Online Learning Update

by Ina Fried, CNet News.com

Bill Gates has been taking online classes for years. Now, he thinks it’s time to make sure a whole lot more students do the same. Today, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is announcing a new multiyear grant program that will give millions of dollars to those with novel ideas on how to use technology, and in particular online courses, to improve education. The Next Generation Learning Challenges are aimed at both funding new ideas and getting various groups to partner and expand on some of the good ideas that are being tried out, but only at small scale. But with all of the problems facing education, can technology really make that big of an impact? Gates seems to think so.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20019107-56.html

by English Articles

Online courses with multimedia have the potential to generate new patterns of teaching and learning for students. This idea is strongly linked with developments in information and communication technologies; it is also close to the development of new learning needs and new patterns of information access and application and learning. There is evidence that online courses and advanced in multimedia technology can lead to innovation in mainstream education, and may even have effects beyond the realm of education itself. Multimedia and online courses therefore may play a decisive role in the creation of the global knowledge-based society (Michael & Tait, 2002).

http://www.englisharticles.info/2010/10/11/multimedia-online-courses/

by the Express-Times staff

Slightly more than one-quarter of Northampton Community College’s roughly 11,500 students are taking advantage of online courses, according to Jeff Focht, the college’s vice president for academic affairs. While the increase is consistent with a nationwide trend in higher education, at least one trustee would like statistical information that compares results of students in traditional classroom settings against those who take the course online. “I’m not opposed to online learning,” former Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Thomas Doluisio said during Thursday’s meeting of the college’s board of trustees. “I’m skeptical.”

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/northampton-county/index.ssf/2010/10/northampton_community_college_8.html

by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

All work and no play makes a dull syllabus. That is what Sarah Smith-Robbins, director of emerging technologies at the Indiana University at Bloomington, told a somewhat wary audience here at the 2010 Educause conference on Thursday. “Games are absolutely the best way to learn,” she said. “They are superior to any other instructional model.” Smith-Robbins prefaced her remarks by reminding the audience that she was taking an intentionally strong position in order to stoke debate. But she nevertheless argued that games — as simple as tag or as complex as World of Warcraft — can accomplish an array of teaching goals that more traditional pedagogy says it wants to achieve, but often does not.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/10/15/games

By Travis Kaya, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Colleges are putting more course content online with wikis and lecture-capture techniques. Approximately 65 percent of colleges said they are developing a strategic plan to deliver instructional content through lecture capture and podcasting. The survey found, however, that only 4.4 percent of classes now use lecture capture and just 4.5 percent use podcasts. Only 3.5 percent of respondents used lecture capture and 3.9 percent used podcasting last year. Meanwhile, 70.3 percent of institutions said mobile apps are an important part of campus plans to improve instruction and campus services, though only 13 percent of campuses use mobile apps tied to an online learning-management system.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/colleges-plan-for-new-technology-despite-budget-woes/27618?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

By Jeff Young, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Officials at one discussion session here at the Educause conference yesterday spent an hour debating whether or not they should relocate their campuses—taking all the buildings, quads, and people and carefully moving them elsewhere. The focus of the session was virtual worlds, and the academics were discussing whether to take their virtual campuses out of Second Life in protest, after the company that runs the online environment announced the end of a generous education discount.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/academics-discuss-mass-migration-from-second-life/27672?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 by Duncan Folley, Electronic Journal of e-Learning Volume 8 Issue 2 2010, (pp93 100), available online at www.ejel.org

