Covid-19 Response: Evidence of How Higher Ed Can Be Completely Restructured?

[dr_codex]

I can see one potential effect: more outsourcing of back-end systems to centralized service providers. Higher ups here have discovered that staff cannot work from home because 1) they lack their own computers and 2) historically the university has refused to provide VPN access.

Just like separately teaching thousands of sections of the same course at the same time but in different geographic locations, stand-alone data management at hundreds of campuses across the country is not necessarily the best approach.

Maybe. But centralized data management has its own problems, especially if there is insufficient redundancy. One option for more localized crises is mutual backup -- two campuses backing up one another's key systems.

We run the risk of learning the wrong lessons from each crisis. On the Eastern seaboard, we're now much more robust in our responses to hurricanes, and (to a lesser extent) active shooters. But planning for another pandemic presumes the same combination of effects: quarantine, supply chain disruption, market disruption, and an oil crisis, and the like, while retaining robust internet access that allows remote work. If there were also localized disruptions to  power grids, say, centralized systems have different vulnerabilities. Smaller, concentrated networks might be more nimble in their responses.

On the national level, I think there's growing realization that outsourcing the manufacture of almost all prescription drugs, medical supplies, and computer components might not have been such a great idea. Outsourcing can save money, and concentration can lead to economies of scale, but it's worth reflecting upon the downsides. It was the same argument put forward to protect the domestic steel industry, whatever you think of its outcome.

[spork]

Since my university, and others, have adopted pass/fail grading options for this semester, it might demonstrate just how unnecessarily expensive the "eight semesters of college replete with general education requirements" is.

[Wahoo Redux]

Since my university, and others, have adopted pass/fail grading options for this semester, it might demonstrate just how unnecessarily expensive the "eight semesters of college replete with general education requirements" is.

Oh good heavens.

I'd be interested in knowing how a P/NP option under the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19 is evidence of anything other than the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19...but I'm not.

Obsessive need to tear down the tapestries of education much?

[marshwiggle]

Obsessive need to tear down the tapestries of education much?

Given that there are lots of other large castles with different tapestries, it doesn't hurt to consider what function(s) the tapestries perform and whether there may be any valuable insights to gain from the other castles, rather than just insisting that the ones currently in place are untouchable.

[tuxthepenguin]

Since my university, and others, have adopted pass/fail grading options for this semester, it might demonstrate just how unnecessarily expensive the "eight semesters of college replete with general education requirements" is.

Oh good heavens.

I'd be interested in knowing how a P/NP option under the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19 is evidence of anything other than the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19...but I'm not.

Obsessive need to tear down the tapestries of education much?

When you have a hammer, you see a lot of nails other people don't see. When you have a point to make, you see a lot of connections other people don't make.

Yeah, I don't see it either.

[Antiphon1]

Since my university, and others, have adopted pass/fail grading options for this semester, it might demonstrate just how unnecessarily expensive the "eight semesters of college replete with general education requirements" is.

Oh good heavens.

I'd be interested in knowing how a P/NP option under the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19 is evidence of anything other than the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19...but I'm not.

Obsessive need to tear down the tapestries of education much?

When you have a hammer, you see a lot of nails other people don't see. When you have a point to make, you see a lot of connections other people don't make.

Yeah, I don't see it either.

Let's not blow up the system just yet.  The desire to restructure during a panic says more about the propagation of an inherent bias than a thoughtful response to a crazy dilemma.  We can debate the structure later.  For now, focus on holding ourselves, our classes, our institutions and our students together.  No good comes of capitulating to chaos. 

[Wahoo Redux]

Since my university, and others, have adopted pass/fail grading options for this semester, it might demonstrate just how unnecessarily expensive the "eight semesters of college replete with general education requirements" is.

Oh good heavens.

I'd be interested in knowing how a P/NP option under the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19 is evidence of anything other than the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19...but I'm not.

Obsessive need to tear down the tapestries of education much?

When you have a hammer, you see a lot of nails other people don't see. When you have a point to make, you see a lot of connections other people don't make.

Yeah, I don't see it either.

Let's not blow up the system just yet.  The desire to restructure during a panic says more about the propagation of an inherent bias than a thoughtful response to a crazy dilemma.  We can debate the structure later.  For now, focus on holding ourselves, our classes, our institutions and our students together.  No good comes of capitulating to chaos.

+1

[spork]

The system has already blown up, in the sense that it will be unable to return to pre-Covid-19 business as usual quickly enough.

From The Chronicle:

"Increasing tuition will no longer be an option for higher education in dealing with the current economic meltdown — primarily because families cannot afford to handle the burden. Tuition for all institutions jumped nearly 30 percent between 2007-8 and 2014-15, while real median income fell roughly 6.5 percent over the same time period."

[tuxthepenguin]

The system has already blown up, in the sense that it will be unable to return to pre-Covid-19 business as usual quickly enough.

From The Chronicle:

"Increasing tuition will no longer be an option for higher education in dealing with the current economic meltdown — primarily because families cannot afford to handle the burden. Tuition for all institutions jumped nearly 30 percent between 2007-8 and 2014-15, while real median income fell roughly 6.5 percent over the same time period."

There will always be some increases in tuition. The main effect will be in the enrollment numbers. Also, it would be really weird to base an analysis on what happened through 2014-15, since you're basically focused on a period from just before the recession to when things started to improve. Another thing is that "30% increase in tuition" sounds scarier than "3.75% increase per year". I feel like I'm Reviewer #2 explaining the reasons your paper should be rejected.

[Caracal]

Since my university, and others, have adopted pass/fail grading options for this semester, it might demonstrate just how unnecessarily expensive the "eight semesters of college replete with general education requirements" is.

Oh good heavens.

