The Changing Structure of Higher Education

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The Changing Structure of Higher Education

• The Challenges We Face

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Three forces at work
Cost vs. Access Can students afford to attend
college? Learning Outcomes Are our students
learning what they need to know for the world of
work? Are they learning what they need to know
for their personal development? Are they learning
what they need to know to be productive citizens
in our society. Technology What do the new and
very rapid developments in information
technology mean for the way higher education is
organized? The way it functions?
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Three forces at work
Cost vs. Access There is great concern
nationally, and within public higher education,
that we are pricing students out of an
education. We must, somehow, control costs, and
permit wide access to our offerings.
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Three forces at work
Learning Outcomes Those that hire our students
complain that they do not possess the right
combination of skills, or the right level of
skill in some very basic areas Reading,
Writing, Mathematical ability.
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Three forces at work
In addition, employers are asking that students
have increased knowledge of the world, better
foreign language skills, better understanding of
other cultures. Employers also want students to
have experience in collaborative efforts,
working in teams, and solving problems.
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Three forces at work
Technology New information technologies may
permit new ways of teaching and learning to
occur Enhance residentially based undergraduate
and graduate instruction. Reach new
audiences off-site. Improve communications
between faculty, staff, and students.
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Creation of a new competitive environment
The three forces have combined to create a new
wave of change, competition for higher
education. From traditional sources. From
private firms building internal structures. From
private, for profit, teaching institutions. From
state-industry partnerships. From new state
initiatives.
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Creation of a new competitive environment
Traditional Sources All higher ed institutions
face competition for students from each other.
In the state sector, there are many sources of
competition, internal and from nearby
states. The main competitor for Rutgers is
the University of Delaware.
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Creation of a new competitive environment
Private firms build internal structures
Originally designed to train employees for
specific tasks, firm-based instructional entities
are now teaching writing, problem solving, etc.
(Fed in NYC, Motorola, GM, etc.)
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Creation of a new competitive environment
Private for-profit higher ed institutions
These institutions, like UPhoenix, are searching
for profitable sectors of higher ed, and offering
courses to meet the needs of the students there.
Both in continuing ed and in basic core
teaching at colleges and universities. Also,
many private for-profit and non-profit entities
are trying to establish the infrastructure for
course distribution and design on the web.
World Lecture Hall, Global Network Academy,
Virtual University Enterprises, etc.
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Creation of a new competitive environment
State and Industry Partnerships States are
willing to use state resources to assist
industry to meet its educational needs. Many
examples. Focus on Michigan Virtual Automotive
College, a collaboration of Ford, GM,Chrysler,
Michigan and Michigan State. President is
former president of Michigan, J. Duderstadt.
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Creation of a new competitive environment
In its first 16 months of operation, it (MVAC)
has put together some 115 courses with professors
or units from 27 universities (including
Phoenix) 300 students are now enrolled, 2000 set
for Fall. When suppliers, dealers, repair
shops and retail outlets are taken as part of the
auto industry, enrollment projections soar to
six and seven figures. Marchese,T.,
Not-do-distant Competitors, AAHE Bulletin, May
1998, V.50, No. 9, p. 3-7
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Creation of a new competitive environment
The essential idea behind MVAC-that an industry
group can combine to produce its own education
enterprise, entry-level through lifelong
learning, and cease reliance of a cottage
industry of existing campuses-has strong appeal
among corporate executives, especially where
dissatisfaction with traditional higher education
is high. Marchese,T., Not-do-distant
Competitors, AAHE Bulletin, May 1998, V.50, No.
9, p. 3-7
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Creation of a new competitive environment
New creations by traditional insitutions
UNEXT, Columbias Morningside Associates.
These new entreprenurial enterprises allow
traditional Institutions to experiment in the new
