For class today, my students are studying the pressures that higher education is facing and the trends that are suggesting that change is imminent. As this is a topic that is of interest to others, I thought I’d post the readings that we are working with, as well as the questions that I am using to guide our discussion.

Readings

Siemens, G., & Matheos, K. (2010). Systemic changes in higher education. in Education, 16(1). http://ineducation.ca/article/systemic-changes-higher-education

Morrison, J. (2003). U.S. Higher Education in Transition. On the Horizon, 11(1), 6-10 http://horizon.unc.edu/courses/papers/InTransition.html

Katz. R. (2010). The Gathering Cloud: Is This the End of the Middle? http://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/tower-and-cloud/gathering-cloud-end-middle

Discussion questions

Based on these trends, what sort of institutional, pedagogical, and societal changes can we expect to see in the future?

What are some surprising/interesting concepts that you’ve come across in your reading?

Are there trends/pressures that you see that are not contained in the reading?

What are some changes predicted (e.g., by Morrison) that did not not actualize?

“The old hierarchical, geographically based university is dying.” Is it?

At present universities add value to society by: content creation and navigation, interactions between learners and faculty, and accreditation. These are being contested. How else can universities add value?