Online Learning Update

BY RONEISHA MULLEN, Toledo Blade

Freshman tuition could cost more than $20,000 at the University of Michigan this year, but in June, the university launched a program to teach the world — or anyone with a computer and an Internet connection — for a much cheaper price: free. UM joined a group of top universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and MIT, that will offer select courses online for free through Coursera, a California-based online education company. So far, at least seven University of Michigan professors are offering free online courses on such diverse topics as computer vision, fantasy and science fiction, Internet history, finance, and electronic voting. More than one million students from 172 countries have enrolled with Coursera, and it recently received a $16 million investment, according to a Coursera press release.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2012/07/15/A-world-class-education-for-free.html

by Charlie Osborne, ZDNet

Almost 155,000 people registered for 6.002x. Out of these subscribers, 23,000 tried the first problem exercises, 9,000 passed the midterm, and 7,157 passed the course as a whole. As Anant Agarwal pointed out, “If you look at the number in absolute terms, it’s as many students as might take the course in 40 years at MIT.” Furthermore, that is 7,157 people who passed the course and now have an enhanced knowledge of electronics — something that is needed desperately across the globe. That may not make much of a dent in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) worker shortage, but it’s certainly a start. Remember, this was just one course, and one prototype. Agarwal also believes that rates of completion will increase once more courses are on offer, saying: “In some sense, this course popped up out of nowhere. It requires a background in physics, a background in calculus, a background in differential equations. Over time, edX will have courses on each of those three prerequisites, and we can point students to those courses if they don’t have the background.”

http://www.zdnet.com/what-did-the-mitx-experiment-teach-us-7000000959/

By: Errol Craig Sull, Faculty Focus

Resources—that amalgam of nearly anything and everything related to the subjects we teach and offered to our students as “extras”—give students a broader, deeper, and enhanced understanding of what they are being taught. Resources come in a variety of forms and often reflect our deep interest in our specialties. Sharing them in the online classroom gives students a better learning experience. But what is the best way to use these resources? When and where in the course should they be posted? The more we are aware of how best to present resources in our classes, the more effective those resources will be. Use these suggestions, and you’ll soon find your students embracing the resources and becoming more involved in the classroom:

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/the-how-why-and-when-of-posting-resources-in-the-online-classroom/

by Online Learning Insights

Though the goal of this question was to identify how effective the lectures videos were in facilitating content delivery, we acknowledge that this method is one-dimensional, that there are multiple methods and approaches to assess effectiveness of prerecorded lectures. An accurate and efficient method is an assessment in the form of a quiz, given to the student immediately following the lecture. This is the method used by Coursera, which I’ve experienced while taking a course this summer. Our program is not capable of implementing this method currently, though I do like this option and plan to explore this at a later date. Question: The video lectures were effective in communicating the course concepts and content. [Student Respondents n = 76]

Strongly Disagree: 0%

Disagree: 6%

Neutral: 4%

Agree: 33%

Strongly Agree: 57%

Even more helpful in determining lecture effectiveness, are the responses to the following open-ended question which followed the above question.

http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/are-video-lectures-effective-in-online-courses/

By: KARIN KAPSIDELIS, Richmond Times-Dispatch

David Evans usually teaches about 50 students in one of his computer science classes at the University of Virginia. In February, he offered a free course on how to build a search engine, and 94,000 people signed up. So many students would never fit in a lecture hall in Charlottesville, nor be allowed in without paying, but that’s no concern at Udacity, the digital university where Evans, an associate professor on leave from U.Va., is teaching. The idea, he said, is to make “high-quality higher education available to people who wouldn’t have the opportunity to come to U.Va., and that’s the vast majority of the world.”

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/15/tdmain01-colleges-expand-audiences-with-online-cou-ar-2057756/

by Andrew Maynard, 2020Science

YouTube is gearing up to transform the way we learn…We are at the beginning of an exciting revolution in online educational content. That’s the message that came across loud and clear at this morning’s VidCon breakout panel on education. In an overflowing room of well over two hundred conference goers, head of YouTube Education Angela Lin led a panel of five leading video makers in a lively discussion, that gave a compelling glimpse of the future of online education. And it was a future that didn’t feature too many conventional lessons or institutionalized videos! As the panel included John and Hank Green (SciShow, CrashCourse and a gazillion other things) I was expecting a room packed to the brim with their incredibly engaged teen fans – which it was. An odd audience you might think for a panel on education. But this was a serious, intelligent and engaged crowd, eager to listen to the panel, ask questions and provide their own insight on online learning.

