An expanded national service program can help address these problems. National service programs such as AmeriCorps, YouthBuild, and conservation corps put young people to work on a variety of socially useful activities: tutoring children, building affordable housing, assisting with disaster response, maintaining public infrastructure, and restoring the environment. In return, they earn a modest living allowance and a small educational scholarship. By working together on shared, concrete endeavors, young people from different backgrounds can build trust with one another in a way that more abstract calls for mutual understanding cannot accomplish.
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Report: Fewer High School Students Went Straight to College - Madeline St. Amour, Inside Higher Ed
New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center show that nearly 22 percent fewer students from the Class of 2020 went to college immediately after high school this fall compared to the Class of 2019, according to a news release from the center. The overall immediate college enrollment rate fell from 35.3 percent to 27.7 percent, a drop that is 10 times greater than the decline between 2018 and 2019. The data are preliminary and estimate immediate enrollment rates from more than 2,300 high schools reporting as of Sept. 18. “Based on preliminary data, there is little evidence that COVID-19 impacted high school graduation,” said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the center, in the release.
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
The Pandemic Will Leave More Students Unprepared For College - Mordecai I. Brownlee, EdSurge
According to the Community College Research Center, developmental education is essentially a “reteach” of high school and junior high school reading, writing, and math. Based on entry exams or multiple measures assessments, nearly two-thirds of entering community college students and more than a third of students entering less-selective four-year colleges are assessed as lacking the math and language skills necessary for college-level placement, according to research published in Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. These students are typically referred to one, two or even three courses of developmental education, which serve as a gateway to college-level courses and ultimately degree attainment.
Monday, December 28, 2020
More Colleges Are Offering Income-Share Agreements. Are Students Buying In? - Tony Wan, EdSurge
To date, about 60 U.S. colleges offer ISAs, estimates Tonio DeSorrento, CEO of Vemo Education, which designs and services such agreements for universities and vocational educational programs. More common among private vocational programs, income-share agreements are increasingly offered by colleges and universities. Yet with little data on outcomes from ISAs and with labor markets upended by a pandemic, the exercise remains very much an experiment in higher education.
Sunday, December 27, 2020
What is neuromorphic computing? Everything you need to know about how it is changing the future of computing - Jo Best, ZD Net
Most hardware today is based on the von Neumann architecture, which separates out memory and computing. Because von Neumann chips have to shuttle information back and forth between the memory and CPU, they waste time (computations are held back by the speed of the bus between the compute and memory) and energy -- a problem known as the von Neumann bottleneck. As time goes on, von Neumann architectures will make it harder and harder to deliver the increases in compute power that we need. To keep up, a new type of non-von Neumann architecture will be needed: a neuromorphic architecture. Quantum computing and neuromorphic systems have both been claimed as the solution, and it's neuromorphic computing, brain-inspired computing, that's likely to be commercialised sooner.
Saturday, December 26, 2020
Overcoming pandemic fatigue: How to reenergize organizations for the long run - Aaron De Smet, Laura Tegelberg, Rob Theunissen, and Tiffany Vogel, McKinsey
Pandemic fatigue: it’s plaguing organizations and employees right now. In 2020, we’ve endured a global pandemic, a massive economic crisis, and widespread social unrest. Layer on top of that forces that are fundamentally reshaping societies—technological innovation, business-model disruption, societal inequality, and workforce automation—and it’s clear that an epidemic of stress has been building, with the COVID-19 crisis as the tipping point. Perhaps most important, companies are waking up to the need for greater empathy and compassion to create a workplace that can unleash the full potential of their people even beyond the crisis. Global trends were already starting to turn the old rules of industrial-age management on their heads, introducing new, more human-centered principles that truly put talent and people at the heart of organizational success.
Friday, December 25, 2020
Getting the nation back to work means working together on education and training - Jamie Merisotis, Lumina
A Harris Poll commissioned by USA Today confirms that change, showing that 63 percent of workers who lost their jobs because of the outbreak will or plan to change industries. But starting over seems daunting to many workers, especially if they are older than 40, Carnevale pointed out. And even those who do switch careers can expect to receive a pay cut. I believe our nation needs to address these hard facts with a transformative program to provide more of our citizens with the broad skills that will allow them to adapt to the changes we’ve experienced in the past year and the changes we can’t predict in the future.
Thursday, December 24, 2020
How to Save Public Higher Ed: New Book Makes Case For Rethinking the Value of Colleges - Jeffrey R. Young interviews John Warner, author , EdSurge
Think of your local college or university. They are an employer. They are a cultural hub. They are a technology hub. They fulfill all of these roles simultaneously, just in their day-to-day operations. They're then also educating the populace of your state, community and locality. And in that way, they are creating these assets that the state, the locality, the community is going to be able to use on a continuous and ongoing basis. To me that's infrastructure—the same way that we look at our libraries and our K-12 schools as infrastructure or roads. The problem is we haven't been treating them that way. We've been treating them as the sort of private good.
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Online peer learning: A growing trend sees 2 different approaches - Chelsea Waite, Christensen Institute
In his book called Peer Learning in Higher Education, David Boud describes peer teaching as when “advanced students…take on a limited instructional role.” Similarly, peer teaching products are built on the idea that the locus of expertise is found in individual students—one student a whiz in math; another the recipient of the highest grade in her comparative literature course. For example, Brainly lets students crowdsource homework help by “[tapping] into the brainpower of thousands of experts worldwide”—in the form of other students. Anyone can ask a question or submit an answer, and answers are moderated by students who are vetted by the company. Knack enables students with skills in a particular subject to earn money by tutoring their peers.
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Rapid Professional Development - Robert Gibson, EDUCAUSE Review
Even though their traditional work rhythm has been disrupted, employees at higher education institutions still want professional development opportunities. A full 94 percent of employees indicated that they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development.1 There is no reason to think this desire has changed during this turbulent period.
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/11/rapid-professional-development
Monday, December 21, 2020
Burned Out: Stories of Compassion Fatigue - Patrice Prusko and Whitney Kilgore, EDUCAUSE Review
The unpredictable world that we currently inhabit has turned many lives upside-down, with everyone needing help, feeling stressed about what's been lost, and just needing someone to listen and care. On top of the already extensive list of job responsibilities that make us feel like a Swiss Army knife, we have now added to our emotional labor by becoming caregivers at a time when we most need care ourselves. For many of us, this has led to compassion fatigue.3 The instructional designers we spoke with mentioned the difficulties they have in balancing work and life. "It's hard to say no, because faculty are stressed and we care. How do you say no?" pondered Robert. An unexpected outcome of our current role is emotional labor.4
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/12/burned-out-stories-of-compassion-fatigue
Sunday, December 20, 2020
How to Be an Inclusive Leader - Erika James, Corey Anthony & Stephanie Creary, Knowledge at Wharton
The renewed attention on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace has been enough to fill any manager’s agenda this year. But this is 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has heaped even more pressure on leaders tasked with keeping their employees healthy and safe, while also trying to keep DEI at the top of a growing list of priorities. “Both of them are exhausting, and we only have so much in our reserves to be able to continue down this path,” Wharton Dean Erika James said.
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-to-be-an-inclusive-leader/
Saturday, December 19, 2020
The Evolving Landscape of Data Privacy in Higher Education - Sean Burns, EDUCAUSE Review
Through a survey of privacy professionals and in-depth interviews with more than twenty privacy leaders from a variety of higher education institutions—including research institutions, smaller colleges, and community colleges—the research summarized in this report provides a comprehensive and in-depth view across the current landscape of data privacy and highlights opportunities for improved practices and policies that may be available to higher education, technology, and privacy leaders.
Friday, December 18, 2020
Aligning and Embedding Industry Certifications into Bachelor's Degrees - APLU, USU, Workcred, UPCEA
Improved career outcomes for students―including higher salaries, improved rates of hire, and faster promotion tracks―are the ultimate goal of this initiative. Along with its partners APLU, USU, and Workcred, UPCEA brought together universities and certification bodies from across the nation to identify opportunities to embed certifications into undergraduate degree programs in the growing fields of healthcare, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and the liberal arts.
https://upcea.edu/aligning-and-embedding-industry-certifications-with-bachelors-degrees/
Thursday, December 17, 2020
COVID Fatigue Resources - University of Minnesota Medical School
In August, Medical School faculty, staff, trainees and students were invited to provide suggestions about how best to support our academic community during the enduring pandemic. The listening sessions focused on caregivers and those parenting school-aged children, while also managing their professional duties. Major themes are addressed on this page, providing suggestions and resources as you move forward this fall and next spring. Every action we take is grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion.
