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Higher Education Status Quo Name Institution

Higher Education Status Quo Introduction With the advancement of technology, there has been an introduction of online learning which has dramatically influenced the status quo in higher education. There has been a significant change in the current state of things in the higher learning institutions not because they have changed their primary structures or their way of delivering because no one has forced them to, but because of the continuing progress of technology. This case study intends to explain the threat to higher education, what causes the threat, how the competitors are taking advantage and the opportunities that might occur due to such innovations. Background Most institutions providing higher education are costly and have very low productivity. This gives it the potential to undergo disruption from sectors that offer the same services with low costs, are more accessible and provide the learners with more personalized, customized and interactive experiences they yearn to get. Higher education has used the technology to provide better services at their offices, to improve their research and give their teachers tools to manage their classrooms thus overlooking the need to develop products which internet innovations have taken advantage of. This has led to many students choosing the internet innovations over attending physical lectures of higher education. Such changes include; teaching, researching, the business models of university and technology (Robertson, 2016). Technology has affected the education sector in many ways. It has enabled distance learning and has made it easy. In the past, distance learning needed students to go pick course documents and send their assignments through mail but nowadays, lectures are done online thus it is not hectic anymore. Moreover, web seminars can be done online as students can virtually attend seminars online, a good example is NASA where students can talk to astronauts in space through the internet. It has also enabled students from various institutions to socialize and share knowledge. Some of the factors threatening the status quo include; increase in international competition, reduction of funding from the government, changes in demographics, the population is increasingly becoming mobile, students attracted to the new-tech savvy technology and are expecting customized learning anytime, anywhere, and the emergence of other competitive providers of education. These factors have made the higher education lose the demand and also because their productivity is very questionable thus making many students run to the more attractive sector to get services (Lindquist, 2016). Innovation is very essential in the education sector, and it has to be allowed to thrive no matter the cost. It is evident from the above text that there are barriers that promote production of low-quality academics for the students. These barriers include; the state and federal financing system funds enrollment for students instead of offering full funds until the completion and does not provide alternatives for quality and efficient academics, the accreditation system is far much out of its purpose. It is antiquated as it hinders new providers of education and is based on ways to deliver the content instead of focusing on the content itself, the 50-state structure of regulations does not suit the reality of online education, and some federal regulations do not allow new providers of education, thus preventing innovation leading to increasing the cost of educational services (Dabbagh & Reo, 2016). These challenges stand between the expectations of students and the level of productivity from both private entrepreneurs and the campus visionary leaders. The only way to curb these challenges would be to develop a fundamental transformation by the leadership and imposing strong policy reforms. The universities and the community have some attributes that might mitigate the threats and include; Public networks are liberal, blocking of content is not allowed, content is protected to avoid any form of discrimination, ‘fast lanes’ are prohibited, they can prevent degradation, management of network is very liberal and reasonable, transparency is paramount, allowance of speed-based pricing, they have policies that are enforceable, safety of the public is accommodated, they have tried to maintain the status quo on private networks(Beaudoin, 2016) The competitors think that the above resolutions are entirely unachievable and if they are, they believe that no one will take time to act unlike how the universities themselves believe. They might think that the imposed policies could hurt the push to lower the costs and improve the productivity of higher education. The regulations have downplayed the expectations of students. Innovation has enabled the emergence of new opportunities for learners. Such opportunities include the coding boot camps which offer students short focused programs with enough content and then later help them to get jobs and apply their skills; and Udacity which has been able to make teachers and students to come together and discuss educational issues thus making education a lifelong experience and not a one-time event(Lucas, 2017). Conclusion Summarily, the status quo of higher education has been threatened by the innovations on the internet. With online causes, it is now possible for students to be lectured online without any form of biases. This innovation has reduced the tuition fee to 85% of the standard fee for the traditional higher education. Their services are readily available, and their schedule is very flexible. People faced with difficulties like those who take care of the sick can comfortably get their certificates through online studies. People are now able to break away from physical lectures. Their grading technique, the way of delivering content and curriculum is very reasonable. However, the level of attention among students is questionable and needs to be a concern to the innovators.

References Beaudoin, M. (2016). Issues in distance education: A primer for higher education decision makers. New Directions for Higher Education, 2016(173), 9-19. Dabbagh, N., & Reo, R. (2016). Impact of Web 2.0 on higher education. Technology integration in higher education: Social and organizational aspects, 174-187. Lindquist, J. (2016). Strategies for change (pp. 29-30). Berkeley, CA: Pacific Soundings Press. Lucas Jr, H. C. (2017). Technology and the failure of the university. Communications of the ACM, 61(1), 38-41. Robertson*, S. L. (2016). Re‐imagining and rescripting the future of education: Global knowledge economy discourses and the challenge to education systems. Comparative Education, 41(2), 151-170.