Altbach, Philip G., Liz Reisberg, and Laura E. Rumbley. “Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution.” (2009).
What are the main engines of change and their impact on higher education? This report examines the changes that have taken place in higher education, particularly highlighting the changes due to massification. New information and communications technology have had an impact on employer and societal expectations and have, therefore, influenced student expectations for their colleges and professors. The Internet has revolutionized all aspects of the university- research, learning and teaching. The role of education as a public good continues to be challenged in this environment, with the divide that technology can further between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in mind.
Baer, Walter S. “Will the internet transform higher education?.” (1998).
Were the predictions about the effects of the Internet accurate? What has happened that wasn’t predicted? In this article, Baer “envisions the Internet as instrumental to a fundamental change in the processes and organizational structure of postsecondary teaching and learning” (p. 2). In 1998, communication and information was slowly moving online, though fully online courses had yet to make an impact. Even at this point, however, Baer identified that there would be a cost problem associated with developing fully online courses and he suggested that one approach would be the “assemble courses using already-built instructional modules” (p. 4). Secondly, he pointed to the fact that online learning takes more motivational efforts and, therefor, online courses should “build in faculty-student and group discussions via telephone, audio or videoconferencing, or (preferably) face-to-face meetings” (p. 6).
Bok, D. C. (2006). Our underachieving colleges: A candid look at how much students learn and why they should be learning more. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
What should students be learning in college? What is the purpose of higher education? Derek Bok, former President of Harvard, writes a candid perspective on how colleges are generally underperforming in terms of outcomes, curriculum, and teaching and argues that there are multiple purposes of higher education. He suggests that faculty collaborate more, be held accountable, He suggests that colleges should focus more on the entire integrated curriculum (not just the core), take teaching writing and critical thinking just as seriously as teaching the curriculum, and should devote time to teaching methods. Finally, he believes that colleges are preparing undergraduates to be citizens and must instill the ability to communicate, critical thinking, and moral reasoning, as well as preparing students to be citizens, with a breadth of interests, who live with diversity in a more global society, and, who are prepared for work (p. 66).
Bowen, W. G. (2013). Higher education in the digital age. Princeton, N.J: Princeton Univ. Press.
What are some new organizational and philosophical models for higher education in the digital age? As a former President of Princeton and as an economist, Bowen approaches the topic of the future of higher education from a unique perspective. He weighs the cost of higher education with the dismantling of the traditional higher education structure. He provides a framework for assuring the deliverance of cost-effective and quality-filled online education. One of his main topics is the intelligent harnessing of information technology.
Cheung, W., & Huang, W. “Proposing a framework to assess Internet usage in university education: an empirical investigation from a student’s perspective.” British Journal of Educational Technology 36.2 (2005): 237-253.
Most educational research rarely examines the student perspective and expectations of technology usage. Cheung & Huang’s study points to the fact that some students need to be motivated to use the Internet in the appropriate ways (usually through support or group projects with peers) (p. 246), that universities should provide adequate support and facilities for students (p. 248), and universities should provide adequate support and training for instructors (p. 248).
Christensen, C. M., & Eyring, H. J. (2011). The innovative university: Changing the DNA of higher education from the inside out. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
How can higher education institutions innovate instead of imitate? What cues can higher education take from other industries to suggest that they must innovate? How have many of the prominent institutions (Harvard, BYU) innovated over time? The authors use Clayton Christensen’s Disruption Theory to analyze the current state of higher education institutions. They recommend unbundling the services in the university to drive the costs of obtaining a degree. Many of the opportunities can be found in the content and delivery functions of the university. While the authors enthusiastically support online education, they suggest that online education has to be done with much support and evaluation.
Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Johnson, C. W. (2008). Disrupting class: How disruptive innovation will change the way the world learns. New York: McGraw-Hill.
How could higher education institutions customize learning experiences for students? The authors use Clayton Christensen’s Disruption Theory to analyze the current state of classrooms, primarily at the K-12 level. They argue that not all students learn the same, and yet our current education system is only teaching students in the same way. The authors side with computer-based learning as a solution to customize learning experiences for every student, especially when the demand can’t be found in their own school (such as a Mandarin class) and to help students achieve mastery.
Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America. New York: Teachers College Press.
In what ways can higher education help service individuals for a lifetime? Although the first half of this book by Collins and Halverson is mostly about the K-12 arena, the second half focuses on the introduction of distance learning, in formal education and the workplace, adult learning, and lifelong learning. In the last chapter they begin to connect these ideas in their call for a new vision of learning.
Cowen, T. (2013). Average is over: Powering America beyond the age of the great stagnation.
How can higher education institutions helps students to prepare for their lives in the future? Tyler Cowen is an economist, writer, and professor who makes predictions about the future of America. He suggests that “high earners” are taking ever more advantage of computers, while most business sectors rely less on manual labor for “high-value” jobs. What does this mean for future citizens? What can they expect the career landscape to look like in 20-30 years? The chapter on “relearning education” is particularly insightful.
Crow, M. M., & Dabars, W. B. (2015). Designing the new American university. Helix Education. 2014.
Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University and an outspoken advocate for reinventing the public research university, conceived the New American University model when he moved from Columbia University to Arizona State in 2002. Following a comprehensive reconceptualization spanning more than a decade, ASU has emerged as an international academic and research powerhouse that serves as the foundational prototype for the new model. Crow has led the transformation of ASU into an egalitarian institution committed to academic excellence, inclusiveness to a broad demographic, and maximum societal impact. In Designing the New American University, Crow and coauthor William B. Dabars—a historian whose research focus is the American research university—examine the emergence of this set of institutions and the imperative for the new model, the tenets of which may be adapted by colleges and universities, both public and private. Through institutional innovation, say Crow and Dabars, universities are apt to realize unique and differentiated identities, which maximize their potential to generate the ideas, products, and processes that impact quality of life, standard of living, and national economic competitiveness.
Davidson, C. N., & Goldberg, D. T. (2010). The future of thinking: Learning institutions in a digital age. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
What happens to traditional educational institutions when learning also takes place on a vast range of Internet sites? After holding several in-person forums and asking the question out on the Web, Davidson and Goldberg, both Duke professors and institute leaders at the time, compiled this report to suggest ways that higher education institutions can become innovative, flexible, robust, and collaborative. I will be able to reference their ideas and research while exploring solutions in my dissertation.
Davidson, C. N. (2017). The new education: How to revolutionize the university to prepare students for a world in flux. New York: Basic Books.
In The New Education, Cathy N. Davidson reveals that we desperately need a revolution in higher learning if we want our students to succeed in our age of precarious work and technological disruption. Journeying from elite private schools to massive public universities to innovative community colleges, she profiles iconoclastic educators who are remaking their classrooms by emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and adaptability over expertise in a single, often abstract discipline. Working at the margins of the establishment, these innovators are breaking down barriers between ossified fields of study, presenting their students with multidisciplinary, real-world problems, and teaching them not just how to think, but how to learn. The New Education ultimately shows how we can educate students not only to survive but to thrive amid the challenges to come.
Davidson, C. N. (2012). Now you see it: How technology and brain science will transform schools and business for the 21st century. New York: Penguin Books.
In what ways does higher education have to unlearn in order to learn how to teach in the information era? Davidson is a former professor at Duke, currently at CUNY, deeply involved in the informal learning community. Now You See It is about unlearning and how society, mainly educators, has to reexamine the way in which our students learn to learn and the way in which we assess that learning. She makes strong comparisons to other evolutions throughout history and imagines the future of the workplace and the worker. Her psychology background aids her by detailing the ways in which humans learn to learn as babies, children, and young adults in order to propose how we have to unlearn in order to learn more. Most importantly, she says that we must shift the ways in which we set structures, tests, and tasks in order to look at the effects of technology in a different way.
Delbanco, A. (2012). College: What it was, is, and should be. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
In what ways should higher education fulfill America’s democratic promise? Delbanco, professor in Humanities at Columbia University, starts out with an ‘unbiased’ history of higher education and the role it’s played in opening doors to marginalized populations with respect to how much more it has to do if it wants to make the American Dream a reality for all individuals.
DiMaggio, Paul, et al. “Social implications of the Internet.” Annual review of sociology (2001): 307-336.
