By Natasha Wolfe and @RachelComerford  This past October, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) hosted a Town Hall focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the publishing industry. BISG works to create a more informed, empowered and efficient book industry. Their broad membership includes trade, education, professional and scholarly publishers, as well as distributors, wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, service providers and libraries. Opening remarks were delivered by Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association.  The tone of the meeting was constructive, and focused on solutions to better support diversity and equity in the publishing industry. As Kelvin Watson, Director of Broward County Libraries Division, said during the Town Hall, “Let’s not commiserate about this. Let’s solve it.” Tracie Hall, the discussion’s moderator, challenged BISG to "diversify the ranks of trade, education, professional, and scholarly publishers, as well as those of distributors, wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and library leaders."  Recruitment was an important topic of conversation throughout the meeting. The team had a few suggestions including establishing better recruitment practices. Suggestions included  revising job descriptions for inclusivity, raising entry level salaries to support living in cities like New York, and training managers in interview techniques that prevent unconscious bias. Furthermore, by expanding recruitment locations to include remote locations and broadening the onboarding requirements to include the potential for hiring people without a publishing background, a more diverse workforce can be cultivated. Ellen Bush, Chair of the Association of University Presses’ Equity (AUP), noted that numerous workplace studies suggest that as employees rank increases, the proportion of minorities in those roles decreases. The panelists noted that by waiting for these same entry levels to move up to the senior leadership levels it will take decades before companies will have diverse leadership teams. Companies can better support BIPOC employees by helping them to move up the chain when new opportunities arise. She noted that when mid-level managers leave, the position is often shifted to a more junior level, which does not allow for promotion from within the publishing ranks.  Bush also noted that we need to create more opportunities for feedback and to be open to constructive criticism from the BIPOC community. “In traditional hierarchies of organizational power, the people in charge are not the ones who get to define what’s equitable. Those with institutional power must be accountable to those who have been traditionally excluded from that power.” She reminded us all that “Trust must be earned everyday. It can break; it can be repaired; but it must always be earned.” The panel suggested that diversity programs that get results are the ones that forgo control tactics and frame efforts more positively. April Powers, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), supported this with data from the Harvard Business Review that identified percent change over five years in representation among managers. For example, programs focusing on recruitment of minorities out of college saw a 7.7% increase in representation of black male managers and an 8.9% increase in black female managers. There was a shared frustration reported across attendees that too often, inclusivity policies and measurements are kept private and not released to employees or the community. Many attendees noted that companies are hesitant to do this because it can reveal alarming shortcomings; however these revelations can catapult companies toward accountability in their commitment to make improvements and give visibility to how they change over time. Understanding where you are as an organization is key to identifying the changes that need to be made, and finding appropriate solutions. Many attendees and presenters discussed the importance of working with other organizations so the entire industry can benefit. Angela Bole, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), acknowledged that addressing DEI shortcomings can be scary, and spoke to some common roadblocks that companies and individuals experience when talking about these issues. She mentioned that often, a person will ask themselves if they are really the right person to tackle these issues and they will experience a kind of imposter syndrome. Bole reminded attendees that the responsibility lives with all of us. There are many existing resources, documentation and tools to help any employee get started. See below for just a handful. Ultimately, the meeting reinforced that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity need to be normalized in the workplace. To do that, there should be standards applied across all areas of business. Some recommendations include using pronouns with our names in Zoom meetings, making meetings and documentation accessible, embracing gender neutrality, and remembering and implementing the art of translation. At Macmillan Learning/BFW High School, our goal is to include diverse voices in all that we do. We believe that the best companies reflect the incredible diversity in viewpoints, backgrounds, and identities of the world in their staffs, and are committed to inclusive hiring across departments and levels. By embracing these values we are better equipped to show students and instructors that we strive to produce culturally responsive pedagogy and want to ensure everyone is respected and included.  For the presentations, chat transcript, and a recording from the BISG presentation, check out https://bisg.org/page/DiversityEquityInclusion. A summary is posted here: https://bisg.org/news/news.asp?id=535098. Other helpful resources for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from the town hall are below. BIPOC: What does it mean and where does it come from? https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bipoc-what-does-it-mean-and-where-does-it-come-from/ar-BB169qSg Frida Polli’s service offering https://www.pymetrics.ai/ 5 Free Tools to Write Better Job Descriptions https://blog.ongig.com/writing-job-descriptions/5-free-tools-to-write-better-job-descriptions/ Conscious Style Guide, the first website devoted to conscious language. https://consciousstyleguide.com/about/ diversitystyleguide.com Tools for Diversifying Your Staff and Sources http://editorsofcolor.com/ The Editors of Color site also has a "Database of Diverse Databases" page they're developing: https://editorsofcolor.com/diverse-databases/ New Resource to Combat Racial Bias Now Available for Scholarly Publishing Professionals: The Antiracism Toolkit for Allies https://c4disc.org/2020/08/06/new-resource-to-combat-racial-bias-now-available-for-scholarly-publishing-professionals-the-antiracism-toolkit-for-allies/
 The Word, A Storytelling Sanctuary  https://www.thewordfordiversity.org/ The Diversity Executive Leadership Academy https://diversityexecutiveacademy.com Diversity Training University International- Talent Management, Training Services, & Organizational Consulting http://dtui.com The BIPOC Bookshelf- THE BOOKSHELF is a free database uplifting fiction & select nonfiction books/titles by BIPOC & underrepresented authors. https://twitter.com/BIPOC_Bookshelf Inkcluded-  An inclusive literary community championing diversity in publishing. https://www.getinkluded.com/ Reach out infoinkluded@gmail.com Minorities in Publishing (podcast)- #Podcast by @jbakernyc featuring underrepresented folks in #publishing. https://twitter.com/MinoritiesinPub https://www.pocinpublishing.com/ https://synd.io/ and what they’re doing (Big Data approach to pay equity analysis) https://www.scbwi.org/disability-employment-awareness-resources/ https://www.scbwi.org/hispanic-heritage-2020-resources/ https://www.scbwi.org/black-lives-matter-resources/ The Festival of Literary Diversity https://thefoldcanada.org/ https://diversebooks.org/about-wndb/   ... View more

The following piece was written by Macmillan Learning Communications Intern Samra Karamustafic. Samra @samrak is a Journalism major at Cleveland State University and aspires to work as an editor in book publishing. - If you ask a group of students for their thoughts on online learning, you’d most likely get very mixed answers that fall along the “love it” or “hate it” spectrum. While some students may miss the face-to-face interaction with their professors and peers, other students might enjoy the flexibility of creating a schedule that works for them. With nearly 34% of colleges being primarily online this semester, this generation of college students is facing an experience like no other.  However, while it may be challenging at times, the pros of online learning can provide students with skills that can benefit them long after their college years and into their future careers. Some of these valuable benefits include: 1. Better time-management skills With a world as fast-paced as ours, being able to manage your time effectively is an incredibly advantageous skill for anybody to have, especially for someone fresh out of college. Future employers want productive employees working for their company -- people who come in and use the time they have constructively to get as much work done as they can before they clock out.  With online learning, students can refine their time-management skills because they are in charge of planning their semester and keeping tabs on due dates and exam dates. As Northeastern University writes, because “students have the flexibility to create their own schedules, it’s up to the student to proactively reach out to faculty, complete assignments on time, and plan ahead.” Any employer values an individual that can prioritize and use their time wisely.  