The New University: Technology's Role

A fourth linchpin for future models is technology.  A major piece of the new faculty role—and of the institution itself—must be technology.  Specifically, higher education must adopt and adapt to elements of technology that are common in the rest of society.  Tim Cook, CEO of Apple said it well in a recent interview concerning education.  He said we live in a digital world.  Yet students find that the classroom is analog.  This is true not just the classroom.  Too often our thinking in higher is education is analog.

We must acknowledge that technology is more than adding live links and videos to the syllabus.  It is more than virtual libraries and course materials.  There is much more.  For example, we must expand our use of predictive analytics.  Here we need to stop discussing and begin acting by adopting existing best practices.  We already know what individuals like to eat, their shoe size, and even preferences in choosing a mate.  Can it hurt to know how individuals learn and whether there are indicators of their likelihood of success?

Access to relevant information about likely student success is readily available, just as relevant information about what you are likely to buy next is available.  We need to tap into this kind of information as it relates to student learning and success.  There is much work to be done here, but it is not difficult work. The information exists.  We need to use it productively.

There are also more general data analytics at the disposal of higher education.  We have access to a great deal of information beyond demographic statistics that can help students—and institutions—succeed.   Technology can be used to monitor, evaluate and improve the learning experience.  For example, as University of Phoenix integrated technology into courses, one major component was the use of video. Videos were inserted into a majority of its courses.  However, it was soon discovered that students were not benefitting from the material in said videos, as evidenced from their performance on quizzes related to the videos.  A study of time on task in courses revealed the reason quickly.  Videos were around 20 minutes in length on average.  Data revealed that students on average watched 6 minutes before losing interest and signing off.  The solution here was clear.

In this same vein, increased application of social media will be a sine qua non going forward.  Like it or not, it is how students become socialized and communicate.  The roles of faculty, advisors, counselors, and financial aid experts, among others, can and must be changed to incorporate those elements of self-serve technology that exist robustly in the rest of society.

In short, technology is not an either-or situation.  Education must be treated as a single thing, technologically enhanced, to be sure, but not separated into on ground and on line.  A distinction between virtual and physical experience is a false dichotomy for higher education as we move ahead.