My name is Irene Knokh and I’m the EDUCAUSE ambassador for U-M. I share articles of interest, upcoming trends, and advocate on your behalf for EDUCAUSE.
2022 students and technology report: Rebalancing the student experience
The report discusses several issues contributing to the student experience:
Access and stress:
Do the students have access to the technology they need (including students with disabilities)? Once students with disabilities were given a list of specific technologies, many requested services such as captions on videos to help with understanding and processing. Device choice is a complex issue. The split among respondents is between being in a pandemic housing situation (what can you access), work-life balance (device can be used for work and study), can you afford what you really want, and getting a specific device because it’s geared with the school’s software. Review
access to device preferences and tools that help everyone regardless of ability status in the Educational Technology Access portion.
Technology challenges:
- Do students have access to the technology they need for school?
- What happens if their devices are not configured properly?
- What if the device/software malfunctions?
- Replacing a physically damaged and unusable device
- These issues cause stress for students, especially if they have not taken online or hybrid courses before the pandemic.
- Many students reach out to family and friends when they have a tech problem. They also often solve the issues on their own but still need campus resources such as labs and Wi-Fi spots. Review the full graph of findings.
How do you want to learn?
Many students who took online courses before the pandemic may prefer the online option. Lesser numbers of learners who only had physical face-to-face course options may want the online option—however, it is still a consideration. The reasons are work and life commitments, disabilities, and other personal choices.
The report writers note that qualitative comments help with understanding the challenges better—and student preferences for online learning vs. face-to-face or a modality in between these choices. The writers acknowledge that everyone still defines learning options differently. Review the graphs and research participants’ comments about online learning and course components that should be accessible in electronic format.
Report conclusion based on responses: successful college experience is more than passing class-it’s student support, job connection, professional growth, salary, and flexibility. Leaders are urged to address “academic and non-academic” challenges faced by learners.
October is cybersecurity month!
Review cybersecurity resources shared by EDUCAUSE; become a Data Privacy Champion (the program re-opens in January 2023); check out the collection of articles on this subject and take a look at the Stop.Think.Connect site.
8 Ways to Use QR Codes in Higher Education Classrooms
This is a popular article mentioned in October 2022-but published earlier, in August 2022. Read about the use of QR codes in tandem with other tools, such as Kahoot, Goosechase, Google or Padlet; learn multiple ways for student engagement and addressing equity issues (e.g., not having a smartphone or a tablet yet having the opportunity to use QR codes). Check out the author’s active learning approaches with students in various topics. Do you know someone who is trying out similar things? Perhaps it’s you?
Creating a digital badge taxonomy to foster shared meaning
Read about the Digital Badge Taxonomy and a short discussion of its proposed uses in badging programs. The authors of the taxonomy created a “competency cube” by linking Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy, Dreyfus’s Skill Stages Model and KSA’s (knowledge, skills, and abilities needed at work).
Mapping them to the digital badging programs and lifelong learning allows for connecting academics and workplace. Digital Badging Taxonomy allows programs to be very specific in what the badge of mastery actually evaluates.
Review the resources for the 2022 EDUCAUSE Horizon Action Plan: Hybrid Learning. There are several sections concentrating on the “future you, work, and learning” and how things will look ten years from now. Take a look at the Action Map. Start small and ask questions.
Thank you, and “see you” next month!
Irene
If you have any questions about the content, tidbits you’d like to share, or anything EDUCAUSE related, email Irene Knokh, instructional design and technology consultant, Professional Development and Education for Nursing, or Chris Eagle, EDUCAUSE coordinator for U-M.
