Online Learning Update

by Isreal 21c

Mindojo will allow people to create an online course that automatically adapts to each student’s needs and learning style. One might expect some pretty fancy jujitsu moves from a company named Mindojo (for “mind” and “dojo,” a martial arts gym). And indeed, Mindojo founder Guy Zaslavsky’s online learning startup has just raised more than $2 million for a technology that Zaslavsky states confidently will “revolutionize education.” Expected to debut in early 2013, the new Mindojo platform will allow individuals or a companies to create an online course that will automatically adapt to each student’s needs and learning style. The platform can be used for any subject that’s textbook based.

http://israel21c.org/technology/individual-approach-to-online-learning-israeli-style/

by Tech Central

The University of Reading is helping to develop a new e-learning tool that delivers lessons via a mobile phone, yet offers feedback previously only available from a real-life tutor, with significant financial backing from the European Commission. Researchers working on the tool’s development have said that traditional learning models and universities will ignore e-learning ‘at their peril’. The three-year project has received just under £2.5 million (€3.08 million) funding from the European Commission FP7 Research programme and aims to develop a system, dubbed INTUITEL, which emulates the best aspects of traditional teaching methods and delivers them through online portals. “Online learning will continue to challenge the traditional learning models and universities around the world will ignore this at their peril.

http://www.techcentral.ie/20421/researchers-tell-traditional-universities-to-ignore-e-learning-at-their-peril

By Mike Cason, Alabama.com

Trussville City Schools has received a waiver from the State Board of Education to implement “eLearning Weather Days,” Superintendent Pattie Neill announced in a letter to parents. Neill said the school calendar does not have any extra days built in should inclement weather cause schools to be closed. “In the event a day is missed due to weather, an eLearning Weather Day can be implemented,” Neill wrote. “On the day of inclement weather, students and parents can go to their child’s school website and click on ‘eLearning Weather Day.’ Then, students and/or parents can receive instruction on assignments their students should complete for the day missed from school.”

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/12/trussville_city_schools_to_imp.html

by Warren Bennis, Bloomberg Business Week

Some experts worry (or perhaps hope) that traditional college campuses may soon be shuttered. I would suggest that, while change will come, some aspects of business education will not change. Experts were once convinced that the printing press and widespread dissemination of books would make it unnecessary for students to traverse rivers, forests, and mountains to convene physically around a faculty master. Some were convinced that university education could cheaply be replaced by public libraries. And some believed that the advent of the U.S. Post Office would make campuses unnecessary. Why, then, has the traditional form of education endured so far? For the same reason that it will endure in coming years: Human beings instinctively and habitually crave proximity to whatever they value or venerate. They crave closeness to the source. And they value congregating with others during such deep experiences of closeness.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-24/as-online-learning-grows-the-college-campus-lives-on

by Robin RaskinFounder, Living in Digital Times

Each January, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we hold the HigherEdTECH Summit, a unique gathering of leaders in technology and education. In the midst of the world’s largest arena of tech innovation, we have created a hot house for cross-pollination among education and industry that is generating new — some might say unusual — hybrid relationships and exciting new ideas. Topping this year’s list of controversial topics is whether education as we know it has a future. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) from new companies like Coursera and edX or consortia now make it possible to study with the world’s foremost professors without paying tuition. E-texts and e-content are slowly, but surely replacing textbooks, and e-portfolios are making it easier for students to take courses from multiple institutions. As colleges straddle the past, present and future, their students are firmly planted in the digital world, and technology innovations are invading the hallowed halls of ivy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-raskin/higher-tech-meets-higher-_b_2333414.html

BY GINA JORDAN, NPR State Impact

The Florida Board of Governors will enter 2013 with a priority of expanding higher education online. Members will meet in mid-January to talk about their options, including the creation of a public university that is online only. “There could be no doubt that Florida is already a major contributor to the world of online learning,” Chancellor Frank Brogan said. “Now we need to organize our efforts to devise a plan that provides a maximum return on investment in the future.” The 2008 Florida Legislature authorized the formation of the Florida Distance Learning Task Force.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/12/24/state-leaders-ready-to-expand-online-higher-education-in-2013/

