Coursera’s Jeff Maggioncalda: ‘Now we can go after the best people’ - Janina Conboye, Financial Times

“Before we shut the offices I was talking to my head of [human resources] and I said if we have to shut these offices we’ll never be able to force people to come back in,” says Maggioncalda, 53. Speaking in a bustling London coffee bar, he is enthusiastic about the flexibility he has offered to Coursera’s employees. But he concedes he would probably have had to do it at some point anyway given the battle for tech talent. “There is such intense competition for engineering talent in Silicon Valley, that anytime a company comes up with a new type of benefit that the engineers like, they basically force all the other companies to adopt that benefit,” he says. If just one of the big tech companies such as Google or Facebook say you don’t have to come back to the office, “as soon as they say that our engineers are going to say, ‘Why do I have to come back?,’” he adds.

https://www.ft.com/content/b5869b44-0044-40f1-9b14-e7037086ba17

5 biggest educational technology trends in near future - India Today

From primary to higher education, the digital transformation in the education sector has accelerated immeasurably and made it undergo a shift towards online and cloud-based delivery platforms. Beyond that, the transformation also prompted a dramatic change in the relationship between adult learners and providers of further education, such as Edtechs, coaching colleges and universities. 

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/5-biggest-educational-technology-trends-in-near-future-1938402-2022-04-17

Playing offense to create value in the net-zero transition - McKinsey

Four approaches define the strategies of companies that are already taking advantage of the net-zero growth opportunity. First, companies are adjusting business portfolios with particular attention to industry segments with major growth potential. Second, building green businesses then enables companies to penetrate markets that their current models cannot serve. Third, differentiating with green products and value propositions in existing markets allows companies to gain market share and price premiums. Finally, decarbonizing legacy businesses boosts their value. In this article, we lay out the opportunities, parse the trade-offs, and set out a path for thriving in the net-zero economy.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/playing-offense-to-create-value-in-the-net-zero-transition

The Tech Labor Shortage Is Only Set to Grow. These Companies Think Apprenticeships Are the Answer - REBECCA DECZYNSKI, Inc.

Apprenticeships have a different structure than internships, and they can reach a different audience, too. For an apprentice's term--typically a year--they receive paid on-the-job training, usually working with a mentor who helps them through the ins and outs of their position. At the end of their term, they're brought on into a full-time, entry level position. "The company gets to hire folks that they already know, and the investment is less than the cost of going out and finding new people," Carlson says.

https://www.inc.com/rebecca-deczynski/apprenticeships-multiverse-apprenti-onesignal-tech-labor-shortage.html

Edtech Is Looking to Build Tools to Foster Student Engagement. Can That Scale? - Jenn Hofmann, EdSurge

One of the most powerful ways to build communities between students is through collective problem-solving. Persisting through a difficult assignment is not only much more enjoyable with others, but the process also naturally allows for peer-to-peer learning to happen. Having someone else to vent with, as well as to celebrate with, makes the learning journey so much more valuable and fun.  There are incredible edtech solutions being created today to help reconnect students with each other—and with their love of learning. I have no doubt that tech will continue to play an impactful role in education; let’s just not forget the voices of students while building out those solutions.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-04-11-edtech-is-looking-to-build-tools-to-foster-student-engagement-can-that-scale

Why most mentoring programs fail - Cheryl Hyatt, eCampus News

\Mentoring programs are an integral part of succession planning for many institutions. The impulse is good. Seasoned leaders can impart their wisdom to a new generation of leaders. Leaders strengthen their legacy by investing in the long-term success of an organization. Unfortunately, mentoring programs are often better in theory than in practice. The best of intentions fizzle out in infrequent meetings, stilted interactions, and unauthentic feedback. Most programs deliver little actual long-term value to participants or to the institution as a whole.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2022/03/30/why-most-mentoring-programs-fail/

The four-day work week is coming, so you'd better get ready - Aimee Chanthadavong, ZDNet

While there are multiple ways that organisations can help staff achieve work-life balance, a key part of that conversation has been around offering staff flexible working arrangements, such as remote working and flexible hours. Another format -- and one that's on the rise -- is four-day work weeks.  Organisations offering compressed work weeks -- full-time hours over four days rather than five, for example -- has risen by 29% over the last four years, where more than one in four Australian organisations are offering this benefit to employees, Mercer's 2021 Australian Benefits Review indicated. "People are resetting their work-life balance, and are saying, 'We've done the full-time working at home [during the pandemic], my employees trust me, so how about, I compress my workdays into four days'," Chi Tran, Mercer head of market insights and data told ZDNet.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-four-day-work-week-is-coming-so-youd-better-get-ready/