How has the Internet altered society? What were the predictions for how the Internet would alter society? DiMaggio focuses on the Internet’s impact on society across five different domains: 1) digital divide, 2) community and social capital, 3) political participation (from users), 4) organizational impact, and 5) cultural participation and diversity. After compiling a list of research that indicates how each of these area is impacted by the Internet, he makes many arguments for why sociologists should not only continue to study the Internet, but must become more tech-savvy in order to do so effectively.
Florida, R. L. (2012). The rise of the creative class, revisited. New York: Basic Books.
How do we decide where to live and work? Why should colleges care about this question? Does the importance of place play a role in the purpose of higher education institutions? Florida argues that “the real driving force is the rise of human creativity as the key factor in our economy and society” (p. 5). Florida draws on Jane Jacobs to examine the importance of place in people’s lives. There are possibly many ties between this examination and the importance that place plays in the role of higher education institutions. Florida examines the linkages between human capital theory and regional growth. I wonder, however, about the linkages of ‘learning capital’ and regional growth, again pointing to the role that institutions play in their surrounding areas and vice versa. Part of Florida’s argument is the introduction of the “creative class” and the kinds of education, jobs, and environments preferred by individuals in the creative class.
Gidley, S. I. J. (2000). The university in transformation: Global perspectives on the futures of the university. Greenwood Publishing Group.
The University in Transformation explains why the current education model, which was developed in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrial expansion, is obsolete. It points to the need for a new approach to education designed to prepare young people for global uncertainty, accelerating change and unprecedented complexity. Pointing out the limitations of formal reasoning in addressing complex, systemic challenges, the authors pose a more complex, nuanced and paradoxical features of postformal reasoning and how such reasoning will help us to meet future planetary challenges with courage, imagination, wisdom, rather than relying on techno-fixes. A key question: “If higher order, more complex forms of cognition do exist then how can we better educate children and young people so that more mature forms of reasoning appear at the appropriate life stage?”
Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media.The Internet and Higher Education, 19, 18-26.
How are mobile devices being implemented in higher education classrooms? How can they supplement learning already taking place in classrooms? The authors interview a small groups of students at different colleges. The study presents students’ perceptions of using mobile devices in and out of the classroom. Though a few frustrations were presented, they were very minor. This article presents data that generally positively supports the use of mobile devices to supplement learning and discussion in and out of the classroom.
Hacker, A., & Dreifus, C. (2010). Higher education?: How colleges are wasting our money and failing our kids–and what we can do about it. New York: Times Books.
In what ways can individuals change the waste in the higher education system? What is the real purpose of higher education? Authors, Hacker and Dreifus, attack some of the most common statements about the purpose of education, while suggesting ways in which we can really change the waste that this system brings, financially and socially. They use examples to showcase the schools that they believe are getting it right. Some of their ideas are highly controversial, in my eye.
Honeywell, R. J. (1931). The educational work of Thomas Jefferson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Honeywell details the education works of Thomas Jefferson. He notes the impressionable times in Jefferson’s youth, which not only instilled in him certain values that he is known for, but also a passion for education. This passion would remain with him until his death. Honeywell details the many educational works that Jefferson was known for, such as passing bills for primary and secondary education. The book largely focuses on Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment, the conception, dedication to, and founding of the University of Virginia. Honeywell uses much of Jefferson’s own words pulled from the comprehensive collection of appendices included at the end of this book.
Jantsch, E. (1972). Inter-and transdisciplinary university: A systems approach to education and innovation. Higher education, 1(1), 7-37.
What are the disruptive forces that continue to affect higher education today? What is the purpose of higher education institutions today? What are some aspects of the ideal design of higher education institutions today? Erich Jantsch, an astrophysicist and futures thinker, examines the disruptive forces that threaten the university in 1969, when this paper was written. He suggests that universities will have to make structural changes toward a new purpose of a leadership role and political institution. He notes that these changes will increase the universities ability for “continuous self-renewal” and would provide an integrated approach to “world systems”, particularly that of the “joint systems of society and technology”. “From multi-, pluri-, and crossdisciplinary approaches, all pertaining to one systems level only, the university is expected to develop increasingly interdisciplinary approaches, linking two systems levels and coordinating activities at the lower level from the higher level through common axiomatics.”
