Online Learning Update

by JUSTIN POPE, Associated Press

Think you can hack it at MIT? If so, the world-renowned university is willing to give you a new kind of credential to prove it. Not a full-fledged diploma – that’s still a possibility only for the 10,000 or so students admitted to its Cambridge, Mass., campus. But on Monday, MIT is announcing that for the first time it will offer credentials – under the name “MITx” – to students who complete the online version of certain courses, starting with a pilot program this spring. “This is not MIT light. This is not an easier version of MIT,” said Provost L. Rafael Reif. “An MITx learner, anywhere they are, for them to earn a credential they have to demonstrate mastery of the subject just like an MIT student does.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/mitx-mit-starts-online-cl_n_1160155.html

by Managed Hosting News

Cloud computing will become an essential part of online education resources, according to one expert who stated that the growth of virtualisation will help to develop information providers in the learning field. Jonathan Bishop, chair of The Centre for Research into Online Communities and E-Learning Systems at Swansea University, suggested that cloud technologies are a necessity for online subjects such as e-learning to grow and reach more internet users. He said: “The holding of e-learning content in the cloud will enable faster deployment and sharing of resources. “Cloud computing will become essential as the mobile platforms for e-learning become widespread.

http://www.hostway.co.uk/news/virtualisation—the-cloud/the-cloud-will-become-essential-for-online-learning-sector-801243391.html

By Careerealism, IB Times

Online education has exploded in recent years, and the diversity of programs and degrees offered continues to grow. Completely new, online-only colleges and universities have emerged while existing schools have also brought some of their degree programs on to the web to allow for greater accessibility. This growth of the field had created more opportunities, but also a few pitfalls. Anyone now considering pursuing their degree online must thoroughly research their options because the characteristics and quality of available programs varies widely. To better understand the differentials, we’ve compared the online offerings of three schools: The University of Southern California, Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University.

http://www.ibtimes.com/blogs/articles/33258/20111220/not-all-online-degrees-are-created-equal.htm

by Barbara Mannino, Fox Business

It seems everyone is squawking about higher education these days. Tuition costs are spiraling and on top of that, student loan default rates are soaring. Cumulative student loan debt totaled $848 billion on outstanding principal and interest balances for Direct Loans, FFELs (Stafford Loans), and Perkins, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in its most recent Sept. 30 report, which doesn’t take into account private loans. What’s more, experts say students are taking too long to earn a degree. NCES also reports approximately 56% of college students are taking six or more years to graduate. But here’s the real problem: When students do finally graduate, human resource professionals say they are ill-prepared for workplace demands.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/12/19/is-tech-way-to-get-higher-education-back-on-track/

by Dennis Hanagan, The Toronto Bulletin

Classrooms and the library at the new George Brown waterfront campus are going to look a lot different from what older generations would remember from their schooldays. There’re won’t be neat rows of desks in the 25 classrooms at the $175 million eight-storey Centre for Health Sciences on Queen’s Quay in the East Bayfront neighbourhood. Rather, students will sit and collaborate in groups with the teacher in the room’s centre acting as a facilitator. And the library and learning centres will be geared to computer learning rather than areas piled high with books.

http://www.thebulletin.ca/cbulletin/content.jsp?ctid=1000006&cnid=1002974

by rick, ECIS 2010

The most important factor for success in a online class will be the self-motivation that the student has. Obviously when they waste their time away playing Halo they are going to have problems. University students taking classes online can’t get sidetracked and they need to keep a structured planner for their assignments. Lisa Gualtieri, the editor-in-chief at eLearn Magazine said, “If you’re looking at adults going back to school online, the most successful are those that are highly motivated. They also are engaged in the process and where it’s leading to and understand that it is a career steppingstone.” Anyone taking classes online needs a lot of determination and persistence, otherwise they are basically going to throw away their money on courses that aren’t doing anything for them. One particular useful tip is to try and get monetarily prepared go to college. Those who cover their education and learning themselves normally take their schooling even more seriously. This means, financial aid is your best ally. For instance, walmart scholarships assist those minorities acquire the schooling they want and are entitled to.

http://www.ecis2010.org/do-you-wish-to-take-classes-on-the-web-stick-to-these-guidelines/

