1. education

BRITISH COLUMBIA
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
BCIT: Why? Who? What?
Discussion Paper - Internal
JANUARY 18, 2012
Why?
Why?
Who?
BCIT
Why?
Who?
What?
Who?
What?
Don Wright
PRESIDENT, BCIT
Why?
Who?
What?
Technology:
A capability given by the practical
application of knowledge
MERRIAM WEBSTER DICTIONARY
I. Our Challenge and Opportunity
II. Why BCIT?
III. The Responsibilities This Entails – The Who and The What
IV. External Forces Shaping Our Future
V. Let the Conversation Begin
I. Our Challenge and Opportunity
In the Fall of 2011 we launched a new marketing campaign around the
slogan “BCIT works”. This campaign has been well received, both within
our institution and in the wider community. It resonates with people
because it speaks to a fundamental truth. BCIT does work. It works for our
graduates who have been provided with the tools to launch and advance
rewarding careers. It works for employers who value our graduates for
their career-ready skills, their strong work ethic and their ability to work
in teams. And it works for BC society as it contributes to our province’s
economic, social and environmental prosperity.
A deeper
conversation within
our community
would enhance
BCIT’s unique value.
BCIT’s compelling value – as spoken to by the “BCIT works” campaign – is
the motivation for this discussion paper. Since being given the privilege of
my current position, my belief that BCIT is a uniquely valuable institution
has continued to grow. Virtually every day I experience something that
validates the BCIT model of education, and this drives my commitment to
ensure that the value of that model is maintained and enhanced.
To that end, I believe an extremely useful exercise to maintain and
enhance BCIT’s unique value would be a deeper conversation within
our community about why we are, who we are and what we must do to
make BCIT work for all our stakeholders. Developing a deeper shared
understanding of our answers to these questions will strengthen BCIT’s
ability to thrive and make an even greater contribution to BC’s prosperity
in the future.
Successful organizations have a shared understanding of what sets them
apart from other organizations. They define a model and positioning for
their organization that they make uniquely their own. They define a role for
themselves that they are able to perform better than any other organization.
When everybody in the organization understands this, and is committed to
it, it becomes a powerful tool for moving the organization forward.
This shared understanding informs all decisions made by the organization:
what it will do and, just as importantly, what it will not do. It also defines
the organization’s brand – the core set of promises the organization
makes and keeps – to prospective and current customers, investors and
other stakeholders. It thus becomes the core of telling and selling the
organization’s compelling story.
BCIT has always had a relatively strong and shared understanding of its
why, who and what, although that shared understanding has to some
extent been more implicit than explicit.
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When I first arrived at BCIT, the organization had been under some
stress over the previous few years, so perhaps there had been some loss
of self-confidence and awareness of its self-definition. I had the benefit
of bringing a new set of eyes and ears to the organization, and if I have
made any significant contribution, I think it is primarily the ability to
recognize the inherent strength and value of BCIT and to remind the
community of that value.
...the world needs
more BCIT...
The 2008-09 Education Visioning project culminated in the guiding
statements articulating the vision, mission, mandate and commitments
that were at the core of our strategic plan. An essential element of
the project was reconfirming the unique value of the BCIT model of
education. Those guiding statements and the strategic plan were essential
tools to drive us forward over the past three years.
I believe that now is the right time to carry the conversation to a deeper
level. It is important that we strengthen our shared understanding of our
answers to why we are, who we are and what we must do, and make them
more explicit. There are three reasons for this:
First and foremost, I passionately believe that the world needs more
BCIT – for reasons that I will explain in subsequent sections of this paper.
When I say this, I have in mind not just what BCIT, the Institution, will
deliver, but also what BCIT, the model of education, will deliver. This
being the case, it is vital that we have the clearest and most insightful
definition of what that model entails.
Secondly, we will continue to be in a difficult economic and political
environment for the foreseeable future. Government is going to have
significant fiscal challenges in the years ahead, and will be facing
increasingly difficult choices about funding the various parts of the
public sector. The private cost of post-secondary education (PSE) has
risen significantly over the past thirty years, and is likely to go on rising.
This will lead students and their parents to ask increasingly hard-headed
questions about where they should pursue their education and to what
end. Post-secondary institutions that are unable to demonstrate and sell
a compelling story about the return on investment for public and private
funds invested in them are unlikely to do well in the future.
Finally, I think it is important that we avoid the homogenizing drift that
seems endemic in post-secondary education. There are powerful cultural
forces that seem to drive post-secondary institutions to mimic the same
academic model. I believe very strongly in the value of a differentiated,
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but articulated, post-secondary education system. I believe even more
strongly in the value of BCIT’s unique position in BC’s post-secondary
education system. It would be a major mistake for us to drift away from
that unique position. The best inoculation against such a drift is to
develop the deepest, most explicit and shared understanding of why we
are, who we are and what we must do.
This paper is intended to be a conversation starter to help drive the
deep engagement that will move us forward. It is my personal attempt to
answer the questions – BCIT: Why? Who? What?
This is intended
to help drive the
deep engagement
that will move us
forward.
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II. WHY BCIT?
We made an explicit decision in early 2009 to root our aspirational goals
for BCIT in our value to the people of British Columbia: “BCIT: Integral to
the economic, social and environmental prosperity of British Columbia”.
The absence of a verb reflected a deliberate decision to make the tense
of that statement ambiguous. We wanted to pay tribute to a proud past at
the same time that we made a bold claim on the future.
I will ground my answer to the question Why BCIT? explicitly in that
promise to be integral to the prosperity of British Columbia. Specifically, I
will give my personal answer to a big question: what makes a successful –
economically, social and environmentally prosperous – society? My answer
is this:
BCIT provides
the best basis for
a broad range of
people to launch
and advance
rewarding careers.
A successful society is one that provides the vast majority of its
population with an opportunity to lead a life of reasonable comfort,
dignity, and a sense of belonging that transcends each individual’s
life, while maintaining the capacity to sustain this through successive
generations.
For most people, a necessary condition for leading such a life is a
rewarding career – a career that affords a comfortable standard of
living, is intrinsically interesting and enjoyable, and provides a sense of
contributing something important and valuable to society. And here is
where I find the core of my answer to the question: Why BCIT?
REASON 1: THE BCIT MODEL OF EDUCATION
BCIT, and the model of education that it champions, provides the best
basis for a broad range of people to develop the capability to launch and
advance rewarding careers.
The adjectives in that statement – best, broad and rewarding – are
important.
Best
BCIT is not, of course, the only post-secondary option for developing
an individual’s career capacity. Nor would we claim that it is the best
option for everybody. But I strongly believe that for a large portion of the
population, the BCIT model of education is the best option.
BCIT will be the best option for individuals who are prepared to work
diligently and require career-focused education and credentials that are
highly valued by employers and can be obtained as time-efficiently as
possible.
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Our credentials are highly valued by employers, thus providing superior
returns to our graduates on their investment in a BCIT education, because
of the “DNA” of our education model. Launching and advancing careers
is at the core of that model:
•BCIT’s primary focus is on building human capital – the knowledge,
skills and capacities of members of the labour force. The primary
motivation of faculty members at BCIT is the future career success of
their students
BCIT instills in our
graduates traits that
will be valuable for
the duration or their
careers.
•BCIT’s emphasis on matching theoretical knowledge with hands-on
application means our graduates will retain more of the theory and
will know how to apply it in real world settings
•BCIT works with the employer community to ensure that the
knowledge, skills, and work habits instilled by a BCIT education will
make our graduates immediately productive and an ongoing asset to
their employers. The strong connection to employers is captured in
our mission statement: The mission of BCIT is to serve the success
of learners and employers. This mission is a unique statement in BC
post-secondary education
•BCIT faculty members have strong academic credentials, but
are recruited with equal emphasis on industry experience and
connections, and the value that brings to our students
•BCIT instills in our graduates a strong work ethic, a sense of
confidence, the ability to solve problems, and the ability to manage
time and projects. These are all traits that will be valuable for the
duration of their careers
•BCIT’s emphasis on teamwork in the classroom teaches our students
how to work effectively in a team – a skill that is important, and will
become increasingly so, to career success
•A BCIT education simulates the work experience. You will never hear
a BCIT graduate say, “but this is just my first day!”
The reasons why our students need to obtain their education as timeefficiently as possible vary from individual to individual. She may have
already spent significant time in post-secondary education, but now needs
the education and credentials that will allow her to launch her rewarding
career. He may have personal or family financial pressures that mean he
must minimize his time away from paid employment. Or she may pursue
her education while she continues to work, and thus must study through a
time-effective part-time program.
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BCIT’s accelerated, modularized approach to education allows us to meet
this “just-in-time” imperative. Our students can begin to realize the
return on their investment as soon as possible, and tailor that investment
to a pattern for career development that fits best with their life needs.
Broad
Making the BCIT model of education available to a broad range of people
has significant implications:
Our students can
begin to realize
the return on their
investment as
soon as possible.
•It means BCIT is an institution of inclusion, not one of exclusion.
We strive to make the opportunities provided by the BCIT model
of education available to all who can benefit from it. Our measure
of success is the number of students who are able to benefit from
our model. We reject the notion that the value of an institution of
higher education is measured by “league-table” rankings which put
a premium on how difficult it is to gain admission. An abnormally
high application-to-seat ratio means a particular program is in high
demand, and we should be pursuing additional resources to allow us
to meet that demand
•It means that our primary focus is building human capital, not merely
filtering it
•It means we provide a diverse array of programming so that people
with diverse interests and aptitudes can access the bases to
rewarding careers
•It does not, however, mean a lowering of our standards. Our
credentials are highly valued by employers because they know our
graduates bring state-of-the-practice knowledge, skills and a strong
work ethic to the workplace. Our students need to bring the requisite
knowledge for success in each specific program, and a willingness to
work hard. We will not compromise on that
Rewarding
Providing the basis to launch and advance rewarding careers means that
we have criteria to determine what programs we offer:
•Are there strong prospects for employment for graduates from any
specific program?
•Do those employment prospects promise a good livelihood over time?
•Are the employment prospects forecast to continue to be strong into
the future?
•Does the trade or profession make a valuable contribution to society?
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REASON 2: BCIT IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER
BCIT will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2014. Our contribution to
British Columbia’s prosperity has been truly significant since we began
in 1964. I believe strongly, however, that BCIT’s contribution to BC’s
prosperity can be even greater in our second fifty years.
There are many reasons for this belief, but the most salient ones arise
from three major challenges facing our society:
•Poor productivity performance in BC and Canada
The level and
quality of human
capital is the
key determinant
of an economy’s
productivity.
•The aging of the baby boom generation
•A growing inequality in the distribution of income
The productivity performance in BC and Canada over the past thirty years
has been, in a word, abysmal. Thirty years ago, Canada’s level of labour
productivity was the 5th highest in the world. By 2009, it had fallen to
15th in the world. Thirty years ago BC’s labour productivity was above
the national average, whereas now it is below the national average. In
fact, in recent years BC’s productivity growth has been the lowest of all
the Canadian provinces. To be the worst performer in a country which is
slipping internationally has gloomy implications for BC’s prosperity.
There are multiple reasons for this dismal productivity performance. The
changing composition of the BC economy – a declining proportion for
resource industries, which have relatively high levels of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP)/worker – is a significant factor. So, too, is the relatively
low investment in capital equipment per worker. But in an increasingly
knowledge-intensive economy, the level and quality of human capital
is the key determinant of an economy’s productivity. The sub-par
performance on the productivity front, both provincially and nationally,
has to be largely attributed to sub-par performance in creating the right
types, quality and quantities of human capital.1
The ‘baby boom’ generation is the largest generation in history and
has resulted in an abnormal “bulge” in the population pyramid. This
generation’s imminent retirement and passage into the high health care
cost stage of life will entail:
•Growing pressures on government budgets to fund the pensions,
assisted living and health care costs of the growing senior proportion
of the population
1
There is extensive research in the economics literature examining the link between human
capital and productivity. A useful survey is Angel de la Fuente “Human capital and productivity”
BBVA Research Working Papers 11/03 February 2011.
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•Growing skilled labour shortages as retirements occur in greater
numbers
•Particularly acute skilled labour shortages in the health care sector
because of the double impact of retirements from that sector
combined with the growing demand for service levels
This will have significant implications for the post-secondary education
system:
Approximately 78%
of all new jobs will
require some form
of post-secondary
education.
•Increasing demands to graduate the appropriately educated
replacements for the retiring baby boomers
•An even greater imperative to contribute to a much improved
productivity performance. Each member of the labour force will have
to be that much more productive to compensate for the fact that
the active labour force will be a shrinking percentage of the overall
population
•These increased demands will come in a context of government fiscal
resources increasingly constrained by the financial costs imposed by
the aging baby boomers
Over the past thirty years, there has been a widespread phenomenon
in which income distribution in many societies, including Canada and
British Columbia, has become increasingly unequal and a disproportionate
share of the increase in income has been captured by the highest incomeearners. For example, incomes in Canada between 1980 and 2005 (after
correcting for inflation) decreased for those at the low end of the income
distribution, stayed essentially flat for those in the middle, and rose for
those at the top end of the income scale.2 This has undermined the sense
of shared prosperity necessary for a successful society.
While there are a number of factors that have contributed to this growing
inequality of income, an in-depth discussion of the competing arguments
about the relative importance of each is beyond the scope of this paper.
One factor that seems beyond dispute, however, is the growing knowledgeintensity of our economy. For three or four decades after the Second
World War, large proportions of the Canadian population were able to find
jobs that supported a middle class standard of living with a high school
education or less. Today that would be virtually impossible. On that point,
it is worth noting that the BC government’s most recent labour market
forecast projects that between 2010 and 2020, approximately 78% of
2 Statistics
Canada. Censuses of Population
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all new jobs will require some form of post-secondary education. This is
more than 10% higher than that of the current labour force.3 Moreover,
the forecast indicates that very few of the 22% of the remaining jobs will
be well-paying.
These three dominant factors – poor productivity performance, the aging
of the baby boomers, and the increasing inequality of income distribution
– will interact to make it increasingly important for BC and Canada to do
a better job of building human capital.
It is increasingly
important for BC
and Canada to
do a better job of
building human
capital.
Clearly, there is a leading role for the post-secondary education sector in
this regard. The obvious public policy prescription is that we should invest
significantly more in post-secondary education. It would be wonderful if
governments would find the wherewithal to significantly increase funding
for all post-secondary institutions. Unfortunately, for two reasons, I
believe we must temper our hopes in this regard.
First of all, as previously discussed, public finances are likely to be
relatively constrained in the years to come, primarily due to the aging of
the baby boomers.
Secondly, there is an apparent disconnect with respect to Canada’s
investment in human capital. Canada already invests relatively heavily
in post-secondary education. In 2006, Canada spent the second highest
proportion of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on PSE of all of the OECD
(“developed”) countries. Its proportion of expenditure was 90% higher
than the OECD average. In 2008, the percentage of the population with
some post-secondary credential was higher in Canada than in any other
OECD country. The percentage of the population holding a universitylevel degree in Canada is 20% higher than the OECD average.4 British
Columbia’s performance in these areas is close to the national average.5
3 http://www.workbc.ca/docs/BCLMOutlook.pdf
4 OECD
Education at a Glance
5 Statistics
Canada Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective
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While Canada’s investment in post-secondary education has been
relatively high, we know that our productivity performance has been
relatively poor. Given the importance of human capital in productivity
performance, this calls into question how cost-effective our investment
in PSE has been at creating the right kinds, quality and quantities of
human capital.6
What does this excursion through human capital economics have to do
with BCIT? I believe the implications for BCIT are profound.
I have argued that Canada and British Columbia need to do a much
better job of creating the right kinds, quality and quantities of human
capital than is currently the case. I have argued that it is unlikely that
governments will be able to afford to invest significantly more in this than
they are currently doing. Therefore, we must find a way to get a much
better return on the investment we are already making in PSE.
Our commitment
to building human
capital, not merely
filtering it, means
we are contributing
to a more productive
economy.
I believe passionately that the BCIT model of education is a key part of
the answer to the challenges that BC and Canada are facing.
Our strong connection with the employer community, which shapes the
knowledge, skills and work habits instilled by a BCIT education, gives
us a direct connection to the productivity agenda. Our commitment to
building human capital, not merely filtering it, means we are contributing
to a more productive economy.
Our emphasis on the criteria for rewarding careers – employment,
income, and social utility – means we will be constantly responding to
the changing needs for the right types, quality and quantities of human
capital needed by a dynamic economy. Our focus on applied science and
technology means we will have a leading role to play in bridging some
of the most significant expected skilled labour shortages in the skilled
trades, science, technology, engineering and math (“STEM”) disciplines,
as well as in the health care sector. And our time-efficient, modularized
approach means that we will help a fiscally constrained public sector
fund the development of the needed human capital as cost-efficiently as
possible.
6 An
interesting study that sheds some light on this is S. Coulombe, J.F. Tremblay and S.
Marchand “Literacy scores, human capital and growth across fourteen OECD countries”
Statistics Canada 2004. In that study an international survey of adult literacy skills is used to
explain difference in economic performances across fourteen countries, Canada amongst them.
Of note is that, despite the relatively high investment in Canadian PSE, Canada’s relative average
adult literacy scores were mediocre to below average and appear to have been declining over the
1975-95 period (the survey was done in 1995).
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To counter the problem of the growing inequality of income, it is
essential that society is able to provide accessible, affordable vehicles
for the vast majority of its citizens to acquire the knowledge and skills
that will make them valuable to employers in the knowledge-intensive
economy. The BCIT model of education, with its focus on launching and
advancing careers, broad accessibility, and time-efficiency, will be a
critical instrument to ensure that a large percentage of British Columbia’s
population is equipped with the tools to earn a decent standard of living.
We need to invest
in the human
capital of the
broad majority of
our citizens.
We will only improve our productivity performance, meet the challenges
posed by the aging of the baby boomers, and encourage a more equal
distribution of income if we invest cost-effectively in building the
human capital of the broad majority of our citizens. In my view, this is a
fundamental challenge to one of the dominant narratives of the past few
decades in North America.
Over the past thirty years or so, a belief – sometimes only implicit but
often very explicit – that progress is driven by the “best and the brightest”
has taken hold over many aspects of how we develop and reward human
capital in North America. The notion that organizations have to pay
“superstars” top dollar to retain their services has become conventional
wisdom, whether for professional athletes, CEOs or Wall Street financial
engineers. The average CEO of a major corporation has seen his or her
salary increase in percentage terms, by an order-of-magnitude more than
the average employee working for the company.
North American higher education seems all too often to have become
complicit in this development. The highly competitive compensation
“tournaments” that have taken hold require filters to determine which
lucky few get placed on the fast track. Much of North American higher
education seems to have focused on performing this human capital
filtering function, rather than on building broad-based human capital.
The devaluation of, and underinvestment in, practical and vocational
education is also symptomatic of the same phenomenon.
I believe that this focus on the “best and brightest” has been wrong for
North American society. It has been wrong morally. It has been wrong
socially. But it has also been wrong practically. The countries that tend to
have a consistently greater sense of well-being amongst their citizens are
concentrated in Northern Europe – Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
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and the Netherlands.7 Not surprisingly, they all have education systems
that are designed to give their broad population the human capital needed
to thrive in a modern economy. I firmly believe that we will not become a
truly prosperous society until we emulate, in ways that make sense in our
particular context, the same design.
I would suggest we
think even bolder.
What I have called the BCIT model of education does fundamentally
reflect that design. So when I say that our contribution to British
Columbia’s prosperity can be even greater in our second fifty years, I am
making a political statement. Not political in the sense of supporting one
political party over another, but in the sense of taking a position on how
society’s resources should be allocated. I consciously take such a position
when I say British Columbia needs more BCIT. While our focus is correctly
on the prosperity of British Columbia, I would suggest we think even
bolder. As a model for other parts of Canada and the world, I proudly say:
THE WORLD NEEDS MORE BCIT!
7 See,
for example, Tom Roth and Jim Harter Well Being, Gallup Press, 2010
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III. T
HE RESPONSIBILITIES THIS ENTAILS –
THE WHO AND THE WHAT
The previous section conveys my best attempt to distill the essence of my
answer to the question: Why BCIT? Why BCIT is the best option for career
advancement for a broad range of the population. Why BCIT is a uniquely
valuable instrument for British Columbia’s prosperity. Why BCIT should
receive increasing levels of public and private investment. Why BCIT
should be a model for other institutions within British Columbia and in
other jurisdictions. Why BCIT employees are proud and passionate about
their mission.
It is essential that
we understand that
our fundamental
commitment is not
to what we are, but
to the ideal of what
we aspire to be.
