professional wordpress themes

Program closures in the U.S. [American Association of University Professors]

On 01/17/2012, in adjunct faculty, budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, reinvent, staying relevant, United States, by Daniel Christian

American Association of University Professors -- Program Closures

Excerpt:

The financial crisis that began in 2008 and the ensuing reductions in state support for higher education have led to devastating cuts at colleges and universities across the country. A growing number of institutions are eliminating majors, graduate programs, or even entire departments; the map above tracks program closures that have been reported in the media since the start of the crisis.

This map is not comprehensive. It is designed solely to highlight media coverage of program closures, which is sometimes flawed and can quickly become outdated, and does not reflect the ongoing casework of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Population of needy college students is exploding [de Vise]

On 01/11/2012, in business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, United States, by Daniel Christian

Population of needy college students is exploding — from The Washington Post by Daniel de Vise

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

A higher education official from Wisconsin who attended the recent Council of Independent Colleges conference in Florida made a remarkable statement during a question-and-answer session.

There is a group of students who enter college with such dire financial need that the amount the federal government expects their families to contribute to college is effectively zero. In Wisconsin, that zero-pay population has grown by half in a single year: from 42,641 students in the 2008-09 academic year to 65,800 in 2009-10.

The data come from Rolf Wegenke, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and surely they mirror a national trend.

Incoming college students have grown markedly more needy since the 2008 economic downturn.

From DSC:
This perfect storm that continues to amass must be addressed.

How can all institutions of higher education — across the board — cut tuition costs by 50% or more?

That should be the #1 question boards are asking themselves throughout 2012 until they have some ideas/answers — then begin experimenting with implementing those pilots/ideas/potential directions.  If not, the conversation will continue to move outside of academia and fewer people will even care what those of us inside higher ed think.  The development of a Walmart of Education has become a sure thing in my mind — it will happen. In fact, it’s already started.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

An open letter to university administrators by Clayton Christensen: 8 thoughts on higher education in 2012

On 12/29/2011, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, funding / grants, future of higher education, game-changing environment, innovation, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

Excerpts from An open letter to university administrators by Clayton Christensen

Defending the status quo is futile, and it’s no fun. Given fiscal realities beyond the control of university administrators, defending the operational status quo means choosing between big, focused cuts or death by a thousand small ones. Trading up to a larger school offers no escape from the grisly task of doing less with less.

…

Clinging to tradition will worsen individual and institutional disruption, while embracing innovation will hasten a new era of higher education productivity—not only of well-educated degree holders, but of new knowledge.

 Also see:

.

BERKELEY, Calif. — Across the nation, a historic collapse in state funding for higher education threatens to diminish the stature of premier public universities and erode their mission as engines of upward social mobility.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Another warning sign to those of us working within higher ed.

On 12/14/2011, in 21st century, accreditation, budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, elearning, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

Do not underestimate or discount the disruptive power of technology! Daniel S. Christian -- June 2009

 

From DSC:
The tidal wave of technological change swept over Blockbuster and the article below shows how it drowned Kodak as well. These players were once at THEE top of their games…now they are either bankrupt or soon to be bankrupt (if things don’t change fast).

This relates to higher education as well, but I don’t think that we’ve seen anything yet (though 2012 may change that). Higher ed may have a limited window of time left before the conversation moves completely out of academia and higher ed as we know it gets left behind. The word “reinvent” and the phrases “staying relevant” as well as “lowering the price” should be at the top of the agendas for boards at most academic institutions of higher education throughout America (and other nations as well). I use the word most here because some folks will likely continue to pay enormous prices to get the name brands that they’ve been paying $50,000+ per year for.

If companies eventually don’t care who accredited your degree but rather what you can DO for them, watch out. The barriers to entry will plummet.

 

You Press the Button. Kodak Used to Do the Rest. — from technologyreview.com
Kodak saw the shift from analog to digital photography coming. Here’s why it couldn’t win.

.

Excerpt (emphasis from DSC):

But the industry landscape was completely different in the digital era. Barriers to entry were significantly lowered and the industry was flooded by entrants with a background in consumer electronics, such as Casio, Samsung, and Hewlett-Packard, not to mention Japanese camera manufacturers including Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Large parts of Kodak’s competence base related to chemistry and film manufacturing were rendered obsolete. The vertical integration that had previously been a core asset to Kodak lost its value. Digital cameras became a commodity business with low margins. The problem facing Kodak wasn’t just that film profits had died but that those revenues could not be replaced.

