Out of Control

Out of Control
by Harold Jarche | Sun, 12/14/2008 - 06:57

The institution is losing control. First educational content, in the form of lectures, notes and slides, became available for free on the Internet and from some of the best universities in the world. Then we found ways to rate faculty without consulting the university. The content is now being aggregated as witnessed in iTunes University. We don't have a way to crowd source the lecture rating but Mark Pesce thinks that's coming soon, as he's written in Inflection Points:

The network is acting like a universal solvent, dissolving all of the boundaries that have kept things separate. It’s not just dissolving the boundaries of distance – though it is doing that – it’s also dissolving the boundaries of preference.

I believe that universal solvent is also known as disintermediation, and it's what the Internet does exceptionally well - eliminate the middle man. If I can access the best lecture material and know who is the best professor for me, why should I accept that I can only get this wrapped in a bundle that I don't really want. Cable TV and cell phone companies have tried this and it only works when there is a monopoly or oligopoly. Higher education is much more fragmented and ripe for competition from a disruptive business model. Add in a recession, which drives the demand for education and couple this with excessive fees at traditional institutions and you get a critical mass ready for iginition..

Tags: higher_education, internet, university

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