The Future Of Higher Education

As the pandemic forces many colleges that started in-person classes to stop, colleges and universities are transitioning to virtual learning again.

But will colleges embrace virtual learning? And could that even be better for students?

Here’s a take published in Inside Higher Ed:

Imagine if schools had provided similar direction for improving remote learning. For decades, we’ve known that the passive learning engendered by the mainstay of lower-level undergraduate education — lectures — can be upended by converting courses to  active learning.

There’s consensus on what active learning entails: (1) flip the classroom so one-way curriculum delivery occurs ahead of class, (2) quickly ascertain whether students have understood key concepts, (3) utilize classroom time for group problem solving and project-based learning to improve understanding of key concepts, and (4) track whether learning has occurred. Because at least three of these four items require intensive use of technology, COVID’s forced shift to remote learning was a once-in-a-century opportunity to re-engineer courses to active learning…

Are there other changes that could change the way we currently imagine higher ed? And can we create a system that better serves students, parents and university employees in the process?

Find all the other conversations in our “Homeworked” series.

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