academic capitalism distance education reconciling markets

academic capitalism & distance education: reconciling markets & scholarly values Kelly O’Neill Athabasca University

Intent Discuss the tensions between the commodification of distance learning and higher education/ institutional values

Academentia • Most people don’t know how different the academy is, and workplace orientations seldom cover academic culture • Who knew? Efficiency and productivity aren’t in the foundation » Leontiades, 2007

• Purpose of DE was for learner accessibility but has morphed into economics • Distance learning is seen as an add on and a problem solver – Economies of scale to develop curriculum and deliver to underserved/marginalized populations without due consideration of that population’s needs

Key tensions • Purpose of higher education individual benefits/ economic tool or civic engagement/democratic training ground/societal contribution • How academia should be conceived of and operated corporatist vs scholarly

Why have these tensions evolved? • Budget cuts have forced entrepreneurial activities • Early opportunists saw DE as a cash grab • Increased adoption of market philosophy applied to academia • Proliferation of for-profits • Widespread adoption of in-house education • Seeming inability of higher ed to respond to market training needs • Timeliness of program development frustrated industry • Again, widespread adoption of in-house education

• Global commodification of higher ed teaching and learning: Public good is no longer the prevailing notion: • we have an industry of national competitiveness and a lucrative service up for international sale » Naidoo and Jamieson (2005)

Characteristics of New Public Management 1. Large scale corporatization 2. Managerialist processes that use • • Mission statements Business plans Performance agreements Those at the top have a lot of power 3. Change management more important than incremental change 4. Least resources w/ max benefit 5. Ends must justify means 6. Performance measures: indicators and contracts that describe obligations » Tolofari, 2005

Education as an economic tool • UC Davis found in 2000 that chocolate is good for your heart – study financed by Mars (maker of M&Ms, Milky Way and Snickers) • Greenbriar School in Georgia: Coke Education Day; chemical composition, speeches from administrators and a coke pep rally – 2 students suspended for Pepsi t-shirts

Contributions to greater good • Paul Berg, Nobel Prize winning biologist laid the foundation for splicing DNA molecules for cloning. Set off a multi-billion $$ industry but couldn’t get venture capital. Colleague at Merck was told to shut down » Washburn (2005)

Non-economic purposes • Community values, and environment for personal development, and a setting for critical thinking and the debate of ideas • “Rather than teaching students to be citizens concerned with the well-being of others and the development of radically democratic communities”, our educational system trains students to be consumers » Saltman, Collateral Damage, p 167

Knowledge economy (a compromise…) “…Ironically, the best preparation for the work of the future may be to cultivate knowledge of the broadest possible kind to make learning a way of life that in the first place is pleasurable and then rigourosly critical. . . The learner who really understands the economy knows how fragile is the concept of career. ” » Arnowitz, 2000, The Knowledge Factory, p. 164

Operational contradictions • Market incentives: be competitive vs collegiality and cooperation (Stillwell 2003) • Budget prioritization, performance management, output measures focus on known outcomes vs novelty (Marginson, 2007) • What is the risk that adopting platform technologies = courseware Wal. Marts? (Talab, 2007)

Assess values & contradictions • What is promoted in your academic culture? • What is frowned upon? • Who holds the power? • What compromises work for you? • Which ones don’t?