2. A chance to hone your communication skills Franklin University notes that with online learning, “you'll enhance your ability to communicate effectively through the latest technology.“ But how? Well, online learning requires students to strengthen their communication skills through all kinds of technology, like Zoom, Google Meet, discussion boards, and more. With minimal to no face-to-face interaction with instructors, it pushes students to reach out to their professors with any questions they may have through email and to answer promptly. As the job market continues to change and offer more remote-work opportunities, being able to communicate through different platforms and software is a relevant skill for anyone in any career field to have. 3. More opportunities to review course material Imagine that you’re in class and your instructor is going through a lesson laden with information. You’re trying your best to scribble down as much information as possible, but as you’re looking back at your notes at the end of class, you realize that there is still so much you didn’t get a chance to jot down. What was once a common experience for many students in a traditional classroom setting is nearly nonexistent in the world of online learning.  With the flexibility of virtual learning, many professors are aware of the fact that college students have varying schedules and may not be able to make it to all of their classes. Thus, thanks to the recording feature on Zoom and other video chatting platforms, professors can record their lectures and post them online for students to catch up or review if needed. Not only does this allow students to review the material, but as Oxford Learning states, it allows students to “spend more time on areas that are challenging.” Nobody likes staring at a screen for hours on end and solely using Zoom to communicate with peers and instructors. But, as with everything else that has altered drastically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students must adjust and make the most out of the situation as is. On the bright side, once the pandemic is over, students will return to normalcy with more newly acquired skills than when we started.    ... View more

November is Native American Heritage Month. To help celebrate it, Macmillan Learning invited Native American Historian & Director of Cultural Affairs for the Stockbridge Munsee Community Heather Brugel to talk with us about Native American influence on our culture and the important history that shaped our nation. Marisa Bluestone: Sitting Bull, Pocahontas, and Crazy Horse are some of the more familiar Native American names. What other Native Americans should students learn more about? Heather Bruegl: There are so many!  Red Cloud was a Lakota leader who was instrumental in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.  Susan La Fleshe was the first female Native American doctor.  Wilma Mankiller was the first female principle chief of the Cherokee Nation.  Black Elk was a Lakota Holy man.  Mary Golda Ross was the first female Native American engineer and she worked for NASA on the space program!  There are just so many that it is hard to name just a few.  Marisa: Why were blood quantum laws established, and are they still in use today? Heather: The concept of blood quantum was established on paper as early as the 1700’s when the Virginia Colony started to write laws prohibiting the Native tribes in the area from being able to marry whites, hold public office, etc.   The idea as we know it today came around in the 1930’s with the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act or the Indian New Deal.  There what it meant to be ‘Indian’ was defined.  And to go a step further, the government sent out anthropologists to measure the faces and judge the color of Native Americans to determine whether or not they met the government standards of being ‘Indian’.   Blood quantum is used today to determine tribal membership.  Each tribal nation has their own requirements needed for membership and that varies from Nation to Nation.  Blood quantum is an emotional topic and can bring up many feelings.  It isn’t something to just talk about casually.  There are real life consequences to blood quantum.  It is a topic that divides Nations and families.  Heather BrugelMarisa: How does modern DNA testing play into blood quantum? Heather: From what I understand, DNA doesn’t play a role.  DNA just tells you your ancestry, it doesn’t give you your blood quantum. That can only come from tracing your lineage and using either government or tribal rolls.  Marisa: How do Native Americans continue to influence our culture today? Heather: I think the heart of the United States starts in Indian Country.  We may have small numbers, but we are mighty and have the power to sway elections as we just saw in 2020.  We make our voices heard and hopefully influence the country with our history, tradition and cultures.  (Editor’s note. See articles from ABC news and Color Lines for additional information about the impact.)  Marisa: It's Native American Heritage Month -- what are some good ways to learn about their history and culture? Heather: There are some great documentaries out there that are available on many streaming services. Some of my favorites are Trudell, A Good Day to Die, Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock, and Reel Injun. Some books that I love are An Indigenous People's History of the United States, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee and Lakota Woman.  I would also recommend visiting the websites of tribal nations.  We have so much to share with you and many times we have our histories right on our websites.   It is so important to learn about the history of Native Nations.  We were the first peoples and oftentimes our history is overlooked.  While it is great to learn about us and recognize Native American Heritage Month, it is super important to know we exist the other 11 months of the year! ... View more

Economics has changed since COVID began. This is true both of the field itself and also the way that instructors are teaching students.  At this year’s EconEd, an annual conference and community built by instructors coming together to improve the teaching of economics, Justin Wolfers discussed seven ways that the pandemic has changed economics. In addition to being a scholar and economics instructor at the University of Michigan, he is also the author of Principles of Economics, which teaches students foundational economics that help them to make better decisions in their own lives. Check out the different ways economics has changed, and some tips about how to talk about and teach economics, in a world where learning about theoretical widgets no longer makes sense. 1. The era of big data has arrived. The items we use every day, from our cell phones to credit cards, are being used to track consumer spending in a way that’s far more advanced than the  methods we’ve used in the past -- like BLS data. For example, our work habits are being tracked by the likes of ADP, which can check on the amount of payrolls processed, and Google, which can track your location and discover whether you are physically going into the workplace. The implication on teaching: Big data changes what we think about economic theory. Whereas before we used it to “fill in” when data was missing, now economic theory is a framework for interpreting data. Economic theory should now inform measurement. Inflation is an example, with data showing that it doesn’t appear to have changed much. But if you think about how much money it would take to live the same quality of life as a year ago -- it’s clear that it has. 2.Economics must extend beyond the market. We lost nearly a trillion in output from COVID-19, but the costs extend beyond that. Costs should include, among other things, mental health, long-term health damage, and premature death.  The implication on teaching: We need to move beyond the widget factory. Everyday decisions are economic decisions, and non-market choices are central to economics, like childcare, education and whether we work from home. We’ve seen these decisions play out during the pandemic in macro policies in the lives-vs.-livelihood debate, where we question just how much we should stay on lockdown to benefit our health if it comes at a cost to the economy. 3. Interdependence is pervasive. What we do impacts other people, what other people do impacts us. If you catch COVID, it could harm me or my friends. The implication on teaching: We should emphasize interdependence in teaching. The standard way of interdependence only analyzes it through the market, but we need to show a richer sense of it.  4. Aggregate demand and aggregate supply shocks are not so different. The initial impetus of COVID was a supply shock. But it set in motion an aggregate demand shock, which has a lot of implications. The implication on teaching:  The sharp distinction between supply and demand may not be as sharp as we once believed. Because of that, the aggregate demand/aggregate supply framework may not be as useful as we once thought. It may be time to rethink how we teach the role of aggregate demand and aggregate supply analysis in analyzing the business cycle.  5. Unconventional monetary policy is now conventional. The interest rate has been at or near zero for over a decade and the Fed said they would keep the nominal interest rate at zero until 2023. Also, the Fed abandoned open market operations in 2008. The implication on teaching:  We need to change how we teach monetary policy to emphasize the tools the Fed actually uses. For example, the “floor framework” now sets interest rates. 