Microsoft Teams is down for many users across Europe. The Microsoft 365 Status Twitter account posted about the outage early this morning, stating that Microsoft is investigating messaging-related functionality problems. According to Downdetector the issues are primarily in Europe, though there are are few areas in North America, Africa, and Asia with issues.

No outage is good for an online service, but this one has particularly bad timing because many people will work from home this week due to coronavirus (COVID-19). Many people plan to work from home this week to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, including online workers, educators, and students. The Verge points out that some schools in the Netherlands asked students to use Microsoft Teams today to ask digital questions.

Microsoft Teams will likely receive heavy usage this week due to remote working and education, so Microsoft will have to make sure the service can handle the increased workload. There's a chance that the current outage is caused by increased demand for the service, though Microsoft has not stated the cause of the outage at this time. We'll update this article with any details Microsoft reveals on the current outage.

This is the second major outage for Microsoft Teams this year, though the first one happened because Microsoft forgot to renew an SSL security certificate.

Three more countries are getting in on the ECG fun when watchOS 6.2 arrives next week.

Logitech's new Combo Touch Keyboard Case with Trackpad for iPad is now available from Apple.

Apple's Afterburner Card for Mac Pro is now available as a standalone purchase from its website.

These fitness trackers are the cream of the crop when it comes to health and fitness tracking for triathlon training. Which tracker will you need? Here's what our research shows.

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Microsoft Teams is down, affecting remote workers and online education - iMore

BEIJING, March 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51 Talk" or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education, today announced its participation in the following investor conferences:

These will be live, interactive online events where investors are invited to ask the company management questions in real-time. For additional information, please contact your respective institutional sales representative at each sponsoring bank.

About China Online Education Group

51Talk, or China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE), is a leading online education platform inChina, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students acrossChinato take live one-on-one interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

For more information, please visit http://ir.51talk.com.

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Last week, with students scattered throughout Europe during spring break, administrators of Lithuania-based LCC International University scrambled. The week began with leaders hoping the 600 or so students on campus72 percent of whom are from outside Lithuaniawould stay out of Italy, a coronavirus hot zone. By weeks end, with coronavirus spreading and much of Europe locking down, they feared what would happen when students returned from places like Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

What are we bringing back to campus now? asked LCC International President Dr. Marlene Wall.

The Christian liberal arts schools coronavirus task force had already decided to move to online-only education because of the pandemic. But leaders needed more action if returning students brought coronavirus back to campus, situated near the Baltic Sea in Klaipda, Lithuania. On Saturday LCC International staff turned the universitys gymnasium into a quarantine zone. They carried in mattresses, partitioned off parts of the gym, and prepared food bags for anyone needing isolation.

No one has needed the quarantine zone yet. But its there if they do. About half of LCC Internationals students were able to go home or self-isolate elsewhere, but the rest are still on campus, holed up in dorms. LCC staff have removed couches in common areas to discourage students from gathering. Most have access to dorm kitchens to cook. But faculty and staff keep helping. On Monday night they prepared soup for students left on campus. Instead of eating all at once in a common area, students retrieved the food in small groups. The most important thing for us is to express our Christian identity as we care for students on campus, Wall said.

With borders closed, those students are likely stuck on campus until the end of the semester. LCC International transitioned to online-only classes fairly easily, Wall said. But the coronavirus pandemic forced colleges and universities to make flash decisions about educating students while containing the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease the coronavirus causes. In some cases studentsand their parentshad to decide how to act too.

Colleges began making decisions quickly. On March 10, three members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) hadtransitioned to online-only classes. By March 13, that number grew to 30 members. As of March 16, that number spiked to 85 of CCCUs 180 members.

One of the highest-profile Christian universities decided Monday to move to online-only education for the rest of the semester. Located in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty University (which is not a CCCU member) made the decision after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam banned gatherings of 100 or more students. But the move came after other institutions announced their own changes. In a series of tweets Sunday, Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. announced the schools stance, saying he didnt want to send studentswho can better withstand COVID-19into homes with older adults who might have more complications. One man on Twitter questioned the move and said he is the father of three Liberty students. Falwell tweeted back at him with an explanation and called him a dummy.

