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

[polly_mer]

Are any universities taking a hard look at the need for so much mid- and upper-level administration?

My U is not.  Cuts are being visited on adjuncts, office staff, department operating budgets, anything but administrative lines. And we are one of the most top-heavy, over-administered universities in the nation.  (This was pointed out clearly by an auditing firm we hired, and subsequently ignored.)

+1

So what would a true examination look like?

How will you plan for extra capacity as part of normal operations?

Why do you think administration is a more worthy target than just flat out not doing certain current academic practices that can be eliminated?  Cutting a three-person office for now is going to be savings than gutting the adjunct budget permanently by changing general education.

[spork]

[. . . ]


Why do you think administration is a more worthy target than just flat out not doing certain current academic practices that can be eliminated?  Cutting a three-person office for now is going to be savings than gutting the adjunct budget permanently by changing general education.

Hence the title of this thread.

Eliminating three positions of Assistant Director of X, Y, and Z to the Assistant Dean of Q to the Vice President of Student Affairs is fiddling while Rome burns when the question that needs to be asked, for example, is "What happens if we get rid of Student Affairs entirely?" 

Trustees have apparently projected that my university will become insolvent in eighteen months if the 2020-21 academic year is entirely online. The response? A retirement incentive of 90 days' pay and health insurance benefits at subsidized rates for the subsequent two years. Sorry, that ain't going to solve the problem.

[Hibush]

[ the question that needs to be asked, for example, is "What happens if we get rid of Student Affairs entirely?" 

Students are important to our business model. If they stop having affairs, we're sunk!

Social distancing in the residence halls and online courses both have very worrisome consequences for student affairs. We need some administrators who can facilitate things.

[apl68]

[ the question that needs to be asked, for example, is "What happens if we get rid of Student Affairs entirely?" 

Students are important to our business model. If they stop having affairs, we're sunk!

Social distancing in the residence halls and online courses both have very worrisome consequences for student affairs. We need some administrators who can facilitate things.

Yes, schools have to think about these things.  At Alma Mater the resulting decline in the awarding of Mrs. degrees would seriously damage the school's popularity with prospective students and their families. 

[spork]

[ the question that needs to be asked, for example, is "What happens if we get rid of Student Affairs entirely?" 

Students are important to our business model. If they stop having affairs, we're sunk!

Social distancing in the residence halls and online courses both have very worrisome consequences for student affairs. We need some administrators who can facilitate things.

Yes, schools have to think about these things.  At Alma Mater the resulting decline in the awarding of Mrs. degrees would seriously damage the school's popularity with prospective students and their families.

Having taken courses at Wellesley College, I resemble that remark!

To be fair though I have to admit that marrying a Bryn Mawr graduate turned out to be a terrible mistake.

[dr_codex]

Are any universities taking a hard look at the need for so much mid- and upper-level administration?

My U is not.  Cuts are being visited on adjuncts, office staff, department operating budgets, anything but administrative lines. And we are one of the most top-heavy, over-administered universities in the nation.  (This was pointed out clearly by an auditing firm we hired, and subsequently ignored.)

+1

At a distance, it's so hard to tell. The PR is that we are sharing the load, but it's become blindingly obvious that we need to hire in some key areas (distance learning and development come to mind). Finding a bright bulb who could put together an attractive early retirement package would be pretty close to the top of my list if I were doing the figures.

[spork]

IHE op-ed writer weighs in: https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/education-time-corona/what-will-life-be-post-covid-colleges-and-universities.

[kaysixteen]

Very optimistic, utopian message in this IHE article.   But even the authors allow that, at least in general, ol education just ain't as good.  And, of course, well, the 'online internships' they suggest many kids will be doing this summer, who thinks that the average kid is going to get one of these, as opposed to this being merely an ol version of the increasing tendency of wealthy families to use unpaid internships as a way of getting additional gatekeeping access for their kids?

BTW, blackboards caused riots in the 19c? HMMMMM....

[spork]

ASU expands summer online curriculum and tuition revenue from students enrolled at other institutions:

https://asunow.asu.edu/20200519-sun-devil-life-summer-enrollment-sets-asu-record.

