Academia Next covers fifteen chapters across 331 pages. Alexander arranged the chapters in three major parts:
- Trends
- Scenarios
- To the Future and the Present
In the introduction, Alexander outlines how the book is organized and how one should use the book. Readers should use the book to become aware of new perspectives and discuss those perspectives with others specifically to help mitigate challenges and threats. Alexander is not necessarily being prescriptive but provides awareness.
As Alexander looks to the future, his gaze only goes out to roughly 2035 or a decade and a half. He is clear about the limitations of future-gazing.
Trends
In the first chapter of this section, Alexander discussed the concept of trend analysis. He shared different strategies for conducting trend analysis. I would love to see behind the curtain and how it is put into practice. He provided me with ideas for my research. Alexander also explained how scenarios are used to forecast the future. As he noted, stories are a powerful vehicle for sharing a vision for the future.
On page 23, Alexander prophetically discussed the impact of a pandemic on higher education. As I reread this, I find it fascinating considering we are currently dealing with questions that he asked.
Alexander shared strategies for developing scenarios. These are strategies that administrators could readily implement while working through issues.
The first set of trends that Alexander shared focused on those that are having an impact on higher education. Each of these trends can take an institution in a specific direction and a combination will have further impact. The trends include:
- Internationalization of Education
- Racial Inequality
- Sexual Assault
- Library Changes
- Academic Labor
- Enrollment Changes
- Alternative Certification
- Trump Administration Impact
- Financing Higher Education
- For-Profit Higher Education
Alexander also shared insights regarding demographic distributions and how they changed from the 1960s. Because of better health care and fewer newborns, the pyramid shape of the demographic has taken on a barrel shape. This has resulted in fewer traditional undergrads. Thus higher education needs to shift its market focus.
I have one slight criticism of this chapter. The figure included on page 70 was not well-formed. The figure’s highest and lowest values had the same shading.
Over the span of two chapters, Alexander addressed the impact of technology on higher education. Naturally, I was interested in learning more about what the future held. Alexander shared trends regarding:
- Device Ecosystems
- 3d Printing
- Digital Security
- Social Media
- Data Analytics
- Automation
- Internet of Things
- Blockchain
- Online Learning
- Learning Management Systems
- Faculty Critique of Technology
- Gaming in Education
- Flipped Instruction/Blended Learning
- Open Education
- Virtual Reality
- Video
- Mobile Devices
A lot of what Alexander discussed in these chapters, I am watching play out daily. I recognize the impact technology has had on the transformation of higher education.
Many of these trends have been part of my day-to-day discussions. It was nice to have them all packaged into a few chapters as an easy reference.
Scenarios
In the scenarios section of the book, Alexander pulled together different trends to build “what-if” scenarios. These scenarios are fictional but plausible. I can see how our campus fits into many of these scenarios. I will briefly summarize a few of the different scenarios that Alexander outlined. I do encourage you to read Academia Next to learn more.
Peak Higher Education – In this scenario, higher education has hit its apex in terms of enrollment. It now has to figure out how to survive with an ever decreasing enrollment, at least for the time being. This naturally has an impact on funding, which is affecting the community college I am working at. This in turn erodes the services provided to students. Alexander highlighted a death spiral. Higher education must learn to attract and cater to post-traditional students.
Open Education Triumphant – This was another scenario that resonated with me because I have been helping faculty transform their curricula to open educational resources. Alexander sees an increased shift to open content and curricula. Vendors are also making a shift to support open content, naturally, at a cost such as data analytics and delivery platforms. Community Colleges are well placed to take advantage of open content.
Retro Campus – Alexander also shared a vision that some campuses may elect to use. It is a retro campus. A retro campus is capitalizing on the nostalgia feeling of campuses before the implementation of technology. For these campuses, technology has been removed from the campus classrooms. There will be large lectures, hands-on labs, and reliance on books and course packs. In some ways, this is how I envision liberal arts should be taught.
To the Future and the Present
In this section of the book, Alexander takes a look past 2035 as well as the present. Since I do not expect to be in higher ed in 2035 and beyond, I am going to focus on chapter addressing the present. Alexander offered ideas for keeping an eye on the future that I liked. Some I personally use. For example, he highlighted a couple of forecast reports such as the New Media Consortium Horizon report. I regularly read this report and share it with others. It is now the Educause Horizon report. Alexander also encouraged different academic teams to incorporate regular scans and report outs of trends.
One part of this chapter captured my attention, it focused on online education. If developed correctly, it can help to reach students who would not normally attend a brick and mortar campus.
Alexander suggested many other ways for adapting to the pressures of various trends.
As expected, I found Academia Next to be well researched. Nearly ninety pages were dedicated to notes.
Every day, I am involved in a discussion about one or more issues affecting higher education. Academia Next does a great job of capturing many of those discussions into one book. If you are an administrator in higher education, I would encourage you to read Academia Next. It will open your eyes to the possibilities for moving forward. Some will require those involved to think differently.
Additional Reading
- Book Review: Old School, New School, No School: Re-Calibrating Higher Education
- Book Review: Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
- Book Review: Redesigning America’s Community Colleges
Photo by Jane Last on Unsplash
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