the 2011-2014 higher education landscape: seismic shifts, challenges, and pressures
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Workshop delivered to Athabasca University's Faculty of Health Disciplines (Edmonton, Feb 2014). Focuses on online learning strategies, emerging technologies, the current status of higher education and online online education, open scholarship, social media, and what the future of higher education may hold. Part 2: The 2011-2014 higher education landscape: Seismic shifts, challenges, and pressuresTRANSCRIPT
Athabasca University, Faculty of Health Disciplines, Edmonton, Feb 2014
The 2011-2014 higher education landscape: Seismic shifts, challenges, and pressures
George Veletsianos, PhD Canada Research Chair
Associate Professor School of Education and Technology
What are your hopes for the future of higher education?
What are your concerns?
The Horizon Report Trends
The Horizon Report Trends
Via Ruben Puentedura as quoted by http://bit.ly/Ma8YrX
Contemporary universities are facing numerous powerful forces that may
shape their future.
a worldwide economic downturn
globalization and competition
changing demographics
curtailment of public funding
pressures for accountability
impact of emerging technologies
(Morrison, 2003; Schwier, 2012; Siemens & Matheos, 2010; Spanier, 2010).
purpose of education - Employment?
Rebirth of edtech
a worldwide economic downturn
globalization and competition
changing demographics
curtailment of public funding
pressures for accountability
impact of emerging technologies
(Morrison, 2003; Schwier, 2012; Siemens & Matheos, 2010; Spanier, 2010).
purpose of education - Employment?
Rebirth of edtech
An increasing desire by faculty
members, educators, &
designers to “do better” to “do
more”
• May or may not be new technologies
• Evolving, “coming into being”
• Go through “hype cycles”
• Not yet fully understood
• Not yet fully researched
• Potentially disruptive (but potential is unfulfilled)
(Veletsianos, 2010)
Emerging Technologies
Higher Education in 2011-2014:
Sense of urgency. And tension.
The case of FutureLearn
Techno-enthusiasm & techno-determinism* dominate
e.g., Technology will ____________
Narratives of disruption & revolution
(*skeptics are not the same as naysayers)
At times, it feels like déjà vu with a dose of more of the same…
“Motion picture is destined to revolutionize our education system …in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks”
“Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail usage look like a rounding error”
“Strong pressures to produce mediocre
instruc1onal products based on templates
and preexis,ng content.”
Wilson, Parrish, & Veletsianos, 2008
“Examples of
outstanding [online] instruc1on
are hard to find.”
Wilson, Parrish, & Veletsianos, 2008
Disaggregation & Unbundling
“Whether the practice is called
outsourcing, contracting out, or
privatizing, the impact is the
same. Food services, health
care, the bookstore…endless
array of activities that
universities used to manage…”
Kirp, .L (2003). Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bo3om Line: The Marke9ng of Higher Educa9on.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
“Online program management services”
But where does it stop? Are there institutional core
functions that should be safeguarded?
But where does it stop? Are there institutional core
functions that should be safeguarded?
The role of the faculty member
The roles of instructional designers, tutors, instructors
“academic freedom, shared governance, a livable wage, greater job security for non-tenure-track faculty teaching and scholarship cannot be fully unbundled…”
Academic Advisor, Mentor, Coach Instructor/Instructional Technologist Professor/Instructional Designer
Course assistants Teaching assistants
Efficiency. Automation. And robots.
Data Analytics. Big Data.
The “new science of learning”
“Adaptive, personalized, granular learning”
Open Practices
Open Education Open Scholarship
Open Sharing
Myth: Classrooms are the same today as they were hundreds of years ago.
The reality: Educational institutions are always evolving and reflect the
societies which house them.
What does our society look like? That’s what our institutions will look like.
In closing