surviving

Let’s use television to minimize the learning gaps that will otherwise be experienced by many students this next year! [Christian]

On 08/19/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, Apple, collaboration, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, education, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, instructional design, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, media/film, microlearning, multimedia, parents/guardians, participation, passions, platforms, policy, political science, remote teaching and learning, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, sociology, staying relevant, STEAM-related, storytelling, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, television, tools, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

If one doesn’t have access to the Internet, a computer, or any such mobile technology as seen in the image above…could TV become the medium through which one could be educated during this next year of the Coronavirus situation? That is, until we can develop better and more equitable policies, plans, funding, systems, infrastructures, and connectivity for all students!
After that, could we see more televisions morph into smart/connected TVs?
Could PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and other major networks collaborate with the U.S. Department of Education to help us educate all students?
Could the largest internet company of 2030 be an online school as Thomas Frey predicts?

A few years ago, I had hoped that Apple was going to go all-in with their tvOS platform.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 9: Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the New Apple TV during a Special Event; 9/9/15.

Though it’s still early in the game, that really hasn’t happened to the extent that I had hoped. That said, more recently, I was encouraged to see this article from back in July:

Let’s ask the employees of PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and other networks if they would be willing to work with the U.S. Department of Education to help educate ALL students! Though educational TV is not new, I’m talking about taking things to a *whole* new level.

With that in mind, I created the following graphic:

(One might ask why I used an old television in the above graphic. I was trying to get at the idea that one might not have a lot of resources to work with.)

“We, as a nation, have to do much better on this issue! It’s not right.” [Christian]

On 08/19/2020, in Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, future, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, internet, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, online learning, parents/guardians, participation, platforms, policy, political science, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, tools, trends, United States, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, youth, by Daniel Christian

Back-to-School Help for Students Without Internet — from by James K. Willcox
For millions of families, broadband access is a challenge. These resources can help bridge that digital divide.

Excerpt:

“If it wasn’t glaringly clear before, the pandemic has confirmed the vital importance of a broadband internet connection—one that is reliable, affordable, and in some cases, simply available,” says Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel in Consumers Reports’ Washington, D.C., office. “Unfortunately, far too many Americans lack access or are unable to afford broadband.”

A new state-by-state report on America’s K-12 students by Common Sense and Boston Consulting finds that almost 16 million students and 10 percent of teachers lack adequate internet or computing devices at home. Minority households are among the most affected. Though 18 percent of white homes lack broadband, the figure rises to 26 percent for Latinx homes and 30 percent for Black homes. The percentage is even higher among Native American households.

From DSC:
Though this solid article lists some very helpful resources, we have to do much better than this as a nation! It’s not right.

My thanks to James McQueen for this resource.

“May we never forget that behind every coronavirus statistic there is unquantifiable human suffering.” [Bill Plaschke]

On 08/19/2020, in Asia, Australia, biology, Canada, Daniel S. Christian, Europe, ideas, India, Michigan, parents/guardians, relationships, society, student-related, surviving, trends, UK, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

“The depth of their nightmare resonates deeply in me now. This column honors their struggle and commemorates their spirit. May we never forget that behind every coronavirus statistic there is unquantifiable human suffering.” #coronavirus #health https://t.co/CnZHpMJm8u

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) August 19, 2020

The novel coronavirus is not a statistic. It’s not an agenda. It’s not a debate. COVID-19 is real enough to rise up and beat me senseless. We need to stop giving it license to do the same to others.

[Bill Plaschke]

At home, workers seek alternative credentials [McKenzie]

On 08/15/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, colleges, community colleges, computer science, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, programming, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

At home, workers seek alternative credentials — from insidehighered.com by Lindsay McKenzie
Interest in alternative online credentials spiked after people started working remotely this spring. Will the surge continue long-term?

Excerpt:

Several leading massive open online course providers, coding bootcamps and business schools offering non-degree credentials reported manyfold increases in web traffic, inquiries and enrollments.

Pandemic turns smartphones from luxury to must-have as India’s schools go online — from news.trust.org by Roli Srivastava
Smartphones help classes continue as schools remain closed, but the poorest families are struggling to keep up

Excerpts:

India is the world’s second-biggest smartphone market after China, and nearly half of the country’s almost one billion mobile users already have a phone with internet access.
…
With no clear sign of schools reopening soon, internet access has become a must for children to follow classes, prompting more low-income families to scrape together the money to buy a cheap or second-hand smartphone for the first time.

