Online Learning Update

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

Kathleen Bortolin, EDUCAUSE Review
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown much of higher education into disarray, but amid this storm are opportunities to redesign teaching and learning in dynamic, student-centered, and empathy-rich ways, with a mind to the skills that students will need to succeed now and in the future.  I think another dimension of this change is emerging: postsecondary teaching may evolve to be, somewhat counterintuitively, even more student-centered, wellness-based, and empathy-enriched. In my experience, many instructors are not just dumping content into online platforms, walking away, and calling it a day.

https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/8/embracing-the-unknown-why-online-postsecondary-study-is-worth-the-risk

Steven W. Hemelt and Kevin M. Stange, Brookings Insitution

WILL ONLINE INSTRUCTION LOWER COSTS OVER THE SHORT RUN?
Based on our analysis, the short answer is, surprisingly, no. Simply moving more instruction online does not fundamentally alter the cost equation. We look at many departments over time and associate changes in online offerings with changes in average instructional cost per student. We find a negligible association between online credits and instructional costs, as shown in Figure 2. Shifting online instruction from zero to 10% of credits is associated with about a 1.04% reduction in departmental instructional costs, which we cannot statistically distinguish from no effect. Patterns are similar for undergraduate and graduate education.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/07/28/why-the-move-to-online-instruction-wont-reduce-college-costs/

LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

A new report from the American Council on Education (ACE), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, examines blockchain’s potential in bridging a troubling and expanding gap between higher education and the labor market. Blockchain–a technology that is a “shared, distributed ledger technology (DLT) that uses an agreed-upon and encrypted process to ensure that information on the ledger is tamper-proof, and that the data on the blockchain can be trusted even without centralized, third-party validation”– consists of three layers, as outlined by authors Kerri Lemoie and Louis Soares.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/07/15/why-blockchain-in-higher-education/

Sydney Finkelstein, Knowledge at Wharton

What is common between leaders like San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison and California cuisine pioneer Alice Waters? They, and scores of others like them, “generate and regenerate talent on a continuous basis,” according to Sydney Finkelstein, a professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-nurturing-talent-will-help-companies-survive-the-pandemic/

Gardner Campbell, EDUCAUSE Review

If the pandemic had struck ten or twenty years ago, our ability to interact with students would be severely limited compared with the tools and technology we have today.

https://er.educause.edu/multimedia/2020/5/teaching-during-covid-19-why-we-are-fortunate

Tanya Basu and Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review

The coronavirus pandemic has turned back the clock to a kinder time on the web, before the novelty of virtual connection wore off. It’s like turning the clock back to a more earnest time on the web, when the novelty of having a voice or being able to connect with anyone still filled us with a sense of boundless opportunity and optimism. It harkens back to the late 1990s and early 2000s—before social media, before smartphones—when going online was still a valuable use of time to seek community.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615442/why-does-it-suddenly-feel-like-1999-on-the-internet/

Study International
With technology becoming so advanced – and a pandemic underway shuttering campuses everywhere – online learning is standing out as the better option in many important ways. Online learning used to primarily consist of a student going through reading modules, submitting assignments through e-mail, and/or watching pre-recorded lectures. Interactive features today allow for the social element that face-to-face learning offers, such as through live video conference classes or virtual Q&A sessions.

https://www.studyinternational.com/news/online-learning-better-face-learning/

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, Education Dive

Heeding health experts’ advice, institutions are taking instruction remote and some are vacating residence halls. The tactic university officials are using is called social distancing. It has somewhat of a buzzword as the new coronavirus, and the respiratory illness it causes, COVID-19, has taken hold in six of the world’s seven continents. Social distancing refers to the practice of staying away from large gatherings and crowded areas, such as shopping centers and stadiums. In a university setting, it could apply to classrooms and residence halls, in which students study and live in close quarters.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/why-social-distancing-can-help-colleges-stem-the-spread-of-the-coronavirus/574055/

BY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News

In an ever-changing global workforce, today’s students are developing skills to make them productive members of tomorrow’s workforce. Perhaps one of the most important skills they’ll learn is lifelong learning. A new report highlights lifelong learning’s prominent part in higher ed and the workforce and delves into its potential to impact the nation’s economic and global success. Future of Lifelong Learning: Designing for a Learning-Integrated Life, a new whitepaper from D2L released during the 2020 Education World Forum, focuses on the future of work and learning. The paper describes how these forces and the interactions between them are permeating all aspects of our society, driving an increasing need for lifelong learning.

https://www.ecampusnews.com/2020/02/18/why-lifelong-learning-matters-for-all-ages/

Anayat Durrani, US News

“For international students who want to interact with learners from around the world without having to travel around the world, an online degree is a great option,” says Bill Fritz, director of admissions and financial aid at Pennsylvania State University—World Campus, which offers Penn State degrees entirely online. According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, 35% of international students took at least one online course in 2015-16, but only about 6% were enrolled in programs that were taught exclusively online.

