Is Higher Ed Asking the Wrong Questions?

During a time of crisis, people are prone to focus on the tactical, but what we know already suggests we should be thinking longer-term and for greater disruption, writes José Antonio Bowen.

THREAD 1/6

#HIGHERED

Rather than ask how to preserve the residential campus as it is (e.g. how do we assign a toilet seat to every student or eliminate all the doorknobs?), here are scarier but better questions to raise when preparing for the coming uncertainty:

THREAD 2/6

1/6 How might we cope with one, two or five years of no vaccine?

2/6 How might we realign our products, budgets and delivery for a radically different world where people’s behaviour is changed -- perhaps forever?

THREAD 3/6

3/6 How might we completely rethink the college experience without dorms, parties and dining halls?

4/6 How might we pivot to more local students and issues (since local areas will be more easily isolated and adaptable in geographically shifting infection waves)?

THREAD 4/6

5/6 How might we use this disruption as an opportunity for more equity?

6/6 How might we do something distinctive with the potential for a greater value?

THREAD 5/6

Note that the “how might we” formation suggests possibility, which hopefully subverts our cognitive tendency to ignore, resist or deny emotionally threatening ideas.

No one asks for a second opinion when the news is good.

THREAD 6/6 - ENDS