[We welcome pointers to other relevant news stories - particularly from Regions 2 & 3. Please send links to bives @ Mac.com]
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Georgia’s Top-Down Management of Higher Ed Causes Covid-19 Chaos
[June 30, 2020] “Georgia will make it optional to wear masks at its public colleges this fall, even though face coverings are widely recognized as one of the best ways to limit the spread of coronavirus.”
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Georgia-s-Top-Down/249095?cid=wsinglestory_6_1a [paywall]
Lurching Toward Fall, Disaster on the Horizon
[June 28, 2020] “At the top of that list is feelings of safety and security because only when we feel safe at the core can we take the necessary risks that attach to learning and exploration. ”
In this well reasoned opinion piece from Inside Higher Ed, the author makes a compelling case for not opening campus in the fall or at least that they “should be flipped to remote as the default, with F2F reserved for courses where it is truly indispensable.”
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/lurching-toward-fall-disaster-horizon
5 Things That Covid-19 Will Make The New Normal In Higher Ed
[June 26, 2020] “Years from now we probably won’t appreciate the drastic and dramatic changes that our institutions of higher education have had to engineer over the past six months.”
Derek Newton, a Forbes Column its on education, makes interesting predictions about the changes in the delivery of higher education. Among the attributes of this “new normal” will be a “universal online backup plan”, “remote test security & live Pproctoring”, “ the distributed campus and the preeminence of the mobile app,” “creative enrollment and recruitment outreach,” and, over a far longer timeframe, new approaches to the “design and architecture” of campus infrastructure.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2020/06/26/5-things-that-covid-19-will-make-the-new-normal-in-higher-ed/#30b134976071
Haves and Have-Nots on COVID-19 Protection
[June 25, 2020] “While some colleges make extensive plans to guard against a spread of the coronavirus when they reopen, others can't afford to do as much and are worried about running out of basic supplies.”
Among her many schools that will find it difficult to find the funds to provide ongoing and adequate testing and the provision of personal protection equipment will be those serving underrepresented minorities. The article describes a report finding “ that colleges nationally spend $1,000 less per Black or Latino student than for white students. Nationally, public colleges spend $5 billion less annually educating their students from minority backgrounds.”
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/25/wealthier-colleges-can-offer-more-protection-covid-19-cash-strapped-peers
Juggling childcare with academia: female experiences in lockdown
[June 25, 2020] “Female academics with children say they fear the pandemic lockdowns have affected their careers”
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/juggling-childcare-academia-female-experiences-lockdown
Pandemic lockdown holding back female academics, data show
[June 25, 2020] “Unequal childcare burden blamed for fall in share of published research by women since schools shut, but funding bodies look to alleviate career impact”
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pandemic-lockdown-holding-back-female-academics-data-show
What Does It Mean to Support Vulnerable Students During the Pandemic?
[June 25, 2020] “What was the spring semester really like for students? A new survey of 15,677 students from 21 colleges, conducted by the consultancy Ithaka S+R, sheds some light on the question. Among the findings: When it came to course assignments, students had the hardest time with group and lab work, and the easiest with short written reading responses, essays, and online quizzes and tests — assignments, the report notes, that were among the most frequently used.”
https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Does-It-Mean-to-Support/249052
Researchers Raise Concerns About Algorithmic Bias in Online Course Tools
[June 25, 2020] “As schools look to online learning as either an option for course delivery in the fall or a necessary failsafe as campuses reopen, it's important to discuss the potential algorithmic biases that have been built in to some tools. EdSurge digs into this issue.”
https://www.avnetwork.com/news/researchers-raise-concerns-about-algorithmic-bias-in-online-course-tools-edsurge
Pandemic Worsened Public Higher Ed's Biggest Challenges
[June 24, 2020] “The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated issues like government funding, student mental health and diversity and inclusion, according to a new report by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.”
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/24/coronavirus-pandemic-worsened-higher-eds-biggest-challenges-new-survey-shows
Micro-credentials ‘permanent fixture’ in Australia post-pandemic
[June 24, 2020] “Short courses to be bankrolled through flexibly applied institutional funding ‘envelopes’”
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/micro-credentials-permanent-fixture-australia-post-pandemic
Faculty Want a Say in Whether They Teach Face to Face. The Conversation Is Not Going Well.
