tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/online-education-3371/articlesOnline education – The Conversation2023-06-22T01:20:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2081722023-06-22T01:20:21Z2023-06-22T01:20:21ZWith campus numbers plummeting due to online learning, do we need two categories of university degree?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533310/original/file-20230621-10551-ey9u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C16%2C5431%2C3587&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/06/prime-minister-chris-hipkins-met-with-student-protest-over-proposed-university-of-otago-job-cuts.html">recent headlines</a> have made clear, New Zealand universities are in an existential crisis for a variety of reasons, including a sharp drop in international student numbers and chronic underfunding.</p>
<p>But there is another crisis lurking – the disappearance of students from our classrooms following the pandemic. This was happening already, but with the COVID-related shutdown and move toward online delivery of courses, the process has accelerated massively.</p>
<p>Lecturers, even great ones, see barely a fifth of students showing up. And it’s not a random fifth – some students routinely attend while many others never do. </p>
<p>Some will be working, too. Even with subsidised education, course costs can still be prohibitively high. To make ends meet, others stay at home to avoid long and expensive commutes. </p>
<p>Faced with this reality, universities are striving to improve accessibility by putting more material online, including exams, and cutting down face-to-face teaching time. This is based partly on the belief that the so-called “sage on stage” lecture method is outdated. </p>
<p>But this is a fallacy. Some sages have unique insights to offer, which can’t always be broken down into bite-sized YouTube videos, especially for technical material. </p>
<p>More importantly, the ability to sit still for an hour and absorb complex material is a skill students need to learn. In the workplace, meetings often happen early in the morning and are not recorded to be watched later at double speed.</p>
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<span class="caption">University of Auckland campus: there’s no substitute for the skills and empathy required to work in diverse groups.</span>
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<h2>Social skills in the real world</h2>
<p>Part of the problem can be traced back to when universities began to consider students as “customers” and education as a transaction between them and their lecturers. </p>
<p>Yet students are better seen as the “products” of the university. We take them (mostly) from high school and aim to send them out into the world as informed citizens with real-world skills.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/starved-of-funds-and-vision-struggling-universities-put-nzs-entire-research-strategy-at-risk-207708">Starved of funds and vision, struggling universities put NZ’s entire research strategy at risk</a>
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<p>And while cognitive abilities such as reading, writing and maths matter, so too do social skills such as empathy, resilience and an ability to work in diverse groups and with diverse views.</p>
<p>Using survey data and information about the education and careers of more than 10,000 Americans, Harvard professor of political economy <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/david-deming">David Deming</a> showed the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/132/4/1593/3861633">surprising impact</a> of those social skills on career development. </p>
<p>If you keep cognitive skills constant, those with higher social skills are more likely to have a full-time job and earn more. More importantly, the two are complementary. Among those who already have advanced degrees, the earnings are higher for those with measurably better social skills.</p>
<p>The returns from investing in social skills have increased over the past few decades. They will possibly increase even more, as artificial intelligence begins to perform many jobs, even white-collar ones.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/studying-can-be-a-costly-choice-universities-should-address-young-peoples-financial-literacy-gaps-203054">Studying can be a costly choice. Universities should address young people’s financial literacy gaps</a>
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<p>Universities play a crucial role in developing these skills. But the emerging two groups of students – on campus and off – are not getting the same education. The increasing emphasis on online instruction and exams is devaluing degrees. </p>
<p>Employers may be taking note. As a recent <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/02/skills-based-hiring-is-on-the-rise">Harvard Business Review article</a> points out, US companies are relying less on degrees and more on their own tests for “hard” skills and competencies. But they may also be using a degree as evidence a candidate has the “soft” social skills they’re looking for too. In which case, the distinction between in-person and online learning becomes significant.</p>
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<h2>A two-tier system</h2>
<p>This suggests we may need to distinguish between online and on-campus students in each of our courses. The course content will be the same, but the assessment methods will be different. </p>
<p>Online students can take tests, quizzes and exams remotely. Some of this may also be available to on-campus students. But on-campus students will be expected to come to lectures regularly, ask questions, write, speak and engage in interactive tasks, including group work.</p>
<p>Would students sign up for on-campus courses but simply not attend? This could be prevented by making sure each student completes tasks that earn participation marks that count toward on-campus credits. If they fail to do so, they will automatically become online students.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-ways-to-reduce-the-learning-loss-caused-by-the-pandemic-180591">7 ways to reduce the learning loss caused by the pandemic</a>
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<p>Is this unfair to online students? Not necessarily. Many with jobs may prefer it. In any event, they will have to consider whether the benefits of coming to campus are worth it in terms of job prospects or earning potential.</p>
<p>As it stands, the current system designed to cater to online students is failing those who want to show up for lectures. And regardless of grades, how do I write a letter of reference for a student I have never met in person?</p>
<p>If things continue this way, very soon we won’t have any students in our classrooms and our universities and polytechnics will become truly online institutions. This will be catastrophic for society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ananish Chaudhuri receives funding from the Royal Society NZ Marsden Fund. </span></em></p>With the pandemic-fuelled shift to online learning, many tertiary students now miss out on the social skills critical to real-world success. That could have implications for their degrees.Ananish Chaudhuri, Professor of Behavioural and Experimental Economics, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1899212022-09-13T12:33:06Z2022-09-13T12:33:06Z5 challenges of doing college in the metaverse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483585/original/file-20220908-20-lxhmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C69%2C4641%2C3487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A student wears virtual reality goggles and headphones as part of a digital learning experience.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/connor-powelson-graduate-assistant-and-phd-candidate-news-photo/1240927332">Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More and more colleges are becoming “<a href="https://theconversation.com/six-benefits-that-the-metaverse-offers-to-colleges-and-universities-188950">metaversities</a>,” taking their physical campuses into a virtual online world, often called the “metaverse.” One initiative has <a href="https://www.victoryxr.com/our-partners/meta/">10 U.S. universities and colleges</a> working with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and virtual reality company VictoryXR to create 3D online replicas – sometimes called “<a href="https://steve-grubbs.medium.com/the-advantages-of-a-digital-twin-virtual-reality-campus-563b77c951cc">digital twins</a>” – of their campuses that are updated live as people and items move through the real-world spaces.</p>
<p>Some classes are <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-benefits-that-the-metaverse-offers-to-colleges-and-universities-188950">already happening in the metaverse</a>. And VictoryXR says that by 2023, it plans to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/09/03/metaversity-is-in-session-as-meta-and-iowas-victoryxr-open-10-virtual-campuses/?sh=606238016f25">build and operate 100 digital twin campuses</a>, which allow for a group setting with live instructors and real-time class interactions. </p>
<p>One metaversity builder, New Mexico State University, says it wants to offer degrees in which students can take all their classes in virtual reality, <a href="https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/metaverse-in-education-morehouse-meta">beginning in 2027</a>.</p>
<p>There are many <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-benefits-that-the-metaverse-offers-to-colleges-and-universities-188950">benefits to taking college classes in the metaverse</a>, such as 3D visual learning, more realistic interactivity and easier access for faraway students. But there are also potential problems. My recent <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g-jALEoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">research</a> has focused on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2022.3178509">ethical, social and practical</a> aspects of the metaverse and risks such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102542">privacy violations and security breaches</a>. I see five challenges:</p>
<h2>1. Significant costs and time</h2>
<p>The metaverse <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-benefits-that-the-metaverse-offers-to-colleges-and-universities-188950">provides a low-cost learning alternative in some settings</a>. For instance, building a cadaver laboratory costs <a href="https://skarredghost.com/2021/08/04/victoryxr-fisk-vr-cadaver-lab/">several million dollars and requires a lot of space</a> and maintenance. A virtual cadaver lab has made scientific <a href="https://www.fisk.edu/featured/fisk-university-htc-vive-t-mobile-and-victoryxr-launch-5g-powered-vr-human-cadaver-lab/">learning affordable at Fisk University</a>.</p>
<p>However, licenses for virtual reality content, construction of digital twin campuses, virtual reality headsets and other investment expenses do <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mcgivney/files/introductionlearningmetaverse-april2022-meridiantreehouse.pdf">add costs for universities</a>.</p>
<p>A metaverse course license can cost universities <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/03/college-metaverse-here-higher-ed-ready">at least $20,000, and could go as high as $100,000 for a digital twin campus</a>. VictoryXR also charges a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2022/09/03/metaversity-is-in-session-as-meta-and-iowas-victoryxr-open-10-virtual-campuses/?sh=3dbfa7cf6f25">yearly subscription fee of $200</a> per student to access its metaverse.</p>
<p>Additional costs are incurred for virtual reality headsets. While Meta is providing a <a href="https://www.insightintodiversity.com/metaversities-offer-new-possibilities-for-education-but-some-experts-urge-campuses-to-be-mindful-of-potential-risks/">limited number of its virtual reality headsets – the Meta Quest 2 – for free</a> for metaversities launched by Meta and VictoryXR, that’s only a few of what may be needed. The low-end 128GB version of the Meta Quest 2 <a href="https://store.facebook.com/quest/products/quest-2/">headset costs $399.99</a>. Managing and maintaining a large number of headsets, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/08/24/the-accessibility-and-affordability-of-the-metaverse-in-education-right-now/?sh=1ea2ba5d7f8f">including keeping them fully charged</a>, involves additional operational costs and time. </p>
<p>Colleges also need to spend significant time and resources to <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/03/college-metaverse-here-higher-ed-ready">provide training to faculty to deliver metaverse courses</a>. Even more time will be required to deliver metaverse courses, many of which will need <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mcgivney/files/introductionlearningmetaverse-april2022-meridiantreehouse.pdf">all-new digital materials</a>.</p>
<p>Most educators don’t have the <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mcgivney/files/introductionlearningmetaverse-april2022-meridiantreehouse.pdf">capability to create their own metaverse teaching materials</a>, which can involve merging videos, still images and audio with text and interactivity elements into an <a href="https://roundtablelearning.com/how-to-create-original-vr-content-everything-you-need-to-know/">immersive online experience</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Data privacy, security and safety concerns</h2>
<p>Business models of companies developing metaverse technologies <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mcgivney/files/introductionlearningmetaverse-april2022-meridiantreehouse.pdf">rely on collecting users’ detailed personal data</a>. For instance, people who want to use Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headsets must have Facebook accounts.</p>
<p>The headsets can collect highly personal and sensitive data <a href="https://store.facebook.com/legal/quest/privacy-policy/">such as location, students’ physical features and movements, and voice recordings</a>. Meta has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/13/privacy-vr-metaverse/">not promised to keep that data private or to limit access</a> that advertisers might have to it.</p>
<p>Meta is also working on a high-end virtual reality headset called <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/28/project-cambria-is-a-high-end-vr-headset-designed-for-facebooks-metaverse/">Project Cambria</a>, with more advanced capabilities. Sensors in the device will allow a virtual avatar to maintain eye contact and make facial expressions that mirror the user’s eye movements and face. That data information <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/13/privacy-vr-metaverse/">can help advertisers measure users’ attention</a> and target them with personalized advertising.</p>
<p>Professors and students may not freely participate in class discussions if they know that all their moves, their speech and even their facial expressions are <a href="https://www.diverseeducation.com/institutions/article/15293003/what-could-the-metaverse-mean-for-higher-education">being watched by the university as well as a big technology company</a>.</p>
<p>The virtual environment and its equipment can also collect a wide range of user data, such as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/metaverse-huge-opportunity-education-big-tech-must-not-ruin-it-opinion-1693962">physical movement, heart rate</a>, <a href="https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2022/03/29/cybersecurity-privacy-and-constitutional-concerns-risks-to-know-before-entering-the-metaverse/?slreturn=20220714213359">pupil size, eye openness</a> and even signals of emotions. </p>
<p>Cyberattacks in the metaverse could even cause physical harm. Metaverse interfaces <a href="https://securityintelligence.com/articles/metaverse-security-challenges/">provide input directly into users’ senses</a>, so they effectively trick the user’s brain into believing the user is in a different environment. <a href="https://it-online.co.za/2022/02/08/meta-safety-meta-security-metaverse/">People who attack virtual reality systems</a> can influence the activities of immersed users, even inducing them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TDSC.2019.2907942">physically move into dangerous locations</a>, such as to the top of a staircase.</p>
<p>The metaverse can also <a href="https://www.emergingedtech.com/2022/04/where-is-edtech-heading-rise-of-metaverse-quick-guide/">expose students to inappropriate content</a>. For instance, Roblox has launched <a href="https://education.roblox.com/">Roblox Education</a> to bring 3D, interactive, virtual environments into physical and online classrooms. Roblox says it has <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/roblox">strong protections to keep everyone safe</a>, but no protections are perfect, and its metaverse involves user-generated content and a chat feature, which could be <a href="https://www.familyzone.com/anz/families/blog/roblox-parents-review">infiltrated by predators</a> or people <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/roblox-virtual-strip-clubs-condo-games-sex-1197237/">posting pornography</a> or other <a href="https://www.bark.us/blog/is-roblox-safe-for-kids/">illegal material</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Stanford University class took students on an exploration of world-merging virtual and physical elements.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>3. Lack of rural access to advanced infrastructure</h2>
<p>Many metaverse applications such as <a href="https://www.vodafone.com.au/red-wire/what-5g-networks-mean-for-the-future-of-vr-ar-technology">3D videos are bandwidth-intensive</a>. They require high-speed data networks to handle all of the <a href="https://www.fisk.edu/featured/fisk-university-htc-vive-t-mobile-and-victoryxr-launch-5g-powered-vr-human-cadaver-lab/">information flowing between sensors and users</a> across the virtual and physical space. </p>
<p>Many users, especially in rural areas, <a href="https://www.vodafone.com.au/red-wire/what-5g-networks-mean-for-the-future-of-vr-ar-technology">lack the infrastructure to support the streaming of high-quality metaverse content</a>. For instance, 97% of the population living in urban areas in the U.S. has <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/covid-digital-divide-learning-education/">access to a high-speed connection, compared to 65% in rural areas and 60%</a> in tribal lands.</p>
<h2>4. Adapting challenges to a new environment</h2>
<p>Building and launching a metaversity requires drastic changes in a school’s approach to <a href="https://www.incitevr.com/about/company">teaching</a> and learning.
For instance, metaverse <a href="https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/news/actualitat/2022/143-education-metavers.html">students aren’t just recipients of content</a> but active participants in virtual reality games and other activities.</p>
<p>The combination of advanced technologies such as <a href="https://www.incitevr.com/about/company">immersive game-based learning and virtual reality with artificial intelligence</a> can create personalized learning experiences that are not in real time but still experienced through the metaverse. Automatic systems that tailor the content and pace of learning to the ability and interest of the student can make learning in the metaverse <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mcgivney/files/introductionlearningmetaverse-april2022-meridiantreehouse.pdf">less structured</a>, with fewer set rules.</p>
<p>Those differences require significant <a href="https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/news/actualitat/2022/143-education-metavers.html">modifications in assessment and monitoring processes</a>, such as quizzes and tests. Traditional measures such as <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mcgivney/files/introductionlearningmetaverse-april2022-meridiantreehouse.pdf">multiple choice questions are inappropriate to assess</a> individualized and unstructured learning experiences offered by the metaverse.</p>
<h2>5. Amplifying biases</h2>
<p>Gender, racial and ideological biases are common in textbooks of <a href="https://verdemagazine.com/checking-the-source-scrutinizing-the-biases-in-our-curriculum">history, science</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2018.1532570">other subjects</a>, which influence how students understand certain events and topics. In some cases, those biases prevent the achievement of justice and other goals, such as <a href="https://files.adulteducation.at/voev_content/340-gender_books.pdf">gender equality</a>.</p>
<p>Biases’ effects can be even more powerful in rich media environments. <a href="https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jsser/issue/19098/202639">Films</a> are <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/03/college-metaverse-here-higher-ed-ready">more powerful</a> at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2011.616239">molding students’</a> views than textbooks. <a href="https://aber.apacsci.com/index.php/met/article/view/1804/2138">Metaverse content</a> has the potential to be <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/03/college-metaverse-here-higher-ed-ready">even more influential</a>. </p>
<p>To maximize the benefits of the metaverse for teaching and learning, universities – and their students – will have to wrestle with protecting users’ privacy, training teachers and the level of national investment in broadband networks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nir Kshetri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are benefits to taking college classes in the metaverse, but there are also potential problems.Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1891732022-09-07T18:13:22Z2022-09-07T18:13:22ZChoosing university or college courses? 5 questions for students to consider<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483055/original/file-20220906-16-vkvxrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C29%2C4446%2C2492&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why are you taking the course? Knowing the answer will help you choose a balanced courseload. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2020.1823864">sudden shift</a> from on-campus teaching to remote learning in March 2020 changed the ways university and college faculty taught courses. </p>
<p>While some professors reverted to old ways after returning to campus, others sought new approaches. The result is a mixture of different types of courses available <a href="https://theconversation.com/professor-flexibility-recorded-lectures-some-positive-university-legacies-of-the-pandemic-187652">to university and college students</a>.</p>
<p>It’s no longer just a question of whether a course fits a student’s program and schedule. Students need to ask additional questions. Yet, times are changing rapidly and information can quickly become out of date.</p>
<h2>1. How much time does the course require?</h2>
<p>The online pivot encouraged some professors to either add or drop course material. The result is that the amount of time students spend on a course may vary greatly from one professor to another. This may especially be an issue for students who have heavy course loads while balancing other professional and personal responsibilities. </p>
<p>Aside from practicums and field classes, most universities and colleges have few standards on how much time students should spend outside the classroom. </p>
<p>Ask, how much reading is required? Are there heavy writing requirements in papers and online discussions? A course with weekly assignments is easier to manage than a course with just one major assignment due at the end. Course advisors may have copies of syllabi or an instructor’s course syllabus may be available online.</p>
<p>While students should not take only “easy” courses, it is important to appropriately manage workloads. Stress is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09552-y">contributor to students’ mental health challenges</a>. It’s good to be challenged, but don’t take on too much. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A backpack seen with notebook, glasses, a clock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C58%2C3650%2C2587&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483053/original/file-20220906-16-he753.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having a good sense of the time a course will require and how you can meet its demands amid other commitments matters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Do I need to attend classes? Can I work remotely?</h2>
<p>Many students are now combining <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2022.2081225">online and face-to-face courses into their programs.</a></p>
<p>The difference between online and face-to-face courses has blurred. Many face-to-face classes now have significant online components. If instructors record lectures, provide comprehensive lecture materials and allow assignments or tests to be submitted online, the class grading structure may make it possible to take a face-to-face course and rarely show up for classes. </p>
<p>This may benefit students juggling family or professional commitments with college or university. </p>
<p>But be aware of how missing lectures could affect your grades, experience and learning. Teachers work hard in the <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Creating+Significant+Learning+Experiences:+An+Integrated+Approach+to+Designing+College+Courses,+Revised+and+Updated-p-9781118124253">classroom to engage and inspire.</a> Lectures can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260802276771">entertaining, interesting and can open new possibilities for learning.</a> Professors’ body language communicates additional information. They may edit out parts of a recorded lecture they feel are too spontaneous to be preserved.</p>
<p>Whether or not learning outcomes depend on peer collaboration, many students find it motivating to be surrounded by their peers. At the same time, the creation of learning communities can also take place in online environments.</p>
<p>It’s also easy to spend more time than anticipated replaying recorded lectures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen sitting in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483054/original/file-20220906-5322-2ouar1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some professors became more understanding and sympathetic to student needs during COVID-19 chaos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Is the professor approachable and flexible?</h2>
<p>Some professors became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2022.2081225">more understanding and sympathetic to student needs during COVID-19 chaos.</a> Others less so. Faculty are typically required to describe how students can reach them, including preferred communication method and email or online message system response time in the syllabi. This will also describe any flexibility built into their course.</p>
<p>Students often share their experiences with different courses and instructors with one another, and this can be helpful. Bear in mind, however, that such experiences may have changed through the pandemic.</p>
<p>Another way to gain information is to ask the professor directly. Their reply (or lack thereof) may be useful. Just respect the work-life boundaries most professors have established concerning digital communication outside regular work hours as they are also juggling commitments amid increasing workloads, <a href="https://theconversation.com/survey-of-academics-finds-widespread-feelings-of-stress-and-overwork-130715">all while attempting to mitigate burnout during the pandemic.</a> </p>
<h2>4. Will I need special equipment and materials?</h2>
<p>It became clear during the pandemic <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-learning-during-covid-19-8-ways-universities-can-improve-equity-and-access-145286">that some students struggled with internet connections, under-powered devices and equitable access.</a> </p>
<p>Operating systems may be an issue when installing specialist software (such as ArcGISPro GIS software used in our field of geography). Campus computer labs are commonly set up for specific software, but it’s worth investigating how responsive IT support is for students using their own devices.</p>
<p>Students should also ensure they will be able to access textbooks. Anecdotally, we have seen situations where copyright constraints affect how international students can access digital textbooks, or deliveries are delayed or held up by customs.</p>
<h2>5. Does the grading scheme show off my capabilities?</h2>
<p>Many professors had to rethink traditional grading. Some are now more flexible with respect to deadlines and formats.</p>
<p>Some professors offer the opportunity for students to resubmit. Open book exams became more common during COVID-19. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-may-have-changed-university-teaching-and-testing-for-good-158342">How the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed university teaching and testing for good</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Find out: How many quizzes and exams are included in a course? What type of questions are on a test? How are tests administered and graded? What are the assignments? Do grading rubrics clearly show how the professor will grade assignments?</p>
<p>And ask yourself why you’re taking the course? Do the assignments help you learn, or do they simply allow you to prove you already know something? What matters most to you for this particular course?</p>
<p>Different professors teach differently. If you’re a student with choices in a program, it makes sense to find out what you’re getting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Different professors teach differently. If you’re a student with choices in a program, it makes sense to find out what you’re getting.Terence Day, Adjunct Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser UniversityPaul N. McDaniel, Associate Professor of Geography, Kennesaw State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1883832022-08-29T13:12:18Z2022-08-29T13:12:18ZCOVID was a setback for indigenous languages: South African lecturers on what went wrong<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479902/original/file-20220818-23-q0r83i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By some estimates only 5% of the world’s languages are likely to survive online. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">PeopleImages / Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African indigenous languages are among those at risk of a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0077056">serious decline</a> due to the increasing use of digital technologies. By some estimates only <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0077056">5%</a> of the world’s languages are likely to survive online. </p>
<p>As hubs of knowledge generation, South African universities have an essential role in ensuring this does not happen. When democracy came to South Africa in 1994, multilingualism was seen as imperative to ensure that all of the country’s 11 official languages were esteemed and promoted. Universities could play their part by using indigenous languages in high status functions: teaching, learning and research. </p>
