The People’s College: Building on Traditions of Business and Labor Education

at Empire State College

Anant Deshpande, Ph.D.

Jason Russell, Ph.D.

The Roots of Distance Education

• Online distance education seems like a new phenomenon since it emerged in the late 1990s, but it is in many ways an outgrowth of well-established program that were offered for many years by institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom.

• It will show that online distance education – in this case in Business and Labor Studies – is not simply corporate Computer Based Training.

The Roots of Distance Education

• It is appropriate to compare how Empire State College approaches business and labor education with the methods used by Ruskin College, the University of London, and the Open University because there are important similarities.

The Roots of Distance Education

Distance education on business and labor issues is part of a broader historical pattern of providing access to education for a diverse range of learners.

(Photo of skilled women workers building the SS George

Washington. New York Public Library Collection)

Empire State College and the Origins of Distance Learning

Empire State College (ESC) drew direct inspiration from the Open University in the United Kingdom (OU). The OU was not the UK’s first university to offer distance learning programs. The University of London originally opened in 1836. Charles Dickens called it the “people’s university” because it provided access to education for students with modest economic means.

(Photo of Charles Dickens)

Empire State College and the Origins of Worker Education

Empire State College’s pedagogical approach is also quite similar to teaching theories developed by a person named Albert Mansbridge who founded the adult education movement in the UK in the early twentieth-century. He founded the Workers’ Education Association (WEA) in 1903. The WEA was founded, and still operates, on the principal of worker-centered education. This is another term for student-centered learning, which is what is pursued at ESC.

(Photo of Albert Mansbridge)

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ESC Labor Programs in Perspective

ESC’s Labor Studies programs,particularly those offered by the Harry J. Van Arsdale Jr Center for Labor Studies, share much in common with those offered by Ruskin College in the UK. Ruskin was founded in 1899 by two Americans – Walter and Anne Vrooman - to provide learning opportunities to working-class men who could not enter other universities. It became a model for, and inspiration to, labor colleges and programs around the world.

(Photo of Ruskin College)

Program Focus

Labor Studies and worker education programs offered through schools like ESC and Ruskin have been substantive as they have focused on both practice and theory. Courses have often focused on policy issues like employment standards and technological change.(Photo of a fifteen year old boy operating a boring machine in 1913. New York Public Library Collection)

Program Focus

Labor Studies and worker education programs are increasingly using new learning technologies, but are not simply using them as computer based training. Instead, efforts are made to use technology to understand work and labor issues.

(Photo of US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis)

The Way Ahead

Work and employment issues will continue to be at the forefront of public discourse. This is because most people will eventually seek paid employment at some point. Work and employment issues also attract very distinct opinions and policy positions.

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The Way Ahead

Ongoing issues include how to handle workplace diversity, demographic change, part-time and casual employment, and new technology. Education programs, including those at Empire State College, will have to respond to these emerging issues.

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ESC Business Programs in Perspective

ESC’s Business programs, particularly those offered by the Center for distance learning for Business, share much in common with those offered by OU in the UK.

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OU,Ruskin College and Empire State College courses

• Credit bearing• Non Credit bearing courses-

Professional courses

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Business Programs across ESC, Ruskin College and OU

• Wide variety of Business courses at ESC as compared to OU and Ruskin

• Emphasis on practical and theoretical aspects

• Curriculum designed such that there is significant emphasis on the use of practical experience to solve problems

• Programs promote collaborative learning, flexible thinking, subtle management skills, and the ability to work with a diverse group of people

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Program Focus

•Today’s environment is rapidly changing and highly competitive. The business program at ESC delivers graduates as leaders who understand themselves, and their organization, in the context such a rapidly changing business climate.•The business programs at ESC further develop leadership and personal impact skills as students not only learn theories in business but also explore how to enhance their own practice. (Photo of an IPad. Associated Press Image)

Program Focus

• Additionally the business programs provide students with tools to generate creative local and global strategies. In addition means are also provided to evaluate and implement them.

Program Focus• The design of the study

programme follows a ‘developmental’ approach for the student.

• The approach or the methodology used in the classes enable students to develop an enhanced sense of themselves as a manager and as a leader.

• In addition a deeper sense of awareness of the diverse and cross-functional nature of organizations is also developed.

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Program Focus

• The courses also provide students with an appreciation for the dependencies on and interactions between their organization and the global business environment.

• Students are also encouraged to apply their learning to manage change in organizations and realigning the business strategies of their organizations with the changing nature of the environment

Key factors• Pedagogy centered on:

– Active student learning– Collaborative learning– Consideration of the human

factor• Tools considered:

– Both synchronous and asynchronous

– Reflective and reflexive

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Key Issues• To provide equal opportunity for

students at different locations to participate effectively

• To seamlessly integrate students with different languages and culture

• Need to develop a flexible curricula to meet the changing needs of the business world

• Develop new approaches to validate learning at workplace

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Moving ahead

• Integrating different work needs in the curriculum

• Follow-up and coaching after the completion of courses

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Questions?

• In addition to hearing your questions, we want to share these websites:– Open University www.open.ac.uk– Ruskin College www.ruskin.ac.uk– University of London www.london.ac.uk