It is essential that we understand that there is, and will always be, a
dynamic tension in all of this between what we are and what we aspire
to be. This mirrors the ambiguity of tense in the articulation of our
vision. We are the best option in many aspects, but imperfectly and
inconsistently so. There are two reasons for this – we are a human
organization, with all the imperfections that entails, and we are operating
in a constantly changing world where what was best yesterday may not be
so tomorrow.
If we truly believe in the value of BCIT, it is essential that we understand
that our fundamental commitment is not to what we are, but to the
ideal of what we aspire to be. We will never attain that ideal, but we will
continuously pursue it as the changing world continues to redefine what
that ideal is. This entails a profound set of responsibilities for us all:
RESPONSIBILITY 1: LIVING UP TO THE PROMISES IN THE BCIT
MODEL OF EDUCATION
What I have described in Section II as the BCIT model of education
entails some major promises on our part. It is essential that we live up to
those promises – that we hardwire them into how we define ourselves.
Primary Focus on Building Human Capital
This means we remain committed to student learning as our primary focus.
We will not let ourselves – consciously or unconsciously – drift to become a
pale version of a research university. Instead, we will be an excellent BCIT.
This does not mean that research has an unimportant role in our mission.
Rather, it means that student learning, not publications in peer-reviewed
journals, will be our primary measure of success.
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This is a not a static, but rather a dynamic concept. We must continue to
pay attention to what the evolving educational research says are the most
effective methods to support successful learning, and incorporate those
into how we teach at BCIT.
Importance of Experiential Learning
The matching of theoretical knowledge and hands-on application has
always been an essential part of the BCIT model. Educational research
over the past thirty years has confirmed the wisdom of this linkage, and
many other PSE institutions have begun to incorporate this into their
teaching approaches. We should accept the flattery in this imitation. But
we should also understand that it means we cannot rest on our laurels.
We must continuously work to ensure that we do it better than others.
It is essential that
we continue to have
faculty that bring
significant industry
experience and
connections to each
of our programs.
Best practices in experiential learning will continue to evolve as
technology and the workplace evolve – the increased role for simulation
and for 3-D imaging being two current examples. The promise implicit
in the BCIT model is that we will continue to be on the forefront of those
best practices.
Partnership with Employers
We must continuously and actively listen to the employers who hire our
graduates, and we must continuously respond to what we hear, to ensure
that BCIT credentials remain highly valued by employers. Our Program
Advisory Committees and other vehicles for receiving this input must be
best in class.
Importance of Faculty with Industry Experience and Connections
Given the centrality of launching and advancing careers, the importance
we attach to matching theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience,
and to the simulation of real work experience, it is essential that we
continue to have faculty that bring significant industry experience and
connections to each of our programs. Our hiring decisions need to give
due weight to the value of this experience. We need to provide the
mechanisms to ensure that long-term faculty keep their knowledge and
experience in their particular industries current.
Continuing Emphasis on Intangible Skills
In addition to a thorough grounding in the knowledge necessary for
particular careers, we must continue to ensure that our students graduate
with the equally critical set of intangible skills which have always been a
core part of the BCIT brand:
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•strong work ethic
•ability to solve problems
•ability to manage time and projects
•ability to work in teams
We need to be open to adding to the list of core intangible skills that will
be required in a changing world.
Commitment to Broad Accessibility
Our belief in making the BCIT model of education available to all who
can benefit from it has diverse implications. It means that we must
constantly seek to provide our offerings as cost-effectively as possible,
while maintaining the quality of our education and of our employment, so
we can educate as many students as possible for a given set of resources.
It means we will consistently lobby for adequate funding from public
and private sources. It means we will work collaboratively with other
institutions that are committed to the same model of education as we
are. It means we are committed to affordability. We champion student
financial assistance so that any individual’s access to BCIT is
not hindered by financial constraints.
We must constantly
review our program
offerings to ensure
that we deliver
on our promise of
rewarding careers.
Commitment to Rewarding Careers
Our commitment to rewarding careers means that we must constantly
review our program offerings to ensure that we deliver on this promise.
Are the vast majority of our graduates able to secure employment in a
field related to their education? Do they earn an adequate income over the
course of their careers? If the answer to either of these questions is no,
what do we need to do to improve our graduate outcomes? For what new
and emerging occupations do we need to begin to offer programs? What
programs are no longer consistent with our promise of rewarding careers?
If there are certain careers which no longer appear to be rewarding, we
will work with the particular industry to see if that can be improved. If,
for whatever reason, it does not appear possible to turn this around, we
must have the courage to carefully migrate out of that particular area and
reassign the resources to areas with greater demand and greater potential.
Commitment to Time Efficiency
Countless times BCIT alumni have shared with me their individual stories
about why BCIT was the right PSE institution for them. Quite often
they have emphasized that one of the key advantages was the relatively
short time the particular BCIT program took to put them in a position
to launch or advance their careers. We must not forget that this is a key
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advantage that we relinquish at our peril. We need to continuously keep
time efficiency in mind as we revise programs, devise new programs and
incorporate new technologies and delivery approaches into our teaching.
Commitment to Modularization
Many of you have heard my presentations in which I discuss the
implications of the interaction of demographics, government finances,
and the accelerating rate of change. I argue that the “typical” education
pattern being forecast is based on an extrapolation of the past – a longer
and longer period of post-secondary education prior to the start of one’s
career, followed by a relatively uninterrupted career. This is not likely to
be the typical pattern of the future. Rather, I believe we will be moving to
a future where, increasingly, individuals will choose “just-in-time human
capital development” – just enough PSE to get them launched in their
careers, with a high probability that they will return repeatedly over the
course of their working life to advance or retool those careers.8
I believe we will be
moving to a future,
where, increasingly,
individuals will
choose “just-intime human capital
development”.
The PSE institutions which will be best able to respond to this direction
will be the ones that are best able to offer “seamless modularization.”
By seamless modularization, I mean credentials that can be earned as a
modular component and then added to either “vertically” or “horizontally”
in the most time-effective ways.
BCIT, with our certificates, diplomas, degrees, and post-graduate
credentials – now including master’s degrees – is already incorporating
many aspects of this modularization into its educational model. In
addition, the very significant size of our Part-time Studies program is
already responding to the need for just-in-time and modularization.
Having said this, I believe modularization is one element of the BCIT
model where our potential is more latent than currently realized. I think
we need to do some serious thinking about our program design and
program offerings so that seamless modularization will be recognized as
part of the core BCIT model.
I also believe that the increased importance of modularization in
the future means that it is essential that we not fall into the trap of
believing that degrees are everything. Degrees are an important part of
our offerings – both because in some professions they have become the
entry-to-practice credential, and because they can be an important step
in advancing careers. But our certificates and diplomas are also a core
8 For
those of you who have not seen it, you can view my presentation of
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at http://www.bcit.ca/president/forums.shtml
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19
component in differentiating ourselves from traditional universities. It is
important that we not lose what is a significant competitive advantage in
our certificates, diplomas and modularization.
Commitment to Maximizing the Recognition of the Value of
BCIT Credentials
I have emphasized the value that employers place on BCIT credentials,
and the value that this entails for our alumni. Implicit in our set
of promises is that we will do everything possible to enhance the
recognition of that value. Most importantly, that means doing everything
we can in terms of keeping our programs current, relevant and imparting
the right knowledge, skills and capacities to our students as effectively
as possible.
