Online Learning Update

Credence Baker, The Journal of Educators Online, Volume 7, Number 1, January 2010

This study sought to examine instructor immediacy and presence in an online learning environment in relation to student affective learning, cognition, and motivation. It found a statistically significant positive relationship between instructor immediacy and presence. It also found that the linear combination of instructor immediacy and presence is a statistically significant predictor of student affective learning, cognition, and motivation. However, it did not find instructor immediacy to be a significant individual predictor of the aforementioned variables, whereas it did find instructor presence to be a significant individual predictor. The study also showed that students in synchronous online courses reported significantly higher instructor immediacy and presence. Implications for researchers and practitioners of online instruction are discussed at the conclusion of the paper.

http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume7Number1/BakerPaper.pdf

By Crystal Hsing, Daily Bruin

The Office of Instructional Development will launch a pilot program for paperless evaluations fall quarter to increase efficiency and improve campus sustainability. The OID provides the university’s student rating of instruction service, which currently uses a paper-and-pencil method for course evaluations at the end of each quarter. The pilot program will implement online evaluations in several departments and courses, which have yet to be identified, said Joanne Valli-Marill, OID associate director of evaluation and education assessment.

http://www.dailybruin.com/articles/2010/7/12/professor-evaluation-system-to-be-piloted-online/

by American Society of Agronomy, PhysOrg.com

Are online learning modules beneficial to educational programs? The Arizona Master Watershed Steward program used online learning modules to help increase participant understanding of key watershed concepts. Even though the modules were not required, researchers found that participants both visited the sites on their own time and demonstrated an increase in content knowledge.

http://www.physorg.com/news197904560.html

Patricia W. Neely and Jan P. Tucker, IRRODL

Many colleges and universities are expanding their current online learning offerings and creating new programs to address growing enrollment. Institutions often utilize online education as a method to serve more students while lowering instructional costs. While online education may be more cost effective in some situations, college decision makers need to consider the full range of cost implications associated with these online offerings. The unbundling of faculty roles in online distance education programs is one cost consideration that is often overlooked. As the faculty role has become more distributed, so have the costs associated with providing instruction and instructional support. This paper reviews the hidden costs associated with the unbundling of the faculty role and presents a framework for calculating the true costs of the unbundled faculty role.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/798/1543

by Nicole A. Marcisz & Sandra Woien, JOLT

This case study describes the journey of revising an online health care ethics course in an accelerated nursing program. The primary goal was to incorporate additional opportunities for fostering online critical thinking along with updating the course design to reflect the university’s learning standard of academic rigor. This required health care ethics course has been known to be challenging from the student’s perspective, due not only to the volume of the work involved, but also to the inclusion of sensitive topics that are addressed such as beginning of life issues and whistle-blowing. The revisions, constructed from student feedback, were aimed at stimulating critical thinking, providing spaces for reflection, and adding engaging activities that could solidify concept acquisition while reducing both redundancy and temptations to participate in academic dishonesty.

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no2/marcisz_0610.htm

By GREGORY A. PATTERSON, Star Tribune

Advocates say “hybrid learning” holds the promise of a stronger, and more efficient, education. Forest Lake High School could double the number of online classes it offers students next year, as it searches for ways of blending the efficiency of online learning with the educational benefits of face-to-face interaction.

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/97994924.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc8LDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

by Carmen Paige, Pensacola News Journal

Gege Lawson is spending her summer vacation earning high school credits online. Gege, 18, didn’t fare too well in a geometry class last year at Milton High School. To perform better and boost her grade point average, the upcoming senior is taking an accelerated geometry class through Florida Virtual School at the Magnolia Education Recreation Center in East Milton. “I didn’t get it the way the teacher taught it,” she said. “When it comes to learning, I don’t think there is a right way or a wrong way.” The class has been beneficial because the lessons have more information than a textbook, and her concentration is better than in the classroom, Gege said.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100710/NEWS01/7100322

by Effingham Herald

With the start of the 2010 summer quarter this week, students taking online classes at Savannah Technical College will notice a few changes, including a new Internet address for the online courses, easier to view announcements and new rules for testing. “The news and announcements should help us improve communication with our online students,” said distance education specialist Sherry Heidkamp, who coordinates the college’s online programs. The number of online courses offered has topped 100, up from 68 two years ago. At the same time, the number of credit hours earned online has nearly doubled from 6,325 in 2008 to 11,606 in 2010. And, the number of students taking only online classes has also nearly doubled, growing from 300 in 2008 to 530 in 2010.

http://www.effinghamherald.net/news/article/10969/

by UK Education Investor

Educational technology provider Blackboard has acquired online learning technology providers Elluminate and Wimba, in deals worth a total of $116 million. The company says it will now merge the two companies to create new standalone platform Blackboard Collaborate. Ray Henderson, president of Blackboard Learn, said of the acquisitions: “Bringing Elluminate and Wimba together allows us to accelerate development of their technologies to better realize the full potential for impacting education, at a rate much faster than any of our organizations could have achieved independently.”

http://bit.ly/bdItPi

by Iza Wojciechowska, Chronicle of Higher Ed

A new paper by the Community College Research Center re-examined and challenged the studies that the Department of Education used in a meta-analysis that stated “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction” – a conclusion that received much attention and applause among advocates for online education. According to the report, these seven online courses “showed no strong advantage or disadvantage in terms of learning outcomes among the samples of students under study.” (Of course that finding may also cheer advocates for distance education, who still face skeptics who insist that the newer form of instruction can’t be as good the traditional model.)

