Each month, CUPA-HR General Counsel Ira Shepard provides an overview of several labor and employment law cases and regulatory actions with implications for the higher ed workplace. Here’s the latest from Ira.
Unions Representing Student Employees File Unfair Labor Practice Charges Related to Student Protests
Nearly 30 unions representing more than 100,000 student workers at 58 campuses throughout the country have issued a joint letter supporting protesting students and condemning violent responses to peaceful protests. Unfair labor practice charges have also been filed with the National Labor Relations Board against a small number of private institutions in protest of schools’ enforcement of their rules.
The NLRB has found in the past that civil rights protests — for example, those connected to the Black Lives Matter movement — are protected concerted activity when they are tied to protesting employer or employment discrimination matters. However, commentators have drawn a distinction related to the Israel-Hamas war protests. While each unfair labor practice case will rise and fall on the specific facts related to the situation, a university enforcing safety rules and cracking down on protests will likely not violate the National Labor Relations Act. Additionally, if a union member participates in a protest unrelated to their employment and violates university rules, the sanctions involved will likely not violate the NLRA.
Court of Appeals Affirms Dismissal of ERISA Lawsuit Against Georgetown University
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously affirmed the dismissal of an employee-filed Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed that Georgetown University had packed its retirement plans with expensive and badly performing investment options.
The lawsuit further alleged that Georgetown had offered its faculty and staff retirement plans with too many investment options and retained multiple recordkeepers, which drove up the administrative costs of the plans. A federal district court judge dismissed the amended complaint in April 2023, ruling that the amended complaint did not address the concerns that led to the dismissal of the original complaint.
The Court of Appeals unanimously concluded that the original complaint failed to plead any adequate claims and the proposed amended complaint was futile as it did not cure the problem (Wilcox et al. v. Georgetown University et al. (Case no. 23-7059, DC Cir. 4/23/24)).
Student-Athlete NLRB Unionization Decisions May Modify Taxability of Athletic Scholarships
Although the NLRB’s decision in the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team case is under review, if the board affirms the decision that players are employees and can unionize, it could ultimately cause the IRS to rethink its current position that student-athletes receiving scholarships are not employees for purposes of the tax code. This could possibly include a change in the current position that these scholarships are not taxable as income.
If the NLRB affirms the regional director’s decision, which many commentators conclude is likely given its composition under the Biden administration, the decision is not binding for the IRS. The IRS has independent authority to conclude whether these student-athletes are employees and are receiving taxable compensation in the form of scholarships under the Internal Revenue Code. Separately, the courts are wrestling with the question of whether student-athletes are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and are entitled to minimum wage and overtime. We will keep following these issues as they unfold.
IRS Giving More Scrutiny to Tax-Exempt Status of Name, Image and Likeness Payments to Student-Athletes From Booster Donations
Bloomberg reports that the IRS has begun revoking and not granting 501(c)(3) status to some groups formed to collect money from boosters to fund name, image and likeness payments to student-athletes. In testimony before the Senate finance committee, the IRS commissioner stated that they are scrutinizing those NIL groups that are not operating for tax-exempt purposes. These collectives have raised millions of dollars from boosters who generally expect those gifts to be tax deductible. For specific tax guidance, a tax professional should be consulted on questions arising in this area.
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Job Transfers Can Violate Title VII and Other Anti-Discrimination Statutes
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on the issue of whether a plaintiff must prove significant harm to state a claim of discrimination under the applicable anti-discrimination statutes because of a job transfer. The court reversed the holdings of some circuit courts of appeal that “significant harm” must be stated to state a claim of job discrimination resulting from a job transfer.
Nonetheless, the Supreme Court stopped short of eliminating the harm requirement entirely. The court held that a plaintiff must show that the transfer resulted in some level of injury or harm, concluding that the statute does not require by its terms the high bar of “significant” harm (Muldrow v. St. Louis (U.S. Case No. 22-193, 4/17/24)). The concurring justices, who did not dissent, argued that the change from significant harm to some other lower level of harm was confusing and would lead to further inconsistent litigation.
NLRB Reports 10% Rise in Case Load in First Half of Fiscal Year 2024
The NLRB reports that case filings of unfair labor practice charges or union representation votes rose 10% during the first half of fiscal year 2024 compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. Union election petitions rose by 35% during this period, and unfair labor practice charges rose by 7%. The NLRB has jurisdiction over private institutions of higher education and has no jurisdiction over state-based public institutions. State public institutions are generally subject to state labor boards and state statutes with separate, but often parallel, rules. This uptick in private employer unfair labor practice charges and election petitions will likely be accompanied by an increase in activity by public-sector unions at public institutions of higher education.
On May 7, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to offer guidance on schools’ responsibilities to prevent and rectify discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing regulations. The guidance aims to provide examples to institutions to help them carry out their Title VI requirements.
In its letter, OCR explains that it has received an increase in complaints alleging discrimination based on race, color, or national origin at colleges and universities, as well as public reports of such discrimination. While it does not explicitly state that the guidance is in response to reports of antisemitism on campuses and protests regarding the Israel-Hamas war, the department emphasizes in the letter that Title VI’s “protections extend to students and school community members who are or are perceived because of their shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics to be Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, Hindu, Palestinian or any other faith or ancestry,” and that “Title VI’s protections against discrimination based on race, color and national origin encompass antisemitism.”