We will do
everything possible
to enhance the
recognition of
the value that
employers place on
BCIT credentials.
While the core of the BCIT brand is the reputation of our graduates in
the workplace, we are in an environment where relying on this alone is
not doing everything for our alumni that we could. We need to strengthen
the BCIT brand through marketing efforts directed at audiences beyond
prospective students – to employers, government and the broader
public. We also need to strengthen our alumni engagement and service
efforts, both to enhance the value that we provide to our alumni and to
enlist them in strengthening the BCIT brand in a mutually beneficial
relationship.
There is one other facet of credential recognition which deserves some
serious thought. Not being classified as a university by the provincial
government and not being a member of AUCC disadvantages some of our
graduates in particular circumstances. While our credentials are broadly
recognized within BC, there are some issues with employers and postsecondary institutions outside BC. For example, many federal government
agencies will not consider candidates for some positions who do not have
a degree from a member of AUCC. Currently, these agencies are not even
willing to consider the content of BCIT credentials. As another example,
it is sometimes a challenge for a BCIT graduate wishing to pursue postgraduate studies at an Ontario university to get recognition of the BCIT
credential.
We owe it to our graduates to take these problems seriously. We need to
have a good discussion within the BCIT community about the options that
might be available to us to address this issue. I do not want to prejudice
that discussion except to say two things. First of all, I think we should be
prepared to have an open-minded look at all options. Secondly, it is my
personal opinion that whatever we decide to do, it is vital that we do not
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migrate away from the core of the BCIT model of education. It is, after all,
what gives us our unique value.
RESPONSIBLITY 2: THE NEED TO BE COMMITTED TO CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT
I have already addressed the need to understand that our fundamental
commitment is not to what is, but to the ideal of what we aspire to be.
What we are talking about is a philosophy of continuous improvement.
We need to measure
what our students
actually learn while
they are at BCIT.
In order to pursue continuous improvement, it is essential that we:
•Have clarity about what our goals are
•Develop rigorous measures of how we perform against those goals
•Regularly review our performance against those measures
•Diagnose the challenges to improving performance
•Develop and implement plans to respond to those challenges
•Repeat over-and-over!
Of course, it is critical that we measure the right things – “what gets
counted, counts” as the saying goes. Measuring the wrong things can
take us in the wrong direction. Determining what are the right things to
measure, and measuring them rigorously can be hard work. We cannot
just focus on the easy-to-measure indicators.
We have begun to create a continuous improvement culture at BCIT. Over
the past couple of years, we have developed a set of key performance
indicators (KPIs) that are a good start to establish a basis for measuring
outcomes. I think we need to build on this, both to determine what
additional outcomes we need to measure, and to use a regular review of
these KPIs to drive a continuous improvement culture.
In reviewing the adequacy of our KPIs, the filter we need to use is the set
of promises discussed in the Responsibility 1 sub-section. In particular,
we need to focus more thinking on two particular areas:
First of all, if our primary focus is on building human capital, and if
student learning is to be the primary measure of our success, we need to
measure what our students actually learn while they are at BCIT. And we
need to do this in a much more comprehensive and demonstrable way
than we are currently doing.
I have attached significance to the notion that we build human capital,
not just filter it. To demonstrate this, we need to be able to show that
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students’ knowledge, skills and capacities upon graduation show a
significant improvement over what they were at the start of their BCIT
studies.
The science of measuring this educational “value added” is still in its
infancy.9
Again, it is important to measure the right outcomes, not necessarily
the easy-to-measure outcomes. Challenging as it may be, we need to
begin to do some serious work on this issue in the immediate future. I
am convinced that PSE institutions will be under increasing pressure to
demonstrate their value added in the coming years. I also believe that
BCIT will show well in value added comparisons with other institutions.
But we need to be able to demonstrate this in measurable terms.
Our data should
drive our
programming
decisions.
The second area requiring more attention is the career success of our
graduates. We currently have data available on employment and wages of
the graduates from our programs. But we do not really do much with that
information. We need to use this data to drive our programming decisions
if we are to live up to our promise that our graduates can launch or
advance rewarding careers. If the employment prospects and/or wages for
the graduates of any particular program are consistently poor, should we
not be asking ourselves some tough questions about that program?
RESPONSIBILITY 3: ACTING AS ONE INTEGRATED INSTITUTION
Clark Kerr, a former President of the University of California system, once
defined a university as “a series of individual faculty entrepreneurs held
together by a common grievance over car parking.” We laugh because
there is an element of truth in it – and I would not want to claim that
BCIT is completely beyond the reach of this humour. It is inevitable
that any institution of higher education with more than two thousand
employees and almost four hundred programs will be at least somewhat
guilty of the phenomenon alluded to. But I would venture to say that this
is less the case for BCIT than almost any other similarly-sized institution
of higher education.
The fact that I can describe a BCIT model of education that is distinct
from most of the rest of the PSE sector, but is similar as you go from one
9 See
Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Academically Adrift, for a discussion of some of the early
research directed at measuring learning outcomes in American colleges and universities. Kevin
Wainwright from our School of Business and Victor Glickman of UBC have started a research
project to measure the increase in higher level literacy skills in BCIT students. The early results
are interesting.
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school to another, speaks to an integration and a coherence that runs
considerably deeper than in other institutions. It is also a fact that the
instructors in each program are committed to the integrated success of
their programs, not to their individual success as “faculty entrepreneurs.”
It is essential that we remind ourselves of this, and how important it is in
defining our unique value.
It is also important that we continue to remind ourselves about the
tension between what we are and what we aspire to be. Integration and
coherence are difficult to attain and maintain – there are always inherent
centrifugal forces working against them. It is vital that we work against
this “island effect.”
There is one
ultimate purpose
of every employee
at BCIT – the career
success of our
students.
Without claiming to be comprehensive, I want to touch briefly on a
number of areas where I think we need to work against this island effect.
We need to understand how these areas contribute in a synergistic way
to BCIT’s value, and seek to strengthen their integration into the greater
whole.
Services
When I arrived at BCIT, people had an unfortunate habit of referring
to the “education” and the “non-education” sides of the institution. I
think we have made progress in embracing the notion we are all on the
“education side”. But we need to remind ourselves of this daily. There is
one ultimate purpose of every employee at BCIT – the career success of
our students. Whether we are instructors in our many programs, staff in
Student Services, staff responsible for maintaining our physical facilities,
staff in Information and Technology Services, staff responsible for
maintaining our financial services, or any of the myriad other areas, we all
contribute to this success.
Research
I have made some strong statements in this paper about BCIT’s core
attributes, which could be taken to devalue the importance of research.
In particular, I said that we remain committed to teaching as our primary
focus and that student learning, not publications, will be our primary
measure of success. And yet I said that research has an important role in
our mission. How do I reconcile this?
The answer to this and to why we do research at BCIT needs to be rooted
in the answer to: Why BCIT?
