dangers of the status quo

Connectivity gap persists for at least 300K California students [De La Rosa]

On 10/18/2020, in dangers of the status quo, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, K-12 related, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, parents/guardians, political science, society, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Connectivity gap persists for at least 300K California students — from educationdive.com by Shawna De La Rosa

Dive Brief:

California school districts are required to provide both devices and high-speed internet connection to any student learning from home, but between 300,000 and 1 million remain disconnected, EdSource reports. A backlog of computer orders and weak broadband infrastructure in remote areas are contributing factors.
At a state assembly education committee hearing Wednesday, California education leaders, teachers and lawmakers discussed how to close the digital divide. Though most households have enough broadband to handle some video calls, many family networks don’t have the strength for multiple students to be connected at once.
Nationwide, approximately one-third of households with annual incomes under $30,000 and with children under 18 don’t have high-speed internet connection at home, impacting roughly 9.7 million students, according to a Pew Research Center report. A quarter of teens within that socio-economic bracket lack access to a computer at home.

Who needs to be discussing/debating “The Social Dilemma” movie? [Christian]

On 10/18/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, business, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, computer science, corporate / business world, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, design, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, legislatures / government / legal, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mathematics, media/film, Microsoft, new business models, participation, platforms, policy, political science, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Who needs to be discussing/debating “The Social Dilemma” movie? Whether one agrees with the perspectives put forth therein or not, the discussion boards out there should be lighting up in the undergraduate areas of Computer Science (especially Programming), Engineering, Business, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Sociology, and perhaps other disciplines as well.

To those starting out the relevant careers here…just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Ask yourself not whether something CAN be developed, but *whether it SHOULD be developed* and what the potential implications of a technology/invention/etc. might be. I’m not aiming to take a position here. Rather, I’m trying to promote some serious reflection for those developing our new, emerging technologies and our new products/services out there.

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Monthly Update on Higher Education Enrollment — as of October 15, 2020 and as referenced late last week by The Chronicle of Higher Education

From DSC:
The window of opportunity for traditional institutions of higher education to reinvent themselves, become cheaper, and offer more value is beginning to close. The window is still there…but it’s beginning to close.

Some resources mentioned by Goldie Blumenstyk out at “The Edge” — in her posting entitled “How to Keep Old Debts From Deterring Returning Students“

Institute for College Access & Success (Ticas) has just released its annual report on what college graduates owe in student debt.
Excerpt:
Student Debt and the Class of 2019 is TICAS’ fifteenth annual report on the student loan debt of recent graduates from four-year colleges, documenting changes and variation in student debt across states and colleges. Unless otherwise noted, the figures in this report are only for public and private nonprofit colleges because virtually no for-profit colleges report what their graduates owe.Nationally, more than six in ten (62%) college seniors who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in 2019 had student loan debt, down from the Class of 2018 (65%). Borrowers from the Class of 2019 owed an average of $28,950, a 0.9 percent decline from the average of $29,200 in 2018, continuing a trend of relatively flat student debt levels in recent years.

Solving Stranded Credits: Assessing the Scope and Effects of Transcript Withholding on Students, States, and Institutions — from sr.ithaka.org by Julia Karon, James Dean Ward, Catharine Bond Hill, & Martin Kurzweil

Excerpt:

Attention to the burden of U.S. educational debt, now at $1.7 trillion, has grown in recent years.^[1] For too many former postsecondary students—especially Black students—debt they took on to improve their lives and career prospects has instead become a financial hindrance, delaying or undermining their efforts to buy homes, build savings, or provide for their families.^[2] The debt burden is especially severe for those who never completed their postsecondary program and therefore did not receive the credentials that might have boosted their careers and incomes enough to justify taking on the debt.

Also see:

The pandemic has pushed hundreds of thousands of workers out of higher education — from chronicle.com by Dan Bauman
Excerpt:
The work-force that serves much of higher education in America has shrunk by at least 7 percent since Covid-19 arrived on American shores — a staggering, unprecedented contraction, according to federal data. And like the national economic downturn that is running parallel to this unprecedented viral outbreak, much also remains uncertain about what a “recovery” will actually look like for higher education.

