A Degree for £2,000?
sub-titled
My College is a Microchip
This book takes a look into the future and explains why we could see graduates being able to get a degree for as little as £2,000.
Author: Peter J A Noblett
Published: April 2016
Available from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle E-book


Synopsis
  • Augmented and Virtual Reality explained, in non technical terms
  • Where universities and colleges are failing and how Virtual Education would improve student grades
  • Introduction to Virtual Campuses and Virtual Colleges and the different types
  • How Artificial Intelligence will change the delivery of higher education
  • Global impact of Virtual Education
  • Why US graduates leave college with a fraction of the debts of UK students
  • Higher Education is a business and why students need to understand they are buying a service
  • Proposes new method of recruitment - Role Specific Pre-Employment Training
  • How Virtual Education could become a
    £3 Billion UK Export
  • Find out what would it would cost to run your own virtual campus or college
  • Student debt keeps climbing, the author discovers when it is predicted to
    reach a massive £1 Trillion
Background

Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, plans to bring Facebook users into a virtual reality world with the launch of their Oculus virtual reality headset. This will have an unprecedented impact on education, with higher education likely to be the first areas to experience a "hit".

'A Degree for £2,000?' looks at that “hit” and explains how and why some sectors of higher and further education will radically change, not only in the UK but across the whole world.

VR Technology

To help readers understand Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Virtual Education the author starts with a simple non-technical explanation of each one. He then takes a look at what the major players are currently doing in terms of virtual reality hardware; then leaps into the future to see what the ideal kit should do, how it would work and what it might look like.

Higher Education

Using his background as a business analyst, the author takes a hard look at the role of Higher Education and identifies that for 60% it is just a means to an end. Other research states that 60% of students are bored but some key research shows how seriously that boredom actually affects student grades. Virtual education could alleviate these issues and the author describes a variety of ways of improving what students are being offered. Shows how Fast track routeing and crammer courses could be used to alleviate skill shortages.

Virtual Campuses and Virtual Colleges

What they are, how they would work, the different models of virtual colleges that are likely to appear and the business case for each type. Why they can deliver a similar service to conventional colleges but at a fraction of the cost. The author describes the role that Local Enterprise Partnerships could play in bringing low cost education to the local community and also introduces the concept of Role Specific Pre-Employment Training which could radically change the way people are recruited.

Artificial Intelligence

Details recent advances that have moved the goal posts much nearer. Why the introduction of virtual tutors (tutor bots) and the box that knows all will further reduce the cost of a virtual education.

Global Effect

Describes how we will be able to offer a graduate anywhere in the world a 3 year education for £2,000 and introduces the concept of global syllabi.

Further and Secondary Education, Apprenticeships

The author takes a brief look at how VE might impact on these other areas of education.

About The Author

Peter Noblett has spent most of his working like in a wide variety of roles within IT and has a broad breadth of experience having worked with all sizes and types of organisation, both in the public and private sectors. Peter has spent most of the last 15 years designing and developing a variety of web based assessment tools to gauge people's attitude, behaviour, competency and skills. These websites include:

Peter is an ardent believer that, here in the UK, we are continually failing to correctly use IT to deliver the best value in education. The opportunities that virtual education could open up and the fact that a large proportion of the world speaks English puts the UK is in a unique position to become the world leader in the provision of education and knowledge.

Cost Calculator

There is a simple cost calculator on the author's website at:

www.peternoblett.com

which will enable you to get an idea of how much it would cost to run a virtual college or campus.