Online Learning Update

Matt Badessa, Rutgers Today

The program incentivizes Rutgers faculty to use free or low-cost learning materials that save students money. More faculty than ever before are participating in a program through the Rutgers University Libraries to provide open and affordable textbooks for the fall. The initiative is estimated to be able to save over 16,400 students a total of more than $2.1 million in the cost of textbooks and other course materials over the next year. The Open and Affordable Textbooks (OAT) program, administered by the libraries, provides $1,000 awards to Rutgers faculty who modify their courses to use free or low-cost learning materials instead of traditional textbooks. To date, it has brought an estimated savings of over $5.7 million to students universitywide.

https://www.rutgers.edu/news/open-and-affordable-textbooks-program-reduces-textbook-costs-students

Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive

The U.S. Department of Education on Monday dropped the final version of its new regulations governing distance learning. It’s the third and final set of new rules the department has published over the past year, and they touch on a sprawling number of issues in higher education, including accreditation and online learning.  The rules take effect in July 2021, but the department said institutions can use “the new flexibilities” as soon as they are published in the Federal Register. Here are five key questions the new rules raise that colleges should know.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/5-takeaways-from-the-ed-depts-final-distance-education-rules/584123/

the College Post

Vanderbilt University has secured licensing of new digital tools and platforms to adapt to hybrid and online class instruction. The tools will meet the learning and teaching needs of students and faculty members by facilitating better processes, online assessments, and improving student engagement. The new campus-wide licenses support an array of teaching and learning activities including remote exam proctoring, grading and feedback, and collaborative video and text annotation.

https://thecollegepost.com/vanderbilt-university-tools/

Laura Otten, Technically

I would encourage my peers to think differently about this opportunity for skill acquisition, especially as public health experts are forecasting several waves of COVID-19 cases. Adaptation to what could be a new normal will be critically important for academics and students, alike. Done well and done right, virtual teaching is so much more challenging and far more time consuming for the faculty member than is face-to-face teaching, but the educational benefits to the students are exponentially greater.
https://technical.ly/philly/2020/08/14/laura-otten-remote-school-education-what-could-successful-online-learning-look-like-multi-modality-curriculum-no-time-restraints/

Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
In preparing for the fall term, most colleges and universities are responding to the renewed public consciousness about equality, inclusiveness and fairness for all students.  The opportunities to begin to make a difference are endless through the online platform, where that platform is equitably available. Not limited to students recruited to the campus, not limited to students who can relocate and come to campus, online programs reach across cultures and locations to serve students where they are. And yet, minority and low-income students do not thrive at the same rates as others in the current system. So where can we begin in developing more successful diverse and inclusive online programs?

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/thoughts-creating-inclusive-environment-online-classes

COOPER JONES, eCampus News

Whether the institution opts for in-person instruction, online learning, or a hybrid approach, it’s certain that students will have a vastly different campus experience than before. Parents and students are asking themselves, “What are we really paying for, and is it worth it now? If I can’t enjoy campus life, in-person classes, dining halls, clubs, sports, activities and access to faculty, then why should I pay full tuition?” These are valid questions, and ones that institutions should be addressing now by reimagining student life and community engagement and innovating a new campus experience in the age of COVID-19.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/08/13/reimagining-the-campus-experience-in-the-age-of-covid-19/

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Babson College, like so many schools, is priming for the start of fall classes, which begin in just a few days. Here’s how the Boston-based institution has positioned itself to succeed.  Now, the campus is getting ready to reopen. Most courses will be delivered in a hyflex model — where students may choose to be there in person or view the class remotely. Babson calls its version of this “webflex,” which will give students the flexibility to move between face-to-face and online learning as needed throughout the semester. Three projects led by the IT organization have helped Babson prepare for whatever comes next.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/08/13/3-ways-for-it-prepare-for-fall-classes.aspx

