The future of higher ed

I recently read an article in The Atlantic about the future of college, in particular the Minerva Project. As the name suggests, it's still a work in progress, but Minerva is an accredited college trying to change the face of education. The classes are all online, but it differentiates itself from a Coursera or Kahn Academy by 1) not being free 2) limiting to 19 kids in a class and 3) having a technology platform that requires participants to be actively engaged in their classes. Minerva also has dorms - it's first in San Francisco - but the plan is to open them up around the world to allow students to not only take class but also to experience different environments and cultures.

The whole idea is kind of fascinating because if it works the whole notion of what a college education means could drastically change. It got me thinking about my college years at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. I sat in a number of huge lectures (200+ kids) doodling in my notebook (yes, I went to college before everyone was bringing laptops to class) and only half paying attention. I can probably count on two hands the number of classes that had a real impact on me. My older and wiser self likes the idea that Minerva is really designed to get you to learn and think. It assumes that there is a great deal of information available to you on the internet that you can go find for yourself and focuses on teaching you the nuances that can't be googled. But if you had asked me whether I had that much focus at the age of 18, I would have said heck no! College for me was a place to grow-up, meet new people, decide the kind of person I wanted to be, test my judgment and my values. Sure I learned some things in the classroom, but I learned so much more from people who were interested and interesting. While I'm not sure that is worth the University price tag, I always thought Madison as a community gave me an incredible education. I worry that an online education eliminates that valuable piece. There are already a generation of young professionals who never pick up the phone at work to quickly solve a problem, instead they prefer the back and forth of a dozen emails - simply because they aren't used to communicating any other way. We are so wrapped up in making things more efficient as a society - utilizing technology to be faster and better - but at what cost? Learning how to communicate without the protection that technology provides is essential to us as a society. Let's not forget that.