A New Look at MOOC Completion Rates

Researchers have been trying to figure out why completion rates for massive open online courses (MOOCs) tend to stay around 10%. A new study showed that putting learners into study groups based on communication preferences isn’t the answer.

The research done at Pennsylvania State University showed that the groupings had no significant impact on students’ performance or completion. Participants in the survey were put into groups based on their preferred methods of communications for the course: asynchronous, which allows students to learn at their own pace with common online communication such as email or discussion boards, or synchronous, a more facilitated form of communication such as videoconferencing.

“These differences were statistically different and were moderated by English language proficiency, gender, level of education, and age,” Adelina Hristova, a Penn State doctoral student and one of the collaborators on the report, said in an article for Penn State News. “Although the groups designed for the study did not significantly influence students’ course performance and completion, our study can serve as baseline data for making grouping decisions in future online courses, including MOOCs.”

The study did note that older learners were more likely to complete the course. It also found that female students preferred to study in groups, while males preferred synchronous communications for the course.

“It has provided me with a fabulous opportunity to study how students of different ages, cultures, genders, and educational backgrounds learn and practice some of the subjects that I teach—namely, design, problem-solving, and creativity,” said Kathryn Jablokow, a Penn State associate professor of mechanical engineering and engineering design. “Those insights influence how I formulate new research studies, and the MOOC also gives me a unique setting in which to test and disseminate new research results.”

Taking Nontraditional Paths to College

The New York Times reported in May that Malia Obama would attend Harvard University, but only after spending a year away seeking experiences outside of the classroom. The gap-year approach is one of three ways identified in a new study as the most popular nontraditional pathways students take instead of going straight to college.

The other options are collecting credentials and badges from online resources and skills program to skip college altogether.

“College costs keep growing and student debt is over one trillion dollars,” Richard Wang, CEO of the coding bootcamp Coding Dojo, said in an article for eCampus News. “These alternative education options can help keep student debt under control while providing individuals with real-world experiences and skills employers are looking for in job candidates.”

The report noted that colleges and universities support nontraditional alternatives as a way to help students perform better once they do arrive on campus. Admissions departments can also focus on those interests developed through a year of personalized learning to attract the best students.

“As a result of these educational developments, I refrain from spending all of my counseling hours talking about grades, classes, and test scores,” said Alex Ellison, founder of the educational consulting firm Dunce Labs. “Instead, I dedicate time with the students with whom I work to explain the values of starting a blog, creating an independent project they can be proud of, and building a unique portfolio of all the cool stuff they have done over the years.”

Colleges Invest Big Bucks in Open Materials

In an effort to lower the cost of course materials for their students, colleges and universities are ramping up initiatives to create their own open educational resources (OER), sometimes with funding and assistance from outside organizations.

The biggest project to date, the OER Degree Initiative launched by Achieving the Dream (ATD), a network of 38 community colleges in 13 states, received a lot of attention when it was announced in June. Many of ATD’s schools had individually dabbled in creating open materials on a small scale. By collaborating, though, ATD was able to secure $9.8 million from a group of major foundations to support development of free digital courseware for entire degree programs.

In Canada, the provincial government of Saskatchewan has set aside $250,000 to help produce nine open textbooks and coursepacks for students at the University of Regina, University of Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan Polytechnic. One of the books in development—on the topic of engineering economics—is intended to supplant a traditionally published book that retailed new for $202.

It will take a year before that book is ready for class use. Saskatchewan and ATD, like others pursuing OER endeavors, are obviously counting on their initial investments to pay off over a long time, with little expenditure needed to keep the resources up to date.

California State University Monterey Bay and Monterey Peninsula College took a slightly different route for their joint degree program in sustainable hospitality management. The two schools partnered with the Monterey County Hospitality Association to gain support from the private sector. Local companies involved in tourism have contributed funds toward course and OER development. Students enrolled in the program obtain their free materials digitally through the campus library.

The Scoop on Students and Course Materials

College students spent an average of $602 on required course materials during the entire 2015-16 academic year. Adding in school supplies and technology items needed for coursework, their total expenditure averaged about $1,302, according to the Student Watch 2015-16 survey report.

Students would still rather study from print materials—easier to use, navigate, and read, according to survey results—but they will turn to digital materials if required by their instructors or if the price is lower than print. Students also like the portability of digital materials.

Rented materials, both print and digital, continue to be a popular option with students.

The two-wave study (fall 2015 and spring 2016) yielded more than 42,000 responses from students at 56 institutions. The study, conducted by NACS’s research arm, OnCampus Research, focused on students’ acquisition and use of course materials.

A free webinar, underwritten by the NACS Foundation, will provide an overview of the Student Watch data. Elizabeth Riddle, director of OnCampus Research, will highlight the year’s key findings at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, July 14.

Advance registration is required in order to receive login instructions.

Use of Alternative Credentials Grows

A new study found that 94% of colleges and universities are offering some form of alternative credentials to their students. It also noted millennial students were more likely to favor educational rewards built around badging and certificates rather than the traditional bachelor’s degree.

The research from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), Pennsylvania State University, and the publisher Pearson reported that one in five institutions offer badges and 64% of respondents said their institution saw the use of alternative credentialing as an important strategy. It also found that 71% of institutions consistently work with the business community to offer their students internships and job placement.

“The degree will always be an important credential, but it won’t always be the gold standard,” Jim Fong, director of the UPCEA Center for Research and Marketing Strategy, said in a release. “As millennials enter the prime years of their careers and move into positions of greater power, we’ll see more alternative credentials for specific industries and possibly across the board. Higher education institutions, especially those in our survey, are showing that they are being progressive with workforce needs.”

The Potential of Microsoft Buying LinkedIn

There’s been plenty of speculation on the reasons why Microsoft would bid $26 billion to acquire the social-networking service LinkedIn, with most focused on the considerable short-term benefits. The long-term possibilities may be even more important, according to a report for Quartz.

Microsoft’s Office Suite is already a dominating force in the productivity-tool market. By adding LinkedIn to its portfolio, Microsoft could position itself to not only have the products that help employees do their jobs, but also provide educational resources to help them get hired.

“Microsoft can drive the evolution of the competency marketplace in ways LinkedIn as a standalone company couldn’t,” said Ryan Craig, managing director of University Ventures, a private equity fund focused on the higher-ed sector. “They can offer a complete human-resources solution.”

LinkedIn already makes two-thirds of its revenue through solutions for HR departments and tools that deliver leads to salespeople. LinkedIn also owns Lynda.com, an online education platform that provides skills training.

“One could imagine a much bigger role for LinkedIn as competency-based education goes mainstream,” Joshua Kim wrote in his Insider Higher Education technology blog. “The switch from time-based to skill-based credentialing will be hugely important for some (although not all) sectors of higher education. LinkedIn has the potential to combine professional networking with just-in-time training and alternative credentialing.”

Campus Blockchain Initiative Underway

Blockchain technology, developed as a digital ledger to record transactions using the digital currency bitcoin, is finding its way onto campus. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab and educational software provider Learning Machine recently launched an open-source initiative that allows institutions to create, share, and verify blockchain-based educational credentials.

The potential uses of blockchain technology on campus include providing credential verification and tracking students’ progress through their coursework. Through the platform, credentials collected by students can be securely shared with anyone, such as an employer, who requires official documents.

The platform ensures the documentation sent is authentic and valid, according to a release on Blockchain News.

“The goal of our collaboration with the MIT Media Lab is to empower individuals with shareable credentials that can be used peer-to-peer and verified as authentic,” said Chris Jagers, co-founder and CEO of Learning Machine. “The current system for sharing official records is slow, complicated, expensive, and broken for everyone in a myriad of ways. The first generation of students to grow up entirely during the Internet age have started applying for college, and many admissions officers can share stories about applicants trying to text photos of their academic records. The expectations, while seemingly humorous, convey an honest impression about the way things should work. It should be that easy for people to share certified records directly with others and have them trusted as authentic.”

Not All OA Publishers Are the Same

An avenue around traditional subscription-based publishing probably sounds like a good idea to many faculty members. The problem is that not all scholarly open-access (OA) publishing firms are equal.

That’s where Jeffrey Beall can help. Beall, academic librarian at Auraria Library, University of Colorado, Denver, has created a list of publishers that he feels do not meet sufficient standards and a blog to spread the word. The list is very long, with more than 120 companies listed as “questionable, scholarly open publishers” in the “A” section alone.

“Too many open-access advocates think that because OA is not a problem for them personally, they’re not a problem at all,” Beall told Inside Higher Education last October. “This is absolutely not true. Research published in predatory journals is polluting the entire scholarly publishing ecosystem.”

Beall’s list is updated regularly and the criteria for inclusion are about as long as the list of publishers.

“Unfortunately, the pressure to publish in the academic system is liable to keep scholars eagerly looking for outlets,” British poet Paul St. John Mackintosh wrote in a post for TeleRead. “Said scholars, however, would be well advised to look over the criteria for Beall’s list and the list itself. Clearly, not all open is good.”

Enjoy the Fourth!

From all of NACS Inc. staff in Oberlin, Westlake, and Cincinnati, OH, as well as our staff in California and Washington, D.C., have a safe and happy Fourth of July.

Helping Business Fill Empty Classroom Seats

No one benefits from empty seats in a college classroom. A new online platform is being developed to provide a solution.

Anyone’s Learning Experience (ALEX), a company led by students from Harvard University, created a program that matches the educational needs of employers and their employees with excess capacity in classrooms. ALEX received $10,000 in funding from the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard to get the project off the ground.

ALEX works with businesses that already offer tuition assistance to their employees. The goal is to help employers reduce training costs while improving employee development and retention. The company is currently focused on Boston-area businesses, but plans to roll out the program to other cities.

