The Daily Riff - BE SMARTER. ABOUT EDUCATION.

What I'm reading now: Laptop U - Has the future of college moved online?

The New Yorker has a big sprawling piece on MOOCs - a Must-Read. Read more

Tom Friedman: Think Like an Immigrant

Five Ways to Succeed in Life and Work Read more

Advice for Teens Going to College

Weekend Funnies: "Amid skyrocketing tuition costs and dismal job prospects, Aasif Mandvi imparts a healthy fear of higher education in a group of at risk young people." (04:57) Read more

Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner

Connected Learning: Communities and Collectives - Conversations with John Seely Brown (Part 2) about A New Culture of Learning PLUS videos from DML Read more

The Bad Habits You Learn in School

And it's not about smoking. John Coleman via Harvard Business Review Read more

Turning on the Light

Blog post from MIT student Kirsten L. - #BostonStrong #MITStrong Read more

Here a MOOC, there a MOOC, everywhere a MOOC, MOOC . . .

16 Possible Effects of MOOCs
The good, the bad and the ugly Read more

Shaping Serendipity for Learning: Conversations with John Seely Brown

"Conventional wisdom holds that different people learn in different ways. Something is missing from that idea, however, so we offer a corollary: Different People, when presented with exactly the same information in exactly the same way, will learn different things. Read more

High Schoolers: "What You'll Wish You'd Known"

It's dangerous to design your life around getting into college Read more

The Practical University?

Musings on college: Visiting with high schoolers, David Brooks and Stanford University's new video series on MOOCs: " . . ."It's the beginning of a wholesale reorganization of teaching and learning in higher education." Read more

Are we creating innovators? 22 Insights

C.J. Westerberg dissects new book by Tony Wagner - "Creating Innovators" Video Trailer Read more

Forget Calculus. Learn Statistics. It's about data, stupid.

UPDATE TODAY The 3 Billion Dollar Brain - Obama's Brain Activity Map Read more

THE LIST: 12 Top Technologies in Education

Breakthroughs, Disruptions and Spin Read more

"Revolution Hits the Universities": MOOCs

"Nothing has more potential . . . " -NYTimes Columnist and Author (The World is Flat) Thomas L. Friedman Read more

Rethinking College

"I believe that we are in the midst of a major transformation in the human experience." - Dr. Joseph Ganem Read more

Two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner, Harvard Professor did not take Algebra until College (!)

Are we too obsessed with Math requirements? by CJ Westerberg Read more

Math Heaven and Hell

"My different studies have shown that students who engage actively in their mathematics learning, rather than simply practicing procedures, achieve at higher levels." - Stanford professor Dr. Jo Boaler Read more

What Students (Really) Need to Know

"A good rule of thumb for many things in life holds that things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then happen faster than you thought they could." - Lawrence Summers Read more

College M.I.A.'s #7

College Missing In Action: J.D. Salinger, Harry S. Truman, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner -- Didn't Attend College Or Dropped Out -- "Some of the people coming out of those apprenticeships are in more demand than college graduates because they've actually managed things in the workplace." Read more

"I can write a 20-page research paper and my roommate can't .."

It's an amazing skill. Also, they feel more comfortable talking. They report they are participating in class discussions and backing up what they say with evidence and that they feel very comfortable in their first year of college. It's amazing how often we hear from college profs and job recruiters how these skills - writing, communicating, researching and supporting an argument in-depth - are lacking, even from "A" students. A disconnect of assessment, one would think. Read more

"A" students tend to become professors, and "C" students become wealthy donors...

"Creativity, he said, might be an even more valuable asset that educators and parents should emphasize." -WSJ quoting Larry Summers, former President of Harvard, President Obama and Clinton advisor Read more

More College M.I.A.s --- Larry Ellison, James Cameron . . .

Larry Ellison of Oracle recently closed on the purchase of a majority ownership of land in Lanai, Maui, Hawaii (for those who've been on vacation), which was the catalyst for re-publishing this classic post which may still resonate . . . Like it or him or not, he is another M.I.A. (Missing in Action- didn't graduate or attend college who is among the notable and/or accomplished) Read more

Say 'No' to the Greek Chorus

"The mess, the mess! . . . an engraved invitation to transformation. . . Certainty is dead. . ." Read more

The Cost of College: The Pushback

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is having a busy week on the heels of President Obama's State of the Union address Read more

College: Debt too damn high - Should I stay or should I go?

Should I Stay or Should I go? Another bubble about to pop? Read more

Dr. Jane (Ph.D.) Can't Network, Either

Guest Post: "Dr. Jane Knows How To Narrowly Present Herself To A Unique Audience Of Like-Minded Individuals. Is It Any Surprise That Students Aren't Well-Equipped For Our Present Economy?" Read more

Saying No to Standardized Testing for College?

Colleges & Universities Jump On Board the "Test Optional" Movement: No SAT or ACT
VIDEO: One Student's Journey + Lawrence University Shares Views Read more

Girls go to college, and boys create and run tech businesses. Ouch.

"Are girls better at school and boys better at breaking the rules?" Read more

College Drop-Out Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech: "Three Stories From My Life"

Followed His Curiosity & Intuition Which "Turned Out To Be Priceless Later On" VIDEO Read more

Phillips Academy Andover Students Rap About Learning

It's all there - auto-tunes and rap juxtaposed with professors and football fields. Read more

How I Spent My Summer: Being Edgy

"Colleges have moved people from thinking they should be exceptionally well rounded to using the vocabulary that 'well rounded' means 'no edge,' " Read more

Got Jobs? Yup. Got Tech?

A Help Wanted Listing via Fred Wilson post Read more

Thiel "Shows Them the Money" - pays 20 entrepreneurs $100,000 to drop out of college

Winners include "Flipped Classroom" Initiatives Read more

What if . . . College Had No Clothes?

How would high school be different? Read more

The Most Important Higher Education Study in Years - "Trust Us" won't cut it anymore

"Trust Us" Won't Cut It Anymore: American higher education,' the researchers found, 'is characterized by limited or no learning for a large proportion of students.' Read more

Cornell Professor Roars at Yawning Student

Having a Bad DayOn-line lectures don't have melt-downs.  No wonder reverse teaching (lectures on-line with in-class work more engaging) is becoming a top-line conversation.  May be a better deal for both students AND professors.Seth Godin has a point.Related posts in... Read more

Pushing back on mediocre professors

Seth Godin: "The vast majority of email I get from college students is filled with disgust, disdain and frustration at how backwards the system is." Read more

College Grads: Diploma First. Passport Next.

"I don't care where you went to business school. I don't care whether your grades were good or bad. You have to leave the country." Read more

The College MIA List #6: Those Who Dropped Out Or Never Attended

* Read More About the Steve Wozniak Relationship (Rift?) With Steve Jobs, Fellow M.I.A. In This Fascinating Piece From Slate: "The iPad is Steve Jobs' Final Victory Over The Company's Co-founder Steve Wozniak." Read more