The Rise of the Heretical Leader — from ditchthattextbook.com; a guest post by Dan Fitzpatrick
Now is the time for visionary leadership in education. The era of artificial intelligence is reshaping the demands on education systems. Rigid policies, outdated curricula, and reliance on obsolete metrics are failing students. A recent survey from Resume Genius found that graduates lack skills in communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Consequently, there is a growing trend in companies hiring candidates based on skills instead of traditional education or work experience. This underscores the urgent need for educational leaders to prioritize adaptability and innovation in their systems. Educational leaders must embrace a transformative approach to keep pace.
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[Heretical leaders] bring courage, empathy, and strategic thinking to reimagine education’s potential. Here are their defining characteristics:
- Visionary Thinking: They identify bold, innovative paths to progress.
- Courage to Act: These leaders take calculated risks to overcome resistance and inertia.
- Relentless Curiosity: They challenge assumptions and seek better alternatives.
- Empathy for Stakeholders: Understanding the personal impact of change allows them to lead with compassion.
- Strategic Disruption: Their deliberate actions ensure systemic improvements.
These qualities enable Heretical leaders to reframe challenges as opportunities and drive meaningful change.
From DSC:
Readers of this blog will recognize that I believe visionary leadership is extremely important — in all areas of our society, but especially within our learning ecosystems. Vision trumps data, at least in my mind. There are times when data can be used to support a vision, but having a powerful vision is more lasting and impactful than relying on data to drive the organization.
So while I’d vote for a different term other than “heretical leaders,” I get what Dan is saying and I agree with him. Such leaders are going against the grain. They are swimming upstream. They are espousing perspectives that others often don’t buy into (at least initially or for some time).
Such were the leaders who introduced online learning into the K-16 educational systems back in the late ’90s and into the next two+ decades. The growth of online-based learning continues and has helped educate millions of people. Those leaders and the people who worked for such endeavors were going against the grain.
We haven’t seen the end point of online-based learning. I think it will become even more powerful and impactful when AI is used to determine which jobs are opening up, and which skills are needed for those jobs, and then provide a listing of sources of where one can obtain that knowledge and develop those skills. People will be key in this vision. But so will AI and personalized learning. It will be a collaborative effort.
By the way, I am NOT advocating for using AI to outsource our thinking. Also, having basic facts and background knowledge in a domain is critically important, especially to use AI effectively. But we should be teaching students about AI (as we learn more about it ourselves). We should be working collaboratively with our students to understand how best to use AI. It’s their futures at stake.
The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025 — from weforum.org
US College Closures Are Expected to Soar, Fed Research Says — from bloomberg.com
- Fed research created predictive model of college stress
- Worst-case scenario forecasts 80 additional closures
The number of colleges that close each year is poised to significantly increase as schools contend with a slowdown in prospective students.
That’s the finding of a new working paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, where researchers created predictive models of schools’ financial distress using metrics like enrollment and staffing patterns, sources of revenue and liquidity data. They overlayed those models with simulations to estimate the likely increase of future closures.
Excerpt from the working paper:
We document a high degree of missing data among colleges that eventually close and show that this is a key impediment to identifying at risk institutions. We then show that modern machine learning techniques, combined with richer data, are far more effective at predicting college closures than linear probability models, and considerably more effective than existing accountability metrics. Our preferred model, which combines an off-the-shelf machine learning algorithm with the richest set of explanatory variables, can significantly improve predictive accuracy even for institutions with complete data, but is particularly helpful for predicting instances of financial distress for institutions with spotty data.
From DSC:
Questions that come to my mind here include:
- Shouldn’t the public — especially those relevant parents and students — be made more aware of these types of papers and reports?
. - How would any of us like finishing up 1-3 years of school and then being told that our colleges or universities were closing, effective immediately? (This has happened many times already.) and with the demographic cliff starting to hit higher education, this will happen even more now.
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Adding insult to injury…when we transfer to different institutions, we’re told that many of our prior credits don’t transfer — thus adding a significant amount to the overall cost of obtaining our degrees.
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- Would we not be absolutely furious to discover such communications from our prior — and new — colleges and universities?
. - Will all of these types of closures move more people to this vision here?
Relevant excerpts from Ray Schroeder’s recent articles out at insidehighered.com:
Winds of Change in Higher Ed to Become a Hurricane in 2025
A number of factors are converging to create a huge storm. Generative AI advances, massive federal policy shifts, broad societal and economic changes, and the demographic cliff combine to create uncertainty today and change tomorrow.
