As a recovering administrator, I don’t spend as much time on campus as I used to.  Then, I seemed to spend all of my time on campus.  And one of my many roles was being the “Dean of Darkness” – responsible for the campuses after regular business hours.  As a community college, we offered classes weeknights and on Saturdays, but my role normally became relevant after 5:00 pm and before 8:00 am.  I’d be called to campus for a wide variety of reasons.  Things got easier when we created a police department – then I just got a lot of phone calls.

Now, when I am on campus, it feels very different.  As I review various sources each week to identify relevant articles to share with you, I have come across a growing number of “New Normal” articles – describing the many changes we are experiencing in higher education.  As we think about the “new normal” on our various campuses, faculty being less present on campus is a “new normal”.  Between the growth of online learning and the pandemic, faculty have become enamored of working from home.  Some institutions continue to allow telecommuting for administrators as well, so the halls just seem empty much of the time.  And it is easier to get a parking place closer to the buildings.

This is the last week the ITC is accepting applications for the 2026 Leadership Academy – the deadline is June 22^nd.  We have a great class of participants, but took advantage of some marketing of the event at the recent AI Teaching and Learning Conference hosted by Central Florida University.  So I wanted to make sure our members are aware of the extension as well.  The Academy is being hosted by Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon.  Ian Coronado is our “host with the most”.  The dates are July 13-15.  You can use this link to learn more about the Academy as well as the specifics of applying:  https://www.itcnetwork.org/distance-education-leadership-academy

Leslie Van Wolvestear, from Oakton College in Illinois, is responsible for getting the Academy together each year; the curriculum of the Academy is always reviewed and updated.  We have an amazing faculty again this year – and we are looking forward to our time together in Eugene.  This will be the 16^th year of the Academy; I always like to recognize the pioneering leadership of Ronda Edwards and Mickey Slimp; they co-chaired the Academy from its inception in 2009.  The ITC Board of Directors believes deeply in the Leadership Academy; launching this level of Professional Development was designed to better prepare Distance Learning leadership at community colleges.  Over the years, the Academy has attracted candidates from a variety of backgrounds and with an equal variety of career goals.  Consequently, the Academy has adjusted and now focuses on preparing leadership for careers in higher education.

I have a passion for “strained metaphors” and use them on a regular basis in the classroom.  Students sometimes audibly groan, but that only encourages me!   Metaphors provide more “aha” moments than most other teaching strategies.  It is important to know this so as to understand the following story - - metaphor.  

The Strained Metaphor:   My wife and I took a drive a week ago.  As we passed this pasture, I noticed the situation captured in the photo – essentially, a large number of cattle were grouped under the only shade tree in the pasture.  But there were a lot of cattle that apparently didn’t fit under that tree, so they were scattered hither and thither – and totally ignored by the cattle grouped under the tree.

By now, I assume many of you have reviewed this year’s Horizon Report; the annual report was released by Educause on May 18^th.   If you have not yet reviewed this year’s edition, I have provided a link:  The 2026 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report:  Teaching & Learning Edition.  Educause has been responsible for the annual report since 2017 – but the New Media Consortium (NMC) was the originator of the report, publishing the inaugural edition in 2005.  The Horizon Report has always focused on the bleeding edge of technology.  The report has always intended to provide a “heads up” as to what the emerging trends in new technologies were.  It was edgier in the beginning AND the ITC participated for several years in providing information about the trends at community colleges. 

This year, the Horizon Report is likely more of a “must read” than it has been in recent years.  As an article in this week’s eNews puts it, “Higher Ed’s warning light is flashing”!!!   As you might suspect, the winds of technological change are blowing at hurricane strength these days.  And many of our campuses seem to be living in a state of denial.  They indicate awareness, but can’t seem to see the forest for the trees. After all, there are many warning signs pointing towards tremendous change:

For many of us, the recent Canvas Ransomware attack was ill-timed (right at the end of our spring term) and unsettling.  Regardless of our LMS solution, we have had an odd complacency – because we had never had a disruption like this, we assumed immunity.   That complacency was seriously disrupted with this attack. 

It was reported that half of all colleges and universities are now on Canvas.  Since the disruption, a number of institutions have been looking to cancel contracts and pivot to another LMS solution.  To be honest, it really doesn’t matter what LMS you are using.  Actually, it doesn’t matter what third-party solution you are using for anything on your campus – be it your student information system or your accounting program.  Seemingly everything is vulnerable – cybersecurity has become a major concern.  And with the arrival of Generative AI, the variety and complexity of attacks are expected to increase exponentially.

