Approaching a New Normal? educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2024

The Executive Summary: 

This is the 13th report in a series of surveys tracking curricula discovery, selection, and adoption processes in U.S. higher education. The surveys have tracked the growth of digital materials and OER in higher education classrooms since 2009, providing trends on adoption and sentiments. The results also covered the abrupt transitions to remote teaching and return to in-person instruction during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey responses for this analysis were collected in April 2024, from a total of 3,447 faculty. The respondents come from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands.

The key takeaways from this year’s survey are:

• Fully face-to-face courses remained the most common modality in 2024, with three-quarters of faculty teaching at least one such course. That said, it remains below pre-pandemic levels. A smaller portion of faculty (40%) taught at least one course that was fully online.
• Digital options for required textbooks continue to grow. The majority of faculty (78%) have a required textbook for students for their largest enrolled course, and almost all required textbooks (92%) are offered in a digital format. Just 8% of courses only offered a print textbook, down from 12% last year.
• Faculty opinions on print versus digital materials remain conflicted and stable. The majority of faculty (79%) agree digital materials offer students greater flexibility, but a large number of faculty (41%) also agree that print materials are better for student learning. These rates are almost identical to 2022-23 results.
• Faculty awareness for licensing varies by the type of license. Faculty have the highest level of awareness for copyright (96% aware at any level), followed by public domain (90%), and finally Creative Commons (76%), all representing drops in awareness over 2022-23.
• In 2023-24, more than half of faculty (56%) were aware of OER at any level. However, OER awareness dropped 8% compared to 2022-23, to a level seen two years ago, in 2021-22. For the most part, differences were seen evenly across faculty characteristics like teaching modality, discipline, and institution type.
• There was a 3% decline in the rate of use of OER as required materials for 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, paralleling the decrease in OER awareness. Overall, 26% of all faculty reporting that they use OER as a required material in their courses.

Seaman, J.E and Seaman, J (2024). Approaching a New Normal? Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2024. Bay View Analytics.  https://www.bayviewanalytics.com/reports/oer_2024_new_normal.pdf (retrieved 9/6/2024).

Development and implementation of digital pedagogical support systems in the context of educational equity

 Because of COVID-19, using digital tools in education has become really important, especially in higher-level engineering classes. However, it has been hard to make sure that all students get a fair and equal education when taking online practical courses. To solve this problem, a digital teaching assistant system was created. This system helps teachers and students interact better and makes it easier to show what students have learned. It also has smart features to evaluate how well students are doing in their courses, using a special method that combines different criteria.

The study found that students using this system did better academically than those using other systems. Both teachers and students liked how the system improved communication and provided detailed reports on learning. The system was also better at ensuring fairness in recommending resources, encouraging interaction, and evaluating student achievements. Overall, it helps teachers in higher engineering subjects to improve their teaching plans and support students in learning practical skills, making education more fair for everyone.

blognote: This is fun to read, just because it is so dense.  The above synopsis was derived by copying the abstract into ChatGPT, and tweaking some of the language.

blognote2: the authors created an added value to a CMS that helped with assessment and then noted that good instructional design is needed.  Still a fun read just as a challenge.

Liu, Sf., Li, J., Zhang, Hq. et al. Development and implementation of digital pedagogical support systems in the context of educational equity. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11, 1084 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03616-y

From Forbes: Research Universities Love Research… Except When It Involves Learning

Admittedly, this is not research, but a feature story about the state of Educational Research about data driven decision making related to acquisition of educational technology.  The buried lead:

"A Columbia Teachers College study from 2019 found fewer than 20% of higher education buyers mention research as a factor in purchasing edtech and concluded that “educational technology decision-makers in higher education rarely use externally-produced, scientifically rigorous research to inform their decisions.” Four years and a pandemic later, little has changed. When a recent survey asked over 300 universities about the most important attributes for making edtech purchasing decisions (I was shown the results on condition of only revealing this much), here’s what mattered, in order of priority:

1. Ease of use
2. Price
3. Features
4. Services
5. Sophistication of AI
6. Evidence of outcomes"

Not a great picture...

