Pre-pandemic, 68 percent of college students had never taken an online course.
Though much of Alabama has been shut down for months because of COVID-19, higher education across the state has continued, pivoting to an exclusively online format.
Dr. Jim Purcell, executive director for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE), said that, despite 68 percent of college students never taking an online course before COVID-19 hit and 78 percent of faculty never teaching an online course before, the remainder of the spring semester at colleges and universities across the state has gone smoother than expected.
Though there is no denying that local colleges and universities are taking a financial hit with no dollars coming in for housing, on-campus dining and other student services that don’t exist without students on campus, Purcell predicts that Alabama colleges and universities might actually see a slight surge of students returning to school as a result of a tightening job market, much like the 2008 recession.
Now that classes are offered online, they are more accessible to the public – even those that don’t live in the vicinity of the college or university where they are taking classes.
Dr. Jim Purcell
“If the job market tightens, it is an opportunity for people to enhance their skills and marketability by doing some short-term studies at universities or community colleges,” he said.
Upskilling is one of three main focuses included in the Building (it) Together report, aimed at aligning education, economic development and workforce development to increase job growth in the Birmingham seven-county region.
And just as individuals might be unexpectedly going back to school, pivoting has also been the name of the game for higher education in the past few weeks, including schools continuing to offer housing to those whose homes are without Internet access and upping counseling services available to students as they wade into the uncharted waters of a global pandemic.
Purcell said that integration of online learning across the board was talked about for years, but now, with coronavirus, the push to move online has moved much more quickly.
“And just because learning at colleges and universities across Alabama has now moved strictly online, college students aren’t lacking in their education,” Purcell said. “Research literature says learning is the same online as on the ground, and that’s something that has been studied for about 20 years. There is no loss in quality instruction.”
Purcell said he hopes the fall semester will be as normal as possible, but that a lesson has been permanently learned as a result of COVID-19.
“We are giving guidance to campuses to be willing to pivot,” he said. “We’ve always been on the ground offering courses in traditional classes. It’s now time to rethink that plan for situations where, if we do have to pivot online again if the pandemic comes back, we can seamlessly and instantly convert classes to online.”
Karla Khodanian, manager of talent and higher education partnerships at the Birmingham Business Alliance, said the business community interfacing with higher education during this pandemic is crucial in building a fully aligned workforce.
“Our community’s most valuable asset is our people,” she said. “As the needs of our workforce are shifting faster than ever, it’s increasingly critical for our higher education leaders to remain connected with our business community because they both share a common interest in the success of our talent pool. Without a unified alignment in our response to the current crisis, we risk losing the opportunity to build up a workforce that truly meets modern industry demands.”
Purcell said that ACHE and Alabama’s colleges and universities are always looking for ways to collaborate with the business community, as today’s college students are tomorrow’s employees.
“We do believe every graduate from college wants to be gainfully employed, and when employers come and look for a person with a skillset, a college degree should always bring value – how to think critically and proven leadership skills that will help the business industry move forward with what it needs,” he said.