Investments in technology, instructional design and faculty training are now the new norm as universities prepare for a permanent shift in post-pandemic academics.
During the keynote session of Fierce Education’s virtual summit, Higher Education Business & Leadership: Summer Edition, Jennifer Mathes, Chief Executive Officer of the Online Learning Consortium, and Jeff Maggioncalda, Chief Operating Officer of Coursera, discussed priority changes in academia and employability in preparing for digital careers of the future. This session, as well as the other sessions from the event, are available for viewing on-demand here.
Mathes opened Wednesday’s gathering by comparing pre- and post-inoculation higher education. She noted the changes in priorities as colleges settle into maximizing the benefits of hybrid teaching, rather than just reactive instruction.
Despite how much digital learning expanded in the past year, the Changing Landscape of Online Learning Education (CHLOE) reports that 80% of online learning officers expect the space to continue to grow in the next five years. Therefore, many universities are investing in faculty training so that they can increase the overall quality of online learning experiences. What was felt as “survival mode” when schools closed their campuses 15 months ago, is now an opportunity to create blended learning curriculum, with built in modules for faculty and student self-care.
“We are moving from strategic mass implementation into best practices,” Mathes said. “Faculty development has moved from ‘how,’ to ‘why,’ and now into ‘strategy’ building.”
Maggioncalda was also optimistic about the flexibility and accessibility that digital—against a backdrop of a student-first principle—is now bringing to education.
“Students prefer blended learning, so higher education will go where students prefer.”
Even as the pandemic forced many women to step back from the workforce, Coursera reported a lift in female enrollment from 42% prior to COVID-19, to 55% after. And, specifically within STEM courses, female enrollment jumped from 35% to 47%.
In addition, students and industries are looking to new types of blended learning opportunities to better prepare people for employability. According to employment site Monster, as many as 45% of U.S. graduates last year said they were still having trouble finding jobs. So, it’s the role of institutions to work on closing these gaps via customizable curricula that better fit the needs of employers.
Even before COVID-19, the world was starting to see a massive shift in the skills needed, requiring more knowledge of emerging technology concepts and tools.
“We increased the pace at which we digitize our workloads, so it puts pressure on career skills,” Maggioncalda said. He also noted that a 2020 Microsoft study predicts that jobs requiring digital skills today are around 41 million and will increase by 149 million in just the next five years. Therefore, universities are starting to think about how to retool curriculum to meet these digital demands.
Maggioncalda hears from schools all over the world that they are facing unprecedented levels of competition and so are making their offerings more desirable by implementing boot-camp courses or certificates as gateways to college degrees. For example, Boise State is offering students a gap year, where they can work and get credit for an independent study. Or other institutions are working with Google to offer a certificate that gives students entry-level computer skills for the technology field.
In fact, Coursera is crossing over some of its business solutions into its education solutions. For example, in February, the company launched a tool that allows businesses to set what skills they want and link it to employee searches. And now college campuses are saying that they want a glimpse into this new application so that they too can be training students for these jobs of the future.
“That linkage between business and university becoming more convenient and scalable in a digital world than it ever was before,” Maggioncalda said.
Another tool used for Coursera’s business sector allows clients to benchmark the skills of their current employees against peer groups. Universities are now interested in this software so that they can benchmark where the students are when they come into the school and where they need to be to get a job after graduation.
“Employers and students will increasingly look to universities to prepare graduates for the new digital economy,” Maggioncalda said. “With skills-first learning in their curricula, leading universities can bridge the employability gap.”