The Knowledge Economy and Postsecondary Education: Report of a Workshop

This work documents changes seen in the postsecondary education system. In these reports, Lisa Hudson focuses on who is participating in postsecondary education; Tom Bailey concentrates on community colleges as the institutions most responsive to employer needs; Carol Twigg surveys the ways that four-year institutions are attempting to modify their curricular offerings and pedagogy to adapt those that will be more useful; and Brian Pusser emphasizes the public’s broader interests in higher education and challenges the acceptance of the primary job preparation for the individual and of market metaphors as an appropriate descriptor of American higher education. An example of a for-profit company providing necessary instruction for workers is also examined. Richard Murnane, Nancy Sharkey and Frank Levy investigate the experience of Cisco high school and community college students. Finally John Bransford, Nancy Vye and Helen Bateman address the ways learning occurs and how these can be encouraged, particularly in cyberspace.