Re:Learning | A Message to College Leaders: Don’t Overlook Resources Right Under Your Nose

[THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION] #subscribelink [Subscribe Today]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Subscribe to The Chronicle today to get access to premium content and more.]( Re:Learning Tuesday, October 23, 2018 --------------------------------------------------------------- [Sign up for this newsletter]( I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education covering innovation in and around academe. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week: It’s easy to paint higher education as stagnant and unresponsive to changing times and the complexities of students’ lives, but that’s an inaccurate picture. In reality, there are tons of efforts underway — movements, even — that are already making an impact on students and the institutions they attend. Outside interests, such as foundations and investor-backed startups, often get the credit for stirring the pot on these developments. Of course, their money and clout bring influence. Yet existing projects can also be enormously important too. Innovation-minded college leaders overlook them at their peril. I was reminded of both of those realities last week at the California State University system’s [Graduation Initiative 2025 Symposium.]( I was invited to give a short talk on key national trends that could affect student success. From a long list of possibilities (among them: competency-based education, stackable credentials, experiential and problem-based learning, MOOCS — yes, MOOCs, they’re still a thing), I chose five: Data, disaggregated: By this I mean the push to look under the hood at student data to see how certain policies might be affecting students differently depending not only on their socioeconomic status but also on their race, ethnicity, and personal situation. This is not exactly a movement yet, and it’s an approach that can be fraught with unintended consequences. But as groups like the Education Trust have argued, [disparities in educational attainment aren’t all explained by income levels.]( Social-mobility metrics: Thanks to researchers like Raj Chetty and the [Equality of Opportunity Project]( we know a lot more these days about which colleges are engines of social mobility for their students. (Three Cal State campuses rank among [the top 20.)]( I’m not naive enough to think that these measures will supplant traditional rankings, but I do find it encouraging that social-mobility stats are getting more and more attention in the popular press, and even factored into the latest U.S. News rankings more than in the past. More significantly, social-mobility rankings are catching the attention of education philanthropists. Data analytics and its limits: For all the valuable information colleges and classroom instructors can glean from the data systems increasingly embedded in their learning-management systems, courseware, and even less-visible sources like wireless networks, many colleges haven’t yet wrestled with the many issues of ethics and privacy that arise from colleges’ embrace of big data. (Regular readers will probably find this theme familiar from[a past newsletter.]( However useful a data system is in helping a college identify students at risk, or an interactive textbook is in guiding a student through a hard-to-grasp concept, in the end, students aren’t inspired by apps. They’re inspired by people and their passions. The [“embedded for-profit”]( and hybridized business models: The nature of outsourcing in higher education is changing. It’s no longer just limited to the bookstore or the dining hall. Yet as colleges increasingly turn to outside companies to help them run and market their online programs, develop online advising systems, and manage how employers enroll their employees into academic programs, governance models haven’t caught up. Faculty, in particular, often aren’t deeply engaged in the oversight of these companies and other outside organizations playing a bigger role in activities that are at or near that academic core. Open educational resources: More and more institutions and instructors are now eschewing textbooks in favor of course materials that they can use free of charge, edit, and remix with other sources. I was especially eager to highlight this trend because of some recent studies showing how OER is becoming a force for affordability ([this study,]( for example, looked at two years of OER at 38 community colleges and found that students saved between $66 and $121 per course), and for better educational outcomes ([this study]( highlighted that lower-income students at the University of Georgia performed better academically thanks to OER). I also noted that the OER movement had become a force for change in the textbook-publishing industry. It has led to the creation of new kinds of companies designed to promote open-source content, such as Top Ha, Lumen Learning, and OpenStax, and even prompted some traditional companies, like Cengage, to introduce new pricing strategies. That’s all true. But as I was reminded after my talk, Cal State itself has actually been at this business for more than two decades, thanks to its own publishing project, known as MERLOT. Founded in 1997 — easily a decade before those other companies were even a glint in their founders’ eye —[MERLOT]( is now an organization of more than 157,000 faculty members, institutions, and university systems that offers more than 80,000 pieces of free peer-reviewed or crowd-source-reviewed course materials. I owe a debt of thanks to Gerry Hanley, executive director of MERLOT, for buttonholing me after my talk to remind me of the project. I didn’t realize the extent of its reach: More than 59,000 of its members are faculty members, and 50,000 are students. The organization is a repository of OER materials that helps individual professors and institutions evaluate them and make use of them. It works with all 23 Cal State campuses and claims credit for saving students a total of $45 million in textbooks last year. It works with other state systems too, and recently began working with historically black colleges and universities as well, with help from a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. For me, not knowing about all of MERLOT’s capabilities was just a little bit embarrassing. But it also made me realize how easily college leaders can miss resources right under their nose — and how costly that can be. Consider, for example, one of the findings from that study I cited above on OER usage at the community colleges: It found that costs for creating a new OER-based course could run from about $12,000 to $18,000 a course, depending on how many people were involved. OK, maybe those colleges needed each of those courses designed from scratch. Still, when I read that, I found myself wondering whether some of what they created might have already been available via MERLOT or other sources. Sometimes the best innovation is the one that someone else has already pioneered. What do you think? With the abundance of new educational approaches and ideas now circulating, do you share my impression that “not invented here” syndrome is an all-too- common phenomenon in higher education? Do you see it as a barrier to innovation? A driver of costs? Please share your thoughts — and even better, examples, if you have them. And while we’re at it, if you had to name five trends having the biggest impact on students, tell me what would yours be, and why? I’ll share what you’ve told me in a future newsletter. Got a tip you’d like to share or a question you’d like me to answer? Let me know at [goldie@chronicle.com.](mailto:goldie@chronicle.com) If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to see past editions or sign up to receive your own copy, you can do so [here.]( Goldie’s Weekly Picks From The Chronicle --------------------------------------------------------------- [One College Used Football to Win Fame. But What Has It Lost?]( [premium] By Emma Pettit On countless TV screens, Independence Community College stands for second chances. But to many people who live in the Kansas town, watching the show that made their town famous is like staring into a broken mirror. [MIT Plans $1-Billion Project to Develop Artificial Intelligence — and to Tackle Challenges the Technology Will Create]( By Lee Gardner Fueled by $650 million in gifts so far and 50 faculty hires, a new college will break down interdisciplinary silos and explore both the future and implications of the growing field. [There’s a Newfound Enthusiasm for Women’s Colleges. But Can They Keep It Going?]( [premium] By Cailin Crowe Social changes like the #MeToo movement have opened students’ eyes to the benefits of women’s colleges, their leaders say. Paid for and Created by Waseda [Ending Stigma in Japan]( The new Gender and Sexuality Center at Waseda University helps LGBT students feel welcome and secure on campus. 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