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
COVID-19 highlights public service role of universities - Alan Ruby and Wendy Fish, University World News
If colleges and universities are microcosms of our world, what do they do amid the largest global crisis since World War II ? What does the academic community do in a crisis like a pandemic? How do they serve? What is their value? This reminds us that, in a crisis, producing and disseminating wisdom, pointing to possibilities, is what a university does and does well. This is the essence of ‘service’ and service sometimes takes the form of counting and ranking, but always with the conviction of identifying and conveying wisdom.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
AI will take away lots of jobs. And we are nowhere near ready to replace them - Daphne Leprince-Ringuet, ZDNet
The Covid-19 pandemic has only accelerated the adoption of AI systems in industry: research carried out by the World Economic Forum (WEF) this year showed that 80% of decision-makers around the world are now planning on accelerating the automation of their work processes. The technology is expected to displace roles such as data entry clerks, accountants or factory workers. Michael Wooldridge, professor of computer science at the University of Oxford, said "Certainly some jobs will be lost, and many more will be created. The difficulty is that the jobs created are not necessarily in the same place as those lost." "It is not an AI-specific problem," he continues. "Technology evolves at a rapid pace, and this is about technology skills generally. Re-training and up-skilling are issues that will unwind over the next decades."
Joe Biden is President Elect – What Does that Mean for Higher Education Policy? - Jordan DiMaggio, UPCEA Policy Matters
Joe Biden is President Elect - What Does that Mean for Higher Education Policy? President-Elect Joe Biden will become the next President of the United States of America in January, so what does that mean for our field? For one, Jill Biden (who some of you will remember was a Keynote Speaker at the 2015 UPCEA Annual Conference) will be the most accomplished educator the Office of the First Lady has ever seen. Dr. Biden has said she plans to continue to teach, which would mark the only time a First Lady has continued full time work while serving in that role. Dr. Biden currently teaches at Northern Virginia Community College and wrote her dissertation on student retention at a community college.
Monday, December 14, 2020
To Weather The Storms of Higher Education, Remember Why You’re There -Cali Morrison, EdSurge
Higher education is heading into the eye of the tornado. Many of us are planning for academic continuity while the debris of the COVID-19 pandemic is swirling around us. There are regulatory matters to consider. The health and safety of our colleagues and our students to put at the forefront. A long-overdue spotlight on equity, diversity and inclusion shining on all of our operations. It can all feel overwhelming, like we’re all going to get swept away in the storm. Now, more than ever, as educators and institutions, we need to recenter ourselves on our why—not on how we get through this or when this storm will be over.
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Harvard EdCast: The Amateur Enterprise of College Teaching - JILL ANDERSON, Harvard Graduate School of Education
How much has college teaching really changed in 150 years? Not very much, according to Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. In his latest book, The Amateur Hour, Zimmerman traces the history of undergraduate teaching practices in the United States and how it has yet to reach a level of professionalization. “There is some pretty good knowledge about what constitutes good teaching, but most college teachers aren't aware of that knowledge, and most of all, they're not required to master it and demonstrate their mastery of it,” he says. “That's why it's still an amateur enterprise, the teaching part.
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Hiring in Tech Today: The Role of Gender and Racial Bias in 2020 - Sharon Hurley Hall, WebSite Planet
If you’re a Caucasian male, you’ve won the lottery when it comes to getting hired in tech, or so it seems. According to tech diversity reports, in the biggest tech companies, men represent between 77% and 88% of the workforce, and Caucasians between 40% and 51%. Those figures seem to reveal a stark truth: if you’re a woman or a person of color, it’s much harder to get a tech job. In the past, recruiters have subtly discouraged women from applying to tech jobs. Plus, a LinkedIn study shows that even when women apply, recruiters are less likely to pick up their resumes or interview them. It’s a similar situation for people of color. But does that still apply if you’re going for a mid-level position at a tech firm? Here at Website Planet, we wanted to test this for ourselves. [see the link below for intriguing results]
https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/gender-racial-bias-hiring-in-tech/
Friday, December 11, 2020
Designed to Deceive: Do These People Look Real to You? - Kashmir Hill and Jeremy White, NY Times
These people may look familiar, like ones you’ve seen on Facebook or Twitter. Or people whose product reviews you’ve read on Amazon, or dating profiles you’ve seen on Tinder. They look stunningly real at first glance. But they do not exist. They were born from the mind of a computer. And the technology that makes them is improving at a startling pace.
Mental Health Epidemic: Dark Shadow of the COVID Pandemic - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
As we prepare to launch another semester mostly online, we are facing what may be the most severe mental health crisis in the history of American education. The next three months promise to bring the most dangerous and stressful period in American medicine. It will unfold in the cold, dark months of winter -- December, January, February and into March -- when the death toll mounts higher and higher before a hoped-for spring of vaccinated immunity begins to bring hope and some measure of mobility and in-person engagement. I am sounding the alarm now to alert readers that the next three months may bring struggle and harm to our faculty, staff and students.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Part IV: Wrapping Up Key Issues Related to Enrollment Declines - George Lorenzo, Educational Pathways
All the data related to enrollment declines at colleges and universities in the U.S. point to several key issues and challenges. Here’s an overview of where and why enrollment numbers are still showing a downward trendline.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Community college enrollment plummets - Ellie Ashford, Community College Daily
Community colleges have seen an alarming 9.4% drop in enrollment this fall compared to fall 2019, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “Community colleges are down steeply across the board,” Shapiro said. Enrollments dropped 9.5% to 10% at rural and urban campus and 8.2% at suburban campuses. Associate degree enrollments declined 8.7% this fall compared to fall 2019. That follows a 2.4% drop last year.
https://www.ccdaily.com/2020/10/community-college-enrollment-plummets/
Digital divide ‘catastrophic’ for many students – World Bank - Brendan O’Malley, University World News
The digital divide off campus has been “catastrophic” for large groups of students around the world, but the return to campuses has also been “hit and miss” in different contexts, even in rich countries, according to Roberta Malee Bassett, the global tertiary lead and senior education specialist for the World Bank. “Persistence rates are likely to diminish,” Barrett said, “and will be disproportionate for at-risk and low-advantage students. The digital divide has been one of economic distribution as much as anything else.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201121084401266
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Where next for universities and micro-credentials? - Elena Cirlan and Tia Loukkola, University World News
There are many different definitions for micro-credentials. However, the majority state that a micro-credential is a small volume of learning certified by a credential. For instance, certificates, badges and some MOOCs (massive open online courses) are sometimes referred to as examples of micro-credentials. This is not a new phenomenon in our societies nor in the academic environment. But due to changing societal needs, globalisation and technology, micro-credentials have become more popular. As the need for upskilling and reskilling the labour force has gained importance, especially in the context of the recovery plans surrounding COVID-19, attention to micro-credentials has intensified.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201118105242280
Monday, December 7, 2020
Project-Based Learning Works: Here are 5 Reasons Why - Udacity
Now more than ever before, employers favor skills over degrees, and the skills learned through project-based learning mirror what employers are looking for. As we posted in our last blog, the 4th Industrial Revolution is reshaping technology, and 42% of the core skills needed to perform existing jobs will change. A massive upskill effort will be needed to reskill more than 1 billion people by 2030 to get them ready for the new world of work. Project-based learning can help provide training that is focused on teaching critical thinking — figuring out all the steps needed to create a solution. As far as teaching modalities go, it offers numerous benefits to the students taking part.
https://blog.udacity.com/2020/11/project-based-learning-works-here-are-5-reasons-why.html
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Ten Observations on COVID-19 and Higher Ed - John Kroger, Inside Higher Ed
College policies on COVID-19 -- whether students should study on campus or in distance modes, when they should go home for vacation, and how they are regulated while present on campus -- have a potentially immense impact on host communities. As a New York Times study recently revealed, “since the end of August, deaths from the coronavirus have doubled in counties with a large college population, compared with a 58 percent increase in the rest of the nation. Few of the victims were college students, but rather older people and others living and working in the community.”
