In business schools, there should be a natural ease in linking intellectual interest in business life with passion for service, concern for people and care for the world.  George Pepperdine, an entrepreneur and founder of Pepperdine University, thought heart was so important that he said this in his founding address in 1937: “If you educate a man’s mind and improve his intellect with all the scientific knowledge men have discovered and do not educate the heart . . . the man is dangerous.” 

B-Schools Rethink Curricula Amid Crisis -- from the Wall Street Journal, by Beth Gardiner
The seismic shifts now remaking the financial world are sending tremors through the corridors of business schools.

4/3/09

Don’t look to business schools for leadership -- from Harold Jarche
Business schools tout themselves as thought-leaders, but they only appeared on the scene after the mass production industrial model had been proven. We shouldn’t expect leadership from our academic institutions, with their profitable business schools, until we have a proven new organizational model for the post-industrial era. Actually, business schools may be to blame for our current economic problems. According to renowned management professor Henry Mintzberg:

From where I sit, management education appears to be a significant part of this problem. For years, the business schools have been promoting an excessively analytical, detached style of management that has been dragging down organizations.

Every decade, American business schools have been graduating more than a million MBAs, most of whom believe that, because they sat still for a couple of years, they are ready to manage anything. In fact, they have been prepared to manage nothing.

The current economic situation is the result of an utterly failed management model. It’s obvious when you compare Japanese automakers with the “Big Three” in North America - the same materials, the same technology and the same base of workers, but DIFFERENT management. Yes, it’s management’s fault.

3/30/09

The Heart of Business Strategy: 57* Things That Matter -- Tom Peters | 22 February 2009 | Queenstown New Zealand

Tom Peters’ Thoughts About Getting Things Done, in Good Times and Bad -- by Tom Peters | 30 March 2009 | Helsinki

3/25/09

I'm told this is an excellent book (from an obviously famous businessman -- Peter F. Drucker):
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

3/24/09

Futurist Update
News & Previews from the World Future Society | April 2009 (Vol. 10, No. 4)
In This Issue:

• Click of the Month:
  Economic Turning Point
  Web 2.0’s networking powers to the rescue? Economic Turning Point is a “nonpartisan global think tank” inviting everyone from homeowners to politicians to disseminate ideas and information and to participate in creating solutions to the global economic crisis.

U.S. Monetary Policy: An Introduction -- link/text below from Ray Schroeder, Educational Technology
Understanding the activities and operations of the U.S. Federal Reserve and its monetary policies can be a bit confusing, so it's nice to know that the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has created this fine resource for the general public. The resource begins by offering a brief overview of U.S. monetary policy, and visitors can read the five sections in their entirety here. These sections address questions like "How is the Federal Reserve structured?" and "What are the tools of U.S. monetary policy?". Additionally, the site includes a glossary of terms that covers everything from "absolute advantage" to "zero-coupon mortgage". The site is rounded out by a list of suggested readings, a search engine, and a place to sign up for the Bank's RSS feed.

3/23/09

A special report on entrepreneurship -- from the Economist | Global heroes | Mar 12th 2009 | From The Economist print edition
Despite the downturn, entrepreneurs are enjoying a renaissance the world over, says Adrian Wooldridge

3/9/09

New Online Portal Engages Students With Up-to-the-Minute Information on Today's Economic Crisis -- from Ray Schroeder
Cengage Learning, a leading publisher of print and digital instructional and reference materials for the academic, professional and library markets, today announced the launch of the Global Economic Crisis (GEC) Resource Center (www.cengage.com/gec), an online portal which offers instructors the latest information and analysis on current global economic issues to incorporate into their lessons on the economic crisis. GEC turns current events into teachable material to better engage students through a global issues database, timeline of events, differing perspectives and late-breaking information that can be easily incorporated into daily curriculum. Updated four times daily, the site offers multi-media assets including videos, podcasts, e-books and articles from leading journals, magazines and newspapers from around the world.

3/6/09

100+ FREE Websites for Learning about Business -- from Jane Hart
The websites in the list cover all aspects of business - strategy, management, leadership, marketing, finance, accounting, economics, as well as business skills. A range of sites are included, suitable for both business studies education, workplace learning, and for educators, learners and managers alike. The sites include both formal and informal learning resources - games, podcasts, blogs, videos, books, PDFs, as well as online courses, communities and other general resources.

