Micro-credentials: The solution to the skills gap and accessible education - Mike Caruso, University Business

A recent Gartner survey found that 58% of employees need new skills to successfully do their work. If organizations don’t provide necessary training, they risk the inability to perform critical business activities, inefficient operations and missed growth opportunities. To close the skills gap, organizations need to invest in upskilling opportunities like micro-credentials — mini-qualifications that demonstrate an individual’s abilities, knowledge or experience in a specific subject area. With micro-credentials, companies can leverage programs from educational institutions to upskill and reskill their workforce. For universities, micro-credentials can unlock corporate partnerships, expand their reach and create more accessible educational opportunities.

https://universitybusiness.com/micro-credentials-the-solution-to-the-skills-gap-and-accessible-education/

As enrollment falls and colleges close, a surprising number of new ones are opening - Jon Marcus, Hechinger Report

At a time when other higher education institutions are closing or merging because of a decline in the supply of high school graduates, the Roux Institute is among a small but largely unnoticed number of new colleges that are opening. Some are focusing on high-demand disciplines such as technology, health and alternative energy. Others are serving the huge number of older, working Americans who never went to college or didn’t complete a degree. Still others are trying to remake higher education with new models that forgo top-heavy bureaucracies and expensive campuses — models that in some cases don’t look like conventional colleges at all.

https://hechingerreport.org/as-enrollment-falls-and-colleges-close-a-surprising-number-of-new-ones-are-opening/

Are we heading towards a Technological Singularity? - Thomas Frey, Futurist Speaker

Singularity, in this case, is the tipping point where an intelligent object can design and produce improved subsequent versions of itself and other machines without human intervention, bypassing the limiting boundaries of human intelligence. Taken to an extreme, technological singularity can reach a point where the line between humans and machines is erased. Some say we’ll see human brains duplicated or removed and placed within never-dying machines so the “person” lives forever. Another transhumanist scenario suggests that we’ll reach the point where imputing AI, biotechnology, and genetic manipulation within human bodies will allow a person to live forever.

https://futuristspeaker.com/futurist-thomas-frey-insights/are-we-heading-towards-a-technological-singularity/

Coursera introduces LevelSets proficiency tests - Stephanie Condon, ZD Net

LevelSets start with a skills assessment test that takes just about 15 minutes. Based on the results, it offers the learner customized content recommendations. It allows learners to skip content they've already mastered, and it leaves out any content too advanced. LevelSets were developed, Coursera's Belsky said, to help organizations get a better sense of the skills that existed within their workforces and drive more accurate content recommendations. An unexpected benefit of the new tool is that it serves as a source of motivation, she said. In a beta run with customers including Fidelity, Ikea and Pfizer, Coursera found that learners were 3x more likely to enroll in a recommended course within 24 hours after taking a LevelSet. Additionally, course completion rates improved 66%.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/coursera-introduces-levelsets-proficiency-tests/

Digital infrastructure is more than just broadband: What the US can learn from Europe’s open source technology policy study - Frank Nagle, Brookings Institution

Complementary to broadband, open technologies—those for which the underlying intellectual property, whether it is source code or hardware design, is publicly available—are playing an increasingly important role in the modern economy and companies’ and countries’ ability to innovate. In particular, open source software (OSS) and open source hardware (OSH) have become critical building blocks for both everyday products (cell phones, cars, household appliances, etc.) and cutting-edge emerging technologies (artificial intelligence, big data analytics, etc.). However, since most OSS and OSH is available for free and created through distributed efforts rather than by one particular company, it can be difficult to understand the full economic impact of these critical technologies.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/digital-infrastructure-is-more-than-just-broadband-what-the-u-s-can-learn-from-europes-open-source-technology-policy-study/

Teaching and Learning Without Grading - Barry Sharpe and Erinn Nicley, Faculty Focus

Imagine if faculty did not design courses, select course materials, or grade student work.  What role would faculty play in teaching and learning? We serve as instructors at Western Governors University (WGU). At WGU the traditional roles of faculty – course design, instruction, advising, and assessment – are broken apart and distributed across different units and roles at the university. Instructors do not design courses or formally assess student learning. Rather, we work closely with students as subject-matter experts to help develop understanding of course content on their path to demonstrate competency through an end-of-course assessment. 

