change

An interesting question: “What happens to a college’s online programs if the company operating them changes hands?” [Swaak]

On 07/25/2022, in change, colleges, community colleges, education technology, future of higher education, higher education, ideas, India, instructional design, leadership, learning ecosystem, online learning, online media, United States, universities, vendors, by Daniel Christian

An Overseas Ed-Tech Firm Wants to Buy 2U. What Could That Mean for Colleges? — from chronicle.com by Taylor Swaak

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

What happens to a college’s online programs if the company operating them changes hands? It’s a question on the minds of higher-ed leaders as an overseas ed-tech company attempts to buy 2U.

Byju’s, an ed-tech behemoth based in India, has put more than $1 billion on the table to acquire the online program manager, Bloomberg first reported late last month. 2U is one of the largest online-program managers, or OPMs, in the United States, known for scaling up online-degree programs and teaming up with more than 130 American colleges, including large institutions such as Arizona State, New York, and Syracuse Universities. It’s also the parent company of the online-course provider edX.

These Professors Were Thinking About Quitting. So They Turned to Social Media. [Myskow]

On 07/24/2022, in business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, higher education, social media, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

These Professors Were Thinking About Quitting. So They Turned to Social Media. — from chronicle.com by Wyatt Myskow

Excerpts:

One pointed him to a Facebook group, “The Professor Is Out,” dedicated to academics who are quitting. It helped him realize that “it’s not impossible for me to shift out of this thing.”

“The Professor Is Out” allows people to post anonymously, an important feature for academics who are still on the fence about quitting. When Kelsky created the group, she expected around 1,000 people to join. Now it has more than 24,000 members.
…
Another popular forum for maybe-quitters is the subreddit r/Professors, which has more than 100,000 members — dubbed “Guardians of Academe.”

Related postings:

Over half of higher ed employees likely to seek another job, survey finds — from highereddive.com by Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

Dive Brief:

More than half of college employees reported they are likely to leave their jobs in the next year in a new survey from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, CUPA-HR.
The most common reason workers gave for seeking new employment was the prospect of higher pay, followed by an opportunity to work remotely, and more flexible work hours.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported they’re working mostly or completely on campus, but almost 70% wanted to work remotely at least part time.

More Than Half of Campus Staff Members Are Thinking About Quitting, Survey Finds — from chronicle.com by Megan Zahneis

Excerpt:

Results of a new survey paint a grim picture for higher ed’s hopes of retaining staff members: More than half of them are considering leaving their job in the next year.

That’s according to staff members polled in May by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources; initial results of the survey were released this month.

Survey: More Than Half of Higher Ed Workers Plan to Leave — from insidehighered.com by Josh Moody

Excerpt:

Many higher education employees are headed for the exits, according to a new survey from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, which found that more than half of respondents said they were likely to look for other employment within the next 12 months.

Why Infosys’s cofounder Nilekani is urging leaders to use tech for good [Kumra]

On 07/24/2022, in Asia, change, education, health, India, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, morals/values, technology (general), telecommunications, ubiquitous learning, by Daniel Christian

Why Infosys’s cofounder Nilekani is urging leaders to use tech for good — from mckinsey.com by Gautam Kumra
The cofounder of the multinational IT company believes Indian start-ups will soon develop technologies to transform education, healthcare, and other social challenges.

Excerpts:

McKinsey: The world has also become a more complex place, with recent geopolitics, inflation complexity, rocketing energy prices, excessive liquidity, and digitization challenges. How do you personally keep adapting and learning?

Nandan Nilekani: In the last 40 years, I think we have gone through every transition: mainframes to minicomputers to LANs [local area networks] to internet to smartphones to AI. It has been fun understanding and riding these waves.

In my view, if a billion people can use something, then that’s a benefit. A billion people can learn using technology. A billion people can get better healthcare using technology. A billion people can move around and change jobs using technology.

From DSC:
I hope I can meet Nandan Nilekani someday. I feel that he is a kindred spirit. Several things that he said really resonated with me.

