Community is the cure: Combatting online learning’s loneliness epidemic - Errin Heyman, University Business

Higher education has been grappling with this challenge for some time, even before the COVID-19 pandemic brought increased attention. Research from the telehealth platform Uwill shows that isolation and loneliness rank among the most common mental health issues students say they struggle with. One recent survey found that more than half of college students now report feeling lonely. In response, colleges and universities have worked to create a stronger sense of belonging among their learners. But while building community on a physical campus is difficult enough, it has proven especially tricky for online programs, in which students are often spread across large distances and interact with one another solely through a computer screen.

https://universitybusiness.com/community-is-the-cure-combatting-online-learnings-loneliness-epidemic/

Leadership Development Wabash County 2023-2024 Graduates Receive Certificate, Indiana University Kokomo Micro-Credential

Dr. Leah Nellis, Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Special Projects at Indiana University Kokomo, informed the audience that in addition to completing the full LDWC program, many of the students in this year’s cohort also successfully earned a digital IU Micro-Credential in “Essentials of Leadership.” This micro-credential is the first of its kind offered through the LDWC program as well as the first credential of its kind awarded by the Indiana University system. Jim Smith, member of the LDWC Steering Committee, assisted Zartman in recognizing all of the program’s graduates and handing out their certificates of completion and Grow Wabash County padfolios.

https://www.inkfreenews.com/2024/05/22/leadership-development-wabash-county-2023-2024-graduates-receive-certificate-indiana-university-kokomo-micro-credential/

US college closures could spread to public universities - Times Higher Education

At least 30 US colleges closed last year, after nearly 50 the previous year, as the protections of federal subsidies tied to the Covid pandemic have melted away. Almost all the losses involved private campuses, with the majority of those in the for-profit sector. Yet there are rising signs that state lawmakers – long willing to cut the budgets of their colleges but not actually close them – might be reconsidering that stance. Pennsylvania already is in the middle of a multi-year process of consolidating six public universities into two. Wisconsin officials have taken some steps in that direction and are now talking about doing even more. This year Oklahoma’s governor broached the idea publicly.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-college-closures-could-spread-public-universities

Khan Academy to launch Texas standards-aligned courses, guides - Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News

Khan Academy, an educational nonprofit that provides learning resources for all ages, is launching new online courses and teacher guides designed specifically for Texas students and educators. The organization announced this month that it has partnered with the ExxonMobil Foundation on the Open Doors Project, which aims to bring free high-quality math and science courses and teacher guides to Texas to help inspire the next generation of leaders in STEM, according to a news release. The curriculum materials will be available and free for students and teachers in Texas on the Khan Academy platform beginning June 30.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/education/article/khan-academy-launch-texas-standards-aligned-19466719.php

How US employers and educators can build a more nimble education system with multiple paths to success - Annelies Goger, et al; Brookings

A growing chasm between the education system and labor markets in the U.S. is making it harder for employers to find and retain qualified talent, and it also is stunting the career and education options available for Americans without a college degree. Minor tweaks will not address the scale of the chasm. If the country seeks to activate more of its homegrown talent to continue innovating and competing on a global scale, it will need an all-hands-on-deck approach to be successful. Incentivizing and empowering employers to be more active in the education system is a critical first step toward achieving quality work-based learning at the necessary scale. The U.S. must re-engineer its systems so that more employers are incentivized and empowered to do this.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-us-employers-and-educators-can-build-a-more-nimble-education-system-with-multiple-paths-to-success/

It’s Time to Believe the AI Hype - Steven Levy, Wired

Some pundits suggest generative AI stopped getting smarter. The explosive demos from OpenAI and Google that started the week show there’s plenty more disruption to come. OpenAI, denying rumors that it would unveil either an AI-powered search product or its next-generation model GPT-5, instead announced something different, but nonetheless eye-popping, on Monday. It was a new flagship model called GPT-4o, to be made available for free, which uses input and output in various modes—text, speech, vision—for disturbingly natural interaction with humans.

