Explores the current context, role, and challenges of post-secondary education and presents options for promising pathways forward.



The post-secondary educational system has undergone dramatic changes and experienced immense stress in the past two decades. Once regarded as the logical next step toward career opportunities and financial security, higher education is a subject of growing uncertainty for millions of people across the United States. It is more common than ever to question the return on investment, skyrocketing cost, and student debt burden of going to college. Prospective students, and many employers, increasingly view attending institutions of higher learning as inadequate preparation for entering the 21st century workforce. High-profile scandals--financial impropriety, sexual abuse, restrictions of free speech, among others--have further eroded public trust. In response to these and other challenges, leading voices are demanding strengthened accountability and measurable change.



Higher Education's Road to Relevance illustrates why change is needed in post-secondary education and offers practical solutions to pressing concerns. The authors, internationally recognized experts in college-level teaching and learning innovation, draw heavily from contemporary research to provide an integrative approach for post-secondary faculty, staff, and administrators of all levels. This timely book helps readers identify the need for leadership in developing new networks and ecosystems of learning and workforce development. This valuable book will help readers:

* Understand the forces driving change in higher education

* Develop multiple pathways to create and credential self-directed learners

* Promote access to flexible, cost-effective, and relevant learning

* Adapt structures and pedagogies to address issues and overcome challenges

* Use an inclusive approach that extends to employers, K-12 educators, post-secondary educators, and policy-makers, among others

Higher Education's Road to Relevance is a much-needed resource for college and university administrators, academic researchers, instructors and other faculty, and staff who support and interact with students.

Susan A. Ambrose, D.A., Professor of Education and History, is Senior Vice Chancellor for Educational Innovation at Northeastern University. She is an internationally recognized expert in college-level teaching and learning and has conducted workshops and seminars for faculty and administrators throughout the United States and around the world.

Laura A. Wankel, EdD, is the Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Educational Innovation at Northeastern University. She has been an active member in NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education at both the regional and national level in a number of leadership positions including Regional Vice President, Executive Committee and Chair of the NASPA Board.

Klappentext

"Susan Ambrose and Laura Wankel make a compelling case for change in higher ed, laying out a strategy for college and university leaders to break down their legacy structures and invent something new. This book is necessary reading for every professor, administrator, and trustee who cares about what the future holds for one of our most treasured assets."
Jeffrey J. Selingo, New York Times bestselling author and special advisor, Arizona State University

"This book is an illuminating synthesis of the dynamics within and around higher education. Its gift is its focus on harnessing these shifts to seize the opportunity to become higher learning??rather than higher education."
Philomena Mantella, PhD, President, Grand Valley State University

"Rapidly changing demographics and technological advance demand innovation in higher education that integrates, rather than polarizes, skills acquisition and intellectual engagement. Ambrose and Wankel deftly shift our focus from the university to the learner and a complex system of stakeholders, where collaboration, flexibility, and creativity are essential for our nation to thrive. This carefully researched analysis offers both challenge and hope with reasoned guidance for transformative leadership."
Susan Rundell Singer, PhD, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rollins College

"This is a must-read for faculty, staff and key stakeholders working to help colleges and universities advance their mission in very turbulent times. The authors make a compelling case for the transformational period in which colleges and universities operate and suggest a range of important conversations that should be occurring on every campus. We are in a period of rapid change with substantial 'headwinds' in higher education??and this book frames these critical issues and the need for new thinking and innovation going forward."
Kevin Kruger, PhD, President, NASPA Student Affairs Administrators In Higher Education

"It is a pleasure to read a book about higher education that is both urgent and optimistic. Higher Education's Road to Relevance presents a compact treatment of a big landscape, connecting the contexts demanding change to the research and strategies needed to respond. The thesis is not only that transformation is necessary, but that we have the evidentiary base, and a huge range of models and practices, to justify the optimism."
Randy Bass, Vice Provost for Education, Professor of English, Director, Red House/ Baker Trust for Transformational Learning, Georgetown University

"Higher Education's Road to Relevance: Navigating Complexity should be on every higher education administrator's reading list. Ambrose and Wankel highlight a myriad of ways in which our current system of offering degrees is vulnerable to shifts in technologies, political will, demographics, and new competitors. Rather than merely point out these vulnerabilities, they offer examples of innovation that could be adapted and adopted to mitigate or even leverage these changes for greater student success and institutional health. It is a refreshing look at where we are today in American higher education and should ignite serious strategic conversations on every college campus."
Tom Green, PhD, Associate Executive Director Consulting and SEM, AACRAO

Inhalt

Acknowledgments vii

About the Authors ix

Introduction 1

1 Exploring Challenges and Opportunities: Setting the Context for Change 5

Introduction 6

Growing Public Concern 8

Radically Changing Employment Landscape 37

Expanding Learner Base and Changing Learner Needs 53

Conclusion 65

References 66

2 Leveraging Complexity: Illuminating Compelling Outcomes 88

Introduction 89

Address the World's Political, Economic, and Social Challenges 93

Reflect the Human Experience and Imagining the Future 98

Respond to Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (VUCA) 100

Engage a Multigenerational and Multicultural Workforce 104

Continue to Learn in a Workplace Environment 110

Take Control of Their Own Career Development 113

Learn to Work in Human-Robot Partnerships 116

Navigate Access to Expanding Information 123

Become Responsible Citizens of Their Country and the World 128

Design Lives That Achieve Balance, Fulfillment, and Well-Being 131

Conclusion 134

References 136

3 Discovering Possibilities: Designing for the Future 147

Introduction 148

Broaden Perspective 149

Leverage What We Know about How People Learn 162

Change Strategies and Seize Opportunities 168

A…