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/teaching-and-learning-without-grading/

All large lectures should be asynchronous - Tony Zhou, the Daily Pennsylvanian

One of the legacies of remote learning is the addition of video recording devices in many classrooms, a legacy that still plays an important role for students who can’t attend class due to COVID-19 related complications. This technological advancement also benefits the entire student body as more and more students choose to watch lecture recordings virtually in lieu of going to a physical classroom. While there have been voices pushing for a more flexible mode of teaching through online learning, Penn should take a step further and make all large lectures asynchronous through recordings. 

https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/11/upenn-covid-19-virtual-remote-asynchronous-lectures

4 Phases of Analytics Evolution: From Spreadsheets to AI Workbenches - Joel K. Shapiro, Kellogg-Northwestern

What lies ahead for business leaders looking to incorporate data analytics?  Today, AI tools and workbenches allow you to click your way to some pretty advanced modeling techniques, without requiring any knowledge of coding or programming language. That’s certainly not to imply that everyone can be a data scientist. But business professionals today can have AI at their fingertips for making data-based projections. Sometimes, it’s as simple as clicking a button that says “predictor.” To put this in perspective, let’s examine the four phases of data-analytics technology for the businessperson—three that brought us to this point, and one on what lies ahead.

https://insight-kellogg-northwestern-edu.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/4-phases-analytics-evolution-ai/amp

As Facebook Changes Name to Meta, Company Wants to Pull Education Into Its 'Metaverse' - Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

What that metaverse will look like is still a bit vague, but the company gave some hints in prepared statements and in an hour-long video it released. And it has committed real dollars to the educational part of its effort, promising that its Facebook Reality Labs will invest $150 million in an education program to assist with tech development and to train people to use augmented and virtual reality tools. And Facebook (er, I guess now Meta) announced that it would partner with Coursera and edX to help push Meta’s curriculum in augmented and virtual reality, which it calls the Spark AR Curriculum. 

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-10-29-as-facebook-changes-name-to-meta-education-is-part-of-new-vision

Many young adults choose work over college, report shows - Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report

The number of undergraduate students is expected to drop 3.2 percent in the 2021-22 academic year after plunging 3.4 percent during the 2020-21 pandemic year, according to preliminary data released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on Oct. 26, 2021. That adds up to 6.5 percent fewer undergraduate students now than there were  in the fall of 2019 before the pandemic. Young adults from low-income families appear to be lured away from school by rising wages and the need to support their families through hard times, Shapiro explained. Institutions that serve the wealthiest Americans, by contrast, are experiencing the opposite phenomenon: a  post-pandemic bulge in students. 

https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-many-young-adults-choose-work-over-college-report-shows/

DAOs: Paving the way for Boss Less Businesses and Organizations of the Future - Thomas Frey, Futurist Speaker

Since blockchain can encrypt and securely store smart contracts, it can be used to establish the governance of an organization that’s based on those immutable, contractual agreements. Organizations that use this governance system are called Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), pronounced “Dow.”  Given their empowering and inclusive nature, blockchain-enabled DAOs will be an ideal underlying structure for informal groups, clubs, and even public sector governing bodies. Enforced organizational transparency, inclusion, joint decision making – these guiding principles that are inherent in DAOs will be valuable for nearly any collective structure of human beings that share a common purpose. While this represents a radical departure from the traditional way businesses operate, we will be discovering fairer and more impactful ways for managing our organizations in the future. (NOTE - DAOs are being tested in higher education. - ray)

https://futuristspeaker.com/future-trends/daos-paving-the-way-for-boss-less-businesses-and-organizations-of-the-future/

This Checklist Can Make You a Better Leader - Brett LoGiurato, Knowledge at Wharton

In the 10th anniversary edition of The Leader’s Checklist, world-renowned leadership expert and Wharton management professor Michael Useem gives leaders the tools to face any and every challenge. In his book, Useem offers leaders 16 mission-critical principles to help them develop their ability to make good and timely decisions in unpredictable and stressful environments — at those moments when leadership really matters. 

