Online Learning Update

By Sendy Garcia and Natalie Compton, College Media Network

Taking classes online has become more popular throughout the years. According to the Distance Education and Training Council there are an estimated 4 million students doing coursework “at a distance” at U.S. colleges and universities. There are more students wanting to study online who are looking for an easier way to obtain a degree. All one needs is time and self-motivation. For some students, taking a class on campus and having face-to-face interaction with an instructor is more of a hassle for them; in these cases, online education is the solution. “I find it a lot easier to take online classes,” said James Smith, a second semester criminology major at Fresno City College. “You can work at your own pace and you’re not stressing over being in class if you have a job or have other things to do.”

http://www.fresnocitycollegerampage.com/online-education-a-waste-of-time-1.1958091

by Jasmin Embers, KFIE

The Kentucky Department of Education is requesting school superintendents familiarize faculty and staff with online textbooks after major cuts in textbook funding. This year, schools across the state didn’t get any money for new books. For the last three years, Kentucky schools have taken major cuts in textbook funding. Daviess County Public School Superintendent Tom Shelton, says the district is already taking advantage of online learning materials. “It is a much cheaper, much more economical and much easier, logistical means of managing and getting info to students.”

http://www.wfie.com/story/13958136/ky-schools-taking-advantage-of-online-learning-materials

by Severin Carrell, the Guardian

A new university that teaches students in some of the most remote classrooms in Britain with one of the world’s largest videoconferencing networks has been formally launched in Inverness. The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) has pioneered distance-learning by building one of biggest digital networks of its kind to link 13 colleges and nearly 100 learning centres from the Outer Hebrides to coastal towns in the Highlands and on the north-east coast to Shetland. Awarded full university status by the privy council earlier this week, UHI has effectively rewired the area by installing its own superfast broadband network over an area the size of Belgium, with videoconference suites at 60 sites.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/02/online-learning-scottish-students

By Jenna Johnson and R.S. Zaharna, American University Professor; Washington Post

I tried to keep the discussion going with prompts and questions, but I need more tips on providing quick online feedback. Resorting to “wow” and exclamation marks has its pedagogical limits. I tried to keep comments short …. tried to remember the dots… to signal “ongoing, please continue”… GREAT experience! (Three exclamation marks in digital speak.) I learned a lot, and the students did an incredible job. They provided solid, thoughtful answers that referred to their reading and research. And they seemed to enjoy the experience. One even participated while she was riding the Metro. Not everyone made it to my virtual class, but those who didn’t were catching up, posting their ideas the day after the storm. So the next time it snows, I won’t be ice fishing; I’ll be Facebook fishing.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campus-overload/2011/02/snow_hits_and_class_moves_to_f.html

By University of Leeds, Bioscience Technology

A number of Biological Sciences students have been issued with an iPad as part of an innovative e-learning project. The study, led by Dr Neil Morris, will monitor how students’ use of iPad technology influences their learning. It will look into changes into their academic performance, study skills and overall student experience. Dr Morris explained: “Undergraduate students are increasingly using mobile devices in all aspects of their lives. This ongoing research project is examining students’ use of technology in learning and studying whilst in higher education. The project aims to find out whether undergraduate students could benefit from having access to a mobile device when studying for a degree.”

http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/News/Feeds/2011/02/sections-international-news-students-take-a-bite-out-of-e-learning-with-apple-/

by Leanna Landsmann, Detroit Free Press

In blended learning, computers don’t replace teachers. Blending learning assumes a combination of online and face-to-face instruction. The best blended learning combines topnotch online content and delivery systems with the strongest features of classroom interaction. Ideally, the teacher prompts discussion, personalizes lessons and makes sure that all students are keeping up. Some reports predict that more than 10 million students will participate in online instruction by 2015, up from 2.9 million in 2010. How does it work? At the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS), students study online from home four days a week and come to school for the fifth.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110202/FEATURES01/102020311/1027/FEATURES/Leanna-Landsmann-Blended-learning-tech-teachers?odyssey=nav%7Chead

By: Laura Khalil, Digital Trends

LiveMind.com is changing the landscape of adult continuing education and casual learning by putting teachers and students together in live, online interactive classrooms. With LiveMind, anyone with expertise to share can create and teach a class on any subject and offer it at any price. Users can pick classes based on their interests, the instructor ratings and the given price. Unlike traditional online learning models where students download and interact independently with course material or videos, LiveMind provides an actual virtual classroom where teachers can share any document or application; students can see and speak with the teacher, talk to each other and ask questions just like in a physical classroom. “Just as eBay revolutionized garage sales, LiveMind will revolutionize live learning,” says LiveMind founder and President, David Dean. “As a student you are no longer constrained to the continuing education classes offered in your local community college or community center. And for those that want to teach, now you can bring your expertise directly to an unlimited student population and keep the vast majority of the fees you generate.”

