dangers of the status quo

Trend: Campuses moving from online to On-Demand — from ecampusnews.com by Meris Stansbury
Management expert discusses why the future for college campuses is on-demand, not just online

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

IT experts are calling it a super storm of forces that’s changing the way a campus ecosystem operates.

First, the very foundation of student expectations is changing, with requirements for education delivery models that are more flexible and accessible than those of generations past.

Second, the higher-ed market—thanks to the economy and possibilities available via technology—is reshaping itself under new requirements for competition, delivery, funding, and outcomes.

And it’s this super storm, say experts, that’s creating the need for new business processes and strategies to better compete and retain students.

From DSC:
I don’t have data to back this up, but I also have it that student expectations are changing. (It would be great if someone out there who has some resources in this regard would post some links to such resources in the comments section.) Anecdotally, the students’ expectations of today are different from when I attended college years ago. We didn’t have the Internet back then; we didn’t have personal computing devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops; we didn’t work collaboratively; there were no online-based courses; we didn’t have nearly as many choices for learning at our disposal.

But taking cues from society at large and from the trends in computing, people want to connect and they want to do so on their terms — i.e., when it fits into their schedules. So I can see this sort of phenomenon picking up steam, at least for a significant subset of learners out there. In fact, it’s an underlying assumption I have in my Learning from the Living [Class] Room vision. Many of us will seek out training/education-on-demand types of resources throughout our careers — as we need them. Heutagogy, lifelong learning, and rhizomatic learning come to mind; so does the growth of Lynda.com and the growth of bootcamps/accelerated learning programs (such as flatironschool.com).

Finally, the concept of “learning hubs” is interesting in this regard, whereby a group of learners get together in a physical setting, but tap into online-based resources to help them learn about a topic/discipline. Those online-based resources could be synchronous or asynchronous. But learners come together when it works into their schedules.

Finding New Business Models in Unsettled Times — from Educause.com by Paul J. LeBlanc
If the core crisis in higher education is one of sustainability, being focused on the job to be done and having a grasp of the forces shaping higher education gives institutional leaders a new way to think about recasting their future.

Excerpts:

“What to do?” is the question that so many college and university presidents struggle with right now. We seem to be sitting at the heart of a perfect storm where a lot of things are happening faster than our ability to predict and strategize. We can respond to this stormy weather as medieval farmers did to the next day’s weather: by simply waiting to see what arrives and then taking action, often inadequately. Or we can recognize that we actually have the tools, the technology, and the know-how to reinvent U.S. higher education in ways that will address its current failings.

…

Those established entities that survive are able to harness the innovations and rethink their business models to better serve their customers. Those that eventually disappear typically adopted one of two strategies: (1) hunker down and hope to ride out the storm by doing more of the same; or (2) try a little of everything. Neither strategy works very well, and as a result, once-great and seemingly unassailable companies have disappeared or, at best, survived as mere shadows of themselves. That’s the scenario that many current critics of traditional higher education posit and even welcome, often pointing to other industries that have seen enormous disruption—music, publishing, journalism, and retailing—to presage the impending doom for traditional higher education.

…

But there is no one higher education to reinvent, and colleges and universities do no one job. Higher education encompasses the following purposes:

A coming-of-age higher education that meets the needs of recent high school graduates, usually providing a purposeful living/learning community that provides ample opportunities for self-discovery and growing up
A workforce-development higher education that focuses on working adults and that provides job and career opportunities while creating a talent pipeline for employers in a local economy
A research higher education that seeks to add to the store of human knowledge, creating breakthrough, innovative solutions to a wide range of problems
A status higher education that provides a value-added network of peers, as well as access to and maintenance of privilege and social status
A civic-good higher education that works to produce a more just and responsible society
A cultural-improvement higher education that creates and/or supports the arts and humanities and instills in its graduates the taste and refinement to support and appreciate the arts

…

The need to reinvent underlying business models is increasingly urgent.

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Other items from Educause:

Flexible Option: A Direct-Assessment Competency-Based Education Model
The University of Wisconsin Flexible Option CBE model focuses on assessment rather than credit hours, letting students undertake academic work at their own pace and prove mastery of required knowledge and skills through rigorous assessments.

A Tuition-Free College Degree (EDUCAUSE Review) — by Shai Reshef

Excerpt:

First, brick-and-mortar institutions have expenses that virtual universities do not. So we don’t need to pass these expenses on to our students. We also don’t need to worry about capacity. There are no limits on the number of seats in a virtual university: nobody needs to stand at the back of the lecture hall. In addition, through the use of open educational resources and through the generosity of professors who are willing to make their materials accessible and available for free, our students do not need to buy textbooks. Even professors, the most expensive line in any university balance sheet, come free to our students. More than 3,000 higher education professionals—including presidents, vice chancellors, and academic advisors from top colleges and universities such as NYU, Yale, Berkeley, and Oxford—are on-board to help our students. Finally, we believe in peer-to-peer learning. We use this sound pedagogical model to encourage our students from all over the world to interact and to study together and also to reduce the time required from professors for class assignments.

…

Five years ago, University of the People was a vision. Today, it is a reality. In February 2014, we were awarded the ultimate academic endorsement of our model: University of the People is now fully accredited. With this accreditation, it is time for us to scale up. We have demonstrated that our model works. I now invite colleges and universities and, even more important, the governments of developing countries to replicate this model to ensure that the gates to higher education will open ever more widely. A new era is coming—an era that will witness the disruption of the current model of higher education, changing the model from one that is a privilege for the few to one that is a basic right, affordable and accessible for all.

See:

https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/online-bachelor-degree-programs/

Beyond the MOOC Model: Changing Educational Paradigms — by James G. Mazoue
Four trends – MOOC-based degrees, competency-based education, the formalization of learning, and regulatory reform – are shifting educational practice away from core tenets of traditional education, indicating not a transient phenomenon but rather a fundamental change to the status quo.

Excerpt:

According to Georgia Tech’s recent survey, initial reviews from the first cohort of OMS CS students are positive: 93 percent recommend the program to others and nearly two-thirds said their experience exceeds their expectations. If data from the OMS CS show that MOOC-based degrees are viable, others will follow with an array of offerings that will compete directly with on-campus programs.

Some may quibble that the $6,600 OMS CS is not modeled on real MOOCs because of its price tag. However, this misses the larger point: namely, that a quality online degree offered at scale for a nominal or greatly reduced cost is a more attractive alternative for many students than an on-campus degree. In deference to purists who might balk at calling a degree program that charges tuition a MOOC, we can call it a MOD (for Massive Online Degree). Whatever we call it, it will be bad news for on-campus degree programs. With competition, we can expect a MOD’s cost to go down; it is not unreasonable to think that it might go down to a negligible amount if cost recovery shifts from charging students for the acquisition of knowledge to a model based on learning assessment and credentialing. In the end, students — if we let them — will be the ones who decide whether a MOD’s value outweighs the additional cost of an on-campus degree.

…

Far from fading into oblivion, data show that MOOCs are in fact increasing in global popularity. The case for dismissing MOOCs as an educational alternative, therefore, has yet to be made.

The University of Texas System makes bold move into competency-based education — from utsystem.edu

Excerpt:

AUSTIN – The University of Texas System will be the first in the nation to launch a personalized, competency-based education program system-wide aimed at learners from high school through post-graduate studies.

What sets the UT System approach apart from other competency-based programs is a focus on offering personalized and adaptive degrees and certificates that are industry-aligned and – via technology developed by the UT System – can systematically improve success, access and completion rates in areas of high employment demand.

“Competency-based programs allow students to advance through courses, certifications and degrees based on their ability to master knowledge and skills rather than time spent in a classroom,” said Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D. “All students are held to clearly defined and rigorous expectations, but each follows a customized path to success that responds and adapts based on individual learning strengths, challenges and goals. And students can earn credit for prior learning and move at their own speed.”

…

To support and power its new competency-based educational pathway, the UT System is working with education technology innovators to create a state-of-the-art, “mobile-first” stack of technologies and services called TEx, which stands for Total Educational Experience.

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From DSC:
First of all, I noted an interesting — and much needed within higher ed — title/position: The chief innovation officer for the Institute of Transformational Learning.

Let’s break that one down a second.

