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Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Reducing Work

Alex Usher, HESA, Feb 14, 2023

In Canada, writes Jonathan McQuarrie, "the number of domestic (higher education) students is going to increase by about 20% in the next five years or so." Barring increased funding, which is unlikely, "this new wave of students is very likely going to have to be taught and provided services via efficiencies within the system." But how? He suggests two major possibilities: reducing the administrative overhead high-paid academics must endure, and reducing their grading and assessment workload. I think these ideas have merit, if only because they represent work many academics hate. After all, "most professors got their jobs by being content experts.  They did not get it by being exports on pedagogy, curriculum, or assessment." But I wonder how much efficiency would be created, given the already extensive use of automation and low-paid teaching assistants. Image: WP.

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