Online Learning Update

By Brian Burnsed, US News and World Report

If you’re considering an online M.B.A., it’s important to take the time to determine which program best fits your needs. Given the recent explosion of M.B.A. distance learning, finding an accredited online M.B.A. program that can accommodate your schedule and financial constraints is no simple task. Use these four tips to get a head start

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2010/06/04/4-tips-to-picking-your-ideal-online-mba.html

by Scott Olster, Huffington Post

The classroom computer has typically held backseat status to the blackboard and certainly the teacher. For many school districts nationwide, and now in New York City, the computer is poised to move to the head of the class, particularly as a tool to increase graduation rates. New York City’s Department of Education launched the NYC Innovation Zone in April, a $10 million initiative in which 81 schools plan to test a variety of education methods, from expanding the hours of the school day, to using online learning for advanced placement and credit recovery courses. Approximately $1.5 million of the $10 million budget is slated to be devoted exclusively to purchasing virtual credit recovery programs, according to school spokesperson Matthew Mittenthal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-olster/virtual-education_b_597545.html

By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

A $500,000 federal grant will allow a Beaver County nonprofit to help a dozen school districts in Allegheny and Beaver counties explore creating their own cyber learning programs. The National Network of Digital Schools, which provides K-12 online courses to schools in 14 states, will use the money to give the districts’ students access to some of the more than 250 online courses the network provides.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_684243.html

by Real Online Degrees

Graphic representations of polls and strategies regarding cheating online. Polls seem to show that cheating is not more prevalent online. Also presented are a number of strategies that discourage cheating in online learning classes.

http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/are-online-classes-easier-to-cheat_2010-05-25/

by eSchool News

Sifting through archives of open online course material soon could become easier: A new public beta version of a web-based college course library aims to help students and faculty find open curriculum content with a search function designed to narrow their hunt for video and audio lectures. Einztein, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Monica, Calif., launched the beta version of its library with more than 2,000 complete online courses grouped into more than 30 categories, according to a May 25 announcement. http://einztein.com

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/06/02/new-service-helps-users-search-for-open-online-courses/

by Ray Schroeder, Fortnightly Mailing

The most exciting uses of Wave, I believe, are the ones that break down classroom walls and institutional barriers. Just as we showed in joining classes between IT Sligo and UIS, there are no international or institutional boundaries with Wave. The online collaboration potential is as broad as the Web itself. It is both a synchronous and asynchronous tool with live video, chat and language translation capabilities. As with all wikis, a history is kept of all activities for asynchronous review.

http://fm.schmoller.net/2010/05/catching_the_learning_wave.html

by Lindsey Burke, the Foundry

Last Thursday, Paul Peterson, Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University and editor-in-chief of Education Next, treated a Heritage audience to a discussion about his new book Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning. He was joined by an all-star panel of discussants, which included Susan Patrick, President and CEO of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), Michael Horn, Executive Director of the Innosight Institute and co-author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, and Adam Schaeffer, Education Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute.

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/31/saving-schools-and-empowering-parents-through-virtual-education/

by Charlie Sorrel, Wired Gadget Lab

In “less than 60 days”, Apple has shifted two million iPads. If you remember, it took just 28 days to sell the first million, so it doesn’t look like sales are slowing down much yet. In fact, it seems like Apple could have offloaded a lot more if only it could make them fast enough.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/apple-sells-two-million-ipads-in-two-months/

by Library of Congress

NOTE: updated link below:

On your own for professional development? Earn a certificate of completion by taking the Library’s self-paced interactive modules. Each multimedia-rich program delivers approximately one hour of staff development.

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/selfdirected/

by Sudbury Northern Life

Distance and online learning in rural northern Ontario communities is on the rise. Contact North and Elearnnetwork.ca noted a 61 per cent increase in course registration in winter 2010, according to a press release from Contact North. During the 2009-2010 school year, they helped more than 17,600 students pursue college, university and school board courses.

http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2010/05/distance-education305010.aspx

by Eric Sondheimer, LA Times Blog

There has been a proliferation of high school athletes trying to get NCAA eligible from poor grades by taking online courses, and the NCAA is cracking down, saying it will no longer accept online high school courses from Brigham Young University and American School of Correspondence effective Aug. 1.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2010/05/ncaa-takes-action-to-crack-down-on-online-courses.html

By Michele Morgan Bolton, Boston Globe

About half of Massachusetts’ school districts belong to the Virtual High School network. Full members pay $8,000 annually for 25 seats in cyber classrooms and must train one teacher to offer an online course. Smaller schools with limited needs or budgets can rent a few seats from other members. The program covers credit recovery work for students who have failed courses and are seeking to recover credits — or home- or hospital-based learning for teens with medical, emotional, or disciplinary needs — and advanced classes for others whose districts can’t afford to offer them.

http://bit.ly/aYfQwS

by Giulio Prisco, IEET

New even more immersive online collaboration technologies such as VoIP, IPTV, videoconferencing, online sensor networks (IoT, Internet of Things), 3D Virtual Reality (VR) technologies developed by the gaming industry, and Augmented Reality, are converging to create powerful telepresence platforms. Wikipedia (another wildly popular Internet success story) defines telepresence as “a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance that they were present, or to have an effect, at a location other than their true location.” Telepresence systems offer a very high degree of immersion and give an impression of “being there” so powerful to permit users suspending disbelief and becoming fully engaged in the online experience. The telepresence term is often used in a slightly more specific sense, but we use it in a general sense to include immersive 3D virtual environments.

