Article published April 02, 2008
UT’s Jacobs advocates new approach to education
BLADE STAFF
The way to improve higher education is to move to a system of "extreme student centeredness," University of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs said Wednesday during his annual community address.
"Higher education is failing in America, is on a collision course with bankruptcy and its failure, ultimately, threatens our democracy," Dr. Jacobs said.
Dr. Jacobs advocated for moving away from a system of lock-step curriculum to something similar to the business model of mass customization, what he is calling "extreme student centeredness."
"We are victims of our own successes," Dr. Jacobs said. "Colleges and universities, particularly the state institutions, have mass-produced the middle class. They have, for the first two and most formative years especially, unwittingly and unknowingly, borrowed from Henry Ford’s assembly line technology and built an educational assembly line."
Dr. Jacobs said UT would begin immediately to reform education with a focus on individualized curriculum with increased computer assisted and distance learning for students, and rigorous assessment of how students are learning.
Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said Dr. Jacob’s message was "outstanding" and in line with national conversations about improving higher education.
"The institutions that should lead us back to producing the scientists, engineers, and researchers should be the universities of this country," Mr. Finkbeiner said.
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