universities

The State of the Digital Divide in the United States [Gallardo]

On 08/29/2022, in 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, adult learning, CMS/LMS, colleges, communications, community colleges, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, face-to-face, faculty/staff, higher education, hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, online learning, parents/guardians, participation, remote teaching and learning, society, sociology, student-related, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

The State of the Digital Divide in the United States — from pcrd.purdue.edu by Roberto Gallardo

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic shed a bright light on an issue that has been around for decades: the digital divide. As parents, children, and workers scrambled to learn, socialize, and work from home, adequate internet connectivity became critical. This analysis takes a detailed look at the digital divide as it was in 2020 (latest year available), who it affected, and its socioeconomic implications by using an innovative metric called the digital divide index. It should also increase awareness on this issue as communities and residents prepare to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime investment in both broadband infrastructure and digital equity, components of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Data for this analysis came primarily from the U.S. Census Bureau 5-year American Community Survey. Additional sources include but are not limited to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Lightcast (formerly known as Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. or EMSI) and Venture Forward by GoDaddy. The unit of analysis was U.S. counties for which DDI scores were calculated 1 .

What would it take for higher education to develop/offer such “capability academies?” [Christian]

On 08/26/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, career development, changing business models, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, Design Thinking, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, microlearning, more voice more choice more control, new business models, personalized/customized learning, platforms, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, traditional / tradition, training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Below are some reflections based on an article entitled, Understanding learning transfer through Archwell Academies. It’s from chieflearningofficer.com and was written by Erin Donovan and Keith Keating.

Excerpt:

To capitalize on learning transfer and extend learning beyond traditional training periods, practitioners have established capability academies. According to Josh Bersin, capability academies are the evolution of traditional training and self-directed learning. Bersin posited:

Capability academies are business-driven, collaborative learning environments that facilitate learning retention. . . . Going beyond rote lessons, capability academies help companies prepare for transformation by helping employees develop complex skills and providing guidance on how to apply them in the context of the business.

The core concept of capability academies rests on the importance of collaboration between the trainers and the business. The intention is to provide learners with practice of conceptual understanding and comparative scenarios in the context and environment where they will ultimately apply their skills. Capability academies focus on providing training distinctly aligning with learners’ job responsibilities.

From DSC:
First of all, I have a lot of respect for the people that this article mentions, such as Josh Bersin and Will Thalheimer. So this article caught me eye.

It seems to me that the corporate world is asking for institutions of traditional higher education to deliver such “capability academies.” But that makes me wonder, could this even be done? Surely there aren’t enough resources to develop/deliver/maintain so many environments and contexts, right? It took Archwell, a global mortgage services outsourcing provider, an entire year to systematically design and develop such customized capability academies — just for their clients’ businesses.

The article goes on:

The core concept of capability academies rests on the importance of collaboration between the trainers and the business. The intention is to provide learners with practice of conceptual understanding and comparative scenarios in the context and environment where they will ultimately apply their skills. Capability academies focus on providing training distinctly aligning with learners’ job responsibilities.

Context. Skills. Acquiring knowledge. Being able to apply that knowledge in a particular environment. Wow…that’s a lot to ask institutions of traditional higher education to deliver. And given the current setup, it’s simply not going to happen. Faculty members’ plates are already jammed-packed. They don’t have time to go out and collaborate with each business in their area (even with more sabbaticals…I don’t see it happening).

I’m sure many at community colleges could chime in here and would likely say that that’s exactly what they are doing. But I highly doubt that they are constantly delivering this type of customized offering for all of the businesses in each major city in their area.

I can hear those in corporate training programs saying that that’s what they are doing for their own business. But they don’t provide it for other businesses in their area.

So, what would it take for higher education to develop/offer such “capability academies?” Is it even possible?

We continue to struggle to design the ultimate learning ecosystem(s) — one(s) whereby we can provide personalized learning experiences for each person and business. We need to continue to practice design thinking here, as we seek to provide valuable, relevant/up-to-date, and cradle-to-grave learning experiences.

The problem is, the pace of change has changed. Institutions of traditional higher education can’t keep up. And frankly, neither can most businesses out there.