Should you Switch from Teacher to Instructional Designer? [teamedforlearning.com]

On 07/20/2022, in career development, change, education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, reinvent, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, United States, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Should you Switch from Teacher to Instructional Designer? — from teamedforlearning.com
It takes more than a new headline on your resume to transition from teacher to instructional designer.

Excerpts:

If you’re a teacher you may be looking for ways to make the most of the boom in digital learning job opportunities. You’ve developed some new skills in elearning and want to put them to use. It may be tempting to rebrand yourself as an instructional designer. Not so fast. The shift to instructional design is more than a title change, it demands additional credentials and skills that you might not have yet.

Before you try to make the leap, you should understand the real differences between the two roles. You may need to seek out new skills and credentials. It takes more than a new headline on your resume to transition from teacher to instructional designer.
…
You Can Make The Switch From Teacher To Instructional Designer
By now, we hope you understand why instructional design is more than a title, it’s a unique role in the digital learning ecosystem. Although switching roles isn’t as easy as just using new vocabulary, it can be done. With a little planning and the right credentials, you can make the switch from teacher to instructional designer.

The digital learning industry is evolving everyday.

Reflections on “Higher Ed Is Looking to Refill Jobs. But It’s Finding a ‘Shallow and Weak’ Candidate Pool.” [Zahneis]

On 07/20/2022, in business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, funding / grants, higher education, organizational change, teaching & learning, United States, universities, using teams, by Daniel Christian

Higher Ed Is Looking to Refill Jobs. But It’s Finding a ‘Shallow and Weak’ Candidate Pool. — from chronicle.com by Megan Zahneis

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

While higher education has largely recovered nearly all of its pandemic-associated job losses, the task of recruiting and hiring administrators and staff members has become a daunting one, according to a Chronicle survey of college leaders, hiring managers, and administrators that was conducted with support from the Huron Consulting Group.

Nearly 80 percent of the 720 respondents said their campus has more open positions this year than last, and 84 percent said that hiring for administrative and staff jobs has been more difficult in the last year.

Those positions are harder than ever to fill, too: 78 percent of leaders said their campus had received fewer applications for open jobs in the last year, and 82 percent agreed that they’d fielded fewer applications from qualified candidates. Said one person who took the survey: “The pools have been shallow and weak.”

From DSC:
Ask any ***staff*** member who has been working within higher education these last 10-20 years if this development is surprising to them, and they would tell you, “No, this is not a surprise to me at all.” Working within higher education has lost much of its value and appeal:

Budgets have been shrinking for years — so important/engaging new projects get taken off the plate (or indefinitely postponed). So opportunities for personal growth and new knowledge for staff members have been majorly curtailed. Also, members of administrations may decide to outsource those exciting projects that do survive to external consultants.
Oftentimes, salaries don’t match inflation — and they were never stellar to begin with.
Staff are second-class citizens within the world of higher education
- They aren’t part of the governing bodies (i.e., the Faculty Senates out there don’t include staff). Faculty members have much more say, control, and governance over things and get the opportunities to travel, learn, present, grow, share their knowledge, etc. much more so than staff members.
- There are few — if any — sabbaticals for staff members.
- Even those working within teaching and learning centers and instructional designers don’t have their hands on many steering wheels out there. Many faculty members prefer to hold their own steering wheels and they won’t listen to others who aren’t people they consider their “peers” (i.e., essentially other faculty members).
- They often don’t get the chance to do research and to make money off that research, like faculty members do
Staffing levels are inadequate, so one takes on an ever-increasing amount of work for the same pay.

And others could add more items to this list. So no, this is not a surprise to me at all. In a potential future where team-based content creation may thrive, it appears that some team members are dropping out.

