Excerpt:
I was unaware of the book, Habitudes For Communicators, so Dr. Tim Elmore gets high marks for not only cutting through the clutter, but for creating something so funny (because it’s true).
Also see:
Will your college survive? –– from TechCrunch.com by John Katzman
Editor’s note: Guest contributor John Katzman is the founder and CEO of 2tor, an education startup that partners with universities to deliver selective degree programs online to students across the world. Katzman also founded the Princeton Review where he served as president and CEO from 1981-2007.
The Internet will save higher education, but it may kill your alma mater.
Peter Thiel believes smart people don’t need college, and he’s right: There have always been autodidacts who can learn without assistance. Of course, we don’t really need supermarkets and restaurants either; we could all grow and cook our own food.
Yet having professionals help us has always been a cost-benefit decision. What are the costs of a great education, including the opportunity cost of four years of work, and how do these costs balance against the impact of that education on your life?
The Internet is the first technology since the printing press, which could lower the cost of a great education and, in doing so, make that cost-benefit analysis much easier for most students. It could allow American schools to service twice as many students as they do now, and in ways that are both effective and cost-effective. For reasons that will be outlined below, however, it will probably end up doing this with half as many schools. And your school, even if it’s bumper-sticker worthy, might not make the cut.
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Evolve or Else
Like any other disruptive transition, the move to online and blended universities will bring tremendous benefit to students—better education in more places at lower tuition. However, these changes will be painful for many schools. Most bookstores and travel agencies found themselves on the wrong side of a steadily growing force; the schools that thrive over the next two decades will do so only because they have carefully harnessed that very same force: the Internet.
Also see:
As of 11/20/11 (~2:00pm EST)
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As of 8/24/11:
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From DSC:
With the increase in globalization — and from what I’ve seen happening in the financial systems (i.e. how what happens in Europe affects the financial systems in the U.S./Asia/other and vice versa) — it seems clear that we are all in this boat together. If that’s true, what does that mean for:
Addendum on 11/21/11:
Excerpt from their Value Proposition page:
The concept of a broad based, highly educated population began its journey to reality a 150 years ago, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862. The Act called for the establishment of “at least one College in every state upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil” (emphasis DSC).
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Despite the unprecedented success of America’s public university system that is the envy of the world, reduced state and federal funding, almost a trillion dollars in student loans, tuition soaring out of reach for middle class families, stunning demographic changes and declining preparedness for college-level work, today’s public higher education is at a crossroads. Our old ways of doing business are no longer sustainable and the promise of the Morrill Act is in peril (emphasis DSC).
Also see:
From DSC:
Following are some of the announcements from last week’s the Future of State Universities Conference (oddly enough, I couldn’t find any blogs, recordings, etc. here…)
10:05 AM – 87% of the respondents to the pre-conference survey believe that public universities will undergo major structural changes in the future.
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9:15 AM –Two thirds of students graduating with 4-year degrees last year, owed on average $23,186 in student loans. CNN Money
Student loan debt has eclipsed credit card debt at $1.0 trillion and counting.
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In 2010 Open Universities Australia grew 35%–the largest increase on record. The Australian
3:45 PM – 57% of people surveyed by Pew and the Chronicle say that the cost of college outweighs its value. Boston Magazine
Unemployment rate for people under 25 is 54% and 9 out of 10 college grads are planning to move back in with their parents. Boston Magazine
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2:45 PM – Only 11% of respondents to the pre-conference survey believe that student readiness for college is stable or increasing.
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2:00 PM – 100% of presidents and 75% of provosts and deans that responded to the pre-conference survey believe that faculty interactions with students will change significantly in the coming years.
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1:00 PM – Stanford professor Thrun offered his, “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” course online and free. 130,000 students signed up. —They will get the same lectures as students paying $50,000, same assignments, same exams, and, if they pass, “a statement of accomplishment”, but not Stanford credit. “Literally,” Thrun says, “we can probably get the same quality of education I teach in class for 1 to 2 percent of the cost.” The New York Times
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12:25 PM – iTunes U online is running 300 million downloads a year, with 350,000 lectures offered by more than 1,000 universities worldwide. BBC News Oxford has 10 million downloads—130,000 per week. More than half the people using them are from the US and China.
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9:45 am – 50% of respondents to the pre-conference survey believe that foreign universities will increasingly become competitors with U.S. universities for U.S. students.
95% believe that foreign students will be a major source of students in the future.
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9:35 am – Did you know: global higher education enrollment increased 53% in the last decade?
Did you know: 20% of all college students in the world are studying outside of their home country.
5:00 pm – Pre-conference Survey:
A visualization of the United States Debt — from usdebt.kleptocracy.us
From DSC:
Though this is the U.S. debt, the ramifications of this affect the entire globe. I believe my cousin, Mr. Stephen Gibson, is correct when he says that we may well be heading towards a “Global Reset.”
Also see:
— as of 8/24/11 around noon
Addendums later on 8/24/11 from Academic Impressions:
MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson
Just what are states pledging for higher ed these days?
The study features the College Savings Indicator, a calculation of the percentage of projected college costs the typical American family is on track to cover, based on its current and expected savings. After four consecutive years of decline, the Indicator held steady to the prior year at 16 percent, down from 24 percent in 2007, when Fidelity first launched the study. While overall preparedness has declined, a larger percentage of parents — more than two-thirds (67 percent) — have begun saving for college costs, compared with 58 percent five years ago.
Excerpt:
The news this summer is teeming with trillions. The national debt is more than $14 trillion. In a recent report, the credit rating agency Moody’s says the 1,600-plus U.S.-based companies it rates harbored some $1.2 trillion in cash at the end of 2010. The newly minted congressional supercommittee is charged with finding ways to pare the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion in the next decade.
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Trillion. It’s the new black — tres chic, tres cher. The higher-water mark. If you’re not talking trillions, you’re talking chump change. All of a sudden we are tossing the term around like we understand it.
From DSC:
As always with my Learning Ecosystems blog, see the tags and categories that I referenced here as to how I think this item is especially relevant.
Abilene Christian U supports teachers through Digital Learning Institute — from convergemag.com by Tanya Roscorla
Excerpt:
This summer, Abilene Christian University in Texas hosted its first K-12 Digital Learning Institute for teachers. And this school year, the university will observe teachers’ lessons as they apply what they learned about mobile technology to their classes.
Addendum on 8/18/11:
Reengineering IT in higher education — from campustechnology.com by John Waters
Excerpt:
Higher ed IT is going the way of the TV repairman, eventually becoming anachronistic maintainers of commodity systems–if university and college technology managers and chief information officers don’t reclaim their rightful place as innovators. So proclaimed William G. “Gerry” McCartney, CIO at Purdue University, who spoke to attendees at the annual Campus Technology 2011 conference last week in Boston. McCarthy said he wants to see nothing less than a new kind of higher ed hybrid, one that transforms colleges and universities into “producers as well as consumers.”
From DSC:
I have had the perspective for decades now that those organizations who utilize technologies the best will be the winners (sorry for the competitive way of framing this topic, but it’s true).
“Keeping the systems running” in the world of IT is important — but the strategic use of IT has arguably become more important as the Internet, changing landscapes, and budgetary pressures continue to disrupt higher education.
In the 21st century, if you want a successful organization, you must have at least one visionary technologist — who understands your business — on your organization’s decision-making board; if not, good luck to such an organization in the future. If your organization minimizes and underestimates the power of technology to disrupt your business, things may not turn out too good for your organization in the future.
Also see:
