Earning an MBA on Facebook

I came across this interesting article today:Poking, Tagging and Now Landing an M.B.A.
How does "earning an international recognized M.B.A. through a Facebook application" sound to you?

The London School of Business and Finance Global M.B.A. bills itself as the world’s first M.B.A. to be delivered through a Facebook application. Introduced late last month, the application already has more than 30,000 active users accessing courses in corporate finance, accounting, ethics, marketing and strategic planning.

How does it work?

Aaron Etingen, founder and chief executive of the London School of Business and Finance, said he expected 500,000 prospective students to take the free “M.B.A. test drive” within a year. Students who like what they see will be able to watch video lectures, participate in online peer-to-peer study sessions and track their progress through interactive tests — all without charge. “There is only a fee if they want to take exams,” said Valery Kisilevsky, the school’s managing director.

How much does it cost?

Each module is paid for separately, making the total cost of the M.B.A. £14,500, or about $23,000 — the same as for London School of Business and Finance’s campus-based and conventional distance-learning M.B.A. degrees.

Is it certified?

The Facebook Global M.B.A. degree is certified by the University of Wales.

The full article can be reached here.

What do you think? Pursue you study at the same time as you “poke” your friends, tag photos, update your relationship status or harvest your virtual crops on FarmVille?

How about "Peace and Conflict Resolution" or "Performing Arts Management"?

Megan Kolb was so passionate about music, theater, dance and the production of stage shows that when the time came to choose a major in college, she couldn't decide which to pursue.

So she combined them all and made up her own major: performing arts management. Ms. Kolb, the only student with that degree when she graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst last year, has already landed a job as a project manager for a New York City production company. "How great is it to be able to say, 'I created a major that I love and care about, and then to pursue a career in it?' " the 23-year-old says.

A recent article from the WSJ looked at the growing trend in DIY majors at different universities across the country. Can't pick a major? Create one!

According to the College Board, more than 900 four-year colleges and universities allow students to develop their own programs of study with an adviser's help, up 5.1% from five years ago. The programs can spark students' enthusiasm for learning and sometimes equip them for complicated, cross-disciplinary jobs or emerging career fields. Designing your own major, however, takes a lot of effort, plus skill in selling yourself and your major. At most universities, students must persuade at least one professor to sponsor and advise them. They must tie their major to a specific field of work or future study. Most are required to produce a weighty final project or paper. Besides, parents are often wary, fearing their kids will drift too far from training for a real, paying job. Some employers look askance at do-it-yourself majors, too, saying their novelty leaves room for confusion about what, exactly, the grads can do. Nevertheless, the number of organized programs is growing. While schools are struggling to put together majors in sustainability or green building, here a student can go ahead and say, "This is what I want to do and this is how I want to do it. " With luck, their goals will mesh with the jobs of the future.

If you were to create a major for yourself, what would it be? Here is a sampling of some students' D-I-Y majors:

• Ethnobotany
• Magic
• Ethology (animal psychology and behavior)
• Music promotion
• Anthropology of mental health and illness
• Peace and conflict resolution
• Historical clothing
• Sociology of fashion
• Environmental racism
• Complex organizations and informational systems
• Neuroscience, human behavior and society
• Asian-American studies
• Bioethics in crosscultural perspectives

Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

A world of Tweets

This cool A World of Tweets website shows you where people are tweeting at from the past hour. The more tweets there are from a specific region, the "hotter" or redder it becomes. The U.S. is #1 with 36.47% of tweets (18/11/2010, 16:50:44)

Fortune Global 100 and Social Media

Burson-Marsteller studied the Fortune Global 100 and found that 79% of them use Twitter, Facebook, Youtube or corporate blogs to communicate with customers and other stakeholders. Twitter is the most popular platform that the companies use. Two-thirds of the Fortune 100 have at least one Twitter account. Fifty-four percent have at least one Facebook fan page, 50% have at least one YouTube channel, and 33% have at least one corporate blog. It is worth noticing that social networks like Twitter and Facebook are mostly West-oriented; Asia-Pacific companies don’t use them as much. They instead prefer corporate blogs.
A full report can be found here.

Tea Party

U.S. newspapers have recently been flooded with the name Tea Party and its influential role in the recent election. The name sounds like it was rooted from the 1773 Boston Tea Party. But what exactly is the Tea Party movement that is going on in the U.S.?

