Management

How Coursera, A Free Online Education Service, Will School Us All | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

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Coursera courses are 6 to 10 weeks long, with an hour or two of videos per week. In addition to the snap quizzes, they feature weekly exercises, ranging from problem sets to spreadsheets to design projects or essays, and sometimes a final project or exam. For all quantitative courses, the platform uses artificial intelligence to evaluate each longer exercise, with instant results. Students can keep trying until they get the right answer. For humanities courses, Coursera is testing a form of peer grading.

via How Coursera, A Free Online Education Service, Will School Us All | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.

Great article about a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).  HT – Mish.

What a Messy Desk Says About You – NYTimes.com

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In the study by Dr. Vohs, disordered offices encouraged originality and a search for novelty. In the final portion of the study, adults were given the choice of adding a health “boost” to their lunchtime smoothie that was labeled either “new” or “classic.” The volunteers in the messy space were far more likely to choose the new one; those in the tidy office generally opted for the classic version.

“Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition,” Dr. Vohs and her co-authors conclude in the study, “which can produce fresh insights.”

My office is fine the way it is.  I know what is in every pile.  Now I have some evidence that the way I work is more creative.  STFU!

via What a Messy Desk Says About You – NYTimes.com.