Ryan Baker said “A lot of these companies, it’s a matter of life or death if they get some evidence up on their page. No one is trying to be deceitful. (They’re) all kind of out of their depth and all trying to do it cheaply and quickly.”
Sharon Ravitch joins host Rob van Nood of Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon to discuss the current crisis as an opportunity to rebuild learning experiences based on a world in flux and from ideas and visions that put students at the center. "As educators, we have to find active ways to nourish ourselves, connect with each other, and really think about this moment," said Ravitch.
Robert Zemsky said, in the face of the pandemic, colleges with 1,500 or fewer students are facing the question of how much they can shrink and continue to function.
Peter Eckel said, “Part of the challenge is the complexity of the issues that university boards are facing. There is also a degree of unpredictability regarding short-term challenges, like enrollment and finances, endowments and financial resources, but also safety and security in the future. We don’t know if there’s going to be a new normal, a next normal, or return to normal.”
Penn AHEAD brought together administrators from across the country to discuss how pandemic has affected their schools, and how they are evaluating their future.
Ryan Baker discussed adaptive learning, which can use algorithms to adapt lessons to individual students, as well as other computer-based learning tools.
Sundai Riggins, a Penn GSE graduate and principal in Washington, DC, appeared on a CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall to talk about how the pandemic is affecting kids and parents.
In his book The College Stress Test, Robert Zemsky predicted that 10% of private, liberal arts colleges in the U.S. were likely to close within the next five years. Now, with the pandemic’s damaging effects on school finances, his prediction has changed to 200 schools in the next year alone.
When Ebola hit Liberia, Penn GSE student Jasmine Blanks Jones’ youth theater company took on conspiracy theories and a lack of trust in the government. If that sounds familiar, she has ideas for improving messaging during the pandemic.
Robert Zemsky, in his new book, The College Stress Test, estimates that 10 percent of the nation’s colleges – smaller schools with poor retention rates – were already at risk of closing. Now, he said, “we think another 10 percent is at risk because of the virus.”
"Teamwork has traditionally played a critical role in schools, and while many of us find ourselves physically isolated, our collaborative work with one another may be more important now than ever," Zachary Herrmann writes.
In the debut of her Parent Scoop podcast, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher discusses the most important things parents and kids can do while they are stuck at home.
Peter Eckel and Turab Rizvi write that higher education institutions are well positioned to lead efforts beyond campus borders by advancing experts and their expertise, sharing excess capacity, and supporting community needs.
Alan Ruby said, “There will be a deterrent effect, especially on international students. The choice of destination for study abroad is influenced by perceptions about personal safety. The virus, and the response to it, is a reminder that health services and hygiene standards are not what some students are familiar with.”
Jonathan Zimmerman writes, “Schools are always implicated in national crises, always,” pointing to schools’ role selling war bonds during World War I and cultivating victory gardens in World War II. “But in prior crises, they were engaged in the struggle, because it was a struggle against a human enemy rather than a biological one. This is a struggle against a biological one that requires schools not to step up, but to stand down.”
We asked online education expert Ryan Baker what school leaders and parents should be thinking about it. His advice: be flexible — and don’t discount library books.
