Online Learning Update

by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal

Michael Dieffenbach returned to school recently to listen to teachers explain what would be expected during the term. Since eighth grade, Dieffenbach has attended Wisconsin Virtual Learning, a public charter school of the Northern Ozaukee School District and one of the dozens of virtual schools in the state that educate students each year without desks, lunch periods, yellow buses or extracurricular sports. People often question how students could go to school in an entirely online environment, devoid of regular face-to-face contact with teachers. What about social interaction with friends? Is it rigorous? What about prom and senior skip day? How do kids do once they graduate and go to college? That shouldn’t be a concern for Dieffenbach. The College Board recently informed him that he scored a perfect 36 on his ACT last year, something accomplished by less than one-tenth of 1% of all test takers.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110910/business/709109962/

by JESSIE L. BONNER, Associated Press

Idaho is a step closer to joining the handful of states that require students to take online courses. The state Board of Education gave initial approval Friday to a rule requiring high school students to take at least two credits online to graduate, despite heavy opposition to the plan at public hearings across Idaho this summer. Schools nationwide offer online classes but just three states — Alabama, Florida and Michigan — have adopted rules since 2006 to require online learning, according to the International Association of K-12 Online Learning in Washington, D.C. Proponents say online classes will help save money and help prepare students for college, where many courses are online. Opponents say they replace teachers with computers.

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Idaho-ed-board-votes-to-require-online-classes-2163471.php

by Ashanti Morgan, Instructional Design and Development Blog

As designers developing online courses, we’re always looking for purposeful ways to ensure that the instructor, content, and student interactions are strategic, cohesive, and meaningful. What’s more, we are also tasked with staying abreast of and introducing faculty to research, theories, and methodology associated with constructing rigorous and effective online pedagogy. At the 27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework was the focus of several sessions including sessions from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois Springfield, and Capella University. Intrigued by the implications of the framework, I wanted to learn more about the framework’s efficacy in higher education. The premise of the CoI framework suggests that creating an effective online experience requires a collaborative community.

http://www.iddblog.org/?p=841

by Greenville College

During Planning Week, some of our faculty met to discuss their recent experience in teaching online courses. In this session, “An Open Forum: Lessons Learned by Summer 2011 Online Faculty,” we focused on these four key questions:

* How can one plan for success in teaching and learning online?

* In what ways were you able to connect with online students?

* How have you addressed faith and learning integration?

* What would you do differently next time?

As we delved into these questions, the notion of “the flipped classroom” became a recurring theme. This is not a new model but one that has been gaining ground in education — and one that is worth highlighting as many of our own faculty have been implementing it in their own classrooms, both traditional and online. According to the Knewton website, it is a “new method of teaching is turning the traditional classroom on its head.”

http://blogs.greenville.edu/onlinelearning/2011/09/flipped-classroom/

by University of Leicester

A former chemistry lecturer will experiment with new formulas for using technology in teaching after taking charge of the University of Leicester’s award-winning e-learning initiative this month (September).Gráinne Conole, formerly Professor of E-learning at the Open University, has joined Leicester as head of its Beyond Distance Research Alliance, which brings together teachers and researchers interested in innovation in teaching and learning to share best practice, learn about new developments in learning technologies and experiment with different forms of e-learning.

http://www.24dash.com/news/education/2011-09-09-Former-chemist-turned-e-learning-expert-becomes-media-zookeeper-at-the-University-of-Leicester

by Sara Lenz, Deseret News

“The typical university is serving too many different types of students and offering them too many subjects of study,” Eyring and Christensen wrote in a preview about their book. “In addition to reducing its program offerings, the focused university will modularize its majors, allowing students to customize their education and graduate timely. The successful university will also embrace the opportunity to teach values, both formally and in faculty-student mentoring relationships.” The book juxtaposes the history of Harvard and Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho). It details Harvard’s Puritan roots in the 1600s, its move away from big-time football after World War II and what each president of Harvard brought to the prestigious university. It explains the beginning of Ricks Academy in the 1800s and follows its path through today.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700175286/Reviewers-call-The-Innovative-University-enlightening-fascinating-and-a-must-read.html

