Online Learning Update

by Kevin P. Brady, Lori B. Holcomb, and Bethany V. Smith, Journal of Interactive Online Learning

Distance education as a primary means of instruction is expanding significantly at the college and university level. Simultaneously, the growth of social networking sites (SNS) including Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace is also rising among today’s college students. An increasing number of higher education instructors are beginning to combine distance education delivery with SNSs. However, there is currently little research detailing the educational benefits associated with the use of SNSs. Non-commercial, education-based SNSs, such as Ning in Education, have been recently shown to build communities of practice and facilitate social presence for students enrolled in distance education courses. In order to evaluate the largely unexplored educational benefits of SNSs, we surveyed graduate students enrolled in distance education courses using Ning in Education, an education-based SNS, based on their attitudes toward SNSs as productive online tools for teaching and learning. The results of our study suggest that education-based SNSs can be used most effectively in distance education courses as a technological tool for improved online communications among students in higher distance education courses.

http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/PDF/9.2.4.pdf

Richard J. Wagner, Jeff P. Vanevenhoven & James W. Bronson, Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

Many of us have been teaching online courses for several years. In that time we have learned what works and what doesn’t from a mix of hands-on-experience, fellow online faculty, platform specific training, and exposure to pedagogical research. While training and research have their value, we learned the most about preparing an effective online course from personal experience and working with our peers. When asked to prepare a presentation for new online faculty we sat down and pooled our knowledge with respect to course design and course management. The result of this collaborative session was a list of pragmatic practices required for a successful online course. While the list could be longer, and certainly doesn’t include all our favorite practices, we believe we have included those practices that are the key to success.

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no2/bronson_0610.htm

by KTVB

The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation has donated $100,000 to the Idaho Digital Learning Academy. IDLA is the state-sponsored online school which serves junior high and high school students in nearly every district in Idaho. Due to budget cutbacks mandated by the Idaho Legislature, IDLA was forced to implement enrollment caps for the upcoming school year. Now, using the $100,000 donation, IDLA will immediately lift the caps on advanced placement/dual credit classes.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/Albertsons-Foundation-donates-100K-to-online-learning-100358094.html

by GeekSugar 3, Geeksugar Blog

A college education will get you far in business, but according to Bill Gates (a college dropout himself), a place-based college education system that is so prominent today will soon be shadowed by what you can teach yourself online. During a recent interview at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, the former Microsoft CEO predicted that in the next five years, you’ll be able to find the best educational lectures for free online, which will make the Internet “better than any single university.” I’d have to agree with him on one point — there are an amazing number of ways you can get a quality educational experience online, without ever having to fork over any cash.

http://www.geeksugar.com/Free-Online-Classes-10034177

By Zack Whittaker, ZD Net

With online content, lectures free on iTunes and web communication tools for lecturer and peer support, distance/part-time degree courses are on the rise and are more attractive to today’s youth. Younger students taking distance learning courses, often part-time to enable them to attain employment and earn money as they study, are on the increase according to the BBC. The Open University noted a 34% rise in applicants, the same institution which reached a record breaking 20 million downloads on iTunes earlier this year with its open lectures and academic podcasts.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/distance-learning-on-the-rise-online-courses-itunes-lectures/5827

By Mark Sample, Chronicle of Higher Education

Faculty are increasingly experimenting with social media, and it’s exciting to find more and more courses incorporating Twitter, a ProfHacker favorite. Just last week on ProfHacker Ryan provided an excellent introduction to Twitter, while earlier in the summer Brian reflected on his use of Twitter in the classroom during Spring 2010. As we gear up for the Fall 2010 semester, I wanted to revisit the idea of teaching with Twitter.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/A-Framework-for-Teaching-with/26223/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

By Fred D. Jenkins, eZine Articles

Over the past decade, learning online has become immensely popular amongst individuals across the globe. Individuals that are hoping to advance their careers are able to do so with online classes and don’t have to put their current career on hold. By removing the restrictions on when students have to attend class, a whole new crop of students has jumped on board. Thanks to the ease and convenience online learning offers, web classes have grown in popularity ever year since the late 90’s. Plus, the unique asset of online learning is that it’s specifically tailored and suited to each student’s individual preferences. Most schools allow students to view webinars and live webcasts, chat with students, use forums to discuss class topics, and utilize online social networks.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Online-Learning-Continues-to-Gain-Popularity-in-2010&id=4805978

By Carla K Jack, eZine Articles

Non-traditional learning formats such as evening classes, distance learning and online courses have a high success rate, and are growing in popularity throughout Ireland. If you are considering online training, here is a helpful list of benefits you will gain when taking advantage of a flexible learning course.