3/1/09

Related item:
Collaboration at Cisco via John Chambers -- from Learning and Technology by Lee Kraus
Here is an interesting video of John Chambers, fellow WVU grad, discussing command and control versus collaboration style management. It is very clear that Cisco applies a very sophisticated management style to production and operations. They are now focused on leveraging the power of social networking and collaboration to empower company decisions and planning.

Via: Mohamed Amine Chatti

2/25/09

From DSC:
I'm not sure if this item contains accurate, solid information or not, as I have not purchased it. However, it could be great fodder for discussion and reflection!

2/24/09

Blogs & Podcasts for the Financial Crisis -- from Open Culture by Dan Colman

• Planet Money: NPR is doing a great job of covering the unwinding global economy. The Planet Money blog is a good read, and it includes an essential reading list. But the accompanying podcast is one that I follow regularly. It’s a must. And it’s generally entertaining. You can access it here:  iTunes - Rss Feed - Web Site. (Note: the last episode is not the best example of what it’s usually about.)
• EconoTalk: EconTalk was voted “Best Podcast” in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Hosted by Russ Roberts (out of George Mason University), the show “features one-on-one discussions with an eclectic mix of authors, professors, Nobel Laureates, entrepreneurs, leaders of charities and businesses, and people on the street.” You can access the show via the following channels: iTunes - RSS Feed - Web Site.
• The Baseline Scenario: Dedicated to “explaining some of the key issues in the global economy and developing concrete policy proposals,” The Baseline Scenario is written, among others, by Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, who is now a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Although relatively young, the blog has received a fair amount of acclaim as the financial crisis has unfolded. You may want to particularly check out their collection of content called Financial Crisis for Beginners.
• Realtime Economic Issues Watch:  Here, senior fellows of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (a think tank based in Washington) “discuss and debate their responses to global economic and financial developments as they occur each day and offer insights that others might overlook.”  You will find some of the folks from the Peterson Institute also appearing on the podcasts and blogs mentioned elsewhere on this list. Find the RSS feed here.
• Paul Krugman: A Princeton University economist, a Nobel Prize Winner, a New York Times op-ed writer, Paul Krugman is blogging the global financial and economic crisis daily. It’s an opinion that you can’t afford to take lightly. You’ll also want to see his newly released book, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008.
• Economists’ Forum: Run by the Financial Times (UK), this blog brings together a large number of economists who offer a running commentary on the state of the fragile economy. The Wall Street Journal has its own real time blog here.
• Fallout: America’s Financial Crisis: Marketplace, the nightly radio program on public radio (iTunes - Feed), also hosts a blog that tracks the week’s top stories on America’s financial crisis.
• NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: The PBS nightly news program almost always includes an informative segment dedicated to the financial news of the day. The coverage, which typically includes interviews with experts, is excellent. You can download the podcast here: iTunes - Feed - Web Site  

2/23/09

INNOV8 is an interactive, 3-D business simulator designed to teach the fundamentals of business process management and bridge the gap in understanding between business leaders and IT teams in an organization. This type of serious gaming - simulations which have the look and feel of a game but correspond to non-game events or processes such as business operations - has emerged as a successful method to train students and employees and accelerate the development of new skills.

2/18/09

"If the credit crisis makes anything clear, it shows we need to strengthen the moral anchors of our economy," Balkenende wrote in an article discussing what Calvin could teach us today. "At its core this is also a moral crisis, caused by greed, money-mindedness and egoistic trading."

-- from Reuters article accessible below, my thanks to Andy De Jong for this information

2/16/09

11 Immersive Technologies For Business -- from Future-Making Serious Games

1/30/09

Informal Learning Flow -- from eLearning Technology by Tony Karrer

1/28/09

Business & Economics Classes Can Go Mobile with Projects -- from Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning

AcademicEarth.org -- my thanks to Daniel Laninga, in the T&L Digital Studio, for this link

From DSC:
My purpose in posting this is not to tick anyone off. Instead, I want to raise a red flag and say,
"This is where it is going. The question is, how do we want to respond to this?"

