Online Learning Update

by Jonathan Finkelstein , the Evolllution

As the distinction between learning at colleges, universities and workplaces continues to erode, credentials are supplanting the traditional role of the degree in terms of skills verification. Unlike the degree, credentials offer individuals the opportunity to showcase all aspects of “life-wide” learning, providing substantially more detailed insight into a person’s transferable abilities for both the classroom and the workforce. In Part One of this two-part interview, Jonathan Finkelstein discusses traditional postsecondary approaches to credentialing, and argues that the increasingly transactional nature of credentials justifies a more granular approach to skills verification.

The Evolving Transactional Nature of Credentialing: Alternative Credentials Today

by James Paterson, Education Dive
Community colleges rely heavily on adjunct professors, but new research suggests that the part-time instructors may adversely affect student performance at two-year institutions, particularly in STEM and health field courses. Research conducted by Di Xu, an assistant professor of educational policy at the University of California, Irvine, shows that while students having an adjunct instructor got better grades in introductory courses, they were more likely to drop subsequent courses in the field of study or get, on average, 4% lower grades than if they were instructed by a full-time faculty member. The research notes that the use of adjuncts is greatest at community colleges, which play “a critical role in addressing the national equity agenda by disproportionately serving underrepresented groups.”

https://www.educationdive.com/news/adjunct-instructors-can-cause-lower-grades-for-students/532033/

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

Crafting an efficient schedule of college course offerings means solving a complex puzzle. And more colleges these days are turning to algorithms to help reduce the number of classes that are either overloaded or full of empty seats. A study out last week of about 200 colleges found that many course schedules are “unbalanced,” with 45 percent of courses analyzed filled to less than 70 percent capacity and 23 percent of courses classified as “overloaded,” meaning more than 95 percent full. That inefficiency is having an impact on retention, the study found. The greater the inefficiency of the course catalog, the lower the graduation rate at the institutions analyzed.  But even if an AI system can show college leaders where they need to create more courses, there’s still a bigger problem: The college may not have the resources to hire additional faculty to create those sections.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-09-11-many-college-courses-are-either-overloaded-or-underfilled-that-may-be-hurting-retention

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News
MSI presidents–and higher-ed presidents in general–can greatly benefit from a few key social media practices.  Only slightly more than one-third (36 percent) of presidents at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) use Twitter, compared to 55 percent of all college and university presidents–and they’re missing out on a big opportunity, according to new research. Of that MSI group, most don’t post or tweet regularly, meaning they miss chances to connect with current and prospective students, as well as stakeholders and supporters, according to Presidential Engagement of Students at Minority Serving Institutions, which gauges how MSI leaders can use social media to connect with and engage students. The report comes from the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions, and its leader profiles and social media suggestions aren’t necessarily limited to MSI presidents.

11 ways presidents can engage students with social media

by Ramona Schindelheim, Working Nation

It is clear colleges and universities will be facing some major headwinds unless they rethink their roles in preparing students for the workforce, according to one respected expert on higher education. “There’s a rising demand for talent, and colleges and universities are a major engine of talent production in this country. I continue to argue that they will be for the foreseeable future, but their position is much more precarious than it was a few years ago,” according to Jamie Merisotis, the President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation, a foundation whose mission is to make post-high school learning opportunities available to all.

Is college the right, or only, path to a good-paying job?

by Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report

Only a handful of states, colored in blue, are predicted to see an increase in the number of students attending regional four-year colleges and universities between 2012 and 2029. The rest will see declines in students. In the red-colored states, the drop in students will exceed 15%. The dots represent large metropolitan areas. These urban college markets, such as San Diego, may diverge from their state’s or region’s trends. Nathan D. Grawe, Carleton College.  What does the declining birthrate mean for colleges and universities and the students who hope to get a college degree a decade from now? The answer depends on where you live in the United States and how selective the college is. For most colleges and universities, the outlook is grim. But that could be a good thing for their future students.

But student demand is expected to grow for the nation’s most elite colleges and universities between 2012 and 2029. The dots represent large metropolitan areas, which sometimes diverge from their state’s growth forecasts. Nathan D. Grawe, Carleton College

Nathan Grawe, an economist at Carleton College in Minnesota, predicts that the college-going population will drop by 15 percent between 2025 and 2029 and continue to decline by another percentage point or two thereafter.

