Serendipity35

There are always books being published about reimagining education. There are plenty of articles about educational disruptors. I have been writing about School/University 2.0 for a few years. Some of us are experimenting with MOOC's, badges, competency-based degrees, open education and other ideas.

Last fall, Time magazine had a "Reinventing College" headline that said "College Is Dead. Long Live College!" Since 2012 was the "Year of the MOOC" (to some) Time wondered if they would "pop the tuition bubble" and the president of Northeastern University wondered if "we're witnessing the end of higher education as we know it."  Everyone seems to want to know what will disrupt education next and cane we prepare for it now?

An article in The Chronicle asks a different version of this topic: "For Whom Is College Being Reinvented?" Are these disruptors only disrupting education for some people? If a revolution is coming in higher education, who will be overthrown?

I believe that the traditional college degree will decrease in value for purposes of getting a job. But I don't see the end of traditional universities or the end of degrees. I do see them returning to being something for a smaller number of probably privileged people. For poorer and/or less-prepared students, alternatives to the traditional college and the traditional degrees will be the best path to a career.

Khan Academy's founder, Salman Khan, reimagines education from the elementary schools up through college and sees those teachers in the early years less as the source of knowledge in the classroom and more of the mentor. His college is more of a place where students are working on internships and mentored projects and are not in classrooms.

"Those who can afford a degree from an elite institution are still in an enviable position," wrote Megan McArdle in a Newsweek article, "Is College a Lousy Investment?"  But what about the rest of the high school grads? She suggests apprenticeships and on-the-job training as more realistic and more affordable options.



Is reinvention and disruption creating (or, perhaps more accurately, returning us to) a two-tiered system of a traditional campus-based education for the haves and some other open/MOOC/online/creditless system for the have-nots?

I don't think Princeton University needs to worry much about having no one apply for admission - though they will get a smaller applicant pool just like the other schools. It's the smaller colleges that may take the hit.

Perhaps some of those smaller schools and the two-year colleges will reimagine themselves as the place for that alternative education.

MOOCs, badges, certifications and other disruptors will not save higher education. They may change it in some positive ways. There is hope that they can push us to modify the way we teach and the way we assess mastery, foster interdisciplinary work and more real-world applicability in courses, and make learning more efficient. They might also return us to the thinking from a much earlier age when no one thought that "there's a college for everyone."

Open Educational Resources (OER) are part of what is changing and will be changing education at all levels. But if you don't know what OER means, then a new course being offered may be a good entry point for you.

OER-101 is an open, self-paced online community course that has been
built to demonstrate how to find, adapt, and develop OERs step-by-step. These OERs may then be licensed via Creative Commons, printed and bound, and integrated into any type of learning environment.

The goals of OER-101 include: defining OERs, demonstrating how to create and interact with them, and exploring how to include them in the teaching and learning processes. The course materials have been designed and chosen with practicality, simplicity, and applicability in mind.

I like that the participants in the course are strongly encouraged to submit the OERs they develop to an OER repository under a Creative Commons license.

The course is organized into five “pursuits,” each of which represents one facet of the world of OERs. Participants are encouraged to complete all of the pursuits by following the suggested course progression, but each pursuit can also be completed individually.

The course will be offered through Blackboard’s CourseSites and participants may self-enroll in the course by creating a free account from https://opensuny.coursesites.com. Use the LOGIN button at the top of the page. The course opened January 16, but materials are due to be available on the 23rd.

The providers are also exploring the possibilities of offering badges in open courses. For evaluation and feedback, OER-101 will employ a badging system powered by Mozilla Open Badges. The badging experiment is funded by a SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grant. Participants will earn badges by completing the course pursuits and will receive a "master badge" for course completion.

The course will utilize a community learning model informed by a facilitation method established by Philyse Banner at the American Public University System.

The results from this course will be documented within the SUNY Learning Commons.





                   Here's a fun (and open) "trailer" for the course.

I'm seeing more and more alternatives to traditional college courses. But the thing that allows colleges to hold onto students is still the degree. Maybe one day, employers will accept certificates or badges or some alternative assessment of proficiency. Maybe alternatives to colleges will end up partnering with brick and mortar colleges for the credit and accreditation. Maybe employers will take over the responsibility of training and bypass the universities.

But, for now, a degree still has value in the working world. 

That doesn't mean that companies aren't trying to crack that market. One company like that is StraighterLine. They announced that this fall they will offer students access to three leading critical-thinking tests. This will let them bring their test results to employers or colleges to demonstrate their proficiency. The tests to be offered include the Collegiate Learning Assessment (sponsored by the Council for Aid to Education) and the Proficiency Profile (from the Educational Testing Service). Both literacy tests measure critical thinking and writing, among other academic areas. The iSkills test, also from ETS, measures the ability of a student to navigate and critically evaluate information from digital technology. These tests have already been used by colleges to measure student learning, but students did not receive their scores. (A testing situation that often seen as one that offers little incentive for students to do well.

StraighterLine offers online, self-paced introductory courses that students can take, but taking their courses won't be a requirement to to sit for the two new tests. Still, some students will take their classes and take these tests and it is hoped that the test scores will help validate StraighterLine courses.

The program is being called My Line and the cost of a test will probably be under $100.

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From the StraighterLine press release:

StraighterLine, one of the nation’s leading providers of online college courses, announced today that starting in the Fall of 2012, they will offer “MyLine,” a place where students may purchase, and gain access to, general education coursework and validated tests from leading educational organizations.The agreement calls for StraighterLine to offer a variety of core skills and information literacy tests from Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Council for Aid to Education (CAE).
“Combined with StraighterLine’s courses, these products and services will offer students the opportunity to demonstrate their proficiency in key academic areas not easily measured by traditional coursework,” says Burck Smith, StraighterLine’s founder and CEO. “Student grades and test scores will be accessible through each student’s individual MyLine profile, which students may share with employers and colleges seeking qualified employees and students.”
Starting in the Fall of 2012, students will be able to purchase an individualized version of ETS’s iSkills™ assessment, the ETS® Proficiency Profile and CAE’s Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). The iSkills assessment measures a student’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a digital environment. The ETS Proficiency Profile assesses critical thinking, reading, writing, and mathematics skills in a single test. Through the use of authentic, performance-based qualitative and quantitative measures, the CLA assesses a student’s ability to think critically and write well, including their capacity to problem solve, reason analytically, and write in a persuasive manner that exhibits proper and accepted mechanics.

Udemy, the company that allows any us to create and sell courses through its online platform, also has "The Faculty Project." This part of their site is devoted to courses by professors from some of the country's elite institutions.

Udemy is a for-profit, but The Faculty Project offerings from Colgate, Duke University, Stanford University, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, Dartmouth College and Vassar College are free.

Obviously, their goals with the project are to get you in with a free course in the hope that you will pay for another course, and those top schools help elevate the brand.

Some of the courses seem to be a collection of informational lectures, which is not my idea of a good online "course" but you can certainly learn from them. There have been mentions online of plans to administer quizzes and grades/badges. You don't submit work and you don't get feedback. its anticipated droves of students, which may number in the tens or hundreds of thousands.

It might be worthwhile for other colleges to look at their courses as a model for developing quality courses on a budget. Udemy says it is developing the Faculty Project courses at $500 apiece.