Future of Learning Top Reads for week of May 18 2020

“The Coming Disruption to College,” an interview with Scott Galloway, by James D. Walsh, in New York Magazine

“When will there be a reckoning? It has to come before classes begin this fall. Over the next six weeks, when we realize that the deposits and registrations for the fall are down 10 to 30 percent. The better universities are fine in the short term because they just fill spots from the waiting lists. The kid who’s going to Boston College will get into MIT. But if that snakes down the supply chain, and you start getting to universities that don’t have waiting lists, those are the ones that get hit. […]

“How many schools will collapse between now and next year?

“It will be like department stores in 2018. Everyone will recognize they’re going out of business, but it will take longer than people think. There will be a lot of zombie universities. Alumni will step in to help. They’ll cut costs to figure out how to stay alive, but they’ll effectively be the walking dead. I don’t think you’re going to see massive shutdowns, but there’s going to be a strain on tier-two colleges.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Winter is coming for higher ed. Many institutions were already in a precarious state because of endless tuition increases, demographic collapse, and widening economic inequality. Throw COVID-19 into the mix and things have become existential for many schools. (Note: the end of the interview offers some hopeful ideas.)

…In other existential news…

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Tweet thread by Noah Smith

“So three factors that were ALREADY starting to hit colleges will now hit them much harder:

1. State funding cuts

2. International student decreases

3. Falling demand from domestic students

These will combine to produce a College Apocalypse. How will colleges respond to the College Apocalypse?

  • Colleges will cut labor costs.

  • Colleges will cut capital costs.

  • Expensive liberal arts colleges will go out of business.

  • Even worse, middle-ranked state schools, which provide some of the best educational value for money and are a crucial stepping stone into the middle class for lower-income kids, may have to shutter branches. […]”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

“Shuttering branches” may be the last canary in the coal mine.

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“7 tips for running outdoor lessons when schools reopen,” by Dominic Maher, in Tes

“Primary schools in Denmark reopened on 15 April with strict guidelines in place for how to maintain social distance between children and teachers.

“One of the recommendations from The Danish Health Authority is for as much teaching to be conducted outdoors as possible as it helps social distance between students.

“What’s more, it also allows teachers to conduct lessons that can range from a simple replication of classroom lessons to those that embrace the outdoors.

“Whether other nations embrace similar measures remains to be seen – and of course, not all schools will have ready access to large outdoor spaces.

“But if you can make it work, there are many benefits to outdoor lessons worth considering.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Would it be hard to accelerate the 2020-21 school year by starting this summer teaching outside? Absolutely.

Would it also be an opportunity to:

  • restore in-person, safe, relationship-based learning;

  • create the conditions for lower population density in the Fall and Winter, if earning credits during the summer allows students to alternate between on campus and off campus learning from September through April;

  • create a proof-of-concept for outdoor learning in Spring 2021, should the CV19 + flu threat persist;

  • implement experiential and mastery-based learning assessments in authentic contexts; and

  • prove that the traditional September - May school calendar isn’t immutable?

We can frame this another way:

What is the cost of saying no to outdoor learning this summer?

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Christian Talbot