A very predictable posture from Forbes. The focus here is on Harvard, but the subtext is: "Now that there's a global pandemic, the long awaited reckoning for higher education is finally here!" A few thoughts on this. #highered 1/13 https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonbusteed/2020/08/07/20-of-harvards-first-year-class-has-deferred/#596842da14a9

Forbes is raising alarms about students staying home in droves because Forbes is a business mag that wrongly believes students are desperate to emancipate themselves from traditional university education.

They are huge proponents of "disruption” in higher ed.

2/13

For example… 3/13

The conclusion of the above piece is that schools need to begin "offering new models and modalities" so that they can "solidify their future"

This is code for the fantastical online educational utopias regularly described in business magazine op-eds. 4/13

However, as many are learning for the first time, “disrupted" online ed. is not as advertised.

It's labor-intensive, and students aren't excited by it. Faculty are working HARDER and universities are SPENDING LARGE SUMS on necessary technologies. 5/13

Those calling for cheaper tuition for an online school year need to understand that educating people in this way COSTS MORE in terms of work hours and infrastructure investment.

Traditional education models are actually the bargain. 6/13

The #highered disruptor's dream was always about a passive revenue stream: small number of NON-UNIONIZED faculty, no expensive campus, and a theoretically limitless global enrolment.

That vision has repeatedly been revealed to be an illusion. 7/13

Faculty, like me, are consumed right now with redesigning our courses and concern for our students’ learning. But we need to be vigilant because these bad faith arguments on how the pandemic accelerates necessary "innovations" in higher ed are coming. 8/13

For instance, no one knows how the pandemic will affect enrolment, but the idea that anything happening at Harvard is "representative" of what is happening in higher ed. more broadly is silly.

Does having a wealthy family shape a student’s decision to take a year "off”? 9/13

I'm not suggesting that students will be eagerly showing up to campuses this fall. I don't think they should be coming to campuses.

We need to adopt remote learning right now out of necessity. But let's not pretend this is what students have long been clamouring for. 10/13

Online learning strikes me as a necessary strategy for this fall. I live in the safest part of North America where there are currently no active cases of COVID-19 (and 2 total deaths). We have been abundantly cautious and, not coincidentally, our campuses will be remote. 11/13

But my impressions from students (so far) is that, while they will muddle through this year like the rest of the world is doing, they are eager to get back to their brick-and-mortar classrooms, their squeaky chairs, their coffee kiosks, their friends and profs. 12/13

Anyway, just a reminder that Forbes is also the publication that, five days ago, was advising you to purchase a personal submarine. 13/13