[ RC ] The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at Colleges in 2020

[BIL...@aol.com]

Re : Following Article

 

Worthwhile summary of trends effecting higher ed. However, as with most papers

about the "future of college education" that I have read so far, something crucial

is overlooked. Simple ( simplistic ) trend line forecasts ignore an obvious question :

 

What will colleges DO to try and keep campus based education relevant and valuable ?

 

Methinks this question is studiously avoided in the computer business ;  not something

anyone wants to think about since, after all., the purpose of any computer firm is to

sell computers and / or software. Anything that does not contribute to selling

computer products  cannot , by definition, reflect the future.

 

It seems unarguably true that the future of education at the college level will

feature increasing computer / software use. Anyone who has another view

cannot be taken seriously. But as in all things, there are limits to how far any

trend can go. Inevitably you get market saturation or resistance, or some new

innovation  --not necessarily a product invention--  changes everything.

 

It would be a good idea to consider what in-person education can do that no

technology is able to do and will never be able to do. After all, once these features

are identified you are better able to look at limits objectively and make plans

accordingly. The current trend will persist but only as long as alternatives

continue to lag as strong non-computer  selling points.

 

Again, to conceive college education as essentially only a matter of attending lectures

is a major mistake. That was not the case when I started teaching way back when

and it certainly is not the case now.

 

Consider an experiment that is due for a revival, short terms in which students take

exactly one class. The way it was done at Alice Lloyd College was that there was

a short term for the month of January, each year. Two classes of mine were in this format.

 

Indian History of the Southeast United States featured not only lectures so that students

had a background of hard information,  but included a week long field trip to Native American

sites in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina  Back as the college one of

the highlights of the term was a cooking class in which we prepared a meal

for the student body on campus consisting entirely of foods that Indians prepared

in early American history.

 

The other class was called "Space Exploration and the Future."  The field trip was to

Cape Kennedy and  to the Huntsville Space Museum. There also was a Space Fair that

the class created for the student body.

 

Yes, if computers had been available at the time there would have been even more

we could have done. Similarly for video equipment, which was still fairly scarce

in those years in higher ed. But the fact remains that the "whole package" which

such a course consisted of, simply cannot be replicated with "virtual" classes.

There is unique value to this kind of class. Not just mine, but those of

most of the faculty at ALC.

 

Now think about other kinds of experiential college education.

 

I one knew a woman who started an at-sea college in which students cruised the globe

on a large sailboat, literally learning on site, Greece when studying the classic past,

Italy when studying the Renaissance, Israel when studying the Mid East

or Biblical archaeology.

 

A woman teacher at ALC wanted to create another class for that January one-month

term that was a terrific idea even if, last I remember,  funding for it had never been obtained.

But her idea was a trip through the Southwest to study geology. As good as some geology

books are, as good as some visuals available on the Web are, no way can any such thing

compare with actually being there and "studying" geology from "the rocks themselves" and

their geological environment.

 

Same kind of considerations apply to environmental science, recreation / hospitality,

security management, and dozens of other fields.

 

Seems to me that it won't be much longer before MOST colleges  and universities

are in the midst of another world as they emphasize the advantages of being AT their school,

not just being connected to their school via the Internet.

 

In that case, the task for computer businesses will not be simply manufacturing more and more

hardware, no matter now good some of it may be,  but in creating products that augment

experiential  ( you-are-there ) education.

 

So far, to the best of my knowledge, no-one in the computer business has even begun

to think along these lines. I wonder if it is even possible for them to do. Sometimes

the mindset seems to be that computers are the world and the future, rather than

part of the world and part of the future. Only when faced with a reality that, so far,

has yet to materialize except in a few scattered locations, can this mindset be challenged

successfully. But to expect colleges to roll over and play dead so that computer businesses

can prosper as their campuses become shopping malls would be, IMHO,

really, really  short-sighted. Expect a "counter-reformation" and expect it soon.

 

Billy

 

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tle.wisc.edu/.../college-2020-according-chronicle-higher-education

 

no date, but recent

 

by : ambrower

The College of 2020 according to the Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education has posted the first of three research reports on future trends in higher education.  This first one, The College of 2020:  Students, reports trends of students--demographic information, interests, use of technology, which sectors of higher education are growing at a faster pace, part-time vs. full-time status, etc.  Click here for the free executive summary.

