Real-Time learning to Address the Needs of current students and employers

• "The Great Unbundling of Higher Education" – HigherEdJobs

  Time for colleges and universities to implement real-time learning that offers high school students and adults skills and training that will lead to a career and like Ryan mentions if you get corporate involvement that means free education to those that need it the most.

  tags: higher education education training skills degrees certificates

  • Currently a university’s reputation relies heavily  on the "four Rs" in which the most elite schools thrive–rankings,  research, real estate, and rah! (i.e. sports). But for the majority of  students who are not attending these elite institutions, the "four Rs"  offer poor value for the expense of a college education.

  • The college degree is higher education’s version of the bundle. In the tuition price of a degree program, colleges and universities combine a vast array of products and services – some educational, some not.

  • In the enrollment declines evident across a range of non-elite institutions – from for-profits to law schools to liberal arts colleges – many observers see the beginning of the rejection of the bundle by the American higher education consumer.

  • Consumer preferences are shifting to smaller/faster/cheaper products I call "Just-In-Time" (JIT) education. Coding bootcamps – the first manifestation of JIT – are experiencing remarkable growth. One recent survey projected 138 percent growth from 6,740 graduates in 2014 to a 16,056 2015 – greater than any other sector or program in postsecondary education.

  • The JIT revolution isn’t limited to coding. Take YearUp, for example. YearUp is Boston-based not-for-profit that provides JIT pathways to a professional career for underprivileged students. The program combines 21-week educational programs in several functional areas – IT, operations and finance, sales and marketing, and customer service – with a 26-week internship at employer partners. Moreover, YearUp is definitely not a "Top-Up" program for students who’ve already earned degrees. The program serves students who otherwise can’t access, or are unlikely to succeed at, traditional colleges.

  • JIT also opens up the door to a new revenue model for colleges and universities.

  • The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is well ahead of our colleges and universities in recognizing the potential of JIT.

  • Today’s colleges and universities are already too much like debutante balls in their failure to promote social mobility; you shouldn’t have to be a deb, or know one, to have the opportunities that a great college can provide.

  • The Great Unbundling of higher education will mean many changes for our programs, institutions, faculty and – most important – students. Those of us that don’t begin to prepare for the unbundling of degree programs may find ourselves a decade from now with the time – but perhaps not the money – to attend debutante balls.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.