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If higher ed is not in a game-changing environment, then how do you explain this (increasingly-prevalent) line of questioning?

On 03/07/2011, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, liberal arts, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Is the Four-Year, Liberal-Arts Education Model Dead?

.IMPORTANT NOTES FROM DSC:

I went through a liberal arts degree in college (Economics) and I work for a Christian liberal arts college. As such, one can tell that I greatly endorse and believe in the benefits of a liberal arts education; such an education is extremely valuable and helpful, no matter which career path(s) a student may choose to pursue after college.

However, it has become clear that the costs of education are getting out of hand — and out of the reach of a growing number of people. Now with the Internet and alternative methods of delivery in the mix — and the current model continuing to show itself as being vulnerable and unsustainable for a growing number of people —  there is a potent equation for change in the air.

So…if you don’t believe we are in a game-changing environment, how do you explain this (increasingly-prevalent) line of questioning? (Though most of the articles I’ve seen do not use the word “dead”, the flavor/meaning of such articles and postings is much the same.)

 

 

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Public universities seek more autonomy as financing from states shrinks

On 03/03/2011, in budgets, business side of he, game-changing environment, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, universities, by Daniel Christian

Public universities seek more autonomy as financing from states shrinks — from the NYT by Tamar Lewin

With states providing a dwindling share of money for higher education, many states and public universities are rethinking their ties.

The public universities say that with less money from state coffers, they cannot afford the complicated web of state regulations governing areas like procurement and building, and that they need more flexibility to compete with private institutions.

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Standard & Poor’s Report on Not-For-Profit Higher Ed Sector – Feb 14, 2011

On 02/18/2011, in budgets, business side of he, future of higher education, by Daniel Christian

Standard & Poor's Report on Higher Ed - February 14, 2011

Overview:

  • While the short-term rating outlook is mixed, the sector’s long-term credit profile is stable.
  • Operating results for 2011 will likely be uneven despite the economy’s recovery.
  • We expect an equal number of upgrades and downgrades in 2011.
  • Key challenges include growing competition, state funding cuts, higher expenses and liabilities and continued tuition and scholarship pressures.

The outlook remains mixed for the not-for-profit U.S. higher education sector in fiscal 2011, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. We believe that operating results and demand will likely be uneven, and institutions with high debt and limited liquidity could experience severe stress. Still, we believe that the long-term credit profile of many rated institutions remains stable, and that many institutions will perform favorably over the next year.

As a whole, Standard & Poor’s does not expect public universities to underperform private universities despite likely cuts in state funding. However, we may see some public colleges and universities consider consolidation or consider mergers with their peers.

We believe that the credit performance of not-for-profit colleges and universities generally remains tied to an institution’s financial resources, demand, and management, rather than industry risk. Therefore, we expect overall credit trends to be mixed for the balance of 2011, with small pockets of distress and larger pockets of strength.

— originally saw this via Academic Impressions e-newsletter

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Teetering between eras: higher education in a global, knowledge networked world

On 01/29/2011, in business side of he, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, new business models, by Daniel Christian

Teetering between eras: higher education in a global, knowledge networked world — from emeraldinsight.com by Gail O. Mellow and Diana D. Woolis, (2010)

Findings – There are three fundamental and monumental changes that will profoundly alter the field of higher education in the next several decades: the globalization of higher education; the impact of technology on changing definitions of students, faculty and knowledge; and the impact of the marketplace on the basic “business model” of higher education. The paper describes how each of these three forces will reshape higher education, while identifying factors that may accelerate or inhibit the impact of these influences.

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Gail O. Mellow, Diana D. Woolis, (2010) “Teetering between eras: higher education in a global, knowledge networked world”, On the Horizon, Vol. 18 Iss: 4, pp.308 – 319

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The need for innovation: Items re: how the price of higher ed is affecting students, families, communities, nations

On 01/11/2011, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, funding / grants, future, future of higher education, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, staying relevant, student-related, United States, by Daniel Christian

One from DSC:


What goes up...must come down -- by Daniel S. Christian

Abstract:
A perfect storm has been building within higher education. Numerous, powerful forces have been converging that either already are or soon will be impacting the way higher education is offered and experienced. This paper focuses on one of those forces – the increasing price tag of obtaining a degree within higher education.  It will seek to show that what goes up…must come down.  Some less expensive alternatives are already here today; but the most significant changes and market “corrections” appear to be right around the corner. That is, higher education is a bubble about to burst.

One from CNBC:

Price of Admission: America's College Debt Crisis

— from CNBC on Monday, January 3, 2011

Also see:

From DSC:
Disclosure: I work for Calvin College. However, I publish the above items in the hopes that those of us at Calvin and within higher education as a whole will choose to innovate — that we will think outside the box in order to greatly lower the cost of providing a degree within higher education. It would be very helpful to future students, families, communities, nations.

