On to our next online book club reading! I’ve decided on this book, after some research and energetic Twitter conversations: Richard DeMillo, Revolution in Higher Education: How a Small Band of Innovators Will Make College Accessible and Affordable (2015) (publisher; Amazon).
Why this book? To begin with, it’s a very high profile work on changes in higher education, especially in technological terms, so it’s germane to this blog’s interests. It’s been widely reviewed, winning praise and criticism. DeMillo’s previous book, Abelard To Apple (2011), offered an interesting and elegant take on technology’s impact on education.
Moreover, professor DeMillo is a significant player in the future of higher education. He directs Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities. That gives him unusual experience and insight.
Here’s a schedule of reading, based on one chapter per week, and allowing a week for folks to actually obtain the book:
November 2nd, 1: Map of the World
November 9th, 2: Shifting Landscape
November 16th, 3: Levity, Brevity, and Repetition
November 23rd, 4: Technology Curves
November 30th, 5: Internet Scale
December 7th, 6: Accessibility
December 14th, 7: Pyramids
December 21st, 8: Rankings
December 28th, 9: Institutional Envy
January 4th, 10: Brands
January 11th, 11: Ivory Towers
January 18th, 12: Governing in the Age of Internet Empires
January 25th, Epilogue
How’s that? All the way into 2016.
Would you like to follow along? Simply snag a copy of the book from your library or MIT Press or the local bookshop or Amazon (etc.), and get reading. I’ll post about each chapter at the start of each week, so you can add comments there. I’ve set up a tag for all posts: demillorevolution. Twitter’s also a fine place to chat (I’m @BryanAlexander). If you’re into Goodreads, let us know so we can catch up (here’s me).
Thanks to Twitter book club friends, including Dave Gannon, Jenny Colvin, Tim Scholl, Mark Greenfield, and Dave Mazella. I appreciate the latter’s skepticism.
Excellent — I’m enough caught up with sundry household and moving in expenses to buy books. I followed the discussion but never bought the book for the last one. Besides, after #dLRN15 and simultaneously heading into Campus Equity Week and pre-#NLC2016, I seem to be in full whither-U mode
Great. I look forward to your reflections.
Your posts syndicated to the Precarious Faculty FB page get better numbers than the usual adjunct movement rhetoric so I’m hoping some will join or at least follow the discussion. At some point, the areas will have to intersect ~ until then, building bridges, practicing Dorothy Parker horticulture
My book came in and I am ready to go! I’m seeing if I can get a few co-workers in too.
I dallied ordering but mine is on its way too — in the meantime I read the Amazon cloud sample and reviews. Some sounded like the reviewers were reading different books. Adding to the collection: Jaschik interviews Demillo: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/07/author-discusses-his-new-book-revolution-higher-education
More comments, which may or may not be a plus. Many could use lessons in concision