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BIG DATA ON CAMPUS OPINION Holding Off Hackers RELATED OPINIONS The Real Obstacle College networks are under constant High Hopes, to Innovation pressure to keep up with growing threats Few colleges are willing to give faculty to data security: B4 Scant Evidence members adequate time and support Mark Salisbury warns n 3 Types of Attacks Colleges Face: B5 for course redesign, says John Lynch: B16 of the limitations of big data: B14 Learning Analytics Improving Data Use Ignore E-Credentials Still a Work in Progress at Community Colleges At Your Peril Colleges are eager to use data to track Remember when bookstores wrote off Human beings must turn data into student success, but widespread adoption Amazon 20 years ago? Colleges meaningful information that can be is still to come: B8 can’t afford to make the same mistake, used to solve problems, say Brad C. Daniel T. Hickey argues: B18 How to Track Phillips and Jordan E. Horowitz: B20 80,000 Students The Job-Market Moment At Western Governors U., every student of Digital Humanities is a potential test subject: B9 Using computer technology in scholarship is more than a fad, says Leonard Cassuto: B21

FORUM Reading List TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM for a New World Order Coding ‘Boot Camps’ Growing Pains for Five scholars cite influential books on technology: B22 Link Up With Colleges Open-Textbook Movement Some private programs see the value Freely licensed materials save students of a more direct connection to money, but the work involved has made universities — and vice versa: B11 some faculty members wary: B12

EDITOR’S NOTE

HIS SPECIAL REPORT on The Dig- But it also includes a caveat from several technical skills, and the latest develop- ital Campus looks at the promise data experts. All that data, they warn, is ments in the open-educational-resources T — and the limits — of big data. meaningless if colleges aren’t using it to movement, which is aimed at freely licens- Colleges have high expectations for big ask the right questions and to identify the ing textbooks and other learning materials data: They want to use it to better track most pressing problems — tasks that re- to reduce costs. students and help them succeed, to find quire human intervention. Thanks to the writers, editors, and de- out what works in the classroom, to shape Our coverage also examines the urgent signers who worked on The Digital Cam- their student bodies, and more. Our cov- threat to data security posed by hackers, pus. We hope you find it useful. erage features some of the efforts under- the growing collaboration between col- —CAROLYN MOONEY way to accomplish those goals. leges and private boot camps that offer SENIOR EDITOR, SPECIAL SECTIONS

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B3 HEATHER PERRY FOR THE CHRONICLE If hackers get into a college’s network, they can gather terabytes of research data or emails to sift for possible profit. “It might take years to look at it,” says Mitchel Davis (right), chief information officer at Bowdoin College, “but they want to get hold of it.” Steven Blanc, associate chief information officer, says, “security is not something that IT does, it’s something the college does.” Keeping Up With the Growing Threat to Data Security By LEE GARDNER

AST FALL, Donald Trump theorized most all attacks have more mercenary motives. chief information officer at Indiana Univer- that the computer hacker who stole It’s an escalating battle that many colleges sity. “The bad guys can try 10,000 times, or emails from the Democratic National must fight with limited resources. And the 50,000 times. As long as they get it right once, Committee could have been “someone stakes are high. A major breach can expose they get a win. It’s a very, very asymmetrical sitting on their bed that weighs 400 thousands of names and Social Security num- game now.” Lpounds.” But the stereotypical rogue nerd isn’t bers, credit-card numbers, and other personal Groups of criminal hackers, many of them the threat that most concerns information-se- data that employees and students turn over to based overseas, have upgraded their tools and curity officers on college campuses. colleges all the time, leaving those affect- methods. “They’re using these almost weap- Their institutions are under constant attack, ed vulnerable to identity theft. A breach at ons-grade hacking kits,” Mr. Wheeler says. they say, by groups of criminal hackers who the University of California at Berkeley last But even familiar modes of attack have have professionalized, and industrialized, year compromised the personal data of about grown in sophistication. “Phishing,” in which their efforts in the past few years. If the 80,000 current and former employees and people receive an email designed to get them hackers find a tiny flaw in a college’s -da students. to give up passwords or financial information, BIG DATA ON CAMPUS ta-security apparatus — an unsecured An attack can also bring an institution’s has evolved past “a rich uncle in Nigeria who server, a careless user — they can infil- computer network crashing down: In 2015, wants to wire you a million dollars,” he says, trate its network, Hoover up any and all Rutgers University was hit with several “de- and now uses messages that look very legiti- data they come across, and peddle the choice nial of service” attacks, in which a hacker mate: “They’re simple, they’re short, they’re bits on the dark market — those shadowy flooded the institution’s network with data, often contextualized for something going corners of the internet where people go to temporarily crippling it. In the aftermath, on at the institution.” Indiana delivered 442 buy and sell illicit goods anonymously. There the university budgeted about $3 million to million emails to its users last year, and its have been thefts of politically sensitive data, improve its data security. countermeasures killed 2.1 billion emails be- as when hackers published hundreds of emails Colleges “have to be right every time” when fore they entered its system. and documents in 2009 that raised questions it comes to securing data, says Brad Wheeler, The rise of big data has also abetted hackers’ about climate scientists' impartiality, but al- vice president for information technology and efforts. A decade ago, a spreadsheet of Social

B4 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 Security numbers was “the holy grail” for explaining that it would protect not only the “We’re looking for people who are seasoned hackers, says Ronald D. Kraemer, vice presi- university but also individuals from theft and in dealing with difficult situations,” says Dar- dent and chief information and digital officer fraud. Most people are already used to using ren Lacey, chief information-security officer at the University of Notre Dame. Data that multifactor authentication for accessing bank and director of IT compliance at the Johns can be used for identity theft or to tap finan- machines (a bank card and a PIN), he says. It Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Med- cial resources remain the primary targets, but seems like an unaccustomed step for computer icine. “It can be difficult for people to get into in the past few years, “the analytics tools that access, but it shields their research and their the field, even though there’s a shortage of people have available to them to sort through finances. people once you’re in.” data and to figure out what the hidden gems Indeed, getting everyone on campus to keep The shortage has driven up salaries for top are have just advanced so much,” he says. Per- computer security in mind can be as good as information-security staff as well. A chief in- sonally identifiable information is still the some technical backstop, and more affordable. formation-security officer at a typical college most desirable, and lucrative, goal, but if hack- When Bowdoin rolled out multifactor authen- 10 years ago might have started at $75,000, ers get into a college’s network they can gather tication about a year ago, the goal was not just Mr. Davis says. “Now? Double that.” terabytes of research data or emails to sift for to sell the new program, according to Steven Despite scarce personnel and limited re- possible profit. Most of the nonpersonal data A. Blanc, vice president and associate chief in- sources, Mr. Lacey thinks will contain little or no information that can formation officer. It was important to impart colleges do a good job over be leveraged, but it doesn’t matter. the idea that “security is not something that all at data security. Data-se- “They just slurp it all up,” says Mitchel W. IT does, it’s something the college does,” he curity professionals in higher “ If we have to have it, Davis, chief information officer and senior says. education can communicate vice president at Bowdoin College. “It might with peers at other institu- we encrypt it. If we take years to look at it, but they want to get HERE’S NO reason to believe that tions through a membership hold of it.” hackers will become less skilled, or organization known as Ren- don’t have to have it, Large, relatively open computer networks less persistent, in the future, so col- Isac, the Research and Ed- with thousands of users help universities to leges will probably continue to face ucation Networking Infor- we get rid of it.” perform their expansive missions, but they escalating data-security challenges. mation Sharing and Analy- also make it difficult to defend against intru- TThe advent of cloud computing has afforded sis Center. Such networking sion. Data security at a college over all is only colleges new options for protecting their data, helps keep even the smallest institutions up on as good as the security of each server, and of but it also creates potential new threats to se- the latest threats and protective tactics. each individual user. curity. Storing data in the cloud has helped Mr. Wheeler worries, though, that such Big attacks often start small. “Someone institutions fend off ransomware attacks, in collaborations may not be enough to stave off will hack a school, lab, or departmental-level which malicious software allows hackers to the growing threat. Even with an informa- server. Then they’ll look around sideways,” hold data on a machine hostage. “If your data tion-sharing apparatus in place, word of at- Mr. Wheeler says. “Then they’ll escalate actually exists in multiple places, you can get tacks still sometimes takes days to spread in an their privileges on that server. Then they’ll back your data without having to go through era where minutes can count. Each institution start working up the food chain,” probing for the ransom process,” says Mr. Kraemer. But may draw on widespread best practices, but deeper access, and more and more valuable unless handled carefully, passing data back they’re all still reinventing the wheel. “We’re information. and forth between a university’s systems and going to have to find a path among colleges the cloud is one of many processes hackers and universities that gets to a greater degree T INDIANA, Mr. Wheeler and his can exploit to compromise security. “Very few of efficiency and operational effectiveness at staff have spent several years work- IT organizations in higher education have a scale, rather than thinking that each campus ing on reducing potential intrusion clear understanding of what it takes to secure individually, one by one, can keep up,” he says. points. About four years ago, a something that’s now part of your system but But Mr. Kraemer believes it may be a good self-audit at Indiana revealed about outside of your organization,” Mr. Davis says. thing that colleges aren’t all dug in behind a 1,600A computer servers that Mr. Wheeler’s Hiring data-security personnel with the unified cyberdefense. “The kinds of protec- office didn’t even know about. Back then, necessary skills and experience has become in- tions we’ve each put in place, the strategies we only about 65 percent of servers on campus creasingly difficult for colleges. Many institu- use, they’re not unique, but they’re not entire- were contained within the university’s central tions have started cybersecurity programs that ly in sync either, and I think that might actu- data center, where they could be monitored are turning out graduates as fast as they can, ally be a good thing,” he says. “If everyone is by the best security the institution had on but universities themselves are often looking doing the exact same thing, in some ways that hand. Now about 90 percent are. “If we have for more senior employees. makes us vulnerable.” fewer things to attack, and fewer things that we can focus more professional energy on securing them, we’re going to be better off than otherwise,” he says. Many institutions are being more cautious 3 Types of Attacks Colleges Face about the information they keep on their net- works. When it comes to data, Mr. Kraemer PHISHING RANSOMWARE DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACKS says, “if we have to have it, we encrypt it. If These emails are designed to Click on the wrong link — even While relatively rare in higher we don’t have to have it, we get rid of it. An trick recipients into giving up their if it seems legitimate — and you education, these attacks can be organization becomes less of a target if you passwords or financial information, might download malicious soft- devastating, as hackers flood an or- don’t have tens of thousands of Social Security and they’re getting more sophisti- ware that allows hackers to hold a ganization’s computer network with numbers sitting in an unsecure system.” cated all the time. Phishing attempts machine or server hostage, along data, overwhelming it and blocking More colleges are also moving toward re- that target students, faculty, and with its data. Many such attacks legitimate activity in the process. quiring multifactor authentication, where a staff members these days may even can be contained, but it’s import- “That is a great concern,” Mr. password and some additional information or mimic missives from within the ant for victims to report attacks Wheeler says. If someone doesn’t item are required to gain access to its system. institution itself. Hackers sometimes immediately so the damage can like something an institution is If you’re a hacker trying to get past it, “just “draw on social media, look to see be dealt with. Mitchel W. Davis, doing, or a former employee has a stealing a password doesn’t help anymore,” what’s going on at the institution, chief information officer and senior grievance, they can “rent a merce- Mr. Kraemer says. fabricate messages that appear to be vice president at Bowdoin College, nary army to flood your network Notre Dame recently made multifactor au- legitimate, or even hack the account says his institution has worked to pipes and knock you offline.” thentication mandatory for all faculty, staff, of someone that you would likely encourage ransomware victims not —LEE GARDNER interact with,” says Brad Wheeler, to be embarrassed or worried about and students, a move that involved a man- vice president for information tech- penalties: “We get calls very quick- agement as well as a technical challenge. Mr. nology and chief information officer ly if they realize that they may have Kraemer and his staff spent months talking at Indiana University. made a mistake.” to various groups on the campus about the security value of multifactor authentication,

