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🌟 Spotlight on Innovation: Felicia Ilori, A Rising Student Research Scholar 🌟 It's rare and delightful to witness a convergence of talent, dedication, and vision in academic and professional development. Today, I am proud and excited to share such a story of ambition and commitment. Felicia Ilori, a student under my guidance, has recently stepped into a pivotal role as a Student Research Scholar, focusing on enhancing the dynamics of the online open payment community. In this role, Felicia is tasked with ambitious goals to elevate her academic and professional journey and significantly contribute to the digital financial service. Felicia's Mission - that she chose to accept :) : 🚀 - Optimizing Community Engagement: Transforming the expanding open payments for HBCU students, engaging them with an interactive global community. - Research on Recruitment and Retention: Identifying critical factors that influence member engagement, aiming to boost both recruitment and retention of students through strategic insights. - Strategic Enhancements: Implementing innovative strategies to enhance student participation and satisfaction. Felicia's journey is not just about personal growth; it's a testament to how academic research and practical application can produce substantial, real-world impacts. Her work will directly influence the development of a more cohesive, engaged, and vibrant community around open payments, reflecting the critical role of research in community building. Why This Matters: 🌍 Felicia’s focus on these areas addresses the core challenges many online communities face, setting the stage for groundbreaking strategies that could redefine how we think about engagement, contribution, and community growth. As Felicia’s advisor, I am immensely proud of her dedication and innovative research approach. Scholars like Felicia pave the way for a brighter, more connected world. Here’s to Felicia’s success and the positive changes her work is set to bring to our global community. #research #openpayments #interledger #digitalfinance #innovation

🥁We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our newest offering – Curv Microcredentials! 🥁 In today's fast-paced and ever-changing economy, staying relevant and advancing your career requires continuous learning and upskilling. Micocredentials are a game-changing approach to professional development that are designed to expand your career prospects and open doors to new opportunities. Designed specifically for professionals like you, who are on the journey to advance in your career in an ever-growing workforce – Curv Microcredentials are: ✅ Short, self-paced, online, and earned in about 10 hours ✅ Skill-based certifications that you can earn and share digitally to demonstrate your expertise in a key subject area ✅ Created in collaboration with subject matter experts across business sectors – so the skills you are recognized for match employer needs ✅ Backed by Toronto Metropolitan University’s respected G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education And for a limited time, we’re thrilled to offer them up at an introductory price of $99 (regular price $349). Learn more and check out our new offerings: https://lnkd.in/gse7yAjk

Is education investment done or just beginning? "Read beyond the headlines" isn't just news advice; it's crucial for investors navigating education's ever-changing landscape. In this article, we venture beyond the obvious. Yes, the data shows a drop in the value of education deals, but the volume remains robust. Even with the expiration of ESSER funds on the horizon, the PreK-12 market continues to thrive. And don't overlook the global perspective – understanding the international dimensions of our sector is crucial for the full story. Article by: Adam J Newman, Ran Ji, Haider Ilahi https://bit.ly/3EIe0Iw #privateequity #educationinvestment #esser #prek12

We support the efforts of https://lnkd.in/e7sT7DpK to foster #intled student success through a coordinated national effort in the United States. In particular, we concur with their recommendation for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to "better serve applicants across sub-agencies, make a continuous, concerted effort to develop and implement technological improvements, reduce the paperwork burden, and avoid duplicative filings." In a practical way, FundsV can help improve the efficiency and integrity of the proof-of-funding process. We empower applicants (and their financial sponsors) to grant permission to authenticate their banking data, to "modernize" the visa application process. We built our simple and elegant #FinTech tool to be embedded within CRMs students and universities are currently using. Rather than rely on easily-manipulated PDFs or screenshots, our machine-learning-powered solution detects anomalies within bank statements -- to ultimately deter applicants with nefarious intent, and enable easier passage for qualified students. DM to schedule a demo.

