Author: Bob Martens

Categories
Education Life Technology

79. Self-Learning vs. Online Instruction

79. Self-Learning vs. Online Instruction

Research shows that online classes are most effective when there is substantial interaction among the students and between the students and the instructor. In this episode, Dr. Spiros Protopsaltis and Dr. Sandy Baum join us to discuss the possible adverse effects of proposed changes in federal regulations that may reduce the extent of this interaction.

This is a great episode which talks critically about how online education programs can also fail those same people they are meant to serve. For me, lost in some of the discussion around “access” is that online programs have allowed professionals like myself to pursue higher education degrees when I would have just stopped otherwise.

A lot of time and ink is given to other communities, and rightly so, but I am very thankful for the online opportunities that I have been given and is part of the reason that I continue to teach online as well.

Categories
Life Technology

scale is the enemy

scale is the enemy by Alan Jacobs

But that’s a feature, not a bug. Scale — as-big-as-possible, universal-not-local, something-for-everyone scale — is the enemy.

I am coming around to this way of thinking in many aspects of life … and even technology.

Categories
Business Leadership

How to Rands

How to Rands by Michael Lopp

This is a link to Michael Lopp’s README I wrote of before. There is a lot of good stuff in here. Maybe one day I’ll have this kind of clarity around my own leadership.

Categories
Business Education Leadership

The One About Manager READMEs

The One About Manager READMEs by Michael Lopp

In our ninth episode, we discuss the idea of Manager READMEs, vulnerability in the workspace, how Toyota empower its humans, and how much Rands detests drama.

I’m not sure if I will follow through with publicly posting my thoughts, but a bit of self-reflection on what it means to lead for me would probably go a long way in figuring out some things that have been sitting in my head and on my heart for a good number of weeks.

Categories
Business Technology

Apple’s Terrible No Good Very Bad Earnings Warning

Apple’s Terrible No Good Very Bad Earnings Warning by John Gruber

The other factor is that the modern — that is to say post-iPhone — smartphone market is 11 years old. It’s maturing, and in a mature market people replace devices less frequently.

I have a lot more thoughts on the bad downgrade to the coming quarter that Apple just announced, but my thoughts are not that important nor interesting. However, the anecdotes that I see bear out what Gruber states above: people do not upgrade nearly as often anymore. Coupled with he rise of the discount carriers in the USA and Apple not really having a phone to compete at the lowest levels and you are going to continue to see bouncing sales.

It is possible that Apple’s revenues are going to flatten out quite a bit. You will not see as high of highs, but the coming quarters will be even more interesting from the perspective of what iPhones sales are going to look like going forward.

There are, obviously, options for Apple to drum up sales numbers but the better question is what this new, hopefully humbler, Apple is going to look like going forward.