1/26/09

1/25/09

The Mortgage Banking Meltdown-- from Enspire Learning Blog

1/23/09

Present Like Steve Jobs -- from BNET Business Network
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is well known for his electrifying presentations. Communications coach Carmine Gallo discusses the...

1/8/09

Calculate Your Financial Comeback -- from the New York Times
Has your portfolio plummeted? So has ours. Use this tool to calculate when your investments could return to their peak levels.

1/5/09

Another Great Depression? -- from Will Thalheimer
Yikes. Today Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate, worried in his NY Times column about the United States sinking into another Great Depression. Here are some other recent articles/blog posts suggesting coming economic ruin.

• http://seekingalpha.com/article/113198-this-great-depression-is-just-getting-started
• http://www.prisonplanet.com/renowned-economist-mikhail-khazin-us-will-soon-face-second-great-depression.html

Until recently the message from economists in the media was that it was unlikely that we would fall into another great depression.

• http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12852043

Here are some interesting articles on the Great Depression, historically.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression
• From Hale Stewart:
• Part 1: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/31/73320/435/904/678462
• Part 2: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/the-great-depression-pt-i_b_154730.html
• Part 3: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/the-great-depression-pt-i_b_155181.html

1/2/09

Mr. Rajan Was Unpopular (But Prescient) at Greenspan Party -- from “No One Saw It Coming” — REALLY? (The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz)

From DSC:
Again, we don't like to hear the truth until there's a catastrophe...then we go looking for
people to blame...to point the finger at...here's an example of that:

The Financial Crisis Blame Game -- from Time Magazine

2008 Global Market Performances -- from The Big Picture

1/1/09

-- slide from Vision of the future: Organization 2.0

Future Of Finance -- from The Big Picture, by Barry Ritholtz

The Year in Markets -- from The New York Times -- which features an interactive graphic; link from The Big Picture
For stocks and commodities, 2008 was a volatile and punishing year.

Making Sense of the Economy: Sites that demystify the financial crisis for kids—and the rest of us -- by Gail Junion-Metz -- School Library Journal

• www.econedlink.org/current
• www.federalreserveeducation.org/fred
• www.ncee.net/resources
• www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson147.shtml

Graphic from:
"Markets Limp Into 2009 After a Bruising Year" -- from the New York Times

12/30/08

A MUST READ: The End --from Portofolio.com, by Michael Lewis
NOTE: The language is not appropriate for kids.

From DSC:
Greed is at the heart of this matter...and speaking of hearts, we Americans need to tend to our often cold and non-caring hearts, which also contributed greatly to the problems that we are now facing. It's a very disturbing article; and it points out the critical need for all of us to be standing on solid moral ground. Don't get me wrong, I know that I'm a sinner (and so is everyone else) and my sin is ever before me. But when you mess with other peoples' lives, money, and futures...you need to have your feet on some solid ground and at least strive to do the right thing!

It also points out that we Americans don't often want to hear the truth until we have to hear the truth or until we need someone to point the finger at and blame for the issues we face. For example, how many politicians have been discarded in the past because they delivered some harsh, unpopular truth and plans of action? This same thing happened to some of the prophets of old who had to deliver some unpopular truth. Perhaps these struggles will be the 2x4 onside our collectives heads to get our attention and move towards caring about others.

12/19/08

Learning at work: e-learning evolution or revolution? (October 2008)
The latest trends and blends in management and leadership development

Published: October 2008
Authors: Professor William Scott-Jackson, Terry Edney and Ceri Rushent
ISBN: 0-85946-481-4

Link from Blended learning for management development -- from Clive Shepherd

From Interactive Multimedia Technology blog, by Bryan Alexander

Capzles is an interactive multimedia story timeline that I found when looking for timelines about the financial crisis. Meltdown 101 was created by TruthDig, a member of the Capzles community. Capzles can contain audio, video, blog post, photos, and other forms of content. More information can be found on the Capzles website.