Encouraging News: Persistence Among Adult Students Has Increased - Walter Pearson, Evolllution

In the latest report on student persistence, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center details improvements in student persistence across the board. The cohort for this report is a group of first-time students who entered college in fall 2015, tracking their progress across six years. In this report, persistence improved for adult students—age 25 and up—in each sector: non-profit four-year, public four-year, public two-year and for-profit four-year.

https://evolllution.com/attracting-students/retention/encouraging-news-persistence-among-adult-students-has-increased/

Inflation Jumps—Professor Pay Doesn’t - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed

AAUP releases annual faculty salary data, saying that average faculty pay effectively fell 5 percent this year over last when accounting for runaway inflation.  Full-time faculty salaries increased 2 percent this academic year over last, according to annual faculty compensation data gathered by the American Association of University Professors. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, increased 7 percent in 2021 and 12.5 percent in 1979, the AAUP said in a preliminary analysis of its data.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/04/07/professor-pay-fell-5-percent-year-counting-inflation

3 in 5 Employees Would Consider Quitting Because of This Reason, Research Says - Marcel Schwantes, Inc.

The Connection Gap study conducted by Blueboard found that nearly three in five employees would consider leaving their job if they didn't feel connected at work. In addition, while 85 percent of HR leaders agree or strongly agree connection is critical for their organization's success, only 4 percent of HR respondents strongly agree that they've adequately addressed the challenges with employee connection at work. Leaders recognize the importance of connection in the workplace, but admit they have not taken adequate action to foster it. This connection gap is plaguing companies around the U.S. and may be one of the silent culprits behind the Great Resignation. 

https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/3-in-5-employees-would-consider-quitting-because-of-this-reason-research-says.html

Using machine learning to improve student success in higher education - McKinsey & Company

Deploying machine learning and advanced analytics thoughtfully and to their full potential may support improvements in student access, success, and the overall student experience.  Whether the goal is to identify and better support pain points in the student journey, more efficiently allocate resources, or improve student and faculty experience, institutions are seeing the benefits of data-backed solutions.

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/using-machine-learning-to-improve-student-success-in-higher-education

UNC System adopts new budget model based on student success and not enrollment numbers - KATE MURPHY, News Observer

Universities in the UNC System will now be funded based on performance and student success, with a focus on North Carolina students, rather than relying on enrollment. The UNC System Board of Governors approved a new concept for a performance-weighted funding model at its meeting Thursday at Western Carolina University. The change, in part, is to better align system and campus goals with the money schools receive from the state. 

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article260165535.html

Universities must go hybrid to stay relevant, says Coursera CEO - Tom Williams, Times Higher Ed

Students will soon expect to be able to get both a degree and a professional certificate from their university, according to the chief executive of one of the world’s largest edtech firms, who believes that the change will be the next major development in online learning.  Jeff Maggioncalda, who has run Coursera since 2017, said job-specific training courses for students, developed alongside top businesses, is the biggest growth area for his platform.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-must-go-hybrid-stay-relevant-says-coursera-ceo

Benefits Beyond Campus Borders: How Continuing Ed Can Revitalize Local Communities - Mike Frasciello, Modern Campus

Continuing education can act as a gateway for the public to access a college or university. It's crucial for CE leaders to understand and engage with people who live in the area, feel the beat of the community and respond accordingly with programming that the residents find valuable.  Continuing ed can be the bridge between a community and an institution.  

https://moderncampus.com/blog/benefits-beyond-campus.html

Workers Want Their Bosses to Cover Work-from-Home Cost, Hugo Martin, Governing

"We have tons of these in the pipeline," said Jacob Whitehead, an attorney who has filed about 20 class-action lawsuits over business expenses demanded by employees. Home expenses such as telephone and internet fees, extra energy to heat or cool a house and office supplies can add up to $50 to $200 a month per employee, according to more than a dozen lawsuits examined by The Times. If expenses were incurred during the entire duration of the pandemic, that could add up to as much as $5,000 for every worker. Some lawsuits are also demanding payment for the potential revenue employees could have collected had they rented out their home office instead of using it for work.

https://www.governing.com/work/workers-want-their-bosses-to-cover-work-from-home-costs

Want to scale online university education? Humanise it - Chandralekha Singh, Times Higher Ed