Once images became digital, Kodak’s business model of “doing the rest” was effectively destroyed. Doing the rest used to entail a large and complex process that only a couple of companies in the world could master. Today, it is done by the click of a button.

Related graphic from DSC:

From Daniel S. ChristianAlso see:

 

12/15/11 addendum re: the conversation moving away from higher ed:

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

No single blog can adequately capture or represent what was going on at Learning 2011. But if you are intrigued, I suggest you go to www.Learning2011and see what the agenda and the presentations looked like for yourself.
.
What I sensed, and what I am trying to describe here, was an accelerating transition in workforce education from a higher education-centric model to a learner-workplace-centric model. In a world where higher education institutions have dominated, controlled, and driven the conversation about quality, content, access, and results; the balance of power is shifting away from that more monolithic tendency to a far more disaggregated power structure where good information, metrics, and results that can be validated against third party standards are the “coin of the realm”.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

Deficit Supercommittee’s failure triggers steep cuts for education and research [Field]

On 11/22/2011, in budgets, business side of he, education, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, research, by Daniel Christian

Deficit Supercommittee’s failure triggers steep cuts for education and research — from The Chronicle by Kelly Field

Excerpt:

The Congressional supercommittee charged with cutting $1.2-trillion from the federal budget conceded defeat Monday, after its members reached an impasse over taxes and entitlement spending.

The panel’s failure to produce a deficit-reduction plan triggers across-the-board cuts of roughly $1-trillion in discretionary spending over nine years, starting in the 2013 fiscal year. Unless Congress finds a way around the process, the Education Department’s budget will be slashed by $3.54-billion in 2013, according to the Committee for Education Funding, an advocacy group.

While the Pell Grant program is exempt from cuts in the first year, the other student-aid programs will lose $134-million, reducing aid to at least 1.3 million students. Career, technical, and adult education will lose $136-million, affecting 1.4 million students, says the committee.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • •  

If not now, when? [Sannier] Relates to the question “Will higher ed respond and stay relevant?” [DSC]

On 11/09/2011, in budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, IT in HE, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, society, staying relevant, by Daniel Christian

If not now, when? –– from Educause ReviewMagazine  by Adrian Sannier
Adrian Sannier is Digital Strategist and Senior Vice President of Product at Pearson eCollege and is Professor of Computing Studies at Arizona State University, where he was also the University Technology Officer prior to joining Pearson eCollege.

Excerpt:

Strong signs are indicating that higher education is finally on the verge of a long-awaited digital shift. Given that experts have been prophesying such a shift for more than forty years, with little if any real change, it’s reasonable to approach such a statement with healthy skepticism. Various factors—some cultural, some technological—have indeed retarded progress along this path to the future. Nevertheless, the unprecedented challenges facing the educational system, combined with higher education’s cultural success at solving daunting challenges through the widespread application of information technology, have created the conditions for rapid change. In the coming months, we will see major shifts in the role that technology plays in the creation, distribution, consumption, and improvement of learning experiences. And education will never be the same.

…

Beyond Textbooks, Beyond Bookstores, Beyond Learning Management Systems, Beyond School—the changes introduced by technology have already begun. The digital shift is upon us. If other industries and other fields are any guide, once the dominos begin to fall, progress will be swift and irreversible.

I, for one, can’t wait to be a part of it. If not now, when?

 

From DSC:
Readers of this blog will not be surprised at what I’m about to say…

Higher ed, if we are wise, will quickly wake up and heed the disruptive changes that have already occurred within other industries (i.e. those caused by a variety of technologies).  The following quote is especially relevant for those of us in higher education, because the conversation is no longer being controlled by those within the world of higher education. 

“For the first time, the tools to drive change and improve learning lie beyond the scope and the control of the academy, in the community which surrounds it. So, for the first time in our history, colleges and universities do not control either the conversation or the drive to innovate. As a consequence, also for the first time, if they stand still, they will be left behind, bobbing in the wake of rapid change.” — HEMG

The writing on the wall is coming into a bolder/stronger/clearer view:  Higher ed needs to respond to society’s needs and to its own customers…otherwise, it will become irrelevant. Much of this is due to what things often come down to — money.

The cost of education is one of the most potent forces acting as a catalyst to these changes — and the tidal waves of technological change will finish the job.


