A Grand Strategy for Grand Challenges: A New Approach through Digital Transformation - Susan Grajek and D. Christopher Brooks, EDUCAUSE Review

We propose a different approach, a way for higher education leaders to reframe the work ahead and to judiciously consider how technology can be most helpful. First, leaders should think about their institutional strategic priorities as a set of Grand Challenges: challenges that are as important as they are difficult and that pertain specifically to the institution as well as more broadly to the higher education ecosystem. Next, leaders should adopt a Grand Strategy, which can provide a cohesive principle and vision to help them consider their resources holistically and focus on their most consequential priorities. Finally, leaders should take into account digital transformation (Dx), which can advance this Grand Strategy.
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/8/a-grand-strategy-for-grand-challenges--a-new-approach-through-digital-transformation

Making Bets for Fall: Two Important Trends - John O'Brien, EDUCAUSE

Amid the unsettling uncertainties, two important trends that started well before fall have accelerated and intensified in the shadow of the pandemic. We should work to ensure these trends continue long after the current crisis has calmed. Amid the unsettling uncertainties, two important trends that started well before fall have accelerated and intensified in the shadow of the pandemic. We should work to ensure these trends continue long after the current crisis has calmed. Digital transformation and wellness are two important trends that have accelerated and intensified in the pandemic milestone of 2020.
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/8/making-bets-for-fall-two-important-trends

New course for faculty emphasizes inclusive virtual learning - Johns Hopkins University

A Coursera class is open to teachers worldwide; it shares perspectives on creating accessible coursework in a time of remote learning.  As faculty work to adjust their courses in the lead-up to Johns Hopkins University's first-ever fully-remote semester, they have to consider the ever-changing needs of the diverse undergraduate student population.
https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/08/18/coursera-inclusive-learning/

5 takeaways from the Ed Dept's final distance education rules - Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Education on Monday dropped the final version of its new regulations governing distance learning. It's the third and final set of new rules the department has published over the past year, and they touch on a sprawling number of issues in higher education, including accreditation and online learning.  The rules take effect in July 2021, but the department said institutions can use "the new flexibilities" as soon as they are published in the Federal Register. Here are five key questions the new rules raise that colleges should know.
https://www.educationdive.com/news/5-takeaways-from-the-ed-depts-final-distance-education-rules/584123/

Can VR help us understand layers of oppression? - Courtney Cogburn, Big Think

Often thought of first as gaming tech, virtual reality has been increasingly used in research as a tool for mimicking real-life scenarios and experiences in a safe and controlled environment. Focusing on issues of oppression and the ripple affect it has throughout America's political, educational, and social systems, Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn of Columbia University School of Social Work and her team developed a VR experience that gives users the opportunity to "walk a mile" in the shoes of a black man as he faces racism at three stages in his life: as a child, during adolescence, and as an adult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwPtkULgPpU

Thoughts on Creating an Inclusive Environment in Online Classes - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

In preparing for the fall term, most colleges and universities are responding to the renewed public consciousness about equality, inclusiveness and fairness for all students.  The opportunities to begin to make a difference are endless through the online platform, where that platform is equitably available. Not limited to students recruited to the campus, not limited to students who can relocate and come to campus, online programs reach across cultures and locations to serve students where they are. And yet, minority and low-income students do not thrive at the same rates as others in the current system. So where can we begin in developing more successful diverse and inclusive online programs?
https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/thoughts-creating-inclusive-environment-online-classes

How Can We Fight Racial Bias in Technology - Nichol Turner Less and Darrell M. West, Brookings

Our inaugural episode focuses on racial bias in technology, which will add to the recent equity dialogues following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black male, by the Minneapolis police and the nationwide protests that ensued. Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings senior fellow and director of the Center for Technology Innovation, moderates a conversation with Brookings scholars Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein fellow, and Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and a visiting fellow in Governance Studies.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/08/06/center-for-technology-innovation-partners-with-lawfare-to-launch-new-techtank-podcast/

