This chapter focused on creating a personalized education primarily through the incredible means of data analytics. Some of the issues and/or questions raised:
- Software for the classroom, not just outside of it. This is something totally new to me; we’ve all heard of online classes, or even hybrids, but the program described, Knewton, really takes the technology to a whole new level. It allows students to move at their own pace, which is beneficial for everyone. The teacher is more of an advisor as opposed to the primary educator, and it allows students to be more active in their learning. Does this mean the role of an educator in the future going to change? What is the primary role of an educator anyway–to spit out information, or to ensure that students are learning and motivated? New learning software like Knewton puts the question into perspective.
- Software to help students choose a college, or maybe even to choose it for them. Currently, programs like Naviance are aiding students in their quest for the right fit, but Craig Powell, the founder of ConnectEDU, hopes to one day get rid of the whole admissions process altogether because “an algorithm will have already told them.” Are we relying too much on the algorithms? Or rather, is there something in choosing a college that a data software can’t mimic? It could very well be the emotional aspect that Selingo spoke about elsewhere in the book–the reason why many students make bad decisions. So maybe it’s not such a terrible thing if the computer leaves that out completely and places you purely on the analytics, right?
- Similarly, these sorts of software can have an impact on the college search for students, not only the student search for college. Colleges can make smarter moves in advertising to certain demographics or types of students, instead of subscribing to the expensive and excessive mode of marketing to students. I personally remember getting hundreds of brochures in 11th and 12th grade. Regarding many of them, I would just think to myself, “if they knew the first thing about me they wouldn’t advertise to me.” Or maybe they’d just advertise smarter, which is also better.
- Software to advise students during college, like Degree Compass. Despite being “incredibly accurate,” is it limiting students’ choice? Selingo brings this up more than once, and I think it’s a very valuable point to discuss. It moves us further into the realm of viewing college as a pre-constructed road map to getting the degree, which seems to be the only thing we care about getting. But, as Selingo says, we are moving into a different world–dropout rates are higher than ever, and college tuition is steadily climbing. “It simply costs too much money not to follow roadmap.” Is that the end for exploring passions and curiosities for most students, and should we worry?
- There’s the aforementioned issue of limiting students’ curiosity, but in addition, I think programs like Degree Compass may limit students’ willingness to accept a challenge. The example given of the fictional Jessica depicts the student switching majors after an apprehensive one star given for stats. Is the program encouraging students to shy away from anything that may be slightly difficult and resort to only the things she’s best at? What happened to doing something you enjoy over something you’re good at? It seems to be in line with the previous question, and may come down to the same thing–it simply costs to much money not to focus solely on the thing you’re best at. The greater issues here seems to be of the changing value of the degree and purpose of higher education altogether, a theme which is explored consistently by Selingo.