Craig, R. (2023, November 27). Research Universities Love Research... Except When It Involves Learning. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2023/11/17/research-universities-love-research-except-when-it-involves-learning/?sh=36abaf7555ec

The Future of Data-Driven Student Analytics in Higher Education

A little outside our normal e-learning perspective but a nice overview of where we can place our efforts in a data driven institution...all apply to e-learning as a small aspect of the bigger point.

Bull, K. (2023, March 1). The Future of Data-Driven Student Analytics in Higher Education.  The Evolllution: A modern Campus Illumination.  https://evolllution.com/technology/metrics/the-future-of-data-driven-student-analytics-in-higher-education/

Regular Substantive Interaction: Empire State College

A resource from Empire State College regarding "regular substantive interaction".

The U.S. Department of Education issued Final Rules on Distance Education and Innovation in September 2020, with the rules going into effect on July 1, 2021. The new regulations update the definitions of distance and correspondence education with the intent to provide more clarity on the differences between these two modes of course delivery. The U.S. Department of Education requires that all online courses for which students may use Title IV funds (federal financial aid) include regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors. In short, regular and substantive interaction (RSI) is one of the key elements distinguishing distance education from correspondence education and thus one of the central determinates for students’ ability to use Title IV funds.

Four other critical factors distinguishing distance education from correspondence education are as follows:

• “Distance education should be delivered through an “appropriate” form of online media.
• Distance education must use instructor or instructors that meet accreditor requirements for instruction in the subject matter.
• There should be at least two forms of substantive interaction.
• There must be “scheduled and predictable” opportunities for instructor/student interaction.
• Instructors must be responsive to students’ requests for support” (U.S. Department of Education Issues Final Rules on Distance Education and Innovation | NC-SARA, 2020))

(SUNY Empire State College (n.d.). Background: Definitions of distance education and correspondence courses. Faculty Resources for Online Learning. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.esc.edu/dlis/design-your-course/regular-and-substantive-interaction/#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20regular%20and%20substantive,to%20use%20Title%20IV%20funds.\)

Accessibility Awareness Twitter Feed

Twitter Stream by @PatrickMGarvin related to Accessibility.  Lots of good tips...high frequency.  Newly created July 2022:

Helping you better understand web accessibility for people with disabilities, whether you're a student, teacher, journalist… whomever!

https://twitter.com/A11yAwareness

Cheating on Unproctored Online Exams: Prevalence, Mitigation Measures, and Effects on Exam Performance

Abstract:

As online courses become increasingly common at the college level, an ongoing concern is how to ensure academic integrity in the online environment. One area that has received particular attention is that of preventing cheating during unproctored online exams. In this study, we examine students’ behavior during unproctored exams taken in an online introductory biology course. A feature of the learning management platform used for the course gave us the ability to detect cheating behavior involving students leaving the test page and viewing other material on their computers. This allowed us to determine what proportion of students cheated and examine the efficacy of various measures to mitigate cheating. We also explored the relationship between cheating behavior and exam performance. We found that 70% of students were observed cheating, and most of those who cheated did so on the majority of test questions. Appealing to students’ honesty or requiring them to pledge their honesty were found to be ineffective at curbing cheating. However, when students received a warning that we had technology that could detect cheating, coupled with threats of harsh penalties, cheating behavior dropped to 15% of students. Unexpectedly, we did not find evidence that students’ exam performance changed when their cheating behavior changed, indicating that this common form of cheating might not be as effective as students, or their instructors believe it to be.

Pleasants, J., Pleasants, J.M. & B. Pleasants (2022). Cheating on Unproctored Online Exams: Prevalence, Mitigation Measures, and Effects on Exam Performance. Online Learning Journal. (https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/2620). Retrieved: 6/14/2022.