Comments on: The Future of Colleges & Universities – Part Four http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2009/12/the-future-of-colleges-universities-%e2%80%93-part-four/ Challenging your thinking, pushing your imagination, creating the future Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:41:44 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ben http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2009/12/the-future-of-colleges-universities-%e2%80%93-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-21530 Ben Sun, 25 Dec 2011 06:16:51 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=862#comment-21530 One last thing, my iPad crashed again towards the end of a wall of text. But what I basically said was that people can learn at a younger age and they deffinatly want to. Look at programmers under the age of 18. Learning is free, hard at times but free none the less and th restores are readily available. People shouldn't be restricted by s four years of age time frame of when they can learn. Also a system of 10 people anylizing and critiquing 10 other people's projects similar to yours, maybe one can send a rough draft be a final essay, all of the reviewers will be taking the same similar courses. Discussions would fir up, people would learn how to writ for their respective fields and not for a Shakespeare essay. You should also check out project Euler. I hope that is enough ring for you merry Christmas. One last thing, my iPad crashed again towards the end of a wall of text. But what I basically said was that people can learn at a younger age and they deffinatly want to. Look at programmers under the age of 18. Learning is free, hard at times but free none the less and th restores are readily available. People shouldn’t be restricted by s four years of age time frame of when they can learn. Also a system of 10 people anylizing and critiquing 10 other people’s projects similar to yours, maybe one can send a rough draft be a final essay, all of the reviewers will be taking the same similar courses. Discussions would fir up, people would learn how to writ for their respective fields and not for a Shakespeare essay. You should also check out project Euler. I hope that is enough ring for you merry Christmas.

]]> By: Ben http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2009/12/the-future-of-colleges-universities-%e2%80%93-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-21527 Ben Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:30:24 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=862#comment-21527 Also forgot to mention, instead of. Majoring in bussiness or Econ, you can, you can complete a list of courses dedicated to being a salesmen. Then maybe some form of engineering. Say eventually someone wants to get a job at some niche company (it's late and I can't think of an example) you can come back later in life and complete a course in a few weeks (because people will dedicate alot more time tha90 minutes in a day if they care about it) rather than years. They could then show their skill in that niche, say go to a campus and work on some projects, show experience and what not then land that job they wanted. Much more flexible workforce. Also on a side note, of there's complain about being left in the dust, tutors, virtual or not, will be needed. And if somehow one can not do that, just start taking some courses! Also forgot to mention, instead of. Majoring in bussiness or Econ, you can, you can complete a list of courses dedicated to being a salesmen. Then maybe some form of engineering. Say eventually someone wants to get a job at some niche company (it’s late and I can’t think of an example) you can come back later in life and complete a course in a few weeks (because people will dedicate alot more time tha90 minutes in a day if they care about it) rather than years. They could then show their skill in that niche, say go to a campus and work on some projects, show experience and what not then land that job they wanted. Much more flexible workforce. Also on a side note, of there’s complain about being left in the dust, tutors, virtual or not, will be needed. And if somehow one can not do that, just start taking some courses!

]]> By: Ben http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2009/12/the-future-of-colleges-universities-%e2%80%93-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-21526 Ben Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:18:32 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=862#comment-21526 Ok, I m going to keep this short and sweet because I just typed out this massive thing and my iPad crashed. But what i s basically going to say is that with open courseware everyone will be striving to learn specific things , and it will be open to many. While in college some nine out of ten people don't use their degrees (that may just be out of women but that is still over a million dollars for what is supposed to "Earn you a million dollars more in life"). Some students may be lawyers because the pay Is good, while they really want to be an engineer. With an open courseware recommendation engine those course can be recomended and slowly built upon until the student commits to it. Also it would be alot easier to learn about things like how to get into assemply programming or quantum physics. Almost everyone interested has no idea on how to get into those fields. Wile today most programming tutorials on the Internet are things like HTML or java. Alot are crap some are awesome. With open courseware the best would bubble to the top. Also if I were to make such an open course ware builder I would deffinatly add the ahi It's for the teacher to have questions, and will ask a certain number dependant on how many you got right in order to know wether the user gets it, maybe offering more help if not. Ok, I m going to keep this short and sweet because I just typed out this massive thing and my iPad crashed. But what i s basically going to say is that with open courseware everyone will be striving to learn specific things , and it will be open to many. While in college some nine out of ten people don’t use their degrees (that may just be out of women but that is still over a million dollars for what is supposed to “Earn you a million dollars more in life”). Some students may be lawyers because the pay Is good, while they really want to be an engineer. With an open courseware recommendation engine those course can be recomended and slowly built upon until the student commits to it. Also it would be alot easier to learn about things like how to get into assemply programming or quantum physics. Almost everyone interested has no idea on how to get into those fields. Wile today most programming tutorials on the Internet are things like HTML or java. Alot are crap some are awesome. With open courseware the best would bubble to the top.

Also if I were to make such an open course ware builder I would deffinatly add the ahi
It’s for the teacher to have questions, and will ask a certain number dependant on how many you got right in order to know wether the user gets it, maybe offering more help if not.

