Using Disruption

Workshop: Using Disruption to Stay on Course (for Liberal Education)

AAC&U 2014 Annual Convention, WEDNESDAY, January 22, 2:00-5:00 p.m.

Room: Farragut Square, Independence Level (5B), Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC

Today’s news headlines are filled with startling reports about U. S. higher education. Calls for dramatically reduced cost are paired with critiques of higher education outcomes, demands for jobs for graduates, and images of online learning (especially the massive open online course or MOOC) as the new magic bullet that will remake our system of higher education by bringing learning to the masses for free. But what do these developments have to do with institutions that focus on liberal education? How are liberal arts colleges and universities preserving a focus on their key missions and goals during a time of dramatic change in higher education?

This workshop will focus on technology-enabled disruptions challenging the traditional high touch liberal arts model—e.g., the massive open online course or MOOC, blended learning, big data, the globally networked world, etc.—and investigate creative responses that adapt these disruptions in service to the essential learning outcomes and high impact practices of liberal education. Participants will discuss disruptive innovations, examine cases of adaption to the liberal education context, and consider how they might implement such adaptions at their own institutions.

Agenda | Resources | Slides | Blog Post