Additionally, the letter addresses First Amendment considerations, as well as two legal frameworks used by OCR and courts to assess whether schools have violated Title VI through discrimination: hostile environment and different treatment. The guidance illustrates nine examples that may prompt OCR to investigate an institution for possible Title VI violations within these two frameworks. Of particular importance for higher ed HR are the instances outlined in the letter when educators and other faculty members might engage in actions constituting harassment under Title VI, as well as schools’ obligations to address such incidents.
As OCR notes, the guidance lacks the authority of law and does not impose obligations on the public or establish new legal standards. Instead, its purpose is to provide clarity to institutions receiving federal financial assistance regarding their requirements under Title VI. CUPA-HR will continue to share resources regarding institutions’ obligations to address discrimination under federal law.
A majority of those who work in financial aid at the nation’s colleges and universities are job hunting, according to new research from CUPA-HR and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). What are they looking for? Better pay, opportunities to work remotely and a more flexible schedule.
A new report examining pay, pay equity, staffing, representation and retention in the higher ed financial aid workforce outlines several findings from analyses of data of financial aid employees from CUPA-HR’s 2022-23 higher ed workforce surveys and the 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey. Positions included in the analyses are chief student financial aid officers, deputy heads of financial aid and student financial aid counselors.
The analyses found that more than half (56%) of financial aid employees are at least somewhat likely to seek other employment opportunities within the next 12 months, with 1 in 3 (33%) being likely or very likely to do so. Four in 5 (79%) rank a pay increase as one of the top three reasons they would seek other employment opportunities, while 3 in 5 (59%) rank an opportunity to work remotely as one of the top three reasons they would seek other employment opportunities. The desire for a flexible schedule is also ranked as a top reason for seeking other employment by nearly 2 in 5 (37%) financial aid employees.
Other Findings
Institutions with the highest number of FAFSA applications have far more student financial aid counselors than institutions with the lowest number of FAFSA applications. At each increase in FAFSA application quartile, the median number of student financial aid counselors per institution doubles (or nearly doubles). Institutions with the greatest number of FAFSA applications on median have six more student financial aid counselors than institutions with the least number of FAFSA applications.
On median, institutions have four financial aid employees working in one of the three examined positions. Thirteen percent of institutions have a one-person financial aid office. Even the institutions that process the lowest number of FAFSA applications tend to have need for more than one person working in their office – over half of these institutions have at least three people in their financial aid office.
The representation of people of color declines as the level of financial aid position increases. The representation of people of color is almost two times higher among student financial aid counselors than among chief student financial aid officers. The representation of women overall among chief student financial aid officers is lower than the representation of women within the lower-level financial aid positions, but the difference is much smaller than the declines seen for people of color.
Pay equity is lower among chief student financial aid officers than among lower-level financial aid positions. Black women and Hispanic or Latino men are paid equitably within student financial aid counselor and deputy head of student financial aid positions, but not within the chief student financial aid officer position. At each increase in position level, White women’s pay relative to White men in the same position decreases. White women are paid equitably to White men in student financial aid counselor positions but are paid only 94 cents per $1 paid to White men in chief student financial aid officer positions.
Among financial aid employees, years in position is lowest among student financial aid counselors. Of all financial aid positions, student financial aid counselors have the highest concentration of people who have been in their position for fewer than two years (43%). Retention is better among deputy heads of student financial aid and chief student financial aid officers; one-third have been in their position for 10 years or longer.
In March 2024, in response to New Governmental mandates that all state schools (publicly funded schools) ban all mobile phones from classrooms and playgrounds during school hours, I wrote a blog piece for the Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand. It was a balanced for-and-against piece, highlights arguments for both perspectives.
My actual views, my personal views, are somewhat different. I have no insight into the government policy space but it worries me that this is the first stage of what should be a three stage policy implementation when noone has got passed stage one.
The mobile phone as a means of making or receiving voice calls and phone messages, possibly even SMS text messages, are not likely to be overly intrusive. However, even this argument doesn’t survive even a cursory glance at recent history. It stands up about as well as Trump’s suggestion that without total immunity all US Presidents would be continuously harangued by their successors, as though he was the first rather than the forty-fifth to hold that office. History tells us that students survived before the advent of the mobile phone. As they had indeed survived before the introduction of the ball-point pen, the ink pen, and the chalk board.
Stage One: removing social media
The distinction to be made is not whether students NEED to have access to a mobile phone in order to learn, both knowledge acquisition and associatedcognitive skills, and social interpersonal and affective skills, (spolier, they do not), it is rather a question as to WHETHER mobile phones are an appropriate means of exposing progressive generations of students to emerging technologies andthe power they harness.
Until mobile phone manufacturers take their responsibility for limiting most egregious damage created by young people’s addiction to social media andintroduce some form of ‘airflight mode’ for schools, ideally accurately GPS mapped and enforceable, the onus will be on school management, teachers and parents to enforce a ban. (Heads up to any of the major handset manufacturers, having a youth-safety mode function is a market share winner.)
Here in New Zealand, there is strong, though largely still anecdotal, evidence that playgrounds are noisier, more energetic and happier places sincethe ban was introdced, and that in-class attention is more sustained and better managed. There are even suggestions that there is a detectable reduction in cyberbullying.