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B5 Admittedly, saving the world with We even boast a percussionist who is things like tattoos and cheese sounds known worldwide for turning sound a bit odd. Except here, at the University inside out — seeing what it’s made of by of California San Diego. Our campus pounding virtually everything he can is full of odd. Oddballs, brainiacs, and get his hands on. Still not impressed? yes, tons of geeks. But we call ourselves Then we’d love to introduce the scientist Breakers. Because that’s what we do — who’s advancing neonatal care by giving disassemble the everyday. We shatter brain-injured infants high-tech tattoos. theories. We turn conventional thinking (But don’t worry, no needles were used.) on its head. For instance: One of our So yes. We’re a little odd. When you pick professors took a fresh look at physics, up a drumstick and say you’re going to

A simple way to save the world using nothing more than drumsticks, some Havarti, and a tattoo.

saying that Einstein’s theory of relativity make a better future, you’re bound to could very well be wrong — that the past, get some weird looks. But that’s exactly present, and future are all happening what we’re driven to do: dismantle the right this moment. We’re also home to ordinary to produce the extraordinary. a scientist who’s taking something as And if this unconventional courage to mundane as cheese and transforming look at the world differently is in your it into a way to change lives. (And you DNA, then you might just be one of us. thought Havarti was only useful on rye.) ucsd.edu/breakthingsbetter Philosopher Craig Callender’s research on To grasp the mysteries of the human body, Bioengineer Todd Coleman took wearable absolute simultaneity suggests that time is microbiologist Rachel Dutton trained her technology and turned it into something an illusion and everything is happening at sights on cheese — specifically, the microbial that can literally read a baby’s mind. His once. Which not only questions Einstein’s communities fermenting on the rind. “tattoo electronics” detect brain cognition theory, but asks whether Albert is still here. The result: a unique glimpse into what to predict seizures and heart attacks, and makes them, and us, thrive. even call an ambulance. Big Data for Student Success Still Limited to Early Adopters By LAWRENCE BIEMILLER

T the University of Iowa, “Gen- final grade. For students who aren’t doing voted to helping colleges take advantage of eral Chemistry I” enrolls as many well, it suggests what help is available from digital resources, said in a comprehensive as 1,500 students a semester. They the Academic Support and Retention of- 2016 report that “the potential of these new can go to the lectures in person — fice. uses remains underdeveloped,” although the 8 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays For some years now, learning-technolo- report also said that “research using large- Ain a Chemistry Building auditorium that gy visionaries have anticipated a time when scale learner data is progressing along a seats 395 — or watch recordings through analytical tools will harness streams of data number of promising avenues.” the university’s course-management sys- about how students fare in courses, generat- Some large institutions have moved more tem. In addition to attending a weekly dis- ing reliable predictive models that will help enthusiastically to deploy campuswide early cussion section led by a teaching assistant, make sure they succeed in college. But so warning systems for students’ academic students are told to plan on spending six far comparatively few institutions have seen performance, among them Arizona State, hours a week online doing homework using those visions become reality. Elsewhere, Georgia State, and Purdue Universities, Mastering Chemistry, a textbook publish- technical challenges, wariness among fac- Rio Salado College, and the University of er’s product. ulty and staff members, and commercial Michigan. And Unizin, a consortium aimed The chemistry students are among the offerings that fail to satisfy mean that wide- at “enhancing learner success with digital first students at Iowa to benefit from a spread adoption of learning analytics is yet technology and resources,” has grown to home-grown predictive-analytics project to come. a dozen institutional members, including that aims to help make sure they pass the Last year’s edition of the annual Campus Iowa. But Iowa’s more cautious approach is course. The three-year-old project, called Computing Survey found that less than a by no means unusual. Elements of Success, combines data about fifth of respondents rated data-analytics “General Chemistry I” is a “very large students who have already taken the course investments their institutions had made as course, a very critical course,” says Sam with information about current students’ “very effective.” Kenneth C. Green, the Van Horne, assessment director in the uni- backgrounds, how long they’re spending survey’s director, says that’s not a surprise. versity’s Office of Teaching, Learning & on homework, and how well they’re un- “As with so many new technologies in the Technology. In university surveys, a third derstanding it. Then it offers each student consumer, corporate, and campus sectors, of first-year students rank the course as a dashboard with visualizations that show the actual, implied, and inferred promises their most difficult, he adds, so “this was a how he or she is doing relative to others in often fall short of initial performance.” class where we wanted to do more to sup- the class, and also forecasts the student’s Even Ithaka, a nonprofit organization de- port learners.” Mr. Van Horne worked with several others, including one of the course instructors, Russell Larsen, who wanted to offer students better feedback than was available through commercial products. El- ements of Success is now also used in an- other chemistry course as well as in “Foun- dations of Biology,” and about 90 percent of students in the courses look at the dash- boards, Mr. Van Horne says. “We see a positive difference for users that are using it more frequently,” he says. It’s also cut down on the number of emails instructors get from students seeking to know how they’re doing. And it’s opened the eyes of some instructors who “believed that women or underrepresented students were doing as well as other students,” Mr. Van Horne says, because “we were able to show that they were not.” Tammi J. Anderson, a first-year student in “General Chemistry I,” has found Elements of Success to be helpful. “It gives me an idea if I am at where I need to be, and if I’m not, it shows me how far off I am,” says Ms. An- derson, who plans to major in neurobiology and attend medical school.

UT Elements of Success also rep- resents some of the difficulties of using “big data” to help students succeed. Mr. Van Horne, a gradu- ate student, and an undergraduate Bassistant manually pull data for the project from the university student-information

JIM SLOSIAREK FOR THE CHRONICLE system, the course-management system, and At the U. of Iowa, Sam Van Horne (seated) and his staff members run a big-data project that provides students and instructors the homework site, although the university in certain courses with continually updated dashboards of information, including a forecast of the student's final grade. recently switched to a new course-manage-

B8 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 ment provider that will enable them to auto- Mr. Smith is also concerned that data now getting more applications and better mate some of the work. could be used to unfairly profile students. students. “If we hadn’t been analyzing the “That’s one of the critical roadblocks to “I think there’s any number of issues with data and been open to what the data would learning analytics,” he says. “Data exists in that,” he says. “Doors could get inadvertent- tell us, we would never have gotten to that different third-party systems.” To expand ly closed on the student because you’re rein- point.” the program, “Either we find better ways to forcing biases that whoever’s talking to that And while many colleges are proceeding automate or we have to have more resourc- student may have. cautiously where learning analytics are con- es.” “Does this add to that? Does it detract cerned, there’s plenty of interest among fac- Elements of Success is customized for each from it? Can we use data to better under- ulty members, says Jennifer Sparrow, Penn course, relying on whatever information best stand interventions to know whether or not State’s senior director of teaching and learn- predicts how students will fare on the first those interventions help students succeed?” ing with technology. exam. For “General Chemistry,” that means Kyle Bowen, the university’s director of looking at students’ performance on the most EANWHILE, many smaller col- education-technology services, says faculty recent three homework assignments, but for leges say they don’t see a need members in different departments are work- “Foundations of Biology,” the program in- for data-driven early-alert sys- ing on projects that would stead picks up the results of clicker-based tems, although they are taking use textual-analysis pro- quizzes. There’s also a different “dashboard” advantage of the communica- grams, facial-recogni- for every course. “We don’t want our dash- Mtions and note-sharing capacity offered by tion software, and even " My real thing is, board to have 50 points of data — you have to commercial advising systems. “We are too smartphones or Apple distill it down. You want them to get feedback small to have big data,” says Kerry E. Pan- Watches to capture data data is great, but to orient them to take the next action.” nell, vice president for academic affairs and about how students go Pennsylvania State University hopes to dean of Agnes Scott College, which has just about learning. Someday it’s only as good roll out a data-driven early warning system under 950 students. “We don’t have 10,000 soon such information this coming fall for its STEM-centered Mil- students and an algorithm running to show could be added to the as the people that lennium Scholars program, which enrolls a if a student gets a C in this class. The advis- early warning system the number of students from underrepresented ers already know all the students.” university will roll out for are behind it.” minority groups. “We’re going at it slowly,” But Agnes Scott and other small colleges its Millennium Scholars says David R. Smith, associate dean for advis- are using data to improve admissions and next fall, and could even ing and executive director of undergraduate retention by understanding what kinds of be even augmented with data captured when studies. students do well at their institutions, and students swipe into dining halls, dormito- “We could have all this data that says x, y, how to attract and retain them. Franklin & ries, and recreation facilities, giving the uni- or z about students and their behaviors and Marshall College’s vice president for plan- versity an ever-more-detailed understanding their patterns, but have you really thought ning, Alan S. Caniglia, says that a review of of how students learn. about what you want students to do once admissions data a dozen years ago showed “Once you have this really good model to you’ve identified that there’s an issue?” he that “financial aid that was not based on work from, you can begin to use this kind says. “You’ve got to have the resources lined need was not increasing the likelihood of science to explore engagement questions, up to help them. My real thing is, data is that the kinds of students we were trying course-design questions,” says Mr. Bowen. great, but it’s only as good as the people that to attract would actually enroll.” So the “The more we layer in additional data to our are behind it.” college dropped so-called merit aid, and is model, the more accurate it gets.”