First professor: Jill Biden to make history as a first lady with a day job - Nicole Gaudiano, Politico
Jill Biden would scramble into cocktail dresses in a bathroom at Northern Virginia Community College before rushing to White House receptions when her husband was vice president. She graded papers at night in a tiny nook on Air Force Two. Her Secret Service agents dressed like college students and carried backpacks to blend in when she was on campus. Now “Dr. B,” as her students call her, plans to continue teaching English and writing at the college when she moves into the White House in January. She will be the first president’s wife to continue her professional career as first lady, after becoming the first second lady to do so. She will also be part of a small group of union members to hold the title, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Nancy Reagan.
Saturday, December 5, 2020
3 Ways to Serve Students in a Completely Virtual Environment - Alison Bell, Campus Technology
For colleges and universities that have pivoted to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution is not over. In order to better meet student needs both today and in the future, here are three key considerations. To truly succeed in a virtual environment, higher ed institutions will need to evolve in 2021 and the years to follow. They will need to embrace emerging tech; combat the digital divide; and become more student-centered.
Friday, December 4, 2020
Teaching Online in the COVID Crisis: What We Have Learned - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
As we prepare to launch another semester mostly online, we are better informed than we were in the spring and fall semesters. From experiences with rapidly applied pedagogies to better understanding of how our students’ radically altered lives impact their learning, we must adapt. First and foremost, we learned that we must be prepared for future pandemics, natural disasters or other breakdowns that disrupt our educational institutions and systems. We know now that faculty and staff members are not immune from the impact of the pandemic. We are poised on a tidal wave of burnout.
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Creating a New Model for MOOCS - Sherry Negrea, Unbound
The rise in popularity of MOOCs comes as the model in this online space has shifted to credit-bearing courses and degrees, with at least 50 MOOC-based degrees now offered by universities globally. As more students and adult learners turn to MOOCs, the online courses and degrees are accelerating the adoption of online learning in higher education. “The pandemic has been transformative for many institutions,” said Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor for online learning at the University of Illinois Springfield, who organized a MOOC in 2011. “They have awakened to online learning. It could take years to tame a mutating virus, all the while universities will have to cope with periodic campus outbreaks. Online learning will become a mainstay of learning delivery among the institutions that survive.”
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Survey: Interactive, In-Class Engagement Makes a Difference to Students - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology
Even though first-year college students are more likely than students in later years to say they intended to return to school in the spring (73 percent versus 68 percent), they're less confident they'll see the value of the investment in higher education (45 percent compared to 51 percent), according to a recent survey done by education technology company Top Hat. The students in higher grades reported that they're having a tougher time adjusting to online learning.
Monday, November 30, 2020
Interview with a Professor: What AI’s Disruption in Education Means for Students - Chelsea Toczauer with Ray Schroeder, Online Education
Professor Schroeder: First, let’s begin with artificial intelligence. And when we talk about AI we look at several versions of artificial intelligence. We can see that AI uses advanced networking as well as computing with high performance computers, and with that we can perform machine learning and deep learning. We use algorithms and realistic, supervised, and unsupervised learning. So those topics are ones that generally I think the public ought to be aware of. "The holy grail is personalized learning. Each student will be provided learning opportunities and examples that will allow them to learn at their speed and preference."
https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/artificial-intelligence-and-the-future-of-education
Sunday, November 29, 2020
How Coursera is retraining the American workforce for a post-COVID economy - BETH KOWITT, Fortune
In April, the U.S. unemployment rate surpassed 14%. And while the numbers have since improved, what’s become clear is that many of the jobs that were lost aren’t coming back. In this week’s episode of Fortune’s Reinvent podcast, we explore how the company Coursera—one of the biggest platforms offering massive open online courses (MOOCs)—is helping the American workforce reimagine itself for a post-COVID world.
https://fortune.com/2020/11/16/coursera-reinvent-podcast-coronavirus-reskilling/
Saturday, November 28, 2020
A moment to address digital poverty and embed HE equity - Graeme Atherton, University World News
Much of the focus regarding the impact of COVID-19 on higher education globally has been on the future viability of the present model of the university. The nature of teaching, learning, research and the student experience is open to question. This should also, however, be a moment for equity. In partnership with the Sutton Trust in the United Kingdom, we have undertaken a survey of education experts and government representatives from 45 countries, covering every continent, which aims to assess in more detail the impact of COVID-19 on access and success in higher education for those from low-income and other marginalised groups and the responses by universities and policy-makers.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201113085637660
Friday, November 27, 2020
The Speedy Future of Delivering Online Learning: 5G-10G Confusion and Potential - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
As we continue to advance online services to distant students, bandwidth becomes ever more important. Virtual laboratories are beginning to take advantage of virtual reality, augmented reality and an assortment of associated technologies that rely on highly sophisticated networking. How are you preparing to integrate these new potentials into the delivery of your curriculum? Is your institution equipped to incorporate the high-bandwidth, low-latency technology into the delivery of simulations and laboratories at a distance?
Thursday, November 26, 2020
The online vs. in-person learning debate is missing the point - Todd Zipper, University Business
It is clear the experiences surrounding the emergency remote learning that took place in the spring have left many people mistaking what true, purposeful online learning looks like. Unfortunately, so much about online learning has been shrouded in controversy, mired in politics and driven by generations of thinking around what education should look like based on the traditional in-classroom model. This, compounded with what thousands of students experienced in the spring, has left many learning institutions, parents and students alike frustrated, viewing “online learning” (in a broad, often misinterpreted sense) as something of a last resort, even amid the pandemic. While we can clear up misconceptions about what true online learning entails, and showcase its effectiveness, the in-person versus online learning debate is still missing the point.
https://universitybusiness.com/the-online-vs-in-person-learning-debate-is-missing-the-point/
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Here’s why online learning is sticking around - JUDITH ALTSCHULER CAHN, eCampus News
Education has become virtual, and educators should accept that online learning is a permanent part of learning in today's economy. Online learning as a modality of teaching and learning has been thrust upon education and can no longer be considered an emerging reality. It is here. The COVID-19 virus disruption has completely changed the way education operates. Until now, in many organizations across the country and globe, online courses and programs have been managed as a separate entity. The current reality has shifted education and distance learning into an integral part of the education system.
https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/11/13/heres-why-online-learning-is-sticking-around/
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Educational technology is coming of age during the pandemic: Nowhere more so than in India - the Economist
EDTECH HAS never quite fulfilled its promise to galvanise poorly performing school systems. Past investments in educational technology often failed because of badly specified hardware and clunky software, which put off potential users. But as with much else, the closures forced on the world by the covid-19 pandemic has put pressure on schools, parents and pupils to embrace innovation.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Collaboration and Partnership: Top IT Issues, 2021 - Susan Grajek, EDUCAUSE Review
Members of the 2020–2021 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel share their advice and ideas on how multiple institutions can collaborate or partner to make better progress on addressing the 2021 Top IT issues. Cross-institutional partnerships and consortia exert a major influence over IT strategy at 40 percent of higher education institutions.1 When the members of the 2020–2021 EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel were asked how multiple institutions can collaborate or partner to make better progress on addressing each of the 2021 Top IT Issues, they were full of ideas (more than 65).
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/11/collaboration-and-partnership-top-it-issues-2021
Sunday, November 22, 2020
6 skills employees will need in the post-pandemic workplace - Gwen Moran, Fast Company
6 skills employees will need in the post-pandemic workplace - Gwen Moran, Fast Company
Gartner data found that the number of skills required for a single job was increasing by 10% per year. And one-third of the skills listed in an average 2017 job posting would not be relevant by 2021. Gartner also found that role-based skills planning wasn’t helping organizations develop the right employee skill sets. Grouping unrelated skills doesn’t build the skills that will create competitive advantage. But several experts have ideas about what those necessary skills of the future will be. As organizations continue to operate in a pandemic and plan for the future, linked below are some of the essential skills that employees will need.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90568262/6-skills-employees-will-need-in-the-post-pandemic-workplace
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Student Textbook Spending Continues to Decline - Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed
Average student spending on textbooks and course materials continued to decline in the fall of 2020, while the number of units purchased or rented increased, according to data the research firm Student Monitor released today. On average, students spent $186 each on textbooks and course materials this fall, down from $199 in fall 2019. “During the fall semester of 2020, distance learning drove widespread adoption of less expensive eTextbooks in both sales and rentals -- including through subscription models -- leading to a 7 percent decline in spending as compared to the same period last year,” Eric Weil, managing partner at Student Monitor, said in a statement.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/11/05/student-textbook-spending-continues-decline
Friday, November 20, 2020
Will 2022 Bring a Return to 'Normal' After Mostly Online 2021 Semesters? - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
Universities are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic; many are closing their campuses after Thanksgiving and moving online. Spring terms will be delayed, break canceled, and online strategies remain at the forefront of delivery modes for the rest of 2021. What lies ahead? What is the right path for your institution? Is it possible to return to the pre-pandemic normal? Will that approach sustain you through 4IR? Can you somehow maintain a balance of the “old” normal with the “new” normal? Or is the best path for your institution to embrace the future and advance astride business and industry as they move into 4IR?
