Online Learning Update

July 31, 2011

Free Online Learning Classes

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:09 am

by the Guide to Online Schools

With free online classes, you can watch lectures from professors from top universities and even skim their notes, without spending a penny or leaving the comfort of your home.OpenCourseWare Consortium is an innovative and comprehensive database of free online courses from elite colleges like Yale, Stanford, and MIT. With classes on everything from French Literature to Calculus, the only thing limiting your learning is your broadband connection and the amount of free time you have.

http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/articles/tips-and-tools/online-classes

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Mini-MBA Online Learning Programs Can Offer Big Educational Benefits

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:05 am

By Catherine Groux, US News

More Many employees who hold business-related positions want to expand their credentials without having to spend too much money. For these individuals, mini-master of business administration (MBA) programs can often be suitable solutions, as they allow people to improve their skills and resumes with a cost that is usually between about $2,000 and $4,000. Typically, these classes can give students specialized knowledge of the field in a few days or a few weeks, depending on the program. Additionally, the courses are normally taught by MBA professors from the institution.

http://www.usnewsuniversitydirectory.com/articles/mini-mba-programs-can-offer-big-educational-benefi_11645.aspx

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Online Learning is a Great Option for Tech-Savvy Students

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:01 am

By Catherine Groux, US News

A new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that online education can be a good fit for today’s college students, as they are typically members of a tech-savvy generation. According to the study, approximately 98% of undergraduate students and 99% of graduate degree seekers use the Internet, compared to 75% of all adults. Since many young adults are tech-savvy, online education can be an excellent option for earning a degree. using the Internet, many college students are active on social networking websites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn. While about 60% of all adults use social media, approximately 86% of undergraduates and 82% of graduate students said they do the same.

http://www.usnewsuniversitydirectory.com/articles/online-education-is-a-great-option-for-tech-savvy_11637.aspx

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July 30, 2011

How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring, Harvard Business School

Costs have risen to unprecedented heights, and new competitors are emerging. A disruptive technology, online learning, is at work in higher education, allowing both for-profit and traditional not-for-profit institutions to rethink the entire traditional higher education model. Private universities without national recognition and large endowments are at great financial risk. So are public universities, even prestigious ones such as the University of California at Berkeley. Price-sensitive students and fiscally beleaguered legislatures have begun to resist costs that consistently rise faster than those of other goods and services. With the advent of high-quality online learning, there are new, less expensive institutional alternatives to traditional universities, their standing enhanced by changes in accreditation standards that play to their strengths in demonstrating student learning outcomes. These institutions are poised to respond cost-effectively to the national need for increased college participation and completion.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6746.html

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Oklahoma college students, bookstores look to online technologies for cost-savings on textbooks

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:04 am

BY DARLA SLIPKE, Oklahoman

University of Oklahoma junior Lindsay Green rents her textbooks and uses a free library reserve program to help save money. Oklahoma college students, bookstores look for cost-savings on textbooks Still, she spent nearly $400 last semester on books and supplies. Green, a political science student from Aledo, Texas, estimates she would have paid about $900 if she bought her books. Students at four-year public colleges spent an average of $1,137 on books and supplies last academic year, according to the College Board, a national nonprofit membership organization that works to promote excellence and equity in education. Rising costs have colleges, students and professors looking for cheaper alternatives, like the textbook rental and reserve programs Green uses. Other alternatives include shopping for bargains online, sharing books and using online resources. In many cases, those alternatives can save students hundreds of dollars a semester. Options, however, are still somewhat limited.

http://newsok.com/article/3588650

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Online learning school rule struck down

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:01 am

by Christopher Magan and Christopher Magan and Meagan Engle, Dayton Daily News

The latest effort to increase oversight of the rapidly growing online education industry hit a wall this month when a federal court struck down a new U.S. Department of Education regulation that would have required schools to register in every state where they have students.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/online-school-rule-struck-down-1214419.html

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July 29, 2011

Regis University and Universidad del Turabo Launch First Dual Language Online Learning Master’s Programs in the U.S.

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by Regis University

Regis University and Universidad del Turabo (UT), a member of the Ana G. Méndez University System (AGMUS), have partnered to create the first, one of its kind Dual Language Online Master’s Programs offering two masters’ degrees — one in Business Administration and the other in Organizational Leadership. The initial group of online students will kick off their programs with classes beginning on August 28, 2011. According to the 2010 Census, the U.S. Hispanic population grew by 43 percent in the last decade, which has in turn increased the need for bilingual professionals. The Dual Language Online Master’s Programs were created to meet this employment opportunity tide. “We are finding more and more that everything from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies have an increased demand for bilingual professionals. We wanted to create a program that prepares working professionals for a competitive job market. To achieve this, we designed courses that fit their busy schedules while providing an opportunity to improve their language skills,” said Luis Zayas, Vice President for National and International Affairs of the Ana G. Méndez University System and President of AGMUS Ventures, Inc. an organization created by Regis University and AGMUS to promote dual language university education.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/regis-university-universidad-del-turabo-launch-first-dual-language-online-masters-programs-1539933.htm

