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  • William H. Graves: El Gran Reto de la Educación: Equidad | Logro Académico | Rendición de Cuentas
    This 2013 publication is a compilation of my major papers from 2005-2012 translated into the Spanish Language. I'm indebted to my colleague, Joaquin Huerta, for his effort and kindness in conceiving and completing this project on behalf of our clients and colleagues in the Spanish-speaking world.
  • Larry Downes and Chunka Mui: Unleashing the Killer App

    Larry Downes and Chunka Mui: Unleashing the Killer App
    Economics Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase observed in the 1930s that that organizations were growing in size and, thus, becoming more bureaucratic, all because there was too much friction in externally acquiring the services and products necessary to the provision of an organization's core products and/or services. Downes and Mui make a persuasive case that the Internet changes that internally focused paradigm by removing the friction from external sourcing, thus enabling new "leaner, meaner" operational models in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Downes' and Mui's "killer app" is Thomas Friedman's set of "flattenting" forces. (*****)

  • Steven D. Levitt: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

    Steven D. Levitt: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
    Levitt asks interesting questions and uses statistical regression and his impressive habits of mind to answer them. I'd like to know what he might find if he asked why nonprofit higher education has not improved productivity in light of its major investments in information technology. (****)

  • Michael Treacy: The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market

    Michael Treacy: The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market
    Read this and then determine your institution's current "value discipline" -- and what it actually should be. Be honest! (*****)

  • Thomas L. Friedman: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

    Thomas L. Friedman: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
    This is must reading! Ask yourself how you would "flatten" higher education -- and your institution! (*****)

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« Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness | Main | US bid to keep tabs on tuition irks colleges »

August 31, 2005

Academic process redesign and outsourcing

It's always nice to read about a friend and his interesting accomplishments.  I had just that pleasure yesterday when I picked up USA Today in an airport and read about Burck Smith and his company, SmarThinking, in the article linked here and excerpted below.

Overseas tutors help U.S. students online (USA Today, Aug. 29, 2005)

Overseas tutors are taking flight. Better technology, rising numbers of struggling schools and millions of dollars in new federal aid for tutoring are making "education process outsourcing" a reality. Several companies are considering "offshoring" their tutoring services to countries like India. Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-08-29-overseas-tutors_x.htm.

August 31, 2005 in From the Press, Learning Accountability, Links, Revenue / Cost Pressure |

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