Stage Two: infuse technology
So, on balance taking the mobile phones, as an instrument of constant social distraction rather than as a tool for communication, out of schools makes sense. However, I would personally like to ensure that schools are supported to infuse technology throughout the curriculum. We need to consider what a technology infused school looks like, free of social media distraction. Schools might consider providing tablets for each student to ensure digital equity. Students need to learn how to manage their digital profile, articulate what a digital-twin persona might look like, express themselves digitally as well as learning just to be confident surfers, clickers and users of a wide variety oftools.
In less economically prosperous areas of the world the mobile phone provides a personal gateway to resources and interactivity and the price we pay, as a society, is the corrosive, addictive behaviour that social media creates. In wealthier areas I believe we can throw away the baby (social media handheld devices) without losing the bathwater (digitally immersive tools).
Stage Three: lobby handset manufacturers
Given that there is no incentive for the social media companies to face upto their responsibilities and curtail usage of their apps, they will simply to continue, as the tobacco industry did before them and the food industry does today, to deny and deny, and obscure the worst of their excesses under the banner of ‘user choice’. We need to lobby leading device manufacturers, Apple,Samsung, Google, Sony, Motorola, Huawei, OnePlus, Nokia, Blackberry and LG,to step up and introduce serious zone based protections. And aggressively market them!
We don’t need social media apps in schools but we do need to enable access to technology in our classrooms.
The workforce retention challenges higher education has been experiencing post-pandemic might just be letting up. A recent trend analysis of turnover data collected in CUPA-HR’s annual higher education workforce surveys found that in 2023-24, voluntary turnover rates for faculty and staff trended downward for the first time in three years.
CUPA-HR began collecting turnover data in 2017-18. In the three years prior to the pandemic, there was little variability year to year in voluntary turnover (voluntary separations not due to retirement), and in the year immediately following the pandemic’s onset (2020-21), there were slight dips in voluntary turnover for each category of staff and faculty, likely due to the economic uncertainty that characterized that year. However, voluntary turnover trended upward in 2021-22 and again in 2022-23, with the highest voluntary turnover occurring in 2022-23.
The largest decline in voluntary turnover rates was for part-time non-exempt staff (down 6.4 percentage points, from 21.4% in 2022-23 to 15.0% in 2023-24). However, there were notable declines in voluntary turnover for full-time exempt staff and full-time non-exempt staff as well.
Findings on Overall Current Turnover
In considering turnover from all types of separations (i.e., voluntary and involuntary), overall turnover of faculty and staff combined in 2023-24 was 14%. Turnover in 2023-24 was higher than pre-pandemic rates (approximately 12%), but lower than the 16% high of 2022-23.
In 2023-24, overall turnover was highest for part-time non-exempt staff (22%) and lowest for faculty (7% for tenure-track and 11% for non-tenure-track faculty).
Involuntary turnover rates were highest for full-time non-exempt staff (2.1%) and full-time exempt staff (1.4%). Retirement rates were highest for tenure-track faculty (2.2%) and full-time non-exempt staff (2.0%).
On April 29, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued final guidance on workplace harassment and discrimination titled “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.” The guidance clarifies existing employer obligations to address workplace discrimination and aims to assist employers in recognizing, managing and preventing in-person and online workplace harassment.
Background
The EEOC administers and enforces Equal Employment Opportunity law to protect workers against workplace discrimination. As such, the EEOC issues guidance to help employers and employees understand their obligations and rights under EEO law to a workplace free from discrimination. In October 2023, the EEOC issued its proposed guidance on harassment in the workplace, in which they provided an overview and examples of situations that would constitute workplace harassment. The EEOC received over 38,000 comments from the public in response to the proposed guidance, which they analyzed to develop the final guidance summarized below.
Summary of Final Guidance
The EEOC’s final guidance aligns with and expands upon the proposed guidance and revises previous EEOC workplace harassment and discrimination guidance to address significant legal developments in recent years. Specifically, the guidance includes new overviews of workplace protections against harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which the 2020 Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling established as precedent. The guidance also addresses pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions as protected characteristics under the scope of “sex.” Though pregnancy has previously been protected against workplace harassment under laws like the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, recent laws like the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and its implementing regulations have strengthened the protections afforded to pregnant workers, necessitating the need for the EEOC to update its guidance.
In addition to the expanded scope of sex, the EEOC also includes new guidance on potential challenges relating to social media and the workplace. This includes conduct occurring in a non-work-related virtual setting (such as social media platforms or private messaging systems on personal computers or phones) that could impact the workplace. In the guidance, the EEOC provides scenarios in which certain messages shared via private messages on phones or posts shared on social media platforms about employees could create hostile work environments, triggering the requirement for employers to correct the situation.
In total, the guidance provides 77 examples to explain harassment and discrimination in the workplace, hostile work environments, employer liability and obligations to correct workplace harassment and discrimination, and systemic harassment. As the EEOC noted in the proposed rule, the guidance and its examples “do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way.” Instead, the guidance is “intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.”
This blog post was contributed by Jennifer Addleman, director of human resources at Rollins College and 2024-25 chair-elect for the CUPA-HR Southern Region board.
Spring had sprung in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the CUPA-HR Spring Conference, where more than 400 higher ed HR pros had the opportunity to connect with and learn from some of the brightest HR leaders in higher education. From three dynamic keynotes to 29 interactive concurrent sessions, the conference provided a platform to engage in meaningful discussions, network with peers and gain valuable knowledge to help navigate the dynamic profession of higher ed HR.
