Online Learning Update

Colleen Shalby, LA Times

Throughout the system, in spring surveys, campus discussions and early registration trends, a new realization has emerged among students and staff. At CSU’s largely commuter campuses, many found valuable upsides to virtual learning: greater flexibility in their college-work-life balance, fewer expenses, the power to keep students in college. “What we learned during the pandemic is that virtual learning provides the opportunity for students to get an education while they’re trying to balance a number of different things in their lives, whether they’re parents or taking care of an elderly parent or working or living in a rural area,” CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro said this week. “What I believe, based on what I’ve heard from students and faculty and staff throughout the CSU, is that we will have more virtual offerings after the pandemic is over than we did before the pandemic.”

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/california/story/2021-06-04/covid-changes-csu-future-students-want-more-online-learning

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

The major threats to operations in higher education in past years were funding shortfalls, natural disasters and dropping enrollments. Now, criminal cyberactivity has risen to a top concern. This is a red-alert crisis for all of us: students, faculty, staff and institutions as a whole. The rising extortion of money from government and business entities should put all of us on guard. Colleges and universities are all the more vulnerable in these uncertain fiscal times. Too often, this is further compounded by a natural inclination to cover up incidents to protect public confidence and institutional reputation. The crisis is not just one for the IT department. It is one that must be met by every student, faculty member, staff member, college and department. We must be vigilant to any potential intrusions and instantly inform our experts — day or night, weekday or weekend. And we must implement backup systems, prepare for contingencies and create serious restoration plans.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/rising-threat-ransomware-and-other-malware

Debra Murray, WKU
WKU plans to eliminate its $150-per-hour distance learning fee for online classes, President Timothy Caboni told the Staff Senate this week, saying he supports ending the fee to give students flexibility in how they take classes – even though it will cost the university $4.3 million in revenue. Caboni said the move to eliminate the fee comes after WKU waived it for 2020-21, when the coronavirus pandemic forced many classes into an online mode.

https://wkuherald.com/59349/news/wku-to-eliminate-distance-learning-fee/

Milan Kordestani, Medium

Higher education looks completely different than it did a few decades ago. What does the future hold for students in an age driven by the Internet and technological innovation? Now, you can get a high-quality education — that actually carries weight in the job market — right from the comfort of your own home. That said, costs will still need to come down before most students can take advantage of these new opportunities. Thankfully, as more people come to take online education seriously, the market for online degrees will become more competitive. Tuition costs will come down, allowing even more people to see the benefits.

https://milankordestani.medium.com/the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-age-of-the-internet-28e478c6495

Jessica Ruf, Diverse Education

A dozen new colleges and universities will join in on Rice University’s educational technology initiative OpenStax, which helps provide open educational resources, textbooks and technologies to universities. “This OpenStax program has helped over 70 colleges and universities expand the use of open educational resources on their campuses, saving their students money and putting more flexible course materials into the hands of educators and learners,” said Rice University officials.

https://diverseeducation.com/article/216714/

Shannon O’Connor, eCampus News

To serve the goals of these nontraditional students, an increasing number of institutions—and in particular, community and technical colleges—have developed “stackable credentials” as a component of their degree programs, or even as standalone certifications.The U.S. Department of Labor defines stackable credentials as those that are “part of a sequence of credentials that can be accumulated over time and move an individual along a career pathway or up a career ladder.” In other words, stackable credentials, which are developed to support industry needs, are building blocks or incremental milestones that assist students in acquiring marketable skills at several points as they work towards degree completion or workplace advancement.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2021/05/28/how-stackable-credentials-help-fast-track-students-to-the-workforce/

Patricia Turner and Margaret Merrill, EDUCAUSE Review

Using structured interactions in remote courses reduces the cognitive load students may experience as they navigate the tasks and processes of group work, while creating an inclusive climate in which students can learn.  Adjusting to remote teaching has been both exciting and challenging. On the one hand, breakout rooms and live remote chats present opportunities for enhanced teaching and learning. On the other hand, the loss of the physical tools and spaces that we as teaching and learning professionals were accustomed to required us to change our teaching practices. Interaction is central to effective communication and, by extension, effective teaching and learning.Footnote1 Therefore, finding ways to allow students, who may attend classes at different times and in different places, to productively engage in content-rich, learner-centered interactions, has been central to our planning since we first ventured into the Zoom classroom.

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2021/5/using-structure-to-promote-equity-and-engagement-in-live-remote-sessions

Natalie Schwartz, Higher Ed Dive

Despite eight years of state funding increases, higher education institutions had historically low state support heading into the pandemic-induced recession, according to an annual report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. State appropriations per full-time-equivalent student increased 2.9% in fiscal 2020 when adjusted for inflation and including $428 million in federal relief funding, SHEEO found. But the organization’s early estimates show funding for public colleges is expected to decline in most states in fiscal 2021.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/state-support-for-higher-ed-ticked-up-29-in-fiscal-2020-report-finds/600786/

JW Marshall interviews Ray Schroeder, MarketScale

Online learning was steadily growing pre-pandemic. Then it reached a considerable acceleration, but universities are taking a new look at their model to continue gaining new students and remaining solvent. The answer could be subscription-based learning. Discussing this topic and more, Voices of eLearning host JW Marshall spoke with Ray Schroeder, Associate Vice-Chancellor, University of Illinois-Springfield, and Senior Fellow, UPCEA (University Professional and Continuing Education Association). Schroeder has been an educator for 50 years and launched the University of Illinois-Springfield online learning program in 1997. After 24 years in higher ed online learning, he reported that of the last graduating class, 98% had taken at least one online course.

https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/is-the-future-of-higher-education-a-subscription-model/

Vistasp M. Karbhari, eCampus News

Even as institutions of higher education discuss how they might best meet needs of students in the future through traditional degree-based modalities, they face increased pressure to take an active role in the upskilling and reskilling of individuals, both those in the workforce and those attempting to gain skills to either get back in or progress to more stable and higher paying employment. For the purposes of the current discussion, upskilling relates to advanced knowledge/skills needed within a job sector, whereas reskilling relates to a completely different set of knowledge/skills for a different job sector. Key steps that could be taken by universities to specifically address the aspects of reskilling and upskilling the current workforce include those described below.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2021/06/02/8-key-steps-to-help-universities-enable-upskilling-and-reskilling/

Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

EDUCAUSE recently released its first Information Security Edition of the Horizon Report, profiling important trends, technologies and practices shaping the future of IT security and privacy in higher education. Of course, cybersecurity has been a key concern in higher ed IT for years, topping the EDUCAUSE top 10 IT issues list numerous times. But the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the risks in many ways. As EDUCAUSE President John O’Brien wrote in his introduction to the Horizon Report, “With the dramatic shift to remote work and remote learning in 2020, threats are at an all-time high.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/03/23/podcast-new-horizon-report-forecasts-security-and-privacy-trends-in-higher-ed.aspx

Melissa S. Kearney and Phillip Levine, Brookings Institution

Recently released official U.S. birth data for 2020 showed that births have been falling almost continuously for more than a decade. For every 1,000 women of childbearing age (15 to 44), 55.8 of them gave birth in 2020, compared to 69.5 in 2007, a 20 percent decline. The “total fertility rate,” which is a measure constructed from these data to estimate the average total number of children a woman will ever have, fell from 2.12 in 2007 to 1.64 in 2020. It is now well below 2.1, the value considered to be “replacement fertility,” which is the rate needed for the population to replace itself without immigration.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/05/24/will-births-in-the-us-rebound-probably-not/

Andrew Perrin, Pew Research

Smartphone ownership (85%) and home broadband subscriptions (77%) have increased among American adults since 2019 – from 81% and 73% respectively. Though modest, both increases are statistically significant and come at a time when a majority of Americans say the internet has been important to them personally. And 91% of adults report having at least one of these technologies.

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/06/03/mobile-technology-and-home-broadband-2021/

American College of Surgeons, Science Daily
Simulators have long been used for training surgeons and surgical teams, but traditional simulator platforms typically have a built-in limitation: they often simulate one or a limited number of conditions that require performance of isolated tasks, such as placing an intravenous catheter, instead of simulating and providing opportunities for feedback on the performance of multiple interventions that a trauma victim may require at the same time. To overcome this limitation, the Advanced Modular Manikin (AMM), an innovative simulation platform that allows integration of other simulation devices, was developed and field testing was conducted, with support from the Department of Defense (DoD).