Ed Dept. Issues Final Distance Learning Rule - Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Ed

The U.S. Department of Education has released its final rule on distance learning, which it said would modernize regulations. The rule will not go into effect until July 1, 2021. The product of months of negotiations by a panel of experts, the final rule would among other things allow more flexibility to “emphasize demonstration of learning rather than seat time when measuring student outcomes,” the fact sheet said. For instance, the rule allows for more asynchronous online delivery of courses, or portions of courses, in traditional “clock-hour” hands-on programs. The biggest change is clarifying the term "regular and substantive" in the nation's main higher education law, said James Murphy, senior policy analyst with Education Reform Now. The new rule defines the interaction as meeting the standard if it satisfies at least two of five conditions.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/25/ed-dept-issues-final-distance-learning-rule

Alternative Credentials, Scaled Degrees, and the New Higher Ed Matthew Effect - Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Enter into this picture the growth of alternative online credentials and scaled online degrees. Keep in mind that the schools that are pioneering these programs are mostly colleges and universities with national and sometimes global brands. Increasingly, working adults will have a choice of either enrolling in a traditional (often online) master's program from a college or university that is known mostly in the area in which they live (regional brand), or a non-degree online certificate or an affordable scaled online master's degree from a nationally or globally known university (elite brand).
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/alternative-credentials-scaled-degrees-and-new-higher-ed-matthew-effect

Why It’s So Hard to Lower the Cost of Textbooks - Jeffrey R. Young and Rebecca Koenig, EdSurge

These arrangements, often called “inclusive access” programs, tend to stir up controversy—and sometimes even lawsuits—when colleges adopt them. On this episode of the EdSurge Podcast, we examine why that is. We discuss the changing economics of textbook publishing, analyze who benefits most from bulk book deals, and take a closer look at a new textbook subscription program at the University of California at Davis, hearing from both an excited administrator and a skeptical student.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-07-28-why-it-s-so-hard-to-lower-the-cost-of-textbooks

Will Online College Courses Help Reduce Textbook Prices? - Robert Farrington, Forbes

While the textbook industry would obviously hate for that to happen, the realities of pursuing higher education in the midst of a pandemic might bring this change regardless. Like it or not, students attending school virtually don’t have a lot of incentive to purchase a big, bulky textbook when most of their materials are presented online. With that in mind, maybe — just maybe — Covid-19 will actually have a positive impact in this tiny part of our lives. If online school could bring down textbook prices, it would be a huge win for college students who desperately need a break.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2020/08/07/will-online-college-courses-help-reduce-textbook-prices/#459ec1fc133c

College in the time of coronavirus: Challenges facing American higher education - American Enterprise Institute

Forward-thinking institutions will recognize that the pandemic has accelerated preexisting demographic and financial challenges to their model and will translate necessary, short-term modifications in course delivery, student services, academic calendars, and pricing and fee structures into lasting reforms.
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/college-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-challenges-facing-american-higher-education/

Many Are Reacting, but Who Is Visioning the Future? - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

As we prepare for the fall term, most colleges and universities are reacting to the evolving pandemic, responding to changing conditions. But who is creating a vision for the future?  How do we replace campus face-to-face interaction with dispersed or virtual face-to-face, up-close, personal interaction? Beyond our already-proven online learning pedagogies and practices, can we leverage advancing VR, AR, AI, and associated technologies to create a more meaningful and satisfying personal experience? Who is leading the visioning on your campus?
https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/many-are-reacting-who-visioning-future?