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Online Learning, Expanding the Education Envelope

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:04 am

by ivTar News

Today’s emerging online learning market is booming with activity and with focus on flexible learning content assets such as learning objects and podcasts, the elearning based education is increasing the capabilities and reach of the overall education system of India. As education institutes taste success in terms of deploying and maintaining e-learning systems, services associated with eLearning, including content creation and platform integration services such as “Virtual classrooms” are increasingly gaining popularity in India.  Online learning environments are taking advantage of synchronous experiences such as classes, seminars, and e-mentoring, as well as digital online courses and flexible learning content creation and deployment opportunities.

http://www.itvarnews.net/news/12971/elearning-expanding-the-education-envelope.html

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More employers value online learning degrees

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

by the Atlanta Journal Constitution

A recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management and commissioned by eLearners.com agrees. It found that 87 percent of 449 randomly selected HR professionals viewed online degrees more favorably than they did five years ago. Seventy-nine percent said that they had hired a job applicant with an online degree in the past 12 months. There’s been an explosion in virtual education in the past decade; and a more recent shift in the debate about online learning, according to Jason B. Huett, associate dean of online development and USG eCore at the University of West Georgia. “The jury is no longer out,” he said. Research has found online learning to be just as effective as face-to-face education. Now that the delivery method has credibility, the debate has moved to comparing the quality between online educational programs. “Online degrees are not all equal,” he said.

http://www.ajc.com/business/more-employers-value-online-1026735.html

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July 28, 2011

Amazon releases e-textbooks for the Kindle

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by the Tennessean

College students say they’re looking forward to paying about $20 for electronic versions of $100 textbooks and carrying them on a Kindle instead of on their backs. Online book retailer Amazon announced last week it will offer college textbook downloads to its Kindle reader and through Kindle applications on laptops, iPads and smartphones. All the devices will allow highlighting and notations, content users can keep after the rental expires. It’s the newest segment of a small but burgeoning e-textbook market. About 5 percent of college textbook sales are digital, but the industry estimates that could be 20 percent by 2014.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110721/NEWS04/307210059/Amazon-releases-e-textbooks-Kindle

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Forum: Innovation needed in school funding to advance online learning opportunities

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:04 am

by the Athens Banner Herald

Georgia students already can choose to take classes from outside their own school. The Georgia Virtual School offers a wide variety of choices, from foreign languages to Advanced Placement courses, but the availability of these classes is constrained by a limit on the number of classes funded in the state budget. In addition to the Georgia Virtual School, the Georgia Cyber Academy provides full-time enrollment for K-12 students throughout the state. The Cobb, Gwinnett and Forsyth County school systems also have created their own virtual schools. Finally, high school students can take dual-credit classes online from Georgia’s many technical colleges and universities. Unfortunately, schools are not encouraging these options because they “lose” funding. As these options expand, the state should develop an easy way for students to review their many options and provide for a seamless funding process.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/072311/opi_861042808.shtml

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Online Learning: Building a college without walls

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:01 am

by Aoife Connors, Irish Medical Times

The training method at COSECSA is bound by the principle of a ‘college without walls’. The College has no physical teaching buildings and instead training is undertaken in accredited hospitals. Thus far, the collaboration programme has established and equipped 18 ICT labs in Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. A dedicated e-learning platform has been launched, known as schoolforsurgeons.net. In March 2010, new online courses began for continuous development and a COSECSA website has been designed. COSECSA has two programmes: the membership that is a certificate of competence in surgery at general medical officer grade, requiring two years’ training; and the fellowship, a specialist qualification in general, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, urology or plastic surgery, which requires five years’ training.

http://www.imt.ie/features-opinion/2011/07/building-a-college-without-walls.html

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July 27, 2011

Learning Taxonomy Applied Online: Kathy Schrock’s Bloomin’ iPad

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by Kathy Schrock

Links to iPad applications that target the various levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. Schrock only included free apps that were “content-neutral” to make them usable across the curriculum. I also tried to include apps for the iPad only, but a few iPhone apps may have snuck in! Each app image is clickable, and you will be taken to the iTunes Store to learn more about each one.

http://kathyschrock.net/ipadblooms/

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Online Learning Community

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:05 am

by Missouri Beginning Farming

The Missouri Beginning Farmer Program’s Online Learning Community is a tool to help beginning farmers learn from each other, essentially it is an online mentoring program. Presently you will find the archived webinars on topics of “getting started in farming”, “pastured poultry”, “organic agriculture”, “soils”, “social media marketing”, “selling at farmers’ markets” with upcoming webinars on “direct marketing of meat”, “SARE Farmer/Rancher grants” and “beekeeping”.

http://missouribeginningfarming.blogspot.com/2011/07/online-learning-community.html

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Online Learning Design and Support for Faculty

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:02 am

by the Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida

To help meet the increasing demand for online education at the University of Central Florida, faculty and administrators share how UCF’s new online faculty can get the most out of working with the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e50tNZmMqs&feature=youtube_gdata