Kery Murakami, Inside Higher Ed
The U.S. Department of Education has released its final rule on distance learning, which it said would modernize regulations. The rule will not go into effect until July 1, 2021. The product of months of negotiations by a panel of experts, the final rule would among other things allow more flexibility to “emphasize demonstration of learning rather than seat time when measuring student outcomes,” the fact sheet said. For instance, the rule allows for more asynchronous online delivery of courses, or portions of courses, in traditional “clock-hour” hands-on programs. The biggest change is clarifying the term “regular and substantive” in the nation’s main higher education law, said James Murphy, senior policy analyst with Education Reform Now. The new rule defines the interaction as meeting the standard if it satisfies at least two of five conditions.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/25/ed-dept-issues-final-distance-learning-rule

Liam Tung, ZDNet

Google has started rolling out a new Gmail experience on the web and, for now, just Android that aims to turn Gmail into an integrated workspace for video meetings, chat, and sharing files. The way Google sees things, Gmail now consists of four separate components, made up of Mail, Rooms, Chat and Meet. The last two components are Google’s answers to rivals like Zoom video conferencing, Slack chat and the Microsoft Teams collaboration space.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-this-update-means-gmail-is-now-these-four-things-in-one/

Grace Hauck, USA Today

“These are very real concerns for our immunocompromised students,” said Dr. Khalilah Gates, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “Every immunocompromised state is not the same, so it is – as everything in COVID-19 has been – a risk-benefit discussion.”  Khalilah said returning to campus – particularly living in dorms – poses significant risks to immunocompromised students. People in that age group are also more likely to participate in extracurricular activities that may increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission and exposure, she said. “What COVID-19 has taught us is the need to be flexible and the need to adapt,” Khalilah said. “If that means the ability to participate in online learning, then that needs to be something we consider for those that would benefit.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/08/12/covid-colleges-reopen-high-risk-students-fear-being-forgotten/3320133001/

Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed
The New Mexico State University system announced a broad restructuring plan for three of its campuses as it aims to reduce expenses in the face of declining enrollment across New Mexico and pandemic-related state budget cuts. The system will consolidate leadership at three community colleges across the state — NMSU Alamogordo, NMSU Carlsbad and NMSU Grants — so that the institutions will operate as branch campuses under central leadership rather than as stand-alone institutions. System chancellor Dan Arvizu appointed Ken Van Winkle, former president of NMSU Alamogordo, as the branch executive director to lead the transition.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/14/new-mexico-state-university-system-plans-leadership-restructuring-three-community

Purdue

COVID-19 has changed the outlook for education, highlighting the potential for online learning and the need for more personalized learning options for students, according to a Purdue University College of Education professor. William Watson, associate professor of learning design and technology, said student education levels are more likely to be spread all along the spectrum this school year based on what educational support they received at home.

https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2020/Q3/online,-personalized-learning-considered-the-future-for-education-in-wake-of-pandemic.html

Courtney Cogburn, Big Think
Often thought of first as gaming tech, virtual reality has been increasingly used in research as a tool for mimicking real-life scenarios and experiences in a safe and controlled environment. Focusing on issues of oppression and the ripple affect it has throughout America’s political, educational, and social systems, Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn of Columbia University School of Social Work and her team developed a VR experience that gives users the opportunity to “walk a mile” in the shoes of a black man as he faces racism at three stages in his life: as a child, during adolescence, and as an adult.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwPtkULgPpU

Nichol Turner Less and Darrell M. West, Brookings

Our inaugural episode focuses on racial bias in technology, which will add to the recent equity dialogues following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black male, by the Minneapolis police and the nationwide protests that ensued. Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings senior fellow and director of the Center for Technology Innovation, moderates a conversation with Brookings scholars Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein fellow, and Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and a visiting fellow in Governance Studies.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/08/06/center-for-technology-innovation-partners-with-lawfare-to-launch-new-techtank-podcast/