1. Learning from any location

Whether you’re a parent of young children, a frequent traveller or a busy professional with a demanding work schedule, online courses offer a great way to learn while maintaining a balanced lifestyle. These classes allow you to log on from the location that suits you. Provided you have Internet access, you can attend classes from wherever you choose with minimal disruption to your other commitments.

2. Anonymity

Participating online means you can control interactions with greater ease and have more time to think about how to phrase the questions you wish to ask. Being anonymous allows you to do this without feeling self-conscious or intimidated.

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carla_K_Jack

By Sarah Butrymowicz, the Hechinger Report

Credit recovery programs can take many forms. Some look no different from traditional classrooms, with teachers at the front lecturing. Others consist of nothing more than a thin packet of fill-in-the-blank sheets that a student completes on his own time. As credit recovery grows in popularity, though, it’s becoming increasingly common for school districts to turn to online companies. An Education Week chat explains how online credit recovery programs generally work. EdWeek recently reported that at least three major school districts – Boston, Chicago and New York City – offer online credit recovery classes. And states such as Missouri and Wisconsin have online credit recovery programs. Online programs let students work at their own pace, and supporters say they present course material in a new way.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/are-ed-credit-recovery-program.html

by Taylor Walsh, Forbes

As the most selective universities enter the already crowded online education market, success is by no means guaranteed; it remains to be seen if their historic advantages will continue to differentiate them from more agile competitors, and if they will be able to retain the prestige associated with their offline teaching. But if the elites were to make transformative use of online education, it would be a highly visible vote of confidence in the medium itself, potentially breaking down the demographic barriers between who learns online and who doesn’t.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/online-classes-internet-technology-opinions-best-colleges-10-walsh.html

By Creston News (ARA)

Associate degree programs are a great short-term training option for people who want to move quickly from the classroom to the job market. They’re available at many community and local colleges and often have course schedules that accommodate working adults. Depending on your field, you can qualify to pursue many entry-level jobs with an associate degree to your name. But sometimes, an associate degree is not enough. If you’re an associate degree holder who’s been working for a while, and you’ve decided it’s time for more training, you might be wondering if you can count your associate toward a bachelor’s degree. There are now bachelor’s degree completion programs that can help you build on your associate degree. These degree completion courses may be available online as well as on-campus.

http://www.crestonnewsadvertiser.com/articles/ara/2010/08/09/8047654566/index.xml

By Sara Jerome, Hillicon Valley

Online learning can shrink the cost of higher education by eroding the need for place-based instruction, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said during a presentation at the Technonomy conference in San Francisco last week. “College, except for the parties, needs to be less place-based,” he said. Moving more learning activities online can bring down the soaring cost of a college degree. “Only technology can bring [college tuition] down, not just to $20,000, but to $2,000,” he said, citing price tags as high as $50,000 for a year of college.

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/113251-gates-technology-can-lower-college-tuition-to-2000

by Marco Marsoni, Mashable

All too frequently, providers meet the challenge of satisfying the rising demand for online education by simply throwing courses up on the web and seeing what sticks, without catering to student needs. This amounts to a loser’s gamble since it risks pushing away students looking for schools that boast high online student retention rates. After all, why would you want to spend valuable tuition dollars on a school that isn’t likely to hold your interest long enough to earn a degree? …Online course providers must embrace the web’s potential to match students with the kinds of timely knowledge and skills that address current issues head-on, and enable them to thrive in the global marketplace.