Where Every Student Is a Potential Data Point By SARAH BROWN

T’S A LITTLE STRANGE to hear students WGU — collaborating with classmates, man said officials "are very open with our being referred to as “potential test sub- using course resources, submitting assign- students about our use of data to help us im- jects” by a college president. But when ments — is tracked online. The institution, prove student outcomes and satisfaction," and the college in question is online-only which includes half a dozen state affiliates added that none of students' personal infor- and enrolls 80,000 students worldwide, like WGU Texas and WGU Indiana, be- mation is shared outside of the university.) Iit makes more sense: The possibilities for in- gins a new six-month term every month, At many traditional colleges, terms like stitutional researchers are just about endless. and 4,000 to 5,000 students enroll in each “assessments” and “learning outcomes” That’s why Western Governors University, term. Such a structure is ideal for running often draw skepticism because they don’t a nonprofit, online institution based in Salt large-scale experiments, says Jason Levin, the seem to account for the often-intangible Lake City, has beefed up its institutional-re- university’s vice president for institutional re- benefits that a college education can pro- search office over the past few years and initi- search. Since he joined Western Governors vide. Not so at WGU, a competency-based ated a bevy of projects focused on improving in 2012, its institutional-research office has institution where standardized measure- student success. roughly doubled in size, thanks to the addi- ments and goals are the university’s bread “Our job here is, How do we best serve tion of several business-intelligence analysts. and butter. That opens up new possibilities every individual student given how they Not only is there an unusually rich re- for institutional researchers, who can hold learn, what knowledge they come in with, pository of data for institutional researchers certain variables constant while testing what pace they learn at?” says Scott D. Pu- to take advantage of as they try to improve tools and interventions to see how they in- lispher, who has been WGU’s president for student outcomes, but they can also test hy- fluence students. a year. “We’re trying to adapt the learning potheses much more quickly and accelerate WGU has been a pioneer of using com- such that we increase the probability for any the pace of innovation, Mr. Pulsipher says. petencies, or demonstrated skills, to help type of student to graduate.” “We have visibility into everything that a students advance toward credentials and Virtually every student interaction at student is doing,” he says. (A WGU spokes- Continued on Following Page

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B9 KIM RAFF FOR THE CHRONICLE Jason Levin is vice president for institutional research at Western Governors U. Since he joined the university in 2012, its institutional-research office has doubled in size.

Continued From Preceding Page GU’S institutional-research office Another recent institutional-research degrees; students master skills at their own often teams up with scholars project involved designing and testing a new pace, rather than taking courses over a de- at other institutions. What’s “Leadership and Communication” curric- fined semester-long period. “That’s the no- unique about WGU is that ulum aimed at making students more re- tion of competency-based — you keep the researchers can easily observe silient, Mr. Levin says. In partnership with standard of the learning constant and you Wparticular aspects of the student experience the Academy for College Excellence, WGU let the time vary,” Mr. Pulispher says. “We — for instance, students collaborating with researchers set up three pilot programs and believe every single person can learn and one another in webinars, says Richard W. tweaked the course as they figured out which demonstrate proficiency in the standard.” Patterson, an assistant professor of econom- aspects of the curriculum were improving One focus for the institutional research ics at the United States Military Academy at students’ ability to progress on time toward office at the moment is “learning personas.” West Point. a credential of some kind, he says. Personas — composite profiles of specific “At traditional universities, you can see WGU often touts its high proportion of types of learners — describe students’ abil- grades and outcomes, but no inputs,” Mr. graduates who go on to obtain jobs in their ity and level of motivation. WGU wants to Patterson says. That can make it tough to respective fields, as well as their salaries and use that information to craft a “learning know which specific interventions or activ- their general well-being. That’s all thanks path” that’s specific to each ities helped students get over the finish line. to the institutional-research office, which student. One persona might Mr. Patterson and WGU are working to- works with companies like Gallup and Pay- reflect a student who’s a lag- gether on a project that involves designing Scale to, as Mr. Levin puts it, “get a broad “ We have visibility gard, and not particularly and testing online tools with the goal of re- sense of how our alumni are doing profes- engaged in courses. Another taining students, improving their participa- sionally and personally in their lives, com- into everything that might reflect a “fader” — a tion rates in courses, and encouraging them pared to students from other institutions.” student who tends to start to earn degrees. Mr. Patterson says they are WGU and Gallup recently published a a student is doing.” strong but has a difficult analyzing microdata (did particular tools study that found that the employment rate time staying focused as each help students submit assignments on time?) of WGU alumni five years after graduation course progresses. and examining broad-scale responses (did was higher than the national average. It also The idea, Mr. Pulsipher says, is to figure those tools also help students complete the found that 73 percent of alumni said their out which type of mentor is going to best course?). educational experience was worth the cost, support a student, which prompts might “We’re able to see if they log on to look at compared with a national average of 38 per- best keep that student on track, and what their courses,” Mr. Patterson says, “but we’re cent. course plan would be most effective. Does also able to see whether they’re reaching In the future, Mr. Pulsipher would like the the student need general-education cours- those more important benchmarks.” institutional-research office to delve into the es? Or does he or she have the foundational If students are weak self-regulated learn- roadblocks that may prevent adult students knowledge and study skills to jump right ers, Mr. Levin says, one remedy might in- from obtaining credentials and degrees. into more advanced work? volve technology-based interventions that Mr. Pulsipher also believes that traditional Western Governors will begin a pilot would give them a nudge to stay on top of colleges can learn some lessons from the way program this month to test a tool that coursework. His staff is working with a team WGU uses data to adapt the education it of- makes use of these personas, Mr. Levin of behavioral economists on a weekly plan- fers. For instance, why leave some students says. He and his research team are collab- ner that integrates with Google Calendar, so floundering in lecture halls if you have data orating with Excelsior College, an online students would have a visual representation suggesting that they might not learn well institution based in Albany, N.Y., to run a of their week ahead and could receive text that way? he asks. six-month randomized control experiment, reminders about study plans, assignments, At many colleges, he says, “it’s kind of like, he says. and tests. You’re admitted and we’re done.”

B10 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 Coding ‘Boot Camps’ Come Into the Fold With Campus Partnerships By GOLDIE BLUMENSTYK

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. son, and Learning House have contracted find up to 80 percent of its new recruits from OUSTON Breedlove had several with institutions to help them design and its partner institutions. reasons for enrolling in the coding market their online courses and degrees. In For the college partners, says Joe Mitch- boot camp that Trilogy Education distance education, such outsourcing compa- ell, who oversees Revature’s partnerships, Services now runs in collaboration nies are known as online program managers, “it’s about ensuring access to high-value with the University of North Car- or OPMs. Trilogy is the first OPM for cod- jobs in technology.” For Re- Holina at Chapel Hill. ing boot camps, and works primarily with vature, the partnerships cre- At a cost of $9,500, the six-month course colleges’ continuing-education divisions. ate a pipeline for new talent, TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM was less expensive than those offered by Besides UNC-Chapel Hill, Trilogy has including minority students. competitors. It was designed as a part-time current or pending partnerships with 17 “Every major organization program, so Mr. Breedlove, who worked his institutions, including Northwestern and has a diversity agenda,” says Mr. Mitchell, way through the University of North Caroli- Rutgers Universities and the University of and the colleges, particularly institutions like na at Greensboro as a martial-arts instructor Central Florida. The universities typically CUNY, can help fulfill that. and graduated in 2013 with a religious-stud- provide the space — for the boot camp here, Colleges in partnership with Revature ies major, could keep his job at a nearby it’s a modern university conference center have no direct financial relationship with hotel. Just as importantly, he says, the pro- located a couple of miles from the historic the company; other boot camps with ties to gram had “that legit university” behind it. main campus — and they OK marketing colleges typically share the tuition revenues For Mr. Breedlove, it paid off. Partway materials, admissions criteria, and curricula. under formulas that are not generally made through the program, he felt confident Revature has active or pending partner- public. enough and “hireable” enough to quit his ships with 10 colleges now and expects to add The Software Guild, which was acquired hotel job to focus exclusively on his boot- a few more soon. Unlike most other coding by Learning House in 2015, now boasts a camp assignments. A week later he landed boot camps, where tuition can run as high half-dozen college partners. In most cases, a paid internship at a nearby company that as $15,000 for an intensive six-month course the partnerships are primarily co-branded develops an app to help manage workflow on (the national average is about $11,500), Reva- ventures, in which ties to the university are creative projects. Once he finished the boot ture has an unusual business model: It pays slight. But at two of the partners, Concor- Houston Breedlove, camp in January, he was hired at the com- its admitted students a stipend during the dia University in St. Paul, Minn., and Stark who graduated in 2013 pany full time. “If I had to do it again,” he 12-week coding course and then a salary of State College, in Ohio, the Software Guild’s with a religious-studies says of his educational journey, “I would have at least $50,000 after that, for the remain- courses can also count toward a degree. degree, got a job at a gone straight to boot camp.” der of the student’s two-year commitment. Although the company receives the lion’s software company after Coding boot camps, which burst onto the Revature makes its money from companies share of the revenues, Eric E. LaMott, Con- finishing a coding boot education scene about five years ago, initial- that pay it once they hire trained employees. cordia’s provost, says the arrangement helped camp run by Trilogy ly developed their cachet as the antithesis Currently Revature recruits recent college the college establish its own computer-sci- Education Services and to traditional colleges. Their courses were graduates from more than 700 institutions, ence degree recently. The boot camp began the U. of North Caroli- intensive, narrowly focused, and job-orient- but within the next 18 months it hopes to Continued on Following Page na at Chapel Hill. ed. They attracted career changers, students who had never finished college, and recent graduates like Mr. Breedlove, who were seeking specific job skills. That’s all still true. But today, with more than 90 companies and a few nonprofit orga- nizations in North America operating short- term programs in software coding, data an- alytics, and other information-technology fields, several of the boot camps are discov- ering the value of a more direct connection to universities. And vice versa. “The alums want jobs. The companies want talent,” says Ann Kirschner, who just stepped down as special adviser to the chan- cellor for strategic partnerships at the City University of New York. “Over time, if we don’t address that, we in higher education are giving away our birthright.” Earlier this year, she brought a coding training company called Revature to CUNY’s Queens College. Revature, along with Trilogy, a compa- ny called the Software Guild, and the boot camp called Level, which Northeastern University created in 2015 and now boasts campuses in five cities, is among the most visible examples of this growing universi- ty-boot-camp symbiosis. Trilogy, in fact, bases its entire business model on its partnerships with universities, much in the way companies like 2U, Pear- CHRIS HILDRETH FOR THE CHRONICLE

