Techno-News Blog

Hallie Busta, Education Dive
Slightly more than half of nearly 300 college presidents surveyed in September by the American Council on Education (ACE) say their campuses’ enrollment is lower this fall than a year ago, with community college executives reporting decreases the most. Thirty-one percent of private four-year college presidents said they enrolled more students this fall, compared to 15% of public four-year and 10% of public two-year leaders. Some 70% of four-year college execs reported decreased international student enrollment.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/enrollment-fell-at-more-than-half-of-colleges-this-fall-survey/586779/

Brandon Busteed, Forbes
Higher education enrollment is on a decade-long decline. It’s pretty much inevitable that enrollment in U.S. higher education will be down for 10 consecutive years. The latest estimates from the National Student Clearinghouse show fall ’20 enrollments down 2.5% over last year. This will further the slide for spring ’21, which will end up being a decade’s worth of dropping enrollments for degree-seeking students. All told, at the peak in spring of 2011, 19,610,826 students were enrolled in U.S. higher education. By spring of 2020, that number had eroded to 17,458,306. I predict it will dip under 17 million this spring – making it a net loss of more than two and a half million students over the last decade.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonbusteed/2020/09/25/wake-up-higher-education-the-degree-is-on-the-decline/#eaa3e557ecb4

Gwen Moran, Fast Company

What were the indicators of people who are struggling with working from home? The researchers found two. One was agreeableness. This trait is “often associated with an individual’s proclivity toward maintaining positive relationships, feeling others’ emotions, sympathizing with others’ feelings and being interested in their challenges,” the researchers wrote. In other words, can you just go with the flow? People who are highly agreeable are more comfortable adapting to new situations. “They’re not going to get as frustrated. They’re not going to create as much conflict as new things are taken up,” Brodsky says. The other factor was neuroticism. In this context, these are people who are highly conscientious and self-aware, but they get anxious and fearful under pressure. The researchers found this group had the most trouble adapting to all-virtual work.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90561595/these-are-the-types-of-people-struggling-most-with-remote-work

Tom Warrent, the Verge

Microsoft is allowing more of its employees to work from home permanently, the company announced Friday. While the vast majority of Microsoft employees are still working from home during the ongoing pandemic, the software maker has unveiled “hybrid workplace” guidance internally to allow for far greater flexibility once US offices eventually reopen. The Verge has received Microsoft’s internal guidance, and it outlines the company’s flexible working plans for the future. Microsoft will now allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week, or for managers to approve permanent remote work. Employees who opt for the permanent remote work option will give up their assigned office space, but still have options to use touchdown space available at Microsoft’s offices.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/9/21508964/microsoft-remote-work-from-home-covid-19-coronavirus

Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

With so many classes online during the pandemic—many of them taught by professors still struggling to figure out how to teach in the format—students are increasingly turning to homework-help websites. While many students say they’re looking for the assistance they’re not getting from their colleges, professors argue that students are using these sites to cheat on quizzes and tests. Joseph Ching, a junior at Purdue University, says many of his professors have warned students not to use sites like Chegg, where students are posting homework and quiz questions and getting answers from tutors.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-10-06-with-no-study-buddies-more-college-students-turn-to-cheating

Isaiah Pickens, EdSurge

Today’s students are the most at-risk for mental health problems in a generation. That was already true before the start of this turbulent year, thanks to the advent of the smartphone, the rise of social media and the growing dominance of internet culture in daily life. Now, students face a minefield of new and ongoing trauma-producing challenges, including the upheaval of normal school life caused by COVID-19, financial and social-emotional problems at home related to a parent’s job loss or family death due to the pandemic, parents’ frustrations from juggling multiple demands, and the stressful, systemic realities of racial injustice.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-10-07-virtual-signs-of-serious-mental-health-problems-a-teacher-s-guide-to-protecting-students

