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Tiffany Sunday

Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

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Redesigning Education – An Interview with Tom Segal of Rethink Education

May 1, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

School Photos for Blog Post 005The Internet and digital technology is disrupting education at all levels.  Just like the publishing and music industries, education is undergoing an evolution.

Today, students regardless of age can learn a wide range of topics beyond the four walls of a traditional classroom.

Our kids think and learn differently than previous generations and have access to more information and collective knowledge than prior Presidents and Heads of State.

What is fascinating about this generation is how they are using this knowledge to launch their ideas early instead of waiting until college or afterwards.

When I was a kid, we had to earn money the old fashion way – babysitting, washing cars or mowing yards. Today, kids can raise money for startup projects on Kickstarter, earn royalties from YouTube videos or resell server rack space. They are tech savvy and can navigate the Internet and Social Media with ease.

Each day, I read about a new iEducation startup that offers alternative method for teaching coding, problem solving and skill building for the next generation. Both Code Academy and Tynker, offer innovative methods of teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

I believe future employment will require a blending of several critical skills: problem solving, programming and creative design. Digitization is spreading across all industries and we know that any job that can be automated will be in the future.   Conversely, we will also witnessing a shortage in highly skilled trade employees.

So how do we prepare our kids for the future?

Progressive schools understand that education must be redesigned to prepare our kids for the future.  Classes are being tweaked so that students learn to solve difficult problems in groups, to find hidden opportunities and to understand the intersection of technology and humanities.

RethinkEducationLogoRethink Education is an investment team that seeks to reinvent education by investing in ideas, people and concepts that will change education. Last month, I visited with Tom Segal who is an Analyst at Rethink Education.

Our conversation was thought provoking as we discussed every aspect of education.  When talking about the team’s vision, Tom stated “we are looking to disrupt across the entire education spectrum with a focus on lifelong learning. We believe in the promotion of good ideas.”

Our conversation moved from disrupting education to taking responsibility of our own career and education needs. Penelope Trunk blogged last year about “Age of Responsibility” which lead to a discussion of how we are entering into a new era where we are responsible for our children’s education and our ongoing career development.

Tom said “purchasing a diploma is no longer sufficient today.  We must all continue to reinvent ourselves and constantly learn new skills.”

Taking education one step further, Rethink Education has backed EverFi; a company that teaches financial literacy to high school students.

Each and every student should have a solid understanding of real life financial skills from knowing how to balance their checkbook to understanding fees assocated with their 401k accounts.  Clay Piggy is another startup that focuses on teaching kids good money management skills.  

In our parents’ generation, having a diploma was a sufficient stepping stone to securing a position for life.  Our generation and future generations will be required to pivot frequently to meet the demands of the changing economy.

Leland Stanford set guidelines for the University that he created.  Education must offer “personal success and direct usefulness in life” that professors must understand the relevance of education.

Relevance of education does not involve excelling at standardize tests.   Relevance matters when teachers and educators offer skills that will meet future business and employment demands.

Other Related Blog Postings

Why Digital Profiles Matter

Digital Profiles Have Made Resumes Obsolete

Filed Under: Book Updates

Opting Out of Busy Work

March 18, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

What is the purpose of busy work?

To keep individuals focused on mindless tasks to prevent them from questioning authority?

Busy work is a time filler that is used everywhere from education to non-profits.

Need to make a decision?

Let’s form a committee, two sub committees and a tiger team to find a solution.

Why?

We have been trained to believe that decisions cannot be reached without a committee.

Precious time is spent discussing the original problem to the point it becomes so watered down that we lose sight of what we were doing in the first place.

Wasted time that could have been used to find a solution and seek new opportunities.

Busy work is the norm in our public schools.

How else can the teachers keep the students focused when PE is eliminated?

Busy work accomplishes nothing.

Choose to Opt Out.

Filed Under: Writing

Digital Profiles Have Made Resumes Obsolete

February 7, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

Campus2careersLast week, I wrote about why our digital profiles matter.  The post included a futurist story that I wrote illustrating the impacts of the Hyperconnected Economy.

Resumes are now obsolete as recruiters and HR Departments use the Internet and social media platforms like LinkedIn to find qualified and talented candidates.   The Internet is also changing how we conduct our job searches and submit profiles for employment consideration.

Creating a unique and powerful digital profile gives you the advantage of being heard above the digital clutter.   Technology is now our competitor for employment not individuals in China or India.

College graduates today face one of the most complex and chaotic employment environment compared to previous generations.  Placement centers are out-of- date and provide obsolete information to college seniors and graduates.  I anticipate that our universities and colleges will undergo a major change similar to the music and publishing industries.   The Internet is changing education; students can access online classes from elementary math to physics at Stanford.

To gain a competitive advantage in the new economy we must have a rememberable digital profile, strong tech skills and diverse professional network.

Nathan GreenLast month, I talked with Nathan Green, co-founder of campus2careers.  We discussed his company and all the career services available for college graduates.  Nathan understands the importance of having a rich digital profile.  His company has created a platform that helps college students find jobs that match their goals and personality.

Campus2careers is a community which is different from job posting boards like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com.  Instead of filtering job postings, campus2caeers matches college students and recent graduates with a wide range of businesses from startups to medium size companies.  Both parties benefit from this service as many small businesses have limited resources and are now able to find qualified candidates.  Students have more career opportunities.

What I like best about campus2careers is that it uses preferences and skill-based matching along with well-crafted digital profiles to match college students to employers.   The algorithms used to match the students is similar to online dating.

So, how do you know if you have a good digital profile?

Social media ranking platforms such as Klout,Kredand Rebel Mouse offer very little insight on how to improve your ranking.   I’m not a fan of Klout because the information and ranking appears to be arbitrary.  According to Klout, I’m an influencer in roller skating and shoes.   Really?

Qnary is a new company with a platform that builds upon the social media ranking sites.  The platform analyzes all your profiles together and then provides a private profile score.  This score is similar to a credit score.   Qnary offers recommendations on how to improve your score.

Qnary logo_newI created a Qnary account to test drive the platform.  It noted several gaps in my digital profile and how these gaps can be improved.  Qnary’s best feature is that it offers one stop analyzation with recommendations on how to make your online brand image better.

campus2careers is leading the future for helping high school and college students with career development and job placement.

Our digital profiles are important and will continue to have a greater impact on our careers.  To rise above the human capital, we will need to utilize services like campus2careers and Qnary to gain an advantage in this rapidly changing economy.

For full transparency, I have a referral agreement with Qnary.

Filed Under: Book Updates

Why Your Digital Profile Matters

February 1, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

Jeff 2

I would like to share a story with you that will explain why your digital profile matters.  It is a story about the future and where we are headed.

Special thanks to Jeff Gammons for the photo, he was working Friday morning near the Florida Coast.

Spring 2020

Payton Muse runs his robotics business from an Android tablet that is synced to his phone. From the cloud he manages his business and personal life.  He owns two homes one in Berkley, California and a vacation home in Lombok, Indonesia. Payton has not used a desk top computer in six years.

He manages a multi-million dollar company with factories in Asia and Latin American with less than 1000 employees. The majority of his employees are non-human robots; his company uses robots to build other robots for the company’s global clients.

Robotics and technology were new to Payton.  He studied finance at Duke and worked as a securities trader for a large Wall Street firm.  In January 2009, Payton and his fellow co-workers were layoff as a result of the 2008 recession. Payton moved in with his college buddy who also worked in New York City. Seth was an IT specialist for a large company in Manhattan and convinced Payton to change his career.

Payton could see how the Internet was changing everything. He continued to hang out and have drinks with several of his Wall Street friends.  Two friends were quant traders for large institutional hedge funds.  His girlfriend, Sophia, was a social media marketer for a startup company. They would spend hours talking about technology and potential business opportunities.

In 2010, Payton and Seth launched a robotics company.  Payton was the salesman and Seth developed the technology.  Sophia helped Payton and Seth with marketing and social media. She built strong online digital profiles for both as she understood the importance of digital branding and communication.

Payton’s Klout score helped secure the first round of funding and Kickstarter supplied the rest of the capital.  The company used Square for digital payments and interns searched the Internet for apps and services that increased efficiency and saved money.

In 2012, Seth left the company to launch a 3-D printing venture; Payton was one of the initial investors.  Payton and Sophia got married and moved to California.  In 2014, Sophia started working at a think tank to help companies adapt to the new economy.

By 2020, all of Payton’s business and personal needs are managed via the Internet.  His team uses the vast online cloud services to manage every aspect of the business.  He retains campus2careers to handle the company’s recruitment for talented individuals.

Campus2careers uses algorithms to successfully find the ideal employees for Payton’s company and clients around the world.   Candidates are required to have a digital profile for employment.

Payton’s son, Branson, created a digital profile for campus2careers when he was 14.  Branson takes online classes and earns credits and skill badges from different online school platforms.  Once Branson completes the required high school skills he will obtain recommendations from campus2careers to advance his education and skill set.

