Michelle R. Weise, Ph.D.

Hire Education: The Disruptive Potential of Online Competency-Based Education

@rwmichelle

Disruptive Innovation A process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors

@rwmichelle

How to identify a disruptive innovation Disruption is a relative phenomenon

•  Is the innovation targeting people who are nonconsumers or overserved by existing products?

@rwmichelle

Who are the nonconsumers of higher ed?

§  71% “nontraditional” §  By 2020, 42% of all college students will be 25 years

of age or older (NCES) §  87.9% of college freshmen (CIRP) §  178 skillsets in Sept 2009 à 924 in Jun 2012

(McKinsey) §  ~91MM Americans with HS & no degree + some/no

college

@rwmichelle

How to identify a disruptive innovation Disruption is a relative phenomenon

•  Is the innovation targeting people who are nonconsumers or overserved by existing products?

•  Is the innovation not as good as existing products as judged by historical measures of performance?

@rwmichelle

Performan

ce

Time

Paceofper

formance

improvement

@rwmichelle

Sustaining Innovations P

erfo

rman

ce

Time

Performance that customers

can utilize or absorb

@rwmichelle

Sustaining vs. Disruptive Innovation

Performan

ce

Time

Sustaining

innova,ons

Incumbentsdominatesustainingba0les

Entrantstypicallywinatdisrup7on

Paceofper

formance

improvement

Disrup,veInno

va,ons

Time

Diffe

rent

Measureof

Performan

ce

@rwmichelle

Waves of disruption •  1st wave: flexibility, convenience •  2nd wave: innovation on price

–  Price + competency-based

@rwmichelle

How to identify a disruptive innovation Disruption is a relative phenomenon

•  Is the innovation targeting people who are nonconsumers or overserved by existing products?

•  Is the innovation not as good as existing products as judged by historical measures of performance?

•  Is the innovation simpler to use, more convenient, or more affordable?

•  Is there a technology enabler that can carry the new value proposition up-market?

@rwmichelle

Industries without an upwardly scalable technology are not disrupted Where does disruption not apply?

@rwmichelle

How to identify a disruptive innovation Disruption is a relative phenomenon •  Is the innovation targeting people who are nonconsumers or overserved by

existing products? •  Is the innovation not as good as existing products as judged by historical

measures of performance? •  Is the innovation simpler to use, more convenient, or more affordable? •  Is there a technology enabler that can carry the new value proposition up-

market? •  Is the technology paired with a business model innovation that allows it to be

sustainable? •  Are existing providers motivated to ignore the new innovation and not

threatened at the outset?

@rwmichelle

Sustaining vs. Disruptive Innovation Incumbentsdominatesustainingba0les

Performan

ce

Time

Disrup,veInno

va,ons

Time

Sustaining

innova,ons

Entrantstypicallywinatdisrup7on

Customerabilitytouse

improvements

Paceoftec

hnological

improvement

45%marginon$250,000

40%marginà20%marginon$2,000

60%marginon$500,000

Performan

ce

@rwmichelle

You gotta keep ’em separated

@rwmichelle

What’s the real job to be done?

Solution Job

What? Why?

“People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill…

…they want a quarter-inch hole!" - Theodore Levitt

@rwmichelle

Learning to know & learning to do

@rwmichelle

1.  Disruptive Innovation and Academic Inertia

2.  Jobs To Be Done: The Shifting Value Proposition of College

3.  The Core of Competency-Based Education

4.  Online Competency-Based Education: Mastery and Modularization

5.  A New Value Network: Industry-Validated Learning Experiences

6.  College Disrupted

7.  Epilogue: Education and Equality

Hire Education Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution

@rwmichelle

Fixed-time, variable learning

Delivercontenttostudents

Tes,ng&assessment Progresstonextgrade,subject,orbodyofmaterial

Receiveresults

@rwmichelle

Competency-based Learning Learning is fixed and time is variable

Offerlearningexperiencesto

students

Tes,ng&assessment Receivereal-,meinterac,vefeedback

Progresstonextbodyofmaterial

@rwmichelle

Unbundled or disaggregated staffing models

Professor

InstrucDonalDesignTeam

Mentor/AcademicCoach Tutor Assessor SubjectMaJer

Expert

NewopportuniDes:•  Costreduc,on•  Focus•  Redesignofgraduateschool•  Redefini,onofhigh-touch

@rwmichelle

Adding MODULARIZATION to the vernacular

@rwmichelle

Nine competency clusters @CollforAmerica Foundational Skills Personal and

Social Skills Content Knowledge

Communication Skills Critical and Creative Thinking

Quantitative Skills

Digital Fluency and Information Literacy

Personal Effectiveness Ethics and Social Responsibility Teamwork and Collaboration

Business Essentials Science, Society and Culture

“nothing could be more absurd than to try to educate individuals with an eye to only one line of activity” --John Dewey (1915)

@rwmichelle

Does this sound like voc-tech to you? “I learned about Lean Principles, the Federal Reserve, globalization, and the moral philosophies of Immanuel Kant and John Stewart Mill. I learned about the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment while exploring art from masters such as Giotto, Donatello, Rembrandt, Manet, and Picasso. I studied how the earth cycles water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous; the enormity of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; and the devastating impact pollution is having on sea turtles, birds, fish, and the overall health of our precious oceans.”

--CfA graduate Shannon Lougee

@rwmichelle

@rwmichelle

Anthony P. Carnevale and Jeff Strohl, “Separate and Unequal: How Higher Education Reinforces the Intergenerational Reproduction of White Racial Privilege”

Education & Equality

@rwmichelle

Our Credentialing Ecosystem

$47 Certifications, apprenticeships,

And other workforce training

$18 Federal job training

$177 Employer-provided

formal training

$413 Employer-provided

informal training

$60 Two-year colleges

$347 Four-year colleges

$655B Opportunity

@rwmichelle

What is the job to be done?

@rwmichelle

Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution Available on Amazon.com Got Skills? Why Online Competency-Based Education Is the Disruptive Innovation for Higher Education Educause Nov 2014

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