Online Learning Update

By Rob Kelly, Faculty Focus

Online instructors are being asked to accommodate an increasing number of students in their courses. The challenge is to manage the workload associated with these high-enrollment courses. Susan Fein, eLearning consultant/instructional designer at Washington State University, offered some advice on how to do this. Replace written activities with objective knowledge checks. “One question that instructors can ask is, ‘Is there a chance that I can replace one or more written activities like a discussion forum or paper with some style of objective questions such as quizzes?’” Fein says. “Quizzes or any objective-style assessment is very good for a couple of things, but the easiest slam dunks are facts, figures, terminology, historical events, who discovered what, definition of acronyms, basic foundation concepts—stuff that has a right and a wrong answer.” Use peer review. “Instead of the instructor being the only person who does all the grading, consider doing some peer review activities. Perhaps students could review a first draft of a final paper and provide feedback. Peer review will not work if you don’t provide a rubric. The rubric needs to clearly outline to all the students the criteria they need to look at and how to judge the quality of those various criteria,” Fein says.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/managing-high-enrollment-online-courses/

By Justin Baker, Gateway / U Nebraska at Omaha

More than 100 degree programs at the University of Nebraska can be completed entirely on the web, making higher education more accessible to adults leading busy lives. The online courses prepare students for their career path and give them freedom to learn without being bound by time and place. At UNO, the Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) degree has over 40 areas of concentration, including women’s and gender studies, art, and physics. Offered by the UNO Division of Continuing Studies, the program is designed to fit within the busy schedules of working adults. “I didn’t want to sacrifice my family life, which is the top reason I chose Continuing Studies,” UNO alumna Patricia Thraen said. “I work full-time and have three kids, so being able to log in anytime to do my classwork and not have a fixed schedule allowed me the flexibility I needed.”

http://www.unogateway.com/news/online-options-help-adults-earn-college-degree-1.2971947#.UPXK1SdEFwI

by Jessica Bakeman, Press Connects

The State University of New York is setting out to become the largest provider of online education in the country, Chancellor Nancy Zimpher will announce today in her State of the University address. The 64-campus system will launch “Open SUNY,” a network of online courses available to all its students, regardless of which campus they attend or where their financial aid comes from, Zimpher told Gannett’s Albany Bureau on Monday. She will deliver her address this morning in Albany, outlining SUNY administration’s plans for the year. SUNY anticipates tripling the number of degree-seeking students in online education programs in three years. The number of students enrolled now is hard to pin down, Zimpher said, but SUNY’s data professionals are working on an estimate.

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20130115/NEWS10/301150006/Zimpher-SUNY-aims-offer-10-online-only-degree-programs

By Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Ed

Chief academic officers count online learning as an important strategic tool in their arsenal more than they have in the last nine years. A survey report released on Tuesday, Jan. 8 showed that nearly 70 percent of 2,820 chief academic officers agreed that online learning is critical to their long-term strategy. That’s a nearly 4 percent increase from fall 2011 and a 20 percent increase since 2002, according to the survey, conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board. With the increasing popularity of massively open online courses (MOOCs), more university boards and cabinets are telling chief academic officers that online learning is strategic and asking what they’re going to do about it, said Phil Hill, an educational technology consultant and analyst.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/news/Online-Education-University-Strategy.html

by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

As is often the case at technology-related conferences, predictions of fast and “sweeping” change in higher education were rampant. But so, too, was there a good bit of nuance, and some thoughtfulness about what won’t (and shouldn’t) change. And there was fairly broad-scale agreement that MOOCs and other technology-enabled education will be truly transformative in higher education only at the point that they give educators the tools to do two things: (1) expand access to the low-income students who are disproportionately excluded from today’s higher education system, and (2) provide instruction that is more targeted to an individual’s educational needs — a goal, several argued, that might ironically be achieved sooner precisely because technology enables education to be delivered to so many students at one time. Even those who don’t think MOOCs will transform the face of higher education acknowledged the extent to which they had changed the conversation about online education in a fundamental way.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/14/assessing-moocs-higheredtech-conference

