Shows
The Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 100: The Key Podcast Hits 100 (Episodes)Three years ago, Inside Higher Ed created a podcast to try to give its audience insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting colleges, employees and students, with a particular focus on the more “invisible” students who too often fly under the radar of journalists and campus leaders.
This week’s episode, The Key’s 100th, features a discussion with Paul Fain, who as Inside Higher Ed’s news editor launched the podcast and nurtured it through its first year. Paul, whose newsletter The Job explores the intersection of employment and education, talks with The Key’s host, Doug Le...
2023-10-1125 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 99: Designing Courseware to Produce Equitable Outcomes“Gateway courses” are supposed to clear the path to fields of study, but for millions of students who struggle in those key classes, they often shut the door prematurely.
This week's episode of The Key digs into early efforts to develop courseware for 20 high enrollment courses that can make or break whether students from all backgrounds persist and ultimately complete their educations. The goal of the initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is to bring together colleges, companies and research organizations to build digital courses that can be used on dozens if not hundreds of camp...
2023-09-2634 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 98: Streamlining and Scaling Transfer for Equity’s SakeThe complex, confusing process by which students move between colleges has been an acknowledged barrier impeding postsecondary completion, particularly for underrepresented students. The issue is drawing increasing attention from policy makers, given rising concerns about value and equity.
This week’s episode of The Key looks at some of the transfer work being done by the major college and university systems that enroll a majority of today’s learners. Two experts participate in the discussion.
Dan Knox is director of the Institute for Systems Innovation and Improvement at the National Association of System Heads, known as N...
2023-09-1231 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdBonus Episode: Campus Interview with Stevens Institute of Technology Dean of Undergraduate Education Eve RiskinThe Key continues to share Inside Higher Ed’s latest collaboration with Times Higher Education – Campus Podcast. Eve Riskin, dean of undergraduate education at Stevens Institute of Technology, talks about the power of mentorship, diversity in excellence and what she, as an electrical engineer and computer scientist, thinks about the emergence of generative AI.
Episode sponsored by Stevens Institute of Technology.
2023-08-2132 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdBonus Episode: Campus Interview with Montclair State University President Jonathan KoppellThe Key shares Inside Higher Ed’s latest collaboration with Times Higher Education – Campus Podcast. This interview features Montclair State University President Jonathan Koppell as he discusses how universities can be more proactive in rebuilding public trust in higher education. It’s tied to accessibility and degree completion, he argues, and universities need to acknowledge their failures in meeting those objectives. Meanwhile, service learning and supporting minoritized groups are central to Dr. Koppell’s institutional strategy. And with many institutions in the US facing financial difficulties, he discusses his decision to merge Bloomfield College into the Montclair system.
2023-07-2444 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 97:Promoting Student Well-Being in Today’s Learning EnvironmentsThis week’s episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, builds off a great conversation that took place earlier this month at Digital Universities U.S., an event Inside Higher Ed co-hosted in Chicago with our partners from Times Higher Education. The conversation featured leaders from three very different institutions talking about how their institutions create online or blended educational experiences that build a sense of community and belonging for students, prepare faculty and staff members to respond to learners’ social and psychological needs as well as academic ones, and use data effectively.
Join...
2023-05-2536 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 96: Creating Higher Ed Experiences That Transform LivesAs public support belief in the value of higher education has steadily declined in recent years, most of the attention for turning that around has been on improving the career readiness of graduates and making college more affordable.
But an emergent group of college leaders believes the real key may be to ensure that all learners, regardless of background, have experiences in college that help them develop identity, agency and purpose with the goal of improving their well-being 30 years down the road.
This episode of The Key features a conversation with Richard K. Miller, president eme...
2023-05-1032 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 95: Redefining ‘Mental Health’ for Today’s College StudentsAre we in the midst of a mental health “crisis” for college students and other young people? How should campus administrators and faculty members be thinking about the mental health of their students and their roles in addressing it? And do we perhaps need to reframe the discussion around what “mental health” even is?
This week’s episode of The Key explores an issue that has been at or near the top of the worry list for those who work in and around higher education, as learners report record levels of depression, anxiety and other conditions; strain campus cou...
2023-04-2540 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 94: Higher Ed’s Longtime Chief Lobbyist, UnpluggedTerry Hartle retired last fall after 30 years as the chief government and public affairs officer at the American Council on Education, where he had a front-row seat to virtually every important higher education policy discussion. In this week’s episode of The Key, Hartle talks about the partisanship and inertia that afflicts today’s politics, politicians’ increased questioning and oversight of higher education, and the implications for colleges, their employees, and their students.
Hosted by Inside Higher Ed's Editor and Co-Founder Doug Lederman
2023-03-2235 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 93: Is For-Profit Higher Education on Its Last Legs?Does the possible sale of the University of Phoenix to a public university system signal the demise of the for-profit higher education sector that Phoenix once epitomized?
This week’s episode of The Key analyzes the implications of recent news that a nonprofit affiliated with the University of Arkansas System might buy the former giant among for-profit colleges. Joining the discussion are Kevin Kinser, who heads the department of Education Policy Studies at Pennsylvania State University; Julie Peller, executive director of the nonprofit Higher Learning Advocates and a longtime expert on federal higher ed policy; and Paul Fai...
2023-02-0834 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 92: Looking Back at DIY U and Ahead, With Anya KamenetzIn 2010, a book called DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education envisioned a wholesale shift in how people learned. More than a decade later, how has that panned out?
This week’s episode features a conversation with Anya Kamenetz, the author and journalist who in 2010 tapped into an emerging set of issues around student debt, rapid technological change and political upheaval to lay out a portrait of a world in which individuals could learn when and how they wanted and be far less dependent on instructors and institutions.
She discusses the cu...
2022-10-2621 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 91: The Pros and Cons of HyFlex InstructionDuring the pandemic, many colleges and universities embraced a form of blended learning called HyFlex, to mixed reviews. Is it likely to be part of colleges’ instructional strategy going forward?
This week’s episode of The Key explores HyFlex, in which students in a classroom learn synchronously alongside a cohort of peers studying remotely. HyFlex moved from a fringe phenomenon to the mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the experience was imperfect at best, for professors and students alike.
This conversation about the teaching modality features two professors who have both taught in the HyFlex form...
2022-10-2135 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 90: How Colleges Are Defining and Measuring Their ValueColleges are under growing pressure to prove their “value” to students, parents, legislators and others. The scrutiny can be uncomfortable, but more institutions are responding with serious efforts to measure and explain their value.
