BIF Speak - Education
Putting the Student Voice at the Center: Lab Debuts Student Experience Map
On October 7, the Lab team released a first draft map of the current college student experience. This interactive "experiene map" uses video, audio, photography and narrative to reveal the human, environmental and systems-level factors that have the most significant impact on student success.
Business Innovation Factory Launches Student Experience Lab with Grant from Lumina Foundation for Education
The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) today launched a new laboratory to enable innovation in higher education. The lab will support the design of solutions that increase college attainment levels, enhance the college student experience and improve the quality and effectiveness of the U.S. higher education system. The launch of the BIF Student Experience Lab is supported by a $280,000 grant from Lumina Foundation for Education. The Student Experience Lab is the second BIF laboratory to come online following the launch of the Elder Experience Lab and its successful Nursing Home of the Future initiative in 2008.
A Small Sense of the Problems in Higher Education
The project is really beginning to really heat up. The Student Experience Lab team has scoured the web and read hundreds of pages of reports with thousands more waiting in the wings. We have spoken to experts such as Louis Soares from the Center for American Progress and Michael Thomas, President of the New England Board of Higher Education, who were both unbelievably helpful. From our secondary research we are beginning to see a pretty powerful picture of how the world of higher education works.
Testing online school selection tools
One of the critical moments in any student’s life is choosing their school. What will they do? Be? What future will they have? As Rutgers Prep college selection counselor Shelley Krause (@butwait on twitter) said "students are forced to project themselves into an unknown future." So how do they choose? Through our research it is becoming clear that parents are not great resources because they aren't equipped, high school counselors are taxed and students themselves have very little perspective on life. So we looked online to see what tools might exist to help students choose their next step.
Field Notes from the Student Experience Lab
Straight from the horses mouth, my mother used to tell me, is the best way to get the facts. BIF puts a high priority on capturing field notes on all project work. These informal reports chronicle the work of the team, as opposed to their findings, which tend to get the most attention. We think a quick glance will give you come interesting insight into the personalities behind the Student Experience Lab team and a peek into what they discover as they move forward. The following notes are from 6/1-6/12/09.
BIF Research Advisor John Seely Brown on Learning 2.0 and why social networking matters to education
At a workshop last week I heard a staggering statistic referenced from the Kauffman Foundation that college graduates will have 4.2 jobs in the first 10 years after graduation. Wow - Clearly the days of a fixed, single-career are over. We now live in a world where everyone needs to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis.
Ringing in the new year with Anpan-man
Before the holiday, I wrote a blog entry about John Maeda's appointment as RISD's next president. John has maintained a blog for quite some time. And if you go back and read some of his earlier entries, you can tell he's been thinking a good deal about what it takes to be an effective leader. I want to share a portion of his entry from November 17th, Always keep a stock of spare heads which tells a delightful story of Japanese comicbook hero Anpan-Man.
Video: BIF Advisor Clay Christensen on Rearchitecting Healthcare and Education
The ability of technology to “disrupt” long-established business practices—dramatically changing the landscape of industries by increasing access, cutting costs, and revolutionizing delivery—has long been accepted and adopted by businesses large and small. Unfortunately, BIF research advisor Clayton Christensen has observed these radical, innovation-driven transformations have been largely absent in the education and health industries, perhaps the two most important areas of everyday life. (And certainly the areas most in need of deep change.)
This clip, from Christensen's appearance at our BIF-3 Collaborative Innovation Summit, is a real gem. Recorded just prior to the publication of his latest books, Disrupting Class and The Innovator’s Prescription, Christensen addresses how new technology can upend familiar institutions and fundamentally alter the way schooling and health care are delivered.
"I am what I create."
What can we do better in schools today? Excellent talk by BIF Research Advisor John Seely Brown at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching last year. Here JSB talks about tinkering as a mode of knowledge production.
College Unbound Set to Launch with Gala Fundraiser
Friends of the BIF community know that Dennis Littky, co-founder and director of The Big Picture Company and The Met School, is one of the most successful school reformers in the country. His education model - based on the belief that schools must be personalized, educating every student equally, one student at a time - had led to the creation of 37 high-performing high schools across the country. Dennis has now set his sights on the college experience with a new school called College Unbound.
Chris Finlay Joins Business Innovation Factory Team
The Business Innovation Factory is pleased to welcome Chris Finlay to the BIF team. Chris will serve as design director for the BIF Student Experience Lab, which opens May 18. Chris comes to BIF from New York City, where he most recently served as a managing partner at DMD Experience Design, a boutique innovation consultancy that works with organizational leadership on user-driven product and service development. “We are very pleased to have Chris on board at BIF and in the lead on the launch of the BIF Student Experience lab,” says BIF executive director Melissa Withers. “His expertise leading user-driven research and design work is a great match for BIF and the Student Experience Lab.”
Update from the Student Experience Lab Team
In the days following BIF’s announcement that we had launched a new Student Experience Lab (thanks again, Lumina Foundation!) we received dozens of emails, Twitter tweets and calls from people who shared our belief that the current post secondary education system is in deep trouble. From financial woes to the appalling barriers adult learners face in accessing the education and training they need to compete in a rapidly changing economy, people from across the BIF network came out in support of the effort.
BIF Summer Wine Extravaganza, Welcome Party for Chris Finlay
Join us at BIF on June 25 at 5:30pm for a summer wine tasting and meet and greet for BIF’s newest teammate, Chris Finlay. We yanked Chris away from NYC a month ago to run BIF’s new Student Experience Lab. Come say hello.