https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-to-believe-the-ai-hype/

Illusion of Mastery with AI: Explore the Impact of AI on Skill Mastery in Education - Lily Lee and Aditya Syam, AIxEducation

It can be tedious to sift through hundreds of research papers to find relevant and high quality resources for academic research. However, with the help of AI-powered tools, this process can be streamlined. These tools can serve as an advanced search engine and offer additional capabilities such as citation mapping, summarization, data visualization, and more. Here are some popular AI tools being utilized by students and researchers for academic research.

https://aixeducation.substack.com/p/illusion-of-mastery-with-ai

AI and Quantum Computing: Glimpsing the Near Future -Eric Schmidt and Brian Greene, World of Science-YouTube

Catch a glimpse of the near future as AI and Quantum Computing transform how we live. Eric Schmidt, decade-long CEO of Google, joins Brian Greene to explore the horizons of innovation, where digital and quantum frontiers collide to spark a new era of discovery.  Hint: 10,000 times more, faster, and more powerful. This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZZan4JMwk4

The AI-Augmented Nonteaching Academic in Higher Ed - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

In the previous edition of Online: Trending Now, we looked at the artificial intelligence (AI) tools and activities of the AI-augmented professor. Yet there are more staff members who support the learning process at most universities than there are those who directly teach the students. Let’s take a look at how AI will facilitate the work of the instructional designers, researchers, administrators and other nonteaching professionals in colleges and universities this fall. This comes in the context of Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index Report which surveyed some 31,000 people across 31 countries, uncovering rather surprising facts along the way. Bret Kinsella writes in Synthedia: “The report found that 78 percent of knowledge workers bring their own AI (BYOAI) to work.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/online-trending-now/2024/05/22/ai-augmented-nonteaching-academic-higher-ed

2024 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition - EDUCAUSE

This report profiles the trends and key technologies and practices shaping the future of teaching and learning, and envisions a number of scenarios for that future. It is based on the perspectives and expertise of a global panel of leaders from across the higher education landscape.

https://library.educause.edu/resources/2024/5/2024-educause-horizon-report-teaching-and-learning-edition

5 Basic Components of an Online College Course - Cole Claybourne, US News

Thanks to modern technology, students no longer have to be bound to a physical classroom to pursue a college education. Equipped with a device and an internet connection, students can earn an associate, bachelor's or master's degree from the comfort of their own home. “It’s the way of education, and it’s the way that students will go to school,” says Justin Louder, assistant vice president for academic innovation at Anthology, an education technology company that produces the learning management system Blackboard Learn. “A vast majority of students will take at least one online class a semester.” Online learning is not necessarily a novelty, but its popularity has grown in recent years and is expected to continue. Online degrees have also experienced a wave of innovation and wider acceptance in recent years, says Louder, who previously oversaw online degree programs as associate vice provost of e-learning at Texas Tech University.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/basic-components-of-an-online-college-course

The future of learning requires small thinking - Jools O'Connor, Tech Central

The lifelong learning rate among Irish adults was 12% in 2022 – far from the target of 64.2% set by Taoiseach Simon Harris when he served as Minister for Further and Higher Education. The goal is part of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. In this context, micro-credentials were developed. These skills-focused, university-accredited courses are typically between six to 12 weeks long, and are available mainly online. Some courses are available as a hybrid option with some elements taking place in-person. “Micro-credentials are a flexible option for people in the workforce to upskill or re-skill.

https://www.techcentral.ie/the-future-of-learning-requires-small-thinking/

Micro-credentialing: Powerful new learning tool, or just “pouring old wine into new bottles”? - International Labor Organization

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an explosion of online and micro-credential programmes changed the face of training and skills development. But it didn’t reduce the needs. Now, they’ve become an important fixture in lifelong learning, upskilling, reskilling and economic recovery. This podcast explores if micro-credentialing is a temporary phenomenon, whether we can ensure quality and relevance to certifications and qualifications, and how employers might view new types of credentialing systems.