College students predicted to fall by more than 15% after the year 2025

By Common Sense Education

Social media can pose risks to students’ privacy, but these risks can be managed with informed, intentional use. There’s also a huge upside: Teachers can use social media to share best practices, provide an authentic audience for students’ work, cultivate and model digital citizenship among their students and build more connected school communities.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2018/09/10/protecting-your-students-privacy-on-social-media.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology
In a pilot program at Berkeley College, members of a Virtual Reality Faculty Interest Group tested the use of virtual reality to immerse students in a variety of learning experiences. During winter 2018, seven different instructors in nearly as many disciplines used inexpensive Google Cardboard headsets along with apps on smartphones to virtually place students in North Korea, a taxicab and other environments as part of their classwork. Participants used free mobile applications such as Within, the New York Times VR, Discovery VR, Jaunt VR and YouTube VR. Their courses included critical writing, international business, business essentials, medical terminology, international banking, public speaking and crisis management.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/09/05/berkeley-college-faculty-test-vr-for-learning.aspx

by David Raths, Campus Technology

Columbus State Community College created a multimedia e-book for English composition students that reduces textbook costs and reimagines the ways learners engage with course material.   CSCC’s “iComp: A Guide to First-Year Writing” Multi-Touch iBook has completed a two-semester, seven-class pilot phase and is now being rolled out to four courses. According to the project team, the book eliminates the need for traditional textbooks and re-frames the ways students engage with course material. While it is important that students are saving money, the hope is that the innovative curriculum design will increase student success and retention. “We wanted to have the textbook be something students are constantly interacting with as a means of doing the work, not a supplementary thing,” explained Nicholas Lakostik, an associate professor of rhetoric and composition and one of the four authors of the book.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/09/05/making-etextbooks-more-interactive.aspx

by University of Florida

University of Florida Online is once again partnering with a leading employer – The Walt Disney Company – to expand access to high quality online bachelor’s degrees. Disney Aspire, recently launched by The Walt Disney Company, is a comprehensive education benefits program focused on the career development of Disney’s workforce. With the Disney Aspire initiative, more than 80,000 full-time and part-time hourly employees, who have more than 90 days of service, will be eligible to have 100 percent of their tuition, required textbooks and course materials, plus application and program fees paid up front by the company. As part of this relationship, Disney employees may apply to one of several fully online bachelor’s degrees – the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Warrington College of Business; the Bachelor of Science in sport management from the College of Health and Human Performance; and the Bachelor of Science in public relations, and the Bachelor of Science in telecommunication from the College of Journalism and Communications. If granted admission by the University of Florida, Disney cast members could begin UF Online classes in January 2019 as part of the University’s spring semester. Disney employees and Cast Members can learn more and sign up at aspire.disney.com.

http://news.ufl.edu/articles/2018/09/expanded-uf-online-partnership-will-provide-education-benefits-to-more-than-80000-hourly-disney-employees-nationwide.php

by Northern Kentucky Tribune
Sullivan University’s Center for Learning- Northern Kentucky closed its doors over the weekend. A spokesperson for the university said the majority of students were enrolling in online degrees or in the culinary programs in Louisville and Lexington. Vicki Berling, director of the center, confirmed the closing. Sullivan University is undergoing a significant reorganization, a merger of the Sullivan College of Technology and Design and Spencerian College into the university. This was approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and was final in June.

https://www.nkytribune.com/2018/09/sullivan-universitys-northern-kentucky-center-for-learning-has-closed-majority-studying-online/

by Kathleen Golden, Smart Brief

Online courses give learners and instructors flexible class options, but they also pose difficulties that instructors must overcome. Research shows that online students crave more interactions with their peers and instructors. Unfortunately, it’s challenging to forge meaningful connections with people in the course through email or text-driven forums alone. The distance between students and their instructor often creates a divide — one that’s been proven to affect learning outcomes as well as student satisfaction. Video assessment can help online teachers bridge this divide. Video assessment refers to instructors evaluating recordings of students completing a task, demonstrating a skill or any other activity that showcases their knowledge.

http://www.smartbrief.com/original/2018/09/close-distance

by Amit Garg, Upside Learning

eLearning has myriad benefits. Studies have shown that eLearning can reduce the overall training time by as much as 40% to 60%. This can help businesses cut down on the assorted expenses and experience a rise in productivity and in turn profitability. Besides the cost part, eLearning also offers several other paybacks for organizations. It provides easier tracking and record keeping, which means L&D can gauge the progress of learners, examine their weak areas and plan future courses based on this analysis. Most importantly, eLearning offers the flexibility of anytime, anywhere training, considering today’s workforce is a busy lot and may not have the time to take training sessions tethered to workstations or training bays. Another advantage is that in a dynamic market where time matters the most, eLearning provides quicker delivery cycles as compared to traditional classroom-based instruction. Learners can set their own pace of learning and can focus on specific elements of the program while skipping what they already know.

http://www.elearninglearning.com/edition/weekly-wage-and-hour-training-corporate-elearning-2018-09-01