Walmart just started delivering stuff with drones — from futurism.com by Victor Tangermann

Excerpt:

Walmart just kicked off its own drone delivery pilot, a collaboration with drone delivery company Flytrex. The pilot launched today in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and is limited to select grocery and household essential items from the retailer’s local stores.

From DSC:
It starts off with an army of drones from Walmart joined by another army of drones from Amazon.

Then company XYZ chimes in. Then company ABC chimes in. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Then the armies of drones change to more powerful, louder, more “capable” delivery vehicles that can handle bigger, heavier deliveries.

And suddenly, the skies are full of noise-making, sun-blocking pieces of human-made machinery that, for the most part, are convenient but not necessary.

We need to think — and act — very carefully these days.

What kind of future do we want to hand down to our children and to our grandchildren?
What will the skies look and sound like in 2030 if such armies of drones and other types of airborne delivery vehicles are released?
Are we willing to say that our kids won’t mind paying the price?

Is this the future we want to create? Not me. I, for one, appreciate a quiet walk. I appreciate being able to look up at the skies, especially when they are clear.

We have a responsibility to keep things this way.

To the relevant engineers and C-Suites out there:

Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.
Please take more responsibility for what’s being developed/brought to market.

Let’s shut this down — now — before the momentum gets started. Let’s follow Portland’s example by shutting down facial recognition/AI:

Portland adopts landmark facial recognition ordinances — from thehill.com by Chris Mills Rodrigo
Excerpt:
“What makes Portland’s legislation stand out from other cities is that we’re prohibiting facial recognition technology use by private entities in public accommodations,” Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) said during Wednesday’s deliberations. “This is the first of its kind of legislation in the nation,” he added.
Why Amazon tried to thwart Portland’s historic facial recognition ban — from salon.com by Matt Rozsa
Amazon reportedly lobbied in secret to weaken Portland’s ban on private use of facial recognition technology

“This isn’t helping the continued backlash against traditional institutions of higher education.” [Christian]

On 09/05/2020, in 21st century, Alternatives, business side of he, career development, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, disruption, education reform, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, ideas, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, new business models, parents/guardians, platforms, society, sociology, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

DC: This isn’t helping the continued backlash against traditional institutions of higher education.”#highereducation #debt #tuition #learningfromthelivingclassroom #learningecosystems

https://t.co/srV971osSI

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) September 4, 2020

From DSC:
The perfect storm continues to build against traditional institutions of higher education. The backlash continues to build strength. And there WILL BE change — there’s no choice now. Alternatives to these traditional institutions of higher education continue to appear on the scene.

Over the last several decades, traditional institutions of higher education had the chance to step in and do something. They didn’t take nearly enough action. As in other industries, these days of the Coronavirus just hasten the changes that were already afoot.

Also see:

Alternative Credentials on the Rise — from insidehighered.com by Paul Fain, with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource
Interest is growing in short-term, online credentials amid the pandemic. Will they become viable alternative pathways to well-paying jobs?

The Great Online Migration and Curricular Materials Product-Market Fit [Feldstein]

On 08/27/2020, in business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, dangers of the status quo, digital learning, distance education, education technology, face-to-face, future of higher education, higher education, new business models, online learning, online media, platforms, remote teaching and learning, textbooks, by Daniel Christian

The Great Online Migration and Curricular Materials Product-Market Fit — from eliterate.us by Michael Feldstein

Excerpts:

Third, COVID-19 will accelerate the need of colleges and universities to find ways of continuing to serve their graduates for 20 or 40 years rather than for two or four. Quite simply, they will need revenue at a time when the pace and breadth of reskilling needs in the workplace is accelerating. These students will need online or blended educational experience, which will mean that more instructors will be called upon to teach using new modalities.
…
Major changes in the market
This shift online will drastically shift approaches to curricular materials at both the individual instructor and the institutional levels.
…
Meanwhile, institutions will face two pedagogy-related challenges. First, they will have to work very hard to retain students who are under increased financial stress and may struggle in an online environment more than they would in a residential program. Since the colleges will also be under financial stress, they will need to retain every student possible. They will no longer have the luxury of simply letting faculty teach however they like and accepting that some of them are not good at helping their students to succeed.

