Also relevant/see:
On 05/09/2023,
in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), blended learning, change, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, face-to-face, faculty, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, ideas, instructional design, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning spaces, online learning, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, teaching & learning, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
2023 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition — from library.educause.edu
Excerpt:
The Future of Teaching and Learning
Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm, with new AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT opening up new opportunities in higher education for content creation, communication, and learning, while also raising new concerns about the misuses and overreach of technology. Our shared humanity has also become a key focal point within higher education, as faculty and leaders continue to wrestle with understanding and meeting the diverse needs of students and to find ways of cultivating institutional communities that support student well-being and belonging.
For this year’s teaching and learning Horizon Report, then, our panelists’ discussions oscillated between these seemingly polar ideas: the supplanting of human activity with powerful new technological capabilities, and the need for more humanity at the center of everything we do. This report summarizes the results of those discussions and serves as one vantage point on where our future may be headed.
On 04/23/2023,
in Alternatives, business, career development, change, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, higher education, instructional design, leadership, learning ecosystem, pathways, skills, society, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vendors, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Verified Skills — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
Hunting for a common thread amid the hype around skills.
Excerpt:
The glitzy ASU+GSV gathering this week was titled “Brave New World.” But Tim Knowles wanted to talk about 1906.
That was when the organization Knowles leads, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, created the credit-hour standard. The time has arrived, argue Knowles and Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS, to move away from the Carnegie Unit and toward a new currency of education based on meaningful skills and accomplishments, demonstrated through assessment.
Our old way of training Americans for ‘good jobs’ is past its sell-by date — from workshift.opencampusmedia.org by JB Holston
We’re at a pivot point in education and workforce development. Employers in the U.S. and its allies have an opportunity to accelerate their economies by collaborating to scale new pathways to prosperity. They need to seize that opportunity, writes JB Holston, former CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership.
The country is at a pivot point. COVID’s acceleration of remote work and training; an increased dedication to inclusion, equity, and diversity since the murder of George Floyd; the inexorable pace of technological change; and America’s new, well-funded industrial policy have created an opportunity for the most significant re-set in the relationship between employers and our education systems in the last 150 years.
The old path to family-supporting career positions—which depended on large employers recruiting graduates from a small universe of ranked colleges whose education stopped with that degree—is past its sell-by date.
AI in Hiring and Evaluating Workers: What Americans Think — from pewresearch.org by Lee Rainie, Monica Anderson, Colleen McClain, Emily A. Vogels, and Risa Gelles-Watnick
62% believe artificial intelligence will have a major impact on jobholders overall in the next 20 years, but far fewer think it will greatly affect them personally. People are generally wary and uncertain of AI being used in hiring and assessing workers
Excerpt:
A new Pew Research Center survey finds crosscurrents in the public’s opinions as they look at the possible uses of AI in workplaces. Americans are wary and sometimes worried. For instance, they oppose AI use in making final hiring decisions by a 71%-7% margin, and a majority also opposes AI analysis being used in making firing decisions. Pluralities oppose AI use in reviewing job applications and in determining whether a worker should be promoted. Beyond that, majorities do not support the idea of AI systems being used to track workers’ movements while they are at work or keeping track of when office workers are at their desks.
On 04/20/2023,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Blockchain, business, business side of he, change, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, experimentation, face-to-face, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, reinvent, skills, society, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, universities, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
A New Era for Education — from linkedin.com by Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS and Timothy Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
It’s not every day you get to announce a revolution in your sector. But today, we’re doing exactly that. Together, we are setting out to overturn 117 years of educational tradition.
…
The fundamental assumption [of the Carnegie Unit] is that time spent in a classroom equals learning. This formula has the virtue of simplicity. Unfortunately, a century of research tells us that it’s woefully inadequate.
From DSC:
It’s more than interesting to think that the Carnegie Unit has outlived its usefulness and is breaking apart. In fact, the thought is very profound.
If that turns out to be the case, the ramifications will be enormous and we will have the opportunity to radically reinvent/rethink/redesign what our lifelong learning ecosystems will look like and provide.
So I appreciate what Amit and Timothy are saying here and I appreciate their relaying what the new paradigm might look like. It goes with the idea of using design thinking to rethink how we build/reinvent our learning ecosystems. They assert:
It’s time to change the paradigm. That’s why ETS and the Carnegie Foundation have come together to design a new future of assessment.