]]> By: admin http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2009/12/the-future-of-colleges-universities-%e2%80%93-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-4095 admin Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:00:07 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=862#comment-4095 Dick, Thanks for the feedback. I very much understand the value of face to face learning. Most of my career has been spent in front of audiences wanting to learn. But, in colleges, there are no credits given for the in-person experience. For young people today, the online courses are valued exactly the same as attending a class. And for most, the online courses are "good enough." However, they can be much better than simply "good enough." As I pointed out in the article - An August 2009 study released by SRI International for the U.S. Dept of Education concluded that “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” (NY Times) I did spend time talking about colleges as a place where new knowledge is generated. In fact, that is where I see colleges hold the most value in the future. I mentioned it in the disruptive business models, in the future scenarios, and in the prime directive. For colleges to survive, that is where they need to spend most of their energy. Thanks, Tom Dick,

Thanks for the feedback. I very much understand the value of face to face learning. Most of my career has been spent in front of audiences wanting to learn. But, in colleges, there are no credits given for the in-person experience. For young people today, the online courses are valued exactly the same as attending a class. And for most, the online courses are “good enough.”

However, they can be much better than simply “good enough.” As I pointed out in the article – An August 2009 study released by SRI International for the U.S. Dept of Education concluded that “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” (NY Times)

I did spend time talking about colleges as a place where new knowledge is generated. In fact, that is where I see colleges hold the most value in the future. I mentioned it in the disruptive business models, in the future scenarios, and in the prime directive. For colleges to survive, that is where they need to spend most of their energy.

Thanks,

Tom

]]> By: Dick McCray http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2009/12/the-future-of-colleges-universities-%e2%80%93-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-4092 Dick McCray Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:11:21 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=862#comment-4092 My reaction to this article is mixed. The good thing is that it's provocative. It raises some obvious points: the tremendous potential of on-line learning tools. But it also seems naive. I would be surprised if the author had much actual experience teaching at a university. So much goes on in face-to-face interaction that is very hard to replicate on-line. That's why business people still travel on airplanes to transact their business rather than using teleconferencing services. (See "Up in the Air"). It's why academics go to conferences. It's why students like to gather together. It's why some of the most effective student learning occurs in dorms and during meals. If learning, creativity, and interaction can be done most effectively through the stratosphere of cloud technology, why do the greatest innovators of this technology (e.g., Google, Apple) locate their best people together on "campuses" in Silicon Valley? MIT is doing a great job of posting all its courses freely on-line. But such courseware won't diminish the desire of students to attend MIT. Quite the contrary: students will want to be on the MIT campus to interact with other students taking these courses. The author seems unaware of the changes that are actually occurring at many campuses nationwide. The availability of facilities to deliver content should free the instructor to spend less time lecturing and more time stimulating student engagement and student interaction. That's happening, but still too slowly. The author is certainly right about textbooks. They should change drastically. Students should be able to read content on Kindles or the like. Electronic textbooks should be constructed so that the instructor can tailor them to his/her instructional plan. The textbook should transform to a courseware package, where the content is embedded along with instructor's guidance, assignments and on-line learning facilities. This is beginning to happen but there is much unrealized potential. One thing that bothers me greatly: the author doesn't even give lip-service to universities as a place where new knowledge is generated. What about the opportunities for students to participate in this process? How is that going to be facilitated by on-line technology. My reaction to this article is mixed. The good thing is that it’s provocative. It raises some obvious points: the tremendous potential of on-line learning tools. But it also seems naive. I would be surprised if the author had much actual experience teaching at a university. So much goes on in face-to-face interaction that is very hard to replicate on-line. That’s why business people still travel on airplanes to transact their business rather than using teleconferencing services. (See “Up in the Air”). It’s why academics go to conferences. It’s why students like to gather together. It’s why some of the most effective student learning occurs in dorms and during meals.

If learning, creativity, and interaction can be done most effectively through the stratosphere of cloud technology, why do the greatest innovators of this technology (e.g., Google, Apple) locate their best people together on “campuses” in Silicon Valley?

MIT is doing a great job of posting all its courses freely on-line. But such courseware won’t diminish the desire of students to attend MIT. Quite the contrary: students will want to be on the MIT campus to interact with other students taking these courses.

The author seems unaware of the changes that are actually occurring at many campuses nationwide. The availability of facilities to deliver content should free the instructor to spend less time lecturing and more time stimulating student engagement and student interaction. That’s happening, but still too slowly.

The author is certainly right about textbooks. They should change drastically. Students should be able to read content on Kindles or the like. Electronic textbooks should be constructed so that the instructor can tailor them to his/her instructional plan. The textbook should transform to a courseware package, where the content is embedded along with instructor’s guidance, assignments and on-line learning facilities. This is beginning to happen but there is much unrealized potential.

One thing that bothers me greatly: the author doesn’t even give lip-service to universities as a place where new knowledge is generated. What about the opportunities for students to participate in this process? How is that going to be facilitated by on-line technology.

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