In 20102, The University of Texas’ Board of Regents had a vision that learning needs to be transformed and they created an institute for it — supplying $50 million to support some key mandates:

To make a University of Texas-quality education more accessible and affordable.
To improve student learning outcomes and dramatically increase the number of Texans with a college degree and other advanced educational credentials.

So not only did this board show vision, but also boldness — they put their $$ where they mouth was to support their vision. Innovation was key to this institute, so they created a CIO position, whereby the I stood for Innovation, not Information.

Surely, the level of willingness to experiment in the U of Texas system runs higher than at many other institutions of higher education. So I congratulate them on their culture to be willing to experiment…to adapt…to change. If successful, such programs should help more people obtain the degrees they need to make a living, make a life, make a contribution.*

* A great slogan from Davenport University

Also see:

Need-to-Know-News: GradSkills Program, Competency-Based Education Gets its Own LMS, & College Rankings — from onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com by Debbie Morrison

Excerpt:

LMS for Competency Based Education
Readers may not be too interested in reading about Learning Management System news; often LMSs are considered a necessary evil to faculty and teachers of education institutions. However, news last week shared by Phil Hill over at e-literate is worthy of attention—the launch of a LMS platform geared to competency based education (CBE) programs. The new LMS launched by Helix has a different approach than traditional LMS providers. It’s not catering to an institution, but to a method of teaching and learning—CBE. Interesting.

Insight: There is, and continues to be an emphasis and support ($$$) for creation of CBE programs by the Department of Education (Fain, 2014). This new LMS approach by Helix is another indicator. I predict that we’ll be hearing a lot more about CBE in the next few months with more institutions offering CBE options for students. Why it’s significant, is because CBE is a radical departure from traditional education; it does not rely upon the credit-hour or ‘seat time’ as its often referred to, but upon mastery of units of instruction.

Several institutions are already basing their model on CBE, College for America, an offshoot of Southern New Hampshire University and Capella University for instance. Purdue University is planning on offering a competency-based degree in the near future. Other universities that incorporate CBE principles—Western Governors University and Kentucky Community and Technical College System for its 2-year degree program.

Helix: View of a LMS designed for competency-based education, Phil Hill, e-literate
Competency-Based learning or Personalized Learning, The Department of Education
Daniels awards prize for competency-based degree to Purdue Polytechnic Institute, Purdue University
Experimenting with Aid, Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

Millennials move TV content beyond the TV set — from statista.com by Felix Richter

Excerpt:

You will find more statistics at Statista

From DSC:
Why post this here?

Because as expectations around where people are going to get their entertainment-related content change, so will new doors open for where they will get their educationally-related content.

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The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

Reflections on “15 Calif. community colleges to offer bachelor degrees” [Plantz]

On 10/16/2014, in change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, higher education, new business models, pace of change, reinvent, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, universities, by Daniel Christian

15 Calif. community colleges to offer bachelor degrees — from usatoday.com by Kyle Plantz

Excerpt:

Paving the way for one of the largest community college systems in the United States to offer four-year degrees, on Sept. 28 California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will create a pilot program for 15 community colleges across the state to fill a growing workforce demand for college-educated, skilled workers in fields such as health, science and technology.

Also see:

Community colleges increasingly adding bachelor’s degrees — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Excerpt:
It’s St. Petersburg College, formerly St. Petersburg Junior College, one of an increasing number of community colleges around the country that have started offering four-year bachelor’s degrees in fields for which there is high job demand.

.

From DSC:
I put a similar item out there on Twitter about this same topic and someone came back with some verbiage that hit me as strange…it caught me off guard. She mentioned the word “war” between community colleges and other colleges/universities. I don’t think that’s the word I would use and I think the greater concern for those of us working within higher education might be the dynamics as found in this recent posting. That’s what higher ed should be far more concerned with — i.e. alternatives that keep developing because higher ed is too slow to respond to increasing costs and is not keeping up with a world that’s spinning at speeds that continue to change exponentially, not incrementally.

