Dive Brief:
- Inside Higher Ed reports on plans at the University of Vermont College of Medicine to revamp its academic approach, replacing traditional classroom lectures with video instruction and application-based learning with in-person "active learning" settings.
- The model follows a Stanford University-piloted program which suggested that medical training could be best delivered through a flipped classroom system, which has been replicated at other medical schools throughout the country. But some observers are concerned that dramatic shifts in the style could potentially jeopardize accreditation standards and metrics.
- Vermont will redesign the school's pedagogical system thanks to a $66 million gift given to the college from retired physician Robert Larner.
Dive Insight:
The private donation to the school to help revamp its medical curriculum shows the kind of engagement Vermont is making with donors to suggest new ways of doing business in a changing industry, and how students and society can benefit from these changes.
This is the lesson taught by outgoing Stanford University President John Hennessy, who raised billions over the course of his career. In many ways, it is the same lesson taught by for-profit colleges, which first recognized the need for convenience and open access in higher education, something that the federal government is now trying to slow, but is simultaneously encouraging along specific areas of industry. It is up to higher education executives to find the happy medium between innovative thinking and industrial risk-taking in areas of finance and accreditation solvency.