Recently, Inside Higher Education published an op-ed article on “How to Responsibly Reopen Colleges in the Fall.” In this article the authors have noble intentions yet base their arguments on gross misunderstandings of the modalities on online and face-to-face and blended education. In the first three paragraphs they set up a misinformed strawman based on a false dichotomy.
Because decision makers are likely to turn to articles like this as a guide for their planning, the many faults and factual inaccuracies in that op-ed require a response so we can better inform responsible decision making. Without any support for the claims made, what the IHE article really does is engage in confirmation bias that has unfortunate potential to unnecessarily constrain strategic planning and resilient system architecture that’s necessary for weathering the crisis.