First They Came for Adjuncts, Now They’ll Come for Tenure: And who will be left to stop them? — from chronicle.com by Ed Burmila

Excerpts:

If, by their own accord or by caving to outside political pressures, university administrators take the current crisis as an opportunity to eliminate tenure once and for all, who’s going to stop them?

Put another way: Are there enough academic workers with a stake in the tenure system left to defend it?
…
As go the adjuncts and the nonacademic staff today, so go the tenured faculty tomorrow.

It is in the interest of tenured faculty to fight for their non-tenure-track colleagues. But the key question, as The Chronicle’s Emma Pettit asks, is: Will it be too little too late? When contingent labor protested for years about poor working conditions, it did not find many allies willing to fight alongside it. Now the roles are reversed: Tenured faculty will soon need the rest of the profession to help fight attempts to erode tenure.

Addendum on 8/20/20:

Higher ed group offers ideas for supporting contingent faculty — from educationdive.com by Hallie Busta

Dive Brief:

Support for non-tenure-track faculty members continues to be a concern amid pandemic-related cutbacks and pushback over how some campuses plan to reopen.
A faculty industry group this week put out a list of principles and recommendations for institutions to protect those instructors, calling for them to get paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, and extended access to rehire or promotion opportunities.
The ideas come as calls for greater shared governance grow across the sector in light of the ongoing health crisis.

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/staff, 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, 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.

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 business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, organizational change, pace of change, parents/guardians, platforms, remote teaching and learning, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), training / L&D, TVs, 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.

Colleges face rising revolt by professors [Hartocollis at the NY Times]

On 07/04/2020, in adjunct faculty, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, dangers of the status quo, distance education, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, health, higher education, online learning, teaching online, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Colleges face rising revolt by professors — from nytimes.com by Anemona Hartocollis
Most universities plan to bring students back to campus. But many of their teachers are concerned about joining them.

Excerpt:

College students across the country have been warned that campus life will look drastically different in the fall, with temperature checks at academic buildings, masks in half-empty lecture halls and maybe no football games.

What they might not expect: a lack of professors in the classroom.

Thousands of instructors at American colleges and universities have told administrators in recent days that they are unwilling to resume in-person classes because of the pandemic.

More than three-quarters of colleges and universities have decided students can return to campus this fall. But they face a growing faculty revolt.

In an indication of how fluid the situation is, the University of Southern California said late Wednesday that “an alarming spike in coronavirus cases” had prompted it to reverse an earlier decision to encourage attending classes in person.

Mounting faculty concerns about the fall semester [Flaherty]

On 07/01/2020, in adjunct faculty, colleges, community colleges, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, face-to-face, faculty/staff, formal learning, health, higher education, informal learning, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Mounting faculty concerns about the fall semester — from insidehighered.com by Colleen Flaherty
Professors across institutions are increasingly waving red flags about the private and public health implications of default face-to-face instruction come fall, along with a lack of shared decision making in staffing and teaching decisions.

Excerpt:

Many professors are worried about the private and public health implications of having students return to campus and expectations about who will teach them face-to-face. If there is any consensus, it is that instructors should not be forced to teach in person, and that teaching remotely shouldn’t require any special medical exemption.

From DSC:
Solid article…though I wish there were more quotes from staff members. Staff who have to report to campuses this fall should also have a voice — as they are also concerned about their health. After all, staff members are equally susceptible to getting the Coronavirus.

4 in 10 U.S. teens say they haven’t done online learning since schools closed [ Kamenetz]

On 06/27/2020, in blended learning, business, collaboration, communities of practice, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital textbooks, distance education, education, education reform, education technology, game-changing environment, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, internet, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, parents/guardians, participation, platforms, policy, political science, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telecommunications, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

4 in 10 U.S. teens say they haven’t done online learning since schools closed — from kqed.org by Anya Kamenetz

Excerpt:

With most schools closed nationwide because of the coronavirus pandemic, a national poll of young people ages 13 to 17 suggests distance learning has been far from a universal substitute.

From DSC:
If you are able to — whether as a business or as an individual — please consider finding ways to help level the playing field in our nation by providing computers and broadband connectivity. Our society doesn’t need yet another gap, especially when you have this type of thing going on.

