Amid the buzz that digital and online-learning will revolutionize traditional classrooms, Education’s Digital Future is pushing the pause button on all the hype. Now in its second year of programming, the initiative from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education is helping people understand and navigate the shifting education landscape — and raising big questions about the tech boom’s political and ethical implications for the future of schooling.
Launched in 2012, Education’s Digital Future has established the GSE as a hub for critical discussion about the future of education in the digital era. In its first year, the initiative offered a broad introduction to issues of online learning through its open courses and public forums, drawing a lively crowd eager to participate in the conversation — from students, faculty and local educators to policymakers, venture capitalists and edtech leaders. That dialogue has also sparked other large questions that organizers plan to explore this academic year — and many of the issues are not just technical.
“We learned just how much hunger there is for critical discussion about the digital revolution in education, and how impoverished the national conversation is about education as a public good,” said co-convener Mitchell Stevens, an associate professor of education. “The latter is a priority for us this year. How will places like Stanford preserve public trust and the enormous investment the nation has made in higher education, even while the sector sees more and more investment from private capital?”
Higher Education and Society (EDUC 355x), a course offered by Education’s Digital Future throughout the 2013-14 academic year, seeks to shed some light on this fundamental question. Taught by Stevens this fall, the course examines the political economy of U.S. higher education through a primarily sociological lens, with particular attention to the organizational, financial and political challenges facing higher education institutions today. Members of the general public are invited to attend any or all of the weekly sessions, and Stevens has posted the course syllabus and reading materials online to encourage broader participation.
Fall public forums
As part of EDUC 355x, Education’s Digital Future will host two public forums this fall: “Is Higher Education a Business?” and “The Art and Science of Online Learning Environments” on Oct. 15 and Nov. 19, respectively. Both forums will take place at the CERAS Learning Hall and are scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
“Is Higher Education a Business?” will explore the effects of the increasingly entrepreneurial higher education landscape on students, parents and academic professionals, as well as what it means for the legacy of higher education as a public good. The panel will feature speakers Jonathan Feiber, general partner of Mohr Davidow Ventures; David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford professor of comparative literature and undergraduate program director of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity; Amin Saberi, founder and CEO of NovoEd; and Linda Thor, chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.
The Nov. 19 panel, “The Art and Science of Online Learning Environments,” will examine the technical and creative skills required to craft online learning environments that are scientifically sound, productive of learning, and pleasurable to experience. Speakers include Greg Niemeyer, director and co-founder of the Berkeley Center for New Media, and Candace Thille, an assistant professor of education at Stanford and founding director of Carnegie Mellon University’s famed Open Learning Initiative. A new addition to the GSE faculty, Thille has joined initiative organizers Stevens and Professor Roy Pea as a co-convener of Education’s Digital Future.
The initiative is as active online as the class itself. Organizers are posting daily website updates about the latest in digital learning, keeping the EDF Twitter feed busy, and engaging with enrolled students in online forums on the Piazza platform. Organizers are also considering linking other courses as cognates of Education’s Digital Future for the winter and spring quarters.
To learn more about Education’s Digital Future and its offerings, visit https://edf.stanford.edu/.
Amy Yuen writes frequently for the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
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