New Models and New Opportunities in Higher Education

02/07/20 • 10 min

Education Futures

Previous Episode

Things Aren't Always What They Seem to Be

These days, any popular apparatus or device is a good candidate to become a content and services channel. We’ve seen it with computers, smartphones, and cars. Not surprisingly, we’re seeing the same trend evolve with high ed institutions, as their local infrastructure is being transformed into a powerful channel to reach new audiences across the globe.
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Perceptual illusions occur everywhere, including nature, art, and education. As humans, we are susceptible to them because we generally insist on mapping what we perceive to what we are most familiar with, what we are experiencing right now.
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Government-subsidized, free-tuition plans are popular with both politicians and higher ed institutions. After all, who doesn’t like a free lunch? The problem is that these programs remove incentives for institutions to compete, innovate, and work toward truly affordable and sustainable solutions.

Next Episode

Obstacles and Opportunities for Disruption in Education

What can education learn from online dating and e-commerce platforms? Simplicity and reduced friction. Making education easy to access and easy to use is an important key to success in the coming decade.
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We’re seeing a good, three-pronged strategy for market disruption in the food industry. New methods of production, new methods of distribution, and new merchandising. How will existing education institutions respond and/or adapt?
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A recent report on mobile web traffic by SimilarWeb reminds us of the modified user behavior influenced by mobile modalities. After all, even large smartphone devices still have that fits-in-one-hand form factor. It’s interesting to think about how education, with its big screen and big-stage mentality, will adapt to “smaller” in the next decade.