Based on a review of 48 online program manager (OPM) contracts and 44 chief online learning officer (COLO) interviews, this policy brief highlights potentially problematic contract provisions between colleges and OPMs, raising concerns about their effects on federal compliance, students' learning, and openness about government contracting.…

White-label programs in higher education, designed and supported by online program management (OPM) firms, pose unique challenges to current policy. In part this is because OPM firms and services are either exempt from policy or fall into a gray area that policy has not yet considered. Policymakers, however, do not need to develop entirely new…

This qualitative case study was conducted to understand the experiences of Ten faculty participants at a private, not for profit, 4-year degree granting, high research institution located in the Northeast, who needed to change from in person instruction to remote teaching due to COVID-19 during Spring 2020, as they prepared to protect student…

In an effort to slow the spread of the highly infectious disease coronavirus (COVID-19), school districts around the world closed school buildings, thrusting educators into emergency remote teaching. Although many vendors were quick to release tutorial guides and free trials for their online learning resources, the growing concern over student…

This study explored student privacy issues in online learning environments. Vignettes are used to present the various privacy scenarios occurred in online learning environment. The study showed that there are direct legal ramifications of concern to students, as a result of sharing individual grades among group members and providing public…

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of schools across the nation, many K-12 schools moved from in-person to remote education, increasing their dependence on IT and making them potentially more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Education Facilities, including K-12 schools, is one of the nation's critical infrastructure subsectors. Several…

The rapid adoption of digital content and delivery systems, each with its own capacity to track, store, and analyze student usage, interactions, and academic outcomes at both a highly detailed and granular level, has emerged as an area of widespread opportunity, but also of concern. The comingling of various student data sets (demographics, usage,…

Learning analytics has reserved its position as an important field in the educational sector. However, the large-scale collection, processing, and analyzing of data has steered the wheel beyond the borders to face an abundance of ethical breaches and constraints. Revealing learners' personal information and attitudes, as well as their activities,…

The COVID-19 pandemic has given the entire country a crash course in virtual education and digital education platforms. School leaders have been forced to consider a set of very imperfect options as they struggle to reopen their schools. This three-brief collection identifies key issues for school leaders to consider before adopting a digital…

Social work students increasingly are served by distance education, which necessitates the use of creative and innovative online teaching methods. An instructor embarking upon online teaching should consider interpersonal and technical issues, be familiar with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, and understand other legal…

The number of instructional offerings in higher education that are online, blended, or web-enhanced, including courses and programs, continues to grow exponentially. Alongside the growth of e-learning, higher education has witnessed the explosion of cloud-based or Web 2.0 technologies, a term that refers to the vast array of socially oriented,…

With the tuition cost of traditional colleges and universities soaring and education technology advancing, online courses and degree programs are becoming more common. Some critics argue that an online degree cannot provide all the important features of a traditional college education, from extracurricular activities to new professional networks,…