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B11 Continued From Preceding Page Some boot camps also have a spotty re- that the academic partners are more than on the Concordia campus but has since cord in reporting their job-placement rates just window dressing. “We wouldn’t be suc- moved to what Mr. LaMott calls “a hipper and graduates’ salaries in a way that would be cessful if the universities weren’t involved,” location in Minneapolis.” Since it began in truly useful to prospective students, although he says. 2015, only 57 students have taken the Soft- several efforts are now underway to correct J. Jeffrey Jones, vice provost for regional ware Guild’s courses for credit, and only that. (This month, for example, the 14 found- campuses at the University of Central Flor- seven have gone on to enroll at Concordia. ing members of a new Council on Integrity in ida, says his institution vetted the Trilogy But the provost says the university sees this Results Reporting plan to publish their first program before signing on and continues as a long-term play. If a boot-camp student set of results, based on a uniform set of re- to do so. So far, most of the students have eventually decides to pursue a full degree, porting standards for boot camps.) not had direct ties to his university, but, he says Mr. LaMott “we want to be the path of Better reporting of results would be a says, “There clearly is a need for this in our least resistance.” welcome improvement, says Rich Flynn, economy.” a managing director at Tyton Partners, an One of the costs Trilogy assumes is that OR ALL THE HYPE about them, boot investment-banking firm, who follows the of helping its students find jobs. The com- camps still make up only a small boot-camp industry. “Everyone’s not get- pany claims a 90-percent success rate. Two niche in the educational market. ting 98 percent” job-placement rates, he says. months after graduation, at least a couple of Course Report, a search site for stu- “There’s a lot of BS out there.” Still, he re- Mr. Breedlove’s classmates are still looking. dents looking for boot camps, has es- gards boot camps as a good, albeit pricey, ca- But like him, both say they’re far more hire- Ftimated that the 90-plus such schools in the reer investment for students. As for the uni- able now than before. They expect to land United States and Canada had about 18,000 versity relationships, even if some might see jobs soon. students complete their programs in 2016. those partnerships as a way for boot camps to As for Mr. Breedlove, he’s not only happy That’s less than one-third of the estimated “rent” the university’s reputation, Mr. Flynn with his job, but he also reports he’s about number of students graduating from college says they serve both parties: “I think the to get some additional responsibilities. And with computer-science degrees annually, but universities are happy to have their brands this month he’ll start supervising a new in- a notable uptick from the 10,000 boot-camp rented,” he says. “They need the money.” tern: a student from the Trilogy boot camp graduates the year before. Dan Sommer, Trilogy’s founder, insists at UNC-Chapel Hill. Growing Pains Begin to Emerge in Open-Textbook Movement

By BEN GOSE

ANITA ARMSTRONG started com- are free or nearly so, and that rely on open- into more classes — improving the odds that munity college so that she could ly licensed materials. Grant programs in a student will graduate. compete for higher-paying jobs, Virginia and California have supported the The potential of open resources to help but the former bus driver and development of entire degree pathways that more students complete degrees means mother of five found herself with feature openly licensed textbooks at commu- plenty of grant money is available from Da $1,300 textbook bill last fall. nity colleges — and the reform organization foundations and some state legislatures to Ms. Armstrong, a student at Bay College’s Achieving the Dream is supporting a nation- support experimentation. The William and West Campus, in Iron Mountain, Mich., ex- al effort to roll out more such degrees. Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Bill & pected more of the same this semester, but But growing pains are also emerging as Melinda Gates Foundation have supported instead she got a nice surprise — she learned the movement reaches adolescence. both OpenStax and the nearly $10-million that the textbook for her macro economics Colleges are learning that creating openly Achieving the Dream effort, which is pro- course would be free. The instructor assigned licensed courses and degree plans costs real viding grants to develop OER degrees at 38 a textbook from OpenStax, a publisher at money and takes real time. Advocates say the community colleges in 13 states. Rice University that uses what are commonly movement frees faculty members from the Proselytizers like David A. Wiley, a known as open ed- prescribed path of a commercial textbook and co-founder and the chief academic officer ucational resources, allows them to patch together a more mean- of Lumen Learning, a company that helps “ You’re going to have to or OER, and makes ingful classroom experience through openly colleges assemble courses based on open re- online versions of its licensed reading materials, quizzes, and videos. sources, say it’s only a matter of time before take some OER from here, textbook available at However, as the movement spreads beyond openly licensed textbooks begin to crowd no cost. the early believers, more colleges have been out more-expensive offerings from commer- some from there, and write “I’m not looking forced to offer grants to encourage faculty to cial publishers. “When the outcomes are the for a free education,” incorporate openly licensed materials. And the same or better, the cost to students is drasti- some of your own stuff. says Ms. Armstrong. grants are often modest, raising the question cally reduced, and the pedagogical freedom “But if I can save of how many instructors will take the bait. for faculty is greatly increased, it’s hard to see It’s a lot of work.” money on textbooks, College leaders may ultimately offer richer how such a product doesn’t come out on top it takes some of the incentives because the use of open resourc- in a relatively short period,” Mr. Wiley says. stress away. I can es eliminates multiple barriers to classroom Commercial publishers say their products focus on my courses and not worry about success. When a textbook is free, every stu- continue to be preferred in most classrooms whether we’re going to be able to pay our dent has the required learning materials on because of the innovative online learning bills at the end of the month.” the first day of class.A 2014 study by U.S. tools that are often included with a text- The open-resources movement has come a PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, found book purchase. Publishers also point out that long way since the Massachusetts Institute of that 65 percent of students said they had de- course materials are more affordable for stu- Technology unveiled the OpenCourseWare cided against buying a textbook because it dents than they were a decade ago. Accord- project in 2001. Dozens of colleges now was too expensive. And the savings from not ing to a survey by the National Association of offer some courses featuring textbooks that having to buy a textbook can be plowed back College Stores, students spent an average of

B12 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 $602 on textbooks and other course materi- als last year, down 14 percent from 2007, not only thanks to open educational resources but also because options such as renting and buying used books have lowered the cost.

