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Reflections from the article “Evaluating Part-Time Faculty”

On 07/12/2010, in cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, education reform, future of higher education, game-changing environment, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Evaluating Part-Time Faculty — from Academic Impressions by Daniel Fusch

This fall, the US Department of Education is expected to release a report showing a further drop in the percentage of US faculty who are tenured or tenure-track (which as of 2007 had already dropped to 31%, down from 57% in 1975). This comes on the heels of a recent study published in the journal Educational Policy that showed lower persistence rates for freshmen who have many of their courses taught by adjuncts, prompting fresh debate over what the increased use of contingent faculty may mean for the quality of education.

From DSC:
I don’t mean to be critical or find fault here…but I do wonder how many resources are put into full-time faculty’s training and development in terms of helping them learn how to TEACH (vs. doing research, publishing their findings, etc.). Teaching is tough and is both a science and an art.  Few can be good at everything.

Also, I think there is an emphasis on teaching at some institutions, but there may be more of an emphasis on publishing and doing research at other institutions.

For example, I went to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.  Currently, NU charges about $55,000 a year to go there. Does the student get top notch TEACHING? In many cases, I doubt it. The students may get subject matter experts (SME’s) who know their subject matter like the back of their hand or they make be taking a course from someone who has carved out a name for himself/herself in a particular discipline…but that doesn’t mean they know how to teach that material. Also, it doesn’t mean that many students will ever get to take a class from these folks, as they may be getting a grad student teaching some of their core courses…I know I did.

Also, this is all the more reason that teams of specialists will be/should be used to create and deliver content. You want the best SME’s you can get…but you need to back them up with the resources to create the best all-around product. You need the skillsets found in instructional designers, programmers, web designers, interaction designers, graphic designers, legal experts, etc. — the best that you can afford to create engaging, interactive, multimedia-based, personalized content.

You can bet that the “Forthcoming Walmart of Education” will get this right! And when they do, watch out. They will leave many institutions in their dust.

Daniel Christian -- higher ed needs to move towards the use of team-created and delivered content




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Learning from the creative industries – consistency to build trust

On 07/12/2010, in collaboration, computer science, programming, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Learning from the creative industries – consistency to build trust — from infoq.com

In the June 2010 edition of Wired magazine Jonah Leher wrote an article titled “Animating a Blockbuster: Inside Pixar’s creative magic” in which he examines the creative process in use at Pixar Animation Studios. He states

“Since 1995 when the first Toy Story was released, Pixar has made nine films, and every one has been a smashing success. Pixar’s secret? It’s unusual creative process.”

According to Leher: “the studio has built a team of moviemakers who know and trust one another in ways unimaginable on most sets”

He points out how Pixar’s process requires deep trust among the team, and the ability to handle feedback on the quality of the work being done. Each day the team review the work done the previous day and “ruthlessly shred” each frame. This constant feedback cycle enables the team to continuously improve the quality of the work being done, and the product being developed. This process involves every member of the team, “even the most junior staffers are encouraged to join in”, the intent is to learn, adapt and improve in a short cycle time – something that should be very familiar to anyone who has worked in an Agile software development team.

This safe to fail environment is one of the key aspects that makes Pixar so successful. Leher quotes Lee Unkrich (director of Toy Story 3) who says “It is important that nobody gets mad at you for screwing up. We know screwups are an essential part of making something good. That’s why our goal is to screw up as fast as possible”

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E-textbooks — and some thoughts about being innovative and using teams

On 06/22/2010, in business side of he, digital textbooks, future of higher education, game-changing environment, library / librarians, textbooks, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Reflections on The E-Book Sector — from InsideHigherEd.com

First of all, some excerpts (with emphasis from DSC):

E-textbooks might be the most-talked about and least-used learning tools in traditional higher education. Campus libraries and e-reader manufacturers are betting on electronic learning materials to overtake traditional textbooks in the foreseeable future, but very few students at traditional institutions are currently using e-textbooks, according to recent surveys.