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/useem-leaders-checklist/

Fewer Job Offers for the Latest Class of COVID-19 - Maria Carrasco, Inside Higher Ed

Students who graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 reported fewer job offers and less access to university career centers than the previous class, according to a new survey out today from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Graduating seniors received an average of 0.83 job offers in 2021, down from 0.93 for the Class of 2020. And students visited their institution’s career center an average of 1.19 times in 2020-21, compared to 1.55 visits in 2019-20, which NACE says is likely due to the pandemic.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/03/virtual-job-recruiting-expands-access-students

Mesh for Teams is Microsoft’s metaverse for meetings - Kyle Wiggers, Venture Beat

A week after Facebook articulated its future in the metaverse, Microsoft offered its vision for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) meetings in Microsoft Mesh for Teams at its November Ignite developer event. The service, the company says, combines the AR/VR capabilities of Microsoft Mesh — which allows people in different physical locations to join collaborative experiences through AR and VR — with the productivity tools of Teams. Mesh builds on existing Teams features such as Together mode and Presenter view that make remote and hybrid meetings more immersive, according to Microsoft corporate VP Jeff Teper. Presenter view offers different views to, for example, show slides and notes while the audience only sees slides, while Together mode uses AI to place everyone on a call in a shared room-like environment, like a coffee shop.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/11/02/mesh-for-teams-is-microsofts-metaverse-for-meetings/

Combining three ways to deliver more flexible HE learning - Holly Hapke, University World News

The answer is an effective blended learning strategy. Supported with the right technology, this approach can help universities to ensure exciting and engaging learning can continue, wherever their students happen to be. With the three-in-one approach, students attend in person if possible and if not, they can join a livestream of the session remotely at the same time as their on-campus peers. The third critical strand in the three-in-one model is the video and other recorded content all students have access to 24/7, which they use to build on what they’ve learned in class, regardless of how they choose to participate.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211026114337414

3 ways HyFlex and virtual models help ensure equity - Laura Ascione, eCampus News

\And while educators and students were lauded for their ability to adapt and continue teaching and learning, the pandemic also put a brighter spotlight on existing inequities across higher education. During an EDUCAUSE 2021 session, educators at four institutions discussed how the pandemic changed some of their practices, confirmed the need for others that already existed, and explored equitable practices for the future.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2021/10/29/3-ways-hyflex-and-virtual-models-help-ensure-equity/

An unnoticed result of the decline of men in college: It’s harder for women to get in - CHARLOTTE WEST, Hechinger Report

 As more women than men continue to apply to college, data suggest that, at some private institutions, it’s gotten easier for male applicants to get in — and harder for female applicants.  When Shayna Medley worked as an admissions officer at Brandeis University nearly a decade ago, she said, the message from above was clear: Find more men. “Toward the end of filling out the class, there would definitely be a push to look for more men to admit,” said Medley, who was in her role at Brandeis from 2012 to 2014. “The standards were certainly lower for male students.” As more women than men have continued to apply to college, data suggest that, at some private institutions, it’s gotten easier for male applicants to get in — and harder for female applicants.

https://hechingerreport.org/an-unnoticed-result-of-the-decline-of-men-in-college-its-harder-for-women-to-get-in/

How immersive learning experiences will revolutionize education - Chris Stegner, eCampus News

Immersive learning experiences are a new type of educational experience that can be used in place of traditional lectures and classrooms. Immersive learning is meant to mimic the real world by providing students with an environment that is as close to reality as possible. It’s designed for learners who are interested in hands-on experiences, problem-solving, and discovery over non-traditional methods like reading textbooks and listening to lectures from a professor. There are also many potential applications of immersive learning techniques in schools. This article discusses what immersive learning is, how it changes the classroom experience, and some current use cases of immersive learning.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2021/10/19/how-immersive-learning-experiences-will-revolutionize-education/

