Online Learning Update

By DAVID A. FARRELL – Times Picayune

A state education official who helps coordinate a virtual on-line school says the program is so popular and in so much demand that all slots are now filled and no more applications are being accepted for now. However, Tina Sellers, special projects officer with what is called the Mississippi Virtual Public School, said that as soon as the program is ready to begin accepting more applicants, school districts throughout the state will be notified. She said that most courses offered online are advanced courses for advanced students, and only a few of the courses are ones that can be used toward credit for graduation.

http://www.sunherald.com/2010/09/06/2455145/no-room-in-the-virtual-classroom.html

By Kelly Smith, the Chico State Orion

A typical day of college classes may involve rolling out of bed, rushing to collect books and homework while scrambling out the door, trying to make it to class on time. Many students are aware that taking classes online can relieve the hustle and bustle of a day of on-campus classes. Lisa Westwood, a professor of anthropology, thinks many students underestimate the workload that accompanies an online course, she said. “Many students have the assumption that online classes are somehow less challenging than face-to-face class,” Westwood said. “This is simply not the case. Because online classes generally allow for open-book exams, the instructor has to compensate for that.”

http://www.theorion.com/features/online-classes-convenient-but-motivation-required-to-pass-1.1554982

by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Education

A new project from the online educational technology collective OpenCast, called Matterhorn 1.0, could open up a new front in the battle between open-source and proprietary — on a landscape that still has plenty of unclaimed territory: the lecture capture market.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/13/matterhorn

by Matthew C. Keegan, Say Campus Life

Online Education for Dummies (2010 | Wilson Publishing), offers a good foundation and guidance on how to pursue distance education and is written by Kevin Johnson and Susan Manning who are well steeped in online instruction. Online learners still have to take tests, do reports and keep at it. In fact, the amount of self-discipline required is huge compared to brick ‘n mortar instruction. By the way, read what the authors have to say about cheating (page 316) to see how this problem is curtailed online.

http://www.saycampuslife.com/2010/09/06/book-review-online-education-for-dummies/

by Joe Sipper, Durham K-12 Examiner

Online secondary schools are a concept that has been gaining favor with many nationwide. In North Carolina alone, a record 13,000 are enrolled in online courses this fall. The courses are part of the public school offerings, which means that they are free and open to the public. The ability to take virtual courses allows student to take courses that are not offered at their current school with qualified teachers. It also allows students to accelerate their coursework, which helps some students recover credits. College courses are offered to students who are prepared to take them.

http://www.examiner.com/k-12-in-durham/the-future-is-here-online-secondary-schools-take-root

By Adam Rodewald, The Northwestern

Cash-strapped school districts are increasingly contracting with private companies to replace niche courses that have low enrollments with cheaper online alternatives. The Oshkosh district uses two private companies to provide online courses: Florida-based Kaplan Virtual Education and Arizona-based Education2020. A Northwestern investigation in fall 2009 found little oversight of these new programs. A public records request brought to light documents suggesting Kaplan was using four teachers without state licenses to lead courses in Oshkosh and three other Wisconsin districts.

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20100906/OSH0105/9060371/School-board-to-consider-creating-a-system-of-oversight-for-online-classes

by Katrina Chambers, Newbizine

Are online college classes hard? The answer relates to the classes and the student. You must be aware if you are prone to studying hard or are prone to slacking. Self awareness is important in this decision. Do not try and fool yourself. There are other things to consider in deciding if an online learning course you are considering would be difficult. Take a hard look at the area you are considering. Some areas of study are going to be harder than others. However, of you are motivated and focused you can weather just about any challenge.

http://newbizine.com/the-success-of-an-online-course-depends-on-the-motivation-of-the-student/

by the BBC

Surrey County Council pledged to get 10,000 adults online as part of Martha Lane Fox’s campaign More than 1,000 adults enrolled on Surrey County Council (SCC) computer courses in the last academic year – an increase of 20% on the previous year. Councillor Denise Saliagopoulos said she was encouraged by interest in the internet and learning new skills. “The people who have most to gain – whether to overcome isolation or to save money – are often the ones who are missing out,” she said. The council has pledged to help 10,000 residents get online by 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-11192353

by Tim Harlow, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“We are desperate for more classroom space,” said Mike Bruner, vice president of Student Services and College Facilities. “Students could not get a full load,” Bruner said. “They got six credits when they wanted 15. We have hundreds of students who would take more credits if classroom space were available.” School officials expected the enrollment boom and hired 25 full-time faculty members this year. They also added extra sections of core courses such as English, communication, mathematics and psychology. Anderson said he hopes to mitigate the weekday space crunch by increasing enrollment in online learning courses, and getting students to take Saturday classes, which were offered for the first time last year.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/09/04/4991293.htm

by Sanna Juutinen and Pertti Saariluoma, EURODL

Here we have studied the e-learning system used by the Finnish Tax Administration to train their employees. We presented their students with a questionnaire analyzing different emotional aspects of the learning process. By means of factor analysis we found that the respondents could be divided into two major groups. The members of the first group were successful and felt pride in their performance, while those of the second were less successful and developed shame reactions towards e-learning. From our point of view, it is essential that the negative group is able to be transformed as much as possible into a positive one.