The conference was full of aha moments, and here are some of my key takeaways:
Kris McGuigan, founder and principal owner of Professional Courage, kicked off the conference by sharing tips on leading with purpose and confidence. During her keynote, we had the opportunity to reflect on our own personal values and how they align with change, and reviewed the principle of A.C.E.: acknowledge change, connect to change and embrace failure. Reminding us that there is no perfect time to start, Kris stressed that not changing is still choosing.
During the first concurrent session, Washington State University’s Paul Fleming McCullagh and Laura Hamilton shared how they created a professional development program for all employees. “If you can dream it, do it!”
Kevin McClure, Murphy distinguished scholar of education and associate professor of higher education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, gave a thought-provoking keynote on creating the “caring university.” He warned against toxic positivity and emphasized that creating a culture of care is a shared responsibility of the entire institution, and we reviewed the U.S. Surgeon General’s framework for mental well-being in the workplace. Kevin also suggested that institutions should humanize policies for real people and not ideal worker norms.
The affinity group lunch provided an opportunity for folks to connect with HR professionals who have similar interests and skills. I met HRIS colleagues who shared their challenges and best practices with systems. Data, data, data!
Andy Brantley (president and CEO of CUPA-HR), Jazzmine Clarke-Glover (vice president of workplace culture and inclusion at Wagner College), and Helena Rodrigues (senior vice president and chief human resources officer at the University of Arizona) led a roundtable discussion regarding HR’s role in creating inclusive campus communities. How do we reinforce our institutional values by ensuring all employees feel connected and supported? Some comments shared by the group included focusing on outcomes, making your institution a great place to work for everyone, fostering a safe space for challenging conversations, encouraging employees to build relationships, and developing inclusive policies.
We had the opportunity to network, connect and sing karaoke at the Punch Bowl Social reception, where I learned that we have some talented singers among our profession!
Keynote speaker Amy Wrzesniewski, William and Jacalyn Egan Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, shared her research findings on job crafting and what makes our work meaningful. We were able to take a quiz to determine our career, calling, and job scores and how they impact our job satisfaction. Amy also shared that job crafting is an employee-driven activity but should be supported by managers. I left the session reflecting on the question, how I do I make the job my own?
John Whelan, vice president and CHRO at Yale University, and Michael Rask of Aon described the importance of a strategic plan for HR and how it’s like the sails on the organizational sailboat. They warned against committing to things we can’t deliver and shared that folks appreciate change when it is for them and through them, not to them.
This was my first time visiting Minneapolis, and I was pleasantly surprised by the art, culture and walkability. Thank you for the hospitality!
CUPA-HR continues to provide invaluable resources and conference experiences where everyone is willing to help each other and share their expertise. I feel energized catching up with friends I have come to know over the years and meeting new colleagues who share passion for what we do. Thank you to the CUPA-HR team, sponsors and presenters for a great event.
Finally, Andy Brantley summed up the Spring Conference well: “Your work matters. You matter more.”
On April 29, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued a Field Assistance Bulletin on “Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems in the Workplace Under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Other Federal Labor Standards.” The bulletin provides guidance on the applicability of the FLSA and other federal labor standards as they relate to employers’ increased use of artificial intelligence and automated systems in the workplace.
Background
In October 2023, President Biden released an Executive Order on the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence” and directed agencies across the federal government to take action to address the increased use of AI in all areas of life. With respect to AI in the workplace, the order directed the U.S. Secretary of Labor to “issue guidance to make clear that employers that deploy AI to monitor or augment employees’ work must continue to comply with protections to ensure that workers are compensated for their hours worked, as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act (…) and other legal requirements.” The Field Assistance Bulletin is the first response from the DOL to the Executive Order’s directive, though additional guidance may be provided in the future.
Summary of Guidance
The bulletin discusses existing employer obligations to comply with and avoid penalties under relevant federal labor laws. It also clarifies that the use of AI and other technologies does not absolve employers of their responsibilities to comply with such laws. CUPA-HR’s government relations team has summarized the key points of the guidance below.
AI and the FLSA
The guidance highlights employers’ obligations to pay employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and at a rate of at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for every hour worked in excess of 40 in a single workweek. As such, WHD recognizes that employers have implemented AI and other automated systems to comply with these requirements, including implementing systems to help track work time, monitor break time, assign tasks to available workers, and monitor work locations. Additionally, WHD provides examples of AI and other technologies employers use to help calculate wages owed under the FLSA.
WHD also recognizes that AI has the potential to undercount hours worked or miscalculate wage rates owed to employees. Regardless of the use of AI, WHD states in its guidance that “employers are responsible for ensuring that they are paying employees for all hours worked” under the FLSA and that “employers are responsible for ensuring that the use of AI or other technologies to calculate and determine workers’ wage rates does not cause workers to be paid in violation of” the FLSA and other applicable federal wage standards. As such, WHD suggests that employers exercise human oversight over the technologies to ensure they are not violating the FLSA.
AI and the Family and Medical Leave Act
Similar to WHD’s discussion of employers’ obligations to adhere to the requirements of the FLSA, the bulletin provides guidance on employers’ responsibilities to adhere to the requirements of providing Family and Medical Leave Act leave when using AI and other automated systems. WHD once again recognizes that some employers use AI and other tools to process leave requests, determine whether an employee has provided proper certification that supports the need for FMLA leave, or track the use of FMLA leave. As a result, WHD states that employers should oversee the use of AI or automated systems used to implement FMLA leave “to avoid the risk of widespread violations of FMLA rights when eligibility, certification, and anti-retaliation and anti-interference requirements are not complied with.”