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/prisco20100528/

Blackboard Inc. earned one of the software industry’s top honors this week when its online learning platform was named Best Course Management Solution in the Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) 2010 CODiE™ Awards. The award recognizes Blackboard Learn™, the leading online teaching and learning platform, as the top course management solution for preK-12 educators. The CODiE Awards have celebrated the best in education software, information and content since 1986, and hold the distinction of being the industry’s only peer-reviewed awards program.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blackboard-wins-codie-award-for-best-course-management-solution-95048484.html

By John Masanauskas, Herald Sun

The launch of Apple’s new product on caused huge excitement with thousands of iPads bought over the weekend. But Melbourne’s Brighton Grammar has had one for two months as part of a research project on e-learning. The school’s community education director, John Phillips, said yesterday that the long-term goal was to phase out textbooks. “With the one device we’ve replaced textbooks, we’ve replaced the student diary, we’ve replaced the need for a graphics calculator,” he said. Mr Phillips said that a Melbourne IT firm and senior students were working on education applications to deliver course material through the iPad.

http://bit.ly/alTM0m

by Travis Griggs, Pensacola News Journal

“There is a lot of focus on dropout prevention, but there’s not a lot of focus on dropout re-engagement,” Liebman said. “Our vision and mission are about re-engaging the adult learner back into the educational system and preparing them for the world of work.” The program launched its first class of 75 to 100 students April 26. Sammie Avis, 57, of Lawtey, is a member of the pilot class. Avis said she got married at 17 years old, and quit high school shortly thereafter without earning her diploma. “Several times I went to go back and get a GED or something, and it just didn’t work out,” Avis said. Now that her children are grown, Avis said she she’s trying again to earn her high school diploma. She works in childcare and is worried that future rule changes may require that childcare workers have a high school diploma. She said because she needs to be home in the evenings to take care of her 76-year-old mother, online courses are a perfect fit. “This way I can be at home with her … and still take care of her and do the classes also,” Avis said.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100530/NEWS01/5300330/1006/news01/Web-high-school-targets-working-adults

By Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M

Now that school is out for the summer, teacher Edith Lawson is returning to the classroom for some learning of her own. But Lawson’s courses will happen in her own home and at whatever time fits her daily schedule. She’s learning ways to better serve special needs students, and she’s doing it with study materials sent to her home, online modules and an email support group. Lawson is among thousands of Texas teachers who’ve discovered the Career and Technical Special Populations Training and Resource Center. It’s a virtual learning site, http://ctsp.tamu.edu, operated by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service with the support of Texas Education Agency.

http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_62475.shtml

by Harvard Business Review

Developed by Harvard Business School faculty for use in MBA and executive education courses at HBS and other leading business schools, as well as Fortune 2,000 companies, our online courses offer comprehensive introductions in their subject areas and provide the fundamental skills that every business professional needs to succeed. Each online program offers:

• an introduction to an essential management topic
• interactive, step-by-step instruction
• practical exercises with real-world examples
• pre- and post-assessment tests to help you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses

http://web.hbr.org/store/landing/courses/index.php?referral=00161

by the Washington Informer

In a super-competitive job market that puts a premium on specialized knowledge and skills, opportunities for continuing education have never been more vital to D.C. area residents. Now even the busiest would-be students can find education and training—literally at their fingertips—in more than 1,000 online courses offered by the Continuing Education program at CCDC. The College designed its Continuing Education program for learners of all ages, whether they want to update their professional skills, earn a certificate to help launch a new career, or just enjoy the chance to explore something exciting and new. From website design to wedding planning, from income tax preparation to positive parenting, there’s a class for every interest.

http://www.washingtoninformer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3772:dcs-new-community-college-brings-continuing-education-online&catid=70:education&Itemid=158

By JEFF SCHMUCKER, Hernando Today

More students are going online for their middle and high school education, resulting in Hernando County jumping in to provide its own virtual school and expecting to recoup more than $100,000 next school year. Marcia Austin, curriculum supervisor, said school district officials are planning to instate a “Hernando eschool” for the 2010-11 school year that would allow for students taking online courses to interact with Hernando County teachers through a partnership with the Florida Virtual School Franchise Program.

http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2010/may/28/classrooms-going-virtual/

By Natalie Poyhonen, Australia ABC

A nurse training study in Brisbane has found learning online can help to reduce the time staff are away from wards. Nurses at St Andrew’s Hospital were given the option of learning about a chest drainage procedure in workshops or by using a computer. Clinical educator Diane Suddaby says both methods had similar outcomes but the staff preferred more flexible training. “Nursing areas as you know are getting busier, we are quite short staffed in some areas so it is hard to get nurses to attend,” she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/28/2912007.htm?section=business