What services are you offering? As we discussed previously, an institution’s target population of learners is a critical determinant for which services are offered as mandatory and which services are optional, beyond the core academic program. Historically, traditional colleges have not paid a great deal of attention to providing user-friendly non-academic services. Students have largely been left to their own devices when it comes to … Continue reading Design Issues in The New Universe: What Services are You Offering? Cost v. Quality: Part II

One of the most potentially deceptive promises being made today by innovators eyeing the New Universe is this: We can get you a world class education for a fraction of what you would pay elsewhere. Price promises of this type can go as low as $1000/year. I strongly believe in, and have written about, the coming disruption in cost and price, driven by the information … Continue reading Design Issues in The New Universe: Who Are the Learners? Cost v. Quality: Part I

It is clear by now that the historic rationale for a campus-based institution has been significantly modified by technology, data analytics and design. In a world where the potential of technologies such as 3D Printing, both positive and negative, has only scratched the surface, it is difficult to define what learning spaces will look like in the new universe. I do not think this portends … Continue reading Location, location, location – new spaces and new places in the new universe

As we have been discussing, the new universe of learning is going to have tools and services that were previously unimaginable. For example, the term “lifelong learning,” even 25 years ago, was interpreted to mean the role institutions would play in offering appropriate courses throughout the learner’s life. There was, literally, no way for the learner to control their lifelong learning. Now, however, as we … Continue reading A “Whole Life” Policy: and It’s not from GEICO

As learners develop and finalize their degree plans during their early terms, there are several services and academic requirements that can help them prosper in the new universe of learning. Advocacy Throughout the Learning Journey. Distance and blended learning can be an isolated and lonely experience. And, as we have already discussed, learning is, intrinsically, a social as well as intellectual activity. There are two … Continue reading Personalization Tools for More Successful Learning: Part II

The next two blogs will address opportunities to harness the tools of the new universe of learning, both academic and support services, to support and sustain more successful personalized learning. A continuing problem that has plagued American higher education since the “access revolution” was launched in the 1960’s are high attrition rates. The open door has, too often, been a revolving door. Over the years, … Continue reading Personalization Tools for More Successful Learning: Part I

If our focus is on the learner and “personalized learning in the digital age”, then we have crossed the threshold from a “teaching universe” into a “learning universe.” And in the learning universe, the human element is dominant. There are three components that, collectively, help us understand the human element. The first involves our coming professional ability to understand, reference and incorporate learnings which, while … Continue reading Personal Learning: Part II

Over the last 35 years, the three books I have written have carried some consistent, if ever-evolving, themes. Two of them are opposite sides of the same coin, the highly personal nature of learning and the value of experiential learning. In Your Hidden Credentials: The Value of Learning Outside of College (Acropolis, Washington, D.C., 1986), I began the discussion about the interplay between personal, academic, … Continue reading Personal Learning: Part I

While in graduate school, I wrestled with the issue of where I would begin my professional life. And the answer throughout that fall was Alaska. After all, I had travelled and worked there twice, my sister Susan lived there with her family, and it was far away, romantic, and very rugged, which fit my Outward Bound and NOLS experiences. That was the plan. Still and … Continue reading Returning Again

It’s a busy week in higher education. I’m speaking this afternoon in Dallas at the Close It Summit, Shift Happens: No Turning Back. I rather like the conference title this year as it ties into the New Universe of Learning I have been writing about. My talk will be on “Leading the Way to Competencies: Personalized Learning Plans in the Digital Age.” A few key … Continue reading An Exciting Week of Innovating Education