Educational Technology

BY BILL CONNER,  eCampus News

This semester, higher-ed institutions around the world have struggled to keep up with the digital demands of remote learning. As these organizations build the infrastructure that will support distance learning moving forward, it’s more critical than ever for the education industry to consider the safety and security of its students and faculty members as we look ahead to how COVID-19 will continue to impact learning institutions. College campuses have long been a target for cyber threat actors. In fact, EDUCAUSE reported that the number one IT issue academic institutions face in 2020 is adopting a sound information security strategy.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/06/19/covid-19-ushers-in-a-new-era-of-cybersecurity/

RACHEL OHMSTAFF, Press-Herald
Most students will not return to campus in the fall and nearly all classes will be taught online, according to a letter sent to students, faculty and staff Monday morning.  The liberal arts college in Brunswick announced its plan for the fall semester in a letter from President Clayton Rose to students, faculty and staff Monday morning. The plan calls for some students, but not all, to return to campus and for almost all classes to be taught online.

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/06/22/bowdoin-announces-most-classes-will-be-taught-online-this-fall/

Santa Clarita Valley Signal

Whatever the future of distance learning, online classroom offerings will still be a draw for working adults. This survey by the Strada Education Network showed that over half the Latino and Black (52% and 54%), as well as a significant portion of Caucasians surveyed (34%), plan to enroll in online education and training programs after the pandemic passes.  In the meantime, with students spending more time on line, data security concerns are greater than ever. Students tend let their guard down in their eagerness to find information and source material for their classes and assignments.

https://signalscv.com/2020/06/data-security-for-new-norm-distance-learning/

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

In the weeks of COVID-19 isolation, the disparity of access to the internet has become more obvious as school-age children and adult learners have been deprived access to education and livelihoods. After we emerge from the pandemic, the internet will be even more prominent than before in education, business, government and social engagement. In isolation, we have built a deeper reliance upon the net and we will soon see an expansion of “work from home,” requiring a wider variety of network access for an increasing number of occupations. Katherine Guyot and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution predict, “In the post-pandemic world, it may stay with us as a popular practice that, if done well, can improve job satisfaction, raise productivity, reduce emissions, and spread work to more remote regions.” In order to avoid further disenfranchising the rural and lower-income workers, it is critically important that we find a way to provide universal access to the massive education and work venue that the internet has become.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/universal-broadband-time-has-come

Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

As MIT considered whether to hold classes online or in person in the fall, and how to operate safely in either case, it decided to tap the collective wisdom of its faculty, staff and students. So it decided to run a giant crowdsourcing effort. That included running 69 community forums via Zoom, where participants were broken into groups of 10 to 12 to brainstorm and voice their opinions on a menu of options.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-06-19-how-mit-is-crowdsourcing-its-reopening-plans-for-the-fall

Marcia Lyner-Cleophas, Maverick

Students are usually assessed in specific ways during a specific period, such as two or three hours answering memorised questions. Given the current online reality, we are now forced to consider and to work with students with varying abilities who do not fit into the average mould described above. More importantly, we must think of all students and the type of teaching, learning and assessment that would work best for all students. The use of assistive technology has always been part of the support needed for many students with disabilities, but its availability was mixed.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2020-06-18-online-learning-during-lockdown-helps-us-find-ways-to-teach-differently-abled-students/

Abigail Hess, CNBC

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see enrollment in residential college programs drop by roughly 10% or so in the fall, and revenue to fall around 20% if students won’t be able to attend in-person in the fall,” says Horn. “On the flip side, I think we will see enrollments in online programs rise quite a bit, driven by adult learners — many of whom have been recently laid off — looking to wait out the recession and use their time productively by skilling up.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/19/7-ways-coronavirus-pandemic-may-change-college-this-fall-and-forever.html

ANANT AGARWAL, EDX NEWS

Today, we’re excited to share insights from a new study on online learning. The study, which is one of the largest experiments ever conducted in higher education and lifelong learning, shows the incredible power and potential of at-scale online learning platforms, specifically edX, as particle accelerators for learning.  This new study underscores one of the pillars of edX’s founding mission, to advance teaching and learning through research. The study, which was conducted by researchers from MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Cornell, looked at ways to help learners complete online courses.

https://blog.edx.org/one-largest-experiments-ever-conducted-higher-education-lifelong-learning-happened-edx-learned/

MATT KRISTOFFERSEN, Yale Daily News

As the Yale community awaits announcements regarding how education will continue in the fall semester, the News surveyed Yale College students from the classes of 2021 through 2023 about their opinions regarding online learning. Results from the survey suggest that 52 percent of student respondents are at least “likely” to postpone enrollment if students are not allowed to return to campus. If students are able to live, learn and attend classes in person, roughly 7 percent would consider taking time off from school. The anonymous survey — which began accepting submissions on May 21 and closed on May 25 — received 2,129 responses, representing about 35 percent of the undergraduate student population

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/06/20/fall-2020-more-than-half-of-yalies-consider-time-off-if-classes-go-online/