Wilson theorizes that aggrieved far-right faculty were overrepresented while far-left faculty boycotted the survey. He provides no evidence for either claim and ignores evidence against—such as that only one of 633 respondents identified as 'extremely conservative.'
Temple is creating the vice provost for online and digital learning to lead a universitywide transformation in how we design, deliver and scale high-quality, flexible academic programs. This role is central to advancing our strategic plan, Forward with Purpose, particularly around expanding access, improving student success and increasing Temple's impact in Philadelphia and beyond.
A recent study on students' intentions to take online courses highlights that performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, and flexibility are the main reasons why students adopt online learning programs. This finding is like what I have seen in the study of student enrollment trends in higher education. If we want to discover the secret of turning student curiosity into a commitment to completing an academic program, we need to understand the motivations for student course enrollment.
This is a striking decision at a moment when public confidence in higher education is eroding. It is also puzzling because rigorous research and evaluation have demonstrated, over and over, the value of the work of centers for teaching and learning, including positive impacts on student learning outcomes, institutional effectiveness and faculty development.
I assume that it's intended to provide ammunition to go after disfavored faculty and/or to instill such a chill on campus that nobody would dare to say anything provocative in the first place. Whether those motivations are locally held or are meant to keep the university below the radar of certain culture warriors, I don't know. The effects are the same either way, and they're devastating to the mission of a university.
When we look more closely at how and why organizations actually invest in these systems, we can see that the popularity of adaptive learning has far less to do with pedagogical ambition and far more to do with operational pressure. Understanding this gap between how adaptive learning is marketed and how it is used in practice is critical for organizations trying to decide whether it is the right approach for their learning needs.
