Arren Soroko

I think some of the points Douglas makes are interesting, especially the parts about making a “narrative” for connecting wonderings, ideas, etc. I think the narrative helps give some context to general terms like “integrative thinking.” However, I have an issue with the first point above. Douglas argues that we’ve been conditioned by our education to break things into parts–but then suggests that we “memorize” categories that help trigger connections. I think that methodology sounds really similar to what our education teaches us–breaking things down, analyzing them, making connections, etc. I think staying away from breaking things down helps build a more holistic view of each problem.

I too posted an article on integrative thinking and do agree with what Douglas. I do think that our education conditioned us to find a problem, break it down, analyze, and find one solution for the problem.I thiink it’s okay to continue to break problems down, but we shouldn’t focus only one part of the problem. We should focus on the entire problem. I also believe that every person has the potential to become an integrative thinker. There are those rare people, who are integrative thinkers already, but I also think one can practice to become an integrative thinker. The more one practices and puts himself/herself in these situations, the easier it will be to become an integrative thinker.

One example of disruptive/ramifications that can be caused by the developing countries is job security. There is already a huge disruption in jobs like Accounting and Lawyers. These jobs are being outsourced to places like india where they are charging much lower rates with the exact same quality.

I feel as though the internet becoming more of a norm in developing countries is a positive thing. Instead of teachers, doctor’s and volunteers visiting these countries to help them better sustain themselves, the internet can be brought in to help countries create jobs, educate themselves and slowly help build their country.

The internet has been a great boon to developing countries. Recently we saw mass rallies being organized over social media. Rallies that toppled governments, and it is still going on. It has also allowed some developing countries to really shoot ahead in certain areas. If you look at some African countries for example that you will see that mobile banking, particularly mobile to mobile money transfers is something that has been used for awhile now. A technology that is only recently getting put to use here in the U.S is already old hat. This is a great opportunity for these countries since they can essential skip many of the missteps due to development and this is mainly thanks the the net.

I feel as though it could disrupt both. k-12 education needs a disruption like this, catering to individual children’s needs and learning abilities so they do not get pushed through school without really learning the fundamentals of early education. A child does need to socialize however so combining a mix of online education and physical education would be a perfect fit for youth education.
When it comes to higher education, a disruption is already happening quickly. Some of the most talented people in the technology industry are self taught. In year to come, a degree may not be needed if a person can learn how any type of information they desire through the internet.

I think that it is more disruptive towards k-12 learning. I do agree with Angela on a child needing to socialize, especially at a young age. That’s why I would wait and offer students online classes when they reach middle school. In addition, I would make the online classes completely optional allowing for both traditional and online classes. I would make it optional because some students might have a hard time adapting to online classes, which could potentially lower their grades. Online education is already a part of higher education and there are students who incorporate that into their schedules and others who only take online classes. I think it would bring more awareness to other online learning websites like Blackboard or Lynda.com. This could potentially harm the textbook publishers because students would use e-books instead.

This is a really fascinating article, considering the technological advancements that have already come before us and have enhanced the working world so tremendously. A technology that I think has a lot of potential to be disruptive would have to be the smart watch coming through by storm. Apple just released their first version of it, and it will only be a matter of time before other companies release their own version with more and more capabilities to enhance the corporate world.

As a good amount of our class will be entering the working world very soon, there is a really good chance that at some point we will be making presentations to our colleagues. These tips are very useful in that sometimes I feel as if I have been to,d hundreds of different ways to present, and this really sums it up well for me. Another technique I have in mind would be in terms of the slide deck itself, and to keep it interesting and short.

One technique that I like is using some type of “grabber” in the beginning of the presentation to grab the audiences attention. Whether it be getting the audience involved or showing something shocking, this gets the audience engaged immediately, and can make the presentation more interesting. My favorite way to do this is to use impressive numbers that people are unaware of. For example, “The market for commerce is $X billion dollars.” This is particularly applicable in business presentations. I think this ties well with Rosenthal’s first point of making an emotional connection with the audience.

I feel that the three components discussed definitely go hand in hand with a successful presentation. We all have a very important presentation coming up soon. We should look at these 3 things in our groups, so that we can incorporate them into our overall presentations and it’s not just one person in the group doing this. That way it will give the presentation an overall benefit rather than having one person in the group present a fraction of what can be accomplished if the whole team emotionally connects with the audience, presents with energy, and demonstrates the payoff.