As runners, we already know that high levels of physical activity, including logging long runs, can improve our cardio fitness and has a slew of health benefits. And new research published in PLOS Medicine further supports you getting out there for a daily run or walk. Researchers found that the more active you are, the less at-risk you are for cardiovascular disease, with no threshold to the benefits. This effect was particularly pronounced in active people, such as runners.

Researchers gathered data from accelerometers worn by over 90,000 participants, which tracked their physical activity over the course of seven days. People were then divided into four groups from least to most active. Those who were most active (in the top 25 percent) had an average reduction of 48 percent to 57 percent in their risk of cardiovascular disease, Aiden Doherty, associate professor in the Nuffield Department of Population Health and the University of Oxford told Runners World.

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This estimated benefit is greater than what previous studies using questionnaires to measure physical activity have obtained and suggests physical activity might be even more important for health than previously anticipated, Terrence Dwyer, AO, MD, Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, told Runners World.

WHO Updates Physical Activity Guidelines

While the exact reason for this correlation is unknown, part of the protective effect is probably from lower levels of obesity, lower risk of diabetes, better blood lipid profile (particularly with triglycerides), and lower blood pressure. However, some of the effect might be directly related to a fitter heart that is not as readily damaged when problems arise, Dwyer said.

As the research was done with research-grade, Fitbit-like fitness trackers, typically you wouldnt use these during workouts or know how to properly interpret the data, so the results cant be directly replicated in your day-to-day workouts. However, the results suggest there is considerable benefit from increasing physical activity from the lowest levels, where people are sedentary for most of the day, to just a little physical activity.

Beginners Half Marathon Plan

In another study I was involved in, we used pedometers, which provide simpler data for those who are thinking of this in terms of how far they might walk or run. In that study, we found benefit seemed to start as people increased steps from 2 to 3,000 steps per day, even by 1,000 steps or less than half a mile Dwyer said.

And, these findings further emphasize the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on physical activity which recommend at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity per week for all adults.

Researchers arent sure exactly why more cardio fitness correlates with a lower risk of heart disease. One explanation might be that an increase in total energy output as physical activity increases might provide continuing improvement in the risk factors (such as obesity or high blood pressure).

Really, though, this should not be surprising as we might expect that if you do something that is good for you, then benefits might increase as one does more, Dwyer said.

And though data generally suggests you can benefit from more physical activity, be sure to check in with your doctor before drastically changing up your routine.

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Cardio Fitness Lowers Risk of Heart Disease | Heart Disease Risk and Cardio Fitness - Runner's World

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., Special to USA TODAY Published 7:00 a.m. ET Jan. 12, 2021

Your employee assistance programs may offer virtual fitness programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.(Photo: Maxpetac / E+ via Getty Images)

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., a human resources expert, is tackling your questions as part of a series for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, the world's largestHRprofessional society.

The questions are submitted by readers, and Taylor's answers below have been edited for length and clarity.

Have a question?Do you have an HR or work-related question youd like me to answer?Submit it here.

Question: My office will not be reopening for the foreseeable future. Before we shut down, the office gym was popular among employees. Since it's no longer open, how can my company provide more health and wellness benefits? What are some examples? Anonymous

Johnny C. Taylor Jr.: Your question is spot on. A major part of creating a positive workplace culture is ensuring employers are supporting their workers both physically and mentally.

As we welcome a new year, there are several things employers can do to provide health and wellness benefits and the good news is, they are likely already in place. After all, 58% of organizations offered general wellness programs in 2019.

How to work out in 2021: Some back at the gym, but many use fitness apps, online classes

Step one is to look at your health insurance and employee assistance programs. Even in these strange times, I imagine there are plenty of virtual wellness options to choose from. While you mentioned your office gym is closed, employee assistance programs may offer exercise and wellness classes like virtual boot camps or yoga as well as cooking and nutrition classes.

If you and your colleagues are missing the office camaraderie, like so many of us are, you could also suggest fun, health-focused activities like a step contest or a healthy cooking competition.

Going further, I cannot highlight the importance of access to mental health services enough. Employee assistance programs often include resources that connect employees with a provider for their mental and emotional health needs. With 41% of workers feeling burned out as a result of the pandemic, these resources can help employees navigate these incredibly challenging times through additional psychological services.

If your employer doesn't or can't provide such a program, ask your HR team if they can compile resources and information from your local health department to share with employees.

If you really want to make your health and wellness program unique to your workforce, survey those who know it best: employees. An employee poll can reveal what sparks their interest.

Im willing to bet youll get plenty of responses to help you determine the kind of benefits best suited for them. Some may even have recommendations and referrals you might have overlooked.

Whatever you decide, dont forget to measure their engagement to help you refine your program throughout the year. Good luck on what Im certain will be the start of a healthy journey for your organization!

Informational interview: How do I ask for one without sounding awkward? Ask HR

Discrimination: Is my workplace being ageist? Ask HR

A record 4,085 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the U.S. on Jan. 7, according to Johns Hopkins data. USA TODAY

Q: Our company policy is that everyone must wear a mask while in the building, even at your desk.I have one supervisor who pulls his mask off while at his desk and has his nose uncovered when walking through the office. As the HR Manager, I have spoken to him about the need for the personal protective equipment.This seems to only last as long as HR is in the vicinity. How should I handle this situation? Anonymous

Taylor.: The answer is in your question its your companys policy to wear a mask when inside the workplace. Unless there is a legitimate health or safety reason, or a sincerely held religious belief, everyone at the worksite should comply.

As an HR Manager, you know this: Organizations must provide a reasonably safe environment for their workforce. But we cant create a hazard-free workspace if theres no follow-through. The policy is therule for a reason, and if employees arent getting the message, employers may need to reinforce measures to ensure a healthy worksite, up to and including disciplinary measures.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says employers can mandate employees to wear masks or other protective clothing, such as gloves and gowns, during a pandemic something many employers are considering. In fact, 86% of organizations are implementing or considering the required use of personal protective equipment.

Masks are also recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and certain states and municipalities have their own mask requirement laws.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. Accommodations may be necessary under the American with Disabilities Act for employees with disabilities or sincerely held religious beliefs that prevent them from wearing a mask.

It sounds like youve already taken the steps to speak to this employee. Continue to respectfully, but firmly, stress the importance of wearing a mask at the worksite. Its not just a single employee that could be impacted, but the entire organization. The HR team can continue to communicate your companys policy on masks through emails, signs around the office, and verbally during meetings.

You mention that this person is a supervisor, but supervisors must lead by example. When leaders refuse to wear masks, it sends a message to the whole team that it might be acceptable when thats not the reality of your company.

May your team remain safe in the new year!

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How can organizations offer health and wellness benefits in 2021? Ask HR - USA TODAY

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Connected Wearable Device Market in Healthcare, Wellness, and Fitness by Device Type, Use Case, and Application 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report evaluates the current state of the wearable technology ecosystem including devices and applications within the medical, wellness, and fitness markets. The report addresses key challenges, market players, solutions, and the future of wearables in healthcare and related industries including fitness and well being.

The report also provides an outlook for the future of wearable devices in medical, wellness, and fitness with forecasts for the period 2021-2026. This includes application analysis and forecasts by physiological activity and the role of wearables in elder care and assisted living.

There is great demand in the healthcare industry for remote monitoring and diagnostics. Driving factors include healthcare cost inflation coupled with a rapidly aging global population within the developed countries. For example, 23 percent of United States residents are projected to be age 65 or older by 2030.

Wearable devices for medical, wellness and fitness purposes are many and varied, consisting of various form factors depending on the purpose and placement of the human body. Wearable devices can be worn and/or integrated into apparel to become less intrusive. Sensors (biomechanical, motion, etc.) may be placed at specific parts of the body to communicate with an overall Body Area Network system.