<p>Despite the numerous legislative policy documents and <a href="http://www.dac.gov.za/sites/default/files/LPD_Language%20Policy%20Framework_English_0.pdf">frameworks</a>, in <a href="https://www.usaf.ac.za/the-state-of-language-policies-at-public-institutions/">practice</a> the use of indigenous African languages in South African universities falls far short of where it should be. The adoption of remote (online) education during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 may have widened the chasm further. That’s because English dominates in online engagements in this <a href="https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/social-media-stats-south-africa">context</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-academics-can-manage-covid-19-shutdowns-133947">online teaching</a> employed by universities during the pandemic was conducted almost exclusively in English. If this continues, it could derail the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africas-universities-are-making-more-students-multilingual-116638">work done so far</a> in “intellectualising” indigenous languages – that is, developing them for use in high status contexts like education. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14790718.2022.2074012">recent paper</a> I drew on the reflections of seven lecturers from seven South African universities on the challenges of trying to teach online in more than one language. I looked at the implications for developing historically marginalised languages, as called for by the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202011/43860gon1160.pdf">Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions</a>. </p>
<p>What the lecturers told me suggests that if multiple indigenous languages aren’t used in higher education, their speakers could face even greater <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-pandemic-is-hurting-university-students-mental-health-159643">exclusion</a> in universities. It will also set back the advances made in raising the status of these languages.</p>
<h2>Reflections from lecturers</h2>
<p>The lecturers were teaching in fields like politics, history and education. Some were at traditional universities and others at universities of technology.</p>
<p>Their experience was that it was challenging to teach multilingually during emergency remote teaching. The challenges were in three categories: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>shifts from in-person to on-screen interactions </p></li>
<li><p>shifts in the types of resources used to teach multilingually </p></li>
<li><p>shifts from approaches that intellectualise indigenous languages to approaches that are focused on delivery.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Their view was that their experiences during COVID did not bode well for the intellectualisation of indigenous South African languages.</p>
<p>One participant was worried that multilingualism would become no more than a mechanical translation from one language into another. While the <a href="https://theconversation.com/simple-vernacular-translations-make-the-most-sense-for-university-students-48599">translation of resources</a> is an important part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bilingual-education-can-work-in-south-african-schools-heres-how-186780">multilingual education</a>, it is just the start. What must then follow is teaching students how to use indigenous language to come up with new ways of thinking about their disciplines, drawing on the indigenous knowledge systems that the languages are rooted in. </p>
<p>The participant went on to say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our students need vibrant, living multilingualism that demonstrates that intellectual work is not singularly about English. And that your professors are not English speakers. They are also Xhosa, and they have Afrikaans, and they have slang, and they have Zulu, and they have high language, and they have street language … there is a cross-set of all our multilingual capability to convey the intellectual project.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Under the conditions of emergency remote learning, lecturers were under pressure simply to deliver the content of courses. This was true even for lecturers who wanted to use multilingual pedagogies. They were mindful of the need for multilingualism in higher education in South Africa. But the <a href="https://theconversation.com/delivering-education-online-coronavirus-underscores-whats-missing-in-africa-134914">conditions</a> under which they were teaching were such a hindrance that they defaulted to translation of resources like notes and slides.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…this has not been a huge success in that our sense is that students are just not reading. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The academics Rosalie Finlayson and Mbulungeni Madiba have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14664200208668036">argued</a> that effective intellectualisation is what will see indigenous languages </p>
<blockquote>
<p>developed, within the shortest possible time, to a point where they can express concepts that already exist in languages such as English and Afrikaans. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For this to happen, the focus must be on capturing African languages in written form to develop lexicon and grammar. This was a challenge during COVID because some web-based learner management systems don’t support texts written in African languages. They don’t have the special characters that a student should use in an exam to show what they know. So it’s difficult to assess the candidate. </p>
<p>Indigenous language teaching resources, such as journal articles and textbooks, are scarce too. So lecturers had few resources to draw on when attempting to move their courses online. And the technology did not allow lecturers to write easily online as they would on a board:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As a language teacher, you are bound to write because when students don’t understand what you are trying to teach, you have to put what you are uttering orally into writing for their full grasp. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Adapting systems for local use</h2>
<p>In 2014, South African <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14790718.2020.1717496">scholars called for</a> the localisation of learner management systems to promote teaching. </p>
<p>Localising a learner management system entails adopting and modifying digital information and computer user interfaces into local languages, cultures, values and beliefs. </p>
<p>It is costly and requires institutions to collaborate. But researchers have been highlighting how important it is for raising the status of indigenous languages. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet suggests it may not be a priority for universities, which are best placed to do it, or for government, which is empowered to hold them accountable if they won’t.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sisanda Nkoala receives funding from the National Research Foundation and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology</span></em></p>Multilingual teaching was a challenge under emergency remote learning conditions: computer systems weren’t adapted to indigenous languages.Sisanda Nkoala, Senior Lecturer, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1876522022-08-22T16:05:06Z2022-08-22T16:05:06ZProfessor flexibility, recorded lectures: Some positive university legacies of the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477685/original/file-20220804-16-zvuolw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C5022%2C3443&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A professor’s understanding of how important an accommodation is for one or two students may produce a benefit for all.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/professor-flexibility--recorded-lectures--some-positive-university-legacies-of-the-pandemic" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The COVID-19 closure of university and college campuses and move to online learning in March 2020 was a massive global educational experiment. Many students were severely <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pandemic-exposed-the-vulnerability-of-international-students-in-canada-174105">disadvantaged</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247999">and strained during</a> the experiment, others coped and some thrived. Educators are divided on its impacts. </p>
<p>With international colleagues who are geography experts, I studied <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2022.2081225">lessons learned during the pandemic</a>. Taken together, the lessons may form the foundation for what post-pandemic post-secondary education could look like in coming decades. Improved educational practices could be one of the few positive outcomes from the pandemic. </p>
<p>The large-scale result is more choice for students in how they are taught with better access for more students. But realistically, the lessons will be applied in different ways by professors, academic departments and institutions to create a patchwork of unique approaches. </p>
<h2>New forms of online learning</h2>
<p>Specialists in online <a href="https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning">education distanced themselves from emergency online teaching at the start of the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>However, improvisation by untrained online educators produced a surprise. Our research documented how some students who had previously taken and hated online courses with slick presentations and high production values found they enjoyed a course with professors who could relate well to students online. </p>
<p>In these cases, topical bad jokes and a peek at the professor’s home office more than compensated for grainy video and poor sound. Some online courses that proved successful continue to be offered by some faculty, even though colleges and universities are now fully open. Students can enjoy the convenience of an online course, and connect with their professor. </p>
<p>Students also quickly learned that online courses don’t need to be taken from home. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A student's hand seen at a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477690/original/file-20220804-26-ob8b2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students have realized they can attend online classes in their university library or cafeteria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Kampus Production)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My anecdotal impression from colleagues in the United States and Canada, including some B.C. colleagues at <a href="https://www.bccat.ca/articulation/committees">meetings hosted by the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer</a> — a body that oversees credit transfers between post-secondary institutions — is that online sections are filling up faster than face-to-face sections of the same course in some universities and colleges.</p>
<h2>More online components</h2>
<p>The online experience also informed face-to-face courses with more thought by faculty on how to engage students during a lecture. </p>
<p>During online learning, course leaders achieved this engagement through online discussion boards and other collaborative tools. That experience carried over for some faculty, and online learning management systems like Moodle and Canvas are now widely used in some face-to-face courses. </p>
<h2>Teaching and learning accommodations</h2>
<p>Prior to the pandemic, students with <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/students/accessible-learning/establishing-accommodations/prospectivedas.html">learning, mental or physical disabilities</a> had access to “accessibility services” or a similar office in universities and colleges.</p>
<p>The process involved the professional assessment of accommodations necessary for students to succeed in a course, such as extended time for tests, or permission to record lectures. Offices communicated these accommodations to faculty who were then required to implement the accommodation. </p>
<p>Campus closures meant that on-campus support services were less readily available. As a result, some students talked directly to their professors about the challenges they faced. </p>
<p>These challenges were well-known by specialist counsellors and advisors within universities, but confidentiality kept an understanding of student challenges away from faculty. </p>
<p>Learning the specifics about the complex nature of hurdles to learning for some students made some faculty think more about courses and course delivery for all students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/for-a-safe-return-to-university-campuses-listen-to-students-most-affected-by-the-pandemic-178236">For a 'safe return' to university campuses, listen to students most affected by the pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, prior to the pandemic, recorded live lectures were available to selected students as an accommodation. </p>
<p>During the online pivot, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00563-8">lecture recordings were popular</a>, and it turned out they were helpful for many students. A professor’s understanding of how important an accommodation is for one or two students may produce a benefit for all. </p>
<p>Some professors continue to record lectures now, even while offering an in-person class.</p>
<h2>Reducing student stress</h2>
<p>Student mental health became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247999">an issue during the pandemic, but there were also rising numbers of students with mental health issues prior to the pandemic.</a> Conversations in the media also made it easier for students to talk about their challenges. </p>
<p>The causes of mental health issues are diverse, but student workload has been increasing in recent years and increased during the pandemic. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people seen talking in a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477687/original/file-20220804-5517-ekvjvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some professors’ greater awareness of the barriers, mental health challenges or personal situations students face is leading to rethinking how they teach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Antoni Shkraba)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The transition from face-to-face classes to an online environment encouraged the addition of new assignments to courses, often in addition to the old ones. Some faculty are beginning to rethink not just how they teach, but also their curriculum.</p>
<h2>Patchwork of responses</h2>
<p>While administrators at universities and colleges are still struggling with post-pandemic responses, many decisions have already been made by individual professors. </p>
<p>Some take attendance at lectures, require assignments to be submitted on paper and refuse to record their lectures or provide copies of their slides. Others are more accommodating. There has never been a more flexible time to be a student.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terence Day does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research by geographers in Canada, the United States and Hong Kong identifies lessons for universities and colleges from the 2020 move to online learning.Terence Day, Adjunct Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1796312022-05-01T15:04:58Z2022-05-01T15:04:58Z4 lessons from online learning that should stick after the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459338/original/file-20220422-16-37nbki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5137%2C3864&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do we capitalize on COVID-19 initiated change to build better education systems for the future?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Chris Montgomery/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the many changes COVID-19 brought those in education was an almost immediate switch to online learning. </p>
<p>Overnight, institutions scrambled to keep education moving, while bridging the physical distance between teacher and learner. Traditionally trained teachers made valiant efforts to adjust to digital by recording lessons, posting videos and creating breakout rooms, using whatever technology they had available. </p>
<p>These efforts resulted in digitally mediated physical classrooms using the internet — not online education. </p>
<p>While these two options sound the same, <a href="https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning">they are not</a>. Bridging physical distance through technology alone doesn’t address additional adjustments required to address learner needs. Posting materials online, recording lectures and discussions themselves don’t create a coached, collaborative and supported learning environment.</p>
<p>So what have we really learned about online education? And what do we do now?</p>
<p>Online learning isn’t new, and lessons can be drawn from existing research and experience. Athabasca University — where we are all professors — pioneered the world’s first online MBA, M.Nursing and M.Ed progams over 28 years ago. And today, it’s one of Canada’s <a href="https://worldscholarshipforum.com/online-universities-in-canada/">leading online universities</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Learning-Online-What-Research-Tells-Us-About-Whether-When-and-How-1st/Means-Bakia-Murphy/p/book/9780415630290">experience of online pioneers</a> highlights four distinct aspects of online learning that should stick post-pandemic: learning to learn online, designing online teaching with purpose, blending space and time online and continued disruption with AI.</p>
<h2>1. Learning to learn online</h2>
<p>The pandemic highlighted that <a href="https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/aguideforbusyeducators/chapter/udl-in-online-learning-one-size-doesnt-fit-all/">one-size-fits-all educational approaches</a> fail to address student needs. Younger learners may seek physical spaces to promote socialization, with supervision and teacher-led content delivery. Others, like Athabasca’s mostly adult learners, value the convenience of connecting with classmates and instructors online during times of their choosing. </p>
<p>Common inequities like poor access to the internet, lack of financial resources and needed digital competence plague online learning. However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28227-1_11">online education offers access for students</a> facing geospacial barriers to traditional classrooms, and further issues of inequality are addressed via multi-modal distance education, financial support structures and orientation on how <a href="http://ltlo.ca/LTLOposter.pdf">to learn online</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/online-learning-during-covid-19-8-ways-universities-can-improve-equity-and-access-145286">Online learning during COVID-19: 8 ways universities can improve equity and access</a>
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<p>Emergency online education used blunt-edged instruments, <a href="https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/emergency-remote-learning-compared-to-online-learning">ignoring student and program differences</a>. The pandemic takeaway, however, is the importance of preparing all students to learn, whether online or in a physical classroom. </p>
<h2>2. Designing online teaching with purpose</h2>
<p>Quality teaching and learning design must incorporate active, engaging roles for individual students, whether designed for <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315296135-6/community-inquiry-theoretical-framework-martha-cleveland-innes-randy-garrison-norman-vaughan">traditional or distance education</a>. </p>
<p>Meaningful teaching varies by setting and requires <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.1201/9781315223971-5/argument-pedagogy-driven-online-education-kelli-cargile-cook">different approaches</a>. Online course and teaching design is <a href="https://www.aupress.ca/books/120229-teaching-in-blended-learning-environments/">learner rather than content centred, incorporating high engagement in collaborative learning groups</a> that fosters active learning.</p>
<p>Producing effective online course materials <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351252805-6/community-inquiry-theoretical-framework-martha-cleveland-innes">requires an approach</a> involving both instructors and skilled course developers and takes months rather than weeks. Course materials are painstakingly detailed, and include writing everything the instructor would expect to say in a physical classroom, clearly describing all course requirements and linking students to readings, video and online resources. </p>
<p>Because of the pandemic, instructors had to translate classroom delivery into technology-mediated delivery — it worked for some, but was not easily tailored to unique learning needs. </p>
<p>Technological tools, combined with independent and joint working opportunities, should be brought back to the physical or hybrid classroom in conjunction with online pedagogical approaches that increase active, collaborative learning and learner-generated choices.</p>
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<img alt="A young girl sits with her notebook in front of a laptop with her teacher providing a lesson" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459339/original/file-20220422-22-9ycm0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The pandemic revealed how education approaches can change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Giovanni Gagliardi/Unsplash)</span></span>
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<h2>3. Blending space and time online</h2>
<p>Pandemic education popularized the vocabulary of “synchronous” and “asynchronous” learning. Synchronous replicated physical classrooms through real-time, digitally mediated teaching, while asynchronous meant working independently, usually with materials designed for a physical classroom. Moving forward we need to think about how timing and presence impacts learning.</p>
<p>At Athabasca, students come together in time and space through <a href="http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/3095">blended, collaborative, synchronous and asynchronous online learning</a>. Instructors coach students individually at a student led pace. </p>
<p>This is different from traditional undergraduate classrooms, where students absorb material on a fixed schedule. Our graduate programs use paced programming, requiring students to work independently while regularly coming together in active online discussion. </p>
<p>More flexible teaching allows students to receive instructor support when they need it. Building in synchronous, collaborative learning allows for reflection, rather than real time responses.</p>
<h2>4. COVID-19 began the disruption, AI will continue it</h2>
<p>The pandemic revealed how education approaches can change after instructors had to search for innovative ways to improve student learning outcomes outside the physical classroom. </p>
<p>At Athabasca, a <a href="https://news.athabascau.ca/faculty-of-business/announcement-ai-powered-virtual-cooperative-learning-experience/">virtual co-operative program</a> allowed us to introduce a co-op program in the middle of a pandemic. </p>
<p>Students accessed a simulated work experience in a paced structure, irrespective of location. They were able to practise working as a team, problem solving, conflict resolution, ethical reasoning and leadership while working on an assigned project. Students received immediate, detailed feedback from an AI coach, allowing for extensive experimentation and revision to master concepts honed in reflective discussion with the instructor. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7331-0.ch015">Research suggests</a> that adopting online and AI tools needs to be deliberate, coupled with supportive digital infrastructure and highly responsive student support. Planned carefully and taken together, these steps improve on traditional approaches by making education truly open, accessible and inclusive. </p>
<p>Now, the question for all educators should be: How do we capitalize on COVID-19 initiated change to build better education systems for the future?</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story originally published May 1, 2022. It clarifies emergency online education made it difficult to address student differences.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179631/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Hurst receives funding from
RBC and CPA to build and launch the AI powered virtual cooperative program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janice Thomas received funding from the Project Management Institute for earlier research projects exploring the professionalization of project management, the value of project management to organizations, and the implementation of project management as a management innovation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martha Cleveland-Innes has received funding from, and acts in support of, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
She is an appointed member of the Athabasca University Board of Governors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Haider Alvi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The question for all educators should be: How do we capitalize on COVID-19 initiated change to build better education systems for the future?F. Haider Alvi, Assistant Professor of Innovation Finance, Athabasca UniversityDeborah Hurst, Associate Professor, Work and Organization Studies, Athabasca UniversityJanice Thomas, Professor of Organizational Analysis and Project Management, Athabasca UniversityMartha Cleveland-Innes, Professor of Open, Digital, and Distance Education , Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1731392022-01-24T19:10:03Z2022-01-24T19:10:03ZHow unis can save millions by tackling the biggest causes of online students’ high dropout rates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441865/original/file-20220120-9056-pvtzdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=482%2C0%2C3207%2C2160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has simply added to the ever more <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08841241.2021.1949660">rapid growth in online learning</a> since 2005. Online education generates massive income, with the global e-learning market <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/12/2279766/0/en/Online-E-learning-Market-Size-Share-2021-Rise-at-14-6-CGAR-Will-Register-374-3-Bn-by-2026-According-to-FnF-Research.html">estimated at US$144 billion</a> in 2019 and predicted to reach US$374 billion by 2026. However, universities have struggled to reduce high online student dropout rates – online students are <a href="https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/3913/1519">2.5 times more likely</a> than on-campus students to withdraw without a qualification.</p>
<p>Advances in online educational technology have helped universities tap new and lucrative markets. Students with complex lives who are unable to attend on-campus classes prefer online learning. Yet introductory online modules frequently have a dropout rate of <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/epdf/10.3316/informit.935906696497074">more than one in five students</a>.</p>
<p>This high dropout rate costs universities millions in lost revenue every year. It also <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1148193.pdf">creates a poor perception</a> of online education. Yet universities are still neglecting the main causes of dropout identified in our <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjet.13173">research</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supporting-part-time-and-online-learners-is-key-to-reducing-university-dropout-rates-88082">Supporting part-time and online learners is key to reducing university dropout rates</a>
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<p>The scale of online dropouts means small improvements can be worth a lot to universities. As COVID-19 forced many programs online and reduced revenue from international students, universities have increased efforts to improve online retention. Current interventions include massive investment in learning technology. </p>
<p>However, these efforts are having little if any impact on the persistently high dropout rate.</p>
<p>There has been substantial research on this issue. Shallow understanding and universities not responding to the root dropout causes <a href="http://openaccess.uoc.edu/webapps/o2/bitstream/10609/114826/8/Dropout%20in%20Online%20Higher%20Education%20-%20Xavier%20%26%20Meneses%202020.pdf">have been identified</a> as the underlying problem. </p>
<p>Past online retention studies have often failed to provide insights into all drivers of dropout or ways to overcome them. The small samples often used in qualitative studies <a href="https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-018-0594-7">have been identified</a> as a shortcoming that explains this deficiency. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjet.13173">research</a> on open online education dropout can help. </p>
<p>The study included 200 in-depth interviews with online dropout students. This sample is much larger than past qualitative retention studies. It enabled us to explore the full range of dropout reasons down to those that explain 5% of dropouts.</p>
<h2>What did the study reveal about causes?</h2>
<p>The CDU-led study identified more than 40 dropout causes within ten broad themes. Personal circumstances were the major drivers. Over 65% of the main dropout reasons fell into this category. </p>
<p>Personal circumstances include broad dropout themes relating to students’ employment, family and relationships, health, personal situation and location. We identified many subthemes that provide more detailed insights into each of these aspects.</p>
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<img alt="Father working at desk looks back at daughter sitting behind him on couch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441871/original/file-20220121-9595-1yxngfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some of the main reasons for dropping out of online courses are the demands of family and employment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/student-employment-and-inflexible-university-policies-drive-online-drop-out-79498">Student employment and inflexible university policies drive online drop out</a>
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<p>Learner context aspects accounted for almost one-quarter of the main dropout reasons. These include the students’ enrolment approach and motivation, study time management and learning resources and experience. </p>
<p>Only 10% of main dropout reasons related to administrative issues and module design and delivery. Yet universities’ retention efforts often focus primarily on these aspects.</p>
<h2>What did the study reveal about reducing dropout?</h2>
<p>To be effective, retention initiatives must respond to the major dropout causes. However, personal circumstance are often seen as being an “uncontrollable” dropout dimension and beyond universities’ ability to accommodate. </p>
<p>Our study sought students’ suggestions about how the university could have helped to prevent their dropout. We identified 19 dimensions within five dropout intervention themes. Many of these relate to the students’ personal struggles and study-life challenges, which retention initiatives often ignore.</p>
<p>A common suggestion was to develop students’ study skills and build their resilience before they start their courses. This would help students set realistic study goals and develop strategies for coping with study-life challenges and personal commitments. </p>
<p>The students often mentioned that university policies and processes did not allow for their personal challenges. At the end of the day, even the best learning technologies can’t help a parent looking after a sick child, or an employee covering for a sick colleague. Universities need to pay much more attention to such issues.</p>
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<img alt="mother with laptop on her knee offers a toy to a baby in nappies next to her" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441869/original/file-20220121-8832-3ka78c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Even the best learning technologies can’t help a parent who has to care for a child while studying.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Students with sudden temporary increases in personal demands need simpler processes for requesting extensions and adjusting hand-in dates.<br>