https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/addressing-major-labour-market-challenges-world-work-what-are-implications-0

Professors Worry About ‘Digital Surveillance’ of Their Work - Jack Grove, Inside Higher Ed

More than eight in 10 professors say universities’ excessive use of digital technologies is harming academic freedom, according to a survey of academics in the United Kingdom. The poll of more than 2,000 scholars conducted for the University and College Union (UCU), which represents 120,000 faculty and staff members in the U.K., highlights growing unease over the digital tools commonly used in academe, such as the virtual learning environments used to facilitate teaching, electronic systems to evaluate teaching performance and metrics-based systems such as SciVal that enable managers to scrutinize research publications and citations.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2024/05/10/professors-worry-about-digital-surveillance-their

Working moms are fueled by flexibility—here’s why - McKinsey

Yet despite some hard-fought gains, women still carry out a disproportionate amount of childcare and household work. Indeed, 38 percent of mothers with young children say that without workplace flexibility, they would have had to leave their company or reduce their work hours. That’s according to McKinsey’s ninth Women in the Workplace report, conducted in partnership with LeanIn.Org, which surveyed more than 27,000 employees and 270 senior HR leaders. Still, workplace flexibility isn’t just a woman’s thing. This Mother’s Day, join McKinsey’s Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee as they reflect on four myths about women in the workplace discussed in the 2023 report.

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/themes/working-moms-are-fueled-by-flexibility-heres-why

Fake Websites Pop Up Advertising Closed Universities - Lauren Coffey, Inside Higher Ed

 Multiple websites have cropped up advertising colleges that are no longer operating, USA Today reported. The newspaper’s investigation found at least nine websites seemingly representing institutions that have been shuttered for years. Many of the sites required an application fee, as well as credit card and driver’s license information. Some of the represented universities closed nearly a decade ago, including Morrison University in 2014 and Jones International University in 2015.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/05/10/report-hackers-build-fake-websites-closed-colleges

Joliet Junior College to Deploy AI Assistant for Faculty - Brandon Paykamian, Government Technology

 Joliet Junior College in Illinois has partnered with the Phoenix-based technology services company Canyon GBS to launch a new higher-ed-specific enterprise AI assistant for faculty and staff. According to an announcement in April, the partnership makes Joliet one of the first community colleges in North America to deploy a generative AI assistant tool that is specifically tailored to the institution and ensures compliance with data privacy regulations like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Joliet is also Canyon AI’s first community-college client. The college’s President Clyne Namuo said the tool will allow the school to use AI for a variety of instructional and administrative purposes, and it features more data privacy guardrails than other open-source generative AI tools on the market today, such as ChatGPT. He said the goal of partnering with Canyon was to ensure the college uses AI responsibly.

https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/joliet-junior-college-to-deploy-ai-assistant-for-faculty

Hello GPT-4o - Open AI

GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”) is a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, and image and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs. It can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to human response time(opens in a new window) in a conversation. It matches GPT-4 Turbo performance on text in English and code, with significant improvement on text in non-English languages, while also being much faster and 50% cheaper in the API. GPT-4o is especially better at vision and audio understanding compared to existing models.

https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o/

UCF Student Graduates After Studying Online from Ukraine, Providing Aid - Robert Stephens, UCF Today

Mia Willard began her UCF education from Kyiv before war broke out. In the midst of explosions and near misses, she continued an amazing undergraduate journey that took her deeper into danger. She candidly responds to questions very few people will ever have to answer, but “How do you plan to celebrate?” catches her by surprise. “When I saw that question before our conversation, it was the first time I contemplated it,” Willard says. She pauses for a moment, which is something she has rarely taken time to do since Russia began bombarding her Ukrainian homeland more than two years ago. “You could say my educational journey has not been a traditional one.”She’s been trying to focus on classwork from some of the worst war-torn areas of Ukraine. The assignments, honestly, have been secondary to providing aid for people, narrowly surviving landmines and missiles, rescuing animals from the rooftops of homes underwater and recovering from the shock of finding the bodies of civilians in villages and small settlements.