-
- Whereas the Carnegie Unit measures seat time, the new paradigm will measure skills—with a focus on the ones we know are most important for success in career and in life.
- Whereas the Carnegie Unit never leaves the classroom, the new paradigm will capture learning wherever it takes place—whether that is in after-school activities, during a work-experience placement, in an internship, on an apprenticeship, and so on.
- Whereas the Carnegie Unit offers only one data point—pass or fail—the new paradigm will generate insights throughout the learning process, the better to guide students, families, educators, and policymakers.
I could see this type of information being funneled into peoples’ cloud-based learner profiles — which we as individuals will own and determine who else can access them. I diagrammed this back in January of 2017 using blockchain as the underlying technology. That may or may not turn out to be the case. But the concept will still hold I think — regardless of the underlying technology(ies).
For example, we are seeing a lot more articles regarding things like Comprehensive Learner Records (CLR) or Learning and Employment Records (LER; example here), and similar items.
Speaking of reinventing our learning ecosystems, also see:
On 04/17/2023,
in blended learning, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, face-to-face, faculty, higher education, hybrid learning, instructional design, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, new business models, online learning, teaching & learning, United States, universities, vendors, vocational / trades,
by Daniel Christian
The top online learning statistics in 2023 — from Devlin Peck’s Online Learning Statistics: The Ultimate List in 2023
- Worldwide, 49% of students have completed some sort of online learning
- Online learning is the fastest-growing market in the education industry – it has grown 900% since its creation in 2000
- 70% of students say online learning is better than traditional classroom learning
- The number of online learning users is expected to increase to 57 million by 2027
- 80% of businesses now offer online learning or training solutions
- 63% of students in the US engage in online learning activities daily
- Online learning can increase student and employee retention to as much as 50%
- Online learning can reduce the time needed to learn a subject by 40% to 60%
- The online learning industry is projected to be worth more than $370 billion by 2026
- Online learning and training can improve employee performance by 15% to 25%
Trade programs — unlike other areas of higher education — are in hot demand — from hechingerreport.org by Olivia Sanchez
Many young people choose to pursue short-term credentials over traditional college because they see them as a quicker and a more affordable path to a good
Excerpt:
While almost every sector of higher education is seeing fewer students registering for classes, many trade school programs are booming. Jones and his classmates, seeking certificates and other short-term credentials, not associate degrees, are part of that upswing.
Mechanic and repair trade programs saw an enrollment increase of 11.5 percent from spring 2021 to 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. Enrollment in construction trades courses increased by 19.3 percent, while culinary program enrollment increased 12.7 percent, according to the Clearinghouse.
Death of a Traditional Lecture — from by Abby L Kalkstein, PhD, and Justin L. Rheubert
Excerpts:
However, some of the digital/remote content is better than what we can provide in the physical classroom. For example, in a biology course, instructors can watch students interact with thousands of 3D models, such as those found on Sketchfab or virtual programs such as BioDigital. Additionally, students can follow along virtually as instructors point out different structures. This approach is not possible in a physical classroom unless each student has their own physical model or they bring their computers.
…
We should welcome the unfamiliarity of new and blended course designs and strive to build courses based on the best approach for the content regardless of the format, rather than revert to the comfort of analog lecturing.
How College Students Say They Learn Best— from insidehighered.com by Colleen Flaherty
In a new Student Voice survey, students share their preferences for class format, active learning strategies and note-taking. Interactive lectures and case studies are especially popular.
OPM Market Landscape And Dynamics: Spring 2023 Updates — from philhillaa.com by Phil Hill
Excerpt:
OPM Market Landscape
- Market valuations of publicly-traded OPM companies have continued to drop, with 2U/edX, Coursera, and Keypath all down 75% or more from March 2021.
- Pearson tapped out of the market, agreeing to sell its OPM business to private equity firm Regent.
- Zovio is no more. It has ceased to be.
- FutureLearn sold the remnants of its business to a for-profit system, and it now has the most obnoxious website of any OPM provider, past or present.
- Byju’s, which (according to multiple media accounts) had been considering an acquisition of 2U/edX or Coursera, abandoned these plans to go off and deal with its own financial crisis.
- Noodle acquired South Africa-based Hubble Studios.
- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the OPM market, triggering (but not causing) official efforts to make massive regulatory changes.
