Time for a new university?

Just came across this video for a commercial by Kaplan and found it quite thought provoking. I wonder if they are delivering on their message? What are your thoughts? Is it time for universities to change more drastically?

Comments

[Malcolm Brown]

Well, I'm not sure. The question is: is Kaplan doing anything that is really different? OK, so I can watch my prof on an iPod in the subway... Or I can take in a lecture on my sofa stroking my cat... is that fundamentally different? And more and more campuses are putting up lectures, materials on an anywhere anytime basis.

So the interesting question here is: what would 'different' look like? Is it what Kaplan is doing?

[Brian Reid]

An online program is certainly a different experience compared to a residential college. The ad seems targeted to people who can't or don't want to attend school full time. If you can deliver the same or better quality education to someone at home, that is different from the approach of residential colleges, where offering lecture recordings is more of an adjunct to the main experience.

(There seems to be a logical fallacy in the ad - the professor says he has failed the students in the classroom, but then he argues that he has failed the people he doesn't reach in that format. Doesn't make sense. But whoever claimed advertising was logical.)

[Joshua Kim]

I'm much more sympathetic then the "critics" who have responded so far.

Leave aside Kaplan for a minute...and think about the message. This includes "learning how you learn to serve you better" and, using technology to enable learning, and a recognition of the need to share knowledge outside of the walls of the classroom. Sounds good to me.

Fact is that much of the innovation in learning is coming out of online learning and the for-profit sector.

The video does what is should, that is spark some thinking and discussion.

[Brian Reid]

I was critical of the design of the advertisement, not the product. And that's just my pedantic nature.

I've worked with innovative online programs.

[Anthony Helm]

I'm pleased to see the feedback that this has generated.

Josh and I are on the same page here. I'm not proposing that Kaplan is "doing it right, " but rather that they are putting out an alternative message that clearly challenges the traditional classroom lecture model. I even wrote, "I wonder if they are delivering on their message."

Visually, they are certainly communicating the idea about reaching students anywhere , but I don't think that is all that they are saying. It isn't just about putting the lecture in your pocket.