education

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education July 20, 2018

How Higher Education Leaders Can Boost their Graduation Rates

Getting students to enroll in a university is important, but the real test of higher education’s impact on learning is the graduation rate at every college.

University leaders can boost their graduation rates with these strategies.

Seek edtech solutions

One of the ways colleges are improving their graduation rates is with software solutions like Starfish. By measuring continuous progress, academic achievement, student engagement, and providing feedback, the company has shown efficacy in helping universities increase retention rates with early alerts for college students. Starfish connects students with measuring progress toward meeting goals toward finishing degree programs.

Get a life coach

Having a coach who can help you overcome obstacles and meet the milestones you set in completing your degree can help you acquire that sheepskin and move forward with your career.

Surprisingly, the academics aren’t the most significant challenges most students face when trying to complete a degree. Non-academic obstacles can thwart hopeful candidates from getting their degrees.

Unlike therapists, who work on issues from the past with their clients, life coaches work in the present to help a client identify barriers to graduation. The coaches also help these students identify solutions and implement them so they can reach the higher education finish line.

Go Greek

Positive peer pressure works.

Research at DePauw University in Indiana revealed that the students most likely to drop out of college were the ones who did not identify with any one particular group. Students who were members of sororities and fraternities, however, were more likely to complete the college degrees.

By encouraging involvement with Greek societies in college or creating structured engagement opportunities for non-Greek students, universities can improve their graduation rates.

Merge and integrate rather than separate

Students complain about increasing tuition costs, but the cost of operating a university is rising as well, thanks to reduced funding.

Although a merger between similar schools can raise college costs, a merger may make sense when it comes to attracting, enrolling and graduating students. The most effective mergers take place between two- and four-year schools, like Perimeter College and Georgia State University, where there is a strong academic rather than a vocational focus. Because they have similar, shared goals, the merged system can save money. Systems are expanded rather than replicated.

As a result, students have a pipeline to graduation. Course credits transfer easily throughout the system, which helps students stay focused on completing their degrees with as little frustration as possible.

Boosting graduation rates in higher education can be done. Leaders have to be willing to explore new alternatives or tweak those attempted in the past. The end result of graduating more students will be worth the effort.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education July 17, 2018

What’s Next for Affirmative Action?

Affirmative action has roots going back to 1957, with the Civil Right Movement. As part of the Civil Rights Act, college admissions officers were tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that higher education is equally available to all students regardless of race or ethnicity. Historically, most colleges and universities have taken this mandate even farther with policies that actively pursue racial and ethnic diversity on their campuses.

In the last few years, such policies have become increasingly controversial. Here is a look at some of the issues around affirmative action and where it may be headed in the future.

Is This Discrimination?

Some argue that Affirmative Action, when not carried out according to the mandates of the Constitution, actually results in discrimination against white Caucasian applicants. A few years ago, a young white woman named Abigail Fisher brought a case against the University of Texas at Austin claiming that she was unfairly discriminated against based on her race. Although the case was not decided in her favor at the district court, she brought it to the Supreme Court and was successful.

Last year for the first time, Harvard admitted an incoming class in which the majority was non-white, begging the question as to how much race weighs in their admission decisions to the possible exclusion of other relevant factors. Is Affirmative Action still necessary? Or has it devolved into reverse discrimination?

Who Really Benefits?

Even today, it can’t be denied that there are deserving but underprivileged students among us who need some admissions advantages. One study found that the top colleges in the U.S. admit more students in the top 1% of income levels than from the entire bottom 60%. And the pursuit of racial diversity seems to accomplish little to nothing in resolving this discrepancy: even among admitted minority students, 86% are in the middle or upper class.

Alternatives

It is unlikely that we will see Affirmative Action go away in the future. Ethnic and racial diversity is essential to preserving a vibrant, meaningful campus life. But many schools are revising the way they think about Affirmative Action to keep it in the true spirit of the Civil Rights Act. In most cases, they are required to show that they’ve made an effort to choose students on racially neutral measures before resorting to Affirmative Action. As a result, we will see more inclusive and race-neutral policies, such as granting an admissions edge to economically disadvantaged students or admitting the top 10% in every high school class. Such policies can help ensure diversity without employing race as a primary factor in the admissions process. We have already seen such policies at play in places like Texas A&M and the University of Florida.

While diversity will always be cherished, it may be a good moment for college admissions officers to redefine the term.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education July 16, 2018

Online Learning: Why Students Want Quality Over Convenience

What are the defining features of a quality educational experience?

Without thinking much about it, we would probably cite elements like knowledgeable and responsive instructors, clearly structured curriculum, and engaging learning activities.