I keep wondering if a next-generation learning platform — backed up by AI but delivered with human expertise — will play a role in the future. The platform would offer products and services from teams of individuals — and/or from communities of practices — who can provide customized, up-to-date training materials and the learning transfers that this article discusses.

But such a platform would have to offer socially-based learning experiences and opportunities for accountability. Specific learning goals and learning cohorts help keep one on track and moving forward.

Test proctoring room scans violated college student’s privacy, judge rules [Schwartz]

On 08/25/2022, in colleges, community colleges, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, privacy, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

Test proctoring room scans violated college student’s privacy, judge rules — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz

Excerpt from Dive Brief:

Cleveland State University violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable government searches and seizures by scanning rooms via online proctoring software before students took exams, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Teens Have Changed Their Higher Ed Plans — Survey Shows They May Never Go Back — from the74million.org by John Kristof & Colyn Ritter
Kristof & Ritter: COVID-19 forced HS students to re-evaluate their learning plans. If colleges want enrollment to recover, they must adapt

Excerpt:

Each of the nearly 4 million students who graduated high school this spring faces major decisions this summer. Do they want to pursue further education? If so, what do they want to study and where? How will they afford it? Will they begin working immediately? If so, are they moving out of their family home? Are they prepared for the hassles of adulthood?

According to a recent survey we at EdChoice conducted in conjunction with Morning Consult, teenagers are embracing their agency in an increasingly broad array of choices. What they told us might worry institutions of higher education — because the next generation appears less interested in the traditional college pipeline.

Future of Higher Education: Fully Shift to Hybrid Model by 2025 — from fierceeducation.com by Susan Fourtané, with thanks to Ray Schroeder for this resource out on LinkedIn

Excerpt:

The full shift to a blended teaching and learning model for higher education will become effective by 2025, according to a new report.

The pandemic acted as a catalyst to change the higher education landscape accelerating online learning adoption. Chief Online Officers (COOs) who took part in the CHLOE 7: Tracking Online Learning from Mainstream Acceptance to Universal Adoption, The Changing Landscape of Online Education report indicated that student interest in online learning has increased substantially in the past two years. The majority of COOs predict that is a trend that will continue to grow in the next several years.

Democratizing Digital Transformation with Communities of Practice [Gagne, Siciliano, Harris, Souza, & Miller]

On 08/25/2022, in colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, higher education, leadership, learning ecosystem, strategy, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Democratizing Digital Transformation with Communities of Practice — from er.educause.edu by Faby Gagne, Anthony Siciliano, Jennifer Harris, Christine Souza, and Mandy Miller
Encouraging communities of practice may help higher education institutions democratize their digital transformation efforts. Working in a community of practice scales transformative work by diffusing learning across an institution.

Excerpts:

Leveraging ecosystems may be one possible way to help scale the impact needed for a digital transformation and inspire passion while minimizing the fears associated with change and progress. Ecosystems are composed of networks (informal and formal groups of individuals) and links between individuals in different networks. One type of network is a community of practice (CoP).

Microcredentials: A new category of education is rising [Caballero, Gallagher, Shapiro, & Zanville — via Zeina Chalich]

On 08/25/2022, in Alternatives, Australia, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, Europe, new business models, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Despite the lack of globally accepted standards or even agreement on language, microcredentials have proven to be a promising way to fulfil student and labour market needs that are unique to the digital age.#aussieED #womenED #microcredentials https://t.co/CJfxwxm2K5

— Zeina Chalich ? (@ZeinaChalich) August 24, 2022

Writing Effective Learning Objectives [facultyecommons.com]

On 08/25/2022, in adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, education, faculty/staff, higher education, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, pedagogy, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, universities, by Daniel Christian

Writing Effective Learning Objectives — from facultyecommons.com

Excerpt:

When you are writing course- or module-level objectives or outcomes, remember to always be “SMART!” SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
.

From DSC:
I wanted to pass this along to the learning space designers out there in case it’s helpful to them.

“The sound absorbing Sola felt is made from 50% post-consumer recycled PET.”

