New Educational Institution
Higher education, particularly at the four-year undergraduate level, faces challenges on many fronts today, including cost, value, equity, and relevance.
Academia would be well served to confront these challenges and shape new models to ensure that the attributes that make education valuable are preserved as academia evolves. We believe that there is a fundamental difference between education and training, between a job skill and a life skill, and between operating and creating.
If academia leaves a vacuum, the solutions that emerge will likely blur these lines, and society will be the poorer for it. However, the runway is limited. The economic model of educational institutions, precarious to begin with, is hardly popular with students, parents, and the media. COVID caused a further disruption; remote education replaced the in-person teaching out of necessity during the pandemic, but tuition fees were not generally reduced.
This highlighted a question that will linger for years after the pandemic: If remote education is worth the tuition, then what is the worth of college?
The question we address in our white paper is how educational institutions can evolve alternate models that can overcome some of these challenges.
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Schedule
November 15, 2022
9:00 a.m. Opening Comments
Professor Sanjay Sarma (MIT) and paper co-author will give opening talking points on Project NEI.
9:15 a.m. Keynote
We will hear from Richard Miller (Olin College) who has spent more than four decades at five institutions gaining insights and building experience in leading positive change in higher education.
9:50 a.m. Panel - Value of College
Our panelists and moderator will discuss the value of college and how it has shifted over the last few years.
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David Kaiser, MIT (moderator)
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Michael Horn, Author
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David Autor, MIT
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Anna Stansbury, MIT
10: 50 a.m. Panel - Building a Business Model
Our panelists will discuss how higher education can scale new ideas for better equity and a more affordable education.
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SP Kothari, MIT (moderator)
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Michael Crow, Arizona State University
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Lynn Wooten, Simmons College
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Alison Byerly, Carleton College
11: 50 a.m. Keynote
We will hear from keynote speaker Michael Sorrell (Paul Quinn College) who will discuss his unique experiences as President of Paul Quinn College.
12: 30 p.m. Panel - Curriculum and Pedagogy
Our panel will focus on the use of online learning as well as coops and hands-on education as sources of creating a new curiculum.
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Daniel Jackson, MIT (moderator)
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Mary Shaw, Carnegie Mellon University
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Carl Wieman, Stanford University
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Eric Mazur, Harvard University
1: 30 p.m. Panel - The Humanities
Our panelists will discuss the importance of the Humanities in an increasingly digital curriculum.
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Diana Henderson, MIT (moderator)
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Catherine Clark, MIT
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Melissa Nobles, MIT
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Shankar Raman, MIT
2:30 p.m. Closing Comments
Professor Sanjay Sarma of MIT will wrap the day's events and take any further attendee questions on the day, the paper, or other higher education topics.