http://mashable.com/2010/08/06/online-education-social/

by the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Tim Cook’s innovative online Japanese 101 course begins this fall. Cook promotes this as a call-in talk show — all in Japanese —and will connect with students around Birmingham via Skype. Welcome to Cook’s innovative online Japanese 101 course, a joint production of the departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Communication Studies, Education and Theatre. The course, which Cook promotes as a call-in talk show all in Japanese, begins this fall. For each class, Cook will connect with his students from locations around Birmingham through Skype. When students link up, they can expect to see Cook in locations including the Japanese Garden at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the concourse in front of the Hill University Center, among other locales. “I want this to be unlike any other online experience,” says Cook, an adjunct professor in Foreign Language and Literatures and videographer in the School of Public Health. “I don’t want this to be an experience a student could get in a classroom. This is going to be a visual presentation — something to look at and listen to — and at it’s going to be interactive.

http://main.uab.edu/Sites/reporter/articles/79364/

By Scott Franz, Steamboat Pilot

“There are tremendous opportunities with online learning,” he said. “The courses that are online today come nowhere near the Hollywood movie level of technology that is conceivable if you put tremendous resources into the process.” Peterson said new three-dimensional technologies could be one of the advancements that help online learning achieve that Hollywood movie level. “With 3D presentations, it’s going to be possible to dissect a frog over and over again, and there won’t be a single amphibian dying in the process.”

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2010/aug/05/harvard-professor-talks-education-reform-steamboat/

By Creston News ARA

Today’s middle and high school students, who have been called the “iGeneration,” are the first to crave and benefit from on-demand education – or, in other words, the option to choose where, when and how they want to learn. To put it in context, the iGeneration (where the “i” stands for “information”) has never known life without the Internet, being mobile, using avatars, instant messaging or choosing and watching content whether they are at home, in the car, at a football game or shopping at the mall. To reach them in their high-tech, high-touch world, many parents and educators are looking at how to rewire schools to match how the iGeneration learns. Taking classes online is one way to give middle and high school students (and their school districts) new options to learn using preferred tools in a familiar environment.

http://www.crestonnewsadvertiser.com/articles/ara/2010/08/03/8049640101/index.xml

by Montana State University

Montana State University is offering 10 online undergraduate courses this fall, in subjects such as biology, computers, nutrition, marketing and more. While MSU offers online courses for graduate students year-round, online undergraduate courses have usually been offered only in the summer. “We are very excited to offer these online courses this fall,” said Peg Wherry, director of Montana State Online. “Many people contact us wanting to get started on or complete a bachelor’s degree. We believe these courses will be particularly helpful to the many Montanans who can’t come to Bozeman, including those who are serving in the military, running small businesses or raising families.”

http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=8669

By Sophia Li, Chronicle of Higher Ed

What return can students expect on the thousands of dollars invested in their college educations? Preparation for a professional path, maybe. Self-enrichment, others say. A Web site called Ultrinsic tries to make the rewards of studying more immediate. Students can make a small bet on how well they’ll do in a course, with a starting limit of $25 on how much they can earn. The students contribute a chunk of the money, and Ultrinsic puts up the rest. If they make the grade, they win it all. If they don’t, the students lose what they put in. And the higher students set their sights for their own academic performance, the bigger the payoff.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Web-Site-Lets-Students-Bet-on/26134/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 by: Louis Lavelle, Business Week

Too busy for b-school? Too broke? You might want to check out a new offering from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The audit giant recently launched the PwC Open University, a free online library of PwC-developed courses. For anyone familiar with OpenCourseWare, the effort by dozens of colleges and universities worldwide to make course materials available free online, this is a very similar, but slightly wonkier, version of that.

http://bit.ly/bonygi

By Wesley Robinson, Courier-Journal

Another college has expanded into Southern Indiana. Fort Wayne-based Indiana Tech, a private school, has opened a location at 2441 State St. in New Albany. For now, only online classes are offered, and the office has six computers with high-speed Internet for students who need it. Indiana Tech, which offers degrees in business, accounting, criminal justice and organizational leadership, joins Indiana University Southeast, which has more than 6,200 students, and Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg, with more than 4,000 students, as regional extensions of larger schools.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100804/NEWS02/308040086/Fort+Wayne-based+Indiana+Tech+opens+New+Albany+office

BY Cristina Kinon, NY Daily News

PBS is extending its reach into the digital domain. The network is planning an online expansion of its programming for adults who might otherwise not have access to the arts, and also for children who can now use its learning platforms.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/08/05/2010-08-05_pbs_chief_sees_net_gain_in_site.html