For longer-term disruptions, offering flexible semesters and micro-credentialling modules – breaking courses into smaller credit-bearing components – can help. This will allow students to drop out part-way in one semester and later resume study where they left off. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/microcredentials-what-are-they-and-will-they-really-revolutionise-education-and-improve-job-prospects-169265">Microcredentials: what are they, and will they really revolutionise education and improve job prospects?</a>
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<p>Students wanted such interventions to be made available without financial or academic penalty. They could then easily resume study once a personal challenge has subsided. </p>
<p>They also frequently mentioned assessment design and policies in relation to module completion. For example, providing alternative assessment options and more flexible submission dates would allow for students’ unpredictable changing personal circumstances. </p>
<h2>Unis need to rethink their approach</h2>
<p>Universities can do more to reduce the persistently high dropout rates that plague online education. First, however, they must recognise the shortcomings of their intervention strategies. Currently, their focus is mainly on “controllable” dropout dimensions and learning technology and design. </p>
<p>To reduce online dropout universities must respond to the main dropout causes, which relate to students’ personal circumstances. Universities need to appreciate dropout from the students’ perspective. They can then give priority to interventions that respond effectively to students’ complex life circumstances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ninh Nguyen, Roopali Misra, and Steven Greenland do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>University efforts to retain online students neglect the main causes of most dropouts. They tend see these as beyond their control, but a new study shows why they need to rethink their approach.Steven Greenland, Professor in Marketing, Charles Darwin UniversityCatherine DT Moore, Masters Graduate, University of LiverpoolNinh Nguyen, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Charles Darwin UniversityRoopali Misra, Lecturer in Business and Accounting, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1745892022-01-20T21:27:16Z2022-01-20T21:27:16ZTeaching music online in the pandemic has yielded creative surprises, like mixing ‘Blob Opera’ and beatboxing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441784/original/file-20220120-9595-1jh6fg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C206%2C1149%2C560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blob Opera, developed by Google and AI artist David Li, lets students manipulate a soprano, alto, tenor and bass quartet of blobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(YoutTube/Google Arts & Culture)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Learning to make music <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/ijmec/2020/00000015/00000001/art00004">is a full mind-and-body activity</a>. Whether teaching how to play a musical instrument, or how to sing, teachers rely on learners’ physical cues to help them progress — cues that are often obscured either by watching someone on a screen or listening through a microphone. As a music educator, I’d hazard that few school music teachers would opt to teach their students remotely. </p>
<p>However, as many teachers and students have <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/parents-frustration-schools-covid-1.6303239">discovered in the last two years of on-and-off virtual school</a>, music lessons during the pandemic have unearthed some pleasant surprises. </p>
<p>Going online has forced music educators to adapt existing ideas, or adopt existing technology, to discover, invent and share ways to reach students to keep music education alive. </p>
<h2>Instrument-free music</h2>
<p>During the pandemic, most school-based music teachers have faced the challenge that elementary students don’t have access to instruments at home. This often leaves online tools as the default. As school budgets are always stretched, it’s important for programs to be very inexpensive or preferably free.</p>
<p>At the elementary level, students can enjoy and learn from <a href="https://www.incredibox.com">apps such as Incredibox</a>, where students can explore beatboxing, combining rhythms and sound effects to create unique pieces. Beatboxing musicians who create <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRp5qGQXaGQ">complete musical works manipulating their breathing, mouths and throats</a> inspired this tool’s development.</p>
<p>Or teachers can introduce students to choral exploration in <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?cp=e30">Blob Opera</a>, a “<a href="https://experiments.withgoogle.com/blob-opera-on-tour">machine learning model trained on the voices of four opera singers</a>,” developed by Google and AI artist David Li. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAgdT-YO_nc">In Blob Opera</a>, students manipulate four operatic blobs — a soprano, alto, tenor and bass quartet — and can have them sing a variety of pieces on global stages. Students can “take the blobs on tour” where they might sing <a href="https://koreanpicnic.com/2021/06/17/korean-folk-songs-powered-by-ai/">a Korean folk song in Seoul</a>, or a piece by composer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erik-Satie">Erik Satie</a> in Paris. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Making Blob Opera with David Li,’ video by Google Arts & Culture.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On various platforms, students are able to share their creations live with teachers and classmates. I’ve found that when we introduce technology to students, they often take it in unexpected directions. One student I was teaching set up a rhythm on Incredibox and left that window open and playing to accompany a Blob Opera set: not an obvious musical pairing but a wonderfully creative one.</p>
<h2>Learning from home with instruments</h2>
<p>Even before the pandemic, some music researchers were interested in helping educators overcome hurdles with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2019.1585791">teaching instrumental music online and how online lessons could benefit children in rural locations</a>. However, singing and playing instruments online comes with its own set of technological issues, the most prominent of which is time lag — what some of my students refer to as “glitchiness.”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A boy with a clarinet looking at a screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technological issues can make for some frustrations with virtual instrumental music instruction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, research conducted during the pandemic suggests that teaching students how to play instruments online can offer music teachers the chance to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864921996033">redefine curriculum, set new goals for students and consider new criteria for evaluation</a>. </p>
<p>For students who have access to instruments at home, music teachers can use a flexible accompaniment app like <a href="http://www.smartmusic.com">SmartMusic</a>. Without altering pitch (a critical capability), students can change playback speeds, manipulate the nature of accompaniment they hear, activate a metronome and even click on individual notes in a score to show the fingering and sound of the note for specific instruments. </p>
<p>This program costs money, but schools are able to purchase site licenses, thus making the resource accessible to more students.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/investing-in-technologies-for-student-learning-4-principles-school-boards-and-parents-should-consider-173211">Investing in technologies for student learning: 4 principles school boards and parents should consider</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Sound exploration</h2>
<p>Google’s <a href="https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/">Chrome Music Lab</a> suite offers learning for K-8 students. Younger children <a href="https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Rhythm/">can explore rhythm</a>, or teachers and students can explore melody, harmony, form, duration, rhythm, timbre and tempo <a href="https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/">to compose relatively complex electronica</a>, save projects and submit them for assessment.</p>
<p>At the secondary level, teachers can encourage students to explore and collaborate on <a href="https://www.bandlab.com/">Bandlab</a>, a program akin to Apple’s Garageband. Students can compose pieces using standard western notation on the web-based <a href="https://www.noteflight.com">Noteflight</a> — especially accessible because it requires no downloads or sharing of personal information.</p>
<p>Some online offerings promote healthy movement at home. <a href="https://www.beatgoeson.co.uk/#:%7E:text=Ollie%20is%20a%20drummer%2C%20percussionist,including%20the%20Sydney%20Opera%20House.">Ollie Tunmer, British body percussionist and former STOMP cast member</a>, hosts professional development for teachers and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0519TNM1mcc">short lessons for kids</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0519TNM1mcc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Body percussionist Ollie Tunmer leads an online lesson.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other teachers have posted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIYQr-TfVPk">clips exploring form and movement in music</a>, based on techniques from an approach to teaching rhythmic movement, listening and embodied music intuition known as <a href="https://dalcrozeusa.org/about-dalcroze/what-is-dalcroze/">Dalcroze Eurythmics</a> and subsequent work by <a href="https://www.feierabendmusic.org/john-feierabend/">early childhood music educator John Feierabend</a>.</p>
<h2>Making music education more inclusive</h2>
<p>Aside from making music at home accessible for many students, online learning that focuses more on pop music, electronica and rhythm-heavy musics tends to shift the curricular emphasis away from predominantly western art music like “classical” genres.</p>
<p>Music researcher Margaret Walker examines how <a href="https://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/article/view/310">music education in the West has traditionally advanced European exceptionalism and cultural superiority</a>. Walker is one of many music educators promoting music education that reflects the cultural diversity of learners. Music education researcher <a href="https://www.routledge.com/How-Popular-Musicians-Learn-A-Way-Ahead-for-Music-Education/Green/p/book/9780754632269">Lucy Green</a> found that students who have more choice about their own repertoires are more successful and stay with music longer. </p>
<p>Revising music curricula to be more inclusive may involve both introducing new forms of music, but also repositioning canonical artists like Mozart and Bach within a broader musical context to allow entry and success for more learners. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/handels-messiah-today-how-classical-music-is-contending-with-its-colonial-past-and-present-173218">Handel's 'Messiah' today: How classical music is contending with its colonial past and present</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Learning about music</h2>
<p>Music curriculum calls not just for <em>making</em> music but also learning about music. Online read alouds, — narrated stories accompanied with music — existed before the pandemic but likely became even more useful in remote contexts. Favourites of my students include Sergei Prokofiev’s 1936 composition <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px8FakwGPDM">Peter and The Wolf</a></em> and the 2015 children’s book <em><a href="https://storylineonline.net/books/trombone-shorty">Trombone Shorty</a></em> by Troy Andrews. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QitquEL48Co?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Actor Angela Bassett reads ‘Trombone Shorty.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Music educators and students also benefit from the isolation-inspired composite style videos such as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6_MJ6w45hw">Kingston Youth Orchestra’s performance of Cold Play’s “Viva La Vida,”</a> especially when students cannot currently attend live performances.</p>
<p>For younger children, <a href="https://www.kingstonsymphony.ca/about/music-director/">Evan Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kingstonsymph/status/1469026847329501191">conductor of the Kingston Symphony</a>, launched a children’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPEY9fmSkK4">online music series, <em>Harmon in Space!</em></a> The series sees Harmon, a fuzzy dog puppet, isolated on a spaceship. Harmon’s limited social contact happens via <a href="https://www.thewhig.com/entertainment/local-arts/symphony-series-is-out-of-this-world">online chats with musical friends — members of the Kingston Symphony</a>. The first episode has over 11,000 views on YouTube. When I interviewed Mitchell, he said he has received many letters from children concerned for Harmon’s safe return to Earth.</p>
<p>No one wants remote music education to become the norm for most students. But the creative minds who have made it feasible, fun and often productive have given us unexpected gifts and welcome strains of beauty amidst global noise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robbie MacKay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From incorporating video-based performances to learning new composition apps, teaching students virtually has forced music educators to learn and share new ways to reach students.Robbie MacKay, Lecturer in Musicology, Dan School of Drama & Music, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714572022-01-10T13:39:02Z2022-01-10T13:39:02ZWatch for these conflicts over education in 2022<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439216/original/file-20220103-37443-15i668j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C21%2C3631%2C2402&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Louisiana residents object to mask mandates at a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting in August 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakLouisiana/63969424eeb445a0bd0a8c217e038a34/photo">AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At school board meetings across the country in 2021, parents engaged in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/loudoun-county-school-board-va.html">physical altercations</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/back-to-school-live-updates/2021/08/30/1032417970/school-board-members-hostile-meetings-mask-mandates-politicized">shouted at</a> school board members and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/podcasts/the-daily/school-boards-mask-mandates-crt-bucks-county.html">threatened them as well</a>.</p>
<p>These disagreements entered state politics, too, such as the 2021 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/us/politics/virginia-governor-republicans-schools.html?referringSource=articleShare">Virginia governor’s race</a>, which was largely shaped by conflicts over the <a href="https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/yes-virginia-there-is-critical-race-theory-in-our-schools/">how issues of race and racism are taught in the K-12 curriculum</a>, and <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/10/29/in-2020-the-legislature-passed-a-transgender-students-rights-law-it-largely-hasnt-been-enforced/">transgender student rights</a>. </p>
<p>Our September 2021 article in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211042567">Educational Policy</a> explains that the short-term conflicts that generate media attention – such as about <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/schools-face-fears-of-critical-race-theory-as-they-scale-up-social-emotional-learning/2021/12">critical race theory</a> across the nation – are part of long-standing ideological debates about education. These conflicts are about issues such as who deserves academic opportunity, what the parameters of public education are and whether schools and universities ought to promote a positive image of the U.S. or explore its shortcomings. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nezgztgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researchers</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OomuRokAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">study conflicts in education</a>, we see clashes like these continuing into 2022.</p>
<h2>1. Virtual education</h2>
<p>In 2022, expect conflicts over virtual school offerings to intensify, especially as the omicron variant surges and as some states push toward <a href="https://edsource.org/2021/california-school-vaccine-mandate-coming-soon-but-questions-remain/662985">vaccine mandates</a> for all students. At stake is whether parents should have control over how public funds are spent on educating their children, and the potential effects of diverting those funds away from traditional public schools. </p>
<p>In fall 2021, U.S. school leaders largely <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/most-schools-are-teaching-in-person-this-school-year-latest-fed-data-say/2021/12">shifted their services back to in-person instruction</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-year-off-to-a-rocky-start-4-ways-parents-can-help-kids-get-back-on-track-167609">after shutdowns and remote instruction</a> dominated the initial response to the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>However, demand for home-schooling and virtual schooling <a href="https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-463.pdf">has risen</a>, as some parents discover that these forms of education offer greater flexibility in scheduling, control over curriculum and safety from the coronavirus. In Washington state, for example, enrollments in publicly funded virtual schools operated by for-profit companies have increased dramatically, such as Washington Virtual Academies, which <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/washingtons-for-profit-online-schools-attract-nearly-6000-more-students-this-school-year/">expanded enrollments by an estimated 85%</a> between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. Similar <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/covid-19-fuels-big-enrollment-increases-in-virtual-schools/2020/09">trends happened</a> in school districts across the country.</p>
<p>Enrollment data for the 2021-2022 school year are still emerging, but some school choice <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/taubman/programs-research/pepg/events/school-choice">experts</a> have argued that parental demand for virtual education is here to stay. However, in another research project, one of us found that students who switch to online schools <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20909814">experience substantial learning losses</a> in reading and math during each of the three years after switching. That evidence has forced policymakers to consider <a href="https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/state-committee-recommends-big-shift-for-virtual-charter-school-rules">greater regulation</a> of online schools, even as more parents consider taking their children out of traditional public schools and putting them in virtual ones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Students sit at computers, separated by clear plastic barriers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools’ decisions to provide in-person or virtual education sparked concern and conflict in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreak-SchoolDropouts/4fa2bc85087940e9b78914cac886b780/photo">AP Photo/Charlie Riedel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Affirmative action</h2>
<p>Affirmative action and similar policies in college admissions have always generated controversy, and 2022 will likely be no different. This year, a case that began in 2014 will reach the U.S. Supreme Court. That case, <a href="https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/massachusetts/madce/1:2014cv14176/165519/386">Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard University</a>, alleges that Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policies discriminate against Asian applicants. </p>
<p>The case has worked its way through the court system with a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/us/affirmative-action-lawsuits.html">national roster of affluent plaintiffs</a>. This group has filed multiple unsuccessful lawsuits across the U.S., including an October 2021 loss in a similar case over admissions at the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/university-north-carolina-defeats-challenge-race-based-admissions-policies-2021-10-19/">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</a>.</p>
<p>Similar lawsuits have also sprung up in <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/Lowell-High-lottery-admission-likely-to-remain-16705599.php">San Francisco</a> and <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/26/metro/secrecy-around-exam-school-admission-data-prompts-lawsuit/">Boston</a> over school districts’ efforts to make access to academically selective public schools more representative of student populations. These suits reflect broader ideological tensions over who deserves a well-funded, elite education and the government’s responsibility to protect that access.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A student works at a desk while a teacher sits in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers unions wielded significant power over how schools responded to the coronavirus pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/first-grade-student-alexis-tenorio-works-on-an-english-news-photo/1232327829">Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Teachers unions</h2>
<p>In 2022, look to teachers unions to continue to assert themselves in the face of ongoing efforts by <a href="https://californiaglobe.com/articles/ca-parents-seek-to-abolish-the-california-teachers-association/">parent</a> and <a href="https://teacherfreedom.org">advocacy groups</a> to limit their power.</p>
<p>Over the past year teachers unions effectively negotiated the implementation of health safeguards against the spread of COVID-19
in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teachers-union-approves-deal-chicago-schools-return-class-n1257247">Chicago</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/de-blasio-agrees-to-delay-school-reopening-to-avoid-teacher-strike/">New York City</a> and <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2021/09/22/lausd-strikes-deal-with-teachers-union-to-provide-quarantine-instruction/">Los Angeles</a>. These unions secured protective measures such as virtual instruction, priority vaccine access for teachers, medical and personal leave related to COVID-19, explicit metrics to determine when schools would close, district-provided personal protective equipment for teachers and classroom air filtration systems. </p>
<p>While the pandemic dominates union activity at present, and <a href="https://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai20-304">many unions have not negotiated significant concessions</a>, these wins signal unions’ strategic and legal capacity to negotiate around issues such as compensation and working conditions. Given <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59687947">current shortages of qualified teachers</a>, unions’ negotiation power may intensify. </p>
<h2>4. Gifted programs</h2>
<p>In 2022, gifted education may become a national debate. So far it has been prominent in New York City, but that may spread.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/nyregion/eric-adams-gifted-talented-nyc-schools.html">Mayor Eric Adams</a> said he intends to keep gifted programs in place. Gifted programs offer accelerated learning opportunities for students who score at the top of their class on standardized tests. Critics, such as the <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/1c478c_f14e1d13df45444c883bbf6590129bd7.pdf">School Diversity Advisory Group commissioned by former Mayor Bill de Blasio</a>, argue that gifted programs segregate students by race, since research has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415622175">students of color are underrepresented</a> in these programs. </p>
<p>In California, policymakers have <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-20/california-controversial-math-overhaul-focuses-on-equity">unveiled a plan</a> to address this issue by grouping students of different mathematical ability in the same classrooms until their junior year. Only then will students be able to select advanced math courses, such as calculus or statistics. </p>
<p>This move may revive the 1980s’ so-called “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/book/the-tracking-wars/">tracking wars</a>,” an intense debate over whether students should be offered different levels of curriculum based on their test scores. As other states and districts <a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-new-york-education-new-york-city-race-and-ethnicity-0f3d92179ff20b45c4747d3c84a026a2">consider overhauling their own gifted programs</a>, these short-term conflicts will likely add energy to the existing national fight concerning what role the education system should play in addressing inequality in the United States. </p>
<p>In all of these conflicts, be prepared in 2022 for policy advocates to use both conventional and unconventional strategies to advance their efforts. Further, expect those advocates to include politically and economically powerful actors as well as those who rarely have a voice in policy conversations. </p>
<p>In our research, which spanned the years 2010 to 2020, we saw conventional conflict actions such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/695856032/w-va-teachers-go-on-strike-over-state-education-bill">teacher strikes</a>, <a href="https://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/02/19/months-after-protests-jeffco-board-scraps-ap-us-history-curriculum-review/">community protests</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/louisiana-gov-bobby-jindal-sues-obama-over-common-core-state-standards/2014/08/27/34d98102-2dfb-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html">lawsuits</a>. However, we also saw the successful use of less common efforts to challenge local, state and federal education policy, such as <a href="https://greensboro.com/news/local_news/deutsche-bank-cancels-job-expansion-in-cary-due-to-hb2/article_fea19dc6-e2c6-575d-adb9-d4a435d2863f.html">canceled business investments</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/11/the-surprising-revolt-at-reed/544682/">classroom sit-ins</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jonathan-butler-how-grad-students-hunger-strike-toppled-university-president-n460161">a student hunger strike</a>, <a href="https://co.chalkbeat.org/2015/11/3/21093016/jeffco-school-board-members-who-pushed-controversial-changes-ousted-in-recall">school board recall votes</a>, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article163339228.html">teacher panhandling</a>, <a href="https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20180628/OPINION/180629917/stuyvesant-s-valedictorian-find-a-way-to-diversify-my-school">pointed valedictorian speeches</a> and even <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/08/455216375/missouri-football-players-strike-to-demand-ouster-of-university-president">college football players’ threat to walk out on scheduled revenue-generating games</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph J. Ferrare has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Phillippo has received funding from the Spencer Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.</span></em></p>Short-term disputes are really symptoms of deeper divisions in the US over who deserves academic opportunity, and how to present the nation’s history.Joseph J. Ferrare, Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Data Visualization, University of Washington, BothellKate Phillippo, Professor of Social Work and Education, Loyola University ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1647852021-07-30T04:14:59Z2021-07-30T04:14:59Z3 things we need to get right to ensure online professional development works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413257/original/file-20210727-13-1120kfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6048%2C4010&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multiracial-business-people-gathered-together-online-1857569854">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed is the need for employee training and skills development. Although lockdowns have reduced access to offices and <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2021/pwc-hopes-and-fears-survey-2021.html">increased job insecurity</a>, they have provided the time and opportunity for building skills. Demand for professional development <a href="https://staff.unimelb.edu.au/mspace/horizon/impact-of-covid-19-economic-downturn">has grown</a>.</p>
<p>However, since early 2020, the only option for employees to upskill has been through remote learning. Training and development specialists have been working tirelessly to adapt programs and courses for online delivery. For most, this has meant replacing face-to-face workshops with dial-in sessions using teleconferencing software. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these changes have <a href="https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/nonverbal-overload/release/1">not always been effective</a>. In other cases, employees have been applying their own personal, informal learning methods to develop professionally. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-technology-and-the-rise-of-new-informal-learning-methods-126813">Digital technology and the rise of new informal learning methods</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>In comparison, the global online education sector has steadily and organically expanded over the past 25 years. It’s set to <a href="https://www.guide2research.com/research/online-education-statistics">become mainstream sooner than expected</a>. The characteristics of online learning, which can connect a larger and more diverse student body, make it truly scalable and sustainable. </p>
<p>Thankfully, we can draw on decades of research evidence from online education to deliver professional development effectively online. This research shows three of the most important things to consider are flexibility, accessibility and social connectedness. </p>
<h2>Make flexible learning a priority</h2>
<p>Online education is <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2017.00059/full">growing rapidly because of its flexibility</a>. Students can study from wherever, whenever. This means they can maintain roles such as work, parenting and other commitments alongside their studies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Parents sits with young child on lap in front of laptop as he studies online" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413253/original/file-20210727-23-dsrsw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people undertaking professional development courses must juggle other responsibilities too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/parent-child-studying-remotely-homebased-laptop-1529712827">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Flexible online learning is erasing traditional boundaries of time and place.
