It’s quite interesting how we are talking about new technologies. AI, Blockchain as well as opportunities for new business models and how they can potentially disrupt the world we are living in. But what is happening (or not happening) in front of our eyes?
Maybe one of the most ‘old school’ business models is the business model of a university, and also Erasmus University is still using it as of today. Students come in, they absorb knowledge and in the end they graduate (hopefully). Basically faculties are producers and student the consumers. Pretty easy right. The thing is, tuition fees won’t stop rising and student preferences on how to learn have developed in multiple directions over the years. And of course, for some the best way to learn is via the ‘old school’ way, but given the time we are living in we can say that universities (in general) are not the early-adopters of new technologies. But what if they would?
For example, providing virtual university programs can save up to 50% of the costs in tuition fees, which results in spending significantly less on studying. The University of Pennsylvania already started with offering full-online bachelor’s and master’s programs (Pranam, 2019). And a company like AT&T even invested 2 million dollars for their “desire to democratise education by expanding beyond physical class sizes”. Universities start to see the potential of offering ‘knowledge’ in a digital way, but they better see the potential since “25% of the universities are expected to fail in the next 20 years due to heavy losses incurred by pricy facilities and declining student registration”. Although this was expected to happen in America, this could also cause serious threats for universities in other countries.
This is where AI comes in. As Pranam describes: “For students that don’t thrive in the regular classroom setting, AI-enabled learning management systems (LMS) can deploy surveys to categorize individuals into distinct learning buckets (e.g. visual, auditory, text), which can provide effective and targeted content that fits with each preferred learning style. Beyond just identification of preferences, the platforms can also break down long-form lectures and reading assignments into smaller, atomic components that are easily digestible.” these influences can help students in studying way more efficient and effective. And also for foreign students that face a serious language barrier, AI can help with the means of deep-learning systems that are able to translate any language into a student’s native language in real-time (Brynjolfsson and Mcafee, 2017). AI can help a lot in education, and it time to see change, also within the world universities.
What do you think about innovations within universities and what (disruptive) path they should take in the future? What should Erasmus do?
References:
Scott, R. (2019). The Business Model of Higher Education. [online] Higheredjobs.com. Available at: https://www.higheredjobs.com/blog/postDisplay.cfm?post=1607&blog=22 [Accessed 7 Oct. 2019].
Pranam, A. (2019). Transforming Online Learning With Artificial Intelligence. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/aswinpranam/2019/10/04/transforming-online-learning-with-artificial-intelligence/?ss=ai#264c70a8432e [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].
Brynjolfsson, E., and Mcafee, A. 2017. The business of artificial intelligence: what it can and cannot do for your organization. Harvard Business Review.
Interesting article! I was always a bit skeptical about online study programs as I see a threat of people sharing the content and/or lecture videos outside the university. Beside other illegal digital content on websites like The PirateBay, we may see the rise of student-related material (if it isn’t there yet). I’m wondering in what way educational institutions can tackle this digital threat as it undermines their ability to capture value from those who illegally acquire their content. Maybe something like a watermark or digital footprint with identifiable data/information can be implemented in the course material and lecture videos.
Hi Jeroen,
interesting article that concerns us all as students. I believe that virtual university programs do have some benefits, however I don’t think it is the best way to educate students.
The benefits are clear, reducing cost because you no longer need physical locations, and adapting a specific program for each particular student to enable them to learn in their own pace in their own way. But I also so huge cons. First of all, by having virtual programs the responsibility is completely in the hands of a student, I think a student is responsible for his own trajectory but the university also has a role in guiding a student during his study. Besides that I think students can get socially isolated because they never have to go to school. Additionally, I think you do not only learn from the content of a lecture but also from discussing content with your fellow students and by interacting with the professor, this interaction is not there when having virtual programs.