This is a well done piece, and their primary questions, "What is college, and why should I go?" are exactly right.  One premise of this report is that two economic models of colleges will survive:  4-year residential and research institutions with already-recognized and respected brand names (privates like Harvard as well as public flagships like UW-Madison), and the for-profit institutions that rely heavily on on-line and flexible educational degrees.  Those that are somewhere in the middle are going to have a very rough time.  Here are some of the conclusions from the report:

• Fewer and fewer students will seek full-time, four year programs due to their expense, inconvenience, and inflexibility of programs.
• Thus, an emphasis will be on providing cheap, convenient, flexible education that students can access anywhere.
• Three-year degree programs will proliferate.
• To attract more students, colleges may begin to offer one-year remedial programs to high school students who are not yet prepared for college work.  At the same time, adult education and college education will increasingly merge.
• At some point just after 2020, minority students will outnumber whites on college campuses for the first time.
• Even for universities that are largely residential, "hybrid" courses will increasingly become the norm:  classroom discussions, office hours, lectures, study groups, and assignments will move on line.
• Here's a quote I particularly liked because of things I've already mentioned about web 2.0:  "The Internet has made most information available to everyone, and faculty members must take that into consideration when teaching. There is very little that students cannot find on their own if they are inspired to do so. And many of them will be surfing the Net in class. The faculty member, therefore, may become less an oracle and more an organizer and guide, someone who adds perspective and context, finds the best articles and research, and sweeps away misconceptions and bad information." (emphasis added).

Some of these trends, I hope, are not a surprise to you:  we've had plenty of discussion on this blog, throughout the TLE site, and across campus, about uses of technology and how to make our educational enterprise distinctive.  And we are already moving in the direction of how to best use technologies and how to best engage students through our WI Exp/ELO initiatives.  Yet, we must continue to make explicit and demonstrate the value of a UW-Madison degree; neither complacency nor our "Madison modesty" are not going to serve us well.  As I've challenged us many times, when students can take intro chem or psychology anywhere, or a course in US politics, Shakespeare, or Latin American History, or even advanced methods in structural equation modeling, why would they want to take it with us?  

We need to show them why--and its because our unique and comprehensive WI Experience adds value, it's because our WI Experience helps our graduates go off and change the world.

[David R. Block]

Go to pjmedia.com/instapundit and search for "higher education bubble" on that site. Be prepared for an AVALANCHE of posts.

Even though he is a law professor, Glenn Reynolds isn't afraid to bust the chops of the field he is in. The current model of high prices in the time of economic crisis does not lead to more folks wanting to go to college. The administrative bloat has to be dealt with or very few folks are going to be able to afford it. Many are finding that they cannot afford student loans, either. Besides, many are simply "Leftist Indoctrination U." Now why would I want to spend money on that???

David

"I am so Libertarian that I don't think lawyers and doctors should be licensed by the government. I am so Libertarian that I make some Libertarians cringe."--Neal Boortz

--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <Radical...@googlegroups.com>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org

[BIL...@aol.com]

David :
Will take a look. Meanwhile, although I understand your gripes about Leftist professors,

especially after what I went though at U of O back in 2008 - 2010,  one thing

I don't do is take the view that nothing can be done. But you  --anyone-- has

got to want to make waves and cause major reforms, AND be prepared

for a good fight. So, my assumption is that this is a good time for a street brawl

in higher ed, and the sooner the better.

 

Put a team together, starting with Horowitz. If some people aren't team players

at least get their advice, like Sowell or Krauthammer. "Organize to fight the Devil"

was the old Methodist slogan and it can be dusted off and re-used to good effect.

 

Unfortunately few conservatives even think in terms of a movement. That is,

for them a "movement" is a lot of self interest by individuals who otherwise

don't cohere about much.  But an actual  movement means dedication to a cause.,

something "higher" than  "I  got mine and screw you," that is, "I don't have mine

and until I get it, screw you."

 

There used to be a conservative movement, in the 1980s. Maybe you could say

it continued into the 1990s. But it  is long gone now and until a new movement

arises the political Right has serious problems.

 

Actually I'd like to see a Radical Centrist movement.  I have zero interest

in a number of Right-wing causes, like anti-evolution, like so-called "free trade" ideology,

and would rather try and defeat those particular  views than not. This is especially

true in education where the needed reforms are not just those favored by the Right.

Take evolution. Feminists are also anti-evolution, at least they are anti-sociobiology

which is based on evolution. About that, my fight is with both Right and Left.

 

In any case, I have my soapbox and fully intend to keep on saying what

seems to me to need saying.

 

I know damned well what education CAN become. No reason to assume

that it can never be something good and valuable. I mean, have you

given up on A&M ?   For myself, I am very unhappy with today's

Roosevelt University and with UMass, but with some serious effort

and a boatload of fresh workable ideas, and some kind of leverage,

these schools can be reformed. Why not ?  They weren't always

the way they are now.

 

At that, there surely are all kinds of majors that are only minimally

concerned with the politics of faculty, like geology, engineering,

physics, architecture, marketing, organic chem, and so forth.

 

Billy

 

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[David R. Block]

No, I don't want to give up on A & M, and they're not as far left as most of academia. That's one of the reasons tu (Texas University) and A & M don't get along. The Horns are slightly to the right of Karl Marx, and the Aggies are slightly to the right of John Birch (exaggeration for effect). So they don't like each other. QUELE SURPRISE!!!!

I would like for the Tea Party to become that movement. Some of them a quietly taking over parts of the Texas Republican party. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of milquetoasts.

David

"I am so Libertarian that I don't think lawyers and doctors should be licensed by the government. I am so Libertarian that I make some Libertarians cringe."--Neal Boortz