As an instructor in higher education, I have experience teaching seated, hybrid (online and seated), and online only courses. With online courses, I have taught asynchronous and synchronous classes. The difference is that synchronous online classes meet live and offer students the opportunity (if taught well) to interact with their instructors. Asynchronous courses do not meet live. Students watch videos, read posted links and materials, and take assessments. Give me a choice, and I will teach students in a classroom where we can truly interact. Currently, our choices as instructors are severely limited.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought higher education to a crossroads. The New York Times article linked below explains the challenges educators face. My personal view is that the changes that occur over the next year will affect the way we teach permanently, and importantly, the financial situation of colleges and universities. To reduce tuition for online courses will require dramatic reductions in fixed costs and ongoing operating costs. I teach capstone Strategic Management courses at several universities. This is the year when the effective application of Strategic Management principles will be critical to the survival of our higher education systems.

Here is the New York Times article:

As Colleges Move Classes Online, Families Rebel Against the Cost

"Schools face rising demands for tuition rebates, increased aid and leaves of absence as students ask if college is becoming 'glorified Skype.'"

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/us/covid-college-tuition.html


#highereducation #onlineeducation #tuition #educationcosts

This newly implemented requirement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may be one more financial nail in the coffin of many colleges and universities, at least if foreign students decide to drop out of their U.S. schools because they are not allowed to remain in the U.S. This could be an added financial stressor for schools.

​To the extent that students leave American campuses to return to their countries, this also will hurt the economies surrounding those campuses - lost rent, grocery spends, and incidental purchases.
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https://www.npr.org/…/ice-foreign-students-must-leave-the-u…

#education #highereducation #foreignstudents #college #university

Thank you to the MOBTS (Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society - https://mobts.org/) team - and to the many presenters - for organizing a week that was both enlightening and exhausting. I learned so much about teaching through the selfless sharing of the presenters and the other participants. This conference represented a community of practice.

My focus during the workshops was on developing the most effective possible teaching methods for fully online classes. My fall courses all will be online. My students deserve an effective "educative" experience, to use one of Dewey's terms. We lose much of the social aspect of learning, at least the face-to-face aspect, with fully online courses. I received wonderful ideas from the MOBTS conference that will guide me toward delivering a psychologically safe and rich educative experience this fall.

This NY Times article illustrates a concern I have for the fall. Some professors may refuse to teach in classrooms. They will clash with university policies requiring seated classes. On many campuses, I suspect that the start of the fall semester will be chaotic. I am better prepared now than I was a week ago. Thank you MOBTS.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/us/coronavirus-college-professors.html

#highereducation #covid19 #sociallearning #health #mobts​