Before I talk about the next new course in the business school, I just want to note that serendipity rocks! I planned for this week to talk about a class that bridges the divide between science and business students, and a few days ago I had two meetings that are entirely about that idea. The first meeting was with the Sarah Lubik and Wendee Wong at the i2I program at SFU. The program helps people in science academia understand commercialization and market implementation of their inventions. For so long we have talked about getting innovation out of the ivory tower and into the streets but that usually means throwing academics and business people into a room and hoping that something happens. This program is specifically designed for science graduate students, so it identified what the group is comfortable with, their pain points, and their needs. You know... market research. With this approach the program has been impactful and accepted by the Science faculty at SFU and across Canada. Right after that meeting I met with Deborah Roberts, Mauricio Dziedzic and Mary Mytting about more collaboration between business, science, and engineering at UNBC. We had a great discussion about majors for innovation in science and engineering degrees, as well as a possible development of an i2I program for undergrads. What started off this discussion though was the development of a new course that will be available in January. COMM 498 Tech Entrepreneurship (crossslisted with Computer Science) is meant to bring together business and computer science students who are interested in exploring the intersection between business and software development. The course alternates between business and computer science perspectives to show students in each discipline how they can interact with each other. Students will be put into mixed groups and provided mentors so they can develop an idea into a business plan and a working prototype. Students will then present this to a group of investors in town. A big shout-out to Hubspace for helping us embed the class in the local tech community, working to bring other partners on board, making the poster below! Watch this space to see when the class is available for registration. Note: I don't teach as many classes as I used to so I won't be teaching this class. And it is tearing me up inside.

Just moderated an insightful panel at the 529 Conference, discussing the future of education savings. Here are the key topics from “Outlook for 529s in 2024 & Beyond:” 🔹 Expansion of 529 - Recent changes to qualified expenses and rollovers will impact the structure, growth, and utilization of 529s - a $500B industry. 🔹 Educational Opportunities - Identifying and capitalizing on untapped markets is pivotal in serving a diverse demographic - meeting customers where they are. 🔹 Crystal Ball - The panelists shared intriguing theories and emerging trends that will shape the 529 landscape in the coming years - from employer contributions and scholarships to AI and customer communications. Special thanks to Treasurer Kimberly Yee of Arizona, Risa Tajar Schulz, MBA from Morgan Stanley, and Shannon Salinas from ICI for sharing their valuable insights and success stories. Proud of how 529 industry stakeholders work collaboratively to build awareness of education savings plans, reduce obstacles for enrollment, and support utilization that meets a beneficiary’s diverse needs and educational journey. #529Plans #EducationSavings #FutureOutlook

Andrew Drinkwater, MBA and I connected during Covi. However, it wasn't until yesterday that we got to meet in person. One of my first questions to him was..."I know you are in the data industry in the Education domain...but what exactly do you do? In the next hour he explained to me what he and his team have been developing for 7 years through Plaid Analytics. What he shared blew my mind in terms of the potential that their predictive model they developed can achieved. All this in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. I see this idea as a revolution in the world of education. The benefit that this app already brings to some very recognized institutions across Canada and US is immense. Especially, in terms of enrollment and resource planning. All these years, I knew he was into something, however, I didn't know how fascinating this was until yesterday. Thanks Andrew Drinkwater, MBA for sharing your innovate idea and for being a pioneer in this. I wish you and all your customers many more years of happy enrollment! #data #machinelearning #education #datawarehouse #educationapps #inspiration #datavisualizations #educationsplanning #educationenrollment

Refounding the University When Marc Andreesen wrote the op-ed 'Why software is eating the World' (https://lnkd.in/e2AT9dr2 2011), he anticipated a technology acceleration which has added $20 trillion in market cap for US tech, and transformed a number of industries. When Marc and his partner Ben Horowitz recently dedicated three pod-cast episodes to discussing the challenges and opportunities of Higher Ed in the US (https://lnkd.in/em7ijCCe), it is worth those with an interest in this space (which is all of us, directly or indirectly) to pay attention and reflect. They are essentially predicting an Overton-window-like (OWL) shift in which support for Higher-ed could evaporate, leaving many institutions, cities, alumni, vendors and others at risk. What are some other recent OWLs: SMS-texting was for many years a very profitable sector for many Telecom operators, but Whatsapp wiped out profitability almost overnight; the Commercial Real Estate sector was valued at $3 trillion, but one key insider now says it will lose over $1 trillion in value (https://lnkd.in/eWqB8yhi) Some initial reflections on the challenges and opportunities, and how the Higher Education Complex could work collectively to go through a refounding process and a critical new role at the center of US and global society