By Martin Pritikin, Law 360
In August, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association adopted a rule that increased the amount of credit hours that its law schools could offer through distance learning means. This is certainly a positive development — although it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Prior Standard 306 of the ABA Standards for Accreditation of Law Schools limited law schools to offering no more than 15 credits to be taught online.

https://www.law360.com/legalindustry/articles/1076685

By Grainne McGuinness, Irish Examiner

Alison is just one provider, there are many others, often backed by prestigious colleges with global reputations. Stanford graduates established Coursera, which has gone on to educate millions for free, while Futurelearn, whose courses I have completed in the past, is an offshoot of the Open University. Other websites worth checking out include Udacity, EdX and Open Learn. These do not just offer academic subjects, they offer many courses to allow you to learn more about a particular area of interest.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/features/making-cents-plenty-of-free-online-courses-to-fire-imagination-866533.html

BY ANDREW KING, eCampus News
From automating the scheduling process to streamlining the admissions process, AI has great potential in higher ed. In light of the fact that only 59 percent of students who begin pursuing a four-year degree at a higher-ed institution graduate within six years, many in the industry are seeking innovative ways to improve student outcomes. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have led to its adoption across many sectors. The multidisciplinary field presents a wide variety of opportunities for application, giving it great potential for use in higher education. AI encompasses these sub fields:

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2018/09/10/how-ai-will-shape-the-university-of-the-future/

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

OSU has launched a strategic digital learning initiative to help students learn technology and coding skills for academic success and career readiness. The Digital Flagship Initiative gives students in-demand skills and meets students where they are in terms of technology use. Part of that initiative is an iPad for each of the 11,000 first-year students at OSU’s Columbus and regional campuses, with a growing number of courses requiring the tablets.

Here’s how technology is revolutionizing the student experience

by Alex Hickey, Education Dive

Software development is Woz U’s largest track and includes several programming languages as well as fundamentals and core software engineering. The breadth of the track allows Woz U to tailor the tools in the program to match the demand in a given city, according to Coleman. Adult education is the largest focus right now: Most of Woz U’s students are in the 25-35 year age range, with almost two-thirds already holding a degree and looking for a second career, Coleman said. There’s also a lot of opportunity for Woz U to partner with existing institutions that don’t have the resources they need to run a technology education program and help fill those needs. But universities alone aren’t producing enough computer science talent to fill all the openings, and with even more digital jobs expected in coming years, alternative paths to recruitment are becoming more popular.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/as-woz-u-turns-1-program-matches-newly-minted-tech-talent-to-a-hungry-work/531540/

by Elissa Nadworny, NPR

So here’s a snapshot of the 17 million Americans enrolled in undergraduate higher education, according to numbers culled by the National Center for Education Statistics.

• 1 in 5 is at least 30 years old
• About half are financially independent from their parents
• 1 in 4 is caring for a child
• 47 percent go to school part time at some point
• A quarter take a year off before starting school
• 2 out of 5 attend a two-year community college
• 44 percent have parents who never completed a bachelor’s degree

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/09/04/638561407/todays-college-students-arent-who-you-think-they-are

By Jeffrey J. Selingo, Washington Post

A recent Harris Poll found that two-thirds of 14- to 23-year-old students want a degree to provide financial security, ranking it above all else when it comes to their motivation for going to college. At the same time, fewer students are majoring in the humanities, according to newly released government data. More flock toward science, technology, engineering and math majors — known collectively as STEM — that they think will burnish their employment prospects. While unemployment among recent college graduates is at historic lows, underemployment is not. Some 40 percent of college graduates are underemployed, meaning they are in jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Colleges have been slow to react to this shift in the mind-set of students, largely resisting efforts to make campuses look and act more like trade schools — and for good reason.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/09/01/college-students-say-they-want-a-degree-for-a-job-are-they-getting-what-they-want/

by James Paterson, Education Dive
The College of William & Mary will expand its online graduate business degree offerings through the new School of Business Center for Online Learning funded by a longtime supporter’s $10 million gift, one of the largest donations the department has ever received. The W&M Raymond A. Mason School of Business will offer a wider array of students more access to online graduate-level instruction. The center is the next step in the college’s plan established five years ago to offer an MBA online, which started in 2015, and a business analytics master’s degree, which launched this summer. Officials say they expect to quadruple online offerings soon. W&M has one of the lowest student-to-teacher ratios among U.S. institutions, according to college officials, including in its online business school courses. They also say the low ratios help attract prominent faculty members to the online business program, which has an average retention rate of about 90%, above the national average.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/10m-grant-expands-william-mary-online-mba-program/531593/