It probably all comes down to the spread of the means of production Gabby. One of the great pieces of strategic management was the order to allow his troops to sit down by a Russian general - cutting casualties by 50%. This rather exposed the stupidity of the rules of engagement. I have tried a game with tax avoidance, criminal money and the standard value chain recently and my 'kids' soon got the hang of such 'business management'. No great skill with numbers was needed as I'd written some 'code' similar to financial algos that showed clear outcomes. Starbucks is using something similar. Ethics discussion arises in terms of having to do what the opposition might be getting away with.
On 15 Nov, 17:41, gabbydott <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, I'm not quite sure yet what to think of the moocy business > either. The idea is good though, I find. > As for games in education or gamification of educational content, it > is a great help for autistic learners, yes. The rules and constraints > within the bubble are reliable and predictable and the excitement > level is guaranteed. Knowledge transfer happens in a state of flow and > everyone is happy in the end. Or so. I didn't follow up on Chris' > Aemoebe(?) game project based on crowd funding. - I would want the > real kids to be given all the resources and support they need to be > able to produce their own games. > > 2012/11/15 archytas <[email protected]>: > > > > > > > > > We seem to be stuck in the ideological mud, including such stuff as > > education being any use to people who can't do it and allowing > > qualifications to focus power - an old Guild trick. The huge costs of > > 'expertise' focused in individuals rather than in an equal access > > system in which it is embodied is the same as unionised power. We now > > have computer buildings situated next to federal finance buildings in > > order to get information nano-seconds quicker so traders can front-run > > (illegal) on the inequity of information. There are such games > > Allan. When people play them in lab conditions knowing they are > > scrutinised they make the social, cooperative choices - fix a game > > where they think they aren't being scrutinised and they cheat. > > > On 15 Nov, 04:51, Allan H <[email protected]> wrote: > >> The business model is going to need be one for the betterment of society > >> rather than just for the desires of self and wealth. It is okay to have > >> wealth when it is used to improve and provide for people , yet you can not > >> gain wealth at the expense of other especially the poor. > > >> Maybe a game can be devised that teaches social awareness rather than self. > >> Allan > > >> Matrix ** th3 beginning light > >> On Nov 14, 2012 5:40 PM, "archytas" <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> > Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). I promoted the idea that most of > >> > what is done in classrooms after 13 should be replaced by online > >> > programmes in a project in the 1980s. The technology lagged the idea > >> > then - and the idea wasn't much more than that of students reading-up > >> > before lectures and doing hard problem solving in tutorials. We were > >> > developing interactive role-play videos at the time. It was very > >> > expensive and the technology not up to speed. A CD burner cost around > >> > $30K in today's money. > > >> > In fact, mainstream university education outside science went > >> > backwards to more and more formal teaching and death by Powerpoint - > >> > it was what lecturers were trained to do. The MOOC model is now > >> > getting stronger and Bill Gates is investing through bis trust. > > >> > One project I'd love to have a go at is to produce video games that > >> > teach basics from cell biology to business. Cell biology lends itself > >> > to science fiction. Whilst cells are tiny the scale of what goes on > >> > in them and their structures are 'Star Wars'. One could devise a game > >> > based in virus attack and the 'arms wars' of co-evolution. My > >> > business game would probably be based on Al Capone. You can write the > >> > things in hypertext with lots of links to knowledge. > >> > The games could probably be written to allow simulated research too - > >> > we have virtual reality labs to teach engineering. > > >> > We could probably write community project simulations too - about, > >> > say, setting up community-based food supply and property building. > > >> > The fundamental idea in this is the embodiment of expert knowledge - > >> > much as we have embodied man artisanal skills in machines. > > >> > The models of education we do have rely on academic forms of learning > >> > only few are much good at. In higher education e have seen the > >> > expansion of this to a massive debt cost. This from Zerohedge > >> > somewhere: > >> > Career Education, when it reported its quarterly financial results, > >> > shed more light on an industry that had ruthlessly taken advantage of > >> > quirks in the American way of funding higher education, and that, even > >> > more insidiously, had preyed on gullible prospective students who were > >> > desperately trying to better their lives. Then it handed the tab to > >> > the taxpayer who couldn’t say no. A perfect scam. And it contributed > >> > to a ruinous mountain of student loans [ Next: Bankruptcy for a whole > >> > Generation]. > > >> > In the halcyon days of 2010, Career Education had $2.09 billion in > >> > annual revenues. Then a free-fall. By September 30, quarterly revenues > >> > hit $333 million. Enrollment was down 23%, in the health education > >> > category 41%. An additional 900 people will be laid off, on top of the > >> > previously announced 1,300. The company will “gradually” close 23 of > >> > its 90 campuses. Red ink is gushing, with no end in sight. The stock > >> > has plunged from $70 in June 2004 to today’s 52-week intraday low of > >> > $2.60. > > >> > Career Education is in good company. The largest player in the > >> > industry, University of Phoenix, which is owned by Apollo Group, is > >> > also getting hammered by scandals and declining revenues. Enrolment > >> > has plummeted from over 400,000 students to 328,000. To halt the > >> > bleeding, it shuttered 115 locations in 30 states. > > >> > Corinthian Colleges got hit as well. One of its specialties was the > >> > Ability-to-Benefit program, under which students without high school > >> > diploma or GED had been receiving student loans and grants to attend > >> > classes though they had virtually no chance of graduating. As of July > >> > 1, 2012, the government shut off the spigot. > > >> > Now scrambling to get back on that gravy train, the school is offering > >> > free GED preparation programs to high-school dropouts, expecting for > >> > “some portion of successful GED completers to enroll” in its > >> > institutions. And it’s trying hard to sign up new students to pocket > >> > their financial aid: marketing and admission expenses were about 25% > >> > of revenues.... “Our mission is to change students’ lives,” the press > >> > release said. > > >> > Corinthian Colleges is selling some campuses and shuttering others, > >> > particularly in California where the crackdown has become more > >> > aggressive. For a reason: the out-of-money state is trying to reign in > >> > the cost of its Cal Grants, a financial aid system that ballooned from > >> > $915 million to $1.6 billion in eight years. > > >> > These schools are facing tighter regulations all around. On the > >> > federal level, the Department of Education, for instance, banned > >> > incentives paid to admissions reps or recruiters for the number of > >> > students they hoodwinked into enrolling. Pressures are rising to get > >> > these schools to prioritize student graduation and job placement, > >> > rather than just grabbing financial-aid money. But, as the financial > >> > results demonstrate, that push blew up their entire business model. > > >> > In its dazzling manner, the for-profit post-secondary education boom > >> > left behind a long trail of wrecked dreams, unfinished or worthless > >> > degrees, wasted time, and a huge pile of student loans resting on the > >> > shoulders of people who were unable to find jobs in the fields they’d > >> > studied and who are now unable to pay back these loans. In the > >> > process, these outfits sucked up taxpayer-funded state and federal > >> > financial aid of all types and made early investors and executives > >> > rich. At their peaks, the stocks were picked up by mutual funds and > >> > were thus sneakily stuffed into well-diversified portfolios and > >> > 401k’s, as recommended by all of Wall Street. Because somebody has got > >> > to buy this stuff on the way down. > > >> > The situation in the UK - where HE is technically public sector, is > >> > little different. I have moved out of undergraduate education to > >> > assessing work-based schemes. This is dreadful - but at least my pay > >> > doesn't rely on putting young people into £40K of debt. There are > >> > young people all over the world in this condition - notably the 'Ant > >> > People' of China - even their expanding economy doesn't provide decent > >> > jobs for graduates. > > >> > My own suspicion is education is not a good thing. I'm an > >> > educationalist so this doesn't make much sense. They key problem is > >> > trying to exploit it through already failing bubsiness models (I'll > >> > leave the typo as it sounds right) - and what scares me is that we are > >> > hoping for salvation through them. > > >> > -- > > > -- --
