Why Network? They say one of the best assets in job searching is a broad network of qualified and professional individuals. Higher education is important in finding employment–and the pay off for overall earnings is excellent. Those who earn a bachelor’s degree will earn an average of 2.27 million dollars over their lifetime–nearly a million dollars more than those with only a high school education. However, most experts agree that simply earning the degree may not be enough. In a survey of over 3,000 individuals employed in management and accounting, nearly 85% said that they received their job through networking. In today’s competitive employment market, it’s who you know that will open up endless possibilities in career, and possibly lead you to a dream job. As undergraduate students looking towards the future, expanding your network of professionals, professors, students, and future employers is the focus of their remaining year in school. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), as we know them, are not equipped with the same networking opportunities that the traditional university experience offers. The iQ Social platform, however, has revolutionized the online university. Not only does the iQ Social platform allow for student networking, but it may offer more […]
The question is often asked within a business of any size: what can lead to a more effective workplace? What leads to a faster innovation in ideas? What will make this business more successful? The answer: a fostering of workplace communication, collaboration, and community. A simple fact of all humans is that we are all social beings. This has remained true throughout history, no matter how strongly modern-day bureaucracy tries to fight personal contact. The fact is that all humans have a desire to communicate with others, form personal relationships, and have the opportunity to share their ideas with others. Today, cramped work environments and isolated cubicles often cut off from effective communication between individuals who sometimes only sit a few feet away from each other. Just like our learning environment in primary and secondary education, we grow and thrive on collaboration and socialization with our peers. This is where ideas are spread, innovation is facilitated, and productivity is multiplied. So, in today’s modern workplace where technology is the center of our attention, how do co-workers conspire to come up with better, more creative, and more innovative ideas while still being equally productive in their day-to-day duties? Our answer: a […]
A recent article by the Boston Consulting Group found that social and emotional skills can be fostered by the use of online education platforms. Although many may find this hard to believe at first, the study found that the customization of online school and the many online social outlets make it easier for students to form student-to-student relationships, and therefore increasing their social skills. The research goes on to say that the technology revolution has allowed those with no access to traditional universities with not only a quality education, but social skills that may bring them a long way. BCG describes, “Education technology can personalize learning, engage the disengaged, complement what happens in the classroom, extend education outside the classroom, and provide access to learning to students who otherwise might not have sufficient educational opportunities.” This specific type of social learning is given a name, Social and Emotional Learning, or SEL. As described in the research, SEL has ordinarily not been taken seriously as a motivating factor in traditional education. However, recent studies suggest that the implementation of SEL has lasting effects for it’s students. “Social and emotional skills can strengthen the labor force, boost academic performance, and produce long-term […]
As the technological revolution ensues, more and more college students rely on technology to thrive in school. In fact, nearly 75% of college students (from a sample of 500, research carried out by Pew Research Institute) say that they rely on technology to complete school work. These numbers are just from students enrolled in traditional classrooms, and where we find even more technology centered students are on e-learning campuses. As of currently, over 12 million students take one or more online classes, and in 2014, nearly 3.5 million students took entirely online classes. With the vast amount of millennials taking a shift towards technology education, we have to ask ourselves, what about technology is appealing for students? The answer is simple. Technology brings upon an entirely new set of tools that students are now able to utilize. Technology creates an incredible convenience for students as well as gaining them access to an entire world of information at their fingertips. Students are now able to excel in school more than ever before, now contributing to new discoveries and research, instead of just reading about it in textbooks. One popular technology source is the mobile application for smartphones. Mobile applications allow for […]
The Rise of Social Media: Intelligent Social Learning Platforms The most relevant of mega trends today is the rise of social media, for both our younger and older generations. More than ever before, users from around the world are able to connect and collaborate through one base platform. Social platforms are utilized for social purposes, but these platforms have the potential to be even more practical. First, however, it is important to realize how much of an impact these social media sites have on our everyday lives. By learning more about these expanding platforms, we can grow in our ideas to enhance them. Here are just some of the latest findings on social media mega trends: Facebook is still dominant as a consumer social channel. Two new users join Facebook every second. The total number of worldwide social media accounts, including both consumer and enterprise accounts is projected to be $4.9B in 2016. Social networking accounts for 22 percent of all time spent online in the U.S. There is continued growth of image-powered or image-centric networks. Sharing only images (e.g., Instagram) with supported #hashtag commands for channels and filtering. Brands are quickly realizing that “words tell, but images sell.” • […]