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP

Michelle Holder, a labor economist at John Jay College, said it’s unlikely that many retail workers and others whose jobs are gone for good will find work this year, given that the viral outbreak will hold back hiring until a vaccine is widely available. “It’s definitely going to be a drag on the economy,” she said. Steven Davis, an economist at the University of Chicago, estimates that even after the virus has been brought under control, the proportion of people working from home will triple compared with pre-pandemic levels. That could result in the shuttering of many restaurants, coffee shops and other downtown businesses. The real estate data firm Zillow said last week that most of its 5,400 employees will now be allowed to work from home indefinitely.

https://apnews.com/89992979ca3c3ba72eb2cd31a9ca0e5d

Hallie Busta, Education Dive

Support for non-tenure-track faculty members continues to be a concern amid pandemic-related cutbacks and pushback over how some campuses plan to reopen. A faculty industry group this week put out a list of principles and recommendations for institutions to protect those instructors, calling for them to get paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, and extended access to rehire or promotion opportunities. The ideas come as calls for greater shared governance grow across the sector in light of the ongoing health crisis.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/higher-ed-group-offers-ideas-for-supporting-contingent-faculty/583413/

A Q&A with Travis Humble, Campus Technology

Quantum computing is a new approach to the ways we could build computers and solve problems. This approach uses quantum mechanics that support the most fundamental theories of physics. We’ve had a lot of success in understanding quantum mechanics — it’s the technology that lasers, transistors, and a lot of things that we rely on today were built on. But it turns out there’s a lot of untapped potential there: We could take further advantage of some of the features of quantum physics, by building new types of technologies.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/08/10/quantum-computing-for-the-next-generation-of-computer-scientists-and-researchers.aspx

Eileen Brown, ZD Net

Los Angeles, CA-based social content company Fullscreen surveyed a panel of more than 500 18 to 36-year-olds to determine their behaviors, habits and emotions when it comes to coping with the “new normal” of COVID-19 and going back to school in the fall. Online learning will form some part of classes this year, and this way of learning seems to be completely acceptable to returning students. According to the report, very few students (3%) are unwilling to enroll in online-only classes if it is unsafe for colleges and universities to open. And while 44% of college students are completely open to online learning, almost all of them (43%) of students expect a discount in tuition from their college or university.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/back-to-school-college-students-want-a-tuition-discount-for-online-learning/

Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes

It’s very likely that you’re reading this from your home—even if you’re working. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the country, many of us are finding that the new normal means not leaving the house, or at least not for work anyway. How dramatic are the numbers? A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report found that of all those employed in May, 35.2% worked entirely from home, compared to just 8.2% in February. Further, a whopping 71.7% of US workers who could work from home did so in May. Some folks who are staying home do so for safety and convenience, while others are required by their employer or the state or local government to remain at home; in Pennsylvania, for example, by Order of the Governor, “Telework Must Continue Where Feasible.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/08/12/taxes-vpns-and-office-hours-the-ultimate-forbes-guide-to-working-from-home/

Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Enter into this picture the growth of alternative online credentials and scaled online degrees. Keep in mind that the schools that are pioneering these programs are mostly colleges and universities with national and sometimes global brands. Increasingly, working adults will have a choice of either enrolling in a traditional (often online) master’s program from a college or university that is known mostly in the area in which they live (regional brand), or a non-degree online certificate or an affordable scaled online master’s degree from a nationally or globally known university (elite brand).

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/alternative-credentials-scaled-degrees-and-new-higher-ed-matthew-effect

Jeffrey R. Young and Rebecca Koenig, EdSurge

These arrangements, often called “inclusive access” programs, tend to stir up controversy—and sometimes even lawsuits—when colleges adopt them. On this episode of the EdSurge Podcast, we examine why that is. We discuss the changing economics of textbook publishing, analyze who benefits most from bulk book deals, and take a closer look at a new textbook subscription program at the University of California at Davis, hearing from both an excited administrator and a skeptical student.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-07-28-why-it-s-so-hard-to-lower-the-cost-of-textbooks