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/16/online

by Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle

The University of California Board of Regents reacted enthusiastically to developing a fully online undergraduate degree program at the top-tier research institution they oversee, and endorsed a pilot program to test it.”We have the opportunity to show everyone else how to do it,” said Regent Sherry Lansing. “This should be one of our highest priorities. We cannot wait.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/15/BAC61EEDI4.DTL&feed=rss.education

By Kelly Truong, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Researchers at Northwestern University found no connection between time spent on social-networking sites and academic performance. The study, the results of which appear in the latest issue of Information, Communication & Society, included responses from approximately 1,000 first-year students at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace had no effect on grades, despite how often students used them or how many they used.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Study-Finds-No-Link-Between/25541/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

by EDUCAUSE and Partners

Coordinated by EDUCAUSE, this collaborative effort of the Gates Foundation, League for Innovation and the Hewlett Founcation among others, seeks to accelerate our online and blended learning programs into the 21st century. Next Gen Learning Challenges seek to dramatically improve college readiness and college completion in the U.S. through the applied use of technology and digital media. Next Gen Learning seeks to spark new dialogue and community-building among individuals and institutions committed to address the ever more pressing needs of our educational system. Through a vibrant social network and community engagement, the program will foster solutions and bring together unique collaborations that span institutions and disciplines.

http://www.nextgenlearning.com/

by the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI)

A traditional learning management system (LMS) provides a set of tools to manage learning resources, administrative functions, assessments, and grading. Alternatives to conventional LMSs include social bookmarking tools, document sharing applications, social networking sites, timeline tools, and media options available in the cloud. Institutions or individual faculty increasingly use various combinations of these and other resources to support their unique learning environments and goals and to perform all of the functions of a traditional LMS tool. The “7 Things You Should Know About…” series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutLMSAl/207429

by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

In a series of moves that could give a boost to an e-textbook industry that has been treading water for years, Blackboard announced that it is partnering with a major publisher and two major e-textbook vendors to make it easy for professors and students to assign and access e-textbooks and other digital materials directly through its popular learning-management system. The company, which controlled about 60 percent of the learning-management market as of last year, said it is partnering with McGraw-Hill, a top academic publisher, as well as Follett Higher Education Group and Barnes & Noble, two major distributors that operate a combined 1,500 college bookstores in the United States and Canada.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/15/blackboard

Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle

Taking online college courses is, to many, like eating at McDonald’s: convenient, fast and filling. You may not get filet mignon, but afterward you’re just as full. Now the University of California wants to jump into online education for undergraduates, hoping to become the nation’s first top-tier research institution to offer a bachelor’s degree over the Internet comparable in quality to its prestigious campus program. “We want to do a highly selective, fully online, credit-bearing program on a large scale – and that has not been done,” said UC Berkeley law school Dean Christopher Edley, who is leading the effort.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/11/MN581EAQR0.DTL

By Sarah Pickerel, Kentucky Kernel

Although it may appear summer class enrollment is down by the bare classroom buildings and the few stragglers that can be found walking around campus, a record number of 9,303 students enrolled in summer classes this year. The UK Office of Enrollment said one reason campus might seem a little barer than usual could be the increased number of available online classes. The College of Arts and Sciences piloted 30 new sections of online courses this summer, according to the enrollment office.

http://kykernel.com/2010/07/07/uk-sees-record-summer-class-enrollment/

By Converge

Online learning:  The e-learning market has been expanding steadily, and over the next four years, forecasters predict that K-12 online learning will advance at a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent, while higher education will grow at 8 percent. In online learning, blended or hybrid classes that combine face-to-face and online instruction are popping up, particularly in higher education. And the expansion of open source content on sites such as Flatworld Knowledge, Curriki and CK12 give teachers and professors more options to potentially save money. Mobile devices, WiMAX technology, podcasts and software tools allow students to learn any time, anywhere. And that mobile computing experience is what they’re looking for.

http://www.convergemag.com/classtech/2010-Ed-Tech-Trends.html

by Converge

“This study firmly shows that continued technological education throughout a teacher’s career is vital to providing students with the skills they will need for future careers,” said Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association. “This survey shows that school boards need to be as intentional and purposeful as possible in supporting increased technology integration in schools.” Technology engages many types of students regardless of learning style, language barriers and academic needs, teachers and administrators report.  “This study is important, because it underscores the critical role individual teachers play in effective implementation of educational technology,” said Douglas Levin, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association. “High-quality teacher preparation and professional development can make all the difference.”

http://www.convergemag.com/classtech/Increased-Technology-Use-Positively-Affects-Perceived-Student-Learning.html

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

Without the context and experience of interacting in learning communities, it’s hard to understand the implications of social, online learning tools, Richardson said. The majority of teachers use blogs and wikis to publish class essays in a different form. Instead, they should help kids understand learning networks and communities through those tools. Anyone can learn about tools on their own or have someone teach them, Nussbaum-Beach said. Tools will change, and while they don’t have magic, they do make collaboration simple and economical.

http://www.convergemag.com/training/Learning-Cohorts.html

by Erlan Burk, The Journal for Computing Teachers

Techniques of applying concepts in an online class for individual and group projects are reviewed. Choice of project topics, tracking incremental assignments to learning objectives, establishing projects, evaluating student achievement, and facilitating the project activity are discussed. Examples of projects are given.

http://bit.ly/azyF00