The US Department of Education released the final regulation for the Workforce Pell Grant Program. This has been monitored closely since the launch of a major “redesign” of the program, and the related reduction in funding. The estimate is that $11 billion will be directed to this new approach, but that is substantially reduced from previous commitments AND there are numerous associated expenses that states are expected to cover (filling any funding gap from previous program, cost of collecting data from employers, students, etc. the actual certification process each governor must now put in place and the increased demands on program eligibility/requirements). 

I wanted to share some information – this is certainly not an EdTech issue – yes, online learning is used in some of the approved programs – but this is a big issue for our institutions. Given the changes, the number of Pell eligible career programs has been substantially narrowed.  There is also an accountability factor – ROI – for these career tracks.  There is a logic for doing this – but we have historically supported programs that are critical – like childcare  - even though the ultimate income does not correlate to the degree expected.

There are several articles this week about the recent Canvas Ransomware event.  For our campus, it occurred during the week before the last week of the spring term.  That week is a big deadline week – usually writing assignments are due.  We were disrupted – for a day.  Canvas contacted all of the campus IT and Distance Learning administrators with the guidance to not have anyone try to log in.  Our president also sent out a campuswide message.  And we waited.  I sent a campus email message to each of my classes to reassure – I’m not a deadline guy and my students already know that, but many indicated they appreciated the reaffirmation that all of my dropboxes are open until the last day of the class.  Turned out, that worked very well and reduced any angst.

Many of us are on Canvas – it has 41% of the market share in higher education with over 9000 individual institutions.  Plus some 3000 K-12 schools as well.  And the sad reality is that any of the LMS solutions – as well as our various enterprise services on our campuses – are vulnerable to this type of an attack.  In fact, with the arrival of AI, the risk of ransomware attacks has increased.

As you know, ITC has offered an outstanding Leadership Academy for the past eighteen years.  We have now had nearly 300 complete the training, and have offered the Academy from St. Petersburg FL to Milwaukee, Wi; from Asheville NC to Portland, ME; from Reno, NV to Costa Mesa, CA; from Minneapolis, MN to Buffalo, NY;  from Portland OR to Ft. Worth TX; and from Glassboro, NJ to Charlottetown PEI Canada. 

This year, the ITC Leadership Academy will be hosted at Lane Community College in Eugene, OR.  The three-day training has a robust schedule of sessions designed to prepare the next generation of leadership.  Over the years, we have had a wide variety of participants with a wide variety of backgrounds.  Certainly, we do include Distance Learning and Technology, BUT we prepare leadership to lead ANY program or department. 

The recent Federal Government announcement that Title II Accessibility compliance was being delayed for a year was quite a surprise.  I know so many of you had been working so hard this past year to ensure you would be ready by the original deadline – I actually heard more frustration than relief.

Why?  For those who work directly in the world of accessibility compliance, it has often been hard to get others on campus to buy into what is needed to comply.  The Federal deadline had finally gotten everyone on the same page – and the unexpected delay, may now be counter-productive to the progress made.   There can be no expectation that the new deadline for next year will be extended, so it remains “all hands on deck” in identifying deficiencies and framing a set of solutions most appropriate for your institution.  

At this year’s ITC National Annual Conference, Ian Coronado and I presented on the results of the 2025 national survey.  For any of you that have been members for any length of time, you know that the ITC has conducted an annual survey since 2004 – focused on Distance Learning, it surveyed consistent data points to build a longitudinal understanding of the challenges and successes of Distance Learning at America’s community colleges.  We missed a beat during the first year of the pandemic – we were all very distracted at that time – but have otherwise annually reported the seemingly continuous growth of Distance Learning.

Our membership has repeatedly expressed appreciation for the data – our survey results have been used extensively at many campuses to improve budgets, staffing and/or adoption of key practices to improve the quality and success of Distance Learning.  Our membership also pointed out that completing the annual survey was becoming a struggle – so many questions!!

When I served as our campus’ dean of WebCollege, I was able to enshrine a set of “Standards for Teaching Online”.  Honestly, it was edgy for the time.  And the proposal met with headwinds from those that wanted as limited set of expectations as possible.  Nonetheless, the Online Standards were adopted and have provided a baseline of quality for the past several years.

Fast-forward to this semester, and the WebCollege Committee – now a standing committee of the Faculty Senate – has been developing a set of updates and timely improvements to the original document.  I had the opportunity to review their draft – and was very pleased to see how they had further strengthened – and expanded the document.  It still has to go before the Faculty Senate for approval, but keeping my fingers crossed.

