Dive Brief:
- While it’s hard to say when higher education will be on the other side of a major shift and what, exactly, it will look like then, Richard DeMillo, Georgia Tech computing professor and author of "Revolution in Higher Education: How a Small Band of Innovators Will Make College Accessible and Affordable," believes the ‘revolution’ is inevitable.
- Campus Technology reports that DeMillo sees a major shift toward online programming and digital technology to better serve students at colleges and universities across the country, both the well-known and more obscure.
- A reimagined Physics 101 course at Georgia Tech replaced overcrowded labs with videos, made by students who go out into the world to conduct experiments and then report back, creating an entirely new experience for students — not simply an online version that doesn’t have space limitations.
Dive Insight:
Colleges and universities are irrevocably different now than they were 20 years ago. Distance learning has become more accessible through online courses, giving adults more opportunities to take classes while juggling their work and home lives. Online elements of on-campus courses add opportunities for student engagement and interaction. Massive open online courses make lessons from some of the most elite schools available to anyone who wants to take them. New credentials, born from the rush of online possibility, create new pathways to better jobs through postsecondary education. The revolution, it seems, has already begun.
Every new technology and “disruption” comes with doom and gloom scenarios for traditional higher education. Yet, these institutions continue to innovate and remain competitive, bringing in a more diverse student body and offering more diverse program opportunities. A key point from DeMillo seems to be that these institutions are participating in the revolution, not being put out of business by it.
