-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [AISWorld] Announcing an AIS Forum on Covid-19 and Higher Education Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 12:22:25 -0400 From: Richard Watson rickwatson@mac.com To: AISWorld aisworld@lists.aisnet.org

Dear Colleagues

In the initial posting to a new AIS forum, AIS President Alan Dennis calls on us to explore and help to document “the new world” that we see emerging almost as rapidly as Covid-19 races around the world. As Alan predicts:

“The pandemic will end, and will leave behind a new set of technologies and social structures. We will have new customs and new ways of working that will persist long after the pandemic is a fading memory. In the future, we will more carefully choose how we work together, having learned that FTF is not the “normal” way of working together.”

Several of us have considered the challenges in a series of discussions focused on the implications of the pandemic for higher education. It was soon apparent that such discussions would be of interest to, and benefit from, the entire AIS community. Therefore, with the assistance of AIS staff, we have started a new AIS forum to blog and discuss how this crisis will change our world <>( <>https://aisnet.org/page/covidforum). Please visit the site to read the postings and please share the link with others. You need not be an AIS member to read the postings, but only AIS members will be able to recommend, reply, and create postings.

Starting this week, and every couple of days, one of us will post to the new AIS Forum on one of the topics listed below. We hope the contributors to our original discussion will repost their comments and will join us in encouraging others to join the conversation.

THE BIG PICTURE: Overarching Assumptions / What are the Implications for higher education? OUR STUDENTS: How will this Impact Student Demand? Next Semester/Next year/Ongoing? How Does it threaten our graduates? What Challenges does it present? What does it mean for Ph.D. students in particular? We look forward to hearing from some of them. EDUCATIONAL OFFERINGS: What Changes Can We Expect to See in education overall or in IS Education? What about other areas - e.g., health sciences? UNIVERSITY FINANCES & STRUCTURE: What Financial Risks Does Higher Education Face? What Can We Expect Regarding Budgeting / Cost Reductions? How Might This Impact Industry Structure / Competition? The Sports-Academy Deadly Embrace? University Infrastructure? FACULTY: What are the threats / opportunities for faculty overall or faculty in IS? What are the research opportunities?

We hope you will tune in and consider posting. If you post, we ask that you keep your posts under 500 words and relate them to the “Covid-19 and Higher Education theme.” Please also avoid instigating political squabbles. Instead, we favor hearing success stories, proposals, and well thought out predictions - i.e., less whining and more winning.

We appreciate the efforts of the AIS staff to put together a forum at short notice, while they deal with Covid-19’s impact on our association.

We hope to meet you at the Forum (https://aisnet.org/page/covidforum)!!!

— Dennis Galletta, Blake Ives, Munir Mandviwalla, John Mooney, and Rick Watson _______________________________________________ AISWorld mailing list AISWorld@lists.aisnet.org