For those of you that joined us in Austin, Texas for the ITC Annual National Conference – thank you!!!  It was a wonderful conference – and represented the ITC’ return to staging our annual conference on a community college campus.  A major “tip of the ITC hat” to our host, Matt Evins, the director of Academic Technology at Austin Community College. He, and his wonderful staff, made everything work and flow so well. The tech support was wonderful, the food and refreshments were wonderful, the Highland Campus (one of twelve campus locations) was gi-normous but worked well for our conference.  As you can imagine, most of the board members were immersed in selecting session applications, arranging for keynote speakers, coordinating the Grand Debate or the Awards Ceremony, hosting/participating in our “power panel session, recruiting exhibitors, creating awards and give-aways, planning receptions and facilitating sessions.   And the ITC board leaders were “everything, everywhere, all at once” for the entire conference.  All deserve a hale and hearty “Hizzah!!” for a fabulous job!

There were many highlights at the conference, but some of our best news concerned the introduction of our new ITC management team as well.  No surprise here – you’ve been interacting with our team:  Craig and Holly, as they helped with membership renewals and conference registrations over the past eight months – as well as fielding any questions or needs from our membership. But to make this sound official, we formally introduce:

As you know, I have been connecting with you every week for a long time now.  This adventure started in November 2015 – I’ve mused in the past that I have a knack to commit to projects that just keep going. I did the first ITC National Distance Learning Survey in 2004 – had Ian Coronado and I just reported out the 21^st survey results at the recent ITC conference (the results will be shared with all members – Ian has developed a wonderful infographic! And this weekly endeavor is like a Timex watch – it just keeps ticking!  

One of my absolute joys is seeing so many of you at the annual conference. And you have been so kind to indicate your commitment to reading the weekly tomes. I appreciate any feedback, and I feel that the weekly communication has pulled us closer together over the past 10+ years.   I’ve been told that especially career and job related topics seemingly are so well-timed and resonate just when you needed to know that you weren’t alone. I get it. I’m a recovering administrator and have dealt with an abundance of crazy over time. I’ve been lucky over the years and enjoyed the many administrators I worked with. But enrollment downturns and budget cuts are brutal.  As the need to consolidate vacant positions accelerates, remaining administrative positions transform into an amalgamation of responsibilities – and workload.  For me, it hit after the 2008 recession. My dream administrative job became overwhelming.  At ITC board meetings, I often updated what my job entailed – it kept changing and represented such an eclectic combination of responsibilities. The list would not fit on a business card, and I indicated my title had become the “dean of stuff”. 

The arrival of AI has had a very disruptive impact on our campuses and Distance Learning programs. We all know that disruption is not necessarily bad; but in the realm of higher education, it can be. 

Higher education is, after all, very resistive to change. Always has been and regrettably, always will be. In conversations, I have often used the example of Colleges of Education (not sure if this is a controversial topic for us – perhaps once you digest my view on this it will be?). All of us know we have a crisis in K-12 education.  Personally, I’ve always blamed the Colleges of Education which have boldly been leading us into the early 20^th Century of thought and practice for the past 75 years! The approach has diminished content expertise (the basis for teaching prior to the rise of Colleges of Education) and focuses on ritual and bureaucracy rather than learning how to teach and manage the modern classroom (few lessons on how/what to teach, no training on dealing with classroom disruptive behavior or disruptive parents both of which dominate these days).  

We fully understand that many community colleges are dealing with budget issues right now, and that attending a national conference is not possible/no travel funds available. That said, we did have a wonderful conference in Austin, Texas last week (March 13-15). It was hosted at the Austin Community College Highland Campus. The location was unique and is known nationally because it was a failed retail mall complex that ACC has been revitalizing for the past 10 years.  It was downright exciting to spend the entire conference in that space, along with the fantastic hospitality of ACC staff. 

This was our first conference hosted at a community college. Like many national organizations, the ITC has taken a financial hit at hotel-based conference space. It has become so expensive – OLC actually filed bankruptcy because of this reality last year. The ITC Board of Directors decided to return to a practice the ITC has used originally – meeting at community colleges. It is essential to have a hotel within walking distance (or to have a transportation plan), but the result was a wonderful experience for attendees as well as a significant cost-savings from the traditional hotel conference model.

The Learning Management System (LMS) at your campus is seemingly just taken for granted these days. Obviously, the LMS is the virtual classroom for online classes. BUT, did you ever consider the many other ways you could use the platform?