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Using Data and Analytics for Student Success - Brian Davis, et al; EDUCAUSE Review
One of the most powerful tools that technology provides on the path to student success is data and analytics. Data allows institutions to better understand students, rethink systems, and create early-alert mechanisms to help students complete their degree. But finding the best way to use data and analytics can be tricky.
https://er.educause.edu/podcasts/educause-exchange/using-data-and-analytics-for-student-success
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
The Power of Peer Interaction - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
Professors’ use of active learning methods mitigated some of this negative effect, however. The findings leave the study’s authors “optimistic” about future student learning outcomes, even as “we remain in a period of substantial online instruction.” “Online teaching experience seems to matter, and during Spring 2020 most college faculty accumulated substantial experience,” the researchers wrote of their outlook. Moreover, it’s “possible to incorporate peer interaction such as think-pair-share or small group activities into synchronous online courses,” and these teaching strategies are “significantly associated with improved learning during the remotely taught portion of the semester.”
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Artificial Intelligence Will Change How We Think About Leadership - Knowledge at Wharton
While AI today is good at repetitive tasks and can replace many managerial functions, it could over time acquire the “general intelligence” that humans have, he said in a recent interview with AI for Business (AIB), a new initiative at Analytics at Wharton. Headed by Wharton operations, information and decisions professor Kartik Hosanagar, AIB is a research initiative that focuses on helping students expand their knowledge and application of machine learning and understand the business and societal implications of AI.
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/artificial-intelligence-will-change-think-leadership/
Monday, November 16, 2020
Top IT Issues, 2021: Emerging from the Pandemic - EDUCAUSE
The EDUCAUSE Top IT Issues list has been refactored for 2021 to help higher education shape the role technology will play in the recovery from the pandemic. What different directions might institutional leaders take in their recovery strategy? How can technology help our ecosystem emerge stronger and fitter for the future? The 2021 EDUCAUSE IT Issues project explores these questions using a very different approach from previous years. Anticipating potential ways institutions might emerge from the pandemic, this year we offer three Top IT Issues lists and examine the top 5 issues within three scenarios that may guide institutional leaders’ use of technology: restore, evolve, and transform.
Sunday, November 15, 2020
The Inevitable Rise of Intelligence in the Edge Ecosystem - Joao-Pierre S. RuthJoao-Pierre S. Ruth, Information Week
\Gill defines the edge as the place where the physical and digital worlds interact, which can include sensors and industrial machine controllers. He says it is a form of distributed computing with assets placed in locations that can optimize latency and bandwidth. Retailers, internet of things, and the industrial world have already been working at the edge for more than a decade, Gill says. The current activity at the edge may introduce the world to even more possibilities. “What’s changed is the huge plethora of services from the cloud along with the rising intelligence and number of devices at the edge,” he says. “The edge completes the cloud.”
Saturday, November 14, 2020
9 student observations about online learning - LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News
Students spoke candidly about what's working--and what isn't--during online learning in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. A global pandemic can change learning, but it can’t stop it–and during a virtual EDUCAUSE conference session, educators heard directly from students how to best meet student needs during online learning. Moderated by Kate Miffitt, director for innovation in California State University’s Office of the Chancellor, and with questions led by Michael Berman, chief information officer with California State University’s Office of the Chancellor, the discussion covered student engagement, mental health and well-being, online course structure, and much more.
https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/10/30/9-student-observations-about-online-learning/
Friday, November 13, 2020
Learning should be lifelong, not end at graduation - Marguerite J Dennis, University World News
In Wikipedia, lifelong learning is defined as ‘the ongoing, voluntary and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge either for personal or professional reasons’. The definition recognises that learning is not confined to childhood or to the classroom but takes place throughout life and in a range of situations. The Oxford dictionary defines lifelong learning as the practice of continuing to learn throughout one’s life to foster the continuous development and skills needed for employment and personal fulfilment. Both definitions recognise the need for continuous learning throughout one’s life.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201027103637927
Thursday, November 12, 2020
The 60-Year Curriculum: A Strategic Response to a Crisis - John Richards and Chris Dede, EDUCAUSE Review
Profound changes in underlying technology (digitization), in combination with root and branch organizational adaptation (reengineering, or what is often called "digitalization"), have altered the global, socioeconomic environment. These forces of change and adaptation have produced what we are calling "the synergistic digital economy." Students and workers in the synergistic digital economy no longer expect that their jobs will represent a progression through a single career during a lifetime. They instead expect that their current job or career will, at some point, disappear or evolve, forcing them to prepare for novel jobs in several new careers at unpredictable points throughout their lives. The requirement to prepare for a lifetime of changing employment is not optional.
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/10/the-60-year-curriculum-a-strategic-response-to-a-crisis
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
These companies are redesigning 'Zoom University' - Hallie Busta, Education Dive
Two startups run by ed tech experts are tailoring videoconferencing software for use in virtual college classrooms, but their approaches differ. The limits of traditional videoconferencing software in education applications have been on display in recent months. Two companies emerging to address the need for tailoring are taking divergent approaches: tweaking an existing platform with add-ons or creating a new company entirely. Dan Avida, CEO and his spouse - Daphne Koller (co-founder of Coursera) - are launching Engageli, a company borne from the pandemic, is taking the latter approach. ClassEDU, whose co-founder and CEO Michael Chasen — who also co-founded and led Blackboard — cited Zoom's wide uptake and scalability as reasons creating an add-on for the software, rather than building a separate platform, was "a no-brainer."
https://www.educationdive.com/news/these-companies-are-redesigning-zoom-university/587876/
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Coursera saw a 398% increase in users between March and April - Lara Sorokanich, Fast Company
In recent years, much of the investment in online learning has focused on companies such as Coursera, which offer users affordable college courses and professional development. While these more traditional education platforms have seen huge spikes in users and funding during the pandemic, consumers have also demonstrated a growing appetite for online classes geared toward entertainment and enrichment. MasterClass is adding more content, while Airbnb and Instagram Live have emerged as learning hubs, with influential instructors teaching everything from dance to poetry writing to cocktail making.
Monday, November 9, 2020
Coursera's Most Popular Online Courses - Lucy Foster, Entrepreneur
The most popular courses on Coursera give an idea of what the world wants to learn. The most well-enrolled MOOCs - or Massive Open Online Courses - tend to be in business or technology. Online courses to improve time management and remote work are also on the rise. Coursera has released its 10 most popular titles as of 2019 , which are a good indication of where the world of work is heading. There are no prizes for guessing digital skills and artificial intelligence, which occupy seven of the top 10 spots.
Sunday, November 8, 2020
Thriving in the era of pervasive AI: Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise, 3rd Edition - Beena Ammanath, David Jarvis, Susanne Hupfer; Deloitte
For the third straight year, Deloitte surveyed executives about their companies’ sentiments and practices regarding AI technologies. We were particularly interested in understanding what it will take to stay ahead of the pack as AI adoption grows—and we wanted to learn how adopters are managing risk around the technologies as AI governance, trust, and ethics become more of a boardroom issue. Adopters continue to have confidence in AI technologies’ ability to drive value and advantage.
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Report: How to Get the Good Changes to Last - Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal
How much of the innovation that's taking place right now in education will still be around when the instability of the pandemic has slowed down? That's a question that the Christensen Institute has tried to understand in a new paper published today. The positive changes taking place in schools aren't simply the ones that have to do with the virus, the report noted. They're also tied to the other one confronting America right now: systemic racism, which "perpetuates inequality and injustice." Both types of pandemics "deeply challenge our education system."
https://thejournal.com/articles/2020/10/20/report-how-to-get-the-good-changes-to-last.aspx
Friday, November 6, 2020
The Link Between Academic Fraud and Cybersecurity Risk - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology
Since students have returned to school and remote learning this fall, there has been a dramatic increase in internet searches related to academic fraud — that's according to data from Cisco Talos. In a recent blog post, the threat intelligence team detailed how essay mills operate and how academic fraud websites can lead to more serious cybersecurity threats. It's a wild ride through falsified app reviews, shoddy workmanship and a rabbit hole of malicious activity.
