By Nathan Martin
August 7, 2013
In times of economic crisis, a country’s true fiber and constitution can be seen. While the recession impacts the majority of families and homes across the country, American ingenuity and innovation continues to flourish despite the downturn. Necessity is spawning invention at institutions of higher education, as financial realities and technological shifts force campuses to rethink how college is delivered, experienced and paid for.
This is not the first time, we’ve written about the rise of the MOOCs and the “unbundling” of education, but this week, The Associated Press highlights a tipping point in higher education, allowing all students to be served, regardless of restrictions of distance or time.
From Recessions Wake, Education Innovation Blooms explores the intense interest that investors currently have in higher education and with 168 venture capital deals in the US last year, change is coming to the traditional models of the university. From Nigeria to the Ivory Coast and back to Arizona State University, all students are being impacted by the power of technology to offer content and learning at any time, at any place and at the individual student’s pace. The article addresses competency-based learning, and features our good friend Sal Khan who points out that in this shift, “Whether we’re talking basic literacy or quantum physics, it’s the ability to cater to one person’s needs.”
While the article cautions against the idea of using MOOCs to replace traditional universities or putting too much faith in technology to provide for underserved populations, the real takeaway of the article is the sheer reach and flexibility of these new offerings.
This is an exciting new world that is freeing up information and learning, rather than making it more expensive. A world where a worker at a telecom company in Nigeria can use his lunch break to study disruptive innovation or business, and through the pioneering work done by edX, it won’t cost him a dime.
As the author notes, “higher education is becoming ‘unbundled.’ Individual classes and degrees are losing their connections to single institutions, in much the same way iTunes has unbundled songs from whole albums, and the Internet is unbundling television shows and networks from bulky cable packages.”
We agree. In February, Digital Learning Now! Executive Director John Bailey testified before the U.S House Education and Workforce’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, arguing that, “The Internet is making it easier and cheaper to not only access resources but distribute content including textbooks, data, videos, lessons, and entire courses. When combined with new web-based tools and cloud-based systems, students have more educational opportunities than ever before.”
What this unbundling means for the future of all education is still to be determined. While there may be a tendency to pit old systems against new innovations, true progress means taking the best practices of the existing systems and understanding how that can inform the productive use of technology. The beauty of digital learning is that it is not a one size fits all answer. Its foundation is flexibility, individualization and improvement.
In the AP article, Francisco Marmolejo, who heads up the World Bank’s higher education efforts says, “It is not the new technologies against the old system. It is the blended component that I believe may be the key.”
It is not the new technologies against the old system, but through guides, like the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning, the old system must adapt its policies and practices to encourage and strengthen, not stifle the promise and opportunity of technology and digital learning.