By Karen Sloan, The National Law Journal

How does a free law class taught by Harvard faculty sound?Harvard Law School is accepting applications for its first online course via edX—a new online education venture between six leading universities. The 12-week copyright course begins on January 28 and will be open to 500 students. Applications for a spot in the free class, taught by William Fisher III, director of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, must be received by January 3.

http://www.ctlawtribune.com/PubArticleCT.jsp?id=1202582652536&Harvard_Law_offering_first_free_online_course

by JESSIE CHUANG, Classroom Aid

The new cohort of MOOCs are distinct from the original MOOCs in that they are “open,” thus far, in only one respect: they are open enrollment. The new MOOCs have not yet openly licensed their courses. As MOOCs continue to develop course content and experiment with various business models, we think it’s crucial that they consider adopting open licenses as a default on their digital education offerings. In general, the value proposition can be enhanced for the new MOOCs and their users if the MOOCs openly license their courses. A few ideas about why this is important:

http://classroom-aid.com/2012/12/22/reuse-is-key-to-positive-mooc-and-oer-impact/

by Online College Courses

If you’re curious about learning a programming language then you’re in luck: there’s no shortage of resources for learning how to code online. University-level courses, tutorials, cheat sheets, and coding communities all offer excellent ways to pick up a new language, and maybe even a new job, too. Read on, and you’ll discover 50 great places to learn how to code, for free, online.

http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/08/06/50-places-you-can-learn-to-code-for-free-online/

by Edudemic

As you probably know, the ‘M’ in MOOCs stands for Massive. So just how massive are some of these individual  online learning courses? If they’re taught by some of the most well-known luminaries in their field … they’re quite huge. But numbers aside, it seems that courses taught by “celebrities” are some of the most-watched MOOCs so far. Might explain why Coursera, who features many courses from well-known figures, is causing such a ruckus online (in a good way).

http://edudemic.com/2012/12/the-11-most-popular-open-online-courses/

by Jackie Gerstein, UserGeneratedEducation

Higher education and high school teachers have stubbornly kept lectures as the primary mode of instruction…. I am confused that in these amazing times of the abundance of information, mobile devices, and free technologies, educators are not leveraging them in the classroom. Where, when, how, and even what we are learning is changing. Teachers need to consider how to engage learners with content by connecting to their current interests as well as their technological habits and dependencies. Reports continue to be disseminated about how young people are using technology. These devices, tools, and strategies can be integrated into existing lessons to enhance the learning activities and create more engagement, excitement, and possibly some passion among the students.

http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/leveraging-the-devices-tools-and-learning-strategies-of-our-students/

BY Ki Mae Heussner, Gigaom

Since launching in 1995, lynda.com, which was founded by husband and wife team Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman, has built up a library of more than 1,500 video courses serving more than one million individual, corporate and academic members. On the site, users pay a subscription fee of about $25 to access the content, which aims to help anyone from novices to more advanced students learn software, business and creative skills through video tutorials produced in-house by vetted experts. The company has grown without the help of outside investment and, last year, reportedly hit $70 million in revenues.

http://gigaom.com/2012/12/17/with-new-cto-longtime-online-learning-site-lynda-com-looks-to-up-its-game/

by NBC 29

The University of Virginia is giving potential students a sneak peek of free online courses. The university has launched video previews of upcoming online learning classes offered through a partnership with Coursera. The non-credit courses are free and open to anyone with a computer and internet connection. Professors say enrollment has skyrocketed since the initiative was announced in mid-July. UVA professor Mitch Green said, “The enrollment for my course thus far, which doesn’t launch until March I, I think, 43,000 students from all over the world right now, which is kind of a mind-boggling number for us who teach 20 or 30 or at most 250 at a time.”

http://www.nbc29.com/story/20411005/uva-offfering-sneak-peek-of-free-online-courses

by KARI DEQUINE HARDEN, The Advocate

Connections Academy started 10 years ago nationally, first as a private school before moving to public. The school is in its second year of operation in Louisiana, and Principal Caroline Wood said there is a waiting list. Most of the school’s 1,200 students are between Baton Rouge and Slidell, Wood said, but the numbers are increasing in the New Orleans area. About 10 percent come from Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Once enrolled, families are provided with computers, books and materials. Students can participate in a range of field trips, clubs and extracurricular activities. Wood said the students are held to very high standards, and the coursework is rigorous.