Thursday, November 5, 2020
COVID-19 could change how professional programs teach online - Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive
The pandemic forced disciplines such as medicine and law to make unforeseen and unprecedented adjustments that may stick around. These programs usually need to conduct much of the coursework face-to-face, as students must hone real-world skills, such as being in a courtroom or a hospital. Frequently, state regulators, accreditors and other oversight entities mandate that only a certain amount of the learning be digital.
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
How COVID-19 is changing the business of online learning for colleges - Natalie Schwartz Hallie Busta Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive
The past seven months have offered some answers and a glimpse at what challenges and opportunities may be ahead. That's why Education Dive spoke with dozens of college officials, ed tech experts and other industry observers to learn how they're responding to the crisis and gearing up for what comes next. Although their opinions vary, they can agree on one thing: Online learning will play a much larger role in the higher education sector going forward.
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Who Is Missing From College During the Pandemic? A Lot of Students, Actually - Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge
New numbers released last week from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that undergraduate enrollment in the U.S. is down 4 percent this year, compared to last year and enrollment of students starting their college careers is down 16 percent. And that, mind you, is based on the beginning of the term. Robert Kelchen, a professor at Seton Hall University who studies higher education, says it’s too early to tell whether students who have started this semester are able to finish it. “And that’s something that could end up being a real concern,” he says.
Monday, November 2, 2020
UDL’s essential place in the post-pandemic learning environment - KIMBERLY COY, eCampus News
Leveraging Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, will help ensure effectiveness and a level of normalcy in an unexpected new learning reality. UDL comes from an educational framework first conceptualized in architecture with Universal Design – creating spaces that are accessible to all – and the challenges of special education, where learning and teaching based on the “average” student was not effective. A framework that considers wide differences in human behavior and teaches to every student is critical now more than ever. UDL provides a framework to reach every student through online teaching by utilizing neuroscience for learning and following the 3 main principles of engagement, representation, and action and expression.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
What we can learn from Coursera Professional Certificates and Google Career Certificates - Beverley Oliver, Campus Morning Mail
Certificates are marketed as career-focussed, affordable (go as fast as you like, pay only after a seven-day free trial), on demand (start when you’re ready) and “hands-on”. Most are provided by companies such as IBM, Google, SAS, Salesforce and Facebook, rather than traditional educators. Most are IT-related, though a few are in areas such as customer engagement and sales development, and many take less than six months. There is some evidence, particularly from Google, that their short courses enable learners to get jobs and launch new careers, including those who would been unlikely to enrol in higher education. By any measure, these certificates are relatively inexpensive as long as the learner can maintain commitment and pace.
Saturday, October 31, 2020
6 Reasons Why Higher Education Needs to Be Disrupted - Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Becky Frankiewicz, Harvard Business Review
No clear alternative to universities has yet emerged, and while there’s no clear path to disrupting higher education, there are pain points which those of us in the education field and beyond could be confronting. At some point a viable alternative will likely emerge and we see six reasons that make the case for demanding something different:
https://hbr.org/2019/11/6-reasons-why-higher-education-needs-to-be-disrupted
Friday, October 30, 2020
Higher Education’s Big Shake-Up Is Underway - Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes
College closures, academic program terminations and institutional mergers are nothing new on the higher education landscape. They’ve gone on for decades, particularly during tight financial times. But this year, during what looks like just the initial phases of the coronavirus pandemic, large-scale administrative restructuring in higher education is accelerating at a pace seldom, if ever, seen before.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Women are advancing in the workplace, but women of color still lag behind - Adia Harvey Wingfield, Brookings
An oft-cited statistic, for instance, reveals that as a result of factors including, but not limited to, motherhood penalties, gender discrimination, and occupational segregation, women make 79 cents for every dollar men earn. But Black women earn only 64 cents on the dollar, and for Latinas it is a dismal 54 cents. As it was in the early 20th century, women of color continue to experience occupational and economic disadvantages that reflect the ways both race and gender affect their work experiences.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Report: Enrollment Continues to Trend Downward - Madeline St. Amour, Inside Higher Ed
Several concerning enrollment trends are holding strong as the latest, and more comprehensive, data show. Experts and advocates are particularly worried about community colleges. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has bad news. Again. Its latest fall 2020 enrollment report continues to show downward trajectories nearly across the board in higher education. As of Sept. 24, undergraduate enrollment is now 4 percent lower than it was last fall -- a 1.5-percentage-point decrease from earlier this semester.
Inter-Institutional Sharing of Courses Online - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Education
A series of events has converged to put new impetus behind inter-institutional sharing of courses online. The COVID-19 pandemic, rapid deployment of remote learning, growth of MOOCs and mounting financial pressure on colleges and universities have combined to open minds on this topic. It is impossible to chronicle all of the course-sharing initiatives that are springing up almost daily around the world. As the pace of such sharing of courses and degrees across colleges in this time of COVID-19 is rapidly picking up speed, so also have the range of models among otherwise fierce recruitment competitors, who also happen to be affiliated universities.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Making best use of the link between emotions and learning - Ted Sun, University World News
At university level, all faculties can make learning more meaningful and create practical value for their students. It is the responsibility of educators to make a lasting impact on their students. The current world needs graduates who can think critically in emotionally charged situations. We need leaders who are proactive in preventing problems from occurring and who are not sitting around waiting for crises to occur. To accomplish this, universities need to inspire and develop educators to transform the current cookie-cutter factory of education into an individualised educational model that is consistent with the student-centred learning message in their marketing.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200930185422174
Monday, October 26, 2020
Six problem-solving mindsets for very uncertain times - Charles Conn and Robert McLean, McKinsey
These leaders learn to adopt a particularly open and curious mindset, and adhere to a systematic process for cracking even the most inscrutable problems. They’re terrific problem solvers under any conditions. And when conditions of uncertainty are at their peak, they’re at their brilliant best. Six mutually reinforcing approaches underly their success: (1) being ever-curious about every element of a problem; (2) being imperfectionists, with a high tolerance for ambiguity; (3) having a “dragonfly eye” view of the world, to see through multiple lenses; (4) pursuing occurrent behavior and experimenting relentlessly; (5) tapping into the collective intelligence, acknowledging that the smartest people are not in the room; and (6) practicing “show and tell” because storytelling begets action (exhibit).
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Wake Up Higher Education. The Degree Is On The Decline. - Brandon Busteed, Forbes
Higher education enrollment is on a decade-long decline. It’s pretty much inevitable that enrollment in U.S. higher education will be down for 10 consecutive years. The latest estimates from the National Student Clearinghouse show fall ’20 enrollments down 2.5% over last year. This will further the slide for spring ’21, which will end up being a decade’s worth of dropping enrollments for degree-seeking students. All told, at the peak in spring of 2011, 19,610,826 students were enrolled in U.S. higher education. By spring of 2020, that number had eroded to 17,458,306. I predict it will dip under 17 million this spring – making it a net loss of more than two and a half million students over the last decade.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
With No Study Buddies, More College Students Turn to Cheating - Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge
With so many classes online during the pandemic—many of them taught by professors still struggling to figure out how to teach in the format—students are increasingly turning to homework-help websites. While many students say they’re looking for the assistance they’re not getting from their colleges, professors argue that students are using these sites to cheat on quizzes and tests. Joseph Ching, a junior at Purdue University, says many of his professors have warned students not to use sites like Chegg, where students are posting homework and quiz questions and getting answers from tutors.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-10-06-with-no-study-buddies-more-college-students-turn-to-cheating
Friday, October 23, 2020
The US role in advancing gender equality globally through girls’ education - Christina Kwauk, Brookings
Analysis at the Brookings Institution estimates that education gaps between rich and poor girls will take a long time to close; universal secondary education for the poorest girls in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be achieved by 2111. The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening this timeline. Girls’ increased burden on domestic work and unpaid care during stay-at-home orders, their increased vulnerability to gender-based violence due to limited mobility during lockdown, and their lower access to technology and the internet means girls have less time and fewer resources to engage in remote learning, are at risk of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies, and are more likely to remain out of school when they eventually reopen.