Staying Relevant

 


…and more forcefully illustrated:

 

From Daniel S. Christian

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

College Affordability & Transparency Center

On 10/28/2011, in budgets, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, student-related, universities, by Daniel Christian

College Affordability & Transparency Center

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •  

New College Board Trends Reports Price of College Continues to Rise Nationally, with Dramatic Differences in Pricing Policies from State to State [collegeboard.org]

On 10/26/2011, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

New College Board Trends Reports Price of College Continues to Rise Nationally, with Dramatic Differences in Pricing Policies from State to State — from collegeboard.org
Increases in federal tax credits, combined with growth in grant aid, help some students cover rising expenses
10/25/2011

Key Tuition and Fee Findings:

  • Published in-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions average $8,244 in 2011-12, $631 (8.3 percent) higher than in 2010-11. Average total charges, including tuition and fees and room and board, are $17,131, up 6.0 percent.
  • Published out-of-state tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities average $20,770, $1,122 (5.7 percent) higher than in 2010-11. Average total charges are $29,657, up 5.2 percent.
  • Published in-state tuition and fees at public two-year colleges average $2,963, $236 (8.7 percent) higher than in 2010-11.
  • Published tuition and fees at private nonprofit four-year colleges and universities average $28,500 in 2011-12, $1,235 (4.5 percent) higher than in 2010-11. Average total charges, including tuition and fees and room and board, are $38,589, up 4.4 percent.
  • Published tuition and fees at for-profit institutions average an estimated $14,487 in 2011-12, 3.2 percent higher than in 2010-11.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • •  

Higher education bubble in America

On 10/20/2011, in budgets, business side of he, change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, reinvent, strategy, student-related, surviving, trends, by Daniel Christian
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • •  

We’ll take it from here [Kolowich]

On 10/04/2011, in business side of he, higher education, online learning, trends, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

We’ll take it from here — from InsideHigherEd.com by Steve Kolowich

Excerpt:

Yet the contradiction highlights a problem familiar to many traditional universities: On the one hand, they want to compete in the global market of online higher education. Even before 2008, many lacked the cash or expertise to build an online infrastructure from scratch. As a result, some have ceded their online development and recruitment to outside companies. A cottage industry of online firms — Bisk Education, Embanet-Compass, Deltak, 2tor, Colloquy and others — has emerged to meet this need.

Saint Leo was one of the first to do this, 14 years ago. Now it may be at the front edge of another trend — that of universities that, having made the transition to online education, are dropping their for-profit partners and taking over themselves.

Also see:

Excerpt:

Along with the benefits, the phenomenal growth of online learning also presents an uncharted set of challenges for academic institutions, most of which are much more familiar with the traditional classroom setting. Additionally, it has spurred a new set of demands and expectations from a range of stakeholders including students, instructors, regulatory institutions and advocacy groups. Given these new challenges, several factors are proving to be instrumental in shaping the way higher education institutions implement and improve upon the state of online learning.

…

Technology is transforming education and its impact just continues to grow. By creating and embracing a solid framework for online learning and employing cutting-edge learning management systems, higher education institutions are in a position to significantly improve student outcomes today and into the future.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • •  

The University of Wherever [Keller]

On 10/03/2011, in business side of he, changing business models, colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, higher education, universities, by Daniel Christian

The University of Wherever — from The New York Times by Bill Keller

Excerpt:

The traditional university, in his view, serves a fortunate few, inefficiently, with a business model built on exclusivity. “I’m not at all against the on-campus experience,” he said. “I love it. It’s great. It has a lot of things which cannot be replaced by anything online. But it’s also insanely uneconomical.”

…

Disrupt is right. It would be an earthquake for the majority of colleges that depend on tuition income rather than big endowments and research grants. Many could go the way of local newspapers. There would be huge audiences and paychecks for superstar teachers, but dimmer prospects for those who are less charismatic.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •  

Student debt swells, loan defaults grow [visual.ly]

On 09/20/2011, in budgets, business, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, economics, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian
Addendum on 9-21-11:
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •  

More students defaulting on college loans [HechingerEd blog]

On 09/14/2011, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, economics, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, student-related, by Daniel Christian

More students defaulting on college loans — from the HechingerEd blog

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •  

Resources for finding out how long it takes to develop eLearning [Kapp]