No matter how you look at it, pain — but also opportunities — are ahead. Change will not be easy, nor will it be comfortable.  It will most likely be very scary and very tough. At least for me, this posting and the topic it discusses evokes major soul and heart searching for me. Nevertheless, the questions remain:

  • What changes do we need to make so that institutions of higher education can become more affordable? Stay relevant? Be sustainable over time?
  • What should we put in place of the current “status quo”?
  • Who receives the pain? Who enjoys the opportunities?

Also see:

Addendum on 1-19-11:

Student Loan Docume -- videos on Vimeo

http://www.defaultmovie.com/

Addendum on 1/22/10:
The Bubble: Higher Education’s Precarious Hold on Consumer Confidence — from National Association of Scholars

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The State of the CIO 2011

On 01/04/2011, in business, business side of he, corporate / business world, future, IT in HE, leadership, strategy, trends, by Daniel Christian

The State of the CIO 2011
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From DSC:
In other words, the future CEO’s will have a strong appreciation for — if not significant experience in — technology-related fields.

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For-profit education stocks: Winners & losers of 2010

On 12/28/2010, in business, business side of he, by Daniel Christian

For-profit education stocks: Winners & losers of 2010 — from thestreet.com by Miriam Reimer

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What goes up…must come down. A paper re: the costs of obtaining a degree in higher education, by Daniel S. Christian

On 12/22/2010, in accreditation, budgets, business side of he, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, future of higher education, game-changing environment, leadership, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, strategy, traditional / tradition, United States, by Daniel Christian

What goes up...must come down -- by Daniel S. Christian

Abstract
A perfect storm has been building within higher education. Numerous, powerful forces have been converging that either already are or soon will be impacting the way higher education is offered and experienced. This paper focuses on one of those forces – the increasing price tag of obtaining a degree within higher education.  It will seek to show that what goes up…must come down.  Some less expensive alternatives are already here today; but the most significant changes and market “corrections” appear to be right around the corner. That is, higher education is a bubble about to burst.

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Perhaps a part of the future landscape within teaching and learning…

On 12/13/2010, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, economics, elearning, faculty, mathematics, new business models, online learning, online media, religion, science, training / L&D, writing, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I’m interested in trying to take pulse checks on a variety of constantly moving bulls-eyes out there — one of which is new business models within the world of teaching and learning (in higher education, K-12, and the corporate world). I have no idea whether the courses that this site/service offers are truly great or not. To me, it doesn’t matter right now. What matters is whether this model — or this type of business model — takes off. The costs of obtaining an education could be positively impacted here, as competition continues to heat up and the landscapes continue to morph.

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The Great Courses -- online lectures from across the lands

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Enrollment in online courses increases at the highest rate ever

On 11/22/2010, in budgets, business side of he, changing business models, game-changing environment, leadership, online learning, strategy, by Daniel Christian

Enrollment in online courses increases at the highest rate ever — from The Chronicle by Travis Kaya

Despite predictions that the growth of online education would begin to level off, colleges reported the highest-ever annual increase in online enrollment—more than 21 percent—last year, according to a report on an annual survey of 2,600 higher-education institutions from the Sloan Consortium and the Babson Survey Research Group.

In fall 2009, colleges—including public, nonprofit private, and for-profit private institutions—reported that one million more students were enrolled in at least one Web-based course, bringing the total number of online students to 5.6 million. That unexpected increase—which topped the previous year’s 17-percent rise—may have been helped by higher demand for education in a rocky economy and an uptick in the number of colleges adopting online courses.

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Navigating the “new normal”

On 11/16/2010, in budgets, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, economics, future of higher education, game-changing environment, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, strategy, universities, by Daniel Christian

Navigating the "New Normal" -- from the Lumina Foundation

— resource from StraighterLine.com’s blog

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CONCLUSION: THE IMPERATIVE FOR CHANGE
After centuries of excellence and decades of cyclical recessions, higher education has developed some bad habits. When facing budget shortfalls, colleges and universities have not always adequately addressed underlying cost drivers and have instead pursued short-term solutions. Today, the need for fundamental changes is inescapable. The demand for highly skilled workers is unavoidable, the economic effects of a better-educated nation unequivocal—the United States needs more college-educated workers than ever.

A half century ago, higher education helped transform America’s World War II fighting force into a powerful labor force. In unpredicted and unprecedented ways, colleges and universities expanded and met the challenge of educating millions of returning GIs. They responded with heart and innovation. Today, higher education faces another challenge. The road ahead can become a deep plunge into a fiscal morass, a financing disaster that results in severely limited opportunity — or it can become an invigorating time of innovation, strategic cutting and reinvestment, with a laser focus on student completion. Through your leadership, we can work together to reinvent higher education and ensure continued progress toward the Big Goal.