[June 9, 2020] “Even on campuses where administrators have solicited faculty members' thoughts about a return to face-to-face education — often through surveys asking about how they'd prefer to teach their fall classes — those efforts have generated a backlash. The way administrators try to gauge faculty opinion, many instructors say, feels coercive.”
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Faculty-Want-a-Say-in-Whether/248951
College Fund Raising Is Expected to Drop Sharply in Next Few Years
[June 8, 2020] “College fund raisers are bracing for donations to take at least as steep a nosedive over the next several years as they did after the Great Recession”
https://www.chronicle.com/article/College-Fund-Raising-Is/248934
With no students, small college town worries over future
[June 21, 2020] "What happens to a college town when the students disappear? Ithaca, a small upstate New York city nearby gorges and vineyards, is finding out."
The AP article recounts. some of the challenges facing two college towns in the northeastern U.S. - Ithaca, NY (home to Cornell University and Ithaca College) and Amherst (U Mass Amherst and four other colleges). Even if student's come back in the fall, there are concerns they will stay close to campus, thus further damaging local economies.
What Covid-19 Computer Models Are Telling Colleges About the Fall
[June 19, 2020] "Researchers are building computer models of varying complexity to predict how Covid-19 might spread on a college campus. The models provide an opportunity to test the effectiveness of such mitigation strategies as large-scale randomized testing, limits on class size, and face-mask requirements."
Among the findings of several simulation models discussed is that classrooms with with over 50 students should be avoided and that the large number of false positives common with C-19 testing, combined with the high number of student interactions "could lead to the unnecessary quarantining of literally thousands of students over the course of a semester.” Instructors will be expected to accommodate quarantined students, even in classes otherwise intended to be on campus.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Covid-19-Computer-Models/249027 (paywall)
COVID-19 Hits Regional Public Universities Hard
[June 18, 2020] "A new report from the Brookings Institution argues that the "often-overlooked" regional public universities of the Midwest are both highly vulnerable to funding cuts and particularly critical for local economies."
These universities. focused more on teaching than research, serve a disproportionate number of students from underrepresented groups, while providing financial support for the midsize metropolitan areas they are often situated within. They also tend to have far smaller endowments than flagship universities.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-06-18/report-regional-public-universities-hit-hard-by-coronavirus
Fewer roommates in the fall: U-Md., American U. put new limits on student housing to curb coronavirus
[June 16, 2020] "Ordinarily, the University of Maryland tries to maximize the capacity of its residence halls by putting three or four students into some rooms. But next fall, those triples and quads will become doubles as the university aims to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus on its campus in College Park."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/06/16/fewer-roommates-fall-u-md-other-schools-rearrange-student-housing-contain-coronavirus/ - Paywall
LSE’s financial woes spotlight wider issues for sector
[June 10, 2020] "The London School of Economics will take a massive hit from loss of international students, highlighting how reliant some institutions have become on their revenue."
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/lses-financial-woes-spotlight-wider-issues-sector
Murdoch [University in Australia] accused of using crisis as ‘cover’ to cut research time
[June 9, 2020] "Australian university directs academics to spend up to 80 per cent of their time teaching, despite relatively healthy financial position."
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/murdoch-accused-using-crisis-cover-cut-research-time
What If Working From Home Goes on … Forever?
[June 9, 20200 “Miserable as it can often be, remote work is surprisingly productive — leading many employers to wonder if they’ll ever go back to the office.”
See this AIS Covid-19 Forum thread for an in-depth summary of this New York Times article.
[June 4, 2020] "In the last few months, millions of people around the world stopped going into offices and started doing their jobs from home. These workers may be out of sight of managers, but they are not out of mind. The upheaval has been accompanied by a reported spike in the use of surveillance software that lets employers track what their employees are doing and how long they spend doing it."
This MIT Teh Review paper very briefly describes several tools that provide different ways to monitor remote employees - keyboard strokes, mouse movements, web sites visited, video attendance checking, who is interacting with who, time to complete tasks, personal surveillance. It also considers briefly the downsides -- "undermines trust and damages morale".
"...this kind of software is here to stay—in part because remote work is normalizing it."
"... the granularity of the surveillance now available is like nothing we’ve ever seen.”