Thanks to Andrea Sloan at Best Beverage / FJN Fine Wines, LLC we’ll be sampling fresh summer whites, a few gloriously chilled reds and whatever else these wine wizards are serving this summer. Andrea will be here to introduce the wines and give you some tips on what to look for in a killer summer sipper.
Student Interviews Open Conversation about What it Means to Be a Student
Our first student interviews are underway and they are even more provocative than I could have imagined. We met Sean, who is a painter and at 31 is about to finish his undergraduate painting degree. Sean is covered in tattoos, has a wife and new baby girl. Sean is off for the summer because he refuses to take private loans and is having trouble finding work as a messenger. That probably calls up some pretty specific thoughts about how Sean might have treated his choices in life. But here is the thing about Sean, he is thoughtful and purposeful in his life. Sean has an unbelievable amount of compassion and care for the world and has followed a unique path. Sean dropped out of the "EMT school" his parents had insisted he attend at 18 and went "on the road." Sean knew that he was not ready for school and that the career his parents had wanted was not the one for him. He stood his ground and found his own way. When asked about his decisiveness here is what Sean had to say.
Customizing Class
It has been my pleasure to explore the world of education that is filled with so many brilliant minds coming at the challenge of education from an impressive variety of perspectives. This morning I was able to speak with one of those bright minds University of Kentucky professor and Online Community Manager Christopher Rice (you can find him on Twitter @ricetopher and on his blog http://christopherscottrice.wordpress.com).
A Conversation with Don Fraser on Helping Kids Succeed
I recently had the pleasure to meet Don Fraser, Director of College Access and Transition at the MET, an innovative public school system in Rhode Island based on the idea that a person’s deepest learnings come from authentic experiences. The MET's curriculum is focused on blending school-based learning with outside experiences to heighten student's interests and create relevancy, personalizing their instruction and making parents true partners in their education.
Meet Jhan: A Look at Today’s Student Experience
Recently, the BIF Student Experience team had a compelling conversation with a student named Jhan at his family home after work. Well spoken and deeply self aware, Jhan came to the US in 6th grade, learning English initially, and then attending Feinstein School South Providence, Rhode Island, where he completed a cross disciplinary education there based on portfolio work.
Despite his success in college, Jhan has some regrets about this style of education, sometimes feeling that he never really mastered basic academic skills and misses nuances of common knowledge that other students at an elite Post Secondary education experience have.
College Life for Henry
A few weeks ago, the Student Experience Lab team sat down at the BIF offices to talk to Henry, a current student at a technical college. His educational journey has always been filled with support from family and friends, and his inquisitive nature has lead him to graduate from a cooking school, attend a community college, and also attend a technical school.
A Meet Up with New England Tech on Making Student-Centric Curriculum
The BIF Team had a chance to sit down with Karen Arnold, Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs at the New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) in Warwick, Rhode Island to talk to her about the school and how the school tries to position itself to appeal to potential students, and how it provides relevant education to ensure job placement after graduation.
The Reality of Taking Student Loans: Meet JC and Sarah
Over the past 2 weeks, we had a series of interviews with two students, JC and Sarah. Both going to college. Even though they both go to different schools for different majors, both experience many of the same hardships. Below are a few excerpts from an interview in which we focused on their experiences making the choice for college, dealing with financial strains, and dealing with the financial aid administration system.
Dr. Alice Wilder Joins BIF Board of Directors
Educational psychologist, kids television guru and all-around amazing woman Alice Wilder has joined the Business Innovation Factory’s Board of Directors. Alice is no stranger to BIF. In 2006, she was a storyteller at the BIF-2 Summit, where she talked about her early work designing new programming for kids. In the years following, Alice has stayed in close contact and we’ve had the pleasure of watching her work evolve.
BIF Student Experience Lab Featured in New England Journal of Higher Education
BIF Executive Director Melissa Withers was recently tapped by the New England Journal of Higher Education to write an article about the BIF Student Experience Lab. There article’s release is especially timely: the lab debuted outputs from its first phase of work earlier this month at the BIF-5 Summit and on October 7, debuted an interactive "experience map" based on research and interviews with students from all walks of life and at different stages of their academic career.
BIF-5 Videos Now Available!
The BIF-5 Summit videos are now available on our Innovation Story Studio.
Since there's nothing better than a great story, please, let your friends and colleagues know. You'll find each of the videos in a shareable and embeddable format.
Also, in keeping with the spirit of the summit of our innovation conversation, we want to hear what you think. Please take a moment to visit the site and share your own reflections about the storytellers.
On behalf of everyone here at BIF, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all the participants - storytellers and audience members alike - who made BIF-5 such an extraordinary experience.
And now, we're officially in BIF-6 planning mode. Have a cool story to share? Drop me a line.
10 Ways to Recognize the Innovators In Your Organization
Can you recognize an innovator when you meet one? In his latest Mass High Tech column, BIF founder Saul Kaplan offers the 10 behavioral characteristics he uses to recognize an innovator. "If the game is to identify and connect the innovators, how do you identify them and ensure that they have the resources and freedom to innovate?" After years of honing his targeting and selection process, here are Saul's first five traits:
- Innovators think there is a better way.
- Innovators know that without passion there can be no innovation.
- Innovators embrace change to a fault.
- Innovators have a strong point of view but know that they are missing something.
- Innovators know innovation is a team sport.
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