“Many people are struggling to improve their education, companies need better-trained employees, and every year there are about two million unfilled U.S. classroom seats—there is a huge need and potential for the platform we’ve created,” Sergio Marrero, CEO of ALEX, said in a release for University Business. “Connecting working professionals without college training with available seats in classrooms is an effective and cost-effective way to help business thrive while improving the lives of millions of people.”

Study Finds Classroom Noise Useful

Some teachers see conversations in the classroom as disruptions that need to stop. A professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, is using voice-recognition technology to understand if the noise could help teachers gain a better understanding of what’s going on during class.

“I think one of the things we’re noticing is that even if you are incorporating active learning, it’s very easy to focus on the students at the front of the classroom raising their hands, and this data can let teachers know whether they’ve got an equitable spread of participation across the classroom,” Amy Ogan, assistant professor of human-computer interaction at the CMU School of Computer Science, said in an article for eCampus News.

The technology provides instructors with a dashboard that displays classroom activities in different lights. Sensors analyze sounds in the room, not specific conversations. The colored lights give teachers insight into whether they should change or continue their teaching approach.

The technology suggests classroom literature for teachers on ways to better engage students who aren’t participating by sending messages to their phones between classes. Ogan and her colleagues are also working on ways to use cameras to distinguish patterns in the things students do while they are in the classroom.

“We’re working with a university right now with lots of lecturing,” she said. “When the system detects that students haven’t participated in a while, we flash a big red screen on the instructor’s laptop to notify them to incorporate some student interaction.”

Students Don't Know Aid is Available

Many prospective college students and their parents are unaware they could qualify for federal financial aid, which may lead some to either take out bigger private loans to fund their schooling or not enroll in higher education at all.

A recent survey of 5,000 high school students and parents by Royall & Co., a consulting firm for enrollment and fundraising management, found that many respondents believed their household income was too high to obtain a Pell Grant or low-interest federal loan. Even in the bottom income bracket ($60,000 or less), 27% of students and 34% of parents didn’t think they could secure aid.

“In contrast, according to an EAB (Royall’s parent company) analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data, 84% of students with household incomes of less than $60,000 received Pell Grants—and many more students in this income bracket qualified for subsidized student loans,” a spokesperson for Royall said in a release.

In addition, the survey discovered that families in the lowest income bracket are more reluctant to fill out the required Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Many of these families also don’t realize how much time is needed to process applications and end up submitting their forms too late to receive monies before tuition and other costs, such as buying course materials and school supplies, are due.

The full report is available from Royall.

New Concept for Digital Textbooks

Concept maps, which represent topics that are connected in a circle or square, are normally used as a study or review tool. An assistant professor of engineering at Pennsylvania State University, Mont Alto, decided to put the map to use as a primary course resource.

Jacob Moore created the Adaptive Map Digital Textbook, which shows the topics covered as points on map. Each topic is connected with related themes and when students click on the point, they are taken to a content page that includes video lectures, example problems, and diagrams.

“A lot of people focus on students making concept maps at the end of semesters to review what they know,” Moore said in an article on Penn State News. “But another way you can use them is as a guide to help students fit smaller topics into the big picture of the course.”

The digital textbook is available on all devices and it’s free. Moore uses a Creative Commons noncommercial license to keep all code and content open-source.

“It’s not uncommon to see students skip buying textbooks just because they don’t have the money, or they split the cost with a roommate and they have to pass it back and forth all the time,” he said. “If you remove those cost barriers, everyone will have better access to these tools. With the Adaptive Map Digital Textbook, as long as students have access to a computer, they have their textbook.”

3-D Printing Sales Continue to Expand

The growth of 3-D printing is beginning to get serious. International Data Corp. (IDC) reported that 3-D printer hardware and materials were a $2.5 billion market in 2014 that increased 20% in 2015.

IDC also predicted that spending on 3-D in the education market will rise to more than $500 million over the next three years. However, most of the spending will focus on materials needed to operate the printers rather than the machines themselves.

Sales of printers that retail for less than $1,000 are projected to jump by 12% through 2020, while professional-grade printers are expected to surge by 20% or more, according to a report for Campus Technology. The higher-grade units made up 75% of total shipments in 2015.

“People and companies that are adopting 3-D printers are routinely realizing tremendous time and cost savings in their product-creation and -development cycles,” said IDC Research Director Tim Greene. “As printer speeds increase and the range of materials expands, a growing number of products and parts, and therefore markets, will be impacted by 3-D printing/additive manufacturing. Already, the 3-D printer mix in the U.S. has changed over the last 12-24 months. While there are still a lot of shipments into the do-it-yourself and consumer market, tremendous growth remains in the segments with a more professional and manufacturing orientation.”

Mixed Results from Adaptive-Learning Study

The largest study to date of adaptive-learning software found that results have been modest at best. Nearly 20,000 college students and 300 instructors using the most popular learning software on the market participated in the research, conducted by SRI International for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2013-15.

Students were no more likely to pass a course using adaptive-learning tools than in a traditional classroom. Researchers also found that the software by itself isn’t enough and that universities didn’t do a good job of making sure the technology being used actually worked.