12/18/08

Money/finance/ consumer fightback -- from The Guardian (UK)

• Money Saving Expert moneysavingexpert.com does what it says on the tin.
• BView bview.co.uk review businesses before you use them.
• Say No to 0870 saynoto0870.com direct-dial numbers, not expensive national-rate ones.
• Consumer Direct consumerdirect.gov.uk government site for consumers.
• Zopa zopa.com a human-centred way to loan money to people in the developing world

12/17/08

Economic Indicators -- from Educational Technology blog
Both scholars and those with a penchant for statistics will want to bookmark this fine website created and maintained by the federal government. The site provides monthly compilations of economic indicators covering prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money, and Federal finance. Visitors can use the search engine to type in their desired terms, or they can browse every month from January 1998 forward via a series of drop down tabs. For those who might be looking for more specific data, the "Search Tips" feature is quite useful. The site also contains links to the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER), which contains economic indicators back to 1948. Overall, the site will be a real boon to those looking for high quality, accurate information regarding current and past economic trends and patterns in the United States. From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

12/16/08

Fed Cuts to 0-0.25%; Target Range, Not Funds Rate -- from The Big Picture, by Barry Ritholtz
The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to establish a target range for the federal funds rate of 0 to 1/4 percent. Since the Committee’s last meeting, labor market conditions have deteriorated, and the available data indicate that consumer spending, business investment, and industrial production have declined.  Financial markets remain quite strained and credit conditions tight.  Overall, the outlook for economic activity has weakened further. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures have diminished appreciably.  In light of the declines in the prices of energy and other commodities and the weaker prospects for economic activity, the Committee expects inflation to moderate further in coming quarters.

12/15/08

SO AGAIN — HOW DID IT HAPPEN? -- from The Big Picture, by Barry Ritholtz

12/8/08

Some resources for Economics Professors

Boston Globe: A field guide to economics and finance blogs -- from The Big Picture
Very cool article in the Sunday Boston Globe: A field guide to economics and finance blogs:

• The Big Picture
  ritholtz.com/blog
  
  
• Brad Setser’s Follow the Money
  blogs.cfr.org/setser
  
  
• Calculated Risk
  calculatedrisk.blogspot.com
  
  
• Credit Slips
  www.creditslips.org/creditslips
  
  
• Economist’s View
  economistsview.typepad.com
  
  
• Freakonomics
  freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com
  
  
• Marginal Revolution
  www.marginalrevolution.com
  
  
• Naked Capitalism
  www.nakedcapitalism.com
  
  
• Nouriel Roubini’s Global Econo-Monitor
  www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini

MarketPlace's Whiteboard: Explaining some of the mess we're in...
Are these good or not...perhaps your class could discuss one of these.

12/4/08

JA Titan
Test your skills running a business in this ultimate business simulation! As CEO, you will match wits in the competitive, technologically advanced industry of the Holo-Generator™. Learn more

Learning in 2020 -- from ASTD
Today’s Leaders Take a Look at What’s Ahead -- A whole new world of work

• Tools 2020
  Prediction: Although the next 10 to 12 years might not constitute any drastic upheavals there are shifts and changes at work on every level.
• Technology 2020
  Prediction: Technology’s impact on how we learn is returned the favor as machines and applications become smarter, and form increasingly symbiotic relationships with other applications as well as learners themselves.
• Workforce 2020
  Prediction: The role of workplace learning and performance professionals will change because of the need for new skills, competencies, and communication.
• Talent Management 2020
  Prediction: Today’s narrow talent management scope broadens to incorporate organization-wide strategy and executive-level support.
• Future Leaders 2020
  Prediction: The learning leaders of 2020 may not have their names carved in stone,
  but several are off to a great beginning

Items from Michelle Martin -- from The Bamboo Project Blog

• Seth Godin on Tribes Presentation -- Tribes is a book about marketing and leadership; also see http://www.squidoo.com/tribesbook; Michelle mentions the following key points:
  
