Beware the Doyens of Disruption
Preview:
Already in March, I was hearing that Covid-19 was going to “change everything.” And indeed, despite initial reluctance to take the threat seriously, almost all campuses were emptied out by the end of the month. Faculty members who had routinely dismissed online learning as unworkable were suddenly teaching on Zoom, and their students were showing up and completing their assignments. Online was “working.” The pandemic was doing what MOOCs and their Silicon Valley promoters had failed to do in the wake of the Great Recession: unbundle the college experience. Now all students were going to get credits and credentials online without involving themselves in athletics, campus life, or advanced research. You want a class in microeconomics? That’s all you’re going to get! And that’s just fine!
Originally published: May 27, 2020
Author: Michael S. Roth
Position: President
Institution: Wesleyan University
Published by: The Chronicle of Higher Ed