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Plenary Debate "This House Believes Universities, in Their Current Form, Are Unsustainable as Mass-participant Institutions"

Date Wednesday, Dec 2 Time   –   Room

Covid-19 has forced us to ask some fundamental questions about education and training. In the higher and vocational sectors, some experts want to make learning more needs-based, shifting the balance towards skills that are directly applicable to the workplace, leaving pure academic learning and research to a small number of brilliant minds. But is this the right approach?
Isn’t the flexibility and academic rigour of a traditional university education more relevant now than ever before? Aren’t the innovative steps universities now taking to introduce online learning exactly what e-learning experts always wanted? And should we be ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’ at such a difficult time when universities contribute so much to so many economies? Or, on the contrary, is now exactly the right moment for fundamental reform? Is it time for consolidation in higher education or radical change?

OEB speaker Brian Mulligan

Brian Mulligan

Head of Online Learning Innovation, Irish Learning Technology Association and Head of Online Learning Innovation, Institute of Technology Sligo, Ireland

OEB speaker Jane Bozarth

Jane Bozarth

Director of Research, Online training solutions specialist, author and Director of Research, The Learning Guild, USA

OEB speaker Donald Clark

Donald Clark

Professor, CEO, Speaker, Blogger, Author, Plan B Learning, WildFire Learning, UK

OEB speaker Marie Cini

Marie Cini

Chief Strategy Officer at ED2WORK and Former President of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAE, Chief Strategy Officer at ED2WORK and Former President of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, USA

Moderator

OEB speaker Paul Bacsich

Paul Bacsich

Founder and Managing Director, Matic Media and Dualversity, UK