There is a great diversity of research being conducted at BCIT. The
distinction between “basic” and “applied” research has blurred in recent
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years. While BCIT’s approach to research has been an evolving one, it has
always been to look towards real solutions to real problems. BCIT excels
at research led by students and faculty and focused on industry that
involves a “hands on” developmental approach.
However, rather than trying to define research at BCIT by what we do, we
need to define it by why we do it and what outcomes we want to achieve.
Research at BCIT needs to be driven by our vision of being integral to
the economic, social and environmental prosperity of British Columbia.
Benefit comes not only from performing research and delivering a solution
to industry, but by adding that knowledge to the workforce through the
exposure of students and faculty to research and the experience they gain
from it.
The key is to
ensure that student
involvement is
maximized.
How do we ensure that this happens? Grant and industry-funded research
must include involvement of students and teaching faculty as one of
the main drivers. I do not believe that this needs to entail a dramatic
departure for BCIT. This already happens through student and faculty
participation in capstone and other industry-sponsored student projects.
This happens in contract research that involves faculty and students, and
it occurs in some of our grant-funded research. The key going forward
is to ensure that student involvement is maximized, and in cases where
direct student involvement is minimal, that the knowledge gained from
research performed be directly transferred to students and teaching
faculty through seminars, lectures and informal meetings.
In the future, to ensure that we maximize the value to BCIT and to the
economic wellbeing of British Columbia, we need to focus on:
•Research which enlists student participation, thus building their
problem-solving abilities
•Research directed at solving problems of current economic value for
industry and employers, thereby strengthening BCIT’s value to those
employers and providing pathways for employment of our graduates
•Research which maintains faculty currency in their particular
discipline and their connection to industry, so they can better
transfer the current state of practice to students
•Research which improves upon or adds to BCIT’s educational and
instructional techniques to ensure ongoing student success in the
face of a changing educational landscape
If we consistently keep this motivation in focus and continue to integrate
research into the core of what BCIT is, it will leverage our unique value as
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the major post-secondary education institution in BC focused on building
human capital.
Vocational Programming
It may seem curious for me to talk about the need to integrate our
vocational programming more fully into BCIT. Our vocational programming
has been a significant portion of the educational programming at
BCIT since the merger of PVI into BCIT in 1986. Approximately 30%
of our instructors are BCGEU instructors teaching in our vocational
programming.
Significant value
lies in upgrading
our internal culture
around vocational
programming.
This fact notwithstanding, I cannot help observing that the integration of
PVI is still to some extent unfinished business. There are various reasons
for this: the different collective agreement for vocational instructors, a
different funding arrangement for most vocational programs, and the
somewhat different profile of the “typical” vocational student.
Some of these factors we simply have no control over. What we do have
control over is our own culture around our vocational programming – our
language and expectations.
Our language distinguishes between the “trades” and the “technologies.”
There are administrative reasons for this, but I think we unconsciously
attach too much importance to the distinction. Our “trades” programs
are just as much about teaching a technology – defined in the front
piece of this paper as “a capability given by the practical application of
knowledge” – as our “technology” programs are. The sophistication of the
technologies in the “trades” programs can be every bit as sophisticated
as the technologies in the “technology” programs. The basic philosophy
of education to match theory with practical application is the same in the
“trades” as it is in the “technologies.” Our basic why – the launching and
advancement of rewarding careers – is the same.
There is significant value in upgrading our internal culture around
vocational programming. The faculty involved in that programming is as
valued as the rest of our faculty, and the persuasiveness with which we
sell BCIT to the external world is inevitably coloured by how we view all
our programming.
Beyond this significant, albeit intangible value, more conscious effort
can develop synergy across the different programming areas. Vocational
students can benefit from the seamless modularization I have referred
to earlier – accessing diploma and degree options that build on their
certificates and diplomas. Productive interdisciplinary approaches can
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span “trades” and “technology” programs. And the type of research I
have just described, particularly that of problem solving for industry,
could benefit from the expertise of vocational instructors.
International
BCIT is funded by the BC taxpayer – almost 50% of our revenue is
provided by the BC government. The majority of our students were BC
residents when they applied to BCIT, and the vast majority of graduates
stay in British Columbia. It is in this context that we locate our vision in
the prosperity of British Columbia.
Greater international
participation
facilitates the
transmission
of knowledge
worldwide.
While we root our primary purpose in BC, we are continuing to grow the
international profile of BCIT programs. We are taking in more international
students, we are partnering in the delivery of BCIT programming in other
countries, and we are participating in student and faculty exchange
programs with foreign institutions. Is there a contradiction between our
commitment to BC prosperity and our growing international presence? My
answer to that is an emphatic no. There are a number of ways in which
this international presence strengthens our capacity to serve the people of
British Columbia.
In a globalizing world, it is important that BC students, even those who
intend to make their livelihoods in BC, understand more about the world
beyond our province. More international students studying at BCIT, and
opportunities for domestic students to study abroad, are an important way
to facilitate this goal.
Knowledge creation is increasingly spread around the world. Greater
international participation is one way to facilitate the transmission
mechanisms for knowledge created elsewhere to find its way to BCIT.
Our domestic students will increasingly be new Canadians or the children
of new Canadians. Already, one third of BCIT’s domestic students speak
a language other than English at home. BC Stats projects that over the
next twenty-five years, three quarters of the population increase in BC
will come from international immigration. In developing the competency
to successfully integrate international students into our classrooms in
BC, we are really developing the competency we will need to successfully
serve our domestic students in the future.
And finally, there can be program viability benefits of increasing
international students studying at BCIT. There may not be sufficient
numbers of domestic students in certain program areas to run those
programs at the most efficient scales of operation. Supplementing
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domestic students with international students allows us to keep such
programs viable.
So there are strong reasons to view our international efforts as an integral
part of a successful BCIT. That said, we need to be careful to maintain
the appropriate balance. We do not want British Columbians to have any
reason to believe that they are being displaced by international students.
And we need to ensure that the entrance requirements for international
students, and the support we provide to them and instructors are
adequate so that the learning experience is successful for both these
students and their domestic classmates.
Part-time Studies
can be our
best vehicle for
responding quickly
to changing labour
market needs in
rapidly evolving
industries.
Part-time Studies
Our Part-time Studies at BCIT have grown dramatically over the years.
Proportionately, they make up a much larger share of our overall offerings
than the equivalent at BC’s other PSE institutions. I believe that Part-time
Studies can be our best vehicle for responding quickly to changing labour
market needs in rapidly evolving industries.The part-time model also
allows us to access instructors whose industry experience and connections
are as current as possible. The label we use – Part-time Studies –
somewhat undervalues this programming. What we call Part-time Studies
is essentially ongoing career development, which is at the core of how
I define BCIT. In short, Part-time Studies are undoubtedly a real and
critical source of strength for BCIT.
Given my forecast that there will be an increasing demand for “just-intime” human capital development in the future, I see an even bigger role
for PTS in BCIT’s future.
To a considerable extent, our current approach to PTS reflects its
evolution as a “bolt-on” development. I think the time has come to
recognize that PTS should be considered part of our core. A core part
of our modularized “just-in-time” offerings. A core part of how we stay
responsive to the changing needs of industry. A core part of how we make
our offerings accessible to a broad range of people.