Customised lessons for first to 12th grade students will be aired on television and radio in a “one class-one channel” initiative planned by the federal human resource department.

NEW! “Learning Pods” / “Pandemic Pods” / “Pod learning” | Macro & micro-learning ecosystems across the country are morphing once again! [Christian]

On 07/29/2020, in blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education technology, face-to-face, game-changing environment, health, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, neurodivergent/special needs, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, parents/guardians, personalized/customized learning, society, sociology, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, surviving, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual tutoring, youth, by Daniel Christian

Learning ecosystems across the country — especially those involving K-12 — are morphing once again.

Have you heard about the explosive interest and potential growth involving “learning pods” — also called “pandemic pods”!?! It’s amazing to see how quickly things are changing in this fluid situation. This is another great example of how the macro-learning ecosystem for K-12 is changing — as well as the changes happening at more of a micro-level. (To see how true this is, put a Google Alert or two out there for “learning pods,” “pod learning,” and/or “pandemic pods.”)

For some information about these changes, see some of the example articles below:

Some Parents Considering ‘Pod Learning’ Instead Of Returning To Classrooms This Fall — from newyork.cbslocal.com
The Pros and Cons of Pandemic Learning Pods — from people.howstuffworks.com by Carrie Whitney
Excerpt:
What Is a Learning Pod? The idea of learning pods and micro-schools didn’t arise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the concept has gained popularity because of it. Maureen O’Shaughnessy, Ed.D. published the book “Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids” in 2019. She’s also founder of the Micro-School Coalition, and believes micro-schools and learning pods should be unique and “reflect the values of the community that they serve.” Rather than acting as a specific model, the coalition serves only as an example of how to feature small classrooms with multi-age students; and innovative teaching models with personalized learning and holistic curriculums.
What are ‘micro-schools’ and ‘pandemic pods’? — from today.com by Ashley Capoot

“This is real. This is not just a niche interest anymore.”
As school starts online, parents need to study up on ‘pandemic pods’ – and what they mean for equity — from usatoday.com by Wyatte Grantham-Philips
Excerpt:
Some families are “poding up.” Learning pods, also dubbed “pandemic pods,” are small groups of families that agree to do supplementary learning or complete at-home coursework together. Sometimes they hire a tutor. Sometimes they share the supervision among parents.
Homeschool pods are gaining traction amid worries about school reopening; here’s how parents are getting the finances to work — from USA Today by Aimee Picchi
‘Pandemic Pods’ Raise Concerns About Equity — from npr.org by Anya Kamanetz
Pediatrician Warns Learning Pods Without COVID-19 Protocols May Be Riskier Than Schools — from sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
POD Learning. Parents, Let’s Work Together to Form Family Pods — from tapinto.net by Jessica Bush
Excerpts:
As students and parents prepare for an uncertain back-to-school season, the concept of pandemic pods has risen in popularity, and in practice. But these pods are likely to exacerbate preexisting inequality, and intensify the loaded debate over “school choice,” which has a complex history when it comes to race and class.
Pandemic pods are inequitable and inevitable — and a dream come true for the school choice movement — from businessinsider.com by Juliana Kaplan

From DSC:
Though very interesting to see what occurs here, I, too, am concerned about the inequalities and the potential for expanding the learning gaps across the country (between the folks who have the resources and those folks who do not). For example, consider that the cost ranges from $1,500 to $2,500 dollars per student — per month — in the San Francisco Bay Area. (See COVID-19 learning pods: Here’s how they work and what Bay Area schools say about them by Luz Pena.) Or see

San Diego County parents creating ‘student pods’ and hiring teachers as substitute for virtual learning — from cbs8.com by Shannon Handy
Some families can’t afford to hire outside help to aid in virtual learning

On the other side of things…maybe this will be a new area of opportunity for the student teachers and education programs out there.

The different Learning Objectives (LO’s) of the corporate world vs. the world of higher education: Who pays the price? [Christian]

On 07/27/2020, in adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, business side of he, career development, change, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, instructional design, intelligent systems, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC: I’d like to thank Ryan Craig for mentioning several interesting articles and thoughts in a recent Gap Letter. At least 2-3 of the articles he mentioned got me to thinking…

With a degree no longer enough, job candidates are told to prove their skills in tests — from hechingerreport.org by Jon Marcus
Instead of relying on credentials, more employers want applicants to show their stuff

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Among the many frustrations ahead for millions of Americans thrown out of work by the pandemic is one that may surprise them: To get a new job, it’s increasingly likely they will have to take a test.

