Online Learning Update

By John K. Waters, Campus Technology

All educators today, but especially those in post-secondary roles, need to learn how to make the most of cloud-based resources in their teaching practices, according to education consultant John Kuglin. The best way to get up to speed on those resources is to take them for a test drive, he said. Fortunately, there’s a bunch of free or nearly free stuff out there that virtually anyone can use to get started in the cloud. “In the [last] 12 to 18 months, there has been an explosion of technologies that have really changed the way we can work as 21st century educators,” Kuglin told attendees at the Campus Technology 2011 conference. “And it’s up to you to take stock of them, kick a few tires, and figure out how you might be able to deploy them at your school.”

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/07/26/teaching-with-the-cloud.aspx

by Donna Iadipaolo, Heritage Newspapers

“No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks,” is a popular rhyme students might chant upon release from school in June. But for many, school continues in the summer. Summer school is a way for students to make up credits or free up their schedules for the regular school year. This summer, 721 students in Ann Arbor are enrolled in the summer school session compared to the 604 students who participated in summer school programs last year, says Summer School Principal Marcus Edmondson.

http://www.heritage.com/articles/2011/07/29/life/doc4e33156c0d1fd682067943.txt

by Rema Beiruti, South Coast Today

Students at New Bedford High School are among the SouthCoast teens who have access to a big wide world of classes. That’s because NBHS is a participant in the VHS – Virtual High School – program which allows them to select from hundreds of courses that their school does not offer. Virtual High School courses take place entirely over the Internet and enrolled students are provided with a class block, five days each week, to work in their course and submit assignments by specified due dates.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110730/EDU02/110739997/-1/EDU

by James Harpur, Sydney Morning Herald

A professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Chris Dede, argues there are three core challenges facing schools: shifts in the knowledge and skills society values, development of new methods of teaching and learning, and changes in the characteristics of learners. To put it another way, students are increasingly learning differently, teachers are teaching differently and society wants different skills. The common link between the three is the impact of emerging technology. New technology is causing us to think and act in new ways. One would imagine, then, that coming to terms with emerging technology might lie at the centre of new curriculum Sadly, instead of the educational transformation that many of us hoped would be engendered by a national curriculum, educators are faced with core curriculums that hark back to 20th-century educational beliefs.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/new-technology-yet-we-tread-the-same-old-path-20110731-1i6aw.html

Recording of Webinar by Campus Technology

As social and collaborative technologies are implemented in the classroom, the need to measure the effectiveness of these tools on a variety of levels—student, classroom and institutional—is more important than ever. Join this webcast to hear experts discuss ways to cultivate collaborative online learning environments and measure the effectiveness of instruction in higher education via academic-based analytical technologies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGCyIEE-DV8&feature=youtube_gdata

By John K. Waters, Campus Technology

What’s the future of the learning management system? What’s its place in higher education environments of the 21st century? Will it even have a place in the coming years? A panel of educators and vendors delved into those questions during a well attended session at the Campus Technology 2011 conference Wednesday. Of course, they came no closer to a final answer than the rest of the world, but their insights and arguments provided a rich, big-picture view of a question that a growing number of colleges and universities are asking.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/07/29/rethinking-the-lms.aspx

By Bob Roper, Columbia, Missouri Tribune

One could reasonably wonder whether it is all over for traditional colleges and universities, especially four-year institutions and most especially the big research universities. I believe they will survive if they are adept in strategic thinking and resolute in their determination to make the changes necessary to survive and thrive. After all, universities have many advantages in this survival competition. These advantages include the professoriate. They also have their campuses, where the great majority of students want to be. As Christensen says, campuses are “founts of discovery.” Given these advantages, it still seems long-term survival requires big changes.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jul/31/online-learning-tests-campuses/

by Margarida Romero, Elena Barberà, International Review of Research in Open and Online Learning

Along with the amount of time spent learning (or time-on-task), the quality of learning time has a real influence on learning performance. Quality of time in online learning depends on students’ time availability and their willingness to devote quality cognitive time to learning activities. However, the quantity and quality of the time spent by adult e-learners on learning activities can be reduced by professional, family, and social commitments. Considering that the main time pattern followed by most adult e-learners is a professional one, it may be beneficial for online education programs to offer a certain degree of flexibility in instructional time that might allow adult learners to adjust their learning times to their professional constraints. However, using the time left over once professional and family requirements have been fulfilled could lead to a reduction in quality time for learning. This paper starts by introducing the concept of quality of learning time from an online student-centred perspective. The impact of students’ time-related variables (working hours, time-on-task engagement, time flexibility, time of day, day of week) is then analyzed according to individual and collaborative grades achieved during an online master’s degree program. The data show that both students’ time flexibility (r = .98) and especially their availability to learn in the morning are related to better grades in individual (r = .93) and collaborative activities (r = .46).