By Monday, more than 9,000 people had signed an online petition urging Liberty to transition to online-only classes.

At least one parent didnt wait for Liberty to shift online before getting his daughter home. David Cortwright said his daughter, a sophomore at Liberty, flew home to Austin, Texas, Sunday morning. When other campuses across the country began canceling in-person classes, he and his family expected Libertys announcement to come soon. But it didnt.

His daughter quickly packed one suitcase, a backpack, and a carry-on bag and flew home. She spent one night in the Orlando airport so she could make an early-morning connection. The rest of her belongings are still in her dorm room.

Libertys online education program is one of the most robust in the country. Cortwright didnt understand why the school waited so long to announce the transition, especially when other Virginia schools were: Why would Virginia Tech take that step and not the premiere Christian university, who has the industry-leading online program?

Many colleges had monitored the COVID-19 spread. But the wave of closures last week forced colleges to act fast.

The Kings College, a Christian liberal arts school in New York City, acted faster than its leaders had originally planned. Emergency management is part of my background, President Tim Gibson said. And Ive seen some real parallels coming into higher education.

Gibson had a career in the Air Force before entering higher education in 2016 and becoming president of The Kings College in 2017. Administrators there sent their first communication to students about coronavirus on Feb. 6. As COVID-19 spread, they decided to take spring breakthis week,begin online-only classes for a week, then come back to campus on March 30.

But they shelved that plan on March 11, when they began three days of online-only classes heading into spring break. Then on Friday, President Donald Trump addressed the country with an update, and Kingsshifted all classes online the rest of the semester.

We had mentally already committed to the idea that we were going to be teaching online the week after spring break, Gibson said. So we had already considered the possibility that we would be doing this for a long time.

Kings was able to move quickly because administrators adapted an inclement weather plan to the coronavirus situation, Gibson said: The pacing just really accelerated.

He also said leaders of other Christian colleges and universities communicate constantly about how each schoolresponds to similar situations. And the CCCU encourages members to share resources and best practices with each other.

Christian colleges and universities tend to really work together, Gibson said. We realize its not just about the individual purpose of our institution.

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BOISE In response to updated COVID-19 guidance from Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for public events, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has temporarily waived the requirement to attend an in-person field day for online hunter education certification.

The temporary waiver allows students who complete the online course the ability to gain certification and purchase a hunting license. The cost of the online course is $24.50 and can be taken at http://www.hunter-ed.com/idaho/. Classes are available to anyone nine years or older.

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The public safety of our instructors, staff, and students are our primary concerns," Fish and Games Hunter Education Manager Brenda Beckley said. We have seen an increased interest in our hunter education classes, and want to maintain a path for the public to gain certification. By temporarily waiving the in-person field day, we can follow health recommendations for social distancing while still providing necessary instruction and certification.

While many states across the nation have allowed for online certification, Idaho has maintained an in-person requirement to review Idaho-specific topics such as local regulations, specie identification, and gun safety.

While we recognize the value of the firearm safety information provided in the online course, we are encouraging students to seek out a mentor to reinforce safe firearm handling and hunting safety,Beckley said.

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Earnings Call Scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on March 9, 2020

BEIJING, March 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51Talk", or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform inChina, with core expertise in English education, today announced that it will report its fourth quarter and full year 2019 unaudited financial results onMonday, March 9, 2020, before the open of U.S. markets.

The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at8:00 a.m.U.S. Eastern Time onMarch 9, 2020(8:00 p.m.Beijing/Hong Kongtime onMarch 9, 2020).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States Toll:

1-866-264-5888

International:

1-412-317-5226

Mainland China Toll:

400-120-1203

Hong Kong Toll:

800-905-945

Hong Kong-Local Toll:

852-3018-4992

Participants should dial-in at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time and ask to be connected to the call for "China Online Education Group."

