Emerging Technology

Dr. Wallace E. Boston is President and Chief Executive Officer of American Public University System (APUS) and its parent company, American Public Education, Inc. In a recent blog post, he filed a report about a University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (GSE) conference entitled “Innovation in an Era of Disruptive Change.” At this forum, attendees heard from Dr. Jack Wilson, President Emeritus of the University of Massachusetts, who spoke on the topic: “Evolution or Revolution: Everyone Wants Universities to Change but Exactly How is Not so Clear.”

Writing for VentureBeat, Gary Swart provides a guest blog post outlining his perspective on 2013 career trends. He, by the way, is the CEO of oDesk which is an organization that enables both buyers and providers of tech services to build business relationships around the world.

It is that time of year, of course. Predictions are everywhere. But some are important; many are valid. This one from Mr. Swart, for example, may influence what and how you study; how you prepare for that career ahead.

Writing for the Associated Press (AP), Josh Lederman reports on recent comments by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan who wants to see traditional textbooks rendered obsolete in a few short years. The article, which has a decidedly K-12 perspective (more on that below) notes the potential economic benefits of textbook digitization. It also notes the importance of digital textbooks when it comes to keeping up with educational systems in other countries where this trend is well underway.

Here’s a Texas-sized story about an ongoing debate in the Lone Star state over textbooks and technology. It is a K-12 story but it is all about a major question we at UMassOnline face all the time: what is the best allocation of funds for technology; what is the right balance of new and traditional?