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/999/0

By Christopher Magan and Meagan Engle, Oxford Press

Online and distance learning jumped 150 percent in Ohio since 2004 to more than 93,000 students; nationwide 4.3 million students take at least one online course, according to federal and state data. Much of this growth has been fueled by schools like Kaplan, which operates in 20 states and 30 countries, and the University of Phoenix, which, too, has a global footprint. Traditional schools like Miami University and Sinclair Community College are also offering more web-based courses. Ohio and other states have little oversight of schools located outside state boundaries. U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman Sara Gast said the new federal rule was written to “protect students and taxpayers and give clarity about states’ responsibility in this area.”

http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/online-school-regulation-halted-web-based-learning-jumped-150-in-ohio-1217982.html

by Chris Kirkham, Huffington Post

With a mere eight lines buried in an 82,000-word budget bill passed in 2006, Congress eliminated legislation that had for more than a decade limited how many students colleges could enroll in online courses — rules aimed at protecting students against dubious programs. Those eight lines have proven a potent fertilizer for a for-profit college industry that has since grown to enormous proportions, collecting most of its profits via federal student aid dollars. In the five years since Congress deregulated online education, enrollments at for-profit colleges have nearly doubled. Six major corporations owning for-profit institutions have enjoyed initial public offerings on Wall Street, with each promoting the rapid growth of online classes to investors and netting millions in compensation for executives. Revenues have doubled at the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University, two of the largest players — so has the rate at which its students have defaulted on their federal loans. The story of how this single snippet of legislation became law, propelling a collection of for-profit colleges into a full-scale industry, presents a classic case of the workings of power in Washington.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/john-boehner-for-profit-colleges_n_909589.html

By Julie Young, THE Journal

It’s truly amazing to see how education has been transformed during the last decade. While most of our elementary and high school memories come from the traditional schoolhouse, today that model of learning has evolved immensely. Over the years, advances in technology have spurred many changes in education. With the recent passage of the Digital Learning Now Actin Florida, whichexpands virtual education options to parents and students, one trend that finally has the power to truly revolutionize the very fabric of our education system is online learning. As students and families better acquaint themselves with online learning offerings, we also work with school districts in Florida to create blended learning options where online courses are used to supplement and enhance traditional classroom learning. Because online courses are incredibly flexible, district and school leaders can select the courses or programs they need to best serve their students. Students win because they have the best of both worlds–traditional “brick and mortar” and online learning environments.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/07/26/a-closer-look-at-virtual-learning-models.aspx

BY JAMESON TAYLOR, Post and Courier

Imagine a public education system able to provide access to high-quality instruction, regardless of where a student lives. Imagine schools able to give individualized instruction to potential dropouts. Or course offerings that encourage students to master their studies, instead of simply show up for class. In fact, this vision for the state’s public school system already exists; it’s called online learning. According to a new report by the South Carolina Policy Council, online learning is not just the future of public education, it is one of the most dynamic forces in education today.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jul/27/27jtaylor/

by US News

U.S. News participated in a webcast called “Ranking online education programs: A Conversation with U.S. News” on July 26. It was sponsored by WCET, a membership organization that works with colleges, universities, and others to—among other things—accelerate and adopt the use of technology for teaching and learning. Many of the nation’s largest online learning programs had representatives who attended the online event, which featured a short U.S. News-led presentation about the 2011 online education rankings, followed by a WCET-moderated question and answer session. Audience members submitted questions via Blackboard Collaborate. (Details at the URL below)

