Category Archives: Digital Transformation

Studying Alone

Posted on by

The irreplaceable value of campuses lies in building community.  Without that they will gradually become hollow shells.

Robert Putnam wrote Bowling Alone about the decline of community involvement over the last 50 years, including the demise of many civic organizations and bowling alleys that once were common fixtures of American life.  He documented waves of technological change from television to two-earner households, and the fraying of community activities.

Perhaps the college campus is the vanishing bowling alley of the 21st century.  Many have documented the waves of technological change from Internet to MITx and Udacity, and the lone student at laptop is a common image. Continue reading →

Trajectory – 1

Posted on by

Demands for courses change by semester.  Facilities change by decade.  As higher education moves further into digital transformation, the costs of this lag time are rising.  The trajectory of campus plans must change. Continue reading →

Different Bricks

Posted on by

The shifts being felt by colleges and universities are not limited to evolving educational technology.  The challenges to higher education include threats to business models, questions of legitimacy, and doubts about cost effectiveness.  Even if the promise of digital transformation is overstated, the consequences of the changing context will require campuses to adapt as rapidly as they ever have.

The bricks will need to be different, and in most cases fewer bricks will be needed. Continue reading →

Is Online Education as Good as Face-to-Face?

Posted on by

The answer is yes and no.

Measuring the relative effectiveness of online education is difficult due to the variability in subject matter, class size, and what is meant by the term online education.  Moreover, as has been observed by Richard DeMillo (Center for 21st Century Universities) and others, forms and methods of online education are rapidly evolving.  The methods studied in the most current reports are outdated by the time they are completed.

Continue reading →

What’s Different This Time?

Posted on by

Some seasoned observers of the current challenges to higher education believe that there is nothing new. Colleges and universities have gone through multiple periods of change and transformation since their emergence at the end of the Middle Ages about 700 years ago. Each time, institutions have adapted and survived.

Competition makes this time different. In the United States not only are institutions faced with declining financial prospects, but also with questions of legitimacy and cost-effectiveness. They have survived such situations in the past, but the only competition then was less education, not more.

Continue reading →