There’s not one way anybody should go to school |#5
By: Harsha Pallapotu
Tags: Online Learning, Academia, Zoom, Higher Education, Schools

Podcast name: Business Casual

Host: Kinsey Grant

Guest: Dan Rosensweig

Episode: Zoom University is in session: decoding higher ed’s online future

A couple of days ago, I was having a conversation with my cousin as he described some of the challenges he was facing online classes in his sophomore year. It got me thinking of how classes would be like for students who are making their transition to academia or for students who are currently pursuing higher education. For this week, I wanted to revisit an episode from a podcast called Business Casual which has now become one of my new favourites.

We have seen many trends disrupted due to the global pandemic and witnessed some of the shortcomings in our traditional systems and practices. One such trend was higher education which has remained primarily in person but due to the current state of affairs, is now online. In this episode, Dan Rosensweig, CEO of an online education company, Chegg talks about the benefits in online education and how our reliance on outdated systems is turning out to be crushing ordeal for graduates with mounting student debt.

When we think about college education, we envision our transition into the real world but increasingly, the gap between what graduates get paid by employers and the debt that students undertake through higher education is rising. Dan talks about the curriculum of universities being irrelevant to the job opportunities that are in high demand or are the highest paying. He advocates for more courses and certifications on skills that will lead to better-paying jobs. He also discusses the notion of university brand name being a ticket to a better life as a fault in the system as the students who aspire to elevate their social status have to grapple with mounting debt from their education. In a world where the current generation has grown up around technology that is on-demand, widely accessible and easily affordable, the education industry has remained the same. Even big companies are removing their requirements for a fancy degree because having the ability to do the job or learn how to do it is more important than obtaining a degree from a prestigious university. Online education is focusing on solving this problem and is trying to deliver curriculums that are contextual to the modern-day workplace.

So, should education just be free? It is quite naïve to think so, and Dan explains how individual constituents to education can contribute to help institutions gain the capital they need to keep educating students. As economies go into a recession, the need to accelerate the path from learning to earning is crucial to ensure that students who wish to learn can meet their needs and have successful careers.

I highly recommend that you listen to this episode as the conversation is far more interesting than my writing and if you enjoy what you hear, I bet you would also enjoy reading the Morning Brew newsletter (the podcast is an extension of the newsletter). If you do decide to sign up, I would appreciate it if you use my referral link by clicking here. It’ll help me win stickers to decorate my laptop! 🙂