Jantsch, Erich. Technological forecasting in perspective. OCDE, 1967.
What framework can higher education institutions use to evaluate the possible effects of technology on teaching, learning and society? As a consultant for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Jantsch drafted this framework for technological forecasting. At the time of this report in 1967, Jantsch noted that “technology is gradually invading many other sectors, such as education”. Technological forecasting is a technique used to predict future trends in technology, and thus can be used in higher education. Higher education institutions could use this framework as a base to start from during their short-term and long-term strategic planning. Jantsch examines different structure in industry, but recommends “look-out” institutions or individuals within institutions to “evaluate alternative feasible futures” (p. 20) for long-range planning.
Jantsch, Erich. “Integrative Planning for the” Joint Systems” of Society and Technology–The Emerging Role of the University.” (1969).
What functions does technology fill for society? How can higher education institutions use integrated planning techniques to serve a leadership role and help plan for society? In 1969, Jantsch stated, “the present development of technology at a fast pace and in generally uncoordinated sequential efforts is becoming a matter of major concern to society” (p. 185). Jantsch defines ‘integrative planning’ as “which cuts across a multitude of dimensions inherent in such a system” (p. 185), particularly social, economic and political (“essentially planning in terms of quality of life” (p. 186). Jantsch argues that universities are uniquely positioned to “participate in leading society into the future, in other words, in planning for society” (p. 188), a role that it was not serving in in 1969 and, that I argue, it is still not fulfilling today.
Jantsch, Erich. “Technological planning and social futures.” (1972).
What is higher education’s role in our social future? How could higher education shift from “passive servant” to a strategic space that investigates the boundaries of technology and society? Jantsch argues for “increasing sophistication in strategic planning” (p. 4) with integrative thinking in order to examine the functions of technology in a societal context. The book presents a framework for long-range thinking in regards to technology and corporate planning. He suggests strategies for shifting from ‘product-oriented’ to ‘function-oriented’. He closes the book with some big-picture ideas- if technology and science are to be utilized for a long-range purpose of mankind. One of these is to shift the university from “a passive servant” …“into an active institution in the process of planning for society” (p. 241). This is the first time I have seen Jantsch refer to this role as one of “service”.
Jantsch questions how we can harness knowledge for the design of human systems (know-how). He questions how we can systematically and collectively goal-set (know-what), with guidance from a higher power (know-where-to). Policies design should serve as a backbone of guiding humanity collectively in this direction. This book is concerned with the ‘know-where-to’ aspect of this reasoning – “the design and regulation of dynamically evolving systems and processes”. What role do knowledge, technology, and science play in our evolution, and can we design it?
Jarvis, J. (2009). What would Google do?. New York, NY: Collins Business.
What is the new purpose of higher education through the lens of Google? What can higher education institutions learn from companies that have had to adapt to the information era? What do the new needs and opportunities of the knowledge era tell higher education? Jarvis examines many scenarios in which industries have had to adapt to the the needs and opportunities of the information era. Examining how companies have adapted (Google, Facebook, About.com, some newspapers) or not adapted (Kodak, Yahoo!, Dell). He argues that Google is an exemplar company that operates “by new rules of a new age” (p. 3) in which they elegantly organize open networks, versus trying to “control content and distribution” (p. 5). Jarvis argues that companies must talk with their customers (p. 16), should live in the public (p. 45), should bring elegant organization to their customers (p. 49), and should explore their identity crisis of what kind of company they really are (p. 81).
MacVie, L. (2017). Five crucial innovations: A method of studying evolutionary change in small colleges. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 34(5), 594-600.
Educational researchers studying institutions of higher education typically study issues without historical context or concern for small institutions. In 1969, Erich Jantsch published a paper about the disruptive forces affecting higher education and society. He predicted (hoped for) five crucial institutional innovations in order to transform disruptions into ‘cohesive forces’. This article argues that many of these disruptive forces are still present today and therefore, Jantsch’s five crucial innovations provide an informative option for studying evolutionary change in small higher education institutions. Drawing examples from the literature on the history of higher education and the work of Erich Jantsch, this article introduces a method for utilizing Jantsch’s five crucial innovations for studying to what degree small institutions of higher education are evolving.