States Look Beyond Bar Exam to License Lawyers [Perlinger]

On 07/20/2022, in assessment, career development, change, law schools, legislatures / government / legal, skills, United States, by Daniel Christian

States Look Beyond Bar Exam to License Lawyers — from iaals.du.edu by Jonna Perlinger

Excerpt:

The bar exam has been under growing scrutiny, due to the undue financial burden it places on law graduates as well as its long history of disparate racial outcomes. In addition, minimum competence—the very thing the exam purports to assess—has historically lacked a comprehensive, evidence-based definition, prompting some to say that it’s “ineffective in gauging the knowledge and skills new lawyers need to be successful.” IAALS’ Building a Better Bar project provided the first empirically grounded definition of minimum competence and offered recommendations for how our process for licensing lawyers must change to better serve the public; our findings indicate that many aspects of the current bar exam, including multiple-choice questions, time constraints, and being closed-book, fail to align with what we know about how to best assess minimum competence to practice law.

Fortunately, however, a growing number of states are now exploring the permanent implementation of alternative licensure approaches that would allow law school graduates to obtain their license through nontraditional avenues.

Matthew Ball on the metaverse: We’ve never seen a shift this enormous [Roettgers]

On 07/20/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, career development, change, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, drama/theater, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, IT in HE, marketplaces, media/film, Metaverse, story, storytelling, technologies for your home, tools, Uncategorized, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, wearables, web-based collaboration, Web3, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Matthew Ball on the metaverse: We’ve never seen a shift this enormous — protocol.com by Janko Roettgers
The leading metaverse theorist shares his thoughts on the sudden rise of the concept, its utility for the enterprise and what we still get wrong about the metaverse.

Excerpts:

What are the biggest misconceptions about the metaverse?
First, the idea that the metaverse is immersive virtual reality, such as an Oculus or Meta Quest. That’s an access device. It would be akin to saying the mobile internet is a smartphone.

We should think of the metaverse as perhaps changing the devices we use, the experiences, business models, protocols and behaviors that we enjoy online. But we’ll keep using smartphones, keyboards. We don’t need to do all video conferences or all calls in 3D. It’s supplements and complements, doesn’t replace everything.

Also relevant/see:

A former Amazon exec thinks Disney will win the metaverse — from protocol.com by

Excerpt:

This month, Ball is publishing his book, “The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything.” The work explains in detail what the metaverse is all about and which shifts in tech, business and culture need to fall into place for it to come into existence.

How will the metaverse change Hollywood? In his book, Ball argues that people tend to underestimate the changes new technologies will have on media and entertainment.

Instead of just seeing a movie play out in 360 degrees around us, we’ll want to be part of the movie and play a more active role.
One way to achieve that is through games, which have long blurred the lines between storytelling and interactivity. But Ball also predicts there will be a wide range of adjacent content experiences, from virtual Tinder dates in the “Star Wars” universe to Peloton rides through your favorite movie sets.

Addendum on 7/24/22:

Neurodiversity, Inclusion And The Metaverse — from workdesign.com by Derek McCallum

Excerpt:

Innovation in virtual and augmented reality platforms and the vast opportunities connected to the metaverse are driving innovation in nearly every industry. In the workplace, future-focused companies are increasingly exploring ways to use this nascent technology to offer workers more choices and better support for neurodiverse employees.

It would be nearly impossible to list all the challenges and opportunities associated with this technology in a single article, so I’ll keep things focused on an area that is top-of-mind right now as many of us start to make our way back into the office—the workplace. The truth is, while we can use our expertise and experience to anticipate outcomes, no one truly knows what the metaverse will become and what the wide-ranging effects will be. At the moment, the possibilities are exciting and bring to mind more questions than answers. As a principal and hands-on designer in a large, diverse practice, my hope is that we will be able to collectively harness the inherent opportunities of the metaverse to support richer, more accessible human experiences across all aspects of the built environment, and that includes the workplace.

Summer Learning Programs Struggle — and Devise Solutions — as Staff Shortages Persist [Tate Sullivan]

On 07/20/2022, in career development, change, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, teachers, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Summer Learning Programs Struggle — and Devise Solutions — as Staff Shortages Persist — from edsurge.com by Emily Tate Sullivan

Excerpt:

It’s summer time, and the learning is not easy.

That’s in large part because the widespread staffing shortages that plagued the 2021-22 school year have stretched into summer programming, which, in many cases, relies on licensed school teachers to sign up to continue working with students.