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ExponentialNotLinearSparksNHoney-Spring2013

Companies creating their own academies/schools: 2 recent examples

On 10/13/2014, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, online learning, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Last week, I ran across 2 postings that involved companies creating their own platforms and methods of educating and training folks — especially for their own industry and their own business needs. They were:

A relevant aside/excerpt from Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie – October 10, 2014 | #851 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology

Stephen Colbert – “Appointment TV” – Carol Burnett Perspective: Last night, a fun convergence happened between the Stephen Colbert TV Show, Learning, Carol Burnnett and Appointment TV.

As you may know, MASIE Productions is co-producing Love Letters – Starring Carol Burnett starting tomorrow on Broadway. She was interviewed on the Colbert TV Show and asked about the change in how people watch and consume media and content.

Stephen Colbert noted that when her show was on decades ago, she had 50 million viewers each week for the Carol Burnett Show. Carol noted:

* Every Saturday night there were these shows on in row: Archie Bunker, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett

* She joked that, back then – in 1967 – “There was only 1 channel on TV” – though there were only a few 🙂

* But, she said that the difference was that it was “APPOINTMENT TELEVISION” – People made a plan, to sit together with family and friends, and watch a show together – as others did at the same time around the country.

I loved her phrase “APPOINTMENT TELEVISION”. In relates directly to Learning. Much of what we did, for decades, was “APPOINTMENT TRAINING” – a parallel to the same trend in the workplace. But, now the shift is towards many – many – more options – and viewer/learner freedom to choose when, what, how long and how often.

Also see:

Is innovation outpacing education? — from techpageone.dell.com by Dmitry Sheynin
Futurist Thomas Frey believes ‘micro-colleges’ will educate the workforce of the future.

From DSC:
First of all, let me say that I’m a big fan and supporter of a liberal arts education — my degree was in economics (from Northwestern University’s College of Arts & Sciences, as the school was called at the time) and I currently work at a Christian liberal arts college.

That said, within the current higher education landscape, we’re already seeing and hearing more and more about competency-based education, credits for prior learning, and other forms of obtaining a credential in less time. I don’t have data on this, but my mental picture of these things is that such initiatives have had a limited impact, at least so far.

However, as the pace of change has increased, I wonder…what if hiring decisions move significantly more towards “Show me what you can DO…? That’s already taking place to a significant degree in many hiring situations, but my reflection revolves around questions such as:

What if it takes too long to wait for someone to get a 2 or 4-year degree? Will employers start looking more towards what competencies someone has today or can acquire much more quickly?
Will people look outside of traditional higher education to get those skills?

Again, these reflections involve the increasing pace of change.

The pace has changed significantly and quickly

Anyway, such a shift could open doors for new “providers” such as:

Then, consider some quotes from the following article, Tottering Ivory Towers:

Excerpts:

…there is growing interest in new ways of measuring the quality of a degree. The variety of scorecards now available, for instance, means students and their parents have much better and more granular measures of quality than accreditation provides. For another, employers are gradually making greater use of independent, competency-based measures and credentialed courses rather than relying on accredited degrees and credit hours (derided as “seat time” by its critics). Try getting a job in computer network management if you can’t show which Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer courses you have passed. Meanwhile, Udacity is partnering with Google, AT&T, and other technology firms in an “Open Education Alliance” to provide top-level technical skills. Nevertheless, when it comes to alternatives to accreditation, the United States is generally playing catch-up with some other countries. In Britain, for instance, students can earn employer-union certified City & Guilds qualifications while studying at almost any institution, and there are standard competency measures in a variety of professional fields.

…

In a New York Times interview, Google’s senior vice president for people operations, Laszlo Bock, admitted that transcripts, test scores, and even degrees are less useful than other data as predictors of employee success.³ In this environment, an industry-led move to create a more dependable measure of knowledge and ability than a transcript will become increasingly attractive.

…

The critical lesson from the transformation of other industries is that it is likely to be a disastrous mistake to assume you can just tweak an existing business model and be all right. That can work only for a while.

Dmitry Sheynin writes in his article, Is innovation outpacing education? “With the ever-increasing pace of innovation, traditional colleges and universities are failing to train and retrain workers quickly enough. The model of two and four-year degrees, [futurist Thomas Frey] says, is largely incompatible with an industry that gets flipped on its head every couple of quarters.” Again, according to Frey, “The main factor driving change in the labor force is new innovations rendering old jobs obsolete, but no mechanism is in place yet to help workers grow at the pace of evolving technology.”