Improving supply factors include improvements in electronics miniaturization and innovation leading to reduced device cost. R&D in wearable healthcare devices is leading to enhanced functionality, form factor improvements, and frictionless integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) systems and solutions.

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication enables wearable healthcare devices to communicate autonomously with monitoring systems for both real-time decision making and data gathering for future analysis. Secure M2M-enabled data transport and IoT system connectivity facilitates the integration of healthcare info with data analytics solutions.

One of the core reasons for wearables in healthcare is to transmit information for medical support from a licensed professional. However,there is also a market for "quantified self" in healthcare, which refers to the incorporation of technology into data acquisition on aspects of a person's daily life. This enables a "Do it Yourself" (DIY) tool for consumers to self-monitor and self-report important wellness items such as blood pressure. The alternative is to allow medical data to transmit to a trusted entity.

Advanced healthcare data management solutions, supported by artificial intelligence, are capable of processing massive amounts of healthcare information, including unstructured data acquired from many different sources and contexts. One of challenges for the healthcare industry is tying these systems into healthcare devices in a manner in which data is leveraged while simultaneously preserving device security and end-user privacy.

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For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ipt812

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Global Connected Wearable Device Markets 2021-2026 in Healthcare, Wellness, and Fitness by Device Type, Use Case, and Application -...

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the creation of a new university-wide committee to help us understand all aspects of extended and online educational offerings at UT Austin, including the existing vibrant programs and units across campus. The Committee for Strategic Planning in Continuing, Extended, and Online Education will include faculty, students and staff, as well as leaders from Texas Extended Campus and other key units across campus.

There is a great deal of knowledge and expertise we can harness to help UT Austin be a leader in online education and lifelong learning. This effort will help determine our areas of strength, how we can better support the current and future work of the colleges and schools, and how our central support can improve coordination, incubation, and development of new degree and nondegree programs, with a goal of better serving traditional and nontraditional students.

I have asked Art Markman to help us lead these efforts, and he has agreed to serve as interim executive director of Texas Extended Campus effective January 1, 2021. Professor Markman has played an instrumental role over the course of the past year to adjust our academic strategy through the pandemic. His knowledge of the campus and vision for innovation will be beneficial as he leads this effort.

The committee members will receive invitations to serve in the coming days, and I will ask Art to help keep the campus up to date on their progress.

This is an important initiative for the campus as we consider how we provide educational opportunities beyond our traditional residential offerings. Thank you in advance for being engaged in this process.

Best,

Dan Jaffe

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Announcing Committee on Continuing, Professional, and Online Education - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

Udemy, an online learning and teaching marketplace, on Thursday announced that Greg Brown has joined the company as president.

Brown brings over 20 years of executive experience and joins Udemy to help thousands of global customers achieve better business outcomes and drive innovation through learning, the company said in a press release.

We are excited to welcome Greg to Udemy during this important growth stage for the company, said Gregg Coccari, CEO of Udemy. As our business continues to accelerate around the world, Gregs leadership experience and industry acumen will be invaluable to help companies and individuals everywhere unlock the value of learning.

Udemy is powering the future of skills development and this is a very exciting time to be part of the organization, said Brown. After years in the people and talent management industry, its clear that traditional approaches to workplace learning cant keep up with our changing world. Udemy has cracked the code on delivering learning that enables learners, organizations, and instructors to unlock their potential.

Brown most recently served as CEO at Reflektive, a performance, engagement, and analytics solution. Prior to Reflektive, Brown was the Senior Vice President of International Business at Blackhawk Network and held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at Achievers, a provider of employee recognition and engagement solutions.

This hire comes at a time when the company continues to grow, expanding its global reach to over 35 million learners with 57,000 instructors teaching 130,000 courses in more than 65 languages, the press release said.