AI and Nursing Employee Protections
WHD also provides guidance for employers’ use of AI as it relates to nursing employees’ rights to reasonable break time and space to express breast milk while at work, as protected under the FLSA and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). The bulletin states that, though employers may use AI to track employee work hours, set work schedules, and manage break time requests, any instance in which automated systems “limit the length, frequency, or timing of a nursing employee’s breaks to pump would violate the FLSA’s reasonable break time requirement.” The guidance also states that systems that score productivity and/or penalize workers for failing to meet productivity standards due to pump breaks would violate the FLSA. Finally, they clarify that automated systems that require nursing employees to work additional hours to make up for time spent during pump breaks or that reduce the hours scheduled in the future for workers because they took pump breaks would be considered “unlawful retaliation” under the FLSA. WHD therefore provides that “employers are responsible for ensuring that AI or other automated systems do not impose adverse actions on employees for exercising their rights to pump at work.”
AI and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act
The bulletin provides an overview of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) and most private employers’ prohibition from using lie detector tests on employees or for pre-employment screenings. In light of this law, WHD recognizes that AI technologies have been developed to “use eye measurements, voice analysis, micro-expressions, or other body movements to suggest if someone is lying or detect deception.” As such, WHD reaffirms that EPPA prohibits covered private employers from using AI technology as a lie detector test.
AI and Prohibited Retaliation
Finally, the bulletin covers protections against retaliatory conduct provided under the FLSA and other laws administered by WHD to employees who have filed complaints about potential violations of their rights. As a result of these protections, WHD states that “the use of AI and other technologies by employers to take adverse action against workers for engaging in protected activities under one or more laws enforced by WHD constitutes unlawful retaliation.” Additionally, WHD clarifies that the use of AI to surveil the workforce for protected activity and to take adverse actions could violate anti-retaliation protections under the FLSA and other laws. As such, WHD reminds employers in the guidance that they are responsible for compliance with anti-retaliation provisions regardless of whether they incorporate AI technology into their business practices.
CUPA-HR will continue to monitor for additional guidance from federal agencies as it relates to the use of AI in the workplace.
Each year, I look forward to reviewing the results of Jane Hart’s Top 100 Tools for Learning and to submitting my votes for a personal Top Tools for Learning list. I haven’t quite been writing up my list every single year (missed 2020 and 2023), but I did submit a top 10 list in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. I avoid looking at the prior year’s lists until I have identified my votes for current year.
My 2024 Top Tools for Learning
Below are my top 10 Tools for Learning for 2024. The biggest change in my learning tools involves using social media less, most specifically that service that used to have an association with a blue bird and can most closely be associated with a cesspool these days.
Overcast
This podcast catcher is a daily part of my life and learning. Overcast has key features like smart speed and voice boost, which you can have for free with some non-intrusive ad placements, or pay a small fee for a pro subscription and have them hidden from view. Overcast received a major design overhaul in March of 2022, which led me to reorganize my podcast playlists to take full advantage of the new features.
Unread
While Overcast is for the spoken word, Unread is primarily for written pieces. Powered by real simple syndication (RSS), Unread presents me headlines of unread stories across all sorts of categories, which I can tap (on my iPad) to read, or scroll past to automatically mark as read. I use Unread in conjunction with Inoreader, which is a robust RSS aggregator that can either be used as an RSS reader, as well, or can be used in conjunction with an RSS reader, such as Unread.
LinkedIn
The biggest change from prior year’s surveys has to do with social media. The bird app just isn’t like it used to be. I’ve found most of my professional learning via social media takes place on LinkedIn these days. If you’re on LinkedIn, please follow me and the Teaching in Higher Ed page.
YouTube
Once I found out that I could subscribe to new YouTube videos on my RSS reader, Inoreader, it changed how often I watch YouTube videos. That, plus subscribing to YouTube Premium, which means we get ad-free viewing as a family, makes me spending a lot more time with YouTube. I even have my own YouTube channel, which I occasionally post videos on, most recently about my course redesign and use of LiaScript.
Loom
The expression tells us that it is better to show than tell in many contexts. Loom is a simple screen casting tool. Record what’s on your screen (with or without your face included via your web cam) and as soon as you press stop, there’s a link that automatically gets copied to your computer’s clipboard which is now ready to paste anywhere you want. I use Loom for simple explanations, to have asynchronous conversations with colleagues and students, to record how-to videos, and to invite students to share what they’re learning. If you verify your Loom account as an educator, you get the pro features for free.
Kindle App
I primarily read digitally and find the Kindle iPad app to be the easiest route for reading. I read more, in total, when I am disciplined about using the Kindle hardware, but wind up grabbing my iPad most nights.
Readwise
It is so easy to highlight sections of what I’m reading on the Kindle app and have those highlights sync over to a service called Readwise. The service “makes it easy to revisit and learn from your ebook and article highlights.
Canva
My use of the graphic design website Canva has evolved over the years. I started by using it to create graphics and printable signs for classes. Now I also use it to create presentations (which can include embedded content, slides, videos, etc.). For some presentations I’m doing in the coming weeks, I’m experimenting with using Beautiful.ai for my presentations. I still think Canva is great, but am having fun trying something new.
