Improving Flexible Delivery and Student Retention for Fall: Eduvation Insider May 4 2020

May the Fourth Be With You!

You could be excused for feeling like the forces of darkness are in the ascendant, with all the dismal economic forecasts and student recruitment polls out there.  (“I’ve got a bad feeling about this...”) But even if you’re not the “chosen one,” you can still make a difference, by focusing on proactive student re-enrolment campaigns, redesigning courses that struggled with the migration to online this spring, cultivating a student pipeline for 2021, and rethinking course delivery to be even more flexible in ambiguous times. 

Read on!  There are some intriguing ideas on all these fronts, and more…

Budgets

uSask announced last week that it will lay off 500 employees unable to work from home for 12 weeks, and will top up the CERB to 85% of their salaries.  Star-Phoenix

“The Worst is Yet to Come”

Export Development Canada forecasts a drop in Canadian GDP of 9.4% this year, three times worse than the global average, thanks to a combination of all-time high household debt, trade tensions with China and the US, and plummeting oil prices. Accommodation and food services have lost 300,000 jobs alone. Q1 showed a significant drop, but “the worst is yet to come in the April-June period.” Strategy

Potential for Post-COVID Efficiencies?

While the negative financial impacts of the pandemic are in the millions or billions for many institutions, they are also seeing some short-term six-figure savings in facilities, operations, and events. Some of those savings could become permanent post-COVID, if colleges opt to allow more work-from-home, deliver more counselling services online, or repackage digital course materials as online courses. Education Dive

Will Students Pay More for Less?

Increasingly, US class-action lawsuits and op-eds have been arguing that students deserve a partial refund of tuition fees, because the final month of their year at college did not deliver as expected. Some campus presidents see a return to on-campus instruction as a necessity. Although some institutions are refunding pro-rated fees for housing, meal plans, and other ancillaries, as yet no-one has offered tuition back. Ron Lieber explores how to calculate the lost value, and how any refund could be financed. Ultimately, he expects pressure on tuition prices if this fall is delivered online, or many more entrance deferrals. NY Times

Enrolment

University Canada West reports that international enrolments for the summer term are down 25-50%, and that they do not expect to admit students physically on campus. “It’s going to be messy for quite a time,” says president Brock Dykeman. Business Vancouver

61% of Indian Students Likely to Defer

A new survey of 850 Indian students finds that 50% might consider deferring their study plans because of the economic and health impacts of COVID19. 35% are “very concerned” about the quality of online education, and 54% of those headed to Canada said they would defer if study were online.  PIE

Don’t Neglect Pipeline for 2021

This fall will be rough on international enrolments: surveys suggest at least 60% of students will defer their plans. But a panel of experts warns that institutions should be focusing now on the enrolment pipeline for 2021 and beyond. Recruitment events need to move online, prospective students have more questions than ever, competition will be more intense, and so institutions need to provide more personal attention. PIE

4 Ways to Improve Retention for the Fall

EAB’s Ed Venit recommends that institutions remove administrative holds and other barriers to fall registration; raise or redirect funds to emergency grants; plan a LOT of proactive re-enrolment campaigns this summer; and analyze the courses, faculty and students who struggled the most with the migration to alternative delivery. This can highlight necessary improvements and recovery initiatives if classes continue to be virtual this fall.  EAB

Pedagogy

Liberal Arts Colleges Struggle Online

Most institutions are now urging faculty to prepare for online delivery of courses this fall, if only as a contingency –accelerating a decade-long trend. The transition was toughest at the third of institutions with virtually no online experience, including some religious colleges, performing arts schools, and even Ivy League institutions. Boston U, for example, taught less than 2% of undergrads online last year. Small liberal arts colleges have depended most on the campus experience, and will suffer most if forced online this fall. Hechinger

Moving OCAD Online

Like all art and design universities, OCAD U had many students in hands-on studio courses when COVID19 shut down its campus. The Faculty & Curriculum Development Centre developed 9 online workshops for faculty, covering asynchronous learning, adapting studio projects for online delivery, flexibility and accessibility. ITS had an advantage because all OCAD students were already equipped with standardized laptops and software. OCAD

Course Delivery that Won’t Skip a Beat

Back on April 6, I observed that blended courses were increasingly inevitable for the way they improve learning outcomes, provide flexibility for non-traditional students, and cost savings over physical classrooms – but also for their capacity to provide academic continuity during campus disruptions, whether floods, wildfires, earthquakes, or pandemics. I also mentioned that a handful of institutions have been experimenting with a hybrid/flexible model they call “HyFlex,” in which students can choose on any given day whether to attend in class, tune in synchronously online, or interact with the course later, asynchronously. (ICYMI, you can read my full argument in “Lasting Impacts of COVID19”.) 

That prompted me to follow up with Dr Jenni Hayman, Chair of Teaching & Learning at Cambrian College, about their experience so far with HyFlex courses. Our interview makes for an interesting new episode of Ten with Ken!

Campus Updates

McGill announced Sunday directives for a safe and efficient transition back to on-campus research activities, set to start May 11. The Quebec government has prioritized health, natural sciences, forestry and engineering research. McGill

Concordia (Montréal) president Graham Carr reported on Friday that “our academic leadership is in deep planning mode, anticipating that we might have to deliver the term remotely…. I’m sure we can all recognize that fall 2020 will not resemble the start of a normal academic year.”  Concordia

UPEI is responding to the province’s 4-phase reopening plan by developing academic approaches for a variety of contingencies, from in-person to online, and an “operational ease-back plan” that moves to Stage 1 on May 25. (Management team and key individuals return to campus, with physical distancing.) Stage 2 will begin June 15, and Stage 3 in August will plan for the fall semester. UPEI

Sheridan president Janet Morrison observes in her message last week that “we’re in this for the long haul,” and it will be “a marathon, not a sprint.” As they plan for safety and optimal student experience, Sheridan also will “avoid cycles of opening up and shutting down” by allowing staff, researchers, and some students to return to campus in phases. Sheridan

Brock U announced on Friday that it will be opening 27 two-bedroom townhouses in its Village Residence to frontline healthcare workers.  Brock

Laurier is accepting residence applications for fall, but waiving the usual deposit in case physical distancing requirements reduce residence capacity and impact the residence guarantee. WLU

StFX has scheduled the class of 2020 convocation ceremony for May 7-9, 2021. StFX

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Ken Steele is Canada's leading higher ed futurist and strategic consultant, through his company Eduvation. He delivers virtual presentations and facilitates virtual retreats or workshops centred on emerging trends, enrolment management, pedagogical