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California needs a new master plan [Reed]

On 09/12/2012, in change, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, United States, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Charles B. Reed, chancellor for the last 14 years of the 23-campus California State University,
the nation’s largest university system, is retiring at the end of the year.

Excerpt:

California’s public higher education system, once the envy of the world, is struggling. To survive in a way that continues to fulfill its mission, we need to break the mold on how it operates.

State budget cuts have stripped our universities to the bone. And the promise of nearly free, accessible higher education has all but disappeared as cuts have forced tuition increases. What was once a rite of passage for all qualified young people is increasingly becoming untenable for many prospective students.

Some lucky people may have the option to simply choose another university, perhaps a private institution. But many more students, particularly those from low-income and traditionally underserved backgrounds, may have no choice but to forgo a university degree. This situation has caused those of us who have spent our careers advocating for accessible public higher education to ask: Is this the direction our state — and sooner or later our country — should be taking?

 

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Scholarships are in decline as tuition soars [Taylor]

On 09/12/2012, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, funding / grants, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Scholarships are in decline as tuition soars — from NBCNews.com by Chris Taylor
‘Every time we turn around there seems to be more red tape and cuts’

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Debt collectors cashing in on student loans [Martin]

On 09/10/2012, in budgets, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

Debt collectors cashing in on student loans — from the New York Times by Andrew Martin

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

…many borrowers are struggling to pay off their student loans, and the debt collection industry is cashing in.

As the number of people taking out government-backed student loans has exploded, so has the number who have fallen at least 12 months behind in making payments — about 5.9 million people nationwide, up about a third in the last five years.

In all, nearly one in every six borrowers with a loan balance is in default. The amount of defaulted loans — $76 billion — is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities, according to a survey of state education officials.

In an attempt to recover money on the defaulted loans, the Education Department paid more than $1.4 billion last fiscal year to collection agencies and other groups to hunt down defaulters.

 

From DSC:
Administrators throughout the country need to ask, how can we cut the price of our degrees by 50% or more?  No kidding!  I realize that sounds crazy, but if we don’t do this, cheaper — and increasingly attractive/convenient — alternatives will continue to develop. The conversation is not moving in a positive direction folks.  There is a limit to people’s incomes and patience here.

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The Siege of Academe [Carey]

On 08/30/2012, in corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, entrepreneurship, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - The Siege of Academe [Kevin Carey]

Excerpt:

The ongoing carnage in the newspaper industry provides an object lesson of what can happen when a long-established, information-focused industry’s business model is challenged by low-price competitors online. The disruptive power of information technology may be our best hope for curing the chronic college cost disease that is driving a growing number of students into ruinous debt or out of higher education altogether. It may also be an existential threat to institutions that have long played a crucial role in American life.

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From DSC:
If higher ed doesn’t respond more forcefully/significantly to the perfect storm it finds itself in, people will find other ways of getting employed and staying employed. The conversation continues to move away from institutions of traditional higher education (here’s but one example). Control is an illusion.

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Part of the perfect storm for higher ed in the US — “The middle class falls further behind” [Smith]

On 08/23/2012, in career development, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, future of higher education, game-changing environment, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, reinvent, robotics, staying relevant, trends, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The middle class falls further behind -- part of the perfect storm for higher ed in the US

 

From DSC:
Along with a host of other trends, this is a piece of the perfect storm in higher ed. People will find a way to make a living — whether this involves “traditional” higher education or not. From a career development side of things, robotics may make these graphics even more pronounced as jobs move from being done by humans to jobs being done by robots.

Also see:

 

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Addendums:

 

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Refections upon an insightful article by Jonny Dymond — “The decline of US manufacturing jobs and living standards”

On 08/08/2012, in 21st century, career development, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, economics, engagement / engaging students, love of learning, reinvent, society, staying relevant, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The decline of US manufacturing jobs and living standards — from bbc.co.uk by Jonny Dymond BBC News, Michigan

Excerpt:

For decades America’s vibrant manufacturing sector provided poorly educated workers a bridge to the middle class. But today’s plants need highly skilled workers who know their way around ultra-high tech machinery.

