Online Learning Update

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Cheating is a serious problem in American high schools and universities. According to the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), about 68 % of undergraduate students and about 43 % of graduate students admit to cheating on tests or in written assignments. Even top tertiary institutions like Harvard, Stanford University, and Duke University among others have not escaped cheating scandals. Several studies point to a similar problem in high schools. Schools have been looking into ways to prevent high-tech cheating before it happens, and now artificial intelligence can also be leveraged for this purpose. There is a number of new technologies that universities can leverage to prevent cheating and plagiarism.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-schools-can-fight-cheating-with-artificial-intelligence/

Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle

Opening day for California’s first online community college is 10 weeks away, but that doesn’t mean the public will be able to enroll — at least not this year. College officials had announced that fall registration would begin this summer for the state’s 115th community college, the first fully online public school in the state. But instead of letting all California residents enroll as planned, officials say the first class will be hand-picked with help from the Service Employees International Union labor group, most likely from its own ranks.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-s-online-community-college-plans-to-14109597.php

Alexandra Levit, Forbes

In two online research studies conducted in 2018 and 2019, we asked 500 North American hiring managers about their talent activation strategies. Critically, we learned that most leaders feel current employees aren’t doing enough to drive their own growth and rely too heavily on organizational direction. For example, only 24% of respondents cited their employees as “definitely” proactive in taking charge of their professional development. Similarly, less than half of hiring managers “strongly agreed” that their employees recognize the importance of learning agile.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2019/07/25/are-todays-rising-leaders-willing-to-learn-what-it-takes/

By Henry Kronk, eLearning Inside

Two trends in education have been gaining steam in the past few years. First, as enrollment declines and many smaller colleges and universities experience budget squeezes, some have eyed online learning as a means to reach more students and/or bring down the cost of instruction. Second, law schools have been pushing their accreditor, the American Bar Association, for greater leniency when it comes to online and distance instruction. Both of these trends have converged in the state of Maine this summer with the release of a committee report advising the future strategy of the University of Maine Law School, known as Maine Law.

https://news.elearninginside.com/a-committee-wants-to-bring-maine-law-online-but-byzantine-regs-from-aba-stand-in-the-way/

Shailaja Neelakantan, Education Dive

Dozens of institutions have urged the government to expedite the approval process in order to stem the loss of foreign students. Enrollment of new international students in U.S. colleges is already trending downward. For undergraduates, new enrollments fell 2.9% from their peak in 2015-16 to 2016-17 and again by 6.3% the year after that. Graduate new enrollments are following a similar trend, down 6.8% from their high point in 2015-16 to 2017-18, according to data from the Institute of International Education. Falling enrollments hit colleges’ bottom lines and also affect their local communities. The more than 1 million international students currently in the U.S. pitch in $39 billion to the economy and support as many as 455,000 U.S. jobs despite accounting for just 5.5% of higher ed enrollment in the country, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/colleges-fear-losing-international-students-over-visa-delays/559153/

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Whether you choose to look at size or money, China comes out tops every time in terms of edtech. In 2018, Chinese startups received over 50% of all the capital invested by venture capitalists in edtech worldwide. Chinese edtech companies received more money than the total amount invested in edtech firms from all other countries combined, according to a study by HolonIQ. Education is a $6 trillion industry and is expected to grow to $8 trillion by 2015, according to HolonIQ. However, education is receiving a relatively small portion of global investments when one looks at all sectors. Global investment in all sectors is worth $90 trillion while the education sector is worth only $150 billion.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/why-is-china-the-worlds-leader-in-edtech/

Kelsey Berkowitz, Third Way

In our current postsecondary system, credentials often don’t build on one another, or “stack.” This makes it difficult for people to pursue their education in smaller, more manageable pieces over time and then stack those pieces—that is, combine multiple short-term credentials into a larger credential (like an associate’s degree). When available, stacking is most commonly seen at the associate’s degree level, but stackable credentials can affect a wide range of credentials and institutional types. Students who participate in short-term programs should not be dissuaded from going on to earn degrees, since degree-holders tend to have higher earnings growth over their lifetimes. And for people who prefer to complete a longer-term credential all at once, the traditional path would remain available. Still, stackable credentials could provide an alternative path to a degree. Here are four ways to encourage broader access to them:

https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-playbook-30-solutions-to-promote-faster-credentials

By Nick Hazelrigg, Inside Higher Ed

Survey finds the amount students spend on course materials each year has decreased, possibly indicating students are increasingly utilizing open-source material and other educational resources. According to the survey of more than 20,000 students across 41 institutions conducted by the National Association of College Stores, students on average spent $415 on course materials in the 2018-19 academic year, down from $484 last year. Student spending has declined almost every year in the last decade — in 2008 students spent an average of $700 on course materials.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/07/25/spending-and-costs-textbooks-continue-decrease-according-surveys

Lisa Kaplan, Brookings

Since the discovery of social media manipulation by nefarious actors in the 2016 campaign, governments and social media platforms have made few public attempts to disrupt the systems that enable the spread of disinformation. While preserving democratic and economic institutions in the digital era will require more action from governments and platforms, if we, the public, can acknowledge ourselves at the targets, we can make ourselves less susceptible. Here are four simple ways to do your part in fighting back:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/07/23/four-steps-to-stop-the-spread-of-disinformation-online/

McKinsey Global Institute

Automation technologies promise to deliver major productivity benefits that are too substantial to ignore. They are also beginning to reshape the American workplace, and this evolution will become more pronounced in the next decade. Some occupations will shrink, others will grow, and the tasks and time allocation associated with every job will be subject to change. The challenge will be equipping people with the skills that will serve them well, helping them move into new roles, and addressing local mismatches. This report represents the next stage in our ongoing body of research into the capabilities,
potential, and economic impact of these technologies.   (ed note:  This fact-filled and data visualization enriched report makes for an important resource going forward).

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/Future%20of%20Organizations/The%20future%20of%20work%20in%20America%20People%20and%20places%20today%20and%20tomorrow/MGI-The-Future-of-Work-in-America-Report-July-2019.ashx

Andrew Kreighbaum, Inside Higher Ed

A paper released Tuesday by the Manhattan Institute proposes a federal income-share agreement that would extend students a single $50,000 line of credit. Students would commit to paying back 1 percent of their income for every $10,000 of credit they draw down for 25 years. Jason Delisle, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the proposal, argues that the ISA structure would mean student aid is not delivered in a regressive manner — those who earn more would pay back more.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/07/23/proposal-federal-income-share-agreement-program?mc_cid=b4be181ccc&mc_eid=879d6835e3