Harvard and MIT Launch Nonprofit to Increase College Access — from edsurge.com by Jeffrey R. Young
The effort is backed by the $800 million sale of the online platform edX in 2021.
Excerpt:
What would you do if you had $800 million to build a new nonprofit to support innovation in online learning?
That’s the privileged question that officials at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have been mulling over for the last two years, and late last month they announced some answers.
The result is a new nonprofit named Axim Collaborative, and its focus will be on serving learners that higher education has historically left behind.
As the group’s new CEO, Stephanie Khurana, put it in an interview with EdSurge this week: “The focus of the mission is to really help postsecondary completion and issues of economic mobility.”
California helps college students cut their debt by paying them to help their communities — from hechingerreport.org by Gail Cornwall
Inspired by service programs from earlier eras, the College Corps program puts low-income, first-generation students to work in education, food insecurity and climate mitigation
‘The reckoning is here’: More than a third of community college students have vanished — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Among those who do enroll, red tape and a lack of support are crushing their ambition
The Importance of Student Agency and Self-Direction — from evolllution.com by Cathrael Kazin
Excerpt:
The traditional higher education model is not a one-size-fits all. And students are increasingly calling for adaptability and flexibility to meet their needs. The focus on student agency is a tactic that many leaders can leverage when looking to support these needs and thrive moving forward. In this interview, Cathrael Kazin discusses the need for student agency and self-direction, the challenges that come with it and how to improve student retention and success.
On 04/14/2023,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, colleges, community colleges, global / globalization, higher education, IT in HE, society, sociology, telecommunications, universities, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Tech Titans: The crossroads of humanity and technology — from enterprisersproject.com by E.G. Nadhan
This year’s panel of IT leaders discusses the ongoing problem of equitable access to technology for underserved communities
Excerpts:
Can technology be a catalyst to improve the quality of life in these communities and, thus, resist the status quo?
“You cannot escape technology – tech is intertwined no matter what we do; it has become a utility like water, heat, and electricity. Not having access to technology can be detrimental to having access to the essentials of daily life. We need to work together to ensure that everyone – especially the underserved and disenfranchised communities – have access to technology.”
Also relevant/see:
Anywhere Learning Happens: The eduroam Global WiFi Access Service — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush
A conversation with eduroam community leaders Saira Hasnain and Brett Bieber
Steadily, eduroam is reaching toward ubiquity, and that’s one big factor that will ultimately allow it to continue to expand services to users all around the globe.
…
Impressively, in 2022, eduroam logged more than 6.4 billion individual authentications around the globe.
On 04/13/2023,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, career development, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, education, education reform, experimentation, future, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, pathways, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, skills, society, student-related, training / L&D, United States, universities, vendors, virtual K-12 schools, vision/possibilities, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
Credentialed Learning For All — from gettingsmart.com
Vision
Learning happens throughout life and is not isolated to the K-12 or higher education sectors. Yet, often, validations of learning only happen in these specific areas. The system of evaluation based on courses, grades, and credit serves as a poor proxy for communicating skills given the variation in course content, grade inflation, and inclusion of participation and extra credit within course grades.
Credentialed learning provides a way to accurately document human capability for all learners throughout their life. A lifetime credentialed learning ecosystem provides better granularity around learning, better documentation of the learning, and more relevance for both the credential recipient and reviewer. This improves the match between higher education and/or employment with the individual, while also providing a more clear and accurate lifetime learning pathway.
With a fully-credentialed system, individuals can own well-documented evidence of a lifetime of learning and choose what and when to share this data. This technology enables every learner to have more opportunities for finding the best career match without today’s existing barriers around cost, access, and proxies.
Addendum on 4/28/23 — speaking of credentials:
First Rung — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
New research shows stacking credentials pays off for low-income learners.
Stacking credentials pays off for many low-income students, new research finds, but only if learners move up the education ladder. Also, Kansas is hoping a new grant program will attract more companies to participate in microinternships.
On 04/12/2023,
in accreditation, Alternatives, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, leadership, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, pace of change, pathways, reinvent, skills, society, strategy, student-related, traditional / tradition, trends, United States, universities, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Regarding the core curricula of colleges and universities…
For decades now, faculty members have taught what they wanted to teach and what interested them. They taught what they wanted to research vs. what the wider marketplace/workplace needed. They were not responsive to the needs of the workplace — nor to the needs of their students!
