Educational Technology

Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, its financial impact on American colleges and universities is now estimated to substantially exceed $120 billion. That’s according to a recent letter from the American Council of Education (ACE) and dozens of other organizations representing the nation’s two- and four-year colleges. The letter was sent to House of Representative leaders as the House considers another financial relief package that would provide additional stimulus checks and unemployment benefits to individual Americans, along with more money for small businesses, the states, Covid-19 interventions, and education as the economy continues to struggle to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/09/29/pandemics-impact-on-higher-education-grows-larger-now-estimated-to-exceed-120-billion/#78dfc7b022bd

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed

In the space of just a few months, thousands of students joke that they have transferred to Zoom U — some even opting to make it “official” with the purchase of an unofficial sweatshirt. Zoom’s videoconferencing platform has become synonymous with remote instruction during the pandemic. But Zoom was not designed specifically for educational use. ClassEDU, a start-up created by Michael Chasen, former CEO and co-founder of Blackboard, aims to change that. ClassEDU announced last week that it has raised $16 million in seed funding to develop Class for Zoom — a Zoom add-on that will give educators new features such as the ability to take class attendance, get data insights into student participation and issue interactive quizzes during class.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/09/29/companies-and-instructors-build-technology-take-remote-instruction-video-tools-next

FAIR
Recruiters and flexible-work platforms are adapting artificial intelligence to rank candidates and assign work. Unchecked, artificial intelligence will systematically discriminate, omit, and erase billions of people. To avoid it, companies and their technology providers should:

1. Disclose the use of AI
2. Provide transparency for factors being incorporated into the AI
3. Disclose rankings to candidates
4. Detect bias
5. Pledge to reduce discrimination in hiring

https://www.fair.tech/

By Carl Campanile and Bernadette Hogan, NY Post

The coronavirus pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on New York’s public universities, which are bracing for a 25 percent cut in state operating aid on top of big revenue losses, The Post has learned.The 64-campus State University of New York faces a revenue loss between $800 million to $1 billion for the 2020-21 academic year due to COVID-19’s impact on enrollment and other costs to keep campuses safe, a SUNY spokesperson said.

https://nypost.com/2020/09/27/suny-campuses-face-25-percent-cut-in-state-aid-amid-pandemic/

Amelia Pang, EdTech

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 19 percent of college students in the U.S. report having a disability. And many of them might struggle when using technology. A Pew Research Center survey found that disabled Americans ages 18 and older are less likely to feel confident when using the internet and other electronic communication tools. Here are some tips on how to make online, hybrid and remote learning more accessible for students with impairments.

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2020/09/how-can-universities-help-disabled-students-remote-learning-perfcon

Christian Hans, OU Daily

The OUr Safety Protest group continues to push for changes at OU, hoping to keep students, faculty and staff safe while still continuing their education. Their list of demands include a return to online learning and a tiered furlough structure which would keep those whose income depend on OU as the last to go if necessary. “So we started with the (COVID-19) OU group chat for information, then we made a group chat called COVID Protest OU for people to vent their frustrations,” said Jake Allen, one of the organizers for the event. “Out of that, a smaller group came together and voted that we wanted a group of people to come together.”

http://www.oudaily.com/news/ou-student-group-continues-to-advocate-for-online-learning-after-semesters-first-month-amid-covid/article_f6472c18-015d-11eb-86b8-3789a7e2e5dd.html

DAN SPINDLE, KSL TV

“Our study shows that most students really believe that it’s preparation for the workplace, and so making sure that they are prepared as they leave college to get a job,” he said. The practical, real-world learning can translate to jobs and gainful employment. Canvas officials said they hope learning how to that effectively will be the big lesson from the pandemic.

https://ksltv.com/446104/canvas-official-says-online-learning-gives-students-real-world-tech-experience/