Often students enrolled in any class, from any institution, will look for guidance from others, preferably expertise. Students will seek out professional tutors when looking for academic help, but that can be expensive. Students exploring music may need to seek off campus to find a musician to help them practice. Others may need help navigating around an online course and setting up a program, in which they would need to find a computer technician. Many students feel that they need to find these specialists separately, and may spend hundreds of dollars doing so. However, a college institution is full of thousands of intuitive teachers, specialists, and experts. Some of these people may in fact be the same students that walk the campus. Why not look to student peers, whom are attending the very same institution as those looking for help, to be the experts? By allowing students to teach other students, universities can easily create an environment in which there is a strong sense of community. Students can feel comfortable in confiding in teachers and students from the same school, and will want to give back to their school. In addition, students will be able to learn immensely from teaching […]
The landscape of college education is different from what it was thirty years ago; we have an entire new generation of college students who had grown up in a world of technology. The children who had grown up with the start of the internet are known as the “net” generation, while those who have grown up with smart phones, social media, and iPads may very well be the next “mobile” generation (Geist). This new age of students entering into higher-education have been immersed, almost their entire lives, in some sort of mobile technology. They are used to mobility, in which they have access to whatever they are working on, wherever they go. Books, homework assignments, and class textbooks are all available on mobile technology, and young students are constantly in search of a way to utilize these tools. What makes technology in the classroom so unique is the increased intractability that is produced when the entire class is involved. Students who have grown up in this technology driven world aren’t just programmed to use technology, but prefer what technology has to offer compared to the traditional style classroom. In fact, more than six out of ten college students say that […]
We live in a world in which sports fans of all ages connect and collaborate with one another from all parts of the world, simply for the love of their team. Sports fans everywhere are constantly engaging in game conversation, investing in team merchandise, and always on the look out to find the latest media coverage of their favorite player. These fans, and their interactions between other devotees, sports media, and players, are what keeps the team supported. When an easy access medium is created between the fans and their team, an entirely new world of fan-to-team collaboration is opened. We have created a way in which this medium will channel content-specific media to it’s fans, and allowing your team to reach the largest target audience possible. iQ technologies has created some of the most up-to-date social networking features available to sports enthusiasts and team owners. iQ Sports empowers you to create authentic, rich experiences to strengthen your sports brand and differentiate your team from the competition. Our intelligent platform provides deeper user data for analysis, and the power to offer more sophisticated advertising and sponsorship opportunities. Sports fans are particular and savvy when it comes to receiving and sharing […]
What makes a business successful? With the thousands of independent businesses struggling to make it in the world, it is easy to forget what consumers value in a business platform. The key to a successful business is simple; an easily accessible business-to-consumer connection. Your business should be able to connect with others at any level. Employees, customers, partners, and fans should all have access to your platform’s information and be able to easily collaborate with your business or organization. When consumers, employees, and partners have constant engagement with their company, they feel safe and confident in their investments. The result: A more effective, connected business. Whether your goal is to increase brand awareness, improve workforce productivity, or measure customer satisfaction, our community platform helps you achieve your business goals. Business, along with any organizations, all have the ability to achieve this level connection. With iQ, your business/organization will have the capability to: • Provide contextual real-time communications across all user bases • Leverage your organization’s collective expertise to make informed decisions • Accelerate new employee onboarding with more seamless assimilation into your company culture • Quicken customer onboarding faster with your brand familiarity • Enrich corporate learning systems across the […]
We share our past experiences in education, employment and interests with others so that connections can be established. We find ourselves doing this all the time; whether it be to apply for a job, or submitting an application to a university. We repeat the same information over and over again; where we’ve gone to school, the degrees we’ve earned, our past employment, and the things we do best. What makes iQ different, is incorporating rich, academic profiles for all members to represent their academic learning journey. Members can use a profile that tracks the history and progress as they go. Learners can track their achievements, certificates, skills, courses, grades, portfolios, employments, and even payments. Profiles can also track competency-based learning programs and any online courses a student has taken. This modern-day online transcript enables institutions to more efficiently review an applicant’s information. Viewers see an organized and mapped-out journey of the learner, rather than a disordered group of events packed into a couple paragraphs. Using this unique iQ feature, members applying to an online institution can apply with just a click of a button, submitting what they already have built up on their rich academic profile. In addition, connections between […]