Source

Acoustic Static Links lighting by LightArt — from dezeen.com

Six career-related postings in our learning ecosystems and/or in the U.S. workplace

On 08/22/2022, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, faculty/staff, higher education, learning ecosystem, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Teaching Broke My Heart. That’s Why I Resigned. — from edsurge.com by Natalie Parmenter
After 10 mostly-good years in the classroom, the 2021-22 school year was enough to push Natalie Parmenter out.

Excerpts:

This is how the last year of teaching went for me. As I sized up each day, hardly anything on my to-do list involved nurturing and guiding my kindergarteners. I was always completing tasks for other people—school leadership, district leadership, state officials—at the expense of the students in my care.

School boards have kicked things into overdrive to make up for lost time. Teachers have been accosted with endless professional development training, increased testing, and frequent surveys. There’s always been a degree of this in education as the pendulum swings back and forth, but last year, it reached a boiling point.
…
They say teaching is “a work of the heart,” and indeed, it is. But it became increasingly difficult to love that work as my heart hardened last year, and as all the bits of joy I once felt from my job were chipped away.

PROOF POINTS: Researchers say cries of teacher shortages are overblown — from hechingerreport.org by Jill Barshay
Schools are going on pandemic hiring sprees and overstaffing may be the new problem

Excerpt:

The stories are scary. The teaching profession, according to CNN in early 2022, was “in crisis.” The Wall Street Journal reported in February 2022 that burned out teachers were exiting for jobs in the private sector. House lawmakers in Washington devoted an entire hearing to “Tackling Teacher Shortages” in May 2022. And on Aug. 3, 2022, the Washington Post printed this headline: “‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage.”

But education researchers who study the teaching profession say the threat is exaggerated.

“Attrition is definitely up, but it’s not a mass exodus of teachers,” said Dan Goldhaber, a labor economist at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), a nonprofit research organization.

Are teachers leaving the classroom en masse? — from vox.com by Fabiola Cineas
The chaotic debate over this year’s teacher shortages, explained.

Excerpts:

In Texas, teachers are deserting the classroom at high rates, with Houston alone reporting nearly 1,000 vacancies in early August. In Maryland, more than 5,500 teachers reportedly left the profession in 2022, leaving Baltimore with an estimated 600 to 700 vacancies going into the fall.

Department of Education officials in Pennsylvania are calling that state’s shortage a “crisis,” and experts there say the state will need “thousands” of new teachers by 2025.

Kansas is facing what has been called the most severe teacher shortage it has ever had: about 1,400 teaching jobs are unfilled. In Florida, there are about 8,000 teacher vacancies, up from 5,000 at the start of school last year. The shortage is reportedly also dire in other states, including Nevada, California, Illinois, Arizona, and Missouri. Some experts say that even school districts that don’t usually face shortages are struggling with vacancies, and it’s hard to hire teachers even for subjects that are typically easy to fill.

But is it actually happening? The US does not collect timely, detailed national data about teacher employment, so it’s difficult to definitively conclude whether there is a national teacher shortage going into the 2022-23 school year. That has led to practitioners, education policy experts, and union leaders talking past one another.

Three Ways to Prepare for and Successfully Land a Student Internship — from emergingedtech.com by Amy DiBello

Excerpt:

So how does one overcome those feelings in order to get the position and prepare for their future? By taking the knowledge they’ve gained in their coursework along with a strong work ethic, great attitude and finally, displaying a very intentional desire to serve in order to be an asset to the organization. Interns who display these traits and show their commitment to carrying out an organization’s overall mission will no doubt prove to be an invaluable asset and find success in their first internship role. Following are three practical steps that will ensure you are fully prepared to find, secure and succeed in your first internship.

Burned-out employees are ‘quiet quitting’ their jobs: What to know about the trend — from goodmorningamerica.com

Excerpt:

With the pandemic blurring the lines between work and home, people like West are using quiet quitting as a way to set more boundaries between their professional and personal lives.

The new form of “quitting” sees people keeping their jobs, but mentally stepping back from the burdens of work — for example, working the bare minimum number of hours and not making their jobs an important center of their lives.

