University as a Design Problem

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course approaches the future of the university by exploring the competing aims and missions of higher education and possible transformations. The course explores how future university designs are shaped both by the history of expansion, integration and innovation that have characterized US higher education and the emerging conditions of the new digital ecosystem. We will explore the interplay among pedagogical, curricular, structural and leadership strategies. We will frame these with the greater purposes of the university in society and its responsiveness to the imperatives for access, equity, and social mobility. In Spring 2019, the course will coincide with "Higher Ed Studio," an experimental context for planning and mounting a series of engagements around the future of the university with higher education experts from other institutions. Students in the course will be centrally involved in designing, framing, and executing the dialogues.