The ambitious goals of online education cannot be achieved unless universities prioritise student mentoring and pastoral support, says Chandralekha Singh.  During the pandemic, educators at all levels were suddenly forced to teach remotely. The experiences of colleagues at my university were typical of educators worldwide: most had little to no prior experience teaching online. Despite this “trial by fire” experience, many came to recognise that remote teaching is here to stay. Some visionaries claim that the global pandemic has provided the necessary impetus to shift massive open online courses (Moocs) into high gear. Recently, Arizona State University announced a plan to educate 100 million students remotely over the next decade.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/want-scale-online-university-education-humanise-it

Analytics: The secret sauce to unlocking new educational opportunities - Mary Olson, eCampus News

Universities’ ability to offer these new learning experiences is possible in large part thanks to emerging technologies such as analytics. Whether in person or remote, learners today act differently from the traditional students of just a few years ago. Responses to a recent digital learning survey indicate that the majority of students–73 percent–somewhat or strongly agreed that they would like to take some fully online courses in the future; 68 percent indicated they would be interested in taking courses offering a combination of in-person and online instruction. 

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2022/03/25/analytics-the-secret-sauce-to-unlocking-new-educational-opportunities/

Engaging Learners for Relevancy and Retention - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

Active learning can involve such activities as role-playing, problem solving, polling, debates, group work, case studies and simulations. Certainly, many aspects of internships, apprenticeships and other on-the-job work can be effective active learning when supplemented with materials or mentorship. This approach in most cases necessitates that the educators collaborate with the professionals in the field. It is in that nexus between professor and practitioner that is more critical than ever in our rapidly changing world where technologies are driving constant innovation and reinvention. We are called upon to teach for tomorrow in an environment where the rapid development of new products and practices are driven by the scaling of artificial intelligence and digital networking.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/engaging-learners-relevancy-and-retention

Vision of the Future - David Soo, Inside Higher Ed

David Soo outlines what Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s higher education innovation agenda should look like. Today, we wrestle with questions about what the future of learning could and should look like, such as what roles both human instructors and emerging technologies will play and how we might harness innovation to advance opportunity and equity. To answer these questions, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona should borrow a page from his colleague Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who recently laid out a forward-thinking vision for the changing nature of transportation, and share his vision for what innovation could look like for education.

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/03/31/what-cardonas-innovation-agenda-should-look-opinion

The Future of Education – A Shift Towards Blended and Lifelong Learning - Gaile Mikalauskaite, EuroMonitor

In a fast-changing world, people will need to embrace lifelong learning in order to succeed both personally and professionally. Demographic changes, globalisation reset, digitalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic have fundamentally transformed the way that organisations conduct business and helped to reshape skill needs. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), 85 million jobs could be displaced by workplace automation and cause a shift in labour division between humans and machines by 2025. On the other hand, 97 million new jobs could emerge by 2025, due to the accelerating pace of technology adoption and growing demand for new products and services.

https://www.euromonitor.com/article/the-future-of-education--a-shift-towards-blended-and-lifelong-learning

U Arizona History Profs Turn Gaming into Credit-Bearing Learning Activity - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Two professors of history at the University of Arizona have created a learning experience based on "Age of Empires IV," a real-time strategy video game about medieval warfare and civilization-building. The University of Arizona Illuminated History Experience combines gameplay with supplementary content about the game's historical context.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2022/03/31/u-arizona-history-profs-turn-gaming-into-credit-bearing-learning-activity.aspx

From Instructional Design to Learning Experience Design: Understanding the Whole Student - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

These days, we hear a lot about the "new normal" in higher education. Remote and hybrid learning is here to stay, offering students more flexibility in their learning journeys. But what if the new normal is not enough? It's time to go beyond the new normal and consider the "new possible" — how to put together the best of face-to-face, online and hybrid to create powerful learning experiences based on a deep understanding of the whole student. We spoke to Mark Milliron, senior vice president of Western Governors University and executive dean of the Teachers College, and Kim Round, academic programs director and associate dean of the Teachers College, about their vision for reimagining education and why learning experience design is essential to student success.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2022/03/30/podcast-from-instructional-design-to-learning-experience-design-understanding-the-whole-student.aspx

An Unusual Way to Charge for College: Make It Voluntary - Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

The cost of college keeps climbing, and schools these days are considering all kinds of innovative options to keep costs low. But one liberal-arts college recently announced a radical new approach that does away with the idea of tuition altogether and instead counts on something else: gratitude. The school in question is Hope College in Michigan, and here’s the idea: give students a college education for free and hope that they will pay it all back in donations in the course of their lifetimes.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-03-29-an-unusual-way-to-charge-for-college-make-it-voluntary