6. The economy is resilient, yet flawed. The economy has been more resilient than most of us would have imagined. Food supply has remained robust and production lines have been repurposed and have evolved. Alcohol companies, for example, began producing hand sanitizer. But the economy is also flawed, because prosperity is fragile and insurance is imperfect. Shocks can be both large and far too frequent.  The implication on teaching: We should teach a realistic version of economics, by teaching about the economy that students observe instead of stylized frictionless models. We should teach them about an economy where people and businesses adapt, and that the economy has adapted to changing circumstances.  7. Economics has never been more useful. Basic economic principles have guided policy debates, and economics has helped make sense of the world. Our students will graduate into a fragile economy and the tools of economics can help them navigate their new normal.  The implication on teaching: We should continue to teach useful economics so that students can see the role they will play in the economy and help them make better decisions. At a time when the stakes are high, what we teach them matters, and we can use economics to help to transform their lives. To see Justin’s presentation during EconEd, click here. For a full list of panelists and sessions, click here. ... View more

The following piece was written by Macmillan Learning Communications Intern Samra Karamustafic. Samra (@samrak) is a Journalism major at Cleveland State University and aspires to work as an editor in book publishing.   2020 has undeniably been a year of change and adjustment for us all, especially when it comes to education. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, school desks and whiteboards have been swapped out for kitchen tables and Chromebook screens, and raised hands have turned into simply unmuting oneself on a Zoom call.  With such drastic changes in the typical school setting come changes in the types of learning materials that are being put to use, too. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, out of 3000 colleges, approximately 10% are fully online. It comes as no surprise, then, that the digital textbook market is projected to experience a major boost in revenue between the years 2020 and 2027. Digital textbooks, or e-books, have been introduced into many schools' learning curriculums as early as 2009. Since then, educators, students, and school administrators alike have seen the benefits that e-books have to offer that their print counterparts lack. For starters, students can enjoy immediate access to the book once they purchase it or are granted access to it by their school’s administrator. This comes in handy for college students who need access to their books before the semester begins because it diminishes the need to worry about any potential shipping complications.  At the start of this year's fall semester, many bookstores ran into an overload of shipment delays due to COVID-19. This left many college students anxious and questioning whether or not they would receive their necessary materials in time. With digital textbooks, the second the buyer clicks that "complete purchase” button, they've got the entire book at their fingertips in minutes.  Many e-books also offer additional features that can be incredibly beneficial for students and educators alike. Take our Achieve platform as an example: students can receive access to not just their e-books, but to helpful videos and personalized quizzes that can help them tackle the topics they are struggling with as well. This provides an immersive experience for the student and it gives teachers greater insight into what topics their students are struggling with, which allows them to devote class time to go over these topics. Students can enjoy the portability of digital textbooks in addition to the convenience of immediate access and engagement. Gone are the days of lugging textbooks from class to class. With e-books, students can access all of their books from one spot: their computer! Parents can benefit from the portability, too; with e-books, they can rest assured knowing that they won't have to worry about hearing the 4 dreaded words from their child: "I lost my textbook." Even though there has been a significant push toward digital textbooks, that doesn’t mean that schools and colleges have turned their backs on printed textbooks. Before the start of this school year, many schools gave students the option of attending in-person classes or going virtual; those who chose virtual learning had a few days before the first day of school to come and pick up the required textbooks that they could use at home. Many college students still went ahead and ordered print materials for this upcoming semester as well, and those that live on campus still have the option of visiting their campus library to borrow a textbook. However, COVID-19 has altered and slowed the process of borrowing textbooks.  Inside Higher Ed found that many libraries across the country are quarantining returned items for 72 hours before making them available to borrow again, to ensure that no traces of the virus are on the materials before they go to another individual.  Although digital textbooks have been making their way into a growing number of schools over the last decade, the massive shift into online learning for a majority of the nation this year may have been the final push they needed. What does this mean for old-school print textbooks - will they phase out slowly, or continue existing alongside e-books? It seems that we will have to wait and see, but for now, students and teachers can tailor their materials to fit their needs - whether that's with a digital or a printed textbook. ... View more

People watching has become my favorite pastime during the pandemic. I watch out my window while a woman does yoga on her rooftop. Down below on the street there are bike riders, street cleaners, essential workers commuting, and morning runners. From my perch, I can make stories for each of them based on what I see. But what about what I can’t see? Does the woman doing yoga have a new heart? Does that runner have Crohn’s Disease? Is that nurse headed to work dyslexic? Too often, when people think about disabilities, they imagine individuals in wheelchairs, or a person with a guide dog … and while some disabilities are visible, many are not. These are invisible disabilities, which the Invisible Disabilities Association defines as “a physical, mental or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside, yet can limit or challenge a person’s movements, senses, or activities.” And if we are not careful, they can limit a person’s educational opportunities. According to the National Service And Inclusion Project, among all people with disabilities of working age (29.4 million), 52% are employed. An accessible education is not the only change needed but it’s one important step in helping to increase that number. Because disabilities are not always visible, it can be a challenge to create assignments and workloads that support all students. It’s an especially challenging time during COVID, where much of learning is taking place remotely. We put together some tips to help instructors support accessibility and all student learning, including those with disabilities they may not be able to see. Tip One: Sometimes, students with invisible disabilities are perceived as lacking in intelligence, not paying attention, or even lazy. While some students will choose to disclose a disability to instructors, many will not. And, even if your student does share that they have a disability, they are not required to give you the details. Assuming that a student that isn’t achieving with the existing course structure is anything but doing their best is a dangerous path to go down. Work with these students to identify the points where they are struggling. It’s possible that being easily distracted or frequent bathroom trips might mean that they need extra time on tests. Chronic pain or fatigue may mean that a student needs extra time to turn over assignments or opportunities to use alternative formats. In Macmillan Learning’s course platform, Achieve, instructors can create student exceptions for assignment deadlines. Tip Two: Find course materials that all students can use. For example, Macmillan Learning produces e-books in EPUB3 format and include accessibility metadata, short and long alt text, clear structure and organization, and a variety of navigation methods including page and heading navigation. The e-books reflow and respond to magnification, so the text is readable at 200% magnification. We also prioritize keyboard navigation and reading order in our e-book development. Macmillan Learning has a policy that allows 10 pages to be printed at a time and the copy/pasting of 2 pages at a time. And of course, beginning in 2019, all our e-books are Global Certified Accessible by Benetech. Bringing products that are already accessible to your class gives students the chance to be successful from the onset and allows them to make the personalizations they need to be successful. Tip Three: If you’re creating materials and documents for your class or sourcing open educational resources, make sure they are accessible before you post them. Here’s a checklist to help you make accessible documents. We also have free checklists for .pdfs and slides on our Accessibility page on our website. Remember that accessibility is about more than passing the automated checkers that you can find in these tools. Try to limit the quantity of information you provide on slides - packing a single slide with information can be overwhelming for students. Could that pdf be a word document? Students can resize text, change the amount of information on each page, and resize images in a word doc in ways they can’t without an expensive editor in pdf. Tip Four: Are your students no longer in your classroom? Consider how Universal Design could help enable teaching and learning. Reading from the text is a helpful learning experience for some students but can you present the information in the textbook in additional, alternative formats? Consider integrating an online lab experience so students can have a more hands on interaction with the materials or integrating interactives that focus on important concepts.  Recently, I was sent the definition of disability used by We Need Diverse Books: “We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.” The reason this definition resonates with me is because it includes not only what disability is but also how we can, unintentionally, create an ableist environment. Building, buying, and implementing accessible environments for students is important to their future whether they are continuing to more schooling or entering the workforce. At Macmillan Learning, we take our commitment to providing accessible materials seriously. If you’d like to learn more about accessibility visit the Accessibility page on our website. We also encourage feedback from students and instructors on what we can do to improve and welcome any feedback about our resources or suggestions about future resources at webaccessibility@macmillan.com. ... View more

Statistics have been used to inform us, change our minds, and even to shock us. From polls telling us who is winning various political races, to commercials telling us about a toothbrush recommended by nine out of ten dentists, to the rise of ocean temperatures over time, facts and figures inform the stories that help us understand the world around us. We spoke to communications instructor and Media and Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age author Richard Campbell about how he teaches his students about the stats behind the stories (and the stories behind the stats) and the storytelling at the intersection of journalism and statistics. Marisa Bluestone: A bit of a chicken and egg question, but what do you think comes first -- the stats or the stories? Richard Campbell: You can’t have the story without the data, without the stats.  The jobs of the news narrative is to transform hard data into something an audience can understand.  Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel wrote in their seminal book The Elements of Journalism that the job of the journalist is “to make the significant interesting.” Data by itself is not interesting or understandable to a general audience.  But a good narrative by a reporter who does her homework and asks good questions of the right sources can transform the data into a compelling story.  Too much mediocre news, however, takes “interesting” stuff -- like a celebrity scandal or an outrageous tweet – and makes it seem significant just by the act of reporting it as news. Marisa: This could be an entire course, but what quick tips do you have for students to help them translate statistics into stories, or visa versa? Richard: Funny you should ask this.  The Stat+Stories podcast grew out of a course. At Miami, John Bailer -- chair of the statistics department -- and I had worked together to get a quantitative literacy requirement into our college’s curriculum. As part of that initiative, we team taught an honors class called “News and Numbers” in 2009 and developed the podcast in 2013.  As a one-time reporter and long-time journalism educator (with some math phobia issues), I remember how nervous I was in that first class with John.  But when he put up a data graph culled from a national newspaper and asked the students, “What’s the story here?”, I relaxed.  Storytelling is something I knew about and to realize this renowned statistician expected a good data chart to tell a story put me at ease.  John and I had common ground.  We would start every class with some graph or news story form a news site that relied on statistics and John would lead the students through a critique of what stories did a good job and what stories needed work.  My job was to improve their narratives.  So one tip is to start a data-based report, not with data and numbers, but with a story that illustrates the impact of the data.  For example, do not begin a news story on homelessness with data and percentages.  Start the report by telling about a family impacted by homelessness and then lead your audience to the big picture and what the data tell us about the significance of the problem.  But first you need to make an emotional connection to your audience.  A story does that. It is hard to make such a connection early in a news story by using big numbers. Marisa: How have recent advancements in data visualization changed the way you teach communications courses? Richard: At Miami, the statistics department also started a course, in collaboration with the graphics design department and the journalism program, on data visualization.  Although I am retired now, I would encourage anyone teaching design or statistics to think about how graphic and data illustrations might be accompanied by a good narrative that help people understand the visuals.  A lot of folks are used to making sense of the world through written or video narratives not through a dazzling graphic chart or complex statistical tables.  But in combination, we might have a better chance of reaching more of the general audience. Marisa: It's election season. What role will stats play in how the presidential election is covered? What role should they play? Richard: I assume you mean stats on political polling and not all the other statistics that are truly important --- like data on income disparities, or unemployment related to the Covid-19 crisis, or the higher percentages of Black and brown people mistreated or killed because of systemic racism. Unfortunately, during a national election, most mainstream TV news outlets obsess over polls – who’s ahead and who’s behind.  This is not my area of expertise, but I can report on what experts have told us on our podcast.  Back in 2016, the national polls were within the margin of error.  Clinton won by two percentage points – or 3 million votes.  But some of the state reporting was flawed, since many formerly “unlikely voters” voted, and Trump eked out an electoral victory by narrowly winning Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.  For 2020, statisticians and pollsters again warn of uncertainty. Determining “likely voters” in the age of Covid-19 and mail-in voting may be a crap shoot. Additionally, increases in robo calls in swing states have made many people more wary of answering their phones. Other than suggesting trends over time, we just don’t really know with any certainty how accurate polls are. Marisa: Do you think there's room for opinions in data storytelling, or should it all be fact based?  Richard: Good journalism throughout much of the 20 th  century traditionally tried to separate opinion and analysis from basic news stories, in which reporters learned to keep their opinion out of news reports and attempted to interview multiple sources.  Even today most newspapers relegate opinion essays to the editorial and op-ed pages.  If a newspaper runs an analysis piece on the front page, it is usually labeled as such. Cable TV news began blurring these distinctions, especially with the arrival of Fox News in the mid-1990s.  Still, even on Fox News, there is generally fairer and more complete reporting in the midday hours before the wave of opinion talking heads ascend in the evening.  But this is also true of MSNBC, with its nightly line-up of liberal and progressive talking heads.  Still, the best opinion pieces are informed by good reporting and not just cable hosts spouting whatever comes to mind as they try to fill their allotted hour of time. The tragedy, of course, is that many viewers think what they are getting in the evening is fair and balanced reporting. In fact, cable TV news in the evening -- and nationally syndicate conservative and libertarian talk radio throughout the day -- have filled the void created by the loss of many local newspapers.   In the last 20 years, the U.S. has lost more than half the workforce of daily newspaper reporters -- from 56,000 in 2001 to fewer than 27,000 today. A landmark 2017 University of North Carolina study identified 1,300 U.S. communities as “news deserts” – with no local print or digital reporting. In 2020, that figure has jumped to 1,800.  About 2,100 daily and weekly papers have stopped publishing since 2004. According to a 2019 Brookings Institution study, millions of Americans see only national stories, and many of those “have a strong partisan bent” or “focus heavily on partisan conflict.”  More alarming still, Brookings found the decline in local reporting has been accompanied by “a diminished capacity to hold elected officials and other local leaders accountable and a general disengagement from local politics.”  Evidence that we have gathered in Ohio suggests too that letters and comments to editors at small-town papers are now less likely than in the past to focus on local issues.  Instead, many merely parrot cable TV talking points.  Marisa: Is there anything I didn't ask you about, but should have? Richard: I would like to recommend that every journalism student take statistics or quantitative literacy courses and that every math and stats major take journalism courses (plus, all our high schools should be requiring quantitative literacy classes). The ability for mathematician or scientists to translate the complexities of their work into a story for a general audience is key to challenging the anti-science and anti-evidence strains running through our mediated culture.   Richard Campbell is professor emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Miami University and has been teaching for 48 years. For Bedford/St.Martin’s Press, he is the lead author of three textbooks, including Media and Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age, now in its 12 th  edition. He is also the author of 60 Minutes and the News: A Mythology for Middle America and co-author of Cracked Coverage: Television News, the Anti-Cocaine Crusade and the Reagan Legacy. He also was a print reporter and broadcast news writer in Milwaukee and was high school English teacher and girls’ basketball coach in the Milwaukee Public School system. ... View more

Student engagement. It’s a struggle that instructors regularly list as their top concern in surveys on teaching during the pandemic. Though maintaining students' attention, curiosity, motivation and passion for learning has been a topic of interest for instructors for some time, these challenges are more pronounced this fall with digital fatigue, distractions at home, lack of one-on-one interaction, and connectivity challenges.  While most instructors now have some experience teaching classes online, having done it once before during the Spring semester, many continue to seek new and innovative ways to support student engagement.  There’s no shortage of ways that instructors can facilitate the joy of learning and connect with their students, and we’ve curated some of the ones that we’ve seen work successfully using the technologies and methodologies that we know best. At the Start of and During Class: Ask the class content-focused opening questions: Retrieval practice is a great way to begin each class, as it allows students to activate knowledge from either pre-class activities or a previous class. There are a few variations of this, including using opening questions on your lecture’s first slide, and removing it from view after a few minutes to encourage students to show up on time. You can also choose to give students credit for answering the opening question orally, in writing, or with a student response solution like iClicker.  Help students to focus by engaging with technology: With a virtual environment, it’s easy for students to get distracted with other content, texts and games on their phones and laptops. The new iClicker Focus feature helps students to self-regulate their behavior to stay engaged solely with the iClicker app for the duration of the class. Chunk out content: Research indicates that students’ attention declines throughout the lecture. This can be compounded in a remote environment, with distractions making concentrating even more difficult. Chunking out information in seven to ten minute increments helps reset attention spans. and beginning each content segment with a polling question, helps activate students’ thinking by requiring them to engage with the content. This can be done using a variety of question types, and with a click of a button using iClicker’s diverse question types (i.e. anonymous, short answer, target, etc). Administer low-stakes, formative assessments: Frequent formative check-ins offer students an indication of their performance, giving them an opportunity to improve their knowledge and grades ahead of exams. You can accomplish this synchronously or asynchronously with  iClicker’s Polling or Quizzing features in class or by using the Assignment feature that students can complete outside of class sessions. The feature can be used to support asynchronous learning or “flip” your in-person class sessions. Create an on-screen action: Whether teaching synchronously or asynchronously, you can move beyond static, text-heavy slides by incorporating illustrations, YouTube videos, 3D modeling software, interactive presentation software, or even memes. You can also add questions in your lecture videos (with iClicker’s Assignment feature) so students can answer questions on their own time. Ending Class and Outside of Class: Pose a reflective closing question: Learning research suggests that awareness of learning enhances it. In addition to demonstrating how well students understand the concepts covered in class, they can also be an opportunity to clarify any points or provide additional resources for students. Have your students set learning goals. By offering a series of sh ort, assignable surveys students can reflect on their learning progress at key points across the semester. You can do this using a survey of your own creation or with Macmillan Learning’s new learning platform, Achieve, which offers an Intro Survey that asks students to consider their goals for the class and to think about how they plan to manage their time and learning strategies. Later, Checkpoint surveys get students to reflect on what's been working and what has not so that they can decide to make changes on their own. Each survey that students complete also generates a report that gives you a bigger picture of how your class is doing beyond their grades. There are a lot of tips here that reference our new digital learning platform, Achieve, and with good reason. During the spring 2020 semester, instructors using Achieve reported their students were more engaged both in and outside of class when they compared to other classes they were teaching without Achieve. More information about Achieve’s performance during the pandemic is being studied now, and you can find our research up to now on our Learning Science page. There's also no shortage of research on the positive impact of iClicker on course outcomes. ... View more

Over the past six months, COVID-19 gave many students the opportunity to make economic decisions, whether they knew it or not. This is true for both big decisions, like whether they should attend college this fall, and the day-to-day ones like whether they should go to visit a friend. This is not a new phenomenon, as many of us have been using basic economic principles to make decisions throughout our lives. Everyday economics has been a passion of instructors and authors Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers for years now. They literally wrote the textbook on it. Principles of Economics  To help foster an even better understanding of the history-making pandemic, Betsey and Justin added new, current examples to help instructors cover the pandemic in their classrooms and to show students ways that they are already using economic principles -- or not -- in their recent decision-making.  Here are seven insights distilled from these lessons:  Students weighed the costs and benefits of leaving their homes. They analyzed the pros and cons to determine what worked best for them. And in many instances this meant staying home. In fact many students began to socially distance well before the government required them to do so. Students did not always ignore sunk costs (though they should have). As the pandemic was just beginning, many students had vacations, parties and other activities that had been planned for and paid. With fear of missing out and since money had been spent, many did not cancel. Florida’s spring break was a prime example of why it’s okay to not continue to invest in sunk costs, as people got sick and some died after attending parties. Students reviewed the opportunity costs. Some students considered changing their college plans by asking themselves “or what.” For example, they asked: Should I go to college or … travel (which is limited) ... get a job (which is harder because unemployment is up). Students' actions caused supply and demand to shift. With social distancing measures in place, they didn’t go out to restaurants nearly as often, and overall demand for in-person dining decreased. Students made decisions that impacted more than just themselves. The marginal external costs associated with risky behavior during a pandemic are larger the more infectious and fatal the disease because it's more likely to make more people sick with serious consequences. On the other hand, the marginal external benefits associated with social distancing and mask-wearing during a pandemic are also larger since averting potential infections could save many lives. Students relied more on Amazon for goods, giving Amazon greater market power. An article in The Economist on April 11, 2020 noted: “As the world gets back on its feet, big firms will have better access to capital markets, giving them an extra edge over smaller competitors.” Students played a coordination game when they bought more toilet paper than we needed to. Purchases in excess were made not because they feared a shortage, but because they were concerned that others feared it. These seven examples of how COVID-19 impacted our choices represent just a fraction of how we're using economic principles to make decisions in our everyday lives.  For more information about Principles of Economics with Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers from Macmillan Learning, and to learn more about why every decision is an economic decision, click here.  Betsey Stevenson advised President Obama on social policy, labor market, and trade issues as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2015. She is currently a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and she serves on the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association and other boards. She is an expert on the impact of the economy on happiness, on public policies’ impact on the labor market, and the economic forces shaping the modern family, among other topics. Justin Wolfers is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. He is an expert in unemployment and inflation, the power of prediction markets, the economic forces shaping the modern family, discrimination, and happiness. He has been an editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, a board member on the Committee on the Status of Women in Economics, a member of the Panel of Advisors of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, among many other board and advisory positions. ... View more