Many of the universities went bankrupt in 2016 and the U.S. Government took control of several large universities.  For-profit startup educational services were launched to match the growing market need of online education.

Educational services award skill badges to students in all disciplines from accounting to technology.  Employers post skill and badge requirements online for students.  This posting system serves as an initial check list for students.   Certificates and skill badges are posted to the person’s digital profile.

As 2020 comes to a close, our online digital profile has replaced the resume, business card and personal ID cards.   Bank loans, car rentals, hotel rooms and more are booked via our digital profiles.   We use thumb readers to log into Internet to work, pay bills and shop.

Back to February 2013  

For most of us, thinking about 2020 is the last topic on our mind.  We are focused on work, families, grocery shopping and the upcoming Super Bowl.   Even looking back to 2006, can feel like a blur for most of us.   Can you remember life without Twitter or Facebook?

Most of us think of social media as a marketing function or something my sister does at such and such company.   Yet, social media is a disruptive emerging digital technology that is changing how we communicate.  Some thought leaders believe that social media is rewiring our brains.

We must learn to adapt and use these new technologies to our advantage.  Every day I read an article or blog discussing the importance of maintaining your social profile.  Recruiters talk about how they spend hours on LinkedIn and Twitter looking for the ideal candidate.

Back in the Industrial Revolution, individuals built professional reputations and business networks to secure new employment or clients.   Today, social media has digitized our professional reputation for the world to see.  Now, the good, bad and ugly can be seen by everyone and we have less control over what others say and post.

With the digitization of our reputation, creating and maintaining a strong digital profile matters more now than ever before.   By building a strong self-brand we are securing our place on the long tail of the Connected Economy.

To be heard, we all must create a digital self-brand.  Our online and offline worlds have merged and everything is now transparent.   Thomas Chamorro-Premuzic talked about creating a self-brand that rises above the noise of the human capital.   I put my spin on his quote – creating a digital brand is about being a loud unique signal that is artfully crafted to rise above the digital clutter.

Be unique, be an artist.   Check out this artfully crafted digital resume.

 

Filed Under: Book Updates

Interview with Scott Ewert on How Technology and Creativity Impacts Your Career Options

January 11, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

We are at the intersection of technology and humanities.   Understanding how technology and creativity impacts our career options will be crucial to maintaining employment.   No industry is immune as technology and the Internet has changed our economy and careers.

Big Data and 3-D Printers are opening up a whole new world of possibilities for established companies and startups.   Talented professionals who are both technically savvy and creative will see their opportunities increase as companies seek to improve their competitive edge.

I visited with Scott Ewert[www.lucasgroup.com/scott-ewert/]  (Managing Partner for the Lucas Group) last week to learn more about how technology and design were impacting employment.   Scott is a Dallas based IT executive recruiter who has a passion for technology, startups and social media.  He works closely with top tier Fortune 500 companies to locate and secure IT professionals for top positions.

We talked about the tech industry and how Big Data, the Internet, Mobile Apps and Social Media is changing our industries and professions.  When I asked him what sectors of the tech industry were growing, he said that it was hard to put your finger on any one sector as technology is part of every business.   I have summarized our conversation and added a few points of my own.

Big Data

He stated that the need for IT professionals will continue increase.  The demand for individuals who can understand big data, extract the data, act upon the data and then build a strategy increases each month.  Companies are seeking talented individuals who can make sense of the information.  To drive innovation, I believe we must understand how to connect these dots across multiple unrelated platforms.

Scott mentioned that all companies big and small understand the importance of business intelligence and big data.  He believes that big data will continue to be a significant driver for companies that seek to improve internal and external logistics.  Before big data, companies focused on B2B now businesses can understand at a greater level the B2C component.

Last week, Advertising Ad 2013 Review mentioned a potential problem for big data – a shortage of scientists.  Companies are seeking a data quant, yet there are not enough qualified computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers to meet the demand.

We both believe that technology is siphoning talent from other industries.  More college students are pursuing tech degrees instead of accounting.   The demand for computer scientist and mathematicians will continue to increase in the future as our world becomes digitized.

Securing big data is driving another demand – IT security experts.  Scott has noted an increase in request from clients for IT security experts.   I believe the need for IT security experts will continue to increase through 2013.  Companies will need creative IT security professionals to think three and four steps ahead of the hackers.

