{"id":26661,"date":"2013-09-13T10:08:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T17:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=26661"},"modified":"2013-09-16T15:54:39","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T22:54:39","slug":"nau-ahead-game-transformative-era-higher-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-ahead-game-transformative-era-higher-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU \u2018ahead of the game\u2019 in transformative era of higher ed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"George
George Mehaffy addresses a crowd of about 180 faculty and staff during his Sept. 11 presentation at the High Country Conference Center. Photo by Gretta Miller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northern Arizona University is leading the country in the innovation agenda during a \u201cliberating\u201d time for public higher education, according to a prominent authority who addressed the campus Wednesday.<\/p>\n

George Mehaffy, vice president for Academic Leadership and Change at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C., spoke to about 180 faculty and staff gathered at the High Country Conference Center for his presentation on \u201cPeril and Promise in a New Age<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This \u201cnew age,\u201d he said, is the result of power shifting away from traditional institutions of higher learning as students assert more control over where and how they take their courses, coupled with increased competition in the marketplace from start-up companies like Udacity and Coursera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a three-part problem,\u201d Mehaffy said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to educate more students than ever before, we\u2019ve got to educate them to much higher levels of learning outcomes and we\u2019ve got to do it at a lower cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cited a number of critical challenges compounding the problem, including an 11th century educational approach that is \u201chideously expensive\u201d and based on a funding model that is broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the trends since 1980, state support for higher education will reach zero by 2059,\u201d he said. \u201cIn other words, we won\u2019t have public institutions in this country any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps most troubling, he said, is that \u201cwe are losing the public opinion battle\u201d as more Americans question the value of a college degree and whether the education received is worth the cost.<\/p>\n

Mehaffy said traditional course models that rely on individual faculty members to design a course, deliver the course and assess the course also are unsustainable. \u201cYou cannot get scale out of that proposition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In spite of the challenges, though, Mehaffy sees opportunity and remains optimistic, calling this \u201cthe century of education,\u201d during which more human beings will be better educated than at any time in the history of humankind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only question left is, who will be the providers?\u201d he asked the crowd. \u201cFor us to be the providers, we have to be willing to look at and examine and throw out everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mehaffy proposed that new course models\u2014such as flipped courses, math emporiums, cross-institutional collaborations and blended courses\u2014have shown improved learning outcomes, increased student\/faculty interaction and instructional efficiencies, all of which is prompting institutions to quit thinking about courses and start thinking about experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a student comes to NAU, particularly a residential student, it\u2019s about the totality of the experience, and all of it ought to be intentional on your part,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other areas where universities should focus their attention include using analytics to learn more about what makes students successful and to track course success; tailoring instructional materials and approaches to individual learners; reducing costs, from textbooks to clearing pathways to degree completion; defining and assessing learning outcomes as a measure of success; and exploring changes in administrative practices and faculty work.<\/p>\n

Transforming the institution to give it a strategic advantage offers \u201cenormous liberation\u201d for faculty, students and others \u201cwho have been shackled by constraints of legacy systems,\u201d Mehaffy said. But he cautioned that it will take a great deal of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is enormous. We have a confusion of purposes, distorted reward structures, limited success, high costs, massive inefficiencies and profound resistance to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The good news, he said, is that NAU is ahead of the game as a model for innovation. He applauded the “attention to evidence” that was on display in the room for an exhibition showcasing ways that faculty and departments are changing traditional institutional structures.\u00a0But the work is far from finished. Each institution must identify its unique value. Likewise, he challenged attendees to consider the value they add to the institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership is not just the president,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people have to be leaders in order for an institution to truly be transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ultimate question, he said, is whether that transformation can take place in time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just a difficult moment. This is the dawn of a new era,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Arizona University is leading the country in the innovation agenda during a \u201cliberating\u201d time for public higher education, according to a prominent authority who addressed the campus Wednesday. George Mehaffy, vice president for Academic Leadership and Change at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C., spoke to about 180 faculty…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":26662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-editors"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}