Education

Masters of the Game: Ronin Studios creates computer games that make training fun

“There’s a huge gap between what we think we’re accomplishing in terms of learning versus what’s actually happening in a classroom setting,” said Scott Kohl, formerly with Activision at Raven and Filament Games. “Training can be really boring, and sometimes insulting.” During corporate training sessions, Kohl, 40, often observed disengaged attendees checking Facebook or email from their seats, and he began questioning the methods. “Usually, the first thing you’re told is to shut off your device. Why don’t they tell you to keep it on and use it? We use it for everything else! Why is it not part of learning?”

The Creative Vegetable Gardener lends a helping hand and green thumb to aspiring growers

If you’ve been hoping to get a vegetable garden growing – either for fun and relaxation or simply to take the sting out of encroaching food bills – there’s a fair chance you feel a little lost right now. Following an April deluge that would have likely made Noah blanch, Madison-area residents no doubt feel entitled to a spectacular growing season. Unfortunately, many greenhorn gardeners are still comparatively heavy on the sowing and light on the reaping, and rank newbies often don’t know their cress from a hole in the ground.

iPads welcome: The Oregon School District is helping to lead a high-tech education revolution

Kids have been trying to sneak portable electronic devices into classrooms for decades. From the old Coleco handheld football game to today’s smart phones, anything that glowed, made obnoxious noises, and could fit neatly inside a knapsack was enough to satisfy kids’ appetite for distraction. Well, here’s some bad news for students: Your ongoing rebellion will now have to take another form. For fun, try sneaking a slide rule onto campus. But bring your iPad. You’re going to need it for class.

UW’s IT Academy expands statewide to Native American youth

A UW-Madison technology program that promotes diversity has announced plans to expand to disadvantaged Native Americans and share knowledge of its successful model with organizations such as the Madison Urban League and its counterpart in Milwaukee. The expansion of the UW’s Information Technology Academy was announced during the Fusion CEO-CIO Symposium produced by WTN Media, as Program Director Erica Laughlin and Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor of UW-Madison, touted the ITA’s benefits.

Panel recommends Rebecca Blank as next UW-Madison chancellor

A special committee of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has recommended Rebecca M. Blank as the new chancellor of UW-Madison. Blank, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, was recommended over three other candidates forwarded…

Madison College reconsiders plans for standalone culinary school

A projected $2.6 million funding shortfall has caused Madison College (MATC) to reconsider plans to build a standalone Culinary and Baking Institute in downtown Madison. The college had intended to use leftover referendum money for the school, but bids were…

Calling all execs!

Are you Executive Register material? Time to make sure IB has all of your current information as we get ready to select the Executive Register Class of 2013, Dane County’s business executive who’s who! Be sure to add or update your…

Doyenne Group hoping to narrow entrepreneurial gender gap

You might say Amy Gannon was tired of seeing the same old faces at the entrepreneurial events she attended in the Greater Madison area – or rather, she was hoping to see a few more new faces sprinkled in with the old. As a professor in the School of Business at Madison’s Edgewood College, Gannon often works with aspiring entrepreneurs, and so she has a keen interest in networking opportunities and workshops designed to nurture the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. But she was witnessing a disturbing pattern at most of these get-togethers: Women were staying away in droves.

40 Under 40: The 2013 Class

For 13 years, In Business has celebrated the successes of rising business stars in our annual 40 Under 40 issue, and each year we have marveled at the vast richness and diversity of the young candidates. The competition is stiff. Not only are we looking for examples of business success and moxie, but also for people who demonstrate a firm commitment to the local community through board involvement, volunteerism, or other activities.

Report: Madison second-best-run city in U.S.

Madison is the second-best-run city in the country, according to 247wallst.com. Taking top honors was Plano, Texas. Madison scored highly on a variety of criteria, including health care, technology, its top bond rating, and the fact that 54% of its…

Schultz named new CEO of Morgridge Institute

Dr. Brad Schultz is the new CEO of the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison. Schultz, a UW med school professor and administrator, returned to the UW in 2011 after serving 12 years as dean of the University…

Back to School

When Scott Kolar was employed as a computer programmer, working with mainframes nine or 10 hours a day, he used to think about how nice and relaxing a leisurely retirement would be. Now that he’s retired at the forever-young age of 58, he dreads the very thought of idleness.

Madison College to add women's soccer

Madison College will add women’s soccer as a varsity sport in 2014 in an effort to balance its athletic offerings for men and women. The move came after an anonymous complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education pointed to…

State receives Race to the Top grant

The state of Wisconsin competed for and was awarded a Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge education grant from the federal government. The state will receive $22.7 million in funding to advance current state initiatives targeting early childhood development.…

Teachers unions discuss merger

Citing a decline in union membership of about 30% since the passage of Act 10 in 2011, leaders of the state’s two largest teachers unions, WEAC (Wisconsin Education Association Council) and AFT-Wisconsin (American Federation of Teachers), are discussing a merger.…

Adult education: State rolls out first online degrees

The University of Wisconsin System has rolled out its first set of competency-based online degree programs for working adults, starting with UW-Milwaukee and the two-year UW Colleges. The Flexible Option degree initiative, announced earlier this year, will focus on closing…

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