In the current educational climate, where online learning increasingly is becoming the norm, the question arises whether these qualities still matter. After all, most students take courses online because of the demands of their schedule. It seems that in this context, convenience would be a top concern.

But the data says otherwise.

What Students Truly Want

A 2017 study of online college students showed that they place a high value on a sense of community and connection. They want to feel connected to their instructor and they want a feeling of group cohesiveness with their classmates. These students often experience a kind of “buyer’s’ remorse” after purchasing an online course, and they are beginning to “comparison shop” at a variety of different schools when making a selection.

These trends reveal that students want more than simply a storehouse of information, as is available through platforms like MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). They want the consistent presence of their instructor and frequent discussions and communication among classmates. Students reap the most benefits from online coursework when it engages their emotions. When they feel that such engagement is lacking, they look for it somewhere else.

Quality Matters

When surveyed, the majority of students indicated that the design standards outlined in the Quality Matters rubric were critical in determining their overall sense of success and satisfaction with a course. Clear learning objectives, frequent interactions with classmates and instructor, and smooth navigation were among the many indicators of a quality online education experience.

A Bright Spot in a Darkening Landscape

The last few years have seen a dramatic drop in college enrollment at most post-secondary institutions. The reasons cited are a dropping birth rate, rising tuition costs, and an improving economy which draws more students into the working world sooner.

But online course enrollment is a bright spot in this landscape, as these have been steadily increasing in direct proportion to the decrease in traditional college enrollment.

These trends say volumes about the changing educational experience and the things that our students require from their colleges and universities.

Online courses can be highly relevant, even life-transforming, exposing students to experiences they could never find in a traditional classroom environment. It is worth the effort to improve the quality of online courses in the same way that we have always worked to improve the face-to-face classroom experience.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education July 13, 2018

What is the Future of College Marketing?

Many people think of branding when they think of college marketing, but branding alone does not generate marketing. Institutions of higher education are discovering that to prevent enrollment numbers from flat-lining, they will have to plan for the future of college marketing.

The future of college marketing is about the sophisticated use of data, experiences, and technology for identifying prospective students.

Psychographics

Colleges once studied the demographics of the students the attracted to their campuses. Factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity were analyzed in the hopes of finding the right applicants.

Smart colleges today explore psychographics to identify the students most likely to succeed at their campuses. Psychographics go far beyond demographics, because they measure subjective areas, like attitude and interest, in an attempt to understand their potential students.

In short, colleges are taking their cues from social media, determining what applicants care about the most.

Showcasing perks

Knowing who your potential students are means knowing what they want. Colleges can now provide incoming students a plethora of perks and amenities designed to attract them to the university and keep them enrolled until graduation.

These perks may include late night sushi bars, updated technology, and access to cultural events, and they may be the ticket to attracting students and keeping them in school.

Technology

There is no doubt that technology will continue to play a huge role in the future of college marketing. Colleges will continue to review big data, and they’ll still need to cater to student interests.

Most students are interested in acquiring hands-on experiences, which is something difficult and expensive for universities to provide. Technological advances, however, are changing that. Colleges are able to offer simulated experiences for their students. These experiences can also be used for marketing purposes.

Rather than send out a brochure or post a video on the campus web site for prospective students, students could participate in a simulated tour of the campus. Colleges could and should customized these tours according to individual interests.

Simulation-based marketing may become common one day in college marketing, creating high-end user experiences and attracting more students to the campus.

Developing the right environment for higher learning means providing students with what they want. University marketing can engage them with their environment. It’s time for colleges to go beyond branding. College must initiate future marketing strategies today to increase their enrollments.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education June 13, 2018

Do Divisive Figures Have the Right to Speak at Your University?

The last few years have been marked by news about divisive figures attempting to speak at universities. In most cases, these are far-right public figures attempting to speak at left-leaning college campuses or campuses in liberal cities.

With all the chaos they create, you might be wondering whether these divisive figures have the right to speak at universities.

The answer to this question is complicated, but we’ll try to break down the answer (as it currently stands) here.

Note: This answer applies to public institutions. Private institutions are not covered by the First Amendment and do not have a constitutional responsibility to uphold in regards to the First Amendment.

Free Speech Is a Right – Right?

Free speech is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. That has been affirmed by the courts over and over again. And the Supreme Court has affirmed this right for students speaking on college campuses.

But it’s not clear how that applies to speaks like Richard Spencer, Milo Yiannopolous, and Ann Coulter.

Universities that receive public funding are technically a public forum, which means that divisive personalities have a right to speak there, but that right is not unlimited.

