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Linda Taylor

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What will university education look like in 20 years?

What will higher education look like in 20 years?

As I walk around with all the books to my curriculum on my iPad, it occurs to me that higher education now looks very different than it did 10 years ago. I remember making ALL my powerpoint slides and now many come along with text books. All my reference books are on my phone. I can access my calendar anywhere and there is not a single eraser mark on it.

Some subtle movements in society are changing the outcomes of higher education and how we teach. Some potential changes I see are:

1. The movement of didactic classes to online with campus learning based on highly psychomotor learning (labs, studios, physical education etc).

2. A federal government that is focusing on transferable skills as opposed to classical education.

4. Mandates that students move through the curriculum instead of a focus on retention. Recent decreases in hours funded.

5. The increased cost of higher education far outpacing workforce pay.

What will higher education look like? What role will technology play in the next couple of decades? Will we skype class? Can I really take a course in Norway and apply it to my transcript?

As we move global, how are your counties dealing with the changes?

http://www.ted.com/talks/liz_coleman_s_call_to_reinvent_liberal_arts_education.html?quote=496

Topics: Learning technology education vision
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  • Ravi Krishna Seethepalli

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    Jun 16 2012: Future Classes will be like TED talks, participants come with a singular purpose of exposing themselves to new ideas new thoughts, the High School will equip "Under Grad" students with necessary general skills to understand the broad concepts, forums like TED talks will push the boundaries of thinking, the participants of such talks will be the teachers and professors who will critically evaluate the thoughts being presented, "Students" will learn by the mistakes they make, a student who achieves success early in life will find his grades struck between medium to high, because his "failure" marks will be very low. The cost of higher education will actually come down, as the value for a paper based degree will come down. It is the idea and its implementation and its contribution to future knowledge which will earn the academic recognition.
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      Linda Taylor 50+

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      Jun 16 2012: That's an outstanding idea. Imagine leaders in the field sharing their knowledge for present and future learners. Educators could access and link to coursework and start discussions as we do here, including the ability to document and measure outcomes.
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      Aja Bogdanoff 20+

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      TED StaffHostTED Attendee
      Jun 16 2012: Failure-based education... I love it.
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        Linda Taylor 50+

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        Jun 16 2012: I do not understand failure based education. Could you please clarify?
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          Aja Bogdanoff 20+

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          Jun 17 2012: Linda, maybe that isn't the right way for me to describe it, but I liked Ravi's idea about measuring and rewarding students for trying and failing, and then trying again, rather than only rewarding success.
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        Linda Taylor 50+

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        Jun 17 2012: Please help me out here because I thought that''s what we've been doing and coming under criticism for. For instance, students take a class, fail, retake the class and pass. One of the biggest parts of my job is to help students frame failure outside the context of their 'self' and empower them to try again. So how is your description different? I really am interested.
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          Aja Bogdanoff 20+

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          TED StaffHostTED Attendee
          Jun 17 2012: Linda, my only experience here is that of my own formal education, and that ended almost 10 years ago, so I'm hardly an expert on (or even familiar with) the modern education system... but the thought of actually including failure and recovery from failure on the grading rubric is new to me. I was never taught to embrace failure as part of the learning process when I was in school, but as an adult I've found it's so crucial to being able to make real progress in anything. Are schools teaching this now?
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        Linda Taylor 50+

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        Jun 18 2012: Thank you so much for contributing to this thread! Sometimes the best ideas come from those who are not familiar with the subject and I really appreciate it.

        I am not sure if schools are helping students but I know I am. I agree with you it is important for people at the beginning of their careers to be able to understand failure and how to leverage it. So I work with students to objectify a failure and come up with a plan to move past it. Luckily it is not a major part of my job. But it is an important skill and I take it seriously.
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          Fritzie Reisner 100+

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          Host
          Jun 18 2012: At this point the value of failure and the necessity of being able to overcome obstacles is well understood among educators, as it is in the general population. How many times a week do we hear the advice to fail fast or hear that if we never fail, we are not taking on the right level of challenge? Still, it takes courage in a teacher to place challenging work in front of kids so that there is some struggle in it. There will always be teachers who take the easy road of pitching a class so that students can easily accomplish everything set before them, which then can make it harder for teachers down the line to present challenging work and to offer feedback that isn't all accolades. Another school phenomenon is valuing self-esteem above all else and to this end, applauding any level of work or contribution to work. There is a downside to applauding instances in which students do much less than they are capable of doing. One effect is that those who get real feedback are scaffolded toward mastery and those who are applauded too much for too little do not grow as successfully. Applauding people for trying something hard at which they then don't succeed makes great sense but applauding everything ultimately does not serve the student well.
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        Linda Taylor 50+

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        Jun 19 2012: Well said, Fritzie! I love the term 'pitch a class.'

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