Continuum The Consumer Experience of Higher Education: The Rise of Capsule Education (Continuum Studies in Education (Hardcover))

Review If you read just one book on education make it this one. It challenges, at the most fundamental level, the nature, purpose and structure of Higher Education provision and asks if education has turned away from its goal of holistic human development and instead turned itself into a commodity industry of massive proportions. Such a shift has implications not only for individual students but for society as a whole. -- Professor Anne Ryan, Head of Department of Adult & Community Education, National University of Ireland, MaynoothThese findings challenge the practice of delivering higher education as a simulacrum where it is presented as a product to be consumed in the form of capsules of learning. This book encourages us to think more deeply about what education is really about and should make a refreshing contribution to the debate about how we can promote high quality learning in the future. -- Dr Rob Mark, School of Education, Queen's University Belfast This book challenges many of the underpinning assumptions which guide the current direction of Higher Education policy and provision. It is an important contribution to the debate on the nature, purpose and structure of Higher Education. -- Professor Tom Collins, National University of Ireland, Maynooth Product Description This work examines the philosophy underpinning current higher education provision. Contemporary culture seems to encourage consumers to purchase products where the product is shaped by the provider and the input of the consumer is very limited. Research suggests that students, their perceptions shaped by the educational experience they have undergone, view education as a commodity and require that information be packaged for easy consumption. The purpose of this study is to examine the current situation in education against the backdrop of an emerging trend that sees education as a product and students as consumers or customers. The literature provides a basis to argue that a qualification now is frequently a simulacrum while previously it represented knowledge and competency. About the Author Deirdre McArdle-Clinton is Lecturer at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland.