Techno-News Blog

Hallie Busta, Education Dive

As U.S. colleges consider how the global coronavirus outbreak could affect their campuses, some are asking about how they could shift courses online to limit its impact on instruction. That’s according to education technology companies and consultants, who told Education Dive they are seeing an uptick in those inquiries. “It’s happening very quickly, so it’s definitely become top of mind for a lot of schools,” said Phil Hill, an ed tech consultant with the firm MindWires​, adding that “there are a lot of schools who are sort of being forced to think about it, and they really haven’t yet,” he said.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/as-coronavirus-concerns-rise-in-us-colleges-look-online-for-continuity/573426/

UPCEA

Resources for online delivery of course materials compiled by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association.  Updated daily.

https://sites.google.com/view/covid19he/home

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
In 2005, more than 120 U.S. universities came to the aid of some 20 colleges and universities that had been impacted by Hurricane Katrina through shared online classes.  Most importantly, a number of lessons were learned in our experiences 15 years ago about how we can best provide emergency online delivery of classes. Many of these may be applicable in cases where campuses may be impacted by sequestrations and other restrictions due to the spread of COVID-19.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/what-katrina-taught-us-about-online-delivery

John Schwarz, Fast Company

So, what’s the fix? Offering employer-supported education is an obvious solution, although not a simple one. Developing in-house training ensures your workforce has the skills your business needs, but it also makes them more attractive to competitors—and we’ve certainly lost our fair share of great employees to our competition. But the simple truth is becoming increasingly apparent: Employers no longer have the luxury of staying out of the education game. Train now—or pay later.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90465141/how-on-the-job-training-became-the-new-graduate-degree

Chris Gamrat, EDUCAUSE

As an instructional designer, I’ve thought a lot about the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the context of teaching and learning. But where to start? Determining how best to incorporate DEI into course design and teaching was overwhelming. I began by reading articles and attending workshops, but I still felt that while I was gaining perspective on students’ needs, I didn’t know how to focus my energy to effect change. That is when I decided to create a list of considerations to help faculty and instructional designers create courses and learning environments where students feel welcome and connected.

https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/2/inclusive-teaching-and-course-design

EDUCAUSE

Online program management (OPM) refers to the practice of contracting with external, third-party organizations that help colleges and universities develop and deliver online degree or certificate programs. Some OPM options are based on a “tuition revenue share” model in which a vendor provides services in exchange for a share of revenues. Others are based on a fee-for-service model. OPM is often used to jumpstart an online presence for institutions that do not have that capacity in-house.

https://library.educause.edu/resources/2020/2/7-things-you-should-know-about-online-program-management

Marjorie Cortez, Deseret
There are no known cases in Utah, but ‘this is not to say there won’t be in the future,’ says guidance to schools from the Utah State Board of Education.  Melanie Heath, spokeswoman for the Utah System of Higher Education, said all public colleges and universities are monitoring COVID-19 and potential impacts to their campus communities. “Each institution is unique — whether they have on-campus housing or not, what their facilities’ capabilities are, what their online course structure looks like — so it makes the most sense to have them work on individual strategies” instead of taking a systemwide approach to a possible outbreak or pandemic, Heath said.

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/2/27/21154716/coronavirus-covid-19-utah-outbreak-pandemic-schools

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

When New York University closed its NYU Shanghai campus in response to the COVID-19 epidemic in China, little did it realize how much students would appreciate the efforts the university went through to keep their learning on track. The spring 2020 semester kicked off with school officials determined to use digital tools to deliver learning online as an alternative. More than a thousand undergraduate and graduate students and faculty have signed on to participate in virtual lectures, discussions and more physical activities from locations around the world. Instructors conducted some 700-plus sessions during the first week, using a multitude of tools to enable live feedback and interaction in both synchronous and asynchronous ways.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/02/28/nyu-response-to-coronavirus-accelerates-digital-tool-adoption.aspx?admgarea=news

Hallie Busta, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Education has issued guidance to help schools decide what steps to take in the event the new coronavirus interrupts student instruction.  It also slackened requirements on how schools can use distance learning technologies to accommodate students temporarily if classes cannot meet as a result of a virus outbreak within their campus or community. The guidance comes as colleges consider the use of online learning tools as they prepare for the possibility of having to cancel classes or close campus.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/ed-dept-expands-options-for-online-learning-in-response-to-coronavirus/573687/

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Justice is backing an appeal against Harvard University, pushing a federal appeals court to reverse a ruling that found the institution’s admissions policies are not explicitly discriminatory against Asian American applicants. The Justice Department, along with a handful of advocacy groups, filed amicus briefs on Tuesday supporting the appeal by the anti-affirmative action organization Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), which first sued Harvard in 2014. The case against the Ivy League school is highly watched, as law pundits have said it could reach the Supreme Court and destroy long-standing affirmative action admissions practices in higher ed.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/justice-department-backs-appeal-in-harvard-affirmative-action-lawsuit/573027/

Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Ed

Three weeks ago the U.S. House of Representatives’ oversight committee threatened it might subpoena U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos if she didn’t confirm she would appear before the body on March 3 to answer an array of questions. It doesn’t sound like DeVos is going to go. Instead of an RSVP, the acting general counsel for the Education Department sent the committee a scathing letter pushing back at what he considers to be overreach by the committee — and saying the subpoena threat “signals an unhealthy appetite for the abuse of congressional power.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/26/education-department-says-house-committee-seeking-abuse-power-subpoena-threat

