bodner089

Last time I wrote about two concerns I have, regarding branch campus administration, if institutions hope to see an entrepreneurial attitude and significant enrollment growth.   These choices stem from not understanding innovation and entrepreneurship, and they get in the way of an outreach mission. My third concern came as a shock to me, when I began consulting.   Many institutions actually have their academic departments at the main campus develop the class schedule for their branch campuses.   This never, ever works well . When the schedule is set at the main campus, I hear about courses required for graduation that are scheduled at 10:00 am, when the intended audience is working adult learners.   I hear about courses added and deleted, without anyone bothering to tell the branch administration about the changes.   Even worse, I hear about programs being offered without any predictable plan for delivery of required courses, at all.   S...

If it isn’t apparent, my recent posts reflect growing concern and frustration with the way institutions administer their branch campuses.   Having spent some years working with online programs, as well as studying the implications of disruptive environments on organizations, I also see important strategic connections between branches and online delivery. Moreover, virtually every consulting role I’ve filled was at least in part tied to a president who wanted to see enrollment growth at their branches and in their online programs.   Although I’m pleased and impressed that these presidents recognize the potential significance of branch growth, the press of day-to-day crises at the main campus makes it nearly impossible for presidents to personally lead specific initiatives. I should add that, again in my own experience, provosts or academic vice presidents seem less consistently concerned than presidents about enrollment growth through new audiences.   De...

I have not written about innovation or disruption in higher education, on Creating the Future , for a while, although I do write about it on my branch campus blog.   This post will be published on both.   (The blog addresses are www.branchcampus.blogspot.com and www.drcharlesbird.com/creatingthefuture .) I’m intrigued by the rapid progress of MOOCs (massive open online courses) and other online options, but the trigger for this post is the pushback we see, especially from some faculty members.   The defense of traditional classroom education seems disingenuous, appearing to suggest that all faculty members create vibrant learning environments and transform students into sophisticated critical thinkers, even as students also acquire undefined benefits from the residential experience. Actually, there are remarkable professors out there, and I know full well that important growth can come through the traditional experience.   The issue is how consiste...

The second most viewed post on this blog is titled, “Revenue Sharing and Support for Branch Campus Growth.”   ( http://branchcampus.blogspot.com/2010/02/revenue-sharing-and-support-for-branch.html ).   I tend to write shorter, more focused posts, these days, but so it goes.   Among other things, I described the approach to funding in Ohio, which worked well for a very long time.   Unfortunately, recent changes may make things harder for university branches; I am concerned about the long-term implications for enrollment. In the same month, I also wrote a post titled, “On Being an Entrepreneur in Higher Education.” ( http://branchcampus.blogspot.com/2010/02/on-being-entrepreneur-in-higher.html )   That post stemmed from my frustration with institutional leaders who claim to be entrepreneurs, but do not appear to understand what it means to empower innovation, especially in a disruptive environment. Good information is available on how to develop...

A few years ago, I wrote a piece for this blog titled, “Rate of Change and Predicting Which Institutions Will Thrive in the Future.”   You can find it at http://branchcampus.blogspot.com/2010/05/rate-of-change-and-predicting-which.html . The post was based on a quote from Jack Welch:   “I’ve always believed that when the rate of change inside an institution becomes slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight.”   Sobering words, but the logic is compelling.   Over and over again, we have seen that established organizations in a wide range of industries lose out to more innovative, nimble organizations with an idea that disrupted the status quo . I am revisiting this topic, because the rate of change in higher education clearly accelerated in recent months.   The stories are stunning, as the availability of MOOCs and other online options are expanding.   The emergence of “free” courses has rapidly spawned remarkably low-cost...

Through most of my career, I both enjoyed and benefited from the fact that people at the main campus paid little attention to their branches.   For all the frustration and difficulty of getting programs or courses approved, the circumstances worked to our advantage.   In addition, because we were financially separate from the main campus, we developed a deeper understanding of higher education finance than most of the chairs, deans and vice presidents with whom we worked.   (Not bragging; just sharing the facts.   My experience with finance or budget administrators really was no different, because they tend to focus so strongly on cost control and risk avoidance that we found negotiations usually worked to our advantage.   Keep in mind that I am a devotee of mutual gains bargaining, so our success was mostly a matter of careful listening and addressing the interests of others, but with a strong understanding of our own interests.   Thus, i...

There is no question that lots of things are happening in higher education.   New programs and new strategies show up at a rapid clip.   As you think about the future, you will necessarily make choices about course and program delivery, and those choices will have a major impact on how attractive you are to prospective students. Consider this range of possibilities for delivery: ·       Face-to-face in a traditional classroom ·       Synchronous delivery with some students in the same classroom as the instructor and others participating through interactive video ·       Hybrid delivery, which may include asynchronous streaming videos, online elements, and occasional classroom meetings, which themselves can occur in a variety of forms; this might include use of the “flipped classroom,” which offers significant creative opportunities ·         What I’ll cal...