Online Learning Update

by College to Careers

Traditional colleges and universities across the country see the value in offering an increased number of online learning at their institutions. Why the interest in online classes? Although the student/ teacher exchanges would drastically decrease, it’s a form of communication and educational presentation that appeals to many people, especially the younger generation. In addition, the current state of economy has most people preferring to work and provide for their families over becoming a full time student. Online courses have provided a solution for schools and students across this country to reach a wider network of people.

http://www.collegetocareers.com/nyu-online-college-courses/

By Kelly Truong, Chronicle of Higher Ed

A new program will give grants to a variety of high-tech teaching projects, with the hope of helping low-income students better succeed in their studies. Next Gen Learning Challenges, led by Educause, a nonprofit that supports education technology, is designed to find technology-based approaches to improve college readiness and completion among low-income students. Initial goals include expanding access to free educational materials online, exploring the use of social networks for teaching, combining online and face-to-face education, and finding ways to measure learning success.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/New-Grant-Program-Seeks-to/25108/

by Darla Spike, News OK

Many more students are choosing to take classes partially or entirely online, officials at OU and Oklahoma State University said. Advances in technology and an increasingly diverse student body have caused enrollment in distance-learning classes and programs to skyrocket during recent years, officials said. Online learning offers flexibility and convenience for students who want to earn their degree without disrupting their work schedules or other life responsibilities.

http://stage.newsok.com/distance-learning-programs-gain-popularity-in-oklahoma/article/3471499?custom_click=pod_headline_education

by Market Watch

First and foremost, remember that the key to effective online learning is student engagement. As Roger Courville, training veteran and principal of 1080 Group LLC, explained: “Corporate trainers used to the classroom environment regularly tell me that they will lose their ability to connect with students if they take training online. I tell them, the only way to engage an audience is to keep it interesting.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/five-tips-for-successful-online-training-2010-07-07?reflink=MW_news_stmp

By Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal

More Alberta students are turning to their home computers to study via online learning during evenings and weekends, say officials who this week released the latest course numbers. An estimated 9,000 students took more than 12,900 classes online offered by undergraduate universities, colleges and technical institutions in Alberta during the 2009-10 school year. The numbers don’t include students taking online courses from the universities of Alberta, Calgary or Lethbridge, nor do they include students at Athabasca University, which has focused on distance education since 1972.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/More+Alberta+students+study+online+degrees/3242716/story.html

by Cindy Hsu NEW YORK (CBS)

If you have patience, a hour a week to spare, and a laptop you can help teach English to young children in Haiti. Six months after the devastating earthquake, Haitians are still struggling to recover. One New York woman has found a unique way to help — and she may just inspire you to join her. Juartre Kazeckis teaches an online English language class. She is on the Upper East Side. Her students are a world away — in Haiti. Kazeckis came up with the idea to teach online after a relief mission to the earthquake-ravaged country. She saw the destroyed schools, the devastated students and the need for their education to continue, somehow.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/haiti.online.english.2.1789031.html

by MARC VALERO, Tampa Bay Highlands Today

Cassie Hare and Katie Smith will be starting seventh-grade in August, but they are already getting a headstart on earning class credits by taking online summer classes through Florida Virtual School. Looking at the short sentences in Spanish, Hare translated, “This is my cousin Isabel, also she plays the piano. She is of Mexico, also.” To Smith, it got easy, “once you get the first two lines.” After the school year ended on June 4, the girls started their online learning the following Monday.

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2010/jul/06/la-virtual-summer-school/

by ANDREW PANTAZI, Alligator

There’s a new course-management system in town. Most Summer B online courses and all fall online courses will be hosted on Sakai, UF’s new course-management system. Blackboard, the company that owns the software, will stop supporting WebCT Vista 8, the e-Learning system UF has used, in December 2011. Fedro Zazueta headed up a UF committee that searched for a replacement. The committee narrowed it down to three platforms: ANGEL, Moodle and Sakai. Sakai was chosen unanimously.

http://www.alligator.org/news/campus/article_660c08e9-1a58-5062-beee-9393df31412b.html

by Chelsey Levingston, Dayton Business Journal

A professor who stands in front of a room full of note-taking students may become a thing of the past. With more students opting for online learning and more professors using alternative lecture tools, technology is changing local higher education classrooms. Dayton-area universities are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into high-tech classrooms and learning. Education officials said the offerings allow schools to reach more students through online classes and enhance the physical classroom.

http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2010/07/05/daily1.html

by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

Just about everywhere you turn, state leaders are searching for a way to use online learning to expand the reach of their public higher education systems at a time of diminished resources. Rather than sink millions the state doesn’t have into a new institution, or prod its current existing institutions to ramp up their online offerings, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has opted to go another, more unusual route: essentially subcontracting the job out to Western Governors University, a nonprofit institution based in Salt Lake City.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/14/wgu

By Barbara O’Brien, Buffalo News

Cleveland Hill students studying online this summer might want to look up the proverb “Necessity is the mother of invention,” then take a look around their classroom. After its partner district in summer school didn’t have money for the program this year, Cleve Hill decided to go it alone by offering an independent online learning program. “I’m excited to see if the kids like doing this better than the traditional summer school,” said Mary C. Pauly, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Cleve Hill.

