Campus Technology Insider Podcast
The Campus Technology Insider podcast explores current trends and issues impacting technology leaders in higher education. Listen in as Executive Editor Rhea Kelly chats with ed tech experts and practitioners about their work, ideas and experiences.
Listen below or find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify or Stitcher.
Campus Technology recently published 14 technology predictions for the coming year, based on input from higher education and ed tech industry experts across the country. A key statement on that list was this: Digital accessibility will be central to an inclusive campus culture. As Brian Fodrey, assistant vice president for Business Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University, put it, "Campus leaders must be thinking about how we are preparing our respective communities to take a more proactive and comprehensive approach to removing barriers and promoting all aspects of digital equity…. Prioritizing digital accessibility practices in all aspects of campus operations and life creates a more supportive community and inclusive culture for all."
That focus on digital accessibility is central to instructional design practice at Colorado State University Global. As the nation's first fully online, accredited nonprofit state university, CSU Global strives to achieve universal design standards in all of its programs, and to make courses accessible to a wide range of learners. We spoke with Associate Vice President of Digital Learning Andrea Butler and Director of Instructional Design Diona Hartwig about the importance of designing for accessibility from the start, ways to engage students in the online environment, and how inclusive design ultimately serves all students.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 28 minutes
Transcript
Earlier this year, Lumen Learning announced a partnership with Howard University to help develop equity-centered learning solutions for a new statistics course and platform. The goal: to develop more effective and culturally relevant courseware for minority and low-income students and improve outcomes in gateway courses. Howard faculty and students are providing feedback throughout the courseware development process, such as how specific courseware features might be used and best practices for supporting faculty in their courseware implementation. For this episode of the podcast, we spoke with Dr. Morris Thomas, assistant provost for digital and online learning and director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Assessment at Howard, and Kim Thanos, founder and CEO of Lumen Learning, about developing courseware with an equity-first perspective, giving students multiple pathways to success, building in support for faculty, and more.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 38 minutes
Transcript
Ravi Pendse is passionate about data privacy. As vice president for information technology and chief information officer at the University of Michigan, he has worked to ensure that privacy is a part of every technology decision on campus. At the same time, he is committed to fostering a robust data culture that democratizes the use of data to inform decision-making. At the center of that culture is transparency: making sure students, faculty, and staff know exactly what types of data are collected, and how that data is stored, accessed, managed, and shared. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about creating a data-aware, privacy-aware ecosystem, data governance challenges, making data visible to students, and more.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 33 minutes
Transcript
As a predominately online institution geared toward serving adult students, University of Massachusetts Global is rethinking traditional models of education to embrace the flexibility and career relevance that working learners need. That means getting granular: unbundling courses or curricula into smaller modules that can be more accessible to busy students but also stack into credentials that will be meaningful to employers. We spoke with Dr. David Andrews, chancellor of UMass Global, about developing a new credentialing ecosystem, listening to student and industry needs, and the data infrastructure that can really support student success.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 32 minutes
Transcript
With higher education enrollment in decline, it's more important than ever to break down barriers to student success — and for those who stop out, create clear pathways to re-entry and completion. What does that look like in practice? At Arizona State University Online, student success coaches cultivate deep relationships with students as individuals, get to know their unique life experiences and challenges, and leverage data to better understand the multitude of factors that can impact retention. For this episode of the podcast, we spoke with Nicolette Miller, senior director of student success initiatives at ASU Online, about her team's student-centered approach and what institutions should be doing to help students reach the finish line of their education. Here's our chat.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 25 minutes
Transcript
It's one thing to talk about innovation, but another thing to actually make it happen. Driving actual change is all about timing — having the right idea at the right moment, according to Phil Komarny, chief innovation officer at an institution known for innovation: Maryville University. And that moment is now: Komarny sees COVID as a catalyst for utilizing data to revolutionize higher education and the student experience. Here, we talk about the potential of verifiable credentials, why graduation should not be the end of a student's learning journey, helping students make the most of their own data, and more.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 34 minutes
Transcript
What would a learning management system centered on culture and community look like? The United Negro College Fund hopes to answer that question with HBCUv, a new learning platform that aims to reshape the future of online education for historically Black colleges and universities. The organization has partnered with consultancy Deloitte Digital on the project, with the goal of providing best-in-class remote learning, community engagement and career pathways to students seeking an HBCU education. We spoke with Ed Smith-Lewis, VP of strategic partnerships and institutional programs at UNCF, and Nathan Young, head of strategy for Ethos at Deloitte Digital, about bringing the HBCU experience to an online environment, the defining characteristics of HBCUv and the equity-centered design process behind their work.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 37 minutes
Transcript
Southern New Hampshire University is well known for innovation in online learning, so it may surprise you to learn that prior to the pandemic, the institution had less than 100 employees working remotely, and had only just begun building out its remote work policies. Employee culture was largely reliant on working in a face-to-face environment. But in March 2020, the abrupt shift to fully remote work required a new approach to employee engagement. We spoke with Jennifer LaFountain, director of employee experience at SNHU, about how the institution is developing a culture that allows employees to feel connected no matter where they are located.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 34 minutes
Transcript
Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania recently won an Instructional Technology Council award for excellence in e-learning, recognizing its Smart Apartment Learning Lab: a combination escape room and technology sandbox in which students can learn about the tech we take for granted in our everyday lives. Picture a homey space in which the walls literally have eyes — or rather cameras and other sensors, integrated into seemingly innocuous objects like picture frames, the refrigerator or even a robotic cat. We spoke with Beth Ritter-Guth, associate dean of online learning and educational technology at the college, to find out how the Learning Lab is engaging students, building digital literacy and providing valuable training in the job skills of the future.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 30 minutes
Transcript
One of the takeaways from this year's Educause Horizon Report is that there's likely no such thing as a return to normal: Many of the changes that higher education has undergone over the past couple of years are here to stay. At the same time, the trends, technologies and practices impacting teaching and learning have developed more depth, more nuance. For example, while hybrid learning was addressed broadly in last year's report, this year the report drilled down into important facets such as hybrid learning spaces and professional development for hybrid teaching. To delve into the details of what's on the horizon for higher ed in 2022, we spoke with Kathe Pelletier, director of Educause's Teaching and Learning Program and co-author of the report.
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Music: Mixkit
Duration: 39 minutes
Transcript
