Universities for the Future (OE Global 2015)

Universities for the Future:Disruption and the Role of Open Education

Presentation to Open Education Consortium Global Conference 2015

Banff, AB, Canada, 22 April 2015

DeakinDigital Pty Ltd

Challenges and criticisms


Asking the right question…

• How do we preserve the status quo of higher education?

versus

• What is the role of higher education in the future?

– Role

– Structure

– Function

– Funding

– Stakeholder alignment

CHALLENGES AND THE POTENTIAL FOR DISRUPTION

Higher Education Sector


Defining the problem: an holistic approach

• Cost and value of a degree

• Graduate employability and time to productivity

• Competency-based education

• Democratization of knowledge (and access)

• Unbundling, re-bundling and credentialing

• Peer-to-peer economy and higher education


Accountability and graduate success

• Employment

– Post-graduation metric of higher education success

• Employability definitions

– Employment-centred: ability [of graduates] to gain initial meaningful employment, or to become self-employed, to maintain employment, and to be able to move around within the labour market

– Competency-centred: a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations

European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2014. Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Access, Retention and Employability 2014 . Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.


Understanding competence

• Competence: it’s not how you teach it’s how you measure

• It is binary – “you can or you can’t”

• Progression is not via scores but levels of competence

– Evident in higher education graduate outcomes or attributes

– Same attributes for all qualifications but at different levels

• Requires context to be valid

• Is independent of how you achieved competence


Enroll in qualification (bundle)

• Core curriculum with approved electives

• Provider delivers courses and content

• Tutorials, Practicals, Labs, etc

• Provider has some responsibility for progress

• Provider’s information resources are included

• Provider examinations and assessments

• Accreditation with an award

• Variable Fees (20k – 38k per year)

• Additional Fees may be charged

• Register in a subject, course, module, certification

• Self-guided according to personal/career goals

• Access content from anywhere (free – fee)

• Fee-based; simulations; experience (incomplete)

• Responsible for own progress and motivation

• The web; community resources

• Variable – badges, vendor & other certifications

• Badges & certifications; Reliant on consortia & RPL

• Unbundled fees; from free to service-based fees

• Consumer driven

Products and Services: Unbundling of education

From this… To this

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION


Disruptive vs Sustaining Innovation

From The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997) Clayton Christensen


Sustaining Innovation vs Disruptive Innovation

• Sustaining Innovation

– Improvements in teaching, learning, technology or services

– Neither technology nor content are disruptors in themselves

• Disruptive Innovation changes business and operational models

– Revenue is no longer tied to a time-served model

– Student achievement is recognised in terms of professional competence (ie: measurable attributes that are industry relevant)

– Recognition of learning outside formal education becomes mainstream

– Alternative accreditation is embraced and integrated (eg badges, certifications, etc)

ROLE AND IMPACT OF OPEN EDUCATION

In relation to Disruptive Innovation


Open Education…


Open Education is neutral to disruption

• May support existing higher education

– OER – Revise, Reuse, Remix, Redistribute = reduce cost

– Open Courses and MOOCs as outreach

– Opportunity for innovation in content and approaches to learning

• May support disruption to higher education

– Democratisation of knowledge and learning

– Alternative models evolve around free content and recognition


Information wants to be free…

On the one hand, information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life.

On the other hand information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.

Stuart Brand, 1984


Success Factors for Open Education

• Impediments to success

– Not the de facto approach to content and courses

– The only reason OER exists is the 4Rs but it’s too hard (ok… 5Rs)

– Quality is often criticised

• But continuous improvement via the 4Rs fixes that

• For Open Education to be successful:

– All content must be easy to Revise and Remix

– Courses should routinely be comprised of Open Educational Content

– Content must be agnostic to platforms and technologies

UNIVERSITIES FOR THE FUTUREWhat should they be like?


Breaking down the monolith (1996: Seely Brown et al)

a) to enable students to engage in open learning, exploration, and knowledge creation

b) simultaneously, to provide the resources to help them work in both distal and local communities, and

c) to offer them the means to earn exchangeable, equivalent credentials for work done in class, on-line, or through hands-on experience.

From The University in the Digital Age


Vision

To provide the most highly valued, evidence-based employability credentials for continuous career development using smart systems


DeakinDigital’s model is premised upon:

• Democratisation of knowledge and availability of content

• Digital disruption’s trend to make that which was monolithic more granular (eg music; publishing etc)

• Systemic pressures on traditional education models

– Lack of affordability

– Lack of scalability

– Unmet demand, especially in emerging economies

• Assessment-only model breaks credit-hour models

• Better alignment with transferrable workforce skills


Framework Alignment Model

Communication

Digital Literacy

Critical Thinking

Problem Solving

Self-management

Teamwork

Global Citizenship

Discipline KSAcompetency/capability

GraduateLearning

Outcomes

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

1

2

AQF

Level Descriptor

Level Descriptor

Level Descriptor

Level Descriptor

Level Descriptor

Level Descriptor

Level Descriptor

Discipline KSA Levelcompetency/capability

GenericDescriptors

Communication

Digital Literacy

Critical Thinking

Problem Solving

Self-management

Teamwork

Global Citizenship

Discipline KSAcompetency/capability

Industry-specific Assessment

Per Industry / Framework

Credentials

AQF = Australian Qualifications Framework

Incl. Industry Frameworks

Qualification-(Evidence-based)

In the future…


Critical Thinking

Problem solving

Teamwork

Global citizenship

Professional Expertise(Discipline-specific KSA)

Digital literacy Digital literacy

Critical thinking

Problem solving

Collaboration

Cultural awareness

Deep discipline

Broad discipline

Professional ethics

Emotional awareness

Self-management Self Management

Communication Communication

Graduate Learning Outcomes Credentials

© DeakinDigital


DeakinDigital Assessment

• Robust assessment model across multiple methods

• Aligned to current best practice in higher education

• Recognition of Professional Practice

– Not just RPL, PLAR, etc

• Assessment Guide derived from Professional Capability Standard

• Is designed to assess professional capabilities (employability skills)

• Comprised of:– Reflective testimony

– Curated evidence

– Alternative assessments if applicable (eg competency-based psychometrics)

– Video interview

Universities for the Future (OE Global 2015)

Education

Transcript of Universities for the Future (OE Global 2015)