MARJO JOHNE, GLOBE AND MAIL

King’s College School students who returned to the classroom this fall found an unfamiliar cylindrical object with owl-like eyes sitting atop their teacher’s desk. “It’s a ‘Meeting Owl’ video-conferencing device with a 360-degree camera for a panoramic view of the entire classroom, and with a smartboard that displays images of the kids at home,” says Sandra Donovan, director of admissions at King’s College in Caledon, Ont., northwest of Toronto. “This way everyone can feel connected, wherever they are.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/featured-reports/article-using-technology-to-enrich-the-online-learning-experience/

Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Online education is a means, not an end. Online learning is a method, not a goal. Moreover, the distinction between residential and online learning is rapidly evaporating. It may make as much sense to talk about online learning as it does to distinguish between in-person and remote work. We will work whenever and wherever we are, be it in the office or at home. It will just be work. What is strategic is thinking about the institution’s goals and then figuring out the learning modalities that support those goals.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/learning-innovation/online-learning-not-strategic

Stephen Losey, Air Force Times

Lt. Gen. James Hecker, commander of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, said classes there can switch from in-person to virtual learning — whether on-site or remotely elsewhere — within a day if there’s a coronavirus outbreak or other emergency. On the other hand, Hecker said, if conditions quickly improved after a theoretical outbreak at Maxwell, Air University could quickly move back to in-person learning the next day. Adopting technology and virtual learning is helping Air University prepare for other emergencies, such as hurricanes. In the past, he said, a hurricane would force AU to send everyone home and several days of classes would be lost.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/09/23/online-learning-keeps-aetc-flexible-during-coronavirus/

IGOR CHIRIKOV AND RENE KIZILCEC, EdSource

Some US colleges are well on the way towards this model. A number of colleges in Texas are forming online course-sharing consortia that allow colleges to expand their course offerings, help students graduate on time and increase enrollments at a lower cost. Internationally, China, India, and Russia de facto established such consortia at the national level to address challenges associated with the shortage of qualified instructors and growing demand for higher education. To evaluate the financial and pedagogical consequences of this course-sharing model, we tested it in a randomized controlled experiment with two foundational engineering courses.

https://edsource.org/2020/colleges-can-blunt-economic-impact-of-pandemic-by-sharing-online-courses/640052

Hallie Busta, Education Dive

The majority of college faculty members and administrators feel prepared to teach at least some classes online, according to a new survey of nearly 900 instructors and administrators conducted in early August. However, around a third of instructors and a fourth of administrators said they are “pessimistic” about the future of higher education, though they were more optimistic about their roles in the field and their institutions’ outlooks.  Faculty and school officials must balance the competing impacts of pandemic-related revenue reductions and the need for investment in online learning.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/college-faculty-officials-feel-prepared-to-teach-online-report/585764/

Alex Rockey, EDUAUSE Review

Using integrated technologies in online courses to provide effective and meaningful feedback to students can leverage the unique affordances of online courses to support student success. With remote teaching being used in emergency situations, proactively knowing how to teach and learn online is more important than ever. Educators at all levels need to have a sense of empirically based pedagogy to guide them when they are called to teach online.

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/9/reimagining-online-education-how-perceived-constraints-became-affordances

Nature – Editorial

All this means that students from the poorest families, without Internet access, are more likely to be denied education — widening already deep educational inequalities. Because education is strongly linked to later jobs, income and health, setbacks now will last a lifetime. In universities, the transition to online education is enabling institutions to reach out to students from underserved areas and under-represented communities. But paradoxically, if children from these communities are unable to access earlier schooling, fewer will be able to proceed to higher education. The pandemic will force a large number of institutions will remain closed, and online learning will substitute for the real thing. But if broadband and laptops are the equivalent of the teacher, the library and the laboratory, it cannot be acceptable that these are available to only a fraction of students.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02709-3

