McKay School of Education > News > David Wiley Named one of 100 Most Creative People in Business
David Wiley Named one of 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2009 for his Work in the Changing Future of Education
The Fast Company Magazine has named David Wiley, a long-time advocate of progressive education, one of the 100 Most Creative People In Business for 2009. Wiley was selected for his efforts in helping education adapt to the digital age. Thanks to his drive and persistent efforts in freeware and open source content, higher education is making important and effective advances. He was featured in the Fast Company Magazine’s June edition.
Wiley’s work with open source content is designed to adapt to the technological change that society constantly undergoes. He describes the change, citing the transition from analog to digital, tethered to mobile, isolated to connected, generic to personal, consumption to creation, and closed to open. He draws a comparison to the way we view education versus the everyday experience of students. Education often lingers in the past, clinging to analog, tethered, isolated, generic, and consumption-based methods.
During a recent presentation to MSE faculty, Wiley described how what universities exclusively provided in days past is now increasingly being offered in other, more accessible locations. There are ways in which higher education has been trying to adjust, explained Wiley, such as open-enrollment courses online, lecture notes packages, subscription learning services, and others. Wiley is the founder of OpenContent.org, a website devoted to the open source movement. However, there is no quick fix for this issue. Wiley made it clear that much of the progress has yet to be made and great effort needs to be put in by all involved to adapt and change the system.
Wiley gave examples of courses that incorporate open source—online course materials free of charge and copyright. One involved a class he taught where students submitted homework through their personal blogs, which Wiley would read and later recommended on his own blog. He shared a story of how one of his colleagues in Canada, who produces a widely read newsletter was impressed with some of the student work that he had read on Wiley’s blog. He included the links in his next newsletter, which resulted in the students’ blogs being read by thousands of people. “The next week, all of our class submissions were twice as long and twice as thoughtful,” Wiley reported. Through opening sources, including both text and submission of homework, significant increases in quality were seen in his students’ work.
Wiley explains that as the needs of 21st century students continue to change, higher education needs to continue to adapt their programs to them. “When companies specialize in providing particular products, they generally do it efficiently and more cost-effectively,” Wiley explained. He showed how if competitors fail to adjust, there is a very real risk that it will be replaced completely. His work aims to assist higher education to adapt. “We don’t have a monopoly on this market anymore,” he stated.
22 June 2009