Techno-News Blog

ERUDERA COLLEGE NEWS

A study conducted by the German Center for University and Science Research (DZHW) has revealed that most of the students in Germany are satisfied switching to digital semester amid the Corona pandemic. According to the study, 86 per cent of students did not face any challenges at all while using the online courses, whereas 78 per cent of them claimed they had enough technical equipment to pursue lessons remotely, Erudera College News reports. Among others, 66 per cent of students said they have embraced the flexibility that came with this way of learning and two-thirds of them also expressed satisfaction over the way exams have been organized or held so far.

https://collegenews.org/majority-of-students-in-germany-satisfied-with-transition-to-online-learning/

Chelsea Toczauer, Online Universities

There is also the consideration of whether blockchain technology could, in turn, further accelerate a transition to alternative college business models as a result of the continued persistence of the pandemic as vaccine development and rollout remains in testing. The big difference with blockchain dissemination of credentials is the student owns it, Schroeder explains. “You of course can’t change what the university puts on related to your grades and classes—that’s written in stone and will be included in their documentation,” he notes. “But let’s say that you intern at a newspaper or a radio or television station someplace. You can write that in and link it to that employer for the internship.

https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/blockchain-backed-college-business-models

CBS News
First colleges cancelled fall break, now spring break is on the chopping block, writes Carolyn Gusoff for CBS News, as many universities in New York are altering the spring calendar to discourage travel and the chances of COVID-19 spread. Among them is Hofstra University. “We felt building in a break where students leave and travel increased the chances they will be somewhere of a super spreader state,” said Dr Herman Berliner, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Hofstra. “And for safety concerns the spring break really needed to go.” In its place, five separate mental health or catch up days off – never on a Friday or Monday – in order to discourage unsafe travel that could bring COVID to campus.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201107141259521

Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

I wanted to share the conversation I had with university CIOs Jill Albin-Hill and Paige Francis, from the summit session titled “How the Pandemic Gave IT a Seat at the Table.” They talked about the role of IT in pandemic response planning, and how they’ve been able to fast-track IT projects, provide critical solutions to campus challenges, elevate the position of IT within institutional leadership, and more.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/11/06/podcast-bonus-how-the-pandemic-gave-it-a-seat-at-the-table.aspx

HOWIE BERMAN, eCampus News

Academic institutions across the U.S. have resumed the fall semester, with many choosing to continue offering instruction in virtual or hybrid environments. While educators pivoted and quickly adjusted to virtual learning environments at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition was not without its challenges. In March, 41 percent of school districts reported they could not provide ongoing virtual lessons to all students due to educators’ lack of appropriate tech tools—a significant barrier to effective remote learning.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/11/05/tech-and-professional-development-are-key-to-remote-learning-success/

Daniel C. Vock, Education Dive

Congress is not expected to agree on another relief bill until after election results are confirmed, at the earliest. Higher education groups, meanwhile, have continued to press lawmakers for more money for the sector, with their latest ask at $120 billion or more. The stalled negotiations in Washington are significant, experts say, because, unlike in previous economic downturns, colleges and universities have few other places to turn. State governments that support higher ed face their own sharp declines in revenue and an uncertain economic outlook. And institutions cannot easily raise tuition or count on increased enrollment, because, on the whole, fewer students appear to be attending college this fall than last year.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/will-federal-relief-for-colleges-come-before-more-budget-cuts-do/588531/

Gwen Moran, Fast Company

Gartner data found that the number of skills required for a single job was increasing by 10% per year. And one-third of the skills listed in an average 2017 job posting would not be relevant by 2021. Gartner also found that role-based skills planning wasn’t helping organizations develop the right employee skill sets. Grouping unrelated skills doesn’t build the skills that will create competitive advantage. But several experts have ideas about what those necessary skills of the future will be. As organizations continue to operate in a pandemic and plan for the future, linked below are some of the essential skills that employees will need.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90568262/6-skills-employees-will-need-in-the-post-pandemic-workplace