And this situation has been all the more compounded by the increasing costs of obtaining a degree plus the exponential pace of change. We weren’t doing a good job before this exponential pace of change started taking place — and now it’s (almost?) impossible to keep up.
The bottom line on the article below: ***It’s sales.***
Therefore, it’s about what you are selling — and at what price. The story hasn’t changed much. The narrative (i.e., the curricula and more) is pretty much the same thing that’s been sold for years.
But the days of faculty members teaching whatever they wanted to are over, or significantly waning.
Faculty members, faculty senates, provosts, presidents, and accreditors are reaping what they’ve sown.
The questions are now:
- Will new seeds be sown?
- Will new crops arise in the future?
- Will there be new narratives?
- Will institutions be able to reinvent themselves (one potential example here)? Or will their cultures not allow such significant change to take place? Will alternatives to institutions of traditional higher education continue to pick up steam?
A Profession on the Edge — from chronicle.com by Eric Hoover
Why enrollment leaders are wearing down, burning out, and leaving jobs they once loved.
Excerpts:
Similar stories are echoing throughout the hallways of higher education. Vice presidents for enrollment, as well as admissions deans and directors, are wearing down, burning out, and leaving jobs they once loved. Though there’s no way to compile a chart quantifying the churn, industry insiders describe it as significant. “We’re at an inflection point,” says Rick Clark, executive director of undergraduate admission at Georgia Tech. “There have always been people leaving the field, but not in the numbers we’re seeing now.”
Some are being shoved out the door by presidents and boards. Some are resigning out of exhaustion, frustration, and disillusionment. And some who once sought top-level positions are rethinking their ambitions. “The pressures have ratcheted up tenfold,” says Angel B. Pérez, chief executive of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, known as NACAC. “I talk with someone each week who’s either leaving the field or considering leaving.”
From DSC:
This quote points to what I’m trying to address here:
Dahlstrom and other veterans of the field say they’ve experienced something especially disquieting: an erosion of faith in the transformational power of higher education. Though she sought a career in admissions to help students, her disillusionment grew after taking on a leadership role. She became less confident that she was equipped to effect positive changes, at her institution or beyond, especially when it came to the challenge of expanding college access in a nation of socioeconomic disparities: “I felt like a cog in a huge machine that’s not working, yet continues to grind while only small, temporary fixes are made.”
On 04/12/2023,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, IT in HE, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, microlearning, multimedia, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, teaching & learning, tools, traditional / tradition, United States, universities, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
How Easy Is It/Will It Be to Use AI to Design a Course? — from wallyboston.com by Wally Boston
Excerpt:
Last week I received a text message from a friend to check out a March 29th Campus Technology article about French AI startup, Nolej. Nolej (pronounced “Knowledge”) has developed an OpenAI-based instructional content generator for educators called NolejAI.
Access to NolejAI is through a browser. Users can upload video, audio, text documents, or a website url. NolejAI will generate an interactive micro-learning package which is a standalone digital lesson including content transcript, summaries, a glossary of terms, flashcards, and quizzes. All the lesson materials generated is based upon the uploaded materials.
From DSC:
I wonder if this will turn out to be the case:
I am sure it’s only a matter of time before NolejAI or another product becomes capable of generating a standard three credit hour college course. Whether that is six months or two years, it’s likely sooner than we think.
Also relevant/see:
On 04/11/2023,
in colleges, community colleges, experimentation, faculty, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, intelligent systems, Learning Experience Design, teaching & learning, tools, United States, universities, writing,
by Daniel Christian
How to Create Compelling Writing Assignments in a ChatGPT Age — from chronicle.com by James M. Lang
A recent book offers a road map to new kinds of assignments to inspire your students to write.
Excerpt:
A few days after I returned from the conference, I received a book in the mail that affirmed my newfound sense that 2023 has the potential to usher in an age of creative thinking about teaching and writing: Jessica Singer Early’s Next Generation Genres: Teaching Writing for Civic and Academic Engagement. Although her book doesn’t directly address ChatGPT, it offers exactly the kind of innovative ideas we need as we wrestle — or dance — with the implications of artificial intelligence for college teaching.
…
Clearly Jessica Singer Early has joined the leaning-into camp, seeing artificial intelligence as another invitation to reinvent ourselves in the classroom — just as she encourages readers to do in Next Generation Genres, and as this teacher plans to do in the fall.