Thought Leaders in Online Education: Becky Takeda-Tinker, President of Colorado State University Global Campus (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: You believe that the formal higher education process is worth it?

Becky Takeda-Tinker: I think it suits some of the population in the US. I don’t believe that it serves all. There must be different pathways for different interests. The world has changed so much from when the baby boomers came. We are not factory-based. There is not a procession of everybody doing the same thing and coming out the other end with a job.

In fact, we came up in an era where people are able to design their own Nike. They’re able to pick off of iTunes the songs that they want in the format that they want. It’s a world now of choice and selection. People are able to customize. They are now looking at education also to have that same flexibility. People know what they want and they want to be able to get it.

Global serves a niche of students who want a fully online experience with competency-based education as well as standard 8-week courses. Then there’s a whole other segment in my own system. At Fort Collins, there are traditional students who want to live on campus, go to school Monday through Friday, and participate in sports activities.

Sramana Mitra: It’s a luxury product though.

Becky Takeda-Tinker: Some would say that. What is it that you’re going for? What’s your goal as a learner? Our goal for our learners is to be successfully employed and successfully move up the promotional track year over year. I have a 19-year-old kid. As a parent, you’d want that opportunity for your kids to get them in a safe environment and learn.

Sramana Mitra: They’ve a chance to mature.

Becky Takeda-Tinker: You pay for it. It depends on what it is you’re looking for. When we think that so many Americans are dissatisfied with the cost of education, you really have to have the deeper question of what you want from your investment. For different types of people, there are different types of answers. As we look across the US with all these institutions, the more that they can customize or understand who they are and what they are providing, potential students will be able to choose the environment, the outcome, and the learning style that suits them the best.

Sramana Mitra: Are you tracking or are you aware of what segment of institutions are trying to cater to the vocational type of training? I’m a huge fan of the German system. They’ve done a very good job of apprenticeships and technical training. I think it will become even clearer in the upcoming years as the American system starts to show more of its problems, but that system is more robust and more sound. What online institutions are focusing on addressing that style of education?

Becky Takeda-Tinker: I actually went on the Colorado delegation to Switzerland to look at that model, which is very similar to the German model. We toured the actual places where the 17-year-olds work, and looked at the education tracks that they have. In the US, we don’t have that. When we think about vocational school, almost all of them are on the ground.

They’re actually working with HVAC systems or working on cars. It’s very hands-on. What we’ve seen in Colorado is that we, as an institution, are trying to work with those vocational schools to understand how we can document learning either in the process of learning or in testing the outcome so that we can provide credit. There’s some formal education going on while they’re working in their apprenticeship for which they’re getting credit. How do we quantify that? That is what we’ve been looking as a state.

I think I was part of the third delegation that went. We are working with CAREERWise. They have identified some businesses that want to have interns or apprentices. We could provide the basic learning at that level while they’re going to school. While they then go to their apprenticeship, how can we weigh their time in that apprenticeship. If we can test them out, we could provide college credit for that. That is actually what we are working on as we speak, and that is why I want to that delegation to see firsthand.

What I did see though was a huge investment by businesses – the thoughtfulness and intention put behind internship training. They have worksheets that they fill out and they do labeling of parts and pieces. I think about the US. This will be my thing as I go around talking to businesses. In the coming year, I want to talk about how willing they are to make that level of investment. They’re dissatisfied, perhaps, with higher education, but higher education isn’t going to get there on its own. Businesses, being nimbler and more open to what is possible, will do a lot of the heavy lifting.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Online Education: Becky Takeda-Tinker, President of Colorado State University Global Campus
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