There are a number of previous posts here at PSA that note the trends of innovation ongoing at ASU, and especially their annual EdTech conference with a venture cap fund. This article does an in-depth (40 pdf pages) examination of the lead driving force behind ASU’s huge changes…Michael Crow the ASU President. It covers the man’s bio so we get a good look at how unusual his background is, and discusses some of the elements that made huge changes a possibility for ASU.
The obvious questions: how big will ASU get? How much EdTech innovation will it foster and bring to maturity? How much enterprise supported higher ed are we going to see? And are there other “hot spots” for learning innovation of similar magnitude somewhere in the world/ US?
Less obvious questions are can ASU sustain its amazing growth and pace of change when Crow is no longer the President? And can higher education be innovated without the very large tuition increases that have taken place during Crow’s tenure?
IOW, one of the promises of EdTech for higher ed is top flight learning experiences with low-cost to students. ASU isn’t presently demonstrating that, unless one looks at the learning programs for employees that some enterprises have arranged as partners with ASU. (the article notes that the tuition increases are likely a matter of lack of higher ed support in Arizona political circles.)
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ASU-From-party-school-to-global-brand-under-Michael-Crow.pdf”]
Kudos to Gary for link.