{"id":47189,"date":"2014-09-09T16:02:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T20:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=47189"},"modified":"2014-10-13T11:43:23","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T15:43:23","slug":"what-if-things-move-significantly-towards-show-me-what-you-can-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2014\/09\/09\/what-if-things-move-significantly-towards-show-me-what-you-can-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What if things move *significantly* towards &#8220;Show me what you can *do*&#8221;&#8230;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em>From DSC:<\/em><br \/>\nFirst of all, let me say that I&#8217;m a big fan and supporter of a liberal arts education &#8212; my degree was in economics (from Northwestern University&#8217;s College of Arts &amp; Sciences, as the school was called at the time) and I currently work at a Christian liberal arts college.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">That said, within the current higher education landscape, we&#8217;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.\u00a0 I don&#8217;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.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">However, as the pace of change has increased, I wonder&#8230;what if hiring decisions move <em>significantly more<\/em> towards <em>&#8220;Show me what you can DO&#8230;?<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">That&#8217;s already taking place to a significant degree in many hiring situations,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #800000;\">but<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\"> my reflection revolves around questions such as:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">What if it takes too long to wait for someone to get a 2 or 4-year degree? Will employers start looking <\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\">more towards what competencies someone has today <em>or can acquire much more quickly?<\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em> <\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Will people look outside of traditional higher education to get those skills?<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Again, these reflections involve the increasing pace of change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2564\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/daniel-christian-thepacehaschanged1.jpg\" alt=\"The pace has changed significantly and quickly\" width=\"480\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/daniel-christian-thepacehaschanged1.jpg 480w, https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/daniel-christian-thepacehaschanged1-150x110.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Anyway, such a shift could open doors for new &#8220;providers&#8221; such as: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lessonsgowhere.com.sg\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47191\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/LessonsGoWhere.jpg\" alt=\"LessonsGoWhere\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" border=\"0\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/LessonsGoWhere.jpg 809w, https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/LessonsGoWhere-150x98.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 809px) 100vw, 809px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/classdo.com\/en#!\/WhosTeaching\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47190\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ClassDo.jpg\" alt=\"ClassDo\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" border=\"0\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ClassDo.jpg 990w, https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ClassDo-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"iuniv.tv\" href=\"http:\/\/iuniv.tv\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47250\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/iUniv-August2014.jpg\" alt=\"iUniv-August2014\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" border=\"0\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/iUniv-August2014.jpg 768w, https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/iUniv-August2014-150x109.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.udemy.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47201\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/udemy.jpg\" alt=\"udemy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" border=\"0\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/udemy.jpg 738w, https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/udemy-150x120.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Then, consider some quotes from the following article, <em>Tottering Ivory Towers<\/em>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Tottering Ivory Towers\" href=\"http:\/\/www.the-american-interest.com\/articles\/2014\/08\/11\/tottering-ivory-towers\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47206\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TotteringTowers-August112014.jpg\" alt=\"TotteringTowers-August112014\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" border=\"0\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TotteringTowers-August112014.jpg 602w, https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TotteringTowers-August112014-150x140.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Excerpts:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;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, <span style=\"color: #800000;\">employers are gradually making greater use of<strong> independent, competency-based measures<\/strong> and <strong>credentialed courses<\/strong> rather than relying on accredited degrees and credit hours<\/span> (derided as \u201cseat time\u201d by its critics). Try getting a job in computer network management if you can\u2019t show which Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer courses you have passed. Meanwhile, Udacity is partnering with Google, AT&amp;T, and other technology firms in an \u201cOpen Education Alliance\u201d 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 &amp; Guilds qualifications while studying at almost any institution, and there are standard competency measures in a variety of professional fields.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">In a <i>New York Times<\/i> interview, Google\u2019s 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.<sup>3<\/sup> In this environment, an industry-led move to create a more dependable measure of knowledge and ability than a transcript will become increasingly attractive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">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.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dmitry Sheynin writes in his article, <a href=\"http:\/\/techpageone.dell.com\/technology\/is-innovation-outpacing-education\/#.VA9RdxCTEQL\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Is innovation outpacing education?