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Articles by Robert Ubell
Trump Hijacks American Science and Scholarship
In a nearly daily barrage, President Trump and his MAGA forces heave fireballs at science and higher education. In the last weeks alone, the administration has been busy hurling a demand for a billion dollars from the University of California, Los Angeles; axing proven mRNA vaccine research; and demanding colleges submit expanded sex and race data from student applications, among other startling detonations.
Why it matters (opinion)
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These Higher Ed Stories Resonated Most In 2024
We've been crunching the numbers, and your votes are in. Here's the countdown of the top EdSurge stories about the college world in 2024, based on readership. Nearly half of the stories in our top 10 involve the impact that AI tools like ChatGPT are having on campuses. No surprise there, considering that just about every week brings new AI products, and students rushing to social media to share how they're using them on assignments.
The Uberfication of Higher Ed
While some of us are aware that higher ed has been steadily moving away from employing mostly full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty, replacing them with a part-time, contingent academic workforce, the latest AAUP report issued this summer shows the trend is accelerating. Precarious college teachers have increased by nearly 300,000 over the last decade, as conventional faculty employment stays pretty much flat.
Are Colleges Ready For an Online-Education World Without OPMs? - EdSurge News
For more than 15 years, a group of companies known as Online Program Management providers, or OPMs, have been helping colleges build online degree programs. And most of them have relied on an unusual arrangement — where the companies put up the financial backing to help colleges launch programs in exchange for a large portion of tuition revenue. It’s a model that has long raised eyebrows in higher ed, and now it’s one that is under scrutiny from federal agencies.
Do Online College Experts Have a Seat at the Strategy Table?
I’ve been thinking lately about the extent to which leaders with online experience serve on the very top of higher ed councils, sitting at the same table as presidents and provosts, participating in high-level discussions of present and future strategies.
Online Teaching Is Improving In-Person Instruction on Campus - EdSurge News
Since the earliest days of colleges experimenting with teaching over the internet, the goal has been to replicate as closely as possible the physical classroom experience. After all, in-person was seen as the gold standard, and the question was whether that could be faithfully reproduced online.
Students Know What They’re Looking for Online. Are Colleges Delivering What They Want?
Most of us know what to expect in a face-to-face classroom: Students sitting in rows, facing instructors and listening to lectures, watching videos displayed on screens up front, or, in smaller classes, participating in lively discussion. Altogether, a modest set of conventional choices we’re all familiar with as students and faculty on campus.
Students Know What They’re Looking for Online. Are Colleges Delivering What They Want? - EdSurge News
Most of us know what to expect in a face-to-face classroom: Students sitting in rows, facing instructors and listening to lectures, watching videos displayed on screens up front, or, in smaller classes, participating in lively discussion. Altogether, a modest set of conventional choices we’re all familiar with as students and faculty on campus.
Why Colleges Should Pay Attention to Strikes by Their Most Precarious Teachers - EdSurge News
There’s a news story in higher ed that’s not getting enough attention. The nation’s adjuncts are rising up. Just a few weeks ago at Rutgers University, for instance, adjuncts, grad students and others held a five-day strike over unequal treatment compared to other academic employees. In the end, after a year of contract negotiations, they won a big jump in pay and benefits. Similar scenes are playing out across the country.
Why Colleges Should Pay Attention to Strikes by Their Most Precarious Teachers - EdSurge News
There’s a news story in higher ed that’s not getting enough attention. The nation’s adjuncts are rising up. Just a few weeks ago at Rutgers University, for instance, adjuncts, grad students and others held a five-day strike over unequal treatment compared to other academic employees. In the end, after a year of contract negotiations, they won a big jump in pay and benefits. Similar scenes are playing out across the country.
How Mega-Universities Manage to Teach Hundreds of Thousands of Students - EdSurge News
In the early days of online education, I imagined that virtual classrooms would follow the same basic model as in-person ones, with an instructor leading the same number of students typical in a campus class. One of my colleagues at New York University disagreed, cautioning even decades ago, that the belief was “pretty naive.” To make online financially viable, he predicted, “remote classes will need to enroll many more.” It turns out he was right.
What Did COVID-19 Change About the Registrar’s Role? - The EvoLLLution
Matt Imboden | Chief Student Services Officer in the School of Business, Wake Forest University A few years ago, the world underwent more change than anyone was ready for. Every aspect of higher education was impacted, including the registrar’s office. But the switch to remote learning wasn’t the only thing that registrars had to tackle. The EvoLLLution (Evo): How has technology expanded in the registrar’s role?
Why College Students Turned From Being Down on Remote Learning to Mostly in Favor of It - EdSurge News
If you go back to the first days of the COVID crisis, when campuses across the country were shutting down, college students weren’t very happy with emergency online learning. Surveys conducted then showed deep dissatisfaction, with as many as 70 percent saying they didn’t like it. Low grades for remote instruction persisted for months.