MacVie, L. (2017). Finding Erich Jantsch’s Five Crucial Innovations: A Study of Four Small Colleges (Doctoral dissertation, Union Institute and University).
Institutions of higher education have faced many challenges over the last few decades. Though many large institutions have the resources needed to respond to these challenges, small institutions have had to be innovative in the ways in which they are adapting. There are similarities between the external challenges that institutions face today and the challenges they faced in the 1960s and 70s, and it is worth examining whether or not the predictions and suggestions made by scholars in this time period offer insight in regards to the innovation found in small institutions today. This dissertation explored Erich Jantsch’s 1969 report in the context of innovation in higher education today. This qualitative, multicase study found that Erich Jantsch’s five crucial innovations can be found to some extent in the innovations of four small institutions of higher education.
Menand, L. (2010). The marketplace of ideas. New York: W.W. Norton.
How can liberal arts institutions balance the notions of the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and preparing students for life? Should these curriculum be relevant, in a way, to real-world goals? Menand describes the paradoxes in the liberal arts academy, including the resistance of faculty members to shift to an institution that serves purposes relevant to today’s societal needs. Menand says, “to the extent that this system [American higher education, with its roots in the 19th century] still determines the possibilities for producing and disseminating knowledge, trying to reform the contemporary university is like trying to get on the Internet with a typewriter, or like riding a horse to the mall” (p. 17). Among his focuses, Menand looks at interdisciplinary endeavors in universities and focuses, for the most part, on 4-year liberal-arts institutions.
McCarthy, M. C. (2011). History of American higher education. New York: Peter Lang.
McCarthy writes a detailed, yet straightforward account of higher education in America. This history is important to my research because the purpose and evolution of America’s first colleges provide a crucial preface for what the role of higher education is today. Although higher education serves more than the elite few who would become clergymen, many of the teaching, assessment, and governance practices still remain the same, eras later.
Moursund, David, and Talbot Bielefeldt. “Will new teachers be prepared to teach in a digital age? A national survey on information technology in teacher education.” (1999).
In what ways can universities prepare individuals, teachers and students, for the digital age? Though written 15 years ago, this report is a great comparison to see if the predictions about preparing teachers for the digital age was accurate or not. This survey received responses from 416 institutions. Some issues raised were the fact that technologies advanced more quickly than teaching and learning were able to advance. Also, most faculty at the time, did not model IT skills in the classroom. In preparing teachers, IT was not regularly used in student teaching.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1997). Cultivating humanity: A classical defense of reform in liberal education. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
What must a good citizen be and know? How can higher education institutions support “building a democratic culture that is truly deliberative and reflective” (p. 294). Written in 1997, Martha Nussbaum’s defense of the liberal arts and the reform that needs to occur in higher education institutions is still an applicable reminder for liberal art institutions 17 years later. We must continue to ask what a good citizen should be and should know. The world in which we live continues to become plural, as Nussbaum describes. She draws on Aristotle and the Stoics to define a liberal education and translates the needs for modern day: intelligent citizenship, Socratic self-examination, being a citizen of the world, and thinking multiculturally. She also looks at religious institutions, primarily Notre Dame and BYU, to compare how academic freedoms can be juxtaposed with religious beliefs.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2010). Not for profit: Why democracy needs the humanities. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
How can higher education institutions produce citizens in and for a healthy democracy? Fifteen years after publishing Cultivating Humanity, Martha Nussbaum published this detailed defense of the liberal arts and higher education systems that are discarding skills that help keep democracies alive. She criticizes class materials and teaching to be highly focused on test preparation. In this book she still argues for historical study on one’s own country and cultivating in students the ability to see oneself as a global citizen.
Rhodes, F. H. T. (2001). The creation of the future: The role of the American university. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
What steps can higher education institutions take to create the kind of future they wish to see? Frank Rhodes, former President of Cornell University, makes the case that higher education institutions [he focuses on research universities] are an irreplaceable resource that must be preserved through renewal, reform and a rededication to teaching. He outlines a design conceptualizations on the kinds of things universities should strive to be to create the kind of future people want to live in. Rhodes’ focus on the loss of a community is an interesting concept, supporting the theory of the learning community that occurs both inside and out of institutions. He argues that the campus is a unique collection of individuals that can be pulled together to tackle major societal issues. But also, he argues for universities to be more embedded in the their surrounding communities.