Global Study Reveals There's No Unplugging from Online Learning for Most Learners - Pearson

Pearson has released the results of its second Global Learner Survey, an annual study capturing the voice of learners worldwide. The findings show learners believe there is little likelihood of ever returning to the pre-COVID world of fully in-person work and learning, with more than 75% saying the pandemic has fundamentally changed education as we know it. While learners come to terms with this new reality, they also are pushing for schools and government to address inequity and rushing to gather the digital skills that will help them adapt to the new economy.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-study-reveals-theres-no-unplugging-from-online-learning-for-most-learners-301108637.html

After the Pandemic, Higher Education Can’t Afford to Go Back to ‘Normal’ - Mordecai I. Brownlee, EdSurge

The truth is, while many institutions have used the idea of “innovation” as a marketing ploy, the pandemic has exposed the lack of innovation in academe. But student retention and persistence in the remote, online environment can be improved—if faculty are better prepared to creatively deliver engaging instruction that is relevant to today’s job market.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-08-06-after-the-pandemic-higher-education-can-t-afford-to-go-back-to-normal

Watch 3 Videos from Coursera’s New “Machine Learning for Everyone” - Eric Siegel, Predictive Analytics World

Machine learning is booming. It reinvents industries and runs the world. According to Harvard Business Review, machine learning is “the most important general-purpose technology of our era.” But while there are so many how-to courses for hands-on techies, there are practically none that also serve business leaders – a striking omission, since success with machine learning relies on a very particular business leadership practice just as much as it relies on adept number crunching.
https://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/machinelearningtimes/watch-3-videos-from-courseras-new-machine-learning-for-everyone/11555/

Embracing the Unknown: Why Online Postsecondary Study Is Worth the Risk - Kathleen Bortolin, EDUCAUSE Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown much of higher education into disarray, but amid this storm are opportunities to redesign teaching and learning in dynamic, student-centered, and empathy-rich ways, with a mind to the skills that students will need to succeed now and in the future.  I think another dimension of this change is emerging: postsecondary teaching may evolve to be, somewhat counterintuitively, even more student-centered, wellness-based, and empathy-enriched. In my experience, many instructors are not just dumping content into online platforms, walking away, and calling it a day.
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/embracing-the-unknown-why-online-postsecondary-study-is-worth-the-risk

Transitioning to Online Learning - Laura Otten, Diverse Education

Almost 20 years as a full-time, face-to-face teacher of both undergraduate and graduate students—and six years running as teacher in and director of a totally virtual master’s program—has taught me a thing or two about both pedagogical models. And while I continue to surprise myself every time I say it, I have developed a preference for virtual teaching. I would encourage my peers to think differently about this opportunity for skill acquisition, especially as public health experts are forecasting several waves of COVID-19 cases. Adaptation to what could be a new normal will be critically important for academics and students, alike. Done well and done right, virtual teaching is so much more challenging and far more time consuming for the faculty member than is face-to-face teaching, but the educational benefits to the students are exponentially greater.
https://diverseeducation.com/article/186510/

Collaboration Tools for the Future of Online Learning - Dana Corey, EdTech

As higher education leaders prepare for what remains an undefined fall semester, they face a whirlwind of decisions. With Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on reopening changing seemingly every day, so do the on- and off-campus procedures for colleges across the nation. As a result, colleges and universities are depending on collaboration technologies to keep their students and faculty connected safely through the unforeseeable future of the global health crisis.
https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2020/08/collaboration-tools-future-online-learning

Low-income households falling further behind on student debt due to COVID-19 - Jason Jabbari, et al; Brookings Institution

On January 20, 2020, the United States reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19. By March 13, New York City had declared a state of emergency. To better understand the influence of COVID-19 on American household finances, the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis conducted a nationally representative survey with approximately 5,500 respondents in all 50 states from April 27 to May 12, 2020. Within our sample, roughly one-fourth of households (24 percent) had student loans with an average balance of $30,118 (median amount = $14,750). Of 1,264 households with student loans, roughly one-fourth (23 percent) reported being behind on their student loan payments, and over half of these households (58 percent) reported that they were behind on their student loan payments as a result of COVID-19.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/08/05/low-income-households-falling-further-behind-on-student-debt-due-to-covid-19/