Raindrop.io
Probably more than any other app, I use Raindrop on a daily basis. It is a digital bookmarking tool. I wrote about how I use Raindrop in late 2020. I continue to see daily benefits with having such a simple-yet-robust way of making sense of all the information coming at me on a daily basis.
Craft
I don’t change my core productivity apps very often. In the case of Craft, once I made the switch, I never looked back. This app has both date-based and topic-based note-taking, as well as individual and collaborative features. From their website: “Craft is where people go to ideate, organize, and share their best work.”
Those are my top ten for the year, not in any particular order. The first draft of this post had eleven items, since I lost count as I was going. I wind up using Zoom as so much a part of almost every day, it winds up getting forgotten, given its ubiquity in my life. I’m leaving it on this post, even though it takes me over my count of ten.
Zoom
I use Zoom so often that one of the years, I entirely left it off of my top ten listing, because it is just always there. Recent enhancements I have grown to appreciate are the built-in timer app, the AI transcripts and summaries, and that you can present slides while people are in breakout rooms.
Your Turn
Would you like to submit a vote with your Top Tools for Learning? You can fill out a form, write a blog post, or even share your picks on Twitter. The 2024 voting will continue through Friday, August 30, 2024 and the results will be posted by Monday, September 2, 2024.
Martine Cadet interviews me about faculty online presence for the professional development workshop she’s hosting at her university. What is faculty online presence? How can a personal academic website help professors and the people they care about? Let’s talk about your digital footprint as an academic.
Jennifer: Hi everyone, this is Jennifer van Alstyne of The Social Academic. Today I have a special guest who’s actually going to be interviewing me, Martine Cadet.
I’m so excited we’re recording this video as part of a faculty development workshop that you’re doing for your university. So let’s chat about online presence for academics. I’m happy to answer your questions.
Martine: I love it. Thank you so much, Jennifer, for taking the time to meet with me. It’s such an important topic, right? Being digital today is like, you know, brushing your teeth every day. It’s like a no brainer. Everybody has their phones and laptops.
I’m an adjunct professor, and I have found that several of my peers are not actually active digitally. And one of the things that came up is having a website. Mind you, digital marketing includes social media for sure, but it also includes that digital presence online overall websites and blogs and conversations like this on channels and podcasts and so on.
Today, I’m so excited to tap into your expertise in this area of building an academic website. I’m, I’m so excited. And so I have four questions that I truly believe will help any, you know, academic person to identify how important it is to explore having a website or perhaps if they already have one, to continue to maintain it and make it better. And so I’d love to dive in. If you’re ready, let me know, Jennifer, because I can’t wait to hear your expertise.
Jennifer: I am ready.
Martine: Wonderful. And so to get started, I wanted to ask you, Jennifer, can you explain the concept of a scholarly website and why it’s important for faculty to have one, even if they already have a strong presence on social media, why should they even look into kicking off a website and or maintaining one?
Jennifer: That is such a great question. I feel like so many faculty want a website. They’re not really sure if it’s for them, or they think that they don’t want a website, but actually it would really meet all of their professional goals. So let’s chat about it. What is a personal academic website? Well, it’s a place online that you own, that you control, where you can share things like your academic bio, a photo of you, and links to anywhere else that you’re online, whether it’s your faculty profile, your social media accounts.
The thing I love about personal websites for professors is that they can grow as big as you need them to be. They can change their shape and what they hold in terms of the contents and what you wanna share over time. So if you just want a one page personal website that has what we talked about, your bio, your headshot and contact links, that’s great. That’s a perfect place to start from.
But some of the professors that I work with have really extensive needs for their website. They’re trying to reach new audiences. They’re trying to communicate with their current collaborators, you know, attract research funders, share their publications, and really be helpful for their students. There is a teaching aspect to this that I think a lot of people don’t realize that they can have with their personal website. So a personal website can be anything you want it to be. And that’s the beautiful thing.
Professors, if you’ve been thinking about a website for yourself, I want you to know you can have one. You could definitely create your own personal website, or you can hire a professional to create one for you. But it can be up in as little as an hour with a service like Owlstown from my friend, Dr. Ian Li, that is an academic website builder that really supports you to make this a reality like today.
But for some people, you know, it takes a lot longer than that. I don’t want you to think it needs to go up fast or it needs to take a long time to be a good website. You can have the website that you want and that you need for your academic life.
Martine: I love that. And so having a website, the takeaway here, I’m getting right, Jennifer, you can be on social media, but it’s like this added bonus for you, right? To do all those things that you wanna do, that you share, sharing your research, engaging with your students, and so on and so forth.
Let’s talk about that content creation a little bit more. You touched on different aspects of the website that could have the content, either the bio and you know, information about your social and whatnot.
But let’s dive in for one that’s just starting out. Let’s just say I’m a faculty. I wanna do a website. I don’t have one. Can we briefly go back to that content creation and perhaps the resource that you shared is actually a template that’s prompting faculty to include that content. Like can you walk us through the most important content pieces as we get started? That should be there.
Jennifer: Definitely. So, yes, the tool that I mentioned, Owlstown does walk you through all of these steps. So if you have pieces and parts of your academic life, you’re not sure how to bring them together, it’s a step-by-step process that will guide you through that. I want you to know that it is very supportive.