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/maynard20120706

By Libby A. Nelson, Inside Higher Ed

A proposed change that would lead to smaller Pell Grants for some students enrolled in online classes was intended to prevent financial aid fraud. But advocates for distance education fear it’s the first in a possible series of unintended consequences, as the Education Department prepares to take steps to crack down on fraud in negotiated rule-making hearings later this year. Deep in the Senate appropriations bill for the Education Department for the 2013 fiscal year was a provision that would change how Pell Grants are allocated to students in online programs. For those students, Pell Grants would cover only tuition, fees, books and supplies — not room and board, as they currently do.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/13/distance-education-advocates-worry-about-proposed-changes-pell-grant

by Virtual College (UK)

Employers are finding they can improve the skill set of their staff through online training courses. Director of media consultancy firm Stephen Hoare wrote in Education Guardian that many people are taking part in distance learning online because they wish to develop their roles in industries including nursing, finance, law and banking. Furthermore, virtual learning environments provide networking opportunities to participants, he remarked, highlighting the appearance of internet forums enabling online training students to discuss academic or course matters with students in rival businesses. HSBC corporate banking analyst Dan Hiskey described these discussion boards as “an amazing professional network” in the article. He revealed the online learning course he took part in dealt with basic elements of his industry and featured assignments in which he was encouraged to refer to workplace tasks.

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Companies-can-improve-staff-skills-with-distance-learning-online-newsitems-801406182.aspx

by John Thelin, Inside Higher Ed

I do wonder why so many colleagues fear or avoid online education. It’s established, expanding, and improving – and is an undeniable part of college teaching and learning. At a flagship state university, online education is less of a threat to job security than is the administrative penchant to hire adjuncts at a relatively low salary to teach traditional courses. Learning how to teach online probably would be one of the best steps a professor could take to assure viability in the 21st century. The most dysfunctional response by a professor today would be to dismiss or ignore both the technology and the social consequences online learning has. Online education is neither simple nor sinister.

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/07/10/professors-shouldnt-be-afraid-online-learning-essay

By Education-Portal.com

Math 104: Calculus, a free online math course offered by Silicon Valley start-up Education-Portal.com, has drawn over 11,000 students since it launched in March 2012. The course is comprised of 103 bite-sized video lessons that are fewer than 10 minutes long. The video lessons make complex concepts like derivatives and integrals simple and easy to learn. Online learners self-navigate through the course, learning just the topics they need to know and skipping the ones they’ve already mastered. Students are praising the math course’s “understandable and easy-to-remember analogies” and instructor Erin Lennon’s relatable and clear teaching style. Dr. Alvin Bayliss, professor of applied mathematics at Northwestern University, says, “These lessons are most definitely a useful supplemental resource for calculus students as well as for students who want to study independently.”

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/12/4627166/over-11000-students-take-free.html

By Jeff Selingo, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The battle for the future of higher ed has landed—at least for the time being—on a concept few in academe had even heard of a year ago: the Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC. The idea of offering free courses online to tens of thousands of students has suddenly become the latest, greatest way to “fix” higher ed, promoted by education-technology entrepreneurs and bemoaned by traditional academics.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/07/11/moocs-arent-a-panacea-but-that-doesnt-blunt-their-promise/

by Virtual College (UK)

Distance learning online could provide students with the best of both worlds. Stephanie Thomson, who is taking an e-learning course from a German university, wrote in the Guardian that she wished to go back to higher education (HE) but was concerned about how she could fund this. Therefore, she engaged in online learning while keeping her day-job, enabling her to continue her academic pursuits without returning to “a life of Pot Noodles” and “penny-pinching as an undergraduate”. The student explained that online training enables her to study a worthwhile course at times that are convenient to her and in the comfort of her own home. Ms Thomson pointed out she is not the only person in the UK who is a part of the digital learning revolution, highlighting data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Student Record, which revealed 10.9 per cent of all attendees of the UK’s HE institutions from 2010 to 2011 were ‘distance learners’, or a total of 271,445 individuals.

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Online-training-helps-adult-learners-access-HE-newsitems-801405238.aspx

By Joe Sullivan, Metro Pulse

One might suppose that more online courses could help reduce UT’s much publicized bottleneck to graduation due to reductions in faculty ranks and course offerings resulting from budget cuts over the past two years. But McMillan insists that such is not the case. “When they’re taught right, [online courses] take more faculty time than courses taught in a classroom setting. We don’t want them to be plug-and-play, so teachers are doing a lot more one-on-one student interactions than when they’re in the classroom.” Whether this is a proactive as opposed to a protective posture, I’m not qualified to say. And the refreshingly candid McMillan is frank to acknowledge that “We haven’t had a clear sense of strategic education” where going online is concerned. In the fall, she says, “We’ll be pulling together a task force to think about where we want to be.”

