breaking down borders
a vision for a networked higher education system
project prompt: Engage with a compelling wicked problem in higher education and using the three horizons innovation framework, propose a perspective on ways to effect transformative change through design and innovation.
design question: “how might we reimagine higher education systems to prioritize collaboration and student success over profit and prestige?”
outcome: a research paper that analyzes the problem of competition in higher education and proposes a collaborative approach to scaling and sustaining access.
methods: literature review, stakeholder interview, peer conversations, case study analysis.
tools: zoom, google suite, miro.
what does it look like when institutions shift their focus from institutional interests to student success?read to learn how I tackled this wicked problem.
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h1 - stakeholder map: higher ed institutions center institutional interests over student interests
h3 - stakeholder map: higher ed institutions center student success
my paper was inspired by the complexity of scaling high-quality education. the issue goes thus: if you increase class size by allowing as many students as possible to receive instruction from the same institution, then the quality and rigor of the educational experience are at risk of decreasing due to the strain on student-to-instructor and institutional resources ratio. after reading noah pickus & bryan penprase’s the new global universities: reinventing education in the 21st century i thought; what if we flipped the question of scale on its head? instead of increasing the number of students, why not increase the number of high-quality institutions? and not just locally, what does it mean for students to have global access to any educational experience they want? and how can we ensure that all these experiences are high quality in terms of design, content, teaching, and outcomes? the next question then became, are there higher education institutions doing work like this? if so where are they and what are they doing? if not why aren’t more institutions working in this way and why aren’t higher education institutions marketing themselves in this way?
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based on this line of thinking, i continued my research, and contextualized my wicked problem as the incredibly competitive landscape which higher education institutions are operating in has shaped their priorities into one that places the institutions continued success and existence over the needs of students. i then produced a research paper that analyses the higher education landscape through an american lens using the three horizons and jobs to be done frameworks.
abstract
this paper explores the problem of competition in the american higher education landscape, recognizing it as a wicked problem with multiple dimensions. it begins by establishing this problem as a wicked problem but as wicked problems cannot be discussed without proposing a solution, it is being explored through the lens of an educational system that operates within a network (rittel & webber, 1973). next, it draws upon the three horizons innovation framework to examine innovations within higher education. within this context, the paper explores the relevance of the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) theory. It demonstrates how the JTBD theory provides a user-centric perspective that aligns educational offerings and services with the desired outcomes of students and stakeholders. by understanding the evolving needs and motivations of individuals within the higher education landscape, institutions can better adapt and innovate to meet those needs effectively.
by connecting the three horizons framework and the JTBD theory, the paper proposes a paradigm shift in higher education. it advocates for a transition towards a networked system that fosters collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and user-centric approaches to address the wicked problem of competition. this transition aims to create a more responsive, inclusive, and innovative higher education landscape that better serves the needs of students and society as a whole.