How is it that a loosely connected group of people can consistently create better products than major corporations like Microsoft and General Motors? They collaborate! 

Take a look at Wikipedia. There is only one employee and he is a systems administrator. Everyone else involved volunteers their contributions. Does it work? You bet! Wikipedia has become one of the most successful websites in recent years.

Shirky’s presentation points out the weakness of bureaucracy suffered by large organizations. He points out how institutions hate to face the reality they are a barrier to their own success. He says they go through four stages of acceptance; denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance. Does this remind you of the Republican Party of late?

Beware Microsoft! Linux may be eating your lunch soon.

This is a great vodcast for any course covering organizational theory or leadership. I suggest a learning objective such as “the viewer will discuss the strengths of collaboration over traditional organizational models after viewing this video.” 

View the vodcast  at TEDTalks.

* * * * *  Very interesting!

First, slow down. I have a 30 mile commute to my school 5 days per week. My schedule varies too much to carpool so I’ve slowed down. Driving 55 mph instead of 65 mph saves me a lot of gas and it doesn’t really take that much longer to get to work. I’ve acheived average mpg’s as high as 40 in my Subaru Legacy but we can do much better.

Why not change the academic schedule to a 4 day week. Kalamazoo Valley Community College did it during the last oil crisis and cut back on gas consumption for students and faculty. Everyone liked it so well they kept it up long after the crisis ended. Just think, everyday weekend was a 3 day weekend!

Another thing we can do is teach online at least one day a week. This is going to be a hard sell on my campus. The Vice President of Academic Affairs tends to resist any changes that don’t originate in his office. So the trick is to get him to think its his idea. Hmm….

Fortunately I’ve been hired to do a workshop on Blackboard later this summer. My plan is to entice faculty to use podcasts and vodcasts in their courses. A little show-and-tell session with the VP ought to get his mental juices flowing.

The buzz of the summer is Microsoft’s brand new operating system Vista. I couldn’t think of a more appropriate statement concerning it than caveat emptor. 

If you are the IT guru at a institution of higher learning run as far away from Vista as you can. And fast! New versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system are like the sexy new cars our fathers warned us about. They were full of promises and looked great but they were all full of problems. Dad always said “wait a couple of years until they shake all the bugs out!” And he was right!

There have been lots of stories about all of the devices that stop working when you install Vista. They may be true. I don’t know. I do know that you want your students and faculty to come to a fully functioning campus. So, sit this one out for awhile and watch the agony of others.

If you really have to make a change junk out all of your PCs and replace them with Macs. Trust me on this. You won’t regret it.

I’ve spent most of my summer preparing for the upcoming academic year and writing a new workshop for the Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching & Learning. The weeds are growing well in my yard while I work 12 hour days and I’m loving it!

What’s new? Well I’m jazzing up my Blackboard courses with tons of new vodcasts and podcasts. These gems allow me to add content to my course for free! Imagine having Al Gore visit with your students about global warming or Peter Gabriel talk about witness.org. Impossible you say? Hardly. These are just the tip of the iceberg of educational materials that are freely available to you if you are brave enough to give them a try.

Come on in! The water if fine.