Christensen on disruptive innovation in higher education — from Lloyd Armstrong, University Professor and Provost Emeritus at the University of Southern California
Although the absence of an upwardly scalable technology driver has rendered higher education impossible to disrupt in its past, we believe that online learning constitutes such a technology driver and will indeed be capable of disruptively carrying the business model of low-cost universities up-market.
Furniture to enhance learning spaces — from Gareth Long [UK]
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Also see the following information from http://www.thethirdteacher.com/resources/resources:
Many, many people have helped us coalesce the ideas that have informed The Third Teacher project. We want to acknowledge as many of them as we can.
General education Information:
www.nces.ed.gov
The National Center for Education Statistics is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
www.good.is/post/good-sheet-reform-school/
GOOD Sheet No. 005: Reform School. This is one of Good Magazine’s “fact sheets,” focusing on education design.
www.greatschoolsbydesign.com
This site is a national initiative of the American Architectural Foundation to improve the quality of America’s schools and the communities they serve by promoting collaboration, excellence, and innovation in school design.
www.cefpi.org
The Council of Educational Facility Planners International’s mission is to improve places where children learn.
archrecord.construction.com/projects/bts/archives/K-12
This site highlights examples and case studies of excellent K-12 school design collected by Architectural Record magazine.
www.bcse.uk.net
The British Council for School Environments is a membership organization made up of schools, local authorities, construction companies, architects, and all those involved in designing excellent learning environments. It acts as a forum for exchange, dialogue and advocacy.
www.edfacilities.org
Created by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) provides information on planning, designing, funding, building, improving, and maintaining safe, healthy, high performance schools.
schoolstudio.engr.wisc.edu
The School Design Research Studio at the University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks to advance the knowledge of effective physical environments for learning by promoting collaborative design and cooperative research.
www.cabe.org.uk
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment is the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space, providing guidance to architects, planners, designers, developers and clients.
www.oecd.org/edu/facilities
The OECD Programme on Educational Building (PEB) promotes the exchange and analysis of policy, research and experience in all matters related to educational building.
www.designshare.com
This site is a facilitator of ideas and resources about best practices and innovation in schools from early childhood through the university level.
www.school-works.org
This British schools design initiative offers an evolving resource of case studies of progressive practices, touching on all aspects of school design, as well as listings of literature, seminars and conferences.
www.montag-stiftungen.com/kooperationsprojekte.html (in German)
This German foundation supports pedagogical architecture.
www.archiv-der-zukunft.de/ (in German)
This is a German NGO of reform oriented educators.
www.curriki.org
Curriki is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them.
www.openarchitecturenetwork.org
The Open Architecture Network is an online, open source community dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design.
www.blog.garethl.com
Gareth Long, a freelance education consultant with major experience in the UK and Cayman Islands, writes a blog that tracks his life, thoughts and work.
www.heppell.net
Stephen Heppell is a technology guru and professor who continues to be influential in government ICT policymaking on a global scale. His interactive blog tracks his life and musings in writing, photos, video and new media.
Resources by Chapter:
Basic Needs:
www.epa.gov/iaq/schooldesign
This is a glossary and resource for creating healthy schools.
www.greenguard.org
The Greenguard Certification Program is an industry-independent, third-party testing program for low-emitting products and materials. Contains an online list whose products have met indoor air quality standards.
www.healthyschoolscampaign.org
This site advocates for policies and practices that allow all students, teachers and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment.
www.quietclassrooms.org
This is an alliance of non-profit organizations working to create better learning environments in schools by reducing noise.
Minds at Work:
www.nifplay.org
The National Institute for Play unlocks the human potential through play in all stages of life using science to discover all that play has to teach us about transforming our world.
www.aep-arts.org
The Arts Education Partnership is a national coalition of arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that demonstrate and promote the essential role of the arts in the learning and development of every child and in the improvement of America’s schools.
Bodies in Motion:
www.iea.cc/ergonomics4children
Ergonomics for Children and Educational Environments provides a forum for the international exchange of scientific and technical ergonomics information related to children and educational environments.
www.ergo.human.cornell.edu
The Cornell University Ergonomics Web presents information from the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University. Contains computer-use guidelines for children of America’s schools.
Community Connections:
www.826national.org
This is a family of seven nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, with expository and creative writing.
www.lisc.org
Committed to helping neighbors build communities, LISC’s national child care program is developing a series of “how-to” guides to assist organizations that are planning to renovate, construct or improve their early childhood facilities, including outdoor playgrounds.
www.kaboom.org
Kaboom rallies communities to achieve better public policy, funding and public awareness for increased play opportunities nationwide; provides resources, and publications for communities that wish to plan a new playspace on their own.