technological environment Without changing their
basic structure.
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Creation of a new competitive environment
New State Initiatives States are experimenting
with higher ed institutions. Asking for
articulation with community colleges, promoting
competition within state funded college and
university structure. States are also working to
integrate higher ed activities across state
lines Western Governors is prime example.
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New structures for higher education.
As the economy continues to develop and change
around the new information technology, and more
and more sophisticated forms of organization are
developed, the possibility that higher ed
functions will be unbundled is high. This is
similar to what has happened in the medical
sector, with the rise of HMOs. For example The
certification of degrees
The accreditation of courses
The residential experience are three such
bundles.
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New structures for higher education
Again from Marchese,T., Not-do-distant
Competitors, AAHE Bulletin, May 1998, V.50, No.
9, p. 3-7 To Wall Street and
entrepreneurs-at-large, the post- secondary
education and training market looks huge and ripe
for the picking..an addressable market
opportunity at the dawn of a new paradigm in the
breathless words of Morgan Stanley Dean
WitterSeveral Wall Street houses have set up
education industry practices to attract
investors.
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New structures for higher education
One vision of the future is this Groups of
faculty, call them departments, contract
themselves to accrediting bodies, EMOs
or educational management organizations. The EMO
guarantees the quality of the courses. A
separate body, a certification agency, examines
collections of courses and curricula, and
certifies them as degree worthy. A hotel and
food service operation, like Marriott or Del
Webb, runs a residential site, restricted to the
appropriate age group, Sun City College.
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New structures for higher education
This may seem farfetched to some, but ETS is
actively trying to become such a certification
agency. Sylvan Learning Centers seeks serve the
curricular accreditation function, and to
coordinate the activities of groups of
instructors. Caliber Learning Network has had an
ipo of 80 million. It now operates learning
centers in shopping malls. It works with Johns
Hopkins, Wharton, etc., to offer brand name
education in locations around the country and
world. How soon till groups of faculty, like
mds, opt to set up private practice as educators?
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We can be sure tomorrow will be different than
today
Institutions like Western Governors University,
Uphoenix, MVAC are not creatures of mere
technology. They are new types of educational
organizations, moving higher ed away from a
real-estate based enterprise, to a customer
driven system, with serious assessment of
learning outcomes. The best teaching and
best curriculum design can be purchased from
anywhere, and delivered anywhere.
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We can be sure tomorrow will be different from
today
Large accumulations of capital will be brought to
bear to achieve new and innovative ways of
teaching and learning. The issue facing todays
faculty is how we will deal with the tidal wave
of change that is coming. It will not simply
go away. We hide our head in the sand at our own
peril, and at the peril of the values as
educators that we hold dear.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Modern universities are organized on a geographic
model, with classes scheduled for a time and
place. A Course of study has become a meeting
with Students and faculty at a specific place
and time. The course of study has been
segmented into courses that are often
disconnected though included in a major
curriculum.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Modern information technology permits a return to
a course of study that can be accessed across
time and place, at the convenience of the
student. But, modern universities cannot
simply paste on modern technology. To use it
effectively, they must restructure themselves in
a way that challenges their major
function. Icarus fell from the sky because one
cant paste wings on a human and fly. A whole new
approach is needed.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education
Evolution to a new model of higher education
We have a duty to our students to use technology
to enhance teaching and research. We have a duty
to ensure that all of our students have an
appropriate familiarity with the technology that
is so rapidly remaking the world.
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How do we use technology to enhance teaching and
learning.
By using technology to enhance teaching
and learning, we improve our core function as a
University, and give our students the skills
they need to function effectively in the world
of work.
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Characteristics of good teaching