AST SUMMER California’s Legislature appropriated $5 million to create ze- ro-textbook-cost degrees (known as Z-degrees) at the state’s community colleges. All materials developed under Lboth the California effort and the national Achieving the Dream grant program are re- quired to hold a Creative Commons license, which allows others to freely use and adapt the resources, as long as attribution is given. “We’re hoping to create a ripple effect among community colleges in the adoption of OER,” says Karen A. Stout, president of Achieving the Dream, which aspires to lift college completion rates for low-income and minority students. JOSH LE CLAIR FOR THE CHRONICLE A similar but smaller grant in Virginia didn’t live up to its hype. In 2015, the Vir- giant Pearson runs out in the spring of 2018. gree in dental hygiene, says the open-resourc- Danita Armstrong ginia Community College System, with “I have always thought, why am I assign- es textbook will allow him to graduate with (left front), a student support from the Hewlett Foundation, gave ing a textbook when I can literally write these less debt. “It’s just like any other textbook, ex- at Bay College, in grants worth $15,000 apiece to help 15 col- homework problems myself?” Ms. Hsiao says. cept it’s online,” Mr. Arceo says. “I’m saving Michigan, and a moth- leges create new Z-degrees by June 2016. The The two instructors estimate that 1,700 money, and that’s all that matters.” er of five: “If I can save system was looking to expand on Tidewater Lane students a year buy a textbook for those money on textbooks, it takes some of the stress Community College’s successful creation of courses. With average savings of $100 per OME open-resources advocates away. I can focus on my a Z-degree in business administration. But textbook, a move to OER could save Lane think the model of depending on courses.” even today, only two of the colleges are on students $170,000 per year. grant money to roll out textbooks their way to a Z-degree, says Jenny Quarles, But as they dove into the work, the instruc- is doomed to fail. What happens the system’s director of teaching and learn- tors gained some respect for the time involved when fickle philanthropists lose in- ing technology. “It was a little ambitious,” she in creating a textbook. Simply finding open Sterest and move on to the next thing? And says. “We were teaching large majorities of materials to use has been difficult; without even OER textbooks need to be updated reg- the faculty about what OER means.” a central repository, Ms. Rawlinson felt like ularly — who’s going to pay for that? The Achieving the Dream initiative offers she was searching in a “chaotic environment.” Many colleges are exploring fees to main- more money and a longer timeline. Bay Col- Some of the material they did find used com- tain the textbooks — which suggests that the lege, which currently has about 15 courses puter programming languages they weren’t fa- term “zero textbook cost” could soon be on that use openly licensed materials, including miliar with. And the open-resources textbook the way out. Lane is considering a fee of $1 per the one taken by Ms. Armstrong, received a they ultimately chose for this year turned out credit hour, which, among other things, would $100,000 grant last summer to create OER be disappointing; the problem sets at the end pay the salary of a new full-time OER librari- degrees in liberal arts, business administra- of the chapters weren’t challenging enough. an whose job is currently supported by grants. tion, and robotics. “Wendy and I would meet at a coffee shop Bay College is also considering a nominal fee About $30,000 of the grant will go to fac- to talk about this,” Ms. Hsiao says. “We soon for its OER courses. ulty stipends. The largest stipend, $1,000, re- realized that we weren’t making enough Chemeketa Community College, in Salem, quires instructors to build their own content, money to pay for the coffee. I don’t think the Ore., is taking a different path. It is compet- rather than tap existing textbooks, such as people at higher levels who are promoting this ing with the big publishers by producing its those available from OpenStax. have any idea how much work is involved.” own printed textbooks through what it calls “You’re going to have to take some OER Paul Corey, Pearson’s managing director of Chemeketa Press. The books use original from here, some from there, and write some higher-education courseware, says the Lane content from the college’s own faculty and of your own stuff,” says Joseph Mold, the col- instructors’ frustrations illustrate the value openly licensed materials, and are sold for a lege’s director of online learning and instruc- provided by commercial materials. Many text- fraction of the price of commercial textbooks. tional design. “It’s a lot of work.” books sold by Pearson include online tools — The college’s art faculty came to Cheme- Whether $1,000 will be enough is an open including animations, simulations, and tests keta Press and said they thought they could question; some other colleges have been — at no additional cost. And as more students make a better textbook than the $210 book forced to raise the amount they pay instruc- purchase digital textbooks, he says, Pearson’s that they had been assigning, says Steve Rich- tors to develop new open content. huge reach allows it to pinpoint exactly where ardson, the press’s managing editor. That Five years ago, Lane Community College, students are struggling and revise and im- experience was full of challenges — includ- in Eugene, Ore., enticed faculty members prove those portions of the textbook. ing when he realized that a draft of the art to begin using openly licensed materials by Mr. Corey says defections to open resourc- textbook had openly licensed photos of un- offering free iPads. When that incentive no es have been happening for years, but Pearson licensed art. Donations by local artists ulti- longer worked, Lane began offering a stipend is now regaining one account that has exper- mately helped make the book, Art for Every- that pays for 70 hours of curriculum devel- imented with open resources for every new one, possible. It sells for $28, and the press’s opment. The college now has more than 170 one that is lost. “In all candor, it’s part of the math and writing textbooks cost even less. OER class sections available, saving students conversation: ‘Tell me why you’re better than Revenue is being used to recover the book’s an estimated $460,000 per year, it says. free?’” Mr. Corey says. “The onus is on us to development costs and eventually will be re- But some faculty members say the stipends demonstrate the value.” cycled into the creation of new books. still aren’t enough. Ms. Hsiao and Ms. Rawlinson say that the Mr. Richardson believes the college is Berri Hsiao and Wendy Rawlinson, Lane exploration of OER has been worthwhile be- more likely to succeed using that model than math instructors, have been piloting open cause of what they’ve learned, and because of if it were to depend on grant dollars to pay for textbooks in a three-course algebra sequence. the impact an adoption of open resources may the adoption of open resources. “We sell our They hope the math department will consider have on low-income students. books at an affordable price, and students will adopting an OER textbook for the sequence Jerric Arceo, a student in Ms. Hsiao’s be- save a ton of money,” he says. “But we’re not when its existing contract with the publishing ginning algebra class who is pursuing a de- giving it away.”

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B13 OPINION Big Hopes, Scant Evidence Acquiring expensive data tools does not guarantee real improvement

By MARK SALISBURY

ESPITE ALL the cheerleading that seems to have ac- companied big data’s arrival on campus, its promise to transform higher education continues to surge well ahead of its supporting evidence. That is not to say that thoughtful gathering and interpreting of information Dcan’t be a powerful tool in the effort to help colleges improve. But the letdowns of the last overhyped remedy for higher education’s short- comings (MOOCs, anyone?) ought to remind us that we would do well to genuinely understand the limitations and caveats of big-data analytics before jumping on a bandwagon that turns out to be in the wrong parade. Although specific definitions vary, big-data analytics generally combines the ability to link disparate data sources, apply quantitative methods of analysis, and convey results interactively. However, at its core, it is only a tool that might help an organization’s efforts to improve. For example, colleges can already apply statistical analyses to identify the types of students who are less likely to persist to the second year or to graduate in four years, or even (if the institution is set up to capture more-granular data) to use support resources more frequently. But acquiring the ability to deploy big-data analytics doesn’t guar- antee anything. The first mistake colleges make is to conflate acquir- ing an expensive tool with achieving demonstrable and sustainable improvement. When a college’s leaders lack a clear understanding of what big-data analytics can and cannot do, this newfangled tool can end up draining an organization of time, money, and morale. Moreover, a naïve allegiance to big-data analytics can subvert the very improvement that institutions hope to achieve. At the very least, an uncritical approach may predispose some to see causation where there is only correlation. Worse, others might succumb to the more detrimental assumption that getting answers from big-data analytics is no more complicated than asking Siri a question on your iPhone. Take the issue of student retention. Research indicates that a student’s decision whether or not to persist can be influenced by numerous factors, including pre-college academic preparation, time-management skills, or the feeling that he or she doesn’t belong on the campus. An analysis of a single student cohort might reveal several statistically significant persistence predictors, some of which represent pre-college demographics (such as race, first-generation status, or socioeconomic status), while others denote first-year ex- periences (such as peer relationships, academic support, or sense of belonging). But if the data set isn’t robust enough to determine which of these variables is more influential, or if a combination of pre-col- lege characteristics and college experiences produces an additional effect above and beyond the effects produced by those two factors individually, then this institution is just as likely to make an ex- pensive mistake or to see improvement merely by chance as it is to stumble upon a change that works. To make matters more difficult, institutions can tackle only those problems for which they have data. While pre-college preparation or course-grade data might be readily available, data on time management or a student’s sense of belonging may not. All of the analytic firepower in the world can’t make up for data that you don’t have.

B14 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 QUALLY TROUBLING, blind faith in big-data analytics can devolve into a belief that quantitative methods are the only way to investigate a problem. This misstep would be especially troublesome for smaller colleges where the numbers of students from certain populations (such as Eunderrepresented or first-generation students) are often small enough to require three to five years of data collection before any statistical analysis can be conducted. Yet these are the students who are often the most at risk and in need of immediate support. In such cases, focus-group findings can provide useful insights that can be swift- ly applied, helping institutions sustain the momentum required to achieve improvement. For example, improving advising practices for first-year students can be as simple as asking them what has worked best and then plugging in their responses. Sometimes qualitative research methods are the only plausible way to fully grasp the obstacles that hinder student success. Instead of doubling down on big-data analytics, colleges would be better off developing an array of research skills with the ability to discern which tool to use when. Certainly, colleges need to improve educational effectiveness and efficiency. But change on a college campus is a process, not an event. In order to improve outcomes like student learning, retention, or completion, institutions must commit to a four-stage process: n Identify an end result or experience that can be improved. n Design a plausible change grounded in evidence. n Put that change into effect responsibly. n Assess its impact and adapt as necessary. Consistently achieving positive results requires a carefully balanced investment of people, time, and resources across all four stages of this process. Administrators and faculty members can tell countless stories of campus initiatives that failed because they botched the design or bungled the implementation. Quantitative analytical skill is a useful tool for identifying problems or assessing the impact of a recently adopted change, but it cannot design an intervention, put a new program in place, or navigate the interpersonal nuances of help- ing colleagues adjust to change. Without committing to the entire process of improvement, even colleges with the best suite of analytic tools will find real improvement a long way off. In addition, most ideas designed to increased efficiency or effec- tiveness in the corporate world don’t fit nicely into a higher-education context. Big-data analytics emerged in a corporate environment where adopting new ideas required only a mandate from the top brass in the corner office. But in higher education, where the organization- al culture prioritizes academic freedom and defends its autonomous clusters, the most effective mechanism for bringing about real change comes from the bottom up. Again, this doesn’t mean that we should throw out the big-data babies with the analytical bathwater. But insti- tutional investments in big-data analytics can’t make these new tools appear to be the playthings of the senior administration. If the goal is improved educational effectiveness, and if real change comes from the ground floor, then the tools must be easily accessible to the facul- ty and staff members who are best situated to design and bring about change. All of this suggests that maybe colleges should listen more skepti- cally to the sales pitch of big data and instead focus on aligning their investment in improvement with the process through which real change actually occurs. This might start by asking if your institution collects the information most germane to improving student success. With the National Survey of Student Engagement, Gallup, and the decades of research on college-student outcomes, resources that spell out what data to collect and how to collect it are not hard to find. Fur- thermore, with careful collaboration and planning, colleges can gath- er this information entirely in-house at almost no cost. Data-man- agement and data-analytics software are typically already available on campus. And learning how to use this software, as well as how to marry data sets together in order to analyze them more expansively, is often only a YouTube tutorial away. With tools like these, the bulk of the institutional investment in im- provement can be redeployed to tackle a wider range of challenges and empower the people on a campus who can make real change happen. Illustrations by Mark Salisbury is assistant dean and director of institutional research and as- John W. Tomac for sessment at Augustana College, in Illinois. The Chronicle.

