This week UCF hosted a joint conference in Orlando for campus teams made up of senior executives sponsored by the American Association for State Colleges and Universities and EDUCAUSE.

Key resources promoting institutional transformation were advocated to stimulate thought. Kamenetz’ DIYU book was distributed to the 12 campus teams towards a hope to re-imagine undergraduate experience especially for publicly funded campuses hard it with the economy. Our conference aims to transform the academy, but your questions strike at the heart of individual intrinsic motivation.

Personally, I think those that need a 4 year-degree most need two things: belief that they will get the help to succeed when they need it and inspiration from people they can relate to who made it. Social networking can fill this void.

Don’t look in the malls for much improvement, the motivated will be homebound most likely with children or in new, unfamiliar military duty stations.

We need DIYU to be more like DIYL (Living) that has learning at every turn. A good question for us perhaps is how are we inspiring?

What is missing from the typical discussion along this theme is that business models are changing as well which may very well lend themselves to the DIY future, if indeed that’s the destiny we face.

Shirkey’s insightful observations (see ted.com) regarding collaboration replacing institutional models of business, may result in a more dynamic just-in-time community forming platform (thinking of the original open-source dev community here as Shirkey mentions).

If this is the case, then documented credentials will not mean as much as portfolio’d collateral demonstrating real-time ability.

What I like about this possibility (assuming the relationship and reputation economy model can emerge fully), is that people can focus on their passion (amateur vs. professional).

As for how to help people broaden themselves ‘beyond’ their focused passion to try domains outside their targeted interests; well, that’s a great question. My naive guess is that if people were truly appreciated for their abilities, their self-efficacy (Bandura) might allow them the confidence to branch out into new territory.

After all, an experienced and confident explorer might could go anywhere, right?

I overheard a conversation yesterday in which a person raised in Europe described having to write 2 theses, learn 4 languages, and take 2 years of calculus before graduating from high school. While there are problems with the European system, this example does suggest that it is possible to have high expectations for secondary ed and that it is possible to have the political will and financing to meet those expectations. Put another way, if the primary and secondary ed in the USA is in a world of hurt, why should we expect better from the remedial world of postsecondary ed?

Your doubts about motivation and ability in an open education context echo my own, and I agree that the shift to a new mode requiring the same skill set (curiosity and a desire to learn being primary to both) wouldn’t make the tent any bigger. I am also a strong believer in general education, for very few students know what they need to know. Exposure to new ideas is, I think, basic to a college’s mission.

What I’m curious about is the idea of scarcity. The author does comment on the fact that more people are getting college degrees than ever before, but in noting that it’s still not enough (in comparison to other countries) skims over the idea of scarcity only briefly.

I wonder whether scarcity is the point, and not just for getting a good job. The whole idea of DIY undermines the scarcity of those obtaining degrees, because what is a degree but a weeding mechanism? Again, I mean this not just for employers but for society. As the last MA in a department now filled with PhDs, I selfishly proclaim that the value of the degree goes down the more people obtain it. How does DIY handle that?

Back to your main concern. The new role of the professor would indeed be as a guide in the DIY world, and I already see that happening and am engaging in some of it myself. I predict that, for the reasons you mention, the measurable result will not differ at all from other pedagogies.