This week’s episode of The Key, the last in a three-part series on value in higher education, examines the data and metrics we’re using now – and those we might use going forward – to gauge the value colleges and universities are providing to their students and other constituents.
The conversations include Michael Itzkowitz, senior fellow in higher education at the center-left...
2022-09-3045 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 89: How Federal and State Policies Judge Colleges ‘Value’As recently as a decade ago, the concept of “value” rarely found its way into discussions about federal and state policymaking about higher education. Now it’s unusual to hear a meaningful conversation that doesn’t raise the issue.
This week’s episode of The Key, the second in a three-part series on the value of higher education, examines how politicians and policy makers are responding to growing public doubt about the value of colleges and credentials by defining and trying to measure whether individual institutions and academic programs are benefiting consumers.
Guests include Clare McCann, who...
2022-09-2136 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp.88: The Public’s Growing Concerns About Higher Ed’s ‘Value’For decades, colleges and universities enjoyed almost unquestioned public support as some of America’s most important institutions. Like most institutions, they’ve been knocked off that pedestal in recent years, amid growing questions not about whether higher education remains important but whether it’s available, affordable and valuable enough.
This week’s episode of The Key is the first in a three-part series on the concept of “value” in higher education, made possible by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The topic has gotten increasing attention as college prices and student debt continue to rise and policy makers devel...
2022-09-1527 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp.87: Colleges’ Financial Situations and Institutional TransformationMost business officers are upbeat about their colleges’ financial future. Why is that so, and are they right to be so optimistic?
This week's episode of The Key features a discussion about Inside Higher Ed’s 2022 Survey of College and University Business Officers, which generally found college chief financial officers feeling pretty good about how their institutions are faring and how they’re positioned for the future.
The episode explores the survey’s results, but also digs into whether financial and other leaders in higher education think their institutions need to make meaningful changes in how they...
2022-07-2831 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp.86: Reprise: Mergers and Major Cross-College CollaborationsMany people in higher education recoil at the idea of merging institutions, and it’s little wonder: in most such arrangements, one institution swallows the other, which virtually disappears. But that doesn’t mean the alternative is for every college to remain an island unto itself.
Recent events – last month’s merger between Saint Joseph’s University and University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and last week’s news that Antioch University and Otterbein University are teaming up to create a new national system of nonprofit colleges and universities – make this an opportune time to revisit an April 2021 discu...
2022-07-2043 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp.85: Reading the Tea Leaves on the College Enrollment DropCollege and university enrollments – particularly at community colleges – continue to plummet. Have they bottomed out? Will they recover if the economy cools off as expected? Has enrollment dropped to a new lower plateau that’s likely to be the baseline going forward?
This week’s episode of The Key explores the 7.5 percent decline that college enrollments have suffered since the pandemic, with a focus on community colleges that enroll working learners and first-generation students, which have been especially hard hit.
Digging into the reasons behind the enrollment declines and offering some insights into what’s ahead are...
2022-06-2234 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 84: Defining the Role of Digital Learning on CampusHow are colleges and universities going about rethinking their teaching and learning strategies in the wake of widescale experimentation with digital instruction?
This week’s episode is the last of a three-part series on digital teaching and learning, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The first two episodes explored how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped what researchers and practitioners know about the role of technology in learning, and how well the hundreds of ed-tech companies that work with colleges, professors and students meet the needs of the institutions and their people and what they can do better....
2022-06-0128 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 83: What Colleges and Instructors Need From Ed-Tech CompaniesThe last two years disrupted many aspects of higher education, and the educational technology market -- and the relationship between colleges and companies – are no exception.
This week’s episode of The Key explores how well the many hundreds of ed-tech companies that work with colleges, professors and students actually meet the needs of the institutions and their people, where they fall short, and how they can do better.
The discussion includes two guests who’ve sat at the intersection of where technology meets teaching and learning. Kara Monroe is the founder of Monarch Strategies, a cons...
2022-05-2528 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 82: What Have We Learned About Digital Learning?This week’s episode of The Key explores whether and how the landscape of digital teaching and learning has been changed by the last two years of global pandemic, recession, upheaval over racial justice, and more.
Participants in the conversation are Shanna Smith Jaggars, assistant vice provost of research and program assessment in Ohio State University’s Office of Student Academic Success, and Jessica Rowland Williams, director of Every Learner Everywhere, which pursues equitable outcomes in higher education through advances in digital learning.
In our discussion, they explore such topics as whether student expectations have chan...
2022-05-1834 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 81: The Top Federal Higher Ed Policy Maker SpeaksStudent loan debt forgiveness. Free community college. Pell Grants for short-term programs. Those are just some of the higher education issues occupying the federal policy landscape in Washington.
This week’s episode of The Key features a conversation with Under Secretary James Kvaal, the Education Department’s senior official on higher education. He discusses the administration’s current thinking about those and other issues, including the challenges of operating in a highly partisan era.
Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Editor Doug Lederman.
2022-05-1118 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 80: The Evolving Conversation About Quality in Online LearningHas higher education’s forced experimentation with remote learning changed how students, professors, colleges and the public view online education? And will it make them more or less likely to participate in it?
This week's episode of The Key explores Inside Higher Ed’s recent report, The Evolving Conversation About Quality in Online Learning.” The report examines a wide range of issues around the current and future state of technology-enabled learning to try to help administrators and faculty members prepare to deliver high-quality virtual instruction, however it fits into their institutional missions.
Lori Williams, president and CEO...
2022-05-0422 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 79: Withholding Transcripts to Collect Student DebtThis week's episode of The Key explores why some institutions use those policies and why consumer advocates think they're pernicious, even though they're only a small fraction of the $1.7 trillion student debt problem in American higher education.
Martin Kurzweil, director of the institutional transformation program at Ithaka S+R, discusses research on what it calls “stranded credits” that colleges sometimes hold hostage from former students and a promising experiment that could offer a way out for students and colleges alike.
Melanie Gottlieb, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, explains why...
2022-04-2934 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 78: Dropping the Degree as a Hiring RequirementLast month the State of Maryland announced that it would no longer require a bachelor’s degree in the hiring process for nearly half of its jobs, joining a growing number of companies and other employers.
Some people in higher education might view steps like that as a slight, since Maryland and other employers are responding in part to questions about the value of degrees and growing concerns about the cost – and opportunity cost – of earning one.
But in this week’s episode of The Key, Bridgette Gray of the nonprofit group Opportunity@Work, which is helpi...