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B15 The Cost That Holds Back Ed-Te ch I n novat ion Hint: It’s not what you think By JOHN LYNCH

ECENTLY, I had an un- the gender of nouns, articles, and adjec- can advise instructors on learning out- expected revelation as I tives? All of these data are available, and comes and ways to measure them, but watched a colleague of mine given a properly designed dashboard, they cannot actually design the assign- work with a pair of instruc- a skilled instructor could use them to ments or reconfigure the readings and tors to “hybridize” their personalize the learning experience of other supplemental materials. Tech- Rintroductory foreign-language class. every student in the class. Alternatively, nologists can build a quiz in a learn- The team spent weeks breaking down motivated students could use these data ing-management system from a spread- their expected learning outcomes, then to direct their own practice. sheet listing questions and answers, more weeks drafting scripts for videos But if such an intervention is so ef- but they cannot create the spreadsheet (to supplement the existing textbook) fective, why aren’t we doing this in all in the first place, without an expert’s and quiz questions to help students of our classes? The answer, of course, is knowledge of the course content, and practice those skills, then months re- cost — but not the cost that I expected. they certainly cannot record videos on cording the videos and building those Specifically, it wasn’t the technological an instructor’s behalf, authoritatively quizzes in Moodle, our campus learn- cost. Although the instructors used explicating a subject, even from a script! ing-management system. Finally, after some innovative technologies in their A technology platform might be able to almost a year of planning and produc- course redesign, none of those is critical transform structured data into an easy- tion, the instructors were able to begin to the personalized-learning aspect: to-parse graph or dashboard, but it can- testing their new tools by rigorously The quizzes could be delivered by any not structure that data by itself, and we’re comparing the learning outcomes of learning-management system, or even still a long way from being able to effec- students in the hybrid sections to those on paper, and one could reveal the same tively and efficiently measure “critical of students in traditional-format classes. data in almost-real time with only a thinking and analysis” or “written com- Recent research indicates that creat- properly designed spreadsheet. Nor munication skills” via multiple-choice ing an instructional environment rich was it the cost of the instructional de- questions. The instructor, the content in real-time data about student achieve- signer, or the educational technologist. expert, is the thread that ties all of these ment is perhaps the most powerful The single greatest cost of the course other pieces together, the one without positive intervention that an instructor redesign that I watched was the faculty whom the others would be irrelevant. can make. So I was excited to see that instructors (or “subject-matter experts,” the new hybrid materials were designed as they’re often referred to), who spent NFORTUNATELY, when it to collect substantial data about student hundreds of hours planning and design- comes to improving instruc- achievement and behavior throughout ing all of the new content. tional outcomes, giving instruc- the course. Want to know how well More important, I also realized that tors adequate time and support faculty will be the biggest cost for just Ufor course redesign isn’t how most univer- someone understands past-tense verb conjugation? What about the vocabu- about any successful educational tech- sities seem to spend their money. lary for giving directions? Or matching nology project. Instructional designers Continued on Page B18

B16 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 John, B.F.A., Class of 2018

Questioning the “fiction” Payscale, 2015-2016 in science fiction. *

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THE FUTURE IS OURS TM Continued From Page B16 learning practices requires resources counted toward tenure advancement as Anecdotally, I can think of instruc- and incentives, yet pedagogical efforts much as an equivalent amount of time tional “innovations” at many institu- are seldom incorporated in tenure re- spent on research does, I expect that tions where the administration paid view,” the report says. we’d see an explosion of valuable experi- a high price for a new, much-praised I am excited by a lot of the cut- mentation in this area. technology platform while expecting ting-edge ideas in educational tech- I believe that the real barrier to wide- faculty members to voluntarily nology, such as personalized learning spread instructional innovation is not commit their own time to and predictive analytics. I believe that technical but cultural. The greatest cost The instructor, learning it and putting it in college students at all levels would ben- of leveraging a new technology isn’t the place. Unfortunately, tech- efit greatly if we could all evolve our tech itself, or the technical support for the content expert, nology platforms are rarely teaching method from “the sage on the it; it’s the time required by local experts the holy grail. That is to say, stage” to a data-rich “conversation” with to build, revise, and sustain content is the thread that ties they do not solve problems clear learning outcomes, effectively that will make the most effective use of merely by being licensed. turning every class, no matter how big, it. And since most universities do not all of these other Instead, they must be learned into a small seminar. Even for the most compensate their instructors for this and used, and using such tools qualitative of the humanities, there are time, in either the short or the long pieces together. effectively generally requires viable models that would let us imple- term, that innovation isn’t happening labor far beyond what faculty ment these teaching techniques without nearly as fast as it could. members can afford to do sacrificing any of the content, depth, or If successful teaching truly matters, while still meeting their other diversity of experience that has tradi- universities (and the elected officials, job requirements, whether they are ten- tionally characterized our fields of study. donors, and other figures who influence ure-track or contingent. But if we want to see serious experi- them) need to invest more in giving Recent data indicate that faculty mentation with such teaching models, faculty incentives to engage with evi- members broadly agree. A 2016 study we need to first seriously consider how dence-based and learner-centric mod- from Inside Higher Ed examining fac- to compensate our instructors for the els. Will such an approach be expensive ulty attitudes toward technology found hundreds, if not thousands, of hours and full of false starts? Sure. But no that only 26 percent of faculty members that such experimentation will take. more so, I suspect, than another 10 think that they are fairly compensated Obviously, one possible approach is years spent buying software licenses in for developing online courses. to actually pay them to spend extra hopes of finding the holy grail. The New Media Consortium reports hours on course redesign, via summer that 66 percent of the respondents in a appointments or buyouts from other John Lynch holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern recent survey “felt that faculty members responsibilities. But there are other languages and cultures and is academic- lack critical support to advance new possibilities. For example, if leading technology manager at the Center for Dig- teaching and learning practices.” universities took steps to ensure that ital Humanities of the University of Cali- “Scaling innovative teaching and evidence-based instructional innovation fornia at Los Angeles.

How Open E-Credentials Will Transform Higher Education By DANIEL T. HICKEY

HOSE WHO dismiss higher-ed- transcripts. Unlike traditional grades na University are now using badges to ucation e-credentials today are and transcripts, e-credentials can con- motivate students to go beyond course acting like retailers who dis- tain specific claims of competency and requirements by helping those students missed e-commerce 20 years ago. web-based evidence of those competen- stand out from their peers to employers TAt that time, many retailers, pub- cies. They can be curated, annotated, and graduate programs. lishers, and booksellers were skeptical and distributed over digital networks But five years is not a lot of time to of consumer e-commerce. Amazon’s under the earner’s control. Rather transform entrenched practices for ac- 1997 claim to be the “Earth’s biggest than relying on vague reputations and crediting, credentialing, admitting, and bookstore” garnered lots of attention, as opaque accreditations, e-credentials hiring. Today, many of those stakehold- did Barnes & Noble’s lawsuit claiming speak for themselves. ers don’t believe that e-credentials are that Amazon should not be allowed to The concept of e-credentialing got “real” credentials. Most of the colleges call itself a real bookstore. While the a boost in 2013 with the publication of now exploring e-credentials insist that standards for web payments were well the Open Badges 1.0 standards by the they be scrutinized the same way as established by 1997, it took perhaps Mozilla Foundation. Just as web-pay- conventional credentials. The majority, another 10 years for consumer reviews ment standards made companies like however, are simply waiting for more to become sufficiently numerous and PayPal possible and simplified e-com- employers, recruiters, and graduate credible to create the trust networks merce, the Open Badges standards programs to value e-credentials more that would allow consumer e-commerce made it possible to issue e-credentials widely before making the leap. Five to become a thriving and sustainable that work across current and future recent developments suggest that this business model. But by that time, some platforms. Also around that time the time is near. vendors who were slow to embrace John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur e-commerce had already begun their Foundation funded 30 pioneering HE MOST IMPORTANT devel- slow but steady slide toward closures, efforts to develop new educational opment supporting expanded layoffs, and bankruptcies. programs around badges and to add e-credentials is the release of Today e-credentials are at a similar badges to existing programs. Those the Open Badge 2.0 Specifica- juncture as e-commerce in 1997. Most events established a thriving commu- Ttions last December. Akin to consumer educators and administrators are aware nity around Open Badges. Innovative reviews, these new standards support of efforts to extend traditional creden- programs like the Catalyst Credential the addition of verified third-party tials with innovations such as digital initiative at Georgetown University and endorsements to Open Badges. This badges, e-portfolios, and “extended” the Writing Center at Coastal Caroli- means that badges can now carry a

B18 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 name and a logo of a third party, along suited to credentialing such learning to find and communicate with each with a statement regarding the nature because they can include links to in- other, and they have attracted the at- of the endorsement, in addition to in- formation about courses and programs, tention of several American foundations formation about the badge issuer. Con- completed student work on complex that support education and work-force sider, for example, Coastal Carolina’s projects, and detailed reviews of that readiness. Writing Program. The new standards work. Less obviously, e-credentials can The fifth development is the pub- make it possible for the university’s document participation in networked lication of the Bologna Open Recog- Writing Center to endorse writing learning, “crowdsourced” evidence nition Declaration at an international badges issued by instructors, and to de- from social networks, and crucial infor- gathering of innovators last fall. The termine which instructors are allowed mation about how this evidence was ob- declaration highlighted the centrality of to issue particular badges. Alternatively, tained. While this might be irrelevant Open Badges and the belief that much the Writing Center might ask an em- for elite colleges that can rely on their of the innovation will emerge outside ployer association or professional group selectivity and reputation, it is increas- of accredited colleges. Open Badges, to endorse the writing badges issued by ingly important for their less-selective the declaration stated, relevant degree programs. counterparts. In the face of low-cost “create the conditions More important, it is now possible for and no-cost competitors, such colleges for individuals to be in Rather than relying on Open Badges to gain multiple verifiable will be hard pressed to offer value and control of their own endorsements after they are issued, therefore attract students without turn- recognition, to establish vague reputations and and to allow each endorser to include ing to evidence-rich e-credentials. their identity and agen- an endorsing statement and feedback. The third recent development was cy, whether formally opaque accreditations, Together, these developments pave the adoption of the Open Badges Spec- (within institutions) or e-credentials speak the way for previously unimaginable ificationsby the IMS Global Learning informally (across com- e-credentialing “ecosystems.” For ex- Consortium in January. IMS Global munities).” for themselves. ample, a writing program might offer is responsible for developing the stan- Together, these de- peer-reviewer badges to advanced stu- dards that make it possible to create velopments suggest that dents who have met certain criteria, who plug-and-play applications that easily open e-credentials in could then endorse the writing badges add new functionality, including badg- 2017 are indeed as inevitable as e-com- of other students. Because the peer-re- es, to learning-management systems. merce was in 1997. While something viewer badges could contain links to all This will support further refinement other than Open Badges may prevail, reviews and endorsements provided by of badge specifications and systems and it seems certain that e-credentials the earner, those badges should motivate streamline their integration with other will transform education in the next the peer reviewer to offer high-quality technologies. two dec ades much as e-commerce has peer reviews and send a strong signal The fourth relevant development changed retailing today. If that is true, to employers and graduate programs for e-credentials is the new synergy colleges and academic programs that that value writing. All the standards and between Open Badges and digi- continue to ignore or resist e-creden- technologies needed to create and auto- tal e-portfolios where students can tials may have already begun a slow but mate such systems now exist. showcase their work. Thanks in part inevitable decline. The second relevant development for to interoperability standards, many the rise of e-credentials is the explo- e-portfolio providers are adding badges Daniel T. Hickey is a professor and pro- sive growth of open learning, online to their platforms. This development is gram coordinator with the Learning learning, and learning in digital social producing what one innovative firm has Science Program at Indiana University networks. Those innovations support appropriately labeled “learning recogni- at Bloomington. He recently concluded the 21st-century learning that is networked, tion networks.” These networks make it Open Badges in Higher Education Project self-directed, project-based, and per- dramatically easier for learners, educa- with the support of the John D. and Cath- sonalized. E-credentials are ideally tors, employers, and graduate programs erine T. MacArthur Foundation.