Sustainable Schools:
www.annex36.com
Sponsored by the International Energy Agency, the
objective of Annex 36 is to provide tools and guidelines for energy-efficient retrofitting for decision-makers and designers to improve the learning and teaching environment of educational buildings in countries around the world.
www.buildgreenschools.org
The website of the U.S. Green Building Council assists in the creation of environmentally conscious school buildings by providing facts on the benefits of green schools, project profiles, news, videos, and guidance publications.
www.chps.net
The Collaborative for High Performance Schools facilitates the design, construction and operation of high performance schools?—?environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and contain the amenities for a quality education.
Realm of the Senses:
www.kidsgardening.org
An initiative of the National Gardening Association, this site provides a wide range of K-12 plant-based educational materials and programs.
Learning for All:
www.beyondaccess.org
This site contains information that guides parents, advocates, communities, play environment designers and equipment manufacturers in their efforts to create inclusive play environments for all children.
www.udeducation.org
This site supports educators and students in their teaching and study of universal design by offering instructional materials, essays on universal design, and a bibliography and links.
www.cast.org
A nonprofit research and development organization, CAST works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through Universal Design for Learning.
Rewired Learning:
www.edutopia.org
The George Lucas Educational Foundation’s website and magazine spreads the word about ideal, interactive learning environments and enables others to adapt these successes locally. This site also contains an archive of continually updated best practices.
www.futurelab.org.uk
Futurelab transforms the way people learn through innovative technology and practice, and develops the resources and practices that support new approaches to learning for the 21st century.
www.digitallearning.macfound.org
The MacArthur Foundation launched this initiative to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. The website shares emerging research, blogs, awards.
www.insight.eun.org
An observatory for Information and Communication Technology in school education, Insight is designed to support decision-makers in education at national, regional or local levels to develop effective strategies for e-learning.
Film/Video
e² design
www.pbs.org/e2/design.html
e² design is an ongoing PBS series about the pioneers and innovators in the field of sustainable architecture, and how their work is producing solutions to pressing environmental and social challenges.
Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society
mitworld.mit.edu/video/372
In a video of a lecture in which MIT Media Lab professor, Mitchel Resnick describes how computers and technology should not be used merely to impart information, but to engage kids to design, create and invent. His work explores how new technologies can help people (especially children) learn new things in new ways.
TED: Ideas Worth Spreading
www.ted.com
See Ken Robinson > Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
See Ann Cooper > Ann Cooper talks about the coming revolution in the way kids eat at school — local, sustainable, seasonal and even educational food.
See David Eggers > Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired the opening of others around the world.
From DSC:
On February 24th, I saw this piece at Forbes.com — > USA Inc.: Mary Meeker’s Deep Dive Into The Federal Budget
Excerpt:
“By the standards of any public corporation, USA Inc.’s financials are discouraging,” she writes in an introduction to the report. “True, USA Inc. has many fundamental strengths. On an operating basis (excluding Medicare and Medicaid spending and one-time charges, the federal government’s profit and loss statement is solid, with a 4% median net margin over the last 15 years. But cash flow is deep in the red (by almost $1.3 trillion last year, or ~$11,000 per household) and USA Inc.’s net worth is negative and deteriorating. That net worth figure includes the present value of unfunded entitlement liabilities but not hard-to-value assets such as natural resources, the power to tax or mint currency, or what Treasury calls ‘heritage’ or ’stewardship assets’ like National Parks. Nevertheless, the trends are clear, and critical warning signs are evident in nearly every data point we examine.
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She points out that Congressional Budget Office data suggests that by 2025 all of the government’s income will go to entitlement spending and interest payments, leaving nothing for any other expenditures.
From DSC:
The day before, I had seen a video mentioned on TV. From the mentioned URL, I checked the majority of it out. It made me ask, “Is this for real!!!???”
Most likely it is just a sales pitch. But the underlying concept of the growing national U.S. debt is not a joke — and, if not reversed, could have a serious affect on global economies.
As I don’t know, I’m seeking input/feedback from any and all economists out there! If what he is saying is even remotely true, the financial aftershocks will be felt throughout the world. Below are my reflections/questions on that potentially-very-important topic/perspective.
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I’m not sure what I think about a video that I ran across the other day. I’m referring to a video done by Porter Stansbury, founder of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research. I saw the URL posted on a cable TV station, referencing a URL/video at:
While I’m not big on the latter part of the video/piece where he pitches some potential investing solutions and reports, (and, NOTE: I do not mean to endorse any strategy he may be talking about nor is this posting meant to get into investment strategies or advice!)
I studied Economics at Northwestern years ago and several things this gentleman says in this video seemed within reason/feasible. Also, I have heard a variety of economists (here in the United States) through the years voicing their concerns about the enormity of the growing level of federal debt and the amount of our debt being owned by other countries.
(As an aside, people don’t like to hear bad news and we don’t vote the rare politicians into office who actually stand up and tell us what we really need to do to fix whatever mess we were/are in. I’ve noticed that in the world of higher education, many don’t like to hear news of the disruptions already underway either.)
