3 hiring practices to help diversify higher education faculty - Leah Matari, EAB

The hiring committee can take the following three steps to help reduce bias and promote equity across the initial stages of the review process: Blind candidates’ names and PhD-granting institutions during the first round of resume screening to avoid preference for candidates who attended similar institutions to committee members. Conduct initial interviews as phone interviews rather than video calls where bias can be introduced based on candidates’ appearances, or conference interviews that depend on candidates being able to afford conference attendance. Introduce a second round of phone or video interviews before the on-campus interview to ensure institutions are interviewing a larger pool of candidates.

https://eab.com/insights/expert-insight/workplace/practices-help-diversify-faculty/

Morgan State stops using contract staff, striking at employee inequity - Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Higher Ed Dive

Morgan State University, in Maryland, has ended the practice of hiring contractual staff in an attempt to "address employee inequity in a profound and meaningful way" at the largest historically Black institution in the state, officials announced this week. The public HBCU in Baltimore is also giving certain existing contractual workers full-time status with benefits and is raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour. The conversions are "the moral thing to do," especially given many contractual employees served on the front lines in the height of the pandemic, the university's president, David Wilson, said in a statement. It appears to be the first institution to make such a move during the pandemic.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/morgan-state-stops-using-contract-staff-striking-at-employee-inequity/604540/

Which courses offer affordable textbooks? Who knows? - Jorgo Gushi, CommonWealth

IT SHOULD BE a short story with a happy ending, something like this: Once upon a time, concerned faculty began utilizing a growing body of free or low-cost instructional materials known as open educational resources (OER), hoping to reduce the number of students who quit classes because they couldn’t afford $300 textbooks. College administrators began coding OER courses so that students could easily identify them when they registered for classes, and everyone on campus lived happily ever after. The end.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/which-courses-offer-affordable-textbooks-who-knows/

Back to the future – New directions for HE globally - Karen MacGregor, University World News

 In India, the future has arrived. The ABC – Academic Bank of Credit – has been created, where students can save credits from multiple universities and cash them in to obtain a degree. New innovations and profound changes in higher education in a tumultuous era were debated at the triennial conference of the International Association of University Presidents last weekend. As in India, institutions must engage to shape the future or risk falling behind. The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the world, including higher education, said Dr Francisco Marmolejo, president of higher education at the Qatar Foundation.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210805133618588

Survey: 7 in 10 College Leaders Say Microcredentials Could Help Enrollment and Revenue - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Microcredentials are increasingly finding a home in higher education to provide students with opportunities to boost skills quickly in new areas, supplement existing course and degree offerings rapidly, and provide programs that can help institutions compete against alternative education formats such as bootcamps. According to a new survey, seven in 10 higher education leaders (71 percent) said that "alternative credentials" could help them achieve institutional revenue and enrollment goals. Yet, just 60 percent considered credential initiatives "totally" or "very" aligned with their institutions' strategic plans.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/07/22/survey-7-in-10-college-leaders-say-microcredentials-could-help-enrollment-and-revenue.aspx

Top 3 Ways Institutions Can Improve Student Support - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic has both highlighted the importance of student support services in higher education and revealed gaps in how institutions are meeting the needs of at-risk students, according to a recent report from Blackboard. In the survey of more than 2,100 postsecondary students across the United States, conducted in partnership with Qualtrics, nearly two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) said they believe support services are more important now than pre-pandemic. And while more than half of students (52 percent) said they were satisfied with the level of support their institutions have provided during COVID-19, 21 percent were dissatisfied and 26 percent reported that support at their school worsened during the pandemic.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/07/13/top-3-ways-institutions-can-improve-student-support.aspx 

How to Improve Student and Educator Wellbeing - Gallup

To achieve this goal, we'll consider these main components: Student engagement and student wellbeing, as well as educator engagement and educator wellbeing. These components can be further divided into higher education and the school system (kindergarten through 12th grade). Whether it's a kindergarten student starting their educational journey or a student facing their first year in college, the importance of authentic, caring mentors to drive student wellbeing has never been more evident.

https://www.gallup.com/education/316709/how-to-improve-wellbeing-in-education.aspx

The Crucial Art — and Science — of Listening Leadership By Reshan Richards and Stephen J. Valentine, EdSurge