Self-directed learning, or heutagogy, is key in this fast-paced environment. We all need to be constantly learning, growing, and reinventing ourselves. However, not everyone is comfortable with such an approach. So there are some gaps/opportunities opening up for those organizations who are innovative enough to experiment and to change.

Also see:

It’s time to ditch the ‘old academic identity’ to survive funding cuts — from theconversation.com by Fry and Schutt
Excerpt:
In short, what you do with what you create. Increasingly, the sector is being called to account on this as the world changes around us.
This article re: Southern New Hampshire’s self-paced $10,000 competency-based degree program
Udacity & the Future of Nanodegrees — from etale.org by Bernard Bull
.
A $10,560 bachelor’s degree? — from marketplace.org
Excerpt:
“We’re not going to see bachelor’s programs in English, math, history, sociology, chemistry and all of those fields that are traditional liberal arts fields,” said Constance Carroll, Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, and a member of the California Community College Baccalaureate Degree Study Group. “What we will see are baccalaureate programs in workforce fields where there is high demand.” Fields like dental hygiene, information technology, and automotive-technology management.

Addendum on 9/17/14:

Building on Competency-Based Education — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush
A Q&A with Ruki Jayaraman

Excerpt:

Argosy University System is among the first institutions in a movement toward competency-based education, creating new models of direct assessment that promise to reduce time-to-degree and offer greater relevance for graduates in the job market. CT talked with Argosy University System’s vice chancellor for academic affairs to learn how that institution tackled competency-based education — creating the first WASC-accredited MBA in its region based on a direct assessment, competency model. Now, Argosy is developing hybrid approaches that combine direct assessment with traditional seat time-based courses.

Addendum on 10/2/14:

Michael B. Horn on Disruptive Innovation in Higher Education: How online competency based learning is changing the higher education landscape — from lambdasolutions.net by Sean Hougan

Addendum on 10/8/14:

Competency-Based Education: No More Semesters? — from npr.org by Anya Kamenetz

Addendum on 10/13/14:

A Competency-Based Educational Shift Is Underway in Higher Ed — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith
College students are being given a growing list of options for college accreditation.

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Reflections on “C-Suite TV debuts, offers advice for the boardroom” [Dreier]

On 07/21/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communities of practice, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online tutoring, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, social learning / networks, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, telecommunications, television, training / L&D, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

C-Suite TV debuts, offers advice for the boardroom — from streamingmedia.com by Troy Dreier
Business leaders now have an on-demand video network to call their own, thanks to one Bloomberg host’s online venture.

Excerpt:

Bringing some business acumen to the world of online video, C-Suite TV is launching today. Created by Bloomberg TV host and author Jeffrey Hayzlett, the on-demand video network offers interviews with and shows about business execs. It promises inside information on business trends and the discussions taking place in the biggest boardrooms.

The Future of TV is here for the C-Suite — from hayzlett.com by Jeffrey Hayzlett

Excerpt:

Rather than wait for networks or try and gain traction through the thousands of cat videos, we went out and built our own network.

See also:

Mind your own business
From the About page:
C-Suite TV is a web-based digital on-demand business channel featuring interviews and shows with business executives, thought leaders, authors and celebrities providing news and information for business leaders. C-Suite TV is your go-to resource to find out the inside track on trends and discussions taking place in businesses today. This online channel will be home to such shows as C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett, MYOB – Mind Your Own Business and Bestseller TV with more shows to come.

From DSC:
The above items took me back to the concept of Learning from the Living [Class] Room.