The court considers a public college campus to be a “limited public forum”, which is different to a street or public park.

Because your campus is a “limited public forum”, your university is legally allowed to create rules for speakers when they apply to speak at the school. However, the university can’t discriminate; the rules that apply to former-President Barack Obama would also need to apply to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity.

So, campuses can force all speakers into a certain hall or schedule them for times when the campus would otherwise be empty, but those rules have to apply to all speakers.

Can My University Say No to Speakers?

Public schools generally can’t say no to speakers.

If a student organization invites a speaker to campus, there is a legal precedent that says it’s a school’s “constitutional responsibility” not to interfere with the request by denying it or by using discriminatory rules.

Your university can say no to speakers. But it can only say no if there is reason to believe that the speaker will advocate for violence against the government or against the institution they’re speaking at. However, even when there are threats of violence, it is tricky to block speakers if it looks like the university is blocking a specific point view.

What About Hate Speech?

Hate speech is covered when schools are allowed to stop speakers who will promote violence against the government or institution. However, this speech must be intended to produce violence, must be a true threat, or must use fighting words that are personally abusive and are spoken in a face-to-face matter.

Questions about controversial speakers aren’t going away, and the answers may someday become clearer. Did this article answer your questions about free speech on campus? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education May 29, 2018

Why all Community Colleges Should Offer Bachelor’s Degrees

Community colleges have long been recognized as an affordable alternative to four-year colleges and universities. They offered associate’s degrees for two years of study in a program, or they served as a bridge to a four-year program leading to a bachelors’ degree.

Now, however, community colleges in 21 states offer bachelor’s degrees, and that’s a move in the right direction.

All community colleges should offer bachelor’s degrees.

Better access and flexibility

The Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) has long held that community colleges can provide better access and be more responsive to student demands for continued education.

Local community colleges have proven they can create programs of study designed to meet learner needs. If for example, the community need is to train nurses, the school will develop the courses needed for certification.

Community colleges also tend to offer a more flexible and more appealing schedule than many four-year universities. Most community colleges regularly provide night and weekend courses.

Lower costs

One of the most compelling reasons for students to attend a community college is its affordability. Not all students are willing to go into debt for their bachelor’s degrees, and many find a $10,000 degree highly attractive.

Students who finance their bachelor’s degrees from community colleges will have their education paid off long before their peers who attended pricier universities pay off their debts.

Proximity to home

Attending community college is easy because it’s nearby. Many campuses are in convenient locations that students can access after work. Some colleges offer classes at local high schools on the weekends, making attending class even easier.

Less time in getting a degree

Community colleges that offer baccalaureate degrees can help to offset shortages in high need areas such as nursing, Pre-K education, and applied technology. That means students will become part of the professional workforce more quickly. Students attending community colleges are as concerned about extracurricular activities such as sporting events and Greek life. They are willing to give up the extras to get on with their degrees and go to work.

In summary

Lower costs, greater program flexibility, proximity to home, and earning a degree in less time make community college baccalaureate degrees a welcome alternative to traditional four-year university degrees.

Community colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees are responding to the needs of the workforce. They are changing interpretations of what it means to earn a baccalaureate.

Higher education has the responsibility to transform the way in which it meets those needs, and it should embrace the new role of community colleges.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education May 25, 2018

My Vision For the Future of STEM Education

STEM is ever present in all parts of daily life in the modern world. And, STEM jobs are more in demand every day, expected to grow exponentially over the next few years. However, STEM education in the U.S. has a long way to go. According to the latest PISA results, the United States is average in science and reading compared to the rest of the world. Additionally, the U.S. scored below average in mathematics.

To compete with global education leaders and produce STEM workers, American schools need to improve the way STEM education is approached. My vision for the Future of STEM education is for the United States to take the reins of innovation and start competing globally. Here are six steps, suggested by the STEM 2026 report by the Department of Education, which can help realize that goal.

Community Engagement

The STEM 2026 report encourages “engaged and networked communities of practice.” For educators, parents, and students this directive means incorporating STEM learning in early childhood education through primary and secondary learning. The cooperation of professionals and organizations in the STEM field with educators can elicit curiosity and learning in children of all ages. Expansion of the FIRST mentoring program may help bridge the gap in community engagement.

Access to Learning Activities

The inclusion of hands-on learning activities in STEM education is paramount to facilitate student engagement. Additionally, children must have the opportunity to learn through failure and exploration. The Department of Education classifies these activities as inviting play and risk. One such activity, which can be incorporated throughout K-12 STEM learning, is robotics. Robotics is hands-on and encourages problem-solving and risk-taking in students.

