SparkBugg - A blog about sharing bright ideas. 9 Quirky Things Every 'Cool' Workplace Is Required to Have. If you have any interest in games or animation or technology, you've probably watched a "look how fun and crazy our workplace is" video or photo tour of some company. They'll throw everything from scooters to Nerf guns at you to show you how their company is basically Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory if Willy Wonka made software. But if you watch enough of these tours you start to notice the same things coming up again and again.
Exactly how "out of the box" is something when every single one of your competitors is doing the exact same thing? Take a look at these things and you decide: #9. Nerf Guns Working At Popcap I know what they were thinking here. Short answer, lots of people. I'm just saying, it's not exactly Die Hard. Each person posts theirs as if people's minds are going to be boggled that Nerf guns would be used in a workplace.
There is nothing more exciting than a guy standing in front of a company logo without a Nerf gun, talking about Nerf guns. But wait! #8. MashableHQ.com #7. Are 2-Year Colleges the Path to Jobs? What's the Latest Development? Canada is finding that its system of community colleges is better at preparing students for employment than its traditional four-year universities. And students who are ready to enter the workforce prefer shorter, more specific degree programs over required courses in underwater basket weaving and philosophical systems of the 18th century. Community colleges are more nimble, able to respond faster to industry when it needs workers trained for specific tasks, such as video game design which has become big business in Toronto.
What's the Big Idea? The American economic crisis is partly an education crisis in two main areas: cost and job preparedness. Currently, many Americans who leave four-year degree programs are heavily indebted, leaving them without the resources necessary to create new economic engines like independent businesses. Photo credit: shutterstock.com. Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity. M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All.
Thiel Foundation To New Crop Of College-Bound Grads: Don't Go. To overworked high school seniors anxiously filing college applications, we have some good news. You don’t have to go. To 19-year-old college students ripe with talent we have even better news: You can leave. Your parents won’t tell you this, guidance counselors won’t tell you this, and university administrators, test prep companies, politicians, a nearly $1 trillion student loan industry, and other unscrupulous profiteers won’t tell you that you don’t have to go. They want you to believe that college is a guaranteed gateway to a successful career and that they’ll help you get there. But you already have what it takes to achieve great things and the price for what college offers--a wicked cocktail of debt, status, insurance, and consumption--is a scam. Last year, the Thiel Foundation (established by Peter Thiel, right) decided to start a revolution.
It’s easy to see how people have been lulled into bad choices. We know what they’re not good for. But you can say no. MIT expands its free online courses. While students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pay thousands of dollars for courses, the university will shortly announce a new programme allowing anyone anywhere to take MIT courses online free of charge – and for the first time earn official certificates for demonstrating mastery of the subjects taught, writes Tamar Lewin for The New York Times .
“There are many people who would love to augment their education by having access to MIT content, people who are very capable to earn a certificate from MIT,” said L Rafael Reif, the provost, in a conference call with reporters on Friday. MIT’s free OpenCourseWare now includes nearly 2,100 courses and has been used by more than 100 million people. But the new ‘MITx’ interactive online learning platform will go further, giving students access to online laboratories, self-assessments and student-to-student discussions. Full report on The New York Times site.