From DSC:
While manufacturing levels are back up, unemployment rates continue (McAfee, 8/8/12 –> “But new manufacturing facilities in America and elsewhere today don’t need large numbers of hard-working-but-unskilled workers; they need small numbers of hard-working-and-highly-skilled ones.”).

I have a feeling the middle class is going to continue to shrink here in America, unless we can reinvent ourselves. But reinventing ourselves requires that people learn about new things — something much more feasible if people like to learn. 

Upon graduating high school, do our students like to learn? Upon graduating college, do your students enjoy learning about new things? If not, how can we make learning more engaging and enjoyable?  That’s imporant these days because there”s no more hopping on the corporate bandwagon for 40 years and then retiring with a nice pension/401(K) plan.  All of us will need to “go back to our drawing boards” many times during our lifetimes now.

 Also see:

 

 

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“~1/3 of colleges and universities spending more than they can afford.” The financially sustainable university [A Bain Brief by Denneen & Dretle]

On 07/23/2012, in 21st century, budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, new business models, organizational change, pace of change, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, universities, by Daniel Christian

The financially sustainable university — from bain.com, a Bain Brief by Jeff Denneen and Tom Dretle

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Still, at the majority of institutions, the pace of change is slower than it needs to be. Plenty of hurdles exist, including the belief that things will return to the way they always were. (Note: They won’t.) But the biggest obstacle is more fundamental: While leaders might have a sense of what needs to be done, they may not know how to achieve the required degree of change that will allow their institution not just to survive, but also thrive with a focused strategy and a sustainable financial base.

…

Too often, stakeholders believe that the current cash crunch and need for change is a temporary phenomenon that will subside as the economy continues to improve. But those who see things this way probably haven’t been exposed to the data presented here and in other reports that show convincingly that this time is different. Faculty and other key stakeholders must be shown clear and compelling facts to disprove the “return to the status quo” notion and to clarify the corresponding negative implications and consequences of inaction.

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The Financially Sustainable University - July 2012 - a Bain Brief by Denneen & Dretle

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Do you sense a bit of the build-up/angst against Higher Ed in this article from TIME?

On 07/16/2012, in dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, leadership, learning ecosystem, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

The glorious end of higher education’s monopoly on credibility — from business.time.com by  Michael Ellsberg
In the past, the only way to get professional credibility was with a college degree.  Now young people are using many different tools to gain a foothold in the business world.

From DSC:
Do you sense a bit of the build-up/angst against higher education in this article from TIME? If you’ve been reading much about higher ed these days, this type of perspective is increasingly being voiced.

As such, those of us working in higher education — especially those in leadership positions — need to work much harder at reinventing ourselves.  At least part of the solution involves significantly lowering the price of higher education to make it much more accessible, but still maintaining the quality of our programs. Online learning will play a large part in the solution; I realize that it can be expensive to create high-quality materials, but it doesn’t come with nearly as much overhead.

Higher ed institutions are starting to find themselves in the “Have you driven a Ford lately?” mode.  If the public’s perspective continues to move down this trajectory/path, it will be an uphill battle to regain the public’s trust and respect. Relevancy will become a much harder battle to win at that point.

 

Other examples of the changing conversation and where it’s being held:
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When the technologies behind Watson and Siri get perfected and integrated into the “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” environment [Christian]

On 07/16/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, blended learning, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, competency-based learning/education, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, disruption, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, hybrid learning, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, streams of content, tablets, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telepresence, trends, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

When the technologies behind IBM’s Watson and Apple’s Siri get perfected and integrated into products and services that will make up the near future “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” environment— there will be:

 

  • A high degree of personalization and customization — available 24x7x365 on multiple kinds of devices
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  • The option to turn on tracking and analytics — reporting from which can be moved into the learner’s cloud-based profile upon completion of the unit/activity/badge
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  • Students of all ages will have access to their own virtual tutors so to speak
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  • When a virtual tutor is unable to resolve or address the student’s issue to the student’s satisfaction, the student will be able to instantly access a human tutor (with the option of keeping the existing work/issue/problems visible to the human tutor)

 

IBM's Watson -- incredible AI!

