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SeptOct2014

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61 BizEd September/October 2014 Crowdsourcing Business Education WHAT WILL BUSINESS schools look like in ten years? That's the question behind "Business Education Jam: Envisioning the Future," a 60-hour online collaborative event to be held September 30 to October 2. Featuring real-time discussion, live polling, and chats with promi- nent thinkers in the industry, the Business Education Jam will bring together students, alumni, faculty, staff, business leaders, and policymakers in a large-scale brainstorming session. The idea for the Jam was sparked by this year's 100th anniversary of Boston University's School of Management in Massachusetts, explains Steven David- son, the school's assistant dean of strategic initiatives and student learning. "We've held many speaker series and lectures that inspired a great deal of reflection," he says. "Our faculty started to ask the question, 'What will the future look like?'" Kenneth Freeman, the school's dean, was familiar with IBM's "innovation jams"—massive online, cen- trally managed conferences that IBM developed in 2001 to bring together its globally distributed work- force in synchronous brainstorming sessions. Freeman approached the company about using the same platform to generate ideas on the future of business education. The event will be organized around ten themes, which range from "Supporting 21st-Century Compe- tencies" to "Cultivating Innovation and Entrepreneur- ship." Participants can enter into scheduled 30-minute discussions, listen to guest speakers, or engage in dis- cussions on each specific theme. Participants can log in to the jam using any Internet- enabled device, and they can enter or leave the confer- ence at any time they wish. As they start topics, post questions, and make comments, an analytics team from IBM will track the data generated, from the number of participants and extent of their participation to polling results and the most popular ideas. "We'll also be post- ing highlights from that data during the event to help further spark conversation," says Davidson. In addition to IBM, partner organizations for the event include GMAC, AACSB International, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, EFMD, the Ernst & Young Foun- dation, and PwC. Organizers hope to draw at least 4,000 to 5,000 participants from across business, aca- demia, and government. School of Management faculty plan to release a white paper on the data and ideas participants offer, with the potential to generate additional scholarship on the nature of global crowdsourcing events. "We hope this event will increase networks between busi- ness schools and industry and provide fertile ground for innovation that participants can take back to their organizations to pilot," says Davidson. Those interested in participating in the Business Education Jam can register at smgworld.bu.edu/ businesseducationjam/. AICPA Site Highlights The 'Future of Learning' A new website from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) aims to harness the wisdom of crowds to improve lifelong learning among CPAs. Inspired by the findings of a recently released report from the AICPA Task Force on the Future of Learning, the interactive site outlines its recommendations and highlights innovations in professional development and education for certified public accountants. The task force's recommendations for the profession include doing more with technology to enhance learning; creating learning experiences that are more personal, relevant, accessible, and competency-based; and devel- oping a uniform and global compliance standard to mea- sure learner competency. Site visitors are encouraged to share and discuss the task force's recommendations. "Meaningful change won't be accomplished by any single organization working alone, which is why we're reaching out to tap the collec- tive wisdom of the profession," says Lawson Carmichael, task force co-chair and the AICPA's senior vice president of strategy, people, and innovation. For more information, visit futureoflearning.aicpa.org.

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