Christina Kwauk, Brookings

Analysis at the Brookings Institution estimates that education gaps between rich and poor girls will take a long time to close; universal secondary education for the poorest girls in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be achieved by 2111. The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening this timeline. Girls’ increased burden on domestic work and unpaid care during stay-at-home orders, their increased vulnerability to gender-based violence due to limited mobility during lockdown, and their lower access to technology and the internet means girls have less time and fewer resources to engage in remote learning, are at risk of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies, and are more likely to remain out of school when they eventually reopen.

https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-uss-role-in-advancing-gender-equality-globally-through-girls-education/

MIKE DI GREGORIO, eCampus News

Before COVID-19 turned the academic world upside down, community and connection happened almost spontaneously. Students could walk into a classroom and introduce themselves to the people around them and instantly feel part of their learning community. They could linger afterwards to ask a question or organize a study group. Outside of class there were endless opportunities to socialize through clubs, sports teams, and other activities. Fast forward to 2020 and, for most students, the campus experience, at least as we’ve known it, has become another casualty of the ongoing pandemic. For better or worse, the virtual classroom is now the place for students to find that all important sense of community.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/10/09/8-practices-to-build-an-online-learning-community/

Christensen Institute

Most schools and programs wholeheartedly agree that relationships matter. But far fewer actually measure students’ social capital. Oftentimes, relationships, valuable as they may be, are treated as inputs to learning and development rather than outcomes in their own right. In turn, schools routinely leave students’ access to relationships and networks to chance. To address this gap, a host of early innovators across K–12, postsecondary, and workforce development are making important strides toward purposefully building and measuring students’ social capital in an effort to expand access to opportunity. Drawing on those emerging practices, this paper offers a framework for measuring social capital grounded in both research and practice.

https://whoyouknow.org/measurement-report/

Aya Hammouda, PharmD candidate at Touro College of Pharmacy

Overall, virtual learning has made it possible to have learning experiences very similar to those we enjoyed on campus. We have achieved an almost seamless transition for attending class in-person or remotely. Our college has made tremendous efforts to mimic the benefits of on-campus learning as closely as possible while meeting all accreditation standards. They’ve adjusted schedules and given us the means to reach professors when needed, and our education is not suffering. We recognize there are challenges even with face-to-face learning. As a P4 student, I look forward to even better online education experiences as we move ahead.

https://tcop.touro.edu/news/stories/a-student-perspective-on-learning-remotely.php

Carlos Fuentes, University of Portland Beacon

According to Carol Dell’Oliver, director of the Health and Counseling Center, COVID-19 has made school more stressful for many students.  “It has significantly impacted mental health, and there’s more worries and anxieties around COVID related concerns,” Dell’Oliver said. “There’s also more of a sense of isolation when they’re not around their friends as much, which is an important protective factor in their mental health. There is also more unpredictability and things that are out of their personal control.”

https://www.upbeacon.com/article/2020/10/zoom-fatigue-and-all-nighters-online-learning-takes-a-toll-on-students-mental-health

Zain Alden, University of Manchester Union

Attending university online is an unusual event, and one which makes it harder to engage with your learning. This week, I’ve put together some tools which should help you out as you struggle through your studies.

https://mancunion.com/2020/10/09/tools-to-help-with-online-learning/

REUBEN JACKSON, Big Think

McAfee’s user base has been seeing an average of 375 new threats per minute during the pandemic. Once everyone got situated in their home offices and their company’s security teams started taking the appropriate measures, how did the attackers adjust? Ransomware on cloud servers, hijack attempts on IoT gadgets and business email compromise (BEC) attacks increased in volume as well as sophistication over the course of Q3 2020.

https://bigthink.com/cybercrime-evolved-during-pandemic

MarketScale

Over the last weeks, students, professors and caregivers alike have adjusted to the modern-day classroom – many of which consist of a full or hybrid online learning model. This virtual shift brought on by COVID-19 comes with many unique challenges, and one of the most concerning is ensuring optimal online learning security across new and emerging technologies.