http://theadvocate.com/news/4741545-123/online-classes-ushering-new-era

by Open Culture

Back in 2009, Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel made his course, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, available on the web for free (YouTube – iTunes – Web). Suddenly lifelong learners around the world had access to a popular course enjoyed by more than 14,000 Harvard students over 30 years. Come next spring, Sandel plans to offer Justice as a free course through edX, the provider of MOOCs (or Massive Open Online Courses) created by Harvard and MIT. And here’s one thing you can guarantee: In a single offering, Sandel will bring his course to more students worldwide than he did through his decades teaching at Harvard.

http://www.openculture.com/2012/12/michael_sandels_famous_harvard_course_on_justice_now_available_as_a_mooc_register_today.html

by Sem, CyberPop blog

At my workplace and far beyond, the debate continues about the value of online teaching and learning. Many profs vehemently disagree with offering online learning opportunities for residential students. Strangely enough though, it seems that those who passionately oppose the online course development are not actually engaged in designing or delivering online courses, so it must be difficult for them to see both sides. I teach ~700 on-campus students and ~900 online students per year, so that puts me in a position to see some of the costs and benefits of each method of teaching and learning. In my experience they are each very unique experiences for profs and students, and each offers enormous, differentiated value.

http://cyberpopblog.com/edtech/learning-online-learning-offline/

by Virtual College (UK)

Students in the UK are increasingly looking to online learning as a way of resisting the rising costs of course materials. According to a recent study conducted by the National Union of Students and CourseSmart, 81 per cent of undergraduates believe higher education facilities should be offering textbooks free of charge as part of their fees, the Guardian reports. To avoid splashing out on heavy and expensive degree-related reading, 95 per cent of young people questioned are using internet-connected devices to help them with their studying. They also have the opportunity to rent – rather than buy – digital textbooks, which means they are saving cash and learning more effectively, as stated by 63 per cent of respondents. In addition, 99 per cent of individuals claimed to own at least one online device, while 77 per cent of this group said they use it for academia.

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Cashstrapped-students-turning-to-elearning-newsitems-801511479.aspx

by PBS News Hour

UC Berkeley professor Dan Garcia teaches an online course — not free — and is learning from it valuable lessons on how to teach in the classroom. He demonstrates for Spencer Michels of the NewsHour his technique, and quizzes he includes in his lectures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQWTU1X99Xk

by Online School

All major online colleges and universities report astounding increases in the number of students enrolling in online school certification and degree programs. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a prominent online magazine source of educational information for university administrators and faculty members, higher learning institutions have announced a nearly 25 percent increase in online enrollment over the past four years—the highest percentage recorded to date.  With an apparent shift towards online education away from traditional classroom instruction predicted to shape the educational environment of 2013, the demise of “brick and mortar” schools will inevitably be a decisive factor shaping the future of online schools and the students who attend them. As the quality of online education continues to improve and adapt to the rapidly changing technology exemplifying the digital world, students will be able to experience a stunning variety of teaching platforms capable of enhancing as well as accommodating all individual learning styles and standards.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/online-school-growth/2013-outlook/prweb10261417.htm

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

It seemed almost too easy. Catharine Stimpson and Ann Kirschner start from such fundamentally different perspective in their views about technology-enabled education that staging a symposium at which the two of them talk about their experiences taking online courses (or writing about such an event) seemed like shooting fish in a barrel. Of course Kirschner would be a booster, and Stimpson a naysayer. What enlightenment could possibly emerge?

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/12/21/kirschner-and-stimpson-debate-pros-and-cons-digital-courses

By Ellis Booker, InformationWeek

Can a class contain 100,000 Internet-connected students? Can grading be crowdsourced? Will colleges and universities someday confer certifications on students who’ve never stepped foot on campus, never interacted with a live teacher and never paid a dime? These are just some of the existential questions confronting academia thanks to massive open online courses, or MOOCs. MOOCs are distinguished as much by their network- and computer-mediated scale as their free-for-all philosophy.

http://www.informationweek.com/massive-open-online-courses-meet-higher/240145137