10 Types of Credentials You Can Earn Online - Jordan Friedman and Josh Moody, US News

When it comes to online learning, students should choose a credential that fulfills their goals while providing flexibility – whether it's a single course certificate or a full degree. "There's such a wide range of offerings to them at economical prices that allow them to target their education specifically to their career plan," says Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor for online learning at the University of Illinois—Springfield. In fact, the nonprofit Credential Engine calculates more than 738,428 "unique credential programs" in the U.S., a number that Executive Director Scott Cheney expects to continue to rise. Here are 10 different credentials students can earn online.
https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/slideshows/10-types-of-credentials-you-can-earn-online

Fostering an Inclusive Classroom - Tracie Marcella Add, Derek Dube and Khadijah A. Mitchell, Inside Higher Ed

Although colleges have more time to prepare this fall, concerns about equity and inclusion are still apparent. Fostering inclusive classrooms is vital, and all instructors can take certain small steps to start building such learning environments from the start of the course, regardless of modality. While designing inclusive courses is essential for effective teaching -- whether we are teaching during a pandemic or in normal times; teaching online, hybrid or face-to-face courses; or teaching undergraduate or graduate-level courses -- the uncertainty of this coming fall makes it more important than ever to address inclusion concerns.
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/08/05/small-steps-instructors-can-take-build-more-inclusive-classrooms-opinion

Ransomware: Your biggest security headache refuses to go away - Steve Ranger, ZDNet

Ransomware has been around for more than three decades, so it's hardly an unexpected threat. And yet, organisations large and small are still being taken completely by surprise by the file-encrypting malware, leaving them to decide between rebuilding many of their computer systems from scratch to rid themselves of the ransomware or paying up to the crooks in the hope that they will hand over the encryption keys. So why aren't we learning the lessons from all the companies that have already been hit by ransomware over the years? Here are a few reasons.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-why-the-internets-biggest-headache-refuses-to-go-away/

Work-study jobs may be remote, in-person or rescinded entirely this fall depending on colleges' policies. - Emma Kerr, U.S. News & World Report

Students who rely on part-time jobs funded by the federal work-study program to pay for college may see their financial aid options limited or rescinded this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. Whether students can access work-study funding, which is a form of aid that requires them to work for wages paid in part by the U.S. Department of Education, will depend on the policy in place at the college they attend. Work-study typically only accounts for a small piece of the pie when it comes to paying for college: In 2019-2020, 18% of families relied on work-study to pay for college, and the average aid amount among those families was $1,847, according to Sallie Mae's How America Pays for College 2020 study.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/what-work-study-looks-like-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic?

Now, more than half of Americans are millennials or younger - William H. Frey, Brookings Institution

To many Americans—especially baby boomers themselves—this news may come as a shock. For them, the term “millennial” has been associated with a youthful, often negative, vibe in terms of habits, ideology, and politics. Now, the oldest millennial is 39, and with their numbers exceeding those of baby boomers, the millennial generation is poised to take over influential roles in business and government. But the current political environment suggests this takeover could be contentious. Millennials and their juniors (Gen Z and younger) are more racially diverse than those that preceded them, with nearly half identifying as a racial or ethnic minority.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/07/30/now-more-than-half-of-americans-are-millennials-or-younger/

A new neural network could help computers code themselves - Will Douglas, MIT Technology Review

The tool spots similarities between programs to help programmers write faster and more efficient software. Intel's Jutin Gottschlich and his colleagues call this machine programming. Working with a team from Intel, MIT and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, he has developed a system called Machine Inferred Code Similarity, or MISIM, that can extract the meaning of a piece of code—what the code is telling the computer to do—in much the same way as natural-language processing (NLP) systems can read a paragraph written in English.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/29/1005768/neural-network-similarities-between-programs-help-computers-code-themselves-ai-intel/

