Online Learning Update

by Kereen Tatham-Maye

Like face-to-face instruction, online learning environments require FOUR key factors for effective and meaningful learning to happen. What are they?

Elements of Effective Learning Environments (Attributes of Learning) – According to Anderson(2003), there are four elements that must be considered for any effective learning environment – whether face-to-face, mixed-mode, or online. These elements are:

1. Learner-centred (meeting the needs of all forms of student-support such as the needs of teachers, institutions, and society)…
2. Knowledge-centred (providing opportunities for students to explore knowledge resources)…
3. Community-centred (promoting the creation of new knowledge through collaboration in communities of learners and communities of inquiry)…
4. Assessment-centred (providing opportunities for the assessment of students’ learning by involving the teacher, peers, self and other knowledge experts)…

http://www.suite101.com/content/online-learning–from-a-teaching-and-learning-perspective-a355740

by Sticknz, sticK

Many, if not most, online learning platforms are simply content plonked up on a site, from which students try to take notes and cut and paste. As a learning environment however, this is nowhere near good enough says OceanBrowser CEO Rodney Tamblyn. OceanBrowser has developed a soon to be launched web application that turns around the typical content management system approach to putting up course material, and created a teacher and student friendly system that is set to revolutionise the internet-based learning experience. Tamblyn’s team are initially concentrating on the higher end, medical school type environment, and backing this into a deep understanding of the psychology and living and working environment of its participants.

http://sticknz.net/2011/03/04/cracking-higher-end-online-education-learning-a-segue-way-into-other-markets/

By Dawn Veltman, The Muskegon Chronicle

Stanley-MillsAndrew Vanden Heuvel, 28, teaches advanced physics and astronomy at Michigan Virtual School. He has been chosen as one of five finalists nominated for the second annual National Online Teacher of the Year Award for K-12 learning. Vanden Heuvel works from his home office in Grand Haven. There’s outer space and then there’s virtual space, and Andrew Vanden Heuvel, 28, is using one to teach the other. The Grand Haven resident teaches advanced placement physics and astronomy at Michigan Virtual School. He’s so good at it, he has been chosen as one of five finalists nominated for the second annual National Online Teacher of the Year Award for K-12 learning.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/03/grand_haven_online_teacher_rea.html

by Jennifer Wholey, Medill Reports

There’s no difference between learning college-level materials online or in person, at least in nutrition. Knowledge acquisition and class achievement are on par with each other, whether you’re looking at a screen or a professor in the flesh, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. “Online nutrition education is a growing trend, as is all online education. It can be effective and it can be very satisfactory,” said Nancy Cohen, study author and nutrition department head at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=182460

By Lisa Schencker, The Salt Lake Tribune

The Utah house has moved to advance online education opportunities in Utah, but not before taking out a controversial provision that could have sent some public school money to private providers. Originally, bill SB65 would have allowed students to take online courses offered by public and private providers to be certified by the state school board, and the funding would have followed the students, instead of a local district getting all the cash for that student. But House lawmakers voted to change the bill Wednesday to ensure that only public schools, including charter schools, would be able to receive state payment for offering online classes.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51400498-76/bill-money-online-private.html.csp

by the Next Web

Twitter released a set of numbers demonstrating its tremendous growth worldwide. We love Twitter here at The Next Web so we felt compelled to share:

Facts include:

Twitter reached 1 billion tweets in 3 years, 2 months and 1 day. Now Twitter users send 1 billion tweets per week.

One year ago, users sent an average of 50 million tweets per day. Today, that average is 140 million. And the number is growing: There were 177 million tweets sent out last Friday on March 11, 2011.

http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2011/03/14/twitter-users-now-sending-1-billion-tweets-per-week/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29

by Tony Bates, Facutly Commons

Ontario provides at last some system-wide data about completion rates, putting to bed the lie about online courses always having high drop-out rates. The Ontario completion rates also suggest that the quality of online learning is consistently strong throughout their institutions (or that their students are particularly determined). This is probably the most significant statistical study on online learning in Canada. It provides an important baseline for future studies. It shows that Ontario has a very lively, extensive and effective online education scene. It provides an essential baseline for the development of the Ontario Online Institute. And lastly, it’s really nice to report some good news on a very cold snowy day that is all too familiar to Ontarians, but quite unexpected in Vancouver at the end of February.