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Solving “Grand Challenges”

Tasking students to address real-world problems helps them understand the role of STEM in everyday life. Additionally, requiring them to use more than one STEM discipline or incorporate non-STEM disciplines in problem-solving encourages innovative thinking. Students can be engaged through school programs or community competitions. An excellent example of “Grand Challenge” exercises can be found on the Practical Action web page.

Inclusive and Flexible Learning Spaces

Along with the use of more hands-on approaches, flexible learning spaces will incorporate blended learning and flipped classroom organization to schools. The inclusion of educational technology in and out of the classroom can help bridge achievement gaps and provide a level playing field for all students. Additionally, the use of games, media, intelligent tutoring systems and virtual reality will increase student participation in STEM.

Innovative Measures of Learning

The STEM 2026 report calls for creative and accessible measures of learning. Meaning, the way we test students’ understanding of core competencies must change to encourage STEM achievement. Assessments must be equally available to children, regardless of physical or mental disabilities. The National Center On Universal Design for Learning has outlined three principles for fair and equitable testing. As STEM education advances, the use of a more holistic approach to testing will incorporate edtech assessment tools with lifelong learning evaluations to judge student performance.

Promotion of Diversity in STEM Opportunities

The proliferation of stereotypes in society and the media have pigeonholed the STEM field. These stereotypical images have created a homogenous culture in STEM education and work. The community and media must commit to promoting diversity in STEM to encourage underrepresented demographics to pursue STEM education.

The engagement of U.S. children in STEM education is the key to companies filling an estimated 9 million jobs in the industry by 2022. Time can only tell how many STEM careers will be created in the years that follow. However, it’s up to everyone to ensure that American students are prepared to compete for those spots.

With the commitment of parents, teachers, and communities we can offer a more inclusive and effective STEM education to children. While improving STEM learning may seem like a lofty goal, the Every Student Succeeds Act has provided support for the idea. It’s now up to us to make the changes necessary to realize a vision of better STEM education for American students.

What programs do you want to see incorporated in your local schools? Are you a STEM teacher, working on the frontlines to improve education? We want to hear your opinions and ideas.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education May 23, 2018

What Universities Have the Highest Rates of Sexual Assaults Per Capita

As sexual assault rightly dominates the media, you might be wondering where else sexual assault and predators run rampant.

But finding these numbers is difficult because most sexual assaults aren’t reported to the university or the police. Although colleges receiving federal funding are required to keep records of all crime on campus, colleges won’t report a crime that isn’t reported to them.

But as women have started to report sexual offenses in greater numbers, there is some data on the schools with the highest rates of forcible on-campus sex offense per 1,000 students. Nick Selbe at Graphiq put together a list of the 25 colleges with the most sexual assaults per capita, and we’re sharing the top four results here.

The results may surprise you.

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth is a prestigious private school in New England; it’s closely associated with Ivy League institutions but doesn’t make the cut.

Students who attend Dartmouth typically fall into an SAT score range of 2000-2340, and the campus is competitive. Only 6,350 students attend the college in the middle of the woods in New Hampshire.

But Dartmouth reported 153 on-campus sex offenses in 2014 with a per capita of 2.3356 per 1,000 students.

Princeton University

Princeton University is an Ivy League private school in New Jersey. It reports an acceptance rate of 7.1% and is home to only 8,138 students with another 1,300 freshmen added every year.

But the number of sexual assaults? It’s high. Princeton reported 124 forcible on-campus sex results with a rate of 1.5316 per 1,000 students.

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a prestigious private institution located in Tennessee. It has a student body population of 12,567 and an acceptance rate of 11.7%.

How many on-campus sex offenses were reported there? The answer is 140, which means its per capita is 1.0531.

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Ramapo College is a small college in New Jersey. It’s good school – incoming freshman typically have a composite SAT range of 1485-1800 and the acceptance rate is 53.2%.

There are just over 6,000 students on campus at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Still, the campus reported 64 sex offenses last year and a per capita of 1.0085 sex offenses per 1,000 students.

The colleges filling out the top ten include:

University of Rochester
Brown University
Yale University
California State University – Monterey Bay
Northern Michigan University
Emory University

Remember, these figures only include reported data – they do not include the many sexual assaults and harassment cases that go unreported both to the school and the authorities.

Does this list of schools surprise you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education May 21, 2018

How Do Colleges Know How Much You Can Afford?

If you’ve ever had a conversation with students at a private college, you’ve probably realized that you all pay different rates of tuition – even though there is one official rate.

Different students pay different rates because colleges apply a method of pricing called price discrimination.

