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Closing the loop in education technology [Nagel]

On 08/10/2011, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, budgets, change, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education reform, education technology, game-changing environment, K-12 related, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, policy, United States, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Closing the loop in education technology — from The Journal by David Nagel

Excerpt:

K-12 education isn’t using technology effectively and isn’t investing nearly enough in IT infrastructure to enable next-generation learning. That’s the conclusion of a new report, “Unleashing the Potential of Technology in Education,” which called for a greater financial commitment to education technology and the adoption of a holistic, “closed loop” approach to its implementation.

See also:

Unleashing the Power of Technology in Education - Report from the BCG in August 2011

 From DSC:

We may continue to be disappointed in our overall results — even if we do bump up our ed tech infrastructure/investments — if we continue to use the same models/ways of doing things. That is, I wish we would move more towards a team-based approach and stop trying to load up our teachers’ and professors’ plates with tasks that they probably don’t have the time, interest, or training to do.  Graphically speaking:

 

 

 

 

So…use teams to create and deliver the content — and allow for online tutoring from a team of specialists in each discipline. Like the healthcare-related billboard I kept driving by the other day said: “A team of specialists at every step.”

 

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Higher ed in Michigan: A couple of budgetary-related items

On 08/07/2011, in budgets, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, game-changing environment, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, student-related, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

New ‘net price calculators’ required by law may bring sticker shock to families planning for college — from Michigan (USA)/mlive.com and Flint Journal by Beata Mostafavi

University tuition hits an ugly milestone; how can college be affordable again? — from Michigan (USA)/mlive.com by Peter Luke

Also see:

 

 

 

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Fixing Debt [Kiley]

On 07/29/2011, in budgets, business side of he, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

Fixing Debt — from InsideHigherEd.com by Kevin Kiley

Excerpt:

Colleges and universities don’t like uncertainty, and right now they’re facing a lot of it. No one knows how long it will take the economy to recover to pre-recession levels. The government’s sovereign credit rating, once ironclad, is under review for potential downgrade. And people aren’t even sure if, in less than a week’s time, the government will be able to pay its bills. Nobody knows what the national fiscal picture means for higher education. The current drama in Washington over the debt ceiling has only exacerbated several years’ worth of economic uncertainty that led colleges and universities to convert variable-rate debt — a potentially volatile form of borrowing in which the interest rate can change weekly depending on the market — to fixed-rate debt. They purchased the variable-rate debt in droves because of historically low interest rates; shifting to fixed-rate debt will come at a price. But doing so provides somewhat more stability, no matter what happens in Washington — even if the worst unfolds and the government defaults, one of several factors that could send variable rates soaring.

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Analysis: In debt row, hints of emerging-economy crises [Pedro Nicolaci da Costa]

On 07/24/2011, in budgets, business, business side of he, change, corporate / business world, economics, game-changing environment, global / globalization, legislatures / government / legal, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, political science, United States, by Daniel Christian

Analysis: In debt row, hints of emerging-economy crises — from Reuters by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
WASHINGTON | Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:59pm EDT
Debt default. A ratings downgrade. Political deadlock. Such terms, once associated primarily with the developing world, now abound in the mighty United States.

 

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Last-minute tuition hikes hit students [Andriotis]

On 07/12/2011, in budgets, business side of he, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Last-minute tuition hikes hit students — from SmartMoney.com by Anna Maria Andriotis
Almost 20 states have cut funding for colleges, raising costs for students — starting now

Excerpt:

With freshman orientation right around the corner, many college students and their parents are about to get a surprise that could derail years of careful financial planning: last-minute tuition increases and cuts to financial aid packages promised just a few short months ago.

 

From DSC:
Many already know that such budgetary pressures are a piece of the perfect storm within higher education; but what may not be as visible is the catalyzing effect that these pressure are having/will have towards creating a game-changing environment within higher education. For example, such escalating costs may cause people to pursue other avenues of obtaining knowledge and/or experience. Some examples off of the top of my head include: 

  • StraighterLine.com
  • More community college-based coursework
  • iTunes U
  • YouTube.edu
  • University of the People
  • Apprenticeships
  • More vocationally-based programs
  • Etc.