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/livemind-com-launches-open-marketplace-for-online-learning/

by BRIAN MOONEY, Irish Times

By now more than 70,000 adults and school leavers have applied to the CAO for a college place for the 2011-2012 academic year. They do so in the anticipation that by committing four to five years to undergraduate and postgraduate studies, they will increase their chances of developing a successful career into the future. At the end of their academic studies, the successful graduates will have acquired the knowledge and skills to enable them to secure a first step into the employment market in their chosen field of studies. They will also have incurred a debt of at least €30,000 in the process. But what if you could access the entire programme of studies you are now applying for in the comfort of your own home and study it at your leisure without incurring a single cent of cost? A pipedream, you might say. In fact, this facility is already in place and available to anyone with an internet connection.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2011/0201/1224288679138.html

By Heidi Groover, Montanakaimin

When University of Montana adjunct professor Lisa Marie Hyslop heard she would be making the switch from Blackboard to Moodle for her online Introduction to Theater course, she wasn’t expecting much more than a hiccup. “Under what may have been a wrong assumption, I thought it would be like rolling a class over from semester to semester,” Hyslop said. “But there was a lot more rebuilding than I had anticipated.” “I found myself scrambling a little at the end to get it all together,” she said. “Ultimately though I was really happy with the way the course looks.” This semester nearly all online courses in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Law and School of Business Administration are using Moodle, a new online learning platform, said Rick Hughes, director of the School of Media Arts and interim director of UM Online.

http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/faculty-students-adjust-to-moodle-1.1951633

by GWD Today (Greenwood, SC)

Abbe Cannon looks like your typical teenager. She has the typical friends that she hangs out with each day. She will graduate in the spring from Emerald High School. She doesn’t seem to be extraordinary. Until you realize she will also be a 2011 graduate of Piedmont Technical College. Cannon began taking dual enrollment classes in the summer before her junior year and will participate in graduation exercises at Piedmont Tech mere weeks before she receives her high school diploma. She will officially receive her Associate in Science degree six days after marching at Emerald High School.

http://gwdtoday.com/ptc-student-earns-college-degree-and-high-school-diploma-simultaneously-p23745-1.htm

By MONIKA SEYMOUR, Niagra Falls Public Library

With the new year comes a new set of electronic databases available to anyone who has a Niagara Falls Public Library card. Some of these are courtesy of the provincial government, whose investments in libraries helped fund a consortium of libraries to obtain discount rates on the databases. All of the databases, can be accessed from our website at www.nflibrary.ca,and clicking on the database link on the right-hand side. All of these resources are provided free to our library community. We have changed our automobile repair database to a Chilton product, which has much more information in it, including wiring diagrams, step by-step repair procedures and much more. eSequels is a database that lists myriads of book series for all ages, gives brief descriptions of them, and lists books in the series in order.

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2954259

By Eliza Borrello,  ABC

“Law is the new Arts,” is a phrase being thrown around a lot lately. Arts used to be the degree people studied when they wanted a broad knowledge base but were not sure where it would lead. In short, it was cool. Law is now cool, in fact it is one of the most popular degrees Australian universities offer and tertiary institutions are offering it in their droves. Lawyers say the sheer quantity of students is making it increasingly difficult for graduates to get jobs and the emergence of online degrees will increase the already large graduate pool. Last year Edith Cowan University became the first Western Australian university to offer an online law degree.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/31/3125652.htm

by Blake Jones, Post-Star

As the college celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, President Alan Davis says it is as committed as ever to making higher education accessible to everyone. With an emphasis on flexible bachelor and master degree programs for adults – the average student is 35 to 45 years old – degree programs are customized to the individual’s career goals, prior study and work experience. To remove many barriers that may have prevented an adult from going back to school, classes rarely take place in a classroom. Instead, the programs are a mix of independent study, online courses, study groups and residencies (intensive weekend studies with faculty and other students).

http://poststar.com/business/local/article_7fef6aea-2bf6-11e0-b230-001cc4c002e0.html