By Katy Murphy, Bay Area News Group

San Jose State University will announce Tuesday the latest innovation in the rapidly changing world of online college education: for-credit courses, at $150 apiece, for high school, community college and San Jose State students. The pilot project, a partnership with the Silicon Valley startup Udacity, will start small, with three courses and 100 students in each. The courses — entry level mathematics, elementary statistics and college algebra — were designed by San Jose State professors, but will use Udacity’s online platform. Udacity, a Palo Alto-based company started by three roboticists, is one of the leading providers of free online courses offered to anyone in the world with an Internet connection — massive open online courses, or MOOCs. This venture, however, will allow students to earn college credits upon successful completion of the course.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22377206/san-jose-state-partners-silicon-valley-startup-groundbreaking

by Intelligence Unit

Harvard Business Review has identified several key innovation trends to expect in 2013, one of which is awarding learners (mainly those taking online courses as part of university distance courses, MOOCs or job trainings) with digital badges, rather than classic certificates or degrees. These are “a new type of credential being developed by some of the most prominent businesses and learning organizations in the world, including Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, the University of California, the Smithsonian, Intel and Disney-Pixar.” Compared to the rather generic and often inflated grades in certificates, badges identify the specific skills and knowledge of the badge-holder.

http://www.iu.qs.com/2013/01/10/open-badges-project/

by Jim Fong, UPCEA Center for Research and Consulting

The University Professional and Continuing Education Association is conducting a national survey of distance education providers. Specifically, they are looking for those involved in the decision-making process regarding the proctoring and authentication of online students. The anonymous survey takes about 5 to 7 minutes to complete and a summary of results will be available through UPCEA in the spring. You can make sure you get the summary by sending Jim Fong, UPCEA Center for Research and Consulting research director, an email at jfong@upcea.edu.

You can fill out the survey at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/upceaproctorstudy

By John Wernecke, the Lantern

Ohio State has taken its latest step in offering online education options to students and staff to the tune of almost $14 million. The university has combined distance education and learning technology initiatives into the Office of Distance Education and eLearning, which will be known as Ohio State Online. The changes will cost $13.8 million and will be funded by existing eLearning and Extended Education resources, with additional resources appropriated by the Office of Academic Affairs. Ohio State Online will work with the University Senate Fiscal Committee, OAA and the Office of Business and Finance to create a long-term fiscal plan, according to OAA. The office was established on Dec. 1.

http://www.thelantern.com/campus/ohio-state-spends-14m-to-expand-online-education-options-1.2970571

By Will Oremus, Slate

In just one year, Coursera has established itself as the giant in the rapidly growing field of online higher education. It has done it by partnering with dozens of prestigious universities around the world to broadcast lectures to the masses, for free. Not surprisingly, this approach has proven stupendously popular. The New York Times’ Tamar Lewin noted that Coursera drew one million users in its first four months, more than Facebook or Twitter. Coursera has unveiled its newest initiative: “signature track” courses that offer students “verified certificates” if they pay a fee of $30 to $100 and submit to a few simple procedures to verify their identity.The Washington Post has more on the verification procedures, which are really interesting, if untested in the education world. But the more immediate question is this: How many people will be willing to pay $100 for an online course that most others are taking for free?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/01/09/coursera_signature_track_would_you_pay_100_for_a_free_online_college_course.html

by Jeff Dunn, Edudemic

Udemy, the leading online education marketplace, today launched Teach2013, a campaign designed to empower and encourage industry experts worldwide to create online courses and deliver them to people around the globe in 2013. “Imagine what we could accomplish if every expert shared his or her knowledge with the world,” said Eren Bali, Udemy co-founder and chief executive officer. “Online instructors are now teaching millions of people around the world. But there are so many more subjects that students want to learn. We’re calling upon every expert to join us and teach the next generation, starting this year.” Once experts express interest in teaching online, Udemy will provide an array of tools and resources to help them build and deliver courses that meet Udemy’s standards for course quality.

http://edudemic.com/2013/01/udemy-launches-teach2013-to-rethink-how-we-learn-online/

by Dave Breitenstein, News-Press

During the fall semester, 1,645 of 4,227 students living on campus – 39 percent – took at least one online class. In the fall, 4,287 of 9,281 students living off campus – 46 percent – enrolled in at least one virtual course. Why pay to live in a college dorm and then sign up for online courses? That’s what’s happening at Florida Gulf Coast University, where 39 percent of students living on campus took at least one online course during the fall term. Although many students can see academic buildings out their dorm room window, they forgo the short walk or shuttle bus ride in favor of a computer. It’s not that they’re lazy, according to provost Ron Toll. “Students like online classes because they’re much more flexible,” Toll said. “They can be interacting with people at 3 o’clock in the morning.”

http://www.news-press.com/article/20130113/NEWS0104/301130045/0/NEWS0101/FGCU-students-like-web-courses

