The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
theatlantic.com
The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
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Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#2> as employers embrace new skills-based certifications, many students may question the value of the traditional four-year degree
Of course employers will embrace skills-based certifications, as they essentially offload the cost of any specialized training to the employee. Until now, it was not uncommon for the employer to pay (directly or indirectly) for the additional training.
But I'm not sure if getting a specialization certification without having a solid background on the topic is a good idea. It will be like the hordes of self-taught plugin programmers that made the Wordpress platform a liability to run.
In the end, the problem is not the value of the four-year university degree. The problem is its price. Pretending that the price can't be lowered, so we have to investigate alternative modes of higher education, is both untruthful and undemocratic.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#3Obviously right?
I mean look at the state of universities today: Around the globe every semester a professor is standing in front of a class, presenting material and they will do this again and again.
Every professor is doing it a little bit different but the main message is the same. In Math its probably even closer between universities while history or social studies might be further appart.
Where is our central / global learning platform? Which tracks all progress? Allows you to chose what professor explains to you certain topics? Tools to support you, nugget of wisdom explaining to you certain small parts of the lecture?
YouTube explained to me a few concepts i just didn't get while listing to the professor.
This is ridiculous!
Try to find lectures for free online which are above 101 curses. The video quality is shit, no exercises nothing.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#4Not the right analogy, but the article is mostly on point--higher education is in the process of being "unbundled".
> I need no convincing of the value of campus life and in-classroom education. I recognize that online platforms can’t perfectly replace what we deliver on campus. But they can fulfill key pieces of our core mission and reach many more students, of all ages and economic backgrounds, at a far lower cost.
> Our industry has been so stable for so long that we’ve conflated our model with our mission.
The author then rhetorically asks what the mission actually is, and answers with
> As educators, we strive to create opportunities for as many students as possible to discover and develop their talents, and to use those talents to make a difference in the world.
which sounds good and all but seems pretty far removed from the sausage that is actually being made on college campuses. I, for one, am looking forward to see what new models arise over the next couple decades and I hope my child has a wider variety of options than I did.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#5> as employers embrace new skills-based certifications, many students may question the value of the traditional four-year degree Of course employers will embrace skills-based certifications, as they essentially offload the cost of any specialized training to the employee. Until now, it was not uncommon for the employer to pay (directly or indirectly) for the additional training. But I'm not sure if getting a speciali…
> In the end, the problem is not the value of the four-year university degree. The problem is its price.
It can be both.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#6> as employers embrace new skills-based certifications, many students may question the value of the traditional four-year degree Of course employers will embrace skills-based certifications, as they essentially offload the cost of any specialized training to the employee. Until now, it was not uncommon for the employer to pay (directly or indirectly) for the additional training. But I'm not sure if getting a speciali…
> In the end, the problem is not the value of the four-year university degree. The problem is its price. It can be both.
If you got yourself a degree from Trump-U, definitely.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#7> as employers embrace new skills-based certifications, many students may question the value of the traditional four-year degree Of course employers will embrace skills-based certifications, as they essentially offload the cost of any specialized training to the employee. Until now, it was not uncommon for the employer to pay (directly or indirectly) for the additional training. But I'm not sure if getting a speciali…
It may well be impossible to walk back what has happened to universities. Large institutions move slowly. There are too many stakeholders. Even when they can change, it's inevitable that forces will resist the change, resulting in half-measures.
So it may well be more expeditious to start over. There are many other models, and if nothing else, whatever success those models have will provide more capacity. That may also draw away students and force them to lower prices.
It still won't be easy. The price rise is driven in part by a mythos about the value of the four-year degree. People will continue to see education in any alternative as "lesser". And it doesn't have to be "lesser". I am a big fan of the work being done at Signum University, which has been working for years to establish an online model that's more than just a MOOC. It's actually closer to what a liberal arts education was supposed to be, the thing that gave four-year universities such prestige for producing well-rounded students. They don't teach computer science; they teach literature. And that means teaching dialogue, discussion, and insight, rather than being a glorified vo-tech school with a bunch of humanities thrown in. I'd love to see CS education move to a place where it taught how to craft software rather than teaching us to be mechanics.
Even when that happens it will be seen as "lesser" for a long time. We use the four-year school as a marker that the student can at least jump through the hoops, speak and write at least marginally competently, and can do the mechanical, testable aspects of the job. It doesn't actually do that very well, but people think it does, and don't believe anything else can.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#8Looking back on my education 20 years later... obviously the math degree gave me the skill set to take advantage of the opportunities handed to me. (It’s how I got back into grad school & out with a PhD in just 4 years; it let me work with Mike Abrash.) but the skills I learned in school that have helped me as a person were from the courses that weren’t “certificatable”: literary analysis, my beloved history, the philosophy I always hated.
I worry in a certificate-driven education that we’ll leave those things behind.
On the other hand, the person I know with the best grasp of history, philosophy, and literary analysis barely graduated from high school and did a 4 year stint in the Navy: apparently, being stuck on a ship for years gives you ample opportunity for self-study. Maybe what we need is just boredom, opportunity, & books, and not more schooling?
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#9Looking back on my education 20 years later... obviously the math degree gave me the skill set to take advantage of the opportunities handed to me. (It’s how I got back into grad school & out with a PhD in just 4 years; it let me work with Mike Abrash.) but the skills I learned in school that have helped me as a person were from the courses that weren’t “certificatable”: literary analysis, my beloved history, the phi…
Yeah, the #1 thing I got out of college was critical thinking. History and philosophy are where I learned that. Would it have come without college? Maybe, and certainly yes for some. I do worry about a learn-one-task education system and what that means for society at large.
Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age
#10It has always seemed a crazy disconnect to me that so many in academia will endlessly complain about the expectation that what they teach prepare their students to obtain a high-paying job while happily cashing the checks and asking for more.