To provide flexibility in professional development, learning should no longer be restricted to a single day and venue. A combination of scheduled and self-paced learning options provides collaborative and independent learning opportunities as needed. </p>
<p>Flexible learning options work best for learners who can stick to their learning plans and schedules and dedicate their attention to these tasks without distractions. Employers can support flexible learning by respecting these learning plans. This means allowing employees to schedule work around their learning. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-7-elements-of-a-good-online-course-139736">The 7 elements of a good online course</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ensure accessibility for all</h2>
<p>A more diverse student body calls for more inclusive teaching and learning practices. The best examples of online education offer all students the same opportunities to do well. </p>
<p>Both learning material and learning management systems need to be reliable and accessible to all. That includes people who are living in remote parts of the country, those who cannot leave the home due to family commitments, or students with special needs who require learning resources to be created that take account of these needs.</p>
<p>Similarly, the use of online learning technology for professional development should act as a learning enabler, not a learning barrier. Advanced learning technology and software – learning management systems such as Moodle, for example – can bring both accessibility and innovation to professional development. It makes for a smoother and more engaging learning environment.</p>
<p>Organisations may need to invest in accessible learning technology – just as they would invest in creating accessible and inclusive office spaces. <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/making-online-learning-accessible-students-disabilities">Guidelines</a> are readily available to help trainers make online learning content accessible and engaging.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/massive-online-open-courses-see-exponential-growth-during-covid-19-pandemic-141859">Massive online open courses see exponential growth during COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Foster connections between learners</h2>
<p>Finally, learning remotely, like working remotely, can be isolating. Creating meaningful opportunities to nurture a sense of belonging and connectedness among students is a challenge for online educators. But the benefits of social connectedness are worth the effort. It’s <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2017.00059/full">associated with</a> greater academic performance, self-confidence, engagement, retention and satisfaction. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman at a desk chats to a group in an online meeting via her laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413252/original/file-20210727-15-189xocg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Promoting social connectedness should be a priority in online learning because of its many benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rear-back-view-happy-young-female-1854698215">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Students who opt for the flexibility of online education are often time-poor or juggling multiple competing demands. They prioritise their goal of learning over their social needs. </p>
<p>For this reason, relying on these students to initiate interaction through social forums can often be ineffective. Rather, trainers should embed social collaboration in core online learning activities. </p>
<p>Activities that involve collaboration include peer review and simulation tasks. Online meetings and workshops should also be designed to capitalise on the interplay of learning and dialogue. </p>
<p>Activities like these ensure participants can maintain focus on learning goals while reaping the benefits of social interaction.</p>
<h2>Online professional development is here to stay</h2>
<p>Universities are expanding their educational offerings for professional development. They now offer affordable, accredited and verifiable online study options such as short courses and <a href="https://www.candlefox.com/blog/micro-credentials-the-provider-handbook/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketing%20cloud&utm_campaign=Candlefox+AU+April+2021+Newsletter">micro-credentials</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-learning-economy-challenges-unis-to-be-part-of-reshaping-lifelong-education-144800">New learning economy challenges unis to be part of reshaping lifelong education</a>
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<p>These courses bridge the gap between higher education and industry needs – bringing a high standard of learning and innovation directly to employees, without the costs of travel or relocation. </p>
<p>The investments universities and other organisations are making in e-learning capabilities mean online professional development is here to stay.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Demand for professional development has grown but the pandemic has forced it online. Decades of evidence from online education tells us how to ensure professional development remains effective.Filia Garivaldis, Senior Lecturer, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash UniversitySarah Kneebone, Education & Training Manager, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1627662021-07-20T20:07:55Z2021-07-20T20:07:55ZWhat to look for when choosing a university as the digital competition grows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411797/original/file-20210719-17-1qfmyhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Online teaching became the norm almost overnight when the pandemic hit. For students, the situation’s complexity was brutal, the shift frustrating but unavoidable. </p>
<p>Prospective students weighing up study options might have been confused too. However, they are now better placed to understand what universities offer in an increasingly competitive digital learning market. They also have more choices.</p>
<p>Incoming University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott has warned competition for enrolments is intensifying as students’ options grow. “The [news] media experience demonstrated clearly that your competitors in the digital space went well beyond your traditional competitors in the analog space,” <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/university-of-sydneys-mark-scott-says-universities-cant-be-complacent/news-story/9c4da7e509bca1e1d99bbd75f83d1915">said</a> Scott, a former managing editor of the ABC and senior executive at Fairfax Media.</p>
<p>“Digital” education will redefine how students view and select universities. It may allow for more personalised learning paths, lifelong and more accessible learning, upskilling for employment and a more remote and diverse body of students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-learning-economy-challenges-unis-to-be-part-of-reshaping-lifelong-education-144800">New learning economy challenges unis to be part of reshaping lifelong education</a>
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<h2>There’s no going back to the old model</h2>
<p>As learning became removed from the campus experience last year, learner-teacher engagement and peer networking altered dramatically. The digital transition was a monumental and urgent task. </p>
<p>But time has passed. Fully or partly digitalised university programs have proliferated. And many have become more sophisticated as academics and students receive support to take the leap. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/government/government-matters/higher-education-digitisation.html">PwC report</a> on higher education digitisation affirms: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The changes forced by the rapid digitisation of the sector will not be undone.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“Digital” in education can now mean anything from simple videoed lectures, online documents and tutorials to high-end digital animation and simulation tools. </p>
<p>Just before the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-17/nsw-records-111-covid-19-cases/100300492">current</a> <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-16/victoria-awakes-to-its-fifth-coronavirus-lockdown/100296390">lockdowns</a>, Macquarie University, among others, <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs/information-for-students/teaching-pause-covid-19">announced</a> most lectures would continue online while “small group” in-person learning would require students to wear masks. Melbourne University <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/coronavirus/attending-campus">said</a> it was “planning to deliver around 90% of semester 2 subjects on campus”. It is also rolling out “<a href="https://lms.unimelb.edu.au/staff/guides/dual-delivery-support-resources/blended-synchronous-learning-quick-start-guide">blended synchronous learning</a>” using in-venue microphones and cameras so remote and campus-based students come together in a single class, its DVC (Academic) Gregor Kennedy said. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-learning-is-real-world-learning-thats-why-blended-on-campus-and-online-study-is-best-163002">Digital learning is real-world learning. That's why blended on-campus and online study is best</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>RMIT University <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/return-to-campus">posted</a>: “Classes that require specialist spaces or equipment will be prioritised for on-campus learning.” At <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/covid-19/">Sydney University</a>, the campus was to remain open during lockdown for critical teaching and research activity only. The <a href="https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/online-supervised-invigilated-exams">University of Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.monash.edu/exams/electronic-exams/supervision">Monash University</a>, among many others, have introduced online invigilated examinations. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1394207197995884546"}"></div></p>
<p>The gap between the best and worst of what institutions offer digitally is vast. </p>
<p>In the worst cases, digital learning means students are asked to read scanned textbook chapters and have academics or tutors talk at them through a recording without any interaction. It’s a terribly disengaging experience for the student and hence less effective for learning. But it requires very little investment by universities. </p>
<p>In the best cases, universities offer active learning through digitally driven simulations and well-designed activities. These include peer group activity, networking and technology-enhanced alternatives to on-campus experience. The result is a varied and engaging experience, but it requires substantial investment by the university.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-unis-eye-more-instagram-worthy-campus-experiences-they-shouldnt-treat-online-teaching-as-a-cheap-and-easy-option-156585">As unis eye more ‘Instagram-worthy’ campus experiences, they shouldn't treat online teaching as a cheap and easy option</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What should students look for?</h2>
<p>So, how can prospective students tell which universities provide worthwhile digital education? They should consider the following criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Focus on online/blended student experience</strong> </p>
<p>What is the value given to students feeling connected, being part of a learning community, having a social dimension in addition to agency over their learning, and being on campus when possible?
Do study options suit life and lifestyle needs that the pandemic brought to light as important?</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Transparency about digital quality</strong> </p>
<p>Does the university adequately communicate its definition of “digital” quality? Pay special attention to assessment mechanisms, to avoid having to deal with postponed exams, for example. </p>
<p>The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has provided <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/online-learning-good-practice">guidelines</a> for online learning quality. Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tudge/new-higher-education-standards-panel-appointed">announced</a> a renewed Higher Education Standards Panel with online and hybrid course quality as part of its new tasks. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Evidence of agility, convenience and accessibility</strong></p>
<p>What solutions can be adapted to post-COVID educational expectations, both locally and internationally?
Are there options for polysynchronous learning: some on one’s own time, some with others?
What does inclusive digital education – accessibility for vision-impaired students, for example – look like? </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Clarity about pricing</strong></p>
<p>Is the program or unit priced to be a low-cost standardised product, or is it priced for high value? Does the university offer financial support options?</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Ambition of digital design</strong> </p>
<p>Does the program and learning design have a focus on long-term COVID-resilient learning and career outcomes? Is there solid evidence of industry relations?</p>
<p>And (for the most ambitious) does the university explore and/or use artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to customise learning paths for individuals?</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-world-of-digital-bystanders-the-challenge-is-for-all-of-us-to-design-engaging-online-education-147195">In a world of digital bystanders the challenge is for all of us to design engaging online education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An emerging digital divide among unis</h2>
<p>Some universities are using digital education to tap into new markets. These universities include Melbourne, RMIT (boasting RMIT Online), Adelaide and Griffith. At different price points, their offerings increasingly include demonstrated digital expertise, blended synchronous learning options and well-defined online engagement and connection. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Student looks at university website promising 'the best learning environment in the world'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411796/original/file-20210719-17-1w40p3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The education market is bigger and more competitive than ever before.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-website-on-tablet-screen-young-796587181">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Universities are also responding to industry demand for accessible upskilling and enhanced learning (often “micro” qualifications). Again, their offerings vary, especially across disciplines. </p>
<p>The PwC report predicts most universities will compete with mid-range offerings. This group will offer customised learning in parallel to mass offers, keeping revenue streams open, maintaining a brand in a technology-enhanced world and counterbalancing border restrictions on international students. </p>
<p>Some universities will opt for a serious quantum leap into online or blended education programs. These universities are likely to outcompete other providers and diversify their student bodies in ways that enhance the student experience. </p>
<p>Others continue with minimal investment or low-cost solutions. These providers are looking to return to the “old normal” of a strictly face-to-face experience. They aim to manage learners’ frustrations as they arise, rather than invest in long-term quality digital services. </p>
<p>This approach may be understandable for universities with serious cashflow issues. In the long run it’s probably shortsighted and may lead to student and industry dissatisfaction. </p>
<p>We can see the divide between these approaches in <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030/consultations/australian-strategy-international-education-20212030">submissions</a> from each higher education provider to the federal government in consultations on a new <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">strategy for international education</a>. Interestingly, providers’ views show little correlation with type of institution, whether highly ranked or not, rural or urban. Our discussion above is based on our deep dive into those submissions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriele has worked in or with various higher education organisations and digital service providers mentioned in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angelito Calma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Digital technology and COVID-19 have transformed the ways universities are delivering courses. But some are taking a minimalist low-cost approach, while others are aiming higher.Gabriele Suder, Professor, RMIT UniversityAngelito Calma, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1590742021-04-18T20:08:25Z2021-04-18T20:08:25ZOnline exam monitoring is now common in Australian universities — but is it here to stay?<p>COVID-19 lockdowns were a huge disruption for Australian universities. With students unable to come to campus, many universities turned to “online proctoring solutions” to monitor students during exam time. </p>
<p>Many of these systems rely on automated facial recognition or detection, often combined with human video-monitoring of students’ homes, leading to concerns about bias, inaccuracy and intrusiveness. The rapid rollout of these systems led to <a href="https://theconversation.com/anu-will-invigilate-exams-using-remote-software-and-many-students-are-unhappy-137067">student protests</a> in Australia and elsewhere. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1329878X211005862">interviewed</a> students, activists, tutors, academics, and managerial and technical staff at several Australian universities to explore the effect and experience of online proctoring. We found concerns from staff around the extra workload involved in maintaining “buggy” proprietary systems. Students, meanwhile, were worried about the invasiveness of the technology, and nervous at the prospect of platform glitches disrupting exams.</p>
<p>Over time, students have become more tolerant of online proctoring (or perhaps resigned to it). This habituation to the technology might serve as a lesson for how emerging uses of biometric surveillance are being incorporated into daily life — as well as how they need to be controlled and regulated.</p>
<h2>The EdTech boom</h2>
<p>The pandemic presented a golden opportunity for the mostly US-based education technology (or “EdTech”) industry. For these players, last year was a bonanza. Two months into the pandemic, the chief executive of “comprehensive learning integrity program” <a href="https://proctorio.com/">Proctorio</a> told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-college-exams-coronavirus/">Washington Post</a>:</p>
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<p>It’s insanity. I shouldn’t be happy. I know a lot of people aren’t doing so well right now, but for us — I can’t even explain it […] We’ll probably increase our value by four to five times just this year.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At least <a href="https://www.acode.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=3874">24 universities in Australia and New Zealand</a> used some sort of online proctoring tool last year. In some cases this simply involved the relatively low-tech use of Zoom, but many universities opted for proctoring platforms such as Proctorio, <a href="https://www.examity.com/">Examity</a> or the most popular choice, <a href="https://www.proctoru.com/">ProctorU</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-boosting-the-big-tech-transformation-to-warp-speed-138537">The coronavirus pandemic is boosting the big tech transformation to warp speed</a>
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<h2>How online proctoring works</h2>
<p>Typically, proctoring platforms use a combination of “human” monitoring and AI monitoring to monitor students’ conduct during exams. </p>
<p>Students take their exams before the unblinking eye of their laptop camera. The AI monitoring uses tools like face detection, gaze detection and keystroke biometrics to verify students’ identity and flag “suspicious” behaviour (such as looking around the room, or moving away from their desk). </p>
<p>Suspicious behaviour can be reviewed by a “live” remote proctor. This work is often outsourced to developing nations such as India and the Philippines, where remote proctors are reportedly <a href="https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/proctor/philippines/manila">paid around A$3.50 per hour</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/online-exam-monitoring-can-invade-privacy-and-erode-trust-at-universities-149335">Online exam monitoring can invade privacy and erode trust at universities</a>
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<p>It is also possible to use fully automated versions of such platforms — though as we found, even “fully” automated systems require a great deal of extra work for teaching staff. </p>
<h2>Automation creates more work</h2>
<p>Tutors we <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1329878X211005862">interviewed</a> described the additional unseen work involved. </p>
<p>They had to write suitable assessment tasks, set up the proctoring parameters, and wade through post-exam reports to judge evidence of anomalies. Moreover, technical staff had to methodically review the content of every assessment to confirm it would be compatible with the software. </p>
<p>Even after all this work, exams were still troubled by glitches. One computer science tutor described the platforms as “totally, totally, buggy”. Staff have little direct control over how the platforms work, as the precise rules used to determine “suspicious” behaviour are tightly protected commercial secrets.</p>
<h2>Problems with facial recognition</h2>
<p>The emergence of online proctoring has been extremely controversial. Some see it as an invasion of students’ privacy based on an idea that students are inherently prone to cheating. </p>
<p>Critics have also argued the facial recognition tools these platforms depend on may be racially biased, and more likely to misrecognise people of colour. In the United States, facial recognition technologies have been <a href="https://www.klemchuk.com/ideate/cities-ban-facial-recognition-software-in-public">banned outright in several cities</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/facial-recognition-technology-is-expanding-rapidly-across-australia-are-our-laws-keeping-pace-141357">Facial recognition technology is expanding rapidly across Australia. Are our laws keeping pace?</a>
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<p>The use of facial recognition is growing in Australia, with the federal government <a href="https://www.innovationaus.com/govts-unmoved-on-facial-recognition/">set to deploy</a> the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability. However, debates around facial recognition’s impacts and implications have been much more muted here than overseas.</p>
<h2>An initial wave of protests</h2>
<p>The initial deployment of online proctoring nevertheless prompted a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/20/concerns-raised-australian-universities-plan-use-proctorio-proctoru-exam-monitoring-software">storm of protest</a> on Australian campuses. Student protest leaders we interviewed found students considered remote proctoring an unacceptable invasion of privacy, and there was anxiety around the prospect of glitches affecting exam performance. </p>
<p>Even students who would not normally get involved in student politics were driven to protest. As one student organiser told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a lot of students are pretty apathetic to that kind of stuff [but] the response in terms of [the use of online proctoring] was a lot more visceral. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the wake of these protests, online proctoring was limited or entirely removed in some university subjects.</p>
<h2>‘That whole Big Brother scenario’</h2>
<p>However, once exams had actually taken place using the platforms, some students became more “jaded” or “resigned” towards use of the technology. Some students we interviewed were even relatively positive about the convenience of taking exams from home. One student reflected:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>convenience far outweighs anything [or] any sort of issue that could possibly come up […] it’s that whole Big Brother scenario, you sort of forget they’re watching you after a little bit. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Others felt the comfort and calmness of the home environment was favourable when compared to a busy and emotionally charged exam hall.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395420/original/file-20210416-15-zrjb7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some students find the home environment more suitable for taking exams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Despite the controversy and added work of online proctoring, university administrators we spoke to were confident the technology would continue to be used in Australian institutions. As one technical support officer put it, it is rare to “un-procure” technology: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>once we start (with) any new technology, it’s hard to just step back completely, and not make that offering anymore, that’s not […] how these things work.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Will an emergency fix become normal?</h2>
<p>Online exam proctoring was introduced as an “emergency fix” during the pandemic, and may well become more prevalent as universities continue to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/restrictions-ease-but-remote-learning-still-the-norm-at-universities-20210405-p57gjl.html">incorporate online learning in the post-pandemic world</a>. Before we accept it as normal, we should make sure it actually improves students’ experience of learning. </p>
<p>The introduction of online exam proctoring systems raises serious issues, including the impact on student education, the extra work required to keep “buggy” systems working, and the commercialisation and outsourcing of key university infrastructure. </p>
<p>The use and regulation of these systems must be guided by educational “best practice” principles: imbued with genuine respect for “users”, a substantive set of ethics, morals and political intent, and a meaningful contribution to the quality of higher education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris O'Neill receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin JD Smith receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Andrejevic receives funding from The Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Selwyn receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xin Gu receives funding from The Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Interviews with students, tutors, tech workers and university administrators reveal the problems with online exam monitoring systems — but also show they’re unlikely to go away.Christopher O'Neill, Research fellow, Monash UniversityGavin JD Smith, Associate Professor in Sociology, Australian National UniversityMark Andrejevic, Professor, School of Media, Film, and Journalism, Monash University, Monash UniversityNeil Selwyn, Distinguished Research Professor, Monash UniversityXin Gu, Lecturer in Communications and Media, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1582922021-04-05T17:07:22Z2021-04-05T17:07:22ZOntario’s ‘choice’ of fully online school would gamble on children for profit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393176/original/file-20210401-19-1wd6yxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C188%2C3000%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students arrive at Dartmouth High School in Dartmouth, N.S., on Sept. 8, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite the lack of data documenting benefits to children, and emerging evidence of several drawbacks and harms, the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-considers-move-to-make-remote-learning-permanent-for-all/">Ontario government is discussing making full-time online schooling a permanent “choice” in public education</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-choice-policies-are-associated-with-increased-separation-of-students-by-social-class-149902">'School choice' policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class</a>
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<p>This idea is being introduced without adequate research, and stands to become the <a href="https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v10i14.186326">latest measure that</a> raises inequality and <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/31168">threatens the viability</a> of education as a public good.</p>
<p>The <em>Globe and Mail</em> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/permanent-online-school-1.5964008">obtained an Ontario Ministry of Education</a> presentation dated March 22, 2021, <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20527907/initiatives-committee-_-expanding-student-access-to-online-and-remote-learning.pdf">detailing the prospect of continued virtual learning</a> after the COVID-19 pandemic. The province aims to partner with <a href="https://www.tvo.org/about">TVO</a> to offer “fully independent online learning” for “Ontario and out-of-province secondary students” and also mentions continuing “synchronous remote learning” for elementary students.</p>
<p>The proposal coincides with apparent plans to continue to help fund Ontario education by selling curriculum abroad. In 2015, Ontario reported it had agreements <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/strategyK12.pdf">with 19 international private schools that pay the province to deliver the Ontario curriculum</a>.</p>
<h2>Unpacking the known harms</h2>
<p>While the COVID-19 environment has produced unique challenges, many of the greatest difficulties for young people have been associated with the forced shift out of schools and into online learning. Online learning <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1358684X.2020.1791691">does not replace</a> the complex, relationship-oriented learning and social environment in schools.</p>
<p>Fully online learning has had consequences for mental health, with increased feelings of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105225">social isolation</a>. There have also been challenges to physical health, as youth grappled with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000215">lack of physical activity</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/optometrists-see-more-myopia-in-kids-blame-increased-screen-time-amid-pandemic-1.5966183">deteriorating eyesight</a>. Even among older youth learners, motivation and engagement prove difficult to sustain online, with a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/promises-and-pitfalls-of-online-education/">higher potential for dropping out</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/04/i-cant-get-motivated-the-students-struggling-with-online-learning">worse outcomes for disadvantaged students</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the negative outcomes associated with full-time online study for youth and without sufficient data to support its rationale, the Ontario government is introducing an unasked for “choice” that would set a detrimental precedent for public education. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Teens going to school." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393184/original/file-20210401-19-lyarqf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students arrive for school in Ottawa on Feb. 1, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span>
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<h2>More screen time?</h2>
<p>Some might argue that getting students comfortable with online technologies <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/54695/ontario-brings-learning-into-the-digital-age">prepares them for future study and the workforce</a>. In my research on youth literacy and online engagement, however, I explore how student proficiency in navigating technology should not be mistaken for understanding complex information. </p>
