Apple Should Buy a University

Apple Should Buy a University

"Apple has more than $205 billion in cash. What should they do with the money? Apple should buy a university and rebuild it from the ground up. 

Apple is a for-profit corporation not a charity but there are plenty of ways to make money from a non-profit university. Aside from the tax breaks and other deductions, Apple University would be a proving ground for educational technologies that would be sold to every other university in the world. New textbooks built for the iPad and its successors would greatly increase the demand for iPads. Apple-designed courses built using online technologies, a.i. tutors, and virtual reality experimental worlds could become the leading form of education worldwide. Big data analytics from Apple University textbooks and courses would lead to new and better ways of teaching. As a new university, Apple could experiment with new ways of organizing degrees and departments and certifying knowledge. Campuses in Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Berlin, and Sao Paulo could provide opportunities for studying abroad. Apple’s reputation would attract top students, especially, for example, if it started with a design and business school. Top students would lead Apple University to be highly ranked. The more prestigious Apple University became the greater would be the demand for Apple University educational products.
Apple already has the beginning of this model with iTunes U and its own internal Apple University for training in business and design. By buying a university, Apple would commit to a learning process to develop these technologies in entirely new ways. 

More than a century ago Stanford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller used their industrial-age fortunes to build some of our best universities. Isn’t it time for another great university built for the information age?"

The German radical Left Party wishes to deregulate walking

The German radical Left Party wishes to deregulate walking

"From Greek bailouts to traffic signals, Germans pride themselves on respecting the rules. But on the latter point at least, even some here believe that fixation has gone too far. All this standing and waiting by cyclists and pedestrians is killing the appeal of muscle-powered locomotion, critics say. 

Germany’s radical Left Party, the biggest opposition force in parliament, now wants to do something about this obsession. In November, the party plans to introduce a motion that would end red-light fines for pedestrians and bikers. 

There is more here, via Samir Varma."

Macro IA

Article Selection

The choice you make for your internal assessment news article is very important. The biggest concept to remember is that you are going to have to evaluate the news article. 

With evaluation comes judgement.

With judgement comes some time of normative or values based decision using knowledge, information, facts, and evidence. 

This means that choosing a news article that is entirely positive (facts-based) does not make for a good choice. For example, you might find a news article that reports on the economic growth rate of China in the last six months. This is largely descriptive and will not have good material to evaluate.

Instead, focus on articles that discuss macro-level government policies. Decisions by central banks or law makers to change interest rates or policies respectively make for far easier articles to evaluate. For example, if the United States Federal Reserve has decided to lower its interest rates, you can make judgements on this decision using your knowledge and the facts presented in the article.

Evaluation Process

Once you have chosen an appropriate news article that lends itself to evaluation, the process of writing up your IA and evaluating the article is next.

We have previously discussed a four-step process for this evaluation that goes like this:

1. Clearly identify the issue or problem in the news article
2. Identify the news articles solution or action to this issue and propose your own possible solutions or actions
3. Discuss the pros and cons of each possible solution
4. Conclude with your judgement of what the best course of action is and whether or not you agree with the articles solution

Two Drafts

It is okay to seek some feedback on your first draft from a teacher, but because it is an assessment, your final IA should not be beyond your own ability. This means the feedback you receive between your first and final draft should allow you to produce work you are incapable of on your own.

The feedback will therefore mostly provide general advice, such as, "You have no fully explained your diagram," or, "You need to spend more time convincing the reader that real disadvantages exist for the articles solution."

The feedback will not give you specific advice as to what to change. You are responsible for doing the thinking and applying what you know, just as any other assessment in your courses.

Cover Sheet

Click the above link to see a cover sheet that can be used upon completion.

Economics Guide

Use the above link to find the internal assessment section of the economics guide.

The section you need is on page 95! I highly suggest you read through the IA section in its entirety to make sure you understand all of the required components. It is your responsibility to understand and follow the directions in the guide, not Stamford's.

Angus Deaton Wins Nobel Prize for Economics

Marginal REVOLUTION — Small Steps Towards A Much Better World

"I see Deaton’s work on world poverty as a tour de force, he made advances in theory, he joined with others to take the theory to the field to make measurements and he used the measurements to draw attention to important issues in the world."

See above link for more on Deaton.

Chapter 4 Assessment

For chapter 4, our assessment on elasticities will be another verbal IA presentation, but done at home with a voice over instead of in class. If you are unsure how to do a voice over, you can watch the video below for Microsoft PowerPoint.

Google Slides can be done as well, but requires an extension from the Play Store and another student has recommended iMovie with screen shots of each slide. However you like to do the voice over is fine, the content is what is important.

Use the feedback from this chapter 3 assessment to learn and improve the next one in chapter 4.

This will be due November 4th. Upon completion, link the product to your portfolio page and make a blog post so that a fellow classmate can watch it, comment on it, and leave a score.