By Lindy Cansler, Augusta Chronicle

As a grandparent guardian, this holiday season I am thankful for virtual learning and how it has helped my child succeed. Our grandson is an active 10-year-old Boy Scout who participates in a bowling league and, as he says, “has one true friend.” That’s because he has Asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism. He is extremely bright, has a 95 percent average overall in all his classes and loves school. He attends South Carolina Connections Academy, a virtual public charter school that was recommended by his therapist, and it has been perfect for him. He was being bullied at school, had trouble with transitions, and after many discussions with administrators we were at our wits’ end.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/letters/2011-12-13/online-learning-godsend?v=1323815229

by Jesse Langley, Getting Smart

Getting technology and online learning options integrated into the classroom is an important priority for primary and secondary education. And it’s important beyond the obvious need for students to be able to compete in a global marketplace after graduation. The growing trend toward graduating high school seniors choosing online degree options rather than traditional campus-based college classrooms highlights the need to incorporate similar education models into earlier education. Part of Moodle’s success in high school situations may be in the way it simulates an online learning environment in the confines of a traditional classroom. Increasing online learning tools to create the kinds of interactions online college students experience may be a key to better education outcomes.

http://gettingsmart.com/edreformer/online-learning-giving-college-bound-students-more-tools/

by Inside Higher Ed

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology — which pioneered the idea of making course materials free online — today announced a major expansion of the idea, with the creation of MITx, which will provide for interaction among students, assessment and the awarding of certificates of completion to students who have no connection to MIT.MIT is also starting a major initiative — led by Provost L. Rafael Reif — to study online teaching and learning. The first course through MITx is expected this spring. While the institute will not charge for the courses, it will charge what it calls “a modest fee” for the assessment that would lead to a credential. The credential will be awarded by MITx and will not constitute MIT credit. The university also plans to continue MIT OpenCourseWare, the program through which it makes course materials available online.

http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2011/12/19/mit-expands-open-courses-adds-completion-certificates

By Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

MIT stamp or no, that is still a big step, says Kevin Carey, policy director at Education Sector, a D.C. think tank. “I think this is the future,” says Carey, who has written on the emerging relevance of nontraditional credentials. “It’s just the logical next step for the ethic behind the [open educational resources] movement,” he says. In interviews, MIT officials took care to emphasize that MITx is not meant to supplant the traditional “residential education” that the university cultivates in its Cambridge, Mass., enclave. “Without MIT, there is no MITx,” he says. MIT might not have anything to fear from its foray into open education, but less prestigious institutions might see some of their students opting to take certain courses at MITx instead of their own, says Carey. But the Rose-Hulman dean said institutions such as his may not be able to avoid the question for much longer. “Education is certainly changing,” he says, “and online education and distance education is going to force us to examine what we do and what we give credit for.”

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/20/planned-mit-courses-may-advance-front-elite-open-education

by Kay Luna, Quad Cities Times

English teacher Sean Chapman is coaching his high school students, helping them narrow down their research paper topics. “I picked Ansel Adams,” one student offers. “OK,” 47-year-old Chapman replies, pausing for a beat. “Let’s talk about that.” But their discussion isn’t a typical one. The students are sitting in two different classrooms in two different schools in Arkansas. Their teacher is working in front of a computer screen, talking to them in real-time via online video from a tiny upstairs bedroom of his Rock Island home. This is a form of online learning, or distance education, which people mostly associate with college-level coursework. Online teaching, like what Chapman does, is rare for kindergarten through 12th-grade education systems in this region, but it’s growing more popular elsewhere across the U.S. and the rest of the world.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/online-classrooms-more-teachers-ride-virtual-circuit/article_507f02a6-2921-11e1-875b-001871e3ce6c.html

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Eighth-graders who take an online Algebra I course score higher on end-of-year algebra assessments than other students who take the standard instructor-led math program offered by their schools and are twice as likely to follow an advanced course sequence in high school as their peers. Those results came out of a multi-year study done in 68 mostly rural schools in Maine and Vermont and could influence decisions by more middle schools to begin offering Algebra I classes.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/12/16/online-classes-accelerate-math-for-middle-schoolers-research-finds.aspx

by UK Virtual College

The advancement of mobile technology is allowing e-learning tools to become more and more powerful in the increasingly popular choice of the virtual classroom, according to one expert in the field. A representative from the Rapid E-Learning Blog, which gives practical tips and tricks designed to help people get to grips with e-learning, suggested that the popularity of online learning and training in the business world is tied in with the implementation of hi-tech products in daily life – such as smartphones, tablets and e-readers. Tom Kuhlmann, editor of the blog, said: “It’s also still a growing field, as the tools are becoming more powerful and there’s a convergence of mobile and social media. Some of the drivers are cost-effectiveness and the ability to deliver content to anyone, anywhere.”