Read more here:
Udemy expands executive team with key hire - Economic Times

An initiative that aims to expand educational and employment opportunities for Arkansans through an online resource platform launched Wednesday, officials announced.

The platform can be accessed at readyforlife.arkansas.gov. For job seekers, it offers online skills courses, career navigation resources and job postings.

For employers, the website offers ways to connect with job seekers in their area and showcase their company to candidates.

At a news conference at the state Capitol on Wednesday, officials said the website will be a vital tool for Arkansans affected by unemployment during the covid-19 pandemic, as well as for companies looking to locate in Arkansas.

"We have to be more efficient in connecting our work skills and work certifications with employers, and that's been a challenge for us to pull all that together, just as it's a challenge for many states," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.

The Ready for Life initiative is funded with $14.7 million from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund, which is part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

Arkansas received a total of $30.7 million in GEER funding, which is to be used for improving educational opportunities, through online systems, Hutchinson said.

Of the $14.7 million put toward the initiative, more than $4.5 million is going to the state's two-year institutions to expand workforce training opportunities in high-wage and high-demand careers, Hutchinson said.

About $200,000 has been allocated for marketing the program to students and employers.

A working group that Hutchinson convened to determine how to best reach the state's goals of improving educational and employment opportunities included Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education Chief of Staff Gina Windle, Arkansas Office of Skills Development Deputy Director Cody Waits, Arkansas Division of Workforce Services Assistant Director Kris Jones, Arkansas Division of Information Systems data warehouse lead Robert McGough, Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce Education to Employee Director Rick Neal, Arkansas Community Colleges Association Executive Director Andrea Henderson and Hutchinson's deputy chief of staff, Bill Gossage.

For people looking for employment or a career change, the website offers tools to explore jobs, build a resume, view opportunities in their area and learn about local companies, as well as offering online courses for high-demand skills.

The website gives employers access to the resumes and training results of job seekers.

Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said the website will be a way for Arkansas to market its work force to companies looking to locate in the state.

"Anytime you sit down with a company now, the first thing out of their mouth is always, 'Tell us about your workforce. ... How are we going to find the workers in your state to fill the jobs that we need?'" Preston said.

Windle said the rest of the $30.7 million in GEER funds that Arkansas received has been allocated to other education-related initiatives including expanding short-term certificate programs for two-year colleges; fulfilling some of the recommendations of the Arkansas Computer Science and Cybersecurity Task Force; and creating a map showing broadband speeds and providers across the state, which was also released Wednesday.

The broadband map can be found at arkansas.vetro.io.

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Online platform starts for job, education help - Arkansas Online

Machine learning has no doubt made a massive change in every spectrum we can imagine. Automation has been made a necessity in order to be technologically updated and also be at par as a tech business.

The benefits of automated operations are: higher productivity, reliability, availability, increased performance, and reduced operating costs; learning analytics that build statistical models of student knowledge to provide computerised and personalised feedback on learning the students' progress and their instructors; scheduling algorithms that search for an optimal and adapted teaching policy that helps students learn more efficiently, and so on.

Now that being said, if we have to talk about one such industry, the education space has bagged this tech upgrade in a thought provoking method. From choosing the course of your choice to earning a full-fledged degree, online education has come a long way.

2020 has been the year for the online education space. It wouldn't be wrong if we called it a revolution. Thanks to the pandemic, every educational organisation has taken the online teaching route. Being in the education space you need to make your students get a classroom experience as much as possible.

This is where machine learning algorithms like speech recognition, image recognition and text analysis come into picture.

The dimensions of the business changes when additional features to the model are added. With the option to pre-record lectures, students can watch them at their convenient time and stay on par with the lectures. This has been made possible by the custom video streaming facility.This also gives an opportunity to the educators to create personalised content based on each student's performance.

As a result, quality of teaching increases which is in turn beneficial for the business itself.

As a website, you get a good look at the data about your consumers. From number of views per page to number of people who have signed up for your programmes. This helps you in making better business decisions and also understanding customer behaviour.

