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November 26, 2007
Reinventing College: Some Random Thoughts about “Pulver College”"
My friend Christopher S. Penn started a conversation the other day about “What is the value of a college education?.”
And soon after Chris invited me to join the conversation where I answered his question.
Chris then wrote: “Jeff: An interesting perspective. Given that you’re a parallel entrepreneur, If you were to buy, say, a failing, outmoded college that was closing its doors, how would you reinvent the college? Distance learning, a la carte courses, and pay-as-you-go are trends emerging now, but given your reputation as a disruptor, what would a college need to look like in order for you to wholeheartedly recommend your kids go there?”
Which lead to this immediate reply:
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Chris you ask interesting questions. :)
If had a chance to buy a college and make it my own, I would look to redefine the experience and make college fun. At Pulver College I would look to reinvent the college from the bottom up and spend as much time as would be needed to build a core team that will be responsible for running the college, teaching the courses and doing the recruiting of students into the school.
I would turn to the startup team to propose the first set of courses to be offered across multiple disciplines. I would also reach out to some of the more successful entrepreneurs from the area and ask them to be available to share their lives’ experiences with the students at our college. I would have an advisory board of both undergraduate and graduate students and give these students a voice in the future directions of the college and help make sure we are keeping our edge.
Each professor will be treated as if they were a member of a startup team. I would require the professors to be committed to the school and ask them to be the ones who teach their classes and be the ones to grade their own student’s work. I would ask for the professors to be available for their students at times which are convenient for their students.
Pulver College would make college a hands-on experience.
Pulver College is something that will have to be experienced in person and something that doesn’t work well in a virtual environment. At my school, I would embrace the individual and look to attract people who believe in the “Power of One” – that one person can make a difference. And I would look to embrace the creative spirit and encourage our students to find their own private revolutions.
I would offer classes on “blowing things up” and classes on “how things work” and I would offer classes on creativity and the opportunity for the students to teach their professors about the things they are the most passionate about. I would look to offer classes which offer kids clues about life and offer a road map for the next steps in their lives. I would have courses that teach about “fear, greed and disruption” and ones that answer the question: “How did I get here?”
Pulver College would be at a minimum a 5 year experience where our students would be focused to take a year off and travel the world and experience life at its fullest. The college would have a travel department and help students plan their year’s journey into self discovery and adventure.
At Pulver College, our students will learn about how to take having fun seriously while at the same time embracing the creative spirit and helping the students embrace their passions and help them become the person they are trying to be.
I would look for each of the students to build their own social identity and their own social networks. I would look for the students to suggest to the administration technology platforms that we should be looking into.
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I now ask, How would YOU reinvent College?
Please also drop by and help answer Chris Penn’s Question What is the value of a college education?.
By the way, Christopher S.Penn will be one of my guests tomorrow on the Jeff Pulver Show on pulverTV at 2PM EDT / 2000 CET.
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Readers of my blog are invited to join me on both twitter and Facebook.
Tags: college, Christopher S. Penn, Social Media, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on November 26, 2007 08:24 AM | Permalink
Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos
Comments
May I just cheerlead you educators for a second? It’s great to see teachers being leaders on environmental and biodiversity issues. There’s a really terrific example that was announced today. The association of biology teachers is lining up with Amphibian Ark to take on the fight to save hundreds of endangered species of frogs and other amphibians. Jeff Corwin’s video thanking them, and a link to the news release, are posted on my frog blog:
http://frogmatters.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/jeff-corwin-video-thanks-biology-teachers-for-hopping-on-board/
This is really important. Consider the sheer, numerical power of the partnership:
•There are 6,000 biology teachers that are in the association…
•And let’s say each of them has 100 students…
•And each of those students has a sibling, and 1.5 parents, and 2 grandparents, and 2 close friends — and tells them all about the crisis
•That’s 6,000 teachers, 600,000 students, another 600,000 sisters and brothers, 900,000 parents, 1.2 million grandparents, and another 1.2 million friends — all informed, spreading the word, demanding and taking action
Like a frog jumping into a pond, the ripple effect of biology teachers rallying behind Amphibian Ark can be transformational for this cause. So I salute the teachers, and Jeff Corwin for doing all he can to raise awareness. You're making a huge difference.
Posted by: Jeff at November 28, 2007 10:40 PM
Really great conversation. I love how people are starting to think and question the formal education system more.
My full response is a bit long for a comment, so I responded on my blog. Check out http://derrickkwa.blogspot.com/2007/11/sui-generis-college.html for what my college would be like. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Posted by: Derrick Kwa at November 27, 2007 11:25 AM
That sounds a lot like my alma mater, Bennington College.
I graduated in 2003. No grades. No required courses. You worked with a group of professors to develop a four-year plan of integrated, cross-disciplinary studies. We also could create our own courses with the the assistance of faculty members.
p.s. Just to give you an idea of how much fun we had, my freshman house had its own sledge hammer.
Great post, Jeff.
Posted by: Jess Kutch at November 26, 2007 10:16 PM
I went to Antioch College and finished in 1976.
That's pretty much what we did. We were very big on disruption.
As far a blowing things up, back in the mid-seventy's we were into revolution, but we did not do anything violent.
Posted by: Alan Weinkrantz at November 26, 2007 01:28 PM