Looking Back and Looking Forward — It’s Not the Same Old, Same Old Anymore

(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, technology, and culture.)

It seems that things are always and increasingly a bit “in flux” in the higher education world. Last week’s news that the U of Arkansas System was contemplating the purchase of what was once the leading online education provider, the University of Phoenix, is just one more example of the ongoing shakeup. But this shifting landscape is about more than just big systems swallowing up other players to extend their reach and strengthen their competitive score. There are also small non-profits, like the private Catholic institution Hilbert College, that are looking to improve their lot by acquiring or merging with another school.

From where I’m standing, the many changes and attempted innovations we’re witnessing are akin to the “perpetual pivot dance” entrepreneurs and their startups perform to survive and thrive in competitive markets where unanticipated evolutions abound. There’s Arizona State turning to YouTube to try and reach potential students on the fringe, and Western Governors University upping its competency-based game with peer-to-peer support. But there are also other players in the ecosystem hoping to liberate public universities from perceived structural constraints that limit their ability to compete.

The problem with all this, as some are beginning to point out, is that education, in general, is facing a sea change and smaller, incremental changes may not be enough.

George Siemens does a nice job of positioning this argument in his recent post. Here is his foundation statement about the future of universities.

My core thesis is that the future of universities will be determined by what we as a society are able to do with information. Technology creates new ways of being and acting that existing systems are slow to incorporate. Consider the pedagogical model prevalent in most university courses: centralized expert instruction, learning activities shaped by the instructor, and assessment to determine the degree to which learners have mastered course concepts. The entire model is antithetical to digital networks. While information changes rapidly and requires constant updating, education still has a view of teaching and assessing individuals memory systems rather than equipping learners to navigate nuanced, ambiguous, and complex landscapes. Most instructors and learners, unfortunately, do not have the skills and abilities to create a different system – one that reflects these global information networks.

The larger context for Siemens post is the information disruption posed by AI, and we continued to hear educators and educational technologies share their thoughts about the challenges posed by new technologies.

Alexandra Mihai writes that educators need to get off the “fear carousel” and explore/embrace the future.
Larry Ferlazzo echoes the sentiment and argues that educators need to get with the AI program.
David Wiley explores the ways that Large Language Models (LLMs) like CHatGPT might influence/impact instructional design and the creation of OER
And George Veletsianos expands on Wiley’s post by asking “what new knowledge, capacities, and skills do instructional designers need in their role as editors and users of LLMs?” (hint: writing prompts is going to be a required skill).

Of course, the above conversations aren’t happening in a vacuum. They are taking place against a general technology background in which AI and LLMs are already proving to be disruptive. Not surprisingly, this has led some tech behemoths to take early and big stakes in the AI game, such as Microsoft with its multi-billion dollar partnership with Open AI. In addition to integrating ChatGPT and other AI tools in its Office suite, some see this investment as an opportunity to supercharge the company’s Bing search engine.

Naturally, the question many people are asking is, what does all this really have to do with me? It’s a good question, probably the “right” question, and one that this copywriter answered with a bit of fear and trembling.

See you next week!

Looking Back and Looking Forward — It’s Not the Same Old, Same Old Anymore

Further Reading

Higher Education

Online Learning, Learning Design, and Education Technology

Technology and Culture