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Is this the future?

On 11/12/2010, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, elearning, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, open courseware and systems, social learning / networks, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Is this the future? Udemy now permits you to charge for your course on Udemy.

— originally from Kirsten Winkler’s
You can now charge for Courses on Udemy and more

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The power of online exchanges

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Trends in college pricing

On 10/28/2010, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, by Daniel Christian

Trends in college pricing

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For those institutions (or individuals) who might want to make a few million

On 10/27/2010, in Apple, budgets, business side of he, collaboration, computer science, creativity, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, ideas, K-12 related, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, music, programming, project-based learning, by Daniel Christian

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Concept, graphics, idea from Daniel S. Christian:
But free for your taking and implementing!

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What:

  • Choir Practice: A mobile-based method of practicing one’s part

Features

  • The ability for the choir member to go directly to measure ____
  • The ability for the choir member to highlight measures ____ through ____ (like highlighting text in Microsoft Word), then click on the play button to loop through those measures
  • One could speed up a song up or slow it down (without affecting pitch)
  • The application would allow for all of the vocal parts to begin playing upon downloading a pre-packaged song or the application could always start playing with a certain part (i.e. 1st or 2nd soprano, alto, tenor, or bass)
  • The musical notes could be the same color or one could choose to display the notes in different colors
  • Bonus features might include a video of a director directing this song

Why:

  • This type of thing would be a great cross-disciplinary assignment for your institution’s curriculum — Music and Computer Science come to mind for this application
  • Your institution could sell this application on Apple’s App Store to develop a new revenue stream
  • Your choirs could produce the packaged songs / tracks
  • Plus, such an app would help choir members learn their parts — 24x7x365 — in the car, on the road, in the gym, etc.
  • Enhances one’s ability to listen to other parts as well
  • Aids your marketing departments as you point to this as a solid deliverable from your programs
  • Creates “study aids” for your own school’s choirs/students as well as for choirs at smaller churches and institutions (worldwide)
  • Helps those choir members who don’t have access to a piano or don’t know how to play a piano

Have fun whomever takes this idea and runs with it! The choirs of the world will appreciate you — and so will their audiences!   🙂

Along these lines…another win-win here includes:

That students in the future (I hope) will be able to choose from a multitude of potential roles when presented with multi-disciplinary projects/assignments/courses:
  • Vocalists, pianists, and other type of musicians
  • Composers
  • Programmers
  • Graphic artists
  • Videographers / video editors
  • Audio specialists
  • Writers
  • Project Managers
  • Actresses/Actors
  • etc.
As such, students could:
  • Learn to appreciate other disciplines
  • Participate in/contribute to projects that could be published on the web
  • Exercise their creativity
  • Practice being innovative

 

Daniel Christian

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The university lacks capacity to change education (George Siemens)

On 10/23/2010, in business side of he, change, changing business models, higher education, leadership, new business models, organizational change, staying relevant, strategy, traditional / tradition, by Daniel Christian

The university lacks capacity to change education — from George Siemens

Make no mistake, dramatic changes are occurring in education. These changes, due to the reluctance of the academy to map activities to the reality of the external world, are driven by external innovation. Quite simply, higher education is not in control of its fate as it has failed to develop the capacity to be self-reliant in times of change. I’ve seen universities (such as University of Manitoba) reach out to consulting and accounting firms to provide structural and funding change recommendations. I’ve seen universities begin to partner with online course providers such as StraighterLine to extend course offerings because they (the university) are simply not capable of fulfilling these roles themselves – they lack capacity to participate in this new space of learning. I used to think that higher education and open access would do away with the dominant role of traditional publishers. It looks like I was wrong. Publishers are now offering full course content packages that blend textbooks with faculty-produced materials (i.e. McGraw-Hill’s purchase of Tegrity – a lecture capture software). The university’s reliance on external offerings to fill their capacity gaps is a growing trend. For some (traditional liberal education advocates) it’s a concern. For others (entrepreneurs) it’s a blessing. And for still others (traditional publishers and content creators), it’s a way to stay relevant and perhaps even become more integrated with educational institutions than was possible with a textbook publishing model.

From DSC:
Sorry George, but I just have to post this in its entirety, as I think that you are right on the mark here!

From behind my “lenses” the way I “see” this is that:

  • Higher ed must become more nimble, willing to change, and work to address our shortcomings.
  • We must be responsive to changes outside of our control (which is the majority)
  • We must experiment with things and be willing to fail. Because…

…we are not nearly as in control of things as we suppose.


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