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Mental Health for the Masses
The Huffington Post: Ricardo Muñoz thinks that MOOCs get a bad rap. MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses, Internet-based higher education available to anyone in the world, regardless of age or qualifications, and usually for free. MOOCs have become very popular in recent years, and now attract millions of students who want to learn art history or calculus or abnormal psychology with some of the world's best professors. Critics focus on MOOCs' dismal attrition rates. While millions of eager students may sign up, they say, most of these drop out. They point to examples, including one MIT MOOC, in which 155,000 enrolled but only 7,157 passed the course.
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Leaders as Decision Architects
Harvard Business Review: All employees, from CEOs to frontline workers, commit preventable mistakes: We underestimate how long it will take to finish a task, overlook or ignore information that reveals a flaw in our planning, or fail to take advantage of company benefits that are in our best interests. It’s extraordinarily difficult to rewire the human brain to undo the patterns that lead to such mistakes. But there is another approach: Alter the environment in which decisions are made so that people are more likely to make choices that lead to good outcomes. ...
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HIRING LESSONS FROM THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS’ HEAD COACH
Fast Company: In the salary-cap era of football, which was meant to promote parity by forcing each team to spend the same amount of money, the Patriots have been an anomaly, building a dynasty that has won four Super Bowls in 14 seasons and 11 division championships in 12 years. What's the key to the team's success? It's simple: Bill Belichick's scouting and recruiting system. Year after year, the Patriots often forgo high-priced free agents for undrafted free agents and role players from other teams that step right into their system and perform at a high level. Take, for instance, Malcolm Butler, an undrafted free agent who became a Super Bowl hero.
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Teachers More Likely to Label Black Students as Troublemakers
Black children are disproportionately disciplined in school. Results of a psychological study suggest some potential reasons.
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Real-Time Data May Be the Best Backseat Driver
New technology is allowing auto insurers to offer insurance models that can use an individual’s real-time driving behavior rather than actuarial tables to help determine their insurance costs. Several major insurance companies now offer Pay-As-You-Drive insurance (PAYD), where insurance fees are directly linked to an individual driver’s real world behavior. So, even if a driver is in a traditionally high-risk group, say teenage drivers, they can lower their insurance fees by demonstrating good behavior behind the wheel.
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Study finds a disputed Shakespeare play bears the master’s mark
Los Angeles Times: Chalk up another one for The Bard. "Double Falsehood," a play said to have been written by William Shakespeare but whose authorship has been disputed for close to three centuries, is almost certainly the work of the 16th century poet and playwright, new research finds. Shakespeare appears to have had some assistance in the project from John Fletcher, a contemporary who is thought to have co-written three plays with the Bard -- including one on a theme similar to that of "Double Falsehood" -- near the end of Shakespeare's life. ... Under the supervision of University of Texas psychology professors Ryan L. Boyd and James W.