by Amy Dalrymple, InForum

Mobile apps are popping up for colleges and universities as campus officials look for ways to better connect with students. The North Dakota State College of Science, based in Wahpeton with a campus in Fargo, launched a mobile app last week that links students to the online learning system, a campus map, event calendar and other resources. The iPhone version is available to download for free through the App Store, and a version for Android will be available soon, said Dana Anderson, NDSCS interactive media manager.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/332881/group/News/

by Business Wire

With online education growing at a record pace at every level, from high school through graduate programs, Dr. Rebecca Wardlow, provost for Ashford University, has identified eight helpful tips to aid high school students in achieving academic success through online learning. High schools across the country are adding online education to their core curriculum to improve student access to advanced placement classes, to stimulate more student-teacher interaction, and to create new efficiencies in an era of severe budget constraints. The percentage of high school students taking online courses nearly doubled in a single year and, according to the latest data available from Project Tomorrow’s annual Speak Up Survey, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of all high school students took at least one class online last year, up from 14 percent the year before.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-high-school-student-and-online-learning-be-prepared-to-succeed-2011-08-31

By Catherine Groux, US News

When online education was introduced at colleges and universities across the country, the popularity of these programs quickly swelled. According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, about 39% of students who graduated from college in the past decade took at least one online class. Additionally, a majority of surveyed college presidents believe that this trend will not slow down any time soon. Still, in order to better compete with other institutions, some colleges and universities are already looking for the next trend in higher education. For example, The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported that Southern New Hampshire University created an innovation team to find a unique way to give students increased access to college credentials.

http://www.usnewsuniversitydirectory.com/articles/colleges-look-for-the-next-higher-education-model_11725.aspx

By Claire Higgins, the NKU Northerner

As students’ schedules become more full, more people are taking advantage of online learning instead of a traditional college experience. With the spike in popularity has come questions about benefits and disadvantages of online learning. A new report from the Bluegrass Institute discusses the successes and challenges of digital learning, specifically in high school, but the recommendations outlined in the study pose the same questions about online programs at the college level. The report, “Digital Learning Now,” looks at the advantages of online learning at the high school level. It lists recommendations on how to take the right steps to move toward more digital options for students.

http://www.thenortherner.com/?p=10732

by Jimmy Myers, St. Joseph News-Press

Local college campuses add new buildings every few years, expanding their bricks and mortar. Spreading at a much more rapid rate are the virtual offerings. A student looking for online classes through Missouri Western State University would have found 33 of them a few years ago. That student now has 170 options. Some general education courses, such as science laboratory classes, aren’t available yet, but if they were, a student could earn a diploma without ever stepping foot on the campus. Northwest Missouri State University started its online program in 1999 with 44 students enrolled in eight courses. The university now has 137 online courses, and a geographic information systems degree that is 100 percent online. And the demand is increasing. “Surprisingly, it keeps on growing,” said Dr. Roger Von Holzen, who oversees distance learning at Northwest. “We think we‘re going to top off, but every year we keep on growing.”

http://www.newspressnow.com/localnews/29088221/detail.html

by the Sloan Consortium

The recipients of the 2011 Sloan-C Awards are:

•Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online Education: University of Massachusetts Lowell

•A. Frank Mayadas Leadership Award: Joel L. Hartman, University of Central Florida

•Outstanding Achievement in Online Education by an Individual: Wayne D. Smutz, Pennsylvania State University World Campus

•Excellence in Online Teaching: Ellen B. Bremen, Highline Community College

•Excellence in Online Teaching: Michael R. Cheney, University of Illinois Springfield

•Excellence in Faculty Development for Online Teaching: SUNY Empire State College

•Outstanding Online Program: Cyber Security Program, Polytechnic Institute of New York University

•Excellence in Institution-Wide Online Education: Ryerson University

•Excellence in Institution-Wide Online Education: Pennsylvania State University World Campus