<p>My work is part of a wider body of emerging research that examines how students make sense of the online environment — and how being online affects their literacy skills, including their capacities to form critical questions and navigate misinformation and disinformation. </p>
<p>I have also determined that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1803834">literacy learning can be strengthened</a> when students and teachers explore the emotional implications of contentious issues in a classroom community. In other words, leaving students alone in front of screens for even more of their already <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/">online-immersed</a> day does not improve their critical thinking or engagement. </p>
<p>For adolescents, learning online doesn’t replace in-person interactions with teachers, other students and community members. These interactions, far from superficial or inconsequential, are at the heart of how students learn well. In the pandemic, many teachers have voiced concerns about how an online environment <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-prevent-teacher-burnout-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-139353">hampers their ability to tailor learning and to support their students with the full range of strategies</a> that are available in the classroom. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A teenager learning online" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393186/original/file-20210401-23-8gm4c3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">For adolescents, learning online doesn’t replace in-person interactions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Yet another worrying aspect is the risk to student privacy. There is ongoing concern about how tech companies may be gaining <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/21/21146998/google-new-mexico-children-privacy-school-chromebook-lawsuit">unprecedented insight into children’s lives</a> and how data may be used. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/childrens-privacy-is-at-risk-with-rapid-shifts-to-online-schooling-under-coronavirus-135787">Children's privacy is at risk with rapid shifts to online schooling under coronavirus</a>
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<p>There are also issues of tech monopolies that muddy the line between public education and private enterprise.</p>
<h2>Generating revenue</h2>
<p>Students have opportunities to engage with online learning in Ontario’s current framework. There is <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-doug-fords-e-learning-gamble-high-school-students-will-lose-122826">no need to introduce compulsory online courses</a> or the option of full-time online learning. </p>
<p>With all the issues implied by full-time online learning, why would Ontario consider making this a permanent feature of public education? Before the pandemic, in February 2020, the government <a href="https://theconversation.com/mandatory-e-learning-is-a-problem-in-ontario-high-schools-133041">was striving to introduce mandatory online learning in secondary school</a>. </p>
<p>In a confidential Ontario government document <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/01/13/secret-document-shows-ford-government-changed-its-mind-before-making-online-course-mandatory-for-high-schoolers.html">written sometime between March and August 2019</a> and obtained by the <em>Toronto Star</em>, the current Ford government detailed a plan to dovetail cuts to school board funding with the opportunity to “to develop (a) business model to make available and market Ontario’s online learning system to out-of-province and international students.” It is telling that the document did not foreground the benefits of full-time online learning for students.</p>
<p>The reasons for this shift can be attributed to the ongoing drive to privatize public education through the twin aims of reducing costs and generating new revenue. The 2019 document also mentioned examining “feasible options for selling licensing rights to courses/content to other jurisdictions.” </p>
<h2>Curriculum sales</h2>
<p>The current discussions should be seen in the context of Ontario’s drive to <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-high-schools-are-underfunded-and-turning-to-international-tuition-to-help-127753">create revenue streams</a> through international student tuition and sales of curriculum to international schools. </p>
<p>Ontario’s March 22 proposal for online schooling describes a plan to develop curriculum and offer an education “<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20527907/initiatives-committee-_-expanding-student-access-to-online-and-remote-learning.pdf">with little teacher support</a>.” </p>
<p>This “<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20527907/initiatives-committee-_-expanding-student-access-to-online-and-remote-learning.pdf">business plan</a>” follows Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announcing the appointment of a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/sports/2020/11/17/former-cfl-commissioner-jeffrey-orridge-named-new-chief-executive-officer-of-tvo.html">former CFL commisioner</a> to the role of TVO’s CEO. TVO’s website has been recently retooled to include an emphasis on “digital learning.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students in a band class." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393179/original/file-20210401-13-16w34so.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Moving to fully online learning could risk limiting opportunities for extra-curricular learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Potential future harms</h2>
<p>For children, fully online learning creates the conditions for further educational inequality. It is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-020-01706-1">particular risk</a> for children with special education needs. </p>
<p>It can also produce unintended consequences: a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105225">recent study</a> based in Ecuador showed female students working online were more likely to spend time doing housework than their male counterparts. It is not unimaginable that some families could select online schooling for their children so they could help with household work, care for family members and potentially supplement family income by entering the labour market earlier. The move also risks limiting opportunities for extra-curricular socialization and learning, including experiences with the arts and sports. </p>
<p>Once <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/31168">poorly researched educational policy</a> comes into practice, it is difficult to undo irrespective of data that details its harms. Such has been the case with the introduction of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10833-020-09380-5">standardized testing</a> in Ontario, which marginalizes newcomers and students with exceptionalities, and encourages a narrow curriculum. </p>
<p>Over time, a policy of “choice” for full-time online schooling weakens public education by diluting in-person opportunities for students and eroding funding. An impoverished public system drives families into private schools, which further erodes the public good. Defunding and marketization will leave public education in a race to the bottom.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lana Parker receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>A policy of “choice” for full-time online schooling would weaken public education, erode funding for in-classroom supports and drive those who can afford it to private education.Lana Parker, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552012021-03-11T18:02:40Z2021-03-11T18:02:40Z‘A lot of us can relate to struggling to keep on top of everything.’ This is what mature-age students need from online higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388936/original/file-20210310-21-beijsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5860%2C3886&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>“I completed high school 20 years ago and wanted a ‘little break’ before furthering my study. That ‘little break’ was extended as my family grew. Life happened, and I never quite found the right time to keep my promise to myself to go to uni – until now!”</em></p>
<p><em>“This is my first teaching period in uni. I’m 36 years old. I live with my wife and two very active kids. When I’m not being a chef, cleaner and taxi driver (you know the list), I’m working as a learning support officer at our local school. I haven’t written an academic essay in over 15 years!”</em></p>
<p>These are <a href="https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/5504">common introductions</a> of my mature-age students. They often share their <a href="https://www.herdsa.org.au/system/files/HERDSARHE2016v03p05_0.pdf">family backgrounds</a>, nervousness, excitement and responsibilities they have to juggle as they begin their uni journey. In sharing, they “feel a sense of solidarity seeing others post about their concerns”, as one student put it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=116&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=116&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=116&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386082/original/file-20210224-21-b058jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/publications/foundations-good-practice-student-experience-online-learning-australian">Students in general say</a> a critical issue in the shift to online higher education has been a lack of adequate support, interaction and engagement with academic staff and peers. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/publication/data-snapshot/">More than 430,000 students</a> are aged 25 years and older. That’s 39.1% of the total domestic higher education enrolment, and mature-age students account for <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/200917-HE-Facts-and-Figures-2020.pdf">22% of first-year undergraduates</a>. </p>
<p>Mature-age, online students are <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/completion-rates-higher-education-students-cohort-analysis-2005-2019">identified as the most vulnerable</a> to not completing their degree. That happens to about <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/completion-rates-higher-education-students-cohort-analysis-2005-2019">43% of them</a> compared to 30% of those aged 20 to 24 and 21% for students who enrol straight out of school.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2019-student-data">inconsistent completion outcomes</a> for mature-age students compared to younger and on-campus students, a different approach is needed. This means universities must take account of the particular needs and circumstances of mature-age students.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“I think a lot of us can relate to the idea of struggling to keep on top of everything.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Who are these students?</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/tertiary-studies-mature-age-students">Mature age</a>” refers to adults who enter their course based on work experience or who have not studied recently. They are more likely to have <a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0038996">responsibility for others</a> and <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20July+2013#p6">be in the paid workforce</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2019-section-1-commencing-students">Growing numbers of students</a> are entering fully online higher education. And students 25 years and older are more <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-010-0001-9">strongly represented in online</a> studies than face-to-face studies.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/3913">2019 study</a> of mature-age learners highlighted the following challenges of studying online:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>uncertainty in abilities leading to a “narrative of disadvantage” and a feeling of stepping into a space where they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1894118">feel they do not belong</a></p></li>
<li><p>first-year, mature-age students consider withdrawing from their studies <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/ses/ses-2019/2019-ses-national-report-tables.xlsx?sfvrsn=8385ec3c_2">at higher rates</a> </p></li>
<li><p>enrolment in university may be rooted in previous negative educational experiences – traditionally, the status quo in higher education has <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/26578">not served students at the margins</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing diversity of higher education students" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388952/original/file-20210311-22-ixz0fz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2019-student-summary-infographic">DESE 2019 Higher Education Statistics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Online teaching compounds existing weaknesses</h2>
<p>In the shift to online, many education providers are <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/student-experience-of-online-learning-in-australian-he-during-covid-19.pdf?v=1606953179">making the same mistakes</a> by continuing with impersonal teaching methods. Students aged 25 and over rate <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/qilt-surveys/student-experience">engagement as the least satisfactory aspect</a> of their online courses. </p>
<p>Active engagement tends to drop off as the teaching period progresses. (The proxy measures of “engagement” are active presence and involved participation.) </p>
<p>Further, education has commonly had an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508480902998421">emphasis on subordination</a>. Cue the “domineering teacher” portrayed by <a href="https://movie-villains.fandom.com/wiki/Terence_Fletcher">antagonist Terence Fletcher</a> in the 2014 film Whiplash. One-way information transmission and an expectation of passive knowledge acquisition have overshadowed relationships between teaching staff and students.</p>
<p>The challenge, then, is to start off in a way that develops a culture of trust, collegiality, openness and contribution. </p>
<iframe title="Percentages of students satisfied with higher education" aria-label="chart" id="datawrapper-chart-4BEG0" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4BEG0/5/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<h2>‘It resonates!’ Recognising experiences and skills</h2>
<p>Mature-age students are starting online higher education with a variety of aptitudes, knowledge, opinions and values. These backgrounds affect how students engage with and construe information. The online experience should encourage <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/58774853.pdf">connection</a>, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/E-Moderating-The-Key-to-Online-Teaching-and-Learning/Salmon/p/book/9780415881746">active participation</a> and <a href="http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-51">critical thinking</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-has-changed-university-teaching-here-are-five-things-to-stick-with-in-the-future-152287">language of education is shifting</a> to incorporate students as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02602938.2012.691462">“stakeholders”, “co-constructors” and “active participants”</a>. Such terms have a powerful effect. </p>
<p>In 1930, psychologist and educational reformer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131728609335764">John Dewey advocated</a> for empowering learners by honouring their lived experiences and capabilities. Reforms of the 1960s and ‘70s began shifting education toward <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2019.1643309">autonomy</a>, allowing for reflection, independence and flexibility. More recent <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/new-media-ancient-culture-the-power-and-potential-of-social-media">geopolitical movements</a>, driven by social media, are, once again, prompting an upturn in education that emphasises discussion, openness and independent thought. </p>
<p>It’s essential that these themes be <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-41956-1">re-created</a> in today’s digital learning environments.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“You made me feel like I am not alone in this. I was anxious and afraid that I won’t be able to keep up.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Emerging from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.3913">2019 study</a> of mature-age students were several key recommendations:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>understand and value the circumstances and experiences of this cohort</p></li>
<li><p>communication and personal contact are vital</p></li>
<li><p>embed timely, proactive support.</p></li>
</ol>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1065122502911787008"}"></div></p>
<p>In such environments, educators must be given the time to get to know their students’ situations and experiences. They can then reach out to support them. In essence, Dewey argued for educators to meet learners where they are, wherever that may be.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“I have felt I was always able to contact you and receive helpful advice. It means a lot – especially for newcomers like me!”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>These suggestions are in line with the findings and recommendations of the recent <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/macklin-review.aspx">Macklin Review</a> of post-secondary education and training in Victoria. Times of growth and uncertainty call for greater adaptability, empathy and innovation. This will feed into student retention, progression and ultimately an undergraduate qualification.</p>
<p>To government and institutions: online education, and of mature-age students in particular, must be approached differently. Education can only act as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-one-escaped-covids-impacts-but-big-fall-in-tertiary-enrolments-was-80-women-why-149994">great social equaliser</a> if the growing cohort of mature-age students are engaged and supported to reach their academic goals.</p>
<p>To current and emerging mature-age learners: well done to you! You are seen and being heard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ameena L. Payne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s mature-age students often must juggle work, children and study, are studying off campus and have a higher risk of dropping out. Higher education can do better for these 430,000 students.Ameena L. Payne, eLearning Advisor, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552742021-03-04T13:13:53Z2021-03-04T13:13:53ZMotivation is a key factor in whether students cheat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387579/original/file-20210303-12-11f9ary.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C5120%2C3426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Putting less emphasis on grades is essential. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/student-working-on-laptop-in-library-royalty-free-image/143071328?adppopup=true">Sam Edwards/OJO Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic caused many U.S. colleges to shift to remote learning in the spring of 2020, student cheating has been a concern for <a href="https://www.wiley.com/network/instructors-students/covid-19-online-teaching-resources-1/is-student-cheating-on-the-rise-how-you-can-discourage-it-in-your-classroom">instructors</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09612-3">students</a> alike.</p>
<p>To detect student cheating, considerable resources have been devoted to using technology to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/12/test-monitoring-student-revolt/">monitor students online</a>. This online surveillance has <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/students-are-pushing-back-against-proctoring-surveillance-apps">increased students’ anxiety and distress</a>. For instance, some students have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/12/test-monitoring-student-revolt/">indicated</a> the monitoring technology required them to stay at their desks or risk being labeled as cheaters.</p>
<p>Although relying on electronic eyes may partially curb cheating, there’s another factor in the reasons students cheat that often gets overlooked – student motivation.</p>
<p>As a team of researchers in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g5Av10MAAAAJ&hl=en">educational psychology</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LzYJGa8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">higher education</a>, we became interested in how students’ motivation to learn, or what drives them to want to succeed in class, affects how much they cheated in their schoolwork.</p>
<p>To shine light on why students cheat, we conducted an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09557-7">analysis of 79 research studies</a> and published our findings in the journal Educational Psychology Review. We determined that a variety of motivational factors, ranging from a desire for good grades to a student’s academic confidence, come into play when explaining why students cheat. With these factors in mind, we see a number of things that both students and instructors can do to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2017.1308172">harness the power of motivation</a> as a way to combat cheating, whether in virtual or in-person classrooms. Here are five takeaways:</p>
<h2>1. Avoid emphasizing grades</h2>
<p>Although obtaining straight A’s is quite appealing, the more students are focused solely on earning high grades, the more likely they are to cheat. When the grade itself becomes the goal, cheating can serve as a way to achieve this goal.</p>
<p>Students’ desire to learn can diminish when instructors overly emphasize high test scores, beating the curve, and student rankings. Graded assessments have a role to play, but so does acquisition of skills and actually learning the content, not only doing what it takes to get good grades.</p>
<h2>2. Focus on expertise and mastery</h2>
<p>Striving to increase one’s knowledge and improve skills in a course was associated with less cheating. This suggests that the more students are motivated to gain expertise, the less likely they are to cheat. Instructors can teach with a focus on mastery, such as providing additional opportunities for students to redo assignments or exams. This reinforces the goal of personal growth and improvement.</p>
<h2>3. Combat boredom with relevance</h2>
<p>Compared with students motivated by either gaining rewards or expertise, there might be a group of students who are simply not motivated at all, or experiencing what researchers call amotivation. Nothing in their environment or within themselves motivates them to learn. For these students, cheating is quite common and seen as a viable pathway to complete coursework successfully rather than putting forth their own effort. However, when students find relevance in what they’re learning, they are less likely to cheat. </p>
<p>When students see connections between their coursework and other courses, fields of study or their future careers, it can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019506">stimulate them</a> to see how valuable the subject might be. Instructors can be intentional in providing rationales for why learning a particular topic might be useful and connecting students’ interest to the course content.</p>
<h2>4. Encourage ownership of learning</h2>
<p>When students struggle, they sometimes blame circumstances beyond their control, such as believing their instructor to have unrealistic standards. Our findings show that when students believe they are responsible for their own learning, they are less likely to cheat.</p>
<p>Encouraging students to take ownership over their learning and put in the required effort can decrease academic dishonesty. Also, providing meaningful choices can help students feel they are in charge of their own learning journey, rather than being told what to do.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Schoolgirl sitting at desk feels happy after receiving great news" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387575/original/file-20210303-19-1hm3b78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Building confidence in students is a good approach toward reducing academic dishonesty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-schoolgirl-sitting-at-desk-feels-happy-royalty-free-image/1133045054?adppopup=true">fizkes/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Build confidence</h2>
<p>Our study found that when students believed they could succeed in their coursework, cheating decreased. When students do not believe they will be successful, a teaching approach called scaffolding is key. Essentially, the scaffolding approach involves assigning tasks that match the students’ ability level and gradually increase in difficulty. This progression slowly builds students’ confidence to take on new challenges. And when students feel confident to learn, they are willing to put in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.005">more effort</a> in school.</p>
<h2>An inexpensive solution</h2>
<p>With these tips in mind, we expect cheating might pose less of a threat during the pandemic and beyond. Focusing on student motivation is a much less controversial and inexpensive solution to curtail any tendencies students may have to cheat their way through school.</p>
<p>Are these motivational strategies the cure-all to cheating? Not necessarily. But they are worth considering – along with other strategies – to fight against academic dishonesty.</p>
<p>[<em>Research into coronavirus and other news from science</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-corona-research">Subscribe to The Conversation’s new science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In order to keep students honest, research suggests that educators should focus on what’s driving them to learn in the first place.Carlton J. Fong, Assistant Professor of Education, Texas State UniversityMegan Krou, Research Analyst, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1549172021-02-17T13:19:52Z2021-02-17T13:19:52Z5 ways for teachers to build a good rapport with their students online<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384537/original/file-20210216-21-f2ve7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C4992%2C3233&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fifth grade teacher conducts her class via distance learning in a classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fifth-grade-teacher-angel-mikaele-conducts-class-via-news-photo/1270109647?adppopup=true">Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Of all the things needed for academic success, <a href="https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v13i1.1057">one of the most essential</a> is for students to have a <a href="https://nobaproject.com/blog/2015-04-23-the-importance-of-establishing-rapport-with-your-students">good rapport</a> with their instructors.</p>
<p>This is particularly true in the digital classroom, where research has shown that students who have a good rapport with their teachers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2016.1155994">more likely to stick with a class and get good grades</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED581001">community college instructor who has studied</a> teachers’ perspectives on what it takes to establish a good rapport with students, I have observed five actions that I believe all educators should take to build better relationships in their online classes.</p>
<h2>1. Work in real time</h2>
<p>When students and teachers work together in real time through videoconferencing, it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2008.07.005">easier to maintain engagement</a>. Teachers can watch for sleepy or distracted students, and see whether students look confused or enthused.</p>
<p>Using livestreams and Zoom are not without their problems, though. Some students and teachers may not feel comfortable having others see their home environments. These individuals may need to be given the occasional pass when things are especially noisy or messy at home.</p>
<p>Others may not have the bandwidth or the hardware needed to connect in real time. However, schools and internet providers are <a href="https://theconversation.com/initiatives-to-close-the-digital-divide-must-last-beyond-the-covid-19-pandemic-to-work-146663">working to fill in gaps</a> between the digital haves and have-nots. In the meantime, teachers can post video recordings of lessons for any students who miss class because of internet connection problems.</p>
<h2>2. Foster collaboration</h2>
<p>Students benefit not only when they build rapport with teachers – they also benefit when they <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232904107_Instructor-Student_and_Student-Student_Rapport_in_the_Classroom">build rapport with one another</a>.</p>
<p>When students are regularly given the opportunity to solve problems and build understanding as part of a team, the classroom becomes a <a href="https://blog.definedlearning.com/blog/collaborative-problem-solving">more respectful and productive place</a>. It can also foster a more welcoming environment, and this can be especially meaningful for introverted students. Shy individuals may find a classroom intimidating, and having a camera in one’s face does little to reduce self-consciousness. When names are connected to faces, and faces are connected to real, imperfect, striving students, a <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ854898.pdf">feeling of community is built</a>. Learners also have the opportunity to see their teacher assisting others, which can help educators show their sincere desire to assist and answer questions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman smiles while looking at her laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384546/original/file-20210216-23-1ggytjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Associate Professor Carol Dysinger of the Tisch School of the Arts conducts her weekly remote learning class.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/associate-professor-carol-dysinger-right-of-new-york-news-photo/1218813089?adppopup=true">Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Share something personal</h2>
<p>When people talk about themselves, they make themselves more approachable. <a href="https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/self-disclosure.htm">Sharing personal stories</a> helps others better understand a person. Research shows that when uncertainty about a person is reduced, people <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/theory/ur.html">become more comfortable</a> with the person and perhaps even like them.</p>
<p>Communication professor <a href="https://www.comm.ucsb.edu/people/joe-walther">Joseph Walther</a> has found that meaningful relationships can develop online if all those involved are <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/183433">willing to reveal something about themselves</a>.</p>
<p>This does not mean that an entire class period should be taken up with self-indulgent musings. Small injections of humanity will suffice. Perhaps the instructor gives an occasional update on something from their personal life, be it progress on their sourdough starter or their foray into beekeeping. Giving a glimpse of teachers’ home lives can also be appreciated, whether it’s through an introduction to a child or a quick glimpse of the family cat.</p>
<p>Sharing shouldn’t be a one-way street. Students should also be given an outlet for self-expression. This could mean writing a short biography and sharing it on a class discussion board or perhaps making a TikTok video related to concepts in the course.</p>
<h2>4. Remember the little details</h2>
<p>By getting to know each student and checking in regularly, a teacher can <a href="https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/providing-agency-for-our-most-challenging-students-part-2-collaborative-problem-solving-around-challenging-behaviors-in-middle-school#:%7E:text=The%20beauty%20of%20collaborative%20problem,ownership%20and%20transfer%20critical%20skills.">identify challenges and problems early</a>, thereby addressing them before they get out of hand.</p>
<p>Further, when teachers show sincere interest in their students as individuals, those students feel <a href="https://www.teacher.org/blog/creating-environment-respect-rapport/">safer and more supported</a>. Even small gestures can mean a great deal: attaching a congratulatory note to a good assignment grade; sharing a funny video with someone having a rough day; asking a student about their favorite sports team; or posting an interesting article related to a pupil’s hobby.</p>