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Emerging practices for measuring students’ relationships and networks - Christensen Institute
Most schools and programs wholeheartedly agree that relationships matter. But far fewer actually measure students’ social capital. Oftentimes, relationships, valuable as they may be, are treated as inputs to learning and development rather than outcomes in their own right. In turn, schools routinely leave students’ access to relationships and networks to chance. To address this gap, a host of early innovators across K–12, postsecondary, and workforce development are making important strides toward purposefully building and measuring students’ social capital in an effort to expand access to opportunity. Drawing on those emerging practices, this paper offers a framework for measuring social capital grounded in both research and practice.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Zoom fatigue and all-nighters: Online learning takes a toll on students’ mental health - Carlos Fuentes, University of Portland Beacon
According to Carol Dell’Oliver, director of the Health and Counseling Center, COVID-19 has made school more stressful for many students. “It has significantly impacted mental health, and there’s more worries and anxieties around COVID related concerns,” Dell’Oliver said. “There’s also more of a sense of isolation when they're not around their friends as much, which is an important protective factor in their mental health. There is also more unpredictability and things that are out of their personal control.”
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
8 practices to build an online learning community - MIKE DI GREGORIO, eCampus News
Before COVID-19 turned the academic world upside down, community and connection happened almost spontaneously. Students could walk into a classroom and introduce themselves to the people around them and instantly feel part of their learning community. They could linger afterwards to ask a question or organize a study group. Outside of class there were endless opportunities to socialize through clubs, sports teams, and other activities. Fast forward to 2020 and, for most students, the campus experience, at least as we’ve known it, has become another casualty of the ongoing pandemic. For better or worse, the virtual classroom is now the place for students to find that all important sense of community.
https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/10/09/8-practices-to-build-an-online-learning-community/
Monday, October 19, 2020
A Student Perspective on Learning Remotely - Aya Hammouda, PharmD candidate at Touro College of Pharmacy
Overall, virtual learning has made it possible to have learning experiences very similar to those we enjoyed on campus. We have achieved an almost seamless transition for attending class in-person or remotely. Our college has made tremendous efforts to mimic the benefits of on-campus learning as closely as possible while meeting all accreditation standards. They’ve adjusted schedules and given us the means to reach professors when needed, and our education is not suffering. We recognize there are challenges even with face-to-face learning. As a P4 student, I look forward to even better online education experiences as we move ahead.
https://tcop.touro.edu/news/stories/a-student-perspective-on-learning-remotely.php
Sunday, October 18, 2020
How cybercrime has evolved since the pandemic hit - REUBEN JACKSON, Big Think
McAfee's user base has been seeing an average of 375 new threats per minute during the pandemic. Once everyone got situated in their home offices and their company's security teams started taking the appropriate measures, how did the attackers adjust? Ransomware on cloud servers, hijack attempts on IoT gadgets and business email compromise (BEC) attacks increased in volume as well as sophistication over the course of Q3 2020.
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Online Learning: Perseverance and Perspectives - Lena Cassidy, the Whit
Online learning is not universal. There is no global fix to conquer all of the learning curves between majors. A nursing major and a writing major cannot learn the same way. Zoom is not a comprehensive resource for everyone. The only commonality between all majors that were asked is that class and home cannot coexist. Being in class at home is emotionally draining and physically exhausting. Staying mentally active in class while having all of the distractions of home is the first challenge.
https://thewhitonline.com/2020/10/features/online-learning-perseverance-and-perspectives/
Friday, October 16, 2020
How to Make the Perfect Home Office - HomeHow UK
There may have never been a more critical time in our careers that we have a comfortable location to work outside of the office. The ongoing global pandemic has made it a necessity that workers from around the world work remotely, usually from home. To maintain the same efficiency and productivity at home as we would in the office, requires a more than adequate home office.
https://www.homehow.co.uk/blog/how-to-make-the-perfect-home-office
Thursday, October 15, 2020
The shift online has colleges looking to share courses - Alia Wong, Education Dive
Dozens of institutions have joined consortia for exchanging online classes since the pandemic began, and new options have sprung up. Course-sharing networks historically have tended to comprise small groups of neighboring colleges with similar curricular goals, such as the Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts and the Claremont Colleges in Los Angeles County. While the early course-sharing happened in-person, newer initiatives let students take classes online from schools all over the country. But demand for course-sharing services has soared since the pandemic began. Forced to quickly adjust to remote instruction, some colleges looked to consortia for help filling out their online program offerings.
https://www.educationdive.com/news/the-shift-online-has-colleges-looking-to-share-courses/586346/
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Student Loan Default Rates by School & State - Mike Brown, LendEdu
The national student loan default rate for the 2017 fiscal year was 9.70%, which is a decrease of 0.40 percentage points from when the student loan default rate was 10.10% for the 2016 fiscal year (last year's report). Not surprisingly, for-profit institutions had the highest collective student loan default rate (14.70%), followed by public institutions (9.30%), and private institutions (6.70%).
https://lendedu.com/blog/student-loan-default-rates-by-school-state-2020/
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
OPINION: Equity in online learning is about much more than technology access - Amy Smith, Hechinger Report
Debate about the fairness of online learning tends to revolve around technology access. And there are indeed sharp disparities in home access to computers and reliable broadband service. But equity in online learning is more than simply making sure students have decent technology and fast internet. Every student — not just the marginalized and disenfranchised — needs sound course design, sufficient student support and testing programs that make sense and protect integrity.At this time in our history, the global pandemic presents a unique opportunity to establish and refine an online learning model that is fair and equitable for all students.
Monday, October 12, 2020
What’s on the horizon for higher ed? - eCampus News
The Covid-19 pandemic has permanently changed higher education. While other sectors may rebound to pre-pandemic conditions and some may disappear forever, our nation’s colleges and universities are most certainly going to rebound to something that looks quite different from just one year ago, Forbes reports. There is upside and downside to this fact. The upside: change was needed and perhaps long overdue. The downside: it’s expensive and not everyone will be successful.
https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/09/30/whats-on-the-horizon-for-higher-ed/
Sunday, October 11, 2020
A hybrid education format is sticking around. Here’s how we can improve the model - Anant Agarwal, Fast Company
In recent weeks, colleges and universities have had to radically adapt traditional learning to keep students safe as COVID-19 shows little sign of abating. Now, students and teachers are grappling with how to avoid learning disruptions and maximize engagement in a remote world. The good news is, the online learning space is more sophisticated now. EdTech (or educational technology)platforms have not seen this much demand, pressure, and energy around online learning since the MOOC movement (massively online open courses) first exploded onto the scene in 2012. The difference is that now we have experience and data about what resonates in the online learning experience to create the most seamless and engaging education journey for students.
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Is the US the next big market for outbound students? - Anthony C Ogden and Denise Cope, University World News
There may be some major shifts under way in international student mobility patterns. The current upheavals in the United States higher education landscape appear to be driving greater numbers of US students to consider full degrees abroad. US universities and colleges were on the ropes prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with many institutions already facing shrinking enrolments, budget crunches and stagnating public funding. Add COVID-19 to the mix and the challenges only get worse for US higher education. The cracks in the system are growing into chasms and the landscape may be forever changed.
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201002154520979
Friday, October 9, 2020
Envisioning the Future of Higher Ed in a Post-pandemic World - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology
In a recent ASU+GSV session, five college presidents gave their views of what’s next for higher education. What does the future of higher education look like? A panel of five university and college presidents offered their crystal-ball visions in a recent session during the recent ASU+GSV Summit, which took place online this week. Moderator Michelle Marx, chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver, asked panelists — each representing a unique higher education model — to look forward five years and beyond.
Thursday, October 8, 2020
The Biggest Higher Ed Story of the Decade: How Online Degrees at Scale Will Transform Education - Chelsea Toczauer, Online Education
We spoke with professors that are also experts in the design and rollout of scaled online degrees to learn more about the development of online degrees at scale and what they could mean for students.
https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/online-degrees-at-scale
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Innovators Seek Zoom University 2.0 - Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed
In the space of just a few months, thousands of students joke that they have transferred to Zoom U -- some even opting to make it "official" with the purchase of an unofficial sweatshirt. Zoom’s videoconferencing platform has become synonymous with remote instruction during the pandemic. But Zoom was not designed specifically for educational use. ClassEDU, a start-up created by Michael Chasen, former CEO and co-founder of Blackboard, aims to change that. ClassEDU announced last week that it has raised $16 million in seed funding to develop Class for Zoom -- a Zoom add-on that will give educators new features such as the ability to take class attendance, get data insights into student participation and issue interactive quizzes during class.