 

 

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

 

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Addendums:

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Now THAT is true leadership — when people (who have a lot to lose) take serious risks to urge change. [Christian]

On 07/13/2012, in business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, funding / grants, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

My hats off to Clayton Christensen and Henry Eyring!  My respect level just went up yet another notch for these two people.

Seeing as Clayton is a Professor at ***Harvard‘s*** Business School and Henry is an ***Administrator*** at Brigham Young University, their stance and recent letter to college and university trustees nationwide is a wonderful example of true leadership.   They risked many things by taking a stand and urging institutions of higher education to change. Their purpose is noble. Their message should be heeded.

From the website of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni: (emphasis by DSC)

Clayton Christensen: higher ed trustees “crucial as never before”
Harvard Business School professor (and bestselling author of The Innovator’s Dilemma) Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring of Brigham Young University recently sent a letter to college and university trustees nationwide, recognizing a critical turning point for the future of higher education. “If you’ve been serving for more than a few years, you’ve seen a big change in the nature of trustees meetings,” the authors wrote. “Before the downturn of 2008, the agenda tended to focus on growth and on ways to fund it…. At some point, the bubble was bound to burst—or at least start to sag. Now that it has, your role becomes crucial as never before.” The letter urges trustees to demand innovative solutions to expand student access and improve academic quality at their institutions: “The innovators can do more than merely avoid disruption. They can help usher in a new age of higher education, one of unprecedented access and quality, a combined industrial revolution and renaissance.”

 

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Addendum on 7/16/12:

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Higher ed tech: Where K-12 & Consumer Collide [Catalano; Intrinsic Strategy]

On 07/05/2012, in 21st century, analytics, Bring your own device (BYOD), data related items, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, expectations, future, higher education, innovation, K-12 related, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, tablets, by Daniel Christian

Higher Ed Tech" Where K-12 & Consumer Collide - Frank Catalano - March 2012

 

Excerpt:

What’s our agenda? It’s basically in three parts:

  1. What student expectations are
  2. Where innovation is coming from and what’s driving it
  3. And what it’s developing into over the next three years – in 5 transcendent trends that span K-20

 

Also see:

When Technologies Collide: Consumer, K-12 and Higher Ed -- by Frank Catalano -- April 2012

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“Learning from the living room” — Part I [Christian]

On 06/29/2012, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business side of he, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Learning from the living room -- a component of our future learning ecosystems -- by Daniel S. Christian, June 2012

 

 

Legal size PDF here

 

 

Addendum on 7/3/12 from an article I wrote for EvoLLLution.com (for LifeLong Learning):
Establishing better collaboration between the corporate world and higher education [Christian]

In the near future, perhaps we could have second screen-based activities whereby corporate leaders are giving TED-like presentations or expressing the current issues in their worlds via a program on Smart TVs, and the students are communicating and collaborating about these presentations via tablets or smart phones.  Perhaps there will be electronic means whereby students could submit their ideas and feedback to the presenting companies (and whereby selected ideas could be rewarded in terms of free products or services that the company produces).

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University of Virginia — “…a few early raindrops and gusts of wind before the real storm hits.”

On 06/27/2012, in change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education reform, elearning, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, internet, leadership, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
My cousin helps Fortune 500 companies innovate and deal with change management-related issues.  Something he once said is rather haunting to me now…

“Often when organizations start feeling the pain, it’s too late at that point.” (Think Blockbuster, Kodak, Borders, and many others.)

So that has been the question I’ve been pondering these last couple of years — are we already too late to the game?

 

Public universities see familiar fight at Virginia — from the NYT by Tamar Lewin on 6/25/12

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The tumult at the University of Virginia …reflects a low-grade panic now spreading through much of public higher education.

…

But the 10-point outline she offered — listing state and federal financing challenges, the changing role of technology, a rapidly changing health care environment, prioritization of scarce resources, faculty workload and the quality of the student experience, faculty compensation, research financing and the like — was almost generic, and would have applied to nearly every public university in the nation.

Rebuilding Mr. Jefferson’s University — from insidehighered.com by Kevin Kiley

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In a statement before the vote, Dragas said the events of the past two weeks have actually unified the campus around a series of questions it needs to address. “Prior to these events, there seemed to be a roadblock between the board’s sense of urgency around our future in a number of critical areas, and the administration’s response to that urgency,” she said. “Also, many of our concerns about the direction of the university remained unknown to all but a few. This situation has now keenly focused the attention of the entire university community on the reality and urgency of the specific challenges facing the university  – most of which, once again, are not unique to U.Va. – but whose structural and long-term nature do require a deliberate and strategic approach.”

University of Virginia: Only the Beginning — from The American Interest by Walter Russell Mead

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

What we see at UVA this month is just a foretaste of the storm that is coming — a few early raindrops and gusts of wind before the real storm hits. The country needs more education than the current system can affordably supply, and the pressure on the educational system will not abate until this problem is resolved.

Fixing college — from the NYT by Jeff Selingo, editorial director at The Chronicle of Higher Education, who is writing a book on the future of higher education

Excerpt:

Other information industries, from journalism to music to book publishing, enjoyed similar periods of success right before epic change enveloped them, seemingly overnight.We now know how those industries have been transformed by technology, resulting in the decline of the middleman — newspapers, record stores, bookstores and publishers.

Colleges and universities could be next, unless they act to mitigate the poor choices and inaction from the lost decade by looking for ways to lower costs, embrace technology and improve education.

 

Ousted Head of University Is Reinstated in Virginia — from the NYT by Richard Perz-Pena

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Facing a torrent of criticism, the University of Virginia trustees made a stunning turnabout on Tuesday, voting unanimously to reinstate the president they had forced to resign over concerns that the university was not adapting fast enough to financial and technological pressures.

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Public university becomes first to endorse untraditional online model [Carter]

On 06/25/2012, in cost of getting a degree, education reform, higher education, innovation, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

Public university becomes first to endorse untraditional online model — from by Denny Carter
Some UW faculty members, after political clashes with Gov. Scott Walker, remain skeptical of UW Flexible Degree

Excerpt:

Students at the University of Wisconsin (UW) can earn college degrees based on proven competency in a subject, making UW the first publicly-funded school to launch a competency-based degree program.

Led by officials at UW-Extension, a continued learning program with offices located across Wisconsin, the UW Flexible Degree will let incoming students demonstrate their knowledge and cut down on the time it takes to earn a degree.

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The future of higher education and other imponderables [Siemens]

On 06/18/2012, in business side of he, Canada, change, dangers of the status quo, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, leadership, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

The future of higher education and other imponderables — from elearnspace.org by George Siemens

Excerpt:

Educators are not driving the change bus. Leadership in traditional universities has been grossly negligent in preparing the academy for the economic and technological reality it now faces. This failure is apparent in interactions I’ve had with several universities over the past several months. Universities have not been paying attention. As a result, they have not developed systemic capacity to function in a digital networked age. In order to try and ramp up capacity today, they have to acquire the skills that they failed to develop over the last decade by purchasing services from vendors. Digital content, testing, teaching resources, teaching/learning software, etc. are now being purchased to try and address the capacity shortage. Enormous amounts of organizational resources are now flowing outside of education in order to fill gaps due to poor leadership. Good for the startups that were smart enough to anticipate the skill and capacity shortage in higher education. Bad for the university, faculty, and support staff.

I have delivered two presentations recently on the scope of change in higher education, one in Peru at Universidad de San Martin Porres and the other at the CANHEIT conference. Slides from CANHEIT are below…

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Addendum on 6/20/12:

Addendum on 6/21/12:

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