From DSC:
While I’m not advocating “quiet quitting” at all, it does relay an element of what’s happening in the workplace, at least in the United States.

Teacher shortage? Here’s one way around it — from edcircuit.com by EdCircuit Staff

Excerpt:

After seeing the teacher shortage first hand in China, Jessie Sullivan and Isla Iago launched an innovative new start-up that teaches children how to read and write through YouTube – without the need for adult expertise or attention. Since the release in July, the start-up called See Say Write is already being used by schools, homes, and children’s charities in seven different countries.

Addendum on 8/22/22:

Workforce: Evolve or Become Extinct — from educause.edu

Addendums on 8/23/22:

Lacking Bus Drivers, Schools Make Tough Calls on Transportation — from edweek.org by Evie Blad

Excerpt:

Eighty-six percent of respondents to a nationally representative survey of school and district administrators conducted by the EdWeek Research Center in July said they don’t have enough candidates to fill open bus driver positions.

Teacher Pay Penalty Reaches Record High. What’s at Stake? — from edsurge.com by Emily Tate Sullivan

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

For decades—indeed, almost every year since the EPI first began documenting the teacher pay penalty in 1996—the pay of teachers has slipped further behind that of their non-teacher counterparts, adjusted for education, experience and demographics.
…
Teachers in the U.S. earn about 76.5 cents on the dollar compared to similar professionals who have bachelor’s degrees, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

Fluid students flowing in and out of education are higher ed’s future. Here’s how colleges must adapt. — from highereddive.com by Anne Khademian
The Universities at Shady Grove’s executive director adapts the fluid fan idea reshaping the business of sports, shedding light on higher ed’s future.

We need less tweaking and more rethinking of how to deliver greater access, affordability and equity in higher education, and we must do it at scale. We need a new paradigm for the majority of students in higher education today that commits to meaningful employment and sustainable-wage careers upon completion of a degree or credential.

The challenge is the same for the business of higher education in serving future, more fluid students — and today’s nontraditional students. Many need to flow in and out of jobs and education, rather than pursue a degree in two or four years. Increasingly, they will seek to direct their educational experience toward personalized career opportunities, while stacking and banking credentials and experience into degrees.

From DSC:
Coming in and going out of “higher education” throughout one’s career and beyond…constant changes…morphing…hmm…sounds like a lifelong learning ecosystem to me.

#learningecosystems #learningfromthelivingclassroom
#highereducation #change #lifelonglearning

75% of master’s programs with high debt and low earnings are at private nonprofits — from highereddive.com by Lilah Burke
Urban Institute report undermines narrative that programs with poor student outcomes are all at for-profit colleges and in the humanities.

Although private nonprofit institutions accounted for 44% of all master’s programs in the data, they made up 75% of programs with high debt and low earnings.

Tuition increases, lower capital spending likely in store for higher ed as inflation persists, Fitch says — from highereddive.com by Rick Seltzer

The next inflation-driven worry: Rising college tuition — from washingtonpost.com by Nick Anderson and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
Families are concerned about affordability of higher education

Spiraling rents are wreaking havoc on college students seeking housing for the fall — from by Jon Marcus
Big hikes are forcing students deeper into debt, risk pushing more out of school altogether

From DSC:
From someone who is paying for rent for a college student — along with tuition, books, fees, etc. — this has direct application to our household. If there isn’t a perfect storm developing in higher ed, then I don’t know what that phrase means.

#costofhighereducation #inflation

HBCUs see a historic jump in enrollments — from npr.org with Michel Martin; with thanks to Marcela Rodrigues-Sherley and Julia Piper from The Chronicle for the resource

Also from that same newsletter:

What would Harvard University’s ranking be if the only criteria considered was economic mobility? According to The Washington Post, it would be 847th out of 1,320. First place would go to California State University at Los Angeles.