Price discrimination is a method of pricing where a product is sold based on the price the customer will pay. You might recognize it from the way an airline sells seats on a plane or a hotel sets the price of a room.

There’s a floor price and a ceiling price, but the final price offered to a student is the greatest price they’d be willing to pay for tuition so that the college can still sell them tuition.

How Do They Know What to Charge You?

Airlines use search history, customer profiles, and algorithms to sell a plane ticket. But how do colleges determine whether to charge a student the full rate of tuition or tuition at a 62% discount?

According to Ian Fillmore at VoxEU, colleges use US financial aid data from FAFSA to determine a student’s willingness to pay. This isn’t a violation of the data: FAFSA asks colleges to partner with the government in distributing financial aid to students.

Colleges have access to the six colleges an individual student applies to. They can then see the range in tuition the prospective student is considering it and can compare it with the student’s financial data.

As Fillmore points out, this works in the college’s favor because the government collects the data for them and it’s high-quality because there are punishments associated with lying on your FAFSA.

What Does This Mean for Students?

Price discrimination seems like a minor, esoteric detail in the grand scheme of higher education.

But there are consequences of price discrimination in colleges. Fillmore’s article provides insight into this through hard data.

If colleges couldn’t use FAFSA data, price variation among students at the same college would likely fall by 17%. Moreover, the price of tuition at an elite college would drop by $825 per student every year and there would be improvements in student welfare.

However, if colleges couldn’t use this data, it is more likely that tuition for students from low-income backgrounds would rise. It’s possible that 12% of students attending private elite colleges would be priced out of their school.

Ultimately, colleges decide how much to charge you based on your real income. Whether you like it or not, it is an important part of the current education system and the way tuition and financial aid are designed will need to take it into consideration in the future.

Matthew Lynch published in Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech, Higher Education, Higher Education EdTech May 20, 2018

My Vision For the Future of Flipped/Blended Learning

In the last ten years, education has changed exponentially with a massive shift in focus from transmission teaching to more student based approaches. A significant part of this change has been the adoption of blended and flipped teaching techniques. However, education is not a fixed idea anymore. Teachers, students, and schools will continue to adapt in the coming years. In the next ten years, I envision a continued evolution in classrooms around the world where blended and flipped learning will gain even more prominence.

Artificial Intelligence for Real Learning

One factor I expect to influence the landscape of blended learning is the adoption of AI in education. With the advent of smart tutoring systems and virtual reality classrooms, it’s only a matter of time before the everyday learning environment is transformed again. The current blended teaching model relies on learning management systems, class websites, and shared information systems to give students access to 24/7 learning.

However, I think that educators will soon embrace cooperation with AI tutoring systems to help students develop their understanding of online learning modules. Furthermore, I envision teachers recording lessons to be broadcast through virtual reality classrooms all over the world. The advancement in technology will allow children to interact in real time with recorded content, accessing information based on their responses to the content. This change will allow an interactive classroom experience from anywhere in the world, at any time.

Another valuable role for virtual reality in the classroom will be the ability to give students experiential learning they would otherwise never experience. New technology is already making virtual reality experiments and expeditions a possibility for students. I think the next ten years will see a marked development both in this technology and how it’s used by teachers. I imagine science classes exploring the universe through virtual reality courses and sociology courses providing safe virtual tours of countries and cultures around the world.

A Shift in Classroom Focus

While the current flipped teaching method uses classroom time to review learned content and engage in activities, I believe the coming years will see another shift in focus. Since students will be able to interact with online lessons via virtual reality and access personalized tutoring through AI, classroom time will be free for other uses. It’s my belief that the resulting educational advancement will see students connected to learning like never before.

I see educators using school hours for real-world exploratio n, personal development, and experimentation. Imagine schools where children go on nature hikes to learn about the environment, collect soil samples and analyze the world around them daily. I believe this will soon be a reality in everyday classrooms. Instead of a limited number of outings, experiments and projects to work around planned lessons, students will benefit from continued hands-on work supplemented by online courses, AI tutoring and virtual reality class discussions.

Only time will tell how the continued development of edtech will benefit and transform education. However, I think it’s safe to say that blended learning is just beginning to blossom in classrooms around the world. The incorporation of more advanced technology and dedication of teachers will drive flipped learning to improve and provide a better-personalized education experience over the next ten years.

For students, the progression will mean a more interactive school day and keenly intuitive online lessons. They will be able to relate hands-on learning with virtual classwork at their own pace. It is my opinion that the change can only benefit the state of k-12 education and the future of children across the world.

How do you think flipped learning will change over the next ten years? What new approaches have you adopted to help personalize your students’ experiences? We want to hear your perspective on the evolution of blended learning.