If 2015 was the year of protests and campus unrest in higher ed, 2016 may go down as the year of uncertainty. The most-read stories on Education Dive this year reflect an acute interest in — and maybe even concern over — what comes next for the industry.
These were the top stories in 2016:
1. Measuring the impact of poverty in education
The third piece in a series that examined the impact of social factors on learning and school operations, this examination of poverty's impact on schools resonated most with readers because of its critical examination of the intersections of race and class and what states are (and aren't) doing to fill the gaps.
2. Why tech industries are demanding more liberal arts graduates
Liberal arts are getting a bad rap, as the nation focuses heavily on STEM to promote innovation and global competitiveness. But employers are finding that a shift away from traditional learning is having a negative impact on the preparedness of workers.
3. The 2016 Dive Awards for higher education
Our inaugural Dive Awards were a big hit with higher ed readers — after months of deliberation and a little help from our readers, we crowned a top administrator, an institution of the year, and reviewed the top hits and misses of 2016.
4. Badges are essential to millennial college experience
Badging and microcredentialing was our Dive Awards pick for disruption of the year, and for good reason. Microcredentials and badges took off in 2016, as institutions continued to seek new ways to assert the relevance of their degrees, and as employers looked for ways to easily determine student competencies.
5. These three charts show the collapse of for-profit education
We crowned the Obama administration's zeroing in on for-profits as the policy of the year in the 2016 Dive Awards, and the events leading to the closure of for-profit giant ITT Tech were certainly among the biggest happenings in higher ed this year.
6. Higher ed hopes President-elect Trump can help restore the industry
Like most of the rest of the country, higher ed was stunned by the election of Donald J. Trump as the nation's 45th president, and in the days following November 8, many scoured the web for any indication of what this could mean moving forward. While most stories seemed to focus on the negative impact to diversity and racial tolerance the election could have on campuses across the country, at Education Dive, we opted to focus more on areas of opportunity.
7. 8 higher ed thought leaders share words of wisdom at SXSWedu
SXSW has become synonymous with innovation, and the annual conference's education component is no different. In one of the first sessions of SXSWedu 2016 in Austin, a group of higher ed thought leaders shared words of wisdom on everything from innovation and the evolution of the space to issues of affordability and changing demographics.
8. Is CBE the future of higher education? Study says too early to tell
As higher ed continues to grapple with ways to provide the most value to learners and employers who will hire them, there has been a tremendous amount of interest in which way is the best path to take. Competency based education has been among a number of trends touted as the wave of the future, but a recent study by the American Institutes for Research suggested institutions may want to pump their brakes on the rush to provide it.
9. 7 frightening trends in higher education
From declining funding to attacks on relevance to union threats and PR nightmares, we covered the scariest things we've seen over and over again in higher ed in 2016.
10. Another for-profit closes — in the middle of the school day
Proving the attacks on for-profits really were possibly the biggest news in higher ed this year, a second story on for-profit closures made the list of most-read stories in 2016.