ALEX WOODS, Brown and White, Lehigh
Following Lehigh’s temporary campus shut down due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, every student had to continue their education online, not just students who opted to take classes fully remotely before the semester started. While students and faculty face many challenges through remote learning and teaching, there have been some positive aspects, too.

https://thebrownandwhite.com/2020/11/05/students-and-faculty-reflect-on-positives-to-virtual-learning/

Shawna De La Rosa, Education Dive
Dyslexia interventions can be replicated virtually with online sensory tools and assistive technology, District Administration reports, noting applications that allow for interactive learning also help students engage in distance learning environments. Zoom, for example, has annotation tools that give students interactive capabilities, and using them to highlight, underline, and draw symbols can help students break down words and sentences to demonstrate their understanding. Similar tools are also helpful for students who lack the motor skills to write or use a mouse. Sound production is more difficult to replicate through a computer, so teachers may need to repeat themselves and try not to speak too fast. However, distance learning also allows educators to teach mask-free, which makes it easier for students to understand what the instructor is saying.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/translating-dyslexia-support-to-distance-learning-a-challenge-but-not-impo/588347/

Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed

Average student spending on textbooks and course materials continued to decline in the fall of 2020, while the number of units purchased or rented increased, according to data the research firm Student Monitor released today. On average, students spent $186 each on textbooks and course materials this fall, down from $199 in fall 2019. “During the fall semester of 2020, distance learning drove widespread adoption of less expensive eTextbooks in both sales and rentals — including through subscription models — leading to a 7 percent decline in spending as compared to the same period last year,” Eric Weil, managing partner at Student Monitor, said in a statement.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/11/05/student-textbook-spending-continues-decline

Hallie Busta, Education Dive

The pandemic’s impact on higher education is expected to linger. Potentially lower enrollment levels this year could play a role, but colleges aren’t experiencing that trend equally. For instance, while fewer students overall than a year ago went to public and private nonprofit colleges this fall, for-profits’ enrollment is growing. Primarily online institutions also reported gains. The following charts illustrate how enrollment levels are shaping up and the potential impact of that trend on tuition revenue. Note, some of the data is still preliminary, so we’ll have a clearer picture as more colleges report their numbers.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/7-charts-that-give-a-snapshot-of-college-enrollment-this-fall/588276/

Brian Davis, et al; EDUCAUSE Review

One of the most powerful tools that technology provides on the path to student success is data and analytics. Data allows institutions to better understand students, rethink systems, and create early-alert mechanisms to help students complete their degree. But finding the best way to use data and analytics can be tricky.

https://er.educause.edu/podcasts/educause-exchange/using-data-and-analytics-for-student-success

Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed

Professors’ use of active learning methods mitigated some of this negative effect, however. The findings leave the study’s authors “optimistic” about future student learning outcomes, even as “we remain in a period of substantial online instruction.” “Online teaching experience seems to matter, and during Spring 2020 most college faculty accumulated substantial experience,” the researchers wrote of their outlook. Moreover, it’s “possible to incorporate peer interaction such as think-pair-share or small group activities into synchronous online courses,” and these teaching strategies are “significantly associated with improved learning during the remotely taught portion of the semester.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/11/03/power-active-learning-during-remote-instruction

Heather Janssen, CBS Sacramento

“For us, we’ve had to change everything,” said Zena Lababidi. She’s pre-med and has had to take labs online, which is something she’d much rather do hands-on and in-person with the rest of her class. UC Davis said they’ve been providing their students with materials to perform the labs at home, but Lababidi still has fears brewing in her mind. “Am I going to find things more challenging in medical school for the fact that I got used to online and not in person?” she said.

