Workforce requirements of college grads A National Survey of Business and Non Profit Leaders Overview and Key Findings Especially since the recent economic downturn and in light of the increasingly competitive global economy, employers express concerns about whether the U.S. is producing enough college graduates and whether they have the skills, knowledge, and personal responsibility to contribute to a changing workplace and help companies and organizations succeed and grow. This report provides a detailed analysis of employers’ priorities for the kinds of learning today’s college students need to succeed in this innovation-fueled economy. It also reports on changes in educational and assessment practices that employers recommend. This report is part of a series on surveys and focus groups that the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has commissioned since 2005, when it began its national initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP). Innovation a Priority Cross-Cutting Capacities vs.
10 Things Your Students Should Know About Their Digital Footprints Building a digital legacy is an issue I believe doesn’t garner enough attention in our personal and professional lives. In fact, some of the heaviest users of online tools and social media, are our young students, who are growing up as a generation of visual learners and visual attention seekers. This is in fact the Facebook and YouTube generation, and the reality is that many teens are unconcerned about the dangers of sharing personal information online. A highly respected education advocate, Kevin Honeycutt, once asked me if any of us from our generation (GenX and before), had ever made a mistake in puberty. He then asked if our mistakes are “Googleable.” The reality is that our mistakes from puberty are not “Googleable”. With that in mind, I have developed some important facts and opinions that our students should be completely aware of as they live in their digital world, creating digital footprints along the way. 1.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) 10.) Good luck!
Crowdfunding Market Grows 81% in 2012: Crowdfunding Platforms Raise $2.7 Billion and... -- LOS ANGELES, April 8 LOS ANGELES, April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Crowdfunding is accelerating at an unprecedented rate and impacting government policy, informing enterprise innovation, and changing the role of financial institutions around the world. Today, massolution®, a research firm specializing in the crowdsourcing and crowdfunding industries, released its annual 2013CF - Crowdfunding Industry Report. After collecting data from 308 active crowdfunding platforms (CFPs) worldwide and undertaking significant further research, the results reveal that CFPs raised $2.7 billion in 2012 – an 81% increase over 2011 – and successfully funded more than one million campaigns. North America and Europe account for over 95% of the total market. (Logo: Growth Rates By Region Although crowdfunding offers a growing number of countries opportunities to access funds, North America and Europe raised much more capital than platforms in other regions. Growth Rates By Models
Online Predators | Family Safe Computers Online Predators Sexual predators do exist and are a very real threat. They target both boys and girls of all ages and use the anonymity of the Internet to their advantage since they can be whomever they want. Many are master manipulators with skills that can cripple any child's sense of awareness. This is known as the grooming process and predators look for children that are more technically savvy than their parents. They look for children that are emotionally vulnerable which can be related to personal issues derived from problems at school or home. With the presence of searchable user profiles when using Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms, as well as Social Networking profiles and even video hosting sites like YouTube, predators can easily find information about potential victims since many naive children reveal personal information with no regard for safety. The Internet is a worldwide network that stretches far beyond the grasp of the US judicial system. Predator Grooming *Disclaimer*
Your Crowdfunding Campaign Is Doomed Without This To be successful in rewards-based crowdfunding, effective use of social media is critical. Gaining financial support through social media is not as simple as posting a picture of your lunch on Facebook or retweeting the latest joke from Jimmy Kimmel. Successful crowdfunding through social media requires planning, dedication and determination. A few tips from your favorite crowdfunding expert also can’t hurt. The process of using social media for crowdfunding starts weeks before a crowdfunding campaign launches. Related: Before You Launch a Crowdfunding Campaign, Do These 6 Things In the days before a campaign launch, successful crowdfunders do two things. Facebook. Facebook posts should include photos from the campaign, links to the crowdfunding video, “thank you” posts for donors and posts detailing each reward. Related: Your Crowdfunding Cheat Sheet (Infographic) Twitter. LinkedIn. Interaction is the key to successful social media engagement.
Protecting Kids From Online Predators Troubling research about our kids’ lack of online smarts and predators’ new grooming techniques to lure them. Advice based on new studies to keep kids safer online and parents and child givers better educated. Studies show that predators are using more subtle and savvier ways to “befriend” kids including pretending to be another teen or child as a means of forming a relationship. The purpose of this blog is not to scare you or have you overreact and pull the plug on your computer. The chance that your child will be befriended by an online predator is rare. But the news about two Virginia Tech students befriending and then luring a vulnerable 13 year old online only to allegedly murder her is so horrific and sad that it should make every parent watch their children closer and have a serious conversation about online safety. But the Virginia Tech story is not isolated. So, not to scare you, just to educate you and hopefully save you from the heartbreak those parents are now enduring. 1. 2.
Kickstarter Is About To Crowdfund Its $1 Billionth Dollar How much money would you guess the Internet has collectively thrown at Kickstarter? Don’t bother whipping out the ol’ graphing calculator — Kickstarter actually shares that number regularly. Sometime quite soon, Kickstarter will surpass $1 billion dollars pledged. This comes from Kickstarter’s own statistics page, where the company regularly provides a breakdown of where the money is going on the site. As of this morning, Kickstarter has seen $999,209,752 dollars pledged to projects — or roughly $791K shy of the big B. One thing worth noting: this is dollars pledged across “Successfully Funded” projects, projects in progress, and those that didn’t meet their final goal. Other interesting stats that can be gleaned from the page: 135,270 campaigns have launched on KickstarterOf those, 57,052 (43%) reached their funding goal. (For the curious: Kickstarter takes a 5% cut of successful campaigns.
Cyberbullying - National Bullying Prevention Center Just as the use of technology itself has evolved, so has the ability to bully. Bullying, once restricted to the school or neighborhood, has now moved into the online world. Bullying through electronic means is referred to as “cyberbullying.” As adults, thinking back, it was just a generation ago that kids and teens were asking their parents for a phone in their room — maybe even one with a separate line or three-way calling — so they could easily and somewhat privately connect with more friends. Today, a kid or teen’s desire to connect with friends has not changed, but the options for doing so have grown tremendously. Just as young people used to spend unmonitored time playing with friends in the neighborhood, outside the periphery of adults, they are now engaging with each other in the cyberworld, “talking” with each other, “talking” to each other, and “talking” about each other, often without adult or parental monitoring. Definition Other helpful definitions include: Rates of Incidence