This special issue was originally going to be about innovation in higher education. The pandemic altered its focus, as it has altered so many things in our lives, including higher education.
In an editorial in an earlier issue I noted higher education was forced to defy the stereotype of being unable to change. As with other institutions, colleges and universities quickly went online, deploying technology and ramping up faculty development. These efforts, at the very least, allowed the spring semester to finish.
The fall brought new challenges as schools, rightly or wrongly, sought to return to some version of “normal,” face-to-face instruction in a residential setting. Institutions had to become quasi–health care facilities, developing testing and tracing regimes. The record on this, only on first impressions, is highly mixed, with outcomes ranging from a full retreat to online delivery to schools seemingly being able to complete their semesters without significant outbreaks. Whether academic outcomes were better or worse than “normal” remains to be seen.
Many observers, including some in this special issue, have suggested that the pandemic will provide even greater pressure for schools to innovate, and higher education postpandemic will look and act much differently than before. At the same time, the push to attempt in-person instruction in the fall suggests some pressure in the opposite direction. Here too, time will tell.
The distinguished contributors to the special issue cover a range of topics in the context of the pandemic—from finance to pedagogy to student outreach and assistance—often with special attention to the role of technology and the equity implications of changes driven by the pandemic. While not always in agreement, the authors provide important analyses of the issues at stake as the pandemic continues and beyond.
The lead essay by Mark David Milliron suggests the pandemic provides a tremendous opportunity for far-reaching innovation across higher education. Seizing this opportunity requires colleges and universities not to conflate “the emergency remote learning millions of students were thrust into with the quality online and blended learning experiences designed by education professionals over the last two decades.” The work of innovative institutions is being more widely adopted and adapted, and that process needs to be continued and expanded. He argues, “Instead of simplistic arguments about online versus in-class education, we need to finally move toward thoughtful blends of all the tools and techniques at our disposal.” Design thinking, framed by the question, “How do we meet students where they are and help them progress on pathways to opportunity through education?” can drive this process as a “combination of design thinking, data science, and domain expertise [that] should become the norm in education innovation.”
I want to thank the contributors to this issue for their efforts (and their patience with a fussy editor). I also want to thank Mark and the other coeditors, Michael Collins and Sally Johnstone, for helping to develop the framing of this special issue and the solicitation of authors. It’s been a pleasure to work with all of them.
—David C. Paris