This research paper investigates if the traditional lecture is no longer appropriate for Neomillennial Learning Styles and whether an alternative blended approach could/should be used? Over the past decade the lecture as we know it, has gradually been under attack from constructivists, Twigg (1999) for example argues that the lecture is in the main a one-way process with little or no active participation and does not allow the student an opportunity to learn in a collaborative form. Exley & Dennick (2004) quote an unknown source as saying, “Lecturing is the transference of the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the student without passing through the brains of either” (p3). To counter balance this Race (1999) explores different methods of how active, interactive learning can take place within a lecture. With these and many more damming critiques of the lecture it is no wonder that HE is looking at alternative methods of delivery. This research explores whether there is a place for lectures and if blended learning technology can enhance the learning experience given within a lecture theatre environment. The primary research is based on two questionnaires, the first to a cohort of undergraduate students and the second to academic staff at Leeds Metropolitan University. The results of the research shows that students are demanding more for their tuition fees, this is in agreement with the BBC education reporter Sean Coughlan (2009) who reported that “Fees fuel campus consumer culture” and also discussed the Swansea University’s student paper who following the recent bad weather reported “Students lose £20 a lecture after snow sends university into lockdown.” (par 2). The paper also looks at the effects of increasing demands being placed on students’ time and how this has developed the students into becoming more strategic learners in what they are prepared to attend and how much time they are willing to give to a subject. Therefore the use and availability of blended learning techniques (VLE, podcast) was investigated. The research shows that both students and academics see value in lectures, however the traditional didactic form of lecturing needs to change and academics need to embrace new

http://www.ejel.org/issue/download.html?idArticle=120

By Nathan Hansen, Rosemount Town Pages

The days of bulky backpacks and heavy books are slowly coming to an end at Rosemount High School. As the school updates its textbooks, teachers are turning more frequently to online editions to open up new opportunities for learning. The school’s French and Spanish departments added online textbooks two years ago. Students still have traditional books, but they don’t have to haul them home every night for homework. And French teacher Larae Ellingson said the addition of online texts gives teachers and students alike new options.

http://www.rosemounttownpages.com/event/article/id/25869/group/News/

By Amy Hetzner, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Teaching without being able to see a student’s puzzled face or immediately answer a question can be a challenge even for a veteran of the education profession. And, when that environment is a virtual school, tackling the technological proficiency requirements can be a hurdle, as well. “You have to be very creative with the technology and your lesson presentation,” said Trina Michalsen, who teaches language arts and math to middle schoolers at the Northern Ozaukee School District’s Wisconsin Virtual Learning school. As virtual classes with all of the instruction taking place over computers have become more popular in Wisconsin, training teachers on how to employ new online instructional techniques also has become more prevalent.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/104644584.html

By ROXANN MILLER, Public Opinion Online

The face of education is changing to meet the demands of today’s busy, computer savvy students. Online learning is on the rise as more students opt for its convenience. Online enrollment has more than doubled from an estimated 1.6 million students in fall 2002 to 3.94 million in fall 2007. It grew by 12.9 percent from fall 2006 to fall 2007, according to the annual Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) survey of online learning. Todd Tritle, Greencastle-Antrim Blended Schools Program coordinator, said more educational institutions are offering online classes. “That’s just the way everybody’s moving.

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/living/ci_16300888

by Illinois News Watch

The Sloan Consortium announces its inaugural class of Sloan-C Fellows. Recognizing unusual professional distinction, the Sloan-C Board of Directors confers the distinction upon individual members of the Sloan Consortium who have:

outstanding and extraordinary qualifications in the field of online learning;

significant experience in online learning or an allied field;

a record of distinguished service to Sloan-C or the field; and

extraordinary contributions or leadership in the field of online learning.

(for the list, please see the URL below)

http://www.illinoisnewswatch.com/sloan-consortium-announces-inaugural-class-of-sloan-c-fellows/

by Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Get Ideas

Last month’s post, Learning in the Social Web, touched upon how recent growth in online classes have reshaped the higher education enrollment landscape. More than doubling from just over 1.5 million in 2002 to nearly 4 million in 2007, online students now represent quite a chunk of the pie. Teaching online is demanding, and doing it effectively requires a unique skillset and toolkit from classroom instruction. How is faculty coping with this new paradigm? And how can campus leaders help? Last year, a report was shared by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and Sloan-C that illuminated an important and provocative back channel about faculty perceptions of online teaching. While the report did not include 2-year institutions (which absorb more than half of our nation’s online enrollments), it did reveal increasingly solid engagement in online teaching at public 4-year universities, noting that more than one third (34.4%) of faculty have taught online.

