How UT-Austin's Bold Plan for Reinvention Went Belly Up
Lindsay Ellis
This article provides a cautionary tale about large institutional efforts to redesign undergraduate education and the challenges of measuring what works. In 2016, UT Austin pledged to revamp undergraduate education, adding state-of-the-art online classes, redesigned curricula, and short courses, among others, to produce less expensive degrees, teach practical skills and expand access via technology. Dubbed "Project 2021" it also committed to measure what worked and adjust accordingly. By 2019, the project was deemed too ambitious and lacked support to continue. Several lessons about the impact of changes in undergraduate teaching are useful. For example, implementing regular quizzes in large classes narrowed grade disparities between students from different socioeconomic groups. Massive online classes modeled after late-nighttalk shows were hailed as a national model for using technology to deliver remote instruction and billed as next-generation undergraduate programs. Yet, while students rated the online courses highly, evaluations of student learning showed no advantage to the course delivering mode, and the cost for the heavily produced studio quality courses was high. Key conclusions from the project evaluation is that it was very complicated and lacked direction, got caught in bureaucratic processes, and was expensive.

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