Online Learning Update

Valerie Strauss and Peter Kastor, Washington Post

This is not the story of how online education — by now a well-established system — is finally taking over the traditional classroom. Rather, it’s a story of how faculty members and administrators are struggling to adapt their courses to an online medium. The response is both individual (as faculty members adjust their courses and students respond to their new circumstances) and institutional (as universities scramble to provide resources and create new policies). And to understand what is happening at so many universities across America begins by looking at those three phenomena: faculty members who are using online education without actually becoming online educators, students who must suddenly take classes online, and universities finding a way to shut down most of their daily campus activities without destroying all that they do.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/04/04/these-washington-university-faculty-had-rejected-online-classes-until-coronavirus-heres-how-they-made-switch/

By EDDIE RIVERA, Pasadena Weekender
While it remains to be seen how long it will last, the current world of communication and education no longer exists within hallowed halls. It lives in your phone, or your laptop or iPad. Everything from the classroom to the lab is down the virtual hallway. As this new world grows, so do related educational opportunities like after-school learning centers.

https://www.pasadenanow.com/weekendr/the-online-learning-world-expands/

By Eva Wozniak, Bloomsburg University Now
“Zoomsburg University” is the new norm for Bloomsburg University students as they transition into online learning. COVID-19 is affecting people worldwide. According to an article by the New York Times, “Nearly four billion people on the planet – half of humanity – found themselves on Friday under some sort of order to stay in their homes.” University students now attend class remotely through different platforms, like Zoom.

https://bunow.com/welcome-to-zoomsburg-the-transition-to-online-learning/

Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed

The current crisis has changed the way we deliver our courses. It should also alter our instructional activities. We need assignments that can’t be completed with a Wikipedia or Google search, and that encourage immersion, engagement, and active processing of information. Our activities should involve research skills, weighing evidence and arguments, critical analysis, and application. In creating your assignments, make sure that your students can complete the activity successfully regardless of their circumstances.  Also, tightly align your activities with your learning objectives.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/rethinking-your-assignments-online-learning

Rai Sahib Singh Khurana, Business World

In the country, where traditional higher education may not be possible for all due to financial, personal or any other constraints, the e-learning method/platform can act as a support system to the education industry. Today, India has the latest e-learning trends in the education industry that are being used by developed countries from a very long period. Some of them are Distance education (Postal, Radio, TV), E-Learning, Gamification, Open Educational Resources (OER), Cloud-based e-Learning, Big Data in e-Learning, Massive Open Online Courses, Microlearning, Mobile Learning etc.

http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/Tech-Trends-How-E-Learning-Platform-Are-Transforming-Education-In-India-/05-04-2020-188222/

Emma Dill, Chronicle of Higher Ed

For adult students working in the medical field or in the military, expecting them to complete coursework alongside their heightened responsibilities due to Covid-19 may be too ambitious, said Matt Bergman, an assistant professor in the University of Louisville’s department of educational leadership, evaluation, and organizational development. “Those frontline workers are dramatically impacted by this and by their ability to balance the competing responsibilities. In some cases, it’s unreasonable to even ask them to do so,” Bergman said. Some of his adult students are considering reducing their course loads or pausing their education until the fall.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Coronavirus-Complicates-an/248406

Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Ed

“Higher education is often considered the balancing wheel of state budgets,” said Harnisch. “And if history is any indication, higher education is going to be at the front lines of the economic fallout from coronavirus.” And higher education is already taking hits from state cuts. Expecting deep losses in revenue, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy last month froze $920 million in state spending for the remainder of the state’s budget year, which ends Sept. 30​, including $122 million for public colleges and universities. The cuts represent half the funding the colleges were supposed to get from the state in the next three months.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/13/public-colleges-face-looming-financial-blow-state-budget-cuts

\Stephanie Haines, Christian Science Monitor

“What we’re seeing right now doesn’t fully reflect what online can do,” she says. She expects that as educators continue teaching remotely – and even after they come back to the physical classroom – they will likely delve into a more concerted and sophisticated exploration of how to embrace online learning. “I don’t think anyone ever saw something like this happening on this scale,” she says. “But it could happen again. We’re going to have to be prepared to shift into online learning and do it in a way that is effective.”

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2020/0403/How-online-learning-may-be-more-than-a-stopgap-in-the-US

Sara Barnes, My Modern Met

Happiness can seem elusive. In challenging times, the light through the trees can appear non-existent and like it will never return. But there are reasons to be hopeful, as happiness doesn’t have to elude you. There are actions you can take to foster your own sense of satisfaction that are scientifically proven to work. A course at Yale called “The Science of Well Being” helps you to do just that—and it’s available for free through Coursera. Taught by Dr. Laurie Santos, the class features a series of challenges that are designed to “increase your happiness and build more productive habits.”

https://mymodernmet.com/science-of-happiness-course/

Qiu Yong, University World News

Since the establishment of the University of Bologna in 1088, universities have served as the physical and spiritual shelter for intellectuals. Some individual universities have temporarily closed, but never on such a large scale. The pandemic is a great challenge for us all. All nations, universities and individuals ought to address the pandemic as a community.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200401154815248