http://www.getideas.org/getinsight-blog/integrating-online-teaching-campus-culture

by John D. Meyer, Amanda C. Barefield; JDLA

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the availability and effectiveness of administrative support elements for online teaching faculty, and introduce a faculty validated Matrix for use as a guide in development of administrative support for online programs. When administrators make decisions about the infrastructure support needs of a current or planned online teaching program, these decisions are often based on external expert advice rather than on the advice of experienced ground level faculty. Online teaching faculty are the best source of advice and information on what works and what does not. With this premise in mind faculty at a premier medical university were surveyed to find out what elements are important to the development of an effective online teaching program. Faculty feedback was used to validate an Online Teaching Infrastructure Matrix designed to help campus administration evaluate the current administrative support they provide to online teaching programs.

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/Fall133/meyer_barfield133.html

by Daniel W. Surry, Adrian G. Grubb, David C. Ensminger & Jenelle Ouimette; CJLT

This paper describes the results of a survey to determine the factors that serve as barriers or enablers to the implementation of web-based learning in colleges of education. A total of 229 faculty members responded to the survey. Of these, 104 had never taught a web-based course while 125 had taught at least one online course. Results of the survey showed that Education faculty in this sample had an overall neutral position about the readiness of colleges of education to implement web-based learning. The survey found that financial resources, infrastructure, and support were seen as barriers to implementation while organizational culture, policies, a commitment to learning, and evaluation were seen as enablers to implementation. Open-ended responses showed that there were interesting differences based on the perceived lack of time and perceived lack of social interaction between faculty who have taught online and those who have not.

http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/543/266

Elizabeth Murphy, CJLT

The study reported on in this paper used a framework of benefits, challenges and solutions to categorize data from a design experiment using synchronous online communication for learning French as a second language (FSL). Participants were 92 Grade 6, FSL students and four teachers from urban and rural areas of Newfoundland, Canada. Data collection relied on online observation, teachers’ use of blogs and an online discussion forum, face-to-face planning and reflection meetings for teachers as well as interviews with all participants. Benefits included independence and peer-learning; authenticity and motivation; anonymity and confidence; enhanced self-esteem. Challenges related to teacher multi-tasking; poor sound quality; technical problems; momentum; grouping; scheduling. Solutions included use of student moderators; audio tutorials and direct messaging; activity tutorials; technical support and capacity building. The categories and their subcategories were grouped into two themes of positive affect and student-centered learning.

http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/539/262

by Annegret Goold, Jo Coldwell and Annemieke Craig, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

As online learning environments continue to evolve, both teachers and students need to adapt to make the most of opportunities afforded by these environments for teaching and learning. The focus of this paper is on the changing role undertaken by tutors in online learning environments. We present a brief review of the current perspectives on the roles and responsibilities suggested for the e-tutor for effective teaching, and then report on a study where roles of e-tutors in a large wholly online unit were examined. The study supports the view that although the role of the e-tutor is similar to that of the face to face tutor in some respects, there are sufficient differences to make e-tutoring challenging to those who have not undertaken such online activities previously. Ongoing professional development is required to meet the changing demands of the technological environment, as well as the changing needs of students.

http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/goold.html

by Günter Daniel Rey, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

Undergraduate students (N = 97) used an introductory text and a computer simulation to learn fundamental concepts about statistical analyses (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis and General Linear Model). Each learner was randomly assigned to one cell of a 2 (with or without instructional advice) x 2 (with or without time advice) x 2 (with or without learning questions) between subjects factorial design. Time spent with the simulation as well as retention and transfer tests were used as dependent measures. Neither the instructional advice to examine the different parameters in a simulation systematically presented immediately before the simulation nor the learning questions (without feedback) presented during the simulation improves learners’ retention or transfer performances. Students who were asked to employ more time on the computer simulation immediately before they want to finish it spent considerably more time with the simulation and performed better on retention, but not on transfer than did students for whom this request was absent. The results were discussed on the basis of the extended Scientific Discovery as Dual Search model and in conjunction with adaptive computer simulations.