Higher Education in 2025: AGI Agents to Displace People
The anticipated enrollment cliff, reductions in federal and state funding, increased inflation, and dwindling public support for tuition increases will combine to put even greater pressure on university budgets.
On the positive side of things, the completion rates have been getting better:
National college completion rate ticks up to 61.1% — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Those who started at two-year public colleges helped drive the overall increase in students completing a credential.
Dive Brief:
- Completion rates ticked up to 61.1% for students who entered college in fall 2018, a 0.5 percentage-point increase compared to the previous cohort, according to data released Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
- The increase marks the highest six-year completion rate since 2007 when the clearinghouse began tracking the data. The growth was driven by fewer students stopping out of college, as well as completion gains among students who started at public two-year colleges.
- “Higher completion rates are welcome news for colleges and universities still struggling to regain enrollment levels from before the pandemic,” Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said in a statement dated Wednesday.
Addendum:
Attention Please: Professors Struggle With Student Disengagement — from edsurge.com
The stakes are huge, because the concern is that maybe the social contract between students and professors is kind of breaking down. Do students believe that all this college lecturing is worth hearing? Or, will this moment force a change in the way college teaching is done?
Adapting to the future | Educause
Institutions are balancing capacity issues and rapid technological advancements—including artificial intelligence—while addressing a loss of trust in higher education.
To adapt to the future, technology and data leaders must work strategically to restore trust, prepare for policy updates, and plan for online education growth.
From DSC:
First of all, when you look at the following posting:
What Top Tech Skills Should You Learn for 2025? — from dice.com by Nick Kolakowski
…you will see that they outline which skills you should consider mastering in 2025 if you want to stay on top of the latest career opportunities. They then list more information about the skills, how you apply the skills, and WHERE to get those skills.
I assert that in the future, people will be able to see this information on a 24x7x365 basis.
- Which jobs are in demand?
- What skills do I need to do those jobs?
- WHERE do I get/develop those skills?
And that last part (about the WHERE do I develop those skills) will pull from many different institutions, people, companies, etc.
BUT PEOPLE are the key! Oftentimes, we need to — and prefer to — learn with others!
Boosting Student Engagement with Interactive and Practical Teaching Methods — from campustechnology.com by Dr. Lucas Long
One of my biggest goals as an educator is to show students how the material they learn in class can be applied to real-world situations. In my finance courses, this often means taking what we’re learning about financial calculations and connecting it to decisions they’ll have to make as adults. For example, I’ve used real-life scenarios like buying a car with a loan, paying off student debt, saving for a wedding, or calculating mortgage payments for a future home purchase. I even use salary data to show students what they could realistically afford given average salaries after graduation, helping them relate to the financial decisions they will face after college.
These practical examples don’t just keep students engaged; they also demonstrate the immediate value of learning financial principles. I often hear students express frustration when they feel like they’re learning concepts that won’t apply to their lives. But when I use real scenarios and provide tools like financial calculators to show them exactly how they’ll use this knowledge in their future, their attitude changes. They become more motivated to engage with the material because they see its relevance beyond the classroom.
Freshman Enrollment Appears to Decline for the First Time Since 2020 — from nytimes.com by Zach Montague (behind paywall)
A projected 5 percent drop in this year’s freshman class follows a number of disruptions last year, including persistent failures with the FAFSA form.
Freshman enrollment dropped more than 5 percent from last year at American colleges and universities, the largest decline since 2020 when Covid-19 and distance learning upended higher education, according to preliminary data released on Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a nonprofit education group.
The finding comes roughly a year after the federal student aid system was dragged down by problems with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, commonly known as FAFSA, which led to maddening delays this year in processing families’ financial data to send to school administrators. That in turn held up the rollout of financial aid offers well into the summer, leaving many families struggling to determine how much college would cost.
Re: the business of higher ed, also see:
Tracking college closures— from hechingerreport.org by Marina Villeneuve and Olivia Sanchez
More colleges are shutting down as enrollment drops
College enrollment has been declining for more than a decade, and that means that many institutions are struggling to pay their bills. A growing number of them are making the difficult decision to close.
In the first nine months of 2024, 28 degree-granting institutions closed, compared with 15 in all of 2023, according to an analysis of federal data provided to The Hechinger Report by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association or SHEEO.
And when colleges close, it hurts the students who are enrolled. At the minimum, colleges that are shutting down should notify students at least three months in advance, retain their records and refund tuition, experts say. Ideally, it should form an agreement with a nearby school and make it easy for students to continue their education.
