Future of Higher Education ChallengeResearch Phase Themes

What We’ve Learned | Nov. 15, 2016 - Dec. 12, 2016

How might we better prepare all learners for the needs of tomorrow by reimagining higher education?

We’re excited to share with you some of the learnings we’ve gathered during the Research phase of the Future of Higher Education Challenge!

RESEARCH

November 15 - December 12

IDEAS REFINEMENT TOP IDEAS

991 Comments

Participation from 108 Countries305 Unique Followers

245 Posts

4 Weeks

Research Phase Looking Back

Research Synthesis Workshop

Our Challenge Partners

Leading up to the conclusion of the Research phase, the OpenIDEO Team hosted a synthesis workshop with our Future of Higher Edcuation Challenge partners. Together, we looked at the overarching themes that emerged from the diverse collection of inspirations submitted.

The workshop was a valuable time for us to learn from our OpenIDEO community. The workshop was also an opportunity to define focus areas for generating new solutions in the following Ideas phase of the Challenge.

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

We identified 6 overarching themes that emerged from the Research phase. These themes are meant to serve as conversation starters for the Ideas phase and do not reflect all of the amazing learnings from our OpenIDEO community. We hope you’ll continue to share what inspires you in our global Challenge to better prepare all learners for the needs of tomorrow.

What We’ve Learned

1 Learn From Non-Traditional Learners

Many non-traditional learners are not fully engaged with education due to feelings of exclusion and challenges of unmet needs. Paying attention to learners outside the mainstream will help us uncover hidden insights and work-around solutions that will strengthen the higher education system as a whole.

Year Up is a non-profit training and internship program that empowers low-income urban youths to go from poverty to professional careers in a single year.

Only 3-5% foster youth graduate with a college degree. Noah, a foster youth himself, shared how his undergraduate advisor was the key to his success in college and in life.

Veteran Student Perspectives

Year Up

In a TEDx talk at the University of Nevada, veteran Christopher Webb shared that many veterans struggle with strong feelings of alienation when they try to fit into campus life in college.

Kate Rushton

Sandy Fischer

OpenIDEO Community Guide; Startup Founder in Manchester, UK.

Designer and Parent in Bainbridge Island, Washington

NoahDoctorate of Leadership Education Candidate in San Francisco

Relationships for the Non-Traditional

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Pay Attention to the Needs of Non-Traditional Learners

Pay Attention to the Needs of Non-Traditional Learners

Exploring Transfer is a program at Vassar College dedicated to helping first generation students understand that they have the potential to succeed at more selective universities.

Almost all refugees are interested in pursuing further education after arriving in the U.S. Yet very few are able to access opportunities to study in higher education institutions.

Older Students Face Fears

Exploring Transfer

Anita, a 60-year-old returning student, shared how she overcame fears of not fitting in when she enrolled at Chippewa Valley Technical College as a much older learner.

Jennifer Anderegg

Bettina Fliegel

Dean of Academic Development & Services at Chippewa Valley

Pediatrician in New York

Nina WeaverDirector of Refugee Education Programs at Southern New Hampshire University

Higher Education for Resettled Refugees

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

As technology continues to change, we should be mindful of the important role human connections play in higher education. Cultivating quality human relationships will especially be important in supporting the emotional and psychological needs of learners as they navigate through uncertain journeys ahead.

2 The Human Connection

An instructional designer reflects on how the lack of formal training she had received during her first online teaching experience led her to help other young instructors become better prepared for new teaching challenges.

Innovation in higher education should not ignore that learning is made possible by quality instructors who often work under difficult conditions.

Academic Advising Inventory

An Instructor Prepares

Academic advising is an important part of student retention and engagement, however, many schools do not have a formal evaluation practice in place for developing the capacity of advisors.

Taylor

Caleb Wilson

Graduate Assistant for Academic Advising at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania

Digital Content Marketing Manager at Wichita State University in Kansas

MichaelPhD Graduate from Arizona State University

Are Our Best Teachers Rewarded?

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Build The Capacity of Educators and Advisors

Whatchado is a career platform that has collected over 5000 video interviews of professionals from different disciplines to give youths a more personalized way of exploring career paths.

What can we learn from the Human Library Project where you borrow people instead of books to learn something new?

What am I Really Paying For?

Life Stories Inspire Professional Path

Reflecting on his first semester in college, Gavin shares how joining a community of passionate learners may be the most valuable part of his higher education experience.

Gavin Cosgrave

Stephen Kardos

Freshman at Santa Clara University

Founder of Creativity Gym in Vienna, Austria

Kate RushtonOpenIDEO Community Guide; Start Up Founder in Manchester, United Kingdom

Human Library

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Borrow People Not Books

Learning opportunities extend beyond classrooms and degree programs into all facets of our everyday life. The lifelong learning process of acquiring new skills will help us remain flexible in the face of change. Let’s find ways to recognize those informal learning opportunities so we may design journeys that better fit our unique needs and aspirations.

3 Anytime, Anywhere

Degreed is a lifelong learning platform that aggregates all of your formal, informal, and on-the-go learning opportunities into micro-credentials.

Some students are finding success in immersive short-term programs beyond universities to discover new career paths and gain specific real-world skills that employers are seeking.

Hacking a Credential

Degreed

Lisa shared how her undergrad degree was hacked together from 5 different sources of college credit — a flexible option that is not widely known by many students.

