By: James Clay

James Clay — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 11:38:30 +0000

James Clay reposted this article on twitter.com.

By: Global Universities

Global Universities — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 18:07:32 +0000

Global Universities liked this article on twitter.com.

By: Paul Greatrix

Paul Greatrix — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 18:07:09 +0000

Paul Greatrix liked this article on twitter.com.

By: Global Universities

Global Universities — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 16:43:03 +0000

Global Universities reposted this article on twitter.com.

By: Playing catch-up: History of Educational Technology | learning about learning

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:25:01 +0000

[…] One might even argue that the scary thing about the internet is that it might just be that revolution that changes things forever. What if the movement replace K12 public schools with for-profit “virtual academies” spreads to higher education? What happens when employers write the curriculum, and full-time faculty are replaced with low-wage temporary and part-time employees? Do we get Universality, Inc.? […]

By: “We need to find a new model of supporting the work of academics.” « TOUCANS Project Blog

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:22:48 +0000

[…] Universality that I invented back in 2010 to explore these models. I presented this at ALT-C 2010 (http://followersoftheapocalyp.se/oer-futures-and-universality-inc-altc2010), and what that suggested was […]

By: ‘We need to find a new model of supporting the work of academics.’ – TOUCANS interview » FOLLOWERS OF THE APOCALYPSE

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:57:14 +0000

By: Barbara Dieu

Barbara Dieu — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:27:23 +0000

Took some time, David, but Universality is finally out there – at Universal Subtitles in the original English and with a first draft translation into Brazilian Portuguese.http://universalsubtitles.org/videos/nBiLLunr6NkJ/

By: Barbara Dieu

Barbara Dieu — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:52:21 +0000

Merci, monsieur.

By: David Kernohan

David Kernohan — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:22:38 +0000

@Barbara – full transcript below:—In 2030, one company – universality – controls 71% of all higher educationThis film documents what it is like to study at, teach at, and work with Universality.Universality – the singular college for the connected world.NARRATOR:”It is incredible to think how quickly Universality has changed the marketplace for higher education in the UK. Using OER materials and peer support, both of which are available to all for free – and coupling this with paid-for tutorials, practical sessions, and examinations and accreditation – it has offered students and employers the opportunity to benefit from Higher Education.””It has also completely changed the nature of academic employment in the UK. In this short film we will be talking to some of the key stakeholders”Our students… learning that fits the way I live my life…and the needs of my employer. I’m investing in my future. I pay only for what I need.SARAH, CHEMISTRY STUDENT:”It’s the flexibility that works for me, I only pay for what I use, and I get it when and where I want it. I’ve been studying chemistry mainly through watching the lectures and interacting with the materials – though I paid for a couple of tutorials too. I can’t afford the practical week though.””I’m saving up to take the level one exam next year. Formative tests are predicting a “B” for me at the moment, so I want to get a bit more work in. The other students have been really helpful in pointing me towards the right materials. And it will take me a year to save up the fee as well”Our associated employers… we employ graduates who can start work on day 1. We can access training and qualifications that directly meet our immediate business needs.SIMON HAZELL, HR DIRECTOR, BEACON MEDIA:”We’ve employed exclusively graduates for years, but we’ve always found we’ve had to retrain them in our way of doing things before they can start work. In business, we need to find employees that meet our immediate needs, but by the time we’ve retrained them for six months we might as well not have bothered – we need something else.””With Universality we have our corporate training built in to what the students learn, so they start with us and they’ve already got the skills and knowledge to do a good job, instead of a degree in something irrelevent. No more graduate trouble makers, just good workers ready to start their career with us”Our staff… I build my reputation and earning power through releasing open resources. I work with employers to make sure that that students have the right skills.DR HEATHER CAMPBELL, ANTHROPOLOGY TUTOR, UNIVERSALITY INC.”Working for Universality was a natural result of the popularity of my materials, one of my lectures had the highest student and peer satisfaction rating for over two years. Now I’m paid based on these ratings and I’m reaching millions of students every day.””At my level I don’t get involved with tutorials or student support, unless the student is willing to pay the premium. I do a lot of custom stuff for key business partners, it’s very well paid. There were some nice things about the old universities: the sense of commuity, the sense of being a part of history… and I quite enjoyed some of the research too. But these days I’m recognised as being a good tutor, and I’ve got a huge international profile as one of Universality’s rising stars.”The government… we are delighted by the way universality has invigorated the HE market. Universality awards accredited UK degrees.THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CAROLINE SPENCER MP, MINISTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION”We all loved the Universality concept, but it still came as a surprise how quickly it became the dominant mode of teaching. Like Spotify did with music in the late noughties, it made most business models look antiquated. It’s hard to believe that in 2010 there were more than one hundred UK universities – these days 71% of undergraduate qualifications worldwide are awarded through Universality. We were hoping for something like this when we seperated degree awarding powers from teaching, back in 2012. Some people are worried about a monopoly, but why worry when so many students are learning so much that could benefit them in their career.”Our Chief Executive Officer… we use open educational resources and then charge students for support, testing, and to graduate. Our staff costs are low, and we make additional revenue via display advertisments and student fees.CHARLES VINCENT, VICE-CHANCELLOR/CEO, UNIVERSALITY INC”We’ve built a huge and profitable business, with millions of customers. It’s a huge step away from the amateurism of the old university sector. Tutor’s roles are now clearly defined, and we pay them for what they actually do and how much business they attract. And were an ethical business – we’re putting all our materials online for free for anyone to use.””We charge students for tutorials, for face-to-face activities, for exams and graduation , and the fees for the last two are reduced when they pay for other services. But even so, a third of our students just pay for the exams. Our Academics are paid to produce materials good enough to draw people in to paying for more services.””I’m delighted to be a part of this brave new world”Universality – the singular college for the connected world.NARRATOR: “this is only one possible picture of higher education in 2030. It might be that you wouldn’t choose to work for or study at universality. The quotes below, from Richard Hall and Jim Groom, might suggest some areas we may wish to consider if we have an alternative vision. We have a lot of thinking to do”(Richard Hall quote)“…we deliver practices that we claim are radical, but which simply replicate or re-produce a dominant political economy, in line with the ideology of accepted business models. So that which we claim as innovatory becomes subservient to a dominant mode of production and merely enables institutions to have power-over our products and labour, rather than it being a shared project … witness the desire for HE to become more ‘business-like’.”Richard HallDe Montfort University (Jim Groom quote)”What we have is an economy disinvesting its own workforce from the bottom up in the name of efficiency, cost cutting measures, and productivity—but in the end we’re all just fodder for profit-driven system that depends up the exploitation of the many for the wealth of the few.”Jim GroomUniversity of Mary Washington CREDITS:Universality, Inic.Available under a creative commons attribution license. Produced by David Kernohan.Based on a workshop by David Kernohan, Sheila MacNeil, Heather Price and Li Yuan at ALT-C 2010.Cheesy stock photography from the Microsoft Clip Art collection.Music by “This Economic Climate”The opinions expressed in this film may not be those of the organisations and individuals involved.Any resemblance to any people, companies or institutions, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Comments on: OER futures and Universality, Inc. #altc2010

By: James Clay

By: Global Universities

By: Paul Greatrix

By: Global Universities

By: Playing catch-up: History of Educational Technology | learning about learning

By: “We need to find a new model of supporting the work of academics.” « TOUCANS Project Blog

By: ‘We need to find a new model of supporting the work of academics.’ – TOUCANS interview » FOLLOWERS OF THE APOCALYPSE

By: Barbara Dieu

By: Barbara Dieu

By: David Kernohan