Providing and supporting education today requires instructors and practitioners to be highly knowledgeable, flexible, and adaptable, and to have a whole toolbox full of technology and teaching related skills. This is especially true now that they are teaching or supporting teaching in remote, online, or blended environments. These challenges are why I’m so thrilled about […]
So, how did the mass media view online education two decades ago? On February 18, 2001, the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes ran the segment “Online U,” which discussed the emergence of online offerings at the University of Phoenix and Duke University. Also interviewed were critics of these innovations and those challenging higher education to […]
Robbie Melton, #1 Appologist, Associate Vice President SMART Global Technology Innovations Center, Dean, Graduate School, Graduate Professional Studies, Tennessee State University Due to the impact of the pandemic where higher education had to immediately transition into a remote and virtual environment, my prediction is that higher education will pursue SMART A.I. technology innovations from telemedicine […]
The U.S. Department of Education’s IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) provided guidance on how to report distance education activities during the pandemic. Whether on an emergency basis or planned for the safety of faculty and students, colleges and universities have adopted a variety of academic modality options. The Department’s explanations are welcomed help for […]
The following special topic paper originally appeared in the publication Pursuing Regulatory Compliance for Digital Instruction in Response to Covid-19: Policy Playbook, which was published by the Every Learner Everywhere Network and develop and edited by WCET. The Playbook gives background on several regulations, resources to understand them, and recommendations on how to comply. Today, […]
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 significantly impacted higher education, perhaps more than any recent election. Citing her belief that “We must expand our thinking about what education actually is, as well as resist the urge to expect all students to follow the same track,” Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has presided over a […]
These unprecedented times raised regulatory compliance challenges that may have surprised some institution personnel. However, some of these regulatory compliance challenges were not actually unprecedented. The COVID-19 pandemic induced institutions to shift from in-person to remote instruction. As a result, institutions closed campuses and served students who were, in some cases, located in a state […]
In response to the pandemic, accrediting agencies acted creatively in applying their quality assurance processes in an uncertain and changing world. Today’s guest post provides insights about how one accrediting agency (the Higher Learning Commission) responded to this challenge and their view of the future. We requested this article because we openly wondered when accrediting […]
The spring 2020 term saw an unprecedented response to an unprecedented challenge as virtually every U.S. higher education institution offering face-to-face instruction rapidly switched to remote instruction, many in as little as one to two weeks and some in a few days. Institutions struggled to resolve challenges ranging from the technological to the pedagogical to […]
Over the past two weeks, Frontiers has featured its series on academic integrity and cheating syndicates. The first post considered the spectrum of threats facing higher education and our students and the second looked at the practices cheating sites use to entice (and trap?) students. To finish up the series, I’m happy to welcome Shannon […]