Next Campus

This is some really interesting data by Brandon Busteed. Two-thirds of the largest global companies (by annual revenues) are publicly traded. One takeaway could be that "business" and education are moving in opposite directions. In business - the largest are public and then there is a large volume just under the biggest that are private (the 90% of all firms with >$100mm ARR that are private). In education, it's the opposite - the largest (SNHU, WGU, etc.) are private (except ASU) with a large volume just under the biggest that are public (the long list of state colleges and universities). Two questions: 1 - would others agree with this analysis? 2 - what does it mean?

Too much of tech is about removing friction. How about for education and technology, focusing on adding friction? I just finished Laurence Holt’s simple and brilliant book “The Science of Tutoring”. Ever read a 450 page non-fiction book that could have been an article? This book is exactly NOT that. It’s 69 pages, designed to feel nice to the touch, and a perfect blend of research and storytelling. One takeaway it has me dwelling on - so much of good tutoring (and of good LEARNING!) is about getting the learner to dwell on, engage, grapple with, struggle with, persist at a topic just a little bit longer. To sit with their question or confusion and…make sense of it. Let’s contrast this with so much of tech (including edtech) that is about removing friction. It is usually some variation on faster/easier. What does tech enabled learning look like that purposefully adds friction? What does edtech look like that identifies and encourages struggle and promotes persistence? In your eyes, what education products do this best? As humans are too well wired to take the easier path, is this even possible?

Where are the half a million 18-year olds left behind by FAFSA technical failures going this fall? FAFSA completions are making a late stage comeback - closing the gap from 2023 by almost 100,000 in the last week (GOOD news). FAFSA completions are still 477k short of where they were this time last year (BAD news). While the story isn't written yet, any good data sources on where this group is likely headed come August/September? ▶ Hypothesis 1️⃣ - entering the workforce ▶ Hypothesis 2️⃣ - entering a degree pathway (AA or BA) without full info on cost/financial aid ▶ Hypothesis 3️⃣ - enrolling in a short(er) term credential (bootcamp, trades, etc.) ▶ Hypothesis 4️⃣ - enrolling in "uncredentialed" learning (gap year, study abroad, etc.) 🔅 What are people seeing? ✳ What is early enrollment telling us? ✴ What do you all think will happen? ⤵ link to the FAFSA current data tracker in the comments

Anyone remember when LinkedIn had those 10 question multiple choice quizzes about different durable skills (communication, teamwork, critical thinking, etc.)? If you passed the quiz, you’d earn the skill on your profile. In a world of horrendous durable skill credentialing (see above - LinkedIn quiz) I’m happy to see microcredentials applied to liberal arts education (see linked article). Most simply, the liberal arts are the study of how to be a better person. By credentialing the skills learned through the liberal arts, colleges and universities have the opportunity to actually credential durable skills well. As they’re skills (and therefore by definition a practice and not just theory), I hope these credentials at University of Colorado Boulder (School of Music), University at Buffalo, Purdue Global, and Allegheny College are earned through doing - practice and demonstration of competence - and not just passively listening to theory. Durable skill credentialing is rare. Even rarer is durable skill credentialing done well. What organizations or companies stand out in durable skill credentialing right now? https://lnkd.in/gkbHE8q3

𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗙𝗔𝗙𝗦𝗔 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸? 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 The FAFSA chaos is driving anticipated significant decreases in fall college and university enrollment. I would like to see it be a wakeup call for post secondary institutions to reinvent their business models. Brandon Busteed wrote an outstanding profile in Forbes in the fall that feels all the more relevant now. (link in comments) Brandon describes the “Greatest Degree Program Ever” - an Online Master of Science in Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology. The stats: ▶ $7,000 for the entire degree (all in!) ▶ 12,000 students currently enrolled. Over 10 years the program has over 8,600 alumni. ▶ 96% of alumni would recommend the program to others. ▶ More than 80% of alumni said it aided their career progression - 55% started new jobs since completing their degree and 38% were promoted at their current workplace. The above is impressive but the more exciting piece is it’s replicable. Brandon breaks down the recipe for highly effective programs like this: 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗲: 1️⃣ 𝘈 𝘵𝘰𝘱 50-𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 - I’d broaden this to a trusted post-secondary brand as I think it can and should be applied beyond just the most elite 50 institutions. 2️⃣ 𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦-𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 - new examples might be AI, cyber, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare. 3️⃣ 𝘈 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 - the Georgia Tech masters tuition is 85% less than what I paid 20 years ago! 4️⃣ 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 - connecting college and career. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: What I found most inspirational and actionable is how this began - a design challenge to faculty to build a masters program with tuition of $1,000 - ideas generated by the actual practitioners with a clear cost constraint. Many years ago I worked for a leadership school running semester length programs for college students. In 2013 I was inspired by a conversation with Marc Randolph that the school needed to create Toyota Corolla products (high quality + cheap) and less Lexuses (high cost and luxury). That same year we ran our own design challenge - build a semester experience equal in price to the local in-state university semester tuition. The result the following year - 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁. So how about it post-secondary institutions!?! I would love to see a renaissance of design challenges…and let’s see some challenging and disruptive price constraints!