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Online learning cannot just be for those who can afford its technology -Nature - Editorial
All this means that students from the poorest families, without Internet access, are more likely to be denied education — widening already deep educational inequalities. Because education is strongly linked to later jobs, income and health, setbacks now will last a lifetime. In universities, the transition to online education is enabling institutions to reach out to students from underserved areas and under-represented communities. But paradoxically, if children from these communities are unable to access earlier schooling, fewer will be able to proceed to higher education. The pandemic will force a large number of institutions will remain closed, and online learning will substitute for the real thing. But if broadband and laptops are the equivalent of the teacher, the library and the laboratory, it cannot be acceptable that these are available to only a fraction of students.
Monday, October 5, 2020
Reimagining Online Education: How Perceived Constraints Became Affordances in an Undergraduate Online STEM Course - Alex Rockey, EDUAUSE Review
Using integrated technologies in online courses to provide effective and meaningful feedback to students can leverage the unique affordances of online courses to support student success. With remote teaching being used in emergency situations, proactively knowing how to teach and learn online is more important than ever. Educators at all levels need to have a sense of empirically based pedagogy to guide them when they are called to teach online.
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Dear Professors: Don't Let Student Webcams Trick You - Matthea Marquart and Roxanne Russell, EDUCAUSE Review
Instructors who teach live online classes should thoughtfully consider whether to require students to use their webcams during class. First is the issue of equity. Second, constantly being on webcam can detract from student learning.... We recommend that instructors stay on their webcams throughout the class and plan selective use of students' webcams for activities such as group discussions, role-play activities, debates, panel discussions, student presentations, and any other interactive activity that would be enhanced by seeing the students who are speaking. Even in those cases, if a student cannot be on webcam, participation via microphone or typed chat can suffice.
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/9/dear-professors-dont-let-student-webcams-trick-you
Saturday, October 3, 2020
The Blockchain Future of Higher Ed - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
As higher education slowly adapts to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), spurred by the COVID crisis, students and industry are recognizing the need for a technologically supported way to document the full array of learning in the classroom and beyond. Soon to disappear will be the notarized paper transcripts that are controlled by the university. In the past, these 19th-century-type documents have been subject to withholding for unpaid fines and fees. The American Council on Education has recognized the need to support this move to electronic credentialing and ledger dissemination. They have announced a $900,000 Blockchain Innovation Challenge with applications due Oct. 30.
Friday, October 2, 2020
Looking Beyond COVID‐19: Crisis Leadership Implications for Chairs - Ralph Gigliotti, Tomorrow's Professor
Effective leadership during times of crisis requires a dual focus on triaging immediate needs while also making strategic decisions that serve the long‐term interests of one's unit, department, or institution. As we make sense of the short‐ and long‐term effects of the pandemic, what follows are considerations for effectively navigating the present crisis while also looking ahead to collectively advance department strategic priorities.
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Wellness and Mental Health in 2020 Online Learning - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
Worldwide, lives are stressed and strained by COVID-19. Nowhere is that more evident than in the lives of students, staff and faculty members engaged in the transformed role of online learning. As higher education adapts to teaching and learning at a distance, the workload and the learning load of adopting a new delivery mode is taking a huge toll on the lives of those in higher education. This is an immense problem that is growing rapidly. While there are some students who are thriving through online learning, the toll of the virus, isolation, increased workloads and other associated effects are rising among many students, staff and faculty members. It must not be underestimated. Every institution must address these challenges that threaten the well-being of their constituents.
Debunking a few myths on online learning - Enrique Dans, Medium
Last week, in one of my articles, a reader commented that online learning basically consisted of “recorded videos and a web with tutorials and examples”. For someone who has been teaching online for twenty years in addition to delivering face-to-face classes, who has had the opportunity to abundantly compare both models, and who has also seen the institution where I work reach the top of the international MBA rankings for its online programs, I simply can’t accept that we’re going to lose the greatest opportunity ever to develop this type of learning due to myths, clichés and half-truths.
https://medium.com/enrique-dans/debunking-a-few-myths-on-online-learning-a6b33116d552
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Learning lightboards bring a human element to online learning - HERBERT TSANG, eCampus News
Students build learning lightboards--a kind of glass "chalkboard"--to promote the human face of remote learning. Trinity Western University (TWU) students bring more human faces to online learning by building lightboards that allow professors to look directly into the camera while drawing and illustrating on lighted glass.... Pettigrew hopes to help other students succeed in their studies this fall. “I am excited about building the lightboards because I believe that the transition to online school in the fall will be difficult for many people, and the use of lightboards can make this transition easier,” he said.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
The effects of online learning - Ella Craig, the Forge Today
Speaking to BBC Worklife, Associate Professor Gianpiero Petriglieri said that video calls require more attention than in person gatherings and this added effort to engage in the conversation causes what became to be known during lockdown as Zoom fatigue. During face to face interactions we can read body language and facial expressions to better engage and understand the conversation taking place, but during video calls this personal aspect is taken away. Zoom fatigue can leave you feeling drained for the rest of the day, reducing your ability to study or focus under the new, online, delivery method. As well as this, video calls and online lectures can impact mental health, says Professor Petriglieri.
http://forgetoday.com/2020/09/15/the-effects-of-online-learning/
Monday, September 28, 2020
Rethinking online education with virtual event platforms - NISHCHAL DUA, eCampus News
Virtual event platforms provide an important outlet for educators who are looking to re-engage their students. The escalation and global impact of COVID-19 catalyzed a sudden shift to the university experience as we know it. By March 2020, 14 million students pivoted to online education. College enrollment in the United States is now down 20 percent going into the fall 2020 semester, and typical activities such as sports and on-campus events have been canceled. This new reality has pushed educators across the United States to rethink how they’re delivering online education and implement new ways to engage students during this crossroads.
https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/09/15/rethinking-online-education-with-virtual-event-platforms/
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Sustaining Emotional Connections with Your Students in an Age of COVID19 (Part 2 of 2) - Howard Aldrich, Tomorrow's Professor
The COVID 19 pandemic has transformed the teaching and learning environment. We are still discovering the many ways in which student and faculty interactions are affected by being mediated through facial coverings and spatial distance. Although faculty and students are now moving back into the classroom, they have lost a key piece of information that humans rely on to understand others’ meanings and read their emotions. We are accustomed to encountering masked others mainly in situations that make us anxious or afraid. Now, it is the new normal. Similarly, online teaching and learning can deprive us of the facial expressions and body language that helps us assess whether others understand and agree with us. Online teaching cannot replicate what occurs in a classroom, even when participants are unmasked. So, we have our work cut out for us!
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Meet the students thriving in remote learning - Luke Winkie, Vox
But since the country entered its unprecedented distance learning experiment this spring, there’s been a growing contingent of students who’ve found themselves actually enjoying their cyberspace syllabus more than the physical version. “I’m an introvert who deals with a lot of social anxiety,” said Maude, a 20-year-old special care counseling student in Quebec who has been taking remote classes since March and into the new school year. “In an online classroom, I don’t have to be around people or feel apprehensive about asking the teacher questions. Instead, I’m as calm as I can be, in my safe space at home.”
Friday, September 25, 2020
Engaging Students Through Asynchronous Video-Based Discussions in Online Courses - Patrick Lowenthal, et al; EDUCAUSE Review
As growing numbers of students take online and hybrid courses, higher education institutions are looking for ways to cultivate and sustain engagement with students remotely. One method is the use of asynchronous video-based discussions, which offers unique opportunities for instructors and students. Asynchronous video has been used in online courses as an instructional tool in many ways. For instance, online educators have created videos to share with students—including recorded lectures (screencasts or lecture capture), how-to videos, and feedback on assignments—for well over a decade.
