New Models of Higher Education

Photo: Steven Mintz

"In recent years, a succession of new educational models have been held up as the future of higher education." summarizes Steven Mintz, the Executive Director of the University of Texas System’s Institute for Transformational Learning and a Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.

The next-generation university, we are told, will be built around flipped classrooms.  Or competency-based education. Or, perhaps, clicks will replace bricks, with instruction moving online.
Team-based learning, mentored research, collaborative education emphasizing peer-to-peer instruction, or problem-based learning – these, too, have been called the future of a post-secondary education.

Too often, a single model is deemed the solution to higher education’s challenges: high costs, deficient student engagement, or unsatisfactory graduation rates.
Instead of embracing a single solution, institutions might consider implementing differentiated paths to a degree.  Students, then, might choose the path that best reflects their needs and aspirations.
One might object: Doesn’t higher education already have a highly differentiated model?
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Source: Inside Higher Ed (blog)