Not so in the world of for-profit online education.

For-profit institutions in general are moving toward wider e-textbook use than other sectors of higher education, Stielow says. “I think a great many [for-profits] are certainly trying to move toward this model,” agrees Bickford. And the ones that have appear to be succeeding.

Why is that?

John Bourne, executive director of the Sloan Consortium, which studies online learning, posits that it might be a function of the more centralized administrative structures at for-profit institutions. “For-profits do things like provide lesson plans for instructors, provide you with what you’re supposed to do; they hire all these adjuncts to deliver all these things that have been sculpted by instructional designers,” says Bourne. Being able to dictate to the faculty what text format they should assign to their students probably makes it easier to implement e-textbook adoption across the institution, he says.

It is more difficult to engineer change at such scale at nonprofits, because of their more distributed governance models. At those colleges, faculty control of curricular texts — including mode of delivery — is “sacred,” Bourne says.

Manny Rivera, a spokesman for Phoenix, says that the online giant’s centralized administration does indeed allow it to make sweeping changes without many hang-ups. “The university is set up to be more nimble to confront market forces,” Rivera says. “So we’re able to innovate more quickly.”

From DSC:
To be more nimble…to confront market forces…to be able to innovate more quickly…to use materials created by teams of specialists…hmmm….sounds like a solid position to be in as the bubble continues to expand (and may even be beginning to slowly burst based upon where students are going — more community colleges, more state/public schools, lower-cost alternatives, etc.)






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Cameo Multimedia (Kalamazoo, MI) — excellent designers of interactive learning experiences

On 05/20/2010, in education technology, elearning, engagement / engaging students, higher education, K-12 related, multimedia, user experience (UX), using teams, virtual K-12 schools, by Daniel Christian

Cameo Multimedia

E-Cademy Builder from Cameo Multimedia

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Professors control course content by publishing e-textbooks — from Convergemag.com

On 05/10/2010, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, change, changing business models, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital textbooks, disruption, e-readers, entrepreneurship, faculty, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, publishing, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Professors control course content by publishing e-textbooks

Earn more, charge less

He also spends less money publishing them. With his original textbook, he printed 3,000 copies and had to store them, so he didn’t break even for a while. That’s not the case with creating e-textbooks.

“You don’t have to have a bunch of books laying around, you don’t have to have the initial startup costs,” Chamberlain said, “and then you can send that savings on back to the students.”

For the past five years, Florida State College at Jacksonville has been driving down the cost of textbooks for its students through the SIRIUS initiative. SIRIUS brings together between 50 and 75 faculty members to create course material and textbooks for classes they’re qualified to teach, said Chief Operations Officer Jack Chambers. So far, they’ve developed 20 interactive general education courses.

The textbooks cost $60.98 in print, but this fall, they will publish online through CafeScribe at a price of $48 each. Eleven other colleges will use them as well.

Before the courses publish, a team of content specialists, instructional designers, quality assurance staff and multimedia personnel review them, as do expert faculty members outside the college (emphasis DSC).

http://www.sirius-education.org/course_dev.html

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Reflections on Seth Godin’s posting “The coming melt-down in higher education – as seen by a marketer”

On 04/29/2010, in colleges, community colleges, disruption, face-to-face, future of higher education, game-changing environment, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, universities, using teams, by Daniel Christian

The coming melt-down in higher education (as seen by a marketer) — by Seth Godin

For 400 years, higher education in the US has been on a roll. From Harvard asking Galileo to be a guest professor in the 1600s to millions tuning in to watch a team of unpaid athletes play another team of unpaid athletes in some college sporting event, the amount of time and money and prestige in the college world has been climbing.

I’m afraid that’s about to crash and burn. Here’s how I’m looking at it…

From DSC:
Seth’s perspectives on this are similar to what I’ve been saying — and warning would happen — for years now.