Most parents know AI will be crucial to their children’s future — from eschoolnews.com
A new survey from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow reveals an urgent need to address the looming AI knowledge gap in schools
Parents of Gen Alpha and Gen Z students are optimistic about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance various aspects of education, according to a new Morning Consult survey commissioned by Samsung Solve for Tomorrow.
The survey notes that an overwhelming 88 percent of parents believe that knowledge of AI will be crucial in their child’s future education and career. However, despite this belief, 81 percent of parents either don’t believe or are not sure that AI is even part of their children’s curriculum. That disparity highlights a pressing need to raise awareness of and increase parental involvement in AI discussions, and advance the implementation of AI in American primary and secondary education.
Students need clarity on their postsecondary pathways — from eschoolnews.com by Laura Ascione
When it comes to planning for life after high school, a lack of career exposure is hindering many students’ abilities to envision a future
Key points:
- Students require guidance and career exposure to plan for the future
- The exposure gap is blocking students’ ability to envision future careers
- 3 online resources to encourage student career planning
- For more news on career readiness, visit eSN’s Innovative Teaching hub
Much emphasis is placed on college and career readiness, but too often, K-12 students aren’t exposed to career possibilities or career resources to form an idea of what their future may look like.
Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them? — from insidehighered.com by Ashley Mowreader
Colleges and universities are considering new ways to incorporate generative AI into teaching and learning, but not every student is on board with the tech yet. Experts weigh in on the necessity of AI in career preparation and higher education’s role in preparing students for jobs of the future.
Among the 5,025-plus survey respondents, around 2 percent (n=93), provided free responses to the question on AI policy and use in the classroom. Over half (55) of those responses were flat-out refusal to engage with AI. A few said they don’t know how to use AI or are not familiar with the tool, which impacts their ability to apply appropriate use to coursework.
But as generative AI becomes more ingrained into the workplace and higher education, a growing number of professors and industry experts believe this will be something all students need, in their classes and in their lives beyond academia.
From DSC:
I used to teach a Foundations of Information Technology class. Some of the students didn’t want to be there as they began the class, as it was a required class for non-CS majors. But after seeing what various applications and technologies could do for them, a good portion of those same folks changed their minds. But not all. Some students (2% sounds about right) asserted that they would never use technologies in their futures. Good luck with that I thought to myself. There’s hardly a job out there that doesn’t use some sort of technology.
And I still think that today — if not more so. If students want good jobs, they will need to learn how to use AI-based tools and technologies. I’m not sure there’s much of a choice. And I don’t think there’s much of a choice for the rest of us either — whether we’re still working or not.
So in looking at the title of the article — “Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them?” — those of us who have spent any time working within the world of business already know the answer.
#Reinvent #Skills #StayingRelevant #Surviving #Workplace + several other categories/tags apply.
For those folks who have tried AI:
Skills: However, genAI may also be helpful in building skills to retain a job or secure a new one. People who had used genAI tools were more than twice as likely to think that these tools could help them learn new skills that may be useful at work or in locating a new job. Specifically, among those who had not used genAI tools, 23 percent believed that these tools might help them learn new skills, whereas 50 percent of those who had used the tools thought they might be helpful in acquiring useful skills (a highly statistically significant difference, after controlling for demographic traits).
Workera’s CEO was mentored by Andrew Ng. Now he wants an AI agent to mentor you. — from techcrunch.com by Maxwell Zeff; via Claire Zau
On Tuesday, Workera announced Sage, an AI agent you can talk with that’s designed to assess an employee’s skill level, goals, and needs. After taking some short tests, Workera claims Sage will accurately gauge how proficient someone is at a certain skill. Then, Sage can recommend the appropriate online courses through Coursera, Workday, or other learning platform partners. Through chatting with Sage, Workera is designed to meet employees where they are, testing their skills in writing, machine learning, or math, and giving them a path to improve.
From DSC:
This is very much akin to what I’ve been trying to get at with my Learning from the Living [AI-Based Class] Room vision. And as learning agents come onto the scene, this type of vision should take off!
Average Student Loan Debt — from educationdata.org by Melanie Hanson; last updated August 16, 2024
Report Highlights.
- The total average student loan debt (including private loan debt) may be as high as $40,681.
- The average federal student loan debt is $37,853 per borrower.
- Outstanding private student loan debt totals $128.8 billion.
- The average student borrows over $30,000 to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
- A total of 42.8 million borrowers have federal student loan debt.
- It may take borrowers close to 20 years to pay off their student loans.
From DSC:
In other words, we are approaching the end of the line in terms of following the status quo within higher education. Institutions of traditional higher education can no longer increase their cost of tuition by significantly more than the rate of inflation. Increasingly, K-12 students (and families) are looking for other pathways and alternatives. Higher ed better stop trying to change around the edges…they need new, more cost-effective business models as well as being able to be much more responsive in terms of their curricula.