As the number of candidates balloons while health risks make it hard for hiring managers to meet with them in person, a trend toward “pre-hiring assessments” — already under way before Covid-19 — is getting a huge new push.

Skeptical that university degrees are the best measure of whether candidates have the skills they need, employers were already looking for ways that applicants could prove it — including in fields where that was not previously required.

“It’s like try before you buy,” said Price.

PDF version here.

Also see:

College Alumni See Room for Job-Skill Improvement — from news.gallup.com by John Clark

From DSC:
There is a huge misalignment between the Learning Objectives (LO’s) that the corporate world supports — and ultimately hires by — as compared to the LO’s that faculty, provosts, & presidents support.

This happened to me a while back when I was looking for a new job. I traveled to another city — upon the company’s request (though they never lifted a finger to help me with the travel-related expenses). Plus, I dedicated the time and got my hopes up, yet again, in getting the job. But the test they gave me (before I even saw a human being) blew me away! It was meant for PhD-level candidates in Computer Science, Programming, or Statistics. It was ridiculously hard.

The article above got me to thinking….

Higher education increasingly puts a guerrilla of debt on many students’ backs, which adds to the dispiriting struggle to overcome these kinds of tests. Also, the onslaught of the Applicant Tracking Systems that students have to conquer (in order to obtain that sought after interview) further adds to this dispiriting struggle.

How can we achieve better alignment here? Students are getting left holding the bag…a situation that will likely not last much longer. If higher ed doesn’t address this situation, we shouldn’t be surprised to see a mass exodus when effective alternatives pick up steam even further. Last call to address this now before the exodus occurs.

Along these lines see:

Better Connecting College and Career — from insidehighered.com by Steven Mintz
How to improve career readiness.

Excerpt:

How can colleges best prepare students for careers in a volatile, uncertain environment? This is the question recently asked by Marie Cini, the former provost at University of Maryland University College and former president of CAEL.

Career service offices, she observes, are first and foremost job search centers: reviewing résumés, publicizing job openings and arranging interviews. What they are not about, for the most part, is career preparation, a longer and more intense process involving self-analysis, skills building and genuine insights into the job market.

Surveys: Most teachers don’t want in-person instruction, fear COVID-19 health risks [Will]

On 07/26/2020, in change, economics, education, health, society, sociology, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, surviving, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Surveys: Most teachers don’t want in-person instruction, fear COVID-19 health risks — from blogs.edweek.org by Madeline Will

Excerpts:

Teachers are more likely than administrators to express concerns about returning to school. The vast majorities of school leaders (96 percent) and district leaders (90 percent) say they are willing to return to their school building for in-person instruction, compared to 81 percent of teachers.

Also, teachers of color are more likely than white teachers to be concerned about going back into the classroom. Just 35 percent of teachers of color say there should be in-person instruction this fall, compared to 47 percent of white teachers. Eighty-three percent of white teachers said they’re willing to go back into school buildings, compared to 66 percent of teachers of color.

Those are some of the key findings from a nationally representative online survey by the EdWeek Research Center. The survey was conducted July 22-23, and 1,366 educators responded—873 teachers, 251 principals, and 242 district leaders.

Also see:

“There’s just no question we’re facing a crisis in the teacher workforce,” @BeckyPringle says at #ewa20. Teachers feel disrespected and excluded from the conversations on how to reopen school building and feel like their health is being put at risk, she says.

— Maddy Will (@madeline_will) July 24, 2020

Here’s how colleges should help close the digital divide in the COVID-Era [Brownlee]

On 07/17/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Bring your own device (BYOD), colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, digital learning, distance education, economics, education, education reform, education technology, future, higher education, ideas, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, reinvent, remote teaching and learning, social learning / networks, society, sociology, student-related, surviving, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, tools, trends, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Here’s how colleges should help close the digital divide in the COVID-Era — from edsurge.com by Dr. Mordecai I. Brownlee

Excerpt:

One key problem prevalent in many low-socioeconomic communities around the nation—like San Antonio, which now has the highest poverty rate of the country’s 25 largest metro areas—is the digital divide. Digital divide is a term used to describe the gap present in society between those who have access to the internet and technology and those who don’t.

