Do Not Pass Up the Opportunity!

A much-cited article on the website “Inside Higher ED” outlines fifteen scenarios for higher education in the coming period (Malony and Kim, www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/learning-innovation/15-fall-scenarios; 2020). The continuum ranges from education completely back to normal to education completely at a distance. Full return to normal is not on the horizon; full distance education is possible but not optimal for most educational programs; and somewhere in between is quite a challenge. However, it is striking that the continuum focuses entirely on official educational activities and that there is no attention for informal educational activities: a neglect that is reflected in the current discussions about the future of our education. This chapter is about this neglect and the proposition is that the coronavirus crisis offers significant opportunities for a “new educational common” at Tilburg University in this respect.