My take on the future of higher education is that someone will get it right and will be able to offer team-created and delivered content 24 x 7 x 365 that is mind-blowing by today’s standards and will be able to package and deliver that content and learning experience at discounts of 50%+ off of today’s prices. Yeah, yeah, yeah I hear ya say. Right Daniel…I’ve heard it all before.. your talk about disruption…about technology, etc. etc. etc.

You might have heard it, but you haven’t seen it in higher ed……....yet! My take on this is that you will see this happen. Massive change. The great commoditization of higher education as we know it today. The bubble is about to burst.

After all, the same publishers are selling the same textbooks to many institutions of higher education. In fact, I’m surprised that some publisher hasn’t yet taken a right turn and started offering degrees.They have access to subject matter experts (SME’s), teams of talented instructional designers, programmers, project managers, interface designers, legal/copyright experts, etc.  What they lack is accreditation.

More and more I think societies will become increasingly interested in what you can DO and not where you attended school. Sure, there will still be those companies who want to hire only from ____ , ____, or _____; but that type of hiring perspective may not hold up if that organization is being outperformed by others. Also, who knows if corporations are even going to be around in 20 years. It’s turning into a situation where everyone is their own brand, their own company. Project teams come together, do the project, and then disband.

If students are paying a premium today, they should be paying that premium to go to an institution of higher education that:

  • Has excellent faculty members — knowledgeable, passionate teachers who know their material cold and know how to teach that material; they are adaptable and are open to changing pedagogy and the use of various kinds of technologies
  • Emphasizes and rewards teaching — not necessarily research
  • Provides small class sizes and/or the ability to meet frequently with their professors (not a TA, not a grad student, and not a faculty member who might be a skilled researcher but who doesn’t know how to teach very well)

The thing all of us in higher ed need to be on guard about and the question we need to constantly be asking ourselves is, “How do we keep from becoming a commodity? What value do we bring to the table? Why should someone pay X when they are about to be able to pay 0.25 X elsewhere?”

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New Skills for Instructional Designers — kineo

On 04/02/2010, in instructional design, IT in HE, using teams, by Daniel Christian

New Skills for Instructional Designers — kineo

As Ellen sees it, the practice of eLearning instructional design sits at the intersection of instructional design and IT. ID + IT = eLearning. Take a moment and imagine four pie wedges:

  • Instruction (learning and pedagogy)
  • Design (creative production – writing, graphics, video)
  • Business Intelligence (being able to speak the language of business, analysis and metrics)
  • Technology (architecture and implementation – authoring tools, programming, LMSs)

Many of us ID practitioners entered the field from one angle of that pie. What about you? Did you come in to the field with an aptitude or passion for facilitation and training or writing or learning design?

Now take those four wedges and combine them into one individual and you have a superhero. Or a great eLearning instructional designer who can really make a difference in the business.

What you have is a true eLearning professional.

From DSC:
I’m glad they mentioned that if someone were to have all these skills and abilities, that you would have a superhero here; because when you consider all that those four pieces of the pie contain (which you only know if you’ve actually worked in those areas — which I have), it’s a huge and ever-changing amount of information to know.

Again, this is why I go back to the need to specialize.

I struggle in this area of being a generalist vs. being a specialist. In my current work, I need to play the role of a generalist (which probably helps explain in part why I attempt to scratch the surface on such a broad and sweeping set of topics in this blog).

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Why the ’system’ won’t change quickly — from Tony Bates

On 03/29/2010, in dangers of the status quo, faculty, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Why the ’system’ won’t change quickly — by Tony Bates and Trent Batson

Batson, T. (2010) Let faculty off the hook Campus Technology, March 17

“I liked this article very much. Trent Batson lays out a whole host of compelling reasons why it is so difficult to get faculty to change and use technology more and better. His main argument is that the whole ecology of higher educational institutions reinforces the status quo.”

From DSC:
Most institutions won’t change…not until the writing is on the wall. As a related example, Blockbuster now gets it and has been scrambling to make the necessary changes to stay in the game — they now offer movies-on-demand and will deliver movies directly to you. However, they were very late to the game and nearly lost their shirt because of it (they still might). They didn’t change until Apple and Netflix came along with some seriously-attractive alternatives to the “traditional way” of renting movies — and were either forced to change or to file for bankruptcy.

When someone gets it right within higher education (see below), such an organization will be copied over and over again (witness what happens every time to Apple and their innovations). Such a trend will issue in a new system that will leave the traditional institutions scrambling to catch up. The faculty members alone won’t be able to make the changes.

To me “getting it right” means:

  • We need TEAMS of specialists to create and deliver multimedia-based, rich, interactive content (much like those in healthcare-related fields did long ago — they specialized. The for-profit organizations out there already are doing this and are enjoying very healthy growth rates.)
  • Such content will be offered in 2-5 different ways (audio only, audio/video, simulations, games, text/graphics)
  • We need administrations that are visionary in their approaches and will get the faculty members and the rest of the specialists the support and resources that they need to make the necessary transitions
  • We need to turn the control over to students to pursue their passions
  • We need to let students’ passions drive their learning
  • We need to guide the students, while letting them create more of the content themselves — i.e. allowing for more active, participatory types of learning
  • Such offerings will be extremely affordable — due to the volume of learning that occurs and/or due to developing stronger consortiums and repositories of content (which spread out the costs)
  • We need CULTURES that are OPEN/WILLING to make changes.

That’s my 2 cents here.

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The game-changing environment continues; an update on my vision of the “Forthcoming Walmart of Education”

On 02/09/2010, in budgets, business side of he, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, informal learning, innovation, internet, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new media literacies, online learning, online media, open courseware and systems, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, teaching & learning, traditional / tradition, trends, using teams, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The following article got me to thinking of the future again…

Thousands to lose jobs as universities prepare to cope with cuts — from guardian.co.uk (original posting from Stephen Downes)
 Post-graduates to replace professors | Staff poised to strike over proposals of cuts

I post this here because I believe that we are at the embryonic stages of some massive changes that will take place within the world of higher education. The timeframe for these changes, as always, is a bit uncertain. However, I would expect to see some of the following changes to occur (or continue to occur) yet this year:

  • Cost cutting
  • The cutting of programs
  • Laying off of staff and faculty
  • Not filling open positions
  • More outsourcing
  • The move towards using more cloud-based-computing models
  • The movement of students to lower-cost alternatives
  • Greater utilization of informal learning
  • The rise of online-exchange oriented offerings (i.e. the matching up of those who teach a subject and those who want to learn that subject)
  • The threat to traditional ways of doing things and to traditional organizations — including accreditation agencies — will cause people within those agencies to be open to thinking differently (though this one will take longer to materialize)
  • The continued growth of online learning — albeit at a greatly-reduced price
  • …and more.

This isn’t just about a recession. The Internet is changing the game on yet another industry — this time, it’s affecting those of us in the world of higher education. When the recession’s over, we won’t be going back to the way higher education was set up previous to the year 2010.

What did those us of in higher education learn from what happened to the music industry? What did we learn from what happened to the video distribution/entertainment business? To the journalism industry? To the brokerage business? To the travel and hospitality industries? To the bookstores of the world?

Along these lines…back at the end of 2008, I posted a vision entitled, The Forthcoming Walmart of Education. So, where are we on that vision? Well…so far we have:

  • Straighterline.com
  • A significant open courseware movement, including MIT Open Courseware, the Open Courseware Consortium, Connexions, Open Content Alliance, OpenLearn, Intute, Globe, Open Yale Courses, Open Education, The Internet Archive and many others
  • University of the People
  • YouTube.edu
  • iTunes U
  • Academic Earth
  • and more…

I realize that several of these items were in place before or during 2008…however, at that time, there was no dominant, inexpensive alternative. And there still isn’t one that has jumped into the lead (the University of Phoenix with their 150,000+ students doesn’t qualify, as their pricing is not yet nearly aggressive enough as what I’m predicting will occur).