[spork]

New York Times op-ed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/online-college-coronavirus.html.

[marshwiggle]

New York Times op-ed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/online-college-coronavirus.html.

From the article:

According to one survey, more than 75 percent of students do not feel they received a quality learning experience after classrooms closed.

Which means about 25% felt they did receive a quality learning experience after classrooms closed. Given the speed of response, that's pretty impressive. By Fall, with months to prepare, things should be a lot better.

[apl68]

New York Times op-ed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/online-college-coronavirus.html.

From the article:

According to one survey, more than 75 percent of students do not feel they received a quality learning experience after classrooms closed.

Which means about 25% felt they did receive a quality learning experience after classrooms closed. Given the speed of response, that's pretty impressive. By Fall, with months to prepare, things should be a lot better.

The glass is not three-quarters empty, it's one-quarter full! 

[spork]

None of these articles mention that psychologists and cognitive scientists have known for decades that people are very bad at gauging what they have learned and how they have learned it. Learning requires cognitive effort, which is often perceived as unpleasant, making people's feelings about specific pedagogical methods a very bad way to measure their efficacy. The well-designed studies that I have seen show little to no difference in student academic performance (proxy measurement for learning used by educational systems) between face-to-face and well-designed online courses.

Often the argument I hear against online education is "what about the students who lack internet access?" My reply is always "The $10-$15,000 saved per year by not living on campus is more than enough to purchase a reliable, high-bandwidth internet connection."

[Wahoo Redux]

None of these articles mention that psychologists and cognitive scientists have known for decades that people are very bad at gauging what they have learned and how they have learned it. Learning requires cognitive effort, which is often perceived as unpleasant, making people's feelings about specific pedagogical methods a very bad way to measure their efficacy. The well-designed studies that I have seen show little to no difference in student academic performance (proxy measurement for learning used by educational systems) between face-to-face and well-designed online courses.

Often the argument I hear against online education is "what about the students who lack internet access?" My reply is always "The $10-$15,000 saved per year by not living on campus is more than enough to purchase a reliable, high-bandwidth internet connection."

Neither obviates student perception or the need for the Internet.

[picard]

A reporter from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was given an exclusive access to the president and administrators of Allegheny College, a LAC based in Allegheny Mountain, NW Pennsylvania, as it makes a decision on whether to open for in-class instruction this fall or not. The story is just posted:

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2020/05/31/Allegheny-college-Hilary-Link-COVID-19-fall-semester-reopen-online-Pennsylvania/stories/202005290088

Excerpts containing the college's reopening and safety measures:

Consensus grew around a plan to establish — as best the college could — that students starting classes are virus-free. It would require what amounted to a funnel. Student move-in — hundreds of them getting into dorms over three-days in August — needed to stretch to two weeks so families trying to social distance would have staggered arrival times and students could undergo repeat COVID-19 testing.

Under the plan worked out, arrivals will take a drive-thru test at the Robertson Athletic Complex — the school's football venue — then move into dorms and self-isolate for three to five days. They will be re-tested before the Aug. 31 start of classes.

Most — faculty included — saw merit in a shortened in-person semester, free of breaks during which students might leave and be exposed, Provost Ron Cole said.

But faculty also struggled to envision how 15-week courses — science labs among them — could be pared by up to 20% yet still cover material needed to maintain academic integrity.

It had become clear in the spring that remote study put students from poorer households at a disadvantage. Plus, not all rural communities have reliable internet connections, and some students simply cannot afford an extra trip home to another state or nation.

"We are back at the place of inequity and unfairness," Ms. Link told those on the Zoom call.....


Eventually, they settled on a hybrid plan splitting the traditional 15-week semester with 16 credits into a pair of "modules," the first with four courses starting on Aug. 31 and ending the week before Thanksgiving.

Students would finish the courses and take final exams during a three-week "module" in which they would work from home, though some could opt to finish up from their dorms.

For spring semester, the order would be flipped: A remote module would start in January with a single course and a capstone experience, followed by a 12-week on-campus module starting in late February. The plan has the advantage of reducing the campus population during flu season in December, January and February.