<p>For some college students, just having a professor who <a href="https://www.socialpsychology.org/rapport.htm">knows their names</a> can be meaningful. When students feel an instructor truly cares about them and their success, those students are <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/rapport-building-creating-positive-emotional-contexts-for-enhancing-teaching-and-learning">more likely to engage</a> with the course material and the teacher.</p>
<p>This is especially important when students are experiencing increased levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473764/#:%7E:text=Of%20the%20195%20students%2C%20138,and%20depressive%20thoughts%20among%20students">anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Keep classes orderly</h2>
<p>Whether online or face to face, students need structure for success. Based on what I have observed, when students have simple, clear instructions and schedules, their uncertainty is reduced, and thus, excessive anxiety can be avoided. When students are not overwhelmed, they are more likely to connect with others, process information and synthesize it successfully.</p>
<p>Ultimately, online education has <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-online-education-good-or-bad-and-is-this-really-the-right-question-35949">much in common with face-to-face</a> education. Neither is without its challenges and joys, and both benefit from strong student-teacher rapport.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154917/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Aquila does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just because learning is remote in many places doesn’t mean teachers can’t build more meaningful relationships with their students, a researcher who has examined the issue suggests.Meredith Aquila, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Northern Virginia Community CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1538182021-02-04T19:51:02Z2021-02-04T19:51:02ZNo joke: Using humor in class is harder when learning is remote<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381996/original/file-20210202-17-1mtq7a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C6699%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jokes often fall flat when class takes place online.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/online-teaching-distance-learning-royalty-free-image/1278817132?adppopup=true">Nes/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most discussions about the drawbacks of online education focus on the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/zoom-fatigue-what-we-have-learned">negative effects</a> it has on learning. Less obvious – but also quite important – is how remote instruction can affect the teacher’s use of humor.</p>
<p>Scholars have formulated <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/funny-how/550910/">various explanations</a> for why people use humor. As someone <a href="https://www.furman.edu/people/scott-henderson">who has helped prepare</a> and provide professional development for prospective and veteran teachers for more than 30 years, I am often asked whether humor is an effective way to teach. Decades of research has left little doubt: The <a href="https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/ptn/2018/02/humor-college-classroom">answer is yes</a>. Among other benefits, humor can create a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27559255">positive learning environment</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520903367238">increase learning</a> and make students <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1153377.pdf">more motivated to learn</a>.</p>
<h2>No laughing matter</h2>
<p>The pandemic hasn’t eliminated the benefits of humor in the classroom. Instructors, however, have told me during interviews for this article that it’s more difficult to use humor when their students appear on video screens than in actual classrooms. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=luct9esAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Annette Trierweiler</a>, an assistant professor of environmental science, told me that she used less humor in fall of 2020 because her remote lessons were like “performing in front of a dead audience.”</p>
<p>I have noticed the same thing in my own online courses. Comments and stories that usually make students laugh when I am in person somehow fall flat when class is online.</p>
<p>This challenge isn’t new.</p>
<p>Psychology professors <a href="https://www.ohio.edu/cas/loschiav">Frank LoSchavio</a> and <a href="https://www.ohio.edu/cas/shatz">Mark Shatz</a> in 2006 published <a href="https://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue8_2/shatz.html">some of the first research</a> on using humor in online courses. Neither has changed his mind about a key distinction between face-to-face and remote instruction.</p>
<p>“It’s generally easier to pull off humor in a traditional classroom,” LoSchavio told me.</p>
<p>And that brings us to five reasons humor is harder to pull off when learning is remote.</p>
<h2>1. Clues get missed</h2>
<p>Humor is primarily <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4612-5572-7_7">social in nature</a>. In other words, it occurs when people interact. For that reason, successful humor depends on people being able to pick up on contextual clues. This includes gestures, facial expressions and posture. It can also involve things such as the pitch, speed and rhythm of a person’s voice. Remote instruction can make it harder to pick up on or make sense of these types of things.</p>
<p>Religion professor <a href="https://www.smcsc.edu/directory/stephen-hearne/">Stephen Hearne</a>, who’s been teaching online courses for two decades, complains that body language and other ways to telegraph humor often go unnoticed or unseen on computer screens. According to Hearne, that’s one reason there’s “a better chance students will get more of the humor” in traditional classrooms.</p>
<h2>2. Technical problems</h2>
<p>The poor quality of audio and video connections can further distort a teacher’s voice and image, as well as student responses. As Mark Shatz, the psychology professor and author of a <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/632398/comedy-writing-secrets-by-mel-helitzer/">book on secrets to writing comedy</a>, puts it, “the virtual platform removes or minimizes the feedback loop that guides humor selection and delivery.”</p>
<p>To make matters worse, cellphones – with their tiny screens and speakers – are the preferred or only internet connection for some students. The problem is that words get garbled and gestures are miniaturized beyond recognition on cellular devices.</p>
<h2>3. Laughter is less contagious</h2>
<p>Humor is social in another respect. We often rely on the subtle and not so subtle reactions of others to confirm if something is funny. That’s not possible when only a few students can or want to be seen during remote instruction. Moreover, hearing someone else laugh <a href="http://www.psyarticles.com/emotion/contagious-laughter.htm">can trigger us to smile or laugh ourselves</a>. Television sitcoms use laugh tracks for that very reason: They coax viewers into making desired responses.</p>
<p>Those types of desired responses are often lacking in remote instruction, especially if students have their cameras on mute. <a href="https://wagner.nyu.edu/community/faculty/andrew-barnhill">Andrew Barnhill</a>, an assistant professor of public service, found that out this fall. “Students aren’t able to easily feed off of each other’s reactions to comments in the same way that they do in person,” he told me.</p>
<p>On a related matter, audio delays – a near universal phenomenon in remote education – can cause the teacher and students to speak over one another in a jerky start-and-stop rhythm. “The slight delay that you get over Zoom as opposed to in-person makes a difference,” Barnhill says.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>4. When the camera is on, the laughs are off</h2>
<p>Humor research provides something else to consider. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/HUMOR.2008.007">one study</a>, participants were overtly or covertly videotaped watching excerpts from popular television comedies. When they were aware of the camera’s presence, they laughed less. In short, the camera’s presence was a big killjoy.</p>
<p>This might help explain an experience that a Furman University religion professor <a href="https://www.furman.edu/people/bryan-bibb/">Bryan Bibb</a> – a colleague of mine – recently had. Prior to discussing certain risque double entendres in the Old Testament, Bibb usually plays sexually suggestive excerpts from early blues songs. Typically “a fun and funny moment,” Bibb said that over Zoom “it just felt sort of gross.”</p>
<p>Some students who are conscious of the camera’s seemingly voyeuristic leer – and self-conscious about how it makes them feel – turn off their audio and video feeds. This leaves only their names as unresponsive avatars on the teacher’s video screen. </p>
<p>Talk about a tough crowd.</p>
<h2>5. Too many distractions</h2>
<p>Distractions – the kryptonite of humor – are the rule, not the exception, in remote classes. People wander in the background and babies cry in the foreground.</p>
<p>Fionnuala Darby Hudgens, a community college English instructor, says that “interruptions occur during almost every online session.” For her and many others, the most common scene-stealers are kids and pets.</p>
<p>Comedian W.C. Fields once observed the same thing, advising people in entertainment to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001211/bio">never work with animals or children</a> because they steal attention.</p>
<h2>The last laugh?</h2>
<p>Tough times and tough crowds aside, it’s too early to give up on humor in remote instruction. The challenge for teachers lies not only in adapting to new technology, but also in understanding what makes something funny in the first place.</p>
<p>Humor can never be reduced to a one-size-fits-all model. More art than science, humor must respond to an ever-changing set of circumstances and personalities, which is the key to its survival. The joke will be on us as teachers if we ever forget that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153818/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Henderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Humor is a key ingredient to successful learning. Can educators keep the laughter going when learning takes place online?Scott Henderson, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Education, Furman UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1503462021-01-25T21:34:32Z2021-01-25T21:34:32ZUniversities have thrived despite past disruptions and could grow even stronger after COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378330/original/file-20210112-15-1rr1aax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C57%2C5365%2C2400&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This past century, universities have proven to be nimble and entrepreneurial even while adroitly portraying themselves as guardians of tradition.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past century, universities have risen to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Universities-in-the-Knowledge-Economy-Higher-education-organisation-and/Temple/p/book/9781138020269">occupy a central place in the knowledge economy</a>, from fostering innovation to attracting promising international students and researchers, and being an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.016">anchor for regional</a> and national <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250151995_Editorial_Education_in_the_Knowledge_Economy">economic development</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-boost-economic-growth-65017">How universities boost economic growth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Universities are <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED345653">integral to public policy</a>. Never before have institutions of higher education been so influential and powerful in the lives of families, communities and in the state. </p>
<p>At the same time, universities have never faced the intense pressure they do at the moment. The short-term pressure is to <a href="https://theconversation.com/6-ways-universities-are-being-put-to-the-test-by-coronavirus-142222">successfully pivot, in a matter of mere weeks and months, to delivering education online</a> and continue to conduct research in a primarily virtual manner. Yet that pressure extends considerably beyond the immediate <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/can-canadas-universities-survive-covid">impacts of COVID-19</a>. </p>
<p>They’re also facing pressure from students eager for good jobs after graduation, pressure from competitors located online or in other countries and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-to-tie-funding-of-universities-and-colleges-to-labour-market/">pressure from governments that demand tangible outcomes from public funds</a>.</p>
<h2>From insulated to post-war boom</h2>
<p>Before the 1940s, universities were <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-speech-on-campus-means-universities-must-protect-the-dignity-of-all-students-124526">small, and admitted only the elite who were educated for a limited number of professions</a>. Courses and programs changed little from year to year. Universities were largely insulated from each other and from activities and events elsewhere.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C384%2C2909%2C1620&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A campus after a fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C384%2C2909%2C1620&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Passersby at University College at the University of Toronto after a fire in February 1890.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO) 1999 (National Archives of Canada/Frank W. Micklethwaite ) RD-000515</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the Second World War, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268512684_An_Introduction_to_Higher_Education_in_Canada">the role of the university shifted in two fundamental ways</a>. First, universities were charged with educating the rapidly growing middle class. New institutions, degrees, programs, disciplines and specializations proliferated.</p>
<p>Second, universities were charged by the state with supporting applied research, especially in science, technology, engineering, medicine and business. Universities increasingly sought and obtained funding from <a href="https://academicmatters.ca/the-role-of-governments-in-corporatizing-canadian-universities">government and private sources</a> for research, knowledge transfer, commercialization and related activities. </p>
<p>Corporations were eager for new knowledge that might be commercialized, while governments were keen to ensure that universities made contributions beyond conferring degrees.</p>
<p>In this new environment, students had more choice than ever in regard to institutions, programs and delivery modes, but a less clear path to the successful career their parents expected. </p>
<p>University administrations reacted by creating <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156378/rise-business-schools-corporate-university-crisis-higher-education">elite undergraduate programs such as in business and other professions</a> that charge high tuition (in part because they are largely taught by full-time members of the collegiate) and guarantee entry-level employment.</p>
<p>Beginning in the 1950s, <a href="https://academicmatters.ca/from-deference-to-defiance-the-evolution-of-ontario-faculty-associations/">university staff, including professors, unionized and became influential</a> in increasing compensation for full-time workers. Faculty unions pressed for smaller teaching loads (less hours in the classroom) to free up more time for research-related activities. </p>
<h2>Rise of contract staff, competition</h2>
<p>As professors became more expensive — and university administrators searched for lower-cost options such as contractually limited employees — relatively fewer were hired. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-striking-education-workers-and-climate-activists-have-in-common-125533">What striking education workers and climate activists have in common</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>The rise of <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/12/study-explores-hiring-and-managing-practices-online-adjunct-faculty-members">online degrees provided further opportunities to hire contract employees</a> to teach courses.</p>
<p>Competition between universities increased for limited public and private funds, prestige and access to the best students and researchers. As the English language secured its dominance as the lingua franca of science, business and other fields of study, that competition became international. <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2020-reaching-critical-mass">Global ranking schemes</a> emerged comparing the performance of universities, programs and scholars.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ignore-university-rankings-but-make-higher-education-an-election-issue-118434">Ignore university rankings, but make higher education an election issue</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A university campus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Thomas Klassen)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Competitors emerged outside of traditional academia when online delivery of content became low cost with the required technology available to the masses. In the past decade Udacity, Coursera, edX and other <a href="https://medium.com/@MyLeanMBA/breaking-down-the-top-3-mooc-platforms-coursera-udacity-edx-13e5ed481337">e-learning organizations</a>, some for-profit and some not-for-profit, sought to carve niches in the expanding online learning market. </p>
<p>Universities responded to the encroachment by launching their own online degrees and programs that carried far more prestige, came with more marketing power and a larger base of supportive alumni than could be mustered by the new competitors. Universities charge the same tuition fees for on-campus in-classroom degrees and those earned online at the same institution, thus blurring the differences between the two modes of delivery.</p>
<h2>International branch campuses</h2>
<p>Universities have also learned the value of <a href="https://wenr.wes.org/2019/05/the-complex-environment-of-international-branch-campuses">international branch campuses</a> as a means to market and protect their brands. American and British institutions have taken the lead in <a href="https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/">creating offshore campuses</a>, especially in the emerging economies of Asia. </p>
<p>Several Canadian universities have <a href="https://schulich.yorku.ca/programs/mba-india">branch campuses</a> <a href="https://www.ivey.com.hk">in Asia</a> and <a href="https://www.ucalgary.edu.qa/">the Middle East</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">University of Calgary in Qatar.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furthermore, all universities now have a variety of joint/dual programs or at least a variety of partnership/exchange agreements that allow them to project their influence around the world.</p>
<p>The financial stakes implied in these disrupted global educational markets have not escaped the purview of banks. A report by RBC, <em>The Future of Post-Secondary Education: On Campus, Online and On Demand</em>, notes: “New forms of engagement with international students … <a href="https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/the-future-of-post-secondary-education-on-campus-online-and-on-demand/">may include more in-country presence of Canadian institutions</a>.”</p>
<h2>Entrepreneurial & guardians of tradition?</h2>
<p>The institutions have demonstrated to governments that post-secondary education and research support public policy, especially in a global economy. Universities have also successfully facilitated social mobility, a concern that resonates particularly with middle-class voters.</p>
<p>Universities in the United States have been the most successful in adapting to, and prospering in, the new competitive conditions. In part they have done so by creating vast financial resources to support their operations and protect themselves from opponents. For example, Harvard University’s $40-billion <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/4/17/harvard-coronavirus-cfo-hollister-interview/">endowment fund</a> allows it to recruit the best students and staff, build state-of-the-art facilities, quickly react to new research priorities and otherwise out-muscle competitors.</p>
<p>It is telling that <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-did-chinas-first-daughter-find-in-america">Xi Mingzhe, the daughter of Chinese leader Xi Jinping</a>, completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard. Despite China’s growing global economic superpower role and the political instability in the United States, for the foreseeable future it’s inconceivable that the children or grandchildren of American leaders will complete post-secondary studies in China.</p>
<p>With a history stretching back a millennium, universities have proven to be nimble and entrepreneurial even while adroitly portraying themselves as guardians of tradition. Having successfully protected their franchise during nearly a century of disruption, there is little worry that they will perish in the foreseeable future. Indeed, their influence may well expand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities have successfully adapted during nearly a century of disruption. Will international branch campuses be the next development in navigating COVID-19?Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1519762020-12-16T13:15:16Z2020-12-16T13:15:16ZK-12 schools need to take cyberattacks more seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375193/original/file-20201215-13-89kuj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3840%2C2160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cyberattacks against America's K-12 schools are on the rise. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/access-denied-screen-coding-hacker-royalty-free-image/1194322768?adppopup=true">janiecbros via iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teachers in Baltimore County Public Schools knew something was wrong late in the day on Nov. 24 when they began to <a href="https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-attack-on-baltimore/">experience trouble</a> entering grades into the school district’s computer system. Around the same time, the video for a meeting of the district’s school board <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-what-to-know-schools-ransomware-attack-20201130-2j3ws6yffzcrrkfzzf3m43zxma-story.html">abruptly cut off</a>.</p>
<p>Both situations were the result of a <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-what-to-know-schools-ransomware-attack-20201130-2j3ws6yffzcrrkfzzf3m43zxma-story.html">cyberattack that had hit all of the school district’s computer networks</a>, disrupting online classes for 115,000 students.</p>
<p>The episode was by no means isolated.</p>
<p>Rather, it was just one of several in an uptick of ransomware attacks in which cybercriminals have targeted public schools throughout the United States – from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/nyregion/hartford-schools-ransomware.html">Hartford, Connecticut</a>, to <a href="https://www.newson6.com/story/5fd3c3327dc8660ba6cef127/school-districts-see-more-ransomware-attacks-during-pandemic">Huntsville, Alabama</a> – since the 2020-21 school year began.</p>
<p>Federal cybersecurity officials say the attacks – which involve things that range from the theft of sensitive student data to the disruption of online classes – are <a href="https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-345a">expected to continue</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qx3YMi4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher</a> who specializes in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2005.09.009">cybercrime</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137021946">cybersecurity</a>, I know that public schools represent easy and attractive targets for cybercriminals.</p>
<h2>Attacks have doubled</h2>
<p>This vulnerability is in part due to the fact that most schools <a href="https://www.kajeet.net/ransomware-a-growing-threat-in-k-12/">spend very little</a> on cybersecurity, despite the fact that they need to perform a large amount of file sharing on their networks. They also may be likely to comply with cyberextortionists’ demands because taxpayers and parents <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/ransomware-crisis-in-us-schools-more-than-1000-hit-so-far-in-2019/d/d-id/1336634">expect them to restore networks quickly</a>.</p>
<p>Cyberattacks may not be completely avoidable, but there are steps school system leaders can take to reduce the likelihood that the attacks occur or that sensitive student data is stolen and leaked onto the dark web, as was <a href="https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2020/10/private-information-spotted-on-dark-web-in-fallout-of-fairfax-co-schools-cyberattack/">the case in Fairfax County, Virginia</a>, in October. But first, let’s take a look at the scale and scope of the problem and how dramatically ransomware attacks increased between spring and fall of 2020, both in the United States and <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/cisa-and-fbi-warn-of-rise-in-ransomware-attacks-targeting-k-12-schools/">globally</a>.</p>
<p>From March until mid-November, cybercriminals attacked U.S. school districts educating <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-information-is-out-there-hackers-escalate-ransomware-attacks-on-schools-11605279160">over 700,000 students</a>. In the U.S., public K-12 schools represented about <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/cisa-and-fbi-warn-of-rise-in-ransomware-attacks-targeting-k-12-schools/">28%</a> of all reported ransomware incidents from January to July. That figure more than doubled, to 57%, for August and September, when K-12 schools began the fall semester.</p>
<p>In Europe from July through August, the number of weekly cyberattacks against the education sector increased by <a href="https://www.globalsecuritymag.com/Cyber-attacks-on-Global-Education,20200915,102747.html">24%, compared with 9% for all sectors</a>. During that same period, weekly cyberattacks targeting the education sector in Asia increased <a href="https://www.globalsecuritymag.com/Cyber-attacks-on-Global-Education,20200915,102747.html">by 21%, compared with 3.5% against all industries</a>.</p>
<h2>Weak security</h2>
<p>Compared with most organizations and workplaces, public schools are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/us/baltimore-schools-cyberattack.html">less prepared to defend themselves against cyberattacks</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, in <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-what-to-know-schools-ransomware-attack-20201130-2j3ws6yffzcrrkfzzf3m43zxma-story.html">Baltimore County</a>, a state <a href="https://www.ola.state.md.us/Search/Report?keyword=&agencyId=&dateFrom=&dateTo=">government report</a> indicated that the school system’s network lacked adequate security and had failed to properly safeguard sensitive personal information. </p>
<p>Typically, public schools have <a href="https://www.kajeet.net/ransomware-a-growing-threat-in-k-12/">small IT teams</a>. Some have <a href="https://www.fcmat.org/PublicationsReports/SantaBarbaraUSDfinalreport72.pdf">technology leaders with no formal training in technology</a>. </p>
<p>Public schools also lack proper <a href="https://www.fcmat.org/PublicationsReports/SantaBarbaraUSDfinalreport72.pdf">data backup and recovery systems and procedures</a>.</p>
<p>Given the large number of users, school networks have many vulnerable points of entry and face higher risks of malware infection and transmission. Students might also use devices with outdated software, and their home networks might be insecure. If one student’s device is attacked, that may be used as an entry point to attack the entire school network.</p>
<p>For instance, the criminals may send malicious email attachments to other users of the network using the student’s credential. Most K-12 students <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities---threats/dos-and-donts-for-school-cybersecurity-awareness/a/d-id/1338984">lack cybersecurity training</a>, which includes how to spot malicious links or infectious attachments.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two girls look shocked and disappointed while they stare at a computer screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375232/original/file-20201215-21-9wnrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cybercriminals use phishing tactics to access students’ confidential information.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/worried-roommates-having-problems-buying-online-royalty-free-image/657465234?adppopup=true">AntonioGuillem via iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Extortion tactics</h2>
<p>Public schools are under pressure to ensure that students have access to online learning opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pressure to quickly restore networks is especially acute after the school year starts. Cybercriminals are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-10/k-12-schools-warned-of-increasing-cyber-attacks-in-u-s-advisory">taking advantage of this situation</a> </p>
<p>After penetrating a school network, the perpetrators seek to <a href="https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/02/ransomware-against-machine-learning-to-disrupt-industrial-production.html">gain privileged access and identify critical systems</a>. They then gather large numbers of account credentials, such as usernames, passwords and other items used to validate identity for authentication. They may also steal other sensitive data, try to destroy backups and disable security processes.</p>
<p>According to the antivirus company Emsisoft, after ransomware perpetrators compromise a network, they stay in the network for <a href="https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/37193/ransomware-surges-in-education-sector-in-q3-as-attackers-wait-patiently-for-start-of-school-year/">an average of 56 days</a> before they deploy ransomware.</p>
<p>Ransomware attacks against K-12 schools dramatically increased <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/cisa-and-fbi-warn-of-rise-in-ransomware-attacks-targeting-k-12-schools/">when the 2020 school year started</a>. The number of universities, colleges and school districts facing ransomware attacks increased from <a href="https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/37193/ransomware-surges-in-education-sector-in-q3-as-attackers-wait-patiently-for-start-of-school-year/">eight during the second quarter of 2020 to 31 during the third quarter</a>.</p>
<p>Sensitive personal data is also involved in such attacks. In <a href="https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/37193/ransomware-surges-in-education-sector-in-q3-as-attackers-wait-patiently-for-start-of-school-year/">nine of the 31 ransomware incidents victimizing U.S. schools in the third quarter of 2020</a>, the perpetrators had stolen personal data. The five most active ransomware groups targeting K-12 schools – Ryuk, Maze, Nefilim, AKO and Sodinokibi/REvil – <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/cisa-and-fbi-warn-of-rise-in-ransomware-attacks-targeting-k-12-schools/">run leak sites to “dump” personal data</a> if victim schools refuse to pay. </p>
<p>In September, ransomware gang Maze attacked Ohio’s Toledo Public Schools and published <a href="https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/major-data-breach-at-ohio-school/">personal data of faculty, staff and students</a> online. Personal data posted on the dark web included students’ and employees’ <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-information-is-out-there-hackers-escalate-ransomware-attacks-on-schools-11605279160">Social Security numbers and dates of birth</a>. The criminals also disclosed information related to students’ exam grades, disciplinary action and disability status. The identities of an eighth grader whom the school had listed as emotionally disturbed and a ninth grader suspended for sexual activity were revealed. A list of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/my-information-is-out-there-hackers-escalate-ransomware-attacks-on-schools-11605279160">foster children was also published</a>. </p>
<h2>Children’s data are highly valuable</h2>
<p>Among the most serious concerns in ransomware attacks against schools is that leaked children’s data is likely to be sold in the dark web. Even before ransomware attacks started, children were <a href="http://www.cyblog.cylab.cmu.edu/2011/03/child-identity-theft.html">51 times more likely </a> to be targeted for identity theft than adults. </p>
<p>Some identity thieves specifically target children because the children may not find out that they were victimized until <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8364434">decades later after applying for credit</a>.</p>
<p>The unique value of children’s Social Security numbers also stems from the fact that they <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2011/09/ftc-testifies-childrens-identity-theft">lack a credit history</a> and can be combined with any name and birth date.</p>
<h2>What can schools do?</h2>
<p>School leaders should develop clear guidelines and policies to strengthen cybersecurity. Regular updates about <a href="https://www.csoonline.com/article/2117843/what-is-phishing-how-this-cyber-attack-works-and-how-to-prevent-it.html">phishing</a> and other threats, as well as strategies and instructions to mitigate and manage such threats, must be provided to students and staff.</p>
<p>Schools can also use free services to enhance cyberdefense. Of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/opinion/sunday/school-districts-funding-inequality-covid.html">13,000 school districts</a> in the U.S., <a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/schools-arent-doing-enough-to-protect-their-networks-top-cybersecurity-official-warns/2020/12">only 2,000</a> are taking advantage of free membership in the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center. The center offers network vulnerability assessments, cyberthreat alerts and other services, such as <a href="https://www.cisecurity.org/blog/malicious-domain-blocking-and-reporting-mdbr-newest-service-for-u-s-sltts/">Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting</a>, which prevents computer systems from connecting to malicious websites. Only <a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/schools-arent-doing-enough-to-protect-their-networks-top-cybersecurity-official-warns/2020/12">about 120 schools use the blocking service</a>.</p>
<p>Many school districts rely on outdated <a href="https://threatpost.com/healthcare-in-crisis-diagnosing-cybersecurity-shortcomings-in-unprecedented-times/161917/">equipment</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-irs-was-just-hacked-again-and-what-the-feds-can-do-about-it-54524">software</a>, which are easy to hack. It is important to patch operating systems and software when manufacturers release new updates. It also helps to constantly back up important data. By frequently backing up data and keeping it secure, schools can ensure the access to networks without disruption.</p>
<p>Schools may also want to purchase <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-digital-threats-grow-will-cyber-insurance-take-off-104371">cyberinsurance to defend against ransomware and other cyberthreats</a>. Insurance not only helps pay ransom, but it also helps to defend against attacks, because schools need to strengthen their security to get a lower premium. When online education company K12 Inc., which creates online learning curricula for over 1 million students, faced ransomware attacks in November, the company worked with its <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/k12-online-schooling-giant-pays-ryuk-ransomware-to-stop-data-leak/">cyberinsurer to make the ransom payment</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nir Kshetri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>America’s public schools often lack the adequate security to protect their students’ most sensitive data from being linked on the web.Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1489552020-11-06T13:30:44Z2020-11-06T13:30:44ZRemote education is rife with threats to student privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367744/original/file-20201105-23-1s03edl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6484%2C4232&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students are being forced to disclose sensitive information online. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/serious-girl-swamped-with-work-royalty-free-image/1137750050?adppopup=true">urbazon/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-college-exams-coronavirus/">online “proctor”</a> who can survey a student’s home and <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/exam-surveillance-tools-remote-learning">manipulate the mouse</a> on their computer as the student takes an exam. A remote-learning platform that takes <a href="https://securitytoday.com/articles/2020/04/07/google-facing-lawsuit-over-collection-of-facial-scans-personal-data-from-children.aspx">face scans and voiceprints</a> of students. Virtual classrooms where strangers can <a href="https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/zoombombing">pop up out of the blue</a> and see who’s in class.</p>
<p>These three unnerving scenarios are not hypothetical. Rather, they stand as stark, real-life examples of how remote learning during the pandemic – both at the K-12 and college level – has become riddled with threats to students’ privacy.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qx3YMi4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of</a> <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9194429">privacy</a>, I believe all the electronic eyes watching students these days have created privacy concerns that merit more attention.</p>
<p>Which is why, increasingly, you will see aggrieved <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/students-are-pushing-back-against-proctoring-surveillance-apps">students</a>, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/explosion-in-distance-learning-tech-use-sparks-privacy-worries">parents</a> and <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/students-are-pushing-back-against-proctoring-surveillance-apps">digital privacy advocates</a> seeking to hold schools and technology platforms accountable for running afoul of student privacy law.</p>
<h2>Concerns and criticisms</h2>
<p>For instance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has accused that state of <a href="https://www.govtech.com/security/ACLU-Raises-Questions-About-Massachusetts-Data-Privacy.html">lacking sufficient measures to protect the privacy of school and college students</a>.</p>
<p>Students are taking measures to force universities to stop the use of invasive software such as proctoring apps, which some schools and colleges use to make sure students don’t cheat on exams. They have <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/students-are-pushing-back-against-proctoring-surveillance-apps">filed numerous petitions</a> asking administrators and teachers to end the use of these apps. In a letter to the California Supreme Court, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international nonprofit that defends
digital rights, wrote that the use of remote-proctoring technologies is basically the same as <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/exam-surveillance-tools-remote-learning">spying</a>.</p>
<p>A series of security breaches serves to illustrate why students and privacy advocates are fighting against online proctor apps.</p>
<p>For instance, in July 2020, online proctoring service <a href="https://www.proctoru.com/">ProctorU</a> suffered a cyberbreach in which sensitive personal information for <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/proctoru-confirms-data-breach-after-database-leaked-online/">444,000 students</a> – including their names, email address, home addresses, phone numbers and passwords – was leaked. This data then became <a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/news/proctoru-data-breach">available in online hacker forums</a>. Cybercriminals may use such information to launch phishing attacks to <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/online-security-101-how-to-protect-your-privacy-from-hackers-spies-and-the-government/">steal people’s identities and falsely obtain loans using their names</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/washington-state-university-students-boycott-proctoru">public petition</a> filed by students at Washington State University has expressed concerns about ProctorU’s weak security practices. The petition had over 1,900 signatures as of Nov. 5.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a hood uses a laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367770/original/file-20201105-19-10a3wzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of students have had sensitive information leaked online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/blue-code-hacker-royalty-free-image/854761486?adppopup=true">Bill Hinton/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Students compelled to share sensitive data</h2>
<p>Some online proctoring companies have engaged in activities that violate students’ privacy. The online proctoring software Proctorio’s CEO, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/01/ceo-of-exam-monitoring-software-proctorio-apologises-for-posting-students-chat-logs-on-reddit">violated a student’s privacy</a> by posting the student’s chats on the social news forum Reddit.</p>
<p>To use online proctoring apps, students are <a href="http://udreview.com/youre-being-watched-the-dangers-of-proctoru/">required to provide full access to their devices including all personal files</a>. They are also asked to <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/exam-surveillance-tools-remote-learning">turn on their computer’s video camera and microphone</a>. Some national advocacy groups of parents, teachers and community members argue that requiring students to turn on their cameras with rooms in the background during virtual classes or exams for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-college-exams-coronavirus/">a stranger</a> to watch <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-learning-privacy-tech-teachers-parents-schools-student-data-2020-10">would violate their civil rights</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://iapp.org/resources/article/fair-information-practices/">Fair information practices</a>, a set of principles established by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, require that information be collected by fair means. Online proctoring apps use <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/exam-surveillance-tools-remote-learning">methods that can cause anxiety and stress among many students</a> and are thus unfair. </p>
<p>When students are forced to disclose sensitive information against their wishes, it can <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47072-6_15">harm them psychologically</a>. Some students also experience physical symptoms due to stress and anxiety. One student <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-college-exams-coronavirus/">literally vomited</a> due to the stress from a statistics exam. She did so at her desk at home because <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/01/online-proctoring-college-exams-coronavirus/">no bathroom breaks were permitted</a>.</p>
<h2>Poor technology performance</h2>
<p>These privacy-invasive <a href="https://www.proctoru.com/harnessing-the-power-of-artificial-intelligence">proctoring tools rely on artificial intelligence</a>, which affect certain groups more adversely. </p>
<p>For instance, these programs may flag body-focused repetitive behaviors such as <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/exam-surveillance-tools-remote-learning">trichotillomania</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/style/testing-schools-proctorio.html">chronic tic disorder</a> and other health disorders, as cheating.</p>
<p>Artificial intelligence also performs poorly in identifying the faces of students who are <a href="https://theconversation.com/blockchain-voting-is-vulnerable-to-hackers-software-glitches-and-bad-id-photos-among-other-problems-122521">ethnic minorities</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/style/testing-schools-proctorio.html">darker-skinned</a> individuals. In some cases, such students go through extra hassles. They may also need to contact the technical support team to resolve the problem and hence get <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/style/testing-schools-proctorio.html">less than allotted time to complete the exam</a>.</p>
<p>One student who experienced this snafu blamed the situation on “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/style/testing-schools-proctorio.html">racist technology</a>.”</p>
<h2>Lawsuits and regulatory concerns</h2>
<p>Providers of remote learning and technology solutions and schools are facing several lawsuits and regulatory actions.</p>
<p>For example, an Illinois parent has sued Google. The lawsuit alleged that Google’s G Suite for Education apps <a href="https://securitytoday.com/articles/2020/04/07/google-facing-lawsuit-over-collection-of-facial-scans-personal-data-from-children.aspx">illegally collected children’s biometric data, such as facial scans and voiceprints</a>, which are a human voice’s measurable characteristics that identify an individual. Such practices violate the <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3004&ChapterID=57">Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act</a>.</p>
<p>In April, a group of California parents <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/explosion-in-distance-learning-tech-use-sparks-privacy-worries">filed a federal lawsuit against G Suite</a> on similar grounds.</p>
<p>In some cases, officials have taken action to reduce the adverse privacy effects posed by remote learning and technology solutions that had weak security. For instance, New York’s Department of Education <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90486586/zoom-banned-from-new-york-city-schools-due-to-privacy-and-security-flaws">banned video communications app Zoom due to privacy and other concerns</a>. Many instances were reported in which Zoom’s <a href="https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/co/2020/08/09153302/1lSWbS25GdW">weak cybersecurity</a> failed to prevent a form of harassment known as “<a href="https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/zoom-backlash-widens-with-daimler-ericsson-and-bofa-curbs/75376355">Zoombombing</a>,” in which intruders could gain access to virtual classrooms.</p>
<p>In such situations, schools face two major problems. First, video, audio and chat sessions in Zoom recordings have personally identifiable information such as faces, voices and names. These education records are thus subject to <a href="https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2020/10/05/ferpa-fears-how-to-protect-privacy-in-a-remote-learning-environment/FERPA%20Fears?%20How%20to%20Protect%20Privacy%20in%20a%20Remote%20Learning%20Environment">the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act</a>, which is meant to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/ferpa.html">protect the privacy of student education records</a>.</p>
<p>Such information should not be accessed by anyone who is not in the class. When teachers cannot prevent unintended participants from joining a virtual class, there is a <a href="https://fgcu.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044445031-Guidelines-for-Secure-Zoom-Meetings">violation</a> of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.</p>
<h2>What K-12 schools and universities can do</h2>
<p>The increasing scrutiny of and criticism for privacy-invasive software, which resembles <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/08/proctoring-apps-subject-students-unnecessary-surveillance">spyware</a>, may require schools and universities to reconsider their use. One option could be to go for open-note, open-book exams that do not require proctoring.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>In general, artificial intelligence <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/artificial-intelligence/ai-adoption-advances-but-foundational-barriers-remain">is not developed well</a>. For instance, in order to ensure that artificial intelligence algorithms can accurately predict cheating in exams, they may need to be <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/7xyabb/china-ai-dominance-relies-on-young-data-labelers">trained with millions of pictures and videos</a> of student cheating. This has not yet happened in most areas including remote learning. The artificial intelligence industry has been described as being at <a href="https://www.datanami.com/2019/02/22/training-data-why-scale-is-critical-for-your-ai-future/">an infant stage of development</a>. Even simpler algorithms such as facial recognition applications have been mainly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/technology/facial-recognition-race-artificial-intelligence.html">trained to identify white males</a> and, consequently, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/best-algorithms-struggle-recognize-black-faces-equally/">misidentify ethnic minorities</a>. Thus, I don’t believe this technology is currently appropriate for remote proctoring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nir Kshetri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Has technology gone too far to keep students honest during exams? A scholar on privacy and technology weighs in.Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1455142020-09-22T12:22:15Z2020-09-22T12:22:15ZTips for living online – lessons from six months of the COVID-19 pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358883/original/file-20200918-18-p8j5u0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5725%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Life online isn't ideal, but it is manageable.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/afro-caribbean-woman-working-from-home-during-the-royalty-free-image/1253792565">Alistair Berg/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Valentine’s Day was sweet, spring break was fun, then… boom! COVID-19. Stay-at-home orders, workplace shutdowns, school closures and social distancing requirements changed lives almost overnight. Forty-two percent of the U.S. workforce <a href="https://siepr.stanford.edu/research/publications/how-working-home-works-out">now works from home full-time</a>. In the six months since the “new normal” began, Americans have gained a fair amount of experience with working, studying and socializing online.</p>
<p>With schools resuming and cooler weather curtailing outdoor activities, videoconferencing will be as front and center as it was in the spring.</p>
<p>As someone who <a href="https://www.iswd.msstate.edu/directory/dr-pamela-bracey">researches and teaches instructional technology</a>, I can offer recommendations for how to make the best of the situation and make the most of virtual interactions with colleagues, teachers, students, family and friends.</p>
<h2>Create a designated videoconferencing space</h2>
<p>If working from home, select a location with a simple background that does not show angles of your personal space that you would like to keep private. Some videoconference platforms even include free virtual background options to choose from, or allow you to upload your own mock office image files.</p>
<p>If you aren’t able to add home classrooms, desks or workstations, be sure to create a designated learning space at a table for children and their school materials to create structure and a routine. Post schedules near the workspace, and limit distractions. </p>
<p>If lighting in your designated workspace is dark, invest in a ring light or other lamp to guarantee that you can be clearly seen. </p>
<p>Environment <a href="https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/environment/your-personal-environment/how-does-your-personal-environment-impa">affects mood</a>. Since many people now spend the majority of their time within the confines of their homes, it’s worthwhile to declutter, reorganize and clean on a regular basis to make home a space of peace and comfort in the midst of chaotic circumstances. </p>
<h2>Get to know your videoconferencing software</h2>
<p>To lessen the probability of having your meetings compromised by hackers, <a href="https://theconversation.com/videoconferencing-keeps-people-connected-while-the-coronavirus-keeps-them-inside-but-privacy-and-security-are-far-from-perfect-135799">use passwords</a> and log onto videoconferences only via secure, password-protected internet networks. </p>
<p>Use headphones with noise-canceling microphones for optimal sound. This can help provide clear communication. </p>
<p>Create accounts within videoconference platforms before going into meetings to access more available features and set your personal preferences. </p>
<p>If you’re tired of the “Hollywood Squares” effect of Zoom and the other major videoconferencing platforms, take a look at some of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/9/15/21434946/augmented-reality-future-remote-work-spatial-zoom-calls-feel-like-real-life">newer alternatives</a>, like Spatial, and keep an eye on projects in the works that aim to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/zoom-fatigue-and-the-new-ways-to-party">make videoconferencing feel more like real life</a>.</p>
<h2>Keep a schedule and take breaks</h2>
<p>Set alarms five or 10 minutes before scheduled start times to remember when to log into videoconferences. Also keep your schedule written in a planner in case your phone dies or gets misplaced.</p>
<p>People with children participating in virtual learning may feel like they’ve become personal assistants trying to juggle multiple schedules. Showing students how to maintain their own schedules will not only lessen your load but will also teach them valuable planning and accountability skills that will carry them far beyond grade school. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a girl looks over a piece of paper in front of a laptop in a bedroom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358879/original/file-20200918-22-3k7j1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Setting up a dedicated virtual classroom space can help kids develop a sense of routine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakTwoSanFranciscos/a7a6f5fb2df44c73b017e31f851b6346/photo">AP Photo/Jeff Chiu</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consider actually resting during scheduled breaks in videoconferences. Go for walks outside for fresh air, eat healthy snacks and drink water. Refrain from forcing children to work on homework during short breaks, and allow their eyes to rest, too. Excessive screen time can be <a href="https://www.ophth.wisc.edu/blog/2020/03/02/protect-your-eyes-from-too-much-screen-time/">bad for your eyes</a>.</p>
<p>Sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time can cause pain in other parts of the body, so be sure to get up and move around during breaks. Being sedentary is <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-sitting-at-a-desk-all-day-is-bad-during-coronavirus-could-i-lie-down-to-work-instead-145081">generally bad for your health</a>. </p>
<p>Keeping computers at eye level or using moveable webcams can help alleviate neck pain, and also avoid showing what’s in your nose. Maintaining an upright posture can help prevent back and wrist injuries; and using an external mouse for laptop navigation can help reduce strain on fingers and joints.</p>
<h2>Identify available resources</h2>
<p>Explore resources and benefits offered through your place of employment. Perhaps there is a designated budget for home office equipment like printers, desks, chairs, webcams and headsets. Many companies also offer free mental health therapy sessions, childcare provisions and extended family medical leave through the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employee-paid-leave">Families First Coronavirus Response Act</a>. </p>
<p>If you have suffered personal losses due to COVID-19, taking time to grieve is essential; coping alone can weigh heavily on your mental health. Having the support of friends and colleagues can help you navigate these uncharted waters more successfully, but only if they are made aware of your circumstances. </p>
<h2>Life online isn’t easy – be patient with yourself and others</h2>
<p>The effects of living virtually online continue to affect everyone in various ways. Some are struggling with guilt from having to send children back to school while COVID-19 is still spreading rapidly – but work schedules or financial situations leave no other choice. Other families are struggling with the demands of keeping children home to learn virtually because their school districts aren’t offering an in-person option due to safety concerns.</p>
<p>People in supervisory roles should try to remember that life is different for everyone right now. It’s unreasonable to expect the same level of productivity without considering employees’ home-life situations. </p>
<p>While virtual learning is extremely inconvenient for parents who have multiple children, demanding careers or financial restraints, it’s important to recognize that most educators are doing the best they can – especially those who are also parents. Most are working to learn how to use new software applications, navigate learning management systems and adopt unfamiliar online strategies and classroom management techniques, often with no technical assistance. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Whatever your reality is right now, just trust your gut and do the best that you can. Take time to appreciate small pleasantries of life, incorporate daily physical activity, take walks to enjoy nature, reconnect with family through game or movie nights and try new cooking recipes. Be especially mindful of your attitude around children, since adults set the tone and highly influence the outlooks of impressionable young minds. </p>
<p>Living online is not the end of the world, but attitude is everything. Continue to do your best, and know that this too shall pass, hopefully sooner than later.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pamela Bracey is an associate professor of Instructional Technology at Mississippi State University. She also serves as lead consultant with Urbane Enterprises LLC. </span></em></p>From setting passwords to cultivating patience, a mindful approach to virtual working, studying and socializing can make life online manageable.Pamela Scott Bracey, Associate Professor of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development, Mississippi State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1410312020-08-27T20:15:32Z2020-08-27T20:15:32ZControlling children’s passwords is a flagrant breach of their privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352008/original/file-20200810-18-w97iyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C0%2C6125%2C4052&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children now use several online accounts to manage different learning platforms.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Passwords, by definition, are secrets. We use them to identify ourselves to systems and gain authorized access to places that other people are denied access to.</p>
<p>Every online account is an identity, but only if it is reserved for the exclusive use of its owner. </p>
<p>But when it comes to the passwords of children, grown-ups often pull rank, claim ownership and exercise authority without a moment’s hesitation.</p>
<h2>Breached accounts</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, there have been <a href="https://privacyrights.org/data-breaches">almost 10,000 data breaches involving personal information of all kinds</a>, from financial transactions to health data. Data breaches are often enabled by the availability of stolen or leaked passwords that are quickly used to gain access to other sites. Although data breaches are never the victim’s fault, identity theft is a lot easier because <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/02/05/google-reveals-a-big-problem-with-passwords-on-safer-internet-day/">people often choose the same password for use on different sites</a>.</p>
<p>According to a McAfee study conducted in 2013, <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130604005125/en/America%E2%80%99s-Youth-Admit-Surprising-Online-Behavior-Change">up to 74 per cent of parents control their children’s passwords</a>. In other words, parents exercise more than just the right to inspect the child’s assets: they reserve the right to impersonate their child.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young child sits outdoors in front of a laptop wearing headphones, while his mother, sitting next to him, leans towards him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353885/original/file-20200820-24-16edw3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">As schools increasingly offer online learning, parents should examine how they manage their children’s accounts and passwords.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Elements of identity</h2>
<p>By taking control over the key elements of children’s identity at a formative time in their development, adults run the risk of impacting the fragile mechanisms their children need to begin understanding abstract concepts such as the right to privacy.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/online-and-out-there-how-children-view-privacy-differently-from-adults-38535">Online and out there: how children view privacy differently from adults</a>
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<p>Young brains use passwords as a foundational brick in building many of the structures they will need to understand the modern world. The freedom to control their own passwords has a direct and lasting impact on understanding not only the concept of identity, but also critical notions of confidentiality, trust and human rights.</p>
<p>In my work with schools, I often hear from youth and parents how adults maintain custody over their children’s accounts and passwords. </p>
<p>Children have a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3311927.3325327">fragile understanding of the nature of access credentials and how they relate to their own identities</a>. Although such abstract concepts as identity, pseudonymity and self emerge at different times, children have personal agency and their <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1p95">sense of self is affected by the social context in which it is constructed</a>. The more control, the stronger the understanding of identity.</p>
<p>For starters, when a password is shared, it can absolve the account owner from wrongdoing as its shared custody blurs the line between account owner and point-in-time user. If someone sought to get away with nefarious acts, openly sharing a password would be the way to go, as they could more successfully <a href="https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/basics/administration-shared-accounts-1271">cast doubt on their own culpability</a> if it could simply be shown that someone else had access at that same time. </p>
<h2>Online educational platforms</h2>
<p>With the advent of student management systems and educational technology, cloud vendors and other providers have enabled school boards to create vast numbers of individual student accounts and set static passwords controlled by school boards. Canadian statistics are difficult to estimate due to <a href="https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en18/v1_312en18.pdf">a lack of enforceable security standards</a>. However, in the United States, public schools have leaked <a href="https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/us-schools-data-breaches/">24.5 million records in 1,327 data breaches since 2005</a>.</p>
<p>The simple act of keeping student passwords vastly increases the risk of identity abuses in the wake of data breaches, particularly in the absence of informed consent.</p>
<p>Upon closer examination and <a href="https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/ep-09-how-do-school-board-it-departments-maintain-continuity-during-disruptive-events/">interviews with school officials</a>, some of the most notable names in education technology <a href="https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6315899">enforce this restrictive setting by default</a>.
The common-sense approach is of course to set an initial password and allow students to change them upon first access, but with tools such as <a href="https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6024910">Google’s G Suite for Education</a> this practice has changed. Passwords are set — and can be reset — by teachers. </p>
<p>The rigid policies that maintain custody and control over children’s passwords should raise serious privacy concerns for parents. Because such newly standardized practices arbitrarily ensure that strangers maintain control over children’s personal identities, there are very real risks to privacy, safety and reputation.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/childrens-privacy-is-at-risk-with-rapid-shifts-to-online-schooling-under-coronavirus-135787">Children's privacy is at risk with rapid shifts to online schooling under coronavirus</a>
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<h2>Data and reputation</h2>
<p>When account access is shared, so is accountability. When schools set up student accounts, they use tools like Google’s G Suite, Classroom and Microsoft Active Directory that enable them to control dangerously large numbers of identities. In the event of data breaches, it may come as a surprise to administrators to discover that accountability practically always falls onto school boards and districts. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it’s easy to imagine scenarios in which irresponsible administrators, emboldened by the features of systems they scarcely understand and by the comfort of knowing they can be selective about the incidents they choose to disclose, jeopardize not only the invaluable personal data of students, but also the reputation of their employer. </p>
<p>For example, an administrator could use a student’s account to download illicit material or carry out unauthorized activities. Such activity would potentially cause long-term damage to the student’s reputation and reflect poorly on the organization that enabled such behaviour.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-street-proof-our-kids-why-arent-we-data-proofing-them-123415">We street-proof our kids. Why aren't we data-proofing them?</a>
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<h2>Parental control and identity</h2>
<p>But what about the pervasive instances where adults appropriate all of their children’s access credentials? When those overzealous account administrators are the children’s own parents, confusion over what exactly constitutes the right to privacy will continue as long as children are denied exclusive control over their own digital identities. </p>
<p>In fact, depending on the age and duration of such violations of children’s right to privacy, <a href="http://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p225">the development of strong personal identities may be impacted</a>, particularly at a time when so much of modern existence is tied to their digital identities. Such confusion may explain or at least be related to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444805052282">experimental online behaviours of youth and even those of adults</a>.</p>
<p>The need to keep children safe by monitoring their activity must stop short of intrusion. Arguments for such actions are unjustifiable because of an abundance of simple tools — such as <a href="https://geekflare.com/dns-content-filtering-software/">DNS filtering</a> — that now exist to help enforce parental controls and protect the whole family when surfing the internet. </p>
<p>According to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, young people are also more likely to be aware of and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-youth-increasingly-aware-of-online-privacy-1.1093991">use restrictive privacy controls compared to older Canadians</a>. </p>
<p>In my personal experience, discussions on such topics always begin with a fallacy: that the interests of youth differ from those of parents. Children and young adults can easily understand the need for safe online practices and apply them equally effectively without the spectre of surveillance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudiu Popa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children need to learn how to manage their own accounts and passwords as an extension of their identity.Claudiu Popa, Author and Lecturer in Fintech Cybersecurity, Information Risk and Enterprise Privacy Management, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1440312020-08-11T12:09:47Z2020-08-11T12:09:47ZShould students get a discount if they won’t be on campus because of COVID-19?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351827/original/file-20200807-14-aec0j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">COVID-19 has caused colleges to spend more to cope with the pandemic. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/beautiful-young-woman-working-at-home-with-dog-royalty-free-image/1215354586?adppopup=true">elenaleonova/GettyImages</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic caused colleges to start teaching remotely, students <a href="https://www.artsci.com/studentpoll-covid-19-edition-2">balked at the idea of paying full tuition</a> for online learning. It’s not hard to understand why. After all, they were not getting the football and basketball games, student clubs, access to labs and the library and the out-of-class conversations that are all part of the typical campus experience.</p>
<p>Although students who study online will not pay the room, board and activities fees that typically cover nonacademic costs, concern about paying full tuition continues this fall, as many universities opt to <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/heres-a-list-of-colleges-plans-for-reopening-in-the-fall/">continue online instruction</a> in the interest of keeping students, faculty and staff safe from the pandemic.</p>
<p>Is it right to expect to pay less tuition for online learning? Or are colleges justified in charging the full tuition price when classes – at least <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/heres-a-list-of-colleges-plans-for-reopening-in-the-fall/">at many schools</a> – won’t be taking place on campus?</p>
<p>As a longtime college admissions and enrollment leader – and now as a professor of higher education – I have some insights. One of the most important is that <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=31">fewer than one in five</a> families pay the full price for in-person instruction to begin with. They are getting a break through scholarships and need-based grants from the colleges. In other words, most students are already getting a discount.</p>
<h2>Price versus cost</h2>
<p>In addition, it’s important to understand the difference between the price of education and the cost of education. These two things might often be misunderstood because the terms “price” and “cost” are often used interchangeably as though they are the same. But there’s a big difference between the two.</p>
<p>Price is the amount of money charged to a consumer – in this case a student – for a good or service. Cost is the amount of money the provider spends to produce that good or provide that service. Unlike in business, the price colleges charge – that is, tuition – is almost always less than the cost to provide instruction. The difference is covered by taxpayers and grants at public colleges and by endowment earnings, gifts and grants at private colleges.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>In other words, even when their families are paying “full price,” Americans are not paying for the full cost of their education. </p>
<p>However, the cost of instruction during the pandemic has actually <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/covid-19s-forceful-impact-shakes-college-business-officers-confidence">increased</a> due to the need for new technology platforms, training and online instructional support. Faculty are still teaching and are available to students for extra help and consultation. And because some students and staff will be on campus even if teaching is primarily online, colleges have <a href="https://theconversation.com/going-online-due-to-covid-19-this-fall-could-hurt-colleges-future-138926">spent millions of dollars</a> updating and maintaining their campuses for COVID-19 safety. </p>
<p>With the toll of the pandemic bearing down on our nation and its colleges and universities, that may not be something that students and their parents necessarily want to hear. They see that they are being asked to pay “in-person” tuition prices for remote learning and feel like it’s a ripoff.</p>
<p>However, it is important to understand that in expecting colleges to reduce tuition when they are paying more to deliver instruction is to ask colleges to take on an even bigger share of the cost than they already do.</p>
<h2>Financial aid factors</h2>
<p>Even if schools offered “online discounts,” it may not make as big a difference as people think because of the way that financial aid works.</p>
<p>At four-year public and nonprofit private colleges and universities, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=31">85% of undergraduates</a> receive financial aid. These students not only benefit from a list price that is lower than the cost borne by colleges, but they are getting a further discount in price through financial aid.</p>
<p>This leads to an important point.</p>
<p>Financial aid is based on the price charged minus what a family would be expected to pay, based on a federal formula. So, if tuition were lowered, students would get less financial aid and would therefore be expected to pay the same amount of money no matter what the tuition charge.</p>
<p>As a result, even at the colleges offering an online discount, the students who need that discount the most are going to benefit the least. For example, if tuition is US$40,000 and you are expected to pay $10,000, you might get $30,000 in various forms of aid. If tuition is reduced to $36,000, you are still expected to pay $10,000, and you might get $26,000 in aid.</p>
<p>The tab for tuition does not generally cover out-of-class experiences such as student activities and residence hall functions. When going remote, colleges will not be charging residence hall, food and activities fees. That means colleges will lose revenue on those things. They will lay off some staff who work with student groups.</p>
<p>So while charges for room and board and student activities and athletics fees will be eliminated for online-only instruction, tuition pricing will either be untouched or be slightly reduced. But the ability for a college to reduce tuition will depend largely on the school’s financial health.</p>
<h2>Price adjustments</h2>
<p>Even in light of these realities, some schools are still lowering tuition for online learning.</p>
<p>Although they’d rather not, many colleges with small <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-should-we-measure-the-size-of-a-universitys-endowment-54634">endowments</a> and limited state aid will lower tuition. These schools typically are not as well known and risk losing students if they do not charge less. They will take in less money per student but expect to recover at least some of the loss with a larger enrollment.</p>
<p>Some of the wealthiest schools have already reduced tuition at the edges.</p>
<p>Williams College, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts, with its $3 billion endowment and 2,000 students, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/colleges-face-a-no-win-dilemma-to-cut-or-not-to-cut-tuition">cut tuition by 15%</a>. In so doing, its provost <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/colleges-face-a-no-win-dilemma-to-cut-or-not-to-cut-tuition">admitted</a> to being concerned about the pressure this would put on less well-endowed competitors to do the same.</p>
<p>However, Williams’ leaders thought it was the right thing to do for their students.</p>
<p>Princeton, with a <a href="https://planetprinceton.com/2019/10/11/princeton-universitys-endowment-rose-to-26-1-billion-at-end-of-the-fiscal-year/">$26 billion</a> endowment, applied a <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/colleges-face-a-no-win-dilemma-to-cut-or-not-to-cut-tuition">10% discount</a> to its full-freight tuition. When a college has the resources, this is certainly easier to do.</p>
<p>Just below these institutions are schools that are well known but not as wealthy. They will not likely lose students because of tuition pricing but cannot afford to offer online discounts.</p>
<p>Dickinson College, a liberal arts school in Pennsylvania, where I served as vice president from 1999-2009; Smith College, also in Massachusetts; and Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, are examples of institutions not offering online discounts.</p>
<p>Dickinson College president <a href="https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20043/about/4030/dickinson_college_updates_on_fall_2020/5">Margee Ensign sought to reassure</a> students that the online fall semester will “feature the same expert faculty and the same small class sizes,” and will also “maintain rigor” and “close student-faculty relationships.” </p>
<h2>Skepticism and potential benefit</h2>
<p>Predictably, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/28/four-key-things-students-say-they-want-college-fall-opinion">many students are not convinced</a> that online instruction will be of the same quality as in-person. Plus, many students are understandably upset because they did not expect to spend their college days doing remote learning.</p>
<p>But there is a potential long-term benefit.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has forced higher education leaders to control costs by changing priorities and eliminating nonessential spending in ways that they didn’t have to think as much about doing before. As a result, perhaps tuition increases will moderate in the short term, and stay more affordable in the future. After all of the stress and pain caused by the pandemic, this may be one positive change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Massa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An enrollment specialist explains why colleges can or can’t charge less for tuition amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many to hold their classes online.Robert Massa, Adjunct Professor, Rossier School of Education, USC, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1422412020-07-08T12:17:41Z2020-07-08T12:17:41ZSending international students home would sap US influence and hurt the economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346214/original/file-20200707-194409-s4nu5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C2785%2C1944&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some colleges may have to scramble to make plans to keep international students enrolled.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/emotions-run-high-at-the-olin-college-of-engineering-news-photo/1206832712?adppopup=true">Boston Globe/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on July 8 to explain a policy rule issued on July 6. The Trump administration announced on July 14 that the policy rule had been <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/15/trump-administration-drops-directive-international-students-and-online-courses">rescinded</a>.</em></p>
<p>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, made a <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/sevp-modifies-temporary-exemptions-nonimmigrant-students-taking-online-courses-during">decision</a> on July 6 regarding international students in the U.S. that will affect far more than just the roughly <a href="https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data/International-Students/Enrollment">870,000</a> international students themselves.</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-l-di-maria-1086927">what I know</a> about the power and influence of higher education in the U.S., this decision could increase the tuition American students pay, cost thousands of jobs throughout the nation and erode America’s stature in the world.</p>
<p>Under this new rule, international students may stay in the country only if they attend a college or university offering in-person classes this fall. Otherwise, they won’t be able to get visas, enter the country or stay here if they plan to attend one of the many schools that are teaching students entirely online.</p>
<p>In effect, thousands of students from other countries who attend schools that do not plan any in-person instruction this fall may have to immediately transfer to another school or leave the country. Otherwise, they could face deportation.</p>
<p>Against the backdrop of what top U.S. public health officials describe as an <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200701-fauci-says-new-us-cases-of-covid-19-could-double-to-100-000-per-day-1">out-of-control virus</a>, this new immigration rule puts U.S. colleges in a jam. Schools must choose between bringing students together on campus to comply with the immigration restrictions, or adhere to public health precautions related to physical distancing.</p>
<p>It may be hard to do both if the online option is off the table when it comes to international students. Which means U.S. colleges and universities could take a significant financial hit in the form of lost tuition revenue beyond what they were anticipating as a result of COVID-19.</p>
<h2>Colleges must scramble</h2>
<p>As of July 6, more than 1,000 colleges and universities have already released <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Here-s-a-List-of-Colleges-/248626">plans for fall instruction</a>. Of those, 60% plan currently plan to offer in-person classes, 24% plan to offer hybrid and 9% plan to offer courses online. The remaining colleges are still undecided.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Now, some institutions will have to scramble to develop alternatives that can enable international students to remain enrolled without breaking the new rule. Schools must <a href="https://www.voanews.com/student-union/what-known-about-ices-rule-change-foreign-students">report how they plan to proceed by Aug. 1</a>, based on the ICE announcement.</p>
<h2>Far-reaching impact</h2>
<p>The impact of this rule is not just limited to the <a href="https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data/International-Students/Enrollment">hundreds of thousands</a> of international students enrolled at U.S. colleges, who represent <a href="https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data/International-Students/Enrollment">4.39% of the 20 million</a> people who currently attend U.S. colleges and universities. It also affects their institutions, their faculty and the local communities as well.</p>
<p>Consider that colleges and universities, which are the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/money/2019/03/22/this-is-the-largest-employer-in-every-state/39237263/">largest employers in 1 in 5 states</a>, are already reeling from <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/coronavirus-pandemic-brings-staggering-losses-colleges-universities/story?id=70359686">heavy financial losses</a> associated with the pandemic.</p>
<p>While many schools have had to slash budgets due to <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Coronavirus-Has-Emptied/248472">refunds issued to students</a> in the spring of 2020, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/updated-labs-go-quiet-researchers-brace-long-term-coronavirus-disruptions">disruptions to research</a>, <a href="http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/coronavirus-covid-19">canceled athletic events</a> and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/15/size-state-budget-cuts-becomes-clearer">cuts to state funding</a>, others are still waiting to see whether or not they will meet their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/coronavirus-college-enrollment.html">enrollment targets for fall</a>. </p>
<p>Still, more than 200 colleges and universities have already announced <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/as-covid-19-pummels-budgets/248779">layoffs, furloughs or contract nonrenewals</a>.</p>
<p>At a time when the U.S. is trying to overcome <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/11/unemployment-rose-higher-in-three-months-of-covid-19-than-it-did-in-two-years-of-the-great-recession/">record unemployment</a> and manage its biggest <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/world/coronavirus-history.html">public health crisis</a> in a century, international students seem to be caught in the middle of a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/poll-partisan-divide-273706">partisan divide</a> on reopening the country.</p>
<p>The new guidelines could place many colleges and universities in an impossible position: Increase the number of in-person classes and risk that COVID-19 will spread further.</p>
<h2>What they bring to the table</h2>
<p>Given how much international students contribute to the economy, you might assume ICE would find a way to keep them in the U.S.</p>
<p>The students affected by the new rule are the same people who help <a href="https://www.nafsa.org/policy-and-advocacy/policy-resources/nafsa-international-student-economic-value-tool-v2">support about 460,000 American jobs</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272717301676">higher tuition and fees</a> they pay helps keep tuition lower for American students. But their contributions transcend economics.</p>
<p>Their academic talents <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/open-countries-have-strong-science-1.22754">help advance scientific discoveries</a>, which are more critical than ever given the nation’s ongoing battle against COVID-19. The fallout will be severe should these students choose to study in other countries instead. <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/australia-set-ease-visa-hardship-foreign-students">Australia and New Zealand</a>, for example, have recently made their policies more welcoming.</p>
<h2>Giving ground to other nations</h2>
<p>Booting international students would surely reduce America’s influence in the world as well.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://eca.state.gov/about-bureau/history-and-mission-eca">State Department</a>, the alumni of educational and cultural exchange programs include more than 75 Nobel Laureates and nearly 450 current and former heads of state and government. Having established personal ties, international students often return home as unofficial ambassadors for the U.S.</p>
<p>International alumni are more likely to look to the U.S. for ideas and trade agreements and to otherwise exert influence abroad that benefits U.S. interests. </p>
<p>While the share of international students studying in the U.S. has <a href="https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Project-Atlas/Explore-Data/Infographics/2019-Project-Atlas-Infographics">steadily declined</a> – <a href="https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Project-Atlas/Explore-Data/Infographics/2019-Project-Atlas-Infographics">from 28%</a> of the world’s 2.1 million international students in 2001 to 21% of the world’s 5.3 million international students in 2019 – other countries have made significant gains in attracting global talent due to <a href="https://www.nafsa.org/ie-magazine/2020/1/2/it-time-us-international-education-strategy">national strategies</a>.</p>
<p>Most notably, China now hosts nearly <a href="https://p.widencdn.net/rohmio/Project-Atlas-2019-graphics">1 in 10 students who study abroad globally</a>, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-tops-us-and-uk-as-destination-for-anglophone-african-students-78967">more students from Africa</a> than the U.K. and U.S. combined. One reason for China’s rise as a study destination is its leaders’ realization that it is lagging behind the U.S. in terms of soft power with only a <a href="https://thepienews.com/analysis/international-students-in-china-increasingly-diverse/">few world leaders</a> having graduated from Chinese institutions.</p>
<p>In my view, ICE’s new guidance is only the latest step in a steady retreat from global engagement that <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/06/29/h1b-visa-ban-immigration-trump-order-tech-workers-canada/">clears the path for other nations</a> to attract more of the students that might otherwise study in the United States.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David L. Di Maria does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new immigration rule may force some international students to leave the country.David L. Di Maria, Associate Vice Provost for International Education, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1397362020-06-10T14:08:33Z2020-06-10T14:08:33ZThe 7 elements of a good online course<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339942/original/file-20200604-67393-1dej576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C994%2C633&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's likely that most universities will be conducting classes online in the fall. That doesn't mean learning will suffer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With very few exceptions, online teaching and learning will be <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/several-universities-announce-their-fall-plans-with-instruction-primarily-online/">the primary mode of education for the majority of higher education students</a> in many jurisdictions this fall as concerns about COVID-19 extend into the new school year.</p>
<p>As an education researcher who has been studying <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/73824">online education</a> and a professor who has been teaching in both face-to-face and online environments for more than a decade, I am often asked whether online learning at universities and colleges can ever be as effective as face-to-face learning.</p>
<p>To be clear: this isn’t a new question or a new debate. I’ve been asked this question in various forms since the mid-2000s and researchers have been exploring this topic since <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED013540">at least the 1950s</a>.</p>
<p>The answer isn’t as unequivocal as some would like it to be. Individual <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F00346543074003379">cherry-picked studies can support any result</a>. But systematic analyses of the evidence <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ694412">generally show there are no</a> <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/library/Abstract.asp?ContentId=16882">significant differences in students’ academic outcomes</a> between online and face-to-face education.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/textbooks-could-be-free-if-universities-rewarded-professors-for-writing-them-125470">Textbooks could be free if universities rewarded professors for writing them</a>
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<p>Researchers also find that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2014.11777343">some students perform worse</a> online than others — and that some of those differences can be <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.aab3782">explained by socioeconomic inequities</a>. </p>
<h2>Advice for students and parents</h2>
<p>The problems with media comparison studies — that is, those that compare outcomes between one medium, such as face-to-face, to another medium, such as online — are such that many researchers advocate against them. How can students who enrol in online courses in the fall know they are receiving a good educational experience? What are some of the qualities of a good online course?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Good online courses can be more personal and rewarding for students than the traditional learning in large lecture halls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Here’s some advice for students (and their parents) about what to look for as learning remains online.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A good online course is informed by issues of equity and justice. It takes into account social, political and cultural issues — including students’ backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances — to craft a learning experience that is just. This may take many forms. In practice, it may mean a diverse and intersectional reading list. It means audiovisual materials that don’t stereotype, shame or degrade people. It may mean that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/to-combat-soaring-textbook-costs-look-to-an-open-source-approach/article37477566/">open educational resources are prioritized over expensive textbooks</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course is interactive. Courses are much more than placeholders for students to access information. A good online course provides information such as readings or lecture videos, but also involves interactions between professor and students and between students and students. Interactions between professor and students may involve students receiving personalized feedback, support and guidance. Interactions among students may include such things as debating various issues or collaborating with peers to solve a problem. A good online course often becomes a social learning environment and provides opportunities for the development of a vibrant learning community.</p></li>
<li><p>A good online course is engaging and challenging. It invites students to participate, motivates them to contribute and captures their interest and attention. It capitalizes on the joy of learning and challenges students to enhance their skills, abilities and knowledge. A good online course is cognitively challenging.</p></li>
<li><p>A good online course involves practice. Good courses involve students in “doing” — not just watching and reading — “doing again” and in applying what they learned. In a creative writing class, students may write a short story, receive feedback, revise it and then write a different story. In a computer programming class, they may write a block of code, test it and then use it in a larger program that they wrote. In an econometrics class, they might examine relationships between different variables, explain the meaning of their findings and then be asked to apply those methods in novel situations. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course is effective. Such a course identifies the skills, abilities and knowledge that students will gain by the end of it, provides activities developed to acquire them and assesses whether students were successful. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course includes an instructor who is visible and active, and who exhibits care, empathy and trust for students. This individual understands that their students may have a life beyond their course. Not only do many students take other courses, but they may be primary caretakers, have a job or be struggling to make ends meet. Good online courses often include instructors who are approachable and responsive, and who work with students to address problems and concerns as they arise. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course promotes student agency. It gives students autonomy to enable opportunities for relevant and meaningful learning. Such a course redistributes power - to the extent that is possible - in the classroom. Again, this may take many forms in the online classroom. In the culinary arts, it may mean making baking choices relevant to students’ professional aspirations. In an accounting course, students could analyze the financial statements of a company they’re interested in rather than one selected by the instructor. Such flexibility not only accommodates students’ backgrounds and interests, it provides space for students to make the course their own. In some cases it might even mean that you - the student - co-designs the course with your instructor. This is the kind of flexibility higher education systems need.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These qualities aren’t qualities of good online courses. They are qualities of good courses, period. </p>
<p>Physical proximity isn’t a precondition for good education. Comparing one form of education to another distracts us from the fact that all forms of education can — and should — be made better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Veletsianos receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program, SSHRC, and CIHR. He is affiliated with the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association.</span></em></p>Research shows few differences in academic outcomes between online and face-to-face university courses. A professor who’s been teaching online for years offers advice on good online courses.George Veletsianos, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.