The study indicated that the tools functioned better when the instructor used the same language utilized in the software during face-to-face instruction and when student usage was monitored closely. Learning results also improved when the course was redesigned around the software.

“I wouldn’t characterize our report as cynical, just cautious,” Barbara Means, director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International, said in an article in The Hechinger Report.  Means was also quick to point out that more and better technology has come to market since the study started in 2013. “It shouldn’t be regarded as though this is the last word. It’s just a very early snapshot.”

Education Benefits Back on the Table

Employer tuition-reimbursement programs, a casualty of the Great Recession of 2008, are making a comeback. Companies are rediscovering that education incentives help keep workers on the job and make finding new employees easier.

“Companies really did slash and burn their professional development budgets,” Bruce Elliott, manager of compensation and benefits of the Society of Human Resource Management, said in an article for The Hechinger Report. “Now we’re starting to see things come back, but we’re seeing them come back in completely different ways.”

For instance, many new tuition-reimbursement programs limit workers to courses from specific for-profit providers that are, in turn, providing employers deep discounts for access to those employees. Some companies also require employees to apply for federal financial aid before its education benefit is applied.

“It’s not just a charitable thing,” said Jaime Fall, director of the UpSkill America initiative. “Companies that hire frontline workers know that if they don’t offer benefits that are competitive, they’re going to lose out on workers who want to go to college.”

Another reason for companies to offer education benefits is dissatisfaction with the work skills of recent college graduates. Just 11% of business leaders told a Gallup survey they strongly agreed that graduates were ready for work, even though 96% of higher-ed officials believe their institutions are very to somewhat effective in preparing students for jobs.

“This is a way for the for-profits to maintain relevance,” said Howard Lurie, analyst for the education consulting firm Eduventures. “They’re under the gun. It’s an enrollment-management solution for them.”

U.K. App Pilot to Monitor Students' Work

Fifty colleges and universities in the U.K. will be piloting a new app intended to track students’ study habits and allow their instructors to intervene if students appear to be falling behind or struggling with material. The pilot starts in September.

The app—created by Jisc, an academic technology firm—automatically keeps tabs on each student’s interaction with their school’s digital systems.

“In the way a Fitbit device tracks personal training metrics, Jisc’s app will record students’ learning activity,” said a report in U.K.’s The Independent. “Each time a student logs onto their virtual learning environment to access course materials, clocks into the library, or submits a piece of work online, the app will create a ‘digital footprint’ of their performance.”

In particular, the app’s developer is hoping to stem the tide of university dropouts. The Independent noted a recent U.K. study found that 27% of first-year students either dropped out in their second term or planned to do so as soon as the term ended.

The app will also allow students to track their own progress through each course and determine whether they are meeting requirements. They can also opt to share certain information with classmates in order to benchmark their efforts.

New Generation Same as the Old, But Not

Generation Z, the latest age group to enter adulthood and college, is fundamentally not all that different from previous generations at the same point in life, though there are a few distinctions.

McCann Truth Central interviewed 33,000 people around the world to find out what sets each generation apart. The study discovered young adults in every generation “are focused on finding themselves, finding their people, and finding their place in the world,” said a report in Ad Age.

Gen Z, however, does exhibit a few characteristics of its own. Like previous generations, this age cohort regards their friends as their real family, but the new twist is that this group is able to literally stay in constant touch with friends through cellphones and social media.

“Teens today are also used to connecting with friends all the time with raw, in-the-moment content using platforms like Snapchat, Twitch, and Periscope, which means brands have to start understanding Gen Z’s hunger for on-the-ground immersive perspectives,” said Laura Simpson, executive vice president and global director of McCann Truth Central.

When it comes to issues, this age group is highly supportive of social equality—such as racial equality, women’s issues, and LGBT rights—whereas adults over 50 voice more concern for individual freedoms (such as political freedom) and curing diseases. The Z’ers feel major companies and brands should use their power to effect change.

“The study also showed that the word ‘adult’ used to be a noun, but is now used as a verb by Gen Z and young Millennials, such as ‘adulting,’ which is about ‘putting your life into little moments or little snaps,’” according to Ad Age.

Metrics to Help Students Succeed

A new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) proposed a new metrics framework to help institutions measure student performance. The report lists performance, efficiency, and equity as the measures by which colleges and universities can better serve students of all backgrounds.

The metrics are designed to assess students’ access, progress, completion, cost, and postcollege outcomes. They also look at college affordability, how resources impact completion, and the experience of all students.

“This report draws on the knowledge and experience of higher-education leaders and experts to lay out in detail the metrics we should be collecting—and explains why those data will make a difference for all students, but particularly for those who traditionally have been underserved by higher education,” said IHEP President Michelle Cooper in a report for eCampus News. “Until now, only some institutions have been willingly and voluntarily collecting data to answer critical questions about who attends college, who succeeds in and after college, and how college is financed. But, the field needs a core set of comprehensive and comparable higher ed metrics and should incorporate those metrics into federal and state data systems. Doing so will make the data available for all students in all institutions, not only those who voluntarily collect and report it.”

