Why Universities Are The Silent Disrupters in Ed Tech

When it comes to higher education, one of the most hotly debated issues right now is  how colleges can better prepare learners for careers in the digital economy.  Web development jobs are the untapped opportunity in the US economy, as recent estimates show that by 2020, there will be 1 million more jobs than students to fill engineering roles.  Job growth for web development jobs is expected to be at greater than 20 percent by 2022.  

There are many players at the table right now trying to bridge the technical skills gap.  For example, by the end of 2016, coding bootcamps are expected to graduate close to 17,000 students.   While many are looking at bootcamps to be the driver of change in the labor markets, I think there’s another innovator at the table that will be a greater force in providing much-needed skills training-- universities themselves.  Colleges and universities are often left out of discussions around innovation in education, and independent players often try to move the university aside in the name of progress.  However, the reality is that higher education institutions have a long history of solving market problems through innovation. And I think we can expect to see the same thing here.

Take, for example, distance learning. Today, practically any skill or degree can be obtained online, offering learners the chance to advance their education from the location that fits their needs.  That wasn’t always the case. Students were constrained by geography and time schedule.  It was the universities that first expanded the access of education, widening the reach of opportunity.  For example, in 1892,  University of Chicago,  became the first traditional university to offer correspondence courses.  With the rise of new technologies like broadcast and radio in the first half of the twentieth century, universities began to offer distance learning options in a wide variety of formats.   In 1925, the State University of Iowa offered course credits for five broadcast radio courses. In 1953, the University of Houston offered televised courses for credit.  This list is in no way comprehensive, yet it highlights the little known fact that universities have been innovating education well before the modern day ed-tech entrepreneurs entered the scene.

It’s not that universities are acting in a silo. Very often, we’ve seen universities embrace collaborative partners, to further expand their mission or reach. Take for example, the success  of 2U, the education technology company that partners with top colleges & universities to bring their degree programs and credit-bearing courses online.   Or Blackboard, which developed a standardized platform for course management and delivery that enabled many more institutions to come online. Or MOOCS, where open access to classrooms was provided by players like Coursera, udemy, and edX in collaboration with universities. In each of these cases, universities leveraged their core competency, which was pushed forward through partnership.

I believe we are going to see the same thing when it comes to providing adult learners with technical skills based training. It’s not just the history of innovation that makes universities well-suited to create change, but also the following three unique advantages:

• Culture of Tracking: In a college and university setting, there is a culture of tracking and benchmarking of performance that tells students how closely they are engaging with the curriculum.   This is increasingly important as students are demanding the facts about coding bootcamps.  Whether it’s by delivering graded homework assignments, regular tests, group projects or other assessments, in a college or university setting, students are often given multiple evaluations and opportunities to seek additional support if needed.  Universities are invested in their students success and keep a close eye on outcomes and student performance. That philosophy will carry through to continuing ed and skills training, giving students an added level of comfort about the programs they choose.

• Career Readiness: Career service departments across the country are specifically devoted to helping students put their educations into practice.  When students attend a university skills program, they can expect to tap into these professional resources, whether it’s accessing the university network of hiring partners, job-skills development workshops, mock interviews or internship and externship programs.

• Network of Alumni:  Universities continue to deliver a global network of student and alumni, who together represent the trusted brand of your chosen educational institution. In other words, when graduating from a university coding bootcamp, you don’t need to explain where you learned to code. In addition, by attending a university skills-based program, you open the door to enriching networking and professional development opportunities that will be incredibly impactful as you start your new career. Your coding bootcamp may run 6 months, but your university affiliation will last a lifetime.

Given their internal resources, investment in outcomes and established pathways to employers, the universities are the ones that are best-positioned to offer web-development and other technical skills training at scale.  We will see the most productive results when the ed-tech entrepreneurs collaborate and support this effort, working side by side with established universities.