It speaks directly to a primary challenge facing our education system in this COVID-era: Some students and families have the means to succeed in a remote learning environment, and others do not.

Online learning critical to the ‘reskilling’ of America [Maggioncalda]

On 07/15/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, career development, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, future, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, platforms, reinvent, society, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, technologies for your home, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Online learning critical to the ‘reskilling’ of America — from thehill.com by Jeff Maggioncalda
[From DSC: As Jeff is the CEO of Coursera, a worldwide online learning platform, it causes this to be an opinion piece for sure; but his points are nevertheless, very valid in my opinion as well.]

Excerpts:

America is facing the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression. One in four American workers has filed for unemployment insurance since March. In less than four months, over 44 million American workers have watched their jobs be put on hold or disappear entirely — and that number is expected to grow in the coming months.
…
Policymakers should use this opportunity to launch a large-scale effort to help Americans develop the skills to do the jobs of the future.
…
Amidst this pandemic, Americans require a solution that meets them where they are, offering a safe learning environment during social distancing while preparing them for in-demand jobs now and post-COVID.
…
Online learning helps workers develop skills at an unparalleled speed and scale, as seen with the recent experience of training tens of thousands of contact tracers in a matter of weeks.

As school year approaches, parents and educators struggle with uncertainty [Kamenetz]

On 07/13/2020, in education, future, game-changing environment, health, K-12 related, learning spaces, student-related, surviving, teachers, trends, by Daniel Christian

As school year approaches, parents and educators struggle with uncertainty — from kqed.org by Anya Kamenetz

Excerpt:

What’s at stake: An unknown number of lives, the futures of tens of millions of children, the livelihoods of their caregivers, the working conditions of millions of educators and people’s trust in a fundamental American institution.

A new guide helps faculty plan equitable online courses for fall — from diverseeducation.com by Sara Weissman; guide from Every Learner Everywhere, the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) & the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (APLU). With thanks to Ray Schroeder for the resource.

Excerpt:

A new guide for faculty, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to help professors plan their online courses for fall as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

The faculty playbook, called “Delivering High-Quality Instruction Online in Response to COVID-19,” came out of a collaboration between Every Learner Everywhere, a network of non-profits focused on student outcomes, and two of its member organizations, the Online Learning Consortium and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). Their aim is to offer equity-minded online education strategies, especially for faculty who made their first foray into online education this year.

[Dr. Karen Vignare] sees the guide as a “concise” way to bring best practices together and to offer tools for “optimized online instruction,” she said.
…
The playbook is designed so that “you can really just dive in and get what you need,” she said. “You don’t have to read the whole thing from start to finish.”

Also see:

Time for Class: COVID-19 Edition Part 3

Are universities going the way of CDs and cable TV? [Smith]

On 07/08/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, distance education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, face-to-face, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, microlearning, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, organizational change, pace of change, parents/guardians, platforms, remote teaching and learning, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), training / L&D, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Are universities going the way of CDs and cable TV? — from theatlantic.com by Michael Smith; with thanks to Homa Tavangar & Will Richardson for this resource
Like the entertainment industry, colleges will need to embrace digital services in order to survive.

Excerpts:

We all know how that worked out: From 1999 to 2009, the music industry lost 50 percent of its sales. From 2014 to 2019, roughly 16 million American households canceled their cable subscriptions.

Similar dynamics are at play in higher education today. Universities have long been remarkably stable institutions—so stable that in 2001, by one account, they comprised an astonishing 70 of the 85 institutions in the West that have endured in recognizable form since the 1520s.

That stability has again bred overconfidence, overpricing, and an overreliance on business models tailored to a physical world. Like those entertainment executives, many of us in higher education dismiss the threats that digital technologies pose to the way we work.

Information technology transforms industries by making scarce resources plentiful, forcing customers to rethink the value of established products.

From DSC:
I can’t help but hear Clayton Christenson’s voice in the following quote:

An analogous situation prevails in higher education, where access to classroom seats, faculty experts, and university diplomas have been scarce for half a millennium. When massively open online courses first appeared, making free classes available to anyone with internet access, universities reflexively dismissed the threat. At the time, MOOCs were amateuristic, low-quality, and far removed from our degree-granting programs. But over the past 10 years, the technology has improved greatly.

Learning Ecosystems

Online learning critical to the ‘reskilling’ of America [Maggioncalda]

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