Good listening skills can change minds, improve relationships and help build communities. Listening is also a big focus of the work of Nicole Furlonge, professor and director of the Klingenstein Center, Teachers College Columbia University. In this conversation, we establish the foundations, both literary and educational, of Furlonge’s work. A follow up will explore how listening leadership can become a fundamental part of any school’s success.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-08-02-the-crucial-art-and-science-of-listening-leadership

ROLE OF BLOCKCHAIN IN WEB 3.0 - Simba Chain

Web 3.0 is the third generation of internet services which provide websites and applications with the technology to run. Web 3.0 is set to be powered by AI and peer-to-peer applications like blockchain. The key difference between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 is that Web 3.0 is more focused on using innovative technologies like machine learning and AI to create more personalized content for each user. It is also expected that Web 3.0 will be more secure than its predecessors because of the system it is built upon. 

https://blog.simbachain.com/blog/role-of-blockchain-web3.0

Building an Effective Online Doctoral Program - Stephoni Case, Faculty Focus

About half of PhD candidates leave school without finishing their dissertation. All-but-dissertation (ABD) students have put in significant work, without completing the degree. That wastes time and resources for both students and universities. Attrition is a problem at all institutions of higher learning, including those offering online programs. Online program directors must cultivate strategies for keeping students enrolled and moving them efficiently through the program.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/academic-leadership/building-an-effective-online-doctoral-program/

Second Chance Pell: ‘Best of Both Worlds’ - Alexis Gravely, Inside Higher Ed

The expansion will allow more people to participate in prison education programs while the department prepares for across-the-board Pell Grant access for incarcerated students. Incarcerated students will be able to use Second Chance Pell in even more prison education programs across the country. The Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative will be expanded for the 2022-23 award year to allow another 69 colleges and universities to participate, paving the way for even more incarcerated individuals to gain access to higher education. A maximum of 200 two- and four-year colleges will be able to offer prison education programs with the support of the Pell Grant, up from the 131 institutions currently participating. The department is also planning to broaden the geographic scope of Second Chance Pell, with the goal of having programs in most or all 50 states.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/08/02/second-chance-pell-will-be-expanded-2022-academic-year

How to Bring Your Conscience to Work - G. Richard Shell, Knowledge at Wharton

Wharton professor G. Richard Shell’s graduate course on business responsibility is peppered with students he calls “ethics refugees.” They are young people who earned their bachelor’s degrees and landed a great job only to fall into an ethical or moral trap set by a boss, a co-worker, or the company culture. Sexual harassment, discrimination, fraud, lying, cheating, peer pressure — the list of unsavory and illegal behaviors goes on. Some were able to push back; others were fired or retaliated against for bucking the system; many went along with it only to feel guilty and quit.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-to-bring-your-conscience-to-work/

Universities Can Tap Into Significant Federal COVID-19 Funding - Peggy Bresnick, Fierce Education

According to guidance from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), institutions have nearly a year from the date of the last funding round to spend all money. While about half of the money is earmarked to help students in the form of grants and aid, the other half is meant to institutions to cover the revenue shortfall due to the pandemic. The U.S. Department of Education strongly recommends that institutions devote the maximum amount of funding to financial aid grants to students and prioritize costs associated with student safety and testing services.

https://www.fierceeducation.com/administration/universities-can-tap-into-significant-federal-covid-19-funding

Technology Acceleration is Here to Stay in Higher Ed - Annie Galvin Teich, Fierce Education

In a recent Fierce Education online event, Higher Education Business and Leadership: Summer Edition, in a session titled, “Hold on Tight: Technology Acceleration in Higher Education,” practitioners shared their pandemic stories. The session’s focus was on the challenges they faced, the lessons learned, and their thoughts about expanding tech support for students after investments in infrastructure, connectivity and bandwidth have been made. As faculty and staff scrambled to meet the challenges of the pandemic, roles became blurry and campus leadership at California State University Stanislaus could not cope with all the demands. Director of Academic Technology Jase Teoh decided they needed to use the crisis to pivot into accelerating their technology adoption by using every tool at their disposal.

https://www.fierceeducation.com/best-practices/technology-acceleration-here-to-stay-higher-ed

Colorado will allow four-year colleges to grant associates degrees to those who dropped out. Will more students go back for a bachelor’s? - Jason Gonzales , Chalkbeat

 Over 13,000 Colorado residents have earned more than 70 college credits at four-year state universities in the past five years but stopped short of a degree, according to the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Now, a new Colorado law lets universities award those students with an associate’s degree. Giving students with some college an associate’s degree won’t drastically enhance their potential earnings or change why students dropped out in the first place. But the program could open up new pathways for universities to bring those students back to finish their bachelor’s degrees.

https://co.chalkbeat.org/2021/7/26/22595162/colorado-law-allows-universities-grant-dropout-students-associates-degree

Education's Hybrid Future: What We Know from Research - Dr. Gennadii Miroshnikov, Campus Technology

 While hybrid learning environments show great potential in higher education, there are still pedagogical and technical challenges to overcome. Here are key guidelines for moving forward, based on research in the field..  One of the most anticipated concepts associated with the post-pandemic future is hybridization: hybrid working, hybrid offices, hybrid classrooms. Although these buzzwords are now on the covers of all magazines, research in the field of hybrid learning is just beginning. This article overviews several published studies in this area, major challenges and recommendations for overcoming or mitigating them.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/07/21/educations-hybrid-future-what-we-know-from-research.aspx?s=ct_le_210721&oly_enc_id=2450C6053234D5W

Landmark US government backing for international education - PIE News

 The first joint statement from the US departments of State and Education in over two decades to support the country’s international education ambitions has promised a “shared commitment” to promote the country as a study destination and the benefits of global academic engagement. Among the commitments the government has made, federal agencies will participate in a coordinated national approach to international education, welcome international students, scholars, and educators to the US in a “safe and secure” manner, as well as encourage and promote access to international education for US students, including through the use of technology where in-person experiences are not feasible.

https://thepienews.com/news/landmark-us-government-backing-for-international-education/

What is the Future for edX as a 2U For-Profit? - Daniel Litwin, MarketScale

To further explore how the transition from a non-profit to a for-profit will impact the future of the platform, as well as some of today and tomorrows needs for online learners, Daniel Litwin, Voice of B2B, invited Beth Porter, former Vice President at edX & Pearson, and Co-founder of Esme Learning Solutions, to this episode of MarketScale TV. The two discussed how edX’s experimental approach to building online learning infrastructure as well as coursework shaped strategies of success for the rest of the field.

https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/what-is-the-future-for-edx-as-a-2u-for-profit/

An executive guide to artificial intelligence, from machine learning and general AI to neural networks - Nick Heath, ZDNet

Francois Chollet, an AI researcher at Google and creator of the machine-learning software library Keras, has said intelligence is tied to a system's ability to adapt and improvise in a new environment, to generalise its knowledge and apply it to unfamiliar scenarios. "Intelligence is the efficiency with which you acquire new skills at tasks you didn't previously prepare for," he said. "Intelligence is not skill itself; it's not what you can do; it's how well and how efficiently you can learn new things." Typically, AI systems demonstrate at least some of the following behaviours associated with human intelligence: planning, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, knowledge representation, perception, motion, and manipulation and, to a lesser extent, social intelligence and creativity.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-ai-heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-artificial-intelligence/

What’s the Right Price for an Online Degree? - Robert Ubell, EdSurge

 Coming out of the pandemic, higher education suffered its most devastating, crushing loss in memory, estimated collectively at $183 billion. But even during this painful financial crisis, senior academic officers at the nation’s colleges largely held their tuition down, with many making meager increases of close to 1 percent. It took enormous strategic strength and the wisdom of restraint to achieve this unexpected result. With some online degrees taking the lead, it’s now even possible to imagine higher ed prices falling in the years ahead, rather than continuing their climb.

https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2021-07-23-what-s-the-right-price-for-an-online-degree

Academic Performance of Face-to-Face and Online Students in an Introductory Economics Course and Determinants of Final Course Grades - Zeynep Kelani, Murat Doral & Yannick Roger Post, OJDLA

The purpose of this study is twofold. We first test if there is a significant difference in the means of final course completion grades between two instructional modalities, face-to-face and online, in a required Introductory Economics course at a large, public, southeastern university. We then examine various determinants as potential predictors of student academic performance. To this end, we investigate the effects of students' gender, age, major, semester choice and prior GPA on academic performance in both instructional modalities. In our initial analysis, our hypothesis testing results show that there is no statistically significant difference in the final course completion grade means between the two modalities. Regression results further indicate that students’ gender, age, major (STEM and Business), semester choice (Traditional and Accelerated), and prior GPA have a significant effect on final course completion grades in face-to-face classes, with prior GPA, semester choice, and STEM major being the strongest predictors of academic performance. Students’ prior GPA, gender, and major (STEM) are also the strongest predictors of final course completion grades in online classes. 

https://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer242/kelani_doral_post242.html