EDUCAUSE 2021: What Do College Students Really Think of Data Privacy? - Amy McIntosh, EdTech

Through an online survey developed and deployed in collaboration with Cornell University’s Survey Research Institute, 1,500 college students were asked about their views on data privacy at their institutions. Researchers also conducted 17 Zoom interviews with students to gain further insights into their data privacy attitudes. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents believe they should have the right to control how their colleges use data about them. Seventy percent of survey respondents trust their colleges or universities to protect their personal information. Students who self-identify as having mental health disorders are less comfortable having data used to measure how well they are paying attention in class or to ensure they are not cheating during online exams than those who do not.

https://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2021/10/educause-2021-what-do-college-students-really-think-data-privacy?

Nearly 60% of colleges want to keep distance learning momentum going - Chris Burt, University Business

A new report from the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) highlights how substantial the transformational shift was to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and what opportunities might lie ahead. Among its 2,200 member institutions, NC-SARA’s sixth annual data report shows that exclusively remote learning enrollment jumped by 93% year-over-year from fall 2019 to 2020. Another key data point released by the nonprofit organization is that two-thirds of students chose to do that online learning in their own state, nearly tripling the amount from the previous year to 3.9 million students, as the quick shift occurred. But even those choosing to go out of state to enroll in exclusively distance education was up by about 500,000 students.

https://universitybusiness.com/nearly-60-of-colleges-want-to-keep-distance-learning-momentum-going/

Coursera and the uncertain future of higher education - ARTHUR LEVINE, Fortune

The future of higher education is being led by a publicly traded company in California that is growing like gangbusters. Its online platform has a portfolio of thousands of courses from the world’s leading universities, corporations, and nonprofits. Coursera, which since the spring has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is valued at 7 billion dollars and seems to be making all the right moves. While college and university enrollments have been declining during the pandemic, Coursera's enrollment rose from 53 million to 78 million students this spring—an increase greater than total U.S. higher education enrollment.

https://fortune.com/2021/10/25/coursera-uncertain-future-of-higher-education/

Tech workers warned they were going to quit. Now, the problem is spiralling out of control - Owen Hughes, ZDNet

Tech and IT workers' resignations risk "spiralling out of control" as chronic burnout, limited career progression, and unrealistic demands from employers prompt technology industry employees to jump ship. New research by training platform TalentLMS and Workable, a provider of recruiting software, suggests that tech and IT workers are likely to be planning an exit soon. In a survey of 1,200 tech and IT workers in the US, nearly three-quarters (72%) said they intended to quit within the next year.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/tech-workers-warned-they-were-going-to-quit-now-the-problem-is-spiralling-out-of-control/

The Ed Dept revived a financial aid investigative unit. Is it open season on for-profit colleges? - Natalie Schwartz, HigherEd Dive

The U.S. Department of Education announced it is reviving an enforcement division dismantled under the Trump administration that will be responsible for investigating whether colleges are abusing federal student aid and posing a risk to students and taxpayers.  "Vigorously ensuring that schools are adhering to the federal student aid program rules and delivering quality education to students is critical in America's ability to build back better," undersecretary James Kvaal said in the announcement. 

https://www.highereddive.com/news/the-ed-dept-revived-a-financial-aid-investigative-unit-is-it-open-season-o/608648/

With 50% more women than men enrolling, is HE failing? - Nathan M Greenfield, University World News

The hyper-masculine world of National Collegiate Athletic Association’s conferences – the Big Ten, Pac-12 or Southeastern Conference – and their legions of college football and basketball fans differ markedly from who is actually on the campuses. On the quadrangles of the nation, women outnumber men by 60% to 40%. “There is a gender gap in education generally, but that gap is magnified and illuminated once we hit the university level,” says Dr Richard V Reeves of the New York-based Brookings Institution. “We see it in the transition from high school to university, and we see it in the ability to stay at university. The gender inequality that we see with regard to college is not just with enrolment but in completion.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211022150138594