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website athttp://ir.51talk.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call until March 16, 2020, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States Toll:

1-877-344-7529

International Toll:

1-412-317-0088

Canada Toll Free:

855-669-9658

Replay Access Code:

10139863

About China Online Education Group

China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) is a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

For more information, please visithttp://ir.51talk.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

China Online Education Group Investor Relations +86 (10) 8342-6262 ir@51talk.com

The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente +86 (10) 6508-0677 +1-212-481-2050 51talk@tpg-ir.com

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China Online Education Group to Report Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results on Monday, March 9, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

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The 2010s were the decade for technology to fundamentally change education. Two years before the decades dawn, Clayton Christensen, Michael B. Horn and Curtis Johnson predicted in their book Disrupting Class that online learning would revolutionize teacher-led instruction and catalyze a student-centered transformation in U.S. K-12 schools. As the decade began, enthusiasm for ed tech seemed on a steady rise. Mainstream news outlets highlighted the promise of Khan Academy and flipped classrooms. Meanwhile, schools and districts across the country committed to 1:1 initiatives that would put Chromebooks or iPads in the hands of every student.

As that happened, educational software platforms such as Dreambox, ST Math, Lexia, Newsela, iReady and IXL made strong inroads into schools. And with all this enthusiasm, a handful of new terms associated with online instruction such as blended learning, personalized learning and adaptive learning made their way into the lexicon.

Does all this online learning mean disruption has occurred in K-12 education? The answer is yes and no.

If we judge disruption purely by the adoption of ed tech in schools, the disruption is well underway and continues to unfold. Christensen, Horn and Johnson predicted that by 2019, roughly 50 percent of all high school courses would involve online delivery of instruction. Though data for checking this prediction have not been collected, if we consider the general use of online learning as a likely correlate with online instructional delivery in high school courses, the data we do have suggest their prediction was on target. A 2019 survey by NewSchools Venture Fund and Gallup found that 65 percent of teachers report using digital learning tools to teach every day. Additionally, in a 2019 survey by Education Week, 96 percent of teachers reported that their schools use digital technologies to personalize learning. As online learning resources replace the textbooks, worksheets and encyclopedias of yesteryear, its easy to mistake them as undeniable signals of the predicted disruption.

Yet that would be a mistake. The widespread adoption of online learning over the past decade has not resulted in a sweeping transformation of K-12 instruction and improvements in student performance. Online learning has been crammed on top of existing instructional models just as Christensen, Horn and Johnson warned leaving conventional classroom instruction largely intact. The aforementioned Education Week survey found that 60 percent of educators rarely or never use adaptive software to let students learn at their own pace. Instead, educators employ adaptive software primarily for remediation or enrichment, not for delivering core instruction in a more personalized manner. A recent McKinsey & Company report indicated that although 60 percent of surveyed teachers believed that their feedback was personalized to each student, only 44 percent of the students surveyed felt the same way. Furthermore, a 2017 study by RAND to evaluate pioneering personalized learning schools found, on average, only small measurable gains in student achievement.

In short, online learning is disrupting the markets for the instructional resources schools purchase. But it has not disrupted conventional approaches to instruction to make education more personalized.

Why hasnt the growth of online learning realized its potential to transform student learning? The most often cited causes include poor implementation, inadequate professional development and strains on teachers time. Forty-two percent of those surveyed by Education Week indicated that their professional development on personalized learning was effective but inconsistent, and another 35 percent reported that theirs was either ineffective or nonexistent. Seventy percent of U.S. teachers surveyed by McKinsey identified not enough time or flexible time as their No. 1 barrier to providing personalized learning.

Yet in addition to these commonsense reasons, there is likely a deeper challenge at play. The benefits of innovations often come not from the technologies themselves but from harnessing those technologies to power new ways of doing things in other words, new processes. But changing tried-and-true processes in any system is much harder than swapping out resources.

To illustrate, consider a non-education example.

In the late 19th century, factories were organized to optimize access to mechanical power. At the center of the factory was a large steam engine that drove the machinery through a branching system of drive shafts, gears and belts. The friction inherent in this system meant that the power declined rapidly as distance from the steam engine increased. Therefore, the machines that required the most power were placed closest to the steam engine in the middle of the factory.

A factory in Schaffhausen, Germany, with machinery powered by drive shafts and belts (theoildrum.com)

As electrification swept the industrial world in the early 20th century, factory managers started replacing their large steam engines with large electric motors. But the new technology had basically zero effect on factory output. Electric motors were less noisy and didnt produce smoke. But they also broke down more often than their steam-powered predecessors.

