FeedbackFruits Higher Ed Weekly Digest 06/07

As we promised, on a weekly basis we bring you the most popular content of the higher education community for the past week. 

You can send your suggestions for future articles to elena@feedbackfruits.com. Enjoy!

Must-Read articles

Tune in for the last week’s most popular content in the higher education community worldwide!

Also, our webinar is getting closer! As we brought to your attention with the last weekly digest (check it out if you haven't yet for other great material suggestion), the webinar 'The Power of Peer Learning in Business Schools' will take place next 10th of July! FeedbackFruits experts on educational technology, together with speakers from Wharton University and IE Business School will explore how top business schools support their students’ learning experience and drive student engagement even in a challenging online environment. Don’t miss this exciting webinar with exclusive speakers and more!

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1 - Post-Pandemic Colleges: 10 Guidelines for Getting There

Everyone is saying it: the educational system is passing through an unprecedented crisis and might face major changes to adjust to the new normality. William G. Tierney, a highly experienced university professor at the University of Southern California, shares in this article his unique perspectives about this topic. He talks about what should be the main goals of the 21-century academia, and how shared governance between faculty members and ed-tech supporters could tremendously benefit education, and might even save the day in the end.

We recommend this article to all leaders in academia, on how they can reform the teaching and learning environment to better fit society.

“We should be thinking about what we want higher education to look like after the pandemic subsides and what we need to do now to accomplish that vision.” William G. Tierney

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2 - Data Silence: How AI is learning discrimination and what FeedbackFruits is doing about it

In our next article suggestion, we are addressing a sensitive yet most important topic. Discrimination is a never-ending element in our society, and it keeps finding new ways to make its presence known. And artificial intelligence (AI) is no exception. It’s a serious matter that has to be taken into consideration, as it’s a feature that becomes more and more incorporated into every aspect of our lives, including education. 

FeedbackFruits’ developer, Felix Akkermans, together with the Head of Research & Development, Joost Verdoorn, explain how a fresh and innovative ed-tech start-up company is thriving to develop its digital educational products where ethics come first.

“At FeedbackFruits, we want to build a strong track record through trial and error and feel confident we are well versed in putting ethics first.” Joost Verdoorn

We recommend this insightful article to ed-tech experts, as well as to deans and instructional designer. It explores a vital element of society, including education, that is threatening the equal, unbiased and supportive learning environment that everyone is aiming for.

“I am hopeful we will see a magnificent acceleration of moral progress when shifting to AI, if we invest in a safe way.” Felix Akkermans

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3 - The Leaders Survey: Will Covid-19 leave universities in intensive care?

Have you ever wondered how and when the damage that universities might face due to the pandemic will be visible? Also, how much damage are we really talking about? 

This article gives free access to a recent survey filled by educational leaders concerning their academic and financial future plans, as well as their opinions and expectations about remote teaching. 

We recommend this article to anyone involved in education, and especially to deans, provost, instructional designers and ed-tech professionals. The text together with the survey contain vital and specific information on what are the intentions of worldwide educational leaders in the near future. 

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Must-Listen Podcasts 

Is there anyone who is not following at least one podcast? See our top picks below.

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1 - Equity and Higher Education Policy

It cannot be denied that the current COVID-19 pandemic has highly troubled the education environment, and it affected multiple parts of it. This podcast episode also tackles discrimination present in academia, as our second article choice. In the article, it was discussed how ed-tech companies can support education while being careful to minimize the risk of discrimination in their products. This podcast discussion takes another approach to the subject.

The host, Paul Fain, together with two higher-ed experts: Kim Cook and Michelle Asha Cooper, dive into how the occurring pandemic has actually exposed and enlarged the equity gap in higher education.

This podcast is especially recommended to educational managers and deans, as they can better familiarize themselves with this ongoing challenge, and how it can be tackled and perhaps answered. 

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2 - Dr. Katie Novak and Tom Thibodeau - Universal Design for Learning

Moving away from sensitive subjects, our second choice of podcast-episode discusses about practical solutions for teachers and instructors that can help them to enhance the remote learning for their students. The host, Dr. Luke Hobson, together with Dr. Katie Novak and Tom Thibodeau, explore how online education can be supported and enhanced through Universal Design for Learning (UDL). 

We recommend this episode to everyone involved in education, especially teachers and instructional designers. It’s a complex and analytical discussion on how to overcome difficulties in remote teaching. It covers multiple subjects such as students can be motivated, how courses can be readjusted according to critical evaluations, and many more.  

Events to Attend 

Continue learning about higher education through engaging events and conferences, for now partially in an online format.

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1 - Assessment in higher education conference panel - looking to 2021 | 15th July

This conference panel is raising relevant and unique questions about digital education. We handpicked this event as a recommendation for instructional designers, educational managers and ed-tech professionals. Together with note speakers from Deakin University, Dublin City University and Seoul National University, those attending the discussion will explore and analyze clear-cut features of feedback and assessment in the digital learning context, and how they can be improved.

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2 - Diverse. Collaborative. Transformative | 2nd-4th December

This is an offline event recommended to teachers, provost, instructional designers and everyone involved in education and in the learning process. Is suitable for those who are driven to improve education. The participants will gain the opportunity to interact with European educational experts from the education sector as well as from the corporate one. 

This amazing event will take place in Berlin, towards the end of this year. Don’t lose the chance to immerse yourself in invaluable information about the technology developments that thrive to improve learning.

Must-Watch Video

The list will not be complete without this insightful video.

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1 - Digital education after COVID-19 

Panelists: Professors from University of Edinburgh and University of Göttingen

As always, we chose to close the list of recommendations with an engaging video. This week’s pick falls under the broader question on how will digital education will look after COVID-19? We invite deans, instructional designers, teachers and ed-tech professionals to explore this in-depth discussion between educational experts from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Goettingen, and the host, Neil Selwyn from Monash University.

What’s particularly interesting about this video is the fact that the topics are discussed by experts from different countries, like Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. All this diversity helps to analyze such an international topic like digital learning from multiple angles, different cultures and diverse experiences.

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Final Words

As a lot is changing in the higher education community right now, we will try our best to keep you posted with some of the most popular content that we find helpful for the community. You can subscribe to our newsletter for more exclusive content. See you next week!