Students at This High School Do Internships. It’s a Game Changer — from edweek.org by Elizabeth Heubeck
Disengaged students. Sky-high absenteeism. A disconnect between the typical high school’s academic curriculum and post-graduation life.
These and related complaints about the American high school experience have been gathering steam for some time; the pandemic exacerbated them. State-level policymakers have taken note, and many are now trying to figure out how to give high school students access to a more relevant and engaging experience that prepares them for a future—whether it involves college or doesn’t.
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After a slow start, the school’s internship program has grown exponentially. In 2019-20, just five students completed internships, mainly due to the logistical challenges the pandemic presented. This past year, it grew to over 180 participating seniors, with more than 200 community organizations agreeing to accept interns.
How Do Today’s High Schoolers Fare As They Enter Adulthood? View the Data — from edweek.org by Sarah D. Sparks
Even when students have access to high-quality dual-credit programs, they often do not get guidance about the academic and workplace requirements of particular fields until it’s too late, said Julie Lammers, the senior vice president of advocacy and corporate social responsibility for American Student Assistance, a national nonprofit focused on helping young people learn about college and careers.
“We need to start having career conversations with young people much earlier in their trajectory, at the time young people are still open to possibilities,” Lammers said. “If they don’t see themselves in science by 8th grade, STEM careers come off the table.”
Cost plays a big role in the decision to attend and stay in college. The Education Data Initiative finds that on average, students in 2024 racked up nearly$38,000 in debt to pursue a bachelor’s degree, with many expecting to take up to 20 years to pay it off.
Transforming Education From School-Centered to Learner-Centered
Centering Learners by Design: Shaping the Future of Education — from gettingsmart.com
What outcomes do we truly desire for young people? Many students feel that their current educational experiences do not prepare them adequately for real-world challenges. Supported by data on attendance, disengagement, and stress, it’s evident that a shift is needed. To move beyond outdated school-centered models, we must embrace a learner-centered paradigm that fosters flexibility, personalization, and authentic community engagement. Innovative approaches like multiage microschools and passion projects are transforming how students learn by fostering real-world skills, confidence, and community engagement.
These learner-centered models—ranging from personalized projects to collaborative problem-solving—provide actionable strategies to create environments where every student can thrive. Schools are moving away from one-size-fits-all systems and embracing approaches like flexible learning pathways, mentorship opportunities, and community-integrated learning. These strategies are not only closing the gap between education and the skills needed for the future but also reshaping public schools into dynamic hubs of innovation.
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Engaging parents, youth, teachers, principals, district leaders, community members, and industry experts in the co-design process ensures that education systems align with the aspirations and needs of the community.
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Transitioning from a traditional school-centered model to a learner-centered approach is critical for preparing students with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century.
Democrats and Republicans Agree Teacher Prep Needs to Change. But How? — from edweek.org by Libby Stanford
The programs have been designed “essentially to mass-produce identical educators,” a teachers college dean told lawmakers
The core problem, witnesses at the hearing said, is that teacher-preparation programs treat all teachers—and, by extension, students—the same, asking teachers to be “everything to everybody.”
“The current model of teaching where one teacher works individually with a group of learners in a classroom—or a small box inside of a larger box that we call school—promotes unrealistic expectations by assuming individual teachers working in isolation can meet the needs of all students,” said Greg Mendez, the principal of Skyline High School in Mesa, Ariz.
From DSC:
I’ve long thought teacher education programs could and should evolve (that’s why I have a “student teacher/teacher education” category on this blog). For example, they should inform their future teachers about the science of learning and how to leverage edtech/emerging technologies into their teaching methods.
But regardless of what happens in our teacher prep programs, the issues about the current PreK-12 learning ecosystem remain — and THOSE things are what we need to address. Or we will continue to see teachers leave the profession.
- Are we straight-jacketing our teachers and administrators by having them give so many standardized tests and then having to teach to those tests? (We should require our legislators to teach in a classroom before they can draft any kind of legislation.)
- Do teachers have the joy they used to have? The flexibility they used to have? Do students?
- Do students have choice and voice?
- etc.
Also, I highlighted the above excerpt because we can’t expect a teacher to do it all. They can’t be everything to everybody. It’s a recipe for burnout and depression. There are too many agendas coming at them.
We need to empower our current teachers and listen very carefully to the changes that they recommend. We should also listen very carefully to what our STUDENTS are recommending as well!