With the progression of the world, having a degree is a minimum qualification required for most quality jobs. And college degrees are getting extremely expensive which makes it difficult to afford education. E-learning allows deviating from a set syllabus to provide students with knowledge that is always relevant. Online education is highly popular, effective and affordable due to advances in machine learning.

This education software can focus on specific areas where students need to improve, which makes the teaching and learning experience more learner-centric. The online education system has provided and ensured a personal touch into teaching and learning, which offers a positive interface between instructors and learners.

Machine learning, being so much in demand, can be a business model in itself. The number of people wanting machine learning as a subject are increasing day-by-day. This acts as an advantage to education providing spaces to inculcate it as a course.Today, there is a gap between students and educators. There is a need for a MLPaaS Machine Learning Platform as a Service.

An all-in-one space where educators can interact with their students to make the learning more interactive and less on-way.

It can expedite the development of new and more innovative forms of online education and can adapt and adjust to the individual learning requirements of every student. The algorithms help to analyse the capacity of the students and modify teaching approaches for boosting the teaching and learning experience in a globalised classroom by enabling the instructors to cultivate best academic practices.

All in all, the inculcation of ML into your teaching platforms can only result in positive impact when used by your customers when done right. This is the best time in the industry to gravitate towards algorithms because it reduces clerical work and makes the user experience much better.

Authored by Deepak Mishra, Founder and CEO, Prodevans Technologies.

Read: Role of education publishers in the age of digital learning

Read: How to build effective learning paradigm in Indian educational system

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How machine learning is contributing to the evolution of online education space - India Today

Linda Borg |The Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE Rhode Island has almost 4,000 fewer students enrolled in the public schools than it did before the pandemic struck, the product of a swirl of uncertainty this fall about which schools would open their classroomsand general fears about the pandemic.

Rhode Island has lost 2.59% of its public school students, or 3,937 children(141,000 students are enrolled in the state).

A joint study by The Associated Press and Chalkbeat, an online education news outlet, found that public-school enrollment this fall has declined nationally by more than 500,000 students, or 2%,since the same time last year. The study included 33 of the 50 states; 17 had not released data yet.

More: RI schools to resume classes on staggered schedule in January

More: Warwick set to begin in-person instruction for high-school, middle-school students

Massachusetts saw its K-12 enrollment fall by nearly 3%, or 28,000 students, according to Chalkbeat. Almost half of those students wound up being home-schooled or switching to private schools, but about 7,000 students remainedunaccounted for, state officials told Chalkbeat.

The biggest worry is that some students simply gave up and dropped out, although those numbers are harder to track.

In Rhode Island, as school-reopening plans changed over the summer, many parents opted to homeschool their children. Others chose not to send their children to preschool or kindergarten at all.

State Education Commissioner Anglica Infante-Green said she is working with districts to figure out where these students have gone. The good news, she said, is that Rhode Island has lost fewer children than most other New England states.

The danger and not just for Rhode Island is that schools already hit hard by the pandemic will lose even more state aid because the funding formula is based on student numbers.

Exeter-West Greenwich Supt. James Erinakes said his district has seena substantial increasein homeschooled students:49, to be precise. Twenty fewer students enrolled in pre-school and 31 fewer did so in kindergarten and grade 1.

Its a big deal, he said Wednesday. Its something were all worried about. Theyre going to show up next year and they wont be part of our enrollment numbers for the funding formula.

Warwick, which opened remotely this fall, saw its enrollment drop from 8,471 in October 2019 to 7,981 a year later. Supt. Philip Thornton said 96 more families opted to homeschool their children.

We have to react and plan accordingly, he said. Were ramping up our in-person opening. Well see how that goes. (Story, A2)

Some students may have enrolled in Catholic schools, but the Diocese of Providence said it did not register an increased number of students this school year.