Productivity gains didnt come until three decades after electrification, when managers finally took advantage of electricity to redesign their factory layouts. Instead of clustering equipment around a large central motor, they began putting smaller motors in individual pieces of equipment and then organizing it all based on the natural flow of production. With these changes, factory productivity grew to two to three times what it had previously been.

The story of factory electrification parallels the modern advent of online learning. The benefit will be minimal if schools cram it on top of conventional instructional models in hopes of enhancing achievement gains. Instead, educators need to leverage online learning to reimagine conventional instruction through new blended-learning models.

Unfortunately, creating instructional models that take full advantage of online learning is easier said than done. For most educators, overhauling conventional instruction is irrational. Scrapping age-graded classrooms, teacher-directed instruction, bell schedules, required instructional minutes, letter grades, teacher roles and curriculum scope and sequence in one fell swoop is a bad idea for any school with a modicum of success. Time-tested and refined practices despite their inflexibility to students individual needs will almost always trump innovative practices that are unproven, underdeveloped and unsupported by the broader education ecosystem. Most successful educators are doing the right thing for their students if they take only tepid, marginal steps toward personalized learning.

It may take another two decades for online learning to transform conventional instruction, just as with electrified factories. Furthermore, as Disruption Theory predicts, breakthrough approaches to personalized instruction that take full advantage of online learning will likely need to emerge from outside conventional schools, rather than within them.

Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow in education for the Christensen Institute whose work focuses on the changing roles of teachers in blended-learning environments and other innovative educational models. He also examines how teacher education and professional development are shifting to support the evolving needs of teachers and school systems.

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Arnett: Has online learning really disrupted K-12 education in the US? The answer is yes and No. Here's Why - LA School Report

The digital revolution has brought a lot of innovations and dramatically affected all businesses including education. Traditional institutions will always struggle with their inflexible pedagogical systems more than half of the knowledge that the kids learn in the first year of graduation become obsolete by the time they graduate.

This will not only create challenges for students to get jobs, but it also raises questions about whether the traditional 3-year (or four) degree programs will even survive. Even the quintessential question about the relevance and signalling value of the degree is in question now.

Several of all traditional institutions wont exist in 10 years because online education will upend their business models and push them towards bankruptcy. The future of education, hence, lies in all institutions at all levels, adopting online learning and online courses right from pre-school up to higher education.

Here are the six reasons that make online learning a compelling proposition for all institutions:

Online learning is replacing quite a few home-schooling systems across the world. Parents can now let the computer teach the kids as they take a relaxing break.

Online learning now provides personalised learning paths for weaker kids who would do better with some extra levels of tutoring.

These days, online learning provides multiple options for all levels of learners and provides a plenitude of certificate, diploma and even online degree courses.

Online learning is replacing quite a few home-schooling systems across the world.

Online learning provides the flexibility of time and space to the learner you can now do your studies anytime from any place. Working professionals find these programs suiting their work routines as they can plan their lessons around their free time.

Students do not need to bother about a missed class a recorded version of the same would be made available on the learning portal. Acquiring a degree from a foreign university may not need any travel, visa and other hassles!

Several online courses use a mix of self-paced videos and pre-scheduled live sessions by an instructor. Students can interact with the live teacher, get the guidance, feedback and solve their queries.

Since these online programs do not have any geographical constraint (the learner and the teacher can be at different parts of the world), most online courses get very high-quality faculty taking the lessons for the students.

Online courses are generally cheaper than classroom courses. Students can enrol into multiple programs from multiple institutions across the world, simultaneously, if they wish.

Several institutions also offer free-to-learn programs (MOOCs) that can be taken at no cost the certification is also available for a nominal cost. This also allows students to sample a few courses from different institutions and then finally zero-in on one of them.

Online courses are generally cheaper than classroom courses.

Online courses can enrol a much larger number of students for the courses where each of them can learn at their own pace using their own screens.

Institutions normally divide these online learners into multiple cohorts (groups) based on their initial assessments and plan their group activities.

Live classes are also scheduled for different cohorts where the faculty can conduct their classes at different paces for different groups of learners.

Students can get help from multiple sources if they get stuck in an online course. Some of these sources are free whereas some others may be paid ones.

