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This week, many of us are in recovery mode. The month of December is always packed, not just with holidays and festivities, but with the practical tasks of winding down one year and preparing for the next.
This really hit home as I was rereading a Fast Company piece on the future of higher ed. While the evolution of higher ed will extend far beyond 2016, colleges and universities are already grappling with short- and long-term changes.
The FastCompany piece proposed four key areas that will characterize higher education in the future:
- Degrees earned through a combination of online/on-campus experiences
- Increased emphasis on building tangible, workplace-focused skills
- Rise in interdisciplinary studies
- Shift from lecture-driven courses to project-based learning
It’s hard to argue with any of these projections, if you’ve been paying attention. And, they certainly reflect the needs of the modern workplace. The way that we learn and think has evolved much more quickly than the institution of higher education. Ultimately, these changes aim to better align with the realities of our society today and increase the value of a degree by boosting graduates’ skills in areas such as critical thinking, interpersonal/communications and problem solving.
So, that’s where we’re headed. How do we get there? Well, let’s all stay tuned. We’re in it together. And for now, Happy New Year!