“Ron Rivera wanted to learn about a winning culture, so he went to Jimmie Johnson’s garage,” by Sally Jenkins, in the Washington Post

“Rivera and Johnson’s instincts to cull professional advice from their seemingly unrelated fields is, whether they know it or not, a proven tactic for managerial success. According to researchers writing for the Harvard Business Review in a piece titled, ‘Sometimes the Best Ideas Come From Outside Your Industry,’ studies show that people who ‘pool insights from analogous areas’ in working on problems probably will get ‘significantly greater novelty in the proposed solutions.’ They find fresh language.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

1. Culture = Strategy.

2. Excellent cultures from organizations outside of your industry are likely to stimulate lots of great ways for you to strengthen your own.

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“Could micro-credentials compete with traditional degrees?” by Anisa Purbasari Horton, on BBC.com “Simon Nelson, CEO of FutureLearn, a UK-based learning platform that partners with universities to provide massive open online courses (MOOCs), believes that micro-credentials arose out of three global ‘macro trends’. One is the rapidly growing demand for high-quality tertiary education in developing societies, while the second is the digital transformation that has taken place in many industries. This change is ‘exacerbating the traditional skills gap’, says Nelson, and universities aren’t providing the training for the ‘range of new skills that are in high demand’. The third factor is the digitisation of the higher education sector, he adds. It’s no longer enough to obtain a degree; having a career now requires people to upskill continuously, yet ‘people can’t take the time out of their lives to attend physical establishments’.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Even though this article is focused on the European market, the three “global macro trends” creating pressure on the current credential system are identical to those faced by the US.

I say “credential system” because micro-credentials represent an opportunity for pioneers to disrupt higher education, which so far has had enjoyed a near-monopoly on the production and disemination of credentials.

For K12 schools who are part of the Mastery Transcript Consortium, there may be a special opportunity to differentiate themselves, given that the MTC model allows for a more modular approach to credentialing knowledge and skills.

…in a related vein…

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“Is ‘AQ’ more important than intelligence?” by Seb Murray, on BBC.com

“Fratto says AQ [Adaptivity Quotient] is not just the capacity to absorb new information, but the ability to work out what is relevant, to unlearn obsolete knowledge, overcome challenges, and to make a conscious effort to change. AQ involves flexibility, curiosity, courage, resilience and problem-solving skills too.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

How might we design learning experiences that not only allow students to practice AQ, but that might even capture AQ (or its constituent parts) in the form of new credentials?

Maybe that’s not possible.

But if it is… that would be a game changer.

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