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No-pay MBA completes test run
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Why go into heavy debt and disrupt your life for a certification of business training that you can get essentially for free? That's the question Laurie Pickard asked when she launched her No-Pay MBA project in August of 2013. - photo by Eric Schulzke
Eric Schulzke
Deseret News
Published: Mar 19, 2015, 6:39 PM
Why go into heavy debt and disrupt your life for a certification of business training that you can get essentially for free? That's the question Laurie Pickard asked when she launched her No-Pay MBA project in August of 2013, setting out to earn an MBA using Massive Online Courses, or MOOCs.

"If everything goes according to plan," Fortune reported last January, "Laurie Pickard will earn her MBA in three years for less than $1,000. She'll take classes from Harvard, Wharton, and Yale, among other top-tier schools. And she'll tackle it all while keeping her full-time job. She'll accomplish all of this from Kigali, Rwanda."

As the Fortune article notes, the "no pay" is a bit of a misnomer. The fees she paid went for books and for the nominal fees that MOOCs charge to verify that a student has completed the work.

Fortune reported at the time that Pickard would take 16 classes over three years, the equivalent of an MBA courseload. Instead, she completed 20 in half that time, Fortune reports in a new update.

Pickard now has a robust website, which includes updates on her progress and links to news coverage. She's also starting an online support system for online MBA-ers, designed to make up for some of the shortcomings of the approach, including networking.

Theres such a wide variety in what a MOOC does, how good it is, and how much you learn that a single certificate doesnt tell you that much. But thats the same in college courses, Pickard told Fortune. Nobodys hiring you because you have a single college course; theyre hiring you because you have a package thats valuable. I think we are going to see a repackaging of [online] courses.

Pickard is well aware, Fortune adds, that there are many things an online degree lacks, especially each conversation with professors and networking with other students. She hopes her online project will help mitigate those weaknesses.

Pickard's experience has made her a pioneer. When she began the project, most top business schools had very few offerings online. Now the field is richly populated. Wharton, one of the highest ranking schools, has put virtually its entire catalog online with Coursera.

In December, Pickard did a wide-ranging interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among other issues, the interview touched on the well-known problem of motivation problem. MOOC's have a very low completion rate.

"For most people," Pickard said, "motivation is the hardest part. For me, I have the whole blog architecture to keep me motivated. But I think for MOOCs to really be a force in the business school world or the university world, there needs to be a different incentive structure. The incentives just aren't there."
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.