Interesting Policy Reads: Campus Internet Access, The Net Neutrality Debate, and Distance Education Regulations

With our "Interesting Reads" blog posts, the EDUCAUSE Policy Office highlights recent articles on federal policy issues and developments that are directly relevant to members or provide insights on higher education policy in general.

• At What Cost Wi-Fi? Inside Higher Ed, April 17, 2018. (Colleges and universities are expected to provide wireless internet access across campus and pay millions to provide the service.)
• New Limits on Overtime, Inside Higher Ed, April 17, 2018. (The U.S. Department of Labor published a new fact sheet on who is applicable for overtime under the FLSA, and online instructors did not make the cut.)
• House Dems, GOP clash over internet 'fast lanes', The Hill, April 17, 2018. (House Democrats and Republicans have fundamental disagreements over the concept of paid prioritization, as the net neutrality debate continues in Washington.)
• The State of Innovation in Higher Education: A Survey of Academic Administrators [https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/state-of-innovation-in-higher-education/], The Learning House, Inc. and the Online Learning Consortium, April 2018. (A new report examines what innovation looks like at institutions nationwide, and explores how it is defined and employed.)
• Bad news for AT&T and Comcast: Calif. Senate panel Oks net neutrality bill, Ars Technica, April 18, 2018.(California's net neutrality proposal has cleared another procedural hurdle, clearing a Senate committee this week.)
• State Authorization for Distance Ed Federal Regulations to be Implemented 07/01/2018, WCET Frontiers, April 19, 2018. (WCET offers some FAQs surrounding the U.S. Department of Education's intention to begin implementing state authorization for distance education regulations on July 1, 2018.)
• Facebook Says It Will Help Academics Use Its Data. Here's How Thats Supposed to Work, The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 13, 2018. (Two academics have developed a model designed to give the larger academia community access to social-media data for research purposes.)

Kathryn Branson is an associate with Ulman Public Policy.