I'd be interested in knowing how a P/NP option under the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19 is evidence of anything other than the extreme and unprecedented stress of COVID-19...but I'm not.

Obsessive need to tear down the tapestries of education much?

Yeah, this is just a bizarre and silly take within a bizarre and silly conversation.  Why is high school four years and not five, or three? How about instead of having three meals a day we switch to six? None of these things were arrived at by a committee in 1925. They exist because we live in a world that has histories and various culture ideas and expectations built around those histories. That doesn't make it sacred, certainly lots of things can be changed, but people who want to change them need to consider the costs vs the benefits.

In this case it is particularly silly because what does changing pass/fail rules have to do with the importance or necessity of courses? I guess you could make this argument if schools were proposing to just give credit without finishing the semester. Instead this seems like a fair and compassionate way to acknowledge that students have found themselves taking courses that are dramatically different from the ones they started in January and that their lives have also been significantly impacted in a variety of ways at the same time. Students still have to meet the same minimum qualifications to receive credit for the course, but those who do that but find their performance hurt by lack of internet, or dramatically changed family circumstances, or an understandable decline in focus, don't get unfairly penalized compared to others who might find themselves with plenty of time and fewer distractions.

[Wahoo Redux]

Having worked a number of jobs that I absolutely hated, I understand the impulse to want the ship to ground itself, but this is where we make the distinction between an objective professional observation and a vent of personal frustration.

[Antiphon1]

The system has already blown up, in the sense that it will be unable to return to pre-Covid-19 business as usual quickly enough.

From The Chronicle:

"Increasing tuition will no longer be an option for higher education in dealing with the current economic meltdown — primarily because families cannot afford to handle the burden. Tuition for all institutions jumped nearly 30 percent between 2007-8 and 2014-15, while real median income fell roughly 6.5 percent over the same time period."

Please understand that this is not a reply to the substance of your comment.  Rather, I am suggesting that you are conflating some issues.  We won't solve funding issues, program structure, quality of instruction or  any other change to the bureaucracy through delivery of information.  If that were the case, libraries would long ago have replaced schools and universities.  While we all have our preferences and favored theories, we can't say those biases are shared by everyone.  Or are even the solution this problem needs.

There will always be a place for on campus instruction even as we incorporate more virtual learning.  The trick is matching the delivery method best suited to the kind of learning we are looking for.  Online learning is not necessarily less expensive.  Nor is it always equivalent to face to face instruction.  There are some forms of knowledge that are best passed in person not by video.  But again, this discussion doesn't necessarily address the circumstances we find ourselves in at this juncture.   Sweating the cost or the delivery method right now doesn't address how we move forward to finish this semester.

I dare say some of the cost concerns will be addressed after we pay for this pandemic.  Higher education most certainly will have some adjustments to make.  However, the adjustments will have to do with our priority realignments of basic needs rather than fussing over core curriculum requirements.   Again, lets focus on what we have to do now.  The system will most certainly find its own equilibrium regardless of our agreement or disagreement with the process. 

[spork]

Name a fundamental physical law of the universe that says a bachelor's degree requiring 120 credits needs to be earned over an eight-semester period stretched out across four years.

Lovet, Meyer, Thille, "The Open Learning Initiative: Measuring the Effectiveness of the OLI Statistics Course in Accelerating Student Learning," Carnegie Mellon U., 2008:

"This report documents several learning effectiveness studies that were focused on the OLI Statistics course and conducted during Fall 2005, Spring 2006, and Spring 2007. During the Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 studies, we collected empirical data about the instructional effectiveness of the OLI-Statistics course in stand-alone mode, as compared to traditional instruction. In both of these studies, in-class exam scores showed no significant difference between students in the stand-alone OLI-Statistics course and students in the traditional instructor-led course. In contrast, during the Spring 2007 study, we explored an accelerated learning hypothesis, namely, that learners using the OLI course in hybrid mode will learn the same amount of material in a significantly shorter period of time with equal learning gains, as compared to students in traditional instruction. In this study, results showed that OLI-Statistics students learned a full semester's worth of material in half as much time and performed as well or better than students learning from traditional instruction over a full semester."

Griffiths et al., "Interactive Online Learning on Campus," Ithaka S+R, 2014:

"Ithaka S+R collaborated with the University System of Maryland to test the use of interactive online learning platforms in seventeen courses across seven universities . . .  Our findings add empirical weight to an emerging consensus that technology can be used to enhance productivity in higher education by reducing costs without compromising student outcomes. Students in the hybrid sections did as well or slightly better than students in the traditional sections in terms of pass rates and learning assessments, a finding that held across disciplines and subgroups of students. We found no evidence supporting the worry that disadvantaged or academically underprepared students were harmed by taking hybrid courses. These findings are significant given that instructors were teaching the redesigned courses and using new technology platforms for the first time, with, on average, just over half as much class time as traditionally taught sections."

[Wahoo Redux]

Name a fundamental physical law of the universe that says North Americans drive on the right side of the street and those crazy Brits drive on the left.

It is what it is because it's what we've got after we got there.

Later, when Elon Musk gives us hovercrafts, we can recalibrate. 

[spork]

From The Chronicle:

The Bailout Is Just the Start: Why Higher Ed Needs to Build a Sustainable Model.

Most important research findings:

• Typically two-thirds of an institution's undergraduates major in no more than 12 programs.
• Colleges could be teaching as many as 30 percent more students with existing resources by paying closer attention to class size, percentage of seats filled, scheduling, and the mix of face-to-face, online, and hybrid offerings

Yes, I know this article is paywalled. I accessed it through my employer's library, which subscribes.

Yes, I know the author founded the consulting firm whose research he cites in the article. So what? He probably has a stable job that pays a good income and understands the finances of higher ed a lot better than many faculty members.