Nearly a third of women working for colleges say gender hurt their careers - Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive

Some 28% of women working for colleges believe they have been passed over for a promotion because of their gender, according to new survey data from Gallup. Hispanic and Asian women were more likely to say they missed an opportunity for career advancement due to gender than others, with 33% and 30% saying they thought they'd been passed over, respectively. A lower share of women also reported they were being paid fairly for their work than men. Only 35% of women agreed or strongly agreed they were paid fairly, versus 47% of men.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/nearly-a-third-of-women-working-for-colleges-say-gender-hurt-their-careers/621216/

Educators Are Demoralized. What's the Way Forward? - Jeffrey R. Young. EdSurge

These days talk of low morale, and demoralization spans across education—in the nation's K-12 schools and at colleges. For those in classrooms and for school and campus leaders, the challenge is how to meet the many needs of educators during this time—social, emotional, intellectual and ethical. EdSurge brought together a panel of K-12 and college experts at the SXSW EDU conference in Austin, Texas, to talk about the issue and propose ways forward.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-03-15-educators-are-demoralized-what-s-the-way-forward

Delaware Takes $56M Step Toward Universal Broadband - Government Technology

Delaware, a state with a population of just less than a million people, wants to become the first state to connect every home and business. As part of this effort, the state is giving $56 million to three companies. Delaware is giving $56 million to Comcast, Verizon and Mediacom as part of an initiative to connect every residence and business to high-speed Internet. The state announced the news late last week in a release. Comcast will receive the lion’s share of the money at $33.1 million. Verizon and Mediacom will receive $11.8 million and $11.1 million, respectively. The funds come from the American Rescue Plan Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The plan is for the three companies to spend the next three years building wired broadband infrastructure to 11,600 homes and businesses. The infrastructure will deliver speeds of 100 Mbps/20 Mbps.

https://www.govtech.com/network/delaware-takes-56m-step-toward-universal-broadband

How to use learning pathways to close skills gaps - Sara Austin, Big Think

The talent required to take an organization to the next level often already exists in-house, and learning pathways can be an effective tool for unlocking that untapped potential.  As organizations look to prepare their workforce for the future, learning pathways are becoming a necessary technique for L&D teams to master.  Learning pathways are goal-oriented sequences of instructional experiences designed to foster growth. Thoughtfully designed learning paths reduce “analysis paralysis” and time waste by presenting the learner with a roadmap to success.

https://bigthink.com/plus/learning-pathways/

70 Percent of Employees Are Saying 'No, Thanks' to a Promotion. Here's What They Want Instead - Marcel Schwantes, Inc.

In the latest revealing survey of 4,510 office workers from several countries, seven in 10 respondents indicated that they'd pass up a promotion in favor of the opportunity to work from anywhere, any time. That's an eye-popping number, and one that leaders would be wise to pay attention to. Survey respondents cited the myriad benefits of remote work:

Time savings due to less commuting (48 percent)

Better work-life balance (43 percent)

Flexible work schedule (43 percent)

Saving money (40 percent)

https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/70-percent-of-employees-are-saying-no-thanks-to-a-promotion-heres-what-they-want-instead.html

This CEO's Remote Work Policy Is Only 10 Words. It May Be the Best I've Ever Heard - Justin Bariso, Inc.

Dan Price's remote work policy is simple, smart, and emotionally intelligent--and can help you win the war for talent. When Price recently polled employees to find out where they wanted to work, only 7 percent said they prefer to work in the office. Thirty-one percent requested a work/home office hybrid solution. And a whopping 62 percent said they would prefer to work only from home. "Do whatever you want," Price said recently on Twitter. "As a CEO, what do I care?" Price then summed up his recommended policy in just 10 words: "If you get your work done, that's all that matters."

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/emotional-intelligence-gravity-ceo-dan-price-10-word-remote-work-policy.html

Career outcomes undermine value of studying abroad in US - Nathan M Greenfield, University World News\

While 84% of international students would recommend that their friends and peers in their home countries go to the United States for university, less than half think that the cost of higher education was justified from a career perspective, says a new study from the San Francisco-based education technology company Education Rethink. “What was most striking about our study was the discovery of a ‘value gap’ between the value that students see in their US study abroad experience and the tangible value they get in terms of career outcomes.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220318100546951