Many of the following bullet points are already happening — but what I’m trying to influence/suggest is to bring all of them together in a powerful, global, 24 x 7 x 365, learning ecosystem:

When our “TVs” become more interactive…
When our mobile devices act as second screens and when second screen-based apps are numerous…
When discussion boards, forums, social media, assignments, assessments, and videoconferencing capabilities are embedded into our Smart/Connected TVs and are also available via our mobile devices…
When education is available 24 x 7 x 365…
When even the C-Suite taps into such platforms…
When education and entertainment are co-mingled…
When team-based educational content creation and delivery are mainstream…
When self-selecting Communities of Practice thrive online…
When Learning Hubs combine the best of both worlds (online and face-to-face)…
When Artificial Intelligence, powerful cognitive computing capabilities (i.e., IBM’s Watson), and robust reporting mechanisms are integrated into the backends…
When lifelong learners have their own cloud-based profiles…
When learners can use their “TVs” to tap into interactive, multimedia-based streams of content of their choice…
When recommendation engines are offered not just at Netflix but also at educationally-oriented sites…
When online tutoring and intelligent tutoring really take off…

…then I’d say we’ll have a powerful, engaging, responsive, global education platform.

Can disruption save higher education? [Stansbury]

On 06/10/2014, in change, changing business models, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, leadership, new business models, online learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, trends, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Can disruption save higher education? — from eCampus News by Meris Stansbury

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Christensen: “The question now is: ‘Is there something that can’t be displaced within a traditional university’s value offering?'”

…

However, Christensen outlined three ways traditional colleges and universities, like his own Harvard Business school, could survive into the future:

Focus on professors
[when recruiting faculty]…focus less on their publishing capabilities and expert knowledge of material, and more on their ability to connect to others.

Understand why technology, like online learning, is disruptive.

Don’t try to change from the inside — you will fail. [Use offsets.]

What price will society pay if higher education cannot revolutionize college as we know it and evolve a sustainable economic model?

The Ivory Tower — description from Wikipedia.org

Excerpt:

Ivory Tower is a 2014 American documentary film written, directed and produced by Andrew Rossi. The film premiered in competition category of U.S. Documentary Competition program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014.

After its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, Participant Media, Paramount Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired distribution rights of the film. The film is scheduled to have a theatrical release in June 2014 in United Sates by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Paramount Pictures will handle the international release of the film, while Participant Media will handle the campaign for film’s theatrical release.

Class, Cost and College — from nyt.com by Frank Bruni

Excerpt:

Scheduled for theatrical release next month, “Ivory Tower” does an astonishingly thorough tour of the university landscape in a brisk 90 minutes, touching on the major changes and challenges, each of which could sustain its own documentary.

But as I watched it, one theme in particular kept capturing my attention. One set of questions kept coming to mind. How does our current system of higher education square with our concerns about social mobility? What place do the nation’s universities have in our intensifying debate about income inequality? What promise do they hold for lessening it?

The answers in “Ivory Tower” and beyond it aren’t reassuring. Indeed, the greatest crisis may be that while college supposedly represents one of the surest ladders to, and up through, the middle class, it’s not functioning that way, at least not very well.

From DSC:
I graduated with a liberal arts degree. I work at a Christian liberal arts college. I believe in the liberal arts. However, I see our current business models as broken. I, along with many others, see issues and problems that need to be dealt with — whereas many within higher education see no need to change at all. “What’s the problem?” they ask rhetorically…not wanting their great ride of the last 20-30 years to end.

But such individuals aren’t seeing the invisible devastation that’s taking place, such as the mounting/crushing debt on our students’ backs that stays with them for YEARS after they graduate. Such debt loads affect graduates’ ability to purchase a home or to save for retirement (then there’s those who didn’t graduate but spent a great deal of $$ in the attempt to get a degree). I’m also hearing that it’s delaying marriage in some cases. And unlike a car or a house, you can’t realistically refinance many student loans. (Although Elizabeth Warren is seeking to change that situation, thankfully.)

So while I strongly believe in obtaining a college education, we have to get the price down! We have to recognize that there’s an issue. Change must occur.

Reflections on “The seven habits of highly effective digital enterprises” [Olanrewaju, Smaje, & Willmott]

On 06/03/2014, in business, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, by Daniel Christian

The seven habits of highly effective digital enterprises — from mckinsey.com by Tunde Olanrewaju, Kate Smaje, and Paul Willmott
To stay competitive, companies must stop experimenting with digital and commit to transforming themselves into full digital businesses. Here are seven habits that successful digital enterprises share.