<\/strong><\/a> &#8220;<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">With the ever-increasing pace of innovation, traditional colleges and universities are failing to train and retrain workers quickly enough<\/span><\/strong>. 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.&#8221;\u00a0 Again, according to Frey, &#8220;The main factor driving change in the labor force is new innovations rendering old jobs obsolete, <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>but no mechanism is in place yet to help workers grow at the pace of evolving technology.&#8221;<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Self-directed learning, or heutagogy, is key in this fast-paced environment. We all need to be constantly learning, growing, and reinventing ourselves.\u00a0 However, not everyone is comfortable with such an approach.\u00a0 So there are some gaps\/opportunities opening up for those organizations who are innovative enough to experiment and to change.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Also see:<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"entry-title grid-eight instapaper_title\"><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/its-time-to-ditch-the-old-academic-identity-to-survive-funding-cuts-30729\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>It\u2019s time to ditch the \u2018old academic identity\u2019 to survive funding\u00a0cuts<\/strong> <\/a>&#8212; from theconversation.com by Fry and Schutt<br \/>\n<em>Excerpt:<\/em><br \/>\nIn short, what you <em>do<\/em> with what you create. Increasingly, the sector is being called to account on this as the world changes around us.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"entry-title grid-eight instapaper_title\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/2014\/05\/06\/college-america-hits-10000-mark-new-competency-based-bachelors-degrees\" target=\"_blank\">This article re: Southern New Hampshire&#8217;s self-paced $10,000 competency-based degree program<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/etale.org\/main\/2014\/06\/16\/udacity-and-the-future-of-nanodegrees\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Udacity &amp; the Future of Nanodegrees<\/strong> <\/a>&#8212; from etale.org by Bernard Bull<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketplace.org\/topics\/education\/learningcurve\/10560-bachelors-degree\" target=\"_blank\">A $10,560 bachelor&#8217;s degree?<\/a> <\/strong>&#8212; from\u00a0marketplace.org<br \/>\n<em>Excerpt:<br \/>\n<\/em>&#8220;We\u2019re not going to see bachelor&#8217;s programs in English, math, history, sociology, chemistry and all of those fields that are traditional liberal arts fields,&#8221; said\u00a0Constance Carroll, Chancellor of the\u00a0San Diego Community College District, and a member of the\u00a0California Community College\u00a0Baccalaureate Degree\u00a0Study Group.\u00a0&#8220;What we will see are baccalaureate\u00a0programs in workforce fields where there is high demand.&#8221; Fields like dental hygiene, information technology, and automotive-technology management.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Addendum on 9\/17\/14:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/campustechnology.com\/articles\/2014\/09\/17\/building-on-competency-based-education.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Building on Competency-Based Education<\/strong> <\/a>&#8212; from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush<br \/>\nA Q&amp;A with Ruki Jayaraman<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">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&#8217;s vice chancellor for academic affairs to learn how that institution tackled competency-based education \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<p><em>Addendum on 10\/2\/14:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lambdasolutions.net\/blog\/2014\/10\/michael-b-horn-competency-based-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Michael B. Horn on Disruptive Innovation in Higher Education: <\/strong><\/a><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lambdasolutions.net\/blog\/2014\/10\/michael-b-horn-competency-based-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\">How online competency based learning is changing the higher education landscape<\/a> &#8212; <\/strong>from lambdasolutions.net by <span class=\"author-title\"> Sean Hougan<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Addendum on 10\/8\/14:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"byline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/blogs\/ed\/2014\/10\/07\/353930358\/competency-based-education-no-more-semesters?\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Competency-Based Education: No More Semesters?<\/strong> <\/a>&#8212; from npr.org by Anya Kamenetz<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Addendum on 10\/13\/14:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edtechmagazine.com\/higher\/article\/2014\/10\/competency-based-educational-shift-underway-higher-ed\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>A Competency-Based Educational Shift Is Underway in Higher Ed<\/strong><\/a> &#8212; from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith<br \/>\n<em>College students are being given a growing list of options for college accreditation.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From DSC: First of all, let me say that I&#8217;m a big fan and supporter of a liberal arts education &#8212; my degree was in economics (from Northwestern University&#8217;s College of Arts &amp; Sciences, as the school was called at the time) and I currently work at a Christian liberal arts college.\u00a0 That said, within [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,61,174,209,115,302,389,112,200,57,324,159,36,35,545,3,180,239,44,486,436,480,310,20,66,212,206,214,11,299],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21st-century","category-business-side-of-he","category-career-development","category-changing-business-models","category-colleges","category-community-colleges","category-competency-based-learning-education","category-corporate-business-world","category-corporate-universities","category-cost-of-getting-a-degree","category-curriculum","category-dangers-of-the-status-quo","category-future-of-higher-education","category-game-changing-environment","category-heutagogy","category-higher-education","category-innovation","category-new-business-models","category-pace-of-change","category-real-world-assignments","category-reinvent","category-society","category-staying-relevant","category-strategy","category-student-related","category-surviving","category-trends","category-universities","category-vision-possibilities","category-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47189"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47634,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47189\/revisions\/47634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}