"18. New models for higher education: collaborative learning and content creation
Without fundamental reform, universities will not be able to compete
with cheaper and more effective online education providers. While many
young people are still going to university, a growing portion of the
best and the brightest students have given up attending classes, because
the information is available in a more easily ingested form online.
Universities must shift their business model from the centuries-old
notion that a professor lectures students, to a more collaborative,
interactive model. Instead of being the "sage on the stage," teachers
should be the co-pilot for students as they explore and collaborate
online to acquire knowledge.
We also need an entirely new modus operandi for how the content of
higher education -- the subject matter, course materials, texts, written
and spoken word and other media -- is created. Rather than the old
textbook publishing model, which is both slow and expensive for users,
universities professors and other participants can contribute to an open
platform of world-class educational resources that students everywhere
can access throughout their lifetime.
How can leaders create a Global Network for Higher Learning? If
universities open up and embrace collaborative learning and
collaborative knowledge production, they have a chance of surviving and
even thriving in the networked, global economy."