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2020/11/02/college-students-fear-future-online-learning/

Hansa Bhargava, Web MD

I “attended” an educational conference this weekend — virtually, of course, due to the pandemic. I was online all day on Saturday and Sunday. By the end of each day, I was totally exhausted. The teaching was excellent, but constantly paying attention to a screen was difficult, as was completing all of the online assignments that were required. The whole experience really made me think: If I, a physician and mom, was drained by the online sessions and experienced challenges finding, completing, and uploading work, where does that leave our kids? Many of them have been keeping this type of pace with online school for 2 months now! There is no doubt that online school has been not only stressful on parents, but on kids too. Attending to school on a laptop or computer all day is hard. Paying attention and having the organization takes executive functioning skills that many kids don’t develop until their late teens.

https://blogs.webmd.com/webmd-doctors/20201103/beating-the-online-learning-blues

BY ALAN EWING, eCampus News

In January 2020, the FCC authorized commercial use of Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) connectivity, an initiative that broadly opens the use of the 3.5 GHz spectrum band for shared public and private use. This enables commercial users — e.g. school districts — to leverage a vast amount of invaluable underutilized mid-band spectrum. It provides a cost-effective and high-performance connectivity solution to make uncompromised 4G LTE- and 5G-quality connectivity readily available for education buildings, school campuses and district networks.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/11/04/how-shared-spectrum-connectivity-benefits-distance-learning/

Knowledge at Wharton

While AI today is good at repetitive tasks and can replace many managerial functions, it could over time acquire the “general intelligence” that humans have, he said in a recent interview with AI for Business (AIB), a new initiative at Analytics at Wharton. Headed by Wharton operations, information and decisions professor Kartik Hosanagar, AIB is a research initiative that focuses on helping students expand their knowledge and application of machine learning and understand the business and societal implications of AI.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/artificial-intelligence-will-change-think-leadership/

University Business
A new survey developed in partnership between CommScope and University Business (UB) asked higher education leaders about how they are using Smart Campus technologies, including ubiquitous wi-fi internet access, smart facilities, mobile technologies and more. The survey was deployed to the UB audience in October 2020 and some 253 higher education leaders participated.

http://www5.universitybusiness.com/mailing/partner/comscope/PDF/95406940_commscope_wp.pdf

EDUCAUSE
The EDUCAUSE Top IT Issues list has been refactored for 2021 to help higher education shape the role technology will play in the recovery from the pandemic. What different directions might institutional leaders take in their recovery strategy? How can technology help our ecosystem emerge stronger and fitter for the future? The 2021 EDUCAUSE IT Issues project explores these questions using a very different approach from previous years. Anticipating potential ways institutions might emerge from the pandemic, this year we offer three Top IT Issues lists and examine the top 5 issues within three scenarios that may guide institutional leaders’ use of technology: restore, evolve, and transform.

https://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/research/top-10-it-issues-technologies-and-trends/2021

Joao-Pierre S. RuthJoao-Pierre S. Ruth, Information Week

Gill defines the edge as the place where the physical and digital worlds interact, which can include sensors and industrial machine controllers. He says it is a form of distributed computing with assets placed in locations that can optimize latency and bandwidth. Retailers, internet of things, and the industrial world have already been working at the edge for more than a decade, Gill says. The current activity at the edge may introduce the world to even more possibilities. “What’s changed is the huge plethora of services from the cloud along with the rising intelligence and number of devices at the edge,” he says. “The edge completes the cloud.”

https://www.informationweek.com/cloud/the-inevitable-rise-of-intelligence-in-the-edge-ecosystem/a/d-id/1339295

Chantelle Rijs* and Frederick Fenter, Frontiers, Lausanne, Switzerland
COVID-19 has posed an unprecedented challenge to the international scientific community. Along with the disruption faced by most of the world’s population, many researchers have felt an added pressure to understand, cure and mitigate the virus. In order to gain insight into what impact COVID-19 has had on the international scientific community, their work and the implications for science, we conducted a survey with our editors, reviewers and authors in May and June 2020. In one of the largest academic surveys ever conducted, 25,307 members of our academic community participated, representing diverse countries, roles, and areas of research.  Read the full report to gain insight into what impact COVID-19 has had on researchers, their work and the implications for science.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.621563/full