Excerpt:

The age of experimentation with digital is over. In an often bleak landscape of slow economic recovery, digital continues to show healthy growth. E-commerce is growing at double-digit rates in the United States and most European countries, and it is booming across Asia. To take advantage of this momentum, companies need to move beyond experiments with digital and transform themselves into digital businesses. Yet many companies are stumbling as they try to turn their digital agendas into new business and operating models. The reason, we believe, is that digital transformation is uniquely challenging, touching every function and business unit while also demanding the rapid development of new skills and investments that are very different from business as usual. To succeed, management teams need to move beyond vague statements of intent and focus on “hard wiring” digital into their organization’s structures, processes, systems, and incentives.

From DSC:
“The age of experimentation with digital is over. … To take advantage of this momentum, companies need to move beyond experiments with digital and transform themselves into digital businesses.”

Though this may be true for the corporate world (the audience for whom this piece was written), the experimentation within higher education is just beginning. With that said, I still couldn’t help but wonder if some of these same habits might apply to the world of higher education. For example, three habits that the article mentioned jumped out at me as being highly relevant to those of us working within higher education:

1. Be unreasonably aspirational

4. Challenge everything

7. Be obsessed with the customer
Rising customer expectations continue to push businesses to improve the customer experience across all channels. Excellence in one channel is no longer sufficient; customers expect the same frictionless experience in a retail store as they do when shopping online, and vice versa.

A potentially-related item, at least from the perspective of the higher ed student of the near future:

Accelerating the digitization of business processes — from by Shahar Markovitch and Paul Willmott
Customers want a quick and seamless digital experience, and they want it now.
Excerpt:
Customers have been spoiled. Thanks to companies such as Amazon and Apple, they now expect every organization to deliver products and services swiftly, with a seamless user experience.

Wise words from Ecclesiastes – especially for TRIMTAB Groups within higher education

On 06/01/2014, in corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faith, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, innovation, new business models, universities, by Daniel Christian

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

From DSC:
The bolded text is what I want to highlight in this posting/reflection:

Ship your grain across the sea;
after many days you may receive a return.
²Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

³If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
⁴Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

⁵As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed^[a] in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.

⁶Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

From DSC:
This advice may prove incredibly beneficial for businesspeople, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and innovators.

But I have it that these words could also apply to the future of education — especially to those of us trying to determine/influence the future of higher education. TRIMTAB Groups within higher ed will need to live by those words.

TheTrimtabInHigherEducation-DanielChristian

Internet Trends 2014 — Mary Meeker [KPCB]

On 05/29/2014, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, analytics, Apple, Asia, business, Canada, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, convergence, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, data related items, disruption, emerging technologies, Europe, global / globalization, Google, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, interactivity, internet, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, pace of change, platforms, social media, society, strategy, streams of content, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, television, trends, TVs, UK, United States, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Example slides:

Reflections on “Strategic principles for competing in the digital age” [Hirt & Willmott]

On 05/19/2014, in corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, global / globalization, strategy, UK, United States, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Strategic principles for competing in the digital age — from mckinsey.com by Martin Hirt and Paul Willmott
Digitization is rewriting the rules of competition, with incumbent companies most at risk of being left behind. Here are six critical decisions CEOs must make to address the strategic challenge posed by the digital revolution.

Excerpts:

Today’s challenge is different. Robust attackers are scaling up with incredible speed, inserting themselves artfully between you and your customers and zeroing in on lucrative value-chain segments.

The digital technologies underlying these competitive thrusts may not be new, but they are being used to new effect.

…

As these technologies gain momentum, they are profoundly changing the strategic context: altering the structure of competition, the conduct of business, and, ultimately, performance across industries.

Also see:

Digital strategy — from mckinsey.com by Paul Willmott
Digitization is fundamentally altering the nature of competition. McKinsey’s Paul Willmott explains how digital winners think and what companies can do to compete.

Excerpt:

Digital is fundamentally shifting the competitive landscape in many sectors. It allows new entrants to come from unexpected places. We’re seeing banks get into the travel business in some countries. We’re seeing travel agents get into the insurance business. We’re seeing retailers go into the media business. So your competitor set is not what it used to be.

One thing that digital allows is what I call “plug and play dynamics”—meaning that companies can attack specific areas of the value chain rather than having to own the whole thing. This is because digital allows different services to be stitched together more quickly and cheaply.

