Do students use income-sharing plans?; Making AI tutors simpler; Federal scrutiny of automated proctoring

No. 247 | 12/11/20 | Subscribe to this newsletter This issue is sponsored by Online education was supposed to open the doors of higher education to a broader range of Americans, helping to make sure college wasn't just for the elite, but for anyone who wanted it.   But as the pandemic has forced college teaching online at so many campuses, low-income and underserved students are leaving or forgoing college at far higher rates than their more affluent and well-connected peers.   College enrollment of students from low-income-serving high schools dropped 29 percent this fall. By contrast, enrollment in college of students from higher-income high schools fell about 17 percent. "Staggering," is how an official at the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center described the disparity.   And the pandemic is hitting community college enrollment particularly hard, especially for low-income students. A new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows that 40 percent of households with a prospective community college student say they are canceling plans to attend. And more than twice as many low-income families are reporting this change than high-income families.    The reasons for this uneven impact go far beyond the delivery format, of course. The pandemic is causing greater job losses for low-income families, and paying for college or studying instead of working may no longer seem like a viable option for many.  "Low-income groups are going to come out of a pandemic with even fewer skills," Clive Belfield, a research fellow at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College of Columbia University, said this week. "So they're going to be in an even worse position than before." 👂 EAR TO THE GROUND   SIMPLY SMARTER: Edtech can make it easier to personalize learning for students, but creating effective teaching tools usually takes ample time and expertise. Now, researchers hoping to engineer better education systems are building AI tools that make it easier for almost anyone to create an AI tutor. Instead of programmers doing the heavy lifting, one researcher explains, "the code is getting written by artificial intelligence."   ISA IMPRESSIONS: More colleges are offering income-share agreements. But so far, with little data on outcomes and a pandemic that has impacted colleges and job markets, researchers say they need more time before drawing conclusions about whether they work. What they are learning, though, is whether students understand ISAs and how they decide to take one on. Here's the impression that ISAs get.   WATCHING THE PROCTORS: Companies offering proctoring tools that monitor students as they take online exams are now being watched themselves. Last week, six Democratic senators sent letters last week to three proctoring companies—ExamSoft, Proctorio and ProctorU—inquiring about the technologies they use to monitor users, how they ensure accuracy and reduce bias, and what steps they take to protect students' privacy.   Sponsored by AWS PARDON THIS DISRUPTION: "Science is a bit broken," says Jake Schofield of Labstep. "We see ourselves as a stepping stone to change the way all research is conducted." Employing cloud-based technology that encourages professional collaboration, he and his team aim to disrupt the norm on their way to becoming "the go-to, foundational tool for lab-based research." The following is a message from our sponsor Higher education institutions often deal with outdated data collection methods or overloaded IT teams. With FormAssembly's web form and data collection platform, simple, secure data collection is possible. Through intuitive form building, smart integrations, and administrative capabilities, we help higher education professionals collect quality data and engage students, staff, and alumni. Learn more today. 🎧 ON THE PODCAST   A FRAMEWORK FOR INCLUSIVE TEACHING: How can educators make their teaching more inclusive? José Vilson offers a framework. He's co-founder and executive director of #EduColor, a nonprofit advocacy group dedicated to issues of race and social justice in education and the author of "This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education." EdSurge talked with him last week at the ISTE20 virtual conference. 🎙️ LET'S TALK     INSIDE ISAs: Many colleges now offer income-share agreements (ISAs) to students to finance their education. But are students onboard? And what do we know so far about what determines whether or not ISAs make sense for programs and students? RSVP to hear from a researcher and a student on our next EdSurge Live, 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET on Dec. 15. 📈 STAT-O-MATIC 5 to 10 percent The decline in higher education revenue predicted for 2021 by Moody's Investors Service. The negative outlook comes from anticipated reduced student enrollment and lost revenue from housing and dining and reductions in state funding and philanthropy. 📢 SPOKEN WORD   "Computer science is one of the fastest-growing and highest-paying fields. So if students from certain groups are being shut out of the field, it means that public education is failing in its role as the great equalizer. ... When you look at computer science, just 8.9 percent of the more than 71,000 bachelor's degrees awarded in this field in 2017 went to Black students, and only 10.1 percent went to Latino students, federal data show. This is significantly less than the percentage of Black and Latino people in the United States: 13.4 percent and 18.5 percent, respectively." —Tamara Pearson, director of the Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM at Spelman College. (The Conversation) 💼 BYTE-SIZED BRIEFS   Poor security at online proctoring company may have put student data at risk. (Consumer Reports)   Small colleges landed more than $1.2B in PPP COVID-19-relief funds. (The Business Journals) Academic libraries experienced widespread budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey out this week found. (Inside Higher Ed) 📚 FROM THE ARCHIVES   WHERE ARE YOU? With digital search such a dominant way to find information these days, it's important that scholarly works be "discoverable" online. Yet scientific articles are much easier to find on the internet than books about the arts, humanities and social sciences. So university librarians and publishers are creating a system that turns research in these fields into open-access, digital resources. Looking for a job in edtech? You've come to the right place. EdSurge has the leading edtech jobs board with over 400 openings from schools, nonprofits and companies. Post a job See all edtech jobs Technical Product Manager | Calbright College In this role, you will be responsible for managing the on-time and on-spec delivery of products and projects completed by members of the Technology Team and cross-functional collaborators from across the College staff. Product Management • School • Remote   Chief Information Officer | Mary Institute and Country Day School MICDS seeks a chief information officer, starting July 1, 2021, to oversee all areas of technology: strategy, infrastructure, data and web applications, support services, and instructional technology. C-Level Executive Leadership • School • St. Louis, MO   Psychometrician | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Psychometrician position will support HMH's assessment design, psychometric analysis, interim assessment and growth research, and statistical programming activities to further the goals of HMH Data Analysis • Large Company • Remote   Founding Manager Alumni College and Career Success | Code 2 College Code2College is seeking a Manager, Alumni College & Career Success to engage, support and bolster our growing program alumni network. Marketing • Non Profit • Austin, TX or Remote   Director of Development, Presidential Advancement | ASU Enterprise Partners ​Newly created as a growth position within the ASU Foundation and supporting Arizona State University. Higher Ed Head of Innovation • Non Profit • Tempe, AZ   The Edward John Noble Foundation Deputy Director for Learning and Audience Engagement | DRG The DDLAE will lead and oversee the design of bold and inspired educational strategy, programming, and community building experiences across the Museum that align with and amplify MoMA's global mission as a leader in connecting audiences with art. C-Level Executive Leadership • Non Profit • New York, NY   Events Post an event • See all events and meetups   The Standards and STEM Working towards effective STEM learning means gaining a deeper understanding of the future we aspire to build, and having the ability to imagine this future. Dec 15 • Online • Free  THANKS FOR READING   ➔ Got any feedback? We love hearing from readers. Shoot us a note, critiques, a joke—whatever you've got! ➔ Interested in reaching our readers? Sponsor this newsletter. ➔ Event planners: Feature your in-person or virtual event on our calendar & newsletters. EdSurge covers and connects the people, ideas and technologies that shape the future of learning. We are an independent news and research initiative of the International Society for Technology in Education. International Society for Technology in Education, 621 SW Morrison Street, Suite 800, Portland, Oregon 97205, USA, 800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 503.342.2848 (Int'l) Unsubscribe Manage preferences