https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-student-graduates-after-studying-online-from-ukraine-providing-aid/

UPenn's AI Masters Program Intends to Shape Policy, New Jobs - Ariana Perez-Castells, The Philadelphia Inquirer

 Courses will cover topics including mathematics, computing, machine learning, applications of AI, and large-scale data sets, with the goal of preparing students to influence policies and fill jobs that don't yet exist.  In the five years since Chris Callison-Burch has been teaching an artificial intelligence class at the University of Pennsylvania, his class has grown from around 100 to 400 students in person and another 200 joining remotely, he said. "On campus, we fill the biggest lecture hall available, which seats 400. I can't grow bigger than that unless we move to the sports stadium," said Callison-Burch, an associate professor at Penn Engineering. Starting next spring, the University of Pennsylvania will expand its AI course offering with a new online master's degree program focused on AI.

https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/upenns-ai-masters-program-intends-to-shape-policy-new-jobs

FIU recognized for innovative professional development program that advances global learning - FIU

 For seven years, FIU has conducted dynamic virtual courses that connect Panthers with their international peers. Students in Miami have met with others around the world online for instruction, discussions, projects and even research collaborations, effectively gaining global perspectives and learning about different approaches to solving problems. Nearly 6,000 FIU students have participated in these immersive, interactive courses, led by faculty trained in creating a seamless learning experience that crosses institutions, continents and time zones.  Now FIU has gained attention for teaching other universities how to do the same.

https://news.fiu.edu/2024/fiu-receives-award-for-innovative-professional-development-program-that-increases-access-to-global-learning-for-all

Inside Arizona State University's OpenAI Partnership - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

In January, Arizona State University announced a major partnership with OpenAI to explore the potential of ChatGPT in education. We caught up with ASU CIO Lev Gonick to find out more about that collaboration, how the university is approaching the use of generative AI across campus, and what the key takeaways have been so far. The Campus Technology Insider podcast explores current trends and issues impacting technology leaders in higher education. Listen in as Editor in Chief Rhea Kelly chats with ed tech experts and practitioners about their work, ideas and experiences.

https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2024/04/30/Inside-Arizona-State-Universitys-OpenAI-Partnership.aspx

House Republicans to probe federal college funding and tax breaks amid student protests - Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive

House Republicans intend to ramp up their oversight of colleges in an effort to “hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students,” Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday. Johnson said a coalition of six House committees will lead the scrutiny of universities’ federal funding and tax benefits. His office said in a news release that the committees will probe the international student visa program, claiming without evidence that it has let students “sympathetic to terrorist groups” attend U.S. colleges.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/house-republicans-probe-federal-college-funding-tax-breaks-student-protests/714903/

Specially abled students get control over their learning journey through online education - Education Times

 The rising popularity of online education has emerged as a transformative force, breaking barriers, and providing equal education opportunities, particularly for differently abled individuals. In India, the differently abled community accounts for 2.68 crore people, which is over 2.21% of the population as per reports by the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. Online education has played a crucial role in empowering these individuals and transforming their lives, who often encounter significant hurdles in traditional educational settings.

https://www.educationtimes.com/article/campus-beat-college-life/99735451/specially-abled-students-get-control-over-their-learning-journey-through-online-education

Exclusive: Employers Are Souring On Ivy League Grads, While These 20 “New Ivies” Ascend - Emma Whitford, Forbes