Middletown Supt. Rosemarie Kraeger has been hit with a double-whammy 100 more students are being homeschooled and fewer military families have been relocated to her town. Typically, the Navy moves families in July and August. This year, they began arriving one, even two months later.

Middletown is one of four communities that gets federal impact aid for military families that attend its schools. Kraeger has been working with Rhode Islands congressional delegation to use last years military school enrollments as the baseline for this years federal aid formula.

The challenges dont stop there.

Last spring, a number of public schools decided to offer free meals to all students, not just those who applied for them. Free and reduced-price meals are typically available to children from lower-income families. How much state aid districts receive is based in part on how many students are living in poverty, with free meals serving as a proxy for poverty.

However, since many families didnt fill out applications for free meals because they were available to everyone, districts have an undercount on how many students are actually eligible, and that will affect their state aid.

Our hope is that people recognize that school districts are struggling with these unexpected changes, Erinakis said. Especially when we are spending more money to address COVID. We know those needs are not going away next year. There is learning loss and social and emotional needs that have to be addressed and will cost money.

Linda Borg covers education for the Journal.

Originally posted here:
Enrollment in RI public schools is down by almost 4,000 students. Where have they gone? - The Providence Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic hit higher education on March 6, 2020 when the University of Washington became the first major U.S. university to cancel in-person classes and have students take courses and finals remotely. What followed was a tidal wave of shuttered campuses, canceled study abroad programs, and students and faculty alike scrambling to make sense of remote learning amid spiking infection rates across the country.

Surviving the end of the academic year, however, was only the beginning of a larger, looming higher education crisis. Over the summer, schools wrestled with the difficult question: what should be done about the fall? Davidson Colleges College Crisis Initiative (C2i) collaboration with the Chronicle of Higher Education tracked colleges fall decisions, categorizing them as online, in-person, or some combination of the two. We use that data to examine trends in schools decision-making, shedding light on the contributing factors and eventual consequences of those decisions.

In our analysis, we find that while nearly every school in our sample offered in-person experiences in March, only about 30 percent were planning to maintain that in-person experience by September. Public schools and community colleges were particularly likely to go online. We examine some of the factors underlying those switches as well as the consequences. We find that differing financial pressures on public schools, private schools, and community colleges likely played a role in their decisions. We also find that those decisions appear to have had a significant impact on the enrollment decisions and educational outcomes of students attending each type of school, potentially changing the makeup of this generations college students. As schools began making decisions about the spring 2021 semester, it was especially important to reflect on what decisions were made in the fall, why they were made, and what effects these reopening plans could have on students.

Reopening Decisions

Using the C2i panel data, we look at the reopening decisions of 2,958 colleges and universities over the course of the pandemic. The non-representative sample contains 1,588 public schools and 1,355 private schools. Four-year schools are overrepresented in the sample, with 2,007 four-year institutions and 936 two-year institutions. By far, the largest group in the sample is private, non-profit four-year schools, which represent 43 percent of the total sample.

Between March and September, roughly 1,800 schools changed their reopening plans at least once. The peak of switches came after mid-July, when many schools were scrapping their intended plans for the fall and making a new reopening decision.

Figure 1 looks at a subset of schools for which we have complete data on decision making. It shows that while only 24 schools in the sample offered exclusively online education when the pandemic began in March, 1,160 schools had decided to go exclusively online by July. By September, 50 schools that had intended to be in-person and 32 that intended to be hybrid as of July had also moved to being fully online. While most schools that made changes moved toward going online, 617 schools moved to hybrid models by July. That number decreased to 586 in September as more schools moved online. Finally, in September, 742 schools chose to remain entirely in-person. There was a significant amount of public concern about schools changing their plans at the last minute. However, Figure 1 shows that in fact most schools stuck with the decisions they had made earlier in the summer even with spikes in COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country.