2022-04-2036 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 77: Turnover, Burnout and Demoralization in Higher EdEmployers of all kinds are struggling to hold on to their employees in the wake of the pandemic and amid a white-hot job market. Data recently released by the University of North Carolina system, for instance, shows that faculty and staff turnover in the first half of this academic year was about 40 percent higher than the average of the last four years.
Are colleges and universities just dealing with the same issues other industries are facing? Or are there unique problems in higher ed that campus leaders need to acknowledge?
This week’s episode of Th...
2022-04-1435 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 76: Reprise | Combatting Student CheatingIn the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, student academic misconduct spiked, and an episode of The Key explored the reasons why and steps colleges and professors might take to combat it.
The issue hasn’t gone away, even though a lot of instruction has returned to the physical classroom. So this week we revisit the February 2021 conversations, which remain timely and relevant.
First up is Bradley Davis, associate director of the office of student conduct at North Carolina State University, who discusses the steps the university took in response to a roughly three-fold increase in ac...
2022-04-0744 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 75: Anticipating Higher Education’s Near Future(s)How has the COVID-19 pandemic and the other upheaval of the last couple of years changed the outlook for colleges, their students and their employees?
Bryan Alexander is a writer, author, teacher and “futurist.” He wrote the 2020 book Academia Next and hosts his own series of video conversations, The Future Trends Forum.
In this week’s episode of The Key podcast, he first explains the work of professional futurists, and how they differ from other kinds of analysts who operate as if they owned crystal balls. Then Alexander explores a wide range of topics about how th...
2022-04-0122 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 74: Transforming Higher Ed, Live from SXSWEdu“Transformation” is a buzzword in today’s world, and it’s easy to talk about why it’s necessary. But how do you actually do the hard work of bringing about change within a college or university?
This week's episode of The Key features highlights from a panel session at this month's SXSWedu conference in Austin, Tex. The discussion, heavy on practical advice for leading change within and across institutions, includes Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College; Michelle Weise, vice chancellor for strategy and innovation at the National University System; and Bridget Burns, executive director of the Univers...
2022-03-2426 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 73: HBCUs Team Up to Go DigitalLike a lot of undergraduate-focused, smaller institutions, historically black colleges and universities typically went online selectively, sporadically – or not at all. But that’s beginning to change, thanks to significant multi-college collaborations and help from funders increasingly recognizing the value and importance of these underresourced institutions.
This week’s episode of The Key examines several major initiatives in which major philanthropies, corporations and nonprofit organizations are helping groups of HBCUs strengthen their ability to reach and serve students by improving their digital infrastructures, training their faculty and launching a joint platform for virtual courses.
Featured on tod...
2022-03-1838 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 72: Why Colleges Are Hiring More Non-White PresidentsIt only took a few decades, but colleges and universities are hiring more Black and brown presidents to lead their institutions.
This week's episode digs into data Inside Higher Ed published last month showing a big upturn in the proportion of minority presidents and chancellors that colleges hired in the year and a half after the death of George Floyd. Better than one in three presidents hired from June 2020 through November 2021 were people of color, a full quarter were Black, and the proportion of Latinx presidents who were appointed roughly doubled from the previous 18 months.
Tw...
2022-03-0432 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 71: Injecting Social Mobility Into the Carnegie ClassificationsThe Carnegie Classifications are an enduring institution in higher education – but they’re about to undergo a facelift that could be dramatic.
This week’s episode of The Key explores the recent news that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching -- which created the main system we use to differentiate among types of colleges and universities about 50 years ago – had chosen the American Council on Education, the largest and most diverse association of college presidents, to remake and run the classifications going forward.
Tim Knowles of Carnegie and Ted Mitchell of ACE discuss the new...
2022-02-2247 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 70: The Impact of COVID-19 Learning DisruptionCollege students almost certainly lost ground academically during the pandemic. But do we know how much? And what should colleges do about it?
This week’s episode explores a free report Inside Higher Ed published in December, “Back on Track: Helping Students Recover From COVID-19 Learning Disruption.”
It examines the available evidence about how the pandemic affected students’ educational paths, and finds, somewhat unsurprisingly, that most colleges really don’t know whether their students suffered what in the K-12 context is often called “learning loss” or “learning disruption.” But that doesn’t mean they aren’t adapting their pract...
2022-02-0731 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 69: A Major Cross-College CollaborationColleges tend to compete rather than collaborate. That’s why a new five-college cooperative in New Mexico is so unusual.
This week’s episode explores the Collaborative for Higher Education Shared Services, or CHESS. It’s made up, so far, of five independent community colleges in New Mexico that have teamed up because they think they’re stronger together than apart.
They’ve started by agreeing to create a common enterprise resource planning structure to share resources and information in areas such as accounting, student records, human resources and payroll, but the vision ultimately includes many of th...
2021-11-2919 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 68: Higher Ed’s Flexible Work FutureThe era of flexible work in higher education has begun.
The pandemic drastically altered our collective relationship with work in the moment, but how will faculty, staff and administrative jobs look differently going forward? In this week’s episode, administrators at two institutions that are addressing these questions head-on discuss their approaches.
Natalie McKnight is dean of the College of General Studies at Boston University and co-chair of its Committee on the Future of Staff Work, whose recommendations underpinned the university’s new policy allowing many employees to work up to two days a week from...
2021-11-1938 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 67: Community College Bachelor’s Degrees Gain GroundIn the last month, California enacted a law that could greatly expand the number of bachelor’s degree programs being offered by the state’s 116 community colleges. And Arizona approving legislation allowing massive systems like the Maricopa Community Colleges to award their own four-year degrees for the first time.
Half of all states now enable their community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees, but how many, and in what fields, remain a source of contention in many places. Advocates for the programs say they fill essential gaps left by four-year institutions in their states in providing educational opportunities to a...
2021-11-1223 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 66: Enrollment Declines, No Free Community College: Higher Ed’s Rough WeekAre politicians and the public losing faith in higher education?
Last week delivered unwelcome news to colleges and universities. New data from the National Student Clearinghouse showed that college enrollments tumbled again this fall, with hundreds of thousands fewer students opting to start or continue their educations than even during the heart of the pandemic last fall.
And a scaled-back version of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act contained about $40 billion in new funds for colleges and their students -- barely a third of the previous iteration and missing key initiatives such as much-touted tu...