https://facultycommons.macewan.ca/headlines/hard-data-on-online-learning-in-ontario

by Education Today

Florida State University’s College of Education recently announced that it will begin offering a certificate program to help train secondary school teachers in digital learning, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. Officials told the news provider that the new program, which is called Blended Online Learning and Teaching, will begin in May. The curriculum is offered online for K-12 instructors during the summer months.

http://www.classesandcareers.com/education/2011/03/02/florida-state-university-offers-online-program-in-digital-learning/

By Whitney Bryen bryen@coloradodaily.com

The University of Colorado is updating its ten-year-old online learning system this fall and simplicity is key. Students and faculty said the current system is too complicated and deters users from taking advantage of what the system, known as CULearn, has to offer. The new system, Desire2Learn will offer new, user-friendly features like social networking, personalized content and portability. Debra Keyek-Franssen, director of academic technology for CU`s Information Technology Services, said the decade-old system no longer provides the functionality that current students and professors expect.

http://www.coloradodaily.com/cu-boulder/ci_17457281

by ArtistWorks via the San Francisco Chronicle

ArtistWorks® sees the new iPad™ features as being a game-changer for broader use of online visual education. With the new camera and iMovie features, students will now be able to use one mobile device for personalized instruction with master teachers from anywhere in the world. These new developments bring online education technology to the next generation while making it possible for users to take and make their lessons anywhere from an airport lounge to their couch at home. “The iPad 2 is a game-changer for both our online teachers and their students,” said ArtistWorks Co-Founder and CEO David Butler.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/03/03/prweb5128924.DTL

By Lisa Schencker, Salt Lake Tribune

Lawmakers revived and advanced a bill Wednesday that aims to expand online learning opportunities, partly by directing education dollars toward public and private providers. The Senate voted 17-12 on Wednesday to advance SB65 to the House after the bill failed on the Senate floor Tuesday. The bill aims to expand learning opportunities by allowing students to take online courses offered by public and private providers to be certified by the state school board. The funding would follow the students, instead of a local district getting all the cash for that student.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51350337-76/bill-dollars-learning-online.html.csp

by IDEAL-NM

IDEAL-NM provides eLearning services to PK-12 schools, higher education institutions, and government agencies. We reduce geographic and other barriers to educational opportunity while increasing the digital literacy skills youth and adult learners need to participate in a global economy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyjurGruDAU&feature=youtube_gdata

By Jessica Moore, the UK Independent

Some students never set foot in a lecture theatre. They never pace the library aisles, queue for a computer or struggle to get their voices heard at a seminar. In fact, some students manage to complete their degrees without so much as leaving their homes – and, according to Julie Stone, business development manager at the University of Derby, they are among the most dedicated. “Learning online requires commitment,” she says. “When we started developing online programmes, in 2001, it was a marginal activity because there simply weren’t the students.” That changed in 2008, when applications suddenly flooded in – there are now about 1,500 online students on Derby’s books. “We anticipate significant growth over the next five years,” says Stone. “We’re investing in online education as a core part of our business.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/going-the-distance-why-online-learning-is-gaining-ground-2237534.html

By John Martin, Evansville Courier & Press

As a newcomer to the state’s higher education scene, WGU Indiana has been working hard to get its name out. The online program has a high-profile endorser in Gov. Mitch Daniels, who signed an executive order last year to establish the first statewide branch of Western Governors University, which is based in Salt Lake City. Daniels has appeared in the institution’s advertising, which promotes WGU Indiana as a way for those with many life responsibilities to earn college credit at their own pace. “The real focus is on helping adult learners, people with some college but who didn’t get a degree make themselves more marketable,” Chancellor Allison Barber said. WGU Indiana offers more than 50 bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/mar/06/online-schools-adsget-on-track/

By James D. Wolf Jr., Post-Tribune

The Porter Township School Corp. is among the first to explore a new form of public “home schooling.” On a recent day, most of the students in the district weren’t in their classrooms. They were in their bedrooms and living rooms doing their classwork. Yet they’ll get credit for attending school via the Internet, a method of learning school officials say will prepare them well for college. The district, south of Valparaiso, is in the final stages of an online classes experiment begun last year at Boone Grove High School. “It’s the closest thing to college, besides college itself,” Boone Grove High School senior Ian Ansburg said.

