Episode 63: Higher Education: Preparing For an Epic Gap Year

Host: Penny Conway Guest: Sean McCann, Sr. Manager Higher Ed Alliances at Connection   In times of COVID-19 students have been following distance learning modalities for the past two months, and now, getting closer to the end of the school year, Inside Higher Ed recently reported that up to 29% of college students could make the decision to defer college until the pandemic is over. In today’s episode Penny Conway, your host, is talking with Sean McCann about how higher education can prepare to survive what could be the biggest gap year in History.    Reach out to the Connection Team. Email us at [email protected]  Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog Key takeaways: [1:17] Sean talks about his role at Connection. [1:50] Higher Ed division has an institutional side and a student side, both needed to go through preparation in order to be ready for the current educational needs. [4:18] In the past there used to be a negative perspective about online learning. [4:56] Online education leaves higher margins of profit but the challenge is that it is more difficult to scale. [6:14] Sean talks about how colleges are reimagining their campuses. [8:55] Sean explains how the reduction of students is going to affect the school’s budget. [12:27] Most of the students have remained in schools for the end of the semester. [13:12] Sean explains different possible outcomes with regard to education this upcoming September. [13:46] Higher Ed has reduced its reliance on data centers. [14:45] Sean gives his personal recommendation to people who are making switches with regards to higher education as a result of the new scenario imposed by the pandemic. [16:55] COVID is giving schools an opportunity for growth and change, the ones that don’t improve and adapt won’t survive. [19:19] Students are customers and now the quality of customer service is more important than ever. [20:48] The new perimeter is one of the major security concerns that schools are dealing with now. [22:40] Is the pandemic positive for E-Sports?