2021-11-0434 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 65: Debating the Value of College Arts (and Other) ProgramsFederal data now allow anyone who wishes to identify academic programs whose graduates on average earn more than enough to repay their student debt -- or don’t. As journalists and think tank analysts dissect the data, many of the programs whose graduates don’t earn enough to repay their debt prepare people for industries that don’t pay very well but that society values, such as teaching or the clergy.
Degrees in the arts are a particular target. In this week’s episode of The Key, New America’s Kevin Carey and Doug Dempster, former dean of the Col...
2021-10-2837 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 64: A Struggling College’s Plea for Help“Time is growing short.” That’s how Bloomfield College’s president, Marcheta P. Evans, described the struggling private college’s situation this week in an atypical plea for help.
Bloomfield, whose students are overwhelmingly black, Hispanic and from low-income backgrounds, acknowledged that it won’t make it through the 2022-23 academic year in its current condition, and asked for help from potential philanthropists and partner institutions to keep its mission alive.
In this week’s episode, Marcheta Evans discusses the New Jersey college’s unexpected approach to an increasingly common plight. She explains why it chose to go publ...
2021-10-2129 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 63: We Are All Data PeopleData is a four-letter word in some quarters of higher education, even as many people call for colleges and universities to get better at using data and analytics to support institutional decision-making. Plenty of academics equate discussions about “data” with an overemphasis on efficiency or productivity or accountability, and worry that college leaders will put algorithms and numbers ahead of thoughtful analysis.
Amelia Parnell strongly believes in the power of good information to help college faculty and staff members make better decisions. But in her new book, “You Are a Data Person: Strategies for Using Analytics on Campus...
2021-10-1428 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 62: Amazon’s Approach to Employee Education and TrainingThis episode explores the retailer’s $1.2 billion investment in helping workers earn degrees -- and how it reflects the complicated, sometimes conflictual relationship between colleges and employers.
Last month Amazon announced a plan to spend $1.2 billion by 2025 to expand its employee education and training offerings, which include a set of internal programs but also cover the full cost of academic programs up to bachelor’s degrees for its front-line workers.
In this week’s episode of The Key, Amazon’s vice president for workforce development, Ardine Williams, discusses the company’s new investments as well as its rel...
2021-10-0520 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 61: Putting Career Readiness at Higher Ed’s CoreMany employers and critics of higher education think many colleges and universities focus too little on ensuring that their graduates thrive after they leave, and favor holding institutions accountable for how their students fare in the job market. That’s unpalatable to a lot of academics, who view a college education as about more than how much you earn.
The guests in this week's episode, Wake Forest University’s Andy Chan and Christine Cruzvergara of Handshake, endorse the view that colleges and universities should be collecting and sharing data about how well they are preparing students for succes...
2021-09-2927 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 60: COVID’s Impact on the Return to CampusDespite our expectations and hopes, here we are in another COVID fall. This week’s episode of The Key examines how the pandemic is affecting institutions, students and employees as most colleges and universities strive to keep their reopened campuses … open.
Elizabeth Redden, a senior reporter who has driven Inside Higher Ed’s coverage of the pandemic since its earliest days, joins The Key to discuss a wide range of issues:
Enormous variation in how the coronavirus – and politics related to the pandemic -- are playing out in different parts of the country.
How students are complyin...
2021-09-2326 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 59: Reshaping the Federal Role in Higher EdThe Biden administration has promised once-in-a-generation investments and changes in higher education. Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives this month would take meaningful steps in that direction.
This week’s episode of The Key digs into what could end up being one of the most significant pieces of federal higher education policy making in many years: the Build Back Better Act. It includes the American College Promise, his plan to make community college tuition-free, significantly expanded funding for Pell Grants, and, for the first time, a fund that would give colleges incentives for retaining their students an...
2021-09-1739 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp 58: Teaching and Learning in (Another) Fluid FallMost of us had hoped for a lot more stability this fall, but here we are. For those of you involved in teaching and learning at your colleges and universities, that means continuing to live in that sometimes uncomfortable space you’ve inhabited for the last 18 months: Will my class have to go remote tomorrow? Have I designed my course to withstand that kind of disruption? Can I be effective no matter what setting we’re in?
These may not be fleeting questions for institutions and instructors, as higher education deals with a new reality that whether it’s...
2021-09-0829 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 57: Career and Technical Education Goes HybridMuch higher education coverage related to COVID-19 focused on 18-year-old students being displaced from their dorms and listening to history lectures or watching biology videos in their childhood bedrooms. Relatively little attention was paid to the pandemic’s impact on career and technical education, much of which involves hands-on learning.
In this week’s episode of The Key, Shayne Spaulding, a senior fellow in the income and benefits policy center at the Urban Institute, discusses research the think tank released this spring about how the pandemic may have changed the role of online and blended learning in comm...
2021-08-1929 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 56: A New Pathway for Working Adults?A wide range of education and training providers strive to help working adults enter or advance in the workforce. Community colleges and a growing number of other nonprofit and for-profit universities are intensifying their longstanding efforts. Companies like Amazon, Google and others are investing in their own programs, with and without colleges. And an almost endless array of startups, funded by investors seeing a new market, are creating shorter, less expensive programs aimed at getting people into well-paying jobs fast and without significant time out of the workforce.
This episode of The Key explores another approach to...
2021-08-0534 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 55 Resetting, Not “Fixing,” Student TransferThe set of programs, policies and pathways by which learners move between colleges and universities is complex and often incoherent. Many students enter the transfer maze and never get through it, costing them time and money.
That’s especially problematic because the students who seek to transfer are disproportionately those whom higher education has historically served least well – students from low-income backgrounds, members of underrepresented minority groups, working learners.
This week’s episode of The Key discusses the work of the Tackling Transfer Policy Advisory Board. The group of national experts convened to try to “fix” tra...
2021-07-2926 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 54: Dealing With Students’ Learning Loss“Learning loss” – the idea that students failed to stay on their previous trajectory – has been much discussed in K-12 education during the pandemic. We hear far less about it in higher education, even though students and faculty members alike consistently say they believe students have learned less in the last year than they usually do.
In this week’s episode of The Key, we discuss what colleges and universities will be facing as most prepare to welcome students back to their physical classrooms this fall, and how professors and staff members who work with students might go about unde...
2021-07-2038 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 53: College Students’ Expectations for the FallStudents have offered mixed assessments of their learning experiences during the pandemic year. Many of them have complained about the lack of interaction with peers and professors in virtual environments, but appreciated the flexibility they gained in when and how they learned.
With many colleges planning a significant if not full return to their physical campuses this fall, what will students be expecting from their institutions and their professors when it comes to learning?
Have the last 15 months reinforced their appreciation for learning in person, or will they expect to have the option to attend...
2021-07-1441 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 52: Preparing for a Fall of Caring for StudentsMany college students and professors will return to their physical campuses this fall, and it’s tempting to think things will return to “normal” when they do. But given the events of the past 15 months, what happens in the classroom come September is likely to be anything but normal.
In this week’s episode of The Key, Mays Imad, professor of pathophysiology and biomedical ethics and coordinator of the Teaching & Learning Center at Pima Community College, looks both back at what students and instructors experienced during the past year and ahead at how they can prepare to teach, l...
2021-07-0838 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 51: Race, Leadership and Engaging With Contrary ViewpointsListening to alternative points of view isn’t a particularly favored activity in many corners of society these days. But it remains one of the best ways – perhaps one of the only ways – of bridging the many divides (racial, economic, cultural) currently afflicting many aspects of our world. So argues Ronald A. Crutcher, president of the University of Richmond and author of I Had No Idea You Were Black: Navigating Race on the Road to Leadership (Clyde Hill Publishing).
In this week’s episode of The Key, Crutcher discusses his leadership style, his views on campus race relations...
2021-06-2939 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 50: A Better ‘Transcript’ for Learners and EmployersWhat skills, knowledge and abilities do students develop as they navigate through college? How do students themselves know, and how do institutions arm their graduates to show prospective employers what they know and can do?
This week’s episode explores an effort to iterate beyond the academic transcript, which has historically been the main tool available to students, institutions and employers alike to sum up what’s gained during the college experience. And a not very effective one at that.
In this episode, Insiya Bream, assistant vice provost for data and systems at the University of M...
2021-06-2230 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 49: The Future of the Physical CampusThe COVID-19 pandemic forced almost every college or university to make do without a physical campus at some point in the last 15 months. But many students and employees yearned to return, and most institutions anticipate resuming at least quasi-normal in-person operations this fall.
But changes in how students learn and employees work will almost certainly compel most colleges and universities to reassess how they use their physical campuses – one of the many ways institutions may rethink how they best fulfill their missions.
This episode of The Key podcast examines that landscape by looking at the Un...
2021-06-1641 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 48: The (Appropriate) Federal Role in Ensuring College ValueStudents and state and federal governments alike are asking increasingly hard questions about the return on their investment in postsecondary education, as tuitions and debt grow.
In this episode of The Key, which is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, three experts with a diverse set of perspectives discuss the government role in ensuring value from academic institutions and programs: the complexity of any attempt to formally measure postsecondary value; the importance of focusing on historically underrepresented students; and the centrality of the federal role in holding colleges accountable.
Jamienne S. Studley is president an...
2021-06-0940 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 47: Gauging College Value Primarily in Economic Terms: Pro and ConMost Americans say they pursue a degree or other credential after high school to improve their job or career prospects. So many efforts to judge the value of a college credential have focused exclusively on graduates’ income. A new report from the Postsecondary Value Commission expands that definition, considering other, longer-term economic measures (such as economic mobility and wealth) and recognizing the non-economic benefits that accrue to individuals and society when people get more postsecondary education.
But ultimately, the report from the commission recommends that institutions and programs be judged primarily by economic outcomes – and analysts are divi...
2021-05-2633 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 46: Defining and Measuring ‘Value’ in Postsecondary EducationRapid growth in college debt and families’ out-of-pocket expenditures on higher education, along with complaints from employers about the preparedness of the people they hire, have intensified questioning about the value of postsecondary degrees and credentials.
This week’s episode of The Key explores a report from a high-powered group of policy makers, college leaders, researchers and others that proposes a new way of judging whether colleges and programs are providing a good return on investment to their students – with a particular focus on whether they’re ensuring equity. The report comes from the Postsecondary Value Commission, which wa...
2021-05-1338 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 45: Debate: Using Pell Grants for Very Short-Term ProgramsCongress is considering expanding use of the federal government’s main postsecondary grant program to cover enrollment in training programs as short as eight weeks. Supporters – community college leaders, corporations and advocates for a more skilled workforce – believe the change is essential to serve tens of millions of Americans who don’t have the money or time for degree and other longer-term programs. Those who oppose “short-term Pell,” though, say proponents exaggerate the quality and value of most short-term credentials and that this change will exacerbate existing equity gaps that leave Black, brown and low-income Americans behind.
In this epis...
2021-04-2832 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 44: Judging Colleges By Their Students’ Career OutcomesGetting a job or improving career success is a primary reason why many students pursue a postsecondary degree or other credential. So it’s logical to assess the performance of colleges and universities – at least partially – by how their students fare after they leave.
This week’s episode of The Key examines a new way of judging colleges and universities based on how quickly their students recoup what they spent out of pocket for their degree or certificate. (Spoiler alert: students at one-fifth of institutions still hadn’t gotten a return on their investment within a decade.) Michael It...
2021-04-1429 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 43: Mergers and Other ‘Transformational Partnerships’Merger is something of a dirty word in higher education, given that most of them are takeovers in which one college usually disappears. But as financial, demographic and other changes force many colleges to consider significant changes in how they operate, a cross-institutional collaboration of one sort or another – be it sharing of back-office operations, cooperation on academic programs or a merger – is likely to grow.
In this week’s episode of The Key, we discuss the Transformation Partnerships Fund, a new philanthropic effort to encourage colleges and universities to contemplate alliances that can better help them serve...
2021-04-0644 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 42: Making Room for Adult StudentsAdult students are key to meeting the postsecondary attainment goals in many states and the U.S., given the projected enrollment declines in traditional college-age Americans. Yet adults remain underrepresented in higher education, and they’ve been disproportionately hurt by the pandemic and ensuring recession.
This episode of The Key explores the landscape of current and prospective adult learners, examining why they often struggle to find their way to and through college, the institutional practices and government policies that can hamper them, and possible approaches to eliminating those obstacles. We talk with Su Jin Jez, exec...
2021-03-3031 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 41: The Pandemic’s Impact on Open Educational Resources (OER)Use of free, openly licensed textbooks and other curricular materials have been on the rise amid growing concerns about college affordability. But uptake stalled last year as professors and students struggled with the transition to digital learning and the tumult of their lives, a new annual report on usage of OER finds.
This week’s episode of The Key examines the state of open educational resources and other affordable textbook options with Jeff Seaman, co-director of Bay View Analytics and the author of the OER report; Robbie Melton, a professor of educational administration at Tennessee State University an...