Though we aren’t there yet, there has been significant change that has already taken place. So…if I were an administrator right now, I’d be asking myself the following key questions:

  • Can we reduce tuition and fees by at least 50%? If not, how can some of our offerings be delivered at half the price (or more)?
  • How are we going to differentiate ourselves?
  • How are we going to deliver value?
  • How are we going to keep from becoming a commodity?
  • Are we using teams to create and deliver our courses? If not, why not? What’s our plans for staying competitive if we don’t use teams?

Most likely, further massive changes are forthcoming.  So fasten your seatbelts and try to stay marketable!



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The Future of Higher Education: Beyond the Campus

On 02/07/2010, in 21st century, budgets, business side of he, change, colleges, consortiums, convergence, dangers of the status quo, disruption, education technology, engagement / engaging students, expectations, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, internet, learning, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, mobile learning, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, pedagogy, social learning / networks, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, using teams, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

The Future of Higher Education: Beyond the Campus — from iangardnergb.blogspot.com

“Lots and lots at the time being on the future of HE, especially in the UK due to the funding cuts, imminent election, etc. One of the latest reports is a joint one from JISC, SERF, EDUCAUSE and CAUDIT, showing many issues are not just affecting the UK. “

Abstract:
Higher education’s purpose is to equip students for success in life—in the workplace, in communities, and in their personal lives. While this purpose may have remained constant for centuries, the world around colleges and universities is undergoing significant change. Higher education is under pressure to meet greater expectations, whether for student numbers, educational preparation, workforce needs, or economic development. Meanwhile, the resources available are likely to decline. New models, an intense focus on the student experience, and a drive for innovation and entrepreneurism will ensure that higher education continues to meet society’s needs. Information technology supports virtually every aspect of higher education, including finances, learning, research, security, and sustainability, and IT professionals need to understand the range of problems their institutions face so they apply IT where it brings greatest value. Creating this future will require collaboration across organizational and national boundaries, bringing together the collective intelligence of people from backgrounds including education, corporations, and government.

From DSC:
Many quotes jumped off of the pages of the report, but here’s one of them:

Higher education represents a complex, adaptive system that is influenced by larger societal trends and information technology. If higher education is adaptive, what will its future be?

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“The Class” – parody of The Office

On 02/07/2010, in blended learning, education technology, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, innovation, instructional design, IT in HE, smart classrooms, student-related, using teams, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

“This is from Lynn Schofield Clark’s Innovation in Mass Communications class at the University of Denver. If you are a fan of The Office, and you follow the discussions about technology use in the classroom, you will love this. They really nail the opening, and they have some great moments.”

From DSC:
Please take this in a spirit of humor. I love “The Office” and I thought this clip was a riot.

With that said, I realize that change is not easy; and again, for me, it gets back to the need for using teams to develop and deliver content. One person just can’t do it all anymore. Using the various technologies that can/will exist in a “smart classroom”  is but one of many pieces involved here.

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What Makes Design Seem Intuitive? — from Williams Instructional Design, LLC

On 01/30/2010, in instructional design, interaction design, interface design, usability, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Finds: What Makes Design Seem Intuitive? — from Williams Instructional Design, LLC

This entertaining and informative presentation by Jared spool of User Interface Engineering on, “What Makes Design Seem Intuitive?,” addresses web design, but much of his message applies to instructional design as well. Some of the gems of insight include…(see posting)

From DSC:
When we put educational materials online, we instantly create a user interface. From the students’ standpoints, how intuitive/usable are those interfaces?

When we don’t enforce some type of consistency in our online-based offerings, do we not put the monkeys on the back of our students to try and figure out how their current instructor does things (i.e. where the syllabus is, where the discussion board forums are, etc.)?

And might I add in here (which I realize is controversial), this is yet another reason why we need to move towards the use of teams in higher ed. One person can not do it all anymore…it’s just too big of a job now. We can’t expect our subject matter experts to be usability/interface design/instructional design/interaction design specialists.

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