Mobile and Social Media

Mobile Apps and Social Media will continue to change the economy and how we obtain information from the Internet. Everything is going mobile and companies are spending more money each month to develop mobile apps.  Scott constantly seeks creative app developers for clients which drives demand for talented user experience front end developers.

Mobile Apps is still the buzz at this year’s 2013 CES Conference.  Our devices are now powerful enough to run what we want on them which generate strong demand from consumers.  Consumers and businesses want an App for everything!

Creativity

Creativity and design differentiates.  The company with the coolest, best designed device, app or online service wins.  Generation Y expects great design.  The Millennials grew up with Apple products and Starbuck’s.  Creativity is the foundation for great design.

Scott is receiving an increase in requests from companies for highly creative developers, individuals who can create something no one else has in the market.  Professionals with strong problem solving skills are also in great demand from top tier companies.  Creativity and problem solving skills are closely related as individuals must see multiple pathways to finding a solution.  He noted that problem solving skills are key requirements in today’s talent market.

Scott stressed that individuals must include on their resumes what they accomplished and the results.  All too often individuals list their job responsibilities and fail to include what they have achieved.

Created a new process – what were the results?  Think not like a factory worker.

Yes, LinkedIn Is Important to Your Career

Eighty percent of the professionals that Scott contacts are passive employees.  They are happy at their current position, compensated well and are not actively looking to change positions.   Most of these professionals do not have resumes.   He rarely if ever uses online job search websites like Monster.com to find candidates.

Scott spends four to five hours a day on LinkedIn searching for talent and creative developers.  We are all individual brands on the long tail of the new economy.

Scott’s Top Five Employment Tips:

  • Professionals in all industries must embrace change.
  • Avoid “keeping your head in the sand” spend time learning new technologies (social media).
  • Professionals must stay relevant; create a LinkedIn profile while you’re employed not when you suddenly need to find a new job.
  • The world is now transparent and having a social media profile is important (profiles are the new business card and resume).

Social Media can provide a career advantage.  To learn how to improve your career profile – check out Scott’s blog on leveraging your social media.

Connect with Scott Ewert
Twitter & LinkedIn

Filed Under: Writing

Tech Toolkit for Dyslexics

December 10, 2012 By Tiffany Sunday

On Monday December 3rd,  I posted Technology Releases Dyslexia’s Hidden Gift.  Several readers requested more information about my tech toolkit for dyslexics.

The photo about is a picture of a note card that sits on my desk. These three words are very difficult for me to spell and I have written them on a paper note card.  Having these words written down and easily accessible on my desk reduces the stress of digging through Word and Google in attempts to find the correct spelling. I still use note cards even though they are low tech.

Internet

Finding the correct spelling for a specific word creates the most difficulty during the day. I spend a lot of time writing each day for work and rely heavily on Google Search to find the correct spelling.

I’ve learned to include the misspelled word in a sentence when using Google Search. Google’s algorithms find the correct spelling 99.9% of the time.

For example:   Are Dianorse extinct?  I do not know the correct spelling for dinosaurs.

I enter the entire sentence in the Google search box and Google will ask “did you mean “dinosaurs are extinct?  Yes!

By entering the entire sentence in the search box you increase your odds of finding the correct spelling.

Apps 

Merriam-Webster App for both the iPhone and iPad.

What I love best about the app is the voice command and its two features: you can say the word that you are seeking or you can listen to the vocalization of a word that you have entered. Many times, I think the word is spelled correctly; however, when the word is vocalized it is different. I voice check between 25% – 30% of the words I enter into the app. I rely on my hearing to confirm that I have the correct word.

We use this app frequently for my son’s homework and for my business. Another great feature is the ability to select “favorite” for words you look up frequently for future reference.

Dragon Dictation [itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8]

We’ve used Dragon Dictation with moderate success. I’ve learned that for the app to work you must wear ear buds and speak slowly. Secondly, the room must be quiet with limited background noise. When the app works, its great and makes it easy to dictate book reports and documents.

 Smart Phones and Tablets

I utilize the note feature on my iPhone and iPad to store difficult words. For individuals whom are not dyslexic, you may wonder why I need these constant word reminders. Some words are just difficult for me to remember and spell. I look at them over and over, yet these words fail to imprinted into my brain.

Taking notes during client business meetings is faster and easier on the iPad. I’m less intimidated about writing in front of people and use the iPad for presentations. My son key boards his homework using the iPad and can complete his work sitting on the couch or at the dinner table.

I believe having the ability to write digitally is the greatest benefit we’ve gained from technology.

 

Filed Under: Dyslexia

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