Are we leveraging PTS as fully as we could be? I think we need to have a
thorough discussion of what it means to have PTS as an integrated part of
our core, and fully leverage its contribution to our mission.
Industry Services
There are a number of reasons we pursue industry service contract
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training opportunities. They provide some diversification to our business
so that, properly managed, they can allow us to maintain more stable
employment in program areas which have significant peaks and valleys
in regular student demand. They strengthen our connection to industry,
allowing us greater opportunities to maintain the currency of our curricula
and help our graduates find employment. And finally, if managed with a
proper business model, they can contribute to the financial viability of the
institution.
We need to
incorporate the
science of learning
success into our
instruction and
assessment.
I have forecast that governments will be under increasing fiscal strain. I
have also forecast that employers will have increasing difficulty in hiring
and retaining appropriately skilled employees. One consequence of these
two factors will be that industry services could represent a growing share
of our overall mix of programming. We should thoroughly consider the
implications of this trend.
Learning and Teaching Centre
I add the LTC to my list knowing full well that there will still be some
sensitivities from the decision made in the fiscal plan in 2010. I
acknowledge this, and that it may be difficult to accept some of the
particulars of a plan that had to balance a myriad of competing pressures
and needs. These issues notwithstanding, I believe it is important to
speak explicitly of the importance of the Learning and Teaching Centre to
the ongoing success of BCIT.
Our primary measure of success, our primary currency, is our students’
learning success. The science of what leads to that learning success is
evolving rapidly. It is important that we have a centre which is dedicated
to staying abreast of that science, and being the institute’s resource
for incorporating practices from that science into our instruction and
assessment. It is important that the Schools view the centre as this
resource.
School of Business
The School of Business is a strong contributor to BCIT’s brand.
Having said this, the School of Business could be contributing more. In
an institute of technology such as BCIT, the School of Business should be
viewed as a resource for the entire institute.
Many of the graduates from other schools will end up running businesses
of their own. Should we not be looking at how the School of Business can
supplement what they acquire from their home school? Perhaps this could
take the form of some “Business 101” course while they earn their basic
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credential. Or perhaps it could take the form of a short “business boot
camp” that we would make available, on a voluntary basis, to all graduates
from our other programs. Or perhaps it could take the form of another
credential that would build upon the credential from the home school
along the lines of the “seamless modularization” discussed earlier.
There is also untapped potential for more interdisciplinary approaches
between the School of Business and the other Schools. The expertise
in the School of Business in information systems, analytics, decision
making, leadership, marketing, entrepreneurship, and human resource
management have their applications in every organization. Should we not
be asking how these are relevant to the employers of the graduates of
the Schools of Health, Energy, Transportation, Computing and Academic
Studies and Construction and the Environment? This suggests that we
should pursue more cross-fertilization between those Schools and the
School of Business.
We should
pursue more
cross-fertilization
between BCIT
Schools.
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IV. EXTERNAL FORCES SHAPING OUR FUTURE
I believe our answer to the question of Why BCIT? is timeless. What
precisely we will do to live up to the promises in that answer will evolve
over time in response to the changing world in which we operate. As we
determine the path of that evolution, it is important that we pay due
consideration to the salient external forces which will affect our operating
environment.
IPAO put together an excellent environmental scan to provide context
to this year’s operation planning process, and I would recommend that
we all give that scan a careful read.10 Rather than provide an exhaustive
repetition of that work here, I will simply emphasize four key external
drivers. Each of these will have profound implications for the demand for
our programs, how we deliver them, and the services we need to provide
to our students.
As the baby
boomers retire from
the workforce in
growing numbers,
we will shift from a
“buyers’ market” to
a “sellers’ market”
for talent.
DRIVER 1: THE AGING OF THE BABY BOOMERS
I discussed this driver earlier in Section II, and it has been a recurring
theme of many of my presentations over the past year. I believe this driver
is so fundamental that it is worth reiterating its key implications for us.
As the baby boomers retire from the workforce in growing numbers, we will
shift from a “buyers’ market” to a “sellers’ market” for talent.11 Employers
will not be able to be as selective as they have been in the past, wage
rates will begin to rise, and the credential creep of the past forty years will
begin to be reversed. The implications of this for the PSE system will be
a trend towards just-in-time capital development. Young people looking
to start their careers will see less need to spend lengthy periods in PSE
before they start their careers. Rather, they will increasingly want just
enough PSE to get them launched in their careers.
In addition to this impact on labour markets, the aging of the baby
boom generation will put increasing strains on government finances, as
governments will need to find the resources to finance increasing demands
for health care, publicly-funded pensions and support for assisted living
10 See
this at http://www.bcit.ca/fiveforward/sites/bcit.ca.fiveforward/files/pdf/BCIT_Environmental_
Scan_From_President.pdf
11 This
may seem difficult to accept at this point in time. Because the current economic troubles
around the world have employers acting quite cautiously, and it still feels like more of a “buyers’
market” for talent. The current situation is, however, a cyclical phenomenon, and will pass with
time. The retirement of the baby boomers, however, is a secular trend that will persist for a
generation.
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for seniors. I fear this means it will be increasingly difficult for government
to fund the PSE system at the levels it has in the past.
There are two likely implications of these strained government finances.
First of all, tuition may have to make up a larger percentage of the total
cost of providing PSE.
We will lobby for well-designed student financial assistance so that
this does not make PSE less accessible to people from lower income
families. But, even with adequate student financial assistance, the
average student will be paying a higher share of the cost of his or her
education. We can expect that students will become more focused on
getting the best possible return on their investment. They will expect
programming to be relevant to career success, to demonstrate superior
learning and employment outcomes, and to be delivered in the most
cost-effective and time-efficient way possible. The concern about cost and
return on investment will further the trend to just-in-time human capital
development.
Students will
become more
focused on getting
the best possible
return on their
investment.
The second implication is that government is likely to take a more
discriminating approach to funding PSE institutions. It will have tough
choices to make, and it will want to fund those institutions that can
demonstrate superior learning outcomes, superior graduate success and
superior cost-effectiveness.
I hope I am wrong about the increasing challenge of getting government
funding for PSE. We will make the argument to government, in collaboration
with the rest of the PSE, that there is a strong public ROI on investments
in PSE. But it would be prudent for us to plan as if government funding
for PSE is going to be increasingly scarce. We need to develop strategies
to become less reliant on government funding. Most importantly, we need
to pursue continuously the changes and improvements that will make
our programming the most compelling to prospective students and to
government funders.
I am convinced that if we are serious about our responsibilities to deliver on
the promises inherent in our answer to the question Why BCIT?, we will do
precisely this.
DRIVER 2: THE ACCELERATING RATE OF CHANGE
A major implication of the “knowledge economy” is that knowledge
accumulates at an accelerating rate. A corollary of this is that the current
state of practice in any particular discipline becomes obsolete at an
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increasingly rapid rate. This has an obvious imperative for us to ensure
that we keep our programs as current as possible, which means we need to
make sure that our program review processes provide for meaningful input
from industry and for relatively rapid program renewal.
