Universities Are Instructional Innovation Failures

Their most important product is prestige… and it’s getting stale.

This colorized woodcut from the 14th century shows the model of instruction on which the first universities were founded 500 years ago. Without a printing press to duplicate textbooks, a reader recited text to students who were are expected to copy the speech into their own version of the book. Nevertheless, some students in the back are shown falling asleep. Despite the invention of the printing press, the computer, the internet, virtual reality, and every other information communication technology known to humankind, this model of instruction still persists (except in my class, where no one ever falls asleep).

In The Secret of University Success, I wrote that universities (including my employer, Arizona State University) market prestige. Because universities are in the knowledge business, and it is so darn expensive to assess the quality of knowledge, the principal…

You've completed your member preview for this month, but when you sign up for a free Medium account, you get one more story.
Already have an account? Sign in

Thomas P Seager, PhD

Written by

TPSeager@StoryGarden.co Self-Actual Engineering https://www.youtube.com/c/ThomasSeager @seagertp Join https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13613731

Age of Awareness

Stories providing creative, innovative, and sustainable changes to the education system

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade