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"In January, we featured series of short animations from BBC Radio 4 addressing the question "How Did Everything Begin?" In February, we featured its follow-up on an equally eternal question, "What Makes Us Human?" Both came scripted by Philosophy Bites co-creator Nigel Warburton and narrated by X-Files co-star Gillian Anderson (in full British mode). Now that March has come, so has the next installment of these brief, crisp, curiosity-fueled productions: "Has Technology Changed Us?""

Chrystal chose to come down on the side of internal development. "We want to do in-house instructional design with our curriculum people, our professors and our production people. We really feel then that we can make quick changes the way we want them. If something doesn't work, we can make the change right now. We don't have to be in line with the four other clients that the company has."

"t's quite a change for Microsoft, so long the bete noir of the open source community. But as Russinovich explains, it's a necessary change. And given how popular Linux has become, Microsoft could go even further, not only allowing open source software on its cloud services, but actually turning Windows into open source software. "Every conversation you can imagine about what should we do with our software-open versus not-open versus services-has happened," he says."

"The GNU Manifesto is characteristic of its author-deceptively simple, lucid, explicitly left-leaning, and entirely uncompromising. He explains the point of the project in short, declarative sentences: "[A] user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the sources and is in [the] sole position to make changes."

"I think the most significant change is in the recognition of information literacy as a set of multiple literacies. This means that information literacy will need to redefined (and it was ill-defined to begin with). It also means that the pedagogy of information literacy will have to change. It will become a pedagogy of multiliteracies."

"Mindfulness should no longer be considered a "nice-to-have" for executives. It's a "must-have":  a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and effective decision-making capabilities, and to protect ourselves from toxic stress. It can be integrated into one's religious or spiritual life, or practiced as a form of secular mental training.  When we take a seat, take a breath, and commit to being mindful, particularly when we gather with others who are doing the same, we have the potential to be changed."

"Students who use OER find them to be accessible, relevant, and engaging. Over 60 percent of students reported that the overall quality of their learning experience in an OER course was higher in comparison to a typical, non- OER course. Though creating OER courses and degrees is time consuming, instructors in several colleges said they had made changes in instruction as a result of working with OER materials. Though few instructors made changes to their pedagogical practices specific to OER, use of these materials allowed them to align materials better with their learning goals. Instructors already using student-centered and hands-on learning strategies said that the OER materials helped what they were already doing. Several instructors also reported that students were more engaged with OER materials compared to textbooks, because they are better tailored to good pedagogy, reading materials are more relevant and interesting, and students can be more involved in the construction of the learning experience."

"The Fourth Industrial Revolution is interacting with other socio-economic and demographic factors to create a perfect storm of business model change in all industries, resulting in major disruptions to labour markets. New categories of jobs will emerge, partly or wholly displacing others. The skill sets required in both old and new occupations will change in most industries and transform how and where people work. It may also affect female and male workers differently and transform the dynamics of the industry gender gap. The Future of Jobs Report aims to unpack and provide specific information on the relative magnitude of these trends by industry and geography, and on the expected time horizon for their impact to be felt on job functions, employment levels and skills."

"If we want to see our digital learning environments evolve quickly and in a particular direction, we need to understand what evolution means. What are the generational changes that have happened so far, and what were the drivers for those changes?"

The real opportunity, I think, is in trying to build longer arcs. Now that the cycle of new is eating itself in a race to ever-faster, there's a bigger chance to make long term change by consistently focusing on what works (and what's important), not what's new and merely shiny.

Twitter has also been a crucial tool for revolutionaries in Iran, Egypt and elsewhere. It's been used to mobilize relief efforts and raise millions for charitable causes. It's become a national water cooler for chatter about big televised events such as the Oscars and the Super Bowl. And while Twitter sometimes reveals the stupid side of celebrity culture, it's also brought fans closer to their favorite actors, musicians, writers and athletes than was ever possible before. Twitter has, in fact, changed lives.

Social Media changing the world

So what does 2013 hold for social media in the workplace? It looks like many of the big (and sometimes overhyped) promises that have surrounded social media - better insight into customer behavior, improved office productivity with internal networks and, of course, significant, measurable ROI - will finally begin to bear fruit. Here's a look at five ways social media will impact the way we work and the bottom line in 2013.

"America is shifting from a national, analog, industrial economy to a global, digital, information economy. Our social institutions, colleges and universities included, were created for the former. Today they all seem to be broken. They work less well than they once did. Through either repair or replacement - more likely a combination - they need to be refitted for a new age."

"We in the ed-tech world have been talking, visioning, and showcasing innovation for decades. Based on the results to date, I don't think our voice is enough. I've come to the conclusion that the voice that will push real change is yours. Indeed, if you-the students-are willing to accept a set of key educational responsibilities as you stand up for your core educational rights, you might be the real game changer we need in catalyzing next-generation learning."

"As soon as I walked into that dusty, remote town and the smiling children started coming up to me, I just knew my Facebook profile photo would change forever,"

"Now a revolution has begun (see article), thanks to three forces: rising costs, changing demand and disruptive technology. The result will be the reinvention of the university."

" You can throw all kinds of software and data at a problem, but if faculty aren't brought in early to the process in a collaborative way, effective change is unlikely to happen. Unfortunately, demands from outside actors like legislators and federal bureaucrats can often lead to friction between groups on campuses and thwart their ability to collaborate. I found that external mandates and the need to focus on compliance issues related to accreditation have stymied innovation."

"Big data is everywhere-even in education. Researchers and developers of online learning, intelligent tutoring systems, virtual labs, simulations, and learning management systems are exploring ways to better understand and use learning analytics to improve teaching and learning."

We face a critical need to prepare children and adolescents to thrive in the 21st century-an era of rapidly evolving technology, demanding and collaborative STEM knowledge work, changing workforce needs, economic volatility, and unacceptable achievement gaps. This report takes a close look at a core set of noncognitive factors-grit, tenacity, and perseverance-that are essential to an individual's capacity to strive for and succeed at important goals, and to persist in the face of an array of challenges encountered throughout schooling and life.

This year's study, which was released last month, reflects well on instructors. Faculty members, contra their reputation for being change-averse, appear to be adapting well to the expectations of technology-thirsty students, according to the authors. "More students than ever gave positive marks for their instructors' use of technology," they wrote.