Disruptions in Education

Catalog description

This course explores the $4 trillion postsecondary education industry, focusing on spaces where disruptions of all kinds present significant opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs, investors, and education businesses, as well as for faculty, students, and traditional higher education institutions and their leaders. The core of the course is at the intersection of the future of learning and the future of work. We will explore how and where all adults can develop skills that can be validated by the labor market and allow them to engage in meaningful work, support themselves, and contribute to society. Using a variety of readings and case studies to better understand recent disruptions across the postsecondary landscape, from outside and inside the academy, both for-profit and nonprofit, the course will examine the future of the degree and alternatives to traditional credentials; accreditation and non-market forces; competency based education; affordability, student debt, and education financing models; artificial intelligence and its impact on learning; investing in the education space; upskilling and lifelong learning; and tertiary products and platforms that serve the educational services market. Guest speakers will include entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs; education leaders and policy makers; and investors.