William Riggs

Higher Ed Moving Online and the Campus Environs?

Reports about this Stanford artificial intelligence course getting 160K enrollees may offer an insight into the future of higher education — especially if universities can begin charging for this enrollment to bring in extra revenue, without paying for the physical space these additional students might occupy on a campus.  This, however, brings up interesting questions about the role of the campus and the importance of the classroom in the pedagogical experience. What is the role of the classroom in the teaching profession and what are the intangible benefits?  What shape should built space on the college campuses take?  In 20 years will campus simply be focused residential / social communities that can, in the words of former UC Berkeley, Chancellor Clark Kerr, “provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.”? If the Stanford course is any indication, it is unfortunate that faculty will likely not need that parking because they can teach from home in their pajamas.