E & T

People turning to the internet to learn new skills is helping to boost the UK’s economic output, according to new research around online learning. The research was carried out by Demos (a UK think tank with a cross-party political viewpoint), supported by Google, and polled 20,000 people in the UK about their use of online resources. Demos’ report suggests that many working people have used internet-based learning to help increase their pay or to help them get a new job. It also found that nearly a third (30 per cent) of respondents said they had used online learning to start their own business.

https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/02/online-learning-boosting-brits-earning-potential/

by Elena Kadvany / Palo Alto Weekly

The university announced on March 6 that all in-person classes would be moved online. Photo by Sammy Dallal. Stanford University has become the second major U.S. university to cancel in-person classes to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The university also announced Friday that two undergraduate students who possibly were exposed to the virus are in self-isolation and that a School of Medicine faculty member has tested positive for COVID-19.

https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/03/06/stanford-cancels-in-person-classes-two-students-possibly-exposed-to-coronavirus-in-self-isolation

Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Ed

Three weeks ago the U.S. House of Representatives’ oversight committee threatened it might subpoena U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos if she didn’t confirm she would appear before the body on March 3 to answer an array of questions. It doesn’t sound like DeVos is going to go. Instead of an RSVP, the acting general counsel for the Education Department sent the committee a scathing letter pushing back at what he considers to be overreach by the committee — and saying the subpoena threat “signals an unhealthy appetite for the abuse of congressional power.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/26/education-department-says-house-committee-seeking-abuse-power-subpoena-threat

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Justice is backing an appeal against Harvard University, pushing a federal appeals court to reverse a ruling that found the institution’s admissions policies are not explicitly discriminatory against Asian American applicants. The Justice Department, along with a handful of advocacy groups, filed amicus briefs on Tuesday supporting the appeal by the anti-affirmative action organization Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), which first sued Harvard in 2014. The case against the Ivy League school is highly watched, as law pundits have said it could reach the Supreme Court and destroy long-standing affirmative action admissions practices in higher ed.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/justice-department-backs-appeal-in-harvard-affirmative-action-lawsuit/573027/

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal
With schools in Asia shuttered in response to the coronavirus outbreak, a UK company has offered its education technology software free to affected students so they can continue taking classes in digital form. According to London-based Century-Tech, more than two dozen schools have already taken advantage of the offer. Century’s program is an online learning platform that the company said uses artificial intelligence to create learning pathways tailored and adapted for each student. Students can use the online program to continue lessons in English language arts, math and science.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2020/02/24/students-continue-learning-through-coronavirus-school-closures-with-ai-based-tech.aspx

Chronicle of Higher Ed

The novel coronavirus and Covid-19, the disease it causes, are becoming a public-health threat across the world, fueling fears of a possible pandemic. As more cases are reported, colleges are re-evaluating their study-abroad programs, moving courses online, and taking other preventive measures. Meanwhile, some academic associations are canceling their conferences. We’ve compiled what you need to know — to be updated regularly — on the virus’s spread and its implications for higher ed.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Coronavirus-Threatens-to/248175

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

After celebrating the Lunar New Year earlier this month, thousands of students at U.S. universities in China have resumed classes. But the campuses are eerily quiet, and classrooms remain empty. That’s because classes have moved online in the wake of the coronavirus. The transition from face-to-face to fully online wasn’t one leaders at institutions such as Duke Kunshan University and New York University Shanghai had planned for. Preparing to teach a course online for the first time usually takes several months. Faculty at institutions in China have done it in less than three weeks — a remarkable feat.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/25/coronavirus-forces-us-universities-online-china

ELLIE ASHFORD / MATTHEW DEMBICKI, Community College Daily

But an initiative started by Achieving the Dream (ATD) nearly three years ago aimed to help community colleges build a cohesive set of courses that aligned toward a degree. The new study by SRI Education and the rpg Group examined the academic and economic effect of the OER Degree Initiative on the 38 participating community colleges and their students. Overall, the effort did save money for students (about $65 per student, per course), improved their learning experience and was cost-effective for the colleges, the study says. Students who took multiple OER courses, on average earned more college credits over time than similar students who didn’t take OER courses, it says.

https://www.ccdaily.com/2020/02/tough-road-oer-degree-pathways/

Jon Marcus, NY Times

It is one of a small but growing number of places where experts are testing new ideas that will shape the future of a college education, using everything from blockchain networks to computer simulations to artificial intelligence, or A.I. Theirs is not a future of falling enrollment, financial challenges and closing campuses. It’s a brighter world in which students subscribe to rather than enroll in college, learn languages in virtual reality foreign streetscapes with avatars for conversation partners, have their questions answered day or night by A.I. teaching assistants and control their own digital transcripts that record every life achievement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/education/learning/education-technology.html

Patrick Armijo, Durango Herald

Students at Fort Lewis College will increasingly benefit from open educational resources offered free online that replace often-costly textbooks with the assistance of a $31,000 grant from the state. “I’m really excited about this. I’m a believer in helping students keep costs down. Textbooks can cost anywhere from $20 to $250. They can be really expensive,” said Astrid Oliver, director of Reed Library. Oliver is coordinating the grant. The funds came from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and were part of $1 million in grants disbursed to 34 separate higher education and post-secondary universities, colleges, schools and educational groups across the state.

https://durangoherald.com/articles/315885-flc-looks-for-free-online-replacements-for-textbooks