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/418870

by David Burt, Drew Henderson, Yale Daily News

Three Yale Summer Session professors taught their course material not only to students in New Haven, but also to their classmates thousands of miles away. For the first time this summer, Yale Summer Session offered three online courses, two of them for Yale credit, in which students watched recorded lectures and joined live discussion sections with their professors and online classmates via video chat. With “uniformly positive” feedback from students and faculty, the University is now looking to expand this summer’s program for next summer, though Yale Summer Session Dean William Whobrey said there are no plans to use the technology during the academic year.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/sep/06/yale-pushes-online-frontier/

by TAMAR LEWIN, New York Times

Harvard and Ohio State are not going to disappear any time soon. But a host of new online enterprises are making earning a college degree cheaper, faster and flexible enough to take work experience into account. As Wikipedia upended the encyclopedia industry and iTunes changed the music business, these businesses have the potential to change higher education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/education/25future.html

By Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The news that, after what seems like forever, new Internet domain names will be allowed has sparked conversations among college CIO’s and communication specialists about the limits of the “.edu” domain. The news has also provoked serious talk about what might be gained by trading in those three letters strongly linked to higher education for Web addresses like “yourgreatuniveristyhere.com” or even something that ends in “.weberstate” or “.brownuniversity.” Some observers worry, though, that an influx of new names might dilute the power of “.edu,” which has been the online way to say “a legitimately accredited institution of higher education in the United States.”

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/trading-in-edu-for-com/33033?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

By Monica Coleman, University of Houston Cougar

Though the University has consistently experienced double-digit growth in online enrollment over the last four years, the quality of online learning has remained uncontrolled and is still in development. Online enrollment increased more than 38 percent, soaring from 13,875 students in 2007 to 36,376 in 2011. The average online enrollment increase was more than 5,600 students each year, though the number of course sections only increased by 75 on average. Most of the work involved in keeping pace with the swift increase in online class enrollment can be credited to Herron’s small department of less than 20 employees. Her staff serve as advocates for students who are enrolled in distance education. When these students have problems with their online classes, she and her staff are the people to call.

http://thedailycougar.com/2011/08/31/improved-distance-learning-support-leads-to-online-enrollment-increase/

By Donna Gehrke-White, Sun Sentinel

 No money? No learning? Wrong. Websites offer you a chance to learn new knowledge and skills for free. Some are taught by Ivy League professors and other world-class lecturers. So you can still learn although you may be unemployed or simply strapped for cash in Florida where costs are going up faster than wages. Here are four popular ones (visit URL).

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/blogs/money-sense/sfl-free-online-classes-20110831,0,7182511.story

By Anne Raith, MindShift WQED

Professor Sebastian Thrun has given his lecture on artificial intelligence at Stanford University more than once. He knows that a lot of students are interested in his introductory course – almost 200 students have showed up in past years. But this fall, it will be different, even for him. There will be more than 100,000 students from all around the world who will listen to him – online.  With its Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE) program, the university already offers some of its most popular engineering classes free of charge, video lectures, reading lists and other handouts included. But SEE was only the first step: This time students can follow and attend a class online and get a Statement of Accomplishment when they participate regularly. “But it will be tough,” professor Thrun warns. “I want to keep up our Stanford level. The students have to deal with linear algebra and probabilistic methods. And they have to be willing to work 10 to 15 hours a week, do their homework, and pass tests. We’ll have strict deadlines.”

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/08/stanford-for-everyone-more-than-120000-enroll-in-free-classes/

By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN, New York Times

Computers, electronic whiteboards and other interactive technologies are fundamentally changing American education . That’s the view of the experts whom The Times spoke with about what the classroom will look like ten years from now. Listen to excerpts from their predictions below, and share your own thoughts in the comments section.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/what-will-school-look-like-in-10-years/

Karen Lungu, Cañon City Daily Record

The Cañon City School District recently began offering Cañon Online Academy, another alternative for students who prefer learning outside the typical classroom. “The program is an option for students and families in our district that need something more or different from their traditional school,” said Cañon Online Academy Administrator Nick Carochi. “Whether it’s a family situation, a health situation; whatever obstacles that are in their way that are keeping them from the traditional brick and mortar school.” Carochi originated a similar program for the Florence School District.

http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/ci_18817935