 

 

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Colleges in Crisis [Harvard Magazine July-August 2011]

On 06/20/2011, in budgets, business side of he, change, colleges, 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, new business models, online learning, organizational change, reinvent, staying relevant, United States, universities, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Colleges in Crisis - Harvard Magazine -- July-August 2011

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Surveys of the American public and of more than 1,000 college and university presidents, conducted this past spring by the Pew Research Center in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, revealed significant concerns not only about the costs of such education, but also about its direction and goals.

More fundamentally, the business model that has characterized American higher education is at—or even past—its breaking point. Many institutions are increasingly beset by financial difficulties, and the meltdown since 2008 is but a shadow of what is to come. Undergraduate tuition has risen dramatically: at a 6.3 percent annual clip for nearly the last three decades—even faster than the much-decried 4.9 percent annual cost increases plaguing the healthcare industry. The full increase in the price of higher education has actually been hidden from many students and families over the years because gifts from alumni, earnings from private university endowments, subsidies from state tax revenues for public universities, and federal subsidies for students have been used to mitigate some costs. But universities are exhausting these mechanisms.

…

A Thriving, Disruptive Innovation
Just at the moment when these challenges to established higher education have arisen and compounded, another group of universities has arisen whose financial health is strong and enrollments have been booming. And yet the brands of these schools are weak and their campuses far from glamorous; sometimes the campuses are even nonexistent from the perspective of students, as online learning has largely driven their growth. How could this upstart group be so successful when the rest of higher education is treading water at best?

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Surging college costs price out middle class [Censky]

On 06/13/2011, in budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, society, student-related, surviving, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

Surging college costs price out middle class -- from CNNMoney.com on June 13, 2011

 

Excerpt:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — What do you get when college costs skyrocket but incomes barely budge? Yet another blow to the middle class.

“As the out-of-pocket costs of a college education go up faster than incomes, it’s pricing low and medium income families out of a college education,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of financial aid sites FinAid.org and FastWeb.com.

The numbers confirm what most middle class families already know — college is becoming so expensive, it’s starting to hold them back.

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Is Higher Education Ready for “The Education Bubble”? [Batson]

On 06/01/2011, in accreditation, budgets, business side of he, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education technology, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, instructional design, leadership, learning theories, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, open courseware and systems, pedagogy, reinvent, staying relevant, teaching & learning, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Is Higher Education Ready for “The Education Bubble”? — from CampusTechnology.com by Trent Batson

Excerpts:

American higher education–the jewel in the global crown of universal education, with nearly a quarter of the total number of higher education institutions in the world, and including graduate programs that are the envy of the world–is facing the prospect of being the next bubble to burst. Technology is both a culprit and a promising ally.

The spread of information technology, and its infusion into our culture, has opened the world to learning opportunities–raising expectations for college graduates and changing the terms of success.

Is American higher education ready to either prevent the bubble from bursting or to weather the storm when it does burst? And what is the bubble?

…

The bubble, as we can see by all the dimensions just described, is, in fact, a potential “perfect storm.”

…

But this effort must also result from a presidential-level decree: “The learning theory that fit so well in our culture and with the dominant technology pre-1995 (print-based and paper-based technologies), now is not working very well for any of us, so we have to change. Each of you on campus has sincerely and devotedly committed yourselves fully to learning, but now we know that our learning epistemology is less and less appropriate. This is not your fault; it is simply a time of incredible human growth; it is a time of rapid evolution in our culture; a time of re-shaping our economy. We must transform or become irrelevant.”

 

From DSC:
Good to see I have some company in these perspectives; thanks for the article Trent. Also see:

  • The Forthcoming Walmart of Education
  • The below graphics that I created a while back reflecting on whether there was a bubble building within higher ed (2/16/09) as well some of the elements of “The Perfect Storm in Higher Education” (9/10/10).
  • The point is we need a response to these trends — we don’t want to be broadsided.

 

The perfect storm in higher ed -- by Daniel S. Christian

Is higher ed the next bubble?

 

Daniel S. Christian: My concerns with just maintaining the status quo (from 2009).