There is, however, a deeper implication of the accelerating rate of
obsolescence of knowledge for how PSE should be bundling and delivering
its education. This implication has been largely missed by the dominant
narrative surrounding PSE. In fact, in my humble opinion, that narrative
goes in exactly the wrong direction.
Deep learning is
enhanced by real
world experience.
At the risk of caricature, the dominant narrative with respect to the
implications of the knowledge economy is this: as the knowledge content
of economic activity goes up, the typical individual will need more and
more years of PSE before he or she starts a career. Increasingly, we are
hearing that a bachelor’s degree may no longer be sufficient basis to
launch a career, and we need to steer more and more students to graduate
school before embarking on a career. Professional programs tend to get
longer and longer. And so on.
While there is definitely a need for more human capital development in
the context of the knowledge economy – such a point is central to my
answer to the question of Why BCIT? – I believe that the basic prescription
outlined above conflates credential creep with an accurate definition of
the real human capital requirements for career launch. It also misses a
fundamental point about the knowledge economy.
As stated earlier, the knowledge economy means that the current state of
practice in any particular discipline becomes obsolete at any increasingly
rapid rate. This, combined with the fact that effective learning has a heavy
experiential component to it, means that the pattern implicit in the basic
prescription – longer and longer periods spent in PSE before the start
of ones career – will be generally a cost-ineffective and pedagogicallyineffective way to build human capital.
If knowledge becomes obsolete at an accelerating rate, longer periods of
PSE before starting one’s career means that an increasing percentage of
what one learns at the early stages of that period will already be obsolete
by the time one actually begins to practice in one’s chosen discipline.
Furthermore, if deep learning is enhanced by real world experience, it is
questionable whether increasing the period spent away from real world
experience is pedagogically effective.
In general, I believe that it will be more cost-effective and pedagogically-
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effective if the typical pattern of PSE becomes one of a relatively shorter
stay in PSE before the career starts, combined with repeated returns
to PSE as the career advances. This pattern was described earlier as
modularized, just-in-time human capital development. I believe this
is the wave of the future, and this is why I think it is so important for
BCIT to locate itself as being one of the premier providers of this type of
education.
Modularized and
just-in-time human
capital development
is the wave of the
future.
Critics will suggest that what I am describing is “vocational training” and
not the type of “education” provided at a university. They will contend
that a university education provides not just specific job-related skills but
more importantly, teaches critical thinking skills, the ability to understand
social, political and historical context around issues, and the skill of
learning to learn.
There is an artificial distinction between “education” and “training,” but I
agree that those more intangible skills are important. It is worth discussing
within BCIT whether we do an adequate job of teaching those skills to our
students. In any event, what I do question is whether increasingly long
stays in PSE before one’s career starts is the necessary and most effective
way to teach those skills. Can it really take five to ten years of PSE to
teach students to think critically, to view issues in context and to learn to
learn?
Finally, I do add a qualification to my position. I have used the qualifiers
“generally” and “in general” for good reason. There are specific
professions where a relatively long period of PSE is necessary. If a
particular profession requires the mastery of a significant body of technical
knowledge before it can be safely practiced – medicine would be the
canonical example – then an extended period of PSE before starting one’s
career is objectively indicated. As another example, if one’s profession is
going to involve a significant amount of scholarship and research, then
the discipline of problem definition, review, hypothesis development, and
hypothesis testing that one learns in the dissertation process is important.
However, in my opinion it is a mistake to take these specific instances and
over-generalize to a prescription for most occupations in the knowledge
economy.
DRIVER 3: THE “INTERNATIONALIZATION” OF OUR DOMESTIC
STUDENTS
Earlier in this paper I cited the significant extent to which our domestic
students already have a very “international demographic” to them –
currently one third of our students speak a non-English language at home.
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The projections are that this will become even more pronounced in the
future, and that over the next twenty-five years, three quarters of the
increase in population in BC will come from international immigration.
We know this, and yet I would argue that we have not really come to terms
with what this means for BCIT. What does it mean in terms of how we
deliver our programs and how we support our students? We need to start
doing some serious thinking about this going forward.
DRIVER 4: ONLINE LEARNING
BCIT has the largest offering of online courses in British Columbia. I have
been fortunate to have had the opportunity to get exposure to some of the
amazing ways in which our faculty are using online tools to enhance the
learning experience of our students in “conventional” classes. We also
have one of the stronger IT operations amongst PSE institutions in BC.
We need to
seriously consider
the possibility that
online learning will
be a “disruptive
innovation” that
fundamentally alters
the PSE landscape.
All this goes to suggest that we are relatively well-positioned to move
forward with an e-learning agenda. That said, I have come to the
conclusion that we are probably not pursuing this on an urgent enough
basis. We need to seriously consider the possibility that online learning
will be a “disruptive innovation” that fundamentally alters the
PSE landscape.12
A disruptive innovation is one that does not just change incrementally
the way an industry produces its product or provides its service. Rather, it
blows apart the basic business model upon which the industry is based.
Current examples are what the internet is doing to the “old media”
(newspapers and broadcast media), what online delivery of video has done
to the neighbourhood video store, and what Amazon and others have done
to bookstores. As these examples suggest, formerly dominant organizations
can quickly become marginalized or even cease to exist. There is
growing evidence to suggest that PSE may be heading for just such a
disruption.
12 Some
useful, provocative readings of this thesis include Clayton M. Christensen and Henry
J. Eyring, The Innovative University; Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, Louis Caldera
and Louis Soares, “Disrupting College: How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Quality and
Affordability to Post-Secondary Education,” available at www.innosightinstitute.org ; and Anya
Kamenetz, DIY U.
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There are big questions for us to grapple with here:
•How can online tools best be used to enhance learning outcomes?
•In what circumstances will “conventional “ classes remain the best
delivery method?
•In what circumstances will the blending of online delivery and
conventional classes be the best delivery method?
I stress that this
paper is not to
be a conversation
ender.
•How can online delivery be used to enhance access to our
programming?
•Is it possible to make online delivery “scalable” so that we can
significantly enhance access to the BCIT model on a cost-effective
basis?
What I am interested in is how we can use new technologies to expand
and improve our programs and access to them. Metaphorically, I want us
to be like Amazon, not like Blockbuster.
V. LET THE CONVERSATION BEGIN
I noted in my Introduction that this paper was intended to be a
conversation starter. I stress that it is not to be a conversation ender. I do
not expect everybody in the BCIT community to agree with everything I
have said here. More importantly, I do not expect that the final outcome
of the conversation that I want to engender – a deep, explicit, and shared
understanding of the why, who and what of BCIT – will mirror everything I
say here.
Since coming to BCIT, I have noted on countless occasions that the
biggest positive surprise I have had is the pride in, passion for, and
commitment to this institution that virtually every member of our
community has. This exists to a greater extent here than I have seen
in any other organization. That is an incredibly inherent strength. I am
inviting all of you to enlist that pride, passion and commitment to engage
with us in this exercise.
Let the conversation begin. I am all ears.
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