This Researcher Says AI Is Neither Artificial nor Intelligent — from wired.com by Tom Simonite
Kate Crawford, who holds positions at USC and Microsoft, says in a new book that even experts working on the technology misunderstand AI.
On 04/28/2021,
in adjunct faculty, analytics, blended learning, change, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, data related items, education technology, experimentation, future of higher education, higher education, hybrid learning, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, online learning, open courseware and systems, pedagogy, professional development, quality, remote teaching and learning, teachers, teaching & learning, trends, United States, universities, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
3 Tech Trends Shaping the Future of Post-Pandemic Teaching and Learning — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly
The landscape of higher education has been transformed by COVID-19, and that impact is a major factor in the 2021 Educause Horizon Report. Here are three key technology trends to watch as the lasting effects of the pandemic play out.
Excerpt:
What’s in store for higher education’s post-pandemic future? The latest Educause Horizon Report has identified the trends, technologies and practices shaping teaching and learning in the wake of COVID-19. The potential lasting effects of the pandemic “loomed large” in the trend selection this year, the report stated, emphasizing that although it remains to be seen whether the transformations of the past year will persist into the future, “it isn’t hard to imagine that higher education may never be the same in some important ways (good or bad).”
In the realm of technology in particular, it’s clear that the pandemic-induced shift to remote learning has dominated the trend landscape. The top three technological trends identified by the report are…
From 2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report® | Teaching and Learning Edition
Also see:
- Students Want Online Learning Options Post-Pandemic — from insidehighered.com by Lindsay McKenzie
The experience of learning remotely during the pandemic left students with a positive attitude toward online and hybrid courses, a new survey suggests.
Jessica Rowland Williams, director of Every Learner Everywhere, agreed. “The pandemic has given us the unique opportunity to pause and listen to each other, and we are beginning to discover all the ways our experiences overlap,” she said.
On 04/24/2021,
in A/V -- audio/visual, blended learning, business, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, expectations, experimentation, face-to-face, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, online learning, platforms, remote teaching and learning, smart classrooms, society, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
How to Design a Hybrid Workplace — from nytimes.com
Excerpt:
But many companies have hatched a postpandemic plan in which employees return to the office for some of the time while mixing in more work from home than before. The appeal of this compromise is clear: Employers hope to give employees the flexibility and focus that come from working at home without sacrificing the in-person connections of the office.
From DSC:
There has been — and likely will continue to be — huge pressure and incentives put on companies like Cisco, Zoom, Microsoft, and others that develop the products and platforms to help people collaborate and communicate over a distance. It will be very interesting to see where these (and other) vendors, products, and platforms are 2-3 years from now! How far will we be down the XR-related routes?
How will those new ways of doing things impact telehealth? Telelegal? Virtual courts? Other?
On 04/13/2021,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Blockchain, emerging technologies, future, global / globalization, society, trends, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
On 04/13/2021,
in economics, higher education, parents/guardians, society, trends, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Harvard and its peers should be embarrassed about how few students they educate — from washingtonpost.com by Jeff Selingo
Their minuscule admissions rates are a sign of failure, not success.
Excerpt:
Harvard’s announcement this past week that its acceptance rate fell to an all-time low of just 3.4 percent will be viewed by some alumni as a triumph — a sign of their alma mater’s popularity and prestige among high school grads. And some alumni of elite institutions like Yale (4.6 percent), Brown (5.4 percent) and Princeton (4 percent) may feel the same glow of pride. In actuality, these numbers are signs of institutional failure.
That some 55,000 applicants were denied the chance to attend Harvard — which, with its $42 billion endowment, is fully capable of serving more than 1,640 students in an incoming class — is no cause for celebration. Instead, the ever-declining proportion of applicants accepted at such top-ranked universities should spur them to consider making their freshman classes substantially larger. Such a move would be especially appropriate — and, perhaps, more imaginable — after a pandemic year when universities across the country have had to reconceive education in a multitude of ways.
From DSC:
I couldn’t agree more. These types of schools should pursue a much more noble goal and seek to educate the masses. Make far larger contributions in order to make the world a better place to live in. Open up the doors. Stop recreating the caste system we have in the U.S.
Also see:
The Endless Sensation of Application Inflation — from chronicle.com by Eric Hoover
Excerpt:
The numbers get bigger each year. Now they’ve reached a mesospheric level of madness.
Yes, we’re talking about application totals at highly selective colleges, a fixation for a jittery subset of the planet. In the 2020-21 admissions cycle, many of the final tallies broke records — and, surely, record numbers of hearts. The more applicants that apply to a hyper-competitive college, the more rejections it must deliver.
But what do such metrics really tell us? What, if anything, does the annual OMG-ing over these statistics add to up to? Let’s pause here and remember that application inflation isn’t new: Acceptance rates at many institutions have been plummeting for years. Also, a 35-percent increase like the one Tufts University just saw didn’t mean there was a 35-percent increase in highly qualified applicants with a prayer of getting in, or a 35-percent increase in applicants who meet each of the institution’s many needs.
On 04/11/2021,
in business, career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, history, ideas, innovation, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, society, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, vocational / trades, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
5 Ways to Marry Higher Ed to Work — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser
Excerpts:
- Treat employers as customers.
- Move beyond the idea of the bachelor degree as the end-all.
- Link coursework with competences.
- Develop a “shared vocabulary of skills” that can be used by employers and peer institutions.
- Design for equity and inclusion.
From DSC:
It’s great to see more articles like this that promote further collaboration — and less siloing — between the worlds of higher education and the workplace.
My guess is that those traditional institutions of higher education who change/adapt quickly enough have a much greater chance at surviving (and even thriving). Those that don’t will have a very rough road ahead. They will be shadows of what they once were — if they are even able to keep their doors open.
Disruption is likely ahead — especially if more doors to credentialing continue to open up and employers hire based on those skills/credentials. One can feel the changing momentums at play. The tide has been turning for the last several years now (history may show the seeds of change were planted in times that occurred much longer ago).
On 03/20/2021,
in colleges, higher education, K-12 related, society, trends, Uncategorized, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene — from theatlantic.com by Caitlin Flanagan and was published online on March 11, 2021; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource.
Elite schools breed entitlement, entrench inequality—and then pretend to be engines of social change.
Excerpts:
These schools surround kids who have every possible advantage with a literal embarrassment of riches—and then their graduates hoover up spots in the best colleges. Less than 2 percent of the nation’s students attend so-called independent schools. But 24 percent of Yale’s class of 2024 attended an independent school. At Princeton, that figure is 25 percent. At Brown and Dartmouth, it is higher still: 29 percent.
The numbers are even more astonishing when you consider that they’re not distributed evenly across the country’s more than 1,600 independent schools but are concentrated in the most exclusive ones—and these are our focus here. In the past five years, Dalton has sent about a third of its graduates to the Ivy League. Ditto the Spence School. Harvard-Westlake, in Los Angeles, sent 45 kids to Harvard alone. Noble and Greenough School, in Massachusetts, did even better: 50 kids went on to Harvard.
However unintentionally, these schools pass on the values of our ruling class—chiefly, that a certain cutthroat approach to life is rewarded.
But what makes these schools truly ludicrous is their recent insistence that they are engines of equity and even “inclusivity.” A $50,000-a-year school can’t be anything but a very expensive consumer product for the rich. If these schools really care about equity, all they need to do is get a chain and a padlock and close up shop.
“In practice, however, meritocracy now excludes everyone outside of a narrow elite.” This is a system that screws the poor, hollows out the middle class, and turns rich kids into exhausted, anxious, and maximally stressed-out adolescents who believe their future depends on getting into one of a very small group of colleges that routinely reject upwards of 90 percent of their applicants.
…
This is why wealthy parents think it’s life-and-death to get their kids into the right prep school—because they know that the winners keep winning.
From DSC:
Reading this article that was mainly about private secondary schools, I still can’t help but say that I feel this way about my alma mater — Northwestern University in Evanston, IL (even though it’s a university). They have lost their footing over the years. They’ve become unanchored from their motto — Philippians 4:8 — and they’ve long ago left the original faith-based intent of its founders when it was founded in 1851.
As a Christian, I’m not happy at all with their direction. I notice that they pay lip service to equity and will sprinkle in an article or two here and there (in their alumni magazine for example) about how they are helping inner-city Chicago youth or some such topic.
But when the retail price that NU charges for ***one*** year of undergraduate work will cost you $79,342 (and thus $317,368+ for a degree), you’ve got to be kidding me!
And based upon my experience when I went there many years ago, courses were taught by:
- Professors who had never been taught how to teach before
- Professors who were not rewarded for their teaching, but rather they were awarded based upon their research
- …and/or by graduate students who hadn’t been taught how to teach either
It must be all about the brand I guess. But I don’t think it’s worth it anymore — not at this kind of pricing!