Keep an Eye on VR Products

Developers of virtual-reality products are currently focused on the gaming industry, but that could change rapidly. Companies are already beginning work on applications of VR technology in the medical field, with retail and education not far behind.

“What we learn from textbooks or labs can be really dull, but VR and AR [augmented reality] will greatly enhance learning abilities,” Chinese investor Zhu Bo said in a report for phys.org. “It can also be used in e-commerce. In the future, you will step into a real scene; you can see the products on the shelves, touch and feel them. So our shopping experience will totally change.”

International Data Corp. predicted shipments of VR devices will increase by more than 2,400% this year, but the market still needs development before retailers jump on the bandwagon. Current VR products only allow individual users to play a game or watch a movie, but companies are expected to continue creating more VR-related hardware and software.

“To experience VR, you need a powerful engine,” said L.Z. Wang, managing director of chipmaker AMD. “Without content, you can’t experience anything.”

Students Don't Feel Prepared for Careers

A new report found that just 40% of all college students feel they are “very prepared” to enter the workforce. At the same time, the survey, conducted in March and April by McGraw-Hill Education, added that overall satisfaction with the college experience rose from 65% in 2014 to 79% in 2016.

However, more students would like to see their schools provide: 

• More internships and professional experiences (67% in 2016, up from 59% in 2014).
• More time to focus on career preparation (59% in 2016, up from 47% in 2014).
• Better access to career-preparation tools (47% in 2016, up from 38% in 2014)
• More alumni networking opportunities (34% in 2016, up from 22% in 2014).

More than 70% of the students reported that planning for a rewarding career while in college was “extremely important,” while nearly 80% cited interpersonal skills as the most important attribute in landing a job. Students also value technology, with 85% saying that using tools in classes made them better job candidates.

Slow K-12 Tech Taking Pressure Off Hi-Ed?

Many assume that students enrolling in college a decade or so from now will have high expectations for classroom technology based on their hands-on experiences in elementary and secondary schools.

However, a new annual survey of teachers and instructional specialists conducted by Education Week indicates K-12 academic technology may not be ramping up all that quickly at this time. The survey report, Technology Counts 2016: Transforming the Classroom, found that close to three-quarters of the respondents enjoyed working with new educational technology, yet for the most part their classes were using tech solutions for only mundane activities such as practice drills and reviewing lesson content.

“These findings echo previous research showing that, despite an influx of technology in schools, many teachers still mainly rely on digital programs to supplement traditional instructional strategies rather than to support more creative, inquiry-based learning,” the report stated. “But the results also suggest that digital learning in some form is ingrained in many classrooms, and that there is momentum toward new practices.”

For the first time, the 2016 survey included a Tech Confidence Index to determine teachers’ levels of confidence in performance, funding, policymaking, and public support for K-12 educational technology. On a scale of zero (most negative) to 100 (most positive), the respondents scored an average of 43 for the present—a relatively lukewarm level of confidence—but the average score rose to 55 when respondents were asked about the near future.

Why has K-12 technology adoption been so slow?

“The teacher respondents indicated that having too few digital-learning devices in their schools and a lack of tech-oriented professional development remain barriers to more regular use of classroom technology,” said the report. “In addition, wireless-connectivity problems and computer breakdowns are still far from infrequent, according to the responses.”

Reviving the Original Intent of MOOCs

Almost overnight, massive open online courses (MOOCs) went from idea stage to being the next big thing in higher education. While Sebastian Thrun’s first MOOC attracted an impressive 160,000 students in 2011, interest grew to 35 million individuals who signed up for at least one of the free online courses in 2015.

The blemish on the success story has always been completion rates, but MOOC providers also have had to show they are worth the investment. That pressure has led MOOC platforms to shift emphasis to job training and charging students for credentials.

That’s troubling to author Jonathon Keats, who suggested in a column for Wired that the real goal of MOOCs should be to interest people in everything.

“The technology underlying MOOCs—as well as their reach—provides a solid platform for broadening people’s interests,” Keats wrote. “MOOCs need to be linked across disciplines, with recommendation engines like those employed by Netflix and YouTube to entice students to compulsively take up new interests. Completion rates need to be de-emphasized in favor of curiosity quotients.

“Vocation training is just one thin layer of education,” he added. “For edutech to be worthy of its name—and for everything to truly change—MOOC platforms need to make every mind as expansive as the World Wide Web.”

School Laptop Programs Are Working

A Michigan State University study has shown that students who receive laptops from their schools do better in class. Researchers saw higher test scores in English, math, science, and writing when students were given laptops, but the programs need to include one-to-one program support for both students and teachers.

“In the past couple of decades, one-to-one laptop programs have spread widely, but so has debate about whether they are cost-effective and beneficial to educational outcomes,” Binbin Zheng, assistant professor of educational technology at MSU and lead author of the paper, said in an article for eSchool News. “I believe this technology, if implemented correctly, is worth the cost and effort because it lifts student achievement, enhances engagement and enthusiasm among students, improves teacher-student relationships, and promotes 21st-century skills such as technological proficiency and problem-solving.”

