What Session Two is All About:

This week we begin our look into higher education business models for 2030. Our work in Session One took an initial look at business models for four possible futures. In Session Two, we will delve more deeply by exploring individual elements that comprise higher education from the perspective of students and faculty. We need to understand the pressures on these services and functions, and how the need for change might inform the development of responsive business models.

To get YOUR INPUT and isolate aspects of higher education in need of change, the Crowd will (1) determine how much pressure specific services and functions currently are facing, and (2) estimate how much change will need to occur for each of those services and activities – for each of our four 2030 scenarios.  This will bring us into Session Three with a succinct and ordered list of changes that will drive the development of new business models for higher education in 2030.

The lists of SERVICES and ACTIVITIES were developed by the NLM 2030 Instructional Team and draw from several different operational and business models -- such as the ones described in the Hire Education and Reimagining Higher Education readings assigned for Module 2. These are compressed lists that focus on the core services and activities that most impact the development and use of new learning models, the focus of much of the Invent/Explore the Beyond MOOC series.

 This week there are TWO INPUT OPPORTUNITIES. The first is based on the readings. Working from the business models presented in the readings, as well as your personal perspective and experience, you are asked to rank the amount of pressure to change the listed elements (services and functions ) face in today’s institutions of higher learning. Your responses here help establish the baseline from which we are viewing 2030.

The second input will be to rank these same functions based on their importance for each of the four scenarios. You can refer to the Scenario Synopsis Guides (or re-read the scenarios) to inform your rankings. We are also providing space to briefly describe the changes you think are needed in the service or activity for 2030.

Your hard work and contributions are helping crowdsource a very robust and nuanced view of four possible futures for 2030 – we look forward to applying your input to the new learning and business models that are emerging from this project.