Northwestern's Next Normal - Northwestern University Teaching & Learning Technologies Team

What does the "next normal" look like at Northwestern? An ongoing series from the Teaching & Learning Technologies team in Northwestern IT looks at the intersection of pedagogy, technology, and the student experience in an ever-changing educational landscape. New articles publish each month with helpful how-to content for instructors interested in implementing any of the suggested techniques.  

https://digitallearning.northwestern.edu/next-normal

‘Micromanaged and disrespected’: Top reasons workers are quitting their jobs in ‘The Great Resignation’ - Karla L. Miller, Washington Post

To say my recent column on “The Great Resignation” touched a nerve is an understatement. Hundreds of online comments and dozens of emails from readers who identified with the piece related how pandemic working conditions finally drove them out of jobs they would otherwise have stayed in. Some readers said they quit because of acute health concerns during the coronavirus pandemic. Others described a long-simmering but barely tolerable state of discontent in which the pandemic abruptly cranked up the heat, making the situation “jump or boil.” Some people set off on new career paths; others decided to speed up their retirement by a few months or years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/07/top-reasons-great-resignation-workers-quitting/

How to be an effective peer reviewer and help your career - Alicia James, University World News

When authors are appointed by academic journals to become peer reviewers, the benefits to them are multi-fold, in terms of career development and networks, participants at a recent webinar titled Excellence in Peer Review: How to be an effective peer reviewer were told.  But while peer reviewers contribute to the quality of articles, the experience also helps support their own career development, Dr Dafne Solera, desk review manager argued. This is because they remain up to date with what is happening in their fields, build networks and connections, enhance their writing skills and become recognised as experts.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211012145206222

Higher Education’s Role in the Era of the Great Resignation - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

The numbers are startling: in the wake of deadly COVID infections, quarantines and isolation, nearly 3 percent of the entire U.S. workforce resigned in the month of August alone. What is higher ed’s role in reshaping careers and lives?  Among the millions of people who have quit their jobs in recent months and those who are expected to continue this trend through the end of year, how can higher education help them reskill, upskill or change career paths to better meet their needs? We have a few clues as to what they desire. As expected, more income seems to be among the factors they are seeking. However, it is not all about money and flexibility. Over the past two years, we have seen again and again that an empathetic and supportive working culture is valued highly by employees. The pandemic has advanced the importance of well-being, inclusiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship. We should be sure to model these practices in the delivery of all programs.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/higher-education%E2%80%99s-role-era-great-resignation

Has COVID disrupted the postsecondary pipeline? - Lauren Bauer, et,al; Brookings Institution

.... typically, during recessions and in their aftermath, there are declines in labor force participation among young people and increases in school enrollment... However, during the COVID-19 recession, young people have behaved differently than this age cohort did during the prior two recessions and differently from older cohorts. Since February 2020, young adults have spent less time on education, spent more time in the work force, and experienced better wage outcomes than over the same period following the onset of the 2001 and 2008 recessions. At the same time, more in keeping with previous postrecession periods, we find that disengagement, defined as time spent neither in education nor the labor force, has risen.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/10/14/has-covid-disrupted-the-postsecondary-pipeline/

Higher Education Needs to Move Toward Mass-Personalization - Susan Fourtané, Fierce Education

Every industry, from health sciences to marketing to manufacturing, is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to facilitate the delivery of mass-personalization, yet education has been slow in its adoption. These smart systems create personalized solutions targeted to meet the unique needs of every individual. Artificial Intelligence-based technologies have the potential of serving as tools for educators to provide personalized learning. However, for mass-personalization to work, institutions first need to align their leadership.

https://www.fierceeducation.com/best-practices/higher-education-needs-to-move-toward-mass-personalization