From DSC:
The above two items made me wonder:

Do these principles apply to the corporate world only?
Or might they also apply to the world of higher education?
Are digital startups going to come between established colleges and universities and their normal “pipelines” of students?

Assuming that such startups can create quality alternatives at far less expensive prices, I would say the answer to that is “yes, at least a significant amount of the time.” The word cannibalize was used in the “Strategic principles…” article, and again, I can’t help but think of Steve Jobs’ philosophy of cannibalizing one’s own company before someone else does it for you. I also can’t help but reflect that Apple is the worlds’ largest/most valuable company based on market cap.

There is danger in the status quo — especially if the status quo means taking no action whatsoever.

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

— Coach John Wooden

Also see:

The $10,000 Bachelor’s Degree — from U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Excerpt:
Starting this fall, Southern New Hampshire University will offer a bachelor’s degree for $10,000.What makes this online program unique is that it is ‘competency-based’ as opposed to the credit-based system that the majority of colleges offer. So, instead of earning credit hours towards degree completion, students will be tested on how well they know the subject matter. Once a student passes the assessment, he or she can move on to the next competency.
.
The $10,000 degree: Fundamentally changing the way universities do business — from evolllution.com by Jean Floten | Chancellor, Western Governors University Washington
.
Whither higher education? To the opera! — by Allison Rossett
Excerpt:
Higher education and opera face threats and opportunities in cultures deep with pomp, brilliance, ego, passion, longing, losses, greed, and alliances. For higher education there is an infusion of new blood, with educational technology firms attracting 1.25 billion dollars in funding in 2013, according to CB Insights. The interest continues into 2014. While the investment numbers for opera are small, some communities are stepping up, as San Diego is now, providing funding while asking for reinvention.Reinvention? How will higher education and opera respond? The answer is that some will, and some won’t. I’m hoping that our opera and universities will step forward with bold strategic changes, measured results, and commitment to continuous improvement. Either they will do that, or I’m pretty sure that something will do it to them.

Five trends to watch in higher education — from The Boston Consulting Group
Excerpt:
- Revenue from key sources is continuing to fall, putting many institutions at severe financial risk.
- Demands are rising for a greater return on investment in higher education.
- Greater transparency about student outcomes is becoming the norm.
- New business and delivery models are gaining traction.
- The globalization of education is accelerating.

From the WSJ’s Morning Ledger:

The online MBA comes of age.
You’d think that of all the academic pursuits, business school would remain most immune to online learning. Beyond studies, MBA programs offer up-and-coming C-suiters access to the graduate-level schmoozing that could come in handy later on. Nevertheless, the online MBA program is growing, Delta Sky Magazine’s Kevin Featherly reports. What they lack in post-exam cordials with the professor, they make up for in a more diverse, more experienced student body, say advocates. “In ground-based programs, you’re connected to a more local audience,” the dean of the University of Bridgeport’s Ernest C. Trefz School of Business tells Delta. “In the online program, you’re interacting with business professionals from around the world.” But not everything is so encouraging. A professor at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina tells Mr. Featherly how surprised he was “when a course designer suggested he use a cartoon character to illustrate a hard-core economics principle.”

Also see:

From DSC:
Consider this. Steve Jobs lived by the philosophy of cannibalizing Apple’s own business, as he held that Apple needed to cannibalize itself or someone else would do it for them. And here’s the key thing to consider: Apple is the largest company in the world, based on market cap (505.92B as of this morning) and market value.

The point is, we in higher ed can’t be afraid of change. We must change. It’s time for more Trimtab Groups within higher education.

Learning Ecosystems

New items from Educause including “Finding New Business Models in Unsettled Times” [LeBlanc]

Millennials move TV content beyond the TV set [Richter]

Companies creating their own academies/schools: 2 recent examples

Can disruption save higher education? [Stansbury]

Reflections on “The seven habits of highly effective digital enterprises” [Olanrewaju, Smaje, & Willmott]

Wise words from Ecclesiastes – especially for TRIMTAB Groups within higher education

Reflections on “Strategic principles for competing in the digital age” [Hirt & Willmott]

The Online MBA comes of age [WSJ]

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