But for anyone who’s looking to build a website outside of Owlstown, or who is gonna be working with a professional to make your website, let’s talk about the content that you need. Definitely a bio that’s the most important thing that you can put on your personal academic website. And you want your bio not to be the standard academic bio that you have. Maybe on your faculty profile, it needs to do a little bit more work because the people who see your academic bio are other academics. There are people who are probably seeing you at a conference, who are gonna be talking with you about your research. But people who come across your personal academic website might be from a variety of fields or countries. They may need a little bit more support to understand who you are, what you do, and the things that you value and care about most as a professor. So I want you to take some time and be introspective when you’re writing that bio to, to really help you make it feel like you, but also communicate with that wider audience. I want the media, the public, and your friends and family to also be able to understand you and connect with what you do based on what you share there. So academic bio is the number one thing that you’ll want to gather.
You’ll also want a headshot, a photo of you. Now, that can be a little bit tricky for some people. You know, I just did my first professional photo shoot. I had an amazing photographer for my engagement photos. And it was so much fun. If you can afford or want to work with a professional photographer, I highly recommend it. It was an amazing experience.
But for the longest time, I have only used selfies on my personal academic website. So I don’t want you to think you have to go out and spend money. You can take your phone and go take some selfies. You can ask a friend or a colleague to take some photos of you. I’ve actually done that for friends, for their first books and for a grant award. Things like, I love taking photos of other people. So I want you to know, you probably have someone in your life who’s willing to take a photo of you too.
There’s lots of opportunities to work with the people around you to create content, but sometimes a selfie is the easiest thing to do. Prop it up on some books. Take that photo with a timer and just call it a day. If you can get your photo and your bio, you can have a personal academic website. You don’t really need anything more than that.
Definitely gather your social media links if you have them. But the truth is, a lot of people with personal websites, maybe not on social media, or maybe they’re not super active on social media or that account that they made, they haven’t actually touched it in like four years. That’s okay.
That’s one of the things I love about personal academic websites. It’s this great tool to help share your online presence and the things that you care about, even when you’re sleeping, even when you’re not active on social media, even when you’re traveling for conferences or grants and you don’t have time to check your phone or don’t want to because you’re so focused on what you’re doing at hand. I want you to have those privileges. And when you have a personal website, it’s doing that work for you even when you’re not working. So I really love that.
Now, in terms of growing the site, there is more content to gather and some of that content, in fact, most of it is probably in your curriculum vitae (CV). So updating your CV and then seeing the different pieces of your life that feel important to you, whether it’s publications, speaking engagements, media mentions, or actually talking about your students and mentees and the people that you collaborate closely with that information. You’ve probably already done the hard work of gathering quite a bit of it. And so placing it on your personal academic website just from your CV, is an improvement.
Now, if you can also go in and add things like abstracts for your talks or publications, links to maybe the conference program or a video of that speaking engagement, if there is one. These are all ways to enhance your website, but I don’t want you to feel like if you don’t have these right at the start that you can’t hit publish, you totally can. Your website can grow with you over time.
Martine: Wonderful tips. My goodness, Jennifer. So good. I love the tip about the selfie. So good. ’cause I know as a faculty, we’re so busy, right? With our work and it, it’s so refreshing to hear the tips that you gave about, you know, reach out to a colleague to take your picture, take a selfie. It’s okay. Right?
I wanna hone back into the statement that you made that I love so much for my next question, when you said, let the website do the work for you, right? And I wanna go back to that.
You mentioned that a website has the added value here for us faculty is to be able to engage with our students, other faculty members and beyond. But how do we get them to come and to see it? Let’s talk about that engagement, right? Yeah. This whole SEO, you know, search engine optimization and website, it kind of scares me. What are your tips with that?
Jennifer: That’s a great question, actually. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a client just last week. We were looking over his new website together. It was a redesign from an existing personal academic website that he already has. And we’re right at the end of this project. And so there’s always this like, “Ooh, like is this gonna do everything I need” kind of feeling? And he said, “My current website doesn’t get a lot of views. Like, is this going to reach people?” And the answer is yes. If you do the work to share it, if you make it available, if you mention it to people, people are gonna come regardless of if they’re Googling you or not. You are someone who is on campus meeting people all the time. You have students coming to your classes. You have students considering your classes. You have people considering your talk for, you know, programs and conferences that they’re running. You have people who are thinking about potentially reaching out and working with you. But when you have that online presence, it’s doing a lot of that kind of in-person work with you.
It’s not like you don’t exist as a person anymore. You have an online presence, but your online presence enhances what people can learn about you even when you’re sleeping, even when you’re not in the room. And this is really important for scholars who, you know, maybe don’t have the funds to travel all the time. Or, who really need their work to reach people beyond their university, beyond their state, or even their country.
Online presence is something that can spark further conversations. But the first step is always being willing to share it yourself first. So places like your email signature, your social media profiles, your faculty profile, making sure that you mention your bio in, or excuse me, you mention your website, URL when you’re sharing your bio with event organizers and with other people who mention you in the media, you have agency and helping people find your website because they’re going to be searching your name and finding your website without you too.
But I want you to remember, like you, you shouldn’t hide your website once you’ve created it. There’s no reason to feel embarrassed or anxious. It’s not self-promotion. It’s actually helping people because when they’re on your website, they don’t have to be there. It’s not like social media where they’re scrolling and like they’re forced to, you know, take a quick look at what you share.
