In life, it is possible to know that huge changes are coming without knowing when they will come or what they will be. These metaphorical storms or avalanches are out there; will they blow off? Will they hit when no one is around or when hundreds of skiers are on the slopes?
It’s clear that something has to give in higher education. Too many families can’t afford to pay the price, but it’s the key to better jobs and better communities. The traditional model of research/teaching/graduate school apprenticeship/social network/professional sports isn’t sustainable. But then what will take its place? For all the talk of MOOCs and new models, the wealthy elite send their children to colleges on the traditional model. But if they are not affordable, what should everyone else do?
The hot publication making the rounds is called An Avalanche is Coming. It was published in March by the Institute for Public Policy Research, a UK think tank. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it; it has a slight flavor of “My kid is going to Yale, but only because of tradition; your kid will do just fine with a college that advertises on TV because of MOOCs!” But it also has a lot of good ideas for what may happen, and the authors believe that change will happen soon.
If you’re interested in the topic, read it; the chancellors and deans at any colleges that you or your kids are applying to already have.
Not sure if I have an opinion on HOW college should change. I just know that is SHOULD change. Universities seem to be institutions with such mixed-up missions that I don’t think they do any of them particularly well. Practical education of students, higher-analytical thought processing, professorial research – it all gets mixed up. And it seems to have stagnated and become ridiculously expensive relative to the value.
Hybrid learning is also becoming popular. With moocs or premium/paid courses imho, at the end of the day it still depends on how one will use these available resources. But we’re also seeing that distance learning is also becoming a growth area of schools and educators.