  
  • A tribe is a self-selected group of people, often with a leader, usually with a purpose, always with a way of connecting and identifying with each other, a set of norms, insiders and outsiders.
  • Tribes matter--you can't create movement with a group, only with a tribe. Tribes provide leverage. They also generate energy.
  • People organize around extraordinary. Ordinary is just boring.
  • Having the RIGHT people is more important than having the MOST people.
  • Focus on providing ways to tighten the tribe so they feel a sense of common purpose, connections to one another and responsibility to one another.
  • Providing opportunities to connect and act together is as important (probably more so) than providing "content." 
  • Communicate with authenticity and emotion--this is the hook that people connect to.
  • Innovation needs faith, which leads to hope, which conquers fear. We need to foster faith without choking that faith with "religion" (imposing too many rules, restrictions, etc. that can stifle faith)
  • When it comes to hiring, you don't want "sheepwalkers"--people who have been raised to be obedient and then you put them in brain-dead jobs where they don't have to think and you use fear to keep them in line.
  • People aren't afraid of failure. They're afraid of blame and criticism. Criticism is a powerful deterrent because you only have to see other people being criticized to shut down yourself.
    
    
• What Are You Doing to Invest in Yourself?
  
  
• An Open Space Reading List
  Open Space Technology enables groups of any size to address complex, important issues and achieve meaningful results quickly. It is at its best where more traditional meeting formats fail: when there is conflict, complexity, diversity of thought or people, and short decision times. It has been used in widely diverse settings, from designing aircraft doors at a large aircraft manufacturing company to engaging street kids in defining a sustainable jobs program.
  • Open Space Technology: A User's Guide by Harrison Owen is the bible of the Open Space movement.
  • Open Space World is the online home of the Open Space movement. Be sure to check out the Facilitator Resources. This section includes great articles and checklists to use in explaining and facilitating open space events.
  • Chris Corrigan has a great site on Open Space, including some excellent resources for deeper learning and doing.
  • For a great visual review of Open Space Technology, check out Lisa Heft's Anatomy of an Open Space Event, which uses pictures to explain Open Space.

11/3/08

Learning about the economy through computer games -- from Bryan Alexander
Some learners are studying the current economic crisis by playing computer games, according to the Wall Street Journal. These students are teenagers, and use several different games to understand market chaos. In contrast, an item about colleges creating digital learning objects concerning the crisis in the NITLE prediction markets suggests that...

11/1/08

UN data -- from Educational Technology
The United Nations (UN) website contains a tremendous amount of data, and for some new users (and even those who are more experienced), it may be a bit overwhelming. Recently, the UN created this fine website designed to assist those who might need a bit of assistance with this whole process.

10/31/08

Web Business Architecture
This Blog is focused on those interested in building and promoting profitable websites and blogs.

10/29/08

The Next Marketing Challenge: Selling to 'Simplifiers' -- from Harvard's Working Knowledge site, by John Quelch

10/24/08

Why the Government Will Have a Hard Time Being a Foreclosure White Knight -- from the Nyew York Times, by Steven Dubner

10/23/08

The Econ Major’s Marginal Utility -- from InsideHigherEd.com

The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs -- from the Harvard Business School

10/22/08

The Financial Crisis -- from NigelPain.com:

I have been banging on about the fact that this is not only a financial crisis but a moral and ethical one as well and today in the New York Times my words resonate. Margaret Atwood has written a short, brilliant think piece which I know you will enjoy. She says:

To heal our wounds, we must repair the broken moral balance that let this chaos loose.

Also see Margaret's article, entitled "A Matter of Life and Debt"

Learn Trends 2008 Free -- from eLearning Technology by Tony Karrer
Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovation 2008
November 17 - 21, 2008 | Online | Free

Last year's conference had two thousand people from all over the world take part in the week-long conference. This year the conference has an incredible set of speakers and lots of opportunities to discuss the issues. Speakers and topics include:

Alvaro Fernandez: Brain Fitness for Peak Health and Performance
Dave Gray: Visual Literacy, Learning Innovation
Kevin Wheeler: The Future of Talent
Dave Pollard - Working Smarter: Improving the personal productivity of knowledge workers.
Dave Wilkins - The Amazon Model and Forum Model - the intersection of LMS and Learning 2.0
Jane Hart - 25 Free Tools Every Learning Professional Should Have in their Toolbox
Mark Sylvester - Social Networking as a Strategic Part of Your Learning Strategy
Nancy White - Online Social Architectures - Networks and Communities
Robin Good - Best Online Collaboration Tools for Learning
Tony Karrer - Work Literacy - Implications for Learning Professionals
Jay Cross, Jane Hart, Harold Jarche, and Clark Quinn: Learnscape Sandbox
Marcia Conner and Jon Husband: ROI of Web Learning
Allison Anderson: Corporate Learning Ecology

The conference runs November 17-2008. It's online. And it's free.

