Online Learning Update

By Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer

For the second-straight year, the number of students attending Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has set a record. The college’s fall student headcount is 7,392, or 324 more than in fall 2009, representing a 4.58 percent increase, according to figures the college released recently. The numbers continue a four-year growth trend. Since the 2007 fall semester, the college has added 1,871 degree- and diploma-seeking students. “We have added class sections, and some of our classes are larger than in years past,” Gaye McConnell, the college’s vice president of enrollment management and student services, said in announcing the latest figures. “We’re also offering significantly more online classes.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/26/1715511/college-enrolls-record-number.html

By LIZ SWITZER, The Bowling Green Daily News

Western Kentucky University students just a decade ago walked along shaded tree-lined streets and picturesque rolling hills to get to class. Today, with just the click of a mouse, they can attend courses in their pajamas without leaving the sofa. Online courses at WKU have seen dramatic increases in enrollment in just the last five years – moving WKU from a traditional brick or residential institution to more of a “brick and click” school augmented with a mix of virtual classes. In fact, there has been a 161.9 percent increase in non-campus-based credit hours in just the last five years, according to Dale Brown, WKU interim associate vice president for enrollment management.

http://bgdailynews.com/articles/2010/09/26/news/news3.txt

by Angelita Williams, eLearn Magazine

Like most of the students who enroll in an online course thinking it’ll be a walk in the park, instructors also fantasize about the simplicity of teaching a course from the confines of their own home. Maybe that’s why the rise of online education went from 3.2 million in 2006 to 12 million in 2009, according to research firm Ambient Insight. But despite the rise in popularity of online degree programs, many instructors still have a skewed idea of what teaching “distance education” truly entails. Below are the top three myths about online education, a must-read before you decide to teach.

http://blog.acm.org/elearn/2010/09/3_biggest_myths_about_teaching.html

By Dan Nakaso, Star Advertiser

At Honolulu Community College yesterday, several students said they are simultaneously enrolled at Manoa but find it cheaper to take courses at HCC. Some HCC students who cannot get necessary classes at either HCC or Manoa also said they simultaneously take online courses at other UH campuses. “We call it ‘swirling’ and it’s a national phenomenon,” said Linda Johnsrud, UH vice president for academic planning and policy. “It’s not a straight line anymore where students go straight through at one campus. With the increased ability to transfer courses throughout the system and the difference in tuition, students are savvy. We have more students starting their academic careers at the CCs with the intent of transferring to any of the three four-year campuses.”

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20100924_UH_enrollment_hits_record.html

by Star Africa

Another excellent example of e-learning initiatives in Africa is what Unesco set up for years across the continent. Unesco website: a huge and rich portal which includes resources such as toolkits and educational materials. That site is an e-learning tool in itself! Unesco promotes human rights including universal access, education and equity in education. Unesco set up partnerships with training / education centres and teachers and strongly supports ICT for education, distance learning as major opportunities for Africa (and elsewhere) using open source/free educational content and tools.

http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/news-tech/article/e-learning-great-achievments-so-far-88636.html

by Megan Driscoll, Education Portal

Raymond Schroeder, director of the UIS Center for Online Learning and winner of the 2010 Sloan-C award for leadership, notes that the economic downturn has led many students to try finishing degree programs as quickly as possible. Online learning is popular among these students because it offers them the scheduling flexibility they need for accelerated learning. Dr. Anthony Picciano, a professor in the Education departments at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center and winner of a 2010 Sloan-C award for individual achievement in online education, has made a similar observation about his online students. In his online courses, most of which are graduate-level, Dr. Picciano typically teaches adults who also have careers and families. For these students, blended and online learning are invaluable tools that allow them to fulfill diverse responsibilities.

http://education-portal.com/articles/Celebrating_Excellence_in_Online_Education.html

By Mark Sample, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The pedagogical value and the challenges of integrating student blogging into your teaching is a recurring topic on ProfHacker. Some of our earliest posts dealt with student blogging, and we have revisited the issue frequently. Most recently, Jeff and Julie wrote about that age-old question—How are you going to grade this?—when it comes to evaluating classroom blogs. Jeff and Julie offer a number of fantastic pointers, and they also refer to a blogging rubric that I use in my own teaching. I’ve never directly described how I grade student blog posts on ProfHacker, but I think it’s about time to share what has been a valuable tool, and to encourage professors to adopt and modify it to fit their own needs.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/A-Rubric-for-Evaluating/27196/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Ed

This is arguably the world’s largest university, with 3.2 million students and counting. It has its own satellite in orbit to connect the campus with hundreds of TV stations across the country that broadcast its lectures. In the past few years it has moved online, which has brought the university’s content to an even broader audience – the world. The university now claims about 45,000 students abroad through its Web-based courses, and last week it held a meeting here for virtual institutions in other countries that serve as partners in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and other countries.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Amid-CowsCacophony-an/27186/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

One night, California Education Secretary Bonnie Reiss watched the “Minute to Win It” show with her 5- and 7-year-old nephews. The contestants obviously did their homework: They watched YouTube videos to learn the techniques they needed to pass 60-second challenges involving household items. California education leaders are determining how to use digital content to help students learn, both at the K-12 and the university level. In 32 courses this fall, five campuses in the California State University (CSU) system started a digital content licensing pilot that takes the place of textbooks. And in four school districts, a pilot program replaced the algebra textbooks of 400 eighth-graders with iPads containing Algebra I applications.

http://www.convergemag.com/policy/California-Explores-Digital-Learning-Content.html