Geoff's note: The post below is from Lucas Freed, a local UX and creative professional who had the idea to bring the U.Lab Hub to Gravitate and will be facilitating locally.

If you’re interested in transforming your business, your society, or yourself—read on. There is a six week #MOOC (massive online open course) that begins on September 10th called U.Lab. It is called ‘massive’ because already there are over 10,000 people enrolled across the world! U.Lab is offered via the edX platform and is offered by MIT in partnership with the Presencing Institute. Oh yeah, and the best part is there is NO COST

At Iowa BIG, we've pushed the envelope of re-inventing education so far and so fast that we're seeing some pushback. This is actually a good sign, as we as a State need to have a serious discussion about the need to change education more rapidly than what we're seeing. One area where we find pushback from peers in the United States is in regards to the concept of academic "rigor."

We're working on expanding Gravitate to Ames!

Come on. We all know that we aren't going to stay in our jobs at a startup forever. Don't be that person that's all, "Oh, I love this company and I'll never leave." Because you will. So quit being a suck up.

Get inspired at 1 Million Cups, get feedback at "Ask an Expert" Open Office Hours then wrap up at a potluck, Wednesday at Noon educational session or Startup Stories.

Joe talks with Geoff about balancing work and community involvement, the future of Des Moines and the evolving community.