Lisa Baird

Kate Rushton

Designer at IDEO in San Francisco

OpenIDEO Community Guide; Startup Founder in Manchester, United Kingdom

David Soo Senior Policy Advisor at U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C.

Intensive Boot-Camp Style Education

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Tailor Degrees to the Learner’s Journey

The Society of Grownups and Capital One’s 360 Cafe are two examples of how education opportunities can be integrated into the places people frequent daily.

James McBennettDesigner in London, United Kingdom

Where should Education be Located?

FRIGHTFriday is a happy hour event at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, where visitors gain exposure to the latest research in humanities by mingling with academics in creative ways.

Kate RushtonOpenIDEO Community Guide; Start Up Founder in Manchester, United Kingdom

FRIGHTFriday & Science Lates

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Discover Learning Where People Are

The rise of data and open-sourced technologies have made learning more accessible and transparent to learners outside the paywall of traditional higher education institutions. Let’s build on these innovations to break down barriers and create greater degrees of connectedness between learners around the world.

4 The Power ofSharing

There is a need for better publishing and information dissemination systems in higher education to keep knowledge open and not hidden behind the paywalls of closed systems.

Steven BellAcademic Research Librarian in Philadelphia

Advance Openness in Higher Education

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Institutions of higher education should share data on student outcomes so students may make informed decisions about which institutions to attend, and in which programs

Use Data to Characterize User Experience

Outcomes are all that Matters

Rather than using data to measure outputs, we can use data to improve learner experiences in classrooms and the academic advising capacity of instructors in universities.

Dan Ryan

Michael

Professor at Mills College in Oakland, California

Founder of Epicodus Coding Academy in Portland, Oregon

Create Greater Transparency in Education

In the future, all of your learning activities may be documented in a publicly shared blockchain ledger, allowing other people to seek you out as a teacher of the skills you’ve mastered.

InesOpenIDEO Member in Sydney, Australia

Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and HigherEd

Cousera and UC San Diego developed a course that combined Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with research, allowing students in isolated areas to work on research with prominent scientists.

Kate RushtonOpenIDEO Community Guide; Start Up Founder in Manchester, United Kingdom

Massive Open Online Research (MOOR)

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Harness The Power The Crowd

In his commencement speech to the 2016 graduating class at M.I.T., Matt Damon shared a piece of wisdom he learned from Bill Clinton: “Turn toward the problems you see…and don’t just turn toward them, engage with them. There are potentially trillions of human beings who will depend on the choices you make ... on your ideas ... on your grit and persistence and willingness to engage.”

5 Turn Towards The Problem

What can we learn from the jugaad innovation mindset in the developing world, where solutions are improvised using limited resources and in the face of harsh conditions?

Jim shares a personal account of how he did not fully understand issues surrounding race until he attended an archaeological field school in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica.

Indigenize the Institution

Jugaad Innovation

Many innovations in various disciplines have roots in indigenous knowledge, yet non-western perspectives are often not taught in mainstream classes.

Savannah Smith

Kate Rushton

Student at Mills College in Oakland, California

OpenIDEO Community Guide; Startup Founder in Manchester, United Kingdom

Jim StephensOpenIDEO Member in Denver, Colorado

Real World Problem Solving in an Interdisciplinary Way

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Immerse Students in Tough Real World Challenges

Knowmads is a self-directed MBA program in Amsterdam that challenges students to design their own mission-driven projects.

Some students adopt the mindset that they are in school to “take” because they’re paying for an education service. Instead, students should focus on what they’re giving back to the class, the school, and their community.

African Leadership University

Knowmads

The African Leadership University is testing a purpose-centered higher education model where students declare a mission for their life instead of deciding on a traditional major.

Sonia Doshi

Lucy Chen

Master’s Student in Education at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.

Founding Class Student at MinervaFocus on ContributionKhuyen Bui GiaBachelor of Science Student at Tufts University

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Help Learners Find Their Purpose

The relevance of skills are increasingly being challenged by rapid innovations happening outside the walls of traditional institutions. Instead of training learners to fill the jobs of today, let’s work closely with companies to cultivate pioneers and empower them to shape the job market that they will eventually lead.

6 Meet TheMarket

A profile of a millennial from the entrepreneur generation that higher education is serving now and in the future.

Gregory WilsonPhD Graduate in Learning, Design, and Technology from the University of Georgia

The Entrepreneur Generation

Some of the world’s strongest innovators embrace creativity, play, and collaboration in their workplace and in their daily lives.

James McBennetDesigner in London, United Kingdom

What Schools Can Learn From Google, IDEO, and Pixar

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Build Launchpads for Pioneers and Entrepreneurs

We don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. Does the proven model of co-op programs have wider potential to innovate learning in higher education?

Companies like Bonobos, TripleLift, and Facebook are not only investing in new products, they’re also investing in innovative training programs to develop the capacity of their employees.

Collaboration Platform for Shared Success

Co-op Education: An Old Idea

Northeastern University, General Electric, and the Department of Education recently announced a partnership to increase collaboration between private enterprises, academia, and the government.

Jim Johnson

Dan Ryan

Marketing and Higher Education Professional in Ohio

Professor at Mills College in Oakland, CaliforniaExamples from In Company Training

Kate RushtonOpenIDEO Community Guide; Startup Founder in Manchester, United Kingdom

Future of Higher Education Challenge Research Phase Themes

Create Synergies Between Companies and Institutions

Let’s build on these insights and thought starters from our Research phase to develop innovative ideas that will better prepare all learners for the needs of tomorrow.

Join The Challenge!