The catch is proper implementation, according to Zheng. She found that educational outcomes improve when there is teacher buy-in, enough technical support and professional development for instructors, and suitable curriculum.

“Just putting a laptop before a student doesn’t really help them with anything,” she said. “Technology should not be implemented for technology’s sake.”

Study Identifies Website Flaws

Colleges and universities want their websites to attract prospective students, but too often fail to make a good impression, according to a new report from the higher-education web development firm KDG.

“Our research revealed five mistakes that colleges often make on their website,” Kyle David, CEO of KDG, said in an article for eCampus News. “These mistakes may seem trivial, but they are the primary reasons many students often choose an inferior college that just happens to have a better website.”

The first problem for many college websites is that most incoming freshmen use social media regularly and have become accustomed to reading short chunks of information. Long forms that must be filled out are another issue that prompt prospective students to leave a website.

Institutional sites should guard against cluttered home pages that force students to click several times just to find out about a single aspect of the college. Fake imagery of college life and clichés can also send students looking elsewhere.

“A poorly organized site loses visitors and applicants, and you can ill afford to lose either,” said Rick Martin, a writer for the KDG blog. “Your biology department may be on the verge of curing cancer, but if your website wastes students’ time, you will fail to attract the bright minds that you need to keep your college strong.”

New ESSA Draft Regulations Released

Draft regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) have been released by the U.S. Department of Education. ESSA, signed into law last December to take the place of the No Child Left Behind Act, grants more authority to states and local school districts.

“These regulations give states the opportunity to work with all stakeholders, including parents and educators, to protect all students’ right to a high-quality education that prepares them for college and careers, including the most vulnerable students,” said Secretary of Education John B. King in a report in EdSource. “They also give educators room to reclaim for all of their students the job and promise of a well-rounded educational experience.”

The new law replaces the more narrow definition of school success that was part of No Child Left Behind. However, both civil rights groups and key Republicans on Capitol Hill have been lukewarm to the new regulations.

“I am deeply concerned that the department is trying to take us back to the days when Washington dictated national policy,” said John Kline (R-MN), chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee. “If this proposal results in a rule that does not reflect the letter and intent of the law, then we will use every available tool to ensure this bipartisan law is implemented as Congress intended.”

A Boom in Detachable Tablets Is Coming

When the iPad debuted, many people assumed it would become a game-changer in higher education, driving the adoption of digital course materials due to its greater portability and lower cost compared to laptops.

That hasn’t quite happened. However, a new forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC) predicts detachable tablets (also known as hybrids) will become more popular in the next few years, according to a report in eSchool News.

Since most college students need a laptop to efficiently work on papers and homework, they may latch onto detachables as the best of both worlds. They can use the assembled machine for keyboarding activities, and detach the screen for on-the-go reading and study.

The IDC report said tablet shipments will dip this year and in 2017. However, starting in 2018 shipments will start to rise due to greater sales of detachables. At present, according to IDC, detachables make up 16% of tablet sales, but are expected to expand to 31% by 2020.

One of the reasons it will take a few years for sales of detachables to grow is that tablet users don’t see the need to replace the devices all that often, unlike cellphones. On average, users are content with their tablets for about four years before getting a new model.

UF Researcher Articles Easier to Access

The University of Florida, Gainesville, is working with publisher Elsevier to make it easier to find the research articles it produces every year. The institution recently launched a pilot that links its repository of scholarly works with ScienceDirect, the Elsevier online journal and e-book catalog.

The pilot allows the university to store journal article searches on ScienceDirect and make them available automatically. Users can now search the university repository and find links to more than 31,000 articles that have appeared in Elsevier journals, according to a report in Inside Higher Education.

“The nice thing about this pilot is it opens up the repository,” said Alicia Wise, director of access and policy for Elsevier. “Rather than being the end destination, it’s part of the fabric of interconnected platforms.”

The university is pursuing similar partnerships with other publishers and wants to expand the current pilot to increase access for users who aren’t subscribers. It would also like to be able to allow all users to view some text of published articles.

Not everyone is as excited about the pilot. A group of university librarians and press directors said the partnership essentially turns the institutional repository into “discovery layers for commercialized content,” according to another Insider Higher Ed report.

Experiment to Help Low-Income Students

To make it possible for more low-income high school students to get a head start on college, the U.S Department of Education is investing about $20 million in the 2016-17 school year on an experimental dual-enrollment program available through 44 colleges nationwide.

“The hope is that this investment will accelerate students toward completion,” said ED Secretary John B. King Jr. in an article that appeared in eSchool News.

The program will allow participating institutions to begin offering Pell grants to eligible students in July. High school students have to complete the Free Application for Federal Aid form to determine eligibility. Students who qualify can receive grants for up to 12 semesters with a maximum award of $5,815 for the 2016-17 school year.

According to the department, fewer than 10% of children in the bottom fourth of household incomes earn a bachelor’s degree by the age of 25.