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210601165044.htm

Payton Kammerer, Daily Bruin

The pandemic has been a nightmare, but that doesn’t mean UCLA should leave behind the innovations it came with.  Offering online instruction has benefits outside of stemming the tide of COVID-19. Rather than seeing the structures of remote teaching as a vestige of an unpleasant time, administrators must instead imagine it as a tool that will remain useful. UCLA shouldn’t return to the old way of doing things, but use this moment as an opportunity to usher in a better normal that utilizes online learning to the benefit of students and faculty. Now is the ideal time to implement a permanent program of hybrid learning.

https://dailybruin.com/2021/05/31/opinion-ucla-should-consider-socioeconomic-benefits-of-hybrid-learning-going-forward

Nora-Ide McAuliffe, Irish Times

Gaining new IT skills and becoming more digitally literate is one of the positives that MU postgraduate Nicole Carr (21), a first year professional masters of education (post-primary) student has found in the shift to online learning. Engaging with students throughout the pandemic has been key to making online learning work, says Carey. Keeping in touch with student reps to take temperature checks and gathering feedback on what works and what doesn’t has allowed her team to adapt to students’ needs. This has resulted in the MBA programme making some changes such as shorter class times, more pre-recorded material and providing additional virtual office hours.

https://www.irishtimes.com/how-online-learning-impacted-mba-and-postgrad-programmes-1.4564067

Daphne Kis, World Economic Forum

COVID-19 led to the largest boost in online learning participation. As nearly 100% of new graduates entering the job market this year completed their degree at least partially online, traditional candidate evaluation criteria must be revisited. Online learning can offer better preparation for the new work-life normal, including “soft” skills and “cross-functional” skills.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/covid-19-is-ending-the-stigma-of-online-learning-higher-education-workplace-candidate-evaluation-future-of-work/

Tom Wheeler, Brookings Institution
In the coal country of eastern Kentucky, the 800-person town of McKee is the hub of a one-thousand-mile fiber-to-the-home network covering two of the nation’s poorest and most remote counties. The fiber link was built almost entirely with dollars from the federal government. It is a powerful example of the infrastructure of the 21st century and the importance of extending those connections to all Americans.  If the infrastructure plan is adopted, the story of McKee, Kentucky could be the story of every remote, rural, high-cost area in the United States. Fiber networks are not just a technology—they can change peoples’ lives. The story of McKee, Kentucky—where a fiber optic connection has changed lives, created jobs, and recruited residents—is a story that should be available everywhere.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2021/05/19/changing-lives-by-connecting-all-americans-to-broadband-internet/

Brien Posey, Redmond Magazine

Backups are the only guaranteed way to save your data after a ransomware attack. Here’s how to make sure your backup strategy has ransomware mitigation built right in. The advice I always give is that your backups are your most important defense against ransomware. At the same time, backups should be regarded as the last line of defense — not the first. After all, it’s better to prevent a ransomware infection from happening in the first place than to have to restore your backups in response to an infection that has already occurred. Unfortunately, there is no magical silver bullet that can prevent all ransomware attacks. As such, it is important to practice defense-in-depth.

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2019/10/22/how-to-ransomware-proof-your-backups.aspx

Khari Johnson, Wired
Microsoft reveals plans to bring GPT-3, best known for generating text, to programming. “The code writes itself,” CEO Satya Nadella says. Microsoft VP Charles Lamanna says GPT-3 can help empower people with little coding experience. Researchers have used artificial intelligence to improve translation between programming languages or automatically fix problems. The AI system DrRepair, for example, has been shown to solve most issues that spawn error messages. But some researchers dream of the day when AI can write programs based on simple descriptions from non-experts. On Tuesday, Microsoft and OpenAI shared plans to bring GPT-3, one of the world’s most advanced models for generating text, to programming based on natural language descriptions. This is the first commercial application of GPT-3 undertaken since Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI last year and gained exclusive licensing rights to GPT-3.

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-write-code-ordinary-language/

Derek Newton, Forbes
With this change, remote online students will pay $34,717 a year to take online classes, out-of-state students who study on campus at Ohio State will pay nearly the same – $35,019.  In reality, there are legitimate costs pressures on online courses that don’t exist on campus, making it very difficult to design and deliver good online programs inexpensively. Maybe the costs of the programs isn’t why Ohio State moved on their online prices. Maybe they’re just looking for ways to get a few more dollars into their balance sheets, or something else. Whatever the reason, when a school of Ohio State’s size moves their remote, online classes in line with their in-person ones, that’s big news. Or at least is will be.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2021/05/31/ohio-state-raising-fees-for-online-courses-is-a-big-deal/