Concluding, I see huge benefits for partially integrating virtual classes in universities, nevertheless I think there still needs to be a physical presence for students at university to prevent them to become socially isolated and to ensure interaction and communication between fellow students and students and professors.
Hi Emiel,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I do agree with you that there are also a lot of cons. However, the first point you raised about giving the study responsibility in complete hands of students is pretty much how it is organised today right? Lecturers do not really care if you are there or not, all lecture content is posted online and you have to be in class for roughly 10 hours a week. I do not see so much change there. The other point that you raised is really on point, I also think that when you are you are just following virtual programs you have more chances of actually getting socially isolated. I think that group discussions and group work really benefit in a personal setting when compared to a virtual one. However, in virtual programs they also offer ways to actually work together or peer-reviewing is part of the course so this still means a sort of discussion with your peers. But overall I agree with you, I also think that studying needs physical presence to learn in the most optimal way. Next to that, I think it is really relevant to actually be there in person since you also learn a lot of soft-skills that you will never learn behind your desk. And you will also need these later on on the work-floor in the future. So the best think to do is actually offering a hybrid solution in my opinion, where you mix different styles of learning. Like giving presentations yourself, doing group work, virtual lectures, normal lectures and workshops for example. This way you will learn the most I think.
Hi Anouar,
Thank you for your comment! I actually very sceptical as well, and the points that you raised here are very valid. This could indeed be a major problem for education institutions. Maybe blockchain technology could help in this? By safely encrypting study material that is verified across the blockchain network, could imply that is would me impossible to illegally acquire content of these educational educations. This could be an idea in my opinion? But the solutions that you mentioned could also be possible, however I think that these watermarks are very subjective in a sense that is not protected well enough in a digital environment I think. Adding a digital footprint would do the trick as well I guess.
Great content Jeroen! It will be interesting how the next generation will react to having to attend an actual school to get their studies done.. I’ve worked in the industry for quite some time and as part of the studies we conducted, we were able to see that there is a clear shift in trends towards online, tuition-free academies such as “Khan Academy”. In the US, there is a trend which is starting to grow among young parents which consists basically of home schooling their kids through iPads and free-access educational platforms. It will be fun to see how higher education registrations will be affected from here to a few years, when these kids have to decide if they want to move to a regular campus or continue doing their studies from home while working or developing other skills.
Hi Ernst!
Thank you! And thanks for sharing your thoughts! Interesting insights, I wasn’t completely aware of the fact that they were that far already in the US. But very interesting, since this will at the end lead to the decision that you pointed out, do want to have a ‘real university experience’ or a ‘home experience of studying’, I think that in the end a lot of people would still choose for the first option, just because studying will get boring if you are always at the same place without seeing other people. Like Emiel also commented, chances of social isolation are becoming way higher than and I think that is not what we all want, educating pure individuals that don’t know how to communicate with other people. This will be really weird later on on the job market I suppose.
Interesting read! I think already considering regular ‘digital methods’ such as recording lectures so students can watch them in a time that suits them would benefit the student body greatly. I do think the fact that they are starting to use digital exams now is already improving its ‘customer experience’ (if you see students as the university’s customer) as it will enable the university to check the exams more easily and present students faster with results. I do believe, however, that it should always maintain some offline aspects as asking the professor questions in real life, is in my opinion still more valuable than doing this online, especially for more complicated cases.
Hi Gabriëlle,
Thank you for your comment! I do agree with you, it is very helpful to offer recorded lectures to students since they can also watch the content again, which is a huge benefit. And also the fact of offering digital exams can help a lot, actually it saves time on both sides of the spectrum and at the end students will receive their grade quicker, and that’s is what we all want.
Next to that, I also think that having the possibility to ask questions in person could help a lot in the learning experience. Via email or any other resource you can’t really bring over what you question is in the more difficult cases. I think, that in the end, we will notice a lot of digital ‘help’ in processes of universities but that the physical aspect of a university will never disappear. But who knows, maybe I’m wrong?