02-02-2010, 01:10 PM
Muser of NM Wrote:The BIGGEST advantage, though, will be cost savings to students which will occur if and when society finds a way to break the "accreditation" lock heretofore owned by existing institutions.
Bits and bytes are not very expensive and most kinds of knowledge can be copied and transmitted this way to masses. The key is to get real knowledge on the cheap and have it "recognized" without paying a monopoly's toll for it. Time marches on, and so will this.
From (of all places) the Al Franken State, Minnesota's Republican governor Tim Pawlenty sees technology causing "massive decentralization" for higher education. (What's that, like sentencing Dixie to Dublin and Steve to Taft?)
Competition, deregulation? In the far left wing lunatic world of higher education? We'll believe it when we see it, but let's hope Gov. Pawlenty's prediction of $199 online college courses comes true.
A paradigm shift is ahead for higher education
Quote:By LORI STURDEVANT, Star Tribune
Last update: January 23, 2010 - 11:20 PM
...State higher ed spending this biennium compared with the last one is down nearly 9 percent. It's the second big squeeze on state higher ed appropriations in six years. In fact, state schools have been riding a retrenchment roller coaster for decades.
Not to worry, volunteered noted higher ed futurist Tim Pawlenty at a Jan. 15 news conference. Going to college is about to be replaced by logging on.
"You're going to have the equivalent of iTunes in higher education, where instead of buying a song for 99 cents, you're going to be able to click on Econ 101 for probably $199 or $399," the governor predicted.
"Unleashing technology ... will massively decentralize the delivery of higher education in our country. The idea that we're going to be here 20 years from now talking about how many more buildings can we put up is going to come into conflict with this new frontier."
Bona fide education forecasters say that Pawlenty isn't all wrong about an explosion of online learning -- though they're not as sanguine as he is about its cost-saving potential or effectiveness.
They see the possibility of yet another big change coming -- the weaning of American public universities from direct government subsidies.
A 2009 book making the rounds among vice presidents at the U argues that American universities' relationship with state governments is hindering productivity and eroding quality on campus.
In "Saving Alma Mater," former Miami University of Ohio President James Garland argues that public support should flow to students, not schools, and that the redemptive force of competition should be unleashed.
"The business model of public higher education, no matter how successful it was in prior decades, is not working now, and no amount of yearning ... will make it work in the future," Garland wrote.
The case he makes draws from his Ohio experience, but could have been written about public colleges in Minnesota or most other states. He cites unaffordable tuition, outdated buildings, lagging salaries, a talent drain to well-heeled private institutions and change-averse campus governance.
Either all of that will get worse, driving once-proud American higher education to mediocrity, or something big will change the game, Garland argues. His idea is, in essence, deregulation, accompanied by a high-tuition/high-financial-aid business model.
Other ideas are out there, each with pluses and minuses: Closing campuses. System merger or shakeup. New governance structures. New revenue sources. (Condos on campus, anyone?)
So the Minnesota higher ed picture for 2011 and beyond is new leaders, new technology, new structural and governance possibilities, less state money -- and more responsibility than ever for the future well-being of this state. If Minnesota can't keep its edge in well-educated workers and job-generating research, it won't have an edge.
Who's going to grab an idea, craft a plausible plan for saving Minnesota's alma maters and run with it? To the score or so who are running already for governor: This jolt is for you.