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2012/jul/11/are-online-courses-part-uts-future/

by LAURA JANES, MIT Technology Review

How MIT and Harvard hope to reach a billion students with the online learning initiative edX. Anant Agarwal, president of edX, recently stopped by the Technology Review studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to discuss the new online learning platform that MIT and Harvard announced in December. The first courses will be launching this fall. “Education hasn’t had any real innovation for centuries,” Agarwal commented. The open-source edX platform will leverage machine learning and emerging Web technologies that he anticipates will truly transform online learning. In addition to democratizing the availability and accessibility of education online, edX is also expected to enhance the learning experience on traditional campuses. With such a large student body participating around the world, educators will gain an unprecedented view into effective learning practices.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428474/emtech-preview-anant-agarwal-on-overhauling/

By Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Coursera has been operating for only a few months, but the company has already persuaded some of the world’s best-known universities to offer free courses through its online platform. Colleges that usually move at a glacial pace are rushing into deals with the upstart company. But what exactly have they signed up for? And if the courses are free, how will the company—and the universities involved—make money to sustain them? Some clues can be found in the contract the institutions signed. The Chronicle obtained the agreement between Coursera and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the first public university to make such a deal, under a Freedom of Information Act request, and Coursera officials say that the arrangement is similar to those with the other partners.

http://chronicle.com/article/How-an-Upstart-Company-Might/133065/

by SF Gate

Education today is broken. When budgets need to be cut, education takes the hit; fewer classes, no arts programs, teachers laid off. Take it online and it gets worse – boring webinars, no interactivity, no personalization, high school students as tutors. Elaine Sigal, an educator for over 30 years, wanted to leverage her experience as both a teacher and an entrepreneur to bring real change to education. “As a longtime classroom teacher, I was frustrated that quality education couldn’t be made available to everyone. Even online solutions weren’t living up to their potential. I founded STIZZiL to fill that gap.” STIZZiL, an online lifelong learning company, recognizes that the most important and effective tool in education is the teacher. So imagine instead that you could be sitting in the comfort and safety of your living room with the best possible teacher by your side.

http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Add-Some-Sizzle-To-Lifelong-Learning-Online-From-3685531.php

By Francis P Barclay, DNA

When a question ‘How to share data between applets on the same webpage?’ was posted on www.stackoverflow.com, pat came the first reply: “You might be able to do it through javascript but I’m not quite sure because of the security implications.” Two minutes later, a link popped up on the comments thread which pointed to the Java tutorials’ weblog of Oracle, which could answer the primary question. Just a few years ago, such a learner would be digging into the task of finding an expert or teacher to clear the doubt. Save that pain as the internet is now alive with online forums like StackOverflow to make learning and information-sharing easier. That is one of the reasons why e-learning is catching up. Another is online social networking.

http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report_whats-making-e-education-click_1711276

By DAVID BORNSTEIN, NY Times

If you or your kids have taken an online lesson at the Khan Academy (3,200 video lessons, 168 million views), been enlightened by a TED Talk (1,300 talks, 800 million views), watched a videotaped academic lecture (Academic Earth, Open Courseware Consortium, Open Culture), enrolled in a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course, now being offered by companies like Udacity and a growing list of universities, including M.I.T., Harvard and Stanford), or simply learned to play guitar, paint a landscape or make a soufflé via YouTube — then you know that the distribution channels of education have changed — and that the future of learning is free and open.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/open-education-for-a-global-economy/

By Kanoe Namahoe, Campus Technology

New Mexico State University (NMSU) is moving course content development to the cloud. The Las Cruces, NM-based institution this week confirmed that it has adopted Softchalk Cloud as its content authoring platform. NMSU has used SoftChalk’s desktop technology to develop course materials for its blended and online classes since 2009. According to a statement released today by SoftChalk, NMSU’s Online Course Improvement Team decided to upgrade to a cloud-based platform to give course designers an efficient way to create, manage, and share learning objects. The new system integrates with NMSU’s learning management system, Canvas. Designers will retain their content even if the institution moves to a new LMS.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2012/07/10/new-mexico-state-u-moves-course-design-to-the-cloud.aspx

by Virtual College (UK)

Higher education will increasingly be influenced by innovations made on e-learning courses, it has been said. Writing in The Conversation, adjunct lecturer at the University of New South Wales’ school of computer science and engineering Dror Ben-Naim suggested the future of academia could involve students engaging in distance learning online through immersive games. The university has already invested in online learning tools and allows attendees to view announcements and updates about their course, download relevant academic materials, undertake self-assessment quizzes, submit feedback and assignments, or download video content and recordings of lectures. A large number of the next generation of graduates will have honed their skills through virtual learning environments, much in the same way as aeroplane pilots learn how to fly through flight simulators, the specialist predicted.

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Elearning-to-have-substantial-impact-on-higher-education-newsitems-801404217.aspx

by Tom Still, Post-Crescent

The UW System is moving toward a “flexible degree” program built on flat-fee, at-your-own-pace online education, news that should be applauded by prospective students, business owners and state legislators. That’s true even if some elements of the education community itself remain suspicious of how well it will work. While the UW is a relative latecomer to granting flexible online degrees, it already offers 4,600 online courses. It also has a huge advantage not possessed by most of its competitors — a quality brand that can be marketed well beyond the state’s borders. UW System President Kevin Reilly and UW-Extension Chancellor Ray Cross were joined by Gov. Scott Walker last month in announcing the “flexible degree” program, which will be rolled out over the next year or so. Skeptics quickly asked if the program will undercut the UW’s traditional campuses, how the tuition structure will work, whether quality can be upheld and how to guard against academic cyber-cheaters.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20120711/APC06/307110058/Tom-Still-column-UW-online-degree-program-winner