https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/3-ways-improve-online-learning-security/

Shawna De La Rosa, Education Dive

Connecting with students over social media raises equity and privacy concerns, The 74 reports. Though social media sites give teachers a convenient way to connect with students, children younger than 13 are prohibited from signing up for many social media platforms because they collect user data, which runs counter to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Students also may not have access to social media or they may have connectivity issues, making content streaming difficult, and the practice can also raise concerns about the potential for educator misconduct. Parents are concerned about the digital safety of students, as well, according to a report from the Center for Democracy and Technology that found 62% of parents reporting they are at least somewhat concerned about the privacy and security of data collected by schools, and only 40% saying their child’s school explained to them how it protects this information.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/teachers-turn-to-social-media-raising-privacy-concerns/586538/

Lena Cassidy, the Whit

Online learning is not universal. There is no global fix to conquer all of the learning curves between majors. A nursing major and a writing major cannot learn the same way. Zoom is not a comprehensive resource for everyone. The only commonality between all majors that were asked is that class and home cannot coexist. Being in class at home is emotionally draining and physically exhausting. Staying mentally active in class while having all of the distractions of home is the first challenge.

https://thewhitonline.com/2020/10/features/online-learning-perseverance-and-perspectives/

Leslie Mojeiko; et al, EDUCAUSE Review

Moving new student orientations to a fully online or blended format has made these programs more affordable, convenient, and accessible for students and their families, and more efficient and streamlined for college and university staff. Observing how these orientations develop to meet these challenges will be exciting. During this time of change, three notable benefits of online or blended orientations have emerged: increased convenience, affordability, and accessibility. While many institutions may go back to an in-person orientation in future academic years, colleges and universities should consider maintaining at least a portion of their orientation programs in an online format within their institution’s learning management system (LMS).

https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/10/3-reasons-to-go-online-with-new-student-orientations

Jillian Kramer, New York Times

The pandemic is a new setback for women in academia who already faced obstacles on the path to advancing their research and careers.  The pandemic has laid bare gender inequities across the country, and women in academia have not been spared. The outbreak erupted during universities’ spring terms, hastily forcing classes online and researchers out of their laboratories. Faculty with young or school-aged children — especially women — had to juggle teaching their students with overseeing their children’s distance learning from home. Many universities struggled to put meaningful policies in place to help faculty, especially caretakers and women.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/science/covid-universities-women.html

Tom Wheeler, Brookings

Now, the largest user of spectrum, the Department of Defense (DoD), has put out a Request for Information (RFI) that seems to propose that at least some of the spectrum traditionally used by the military could be shared for a fifth generation (5G) wireless network. The DoD cites a component of 5G technology called dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) as the vehicle to accomplish this. The DoD concept for spectrum sharing is the simple application of digital electronics. Such sharing is a good idea as 5G networks put even more pressure on the need for spectrum.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/10/05/is-spectrum-shortage-a-thing-of-the-past/

JON TOOR, eCampus News

Operating fully or partially online brings with it a number of key data management challenges for higher-ed IT leaders to overcome.  Storing the majority of data on-premises or in a private cloud in a highly scalable platform can cost significantly less than using the public cloud and can also offer universities secure cloud-like file sharing capabilities, without the risk of cloud data breaches. Furthermore, the costs are predictable, and administrators can maintain full control over storage locations and access points to monitor usage.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/10/06/overcoming-3-data-management-pitfalls-of-online-learning/

Mike Brown, LendEdu

The national student loan default rate for the 2017 fiscal year was 9.70%, which is a decrease of 0.40 percentage points from when the student loan default rate was 10.10% for the 2016 fiscal year (last year’s report). Not surprisingly, for-profit institutions had the highest collective student loan default rate (14.70%), followed by public institutions (9.30%), and private institutions (6.70%).
https://lendedu.com/blog/student-loan-default-rates-by-school-state-2020/