http://www.eurodl.org/?article=402

By Paul Balles, the Gulf Daily News

McLuhan wrote: “Our entire educational system is reactionary, oriented to past values and past technologies and will likely continue so until the old generation relinquishes power.” The old generation only began to relinquish power within the last 10 years. Many academics are still hanging on for dear life. What are they hanging on to? They’re hanging onto classrooms, sitting at uncomfortable desks at inconvenient hours, surrounded by bare walls and smelly students… More than anything, they’re holding on to dull lectures by boring professors. Some still dictate to students from outdated notes they took when they were students.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=286094

by Kelly Sharp, Helium

Many Americans affected by the Great Recession are finding that going back to school to either increase their chances of keeping the career they have or to learn a new trade is the only way they are going to survive in the new economy. any of these students, many who have not been in the classroom for many years, will find more options than ever before and this can be challenging. The biggest challenge for many will be choosing between going to school online or on campus.

http://www.helium.com/items/1939196-benefits-of-going-to-school-online

By Robin Robinson, FOX Chicago News

Then there’s the growing list of classes at capacity, making it harder for students to register and harder for administrators to schedule anything else. Another alternative is to add more online learning classes. The Illinois Community College Board reports 27 percent more students enrolled in online courses in Spring 2010 than Spring 2009.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/special_report/community-college-enrollment-20100901

By: NATE JONES, Time News Feed

Take it away, course description:

“’21st Century Skills in Starcraft’ is an 8-week, entirely online course that uses the popular real time strategy (RTS) game Starcraft to teach valuable 21st Century Skills through a hands-on approach. With society becoming increasingly technology-based and fast-paced, it is important for professionals to be highly proficient in skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, resource management, and adaptive decision making. […] This course includes required weekly game play, viewing and analysis of recorded matches, written assignments which emphasize analysis and synthesis of real/game-world concepts, and collaboration with other students.”

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/09/01/at-the-university-of-florida-you-can-get-an-a-in-starcraft/

By Azam Ahmed Chicago Tribune

Clinton Parker, a senior at Julian High School, worked quietly at his computer in August as the clicks of mice from more than a dozen students punctured the air of an otherwise silent computer lab. The credit-recovery program at Julian illustrates why supporters say online learning has the potential to revolutionize education. It can be inexpensive, convenient and flexible — valuable attributes for a cash-strapped district like the Chicago Public Schools. For those reasons, it’s now one of the fastest growing areas of education. But research hasn’t kept up with the rapid expansion, making it tough to know whether the programs really work.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/CPT-VIRTUAL-EDUCATION_3148237/CPT-VIRTUAL-EDUCATION_3148237/

By Audrey Watters, Read Write Web

“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world,” Bill Gates said at the recent Techonomy conference, arguing that online education will be “better than any single university.” Gates’s timeline might be debatable – could be ten years, five years, three years, now – as is his contention that the widespread availability of online lectures means we can supplant a brick-and-mortar school. But there’s little doubt that more and more learning experiences and learning resources are available online. And more and more students, including Gates himself, are pursuing their coursework via the Internet. But online learning is only half the picture. And while that may in itself change how we think of education, the other half is online teaching. How will Web technologies alter how we teach, what we teach, and who teaches?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/08/as-interest-in-online-learning.php

By Jane Bartosz, Oregon Live

I still prepare for classes, but I’m more able to tailor my teaching to meet the individual needs of students, whether they’re struggling to catch up or happen to be in the gifted category. There are weekly live lessons where I connect directly with students, and there’s lots of one-on-one time over the phone and email. The school has a wide range of courses for all grade levels, with different levels of difficulty, enabling me to help each student succeed. Virtual schooling might not be the best fit for every child, but for many this option matches their learning abilities while still giving them the benefit of a public education, including state-certified teachers, textbooks and lesson plans.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/08/the_viewpoint_of_a_virtual_tea.html

By Luis Zaragoza, Orlando Sentinel

As students descend on the University of Central Florida’s main campus this week for a new academic year, a growing form of traffic is set to rival the school’s notorious morning rush to find a parking space. Online traffic is burgeoning as UCF students take more courses by computer. Checking into class online from a dorm room or an off-campus home, coffee shop or even poolside could help ease the traffic tie-ups and classroom crowding fueled by UCF’s record enrollment growth, officials say. Surveys show students like the quality of their instruction in addition to the flexibility that going online adds to their schedules, UCF officials say.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/os-ucf-online-classes-20100821,0,7941451.story

by the Portland Press Herald

Virtual classrooms link students from a variety of backgrounds and locations. Taking high school classes on the Internet is an educational innovation that’s becoming more and more popular in Maine schools, and it’s easy to see why. Signing students up for courses in subjects that may not be available in a given school allows them to join others across the nation and even the world interested in topics that may only attract a single student in any one location. And it lets teachers who are subject-matter experts in a given field become available to teach students they could never reach in person.

http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/online-classes-cross-many-more-borders-than-one_2010-08-31.html

By Melanie Creamer, Portland Press Herald

Last year, he took an Advanced Placement physics B class even though his schedule was full. This year, he’s taking AP physics C, which isn’t offered at the school. It offers more than 300 online courses, from peacemaking to AP statistics, which students might not be able to take because of a scheduling conflict or because the class isn’t offered in the standard curriculum. The online academic program is gaining popularity in school districts across the state as administrators struggle to expand opportunities for students in anticipation of another reduction in state and federal aid for education.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/virtual-high-school-filling-real-gaps-for-schools_2010-08-30.html

By SARAH LEMAGIE, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Three mornings a week, students in Carrie DeValk’s college-level composition class at New Prague High School will report to her classroom just as they would to any other class. The other two days, they can choose to work online in the library — or even at home. Hybrid courses such as DeValk’s, which blend online and in-class lessons, are increasingly common at Twin Cities metro-area high schools. It’s a trend that advocates say is the future of education, giving students the benefits of online learning as well as regular face-to-face time with classmates and teachers.

http://www.startribune.com/local/101769598.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UthPacyPE7iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUHDYaGEP7eyckcUr