• Instructors are well prepared.
• Instructors excite and motivate students
• Instructors communicate effectively
• with their students.
• Instructors bring latest information to
• students

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Characteristics of successful learning

• Students gain and retain knowledge of the content
  of the course.
• Students develop critical thinking skills.
• Students integrate knowledge within and across
  disciplines.
• Students develop the ability to work in a team to
  solve a problem.

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Using technology to enhance education
The use of modern instructional technologies
enhances teaching, and learning, by promoting
all of these characteristics.
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Enhances how we teach

• New instructional tools
• Require that instructors are
• well-organized and adaptable.

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Enhances how we teach

• New instructional tools
• Require that instructors are well organized and
  adaptable.
• Bring text, sounds and images to enrich and
  enliven the classroom.

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Enhances how we teach

• New instructional tools
• Require that instructors are well organized and
  adaptable.
• Bring text, sounds and images to enrich and
  enliven the classroom.
• Improve communications between instructor and
  student.

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Enhances how we teach

• New instructional tools
• Require that instructors are well organized
• and adaptable.
• Bring text, sounds and images to enrich
• and enliven the classroom.
• Improve communications between
• instructor and student.
• Bring up-to-date content into classroom or lab.

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Further enhancements

• More content available outside the
• classroom, asynchronously.

• More interaction in the classroom

• Increased use of research methods in
• undergraduate courses.

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Enhancements to learning

• New instructional tools
• Assist in the delivery of content knowledge
• to students.
• Availability of electronic data resources
• and the web

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Enhancements to learning

• New instructional tools
• Improve retention
• Increased interaction improves retention
• Empower students who find communication in
  traditional lecture to be intimidating.

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Enhancements to learning

• New instructional tools
• Improve students integration of knowledge
  within and across disciplines.
• Research projects can become part of the standard
  course
• Students can bring ideas to some stage of
  completion, integrating knowledge more
  effectively.

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Enhancements to learning

• New instructional tools
• Improve and encourage teamwork
• and problem-solving.
• Email and WWW applications enable
• group activities, even in large courses
• Conferencing and chat facilities
• promote discussion

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Enhancements to learning

• New instructional tools
• Improve the development of critical
• thinking skills.
• Students engage content in a mode suited to
  their preferred learning style.

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Enhancing Education
It is incumbent upon the faculties of research
universities to think carefully and
systematically not only about how to make the
most effective use of existing technologies but
also how to create new ones that will enhance
their own teaching and that of their colleagues.
Reinventing Undergraduate Education A
Blueprint for Americas Research Universities.
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Enhancing Education
The best teachers and researchers should be
thinking about how to design courses in which
technology enriches teaching rather than
substitutes for it. Reinventing Undergraduate
Education A Blueprint for Americas Research
Universities.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Evolution Most universities are not willing to
challenge the concept of a course as the unit of
instruction. But, just how a course is organized
is undergoing fundamental change. If the method
of instruction continues to evolve, new
institutional structures will be needed to
support them.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education
Modes of Instruction On campus Web
enhanced Interactive web tools Hybrid on
campus for only part of a term, asynchronous
otherwise. Fully Asynchronous (distance
education)
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
A continuum of course structures On campus
Traditional lecture or seminar format. Class
meets regularly, at a fixed time and place.
Web Enhanced Static web page, including
syllabi, notes, homework, links to informative
sites, and email or listserv addresses. This
material can be retrieved asynchronously.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Interactive web tools The use of listservs and
threaded discussions permits asynchronous
participation in the course, and permits
discussion, whether synchronous or asynchronous,
to continue and expand outside the classroom in a
very organized and directed manner. It also
permits student to student discussion to continue
under the course structure itself.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Hybrid course structure As interactive
discussion tools, web sites, and the instructors
skill at using them improve, faculty will begin
to eliminate many class meetings, and instead
conduct the class, either synchronously or
asynchronously, in virtual space. Course meets
5 September to 20 September. Meets virtually 1
October to 31 October. Course meets 1 November
til the term ends.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Hybrid course structure is very attractive to
faculty and students since it permits more
control over their time,without giving up the
traditional teaching model. Fully asynchronous
Courses are offered online only, never meet on
campus. This model is not embraced by most
faculty, unless it is the only way to teach the
intended audience.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education.
Can we have a hybrid model? The hybrid model
requires an institutional infrastructure that can
manage course servers, listservs, threaded
discussion, chat rooms, and large web sites that
must be updated frequently. The current
infrastructure of most universities cannot
support this kind of structure without moving
resources from the traditional model. New
managerial matters arise, too, since rooms once
scheduled for class are now empty. How will these
be managed?
.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education
What is a course, anyway? Course of instruction
1. Can be any path to learning. 2. Can
be personalized to meet a students needs 3.
Can occur anywhere, inside or outside of a
classroom.
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Evolution to a new model of higher education

• Infrastructure To support new modes of
  teaching,
• Universities must build a new infrastructure.
• Technological Networks, servers, video servers,
  enhanced and networked classrooms. Who will
  manage them? What kinds of technologies work
  best?
• Staff positions New types of highly skilled and
  well paid staff are needed to support new
  teaching and learning technologies and new
  administrative structures. (Instructional
  designers) Old positions will be phased out.

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Evolution to a new model of higher education

• Administrative roles Administrators will be
  asked to take on new tasks and transform old
  ones. Training is key.
• Faculty roles Just what a faculty members does
  as a teacher, will change substantially.
• Intellectual property Who owns a course? Who
  can market it?Teaching as a profit center is a
  new concept.