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B19 Big Data Alone Won’t Help Students Educators must know how to make sense of and use the information

By BRAD C. PHILLIPS AND JORDAN E. HOROWITZ

IG DATA” has become the (b) human judgment and decision-mak- different ethnic/racial backgrounds, rage among America’s ing, and (c) organizational habits. improve term-to-term persistence, community colleges. We argue that analytics, although a and increase the graduation rate by 65 The promise of big-da- crucial component, is not enough; and percent. “Bta systems is that predictive analytics certainly not the way community col- But good analytics are not enough. will help educators better understand leges currently present data. Canned Human beings must turn data into where students get stuck, helping research reports run to dozens of pages meaningful information they can act them intervene more effectively to of tables full of rows and columns of upon. Our current reporting systems support students at risk of failure. data. Furthermore, we have reviewed do not make this easy. In the dozens These systems come with a steep price reports from colleges in which up- of colleges where we’ve worked, even tag: generally $100,000 and higher. wards of one-third of the cells in these with sophisticated systems and high- Other rarely anticipated outlays in- tables contain zeros. There is no nar- end display tools, understanding the clude system supports such as annual data is still a challenge. To solve this updates, maintenance, secure data problem we need to apply what is storage, and customization. There are known about how people make judg- staff costs as well. Local staff have to Human beings ments and decisions. Behavioral eco- enter data, check for data quality, and nomics research helps us understand ensure that users have access to the must turn data how to present the information so that system. And educators have to orga- educators can ask the right questions nize to review results and make use of into meaningful about what it means and make deci- the data. sions that lead to changes in policy At some community colleges these information they and practice. We recommend that any systems are working well and living can act upon. data that is disseminated must be only up to their promise. These systems in support of improving student suc- have the capacity to provide more so- cess or because a college has to report phisticated analyses to help educators the data for compliance. Data present- understand the challenges facing stu- rative in such reports, and educators ed “for information only” misses the dents. However, colleagues who have must go on a fishing expedition to point. worked to put these systems in place tell identify the issues and where to act. We also must acknowledge the his- us they are frustrated by a lack of sup- We argue it is essential to focus on torically ingrained habits that plague port to manage them and get useable both what matters and what is in the educational institutions. Too often at information into the right hands when institution’s control. community colleges, data is presented needed. Even when that is accomplished This is why our model is driven by as a lone item in a packed agenda in- successfully, it is not enough. What is both leading and lagging indicators. stead of as the focus of meetings for de- not addressed with these systems is the Too often colleges focus on lagging in- cision-making. When data is presented same problem data solutions have strug- dicators, those indicators that occur at in this way, it is discussed only briefly, gled with for decades: They ignore the the end of a process. Degree, certificate, and devalued. Instead, we recommend fact that human beings have to derive and transfer rates are common lagging that every meeting in which a decision meaning from the data in order to bring indicators — the big goals for which must be made related to student success about change. funders and accreditors hold colleges begin with data about the issue. This Efforts to improve data use have accountable. But can colleges influence grounds the participants in a common tended to focus solely on making im- these directly? Our experience is that understanding. provements to the mechanics of an they cannot. And these statistics only Colleges considering a big-data information system or on professional report on the survivors who end up solution have the potential to employ development to improve users’ data graduating or transferring and give no sophisticated analytics to better under- literacy. However, these approaches information about students lost along stand the challenges students face and have rarely improved student success. the way. On the other hand, leading make changes in policy and practice to In response to this need among ed- indicators, such as in-class retention improve outcomes for all student popu- ucators and educational institutions, and course success (C grade or better), lations. But these systems alone cannot we developed a model for data use which influence lagging indicators, are increase student success. that goes beyond mere analytics and actionable with research-based inter- training. ventions and supports. Brad C. Phillips is the founder, president, In our forthcoming book on improv- Odessa College, in Texas, whose and chief executive of the Institute for Ev- ing data use among community col- story is highlighted in our book, fo- idence-Based Change, in Encinitas, Calif.; leges, we explore how recent research cused deeply on in-class retention Jordan E. Horowitz is the institute’s vice in neuroscience, psychology, behavioral (students who stay in a class to its president. Their new book, Creating a economics, and organizational change completion and do not drop out), Data-Informed Culture in Community can be integrated to help us reframe which served to increase course suc- Colleges: A New Model for Educators, data use. The three-component model cess for all students, nearly close the is due out from Harvard Education Press we’ve developed includes: (a) analytics, achievement gap between students of in the fall.

B20 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 The Job-Market Moment of Digital Humanities By LEONARD CASSUTO

HE ANNUAL convention of the theorists gradually infiltrated depart- which are hotbeds of collaboration. Modern Language Association ments of literature around the country. Mathematicians, who can do their is the greatest show on earth for Theory crossed a certain invisible problem-solving in real time (with the humanities, with thousands threshold in the mid-1980s, and then the technical matter of “writing up” Tof attendees, hundreds of panels, and suddenly every department needed to coming later), schedule visits with one thousands of job interviews for aspiring have a “theorist” on its faculty. Adver- another so that they can work togeth- professors. The scope and importance of tised openings mushroomed, as liter- er. But the way that humanists have the conference turn it into a bellwether ature departments sought to represent worked reminds me of the title of a of trends — and for some years now, dig- this new field on their faculties. documentary that I saw years ago: Piano ital humanities have been all the rage. Literary scholars of a certain age Players Rarely Ever Play Together. Digital humanities — using computer know the result: After a few years, Computers, however, have been technology to understand literature and those job openings for theorists went bringing humanists together, and that the arts, or vice versa — are something away. That didn’t mean theory itself can only be a good thing. This new work more than a fad. They present new went away — quite the contrary. In- has a chance to revolutionize what hu- ways to approach the work of human- stead, it was absorbed. New Ph.D.s in manists do. Sidonie Smith, a professor ities scholarship, and they’ve already literature simply added competence in of English at the University of Michigan delivered not just new results but also literary theory to the long list of things at Ann Arbor and a former president of new kinds of results. Those findings they needed to know. Just about every the MLA, declares in her excellent 2015 were on abundant display at the MLA. graduate student learned something of book, Manifesto for the Humanities, that Digital humanities have also become literary theory, meaning that everyone the new digital environment integrated into the academic job mar- became a theorist of sorts. “ratchets up the urgency of ket. That raises the question: Will ex- As a result, there was no longer a pursuing a 21st-century vision Digital humanists pertise in digital humanities get grad- need to hire “theorists,” because the of doctoral education.” uate students the academic jobs that so understanding of literary theory be- have an edge in many of them seek? came part of the basic package that new Reason No. 2: Jobs. Grad- At the moment, demonstrated digital Ph.D.s were expected to offer to em- uate students understand all hiring now because expertise certainly helps. Humanists ployers. Today, more than a generation of that, of course, but they’re are generally keen to learn the new beyond the hiring explosion in literary becoming digital humanists departments want to uses of technology. Graduate students, theory, my own department requires because it gives them a better bring this new work to who know a call to the keyboard when an introduction to literary theory for chance to get an academic job. they see one, have responded. Most are majors in English and comparative That’s the second and more their own campuses. already tech-savvy, and many are using literature. In that respect we are quite important reason for the pro- their knowledge to add a digital aspect typical. A handful of my colleagues take liferation of digital humanities to their professional profiles. I have a turns teaching the course. Others could among graduate students. student on the academic job market this step up, if need be, because today we are Digital humanists are grabbing a year with a sophisticated website under all theorists, more or less. disproportionate share of the few pro- way, in addition to her traditional print The same thing will happen with fessorial openings out there because dissertation. Interest in her digital work digitally based scholarship, I think. departments want to bring this new has given traction to her candidacy. Graduate students everywhere are be- work to their own campuses. Not being Digital humanities are one of the coming digital humanists — for two born yesterday, graduate students have few growth areas in today’s dismal ac- good reasons. followed demand and have gravitated to ademic job market. Some departments this promising intersection of literary have advertised specifically for digital Reason No. 1: Scholarship. Digital study and computing technology. humanists, while others have proved technology is the source and home of Flash forward 10 years, and digital eager to hire people who bring digital much lively and interesting new inquiry, humanities will be present in just about expertise to their applications — even if both among scholars and in the under- every humanities department. Everyone the advertised job calls for a specialty in graduate classroom. will be a digital humanist, more or less. something else. One of the most notable benefits of And as with theory, the digital-human- But I don’t think this technological the digital revolution is the way that ities job openings will go away. drive will change the graduate-school it facilitates collaboration. Humanists I’m not describing a bad thing, just a playing field very much in the long run. have been slow to embrace collabora- predictable evolution. Digital humanities The excited pursuit of digital human- tion. After all, we’ve been raised on the will stay, but their job-market moment ists reminds me of the way that literary myth of the solitary author who toils won’t. That moment is now. If you’re a theorists were recruited starting about away in the attic, emerging after years digital humanist, you’ve got a horseless 30 years ago. Theory — a mixture of with a work of genius, written in death- carriage to ride, and it might just carry deconstructionism, poststructuralist less prose. Whenever we ask, “Which you ahead of the horses around you. But psychoanalysis, and the study of inde- part of this is his?” (and versions of that hurry, before everyone else gets one, too. terminate reader response — arrived at question still come up in personnel American colleges and universities in meetings), we show the continuing per- Leonard Cassuto is a professor of English at the 1960s from Europe and immedi- sistence of the lone-scholar myth. Fordham University who writes regularly ately began to undermine conventional Likewise, humanists have historically for The Chronicle’s Vitae about gradu- ways of seeking meaning. That made found it harder to collaborate than is ate education. His book, The Graduate it a good fit for scholars living in an the case for scientists and mathemati- School Mess: What Caused It and How uncertain time. On the heels of trend- cians. Most scientists are socialized into We Can Fix It, was published by Harvard setters at Yale and elsewhere, literary their professions through laboratories, University Press in 2015.