10/21/08

The Big Picture blog

10/17/08

New Open Yale Courses -- from the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT)
Eight new courses in history, economics, literature and biomedical engineering taught by leading faculty have been added to “Open Yale Courses,” the University’s free online education initiative.

10/11/08

Hear: You're Buying Banks -- from NPR

10/10/08

Finance and Applications: A Free Icon Set -- from SmashingMagazine.com

10/7/08

Ben Franklink Forum on Innovation

Knowledge at Wharton -- University of Pennsylvania

Radio Tuck -- Dartmouth
Radio Tuck brings you ground-breaking digital interviews with today’s business leaders.

9/30/08

Managing the Virtual Workforce -- from Brandon Hall Research, by Janet Clarey
Via Brent Mackinnon, Laleh Shahidi’s blog post on virtual distance highlights the research of Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski and Richard R. Reilly, authors of Uniting the Virtual Workforce. I’ve added the book to my reading list so have not yet read it but note that Dr. Shahidi summary of the results of organizations that have managed virtual distances well:

Innovation behavior increase by 93%
Trust improves by 83%
Job satisfaction is better by 80%
Role and goal clarity rise by 62%
On-time, on-budget performance is better by 50%
Helping behaviors go up by almost 50%

9/25/08

Economics - A Learning Moment -- from Change Agency
(Note: this was posted during the current Wall Street meltdown, along w/ fears of major, long-time recession)
I can’t let another day go by without expressing some thoughts I have regarding our current economic situation and our students. Maybe I’m just ready to explode over everything I am hearing in the news and I just have to get this off of my chest - and maybe seeing the president on television tonight was the final straw… Before I continue, let me ask you one question: Are you talking about this news in your classroom with your students?

9/15/08
Teleworking Driving a Need for Virtual Leaders --from Workplace Learning Today by Richard Nantel

The Institute for Corporate Productivity and HR.com recently surveyed 278 people about trends in teleworking and virtual teams. The results indicate that teleworking is set to explode.

“while a very healthy 42% of companies queried feel that the need for teams will continue to grow over the next three years – more than two-thirds (67%) foresee their reliance on virtual teams mushrooming in importance. In companies with more than 10,000 employees, the virtual team concept jumps to more than 80%.”

This article states that 35% of respondents report that virtual teams are difficult to manage and require specialized leadership skills. (RN)

Virtual Teams Now a Reality | Institute for Corporate Productivity | 4 September 2008

From DSC:
This is the workplace our students are entering...if they have used various technologies to collaborate across a distance prior to graduating from college, they can hit the ground running when they take their first jobs out of college. Also see this related article.

9/12/08
The Sims goes to the boardroom - Laura Vanderkam, ars technica -- from Educational Technology
It's Monday morning, and the president of Back Bay Battery, a $240 million company, is looking over his financial statements. Sales are way up for his main line of nickel metal-hydride batteries, and yet he can't help noticing the customer complaints, particularly about how long the batteries take to recharge. The company's new ultracapacitor batteries recharge in less than a 10th of the time, but so far they're losing millions of dollars as the company scales up production.... It might sound like another stressful day at the office, but it's actually a stressful day at school—the business simulation will be part of an assignment for Harvard Business School students in their second-year Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise course.

EconStats
http://www.econstats.com/index.htm

For anyone looking for a vast cornucopia of economic statistics culled from all over the world, they need look no further than the EconStats website. The homepage is a bit visually cluttered, but one couldn't ask for better and more complete data, as visitors can quickly access a wide range of economic data from the United States, such as information about inflation, unemployment levels, productivity, new factory orders, and the price of crude oil. The homepage also contains links to economic data from Canada, Britain, Germany, the European Union, France, Italy, Russia, and China. On the right-hand side of the page, visitors can click through to interest rates for dozens of countries, check in on various stock markets, and look up commodity and futures prices. Those individuals looking for quick help with pressing questions can post queries to the "Econ Chat" section of the homepage. [KMG]