From 5/21/09

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Update on “Perspectives on the elephant of college pricing” [Armstrong]

On 05/31/2011, in budgets, business side of he, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, new business models, student-related, by Daniel Christian

Update on “Perspectives on the elephant of college pricing” — by Lloyd Armstrong, University Professor and Provost Emeritus at the University of Southern California

Excerpt/conclusion:

The situation from all perspectives is obviously greatly exacerbated by the current unusually bad economic times. Pressures to increase discounting have been enormous for many institutions, especially those whose selectivity is lower. Economic times eventually will get better, of course, but NACUBO warns that it may be some time before institutions see the year-to- year gains in net tuition revenue they experienced before the beginning of the economic downturn. In fact, there are increasing indications that there may not ever be a return to such gains for many institutions.  There are serious questions being raised by the general public regarding whether higher education produces a value equal to its cost. This issue will hit those institutions that are “non-elite” most strongly, and make it increasingly difficult for them to raise tuition at the historic rate.   It also may well be the case that the American public will be more cautious in taking on loans in the future, and thus will look much more carefully at the concept that a loan is really decreasing the net cost of education (as the current terminology implies). Should this happen, it could significantly raise pressure to raise grant aid, leading to higher discount rates.

All in all, the data clearly indicate that the current cost/price model of higher education is working less well with each passing year from each of the three perspectives. Is it time to start thinking of sustainable alternatives?

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Key education issues dividing public, college presidents, study finds [Pew; WSJ]

On 05/16/2011, in accreditation, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, education reform, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, society, traditional / tradition, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Key education issues dividing public, college presidents, study finds — from the WSJ by Kevin Helliker

The general public and university presidents disagree about the purpose of college, who ought to pay for it and whether today’s students are getting their money’s worth.

But university presidents and the average American agree that the cost of higher education now exceeds the reach of most people.

Those are broad findings from a pair of surveys released late Sunday from the nonprofit Pew Research Center. The surveys took place this March and April, one posing college-related questions to 2,142 American adults, the other to 1,055 presidents of colleges large, small, public, private and for-profit. The two surveys contained some identical questions and some peculiar to each group.

Excerpt of report:

As is the case with all Center reports, our research is not designed to promote any cause, ideology or policy proposal. Our only goal is to inform the public on important topics that shape their lives and their society.

Higher education is one such topic. The debate about its value and mission has been triggered not just by rising costs, but also by hard economic times; by changing demands on the nation’s workforce; by rising global competition; by growing pressures to reduce education funding; and by the ambitious goal set by President Obama for the United States to lead the world by 2020 in the share of young adults who have a college degree.

 

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Netflix reinvents itself — to its own benefit and to Blockbuster’s downfall

On 04/27/2011, in business, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital video, disruption, innovation, new business models, pace of change, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Netflix reinvents itself — to its own benefit and to Blockbuster’s downfall.  By the way, note how quickly this happened! There’s a lesson in this for higher ed (though perhaps the speed of such changes may be different in higher ed).

Some items on this:

Blockbuster’s Fall and Netflix’s Rise, in Pictures

 

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Different takes on the perfect storm within higher ed, but a storm nonetheless…

On 02/24/2011, in change, changing business models, colleges, disruption, expectations, internet, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, student-related, trends, universities, by Daniel Christian

A Perfect Storm in Undergraduate Education, Part I — from The Chronicle by Thomas H. Benton (Thomas H. Benton is the pen name of William Pannapacker, an associate professor of English at Hope College, in Holland, Mich. He writes about academic culture.)

From DSC:
My take on the perfect storm within higher education:

Also see (emphasis DSC):

  • Dinosaur U. — from Forbes.com by Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief
    The Internet is about to do to America’s universities and colleges what it’s done to media and entertainment–profoundly upend them. And improve them. To get a flavor of what’s coming take a look at Louis Lataif’s Forbes.com piece, “Universities on the Brink” (Feb. 1). Lataif, dean emeritus of Boston University School of Management and a former president of Ford Europe, bluntly calls the rapid rise in tuitions a bubble resembling those that hit housing in the last decade and Silicon Valley in the late 1990s.
    …
    The tuition bubble is about to burst.

 


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Educause Review: The Changing Landscape of Higher Education

On 02/09/2011, in adjunct faculty, adult learning, change, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, curriculum, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, student-related, traditional / tradition, trends, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Educause: The Changing Landscape of Higher Education— by David Staley and Dennis Trinkle
The authors identify ten fissures in the landscape that are creating areas of potentially tectonic change.

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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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Part of the perfect storm in higher ed…

On 10/14/2010, in career development, change, economics, sociology, United States, by Daniel Christian

The new poor

My thanks to Mr. Joseph Byerwalter for this item

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