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B21 FORUM

Charles L. Isbell is senior associate dean Matthew Kirschenbaum is a professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of English at the University of Maryland of Technology and a professor in the School and director of the graduate certificate Reading of Interactive Computing there. in digital studies.

MARA’S LAW STATES: We tend to overesti- HAT WEIRD FEELING when you get off the mate the effect of a technology in the short plane after an overnight international flight run and underestimate the effect in the long and you turn on your phone and — despite List for run. There are many examples of this adage, the jet lag, despite the disorientation, despite Acoined by the late futurist Roy Amara: Automation Twhat may be an unfamiliar language and unaccus- marches us toward high unemployment; social net- tomed options at the espresso bar, it’s all right there: works bring us simultaneously closer together and all your apps, your digital life just as it was when you further apart; everything we do is cataloged; and it is boarded seven hours earlier … except. Your phone is a New all happening far too fast for us grasp. roaming on a network you’ve never heard of, and all Two recent books on technology bring this idea into your web browsing is torqued through newly localized focus for me: Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s filters. Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas Benjamin H. Bratton explains that feeling in The World L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016) and Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (MIT Press, 2015), Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases a sprawling book on the relationship between the Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil planetary-scale “megastructures” of contemporary (Crown Publishing, 2016). They are companions. The computation and the geopolitics of a world order that first lives at the level of politics and society, while the still defines itself in terms of nation states and borders. Order latter is a cautionary take on how technology touches Exhilaratingly written, The Stack just might be the each of us, often invisibly, and often to devastating unannounced sequel to Michael Hardt and Antonio effect. Negri’s millennial Empire, which theorized the world We asked five scholars of our digital age to name Both books are of the type that reads like a series order on the eve of 9/11, Facebook, and so much else. a few influential books on technology that they had of anecdotes that elucidate a huge problem and then Alongside of that I’m just beginning what first recently read — or reread. Here are their choices. offers a sketch of a solution that is justified by the pre- seemed like a far more specialized study but quickly ceding chapters but doesn’t quite seem up to the task. turned into one of those “now why hasn’t anyone But, hey, the problem is hard, and sometimes just out- ever told that story before” books: Marie Hicks’s lining the problem itself is what’s important. Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women By way of example, O’Neil discusses “recidivism Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (MIT models” that take features of a criminal defendant to Press, 2017), which traces the role of gender politics in “score” that defendant to help determine sentencing. British computing in the postwar period. It starts with The problem, of course, is that these algorithms are everything that The Imitation Game obscured in its opaque. They provide a veneer of objectivity but hide film treatment of code-breakers during World War II, their underlying assumptions (both to the user and and from there sets out to explain why and how Great to the target of the system). The reader should decide Britain was reduced to playing catch-up by the time what consequences such an approach might have when the personal computer revolution hit at the end of the scrutinizing job applicants, determining insurance 1970s. The party was thrown by guys in their garages rates, or just calculating how many police officers in Palo Alto, and not the daughters of all those British should walk one’s streets. women who first perfected the art of speaking to ma- In any case, my recommendation is to read Fried- chines at Bletchley Park. man’s book for context and O’Neil’s book for detail Finally, a novel — Jarett Kobek’s I Hate the Internet and depression, and then reread Friedman’s book for (We Heard You Like Books, 2016), the New Grub a dose of optimism. We are clearly living in the long Street we deserve: “The Internet,” one of the first few run of technology, but perhaps even though we are but lines helpfully explains, “was a computer network that linear beings we might still be able to handle exponen- people used to remind other people that they were tial change. awful pieces of shit.”

B22 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • THE DIGITAL CAMPUS APRIL 14, 2017 David M. Levy is a professor in the Information Abby Smith Rumsey is a historian and the Audrey Watters is a Ph.D. dropout School of the University of Washington and author of When We Are No More: How Digital and independent scholar who writes about author of Mindful Tech: How to Bring Balance to Memory Is Shaping Our Future (Bloomsbury education technology on her website Hack Our Digital Lives (Yale U. Press, 2016). Press, 2016). Education.

S SOMEONE who investigates the acceleration FTEN we invent tools with wondrous uses in OO OFTEN, when we talk about technology, of life and the role that digital technologies mind only to be surprised how easily they we focus on the latest gadgets and gizmos. may be playing in the process, I was pleased are abused. A compelling and timely book We pay attention to products and PR at the to see two books published recently that will about the misuse of genetic technology by expense of practices or processes. This is Asurely add dimension to both my research and teach- Opoliticians and scientists in Stalinist Russia is Loren Tparticularly true — unfortunately true — in education ing. The first of these books is an obvious addition. By Graham’s Lysenko’s Ghost: Epigenetics and Russia (Har- technology. It’s for that reason that I often turn to one Judy Wajcman, a professor of sociology at the London vard U. Press, 2016). Guided by newly available sourc- of my favorite books, Ursula M. Franklin’s The Real School of Economics and Political Science, Pressed for es and his unerring moral intelligence, the historian World of Technology (CBC Enterprises, 1990). Franklin Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism (U. of Soviet science revisits the frightening story of the insists that “Technology is not the sum of the artifacts, of Chicago Press, 2015) presents a highly nuanced Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko (1898 -1976). Ly- of the wheels and gears, of the rails and electronic account of the modern experience of acceleration. senko’s championing the heritability of acquired traits transmitters … Technology is a system. It entails far Drawing on decades of work in science and technolo- served Stalin’s need to bend the will not only of Moth- more than its individual material components. Tech- gy studies, she argues that digital technologies aren’t er Russia but of Mother Nature herself to his goal of nology involves organization, procedures, symbols, simply the cause of today’s acceleration, but rather are fast-tracking communism. Famines and ecological new words, equations, and, most of all, a mindset.” one of the factors within a larger sociotechnical matrix disasters ensued. Scientists such as Nikolai Vavilov Technology must be examined, she argues, as an of values and practices that is responsible for today’s were persecuted and biological science suffered a cata- “agent of power and control.” speedup. From this perspective, today’s acceleration — strophic collapse. Graham brings the story up to date Franklin died last year, as did the author of my which she shows is lumpy, a mix of both acceleration with ominous details about the rise of “neo-Lysenko- other favorite book on technology — that’s Seymour and deceleration, and experienced differently accord- ism” in present-day Russia. Papert’s Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful ing to gender, and other factors — isn’t technologically Another take on political abuse of technological Ideas (Basic Books, 1980) — and their loss prompted determined, and so is potentially malleable, open to know-how is Brian Moore’s last novel, The Magician’s me to reread both of these classics to help think about social and political intervention. Wife (Bloomsbury, 1997). Based on the life of the the politics of technology and the ideology of comput- The second book requires a bit more explanation. magician and inventor Jean-Eugene Robert Houdin, ing, then and now. For decades, three social psychologists, Sheldon Sol- it relates how Emperor Napoleon III recruited him My advice: Read technology books by women. Read omon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski, have to quell a rebellion in colonial Algeria. The master of technology books by writers of color. Read technol- been developing a substantial body of evidence for the illusion’s technological sleights of hand pass for mirac- ogy books by writers from the Global South. These cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker’s thesis — most ulous powers superior to the insurgency’s charismatic authors often subvert the dominant ideologies about fully developed in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, religious leader. The French win this skirmish but technology as progress, as inevitable, recasting those The Denial of Death (Free Press, 1973) — that fear of lose the war. The proud master is irredeemably cor- imperialist technological narratives by paying much our mortality is one of the hidden drivers of human rupted in the process. The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of closer attention to power and control. Take Simone culture. In their 2015 book, The Worm at the Core: On the Blockbuster Novel (St. Martin’s Press, 2016) by Jodie Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Black- the Role of Death in Life (Random House), they present Archer and Matthew L. Jockers asks if there is a code ness (Duke U. Press, 2015), for example. The book their evidence in highly readable fashion. While their for writing bestsellers. Their answer is a qualified “yes, reframed my own thinking about surveillance — and work holds insights for many of today’s problems, not with our algorithm.” Is it surprising that the signature digital technologies more broadly. Rather than accept- least a deeper understanding of where prejudice, scape- features of bestsellers map onto the advice writing ing the Panopticon as the archetype for our modern goating, and terrorism come from, it also allows us to coaches give on how to tell a story? Maybe not — and notions of power and control, Browne demonstrates ask, and may supply existential answers to, questions for that we should be grateful. But it is noteworthy that surveillance systems were an essential part of the such as: Why are we running so fast, powered in large that sex and violence are only bit players in a book’s trans-Atlantic slave trade. Indeed, surveillance tech- measure by our latest digital devices and apps, and why success. The lead roles go to emotional intimacy and nologies — that is, to borrow from Ursula Franklin, are we so busy distracting ourselves? Is it possible that work. As a bonus, the authors append a list of best- the “organization, procedures, symbols, new words, we are trying to escape the inescapable, the fate of all sellers ranked according to how well the algorithm equations, and, most of all, a mindset” — have been living creatures? scored them. inextricably tied to slavery in the United States and to the construction of blackness. “What happens when blackness enters the frame?” Browne asks — and this is a question that those in ed- ucation technology need to be posing a lot more often with regards to the tools and practices that “see” and “don’t see” students.

APRIL 14, 2017 THE DIGITAL CAMPUS • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION B23 Trusted Enterprise Document Management for Higher Education

• Automate critical, paper-intensive business processes • Secure institutional records in compliance with state and federal regulations • Support business continuity planning • Reduce administrative costs campus-wide

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