“The courses students take while in high school and the support they get to succeed in those courses are major factors in not only whether students go to college but also in how well they will do when they get there,” King said in an article for U.S. News & World Report. “The more rigorous and engaging the classes are the better.”

Classroom Design is Being Upended

Games are becoming more integrated into education because students are demanding more engaging experiences. That, in turn, is changing the way classrooms are set up.

Instead of an instructor facing rows of desks, thought leaders in the field now envision classrooms equipped with desks on wheels, movable walls, and screens that allow students to work out gaming solutions in groups.

“It’s a huge deal,” Robert Brodnick, founder of the Brodnick Consulting Group Inc., said in an article for eCampus News. “Classrooms have remained unchanged for decades. We’ve learned this all really matters. If you build and create spaces in a more flexible way, you’re not dictating to students how they’re going to have to learn.”

Gamification is just one part of what is happening to classroom space these days, according to Brodnick. The space need to be flexible enough to accommodate multiple learning formats, such as makerspaces that encourages students to invent and learn. There should be room for immersive visual learning and enough space to promote personalized, project-based learning.

“What we’re starting to realize is that learning is happening out of the classroom more and more, as students are increasingly connected to each other and to information through their phones,” he said. “Learning by doing is much more powerful than acquiring content and apply it five years later on the job. As you move around throughout the day, you have learning experiences, and it’s having a significant impact on how campuses are designed. You might not need as many classrooms or as many bookshelves in libraries.”

Georgia School Taking Classes to Students

In 2013, Central Georgia Technical College, Warner Robbins, received a grant to test blended-learning methods in its health-care program over an 11-county area of rural Georgia. That led to BlendFlex, an initiative that provides students the option to switch instructional delivery formats.

“In the past, students had to sign up for face-to-face, hybrid, or online courses—they had to make a choice,” Carol Lee, educational technology director at CGTC, said in an article in eCampus News. “We have a lot of students who would sign up for a face-to-face class, but then lifestyle changes, sickness, or family issues would force them to drop out and we would lose those students.”

Even though CGTC has satellite campuses for rural students, before BlendFlex the only choice for many was to drive to one of the institution’s central campuses or take the course online. Once the telepresence option was added, faculty could teach in their classroom as well as to students who joined from the rural centers via the videoconferencing that is part of the program.

CGTC reports that BlendFlex classes have only a 12% dropout rate, compared to a 21% rate among other classes the institution offers. In addition, evaluations indicated that 99% of students said they liked the ability to switch delivery methods, 93% would recommend a BlendFlex class to other students, and 91% would definitely take another BlendFlex course.

“The biggest challenge is getting teachers to [rethink their role] in the classrooms that are now student-centered,” Lee said. “But that’s what it’s going to take to be a successful college these days.”

Auxiliary Heads: Store Service Outweighs Profit

When it comes to the campus store at colleges and universities, serving the needs of students and faculty is more important than generating revenue in the eyes of auxiliary directors.

In a recent survey, 85% of auxiliary professionals with oversight of the campus store said the store’s main purpose was as a service provider for students and faculty. While making money from the store was still a high priority for 68% of respondents, service was far and away a more critical function.

The survey, conducted by OnCampus Research, part of the indiCo services at NACS, also showed that 88% of auxiliary administrators thought the campus store should ensure students have access to all the course materials they need right on the first day of class. Some 72% also gave a high priority to low prices on course materials.

Auxiliary directors don’t view sales of course materials as a source of revenue. According to the survey summary, “most administrators do not expect to generate revenues through course materials sales, with just about half of respondents indicating revenue as a priority, and the majority of those respondents ranking it only as moderately important.”

Being able to ensure a high level of service to the school community was the main reason 55% of auxiliary directors said they chose to continue institutional operation of their campus store.

Prep Students Use MOOCs to Start College

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are making it easier for high school students to explore the choices offered in college before they ever apply.

According to a report from U.S. News & World Report, MOOCs allows high school students to gauge their interest in potential majors and gain exposure to courses and instruction at the college level.

Taking a MOOC can also provide the extracurricular activities college admissions officers like to see. Experts say students should list MOOCs they’ve completed on admissions applications, or at least mention they’ve taken the classes in the “additional information” section of the application.

“They’re really one of many activities that students can do to enrich their learning, and that’s really how we look at them,” said Stu Schmill, dean of admissions and student financial services, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

Happy Memorial Day

The NACS Inc. staff in Oberlin, Westlake, and Cincinnati, OH, along with our colleagues in California and Washington, D.C., salute all veterans on this Memorial Day.

Facebook May Help Retain MOOC Students

A new study reported that Facebook may play a role in keeping students in massive open online courses (MOOCs). The research compared student use of MOOC message boards and course Facebook groups, noting that students seemed more engaged in the Facebook groups.

Students told researchers they preferred Facebook to the MOOC communication tools because it was a real community where they are already regularly connected, according to a report in eCampus News. Students also said they believe Facebook has better collaboration tools and instructor involvement on the social media network.

