Future of Learning Top Reads for week of Sep 2 2019
“What’s the State of Innovation on Campus? We Asked the Leader of a Mega-University’s ‘Sandbox’,” by Jeffrey Young, on EdSurge News
“A small but growing number of colleges have created offices charged with leading innovation efforts on campus.
“At Southern New Hampshire University, officials call it a ‘sandbox.’ More precisely, the university calls it the Sandbox ColLABorative, and its mission is to serve as an internal consulting group on technology and provide a space for professors to experiment.”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Research & Development.
Your K12 school doesn’t need to invest in your own R&D unit; in fact, it may be financially and culturally wiser to participate in R&D through a trusted partner.
For example, when a school sends student teams to an Expedition, we encourage them to include teachers because it adds no additional cost and provides a low-risk setting for faculty to observe and participate in innovative learning.
Where, when, and how are you conducting R&D?
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“Turning Fuzzy ‘Culture Stuff’ Into a Strategic Plan that can Scale,” featuring Margo Downs, on the IDEOU blog
“ ‘As you have a vision for your product, as you have a vision for your service... What's your vision for people?’ Margo prompts. […]
“ ‘Every culture is unique,’ Margo says. “What's not unique is that a framework is essential.’”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
Because Culture = Strategy.
For example, “At Stitch Fix, Margo created an OS, or operating system, to outline the key elements of the culture: what you hire for, values, and leadership principles. These are sustained and iterated through a feedback loop.”
What is the most strategic element of your culture? What is one thing you might do to amplify that?
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“More Private Colleges Are Cutting Tuition, but Don’t Expect to Pay Less,” by Tara Siegel Bernard, in the New York Times
“The number of colleges ‘resetting’ their tuition rose sharply starting in 2012 to an average of 10 a year […]. From 1987 through 2011, the average was one annually. Last year, the total surged to 18.
“ ‘Students and their families were taking institutions off the table based on the sticker price,’ Ms. Casamento said. ‘They didn’t even want to have the aid conversation — and you have to have that conversation to understand the net price.’”
Why does this matter to the future of learning?
As independent school tuitions continue to match or exceed CPI, and as their tuition discount rates continue to creep, we predict schools will begin to reset tuitions.
Some will do so to short-circuit sticker shock.
Others will hope to avert future troubles. Consider St. John’s College, who chose to “rethink its tuition even though its applications were at a record high. Administrators peered 10 years into the future and realized that if tuition continued to rise at a standard 3 percent a year, a St. John’s education would cost $70,000 annually for tuition alone.”
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Question of the week:
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