Tony Bates explores using technology to improve the cost-effectiveness of the academy (and part 2). After exploring the challenges faced by universities, Tony concludes, logically, that:
I believe we need much more variety in institutional structures and models of educational delivery than we have at the current time. We need in other words more innovation and experimentation, if the challenge of greater access, greater quality and lower cost is to be met. Only through experimentation, trial and error and a certain amount of risk-taking are we likely to find new models that ‘work’ in that they achieve the three goals stated: more access, better quality, less cost.
The problem with this observation is that traditional universities are generally too tied to existing models to innovate rapidly. I’ve met with too many departments that have plans like “next year, we’ll have two courses online”. There is a sense that the university’s response is mismatched to reality of the scope of societal change. Toward the end of the second post, Tony offers a series of 10 implications. I generally agree with these points, but don’t think it offers enough about the systemic change required by universities. If we’re going to look 20 years in the future, I’m less concerned about details such as instructional tactics than I am about the big issues of policy/funding/research/systemic structure of higher education.
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