History is more than just a study of past events. It's an interpretation of people, artifacts and events that allows us to find a path forward. With an important milestone that just passed, the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, we discussed women's equality with acclaimed historian, author and instructor Nancy Hewitt. Marisa Bluestone: How do you think that the women’s marches in 2016 will be remembered in our history books 100 years from now? Nancy Hewitt: Among women’s historians, I think the 2016 women’s marches will be highlighted as part of a new wave of activism touched off by Donald Trump’s election as president but rooted in a much longer shift in progressive women’s activism. The repeated attacks on abortion rights since Roe v Wade, the snail-like pace in achieving equal pay, the continued devastation caused by sexual assault and domestic violence, the continued issues of sexual harassment in workplaces of all kinds, and attacks on immigrants and Dreamers fueled the 2016 marches. But so, too, did the expanding power of women in law, academia, medicine, journalism, and many other professions, the increasing power of Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, and Asian American women’s activist organizations, the expansion of LGBTQ rights and organizations, and the growing importance of women elected officials from diverse backgrounds. Among American historians, it’s likely that the women’s marches will be viewed as part of the wave of protests in the 2010s and early 2020s inspired by women and men, young and old, working-class and middle-class, from diverse racial and ethnic communities. These activists have demanded racial, environmental and economic justice; gender equality; indigenous rights, LGBTQ rights, and universal healthcare. This extended period of progressive activism, in which women play central roles, will follow on stories of similar moments in the decades before the Civil War, the Progressive Era, and the Sixties (really the 1950s into the early 1980s). Among both women’s and American historians, this progressive activism will be examined alongside the rise in conservative and alt-right activism among women and men and fueled by many of the same issues. This, too, echoes earlier periods, particularly the Red Scare of the 1910s and 1920s, the McCarthy era and the anti-feminism and New Right of the Sixties. Marisa: What role have students played in women’s equality movements? Nancy:  Students, especially college students, have been critical to women’s equality movements since at least the late nineteenth century. Before that, education at all levels was a key demand of women, including writer Judith Sargent Murray and educators and activists Sarah Mapps Douglass, Mary Ann Shadd, Mary Lyon, Catherine Beecher, Elizabeth Peabody, and Fannie Barrier Williams. It was also one of the key demands of women’s rights advocates from the 1840s-1880s. African American students, such as Rosetta Douglass (Rochester, NY) and Mary Jane Patterson (Oberlin), played key roles in movements for women’s educational equality movements by demanding access to predominantly white schools. The success of these educational campaigns allowed female students at women’s colleges and a growing number of coeducational institutions to become deeply involved in women’s equality movements over the next half-century. Associations of college students joined the suffrage movement, fought for improvements in public health, advocated for temperance and peace, labored in settlement houses; and, as journalists and writers, they investigated conditions in prisons, asylums, workplaces, and impoverished neighborhoods. Photographs of massive suffrage parades in New York City, Washington, D.C. and other cities in the 1910s show young women marching under student and sorority banners. Black sororities were especially important in training young women for careers in civil rights and social justice efforts. In this decade, white and Black college women volunteered for overseas work supporting American troops during WWI or banded together at home to assist the Red Cross and other organizations. It’s also important to think about the children who did not get to continue their education because of the economic needs of their families. Even when public education was widely available, many African American and immigrant children had to leave school early to earn money. Many native-born white children in rural areas had to miss school as well to help plant and harvest crops. Some of these young people, too, participated in social movements, including labor movements in cities and populist movements in rural areas. This part of the story continues today for children of recent immigrants, migrant workers, and impoverished families of all races. In the post-World War II period, as the college population increased significantly, students remained central to movements for peace, women’s rights, civil rights, farm workers rights, and social justice. More high school students joined their ranks. The southern civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s offers one of the most powerful moments of student activism from Black children who integrated white schools amid rising violence to white and Black college students who joined efforts to integrate transportation, stores and lunch counters. They testified about the sexual abuse of Black women and pushed for voting rights across the South. Farmer worker movements across the West politicized Chicana students, many who worked the fields themselves, a necessity that limited their access to education. College students were among the groups that supported the grape and lettuce boycotts launched by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta through the United Farmer Workers. While Chavez missed school for weeks at a time as he moved with his family picking crops across California, Huerta left her job as a school teacher to organize farmer workers after seeing the devastation on children’s education caused by the system of migrant farm labor. Huerta was also active in campaigns for voting rights among Mexican American/Chicana/o workers across the Southwest. In the 1970s, college students from diverse backgrounds were central to the rise of women’s liberation, women of color feminism, and lesbian feminism. They remain at the heart of battles for women’s equality today, building on efforts to increase women’s presence in law, medicine, journalism, the arts, and academia. Photographs and videos of women’s rights marches from the 1970s to 2020 document the participation of large numbers of young women, many organized through college and high school networks. The field of women’s history emerged, of course, on college and university campuses. It was launched by women and a few good men trained in other areas of history. Fortunately for me, I entered graduate school at University of Pennsylvania in 1975, when it was possible to claim women’s history as a major field in some graduate departments. When I entered the job market in 1981, 9 history departments were hiring their first women’s historians. I was hired at the University of South Florida, and continued to teach both the American history survey and women’s history at USF, Duke and Rutgers University. Marisa: What woman in US history do you think students should learn more about? Nancy: There are so many that it is hard to choose just a few. Many more women appear in high school textbooks than when I attended high school or college. I remember when Harriet Tubman became a standard figure in high school textbooks. I was teaching the early American history survey at the University of South Florida. I began each semester by asking students to list the names of 10 notable Americans between 1600 and 1865, and then asked them to create a second list of 10 minus political and military leaders. The second lists were often much shorter than the first, and some included authors, explorers and scientists. Frederick Douglass appeared with some regularity, and a few women, most notably Pocahontas and First Ladies. But in the late 1980s, Harriet Tubman started appearing regularly. When I asked my students why, they said she was one of the people featured in boxed biographies in their high school textbooks. Now, high school and college textbooks include a much more diverse cast of characters, and I suspect my opening gambit would be easier for students, at least I hope so. So let me highlight a few women in this early period who are starting to appear in college textbooks and whose stories help us think broadly about women’s roles and women’s equality. Weetamoo, a Wampanoag sachem in 17th century New England, worked to save native lands through deeds and diplomacy. She married into a prominent Wampanoag family, and Metacom (King Philip) was her brother-in-law. Weetamoo was an important diplomat, seeking first to negotiate with English colonists and in the 1670s joining Metacom in King Philip’s War against the colonists. Only recently have historians begun to understand the full significance of her role in native and New England society. Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) was born into slavery in New York and was sold to John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, as a child. She was allowed to marry and had a daughter before her husband joined the Continental Army. Mum Bett’s owner was an active patriot, who often held meetings in his home. In 1773, the group drafted the Sheffield Resolves, the first manifesto of individual liberties. In 1780, after hearing a reading of the Massachusetts Constitution, she asked one of Ashley’s fellow patriots, Theodore Sedgwick, to help her sue for freedom. He did so; and in winning her suit, she helped ensure the end to slavery in Massachusetts. Jessie Benton Fremont was raised in a prominent political family and spent much of her young life in Washington D.C., where her father Thomas served as Senator from Missouri. She met Lieutenant John C. Fremont, a military officer and explorer. Despite her family’s objection, the two married and Jessie became a critical assistant to her husband as he mapped parts of the western frontier and sought military and political fame in California. She helped him write dramatic accounts of his explorations, putting her husband at the center of the story. When John received the nomination for President from the new Republican Party, Jessie rallied women to his campaign, illuminating the expanding role women played in political campaigns well before they gained the right to vote.  Rose O’Neal was born in rural Maryland in 1813 or 1814 to a poor farm family. After her mother died, she was sent to live with relatives in Washington, D.C. Rose gained the friendship of Dolley Madison, ensuring her entrée to the best social and political circles in the city. There Rose met Dr. Robert Greenhow. After their marriage, she began holding her own “at home” gatherings. By the time Civil War erupted in spring 1861, Rose was widowed and mother to a young daughter. A supporter of the Confederacy, she gathered political and military information from numerous admirers, who had no idea she was passing it to the Confederates. To avoid suspicion, she appealed to the chivalry of men on both sides. She was finally arrested and imprisoned in the Old Capitol Prison with other female enemy agents. She was eventually released and sent to Virginia. Although considered a traitor to the United States, Greenhow used her femininity, intellect and political commitments to claim a significant role in the Confederate cause.  Marisa: Many (like Macmillan Learning author Betsey Stevenson) believe that COVID-19 may set back women’s workplace gains. What does history tell us about how the pandemic may impact women in the workplace? Nancy: This is a hard question to answer given the dramatically different economic situations of American women. Many frontline workers—from hospital cleaners and laundry workers to nurses and doctors—might improve their position in the workforce because of the critical character of their work during the pandemic. But they are also more at risk of infection. At the same time, many service workers—such as cashiers and secretaries—are likely to lose their jobs with the collapse of brick and mortar stores and small businesses. Those jobs may never recover given that shopping malls and traditional consumer shopping were already in economic trouble with the rise of online shopping.  While women have made huge strides in recent years in terms of access to the professions, entrepreneurship and other fields, they remain a small percentage of workers in high tech companies, which are likely to expand as a result of the pandemic. Moreover, the pandemic is likely to increase disparities between college-educated and non-college educated workers and between women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds whose access to education and job training differ as much as among men. Thus, women of color are likely to be especially hard hit by the economic effects of the pandemic as they are by its medical effects. Thus generalizations are hard to make. Finally, the smaller percentage of wealth held by women (versus men) and of Black, Native and Chicana/Latina women versus white women means that racial inequities will continue to effect women not only in the workplace but on the home front. This is especially true since homeownership is much higher for native-born white women than for other racial groups, providing them with a foundation (literally and figuratively) that allows them to survive economic downturns more easily than those who rent. Marisa: Is there anything else we should be asking you about women’s equality but haven’t? Nancy: I think it’s important to remember that in almost any time period, in the United States and elsewhere, advances for one group of women have not automatically meant advancement for all groups of women. This year with the centenary of the 19th Amendment, the differential effect of that amendment has been the focus of a number of talks, articles and books. Most white women who hadn’t already been enfranchised by their state governments did gain the right to vote in 1920. But Native American and Chinese American women did not gain citizenship rights until 1924 and 1943, respectively, thus making them ineligible to vote. Korean American and Japanese American women were not granted citizenship until even later. And Black women in the South were largely disfranchised alongside Black men until the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Other groups—including Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans—also had to fight for the vote for more than a decade after 1920. And many Spanish-speaking women did not gain full voting rights until the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1970, when bilingual ballots and voting information was available. Of course these limits were generally shared by women and men, but they make clear that the 19th Amendment did not enfranchise all women, which has been the popular understanding for far too long. As the students we teach in colleges and universities become more diverse, it is important that we incorporate the many stories that contribute to American/US history into our textbooks. It has been incredibly enlightening for me to see how focusing on different groups can shift an entire story. That has been clear since becoming a women’s historian, but I have tried this year to be even more attentive to how women from different backgrounds develop their own histories and relate to other groups of women in forming American histories. The same is true for men, of course. How do their stories differ across race, ethnicity, place and time; and how do those stories relate to each other and to the histories of women. This summer, as I worked on the 4th edition of Exploring American Histories, the addition of Weetamoo and Elizabeth Freeman, giving equal attention to Powhatan as to John Smith, and adding more stories of Mexicans and Tejanos to the period from the 1830s through Reconstruction alongside those of blacks and whites helped me see new aspects of the American past. I hope these stories will also encourage students from diverse communities to understand their part in the historical development of the United States and in struggles for the equal rights promised in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Nancy Hewitt is the co-author of Exploring American Histories franchise, published by Macmillan Learning. She is Professor Emerita of History and of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University. Her publications include Southern Discomfort: Women’s Activism in Tampa, Florida, 1880s-1920s; Women’s Activism and Social Change: Rochester, New York, 1822-1872; and the edited volume No Permanent Waves: Recasting Histories of U.S. Feminism. Her latest book is Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds. ... View more

Earlier this week, the University North Carolina, Chapel Hill announced that it would transition classes on-line, reversing course on its decision to hold in-person classes after learning nearly 200 students that had tested positive for Coronavirus. It’s likely that others may follow, moving to virtual classrooms temporarily or for the remainder of the year. This means that, once again, many instructors will teach classes online. This past spring Instructors closed their offices and students packed up their dorm rooms within a span of weeks. All the careful planning instructors had done to create a semester’s worth of learning needed to be dramatically altered to reflect the new reality of an online classroom.  The quick transition saw challenges with technology, student engagement, accessibility and more. With all the upheaval, it’s not surprising that a survey from OneClass found that 75% of college students were disappointed in the quality of their virtual classrooms this past spring. With their recent experiences, the thought of another semester online may seem unappealing to students. But unlike last spring semester, when many colleges shut down without having contingency plans in place, this time the industry was better prepared. No matter what college looks like this year (and it will look different from class to class and college to college) students will experience improvements that will make learning very different this fall. Here are four reasons it will be better.  Instructors have more experience with technology. About half of instructors and many students got their first taste of online learning this spring. While instructors did their best to deliver classes similar to their in-person ones, many struggled and the process wasn’t always seamless.  