https://www.usnews.com/higher-education/online-education/articles/why-international-students-should-consider-online-colleges-in-the-us

Aytekin Tank, the Hour

How can we make learning our default mode? According to Holmes, it’s not about amassing random knowledge or memorizing copious amounts of information. It’s about turning what we absorb into strategic action. Many entrepreneurs get stuck believing they should acquire as much knowledge as possible or become a human Wikipedia. It’s now easier than ever to Google anything our heart desires, but all of this rapid browsing gives us the illusion that we’re processing more than we actually are. True learning, on the other hand, goes far beyond hoarding facts.

https://www.thehour.com/business/article/Why-Lifelong-Learning-is-the-Key-to-14983509.php

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Edtech companies, or companies who seek to deliver learning via digital platforms and assets, are springing up quickly all over the United States. They are appearing in K-12, higher education, and corporate contexts, each with their own chosen philosophies and approaches to solve what they deem are the problems most critical in undermining the success of learners and instructors. But while their intentions are often good, there are obstacles they have yet to overcome in order to accurately fulfill the needs of the schools and companies who use their technology.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/why-edtech-needs-more-researchers-not-more-companies/

Seth Slabaugh, Muncie Star Press

The university says it has seen 69% growth over the past five years in the number of students taking all of their classes online. “The most important thing to take from this … is we know that the majority of our growth in online programs are part-time, adult students at the graduate level,” Trudi Weyermann, assistant provost for learning initiatives, told the university’s board of trustees recently.

https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/education/2019/12/27/why-ball-state-university-sees-more-adult-part-time-grad-students/2751369001/

Ben Thomas, MarketScale

It is no longer debatable that technology is driving the standard of the modern day learning environment. From robots to online learning solutions, education today is officially changing.  Hosts Tyler Kern and Geoffrey Short sat down with Robokind CEO Val Loomer to chat about robotics and AI and how are impacting the industry. The three also discussed how Robokind is revolutionizing education for students suffering with autism and how robotics can improve the learning environment.

https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/robot-classroom-instructor/

Abigail Hess, CNBC

During the 1978 – 1979 school year, it cost the modern equivalent of $17,680 per year to attend a private college and $8,250 per year to attend a public college. By the 2008 – 2009 school year those costs had grown to $38,720 at private colleges and $16,460 at public colleges. Today, those costs are closer to $48,510 and $21,370, respectively. That means costs increased by roughly 25.3% at private colleges and about 29.8% at public colleges.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/cost-of-college-increased-by-more-than-25percent-in-the-last-10-years.html

Jeff Arthur, Campus Technology

It’s been just over a year since the East Coast Polytechnic Institute began issuing digital diplomas as an early adopter of blockchain technology and the Blockcerts open standard. During that time, our institution has issued nearly 1,600 digital diplomas and become a leading advocate for the use of blockchain for secure digital credentials. I realized that the blockchain work being done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had the potential to dramatically change the way graduates interacted with the school and future employers. Instead of relying on paper diplomas or alterable PDF files and lengthy requests for verification, students could present employers with digital credentials that would be immediately and securely verified.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/12/12/why-we-are-using-blockchain-for-digital-credentialing.aspx

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Many eLearning courses offered today are not doing very well, mostly because the course designers have not adjusted to the demands of modern learners. Let’s look at some issues that modern learners have with some online courses.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/6-reasons-why-elearning-programs-may-fail-plus-tips-to-avoid-failure/

Abigail Hess, CNBC

It may sound counter-intuitive, but today workers are turning to online courses to improve their off-line communication abilities. According to a recent analysis by LinkedIn Learning, the No. 1 topic that learners took the most courses in this year was communication. The trend could be seen across all age brackets, from Generation Z workers at the beginning of their careers to baby boomers at the management and executive levels. One reason communication was the most popular topic, Emily Poague, vice president of LinkedIn Learning told CNBC Make It: There is a large volume of communication classes offered online, driven by a strong interest.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/09/workers-are-taking-courses-online-to-communicate-better-off-line.html

By Wayne D’Orio, Education Dive

Visits to campus counseling centers climbed 30% to 40% between the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2015, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. Enrollment, meanwhile, grew just 5% during that time. That has helped push the ratio of counselors to students to around 740:1 at the smallest schools and 2,000:1 at larger colleges, according to a survey of more than 570 institutions by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD).  And it has contributed to a bottleneck in access to critical mental health care that has campus health officials scrambling for ways to keep waitlists in check. For help, some are turning to telehealth services, which provide care through digital mediums such as text messages, phone calls and video chats.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/why-colleges-are-looking-online-for-mental-health-care/568294/

Tony Bates, University World News

Changes over the past 50 years to higher education systems now require lecturers to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of different teaching methods, how learning actually takes place, how to select and use technology appropriately and how to validly assess students. We can argue about the details, but the broad picture is overwhelming: post-secondary instructors need proper training to teach well.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2019112809050642