Several other institutions and individuals provide tutoring and coaching sessions for a fee the benefit is you shall be able to pick the best teacher for yourself across any country without the need to travel there

The impact of online courses on the education system will be a shift from live teaching to the teacher developing online content for students. The role of a teacher or educator will always exist and can never be replaced but the methodology and pedagogy will change with these evolving new models. But for the learner, these courses come as a welcome boon flexible, economical, personalised and effective.

Article by Shantanu Rooj, Founder & CEO, Schoolguru Eduserve Pvt. Ltd

Read: Education Budget 2020: Here's how to make it count for government school students

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Online learning becomes future of education as traditional methods fade - India Today

A previous version of this video incorrectly stated how many people the 1918 Spanish influenza killed. USA TODAY

As confirmed cases of theCOVID-19 coronavirusspread in the U.S. this week, school leaders nationwide are preparing for their worst-case scenario emergency plans. Some are already shutting down schoolsor considering online learningif the health threat persists.

And some are simply saying: Wash your hands.

So, who'sright? Perhaps everyone.

Districtleaders are right to emphasize hand washing, staying home if youre sick and covering your cough with a sleeve or tissue, school and health leaders said. But they should also disclose their emergency plans to parents about what will happenif the virus becomes more widespread even if it unnerves families, leaders said this week.

Six patients with the virus had died in Washington state as of Monday night, and new infections were reported in California, Illinois, Rhode Island, New York and Florida over the weekend.

Coronavirus live updates: 4 more die in Seattle area, bringing US death toll to 6

So far, the response from schools and health officials has varieddepending on whether a localityhas confirmed cases and experts' views on how much action is appropriate is rapidly evolving. But the uncertainty of how far the virus will spread has putschool leaders in a difficult spot ofprojectinga sense of calm while also acting with an abundance of caution for student safety.

"Everybody is in a state of alert," saidDan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.

Domenech said his organization has advised superintendents to inform parents of their districts' emergency operations plans that may be carried out if the virus spreads.

"There's no soft-sellingthis," Domenech said Monday afternoon.

"Last week I saw some districts had sent out messages to families that were pretty mild like, there's not much to be concerned about, this may not happen. That's not happening anymore. Now it's absolutely something to worry about and it's absolutely going to happen, it's just a matter of when."

The virus is not yet a pandemic in the U.S., said Donna Mazyck, executive director of the National Association of School Nurses. But because of the way it can spread, health officials are reviewing their emergency plans and figuring out what to do if the outbreak hits close to their regions.

"That is the key: How to prepare without panicking," Mazyck said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late last week offered different guidance to schools and daycare centersdepending on whether they have alocally identified case of COVID-19.

For institutions that don't have a confirmed case, the CDC said schools should review and update their emergency plans, emphasizehand-washing, communicate with local health departments and reviewattendance policies including dropping rewards for perfect attendance.

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For institutions located in areas with COVID-19 cases, the CDC recommends schools talk with their local health officials beforecanceling classes. Together, they candetermine how long schools should be closed. And schools can also determineoptions for distance or online learning so kids don't fall behind.

Doctor's advice: The best preventative steps to contain the coronavirus

As of Monday, some school districts in Washington closed because of concerns over the virus.The Colville School District north of Spokaneclosed Monday until further notice or until after test results come back of a suspected local infection.

A few schools in northern Idaho, on the border of Washington, also shut down Mondayfor cleaning, eventhough Idaho currently has no confirmed cases of the virus. Students from these schools attended a jazz festival with musicians from a high school in Washington where a student has tested positive for the virus. However, the student with the virus wasn't at the festival.

Some schools closed even though health officials said it wasn't necessary. Bothell High School, located north of Seattle,shut down schools for cleaning for two days last week because a family member of an employee was quarantined for potentially having the virus. That person ultimately tested negative.

Last week, awoman in Solano County, California, became the first confirmed patient in the U.S. to have become infected by the virus by way of community transmission, rather than via international travel or through close contact with a person known to be infected.

That's what kicked the latest planning into high gear and ignited some parents' concerns about sending their kids to school, even though the virus has predominantly sickened older people.

Eileen Shihadeh, a parent of two students in Austin's public schools, said the Texas district so far has only told parents to take preventative measures, like covering coughs and sneezes. But Shihadeh is already considering when she would keep her kids home school, even without a directive from the district. She also might cancel the family's spring break trip to Oregon, because airports seem like a health hazard to her.

