I’m still resting after three exhausting but exhilarating days in San Diego at the annual ASU + GSV Summit, which brings together more than 6,000 ed-tech executives, financiers in the space, and educators in K-12 and higher ed to talk about innovation and the future of education. As Quentin McAndrew of Coursera put it during a panel I was on: it’s a lot of “extraverting.” Yes, it is.
But the summit, as always, was a good way to connect with people face-to-face and understand what’s happening in the larger education ecosystem.
What did I learn? Here are the excerpts from the notebook I posted to LinkedIn. Feel free to join in the conversation there in the comments.
🤹♂️ Higher ed needs to stop trying to make big bets on the side of their desk and with pennies from the cushions. If something is a priority, make it one by stopping the dozen other things that aren’t.
🤔 The talent bench, governance, and financial models of higher ed aren’t designed for the moment.
📜 We’re too caught up in the language of legacy degrees and credits. Let’s focus on outcomes. That could be 90 credits, 120, a micro-credential, a degree. Worry less about the names and more about the on- and off-ramps.
🚨 But the degree still matters, eventually. As one military veteran in one session said: when he got the degree, he felt like a different person and family thought he was different, too.
🤖 AI, AI, AI. No, we’re not hyping it. But even people we think should know where this is going, in honest moments over three days last week, said they didn’t. How can we help students complement technology? AI will also create new jobs. How can higher ed be part of that job creation?
🥊 Don’t let private-equity firms and the big tech companies control AI. Just like higher ed had a seat at the table during the development of the internet, higher ed needs to control its own destiny.
💪 We need more talent in higher ed. Even when the data tell us what to do, we don’t have people to implement change.
🤝 Trust. Fewer people trust higher ed, yet we still think we’re insulated from what has happened in every other industry. Reminds me of 1995, when newspapers didn’t think the internet would impact us because we were a public trust and everyone would want to get a dead tree on their doorstep.
💰 Affordability matters more than ever.
🏈 Higher ed needs to be more accessible. I landed at a great dinner with former NFL players, who are part of the Pro Athlete Community, trying to bring mentorship, education, and professional development to retired athletes.
For more coverage from ASU + GSV:
🎧 Listen to Inside Higher Ed’s The Key podcast, which has excerpts of editor Doug Lederman’s excellent panel about stackable and alternative credentials with American Council on Education’s Ted Mitchell, Boise State University’s Marlene Tromp, Hunter College’s Ann Kirschner, and ASU’s Maria Anguiano.
🖥️ Watch my main stage panel about the massive experiment in Texas with embedding credentials into legacy degrees with J.B. Milliken, chancellor of the University of Texas System, and Jeff Maggioncalda, the CEO of Coursera.
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