One of the challenges of faculty work is that, while there are large number of great faculty members out there, access to these faculty members is limited to physical presence in the classroom; until now. The technology has improved to such a degree that good faculty members can teach in any classroom, and connect with people from around the globe (and in real time when connectivity is good).

Faculty free agency, much like professional athletes (say baseball players), would allow faculty members to unshackle themselves from the bonds of a particular university or campus, and bat for any team - read - deliver courses for any university. If the quality of your course offering is good, why can't it be offered for credit at several institutions rather than just the one you teach at?

Problem

Traditional teaching institutions and higher education operations require the students to come, physically, to a campus to learn in the presence of highly trained faculty members. This limits access, and creates a very expensive model that is not scalable. If you have more students, you need more expensive faculty members, or more expensive classroom buildings.

Additionally, tenure and personnel policies lock faculty members into mediocre paying gigs that could, if scaled up to be delivered in a hybrid format, could bring what the market will bear and increase the potential for great faculty gain a higher yield.

Solution

Allow faculty members to teach locally and broadcast learning using new technology across many institutions for credit or not. Using existing hybrid pedagogical approaches, faculty members could not only fill up the lecture hall, but open up learning to all those who could afford it (using an iTunes approach, say, 99c per lecture). If the student wanted to apply the course for University or College credit at any particular institution, they would have to pay the appropriate tuition and fees to be a part of the institution, and work through the school to gain the credit hours. If a student wants just the learning and doesn't care about accruing credits for a diploma, they could just log in and learn.

Practical Impact

The effect could be the complete democratization of learning and the opening up of the Ivory Tower to such a degree that any course (as long as it's good and effectively delivered) could be offered to any one with out the bonds of needing to be on campus or paying the extravagant fees laced to providing a proximity based diploma program. This would not eliminate the need for traditional colleges and universities, as I'm certain that students will continue to want and enjoy the social learning that takes place outside of the classroom (which is where 75% of the learning happens on a college campus). It will, however, make education a scalable operation, which it currently isn't.

First Steps

The first step may have to involve the inversion of tenure - giving it to new faculty so they can establish their reputation and build credibility as instructors. Once the seven years is up, they move in to free agency, and then could work for multiple universities in a scalable way. In this way, local universities become training and proving grounds for new faculty members. Once these new, junior faculty members cut their teeth and earn their stripes, they will be seasoned enough to test the waters with free agency. If they become locally known, known across a region, nationally, or internationally known for their courses, their pay would increase accordingly (depending upon which and how many universities they contract with).

I may be blind to the technology obstacles, but I think they are already there such that, for example, I could say set up my home studio/classroom on my Maui compound. Teach class locally to those willing to cover their expenses to be present in the studio audience, and broadcast around the globe. Then, in real time, I could have say anywhere from 25 students in the studio who would win by being present, to say 100,000 students willing to plunk down minimally 99c per lecture to learn.

Colleges and Universities could field a fleet of big name faculty members and make their courses allowable for diplomas at the local level, and in that way students could coble together a diploma learning from the best around the globe. Of course, this would change the nature of what happens on a college campus, and that has yet to be invented yet, but it may well shrink the amount of buildings needed to house a university, shrink the size of the staff and faculty necessary to run a school, and the like.

In this way, we've created a scalable, more efficient system which reaches the masses instead of what we have sired as an elitist operation only accessible to those who can afford it and the time and dedication to be present to learn from the sage directly on the stage.

Credits

This it totally my idea. It has not been shopped about, nor has it been published in anyway. Really, what peer review journal would want to publish such an idea? The gate keepers would be threatened by this idea as it could change the very fabric of how education at the postsecondary level is constructed and run.

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June 4, 2010 at 9:27am

Matt Shlosberg

Aaron -

Great idea! You are also right that there're lots of barriers to doing this. Professors aren't motivated to lose their tenure. Schools aren't motivated to lose professors. People in general don't like change. So, selling this idea may be tough.

So, here's a thought on the first step... Only mediocre professors won't be interesting in losing their tenure. The very best professors know that they will be in high demand if they appear on the open market available for schools to bid on like professional athletes. So the first step is to convince all the great professors to quit their schools and create an association of highly talented people who will sell content to universities. The only professors that will remain in their tenured posts are the mediocre ones. This will degrade schools' reputation and quality of learning. As a result, schools will be motivated to contract with this association for teaching services.

What do you think?

June 5, 2010 at 12:18pm

Aaron Anderson

Matt,

I think you may be onto something here. A guild of some sort, of proven faculty members, could charge what the market will bear, but I would caution us to lean more toward a democratic, bottom of the pyramid approach and work to ensure that education doesn't become entertainment.

If we price the model that serves more rather than less people, it's scalable. This is why I bring up the iTunes example. If the the podcast of the lecture is 99c or the real time inclusive participation is 1.99, and then the in-audience participation costs you whatever, this may work to unleash the knowledge to a broader audience. In that way, if the people delivering the knowledge firmly believe that the truth is better let out rather than kept to only the few who can afford it, then they would be game for this kind of model.

Perhaps this is a good time to lead everyone to a poem I wrote back a few years ago: http://educationalwhisper.blogspot.com/2004/06/secrets.html

The secret to education is
That there are none
And knowledge is best amplified
When shared
Proprietary wisdom
Is neither
And alone
We don’t improve

June 8, 2010 at 7:35am

Aaron Anderson

FYI, looks like all those overly educated Ph.D. academic types are getting their lunch eaten by some one without the credentials, but with serious street cred: http://chronicle.com/article/A-Self-Appointed-Teacher-Runs/65793/

July 3, 2010 at 8:53am

Aaron Anderson

Looks like, among other for-profit operations like Kaplan, Apollo Group's U of Phoenix, just about every one is getting into the knowledge industry: http://www.nytimesknownow.com/