Dive Brief:
- Technology will inevitably become ubiquitous in higher education and is likely to impact the way institutions teach students, write the authors of a report from education research group Ithaka S+R. As the student body is more consistently mid-career professionals seeking further credentials, the business case for quality online and hybrid programs is clear; and, competition is growing as the number of unique providers increase.
- Institutions must do more to assess how technology can benefit the needs of faculty while improving student outcomes. The authors suggest two ways of doing this: finding the right approach so technology handles repetitive tasks, while saving faculty interaction for high-value engagement. And, technology should be targeted to reach more students, which also increases demand for faculty members — helping instructors feel they won't be replaced.
- The report offers four key "next steps" for institutions: Engage faculty in a dialogue on and with the experimentation process for new technology; assess how the technology can provide education to new students outside the traditional campus; collect and assess data on student outcomes to measure success; and study best practices in dealing with vendors, understanding the implications of incorporating ed tech into the curriculum.
Dive Insight:
Effectively scaling digital technologies and hybrid online programs requires institutions to make substantial financial and time investments in areas like instructor training, learning management systems and student supports — which means they may not work, especially if they're not thought through strategically.
Education Dive spoke with Kevin Guthrie, president of Ithaka and lead author of the report. He said though technology is not a substitute for face-to-face instruction, "technology possibilities are ahead of the softer side of the implementation challenges for institutions. That has to do with processes that perhaps don't fit in on a campus, the way that faculty work and the way students work."
"It's clear technology may be able to help those outcomes — but they are hard to realize because of the softer side issues right now," he said.
Guthrie added that finding the right balance between on-ground classes that can be scaled online is going to be a challenge for a lot of institutions.
For institutions to adopt technological practices more effectively, he said, it's important for stakeholders to share best practices. The issue of scaling an innovation is exacerbated by the fact that successes are often one-off instances, and not repeatable or studied — which makes it even more important for institutions to share information.
In terms of who institutions should focus on throughout technological adoption, Guthrie said faculty members and underserved students. "Finding enthusiastic faculty that are influential and helping them try these new things to demonstrate if they can be successful is huge. Faculty will disengage from the technology if they don't find value in it," he said.
"And, I think some institutions — some are doing it more than others — are really looking at ways they can reach out to a community they have not traditionally served," he continued. "These technologies have the potential to expand an education to those people who have not been able to get it before, and doing this gives the innovation added purpose."