(Looking Back and Looking Forward takes a look at the articles and posts I found interesting from the previous week, along with reflections about how the trends they point to might shape my thinking about education and technology.)

I’m a little late posting my thoughts from the last week of reading through news items and thinking about trends, but there are definitely things worth considering from the past seven days.

There has been increasing buzz about the future of higher education, with last week’s article on The University in Ruins serving as a good “protect the status quo” example. Two responses worth reading come from Stephen Downes and Daniel Chastain. Chastain asks some good questions about the current ecosystem, particularly with regard to costs and the ever-morphing nature of education systems as a whole.

And speaking of costs within the current higher education ecosystem, it’s worth noting that professor pay fell 5 percent this year, counting inflation. In a nutshell. institutions are already coming to grips with the fact that there is a consumer price ceiling that is out of alignment with the current cost model.

So, what’s the solution? Some say that college should be free. And, while it doesn’t appear that free college will make its way into any federal budget, that doesn’t mean individual states won’t try to address the “fee” model. For others, the answer is to look beyond traditional college education as the default for professional success. As the job market tightens, an increasing number of entities are indeed rethinking work requirements.

Naturally, there are those who say that technology is key in helping us solve issues related to learning efficacy and job readiness. Along those lines, I would note that Michael Feldstein and the team at Argos Education are doing some promising work. Also, while AI will definitely play a role in the future of higher learning and corporate training, I’m not ready just yet to say that the future is one of automated education

Further Reading

Higher Education

Professor pay fell 5 percent this year, counting inflation

Additional Clarity into Regulatory Activism in Education

The University in Ruins

Stephen’s Web ~ Reflections on “The University in Ruins” 

More Reflections on “The University in Ruins” 

Leadership turnover plagues California Community Colleges

Professor pay fell 5 percent this year, counting inflation

University of Arizona Global Campus loses access to GI Bill benefits

Opinion | College Became the Default. Let’s Rethink That

Free college didn’t die with federal inaction. It moved

K-12 Education

ASU Prep: Experiencing College Success in High School

PROOF POINTS: Education official sounds alarm bell about high school classes

Education, Educational Technology, and Learning Design

The Impact Map: Make the value proposition of your L&D investment crystal clear

Courseware 3.0 – Argos Education

Three ways to design a cohort learning experience that will transform the way your ma

Approaching perfection

Instructional design is useless

Your Next Teacher Will be a Machine: Why the Future of Education is Automation

Workforce

Opinion | College Became the Default. Let’s Rethink That

Working with Colleagues: Should You Collaborate or Compete?

Job Market Tightness Forces Work Requirements Rethink

Meetings in the Age of Remote

Technology and Culture

Irving Wladawsky-Berger: The Tech Trends that Will Most Reshape Companies Over the Next Decade 

Simple Formatting Changes that Would Vastly Improve Your Code

Teenagers on the Journey Toward Good Lives

Americans often estimate other Americans inaccurately, it turns out