Towards an extitutionalisation of education
Universities are facing a structural crisis of market zombification. Their institutional flavour needs to be potentially flexible to transcend towards an extitutional vector.
The evolving trajectory of educational systems indicates a shift towards a model that transcends the traditional brick-and-mortar institutions known as universities. This change can be viewed through a lens that focuses on the dichotomy between service provision and genuine knowledge acquisition. In this article, I will try to delineate the potential transformation of academic institutions into smaller, versatile think tanks, examining the resultant implications on educational methodologies, and delineating parallels with the privatisation and fragmentation of media in the contemporary era.
Universities have served as the vanguard of knowledge cultivation and dissemination for centuries. However, the shift towards commodification of education, leading to a “service provider” model, has raised concerns about the integrity of the educational process. In this model, education is treated as a service for which students pay, with an implied expectation of a degree in return, irrespective of knowledge acquisition or intellectual development. This has been criticized for leading to an erosion of the core educational mandate: to foster critical thinking, facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, and stimulate intellectual growth.
The argument being put forward here is that future educational processes could take a different shape, one that sees universities replaced by versatile, decentralized think tanks-paradigm structures. These systems, unlike traditional universities, are more adaptive, flexible, and have the capacity for creating affiliations and symbiotic relationships with local public entities, providing necessary technology and space. The decentralization character allows for tailored educational experiences, fostering an environment conducive to intellectual growth, as opposed to the commodification model prevalent in many contemporary universities.
The projected fragmentation of educational systems into individual structures mirrors the current trend observed in the media sector. Over the past few decades (with a pean during the global pandemic), traditional media platforms have undergone a profound shift due to digitization, leading to an increasingly fragmented media landscape. As media becomes more privatized and segmented, audiences have the freedom to select sources of information that cater to their specific interests, thereby providing a more individualized and personal experience. Similarly, smaller educational extitutions could provide more tailored and relevant educational experiences, focused on the learner’s individual needs and interests.
The proliferation of these think tanks could also lead to a shift from transactional relationships to more reciprocal, collaborative arrangements. This is analogous to the transition from traditional, broadcast media to more interactive, social media platforms. The reign of social media has enabled a more participatory model where users are not just consumers but also contributors to the information ecosystem. Likewise, decentralization can foster a learning environment where students are not just recipients of knowledge, but active participants in the learning process.
In post-graduate education, multi- inter- and transdisciplinary hubs provide another example of how intellectual exploration can be fostered outside the traditional university structure. The Santa Fe-Institute is renowned for its groundbreaking work in complexity science, achieved by fostering collaboration among scholars from diverse disciplines, including physics, economics, biology, and social sciences. The unique, think-tank-like environment enables researchers to explore interrelated problems and pioneer novel approaches to tackle them.
The shift from traditional university models to a more decentralized, versatile system of smaller structures is not a distant possibility; it is already unfolding in our present educational landscape. By focusing on the needs of individual learners and providing an environment that facilitates authentic intellectual growth, these pioneering institutions are setting the tone for the future of education. The parallels between this transition and the fragmentation and privatization of media underscore the broader trend towards personalized, interactive experiences across various domains of society.
The parallel between media and education can be further extended by looking at the architecture of the internet and its evolution from a centralized to a distributed network. Centralization in education, as in the media, often leads to the dominance of a few key institutions and their prescribed narratives. Much like how the internet has disrupted the media industry, decentralizing education could disrupt traditional, centralized educational systems. This process of telematics in education would introduce an infrastructure that is adaptable and resilient to various external factors, ensuring the provision of knowledge even amidst global uncertainties.
Just as the internet is designed to survive network outages, a distributed educational system could maintain its functionality in the face of systemic disruptions. A lesson we can draw from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of adaptability and resiliency in education. The internet, being a distributed system, could still operate even if parts of it went offline. In the same vein, if education becomes more distributed, then learning can continue even when individual institutions, regions, or countries face disruption. In this way, the learner’s ability to isolate and introspect, to engage in necessary systemic-creative introversy, would be preserved and even enhanced within a distributed educational network.
Such a shift to distributed educational systems would emphasize the importance of local communities and peer-to-peer interactions in the learning process, much like the shift from traditional to social media did. Social media platforms enable direct, many-to-many communication, allowing users to learn from one another in addition to learning from centralized sources of information. Similarly, distributed education systems would prioritize local, community-based learning, with learners drawing on the knowledge and experience of their peers as well as of educators. This shift towards more distributed, community-centered learning networks could enhance the quality and relevance of education, making it a more effective vehicle for individual and societal development.
To further strengthen the idea of distributed learning and community-centered networks, we can draw on the principles of the cybernetician Gordon Pask and his Conversation Theory. Pask’s Conversation theory, which centers around the idea that knowing occurs through conversations, emphasizes the dual role of each participant as both a teacher and a student.
Gordon Pask’s Conversation Theory, rooted in cybernetics, posits that learning occurs through conversations that make knowledge explicit. These conversations span natural language, object languages about a subject matter, and metalanguages discussing learning. Pask suggests knowledge structures be used to display learning content and relationships, promoting the “teachback” method where learners relay what they’ve learned. He distinguished two learning strategies: Serialists, who proceed sequentially through content, and Holists, who seek higher-order relations. The theory implies that understanding a subject matter requires grasping the relationships among concepts, a process facilitated by explicit explanation from teachers. Different learners may prefer different ways of learning these relationships.
This dynamic perspective fosters an enriching learning environment characterized by mutual teaching and learning, which aligns well with the community-focused approach of distributed education systems.
In Pask’s model, every participant in a conversation can both learn and contribute to the collective understanding of the group. This participatory role is very much akin to the many-to-many communication model you’ve drawn parallels with in social media platforms. Everyone has the potential to be a source of knowledge, bringing their unique experiences and perspectives to the table. It underscores the value of peer-to-peer interactions, as every conversation holds the potential for mutual learning and growth.
The shift towards distributed, community-based learning networks also accentuates the significance of this dual teacher-student role in nurturing local learning cultures. As learners draw upon each other’s knowledge and experiences, they actively contribute to the cultivation of their local learning communities. These shared conversations and experiences can generate a rich substrate of locally relevant knowledge, enhancing the relevance and quality of education.