By Trent Batson, C. Edward Watson, Campus Technology

The master and apprentice, the teacher, the teacher as interpreter of the book, and the book itself has each served, during one epoch or another, as a prime organizing entity or model for our culturally-accepted theory about educating novices. Compared to today, knowledge changed slowly during this long period, and therefore these time-honored models for learning served us well. But a printed book is static, seemingly out of step in this dynamic digital age, and so can no longer serve successfully as the most important central organizing entity for learning today. The student electronic portfolio is superseding the book as the most useful organizing element: It is a dynamic organizing space in a dynamic knowledge process. It is hard, perhaps, to remember now, but until only a decade ago, knowledge and the information necessary to form knowledge was scarce. The delay between discovery, analysis and description, review, publication, dissemination, consensus, and the final formulation intended for novice learners (i.e., a textbook or standard monograph) was measured in years.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/02/02/the-student-portfolio-is-the-new-book.aspx

by (Sally) Xiaoyin Huang, Costa Dedegikas & Jan Walls , EURODL

This article reviews the process of design, development, and implementation of the Modern Greek online courses (Chinese version) in Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU), in collaboration with Chinese university partners. The purpose of this study is (a) to explore the effectiveness of the course design, and (b) to reveal the challenges to popularizing these courses in more Chinese universities. The findings from our survey of students in Beijing Language and Culture University show that the multimedia technology combined with appropriate instructional design can create a good learning environment that leads to effective language learning. Meanwhile, challenges have been revealed during the implementation that calls for future study. Other future research issues on learning the Greek language in China are also discussed.

http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=417

By Scott Manning, US News

More Adults who wish to earn a bachelor’s degree, but the time and transportation commitments that are required of campus-based programs prohibitive, may want to consider studying online. An increasing number of schools are launching web-based initiatives in an effort to accommodate the growing population of nontraditional students, such as military members, working adults and parents. For example, the New Century Learning Consortium (NCLC) is a group of universities that offer online and blended courses, the Crookston Times reports. This week, officials from NCLC announced the addition of a 10th institution. “We welcome the University of Minnesota (U of M), Crookston to NCLC,” Shari McCurdy Smith, director of the NCLC and associate director of the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS).

http://www.usnewsuniversitydirectory.com/articles/university-joins-online-course-consortium_11197.aspx

By Dennis Carter, eCampus News

The number of college students taking online college courses will equal the number of students who attend classes in a traditional classroom by 2015, according to a market research firm whose research contradicts another recent study suggesting a possible leveling off in online learning. The research firm, Ambient Insight, released a report this month that focuses on the varying demand for educational technology tools in K-12 schools and universities. The report also details growth trends that suggest the recent spike in online college courses likely wasn’t a passing phase.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/report-predicts-online-learning-explosion-by-2015/

by Education Investor

England’s higher education funding body has called on universities to make online learning “a central part” of their future plans. In a report pulished yesterday, Hefce’s Online Learning Task Force argued that those institutiosn that embrace online learning be able to develop “responsive, engaging and interactive education that is both high quality and cost effective”. The report recommends that institutions use online learning to enhance student choice; re-train academics to assist in the roll out of online learning; and develop and share open education resources. It also includes a number of case studies, including Kaplan’s work to provide online degrees for the University of Essex; and the University of Liverpool’s online MSc, delivered by Laureate.

http://goo.gl/nIRzN

By Nan Austin, Modesto Bee

Brian Bridges runs the California Learning Resource Network, a California program focused on moving costly and ponderous paper textbooks into the light and lively digital age. The next phase of the Digital Textbook Initiative will be a standards-based evaluation of online courses already on the market, he said. “It’s what textbooks may become,” Bridges said. Students making up flunked courses, taking advanced courses at small campuses and being home-schooled are the primary users of online school courses now, he said. “In two to three years, once we hit the tipping point, then education will be turned on its ear,” Bridges said.

http://www.modbee.com/2011/01/26/1530193/heavy-textbooks-days-are-numbered.html

by Suzanne Craig, the Boise State Arbiter

Online classes are growing increasingly popular, so too are the chances to abuse the honor system. After all, there isn’t any instructor sitting to watch, or hovering over suspicious characters. While this list might seem rudimentary to a particularly clever student, these are the three main ways students can cheat online classes.

http://arbiteronline.com/2011/01/27/cheat-your-way-to-an-a-online-that-is/

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

A Utah-based company has fired a warning shot across the bow of learning management system (LMS) companies, including market leader Blackboard, with the announcement that it’s turning its new LMS into open source. Instructure has publicly released the source code to its Canvas learning management system, which was launched in 2010. Currently, 26 institutions have signed contracts with Instructure, including 17 within the Utah Education Network. The company said that more than 100 other schools are currently evaluating its application. “We’re excited to offer an alternative to the current LMS options,” said Josh Coates, Instructure’s CEO. “We want to open up the market to allow for innovation so teachers and students can be at the forefront of technology.”

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/02/01/new-lms-from-instructure-goes-open-source.aspx