"As the worst-case scenarios are kicking in, especially with the CDC talking about the spread in the U.S. being inevitable, all of us (parents) are thinking about what we're going to do," said Shihadeh, who works for the school security company Raptor Technologies.

Schools should still waitfor guidance from their local health officials before implementing "social distancing" practices for students or staff, saidPamela Kahn,president of the California School Nurses Organization.

As of now, Kahn said, schools in California have only been advised to consider excluding children from school for 14 days if they have traveled abroad to mainland China.

"In my head and in my heart, I don't think this virus is hitting kids, but I wouldnt be blas and tell parents not to worry," Kahn said.

Some school district leaders are alreadyplanning for ways for children to learn from home, via online education options, in the event of long-term school closures from the virus.

Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Miami-Dade County School District in Florida the fourth-largest district in the country said last week that the district was prepared to send children home with laptops and other personal learning devices so they could continue their studies at home.

Some ed tech firms that specialize in K-12 online learning are alreadytouting their services to schools. Study.com, which offers courses used by home-schooled students,has advertised its platform as an option.

Another company, Outschool, facilitates online group classes for students ages 3 to 18over the live video conferencing platform Zoom. Its leaders have offered to provide free teacher training and webinarsto schools interested in using video-conferencing as a way to hold classes in the event of long-term closures.

One small, private school in the San Francisco Bay Areais preparing to take Outschool up on its offer. David O'Connell, head of The Saklan School, which enrolls about 120 students, said he learned about Outschool froma parent. After talking with the company, he asked teachers last week if they'd be open to doing some training on it, in the event the school has to shut down because of the virus.

"We've never had to consider online school before," O'Connell said. "But we were looking for alternatives, and (Outschool) seems to be dynamic kids can ask questions in the moment."

OConnell said he didnt think theyd need to use the technology, but students' health and safety is the No. 1 concern, he said.

In the event of a school closure, he said, "There's also a huge cost to not doing anything."

Education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.

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CHINA

Since 17 February, almost 2,700 teaching staff at Tsinghua University have delivered 4,000 online courses to 25,000 students spread across every time zone and continent. Shifting one of the worlds most elite university campuses into the cloud has required clarity, expertise, community and computers.

Tsinghuas decision to proceed with teaching-as-usual conveyed the clear message that higher education is one of our most precious resources. In times of uncertainty and fear, learning and research are more important than ever. Do not panic. Study and discover.

It will take millions of minds many decades to fully decode the ramifications of this shock to higher education. But it is important for people everywhere to know what has happened and immediately start making sense of what is going on.

No going back

A new global education economy has been born. Right now, universities, faculty and students in countries including China and Australia are relying entirely on online learning to deliver core education services.

Systems, experiences and expectations have been quickly forged which will almost surely yield widespread and enduring changes for global higher education. It is not possible nor desirable to go back from much that has been experienced.

Online learning has grown beyond smart acronyms and joined the mainstream education. Following Chinas lead, countries across Asia will almost certainly place more formal emphasis on online learning. Such a move holds global consequences, with Asia being the worlds biggest time zone for higher education.

New regulatory policies and cross-border agreements will be required. Countries will need to negotiate new rules with physical institutions such as campus-based universities, including bolstering the already flourishing emergence of career-long learning.

The role of university leaders

Though often quiet achievers, university leaders will play a more prominent global role. Findings from the Global University President Interviews research project, run by the Institute of Education at Tsinghua, reveals the role university leaders play in steering investigation and debate and carving out futures in almost every imaginable area.

As the current Tsinghua case confirms, leadership is most tested when things go awry. The current situation presents a call to better understand university leadership during times of crisis, and how to steer an increasingly uncertain future. This is essential, for while technology enables global higher education, it is really the leaders, systems and engaged people who make education succeed.

The recent shock is a sharp prod to start learning quickly about online global higher education. Over recent decades, international education has given rise to reasonably well-known information economies, student markets, research ecosystems and geopolitics. Much less is known about the new global era. There is little policy about how managers can support hundreds of globally located faculty who are delivering top-end university education to students all over the world.