EdX Advisory Council Calls for Short-Term Credential Programs, Industry-Aligned Curricula - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Learning platform edX recently convened the first (virtual) meeting of its MicroBachelors Program Skills Advisory Council, a group launched in early 2020 that brings together foundations, corporations and academic institutions to "solve shared challenges around reskilling and upskilling in order to address the demands of the future workplace."
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/07/28/edx-advisory-council-calls-for-short-term-credential-programs-industry-aligned-curricula.aspx

Community Colleges shifting toward more career and technical education - Matthew Dembicki, CC Daily

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, El Paso Community College (EPCC) in Texas was already shifting from being primarily an academic transfer institution to expanding more of its career and technical education (CTE) programs based on local demand for those skills among employers, according to President William Serrata. “I believe the pandemic will accelerate this shift,” said Serrata, chair of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) board of directors, during a panel discussion Friday at the virtual Education Writers Association National Seminar.
https://www.ccdaily.com/2020/07/shifting-more-toward-cte/

Digital innovations aimed at enhancing democracy experts predict by 2030 - Emily A. Vogels, Lee Raine, Janna Anderson, Pew Research

Experts who were canvassed about the relationship between people’s technology use and democracy also expressed serious concerns about how things will unfold in the next decade. Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor of online learning at the University of Illinois, Springfield, wrote, “Dramatic shifts in employment and education are likely to take place in the coming decade.... New education models such as just-in-time AI-enhanced adaptive learning will emerge, as will truly personalized learning. These will grow in the context of broad social structures that emerge both within and outside formal education as we know it."
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/06/30/innovations-these-experts-predict-by-2030/

Coronavirus has made already-stressed college students even more anxious and depressed, study finds - Lauren Lumpkin, Washington Post

A Dartmouth study shows a marked increase in anxiety and depression among college students during the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The study, published last month in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, suggests the impact of the coronavirus reaches beyond physical health and safety. More Americans are dealing with the mental health effects of spending more time indoors, away from loved ones and, in many cases, unemployed, experts say. But mental illness has long been a pressing concern for college students: More than 40 percent have felt “so depressed that it was difficult to function,” according to a 2019 report from the American College Health Association.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/coronavirus-has-made-already-stressed-college-students-even-more-anxious-and-depressed-study-finds/2020/07/24/75608c50-cdb6-11ea-bc6a-6841b28d9093_story.html

Microsoft told employees to work from home. One consequence was brutal - Chris Matyszczyk, ZDNet

Microsoft was proactive in sending many of its employees home. It's also been proactive in studying the consequences. The results of this study were recently published in the Harvard Business Review and, as if it were possible, they've elevated my concerns for the future of humankind. We're supposed to believe that tech makes us more efficient and makes our lives easier and better. In some areas, that's surely true. Yet one overarching result of being stuck at home -- at work -- is that the working day has become longer. "People were 'on' four more hours a week, on average," say the researchers.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-told-employees-to-work-from-home-one-consequence-was-brutal/

An Ideological Taxonomy of Our Postsecondary Digital Learning Community - Josh Kim, Inside Higher Ed

As with any attempt to articulate big categories in which individuals fall, this effort to place digital learning professionals within broad categories of progressive/moderate/libertarian is imperfect. People are never one thing. They have beliefs and priorities that span ideologies, and circumstances and constraints dictate their actions. I am trying to offer this modest and flawed taxonomy to get at what I think are the ideological roots of much of the controversies and disagreements that confront our digital learning community.
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/ideological-taxonomy-our-postsecondary-digital-learning-community

Public colleges are the workhorses of Middle-Class Mobility - Brookings Institution

In 2018, private, four-year colleges accounted for just 20 percent of total freshman enrollment, as compared to 45 percent for public, four-year colleges and universities.[1] Public four-years go beyond enrolling many students, however – they are the workhorses of upward mobility for the middle class. In our new report, which draws on data produced by Opportunity Insights, we show that students who attend college – particularly a four-year college – are significantly more likely to experience upward mobility in adulthood, relative to their parents’ position in the income distribution, than nonattenders.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/07/22/public-colleges-are-the-workhorses-of-middle-class-mobility/