Jim Groom came to Hamburg for OERcamp. He brought his son and some most fundamental thoughts.
Jim Groom, one of the founders of the Edupunk movement, reflects on nearly two decades of challenging mainstream educational technology and argues that higher education has become trapped in cycles of platforms, metrics and institutional control. In conversation with Jöran Muuß-Merholz, he revisits the origins of Edupunk, discusses the rise and decline of open, web-based learning spaces, and explains why reclaiming personal ownership of digital identities matters more than ever. Drawing on projects such as Domain of One’s Own and his current work with AI, Groom makes the case for experimentation, creativity and „working with what you have“ instead of chasing the latest technological trends.
Jöran Muuß-Merholz visiting Minerva HQ in San Francisco to learn about the most exciting innovation in Higher Education
Es gibt eine kurze deutschsprachige Einordnung mit Grundlagen zum Studium bei Minerva in einer Sonderfolge von Jöran ruft an (JRA). Wir empfehlen deutschsprachigen Zuhörer*innen, diese 5 Minuten zuerst zu hören.
„Our goal is to displace Harvard“, Minerva founder Ben Nelson boasted in the Wall Street Journal in 2013. Only three years later it was reported that Minerva got 16,000 applications for 306 available places, making its acceptance more exclusive than Harvard or Stanford. Meanwhile in 2019 the first students have graduated.
There’s much talking about disruption in Higher Education. At Minerva they are serious about it. The team has abandoned lectures, brought classes to a truly novel online environment and has the students moving every semester – from San Francisco to Seoul, Hyderabad, Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, and Taipei.
Jöran Muuß-Merholz learned about Minerva in early 2013. But he thought of them as some elearning weirdos. 😉 In January 2020 he met Ben Nelson at Minerva’s HQ in San Francisco. Listen to their conversation on fundamental change in HE, how money can buy you access to education and fully active learning.
First photo: Ben Nelson and Jöran Muuß-Merholz, Photo with unknown authorship. 2nd photo (the one with the clocks) by Jöran Muuß-Merholz CC BY 4.0
Minerva Schools at KGI
Project Minerva
The Minerva Book: Building the intentional university
some US coverage on Minerva and Minerva:
Entrepreneur Ben Nelson of Minerva Project: Recreating universities
Wall Street Journal (2013): Ben Nelson: The Man Who Would Overthrow Harvard
Forbes (June 2019): How To Fix Higher Education: Seven Keys
UPENN: Can the Minerva Model of Learning Disrupt Higher Education?
EdSurge: Minerva Project Raises $57M to Support Its Tech Platform—and Spin Off Its School