Online-based learning — along with blended learning — is likely a solid component of our learning ecosystems from here on out — but it’s not a level playing field out there right now.

The “new normal” paradox: What COVID-19 has revealed about higher education [Crow]

On 06/25/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Augmented Reality (AR), business side of he, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, IT in HE, leadership, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, online learning, society, sociology, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, trends, United States, universities, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

The “new normal” paradox: What COVID-19 has revealed about higher education — from bigthink.com by Dr. Michael Crow, President of ASU

Excerpt:

Third, it is abundantly apparent that universities must leverage technology to increase educational quality and access. The rapid shift to delivering an education that complies with social distancing guidelines speaks volumes about the adaptability of higher education institutions, but this transition has also posed unique difficulties for colleges and universities that had been slow to adopt digital education. The last decade has shown that online education, implemented effectively, can meet or even surpass the quality of in-person instruction.

Digital instruction, broadly defined, leverages online capabilities and integrates adaptive learning methodologies, predictive analytics, and innovations in instructional design to enable increased student engagement, personalized learning experiences, and improved learning outcomes. The ability of these technologies to transcend geographic barriers and to shrink the marginal cost of educating additional students makes them essential for delivering education at scale.

Far too many higher education outcomes are determined by a student’s family income, and in the context of COVID-19 this means that lower-income students, first-generation students and students of color will be disproportionately afflicted. And without new designs, we can expect post-secondary success for these same students to be as elusive in the new normal, as it was in the old normal.
…
This is not just because some universities fail to sufficiently recognize and engage the promise of diversity, this is because few universities have been designed from the outset to effectively serve the unique needs of lower-income students, first-generation students and students of color.

Reflections on “Colleges cut academic programs in the face of budget shortfalls due to Covid-19” [Dickler]

On 06/24/2020, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, chemistry, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, economics, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, health, higher education, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, liberal arts, lifelong learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, new business models, reinvent, religion, sociology, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, trends, United States, universities, writing, by Daniel Christian

Colleges cut academic programs in the face of budget shortfalls due to Covid-19 — from cnbc.com by Jessica Dickler

Key points:

As colleges face extreme budget shortfalls, some institutions are cutting academic programs that were once central to a liberal arts education.
The University of Alaska system announced it will cut 39 academic departments in all, including sociology, creative writing, chemistry and environmental science.

Even before the global pandemic caused craters in the economy, some institutions were facing financial hardship after years of declines in state funding for higher education. A number of private schools had already made wrenching budget cuts, from curriculum changes to complete overhauls of their liberal arts programs.

From DSC:
A screenshot from the video (below) shows a new type of liberal arts program at Hiram College.

It could very well be that online-based learning turns out to save the liberal arts!!!!! How ironic is that!?!!

That is, many college presidents, provost, and faculty members — especially from smaller liberal arts types of schools — have disdained online-based learning for decades now. It was always viewed as “less than” in their minds…they didn’t want to go that route, as doing so would dilute their precious (and often overpriced) brands. (To be clear, this is not my view…but it was, and still is in many cases, their view.)

Anyway, it looks like more of these same folks will be losing their jobs in the next few years (if they haven’t already). At that point, we may see some of these same folks encounter a sudden paradigm shift. (A shift many of their colleagues have already gone through in prior years.) These same folks may come to appreciate that people will be willing to pay them for their knowledge — but only willing to do so at a much more affordable price…which will likely mean online.

Fewer people — especially when 47 million people in the U.S. alone have filed for unemployment over the last 14 weeks — can afford the cost of getting a degree. They are looking for inexpensive, convenient, efficient, effective means of reinventing themselves.

Huh…another potential irony here…it appears that colleges and universities are coming to know what many of us have known and experienced for years…and that is, the struggle to:

Reinvent oneself
Stay relevant
Survive

Learning Ecosystems

“Student Debt and the Class of 2019” + “Solving Stranded Credits”

The Great Online Migration and Curricular Materials Product-Market Fit [Feldstein]

First They Came for Adjuncts, Now They’ll Come for Tenure (And who will be left to stop them?) [Burmila]

Colleges face rising revolt by professors [Hartocollis at the NY Times]

The “new normal” paradox: What COVID-19 has revealed about higher education [Crow]

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