As Fewer Chinese Students Study at American Colleges, Will Indian Students Fill the Gap? - EdSurge News Original
For years, China has been sending the greatest number of international students to the U.S. This year, to many people’s surprise, India took the lead. In fact, the number of U.S. student visas issued to Indians soared 60 percent from Oct 2021 to July 2022, while Chinese student visas—until now at the top—. According to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Indian student visas this year jumped to nearly 78,000, while Chinese student visas fell to just over 46,000.
Learning from our Students: Issues Shaping Administrative and Professional Thinking in Higher Education Administration - The EvoLLLution
Reed Scull | Associate Professor of Higher Education Administration, University of Wyoming Jonathan W.
Do Online Degrees Lead to Jobs as Reliably as Traditional Ones? - EdSurge News
One question often lurks in the minds of college students: “What am I going to do after I graduate?” For those who plan on graduate school, their immediate future is pretty much set. But for most, what happens next is often in doubt. There’s long been the concern that employers won’t take online degrees as seriously as campus-based ones, though these days online degrees are pretty mainstream. But there are other considerations.
The Political Right Is Slamming the Door on College Access - EdSurge News
column | Access and Affordability By Robert Ubell (Columnist) Aug 24, 2022 The national consensus supporting higher education is unraveling, as backing for college funding is increasingly becoming a partisan issue. And that's having a disproportionate impact on poor and historically underserved students. College enrollment is down nationwide, from about 17 million in 2020 to 15.9 million in the latest data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center—a big historical change.
E-Quality Means Equality: Why Online Students Deserve the Same Practices as On Campus - The EvoLLLution
As online classes soared in popularity over the last few years, accessibility in higher ed reached an all-time high. EvoLLLution (Evo): Why was now the time to write Staying Online? Bob Ubell (BU): Staying Online is a collection of a couple of years of articles published in Inside Higher Ed, EdSurge and elsewhere. Looking them over, I thought there might be enough ideas there, with many that might be good to deliver to a broader audience.
With Stressed-Out Students in Challenging Times, Faculty Must Embrace Caring Practices - EdSurge News
In the bad-old days of college teaching, especially in technical subjects, professors would stand before a classroom of freshmen and say, “Look to the right, look to the left. One of them will not graduate.” The idea was fear of failure would motivate students to do whatever it takes to stay above water academically.
The Digital Revolution Is Saving Higher Ed - EdSurge News
The most notorious oracle predicting the coming death spiral of academia was the late Harvard University professor Clayton Christensen, who in 2011 famously forecast that “50 percent of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. will be bankrupt in 10 to 15 years.” His prophecy was based on the notion that digital alternatives to face-to-face education—in his view, much cheaper and friendlier than conventional instruction—would convince millions of college students to turn their backs on...
Learning How to Blend Online and Offline Teaching - EdSurge News
In the pandemic many higher ed faculty, forced onto Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms, have continued teaching online just as they always did face to face, delivering lectures over streaming video as they did in person. Many are unaware that teaching online can actually open new possibilities to innovate their teaching practice. In fact, many college instructors have been downright grumpy about having been thrown into a new teaching format.
Triumphs and Troubles in Online Learning Abroad - EdSurge News
column | Digital Learning in Higher Ed By Robert Ubell (Columnist) Feb 18, 2022 I’ve always thought of the U.S. as the leader in digital learning, representing the most adventurous innovations. But lately I’ve realized my perception may be flawed by a false sense of American exceptionalism. In Canada, for example, about two-thirds of colleges offer online degrees—and many have for years. While here in the U.S., a far smaller number grant degrees online.
In China, Online Degrees on Hold, Even as MOOCs Rise - EdSurge News
column | MOOCs By Robert Ubell (Columnist) Dec 10, 2021 With China muscling its way into the first ranks as a global power in science and technology—building vast new academic complexes, climbing to the top ranks of the world's elite universities, surpassing the U.S. in PhD graduates in science and engineering, and on its way to outperforming all other nations in science and technology academic citations—I was puzzled to discover that China is on hold in offering online higher ed degrees.
Why college students turned from being down on remote learning to mostly in favor of it
If you go back to the first days of the COVID crisis, when campuses across the country were shutting down, college students weren’t very happy with emergency online learning. Surveys conducted then showed deep dissatisfaction, with as many as 70 percent saying they didn’t like it. Low grades for remote instruction persisted for months.
Why Most Ivies Offer Few Online Degrees—And What’s Happening to Change It - EdSurge News
Writing about online learning in higher education over the last several years, I often noted the steady growth of remote learning nationwide against the sluggish adoption of digital instruction among most Ivy League colleges. Virtual instruction continues to whiz across the country, racing recently with unprecedented gains. But getting your degree at an Ivy League college means mostly sitting in a classroom.
Staying Online: How to Navigate Digital Higher Education
Staying Online: How to Navigate Digital Higher Education ISBN | Quantity: Shopping Cart Summary Items: Routledge & CRC Press eBooks are available through VitalSource. The free VitalSource Bookshelf® application allows you to access to your eBooks whenever and wherever you choose. Mobile/eReaders – Download the Bookshelf mobile app at VitalSource.com or from the iTunes or Android store to access your eBooks from your mobile device or eReader.
What It Takes For a College to Go Online - EdSurge News
As the pandemic continues to stumble its way across the country, colleges that had never considered setting up online programs are now exploring how to do it. Most haven’t a clue. That’s why many have turned to Online Program Managers, known as OPMs, commercial vendors that create and market digital programs. Some colleges, meanwhile, have decided to go it alone and build their own systems. Whatever a college does, though, the decision to go online should involve a few key factors.
What’s the Right Price for an Online Degree? - EdSurge News
I recently came upon a pair of contradictory articles about what colleges will be charging for tuition next academic year: One reporting that Ohio State University found reasons last month to nearly double its online tuition, and another noting that some colleges are in a race to lower tuition. So I wondered: What compels some colleges to double online tuition while others cut theirs? Classical economics tells us that price is mostly determined by cost of production plus profit.
Lacking Online Programs, Many Colleges Are Rushing to Partner with OPMs. Should They? - EdSurge News
In the last couple of decades, as online learning was steadily being recognized by millions of students as a convenient way to earn a highly prized academic degree, most senior officers at the nation’s colleges and universities paid little attention, dithered or dabbled. When higher ed leaders woke up during the pandemic, they went to their digital cupboard and found it was bare.
Colleges Have Embraced Online Learning. Will That Open Remote Teaching Opportunities for Faculty? - EdSurge News
As the pandemic wanes, a chorus of commentators are offering predictions about what mark it will leave on higher education—with some forecasting colleges collapsing and others seeing increasing alliances with commercial partners. Most anticipate the growing centrality of online learning in university life. As a longtime proponent of online higher education, I thought I’d take a stab at imagining a couple of effects digital education might have on teaching and learning in the college classroom.
Why Emergency Online Learning Got Low Grades
(Adrienne Robillard via AP, File) Nearly all of higher education moved online at the beginning of the pandemic. For longtime proponents of online education like myself, you might think it would be an accomplishment. Except that many students showed up resentful, taking digital courses only by force of circumstance, and the teaching they got did not always fit the medium. Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments Related Articles
Why Emergency Online Learning Got Low Grades From Many College Students - EdSurge News
The following is an edited excerpt from Staying Online: How to Navigate Digital Higher Education, forthcoming from Routledge. Nearly all of higher education moved online at the beginning of the pandemic. For longtime proponents of online education like myself, you might think it would be an accomplishment. Except that many students showed up resentful, taking digital courses only by force of circumstance, and the teaching they got did not always fit the medium.
The New Normal: How work has changed due to Covid-19
Joanna Seow, The Straits Times’ manpower correspondent, discussed the implications of Covid-19 on work places and working lives in an askST@NLB podcast with Singapore Human Resources Institute president, Ms Low Peck Kem, and Singapore National Employers Federation executive director, Mr Sim Guan Guan. Remaining productive Even as Singapore enters phase two of reopening the economy, the majority of the workforce continues to telecommute.
The New Normal: How work has changed due to Covid-19
Be it working from home, participating in gig work or staggering working hours, Covid-19 has reshaped what work looks like for many Singaporeans. Joanna Seow, The Straits Times’ manpower correspondent, discussed the implications of Covid-19 on work places and working lives in an askST@NLB podcast with Singapore Human Resources Institute president, Ms Low Peck Kem, and Singapore National Employers Federation executive director, Mr Sim Guan Guan.
How Online Learning Kept Higher Ed Open During the Coronavirus Crisis
But pandemic pedagogy is not the same as quality online learning Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Getty ImagesA teacher at New York University teaches his class remotely from home after the university shut down regular classes out of concern for COVID-19 on 13 March 2020 in Brooklyn, New York.
Why Convenience Boosts Student Campus Life - EdSurge News
In an earlier column, I predicted that convenience will rule higher ed; today, inconvenience has overtaken it. Just try calling your college’s general number to see what happens. Good luck! Your first encounter may be: “No one is here right now to take your call, but if you leave your name and number someone will get back to you shortly”—a sign of dysfunctional inconvenience caused by school bureaucracy, with each unit’s requirements coming first, before student convenience.
How Online Education Went from Teaching Reform to Economic Necessity for Colleges - EdSurge News
When the Sloan Foundation had the bright idea to stimulate digital education at the nation’s colleges and universities a quarter of a century ago, it christened online learning as “asynchronous learning networks,” an eccentric name for what is now known simply as online learning. Since it was in its very early days, Sloan had no idea what to call it. But it surely bet on a winning horse.