But teachers are exhausted. They may want—even need—the extra income from summer jobs, but many are also desperate for a break after the last two-and-a-half years and trying to prioritize their mental health.

From DSC:
In futurism speech, this is a strong signal of what could be a tough year ahead. If that turns out to the case, what are some possible scenarios and what are some possible solutions to those scenarios?

If I were you I’d be following what @LXStudio_Legal is up to. Knowing the smart folks involved, the initiatives to come are likely to be exciting and much needed for the legal ecosystem. #legaltech #business

— Colin S. Levy (@Clevy_Law) July 16, 2022

Also relevant/see:

What is Norton Rose Fulbright’s LX Studio? — from artificiallawyer.com

Excerpts:

‘From tiny acorns, mighty oak trees grow’ so the saying goes, and it’s fair to say that US-based LX Studio, the new innovation project of global firm Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF), is very much still an acorn – but it has plenty of potential.

Artificial Lawyer spoke to Jeff Cody, Managing Partner for the US side of 3,700-lawyer NRF, which was formed by the merger of the UK’s Norton Rose and America’s Fulbright & Jaworski in 2013, to find out some more.

But, with a more optimistic outlook one might say that this is a beginning; and that although the US is home to many pioneering legal tech companies and ALSPs, the reality is that few law firms in the US have dedicated innovation groups which mirror the full range of what NRF has in the UK, for example.

How Alternative Credentials Can Help You Find Employees — from shrm.org by Kathryn Tyler
Focus on skills, not degrees, to increase your talent pool.

Excerpts:

“Alternative credentials,” such as the ones Brown attained, are increasingly available in the form of micro-credentials, digital badges and industry-recognized certificates. They’re less expensive than a college degree and designed to help prepare workers for better jobs.
…
IBM is ahead of the game in many respects. Six years ago, the tech giant began revising its job descriptions to focus on skills and not just educational attainment. On average, 50 percent of the company’s posted positions in the U.S. don’t require a bachelor’s degree.

“We call these ‘new-collar jobs,’ and they’re aligned to careers that require the right set of skills and a commitment to lifelong learning,” says Tommy Wenzlau, talent leader for new-collar initiatives at IBM, which employs more than 250,000 workers globally. “New-collar roles are in some of technology’s fastest-growing fields, including data science, cloud computing, application development, cybersecurity and digital design.”

From DSC:
The following two items make me wonder how Extended Reality (XR)-related techs will impact theatre, gaming, opera, & other forms of entertainment.

AR Opera Glasses Could Change Broadway Forever — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick

Excerpt:

Immersive technology brings the stage to life like never before.

Students from the South Korean Hongik University have developed a pair of reimagined 19th-century opera glasses that utilize AR technology to immerse spectators in Broadway shows in a variety of unique and imaginative ways. The device is compatible with popular shows such as Wicked, Aladdin, Cats, Mamma Mia, and Frozen.

Reddot_Rene from ???/??????? on Vimeo.

What ‘Shakespeare Karaoke’ Teaches About the Virtual Reality Future — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig
Does technology work better as a solo encounter or a group experience?

Excerpt:

To immerse, or not to immerse?

For professors designing virtual reality versions of Shakespeare’s plays, that is the question. The answer(s) may have implications for designing new edtech tools—and VR technology intended to be used beyond the classroom, too.

The Bard’s masterpieces, plays written in the late 1500s and early 1600s, have received all kinds of digital makeovers in the 21st century. Two current efforts designed by academics for use in teaching draw on extended reality tools that invite users to actively participate in scenes from works like “Romeo and Juliet.”

Play the Knave is a video game that helps users design actor-avatars they can direct with their bodies around virtual theater spaces. Shakespeare-VR is a project-in-development that will enable users to don a VR headset, step on to a virtual Elizabethan stage and perform alongside avatars voiced by professional actors.

Dead Malls and Future Campuses — from insidehighered.com by Joshua Kim
Thoughts on Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall.