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/4007603-418/online-learning-extends-classroom.html

by Project Direct 2010

On March 2nd 2011, educators from Oregon meet in Second Life to discuss online learning and classrooms. This short video includes some highlights of what they said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaX8MwGdpc8&feature=youtube_gdata

by Russell Poulin, WCET

The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), a leading cooperative, non-profit provider of solutions and services that accelerate the adoption of effective online learning practices and policies in American post-secondary education, has announced a targeted advisement service established to help institutions respond to new regulations proposed by the U.S. Department of Education. The new State Authorization Network (SAN) responds to the October 29, 2010, U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) new “program integrity” regulations. The 90-page set of regulations on program integrity and student aid programs covers a wide range of issues, including Gainful Employment, Incentive Compensation, and Credit-Hour Definition; Institutions will be required to demonstrate that they are in compliance with state requirements applicable to distance learning in any state in which they enroll students by July 1, 2011.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/03/prweb5135324.htm

by Maureen Downey, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Interesting Georgia Supreme Court ruling today that an online high school meets the definition of “attending school.” This case deals with child support, but I thought the legal finding on the virtual schooling was worth sharing. A lower court had ruled that the online school did not satisfy the child support provision that the child be attending school to continue receiving support from his father, but the high court disagreed.

http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/03/07/georgia-supreme-court-online-courses-qualify-as-attending-school/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog

By Sally Blount, Petroleum World

The gap between human and artificial intelligence seems to be getting smaller… on Feb. 16, IBM’s “Watson” computer outsmarted two Jeopardy champions. A recent edition of TIME magazine explored our quest for human perfection and the rapidly emerging human-technology interface. And the current issue of Atlantic magazine reports the ever-closer results of the Turing Test—which determines whether a human or computer program can hold the most human-like conversation for five minutes. As I read about these technological advancements, I can’t help thinking that, if given a chance, I would love to have a chip planted in my brain that would help me remember names. I meet so many people every day from across our 60,000-person community of students, administrators, faculty, alumni and corporate partners. I would feel so much better and be more effective if, with a little help from technology, I could remember everybody’s names every time I saw them.

http://www.petroleumworld.com/sf11030601.htm

By Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker, Innosite Institute

Online learning is sweeping across America. In the year 2000, roughly 45,000 K–12 students took an online course. In 2009, more than 3 million K–12 students did. What was originally a distance- learning phenomenon no longer is. Most of the growth is occurring in blended-learning environments, in which students learn online in an adult-supervised environment at least part of the time. As this happens, online learning has the potential to transform America’s education system by serving as the backbone of a system that offers more personalized learning approaches for all students. In Disrupting Class,* the authors project that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be delivered online. This pattern of growth is characteristic of a disruptive innovation—an innovation that transforms a sector characterized by products or services that are complicated, expensive, inaccessible, and centralized into one with products or services that are simple, affordable, accessible, convenient, and often customizable.

http://www.innosightinstitute.org/media-room/publications/education-publications/the-rise-of-k-12-blended-learning/

by EastDay

Prestigious local university courses and lectures – such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War, Chinese medicine and culture – will soon debut on iTunes U and other public platforms as part of an open course program. Inspired by the Harvard and Yale open courses, which are highly popular among locals, local universities, including Fudan University and Jiao Tong University, have started efforts to make their courses and lecture resources available to the public. Jiao Tong plans to launch the first batch of 100-plus courses on iTunes U and Open Course Ware – a free course–sharing platform initiated by MIT a decade ago – in September. Fudan, which holds 2,000-plus lectures annually, will also grant people free online access to the lectures with the permission of speakers.

http://english.eastday.com/e/110305/u1a5760401.html