My Vision of Higher Education in 2020
in Comparison with Others'
 

I quite agree with most of my classmates' future visions  regarding both the promising prospects and potential challenges resulted from the acceleration of educational technologies. Just like the movement of globalization, the development of educational technologies produce unprecedented and enormous positive impact, but the challenges incurred are also too many to ignore. These positive and negative impact will reshape the concepts and fundamentals of higher education, including the theories and methodologies we are learning and applying right now.

If I am not mistaken, I think I share much of Ms. Lori Kingery's vision about reconceptionization of high education. "...  (T)he future of collegiate schooling is a more decentralized learning concept, through which an individual can obtain an accredited education despite barriers of distance, finances, or disability." The learning process, and teaching and even managing of higher education as well, will be more characteristic of  decentralization and individualization.

To be specific, I envision the dismantling of the concepts and beliefs of currently-held economics and politics of higher education. Namely, the classic theory of rate of return in economics of higher education will not hold true; the investment in higher education will yield much more higher rate of return and economic efficiency, both internal and external. The higher education will "empower" the general public rather than currently a small population of "elite" of power and wealth who access higher education; politics of higher education will be redefined  in a new and different scenario. Thus, my views are a kind of extension, if not complements, of the reconceptionization of higher education.

One of my difference is that if the technology is still costly and expensive in 2020, however, the financial problems will not time out. And the inequality, inequity, inefficiency and bureaucraticism, among others, of higher education will continue its century-old threats for poor school communities and minority populations, even though in a kind of new form.

In addition, the issues socialization in post-secondary institutions, the education of critical thinkers for future workforce, and the social and economic contextization of educational technologies among others put forward by Ms. Andrea Depew and other classmates are good points leading to new direction of philosophy of higher education. I need to think more about them.