Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Higher Education: Pressures, Solutions, and Resistance

1. The Social Life of Information Chapter 8 – Re-Education William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

2. Topics • Pressures • Solutions • Resistance • Competing by Degrees • Degrees of Representation William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

3. Topics • Misrepresentation • Learning not Lading • Peer Support • Degrees of Distance • A Distant Prospect William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

4. Topics • A Sense of Place • Recomputing Distance • Reorganizing • Unpicking the Threads William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

5. Pressures • Student population is changing • Previously typical student is becoming rare • Students are generally becoming older • Working adults • Want more relevant education, topics William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

6. Pressures • Competition • Schools becoming more business like • Considering • Markets • Products • Clients • Customers • Mega-Universities William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

7. Pressures • University of Phoenix • Accredited in 1978 • Grown to • 62,000 students • 77 campus centers • 450,000 alumni • For profit institution • Generally cheaper than traditional schools William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

8. Pressures • Corporate research centers (Xerox PARC, Microsoft) competing for funds, projects • New technologies changing academia William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

9. Solutions • 6-D focus on disaggregation • Redefinition of education, libraries, etc. • ‘Endism’ • PSU’s World Campus • California’s Virtual University William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

10. Resistance • Overcoming distance limitations • Medieval traveling scholars • Correspondence courses • Radio, TV, video courses • Early ’70s – PLATO U of Illinois • Net, ftp, email • Early ’80s – USC online courses William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

11. Resistance • California Virtual University • Not a replacement for bricks and mortar • Not degree or certificate granting • Offers information about CA based distance learning • Essentially an online catalog William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

12. Resistance • IBM Indiana University Library ad • Fictional, not reflection of fact • May not happen in granddaughter’s lifetime • Online Ph.D. is rare in US • Mostly in education • Not highly regarded or accepted William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

13. Competing by Degrees • US system of higher education is self-organized • 11,000 institutions, 4,000 accredited • About 14.6 million students • Is the degree their objective? • Is credentialing the objective? William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

14. Competing by Degrees • Granting degrees is not the only thing universities do • Credentialing is not simple • Degrees are not equal William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

15. Degrees of Representation • “Marketplace of ideas” • “Knowledge markets” • “Knowledge exchanges” • Is knowledge becoming a commodity? • Can’t it just be bought and sold? William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

16. Degrees of Representation • Knowledge doesn’t circulate easily • It is hard to detach (Chapter 5) • Difficult for buyers to assess • If you can evaluate it, you don’t need it • If you need it, you can’t evaluate it William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

17. Degrees of Representation • You hire experts because you lack their knowledge • How do you evaluate them? • Education is a similar dilemma • We rely on independent reviews • How do you determine Professor’s worth in teaching a course? William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

18. Misrepresentation • Not deliberate degree mills • Hidden details of degrees • Socially, but not business valued activities • Analogous to legislative “omnibus package” which hides details • Behind scenes work is hidden William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

19. Misrepresentation • Relies on ‘institutional trust’ • Avoids micromanagement of degree • Allows for a certain amount of slack • Permits elective courses & serendipity William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

20. Learning not Lading • Degrees sometimes viewed as ‘intellectual bill of lading’ • ‘Teaching is a delivery service’ • Schools are ‘loading sites’ • Knowledge delivery rather than ‘learning to be’ William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

21. Learning not Lading • Teaching involves engaging in communities of practice • Lower level and some technical courses are prime targets of delivery • Progress from learning about to learning to be William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

22. Peer Support • Apprenticeship puts learners in contact with the leaders in their fields • Peers can be equally valuable resources • Early attempt at distance learning • Stanford engineering class taped and delivered to HP William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

23. Peer Support • Early attempt at distance learning • Engineers would watch as a group • Regularly stopped tape and discuss • Engineers outperformed classroom students • Why? • Individual (distance) learning loses this benefit William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

24. Degrees of Distance • Access to communities is different than access to information • Worldwide demand for education is growing • Geographic distance can be minimized by IT • Social distance is not overcome by IT William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

25. A Distant Prospect • IT can minimize time and space limitations of traditional education • Best as extension, not replacement • Difficult to form suitably dense communities virtually • Better at maintaining communities than creating them William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

26. A Distant Prospect • Providing laptops to all students may exacerbate social distance • Conventional campuses not likely to disappear • Online activities complement offline • IT may keep students from traditional campuses William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

27. A Sense of Place • For-profit schools centralize course design • No or limited local input • Most learning is local • Knowledge ecologies are local • Centralization pulls against this William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

28. Recomputing Distance • 19th century University of London allowed for external degrees • Localized specialization • Centralized support and resources William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

29. Reorganizing • Pressure to change higher education • Change may be instructive elsewhere • IBM ad shows idealistic view but ignores social context • Optimal reorganization will be blend that uses IT for support • Balance centralized and local William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

30. Unpicking the Threads • What seemed ridiculous ten years ago may be commonplace today • Learners require three things from higher education • Access to communities of learning and knowledge • Resources to work within distant and local communities • Widely accepted representations for learning and work William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

31. Unpicking the Threads • Conventional universities have met these through students, faculty, research, facilities and the institution • New technologies may loosen the configuration • New forms of higher education are tending to ignore at least one factor William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

32. Unpicking the Threads • Students • Changing demands on university in response to demands on them • Need to address short-term, long-term and lifelong needs • Require good credentials William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

33. Unpicking the Threads • Degree-Granting Bodies • Distributed education system • Must provide adequate credentials • Requires public trust • Allows for flexible matrices • Require degrees balanced between focus and breadth William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

34. Unpicking the Threads • Faculty • Might have teaching methods sanctioned • Sanction could allow students to work with different faculty (at different Universities) for credit towards degree • Research • Important for students to have access to practitioners in their field William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

35. Unpicking the Threads • Research • Important to have faculty keep current • Research depends on student labor • May be performed privately • Might be too expensive for private support William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

36. Unpicking the Threads • Facilities • Could be provided by individual faculty • May be more cost effective for groups • Good facilities attract good faculty and students • Looking beyond the campus • Reconfiguration expands student choices William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

37. Unpicking the Threads • Looking beyond the campus • Students choose by different factors • Campus location • Specific faculty members • Faculty in multiple regions • Allows access to working communities • Requires information organization, search and retrieval William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

38. Devolving Implications • This is a catalyst, not a road map • Predictions may not be accurate • Change will most likely be required • Change will be evolutionary, not revolutionary William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu

39. Questions & Discussion William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu