Educators discuss impact of 'intellectual revolution' on classrooms

WASHINGTON -- While hundreds of students took notes, tests and naps during classes March 20, their general fate was discussed in terms of human capital attaining intellectual capital. This phrase was the scope of the discussion among education leaders, business executives and three governors during a roundtable discussion envisioning higher education amid social and economic change. \nThe dialogue and the series of reports released at the National Press Club set loose a flurry of ideas that will contribute to a four-year initiative called "Influencing the Future of Higher Education" by the National Governors Association. Claudio Sanchez, an education reporter from National Public Radio, moderated the two-hour discussion, while people watched, took notes and sipped coffee. \nIntellectual revolution\nAlthough governors haven't traditionally focused on higher education, last Tuesday's discussion echoed a call to arms sparked by the "intellectual revolution" that's leaving an "information age" in its wake. \nThe number of college-age adults will increase from 4.3 million in 1998 to 31 million in 2015, and eight out of 10 new jobs created during the next year will require some education beyond high school, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. \nEntrepreneurs such as Bill Gates ushered in this intellectual revolution, which will rival the industrial revolution of the early 20th century, said Governor Paul Patton of Kentucky. \n"Fortunes used to be built in oil refineries and auto factories," Patton said. "Now assets are built with intellectual capital of entrepreneurs and the people they surround themselves with. There's a fundamental shift we have to have to continue to be leaders in the creation of intellectual property." \nPeople are already graduating from Microsoft universities and making more money than the average liberal arts graduate. The University of Phoenix operates on a for-profit basis and has a stock on NASDAQ.\nKeith Fox, vice president of Worldwide Corporate Marketing for Cisco Systems,said the U.S. higher education system wasn't producing the kind of graduates the corporation needed, so they responded by investing $100 million to create and implement a four-year curriculum that is now taught at 6,200 schools. He said he sees the Cisco academy as a complement, rather than a replacement for the traditional university. "It's not an 'or' argument -- it's an 'and' argument," he said. \nFrom brick to click\nOne national trend in higher education has been especially evident in Indiana, where a growing state community college network will include 23 Ivy Tech campuses. Community Colleges in Lafayette and Indianapolis saw a 30 percent increase in enrollment from last spring to this semester. Four-fifths of today's college students don't fit in the profile of an 18 to 22 year old living on a campus, according to an NGA report. \n"We're dealing with a different environment," Patton said. "We have to educate more of the population -- we have to go to people that are less self-motivated, so we have to think outside the box to bring them in to the workforce."\nIndeed, e-learning has made it possible for non-traditional students to surf -- rather than drive -- to class. \nThe U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a bill that would extend the fair use of video, music and books from brick classrooms to click classrooms. \n"It used to be that the only place higher education took place was in the halls of academia at the feet of master teachers," Robert Mendenhall, president and CEO of the virtual Western Governors University said. "Now master teachers are available online."\nGuide on the Side\nThe advent of the information age has set the scene for an exit of the "sage on the stage" professor and the entrance of the "guide on the side," according to Mendenhall's report released Tuesday. \nThat means the role of the online professor will be that of a mentor helping students learn how to learn and judge the quality of information, rather than transferring specific knowledge. \n"It's an additional burden over going to a lecture and leaving the lecture hall," said Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia. \nIf there isn't a shift toward a mentoring role for professors, it will be a shift toward a starring role, according to the report by Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University.\nHe sketched an analogy of a professor as a movie star working with several movie studios -- forming contracts with a variety of publishing, online teaching and consulting companies. \nLegislating change\nGovernors have defined top priorities such as increasing degree attainments and educating a more diverse citizenry. African Americans make up 8.4 percent of the Indiana population, according to the U.S. Census, and less than 4 percent the IU student body, according to IU Student Information and fiscal services. \nRecurring ideas in the discussion included building evaluation standards to measure what students know after their post-secondary education and molding higher education to contribute to state economic development. \nWhile not all aspects of the policy are in perfect harmony with the loftiest ideals of higher education, Parris Glendening, governor of Maryland, NGA chairman and former University of Maryland professor, has the broader interests of many professors -- superstar, guide on the side and IU varieties -- in mind. \n"We won't look past the value of knowledge for the sake of knowledge," Glendening said. "We have to remember the importance of education in terms of solving broad issues that affect our world rather than simply continuing prosperity"