Excerpt:

Can we learn anything about the future of the university from the history of the shopping mall?

If any lessons connecting malls to colleges are to be found, the starting place is Meet Me by the Fountain. It is hard to imagine a more complete social, architectural, cultural, economic or cross-national comparison of shopping malls than this book provides.

For some, all the detail, theorizing and analysis of the mall’s history, relevancy and meaning might be a bit too much. For those looking for clues about how the university might evolve post-pandemic, the deep dive into malls that Meet Me by the Fountain provides is helpful.

The new labor market: No bachelor’s required? [Lanahan]

On 07/14/2022, in 21st century, Alternatives, business, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, higher education, skills, society, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The new labor market: No bachelor’s required? — from hechingerreport.org by Lawrence Lanahan
More workers without degrees are landing jobs they’d have been shut out of before. Will it last?

Excerpt:

Thanks to a tight labor market, more good jobs are opening up to workers who lack a bachelor’s degree. A month after Maryland’s announcement, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis directed government agencies in his state to embrace hiring workers for skills, not degrees. Private sector employers have been rolling back B.A. requirements too.

The Post-Covid New Normal is Looking Bipolar — from philonedtech.com by Phil Hill

Excerpt:

I think it is important to deal with evidence on enrollment trends on their own terms and not just in the context of Covid recovery, and not just based on pre-Covid trends. The data we’re seeing recently have some big implications for the health of institutions, for online and hybrid education, and for alternative educational programs (and even alternative scheduling of programs).

The observation that higher education fortunes differ between elites and more open access institutions is not new, but what is becoming clear is that increasing separation cannot be explained away by Covid.

Also relevant/see:

Supporting Students and Faculty in the New Normal — from campustechnology.com by Thomas Hoover, Richard Shrubb, Donna Johnson
As classrooms evolve to accommodate the flexibility and innovation of new learning models, it’s important to provide ample training and resources for all constituents. Here are three key areas to consider.

Several items from EducationWeek that show how serious the situation is becoming in K12

On 07/09/2022, in career development, change, dangers of the status quo, education, education reform, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, teachers, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Education Week -- The Top 7

Excerpt:

The struggle to keep classrooms fully staffed is getting increasingly desperate and it shows in this week’s top stories. A dozen states are amending—or considering amending—their teacher certification rules to expand their teacher pipelines. Districts are using 4-day school weeks as a carrot to draw job applicants. And then there’s emergency certification. In some states, the last-resort practice is becoming business as usual. Some educators wonder if that’s a good idea.

Across the country, policymakers are taking steps to relax their states’ certification requirements to get more teachers in the classroom and circumvent shortages.

Reviews by Education Week and the Education Commission of the States found about a dozen states that have recently amended—or are considering amending—teacher certification rules. Some are changing the criteria for licensure, others are expanding the qualifying score on state licensing tests, and some are dropping licensure tests altogether.

Those changes reflect a teacher pipeline in flux.

Source

Also relevant/see:

Principals Are on the Brink of a Breakdown — from edsurge.com by Emily Tate Sullivan
A recent survey found 85 percent of school principals are experiencing job-related stress and 48 percent are dealing with burnout. What can be done to keep them in their roles?

Learning Ecosystems

An interesting question: “What happens to a college’s online programs if the company operating them changes hands?” [Swaak]

Why Infosys’s cofounder Nilekani is urging leaders to use tech for good [Kumra]

Reflections on “Higher Ed Is Looking to Refill Jobs. But It’s Finding a ‘Shallow and Weak’ Candidate Pool.” [Zahneis]

States Look Beyond Bar Exam to License Lawyers [Perlinger]

Matthew Ball on the metaverse: We’ve never seen a shift this enormous [Roettgers]

Two items re: LX Studio [US, UK, and global legal operations]

How Alternative Credentials Can Help You Find Employees [Tyler]

These two items make me wonder how XR-related techs will impact the theatre, gaming, opera, & other forms of entertainment [Christian]

Dead Malls and Future Campuses [Kim]

The new labor market: No bachelor’s required? [Lanahan]

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