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Mental Health Needs Rise With Pandemic - Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Ed
A mountain of troubling data about rising mental health problems has health advocates and providers worried about the need for additional support for struggling students and the ability of colleges to provide it. Several recent surveys of students suggest their mental well-being has been devastated by the pandemic’s social and economic consequences, as well as the continued uncertainty about their college education and postcollege careers. Still reeling from the emergency closures of campuses across the country during the spring semester and the sudden shifts to online instruction, students are now worried about the fall semester and whether campuses that reopened for in-person instruction can remain open as COVID-19 infections spread among students and panicked college administrators quickly shift gears and send students who'd recently arrived back home.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
5 tips on how unis can do more to design online learning that works for all students - the Conversation
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a rapid shift to online learning at all Australian universities. This presents unique opportunities for both educators and students, but also new challenges. Recent media reports suggest online learning might not be meeting the needs of all students. In particular, university students with disabilities report they are struggling with online learning that lacks the features they need to fully participate.
https://theconversation.com/5-tips-on-how-unis-can-do-more-to-design-online-learning-that-works-for-all-students-144803
https://theconversation.com/5-tips-on-how-unis-can-do-more-to-design-online-learning-that-works-for-all-students-144803
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Howard Gardner on His Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Lessons for COVID-19 Era - Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge
This month Gardner came out with a different kind of book, one where he looks inward. It’s a memoir called “A Synthesizing Mind.” In it, he reflects on the interdisciplinary work he did that led to his theory of multiple intelligences. And he has suggestions for how to encourage that kind of broad thinking so that others can make new insights across whatever fields they’re working in. He argues that we need more of these kinds of thinkers in this challenging moment of polarization and pandemic.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-09-01-howard-gardner-on-his-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-and-lessons-for-covid-19-era
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-09-01-howard-gardner-on-his-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-and-lessons-for-covid-19-era
Monday, September 21, 2020
Ransomware: Huge rise in attacks this year as cyber criminals hunt bigger pay days - Danny Palmer, ZD Net
Not only has the number of ransomware attacks increased, but ransomware has continued evolving, with some of the most popular forms of ransomware last year having disappeared while new forms of ransomware have emerged. In some cases, these are even more disruptive and damaging. "Looking into the evolution of last year's ransomware families and how they've changed this year, most of them have actually gone down in numbers. This year's popular ransomware families are not last year's popular ransomware families," Liviu Arsene, global cybersecurity researcher at Bitdefender told ZDNet.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-huge-rise-in-attacks-this-year-as-cyber-criminals-hunt-bigger-pay-days/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-huge-rise-in-attacks-this-year-as-cyber-criminals-hunt-bigger-pay-days/
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Distance learning sans the screen - Salil S, Deccan Herald
If you have ever used an exercise app, you know how a screen-based app prompts you to do non-screen physical activity. Similarly, the design of learning activities shall prompt the student to do non-screen activities too. The screen becomes only an instruction point, touch point, and reporting point of each activity. The way is to ensure sufficient interaction, appropriate activities, and appropriately curated content leading to the desired learning outcome. Let us step-out and witness the departure from the misunderstanding of teaching as talking.
https://www.deccanherald.com/supplements/dh-education/distance-learning-sans-the-screen-883963.html
https://www.deccanherald.com/supplements/dh-education/distance-learning-sans-the-screen-883963.html
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Creating Emotional Engagement in Online Learning - Melissa Fanshawe, et al; EDUCAUSE Review
With the increasing use of online course delivery in higher education, it is important to identify aspects of the online course that students consider essential to engage in learning. Typically, a student's engagement within a course is measured by their performance, their access to the course content, or the time and effort they invest in the course.1 While these things are important, a framework for online student engagement developed in 2018 by Petrea Redmond and colleagues suggests that students engage in learning via five dimensions: cognitive, behavioral, social, collaborative, and emotional.3 This means that rather than focusing only on student access to the content and the course design, educators also need to facilitate social and collaborative interaction to ensure students are emotionally connected within the course.
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/creating-emotional-engagement-in-online-learning
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/creating-emotional-engagement-in-online-learning
Friday, September 18, 2020
Effective Teaching Is Anti-Racist Teaching - Mary Wright, Tomorrow's Professor
Here, we outline five key starting points of anti-racist classrooms, designed to magnify the transformative impact of education but also to mitigate the negative harm. Borrowing from Kendi’s (2019, p. 18) definition of anti-racist policy, we define “anti-racist teaching” as intentional syllabus design, class content, or pedagogy that creates or develops racial equity, with applications for face-to-face and remote/hybrid teaching environments. We also commit to incorporating these principles into our own practice, in our work to support teaching and learning at Brown.
https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1812
https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1812
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Blockchain Can Disrupt Higher Education Today, Global Labor Market Tomorrow - Andrew Singer, CoinTelegraph
Blockchain can play its part in the education sector — record-keeping in 2–3 years and then adoption by the labor market? In the post-pandemic world, individuals will need to seize ownership and control of their educational credentials — documents like degrees and transcripts — from schools, universities and governments. That notion received key support last week from the American Council on Education in a study funded by the United States Department of Education focusing on the use of blockchain in higher education.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-can-disrupt-higher-education-today-global-labor-market-tomorrow
https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-can-disrupt-higher-education-today-global-labor-market-tomorrow
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
The Comeback Story: How Adults Return to School to Complete their Degrees Hadass Sheffer, Iris Palmer, Annette B. Mattei; New America
The new majority of college students have adult responsibilities, such as parenting, earning a living, and paying for college. Unfortunately, adult students are often treated as an afterthought by colleges and policymakers. Over the last 20 years, more than 37 million students have left without receiving a degree that would greatly improve their economic prospects. This joint report from the Graduate! Network and New America examines the journeys of determined individuals who get back on track, persevere, and earn their degree—known as comebackers—to show how policy makers and postsecondary institutions can design systems that support success for this new majority and better serve all students.
https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/comeback-story/
https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/comeback-story/
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Working from home: The 12 new rules for getting it right - Daphne Leprince-Ringuet, ZDNet
From video-conference etiquette to triple-checking your emails, here are some do's and dont's to help you navigate the new digital workplace. And while most organizations switched their staff to remote working almost overnight, the new codes that are emerging are here to stay. Three quarters of CFOs, according to Gartner, intend to shift some of their employees to remote work permanently. While there might be hundreds of best-selling business etiquette handbooks out there, not many have anticipated such a radical turn of events. But experts are already thinking about the digital etiquette of the future – and here are some of the do's and don'ts of the remote business space that they have already identified.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/working-from-home-the-12-new-rules-for-getting-it-right/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/working-from-home-the-12-new-rules-for-getting-it-right/
Monday, September 14, 2020
No, Running Online Classes Isn't Cheaper - Matt Reed, Inside Higher Ed
This weekend Kim Weeden tweeted that the most common myth about higher ed that she runs into is that teaching online is cheaper. It isn’t. Most of a college’s budget is labor. When a physical campus moves to online teaching, it doesn’t save much labor at all. Grading an online student’s paper takes the same amount of time as grading an on-site student’s paper. Yes, technology allows a single presentation to be shared with many more people at once, but viewing a presentation isn’t education. Actual learning occurs in the engagement with the material, and that still requires human interaction.
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/no-running-online-classes-isnt-cheaper
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/no-running-online-classes-isnt-cheaper
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Creating Emotional Engagement in Online Learning - Melissa Fanshawe, et al; EDUCAUSE Review
With the increasing use of online course delivery in higher education, it is important to identify aspects of the online course that students consider essential to engage in learning. Typically, a student's engagement within a course is measured by their performance, their access to the course content, or the time and effort they invest in the course.1 While these things are important, a framework for online student engagement developed in 2018 by Petrea Redmond and colleagues suggests that students engage in learning via five dimensions: cognitive, behavioral, social, collaborative, and emotional.3 This means that rather than focusing only on student access to the content and the course design, educators also need to facilitate social and collaborative interaction to ensure students are emotionally connected within the course.
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/creating-emotional-engagement-in-online-learning
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/creating-emotional-engagement-in-online-learning
Saturday, September 12, 2020
7 Things You Should Know about Virtual Labs - EDUCAUSE ELI
Virtual labs are interactive, digital simulations of activities that typically take place in physical laboratory settings. Virtual labs simulate the tools, equipment, tests, and procedures used in chemistry, biochemistry, physics, biology, and other disciplines that include a laboratory component in the curriculum. A key characteristic of virtual labs is their interactivity—video recordings or renderings of lab activities that cannot be manipulated by users fall outside this discussion. Similarly, physical equipment such as radio telescopes orelectron microscopes that can be controlled by distant users is considered remote instrumentation rather than a virtual lab.
https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2020/8/eli7174.pdf
https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2020/8/eli7174.pdf
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