A website is exploratory. It sparks curiosity and it’s an invitation for people to learn more about you for the things that they wanna learn. And they can click off at any time. So I don’t want you to feel icky or negative about sharing your website. But sharing your website is definitely the first step. Google and other search engines, they’re gonna crawl your website. They’re going to start serving it in search results when people Google your name, potentially when people Google topics about your research. So that’s gonna do the work too. There are multiple ways that people can find you and your website, and I want you to know that you have responsibility, but also online that’s gonna do a lot of the work for you.
My favorite part about having an online presence with a personal academic website is it facilitates word of mouth references and collaborations. So if you have a collaborator who has an upcoming graduate student who’s interested in the same research as you, they’re looking for a postdoctoral position next year, that person can easily share your personal academic website with a really great potential applicant for your postdoc position. It facilitates that word of mouth connection that people have. It helps ’em better be able to share who you are and what you care about with other people who they think might be a really great fit to connect with you. So I really love that. It’s just, it’s yourself, it’s the people around you and it’s all of those kind of benefits of being online. So search engines can find you that can help share your website.
Martine: Oh, so good. You know what I love the most in all of this, the biggest takeaway that I’m taking from you here is this mindset shift that you shared about your website is not to be yourself promotional tool. It’s more about presenting yourself so you could help people.
Yeah, like when you said that, I’m like, “oh my gosh, that makes so much more sense,” right? Because then I feel more at ease to share what it is that I can help others do, right? I love this mindset statement that you shared such great nuggets. I wish I could be with you forever.
I have one more question for you, Jennifer. And that’s the big one in regards to what you shared that you said the online world is here and it’s here to stay. And it’s evolving, evolving very, very fast. I mean, two decades ago it wasn’t even half of what it is today.
And so my last question to you, Jennifer, as this whole digital landscape grows every day, what would you recommend a faculty to make sure that they keep in mind to ensure that their website remains relevant and that, you know, they, they update it? Because again, two decades ago it was a completely different experience and who knows what it’s gonna be next year, two years from now? What are your suggestions based on how you see the digital landscape is evolving to ensure that we do if we have a website?
Jennifer: Yeah, that is a great question because I wanna protect your futures too. Like, I’m not gonna give you information or guidance that’s gonna steer you down the wrong path and be a waste of your time. I like personal academic websites for professors because it is lasting. It’s not gonna disappear like if a social media platform no longer exists.
Your website not going to go away if you stop using it or stop having time or attention for it. At minimum, I recommend updating the content once a year. So if you can put a reminder in your calendar to, on that date every year you spend an hour looking through your website pages, just making a list,
what needs to be changed
what needs to be added
what needs to go away because it’s no longer relevant
If you can do that once a year, your website is gonna be doing far better than the vast majority of personal websites because most go un updated.
You know, most people, like, once they create it, it’s there and they’re like, I did the work. But the truth is that Google search engines and the people who are coming to your website, they need new and relevant information. They need to know who you are, what you care about, and the work that you’re doing now and the people that you want to be working with in the future. So taking that time for an annual update for sure.
My second tip is really just being open. I mean, things are going to change over time. I had an amazing guest on The Social Academic just last month that was totally focused on augmented reality, virtual reality, gamification, and all these cool things in the classroom. I know that the way that professors communicate about who they are and what they do, that’s gonna change over time too.
But I’ve met so many people on social media who just say, I’m not gonna join because I don’t know what it’s gonna look like 10 years from now. People are looking for you today. They’re not caring about what you’re gonna be doing in eight years unless they care about you now. You have that opportunity to start reaching people this year, this week, this month.
I want you to have all of that time to be reaching the people who actually care, the people who you want to be having conversations with, the people who you want to be collaborating with, the students who you want in your courses. You have more agency in what you share about yourself online than you might expect.
A lot of people don’t realize they can meet so many goals with their personal academic website, but just being open to having one. Being open that your website may and probably will change in the future because you are gonna change in the future. And your needs and your interests are gonna change in the future.
That’s the best thing that you can do. Be adaptable. Be open to new ideas and open to change if something new that you’re interested in exploring comes up. I think if you do that, you’re gonna be golden. You’re gonna be in such a good place with your online presence, not just now, but long-term. I’m excited for you.
Martine: That’s wonderful. I love this tip about, just check it once a year, pick a time and I’m guessing it could be any time of the year. If you wanna do it right at the end of the year or perhaps over the summer. If you have that break in between semesters and you’re just getting ready for the next semester, like maybe that’s the time. I love that. And it’s so relevant. It makes sense.
This is great, Jennifer. I am so, so grateful for this conversation and I know my peers are gonna be excited to hear all the tips that you shared with us today from why having a website is important as a academic faculty, personal academic website is important from that point to what’s the content creation, how do you make sure that it’s engaging and does the work for itself and truly looking out for the future of it?
My goodness, you gave us everything. And now I’m like, okay, I’m going to do what you’re doing right now watching. Go to the description here and, and click, click, click. Because I understand how exciting it feels to be hearing such information.
Like you said, Jennifer, having an online presence is going to really, really bring a reach of things that you never could have ever imagined. I couldn’t agree more. And so thank you again for this wonderful conversation. Jennifer, you’re amazing.
Jennifer: Thank you. I have loved these questions and I hope that your faculty find it super helpful.
