Blackboard Trend Report: 7/6/2018

Looking to learn more about what’s trending in education? Here’s a recap of some of this week’s top education news. Let us know what you think about this week’s news in the comments below.

The future of college education: Students for life, computer advisers and campuses everywhere
Washington Post
…One university thinking about those new models is the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2015, Georgia Tech formed a commission on the future of higher education, and its 48 members were asked to imagine what a public research institution might look like in 2040. (I joined the group as an adviser, along with Wayne Clough, president emeritus of Georgia Tech and former secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.)

How Faster + Cheaper Alternatives Will Replace Most of Higher Ed
Forbes
…Unresponsive, incoherent and expensive. That’s how Ryan Craig sees higher education. He’s a leading critic of the status quo and advocate for and investor in postsecondary innovation. The first third of Craig’s soon to be released book, A New U, convincingly outlines the problem starting with, “too much of a good thing.”

Reaching for the Cloud
Inside Higher Ed
Cloud-based IT services are becoming the norm in higher ed, but some colleges, particularly those with limited resources, may not be as far along on their “cloud journey” as one would think. Most institutions have moved to the cloud in “one form or another,” but there are relatively few institutions that have moved beyond adopting cloud-based software (known as software as a service, or SaaS) to cloud-based infrastructure and platforms (IaaS and PaaS, respectively).

Is the new education reform hiding in plain sight?
Hechinger Report
…Amid all the bellowing about charters, school choice and vouchers, a potentially more revolutionary reform movement is bubbling up. Philanthropists, state education officials, reform advocates — even charter school leaders — are examining personalized learning.

In Move Towards Nonprofit, Grand Canyon University Sells for $875M
EdSurge
… The move is the latest step in Grand Canyon University’s slow path towards reverting to a nonprofit institution. The Phoenix-based university was founded in 1949 as a nonprofit Christian college. But in 2004 Grand Canyon University found itself facing closure—with$20 million in debt—and with less than 1,000 students, and switched to become a for-profit institution.

Doubling Down on Wholly Online? Consider the Risks 
Eduventures
Within an overall higher education market in the midst of enrollment decline, online higher education is growing—with room to spare. Distance education programs in the U.S. now comprise of 14% of total student enrollment, and in 2016 76% of domestic, degree granting higher education institutions reported at least one distance education enrollment.

Leaders zero in on helping nontraditional students succeed 
Education Dive
Brandman University President Gary Brahm says the needs of nontraditional students are very different than those of traditional students. And though there is some consensus that nontraditional is the new traditional, many institution leaders are still struggling with how to adjust their business models to accommodate this wave of students on traditional campuses.

College Transparency Act Builds Momentum 
Inside Higher Ed
Senator John Cornyn last week quietly signed on to a bill that would overturn the ban on a federal postsecondary student-level data system. Advocates for the College Transparency Act say the Texas Republican’s support doesn’t just mean one more co-sponsor for the legislation. The decision by Cornyn, the second-ranking GOP senator, also suggests the kind of bipartisan support that could make stronger federal data inevitable.

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