Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as...

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Education as Platform Chris Dellarocas Professor of Information Systems Director, Digital Learning Initiative Boston University [email protected]

Transcript of Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as...

Page 1: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

Education as Platform Chris Dellarocas Professor of Information Systems Director, Digital Learning Initiative Boston University [email protected]

Page 2: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

Today’s educational institutions are platforms of bundled services

…but closed and full of restrictions

University

Students Teachers

Employers Businesses

States

Other Universities

Value Money

Page 3: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

Technological innovation is about to crack these platforms open

Educational Platform

Students Teachers

Employers Businesses

States

Other Platforms

Value Money

Page 4: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

Some (speculative) thoughts of what this might lead to

Page 5: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

1. The higher-ed bundle will be broken up

• Learning • Socialization • Peer network • Credentialing

• Each component will potentially be offered by a different entity – or even a different platform

Page 6: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

2. Degrees and courses will be unbundled and personalized

• Students will be able to mix and match learning resources at the level of a single video clip and assignment

• Many different players will curate materials to produce custom “courses,” “programs” and “degrees”

• Reputation mechanisms will help identify quality

• A repository of best-of-breed learning content will emerge

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3. The role of teacher will diversify

• Creators of content • Curators of content • Tutors • Life coaches

• Professional vs. amateur • “Rock stars” vs. long tail

Page 8: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

4. Skills will emerge as an important currency

• Students will customize their learning so as to master combinations of skills as opposed to pursuing generic “majors”

• Employers will similarly use skill sets to specify their needs in a more precise manner

• Grades are dead, long live competency-certificates (e.g. badges)

Page 9: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

5. Businesses and states will play a much more active role

• In addition to recruiting…

• Define (and subsidize?) skill requirements

• Design specialized curricula

• Perform own testing and credentialing

• Integrate experiential learning into their business processes

Page 10: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

6. Credentialing will emerge as a separate market

• Increased skill-level credentialing

• Using a combination or course-based and non-course-based data

• Competition for effective (i.e. “predictive”) credentials

• Emergence of a predictive analytics market (“moneyball” for all sorts of career paths)

Page 11: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

7. The availability of big data will impact every player

• Metrics of quality and ROI will be developed at all levels – Student learning – Professor performance – Socialization

effectiveness – Skill sets that “work” – Career outcomes – …

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What will all this mean?

• Industry-level efficiencies • Better matching of different sides

Educational Platform

Students Teachers

Employers Businesses

States

Other Platforms

Value

Money

Page 13: Education as Platform - MIT IDEebusiness.mit.edu/sponsors/common/founding... · Education as Platform . Chris Dellarocas . Professor of Information Systems . Director, Digital Learning

The role of the University in this new world?

• Like a newspaper in the world of Google

• Still relevant but not the main or only way to get the news

• Must “focus on what it does best and link to the rest” (as Jeff Jarvis would say)

• Must adapt as a part of a richer ecosystem

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Conclusions

• Educational institutions are already platforms

• Technology promises a substantial opening up of educational platforms

• The principles of platform theory promise an exciting ride ahead