Opening Keynote: What's Next for Higher Education?
Location
KIPJ Theatre
Session Type
Keynote Address
Start Date
30-4-2024 9:15 AM
End Date
30-4-2024 10:10 AM
Abstract
In this session we explore the future of colleges and universities. We use two futuring methodologies to develop a forecast in detail: trends analysis and scenario creation. To begin with, we identify major trends already reshaping higher education, from developments in macroeconomics and demographics to enrollment and campus finances. We continue by assessing the technologies most likely to have a significant impact on academia, including extended reality and artificial intelligence. Next we present scenarios of possible campuses, each expressing a different potential change for higher education
Opening Keynote: What's Next for Higher Education?
KIPJ Theatre
In this session we explore the future of colleges and universities. We use two futuring methodologies to develop a forecast in detail: trends analysis and scenario creation. To begin with, we identify major trends already reshaping higher education, from developments in macroeconomics and demographics to enrollment and campus finances. We continue by assessing the technologies most likely to have a significant impact on academia, including extended reality and artificial intelligence. Next we present scenarios of possible campuses, each expressing a different potential change for higher education
Comments
Bryan Alexander is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of higher education’s future. He completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan in 1997, with a dissertation on doppelgangers in Romantic-era fiction and poetry. Then Bryan taught literature, writing, multimedia, and information technology studies at Centenary College of Louisiana. There he also pioneered multi-campus interdisciplinary classes, while organizing an information literacy initiative. From 2002 to 2014 Bryan worked with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), a non-profit working to help small colleges and universities best integrate digital technologies. With NITLE he held several roles, including co-director of a regional education and technology center, director of emerging technologies, and senior fellow. Over those years Bryan helped develop and support the nonprofit, grew peer networks, consulted, and conducted a sustained research agenda. In 2013 Bryan launched a business, Bryan Alexander Consulting, LLC. Through BAC he consults throughout higher education in the United States and abroad. Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed. He has been interviewed by and featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, National Public Radio (2017, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020), the Chronicle of Higher Education (2016, 2020), the Atlantic Monthly, Reuters, Times Higher Education, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, Pew Research, Campus Technology, The Hustle, Minnesota Public Radio, USA Today, and the Connected Learning Alliance. Bryan’s book Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), won an Association of Professional Futurists award. He latest book, Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis, appeared from Johns Hopkins in 2023. His other books include Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition). Bryan is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program.