Question. What are the main obstacles standing in the way of an entirely a entirely affordable, accessible, high-quality, and open world of higher education? Are they technological, social, matters of government policy or the conduct and structure of institutions?

Answer. Tradition dies hard. Once you establish a hierarchy of what counts as the pinnacle of excellence (with Oxford and Cambridge in England, Harvard in the U.S., Tokyo University in Japan) it is hard for those who have proted within that system of hierarchy to admit that reputation is not always equal to excellence, that esteem does not necessarily lead to innovation. So institutional resistance, deeply nestled within the class system and reward systems, would top the list. There are also billions of dollars resting in the current system, so there is much resistance to major change.  

Fast Company has published a new article and resource from Anya Kamanetz (author of DIY-U). Reacting to a grant of $100M from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to the city of Newark, NJ, she thinks the money is being spent the wrong way. "Is it possible to craft an education platform that's as participatory, offers as much opportunity for self-expression, and is as magnetic to young people as Facebook itself? That would be a theory of change worth testing."

Attached to Kamenetz' essay are 13 "Radical Ideas" from a variety of education leaders. They are short, but some are provocative. SCUPers will especially like Radical Idea #13: Build a Better Classroom. The focus of all is on K–12, but here is a Blog U post with suggestions for higher education. 

We've previously posted about Anya Kamenetz' book: DIY U. Here's a review (PDF) of the book by Donald M. Norris of Strategic Initiatives.

But before that focus, her primary concern was student loans and debt. Today's Campus' Jeff Wendt recently interviewed Kamenetz. It's a very brief interview, so we'll only quote a small portion:

Jeff Wendt

Does a good business solution suggest itself to you?

Anya Kamenetz

Restoring bankruptcy protection (for student loan debt) will be a good start.  Removing or reducing the federal government guarantee would be a good next step.  The normal workings of the marketplace would then restrict tuition prices.     

Frankly, we're envious of Anya Kamenetz, author of DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. Not because her book is selling so well, but because she is having what seems to be a delightful time, traveling and meeting with many of the movers and shakers in higher education. Her blog, DIY U, is where she posts about some of those experiences.

In Education and the Laying on of Hands (which refers to that mysterious something a professor can only do in a face to face, physical classroom) she shares observations and communications she's recently had about a panel discussion she participated in at UC San Diego recently.

What we find most interesting is her observation in response to the hundreds of professors who signed a petition against the findings of Washington State's "2020 Commission on the Future of Higher Education." They wrote: "One of the problems with the newest crop of distance-learning institutions is that they are motivated entirely by profit" She replies: This is true. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Public institutions need to get involved in defining online learning education or it will be defined for them by a set of institutions with very different agendas. (Our emphasis.)