Spiritually speaking, America has pushed the LORD out of the public square for so long, that it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see our nation continue its steep and rapid decline. Throughout history, nations have come and gone…risen and fallen…why should we be any different? (Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…Psalm 33:12 — and conversely…)
By way of a quick piece of research I did — this page on their website claims that the total outstanding debt of the U.S. Federal government is $14.131 trillion — which appears to be true:
Questions:
It’s very real world and students could work to try and pick apart the various arguments/assertions/implications mentioned therein. Prove if this is a scam or not.
Conclusion:
States and the nation as a whole face challenging higher education financing and policy decisions. The pattern during the past three decades includes cyclical downturns in per student funding resulting from economic recessions, followed by recovery and growth. State and local revenue for higher education per student has declined and then recovered, often exceeding previous levels.
The SHEF studies for 2006, 2007, and 2008 indicate a three-year increase in state and local support for public higher education relative to inflation and student demand, following a period of declining public investment in higher education between 2001 and 2005. The three-year recovery abruptly ended when, in 2008, the nation suffered the worst recession since the Great Depression. Past experience and current indicators suggest that state revenue will recover slowly in the next few years. Despite the success of ARRA funding in cushioning the recession’s impact, the continuing fiscal crisis beginning in 2008 clearly poses a severe threat to the strength of higher education in the United States.
Such recurring budgeting cycles can be challenging and discouraging. The resiliency of state support for higher education, however, suggests its importance to our future is widely recognized. But there is no question that the fiscal challenges facing the nation will require both creativity and commitment from policymakers and educators. The data and analysis of this and future SHEF reports are intended to help higher education leaders and state policymakers focus on how discrete, year-to-year decisions fit into broader patterns of change over time, and how each step contributes—or not—to meeting longer-term objectives.
Mend It, Don’t End It — insidehighered.com
Ambient Insight Reports Resilient US eLearning Market
U.S. self-paced e-Learning revenues reached $18.2 Million in 2010 — from Ambient Insight Reports by Tyson Greer, Chief Executive Officer
Seattle, WA – January 20, 2010 – The US market for self-paced e-Learning will grow to $24.2 billion by 2015 according to a new report by Ambient Insight called, “The US Market for Self-paced eLearning Products and Services: 2010-2015 Forecast and Analysis.”
This report forecasts five-year online learning expenditures by eight buyer segments: consumer, corporate, federal government, state and local government, PreK-12 academic, higher education, non-profits and associations, and healthcare.
The five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) growth rate for Self-paced eLearning across all eight of the buyer segments is 5.9%, but growth is much higher in particular segments. For example, growth rates in the PreK-12, healthcare, and association segments are 16.8%, 16.3%, and 14.3%, respectively.
For mobile learning:
The US Market for Mobile Learning Products and Services: 2009-2014 Forecast and Analysis
The US market for Mobile Learning products and services reached $632.2 million in 2009. The demand is growing by a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3% and revenues will reach $1.4 billion by 2014.
From DSC:
A global push continues to be evident in some of the things that Pearson has been up to in the last year:
Half of Detroit’s schools may close — from good.is
Financial mismanagement and declining enrollment are ringing a death knell for Detroit’s schools. According to Detroit Public School Emergency Manager Robert Bobb, to close a $327 million budget deficit, he’ll need to shut half of the city’s campuses over the next two years.
Under the plan, the 142 current schools in the district would be reduced to 72 by the 2012-13 school year. What will happen to the students attending those schools? Bobb plans to shift them over to the remaining campuses, raising class sizes to 62 students per teacher.
From DSC:
Seriously…this is crazy and completely unfair! Those of us who have more resources need to step in and help out. But how can we best do this? How can folks outside of the Detroit area make a solid, helpful impact? Coming from the tech side of the house, I’d like to see us offer FREE materials…online.
That assistance could come from private corporations, individuals, colleges, universities or for-profit organizations such as K12 Inc. Another idea along the lines of individuals, is to allocate $1-$5 billion from the amounts being donated by some of the nation’s wealthiest people. Use those funds to make outstanding educational materials that engage our youth. Then we could offer those incredibly-well done, multimedia-based, interactive, engaging, highly-sophisticated materials FREELY to anyone who wants access to them — whether inside or outside the United States. This would be a massive undertaking from a curricular, instructional design, programming, production, etc. standpoint. But WOW! What a difference it could make to level the playing field!
Perhaps working with vendors, some of the funding could be used for loaning out the devices needed to “play” and interact with the materials, and perhaps some other funding could be allocated to the city of Detroit to provide wireless access throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.
Also see:
The $600 billion challenge– from Fortune
Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett are asking the nation’s billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetimes or at death. If their campaign succeeds, it could change the face of philanthropy.
One from DSC:
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:
— from CNBC on Monday, January 3, 2011
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:
Also see:
Addendum on 1-19-11:
Addendum on 1/22/10:
The Bubble: Higher Education’s Precarious Hold on Consumer Confidence — from National Association of Scholars
