Online Learning Update

Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes

What may be the most successful graduate degree program in the United States – the Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) – has begun its eighth year of operation. The program started in January 2014 with an inaugural class of 380 students and five courses. It’s enjoyed steady growth every year since, and now has more than 11,000 students enrolled in more than 50 courses. making it the largest computing master’s program in the nation – and probably the world. Its total number of graduates now tops 5,000.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2021/07/01/georgia-techs-online-ms-in-computer-science-continues-to-thrive-what-that-could-mean-for-the-future-of-moocs/

Danny Palmer, ZD Net

Improving diversity in the cybersecurity industry by doing more to hire people from different backgrounds can help improve online defences for everyone because it will enable information security teams to think about – and defend against – concepts and attack techniques they may not have considered before. Figures from an NCSC report on diversity detail how over 85% of professionals working in cybersecurity are white, compared to under 15% from black, Asian or mixed ethic groups. Two-thirds of the industry identifies as male, compared to 31% identifying as female, while over 84% of those surveyed identify as straight, compared with 10% who identified as LGBT. But diversity is – gradually – increasing.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-improving-diversity-in-cybersecurity-is-vital-for-everyone/

Silicon Republic
Coursera’s Anthony Tattersall discusses the importance of closing the gender gap in STEM industries and how online learning could help. STEM subjects have long-standing problems with proper gender representation. A recent report by the World Economic Forum highlights that just 30pc of STEM researchers are women, men publish more than their female colleagues and women are paid significantly less.Closing this gap is vital. Careers in STEM are critical in shaping the world we live in. But how do we get there? Experts say the way academic curricula are designed can make an important difference. With the rise of online learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we should look at how this particular medium can help. Here are a few ways in which online learning can support us in closing the STEM gender gap in higher education.

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/online-learning-stem-gender-gap

Knowledge at Wharton

In Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience, Paula Davis, founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, explores a new solution to the burnout problem at work: a comprehensive approach focused on building the resilience of teams of all sizes. Davis argues that teams, and their leaders, are uniquely positioned to create the type of cultures that are needed to prevent burnout.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-teams-are-the-key-to-beating-burnout/

Robert Ubell, EdSurge

Nearly all of higher education moved online at the beginning of the pandemic. For longtime proponents of online education like myself, you might think it would be an accomplishment. Except that many students showed up resentful, taking digital courses only by force of circumstance, and the teaching they got did not always fit the medium.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-03-08-why-emergency-online-learning-got-low-grades-from-many-college-students

Sascha Segan, PC Mag

When carriers are telling people to turn off 5G to save battery, there’s a problem, and it’s not just power drain. Both Verizon and T-Mobile were caught this week telling their users to turn off 5G to save battery, a sort of egg-on-face, foot-in-mouth situation that maybe we shouldn’t read too much into. But I will! I will read more into it, because when a carrier’s tech support people and its marketing people are saying opposite things, something’s clearly up.

https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/why-are-carriers-telling-us-to-turn-off-5g

David Baume, University World News

What is that one fundamental question? I suggest: “What are we putting online?” This may not be the question you were expecting. This is not a technical question, about resources and learning activities. It is a much more profound than that. The longer version of the question is: “What are we putting online? Teaching? Or learning?” Why do I say “or”? Surely they are the same thing, or at any rate two sides of the same coin or banknote? Teaching leads to learning. What’s the problem? Why “or”? A few reasons. Which together drive us towards the question. And together suggest an answer.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210126142422302

Coastline College

The irony is that the world interacts so virtually and digitally now that online learning is probably closer to real life than in-person education is. Learning online has come a long way quickly, with accreditation as well as intensive, cost-effective, and modern coursework that all seeks to elevate students. These types of learning platforms and models are here to stay. I’m all for it and you should be too.

https://patch.com/california/fountainvalley/coastline-college-blog-why-students-should-love-online-learning-when-it-s

BY KEITH RAJECKI, eCampus News

While the higher education business as a whole has had to adjust the way it operates, admissions staff, recruiters, and counselors have had to rethink their approach to connecting with students, as well. Institutions have been overwhelmed with calls from students and teachers struggling to adapt to the new remote reality. This is where automation comes in. Using emerging technologies such as chatbots, digital assistants, and conversational AI interfaces ensures that no student’s question goes unanswered, and it frees up staff to spend more time forging critical one-on-one connections with students in an almost entirely remote landscape.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2021/01/04/why-its-critical-for-higher-education-to-think-digital/

Lisa Malat, Chief Learning Officer

While these groups should all be commended for the resilience they’ve shown under these circumstances, the results from and reactions to this rapid transition to online learning have been understandably mixed. Students are frustrated with a remote learning environment dependent on virtual interactions; they miss the in-person access to professors and other campus resources, as well as to other students. Many instructors are equally frustrated, and, frankly, many are overwhelmed with trying to keep students engaged and motivated to continue with their coursework, as they themselves struggle with learning the skills to adapt to this new way of teaching.
https://www.chieflearningofficer.com/2020/12/29/teaching-the-teachers-why-online-learning-training-will-be-crucial-for-higher-ed-talent-prospects/

Elizabeth Hernandez, Denver post

Colleges burdened by unrelenting COVID-19 costs in a state that poorly funds higher education are being harangued for not refunding some portion of students’ tuition. Meanwhile, members of the staff, faculty and administration whose salaries comprise a good chunk of tuition dollars are speaking out about working harder than ever while facing pay cuts and furloughs. The nuanced situation — disappointed students and families, diligent faculty and staff, and a butchered budget — worries Colorado’s higher education chief, who believes colleges must figure out how to convey their value to students before they lose them.

