Is AI Disruptive? And How Should Schools Prepare Students if Their Goal Isn’t Necessarily College
Contrary to what you may have read in the news, generative AI is not inherently disruptive.
In my latest blog for the Christensen Institute, I explain why.
Disruptive innovations begin as products or services that aren’t as good as existing offerings, so they get their start with users that were previously unserved (or overserved) in the market. Over time they improve their product until they win customers away from the dominant providers delighted by their new value proposition.
Most of the well-known AI products in education and elsewhere haven’t been deployed toward this end. Instead, they make products better for existing customers.
But what will be the AI products that leverage disruption to change education as we know it?
Imagine AI powering microschools at scale, more personalized and affordable higher ed, and more accessible opportunities for children to learn to read and write in Africa, and more.
Check out my full piece here—and while you’re at it, check out the Christensen Institute’s new website. Then let me know what you think of both—and share your ideas for how we can disruptively deploy AI to transform education.
Focus on Purpose, Not Just College
It’s not new to note that many parents’ enroll their children in independent schools to help them get into one of a select set of colleges.
But with more students and parents questioning the value of a college education, independent schools must help their students navigate their postsecondary paths amidst these shifting sentiments.
In my recent article for the National Association of Independent Schools magazine, I recommend independent schools make helping students discover their post-high school purpose a more core part of their own purposes.
This means giving students exposure to the variety of careers out there as early as middle school, helping them identify where their interests and strengths are aligned, and teaching them about the postsecondary paths available to help them reach their goals.
I’m not saying independent schools should become career and technical programs.
But by helping students get clearer on what they want to do after school, they can support students in choosing the right college or program to get there. And that sense of purpose will, in turn, support their success on that journey.
Check out the article, “Expanding the Pathways Beyond a Narrow Set of Top Colleges,” here.
The Role of Trustees in Higher Ed
It’s been a crazy few years in higher education. Colleges are in some cases navigating existential questions around finances, mergers and acquisitions, pandemics, online education, ROI and cost, student debt, free speech issues, athletics, and much more.
What that means is that trustees who have fiduciary responsibility for these institutions need to, theoretically at least, be on top of a lot more. They have the pressure to get the right president in the chair, to help give them the right strategic advice, to know what questions to ask, to know at what level to dive into the affairs of the university—and, just as importantly, to know when to get out of the way.
Jeff Selingo and I tackle these questions in our latest episode of Future U., “On the Board: The Role of Trustees in Higher Ed,” with two very knowledgeable individuals: Chris Romer and Jane Scaccetti, trustees from the boards of Colorado Mountain College and Temple University, respectively.
Let us know what we missed after you’ve listened.
Commencement Speech at Bellevue University
https://bellevue.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Spring+2024+Keynote+Speaker+Michael+B.+Horn/1_uio1r0kh
And as always, thanks for reading, writing, and listening.