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/04/1002671/startup-ai-workers-productivity-score-bias-machine-learning-business-covid/
University of Alaska System to Eliminate Nearly 40 Academic Programs [including MIS]
[June 5, 2020] "Reeling from the combined effects of shrinking enrollments, diminishing state funds, and spreading Covid-19 cases, the University of Alaska's Board of Regents voted on Friday to eliminate 39 academic departments."
Among the programs eliminated were Bachelors degrees in MIS at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Also discontinued were four supply chain management programs. No other b-school or I-school programs appear to have been signaled out.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/U-of-Alaska-System-to/248936 - Paywall
College Savings Foundation Survey of High School Students Finds COVID-19 Changes Higher Education Plans and Financing
[June 4, 2020] "55% of Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores Across the Country Say Pandemic Will Impact the Rest of Their Lives."
The article reports on a May 2020 survey of 1,000 U.S. high school students, with 37% of respondents indicating it would change their future academic plans. To save money many will choose to attend a junior college or take a gap year in 2020-2021.
18% respondents also indicated the experience would alter the careers they might prepare for. For instance, of that group 31% indicated they would change their career planning towards health sciences with another 29% now looking for fields where tele-working is feasible, thus protecting their future jobs.
Crisis 'could unify and strengthen' Asia's universities
[June 3, 2020] "Pandemic-driven shifts could 'accelerate' rise of continent's universities
This report of the Virtual THE Live Asis 2020 conference described sessions by numerous speakers. Among the interesting take-aways were:
"Subra Suresh, president of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, said more Asian students were staying closer to home, as the region's universities have improved in international rankings and as political issues such as Brexit or "geopolitical changes in the United States" act as a deterrent. "Covid will accelerate that trend", he said, adding that "scientific gravitas is also shifting"."
"Anthony Salcito, vice-president of worldwide education at Microsoft, explained that the initial shift to online learning precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic involved moving pre-existing materials to digital platforms. However, as universities continue to digitise "we have to get smarter and offer more personalized learning"."
Another poignant observation was that the only screen many students had available for online education was the one on their phone!
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/crisis-could-unify-and-strengthen-asias-universities
More Australian Universities Flag Pay Freezes and Redundancies
[June 3, 2020] "Choice will guide job cuts, institutions pledge, as sector confronts A$16bn black hole"
The article reports on a first-year forecasted loss for Australian Universities of A$3.1- 4.8 billion rising too as much as A$16 billion by 2023, and putting at risk each year A$3.5 billion in university research.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/more-australian-universities-flag-pay-freezes-and-redundancies
Why the Fall Will Be a Liability Minefield
[May 29, 2020] "Colleges face lawsuits at every turn, and waivers won't protect them."
What about asking faculty to sign waivers?
"waivers wouldn't protect universities from claims by faculty and staff... An employer cannot ask employees to sign away future claims from workplace-related injuries covered by workers' compensation."
That's the good news, but is C-10 covered under your compensation plan?
The article also discusses the limitations and downsides of asking students to sign "waivers" and well as the risks of future suits for refunds should the school be forced to close down.
The headline seems too to say it all. Not a great time to be your university's chief counsel!
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-the-Fall-Will-Be-a/248887 - Paywall
The Covid-19 Census Could Cost College Towns Millions
[May 27, 2020] "Census and college leaders are still holding out hope that they can capture an accurate count."
Maybe you thought it was just lost local revenue from the students that risked that the finances of college towns. This article discusses the many potential financial town, university, and state implications for a poor turnout for the ten-year U.S. census.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Covid-19-Census-Could-Cost/248871 - Paywall
Universities are Pressing the Self-destruct Button
[May 25, 2020] "Online lectures and virtual years abroad will only make prospective students wonder why they should attend at all."
This right-leaning U.K.- centric opinion piece has little good to say about the state of university education - even before C-19:
"The upshot is that academics now comprise a minority of university staff; students are bribed with unconditional places to ensure their custom; once at university they spend less time in classes and lectures, as well as less time engaged in private study, yet grade inflation is rampant."
The author suggests the problem has only been magnified by the pandemic and particularly the distance education solution. That solution, she contends, interferes with a key component of university education:
"For young adults, moving away from home, making new friends, joining clubs and societies – and, yes, drinking too much and having sex with people you never want to see again – are an intrinsic part of growing up and gaining intellectual and moral independence."
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/25/universities-are-pressing-the-self-destruct-button/
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Blake Ives
bives@mac.com------------------------------