At my campus, we create an LMS shell for every course each term. Logically, the fully online and hybrid courses – and now, Hi-flex courses utilize the LMS. But we also create an assisted-web section for every traditional class. We were doing this before March 2020 and realized just how brilliant that strategy turned out to be. It made the transition much easier. For my traditional course, the assisted-web section is the go-to for:  the syllabus, chapter quizzes for the textbook,  the textbook itself (OER PDF), my course PowerPoints, class handouts, class assignments, drop boxes for class assignments, course mail (keeps it out of my regular email), AND the gradebook (with the auto posting as I grade assignments).  Students love it. I can also post assignments if there is an unexpected snow day or I need to travel.  

In preparation for the rapidly approaching ITC National Conference, I included an article in this week’s digest entitled: “After the conference: how to turn ideas into institutional impacts.” It raises an issue I have had for a long time – most campuses provide some degree of financial support for attending conferences. But most of those campuses do not have a practice of encouraging conference attendees to share what they learned when they return.

For those of you able to join us in Austin next week, I encourage you to have a plan of attack for the conference. Whether you are coming alone OR coming as part of a team, now is the time to review the conference sessions.  Our conference features a number of session tracks—if  you are coming for a specific focus, that can save you a lot of time. Otherwise, you have the opportunity to focus on topics or themes or eclectically explore sessions. Be sure to attend the keynotes – they are designed to introduce you to current hot topics or—because it’s a keynote – give you a deeper dive on a contemporary topic.  In addition, we have the annual Grand Debate – taking on the issue of AI this year—as well as our great Panel of Experts—discussing everything from the Impact of Federal Government actions in the past year to prognostications about the future of Distance Learning. 

Many of us have been dealing with the new accessibility requirements that take effect in late-April. I have been a member of a special Accessibility Taskforce on my campus since this fall. Our webmaster headed up the effort, the taskforce members helped flesh out a strategy for compliance, needed policy changes, the cataloging of all web-hosted software so as to find out where we were with new accessibility requirements, and a strategic plan for implementation of the new standards. We met today and took something of a victory lap as the materials were presented to the President’s Council this week for the 1^st policy reading – and was well-received. There is still more to do but we are on track to be ready in time for the April deadline.  

I’ve been the academic representative on our campus taskforce. Our WebCollege is also represented as is our Disability Resource Center and the Leadership team.  At today’s taskforce meeting, I embraced my role as something of a contrarian.  I had avoided the wordsmithing of the various documents – we had plenty of cooks in that kitchen. I focused on our potential vulnerability as an institution once the new requirements take effect.   I assume many institutions expect there will be a grace period to allow for software exceptions that will not be compliant.  However, the Federal government has normally seen the deadline date as THE compliance date.  In other words, there are institution-related risks for not being fully compliant on day 1.  Those of us that have been involved in online learning long-term, will remember the American Society for the Blind lawsuits leveled at a surprising number of higher ed institutions for failing to have every classroom ADA compliant. That type of advocacy likely will quickly re-emerge. After all, the tactic is effective and more rapidly advanced full compliance of institutions which in turn greatly benefits statements needing accessibility solutions.  

It has been a crazy start to the spring term. I’ve never really been a procrastinator and honestly do find that I am more efficient and more focused when I’m dealing with multiple deadlines and stress issues. I have felt disrupted this term, but I think it is because I was on sabbatical in the fall. I’ve previously had one other semester sabbatical – and I find that I had the same issues returning from that time off as well. I know, understandable, but I feel like I’ve been procrastinating for the entire fall term and feel a bit whelmed – not overwhelmed – just feel like I’ve been playing catch up for weeks.

I have also been in a life muse of sorts – realizing that I should start backing off/slowing down/learning how to say “no”. I suspect many of you find yourself dealing with the same issue from time to time. That work-life balance thing – tricky. I have a colleague that restructured her commitments to make room for a big project this year. I respect that – but so far, I don’t have the inclination to do so. I’ve imagined what I could do to reduce commitments and workload, but also realize that if I actually did that, I would somehow find a way to over-commit in new directions. They (not sure who “they” is) should have an intervention protocol for this sort of thing. 

I can assume that we are experiencing a range of enrollment trends as we start the Spring term at our institutions. The National Clearinghouse indicated that for the 2025 Fall term, overall enrollment at institutions of higher learning increased just over 1%. As eCampus News suggested in their article, “Rethinking higher ed enrollment trends for a plateau era”, Higher education has entered a plateau era–not defined by temporary fluctuations, but by long-term demographic and behavioral shifts that are reshaping how institutions must operate. 

In other words, the higher education world we have known – with predictable increases in enrollment – is over for most of us.  A variety of factors are combining to impact our enrollments, including: