Online Learning Update

By James Gaskin, ITworld

John Resig of jQuery fame outlines why Khan Academy decided to offer JavaScript as their first computer language. With video, of course. Khan Academy, the wildly successful series of free instructional videos, proved YouTube is good for more than kitten videos. Now an educational powerhouse, Khan Academy has trained “students” in a variety of math and science topics, and decided to add a computer language to their topics. There are many choices, but Khan Academy settled on JavaScript.

http://www.itworld.com/storage/254444/khan-academy-offers-javascript-their-first-computer-language

by Rich Finstein interviews Kathi Edwards, Social Fish

What trends are you seeing in live online education? It’s becoming essential that online learning opportunities, like face-to-face opportunities, include audience interaction. Yet I still see mostly lecture-driven presentations in which the only interaction is scheduled question-and-answer breaks. What’s important is what participants take from the program and how well they are able to apply it later; engagement enables that application. Mel Silberman, an educator and active learning “guru,” once said “It’s not what you give them; it’s what they take away that counts.” Speakers need to realize it’s not about them or their content; it’s about their serving as a “guide on the side” to enable participant learning regardless of the setting.

http://www.socialfish.org/2012/02/how-to-get-engagement-in-your-online-education.html

by Michael B. Horn, Innosight

A month has passed since the first-ever national Digital Learning Day. Given the excitement generated from teachers and others tuning in to the National Town Hall meeting and given today’s National Leadership Summit on Online Learning up on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. that iNACOL sponsored, I thought it was worth noting some great examples that weren’t highlighted during the day’s festivities. To our friends in the field, these examples are familiar, but they remind us that what is so exciting about technology is the power that it holds to move our education system toward a student-centric model of learning where students can move at their own path and pace to boost student outcomes.

http://www.innosightinstitute.org/education-blog/bright-spots-shine-in-blended-online-learning/

by Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Teaching without Walls

Today, texting is the preferred communication method for most young people. It is used to get immediate answers to questions, find out what friends are up to, send grocery lists to oneself, reply to voicemails, and even end relationships. I’ve seen many educators express concerns about how texting is fragmenting writing, grammar, and spelling skills but I have another question that I’m probing. Are online classes allowing our students to hide behind text? Despite the prevalence of free to low cost, easy-to-use, web-based multimedia tools (which are commonly associated with the web 2.0 era), most online college classes only require students to participate with text based communications — discussion forums and blogs.

http://www.teachingwithoutwalls.com/2012/02/are-online-students-hide-behind-text.html

by Boise State Arbiter

The famous devices iPad and iPod Touch have hit classrooms on campus last year, to discover their “potential to be transformative,” according to the Mobile Learning Initiative of Boise State. These handheld mobile devices have a vast amount of potential among college students and professors. They aid students in many different ways, as long as the students actively use them. “The real draw we are finding from the mobile devices is anytime, anywhere access to information,” said Allan Heaps, E-Learning manager and instructional designer of Academic Technologies. The iPad and iPod Touch don’t do anything different than a laptop or netbook; however they are more readily available. The majority of students probably need to find a table or chair to use their laptop because it’s awkward and inefficient walking around using an open laptop. With an iPad or iPod Touch, it’s easier for people to walk around while they check emails, log on to BlackBoard to post on a discussion board, check for assignments or read a document on their way to class.

http://arbiteronline.com/2012/02/27/students-should-take-advantage-of-the-flexibility-of-mobile-devices/

By MENACHEM WECKER, US News

Business professors also say that free courses can help prepare applicants for business school. Excelsior College in Albany, N.Y., recently announced a $10,000 undergraduate degree with a curriculum that draws largely from other institutions’ free online courses. Such news may prompt resourceful graduate students to try to piece together a degree for free, but current or prospective M.B.A. students shouldn’t see free courses as a replacement for a full paying degree, business professors say. What students can do, professors say, is use free courses to supplement or prepare themselves for their degrees.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/articles/2012/02/27/free-online-classes-may-help-mba-students

By Nick DeSantis, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Adrian Sannier knows what it’s like to place big bets on outsourcing data to the cloud. When he was a technology officer for Arizona State University’s office of the president, he was one of the first university leaders to shift control of student e-mail to Google’s free service. His wager paid off: He said at the time that he saved $400,000 and brought in new features faster than his staff ever could. Now hundreds of colleges have followed that lead. Mr. Sannier recently left academe for the software industry, and he says his new product, OpenClass, can use the cloud to transform learning-management systems that run college-course Web sites and digital grade books.

http://chronicle.com/article/Software-Evangelist-Wants-to/130933/

By Rachel King, ZDNet

Here’s a snapshot, by the numbers:

25 billion: The number of iOS apps downloaded worldwide. The 25 billionth was said to have been downloaded in China.

315 million: The number of iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) sold in 2011

172 million: The number of “post-PC” devices that Apple sold in 2011, which turned out to be 76 percent of Apple’s revenue.

110 million: The number of visitors to Apple Stores globally during the fourth quarter of 2011

100 million: The number of iCloud users since the cloud-based service launched to Apple customers last fall

62 million: The number of iOS devices sold in during the fourth quarter

(see the URL for much more!)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-new-ipad-announcement-the-numbers-to-know/71073

by Julia Pflaum, Blackboard Blogs

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that they will be ramping up efforts to not only increase enrollment to colleges and universities, but also to encourage more students to graduate. The announcement comes only a few days after President Obama introduced a slew of policy proposals aimed to improve the current state of higher education. In the last five years, the cost of tuition has dramatically increased, which can certainly have a negative impact on enrollment and graduation rates as a result. Of course, in an economic downturn, it is easy to attribute enrollment challenges to increased financial uncertainty. However, in a recent publication by Public Agenda, With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them, the study authors set out to better understand the challenges facing current university students by debunking a handful of myths and widely-held assumptions about those students that fail to complete college. In addressing the realities of college drop-outs, the study paints a dramatically different image of the average university student.

http://blog.blackboard.com/blackboard-connect/improving-the-campus-experience-with-online-learning-and-enhanced-communication

by WILEY ROBINSON, Dayton Beacon

I don’t know how orange it is, but you know what’s a pretty big idea? Free online university-level courses over the web. The implications of this medium of education are astounding, and everyone should be extremely excited about it, despite the fact that the potential is largely marginalized by the very institutions who sponsored the idea. The very first example of open course ware is traced back to 1999 when the University of Tubingen in Germany released videos of lectures online; but the most influential point of origin would have to be when MIT spearheaded its OpenCourseWare initiative, which has released course materials for about 2,000 classes in most major fields and is purported to have benefited and supplemented the education of over 100 million people world-wide. Since then, several other colleges like Stanford and Berkeley have come to the fore with their own ideas about class structure and availability. For example, Stanford makes you pay for degrees and certificates online that cost up to $60,000, but pretty much everyone involved offers the ability to peruse course materials for free without certification or predetermined structure.

http://utdailybeacon.com/opinion/columns/burden-infallibility/2012/feb/24/online-courses-next-step-education/

by Michael Moore-Jones (a 17 year old New Zealander passionate about technology and business)

I read a blog post a few days ago (which unfortunately I now can’t find) about how the Khan Academy doesn’t change anything. The author said that the real problem with education is in what’s taught, not how it’s taught. He said that everyone is getting worked up over the Khan Academy when it doesn’t solve a thing. Now I’m very willing to hear people’s views on the effect new products are having on society. But to me, the viewpoint that the author of that blog showed was outrageously simple. I completely believe that the Khan Academy is the start of a fundamental improvement in education around the world. The Khan Academy, besides letting people take lessons online, is changing many people’s mindset in regard to education. And it’s that change in mindset which is needed the most.

http://mmoorejones.com/2012/02/26/the-khan-academy-changes-mindsets/

by Virtual College UK

E-learning has many advantages over traditional forms of education, it has been said. President of the International E-Learning Association (IELA) Dr David Guralnick explained these online learning tools enable people to practice tasks in realistic situations. This can result in online training becoming “more engaging and more effective” than when a teacher stands in front of a classroom, as long as the e-learning course is well-designed, the specialist remarked. It can involve simulations that are directly related to operations in the workplace, such as in retail spaces, he added. Studies have revealed this form of education is “better than the more information-based approaches” that are seen elsewhere.

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Elearning-can-be-better-than-traditional-education-newsitems-801297161.aspx

by Nick Veronin, Mountain View Voice Staff

A few times each week, the students in Gayle Dyer’s fifth-grade class at Bubb Elementary put down their books, worksheets, pens and pencils and switch on a school set of iPads to watch instructional YouTube clips and take interactive quizzes. They are participating in a pilot program created by Khan Academy — a Mountain View-based education company behind an extremely popular series of streaming educational videos. Dyer, who jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the pilot, says that the program has worked to get her students jazzed about doing math exercises, while simultaneously giving her new, high-tech tools for tracking and analyzing individual student progress in real time. “The kids are highly engaged in it,” Dyer said. “When they do it on the iPad, it’s fun. So they’re practicing more.” The Khan Academy videos and computer game exercises are effective for a number of reasons, Dyer said.

http://mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=5288

By Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Oh my God, she’s trying to replace me with a computer. That’s what some professors think when they hear Candace Thille pitch the online education experiment she directs, the Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. They’re wrong. But what her project does replace is the traditional system of building and delivering introductory college courses. Professors should move away from designing foundational courses in statistics, biology, or other core subjects on the basis of “intuition,” she argues. Instead, she wants faculty to work with her team to put out the education equivalent of Super Bowl ads: expensively built online course materials, cheaply available to the masses.

http://chronicle.com/article/Treating-Higher-Eds-Cost/130934/

by InnovatoBase

Thrun in the video highlights some differences between the traditional style of professor lecture and what they are trying to do at Udacity:

Engagement. In the traditional style, the professor is smart and imparts his/her wisdom on the students. In Udacity, there are frequent quizzes so that students are constantly engaged. They must think every step of the way.

Success. As this video points out, the current style will pass C and D students along to the next level despite the fact that they have not gained full mastery of the subject. At Udacity, students can take and retake quizzes until they have mastered the material. Success and mastery can be obtained by each student in his or her own time.