Rowley, J. “Is higher education ready for knowledge management?.”International Journal of Educational Management 14.7 (2000): 325-333.
In what ways might the new role of higher education institutions involve knowledge management? Rowley examines the use of knowledge management in organizations and questions whether knowledge management has something to offer higher education, as it has been traditionally known for being in the knowledge business. Her suggestions support a connection between library and information technology services to create layered repositories of information and collaborative and interdisciplinary efforts.
Selingo, J. J. (2013). College (un)bound: The future of higher education and what it means for students.
How can colleges create a more efficient system that better matches students with institutions and gets more students emerging with degrees? Jeffrey Selingo, editor at large at the Chronicle of Higher Education, examines the cost problem in higher education, with the cost of education going up and students exiting college, sometime not even finishing with a degree, in heavy debt. Selingo sees the future of higher education as a system that is customized for every student through a combination of informal and formal credentials, courses deliveries including online learning and open courses, and life experience credit for internships. Because college mobility is increasing, he also argues that transferring these credits must become easier and more efficient. Selingo references Michael Crow and Clayton Christensen.
Sharples, Mike. “The design of personal mobile technologies for lifelong learning.” Computers & Education 34.3 (2000): 177-193.
What is lifelong learning? What is involved in lifelong learning? How can mobile devices be helpful in lifelong learning? Sharples sets out a framework for personal devices to support lifelong learning. The framework is sound in describing the role that personal devices and learning systems can play in lifelong learning. Written 14 years ago, the paper missed the mark while proposing the design of a set device, rather than suggesting a series of platforms accessible from any device.
Shirky, C. (2009). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York: Penguin Books.
How does the organizing potential of communications technology and the Internet change the workplace and, therefore, the purpose of higher education? Clay Shirky, an Interactive Telecommunications professor at NYU, examines the potential of communications tools that are robust enough to match our social potential. The Internet allows us to share and cooperate with one another and to take collective action outside of formal institutions. As much as it was predicted and studied that the Internet would divide people and isolate them, Shirky argues that it has empowered them to connect with others who are just as passionate as they are in a more efficient way. The Internet is not only a connector, it is a creation space where people can come together and collaborate. Terms: systems theory, entropy.
Staley, D. J. (2019). Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education. JHU Press.
What if the university were designed around a curriculum of seven broad cognitive skills or as a series of global gap year experiences? What if, as a condition of matriculation, students had to major in three disparate subjects? What if the university placed the pursuit of play well above the acquisition and production of knowledge? By asking bold “What if?” questions, Staley assumes that the university is always in a state of becoming and that there is not one “idea of the university” to which all institutions must aspire. Staley proposes ten models of innovation in higher education that expand our ideas of the structure and scope of the university, suggesting possibilities for what its future might look like.
Tess, P. A. (2013). The role of social media in higher education classes (real and virtual)–A literature review. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5), A60-A68.
Is there support for using social media in the classroom? Paul Tess reports on his empirical study about the use of social media in the classroom. The reason for the study, Tess argues, is that there is a lack of research to support the claim that social media can be used as an educational tool. Around fifty sources were referenced in this study. Tess primarily focuses on the use of blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. In the end, there is still a lack of evidence and more questions about the use of social media in higher education.
Thorp, H. H., & Goldstein, B. (2010). Engines of innovation: The entrepreneurial university in the twenty-first century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Can problem-based innovation in research universities focus resources from a variety of disciplines on the challenges we face and, in so doing, create new knowledge and economic growth? In their book, Engines of Innovation, Holden Thorp, chancellor, and Buck Goldstein (2010), entrepreneur in residence and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Economics- both at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, point towards the fact that “students have an increasing interest in social change and universities are being called upon to address the major problems of the world” (Location : 1930). By partnering with the right companies, institutions will be providing opportunities for their students, who will then be able to have a space to carry out their own social justice missions. Thorp and Goldstein point out that higher education institutions not only possess the needed talent to tackle major problems, but that they will be around long enough to see social projects through for years to come (Location: 1374).
Toffler, A. (1972). The futurists. New York: Random House.
