tag: COVID-19
Blog Post
July 22, 2020
Addressing Challenges Faced by Institutions Supporting Student Veterans
ATI Veterans Community of Practice Comes Together Virtually
College students across the country have experienced the financial, social, and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the heightened national conversation on systemic racism. Student veterans are no exception. As we discussed in a previous blog post, the pandemic has exacerbated the complex challenges that student veterans face in completing their postsecondary education: they are now navigating the uncertainties of GI Bill funding and in many cases, balancing financial insecurity and family…
Blog Post
July 17, 2020
Testing, Tracing, and Supported Isolation
A Synthesis of 57 Fall 2020 College Reopening Plans
Last month, Ithaka S+R launched an effort to aggregate and synthesize information related to the fall reopening of colleges and universities to facilitate institutional collaboration and planning. As of July 13th, we have synthesized 57 institutional plans into a single resource (click here to view), and plan to continually update this resource with new and evolving information. We are publishing the findings from our review of these plans in a series of blog posts hosted on our…
Blog Post
July 16, 2020
Overarching Findings from 57 Fall 2020 College Reopening Plans
Last month, Ithaka S+R launched an effort to aggregate and synthesize information related to the fall reopening of colleges and universities in an effort to facilitate institutional collaboration and planning. As of July 13th, we have synthesized 57 institutional plans into a single resource (click here to view), and plan to continually update this resource with new and evolving information. We capture information about several aspects of institutional…
Blog Post
July 14, 2020
Now Available: Fall Semester COVID-19 Surveys
While the challenges colleges and universities faced in the spring semester were unprecedented, it’s clear that the disruptions are far from over. Even as the fall semester approaches, institutions are still deciding how many students to bring back to campus and how to deliver instruction effectively. Over the past few months, we have partnered with over 20 colleges and universities to provide actionable insights on student and faculty needs…
Blog Post
July 14, 2020
Streamlining Transfer for CUNY Students in the Bronx
Approximately one-third of college students begin their postsecondary education in community colleges, yet over 80 percent of these students aspire to earn at least a bachelor’s degree. In order to achieve their goals, these students will need to transfer from their community colleges (which mostly offer associate’s degrees) to colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees. Yet, only 13 percent of students successfully transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree within six years of entering community college. Black and…
Blog Post
July 8, 2020
What about Research? Scholarship and COVID-19
While there have been a number of research initiatives centered on supporting faculty in shifting to virtual instruction in light of the COVID-19 pandemic—and deservedly so—we have learned far less about the challenges that faculty are facing as researchers during this disruptive time. Back in March, our colleague Danielle Cooper speculated on the ways that “technologies at hand” could partially alleviate disruptions to research, and…
Blog Post
July 1, 2020
Transforming Library Leadership Strategy in a Time of Crisis
Introducing the Special Edition Library Survey 2020
Since the Library Survey 2019 survey was fielded, the COVID-19 pandemic—and more recently, organizing around the Black Lives Matter movement—has greatly impacted academic libraries and higher education as a whole. At the start of the pandemic, many libraries remained open with increases in safety protocols. Within weeks, it became clear that there would be a greater impact…
Blog Post
June 30, 2020
University Presses in the Age of COVID-19, Part 2
How Press Directors are Looking to the Future
There are so many unknowns in this pandemic that it is hard to predict the future—for the economy, for education, for so many parts of our world. The scale of change we have already experienced is frightening and could easily lead organizations to hunker down and hope for things to get better. But in the spirit of never let a serious crisis go to waste, we asked a set of university press directors how they were planning for the long…
Blog Post
June 30, 2020
Why Stakeholder Engagement Matters More than Ever
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, academic libraries have experienced unprecedented change. For many libraries, anticipated budget reductions, the realities of remote work, and responsibilities related to rapid campus closures and tentative reopenings have put a strain on resources. At the same time, libraries have new opportunities to play a prominent role on campus in supporting online learning and helping researchers work…
Blog Post
June 29, 2020
Three Questions for Melissa Sturm-Smith
Drake University and COVID-19
Melissa Sturm-Smith, Associate Provost for Academic Excellence and Student Success, worked with Ithaka S+R to field the COVID-19 student survey at Drake University in the spring semester. We recently asked her about the challenges Drake students faced in light of the pandemic and the steps the university has taken to meet their needs. 1) Can you tell us about some of the challenges you faced as a leader at Drake University during the spring semester? Our…
Blog Post
June 25, 2020
COVID-19 and the Student Experience
Reporting Large-Scale Results from the Spring Semester