Philip G Altbach and Hans de Wit, University World News

We think that, broadly, global higher education will remain fundamentally stable. But significant short-, medium- and perhaps long-term consequences and disruptions are inevitable – and becoming increasingly serious as the crisis continues. Our purpose here is to outline what we think are likely implications.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200402152914362

Heidi Tandy, IP Watch

While educators revised policies, two decisions were published; each has the potential to broaden how copyright-protected works can be used in virtual classrooms. On March 24, 2020, the Ninth Circuit said in Tresona Multimedia, LLC v Burbank High School Vocal Music Association that “the defense of Fair Use, if applicable, should cover ‘teaching’ whether in a private or public setting.” The same week, the Supreme Court ruled in Allen et al. v. Cooper, Governor of North Carolina, et al., 589 U.S. ___ (2020) that a state could not be sued for copyright infringement by a company that held copyrights in photographs. Justice Kagan wrote for the unanimous court that “Article 1’s Intellectual Protection Clause could not provide the basis for an abrogation of sovereign immunity.”

https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2020/04/02/emergency-distance-learning-fair-use/id=120328/

Rose Gilbert, Princetonian

Nearly two weeks have passed since University students began taking online courses on Zoom. Though some students believe that Zoom allows classes to continue as normal, a number have noted that not all classes are equally suited to moving online, and not all students — depending on their time zone, internet access, and living situation — can participate easily. Because they rely upon in-person access to specialized equipment, spaces, and instruction, arts classes have been some of the hardest-hit by the move to remote learning.

https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/04/two-weeks-into-zoom-students-reflect-on-challenges-of-online-learning

\Ryan Craig, EdSurge

What millions of students around the world are experiencing right now on Zoom and other conferencing platforms is not online learning, but rather remote learning. Susan Grajek of Educause, the association of education technologists, distinguishes remote learning from “well-considered, durable online learning.” Remote learning, she said, is a “quick, ad hoc, low-fidelity mitigation strategy.”

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-04-02-what-students-are-doing-is-remote-learning-not-online-learning-there-s-a-difference

Akiko Fujita, Yahoo Finance

With 1.5 billion students, 9 out of every 10 around the world, unable to go to school because of COVID-19 related containment measures, Maggioncalda believes the scale may have tipped in favor of online education. “We’re seeing a huge acceleration in something that’s already been happening, which is a move towards online education. When things get to a new normal, certainly people will go back to school, but it will never be the same,” Maggioncalda said.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/it-will-never-be-the-same-coursera-ceo-on-impact-of-coronavirus-on-universities-184118346.html

Marilla Svinicki, Tomorrow’s Professor

Some instructors have tried to get students to be more active in class with varying degrees of success. Others have had very active class sessions involving lots of participation and creativity, but not much improved learning when the test comes around. So simply telling the faculty that “active learning” produces better learning is not convincing; they might be more impressed if they understood why we think that’s true. Let me show how cognitive researchers bring together theory, research and instruction to help faculty target the “active” part of active learning more accurately.

https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1784

Vijay Govindarajan and Anup Srivastava, Harvard Business Review

Right now, the Coronavirus pandemic is forcing global experimentation with remote teaching. There are many indicators that this crisis is going to transform many aspects of life. Education could be one of them if remote teaching proves to be a success. But how will we know if it is? As this crisis-driven experiment launches, we should be collecting data and paying attention to the following three questions about higher education’s business model and the accessibility of quality college education.

https://hbr.org/2020/03/what-the-shift-to-virtual-learning-could-mean-for-the-future-of-higher-ed

Kathleen S. Ives, Inside Higher Ed

As Kevin Carey eloquently put it in The New York Times a few weeks ago, effective online coursework requires much more than “giving every professor a Zoom account and letting instruction take its course.” Teaching online requires an intentional, thoughtful approach to instructional design, especially at a time when students are being asked to transition at an unprecedented pace in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Amid the turmoil, it’s troubling — if not surprising — that challenges with the move to online learning will have the greatest impact on the students who are most at risk: research suggests that struggling students often have the most trouble succeeding in online programs.

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/04/01/how-cultivate-student-collaboration-and-engagement-online-learning-opinion

Debbie Fowler, eCampus News

The coronavirus outbreak and the resulting social distancing has led hundreds of schools and universities to move their instruction online. For students and educators who are comfortable with in-person learning and instruction, this rush to online education may be overwhelming. Fortunately, we live in a digital era where both students and educators are familiar with digital tools. Here are a few tips and tricks to support student success in online education if you’re an instructor learning this new way of teaching.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/04/01/5-ways-to-focus-on-student-success-in-a-pandemic/

Sascha Segan, PC Mag

With much of America and Canada now working and schooling from home, broadband networks are dealing well with the strain, according to new stats from Ookla Speedtest.  Fixed broadband speeds in the US have largely flattened out after a slight dip between March 15 and 22, Ookla’s results show, although speeds in Canada are continuing a slow decline. Both countries still have considerably better broadband than Mexico or much of Europe, according to the results, with average speeds between 110 and 140Mbps.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/us-broadband-holding-up-under-wfh-strain-speedtest-finds