https://www.denverpost.com/2020/12/03/colorado-university-tuition-cost-covid-pandemic/

Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive

AWS has been laying the groundwork for years to influence how cloud computing education is conducted worldwide. In the U.S. alone, 84 two-year institutions, districts or systems — including the Maricopa Community Colleges, in Arizona — and 67 four-year colleges have taught at least one of its courses, according to an Education Dive analysis of its publicly available list. These schools are AWS Academy members. Community colleges are used to working hand-in-hand with employers, including AWS, to develop curriculum. But these kinds of partnerships aren’t as typical for four-year schools, which tend to value academic freedom over corporate influence.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/why-4-year-colleges-are-tapping-amazon-to-help-deliver-cloud-computing-degr/589750/

JOE FEDEWA, How to Geek

Chrome OS has a reputation for being virus-proof. Google likes to boast about how secure its operating system is compared to others. Are Chromebooks really immune to viruses, though? And, if so, how do they achieve this? Allow us to explain.

https://www.howtogeek.com/700115/why-arent-viruses-a-problem

Cali Morrison, EdSurge
Higher education is heading into the eye of the tornado. Many of us are planning for academic continuity while the debris of the COVID-19 pandemic is swirling around us. There are regulatory matters to consider. The health and safety of our colleagues and our students to put at the forefront. A long-overdue spotlight on equity, diversity and inclusion shining on all of our operations. It can all feel overwhelming, like we’re all going to get swept away in the storm. Now, more than ever, as educators and institutions, we need to recenter ourselves on our why—not on how we get through this or when this storm will be over.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-11-23-to-weather-the-storms-of-higher-education-remember-why-you-re-there

Udacity

Now more than ever before, employers favor skills over degrees, and the skills learned through project-based learning mirror what employers are looking for. As we posted in our last blog, the 4th Industrial Revolution is reshaping technology, and 42% of the core skills needed to perform existing jobs will change. A massive upskill effort will be needed to reskill more than 1 billion people by 2030 to get them ready for the new world of work. Project-based learning can help provide training that is focused on teaching critical thinking — figuring out all the steps needed to create a solution. As far as teaching modalities go, it offers numerous benefits to the students taking part.

https://blog.udacity.com/2020/11/project-based-learning-works-here-are-5-reasons-why.html

JUDITH ALTSCHULER CAHN, eCampus News

Education has become virtual, and educators should accept that online learning is a permanent part of learning in today’s economy. Online learning as a modality of teaching and learning has been thrust upon education and can no longer be considered an emerging reality. It is here. The COVID-19 virus disruption has completely changed the way education operates. Until now, in many organizations across the country and globe, online courses and programs have been managed as a separate entity. The current reality has shifted education and distance learning into an integral part of the education system.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/11/13/heres-why-online-learning-is-sticking-around/

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Becky Frankiewicz, Harvard Business Review

No clear alternative to universities has yet emerged, and while there’s no clear path to disrupting higher education, there are pain points which those of us in the education field and beyond could be confronting. At some point a viable alternative will likely emerge and we see six reasons that make the case for demanding something different:

https://hbr.org/2019/11/6-reasons-why-higher-education-needs-to-be-disrupted

Nicole Bateman and Martha Ross, Brookings

COVID-19 is hard on women because the U.S. economy is hard on women, and this virus excels at taking existing tensions and ratcheting them up. Millions of women were already supporting themselves and their families on meager wages before coronavirus-mitigation lockdowns sent unemployment rates skyrocketing and millions of jobs disappeared. And working mothers were already shouldering the majority of family caregiving responsibilities in the face of a childcare system that is wholly inadequate for a society in which most parents work outside the home. Of course, the disruptions to daycare centers, schools, and afterschool programs have been hard on working fathers, but evidence shows working mothers have taken on more of the resulting childcare responsibilities, and are more frequently reducing their hours or leaving their jobs entirely in response.

https://www.brookings.edu/essay/why-has-covid-19-been-especially-harmful-for-working-women/

Christopher Schaberg, Inside Higher Ed

Christopher Schaberg, who previously asserted he’d never teach online, describes why he’s now veering that way, even when he could teach face-to-face. A few years ago, I wrote an article for this site called “Why I Won’t Teach Online.” How short-sighted was that! Little did I know then that a novel coronavirus would make us all teach online — no matter how any of us felt about it. Like everyone else, I ended up teaching fully online last spring, and now I’m preparing to teach online again — or at least partly online — this semester. I look forward to meeting with my students in person again in the not-too-distant future. Probably we’ll have class outside, well spaced out and wearing masks. But in the meantime, I’ll gladly put my heart into teaching online, even though this would have been anathema to me a year ago.

https://insidehighered.com/views/2020/09/11/professor-who-asserted-hed-never-teach-online-explains-why-hes-opting-do-so-now

eCampus News

Business school hopefuls who are wondering whether MBA courses will address the coronavirus pandemic should know that this topic will be routinely discussed in classes at many B-schools, according to U.S. News & World Report. Even when the world isn’t in a state of crisis, MBA courses frequently incorporate current events, and that will be even more true now that the world is facing unprecedented challenges, MBA deans and faculty say. They note that it is essential for business school students to grapple with the financial and economic problems posed by the pandemic.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/09/02/heres-why-an-mba-is-important-during-covid-19/

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/