Today we release results from a large-scale study of student experiences during the spring term. The findings, which represent the experiences and needs of over 15,000 students, provide us with an understanding of the challenges that students—and in turn, their faculty, administrators, and institutions more broadly—have faced as we now approach a new year of instruction. While these results should not be interpreted to represent perceptions of online learning that occur outside of the context…
Research Report
June 25, 2020
Student Experiences During the Pandemic Pivot
The spring 2020 term was unmistakably shaped by forces outside of the control of higher education leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic caused colleges and universities across the country—and the world—to quickly pivot in an emergency fashion to online teaching, learning, and research while grappling with a host of complex issues in serving students, supporting faculty and staff, and ensuring their financial viability. Thousands of institutions and millions of students were impacted in the United States alone. In response to…
Blog Post
June 24, 2020
University Presses in the Age of COVID-19
How Press Directors are Navigating the Challenges of the Pandemic
Over the past few weeks, Ithaka S+R has conducted conversations with a variety of university press directors to get a sense of how they are faring during this uncertain and challenging time. We spoke with a total of 11 directors representing small, medium, and large presses from public and private universities, all in the US. The discussions were wide ranging, touching on everything from how they were coping with the practical issues around pivoting to a remote workforce,…
Blog Post
June 18, 2020
Building a Practice-Sharing Resource on Planning for Fall 2020
Colleges and universities across the country are planning for a fall semester unlike any other. Now more than ever, the health and safety of the campus community and the needs of the most vulnerable students should guide decisions about whether and how to resume in-person campus activities in Fall 2020. To facilitate institutional collaboration and planning during this period of uncertainty, Ithaka S+R is launching an effort to aggregate and synthesize information related to fall reopening…
Past Event
June 24, 2020
How Americans Perceive Higher Education in 2020
Christine Wolff-Eisenberg Speaks at New America Event
On Wednesday, June 24, Christine Wolff-Eisenberg is speaking on “Higher Education Polling During the COVID-19 Crisis” as part of New America’s Varying Degrees online event. Christine will be joined on the panel discussion by Eric Hoover (The Chronicle of Higher Education), Rachel Fishman (New America), and David Strauss (Art and Science Group). For more information and to register, please visit the event website.
Blog Post
June 11, 2020
New Report Identifies Strategies for Independent Colleges Looking to Improve Transfer Pathways
Covid-19 has fundamentally altered the landscape of higher education, producing both challenges and opportunities for higher education institutions to better serve traditionally understudied student populations. Transfer students, specifically students that transfer from community colleges to four-year independent colleges, are one such population that has been historically underserved but whose needs will be all the more relevant during and after the pandemic. Enrollment shifts caused by the pandemic highlight the need for…
Blog Post
June 10, 2020
Resource Launch: Tracking Higher Ed’s Response to COVID-19 and Plans for Reopening
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought major disruptions to every college and university across the country. Faced with a myriad of challenges—financial, educational, and health-related—each institution must decide how to continue to deliver on its educational mission in a way that safeguards the health of its community and maintains financial viability. While the state of higher education and plans for the fall have received a great deal of…
Issue Brief
May 27, 2020
Preprints in the Spotlight
Establishing Best Practices, Building Trust
Preprints have been getting a lot of attention recently. The COVID-19 pandemic—the first major health crisis since medical and biomedical preprints have become widely available online—has further underscored the importance of speedy dissemination of research outcomes. Preprints allow researchers to share results with speed, but raise questions about accuracy, misconduct, and our reliance on the “self-correcting” nature of the scientific enterprise. As scientists and health care professionals, as well as the general public, look for information about the pandemic, preprint…
Blog Post
May 8, 2020
Assessment Across Higher Ed
Join Us for a Webinar on May 13
Over the last few months, all units on campus have needed to plan in unprecedented ways for how best to support students, faculty, and other communities in response to the pandemic. As the activities related to teaching, learning, and research continue remotely during the spring term amid incredibly challenging circumstances, understanding the barriers students and faculty face has become more important than ever. Assessing and addressing community needs is also important for developing appropriate supports for these communities…
Blog Post
May 7, 2020
How Will Postsecondary Education in Prisons Need to Change in Light of COVID-19?
Reflections from an interim report on technological equity for incarcerated college students
The rapid shift to online or distance instruction in the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most pressing and challenging issues for the field of higher education. This sudden, mass migration to online learning has crystallized issues of equity and access, as not all students, instructors, or even institutions are equipped to make this leap. Lacking regular access to computers, and with virtually no access to the internet, incarcerated college students, and the programs that serve them,…