Why the Convenience University Will Rule Higher Ed - EdSurge News
A couple of decades ago, when I was dean of online learning at Stevens Institute of Technology, a small STEM college on the Hudson with a view of mid-Manhattan, we polled our digital students about why they chose to enroll as virtual learners. Did they come to our virtual classrooms for the strength of our faculty? The quality of the program? The reputation of the college? When we tallied the results, one reason emerged as a driving force for our online learners: They came seeking convenience.
Higher Ed Has Now Split Into Dual Economies: Online and Traditional - EdSurge News
The university is often portrayed as a place where young men and women loaf freely on a soft, grassy quad under a noble bell tower. Lecture halls and dormitories circle them, busy with faculty members and students coming and going on campus. Hovering over this idyllic image is the online campus, where students rarely, if ever, set foot on manicured lawns. Digital students study at home or while commuting to and from work, often late at night after the kids are asleep.
Coupling Recruitment With Retention Can Drive up Graduation Rates - EdSurge News
Colleges and universities are struggling to keep students focussed long enough to graduate within a reasonable amount of time after they first enroll. In the U.S., only about 60 percent of undergraduates earn their degrees in six years. The rest commonly face a blizzard of troubles—added debt, poor job prospects and, in some cases, lack of self worth. While one of the biggest causes of dropping out is money—especially as the cost of college rises—that is not the only hurdle.
How Online Degrees Can Advance Worker Careers in a Shifting Economy - EdSurge News
If you’re wondering why online learning is booming, take a look at the latest U.S. Department of Labor data showing heightened demand for skilled workers. Those with an undergraduate or advanced degree now represent about 40 percent of the nation’s workforce, while those with just a high school diploma have slipped in the last 25 years from more than a third to about a quarter of American workers.
Colleges Should Build Online Programs, Not New Gyms and Climbing Walls - EdSurge News
As college leaders scroll through their perilous spreadsheets this summer, anxiously looking for the most productive way to spend their meager resources, this may be the time for them to rethink their usual approach—and aggressively invest in online education. After all, with national on-campus enrollments faltering, online numbers continue to speed forward.
Explaining the shakeout in the adaptive learning market (opinion)
In a recent rush, more than half a dozen adaptive learning companies have been scooped up like M&Ms at a candy counter. One of the most notable is Knewton, whose assets were acquired by Wiley just weeks ago. Last year, Carnegie Learning, Acrobatiq, Knowre and Fishtree were also swallowed in acquisition fever. Meanwhile, ACT, the nonprofit college admission test company, earlier this year invested $7.5 million in Smart Sparrow.
For Colleges, Outsourcing the Virtual Future Is a Bad Idea - EdSurge News
More colleges are looking to online programs for financial health these days—and even survival—as demographic changes are leading fewer students to seek traditional campus experiences. But as many academic leaders look around for help going online, they often can’t find experts at their own institutions with the experience and skills to build a virtual campus, or to run the sophisticated marketing efforts it takes to attract students around the country and around the world.
Perspectives on Digital Learning, 1st Edition
Description In Going Online, one of our most respected online learning leaders offers insights into virtual education—what it is, how it works, where it came from, and where it may be headed. Robert Ubell reaches back to the days when distance learning was practiced by mail in correspondence schools and then leads us on a tour behind the screen, touching on a wide array of topics along the way, including what it takes to teach online and the virtual student experience.
Online Learning’s ‘Greatest Hits’ - EdSurge News
From the very start of digital education, the big question has always been: “How can students learn effectively, if they’re not face-to-face with their instructors?” Since digital education first emerged, following the heady early days of the World Wide Web in the ‘90s, online learning faced the elusive hurdle of turning disembodied classmates and instructors into living, breathing engaged learners and teachers, with minds and hearts you can feel, know and understand; with whom you can...
Can Online Learning Help Higher Ed Reverse Its Tuition Spiral? - EdSurge News
Classic economic theory predicts that when demand falls, so do prices. But when it comes to the price of college in the past few decades, it’s been just the other way around. As data from the National Student Clearinghouse Center shows, tuition has escalated even as enrollments fell. Red line is college cost. Black line is enrollment.
An online dean describes how he gained confidence to teach virtually (opinion)
I'll confess the humiliating truth -- after nearly two decades of cajoling dig-their-heels-in, grumbling faculty to go online, I’ve never taught online myself. Now, it’s finally my turn.
Opinion: With the Fox in the Henhouse, Betsy DeVos’s Ed Department Is Hurting Low-Income College Students - EdSurge News
In the 19 months since becoming the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos has issued a rush of announcements that remove or undermine previous rules designed to protect students from predatory corporate-run colleges and student debt-collection agencies—changes that are likely to impact low-income students disproportionately.
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