What is futures theory? How can higher education utilize futurism to plan for its future? Edited by Alvin Toffler, a world-renowned futurist, The Futurist is a brief introduction to futurists and futurism. Toffler says that he worked on this compilation for the purpose of making available the best work and knowledge of the futurists of the day. Many individual articles detail the thoughts of and refer to Erich Jantsch. Incredibly, there is a twenty-page interview with Jantsch in the book addressing his thoughts on technological futures.
Valikangas, L. (2010). The resilient organization: How adaptive cultures thrive even when strategy fails. New York: McGraw-Hill.
What tools can higher education institutions use to bounce back from downturn in their traditional target markets? Valikangas, professor of innovation management at the Aalto University in Finland, details how an organizations can rebuild their foundation using four basic tools that are derived from systems and resilience thinking. Creating a culture of resilience will prove to be important for institutions as the knowledge era continues to affect them in the upcoming years.
Wagoner, J. L. (2004). Jefferson and education. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
Jennings Wagoner, professor of the history of education at the University of Virginia, explores Thomas Jefferson’s efforts to create and expand public education in a tiered system. The book concludes with Jefferson’s quest to found the University at Virginia. What is most interesting about this account of Jefferson is how much defeat he had to overcome on his quest to found the University at Virginia.
Weinberger, D. (2011). Too big to know: Rethinking knowledge now that the facts aren’t the facts, experts are everywhere, and the smartest person in the room is the room. New York: Basic Books.
How will universities adapt and contribute to new open and public Web? Weinberger details the crisis of knowledge that we are in. In this age of abundance, it may be the new role of the university to step up to become curators and to form the important links for their students, and teach them to do the same. Secondly, new knowledge permissions may be a characteristic that defines one university from another- how will they allow or not allow their faculty and students to utilize public knowledge on the Web? Finally, and most importantly, what will the role of universities be, if any, in co-creating a better Web?
Weise, M. R. & Christiansen, C. 2014. Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution.
The economic urgency around higher education is undeniable: the price of tuition has soared; student loan debt now exceeds $1 trillion and is greater than credit card debt; the dollars available from government sources for colleges are expected to shrink in the years to come; and the costs for traditional institutions to stay competitive continue to rise. At the same time, more education does not necessarily lead to better outcomes. Employers are demanding more academic credentials for every kind of job yet are at the same time increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with the variance in quality of degree holders. The signaling effect of a college degree appears to be an imprecise encapsulation of one’s skills for the knowledge economy of the times. Despite these trends, few universities or colleges see the need to adapt to the surge in demand of skill sets in the workforce. Distancing themselves from the notion of vocational training, institutions remain wary of aligning their programs and majors to the needs of today’s rapidly evolving labor market. Who will attend to the skills gap and create stronger linkages to the workforce? This book illuminates the great disruptive potential of online competency-based education. An examination of online competency-based education unveils the tectonic shifts to come in higher education. The following chapters are contained: (1) Disruptive Innovation and Academic Inertia; (2) Jobs To Be Done: The Shifting Value Proposition of College; (3) The Core of Competency-Based Education; (4) Online Competency-Based Education: Mastery and Modularization; (5) A New Value Network: Industry-Validated Learning Experiences; and (6) College Disrupted.
Weise, M. R. (2020). Long life learning: Preparing for jobs that don’t even exist yet. John Wiley & Sons.
Weise offers readers a fascinating glimpse into a near-future where careers last 100 years, and education lasts a lifetime. The book makes the case that learners of the future are going to repeatedly seek out educational opportunities throughout the course of their working lives — which will no longer have a beginning, middle, and end. Long Life Learning focuses on the disruptive and burgeoning innovations that are laying the foundation for a new learning model that includes clear navigation, wraparound and funding supports, targeted education, and clear connections to more transparent hiring processes.
Zemsky, R. (2013). Checklist for change: Making American higher education a sustainable enterprise.
How can the costs associated with higher education be improved? Robert Zemsky, professor and the chair of the Learning Alliance for Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania combines his experience with research to suggest a checklist for the future of higher education. Many of his suggestions are targeted toward the Department of Education, to improve the costs associated with higher education, as well as the management of assessment and accountability.