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The unparalleled challenges of a global pandemic have brought big changes to college campuses. But one adjustment schools have had to make — moving to more virtual learning — may be here to stay. “I think it’s the present of college and I think it’s the future,” said Kristin Sobolik, chancellor of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Education in general was moving in that direction before COVID-19, but the pandemic forced institutions to pivot much more quickly, Sobolik said. And in a lot of cases, educators are finding that flexible online learning works as well or better than face-to-face instruction, she said. “I’m not sure that it’s going to go back to the way it was,” she said. “I think that frankly, COVID has changed the landscape of our nation and particularly higher ed.”

https://www.stltoday.com/brandavestudios/college-connection/even-post-pandemic-virtual-learning-may-become-a-bigger-part-of-college-life/article_083b4c81-d070-569c-a204-aecd447733b2.html

Chelsea Toczauer, Online Education

We spoke with professors that are also experts in the design and rollout of scaled online degrees to learn more about the development of online degrees at scale and what they could mean for students.

https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/online-degrees-at-scale

SBG-TV

Quality education and a college degree are still possible though. Students just need to tap into a method that’s actually been around for a long time: online learning. With safety as a top priority for parents and educators, 100% online degrees are being offered in place of in-person education. Eastern Oregon University is one of the institutions that is fully embracing this opportunity to educate students amid the COVID-19 pandemic through a flexible and affordable online program. They offer a variety of degrees that you can find here. For those who are wary of starting a program that is entirely online, don’t fret. Eastern Oregon University is dedicated to equipping its students with all the tools they need to succeed at home. In fact, the EOU program isn’t just embracing the online movement. Their digital degrees were designed for the online platform, rather than as a knee-jerk response to the pandemic.

https://komonews.com/sponsored/spotlight/the-online-education-program-built-for-pandemic-learning

Heather Staker and Thomas Arnett, Christensen Institute

The idea of student-centered learning is not new; teachers have long sought to design personalized, competency-based environments that are tailored to individuals and that empower students to drive their own learning. What is new is the emergence of an online learning ecosystem and, with it, the technical possibility of equipping all students with a student-centered model. Add to this mix COVID-19, which has provoked unprecedented demand for reinventing what teachers do, and it’s the perfect combination of catalysts for a rapid conversion to student-centered schooling.

https://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/student-centered-educator-competencies/

Matthea Marquart and Roxanne Russell, EDUCAUSE Review

Instructors who teach live online classes should thoughtfully consider whether to require students to use their webcams during class. First is the issue of equity. Second, constantly being on webcam can detract from student learning…. We recommend that instructors stay on their webcams throughout the class and plan selective use of students’ webcams for activities such as group discussions, role-play activities, debates, panel discussions, student presentations, and any other interactive activity that would be enhanced by seeing the students who are speaking. Even in those cases, if a student cannot be on webcam, participation via microphone or typed chat can suffice.

https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/9/dear-professors-dont-let-student-webcams-trick-you

Stephanie Creary and Kwasi Mitchell, Knowledge at Wharton

Creating a more tolerant and just workplace takes time, said Kwasi Mitchell, Principal and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lead at Deloitte Consulting, LLP. “We need to think of it more as a spiral staircase rather than a linear path,” he said. “It’s going to be a mixture of bold change, a mixture of tactical steps that are going to lead us up the spiral staircase. Remember that we are, in fact, going up. I think that’s the key in remaining hopeful.”

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/three-steps-for-creating-a-more-equitable-workplace/

Jo Best, ZD Net

Several different types of working brain-computer interfaces already exist, gathering data on electrical signals from the user’s brain and translating them into data that can be interpreted by machines. And while Neuralink has yet to implant any of its devices into human subjects, a number of research laboratories have done just that — to date, a handful of individuals have been fitted with functioning brain-computer interface devices. Typically, they are people who have suffered a spinal injury that’s left them paralysed, and who use BCIs help them regain some of that lost function. (One notable user has already been able to recover enough movement in his hands to play Guitar Hero.)

https://www.zdnet.com/article/elon-musks-brain-computer-startup-is-getting-ready-to-blow-your-mind/