Free High Quality Education.

While I recognize and appreciate what they are trying to do, what I feel most grateful for is the intimacy of the course. I feel like it’s taught for me by one of the best minds in the field. The professor teaching my class is David Evans and has proven to be one of the best educators I have ever had the privilege of encountering.

http://innovatobase.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/udacity-the-future-of-education/

By Savannah King, Gainesville Times

Most colleges offer classes on the Web, but Georgia’s high school students could be required to take online courses. Georgia lawmakers recently voted 36-15 along largely partisan lines in favor of a bill that would require all high school students to take at least one online course before they graduate. Only three other states, Alabama, Florida and Michigan, require students in kindergarten through 12th grade to take an online courses. “We have a unique opportunity to open an entire new world of learning for Georgia students,” Sen. Chip Rogers, who authored the bill, said in an email.

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/63838/

by Education@Google

Ten years ago, MIT helped launch a revolution in access to education when it announced it would place the core teaching materials from its entire curriculum online for anyone to use at no charge. Today, MIT OpenCourseWare shares materials from more than 2,000 MIT courses and more than 250 universities around the world have joined MIT in publishing their own course materials openly. Sites like YouTube.edu, Khan Academy, OpenStudy.com have emerged to explore this new territory of informal online learning. In December, MIT announced a new online learning initiative, MITx, which will offer a portfolio of free courses through an online learning platform that features interactivity and assessment. In this presentation by Cecilia d’Oliveira, MIT OpenCourseWare’s Executive Director and Shigeru Miyagawa, Chair of MIT OpenCourseWare’s Faculty Advisory Committee and Head of MIT’s Foreign Languages and Literatures Department, we’ll examine the how open educational resources are changing the educational landscape and meeting the global demands for open knowledge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2PqRN1mK94&feature=youtube_gdata

by Joe Nathan, ECM Publishers

Both national and local talent are being used to help Minnesota students gain the benefits of video. That’s good news for students and a compliment to teachers who continue seeking new ways to help students learn more. Julie Cook, a Milaca math teacher, is, according to principal Troy Anderson, “doing the flipped method of teaching with her intermediate algebra classes. The students watch the instruction via the video clip outside of class. The students then have more work time with the expert during class time. Cook reports,” I have had positive reactions from most of my students. They like this method because they can watch the videos multiple times if needed and they are able to ask questions and work through the problems in class where I am able to help them. Of course, as with all new things, I had a few students that struggled with the change, but after a few weeks most of them are now telling me how much they enjoy it. Their scores have also shown the benefits of this approach.

http://hometownsource.com/2012/02/22/minnesota-educators-use-creative-online-resources-to-promote-learning/

by University of Arkansas

University of Arkansas Provost Sharon L. Gaber on Thursday announced an administrative realignment that will result in a greater campus emphasis on distance, online and continuing education programs and related services. The actions involve Global Campus, a campus division that provides distance and continuing education along with audio and video production and support services and conference planning. Those latter functions will be reassigned to other existing campus units. “Given the university’s teaching, research and outreach missions, we must always look for the most effective ways to serve the educational needs of our students and our state,” Gaber explained. “Distance education and continuing education programs are growing rapidly as an attractive option for learners. This is especially true for those individuals whose family, employment or economic circumstances make it difficult to attend classes in Fayetteville.

http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=17801

by Stanford Graduate School of Business

Today the online Khan Academy offers more than 2,600 free, 10-minute video tutoring sessions in 10 languages on subjects ranging from K-12 math and science to art history. Students can earn points and badges for achieving mastery in the subjects, just as they would in video games, while their teachers and parents keep track of their progress. The academy also has started working directly with school districts, including Los Altos, East Palo Alto, and San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area, to supplement regular classroom instruction. “Our total invested capital to date is less than $3 million, and we’re pushing about 5 million unique students per month,” Khan said proudly. “That’s six to seven times the number of students that Harvard has served since 1636.”

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/sal-khan-academy.html

By Kasha Patel, Univesity of San Diego Vista

Students at a traditional university such as USD are privileged enough to be able to afford and gain a well-respected degree in the field of their choice within the usual four years, give or a take a few semesters. But what about the people out there who can’t afford the tuition of a four year university or are not keen to the traditional way of learning? One solution is the Khan Academy. It offers a gateway to learning for those who need a boost. “The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. We’re a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone, anywhere. All of the site’s resources are available to anyone. It doesn’t matter if [they] are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal or an adult returning to the classroom after 20 years. The Khan Academy’s materials and resources are available to [everyone] completely free of charge,” the Academy’s website states. Free college education with online classes that can be taken at a student’s own pace is appealing to those who need an alternative to the traditional university style of education like USD’s. Scott Olster of Fortune magazine interviewed the founder of Khan Academy, Salman Khan, about his vision for the institution and how he sees it as a viable substitute for those students who need something a little different when it comes to gaining an education.

http://www.theusdvista.com/business/khan-academy-provides-an-alternative-to-tradition-1.2794651#.T0ovk4ePUdM