The Edge: Putting 'Digital Equity' Into the Equation on EdTech Deals

Helping low-income and underrepresented students isn't just good ethics. It's good for business. ADVERTISEMENT [The Edge Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle covering innovation in and around higher ed. This week — as I catch my breath from my participation at Educause and The Chronicle Festival — I share the lowdown from an Educause panel on the need for edtech vendors and colleges to develop mutually beneficial partnerships to improve digital equity. I also share findings on the declining affordability of public colleges and the momentum building for competency-based education programs. Plus, I also introduce you to a timely, limited-run newsletter from The Chronicle. Oh, and hey: Election Day is less than a week away. Don’t forget to vote — and do what you can to help others get their ballots counted, too. It’s the very least we can do to keep our democracy going. ADVERTISEMENT SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. Putting equity at the fore in edtech-college partnerships. At Educause last week, I was excited to moderate a discussion exploring the digital divide. It also covered ways that edtech companies could be more engaged in solving this problem — not just because it’s a good thing to do, but also, as one attendee noted to me afterward, because it’s a business imperative for those companies. Especially heartening for me: The discussion was just the beginning. John O’Brien, Educause’s president and chief executive, said during the session that his organization would continue to engage with vendors and colleges to “influence the market” toward partnerships that produce benefits for both the sellers of tech products and institutions buying them. Educause has already helped to define the cybersecurity features colleges could expect in edtech tools, he noted, and in the same vein, it could try to develop a framework to help define the parameters of responsible practices in deals between colleges and vendors. Makes sense to me. After all, tech is a big expense for many institutions, and unlike other products they buy, it directly touches students’ and professors’ lives. Educause eventually plans to post a recording of this panel, [“Beyond Talk on Digital Equity,”]( online, but meanwhile, here are a few more thoughts from the session that stood out to me: From Teresa Hardee, executive vice-president of Claflin University: Many colleges, especially those serving historically underrepresented students, aren’t now able to take full advantage of the pricey tech they’ve purchased. (In researching this topic for her doctoral dissertation, Hardee found that in some cases, historically Black institutions were using only about a tenth of the capabilities of some products they’d paid for.) “Your products should work for us,” Hardee said. But without additional support from vendors, she said, some colleges can’t take full advantage of the tools. Hardee also had some thoughts on the components of a good strategic partnership: scholarships, internships, and assistance in putting the tools to use. Colleges could “require that,” she said, “before we sign on the dotted line.” From Marielena DeSanctis, president of the Community College of Denver: Access to technology isn’t enough. Colleges also need to equip students with the “digital dexterity” they’ll need to take that tech and use it to “change their trajectory.” Given the limited resources of colleges like hers, she said, “I need the tech companies to come in” to assist with training staff members and even students. From Ed Smith-Lewis, vice president for strategic initiatives and institutional partnerships at UNCF: Vendors need to understand both the special needs of minority-serving institutions and their assets. On the one hand, he said, some of those institutions haven’t been able to invest as much in tech as wealthier institutions and are staffed by professors and administrators “who are not digital natives trying to deliver high-quality digital education to a group of students who expect it.” But at the same time, he noted, companies could learn a lot if they were willing to work more closely with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and similar institutions on things like discounted products, pilot projects, or even revenue-sharing arrangements if experiments proved fruitful. “There’s enough profit in this space,” Smith-Lewis said, “and there’s enough opportunity yet to be realized.” Check these out. Here are some education-related items from other outlets that recently caught my eye. Did I miss a good one? [Let me know.](mailto:goldie@chronicle.com) - As enticing as competency-based education may be in[bolstering enrollment]( it also “requires changes across many areas of a campus, from the way professors teach to the way the registrar awards credit,” as EdSurge [reports](. Yet the movement still is showing momentum, as advocates noted last month at the Competency-Based Education Network’s annual conference, especially thanks to a growing number efforts led by states and college systems. - Community colleges and other institutions interested in forging stronger partnerships between local residents and employers should consider a model of engagement known as a “community benefits agreement,” or CBA, Georgia Reagan writes in [a Lumina Foundation blog post](. A CBA is a formal agreement between an employer and community groups that prioritizes local workers and gives them employment rights and additional benefits that support their career, writes Reagan, the foundation’s strategy officer for employment-aligned credentials. Such an agreement, Reagan notes, can create educational on ramps for local residents that can lead directly to jobs. - College is becoming increasingly unaffordable to the most financially needy students, a [report by the National College Attainment Network]( shows. The average Pell Grant recipient could afford to attend only a quarter of public four-year colleges in the 2019-20 academic year, while just 40 percent of community colleges were classified as affordable. “Some states provided students with more affordable options than others,” [this account]( in Higher Ed Dive notes. Washington had the highest rate of affordable institutions, at 82 percent, while in Kentucky and New Mexico, three quarters of public colleges were affordable for Pell Grant recipients. And in all three states, every community college qualified as affordable. - Faced with declining enrollment, nearly two dozen campuses of the State University of New York are now offering students from eight states the chance to enroll for the price of in-state tuition at their state’s flagship. As understandable as this may be as a recruiting strategy, Edward Conroy, senior policy adviser on the higher-education team at New America, suggests in Forbes that the approach may be misguided. Instead of trying to attract wealthier out-of-state students, [he writes]( “it would be nice to see an institution like SUNY increase efforts into bringing back students who never completed their studies.” Study up on race in college admissions. For years Americans have debated, litigated, legislated, and voted on affirmative action and race-conscious admissions (not the same thing). Now the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing two cases that may seal the practices’ fate. Meanwhile, our new, free newsletter, [Race in Admissions]( will walk you through the history of this issue. This newsletter isn’t like others, including the one you’re reading. It’s a limited-run series. For four weeks, every Tuesday and Thursday, you’ll get an email digging into The Chronicle’s archive to explain how this debate has evolved. By looking back, you’ll be better prepared for the present moment. Don’t miss out. [Sign up here](. Got a tip you’d like to share or a question you’d like me to answer? Let me know, at goldie@chronicle.com. If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to see past issues, [find them here](. To receive your own copy, free, register [here](. If you want to follow me on Twitter, [@GoldieStandard]( is my handle. Goldie’s Weekly Picks THE OUTLOOK [As Race-Conscious Admissions Policies Go Before the Supreme Court, Here’s What 6 Experts Are Listening For]( By Nell Gluckman and Eric Hoover [STORY IMAGE]( The Chronicle asked legal and higher-education experts to share one key thing they will be watching for during Monday’s arguments. This is what they said. RACE IN ADMISSIONS [7 Key Moments From the Supreme Court Hearings on Race-Conscious Admissions]( By Nell Gluckman and Eric Hoover [STORY IMAGE]( The conservative justices seemed skeptical of the colleges’ longstanding practice. The more liberal minority wondered if a race-neutral strategy would exacerbate the very problem it was claiming to fix. INCARCERATED STUDENTS [What to Know About the New Rules on Pell Grants for Prison Education]( By Katherine Mangan [STORY IMAGE]( More than 700,000 incarcerated people are expected to become eligible for the federal need-based aid under regulations that take effect in July. 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