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Category: Students

Coronavirus (18…or so) – Positioned to Pivot

So, last week I suggested that the Fall term was likely both to start and finish online because of practical difficulties in pivoting halfway though in most institutions.  There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that most pivot scenarios assume that students who will start off learning at home are able to drop everything and find local accommodations with very short notice, and not all students are in a position to do that.  This would leave institutions either

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April 21, 2020 No Comments

Coronavirus (17, I think? Yes, 17) – The Future of Online Learning

Let’s talk about the future of online learning. Short term, we have the following problems:  1) The Fall term is going to be online.  2) Most institutions are not good at online.  3) The effort to go online is immense. 4) The cost of not going online is immense. 5) Institutions are already facing a $ crisis.   So, given this, who pays the cost? This is a really good question, and one that does not have a simple answer, mainly because

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April 20, 2020 3 Comments

Coronavirus (15) – Comparative Financial Carnage

Canadian universities and colleges have yet to release any figures about expected losses from coronavirus, but in other countries, estimates are popping up.  So, how bad might it get? Let’s start with the assumption that institutions in jurisdictions where institutions are supported mainly or entirely by government funds are the ones that are going to suffer the least.  I have yet to hear of any government anywhere making cuts in public funding to higher education during the emergency (ok, Alberta,

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April 14, 2020 No Comments

Coronavirus (11) – The International Student Imperative

Whatever the manifold benefits of a more internationalized student body, at many institutions in Canada, one reigns supreme: money.   It’s a problem everywhere in Canada, but in Ontario, British Columbia and Cape Breton in particular, international student fees make up huge portions of the institutional operating budget: rarely lower than 20% of income and in some cases reaching over 50%.  Partly through government neglect and partly through institutional avarice, institutions became hooked on international student money. And then came a crisis

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April 6, 2020 2 Comments

Approaches to Marking

Take a breath–this is my one non-corona blog this week.  Since it’s exam time and people are experimenting with new ways of assessment in the midst of an emergency, my mind has been turning around the issue of different methods of marking and assessment.  Not different approaches to grading (which is a whole other story – especially since Canada is one of the very few and possibly only country in the world where there is not a standard national approach to grading, and yes Carleton,

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April 2, 2020 1 Comment

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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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