It can be daunting setting up and using technology for the first time, not knowing which buttons to press and what certain prompts mean. But instructors have been using digital learning platforms, LMS, Zoom and iClickers for a few months now and are more familiar with the ins and outs. There will be fewer requests for people to mute their phones, students know how to virtually raise their hands to ask questions. Learning online will feel more familiar to both students and instructors. Active learning and student engagement are a priority.  More than 60 percent of instructors cited "keeping my students engaged" as their biggest challenge as they transitioned to remote learning, according to the Tyton Partners survey. Instructors recognize that students don’t learn their best by clicking through slides and watching videos. To help with engagement many are turning to active learning, which encourages students to interact with content rather than simply listen to it.  Many have discovered new technologies that allow students to actively participate in class. Whether it’s using Zoom breakout sessions, iClicker for in-class polling, peer-review of work, Achieve’s pre-class activities, or something else. Instructors are embracing the opportunities technology offers. Active learning can be especially important for students with skills gaps. Our research with instructors using Achieve found that less academically prepared students who engaged in at least 80% of assigned activities elevated their final exam grade nearly a full letter grade and closed the gap in their average performance and the performance of their more academically prepared peers by about half. Greater investments are being made in technology and training. Many colleges recognized that there are areas that can be improved in online learning, and are investing their time and resources to acquire the tech and training to do just that. In fact, a survey of college presidents by Inside Higher Ed found that 76% were very likely to invest in online learning resources. The Boedeker Group found that 67% of professors were seeking training in best practices for online instruction.  While some colleges are tackling the digital divide and helping to ensure better equity by investing in laptops for students and hotspots across campus, others have invested in training instructors and technology to improve the quality of online learning. Many instructors had to use teaching methods they had never used before and recognize they could use training. It takes an entirely different skill set and pedagogy to teach online. Macmillan Learning recognized that we could help instructors explore the benefits of digital learning and edtech, and offered 70 professional development webinars that were attended or downloaded by over 11,000 instructors. Instructors have planned for classes to be online. According to a survey by Tyton Partners, 52% of percent of faculty adjusted the learning outcomes and objectives of their courses to accommodate a remote environment this past spring. This meant dropping assignments and changing the quality and quantity of work. This fall, those changes won’t need to happen. While there will still need to be a degree of flexibility, classes will be more structured. Expectations will be set early on about when classes will start and end. Students will know how to access the course materials. Expectations about assignments, grading and deadlines will not need to shift midway through the semester. Beyond just being different than this spring, digital learning has many benefits and it’s not uncommon for instructors to use digital learning course materials even when they meet in-person. Faculty are recognizing benefits, with a survey by Tyton Partners indicating that 45% saying their perception of online learning has become more favorable since the start of COVID-19. Digital learning can engage students before, during and after class, with interactive ebooks, adaptive quizzing, polling, and choose-your-own-adventure-like activities. It also offers flexibility for both students and instructors. And from our own research with our new digital learning platform Achieve, we know that using pre-class activities can help boost student grades. While students will surely miss the “full college experience” with in-person interaction with their peers and instructors, technology can help bridge the gap between our new normal and a traditional college experience. And learning should be more fulfilling this fall.   ... View more

When we decided to kick off the Learning Stories Blog, the first person who came to mind was Macmillan Learning author David Myers. With this new blog, we plan to share perspectives about topics we’re passionate about, such as what's going on in the industry, what drives us, how we do what we do, and why we do what we do.  David Myers With his nearly 35 years of work with psychology students, and his advice to them throughout the pandemic via the TalkPsych blog, @david_myers perspective about how to manage the upcoming semester is timely. We spoke with him about what students should expect this Fall as they decide whether or not to begin their college career or go back to campus, and at what capacity. Marisa Bluestone: What advice would you give students who are afraid to go back on campus this Fall? David Myers: While advising against panic, I’d definitely advise conscientiously following all the distancing and masking that colleges are mandating. First, such protects the students from sickness and possible nonlethal consequences. But more importantly, when students protect themselves, especially in higher-risk indoor contexts including meals and parties, they also protect their communities. By protecting against virus transmission to family and campus members who are at much greater risk, they express intergenerational altruism. Moreover, it’s what’s needed to keep their campus and their local community healthy and functioning. Better yet, students who understand that this is about “we,” not just “me,” can model and help enforce campus norms that will minimize virus outbreaks. Marisa: You talked in a recent blog post about humans’ tendency to fear the wrong things. Are there any right or wrong things students should expect to feel this Fall? David: Lots of research shows that people often fear the wrong things, often by fretting about vividly publicized but highly improbable catastrophes. Thus many folks fear commercial flying more than driving, though in the last decade we’ve been 501 times safer, mile per mile, on commercial flights. Likewise parents who don’t bother to strap their child into a car seat may fear infinitesimally rare school shootings or child abductions.  And surely some college students now are too personally afraid of Covid-19. Consider: In the half year between February 1 and July 25, Covid took the lives of 246 Americans under age 25. For them and each of their families, this was a tragedy. But every half year motor vehicle accidents claim 3800 under-25 Americans—15 times as many. So, are today’s students 15 times more fearful of vehicle accidents, and taking corresponding precautions? Marisa: You mentioned in your video that we are social animals. College students seem to be the embodiment of this. What tips do you have for students attending classes remotely who want to feel more connected to their peers and instructors?  David: Colleges, including my own, are terribly concerned about sustaining engagement and community. Colleges are, as we all know, using Zoom and Google Meet to connect students with their instructors and with each other—including easy-to-convene breakout discussions that may become even more commonplace than in classrooms.   Even so, nature has designed us for face to face communication. And this seems especially true for teens and young adults who, in repeated surveys during Covid have reported very high rates of feeling lonely or depressed. In one national survey, 70 percent of 18- to 29—year olds reported experiencing “moderate or severe distress”—triple the 22 percent in a prior survey. FYI, one way my editor and I are working to create a more personal author-reader connection is with online “Topic Teaser” videos in which, in about 60 seconds, I introduce each major upcoming topic . . . all in an effort to support instructors and help draw students in. Marisa: What role will unrealistic optimism play in college this Fall? David: Good question. While some will fear too much, others—thanks to our being natural positive thinkers—will be too blasé. In surveys over the years, college students have seen themselves as much less vulnerable than their peers to getting cancer, losing a job, getting divorced, or just about any bad thing. Hence the pool parties and bar scenes amid Covid. Marisa: What are the greatest lessons that students can learn from this challenging time? David: Another great question. Perhaps this year can help us refocus on our life priorities—on the importance of our close relationships, caring for our health, finding a spiritual purpose. Even so, we all long to have the learning period end! David Myers is the co-author of Psychology in Everyday Life as well as Psychology, Psychology in Modules, Exploring Psychology, and Exploring Psychology in Modules, all published by Macmillan Learning. He has been recognized for his work as an instructor at Hope College, and has been sharing insights on his TalkPsych blog with the psychology community. Most recently, he was recognized by the International Honor Society in Psychology (Psy Chi) for his strong support of the organization and assistance to students during the pandemic.   ... View more