CoP Book Club
UCI Compass Community of Practice Book Club
Empowering Change Through Unity
At the heart of transformative change within our institution—reshaping thinking, policies, and behavior—lies the power of collective dialogue. The UCI Compass Community of Practice (CoP) Book Club emerges as a cornerstone in fostering this campus-wide evolution. (Another of these CoP initiatives was featured recently in Inside Higher Ed.)
Open to the entire UCI campus, the Compass CoP Book Club invites every individual to contribute their distinct insights. As we gather to explore contemporary and forward-thinking literature, our discussions will pave the way for a culture deeply rooted in data-informed strategies aimed at elevating student outcomes.
Join us in this exciting journey towards collective growth and institutional advancement, where every voice has the power to spark significant change.
Inaugural Compass CoP Book Club
We are very excited to announce the inaugural UCI Compass Community of Practice Book Club on The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World, Thursday, May 2, 2024, from 10:00-11:00am. The author, Dr. Michael D. Smith, Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz College and Tepper School of Business, Professor of Information Technology and Public Policy, will be joining live for an overview and discussion. He will be introduced by Dr. Vijay Gurbaxani, Paul Merage School of Business, Center for Digital Transformation Director and Taco Bell Endowed Chair of Technology Management. The book won the 2024 University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) Phillip E. Frandson Award for Literature (named in honor of the late Phillip E. Frandson, former Dean of UCLA Extension and 1977-78 UPCEA President) and is available online through UCI Libraries.
Registration is now open for the inaugural UCI Compass Community of Practice Book Club on The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World. (The first 25 registrants will receive a hard cover copy of the book.)
Book Club Details
Session 1
Preface/Overview: Scaling the Ivory Tower
Thursday, May 2, 2024, 10:00-11:00am PT, Zoom (link will be sent to registered participants)
Led by Drs. Michael D. Smith (author, Carnegie Mellon University) and Vijay Gurbaxani (UCI Merage School of Business)
Session 2
Part I: Admissions
Chapter 1
Session 3
Part II: Orientation
Chapters 2-5
Session 4
Part III: Instruction
Chapters 6-8
Session 5
Part III: Instruction, cont.
Chapters 9-11
Session 6
Part IV: Commencement
Chapter 12
The Compass CoP Book Club will be held every two weeks on Zoom. Dates, times, and discussion leaders for Sessions 2 –6 will be posted soon.
Book Information
The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World
By Michael D. Smith
Publisher: The MIT Press
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14247.001.0001
ISBN electronic: 9780262376341
Publication date: 2023
Book Description:
Why our current system of higher education is financially and morally unsustainable and how to address the crisis with the creative implementation of digital technologies.
For too long, our system of higher education has been defined by scarcity: scarcity in enrollment, scarcity in instruction, and scarcity in credentials. In addition to failing students professionally, this system has exacerbated social injustice and socioeconomic stratification across the globe. In The Abundant University, Michael D. Smith argues that the only way to create a financially and morally sustainable higher education system is by embracing digital technologies for enrolling, instructing, and credentialing students—the same technologies that we have seen create abundance in access to resources in industry after industry.
The Abundant University explains how we got our current system, why it’s such an expensive, inefficient mess, and how a system based on exclusivity cannot foster inclusivity. Smith challenges the resistance to digital technologies that we have already seen among numerous institutions, citing the examples of faculty resistance toward digital learning platforms. While acknowledging the understandable self-preservation instinct of our current system of residential education, Smith makes a case for how technology can engender greater educational opportunity and create changes that will benefit students, employers, and society as a whole.
Book Praise:
“Michael D. Smith deftly weaves together economic theory and substantive research to provide an incisive and unflinching look at the problems facing higher ed and, more ambitiously, the way we can solve them.”