Forum Futures 2010 just went online. It contains summaries/write ups of the presentations made at last year’s meeting of the Forum on the Future of Higher Education. My own contribution, on ethical leadership in higher education, which will contain no surprises for people who have been reading what I’ve been saying about higher ed issues over the past year or two, is here. More interesting are this contribution on a remarkable technology for improving learning outcomes in math science and stats classes, and this piece by Sandy Baum on fairness in college admissions (which is a partner to my own contribution).
{ 1 comment }
WhiskeyJim 08.20.10 at 10:24 pm
The Carnegie Mellon pdf is interesting. It’s interesting that this kind of individualized curriculum was delivered decades ago using manual tests and tutors wishing to get an ‘A’ in a higher course, as postulated by a behavioristic approach.
The technology for Carnegie’s courses has been around for decades, just as mass customization in manufacturing took advantage of it decades ago.
That our public education system of higher learning is only now thinking of instituting this kind of learning is a testament to the failure of bureaucracy as a concept, and the lack of competition as a principle.
The simple fact is that education costs should have been dropping for decades, and there is every reason to believe that at no time in history should effective, practical, and speedy (read compressed) education (whether it produces electricians or mathematicians) be more affordable. That is the opposite of what we have, and the opposite of what technology and know-how tells us is possible.
Comments on this entry are closed.