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Tools-and-technologies-spur-on-the-success-of-elearning-newsitems-801237915.aspx

by Education Development Center

Eighth-grade students who are “algebra ready” and take an online Algebra I course because their schools do not offer the class, outperform their peers in algebra knowledge and are twice as likely to take advanced mathematics classes in high school. The findings are in a rigorous new federally funded study conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) for the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI). The multi-year study, Access to Algebra I: The Effects of Online Mathematics for Grade 8 Students, was released December 13, 2011, by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/online-algebra-course-leads-to-higher-achievement-2011-12-13

By Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed

Stanford the latest of a handful of elite American universities to pull back the curtain on their vaunted courses, joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s OpenCourseWare project, Yale University’s Open Yale Courses and the University of California at Berkeley’s Webcast.Berkeley, among others. The university’s computer science department is planning to broadcast eight additional courses for free in the spring, most focusing on high-level concepts that require participants already to have a pretty good command of math and science. Norvig and Thrun’s A.I. course, for example, assumes knowledge of linear algebra and probability theory. Next semester’s open courses will include Cryptography, Human Computer Interaction and Probabilistic Graphic Models. Norvig and Thrun are not the first college professors to experiment with what are known as “massive open online courses,” or MOOCs. Others have been broadcasting their courses to the Web-enabled masses for years.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/13/stanfords-open-courses-raise-questions-about-true-value-elite-education

by Journ 150

Online learning has become more popular because of its potential for providing flexible access to content and instruction at any time from any place. Online learning often includes the following: increasing the availability of learning experiences for people cannot or choose not to attend traditional, face-to-face classes, assembling and distributing instructional content more cost-efficiently, and allowing instructors to handle more students while maintaining a high degree of effective teaching. Additionally, online learning courses are being designed to enhance the quality of learning experiences and outcomes. A common theory on education says that learning a complex body of information requires a community of learners, and online resources can expand and support these communities.

http://journ150.blogspot.com/2011/12/future-of-education-online-and-blended.html

by The Arizona Republic

Online classes in K-12 involve the same basic functions that every school has, from taking tests to hearing lectures. But the virtual experience changes the dynamic. Here’s how online classes typically play out. You work at a computer at home or at school. On the Internet, you log on to your lessons and begin. You can attend from home anytime of day or night. Some schools track the hours you spend online. You or your parent also must keep a log of the total hours spent learning, including online work and off-line studying and reading. These count toward earning a course credit and are used by schools to collect per-student state money. The minimum number of hours required each week varies by school and grade.

htttp://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/10/20111210online-classes-primer.html

by Michael K. Barboui, NACOL

The goal of the initial Snapshot State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada report was to provide an overview of the state of K-12 online learning in Canada. This was accomplished through the use of short commentaries about the state of K-12 distance education for each province and territory, along with more developed case studies for three of the provinces that had very different provincial systems. The goal of this more complete State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada report is to continue that examination of the K-12 distance education policies and activities in each of the provinces and territories. This was done by examining the legislation and regulations that govern K-12 distance education in each jurisdiction and describing the various programmes that provide those K-12 distance education opportunities.

http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/iNACOL_CanadaStudy_200911.pdf

by Pat Kossan, the Arizona Republic

Exactly how long online students should spend to master the skills of a typical semester course is a contentious issue among Arizona educators. Researchers have not yet found an answer. In a typical face-to-face school, the state requires full-time high-school students to attend 720 hours of instruction, which is typically provided in a 180-day school year. Traditional schools must present the state with a calendar of instruction days and regularly report student absences. State law says a student who is absent without an excuse for 10 consecutive days must be withdrawn from the school’s enrollment.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/11/20111211online-school-attendance-question.html

by Nicky Hockly, e-moderation station

How are present are you as an instructor in your online courses? Research* has shown that tutor presence – the sense of the tutor being there – is a key motivator for online students. The trick is to find the middle ground between being omnipresent (and too stifling), and being invisible (and appearing uninterested ). Here are five things that can help you strike this balance.

http://www.emoderationskills.com/?p=701