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2011/07/28/us-news-participates-in-webcast-on-online-education-program-rankings

by Tasmanian Government Media

Tasmania is performing above the national average in e-learning in the vocational education and training sector, the latest student e-learning benchmarking survey results show. The Minister for Education and Skills, Nick McKim, said today that the 2011 E-Learning Benchmarking Survey shows that Tasmania’s performance exceeds the national benchmark in most areas. The results come as one of the 2010 Tasmanian E-learning Innovations Projects, Interactive Scaffolding Training developed by The Skills Institute, was announced as a winner of two major awards at the LearnX Federation Asia Pacific E-learning and Training Awards. The project won the Best Use of Game Based Learning Technology and the Best Use of Video in a Training Program. “This is a great outcome for e-learning in education in Tasmania, particularly for a trades area which is not a likely candidate for online learning,” Mr McKim said.

http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=32862

by Newport Richey Patch

Unlike traditional classrooms, eSchool students are taught to mastery. “Our model is mastery based,” Glenn said. “(Students) learn from errors and correct them. (There’s) much more of a dialog with their teachers. We joke that every student has a front-row seat (to learning).” So far, the program has proven it can get the job done. With a 95 percent student success rate and a 95 percent parent and student satisfaction rate, Glenn is proud of what has been accomplished. While eSchool for middle and high school students has always offered the option for full-time or part-time online learning, blended with a regular school day, some changes are also on the horizon here. Online learning has become mandatory in the state of Florida. According to Glenn, students entering high school this year must complete at least one online class to graduate.

http://newportrichey.patch.com/articles/pasco-eschool-opens-doors-for-online-learning-2

by Bill Maxwell, St. Petersberg Times

What should community colleges do to improve online learning? The Virginia study suggests, among other strategies:

— Students should be tested for their preparedness for online instruction.

— Online students should be given a dose of reality about time management. They need to be taught from the outset that while working at home with the family around can be advantageous, it can become a trap.

— Students need to be trained to navigate the online course-related computer systems necessary to complete their coursework.

— Faculty members should be trained for online instruction so that they can competently guide their students.

— Colleges should improve support services, offering, for example, 24/7 online tutoring.

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/63060

by Siri Anderson

Online strategies for translating six general techniques for assessing students informally in class are described.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1LFTxOY0zo&feature=youtube_gdata

by Audrey Watters, O’Reilly Radar

Schools have long amassed data: tracking grades, attendance, textbook purchases, test scores, cafeteria meals, and the like. But little has actually been done with this information — whether due to privacy issues or technical capacities — to enhance students’ learning. With the adoption of technology in more schools and with a push for more open government data, there are clearly a lot of opportunities for better data gathering and analysis in education. But what will that look like? It’s a politically charged question, no doubt, as some states are turning to things like standardized test score data in order to gauge teacher effectiveness and, in turn, retention and promotion. I asked education theorist George Siemens, from the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University, about the possibilities and challenges for data, teaching, and learning.

http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/07/education-data-analytics-learning.html

By Grant Welker, Herald News

Bristol Community College students studying at any hour of the day or night can now receive help from a tutor through a new online program launched by the college this summer. The service, which is run by a company called Smarthinking, offers more than 1,000 tutors on staff worldwide to help students at any time of day on nearly any subject. Students can also arrange for one-on-one tutoring sessions or simply post questions to have answered. There are also live tutorials, writing manuals, sample problems and research links — all available wherever a student is studying with an Internet connection. “Learning is often a 24-hour endeavor,” said April Bellafiore, BCC’s dean of e-learning. “Having access to these resources is really valuable to these students.”

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1684322374/BCC-launches-online-tutor-service

By Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

Colleges are on social media, regardless of whether they have figured out what it is worth to maintain an institutional presence there. A recent survey by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth found that 98 percent of higher ed institutions are on Facebook, and 84 percent are on Twitter. Those numbers have risen dramatically in the past few years, college recruiters, fund-raisers, and marketers having bought into the value — much of it speculative — of keeping active in those communities. Foursquare, the most popular of a new class of “geo-social” websites, is included on this year’s iteration of the UMass-Dartmouth study almost as an afterthought. Only 20 percent of campuses have an institutional presence on Foursquare. But those that are using it believe the two-year-old Foursquare could soon emerge as a more powerful — and tangible — tool for engaging with students.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/07/29/foursquare_takes_aim_at_college_campuses

By Brittany Anas, Daily Camera

University of Colorado leaders are telling incoming students they’re required to take an online alcohol education course before the fall semester. The mandatory online course aims to educate students about dangers surrounding booze. It complements an interactive theater lesson at orientation, a packet sent to parents explaining how they can talk to students about drinking, and late-night movies and games on the campus when school starts to keep freshmen from meandering to parties on University Hill.

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_18533050