The Higher Education Inquirer has published a number of articles on robocolleges, robostudents, and robowork, noting that the University of Phoenix has been a pioneer in the evolution of making humans more machine-like (or in science fiction terms, cyborgs). This is an evolution that spans more than a century, with Frederick Taylor and his Scientific Management of Work and Clayton Christensen's Theory of Disruptive Innovation.
More recently, we have posted articles on artificial intelligence and the dehumanization of society, including futuristic work by renowned sociologist Randall Collins.
The University of Phoenix, in the present, has taken another step in this profit-making dehumanization process, formal online customer service training for the international workforce. According to the University of Phoenix, customer service is in high demand globally, and UoPX offers a convenient series of professional development trainings for making human skills more efficient. It's not known how many humans are involved in teaching or content creation. What we do know is that the University of Phoenix relies on little human labor, with an average student-teacher ratio of 110 to one.
What are your thoughts on this training program? And how does type of online education and tech work bode for humans and humanity?
Related links:
New Data Show Nearly a Million University of Phoenix Debtors Owe $21.6 Billion Dollars (2024)
University of Phoenix and the Ash Heap of Higher Ed History (2023)
Robocolleges, Artificial Intelligence, and the Dehumanization of Higher Education (2023)
Guild Education: Enablers of Anti-Union Corporations and Subprime College Programs (2021)
The Growth of "RoboColleges" and "Robostudents" (2019)
