Scott, Mike, and I were talking after class yesterday and we decided to record some it to share with you all. Unfortunately Mike had to leave before we started the rolling, so you’ll have to settle for just Scott and I talking about how Christensen’s “Disrupting College” dovetails with For Profit Online University.
Cole says
Just a few thoughts as I listen to you guys … first, I love this reflective practice. It is such a smart thing to do. I have to say, back in the day, Scott and I would have these crazy conversations after class as we walked to the parking garage, but we never grabbed them like this. I encourage you to keep this up.
Behind the Learning
A couple thoughts from the administrator … we give students who live in our residence halls HBO Go for free — trust me, that was not an easy deal to cut, but huge on lots of levels. Classes and learning do not compare to the power of Game of Thrones and I doubt it is productive to even compare the two — even in parody. Just because we give students that here at Stony Brook doesn’t diminish the classroom rigor and I haven’t talked to anyone who thinks it has anything to do with anything more than rounding out the experience of being here.
The problem I see in all this is that HE is a business … not to students, but it is. And just like offering HBO Go, the whole thing is about creating a community experience and long term value … crazy how much what we do is measured on immediate satisfaction and long term value. The question I have is where does HE as an *experience* diverge from HE as a *learning experience*?
I would argue that none of the “business models” have anything to with what we should be doing in our classrooms and I find it fascinating that faculty would feel that pressure. Is that a real pressure or is that something that is invented by the crush of the ed tech/pop culture reporting of our “demise?”
Brad Kozlek says
Cole, I wasn’t trying to say that a school providing HBO Go besmirches the academic rigor that happens on campus. I can see how it makes sense to offer something like that to students. What I was thinking was how when it comes to so many of the business model discussions of HE, we see HE framed as something that is a consumable, not unlike HBO Go.
When we start talking about business models of higher ed, it forces us to think about what higher ed is providing for its cost – new knowledge? content? community? degrees? The business model for each of these things is changing independently of one another. The hype around a technology driver disrupting college seems to have died down. Perhaps higher ed can’t be so easily made inexpensive through technology. It’s people. It’s made of people!