While it spawns big data, we know rather little about the value of online education. We know even less about how countries, universities and families will distribute time and money across physical, technological and intercontinental platforms. Early signs suggest that the global era will blend concrete, kerosene and silicone in creative and smart ways. Many countries, particularly in Asia, must quickly reform national policy to embrace online pieces of learning.

Higher education has just been shaken by forces beyond its control. Such a shock is unsurprising given the role universities now play in the general economy. Universities can and must direct their future for the good of the globe, as Tsinghuas leaders have demonstrated. Elite university education is surely more global and online than ever before. Now is the time for bold education experiments, informed by major useful research.

Professor Hamish Coates, Dr Wen Wen and Professor Jinghuan Shi are based at the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University, China. Email: hamishcoates@tsinghua.edu.cn

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Crisis is making online education economy go mainstream - University World News

For physical education class, her teacher performs exercises for students to follow. For English, she sits silently through lectures to virtual classrooms of 20 to 30 students.

She puts stickers or tissues over her webcam, so her classmates can't see her if a teacher calls on her to answer a question. "We're at home, so we don't look so good," she says.

Huang barely leaves the house, and she hasn't seen her friends for a month. But while she is isolated, she's also part of what may be the world's largest remote learning experiment.

And mainland China is just the start. Millions of students in Hong Kong, Macao, Vietnam, Mongolia, Japan, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Italy have been affected by school closures. For some, that means missing class altogether, while others are trialing online learning. Authorities in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have indicated that, if the outbreak gets worse, they could shut schools, too.

But while online learning is allowing children to keep up their education in the time of the coronavirus, it's also come with a raft of other problems. For some students, the issues are minor -- shaky internet connections or trouble staying motivated. For others, the remote learning experiment could come at a cost of their mental health -- or even their academic future.

The components are the same: a laptop, an internet connection, and a bit of focus. But the type of online study differs from school to school, and country to country.

For Huang, learning at home means spending hours in front of a computer with little social interaction. There's no discussion in class, and she often can't hear her teacher because of the poor internet connection. She feels her classmates -- and their teachers -- are struggling to stay motivated.

"We cannot give (the teachers) a response even though they want it. So they feel bad and we feel awkward as well," she said.

Even after class, her work isn't over. She usually stays up until about 10 p.m. each night, completing homework which she submits online. Although she doesn't see her friends face-to-face, Huang says she actually feels closer to them -- they talk more than they would usually on Chinese online messenger apps such as WeChat and QQ because they're all hungry for contact.

"Because we can't meet anyone our age in reality, so we have to go online."

In Hong Kong, where schools have been closed for a month, some teachers are doing things differently.

At the International Montessori School, students work together in small groups on Google Hangouts so they can all see and talk to each other.

The school started off just posting videos and activities for students on their website, but quickly realized that it was crucial for children to see each other and speak with their teachers. Now they study together in small online groups.

The different learning style has actually led to innovation, he said -- a student made a video explaining how they solved a math problem, and a teacher made a video from a beach to help with a geology lesson.

Students in Hong Kong and mainland China have been isolated for weeks already, but in Italy, where the number of people infected with coronavirus soared past 800 this week, remote learning has just started.

Schools closed this week in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto, which include the cities of Milan and Venice, and together have a combined population of about 15 million.

In Milan, Gini Dupasquier's two daughters have been learning through a combination of live PowerPoint presentations, group work with other students over Google Hangout, and a live chat with teachers.

"Emotionally, they're fine," Dupasquier said. "They're having fun with this new method. So far I see no problem at all."

A bigger problem for her -- like other working parents -- is having to balance being at home with her child with the demands of her job as a consultant. "I need to adapt my working hours," she said. "The balance is a bit tough."

In Casalpusterlengo, a northern Italian town in the so-called "red zone" where tens of thousands of residents have effectively been cut off from the rest of the country, Monica Moretti's 15-year-old daughter doesn't have access to livestreaming -- instead, she's doing homework using an electronic notebook. Unlike many children in mainland China, every afternoon she goes for a walk.

Students in senior grades are potentially facing bigger problems than falling behind on their schoolwork.