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July 26, 2011

Blending Online Learning and On-Campus: Assessing the Acceptance of a Blended Learning University Course

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

by Nikolaos Tselios, Stelios Daskalakis and Maria Papadopoulou, Educational Technology & Society, 14 (2), 224–235

Usefulness and ease of use proved to be key determinants of the acceptance and usage of e-learning. On the contrary, little is known about students’ perceptions in a blended learning setting. In this paper, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was utilised, in order to investigate Greek university students’ attitudes toward blended learning. The goal of the study was twofold. First, to investigate whether the students’ perceptions in a blended learning setting were comparable with other studies reporting perceptions in the context of distant learning. Second, to investigate variation in students’ perceptions before and after actual system use. A sample of 130 students before actual system use and 102 students after the end of the semester was used. As derived from the model analysis using partial least squares, the e-learning system was well accepted and the majority of our hypotheses were confirmed. The most notable difference between pre- and post- use scenario was that perceived usefulness did not prove to have a significant effect on behavioral intention before system use, whereas, in the end, it appeared to be significant. The results are compared with similar studies focused on elearning acceptance. The implications, both for the designer of a blended learning course as well as for the educational community, are also discussed.

http://www.ifets.info/journals/14_2/19.pdf

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Learning Online While On-Campus: Students’ Acceptance of Tablet PCs and Implications for Educational Institutions

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:05 am

by Omar El-Gayar, Mark Moran and Mark Hawkes, Educational Technology & Society, 14 (2), 58–70.

This research develops and empirically tests a factor model for understanding college students’ acceptance of Tablet PC (TPC) as a means to forecast, explain, and improve their usage pattern in education. The analysis  involved more than 230 students from a regional Midwestern institution. Overall, our model exhibited a good fit with the data and provided satisfactory explanatory power for students’ acceptance of TPC in an educational setting. Analysis of the results suggests a number of implications to educational institutions. Most notably are the need for programs aimed at influencing students’ attitudes and perceptions towards TPC, creating an environment of a positive image surrounding the use of TPC on campus, and facilitating the use of TPC.

http://www.ifets.info/journals/14_2/5.pdf

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25 Awesome Virtual Learning Experiences Online

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:01 am

by Mark, Ace Online Schools

Just because you’re online doesn’t mean that you can’t experience the world first-hand — or as close to first-hand as possible. Here are websites that feature virtual learning experiences, exposing online visitors to everything from history to geography, astronomy to anatomy, literature to government.

http://www.aceonlineschools.com/25-awesome-virtual-learning-experiences-online/

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July 25, 2011

eSN Special Report: Blended learning on the rise

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:10 am

By Jennifer Nastu, eSchool News

For many school reformers, blended learning is an exciting instructional model because it combines the best elements of both face-to-face and online instruction.   As technology advances and new digital tools become available to educators and students, a steady migration toward online learning has begun to take place. Many students who struggle in a traditional learning environment now have the opportunity to attend a “virtual” school, where they can learn at their own pace: Advanced students are not held back by the slower pace of their peers, while students with disabilities have more time to understand the material before moving on. Parents in rural communities who home-school their children because of the time and distance it takes to travel to the nearest brick-and-mortar school can have the support of a strong online curriculum. And students who have dropped out of school have the chance to resume their education, finish high school, and get a diploma via distance learning. Meanwhile, multimedia options give online learning an edge often not found in traditional learning environments.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/10/27/esn-special-reportblended-learning-on-the-rise/

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Online Learning: Students Expect More Technology in School, Survey Says

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:05 am

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

In an online survey of 1,000 high school students and faculty as well as district IT professionals, 86 percent of students say they use technology more at home than at school. And most of them also use that technology to work on class projects or study outside of the school day. In comparison, 39 percent of students say their school meets their technology expectations. Keep reading to find out how Hornell City Schools in New York is trying to meet students’ technology expectations.

http://www.convergemag.com/infrastructure/21st-Century-Classroom-Report-2011.html?elq=b3f011832fbf4cf3a8cd1834a4109665

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Colleges Explore the Role of Emerging Online Learning Media in Education

Filed under: Online Learning News — Ray Schroeder @ 12:01 am

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

As technology continues to change rapidly, colleges and universities are trying to figure out what these changes mean for education. “People need a way to be able to think about and participate in this enormously complex and rapidly changing computing environment, a way that’s going to be productive, a way that’s going to be satisfying, a way that’s going to be inspiring,” said Gardner Campbell, director of professional development and innovative initiatives at Virginia Tech. Students increasingly expect to use mobile devices, social networking sites and other tools to find information in class. And faculty have to look for different ways to incorporate these powerful computing tools into educational discussions. “If we insist on using old techniques to teach them, we’ll lose them,” said Doug Rowlett, instructional design coordinator at Houston Community College Southwest.

http://www.convergemag.com/training/Colleges-Explore-Emerging-Media.html?elq=b3f011832fbf4cf3a8cd1834a4109665

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