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/07/04/1103282/online-courses-replace-area-summer.html

By Margaret Kalekye, KBC

Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) has rolled out online learning to cut down on education costs. The institute has teamed up with computer micro-processor manufacturer, Intel and software and computer parts maker, Mustek East Africa, for the provision of software and hardware to make it possible to deliver the e-learning content in schools. While addressing channel partners, KIE deputy director John Kimotho said the institution had put together learning material for forms one and two into digital format to enable schools experience this new era that will cut down on education costs. “We have digitised the content for lower secondary and primary schools to enhance effective use of ICT through engaging students more on the curriculum”, Kimotho said.

http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=65020

by Brian Montopoli, CBS News

Conservative Fox News television host, author, and radio host Glenn Beck has started a university. Sort of. According to an announcement on Beck’s Web site, “Beck University is a unique academic experience bringing together experts in the fields of religion, American history and economics.” In July, August and September, interested parties can participate in “captivating lectures and interactive online discussions” in which “experts will explore the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and show you how they influence America’s past, her present and most importantly her future.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20009560-503544.html

by Dalton Conley, Newsweek

Last month on the Daily Show, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty predicted the rise of “iCollege,” a Web-based model of higher education that students could download for $199 rather than “haul their keister” to class. Many academics snarled back (“pedagogical dystopia,” one Cornell professor called it), since the idea seems to minimize the role of live student-teacher exchanges. But Pawlenty’s vision already has some lofty adherents. Pennsylvania’s university system is considering making its language courses online only; Indiana recently added an “affordable” Web-based campus; and Yale Law School is sharing resources with the University of the People, a pioneering “global college” that’s tuition-free and totally online.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/03/an-icollege-makeover-in-new-york.html

by University of Bristol

The University has been awarded funding worth £200,000 by the Higher Education Academy under the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme to develop an e-learning tool pioneered by Bristol ChemLabS. The project seeks to develop further the Dynamic Laboratory Techniques Manual (DLTM) for Physical and Biological Sciences in line with the pilot eBioLabs project funded by JISC which is currently being run by the Department of Biochemistry. The project is based on the LabSkills Dynamic Lab Manual (DLM) collaboration between the Bristol ChemLabS Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and spin-out company Learning Science.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7103.html

by Olivia Conroy

According to a recent report by TMCnet, teenagers who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder show improvement by online learning. The survey was conducted by Project Tomorrow and Blackboard. Project Tomorrow is an educational organization that runs on a nonprofit basis while Blackboard is a firm, which provides venture technology and innovative solutions.

http://topnews.us/content/223300-students-adhd-show-improvement-online-learning

By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributor

Online learning has far-reaching benefits in K-12 education. Recently TMCnet reported that online learning could improve performance of teens with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or “ADHD.” A new survey report from Project Tomorrow, an educational nonprofit organization, and Blackboard, a provider of enterprise technology and innovative solutions, finds the number of high school students who are taking online classes has nearly doubled since last year.

http://education.tmcnet.com/topics/education/articles/90652-demand-online-learning-k-12-schools-outpaces-supply.htm

by Samieh Shalash, Newport News Daily Press

Hampton University has just launched a virtual campus that offers myriad of associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The web-based courses can be taken through HamptonU Online beginning Aug. 2, and are targeted to working adults who need the flexibility of online courses. Offerings include three doctoral degrees, two master’s degrees, eight bachelor’s degrees, two associate degrees and two certificate programs. Undergraduate courses are $425 per credit hour and graduate courses are $600 per credit hour. Bachelor’s programs include criminal justice, business management, nursing and paralegal studies. The master’s programs are in health administration and nursing.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/hampton-university/dp-nws-hu-online-20100702,0,5068187.story

by Washington State University

WSU expands long-running online degree program, will now admit freshmen. Beginning fall semester, Washington State University will accept freshmen and offer complete four-year degrees online. Since 1992, transfer students with at least 27 semester credits were eligible to apply for admission and complete their degree through distance education. More than 3,000 students have graduated from WSU by taking distance and online courses. Offering four-year degrees online will provide access for even more students who recognize the value of a degree from Washington State University.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4212134.htm

By ALINA DIZIK, Wall Street Journal

As online M.B.A. programs brace for another year of record-breaking applications, business schools are also tracking another rate—the number of students who drop out—and are devising ways to keep students active. Enrollment for online M.B.A. programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the largest of three main business school accreditation bodies, increased to 4,433 in 2009 from 2,690 in 2006 with students paying $50,000 to $60,000 tuition for top programs. Schools are also trying to dispel some myths about online programs, like minimal time commitment and scant administrative support. At Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business, this year’s entering students will need to complete a mandatory orientation program before being allowed to register for first-term courses.

http://bit.ly/9KiQZH

by Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) raised concerns today that the rapidly growing number of students enrolled in for-profit colleges coupled with a dramatic increase in federal student aid dollars flowing to these schools may create a national crisis in higher education. Durbin made his remarks today in speech before the National Press Club. “There is growing concern that we could be looking at a repeat of the subprime mortgage fiasco, with low-income, high-risk students mortgaging their futures – not on overpriced homes this time, but on worthless diplomas,” said Durbin. “Let me be clear: There are many good trade schools and for-profit colleges, and they serve a vital purpose, supplying job training that helps people take the next step up the economic ladder. But there are also a lot of bad for-profit schools that are raking in huge amounts of federal dollars while leaving students poorly trained and over their heads in debt.”

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/06/durbin_warns_of_for-profit_col.html