A trend that I wish to see is one mentioned by the New Media Consortium (2015), which is that of increasing collaboration between higher education institutions.
There are only so many ‘Introduction to Psychology’ courses needed in this world. At the very least, I imagine major universities across Canada collaborating on the development of a few excellent introductory online courses that can be shared between them.
I then see more important collaborations happening in higher level courses. For example, the University of Manitoba is on the leading edge of the prevention and management of HIV disease in the developing world. Presumably, a course based on this knowledge would be of benefit to people around the world but it would be a waste of resources for other institutions to try and duplicate our work. Instead, if universities would make it easier for students to find and get credit for courses at other institutions, their students could benefit from learning from the international leaders in particular fields.
I already see beginning in this direction. For example, our program on Oral-Systemic Health (OSH) has been requested by educators in Saskatchewan, Nebraska, and Europe. We, in turn, are interested in educational initiatives in OSH being done at New York University’s School of Nursing. Collaboration rather than duplication seems to be in everyone’s best interests. This, of course, would never preclude institutions from individualizing programs to meet the specific needs of their own students. For example, a Geology course for Manitoban students should focus more on the science of prairie landscapes than that of deserts; the reverse would be true for students in Arabic countries.
In short, as it becomes easier to share information through technology, it would benefit us all if we would spend time focusing on how best to use the resources available to us, before creating our own.
Reference:
New Media Consortium. (2015). NMC Horizon Report 2015: Higher ed edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-HE-EN.pdf