In Figure 2, we break down the decisions made by each type of school as of September 10. We find that four-year private institutions had the highest share of schools choosing to remain in person in the fall, with only 381 schools, or 34 percent, going fully online. Community colleges had the highest share of online reopening decisions, with 543 schools, or 63 percent, choosing to entirely move away from in-person classes.

This disparity is likely in part due to a decade-long trend of moving toward online learning in higher education at two-year schools. Prior to the pandemic, community college students were more likely than their counterparts at four-year public or private institutions to be enrolled in at least one online course, with 14% of all community college students studying exclusively online (although not necessarily at an exclusively online institution) in 2018. However, the differential spike in online enrollment clearly extends beyond enrollment trends that predate the pandemic. We examine one reason for the trend in the next section.

Money Matters

Decisions on how to hold classes are complicated and involve many factors. However, we find that one important factor associated with those decisions is the financial makeup of different types of institutions. The three sectors mentioned above (four-year private, four-year public, and two-year) receive their funding in different ways, with additional differences between public and private two-year schools, as shown in Figure 3. While both private schools and public schools have faced pressure to keep their doors open, public schools seem to have had less financial incentive and fewer resources to do so.

Four-year colleges and universities, particularly private schools, tend to offer a residential component, while only 28% of two-year programs provided on-campus housing in 2015, though it is becoming more common. As a result, four-year schools are more vulnerable to a loss of revenue from canceling in-person experiences, such as residential housing, dining services, and parking. These services represent an average of $5,000 and $3,000 in revenue per student for private and public four-year institutions respectively, compared to less than $2,000 per student for both public and private two-year institutions, according to Figure 3.

When contrasting public and private institutions of higher education, other differences in funding arise. Private schools rely on tuition and fees, private gifts, and endowment funds for revenue, while public schools rely more heavily on state and local funding sources (Figure 3). Appropriations for public schools have been shrinking, with state funding being slashed by over $7 billion since 2008 leading to relatively constrained budgets for public schools. As a result, public schools had fewer resources than private schools to install technology like keycard systems, rapid testing, and other systems that made in-person learning possible during the pandemic.

Moreover, among all the different types of schools, endowment assets are most common in the private sector, and are highly concentrated. Not every school has utilized its endowment fund in the current crisis, as these funds are often thought of as intended for future investments. Nonetheless, endowments provide a cushion in funding that private two-year schools and public schools generally lack.

The Missing Cohort

This section highlights which kinds of students have forgone higher education in recent months or dropped out, likely in reaction to movements to online classes. Online learning can offer flexibility and accessibility, but it also can present challenges to learning outcomes. In particular, there are some groups of students for whom online education works poorly. Anticipating these challenges and more, 55 percent of students not returning for fall 2020 cited changes in class format.

In a case study, The Public Policy Institute of California found that students of color and nontraditional students are more likely to have challenges that put them at risk of lowered performance in an online setting, widening existing achievement gaps. Some challenges they are more likely to face include trying to study in a stressful home environment or an inability to access reliable internet.

Because of the nature of the populations that different schools serve, lower-income students are more likely to find their classes moved online. As shown above, two-year institutions were the most likely to move their classes from in-person to online. Roughly 15 percent of students at two-year schools come from families in the bottom income quintile, while the share is 9 percent of those at four-year public schools and 6 percent at four-year private schools. What this means is that low-income, underrepresented students are more likely to be struggling with the consequences of online schooling. And, if those students choose to drop out, that has dire consequences on lifetime earnings, given that those with bachelors degrees earn twice that of high school graduates.

Indeed, the discrepancies in experience have led to marked decreases in enrollment, especially for underprivileged students, for whom home environment or internet access may be more likely to present a challenge. New Census data suggests that students from households making less than $75,000 per year were almost twice as likely to forego college this year as those making more. The enrollment changes have also been marked along racial lines, with Black undergraduate students having been the most likely to see drops in enrollment for summer 2020. Community colleges, which typically serve students of color or of low-income backgrounds, accordingly held the largest share of enrollment drops for fall 2020, with first time student enrollment at public two-years plummeting by nearly 23 percent.

