Reinvent Higher Education Through Technology

Can we use new technology to fundamentally change the way students learn?
As public funding of higher education is decreasing, and teaching costs are increasing, our country needs college graduates—especially graduates with science and technology training—more than ever before. Higher education is one of the last remaining areas of modern life that remains relatively untouched by digital technologies. Our roundtable participants discussed how new digital technology might be leveraged to expand the scope and quality of higher education. We considered the 25 to 40 critical introductory courses that act as the choke point for students to move through the system, and discussed whether these could be delivered at greater scale through online courses. Our participants explored the idea of standardizing the credit systems of various higher education institutions so students can move between them without constantly having to retake courses. After all, if VISA can figure out how to make transactions work seamlessly across 220 countries, certainly an interoperable system of credits is within the realm of possibility.