Perspectives: Unconventional Wisdom

Autor/in	Smith, Burck
Titel	Perspectives: Unconventional Wisdom
Quelle	In: Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 45 (2013) 1, S.33-39 (7 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-1383
DOI	10.1080/00091383.2013.749145
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Educational Change; Higher Education; Educational Trends; Electronic Learning; Online Courses; Educational Finance; Student Costs; Graduation; Educational Attainment; Academic Degrees; Competency Based Education; Credentials; Academic Failure; College Administration; Public Support; Financial Support; Access to Education + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bildungsreform; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Bildungsentwicklung; Online course; Online-Kurs; Bildungsfonds; Studienkosten; Abschluss; Graduierung; Bildungsabschluss; Bildungsgut; Degree; Degrees; Academic level graduation; Akademischer Grad; Hochschulabschluss; Education; Competence; Competency; Competency-based education; Unterricht; Kompetenzorientierte Methode; Studienbuch; College administrators; Hochschulverwaltung; Öffentliche Förderung; Öffentliche Trägerschaft; Finanzielle Förderung; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang
Abstract	Since online learning burst on the scene in the late 1990s, predictions of traditional higher education's obsolescence and disruption have been steady fare in the trade and popular media. This time the change is shaping up to be more profound than most had envisioned. As alternatives to the degree system (and the accreditation/financial aid/regulatory structure that supports it) emerge, the very concept of the "degree" and "college" are up for grabs. On the one hand, the status quo is stressed by a declining willingness to provide institutional and individual subsidies for higher education, structural inflation in existing college business models, fierce competition for students in a consolidating market, and declining personal incomes. On the other, the advent of comparable and cheaper unaccredited options for course delivery and free content and learning management software create new options for students--higher education's customers. Together, these create an unstoppable momentum for student-driven, rather than policy-driven, change. As students start to "vote with their dollars," public policy will follow, not lead. The article concludes that whether it is black-market products during wartime, speakeasies during Prohibition, or jitney cabs at airports, when a government-regulated market becomes dysfunctional, new ones emerge. In the US, the demand for higher education has grown dramatically and the cost of delivery has fallen, yet prices continue to rise despite massive public subsidies. With the proliferation of viable, affordable, and unsubsidized providers of college courses emerging outside of the accreditation system, parallel markets are emerging. These providers call into question the very definition of "college" and, with it, the regulatory and subsidy model under which higher education has operated for the past 70 years. (Contains 1 table and 14 resources.) (ERIC).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10