While Robert Skiff was a doctoral student at the University of Vermont, he realized higher education was in need of reform. More like emergency invasive surgery. Faculty were underpaid, students were overcharged for tuition, and the entire American higher education model was in danger of collapse. He wrote a paper called “Blowing the Last Bubble- The Frailty of Financing Higher Education and the Risks it Poses to Our Students, Communities, and Institutions.”
His mission to create a higher education system that provided quality education to students but paid a fair wage to instructors resulted in Oplerno, which stands for Open Learning Organization. It is approved to offer courses for transfer credit by the State of Vermont. Faculty members can create and own their courses outright. They set the class size and course price. Students caan use an open admissions process and take advantage of the open course catalogue.
I am 100 percent on board with what Robert is doing. He is taking the means of knowledge production out of the hands of universities and putting into the hands of faculty. I truly believe that this is the model of education that will spread throughout much of the world in the decades to come.
In this episode, you’ll hear
- Why the higher education bubble will pop soon rather than later
- How professors can earn more than any adjuncting job while still providing an education to their students at affordable prices
- How to find your own university students to teach
- What every PhD needs to know about the future of education
Sites and Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Slate’s article on the Ivy Ceiling
W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Talented Tenth”
Scholarpreneur Podcast Episode with Greg Sadler and Youtube
Rebecca Schuman’s warning about hell having no fury like academia scorned