“In previous studies, we found that the real challenge for MOOC developers and instructors is trying to keep students engaged and enrolled in the course,” said Saijing Zheg, a co-author of the report and a research scientist at Microsoft. “In this study, we are finding that social media tools may be one way to keep students engaged in a MOOC.”

The researchers found students tend to be more willing to reveal their true identities on Facebook, while they make up names for the MOOC message boards. In addition, students said they had more ways to connect with instructors on Facebook.

Blockchain Makes Keeping Records Easier

Technology developed alongside the digital cryptocurrency bitcoin may provide colleges and universities with an inexpensive and secure way to handle student records. Blockchain makes it possible to deposit information to a global network that is both publicly available and secure.

“Because of the design of the blockchain-distributed database, it cannot go down and cannot be altered, making the data always available and secure … the blockchain does this free of charge,” Sylvain Kalache, co-founder at Holberton School in San Francisco, said in a report for CNBC. The software engineering institution was established as a project-based alternative to college and plans to share academic certificates on blockchain starting next year.

Universities can use blockchain to provide microcourse and microcredential verification, as well as to track and record student coursework. The technology also makes it possible to easily control who views student transcripts and to securely transmit the data.

“The technology has the potential to realize an entirely new infrastructure for sharing records securely over the network in any number of ways, opening new doors of possibility for academic records and how they are assessed,” Sony Global Education said in a press release last February announcing plans for its own blockchain service.

Higher Ed Sustains 17% Whack from States

The economic disaster of the past decade has clearly taken its toll on higher education, as states have trimmed funding for colleges and universities by an average of 17% since 2008, according to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and policy institute.

The situation was worse a year ago. Since then, the study indicated, 38 states have restored some of the lost funding, by an average of 4%. However, the cuts in some states have been pretty deep. Arizona slashed hi-ed funding by 55.6%, while Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and Pennsylvania all reduced postsecondary spending by more than a third. Thirty-one other states enacted double-digit cutbacks.

Translated into hard dollars, the drop in funding amounts to $1,525 per student on average. That ranges from $103 per student in Alaska to $4,602 per student in Louisiana.

Four states did boost their higher education budgets during this time, including North Dakota, where the booming economy allowed the state to pump 46% more into postsecondary schooling, about $3,823 per student. In Wyoming, where higher education has been subsidized to a greater extent than in many other states, the 21% increase in funding represented $3,025 per student.

The report noted that institutions have answered the funding cuts by eliminating programs, services, and staff. Schools have also raised tuition, from 4.8% in Montana up to Arizona’s 87.8%. (Percentages are for the average tuition actually paid by students, not the maximum “published” tuition fee.)

The study found the rise in tuition, in turn, caused more students to assume more debt, forced some students to drop out, and deterred others from enrolling.

Taking a Look at Online Master's Degrees

The online master’s degree being offered by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, has earned praise from students enrolled in the Online Master of Science Computer Science (OMS CS) program. And what’s not to love about a program at a highly respected institution that requires no entrance exam and costs less than $7,000?

Some worry it may be too good to be true, but William Fenton, contributing editor for PC Magazine, took a closer look and liked a lot of what he found. Now in its third year, the program offers four areas of specialization, compared to 11 with the traditional master’s program, and is still working on ancillary services such as career counseling.

However, Fenton was impressed by the program’s accessibility. The OMS CS costs a third of the traditional program and its enrollment standards only require undergraduates to earn a 3.0 grade point average or higher in computer science at an accredited undergraduate institution.

Fenton still has concerns about the program’s corporate sponsors, but admitted the Georgia Tech partnerships with Udacity and AT&T work. The school shares revenue with Udacity for its platform, support, and consistent styling, while AT&T provides investments and students.

The program does rely on teaching assistants to keep pace with grading and enrollment hasn’t been as diverse as hoped. U.S. citizens make up 80% of the online class, with more than 700 applicants already having advanced degrees and more than 120 holding Ph.Ds.

“While the OMS CS degree may not democratize higher education, it doesn’t cannibalize it,” Fenton wrote. “In addition, all the buzz around Georgia Tech’s OMS CS degree is driving interest in the university in general and in its computer science programs in particular.”

How Will Overtime Rules Affect Students?

The Obama administration released rules that will require employers, including colleges and universities, to pay overtime to more employees. The new regulation, which becomes effective on Dec. 1, increases the salary threshold for employees eligible for overtime from $23,660 to $47,476.

Many in higher education are concerned about the potential impact on student services and instruction. There are exemptions to the rule related to higher education, but those are primarily for employees providing instruction.

“The new rule will increase many lower-level, salaried employees into hourly workers who are eligible for overtime pay. But requiring such a dramatic and costly change to be implemented so quickly will leave many colleges with no choice but to respond to this regulation with a combination of tuition increases, service reductions, and, possibly, layoffs,” the American Council on Education said in a press release criticizing the rules.

The rules are expected to have a significant impact on college store management, so NACS is partnering with the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources to present a webinar at 1 p.m. Eastern May 25 on the new regulations. The webinar is free, but advanced registration is required.