http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/rey.html

Kay Kimber and Claire Wyatt-Smith, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

In this increasingly convergent and digital world, young people are reportedly using new media with high engagement outside school, yet disengaged in those schools where technology access is low or restricted. Such an apparent disconnection is magnified when predictions of their futures are tied to requisites including technological expertise, adaptability to change, innovative capacities and complex problem-solving abilities. Such future oriented capacities challenge traditional views that basic literate and numerate proficiency is sufficient for academic success. They also raise questions about the sufficiency of digital engagement for developing higher order critical and creative skills. Collectively, these future oriented capacities heighten educational imperatives for improving the quality of young people’s learning outcomes in this rapidly changing online world. This article addresses these issues. It draws on diverse literature sources and an Australian research study (2003-2008) into secondary students’ curricular digital literacies (Appendix A) to present conceptual advances in understandings about how to recognise, talk about and value signs of quality learning in student-created multimodal products. Finally, the article offers an assessment framework with potential for assisting students and teachers to access core concepts and mobilise those essential capacities for enhancing performance when using and creating knowledge online.

http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/kimber.html

by Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

8 easy steps to put even your most reluctant faculty on the pathway to social media mastery. In spite of the fact that web 2.0-enabled tools and services are supposed to be easy to set up and simple to use, some faculty in higher ed never got that memo. They don’t know a tweet from a tag, identify Ning as a four-letter word for “river in China”; and would probably guess that Squidoo is a friend of SpongeBob and Patrick. This guide shares foolproof, unintimidating methods for incorporating social media apps into the classroom—guaranteed to work for even the most squeamish scholar. CT gathered advice from faculty members and other experts from institutions and organizations around the country who have experienced real success in helping timorous teachers incorporate social media in their classrooms.

http://goo.gl/qr8L

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

According to Jeff King, in 10 years people are going to have a new understanding about the true value of the learning management system (LMS)–as a tool for keeping track of learning outcomes. “And that’s gold,” proclaimed the director for the Koehler Center for Teaching Excellence at Texas Christian University, a private college with 8,800 students in Ft. Worth. The Koehler Center’s job is to work with instructors in developing their teaching and learning skills. “If I’m the instructor, I’m assessing my students, and I’m making discoveries about my course design–and that really invigorates teaching.” If it’s so great, why do only 80 percent of the faculty at Texas Christian use the LMS? Why not all of them? King wants to do all he can to get those one in five holdouts into the fold, short of a mandate by the faculty senate. That effort involves a multi-pronged effort encompassing faculty training, excellent technical support, a pedagogical refocus on learning outcomes, and ultimately allowing students to pressure faculty to use the LMS.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/09/29/getting-faculty-buy-in-for-the-lms.aspx

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Two major education software players–Blackboard and K12–have announced plans to jointly develop a learning platform specifically targeting students taking remedial courses. Under the agreement, the project will deliver K12’s adaptive courses through Blackboard Learn. K12’s curriculum, which currently caters to K-12 students, uses interactive demonstrations and animations, CDs and videos, printed books with lots of illustrations, hands-on materials for experiments, online discussions, and assessments to test mastery of a subject. Remediation is more the norm than the exception in community colleges. According to research by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is investing its philanthropic muscle in this area, up to 60 percent of students enrolling in community colleges must take at least one remedial course. Although schools are investing about $2 billion a year in remediation, only about one in four students who take these courses actually go on to earn a degree within eight years of enrolling.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/10/13/new-blackboard-and-k12-project-to-tackle-cc-remediation.aspx