Brief Tara García Mathewson When representatives of companies announce their new tech innovations for higher education, many reference the idea that classrooms haven’t changed in hundreds of years. Siemens argues that universities have been exceptional at innovation and change. He does recommend that colleges and universities create committees focusing on responding to such pressures for change systemically, to stay ahead of the curve. As Siemens points out, many of the disruptors who attack traditional higher education got successful training through it and still look for the most highly educated graduates to contribute to their own companies. Follow Tara García Mathewson on Twitter
George Siemens, who coined the term "MOOC" and helped create the first massive open online course, has taken issue with the recent talk by higher education disruptors who claim higher education is "broken and stagnant", and has defended the innovation recently shown by traditional colleges and universities. However, he also lamented the lack of understanding that higher education has for what is coming, including dramatic changes from competency-based learning, the unbundling of degree programs, venture capital funding, and technology.