Times Higher Education recently hosted its virtual Student Success Forum. This webinar event featured faculty, staff, students and administrators from around the world and their insights on higher education student success. Access free on-demand webinars here until October 21, 2020. Free registration is required.
One webinar, entitled “The Value of a Digital Education: Where Do We Go from Here?”, captures insights from institutional leaders, students, and faculty on how a higher education institution manages and communicates with stakeholders of digital education. View Chris Neary’s webinar notes here or noted below.
Webinar Citation: Basken, P. (2020). The value of a digital education: where do we go from here? [Webinar]. Times Higher Education.
Moderator
- Paul Basken, editor (North America), Times Higher Education
Participants and Insights
- Igor Chirikov, Director of Student Experience, Research University Consortium, University of California at Berkeley
- Students are tolerating remote instruction at this point, but it disproportionately affects low-income students who lack access to technology
- Differentiate online experience vs. emergency remote experience
- Students felt support from instructors during this process in Spring term
- Prompts a permanent change to delivering lectures, more online components alternatively to meeting in large classrooms
- The more certainty an institution can provide about their operations and academic delivery, the better for students – it’s OK to be online for a year and reopen when it’s safe.
- A combination of in-person and online course components is necessary for the future
- Paul LeBlanc, President, Southern New Hampshire University
- Replicate the “coming of age” component of online education – someone cares students are there, feel as part of a community, feel sense of belonging
- The interactions that take place in educational settings are critical are what set successful institutions apart
- Arrange cohorts within new enrollment, want to graduate with friends
- Mental health and wellness services
- Many schools planned for hi-flex, hybrid course delivery preparations; but this creates uncertainty for students and their families
- Enormous pressure this summer to re-open campuses for tuition and room and board – huge cash flow for institutions that was difficult to ignore
- Rethink access and affordability to disrupt the K-shaped recovery (affluent become more affluent while poor become poorer)
- Meghan Marzella, Student, Ithaca College
- Students’ biggest complaint now is the lack of transparency from the school administration on how their college experience changes, especially on an institution’s financial decisions
- Students want clear layout of yearly budget – want to know where their money now goes in the context of remote learning and living environments, especially when they are charged high tuition and fees
- Feeling less of a student and more of a source of income
- Institutions must be more transparent about needing to pay more for online and remote instruction, clearing confusion from students who think the institution pays less when students are not on campus using amenities
- Concerns arise when students in online and remote courses feel like they’re teaching themselves the content. In-person campus environments make students feel validated and their learning experience feels important and real.
- Natalie Milman, Director of the Educational Technology Leadership Program, George Washington University
- Communicating clearly with students and giving students a voice in planning changes
- Instructors must participate in the learning process with students
- Orientation: How to get students feeling, building a community from the start
- Make institutional decisions on course delivery format early and communicate those decisions clearly to faculty, staff, and students – do not hesitate. Students’ earlier locked financial decisions, like confirming an apartment lease, come very early. Institutions must be cognizant of students’ and families’ financial decisions and when they tend to occur.
- When safe again, in-person instruction will thrive but faculty and designers must learn to adopt important, affordable technology integrations
- Use technology intentionally to deepen learning connection, understanding, comprehension, demonstration of learning