2021-03-2333 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 40: Higher Ed’s New Digital DivideInequality in digital access is not a new problem in higher education – but COVID-19 has spotlighted just how much some students struggle to stay connected to their colleges and universities because they lack adequate technology, sufficient internet access or safe, quiet places to study. This week’s episode of The Key delves into topics such as digital inequity, broadband access for online education, and digital literacy with Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed’s technology reporter and author of our new report, “Bridging the Digital Divide: Lessons from COVID-19;” Lori Williams, president and CEO of the National Council for State Authorizat...
2021-03-0941 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 39: Introducing "Student Voice"This episode explores Inside Higher Ed's news hub featuring student polling data, news and analysis to ensure that the perspective of college students is heard on the issues that matter in higher education.
Student Voice's editor, Melissa Ezarik, discusses the goals of the new collaboration between Inside Higher Ed, College Pulse and Kaplan, and shares the findings of the first survey, which examines whether students feel "heard" in their classrooms and on their campuses. And Matthew To, a senior at Cal Poly Pomona, shares his thought on how campuses can create environments that not only invite students...
2021-03-0228 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 38: Combatting Cheating in the COVID EraMany colleges are seeing increases in reports of academic misconduct. In this episode, North Carolina State University’s Bradley Davis discusses a nearly three-fold increase in academic violations, what’s causing it, and how university officials are responding to it. And two national experts, David Rettinger and Kate McConnell, explore steps faculty members and administrators can take both to minimize cheating and to build a culture of academic integrity – with the goal of improving student learning at the same time.
2021-02-1644 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 37: Assessing Last Fall’s Instruction, From the Faculty PerspectiveDo professors believe their virtual teaching improved with more time to prepare? Did institutions step up their training and support for instructors? And did some students fare better than others in the online and blended classroom? This week’s episode explores those questions with Kristen Fox of Tyton Partners and Jessica Rowland Williams of Every Learner Everywhere – with answers both heartening and troubling.
2021-02-0234 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 36: The Fall Enrollment Picture and Peril for Post-Traditional StudentsThis episode features Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, and Juana Sánchez, senior associate on the HCM Strategists postsecondary team. We analyze the national data on postsecondary enrollment, with a focus on the particularly damaging impact the pandemic and the recession have had on the most vulnerable students – those from underrepresented minority groups and low-income backgrounds, working learners and adults.
2021-01-1939 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 35: The Year in ReviewThis episode looks back at 2020 and the podcast's eight months of discussions about the impact of the pandemic on higher education and vulnerable college students.
Erin Hennessy, a vice president at TVP Communications, joined us to talk about what we learned during this unprecedented year. The episode also features portions of interviews from the previous 34 episodes, including discussions about the pivot to distance education, the difference between "toxic positivity" and trying to be hopeful, the enrollment hit felt to the industry (particularly community colleges) and how the pandemic exposed and exacerbated pre-existing problems in higher ed.
2020-12-3145 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 34: Serving Working Students With Innovation and AgilityThis episode features leaders from Purdue Global University and Broward College in Florida, two institutions that are focused on offering credentials that work for under-served student groups, including students who hold down jobs while pursuing credentials.
Gregory Adam Haile, Broward's president, talked about the college's work to add short-term credentials that are stackable and feature embedded professional certifications. He also talked about how the college travels into its community to help find students who may not be interested in pursuing a degree right now.
We also spoke with Frank Dooley, chancellor of Purdue Global University...
2020-12-1537 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 33: Expanding Online Through PartnershipsMany colleges and universities have partnered with ed tech companies to help expand their online offerings. This episode looks at two different approaches to partnering online.
We spoke with Andrew Clark, the founder, president and CEO of Zovio, a publicly traded education technology services company that just closed on the sale of its online Ashford University to the University of Arizona. Clark talked about the partnership between Zovio and the new University of Arizona Global Campus as well as his take on emerging business models in online education.
Also featured in this episode is Jill...
2020-12-0835 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 32: Student Wellbeing During the Fall TermMany colleges and universities wrapped up their fall terms before Thanksgiving. We spoke with officials from two institutions -- Paul Quinn College and the University of Notre Dame -- about their efforts to protect the health and wellbeing of students this fall.
Michael Sorrell, Paul Quinn's president, talked about how the work college sought to stay connected with students during an online term. He also described his take on how college leaders should look out for students' best interests.
Christine Gebhardt, the University of Notre Dame's assistant vice president for student services, talked with us...
2020-12-0239 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 31: Cal State's Next ChancellorJoseph I. Castro, Fresno State's president, will become chancellor of the California State University System in January. The system is one of the nation's largest, enrolling roughly 500,000 students across 23 campuses.
Castro talked about his top priorities as he steps into the new role, including to continue Cal State's push to improve student completion rates while cutting achievement gaps. He also discussed the need for state, federal and philanthropic investment to help Cal State students stay on track.
Tim White, the system's current chancellor, joined us in May to discuss the system's early decision to stick...
2020-11-2418 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 30: The Pandemic and College AthleticsThis year has been filled with challenges for college athletics, as programs wrestle with safety protocols, COVID-19 outbreaks, game cancellations and the elimination of some team sports amid widespread financial pain.
To help get a handle on where things stand -- and where they're headed -- we spoke with Amy Privette Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission, a nonprofit organization of college leaders focused on reforming athletics.
Perko spoke about big-time college football's season so far, budget crises, revenue distribution and the commission's top priorities -- including changes to FBS football.
This podcast...
2020-11-1728 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 29: Next Steps for Competency-Based EducationSome experts think competency-based learning could get a boost amid the pandemic, in part because of the flexibility CBE programs offer to students.
To get the lay of the land, we spoke with Charla Long, executive director of the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), a national consortium of colleges and systems. Long talked about the outlook for CBE and what might take it to the next level.
We also spoke with Dick Senese, the president of Capella University. Senese described how Capella began focusing on competencies long ago and was among the first to offer direct...
2020-11-1034 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 28: Student Anxiety and Career ExplorationA growing body of evidence finds high student anxiety and uncertainty about what comes after college.
To get a better sense of how students are feeling, we spoke with Livia and Julia Morris, recent UC Davis grads who conducted a survey of college students around the country. The survey featured questions about career exploration.
We also spoke with Kai Drekmeier, the founder and chief development officer at InsideTrack, which offers coaching and other supports to students. Drekmeier talked about rising student demand for crisis help and what that means for higher education.
This...
2020-11-0438 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 27: The State of Student TransferStudent transfer is down this fall, with new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center showing the anticipated influx of students transferring to community colleges from four-year institutions didn't happen.