A New Vision for the Future of Higher Education: Prioritizing Engagement and Alignment — from moderncampus.com with Amrit Ahluwalia and Brian Kibby

Excerpt:

Change is a constant in higher ed, just as it is in the labor market. Staying up to date and flexible is more important than ever for colleges and universities, and through the pandemic, many relied on their continuing and workforce education divisions to support their agility. In fact, 56% of higher ed leaders said the role of their CE units expanded through the pandemic.

The pandemic led to some of the biggest innovations in continuing ed in recent memory.

Students Lobby Lawmakers to Improve College Experience for Neurodiverse Learners — from edsurge.com by Daniel Lempres

Excerpt:

Lobbying for more support for students with learning disabilities in higher education, the students called for increased funding for the National Center for Special Education Research and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Act) — legislation which requires that children with disabilities be given a free and appropriate public education, and makes it possible for states and local educational agencies to provide federal funds to make sure that happens. They also encouraged lawmakers to pass the RISE Act, a bill designed to better support neurodiverse students in higher education.

What a Homework Help Site’s Move to Host Open Educational Resources Could Mean — from edsurge.com by Daniel Mollenkamp

How can leaders bridge the gap between higher ed and employers? — from highereddive.com by Lilah Burke

Dive Brief:

Partnerships between higher education institutions and employers can be difficult to create, often because of misalignment between the cultures, structures and values of the two groups, according to a July report from California Competes, a nonprofit policy organization focused on higher education.
Higher ed leaders could improve employer relations by making industry engagement an expected responsibility of both faculty and staff, said the report, which drew from 28 interviews with people at colleges and employers.
Robust employer engagement can strengthen enrollment and job outcomes for students, the authors argued, while also benefiting state and local economies.

Price-fixing lawsuit against 568 Group of top-ranked universities can continue, judge rules — from highereddive.com by Rick Seltzer

Termination of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools as an ED Recognized Accrediting Agency — from blog.ed.gov

What a New Strategy at 2U Means for the Future of Online Higher Education — from edsurge.com by Phil Hill

Excerpt:

The acceleration is that 2U is going all in on the education platform strategy that started with the company’s acquisition of edX last year. The idea at the time was to rely on a flywheel effect, where edX can upsell to its tens of millions of registered learners taking free or low-cost online courses known as MOOCs, thus driving down the marketing costs required for the OPM business, while offering a spectrum of options—from free MOOCs to stackable certificates, to bootcamps and short courses, all the way to full degrees. The flywheel aspect is that the more the strategy succeeds, the more revenue is made by institutional partners and by the company, leading to more free courses and registered learners. It’s a self-reinforcing strategy that is the same one followed by Coursera.
.

3 in 5 higher education employees feel unheard at work, survey says [Spitalniak]

On 08/15/2022, in business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, higher education, IT in HE, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

3 in 5 higher education employees feel unheard at work, survey says — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak

Excerpt from Dive Brief:

More than half of higher education employees, 59%, reported feeling unheard at work, according to a new survey from consultant Grant Thornton. Only 17% of respondents said they are actively looking for a new job, but 49% would consider a switch if a new opportunity presented itself.
Faculty and staff also expressed discontent about their pay and compensation. Just 37% said their pay allows them to live the lifestyle they choose. That’s compared to 46% of respondents from Grant Thornton’s cross-sector State of Work in America survey.

Dive Into AI, Avatars and the Metaverse With NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH — from blogs.nvidia.com

Excerpt:

Innovative technologies in AI, virtual worlds and digital humans are shaping the future of design and content creation across every industry. Experience the latest advances from NVIDIA in all these areas at SIGGRAPH, the world’s largest gathering of computer graphics experts, [which ran from Aug. 8-11].

At SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Illuminates Three Forces Sparking Graphics Revolution — from blogs.nvidia.com by Rick Merritt
NVIDIA unveils new products and research to transform industries with AI, the metaverse and digital humans.

NVIDIA AI Makes Performance Capture Possible With Any Camera — from blogs.nvidia.com by Isha Salian
Derivative, Notch, Pixotope and others use NVIDIA Vid2Vid Cameo and 3D body-pose estimation tools to drive performances in real time.

How to Start a Career in AI — from blogs.nvidia.com by Brian Caulfield
Four most important steps to starting a career in AI, seven big questions answered.

As Far as the AI Can See: ILM Uses Omniverse DeepSearch to Create the Perfect Sky — from blogs.nvidia.com by Richard Kerris
Omniverse AI-enabled search tool lets legendary studio sift through massive database of 3D scenes.

Future of Creativity on Display ‘In the NVIDIA Studio’ During SIGGRAPH Special Address — from blogs.nvidia.com by Gerardo Degaldo
Major NVIDIA Omniverse updates power 3D virtual worlds, digital twins and avatars, reliably boosted by August NVIDIA Studio Driver; #MadeInMachinima contest winner revealed.

What Is Direct and Indirect Lighting? — from blogs.nvidia.com by JJ Kim
In computer graphics, the right balance between direct and indirect lighting elevates the photorealism of a scene.

NVIDIA Studio Laptops Offer Students AI, Creative Capabilities That Are Best in… Class — from blogs.nvidia.com by Gerardo Degaldo
Designed for creativity and speed, Studio laptops are the ultimate creative tool for aspiring 3D artists, video editors, designers and photographers.

Design in the Age of Digital Twins: A Conversation With Graphics Pioneer Donald Greenberg — from blogs.nvidia.com by Rick Merritt
From his Cornell office, home to a career of 54 years and counting, he shares with SIGGRAPH attendees his latest works in progress.

College Rankings Are ‘a Joke,’ Education Secretary Says [Hatch]

On 08/13/2022, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business side of he, colleges, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, higher education, ideas, innovation, IT in HE, leadership, society, strategy, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

College Rankings Are ‘a Joke,’ Education Secretary Says — from chronicle.com by Brianna Hatch

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona called college rankings “a joke,” and took aim at selective colleges’ obsession with them, as he made a broader push on Thursday for closing stubborn equity gaps in the nation’s college-graduation rates.

“Many institutions spend enormous time and money chasing rankings they feel carry prestige, but in truth do little more than Xerox privilege,” Cardona said, attributing the phrase to the president of a historically Black college.

There’s a “whole science behind climbing up the rankings” that leads to misplaced priorities, Cardona said. The best-resourced colleges are playing a prestige game instead of centering “measures that truly count,” he said. “That system of ranking is a joke.”
…
Cardona called for a “culture change” in higher ed so that institutions would value inclusivity, use data to help students before they dropped out, and create more-accessible pathways for adult learners, rural students, and first-generation students.

“Let’s confer prestige on colleges’ breaking cycles of poverty. Let’s raise the profiles of institutions delivering real upward mobility, like all of you,” Cardona told attendees, echoing an essay he wrote for The Chronicle on Thursday. “Let’s turn the universities that walk the walk on equity into household names.”

From DSC:
The above item re: culture change caught my eye. Coming out of college, I didn’t think about the culture of an organization. It didn’t mean anything to me.

But as the years went by — and especially as I was working for Kraft Foods at the time when it got acquired by Philip Morris — I began understanding the power and influence of the culture of an organization. That power and influence could be positive and helpful or it could be negative and could stunt the growth of the organization.

I personally question whether many of the existing cultures within our colleges and universities have the ability to change. Time will tell. But the culture of places where I’ve worked had a (sometimes strong) distaste for the corporate world. They didn’t want to be called a “business.” I put that word business in quotes purposefully — as the term was spoken with disdain. The higher calling of higher education could not be considered a business…yeh right. Looking at things these last few years, one can certainly not claim that any longer.

The cultures of our traditional institutions of higher education may be the biggest challenge to their survival. Perhaps some tips in this article may help — though it has to go waaaaay beyond the IT Department.

Learning Ecosystems

What would it take for higher education to develop/offer such “capability academies?” [Christian]

Democratizing Digital Transformation with Communities of Practice [Gagne, Siciliano, Harris, Souza, & Miller]

What a New Strategy at 2U Means for the Future of Online Higher Education [Hill]

3 in 5 higher education employees feel unheard at work, survey says [Spitalniak]

College Rankings Are ‘a Joke,’ Education Secretary Says [Hatch]

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