The Path I Have Made

The Path I Have Made

The path I have made...I carry a pruning saw to avoid scaring off the wildlife! I got bored in Abu Dhabi and an enterprising PhD recommended Wollongong. They jumped 75places into the top 200 a couple of years ago confirming my choice - they gave me more than they took - that's the way I feel about learning courses.

And it really makes me feel I am right here/there with my students in the act of continuous improvement. I ask for their best work. These courses over the last three years are all online however the more I learn about mobile learning the more I believe we are not far off from ubiqutous computing which self materializes through laser beams out of handheld portable devices.

"Educause: Mobile Learning Initiative"

"Straight out of Star Trek?"

"We might all get to be Dilbert?"

The courses I have taken over the last three years shored up my Masters in International Business completed in Dubai and Wollongong Australia - an industrial but beautiful city about two hours south of Sydney Australia with about twenty beaches. They are building an innovation campus and represent one of Australia's best government-business-enterprise-university institutions. I wish Canada had the same commitment to educational infrastructure improvement. Also my current employers let me start teaching global negotiation to senior students following these courses.

"University of Wollongong"

These Cornell & Notre Dame certificates are completely online with books, DVDs and realtime chat sessions. I consider them highly and the credits are completely approved as continuing education. Executive education is intended for working professionals. Is anyone going to try tell me that these courses lack quality?

Supply Chain Management is the big nexus in logistics and lead time delivery systems and it is the current battle ground in terms of economic fronts for a lot of businesses and delivery services which are currently suffering from time sting (my own term) electronic data entry systems which need innovative new solutions - the last twenty years not much has changed in bar coding technology. Productivity improvements need to come from wireless self-identifying systems. But change management is challenging and interesting.

"Top Nine Supply Chain Challenges in 2009 (Industry Week – David Blanchard)"

The challenge for supply chain is that just in time is suddenly about 40% down in services globally at present. These are the companies that will need to downsize more quickly than any others. Supply chain managers are a lot like product managers who seek out buyers and sellers and partners to map out the least costly methods of delivery to shave costs on unit sales. So I have been reading a lot about this because I was approached by an APEC Project Leader to act as Senior National Consultant in Korea on research into supply chain reforms and recommendations which could increase food security and reduce food prices for consumers here which is a worry all over Asia at this time. Even if the proposal falls through the last month and a half has provided lots of fodder for thought.

I looked at Harvard's prospectus over the last couple of years they have moved slowly in offering certificates entirely online and as of yet still combine some on the ground in the classroom learning.

Wharton has an interesting consortium on business english teaching certification which has a summer term residency.

Couch-surfing, I haven't heard of that yet. ROK- Republic of Korea - explains my penchant for distance coursework! Anybody interested in my couch or spare bedroom?