To make sense of these numbers, we spoke Iris Palmer, a senior advisor for higher education and workforce with the education policy program at New America. Palmer talked about state policies and incentives to help students transfer more seamlessly.
We also spoke with Alison Kadlec, a founding partner with Sova, an organization that works on transfer and student success. Kadlec describe how colleges typically...
2020-10-2728 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 26: Financing Career College PathwaysAs higher education faces a potential exodus of students -- particularly lower-income students who attend community colleges -- what role could creative financing play in helping students bridge the gap from college to a career?
Chris Keaveney thinks Meritize can be part of solution. The private lender focuses on reducing risk and friction for students, colleges and employers. Keaveney, the founder and CEO, talked about what the model could mean for skills-based learning.
We also spoke with Carlo Salerno, vice president for research at Campus Logic, a student financial success technology company. A higher education...
2020-10-2032 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 25: Anxiety and Isolation Among College StudentsA growing body of research has shown that anxiety and mental health issues have become primary concerns for college students.
To get a leadership perspective on this challenge, we spoke with Elfred Anthony Pinkard, the president of Wilberforce University, who talked about how his students have been coping with the nation's racial reckoning as well as the pandemic.
We also spoke with Dr. Alan Dennington, the chief medical officer at TimelyMD, a telehealth provider focused on college students, who described a spike in demand for mental health counseling among students, and what appears to be...
2020-10-1330 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 24: Federal Policy and Part-Time StudentsAmid fears about a possible exodus of lower-income students from postsecondary education, and community colleges in particular, what can policymakers do to help vulnerable students stay on track?
For answers, we spoke with Morna Foy, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System. Foy spoke about barriers faced by students across the system and why she and other two-year college leaders want more federal stimulus help for part-time students.
Also featured in this episode is Lexi Barrett, an associate vice president at Jobs for the Future, who leads the group's state and federal policy efforts. Barrett...
2020-10-0632 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 23: The Push for a Learner Record SystemThe pandemic has brought new urgency to the creation of a learner record system, which could help students more smoothly transfer between colleges and find a job.
We spoke with Scott Cheney, the CEO of Credential Engine, to hear about the potential for such a system, as well as how his organization is seeking to bring transparency to credentials while creating a marketplace for them.
Also featured in this episode is Kendall Bailey, who leads SEI Labs. She spoke about how interoperable learner records could improve equity by helping students more efficiently bridge the gap...
2020-09-2935 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 22: A Model to WatchThe College of Health Care Professions is the largest producer of allied health graduates in Texas. Most of its students are Latino, Black and from lower-incomes backgrounds.
We spoke with Eric Bing, CHCP's CEO, to hear how the college and its students are holding up during the pandemic. Bing talked about how the college has designed its credentials to be stackable, and how higher education can better serve adult students.
This episode is sponsored by Cengage, from online to hyflex learning, Cengage supports your changing pedagogy at scale. Learn more at cengage.com/institutional.
2020-09-2227 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 21: Affordability and Access During the PandemicCommunity colleges and their students are wrestling with plenty of challenges this fall, including obstacles related to affordability, childcare and the digital divide. We spoke with two community college leaders to hear what their institutions are doing to help keep students on track.
Sue Ellspermann is president of Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana's statewide two-year system. She spoke about how Ivy Tech used its CARES Act funding and what she'd like to see in a future federal stimulus.
We also spoke with Margaret McMenamin, president of Union County College in New Jersey. She talked about...
2020-09-1532 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 20: Latino Student Success and How to Close Equity GapsAmid growing evidence the pandemic and recession are worsening equity gaps, Excelencia in Education last month released an analysis on Latino representation in higher education, as well as on degree attainment and completion rates.
We spoke with Deborah Santiago, Excelencia's co-founder and CEO, about the report's findings and to hear about key data points it identified. She also spoke about what some institutions are doing right with Latino students and where opportunities exist for colleges to do better.
This episode is sponsored by Cengage, from online to hyflex learning, Cengage supports your changing pedagogy at...
2020-09-0821 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 19: Growing Interest in Alternative CredentialsConsumers and employers increasingly are turning to short-term, online alternatives to the college degree, and alternative credential pathways are projected to grow in popularity.
To help make sense of this complex issue, we spoke with Paul Freedman, a veteran of innovations in online education and president of the Learning Marketplace at Guild Education, a major player in employer-connected online learning.
We also spoke with Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation and a former official at the U.S. Department of Labor during the Obama administration.
2020-09-0131 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 18: The University of Arizona's Deal with AshfordEarlier this month the University of Arizona announced a deal to acquire Ashford University, a fully online, for-profit institution enrolling roughly 35,000 students.
The arrangement, which in some ways resembles Purdue University's 2017 acquisition of Kaplan University, quickly drew lots of attention, and controversy.
To help make sense of the news, we spoke with Kelly McManus, director of higher education for Arnold Ventures and formerly director of government affairs for the Education Trust.
We also spoke with Trace Urdan, a managing director at Tyton Partners and an expert on for-profit colleges and online education.
2020-08-2435 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 17: The Pandemic's Human Toll at CUNYMichael Yarbrough, an assistant professor of law and society at the City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and his students in a senior colloquium this spring documented the pandemic's impact on CUNY, students in the class and their families.
Marjorie Valbrun, a senior editor at Inside Higher Ed, wrote about the group project. And Yarbough wrote about it in a powerful opinion piece in the New York Daily News.
For this episode, Valbrun spoke with Yarbrough and Paula-Camila Caceres, a student in the class who helped lead the project, about...
2020-08-0633 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 16: Monitoring Colleges' Financial HealthMany colleges were facing financial pressure before the pandemic. But the crisis has exacerbated those challenges and stoked more questions about the sustainability of colleges with shaky finances.
Nick Ducoff is cofounder and CEO of Edmit, a college financial education company. He has weighed in on this issue with projections of when private colleges are likely to run out of money. We spoke with Nick about those analyses and the gaps he sees in what students and their parents can find out about the financial health of colleges.
We also spoke wi...
2020-07-2834 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 15: Online Learning's Outlook for the FallMany questions loom about remote learning in coming months. Will online offerings from colleges be more sophisticated? What steps need to be taken to ensure academic quality in online learning? And will short-term credentials be more popular?
To get some answers to these tricky questions, we spoke with Lori Williams, president and CEO of NC-SARA. Williams discussed ideas from an opinion piece she wrote for Inside Higher Ed on the role for states in quality assurance in online education.