Compounding these problems, individuals who drop out are unlikely to re-enroll. From 2013-2018, within a group of 29 million observed students, 87 percent of college dropouts failed to re-enroll within the observation period.

Conclusion

Colleges have faced difficult trade-offs when deciding if, and how, to open their physical doors to students this year. While holding in-person classes can affect the health and safety of students, it is important to note the consequences of holding online classes for those who are typically underrepresented in institutions of higher education.

As the fallout of the pandemic continues to unfold, educational institutions must consider the broad impacts of online learning on retention, learning opportunities, and student achievement. They face difficult decisions for the upcoming semester and should choose policy solutions that protect and support the most academically vulnerable students.

Economic inequality persists in the United States, particularly along racial lines. A college degree is one significant pathway for lower-income young adults to improve lifetime earnings. All told, the greatest toll of the pandemic will be the disruption in upward mobility for the current cohort of low-income students.

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Higher educations reopening decisions affected the most vulnerable students - Brookings Institution

Up Market Research (UMR) has published the latest report on the Online Education Market, which offers an in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape, market growth opportunities, drivers, restraints, challenges, and threats that shapes the future market. This research report is prepared with the help of an extensive robust methodology which includes Porters 5 force analysis, predictive analysis, and curating the real-time analytics.

The global market report is prepared to help the esteemed readers to take the crucial business decisions profoundly. This research report is aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the products market performance, developments, and innovations that are creating lucrative opportunities and opening up new market avenues for industry players. Up Market Research (UMR)s in-house analyst team has been monitoring the market for a few years and has been conducting interviews with industry experts to get a better understanding of the markets future scenario.

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Impact of COVID-19 on the Online Education Market

The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted the industry owing to the lockdown of the manufacturing facilities and the trade barriers which were imposed across the globe. However, the market is slowly recovering and is speculated to return pre-COVID level soon. Up Market Research (UMR) has considered the impacts of coronavirus on the Online Education market and accordingly has done a comprehensive assessment for the forecast period 2020-2027.

This market research report provides you the information on the strategies prominent industry players had to re-evaluate and what creative business strategies they implemented to sustain the difficult times. This report also offers new market developments that were unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic which aided the industry players to expand their market share. Along with this, the market report acknowledges the reader about future market challenges and threats that are created and until how long it is expected to impact the global Online Education market.

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7 Things That Are Covered in the Online Education Report:

Major Companies that are Covered in the Report:

The global Online Education market report comprises of industry players mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and collaborations that have aided them to leverage their position in the market. This report has incorporated the strategies that have adhered the industry players to increase their revenue and improve the profit margins. It also comprises of the challenges that were germinated out of their business decisions.

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Here below are the prominent companies in the market:

Ambow Education CDEL New Oriental Education and Technology TAL Vedantu iTutorGroup EF Education First Chegg Knewton Tokyo Academics Tata Interactive Systems N2N Services Microsoft Saba Software McGrawHill YY

Note: Additional Company of your choice can be profiled in the list.

Global Online Education Market Is Segmented On the Basis of:

By Products:

Structured Tutoring On-Demand Tutoring

ByApplications:

Pre-primary School Primary School Middle School High School

By Regions:

Note: A country of the choice can be added in the list without any extra cost. If more than one is needed, the quote will vary depending on the research factors.

Up Market Research (UMR) can provide customization of the report according to your specific requirements. If you have any doubt or query regarding the report, you can directly contact our senior analyst.

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Accuracy, prompt response and aftermarket client consulting forms the basis of our business model. We have a large repository of market reports belonging to various verticals such as healthcare, chemicals and energy, consumer goods, automotive, IT & Telecom, food & beverages and further more.

Leveraging your business decision with accuracy and timeliness coupled with insight on market trends, size and demand are some major highlights of our research and market studies.

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