Jonathan Ye, an 18-year-old high school student in his final year at international school Shanghai Pinghe, has conditional entry to university in the United Kingdom. He still needs to do well on his final International Baccalaureate exam in May if he wants to start university overseas -- something he's been working toward for years.

"If I do not do well on that exam, then I'm screwed," he said. "I think I'll be OK because I like to self-study, but I'm not sure. I still get nervous because we are not going to school right now, so we might be missing information from the teacher."

But Ye's situation is better than most.

The Ministry of Education said it will assess and decide whether to delay the gaokao. Beijing authorities have already said there will be an online mock exam ahead of the gaokao -- although that isn't the actual gaokao exam.

Although Hong Kong schools are shut until April 20, the city will still hold its university entrance exam on March 27 as planned. The only difference: students will be required to wear face masks and desks will be moved further apart than normal.

That's also an issue for students sitting other exams. Hong Kong-based Ruth Benny found home study just wasn't working for her 14-year-old daughter, who is sitting GCSEs this year. "There was no learning happening. It was just like a big long holiday," she said. Her daughter has now transferred to boarding school in the United Kingdom.

Some parents have raised concerns over paying expensive international school fees when their child isn't doing regular schooling.

Benny, who runs education consultancy Top Schools, said that if schools are doing the best they can, there's no need for reimbursement. Her 12-year-old son normally boards during the week at Harrow International School in Hong Kong, but they've reimbursed the cost of boarding while her child is out of school. "It's really as good as it can be, but I know that it's not like that for all schools."

Broomfield, the principal of International Montessori School, said that if schools reimbursed parents, the schools might not survive.

"We still have to run, we still have to pay our staff. We still want a school here when all this is over," he said. "I just don't see how those refunds can be provided."

And he pointed out that it had been a difficult time for teachers too, with much longer hours than usual, and a steep learning curve, particularly for the "tech dinosaurs" on their staff.

In a way, the situation was like trying to plumb a bathroom with the water still running, he said. "We had very little preparation for this," he said. "If you're going to renovate your bathroom, you turn your water off first. This was a whole replumbing of education, but we had to do it on the run."

There's also a risk that studying from home could impact children psychologically.

Hong Kong-based mental health expert Odile Thiang said the loss of routine and the loss of social activity could have a big impact on children, who were also stuck inside with their parents during an already stressful time. "There's also that general fear of contamination that people are feeling, so everything is adding up."

"(The psychological lessons) is yet to be learned, to really see what is going to come out of this major public health experiment that we're doing here," she said, adding that children tend to be very resilient.

Chris Dede, a professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, said there were plenty of studies showing the negative psychological effects on students who had been isolated from their peers after suffering serious illnesses.

Children studying from home could experience the same effects. But he pointed out that, in this situation, whole schools were studying remotely -- not just one single student who might feel lonely and left out.

"The shared problem becomes a way of having shared support," he said.

It's not the first time that schools have had to shut down or experiment with remote learning. In countries with particularly harsh winters, children sometimes find their school canceled for "snow days." In Hong Kong, some schools canceled classes last year over the ongoing pro-democracy protests.

And it's not like education experts have never thought of studying without a face-to-face teacher before. Children in remote parts of Australia have long taken lessons via education programs over the radio. And, in China artificial intelligence has been touted as a way to ensure students in rural communities get a better education.

According to Dede, a mix of online and face-to-face teaching is better than learning entirely offline, or entirely online. But the crucial thing isn't the medium, he said -- it is the quality and the method of teaching.

"The worst thing for children would be just to be isolated, at home, without emotional support from their friends, without the opportunity to have a skilled educator to help them learn," he said.

He sees this as a chance for educators to experiment with new teaching approaches, and then take what works back into the physical classroom.

Regardless of the teaching style, students were still lucky in a sense that this was happening now.

"We have social media, and the internet, and we have smart phones. So the degree of isolation and the degree of lost opportunity to learn would have been much greater if this happened two decades ago," he said.

CNN's Jo Shelley reported from Milan, Italy. CNN's Yong Xiong contributed reporting from Shanghai. CNN"s Kristie LuStout, Jadyn Sham, and Eric Cheung contributed from Hong Kong.

Originally posted here:
Millions of children across the world aren't going to school. It's not just their education that could suffer - CNN