Educational Technology

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

LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

Students spoke candidly about what’s working–and what isn’t–during online learning in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. A global pandemic can change learning, but it can’t stop it–and during a virtual EDUCAUSE conference session, educators heard directly from students how to best meet student needs during online learning. Moderated by Kate Miffitt, director for innovation in California State University’s Office of the Chancellor, and with questions led by Michael Berman, chief information officer with California State University’s Office of the Chancellor, the discussion covered student engagement, mental health and well-being, online course structure, and much more.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/10/30/9-student-observations-about-online-learning/

Michael Horowitz, Campus Technology

Expect institutions to put budget toward in-house media teams, specifically in the realm of video production. Courses that are traditionally hands-on, such as labs and workshops, will require high-quality video to translate effectively into a digital medium…. Other campus resources — libraries, tutoring services, mental health counseling — will also need to be built out in virtual environments. Broadly speaking, the experience of attending a school online will need to be every bit as substantive as attending live.

https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2020/10/20/COVID19s-Lasting-Effects-on-the-Higher-Education-Landscape.aspx

Tom Mitchell and Maxwell Bigman, Tomorrow’s Professor

We borrowed the concept from the human-computer interaction world. “Beyond being there” is the notion that, rather than trying to replicate in-person experiences with technology, it’s using the technology to allow for opportunities that aren’t possible in — and in many ways are preferable to — the traditional in-person classroom setup. And so that’s been our lens. There are tools, specifically designed for education, like polling apps, question-and-answer applications, group messaging applications, plus reading apps that help the students to annotate and share thoughts, for instance, that can help in a way that’s not like the in-person classroom.

https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1826

Marguerite J Dennis, University World News
In Wikipedia, lifelong learning is defined as ‘the ongoing, voluntary and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge either for personal or professional reasons’. The definition recognises that learning is not confined to childhood or to the classroom but takes place throughout life and in a range of situations. The Oxford dictionary defines lifelong learning as the practice of continuing to learn throughout one’s life to foster the continuous development and skills needed for employment and personal fulfilment. Both definitions recognise the need for continuous learning throughout one’s life.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201027103637927

Max Auguliaro, Stroud Courier

I always felt that online classes, as opposed to in person classes, would be harder because the lack of in-person instruction makes it harder to connect and communicate. This is personally helpful to me because I know I need that little push in order to get a lot of my schoolwork done and I know I am not the only one who works like this. Online classes also require a lot more attention than in-person classes for the same reasons. Attention that I could otherwise use for other things, including my hobbies, and my much harder classes.

http://thestroudcourier.com/2020/10/29/a-personal-experience-adjusting-to-online-learning/

Jessica Kisluk, WICZ

Students are a few months into their online learning for the fall semester and many are feeling the effects of online learning fatigue. Binghamton University Assistant Director for Student Transition and Success and Success Coach Julia Milewski says students are saying the biggest challenges are having online classes back to back and staying engaged. This is not only with Zoom courses, but online assignments as well.

http://www.wicz.com/story/42838787/how-to-cope-with-online-learning-fatigue

Eric Griffith, PC Magazine
It should be drilled into you by now: Use antivirus software. These programs—from free tools and paid antivirus software up to major security suites—keep tabs on your Windows PC with scans, real-time monitoring, even heuristic analysis of files and processes so new threats can be identified. It’s imperative, especially with Windows, that you have antivirus installed. If you suspect or know you’re already infected with a computer virus on your Windows 10 PC, what do you do? Follow these steps and you may be back in working order in no time.

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-remove-malware-from-your-pc

Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed
Survey finds undergrads feel modestly more engaged — especially when they think their professors have made an effort — and are somewhat likelier to continue their educations. Undergraduates who are studying online this fall rate their learning experience as modestly better than what they encountered last spring — with greater levels of satisfaction among students who see their instructors taking steps to understand and engage them, according to a new survey of 3,400 undergraduates in the U.S. and Canada.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/11/13/student-impressions-online-learning-improve-modestly-fall

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive

About 75% of private colleges and 60% of public colleges expect net tuition revenue will decline in fiscal year 2021, according to Moody’s Investors Service. That’s compared to 39% and 54%, respectively, that said so last year. The credit rating agency partially attributes the losses to increased financial aid and pandemic-driven enrollment downturns, especially among international students. Most colleges have suffered financially this year, but Moody’s found that small, private colleges are most likely to predict net tuition will decrease in 2021.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/more-colleges-project-tuition-revenue-will-decline-report/588045/

Dutch Godshalk, Temple Now

As virtual learning continues to keep students in their homes and physically distanced from their peers, many Temple professors are finding clever ways to recapture the intimacy and community of a traditional classroom. Betsy Leebron Tutelman is one of those professors. Tutelman, senior vice provost for strategic communications and a professor of media studies and production in the Klein College of Media and Communication, has been hosting Zoom coffeehouses for her Media Studies and Production (MSP) classes, providing a loose and informal environment where her students can more easily get to know each other.

https://news.temple.edu/news/2020-10-28/virtual-coffeehouses-create-community-online-learners