We also spoke with Marni Baker Stein, provost and chief academic officer fo...
2020-07-2131 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 14: Planning, Adjusting and Communicating for the FallIn roughly a month, many colleges and universities are planning to welcome back students to campus-based learning. But surging COVID-19 cases across much of the country have kept college administrators busy adjusting their plans.
The University of Kentucky this spring brought together more than 500 people to create its 187-page "Playbook for Reinvented Operations." The flagship public university also has been particularly open about how it's dealing with the pandemic.
We spoke with Eli Capilouto, UK's president and an expert on public health policy, about how the university developed the playbook, and how it's continuing to pr...
2020-07-1435 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 13: Equity and Higher Education PolicyThe pandemic has exposed and worsened equity gaps in higher education, as its impacts have been felt most by Black, Latino and lower-income Americans. What policies and incentives could help close those gaps?
To help grasp the scope of the challenge, we spoke with Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonpartisan research and policy group. Cooper talked about why higher education needs to change, and how.
We also spoke with Kim Cook, executive director of the National College Attainment Network, which has been tracking federal data that suggest some l...
2020-06-3028 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 12: An Entrepreneurial and Global Take on the FallA steep decline in enrollments of international students is among the wide range of possible disruptions U.S. colleges face this fall. To get an entrepreneurial take on what to watch in coming months, we spoke with two experts with global perspectives on higher education and ed tech.
John Fillmore is chief strategy officer for Chegg, a learning platform company formerly focused on textbook rentals, which now offers credentials, online tutoring and more. Our conversation with Fillmore also drew from his background as a former planning and research official for California.
We also spoke with...
2020-06-2337 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 11: The Pandemic's Impact on Education and Work for People of ColorThe pandemic and unrest over racism in society have further exposed existing inequity in higher education and the workforce. For example, survey data from the Strada Education Network show that black and Latino Americans are more likely than white Americans to have been laid off during the crisis, and to have changed or canceled their postsecondary education plans.
To get a broad perspective on these problems, we spoke with Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. Taylor is the former president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and was appointed b...
2020-06-1737 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 10: College Athletics and a 'Weird Fall'Several colleges and universities have eliminated intercollegiate sports teams in recent weeks, just as big-time college football gears up for a season filled with uncertainty amid a time of great unrest over racism in society.
Welch Suggs, a professor at the University of Georgia, former journalist and university administrator, talked with us about what's happening with revenue-generating college sports, team cuts and efforts to protect the health of football players in coming weeks. Suggs discusses whether this moment could provoke reflection about the purpose of college athletics.
This episode is sponsored by the ECMC Foundation, w...
2020-06-0921 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 9: Preserving Access to Public Higher Education Amid CrisesThe University of Alaska, Anchorage, in recent years has experienced its share of tight budgets and other crises, including an earthquake and merger proposals.
Cathy Sandeen, chancellor of the multi-campus institution, talked with us about how the university remains focused on its open-access mission and trying to prevent the creation of education deserts amid the budget turmoil and other challenges.
For a national view of the murky revenue and policy outlooks for public colleges, we spoke with Brian Sponsler, vice president of policy at the Education Commission of the States.
This episode is...
2020-06-0229 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 8: Cal State's Decision About an Online FallThe California State University system announced on May 12 that its fall term would be mostly online. The system was the first major U.S. university to make this move, and the announcement set off a flurry of news media coverage and debate among policy makers and college leaders.
Tim White, Cal State's chancellor, takes us inside this decision during the episode. In his discussion with Paul Fain, host of The Key, and Lilah Burke, a reporter at Inside Higher Ed, White talks about how the system is trying to balance its two top goals of protecting the...
2020-05-2623 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 7: Calif.'s Community Colleges and Lessons Learned in the Last RecessionCalifornia has seen 3 million new unemployment claims filed in recent months, and the state proposed a $740 million budget cut to its community college system. But California's two year colleges are drawing from lessons learned during the last recession to cope with mounting challenges amid the pandemic.
Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the system, which enrolls more than 2 million students across 115 campuses, talked with us about how the colleges are preparing for the fall. He described how the system has become more flexible for students, and why its leaders aren't counting on a federal bailout.
To...
2020-05-1927 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 6: The Great Online Pivot and What Comes NextEarlier this year, most of higher education moved its instruction online in a matter of days or weeks. After making this unprecedented shift, and amid great uncertainty, faculty members and college leaders are scrambling to prepare and improve online learning options for the fall.
To take stock of the great online pivot, where things stand now and what to expect for the fall, we spoke with Lindsay McKenzie, a reporter at Inside Higher Ed who covers technology. We also spoke with Myk Garn, assistant vice chancellor for new learning models at the University System of Georgia. Myk...
2020-05-1227 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 5: Southern New Hampshire U's Big Play with Campus-Based LearningSouthern New Hampshire University recently turned heads with a broad reboot of its campus-based programs, including slashed tuition and allowing students to choose hybrid online and other modalities.
To better understand what this means for the private, nonprofit university, we spoke with Paul LeBlanc, SNHU's president and the chair of the American Council on Education's Board of Directors. The episode also features Carla Hickman, vice president of research for EAB, who put the SNHU news in context by discussing where it fits amid the big higher-ed market shifts that have been accelerated by the pandemic.
2020-05-0527 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 4: How Community Colleges Are Planning for the Fall, and BeyondThe disruption and uncertainty caused by the pandemic pose challenges for all colleges and universities. But community colleges typically had tight budgets before the crisis, and serve the largest share of the nation's most vulnerable students.
For insight into the questions community college leaders are wrestling with, this episode features a discussion with Steven Johnson, president of Sinclair Community College. Johnson talks about budget planning and the enrollment picture for Sinclair, which is located in Dayton, Ohio. He also describes how the college has maintained its robust prison education programs amid the pandemic, and how Sinclair is...
2020-04-2813 minThe Key with Inside Higher EdEp. 3: Helping Students Avoid Problems with the 'Asterisk Semester'Many colleges moved to pass/fail grading amid the pandemic. While that change was designed to help students, it can cause disruptions as community college students transfer to four-year institutions, or as students seek admission to graduate or medical school.
The episode features Lilah Burke, a reporter at Inside Higher Ed, who has written about this issue. And to describe how college leaders can help students avoid disruptions from the "Asterisk Semester," we spoke with Anne Kress, president of Northern Virginia Community College, and Marie Lynn Miranda, incoming provost of the University of Notre Dame.
2020-04-2224 min