On 09/07/2011, in budgets, business side of he, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, elearning, higher education, instructional design, new business models, online learning, by Daniel Christian

Resources for finding out how long it takes to develop eLearning — from kaplaneduneering.com by Karl Kapp

From DSC:
One resource mentioned was from the Chapman Alliance, from September 2010, of which these figures are from:

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • •  

“Houston, we have a problem.” [Christian]

On 09/01/2011, in budgets, business side of he, career development, change, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, student-related, trends, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I was originally going to write this blog posting back in late July, when I read the first paragraphs of a solid article by Laura Pappano at the New York Times entitled, “The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s.”  At that time, I couldn’t help but think…“Houston we have a problem.”

(Disclosure: I completed my Master’s of Science in
Instructional Design for Online Learning in June 2011 from Capella University.)

Excerpt:

William Klein’s story may sound familiar to his fellow graduates. After earning his bachelor’s in history from the College at Brockport, he found himself living in his parents’ Buffalo home, working the same $7.25-an-hour waiter job he had in high school.

It wasn’t that there weren’t other jobs out there. It’s that they all seemed to want more education. Even tutoring at a for-profit learning center or leading tours at a historic site required a master’s. “It’s pretty apparent that with the degree I have right now, there are not too many jobs I would want to commit to,” Mr. Klein says.

Then, fast forward to today when I was further reminded to contact Houston Command Control Center (metaphorically speaking) when I read Jennifer Lee’s article in today’s New York Times entitled, “Generation Limbo: Waiting It Out“.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

“We did everything we were supposed to,” said Stephanie Morales, 23, who graduated from Dartmouth College in 2009 with hopes of working in the arts. Instead she ended up waiting tables at a Chart House restaurant in Weehawken, N.J., earning $2.17 an hour plus tips, to pay off her student loans. “What was the point of working so hard for 22 years if there was nothing out there?” said Ms. Morales, who is now a paralegal and plans on attending law school.

Some of Ms. Morales’s classmates have found themselves on welfare. “You don’t expect someone who just spent four years in Ivy League schools to be on food stamps,” said Ms. Morales, who estimates that a half-dozen of her friends are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A few are even helping younger graduates figure out how to apply. “We are passing on these traditions on how to work in the adult world as working poor,” Ms. Morales said.

…

The journey on the life path, for many, is essentially stalled.

 

The reasons that I say that we have a problem here in the world of higher education are probably already clear, but to further elaborate on them (with the lenses of my past experience):

  1. Why should I pay ~$55,000 a year — $54,763 for just the 2011-2012 academic year — to go to Northwestern University, only to find out that my $220,000+ investment doesn’t land me an excellent, top-rate job? Are we saying that a degree from NU’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS as it was known in my day) is not enough of an investment to get a good job? Are we now saying that I need another degree before I can start paying off my ever-mounting debt? (i.e. that gorilla on my back that continues to gain weight and has implications for the types of jobs that I now have to go for, whether I like them or whether I am gifted for them or not)
  2. How convenient for corporate HR and hiring managers to be able to ask for the moon yet again — while often not lifting a finger to help these students/potential employees pay for that education! My experience was that corporations always wanted to have their new employees hit the ground running.  But with a crowd of people applying for each open position these days, I would be very interested to see the data on:
    • What % of today’s corporations are actively helping folks obtain the advanced degrees that they are requesting?
    • What % of the time these corporations do this?
    • What % of their employees do such corporations provide this type of assistance for?
    • What % of the degree — or up to what $$ amount — do they pay for?
      .
      Perhaps it is all to easy and convenient — and good for shareholders — during tough economic times to place all of the burden on the backs of the students/future employees; perhaps there are few incentives for companies to change the way the game is played.
      .
  3. Speaking of incentives…how convenient for higher education to go along with this trend as well.  After all, who wouldn’t want to support an environment that contributes to continued enrollments?

 

So…that’s why I say, “Houston, we have a problem.”

  • This type of phenomenon and economic environment seems to be stoking the growing dissatisfaction against the costs involved with obtaining a degree within higher education and the perceived/real return on such an investment.
  • Though “times might have been good” these last few decades, such times may be coming to an end; change is in the air..
  • How should we respond within higher education? Within the corporate world? How can we help more students/prospective employees obtain their college degrees?

 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •  
Previous Entries Next Entries
© 2024 | Daniel Christian