The USA Today gives a brief idea of who constitute the party and what their core beliefs are. According to the papers, Tea Party supporters are mostly Republicans and conservatives and overwhelmingly white and Anglo. They believe that the federal government has grown too big and too powerful. They also argue that the nation is taking the wrong direction and that federal debt (which can be viewed on this debt clock) is an extremely serious threat to the nation’s well being.

A look at the wiki’s page reveals that the Tea Party movement is a political movement that emerged in the U.S. in 2009. The movement's primary concerns include, but are not limited to, cutting back the size of government, lowering taxes, reducing wasteful spending, reducing the national debt and federal budget deficit, and adherence to the United States Constitution. More information can be found here.

And this is why the WSJ thinks business should fear the Tea Party.

I can't find my phone

You can't find your phone and nobody is around. What should you do? Well, if you have access to the internet then this cool little website might be helpful! :-)

wiki vs blog

How are you doing today? I felt like it was still summer yesterday when the temp reached high of at least 80 degree (I think). Mr. Weather, however, suddenly blows out some chilly air today. What a moody guy!
Anyway, I was looking at some materials for the upcoming Data modeling test and came across these little videos about wiki and blog. Hope these are helpful!
Have a beautiful day! :-)

Paperback Business Best Sellers

What are you reading right now?

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell topped the New York Times September's paperback business best sellers list.

The full list can be viewed here .

Happy reading! :-)

A bright spot in the economy

The travel industry is recovering from its slump much faster than the rest of the economy. According to the WSJ, while the economy as a whole only saw an increase of 1.6%, spending on airplane travel, hotel rooms and car rental grew 3% at an inflation adjusted annual rate in the second quarter. Hotel occupancy rose 5%; spending on air transportation rose 3.9% for same period. The recovery is also felt in other sectors such as resorts and national parts. The number of visitors to Acadia rose 13% compared to last year. It is worth noticing that employment in travel and tourism rose 2.2% in the second quarter, making the first increase after eight straight periods of decline. A full article can be found here.

Have a relaxing fall break! :-)

have a fun weekend :-)

I watched this cheese commercial a few months ago and my roommate just showed it again to me today. Hope you like it. Have a fun weekend! :-)

crowdsourcing

I came across this article today and what a coincidence! I just ordered a T-shirt from Threadless a few days ago for my friend's birthday. I have made several purchases from the website and really like how it works. I, however, never knew that part of Threadless's success is from what called crowdsourcing.

Here is a video I found on Youtube about crowdsourcing.

It can be seen that crowdsourcing has created a competitive advantage for such companies as Threadless. It has helped them to generate ideas from customers. It's a great way to get customers involve in designing future products- ones that the customers are going to buy. Besides, companies will also have a better understanding of their customers through this participating process. How do you think of crowdsourcing?

have a relaxing weekend :-)

Oh languages! I wish I could speak all languages in the world (or maybe just a few major ones) so that I can talk to everyone I meet. I thought it was cool that one can speak more than two languages. I started learning English when I was in elementary school. It was a required course though. I tried to learn Japanese when I was in middle school, then some French in high school. The French class was required but the Japanese was not. I then got interested in Dutch when I was in Belgium for my study abroad, so... I took a Dutch course. Well, this is not the end. I started Czech last year (self-learning). I thought I was cool. I am not! I don't think I can now handle a minimal conversation in Japanese, French, Dutch or Czech. All I know now is just saying "hi" or "how are you" or "thank you". And that's it! I have set a goal for this year: (not another language but) basic Czech. I'm now brushing up some words that I learned last year. Here are some of the very basic (maybe the only Czech phrases that I can still recall) in case you ever encounter a Czech business partner. I still think that it's cool that one can speak more than two languages :-) Also, don't you think that it would give you some little bonus points if you can speak (although very little) to your clients in their mother languages? Here you are:

Dobry den: hi/good day!
Dekuju: thanks!
Na shledanou: goodbye
Prominte: Execuse me!

Prosím: Please
Ano: yes
Ne: no

And this is the link to how to say hello to the world. Enjoy! :-)
By the way, what languages are you interested in learning?

model simple, think complicated

Model simple, think complicated- Michael Pidd

I was reading Chapter two from the Management Science textbook and the part where they discuss the simplicity of modeling really got my attention. I find it hard to be simple sometimes. I was working on a homework problem and found myself struggling in sketching the influence chart. I added some elements, removing them, bringing them back, adding new ones, and then repeating the whole cycle. It was so hard for me to forgo some factors for fear of inadequacy. Are you having the same problem?