17 Questions Every College Should Be Asking

The Atlantic ^ | 9-4-19 | Ben sasse

[DeweyCA]

4. Every college needs to understand its positioning ..., but critics argue that most schools are content to compete with “identical mediocrity but better gyms.” For what, with whom, and on what dimensions should our institution compete?

5. What is quality, and how should it be measured? Are our programs rigorous enough? Are our students learning enough? Should we care about (and seek to measure somehow) their development outside the classroom?

6. If we were building from scratch, would we make almost every program the same four-year duration? If not, how would we know how long each program should be? Should we unbundle how our credentials work—making them less clumpy by giving a credential at the end of each year, or at some other, more frequent interval?

7. We're witnessing the emergence of high-quality, low-cost ways of learning online. How should we think about hybrid curricular options—that is, the mixing of new forms of pedagogy with old—that might be available to us? How will this affect the residential model?

9. Given the likelihood of more demand for education from mid-career students, fed by the ongoing technological disruption of the workforce, will the expanded supply of mid-career education come mostly from existing elite schools, existing non-elite schools, non-schools becoming schools, or newly created schools?

11. Should we have more differentiated types of faculty roles? Should we create new tracks for faculty members who are able to harness technology to teach hundreds or thousands of students—both residential and remote? Should these roles be tenured? Should the potential compensation be higher?

14. If the state’s community colleges could be folded into our system, would you want them? Why or why not?

16. How should the university balance advancing the educational attainment of the state’s current residents against addressing the state’s long-term workforce needs?

[bert]

The school of design produces architects and product designers.