 For the entirety of America’s existence, the Ivy League has provided an essential service. In sorting the best and the brightest upon admission and then rigorously educating them, these “Ancient Eight” universities have provided employers, investors and even voters a meritocratic seal of approval. Some one-third of U.S. presidents and the current Forbes 400 list of richest Americans are Ivy alums, as well as eight sitting members of the Supreme Court. “33% of those making hiring decisions said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates today than five years ago. Only 7% said they were more likely to hire them.” Also, “42% of hiring managers are more likely to hire public university grads than they were five years ago.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2024/04/29/exclusive-employers-are-souring-on-ivy-league-grads-while-these-20-new-ivies-ascend/

ChatGPT 5: Release Date, Features & Prices - Niel C. Hughes, Technopedia

The earliest expected release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 5 is early in the summer of 2024. ChatGPT 5 is said to bring improved contextual understanding and AI agents capable of operating autonomously — no humans involved. The GPT-5 model is “materially better”, according to one sneak preview. New developments may include Sora and the AI voice product Voice Engine. If OpenAI sticks to the playbook, we expect ChatGPT 5 to arrive in two flavors: a free-to-use model and a $20-a-month subscription model that expands the capabilities.

https://www.techopedia.com/chatgpt-5-all-you-need-to-know

Educause, AWS Launch AI Readiness Assessment Tool for Higher Ed - Brandon Paykamian, GovTech

The tech giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) and education nonprofit Educause have teamed up to develop a new assessment to gauge how higher-ed institutions are using generative AI tools and promoting responsible use of the emerging technology. The new Higher Education Generative AI Readiness Assessment offers users a list of questions designed to paint a picture of their institution’s readiness for adopting generative AI tools across three key areas: strategy and governance, capacity and expertise, and infrastructure. A recent news release said the assessment looks at the types of AI skills institutions are focusing on, as well as institutions’ policies and best practices around the use of AI.

https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/educause-aws-launch-ai-readiness-assessment-tool-for-higher-ed

Wharton’s Ethan Mollick: Co-intelligence and AI in education - Wachira Kigotho, University World News

Love them or hate them, artificial intelligence technologies are pushing the frontiers of teaching and learning, causing excitement as well as anxiety, and uncertainty as to whether they will eventually replace teachers. However, says education expert Ethan Mollick: “There is no doubt that education will adapt to AI far more effectively than other industries, and in ways that will improve learning and teaching.” People should not panic, according to Mollick, an associate professor of management, currently teaching entrepreneurship and innovation at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240425131254486

Authentic Assessment in the era of AI - Advance-HE

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we work and learn. Increasingly sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) tools can competently complete tasks currently the remit of professional roles. Higher Education providers, therefore, need to systematically think about how the increased use of these tools will change their practices. It is easy to get fixated on a deficit model where students use these tools to commit academic malpractice but there is a range of interesting and legitimate use cases that need to be considered. This raises important questions for quality assurance and institutional policies and broader questions about employability and the skills required to thrive in an AI-dominated world of work. 

https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/membership/all-member-benefit-projects/Authentic-Assessment-in-the-era-of-AI

Policies promoting digital education credentials - Sopiko Beriashvili & Michael Trucano, Brookings

Policymakers, organizations, and practitioners around the world that are attempting to implement digital credentials and LERs at scale have identified three common challenges. Countries do not often consider employers as key stakeholders in the process of developing and implementing policies surrounding digital credentials and LERs. It is often unclear how digital credential and LER programs should be funded once they move beyond pilot stages, which are typically publicly funded. Countries may need to make changes in existing legal frameworks in order to support the implementation of digital credential and LER initiatives.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/policies-promoting-digital-education-credentials/

Wells College to close at the end of the spring term - Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive

Wells College, in New York, announced Monday that it will close at the end of the spring term. The private nonprofit institution said it has faced prolonged financial distress that it was unable to address through fundraising or other measures. Wells also cited demographic challenges, the pandemic, inflation and “an overall negative sentiment towards higher education.” In its notice, which came just days before the planned closure, Wells leaders said they had recently had “conversations with other academic partners,” to no avail.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/wells-college-closure-end-of-the-spring-term-semester-abrupt/714628/