Words are easy to say — but much harder to back up.
Addendums on 3/23/21:
Old Boys’ Clubs and Upward Mobility Among the Educational Elite — from nber.org by Valerie Michelman, Joseph Price & Seth D. Zimmerman; with thanks to Megan Zahneis at the Chronicle for this resource
New working paper! “Old Boys’ Clubs and Upward Mobility Among the Educational Elite” with @joepricebyu and @v_michelman. Link here: https://t.co/s6Q0UuWlCl 1/N
— Seth Zimmerman (@SethDZimmerman) March 22, 2021
Addendum on 4/11/21:
Calling all rich parents — from chronicle.com — which points to “We, the Privileged Parents That Matter, Applaud the Netflix College-Admissions Scandal Doc” — from chronicle.com by Eric Hoover
On 03/18/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Access to Justice (A2J), Alternatives, change, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, expectations, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, health, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, online learning, remote teaching and learning, smart/connected TV, society, surviving, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, training / L&D, trends, United States, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing,
by Daniel Christian
Telemedicine likely to change how we receive health care post-pandemic — from mlive.com by Justin Hicks
A patient sits in the living room of her apartment in New York City during a telemedicine video conference with a doctor. (Mark Lennihan/AP)AP
Excerpt:
As we look to the post-pandemic future, medical experts believe telemedicine will be here to stay as another option to increase access to care, reduce costs, and free up doctors to spend more time with patients who need in-person care.
“When I think about the pandemic, one thing that didn’t change about our lifestyles is people are busy,” Lopez said. “I think we’ll still see growth in overall visits because of the fact that people want access to care and when you lower the cost, it should go up.”
From DSC:
A friend of mine said that he is doing most of his practice now via the telehealth route (and has been for many months now). Then, recently, when I was at the lab, the knowledgeable woman who assisted me said that she thought virtual health was definitely going to stick. Many doctors and nurses will be using virtual means vs. physical visits she said.
Expectations get involved here — for education, for the legal field, and for other arenas.
On 03/02/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, culture, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, engagement / engaging students, Europe, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, India, innovation, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, organizational change, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, reinvent, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, surviving, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
This is what we’re up against –> Reskilling 1 billion people by 2030” — from saffroninteractive.com by Jessica Anderson
Excerpts:
According to the World Economic Forum, this statistic is a critical economic imperative.
Does this shock or scare you? Perhaps you’re completely unflappable? Whatever your reaction, this situation will undoubtedly impact your organisation and the way you tackle skills development.
…
What are the roadblocks?
So, we’ve laid down the gauntlet; an adaptable, agile, multi-skilled workforce. What stands in the way of achieving this? A recent survey of the top 5 challenges facing learning leaders sheds some light:
1. Building a learning culture
2. Learning in the flow of work
3. Digital transformation
4. Learner engagement and ownership
5. Keeping informed of best practices
From DSC:
The article mentions that nations could lose billions in potential GDP growth. And while that is likely very true, I think a far bigger concern is the very peace and fabric of our societies — the way of living that billions of people will either enjoy or have to endure. Civil unrest, increased inequality, warfare, mass incarcerations, etc. are huge concerns.
The need for a next-gen learning platform is now! The time for innovation and real change is now. It can’t come too soon. The private and public sectors need to collaborate to create “an Internet for learning” (in the sense that everyone can contribute items to the platform and that the platform is standards based). Governments, corporations, individuals, etc. need to come together. We’re all in the same boat here. It benefits everyone to come together.
On 02/25/2021,
in Australia, Canada, colleges, community colleges, future, future of higher education, IT in HE, technology (general), trends, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
2021 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report® | Information Security Edition — from library.educause.edu
This report profiles important trends and key technologies and practices shaping the future of information security, and envisions a number of scenarios and implications for that future. It is based on the perspectives and expertise of a global panel of leaders from across the higher education landscape.
On 02/11/2021,
in Daniel S. Christian, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, health, ideas, innovation, internet, parents/guardians, society, telecommunications, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, trends, United States, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
More states require telehealth coverage going into 2021 — from by
Several states passed recent laws that would require commercial insurance plans to cover more telehealth services on a permanent basis. More states now require health plans to pay the same amount for telehealth as in-person visits.
From DSC:
Telelegal on deck…? What about in your area of work…what’s coming down the pike in this regard?