By LEE SHEARER, Online Athens

The University of Georgia is diving into a new era of online learning this summer with a slate of new undergraduate courses. UGA has taught a limited number of online courses and degree or certificate programs for years, but this summer, the university will teach 34 courses popular with or required of undergraduates. The university has lagged behind many other schools in moving into online learning, but now the school has made developing a stronger online curriculum a top priority, said UGA instruction Vice President Laura Jolly. UGA started a new Office of Online Learning in July to begin beefing up its online offerings, and then asked UGA faculty members to propose potential courses. The courses offered this summer are the result.

http://onlineathens.com/uga/2013-01-12/uga-jumps-online-learning-slate-summer-courses

By TAMAR LEWIN, New York Times

In August, four months after Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng started the online education company Coursera, its free college courses had drawn in a million users, a faster launching than either Facebook or Twitter. This is the second article in a series that will examine free online college-level classes and how they are transforming higher education. “We think this model will spread,” said Daphne Koller, a computer professor at Stanford and a co-founder of Coursera. The co-founders, computer science professors at Stanford University, watched with amazement as enrollment passed two million last month, with 70,000 new students a week signing up for over 200 courses, including Human-Computer Interaction, Songwriting and Gamification, taught by faculty members at the company’s partners, 33 elite universities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/education/massive-open-online-courses-prove-popular-if-not-lucrative-yet.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

by eSchool News

Sunnyside’s GradLink is the latest online education program to reach out to high school dropouts in an effort to boost graduation rates. Arizona’s Sunnyside Unified School District has become the latest K-12 school system to turn to online instruction to help high school dropouts earn their diplomas. Tucson, Ariz., mayor Jonathan Rothschild is teaming up with the Sunnyside Unified School District to recruit high school dropouts into an online education program to get their degrees. Rothschild and Sunnyside Superintendent Manuel L. Isquierdo, a 2010 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media, on Jan. 3 announced GradLink, an online education program that aims to enroll 100 recent Tucson-area dropouts into online classes.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/01/07/online-classes-target-high-school-dropouts/

By Carol Wersich, Evansville Courier Press

When the recession hit five years ago, many people lost their jobs. When individuals applied for a new job, they found they were either underqualified or overqualified. Many unemployed people tried to balance raising a family with returning to school, aside from the everyday tasks they were accustomed to. Butsome turned to a convenient alternative: online classes. Suddenly, they were back in the classroom, or almost back in. While the recession brought an uptick in interest in online education, the momentum for online classes continues to grow today and is stronger than ever. In fact, Mark Apple, director of public relations for the statewide Harrison College, said the biggest trend he sees now in education is the higher number of people choosing to take online classes.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/07/read-by-08/

by Huffington Post

The free classes offered through Massive Open Online Courses are a hit, but UC Online looks like a bust. The University of California spent millions creating UC Online and launched the first classes a year ago, offering UC quality courses to current students and anyone else outside the university system. According to the Associated Press, about 1,700 UC students have signed up for one of the 14 courses offered, but they’ve attracted a grand total of five non-UC students, despite $4.3 million spent on marketing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/uc-online_n_2442833.html

by Anka Mulder, South China Morning Post

Much of the answer lies in realising the full potential of digital technology and the internet. They already provide access to vast resources of information, most of it free. But not all this data is reliable, and even credible information is only a stepping stone to real knowledge. That’s why, a decade ago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology made all its educational materials available online – for free. About 300 educational institutions have followed since, including Delft University of Technology, where I am secretary general. Together, these institutions created the OpenCourseWare Consortium, which now provides some 21,000 courses. Instead of searching the internet for information, learners across the world can now access focused courses, along with support materials such as sample tests that organise information into coherent blocks of knowledge. This has played a pioneering role in what is nothing less than a global educational revolution.

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1123950/revolution-digital-learning

by Julie DeNeen, InformED

For as long as eLearning has been around, it has been haunted by the voices of those who aim to criticize its authenticity, viability, and quality. But is it true? Do students of traditional institutions boast more success than those who’ve chosen distance learning?  It’s time for some of these myths to die.

http://newsroom.opencolleges.edu.au/features/30-myths-about-elearning-that-need-to-die-in-2013/

by Ellis Booker, Information Week

Higher education representatives and online education providers tussle over the impact of online, computer-mediated instruction on college students, faculty and budgets. A day-long conference at UCLA Tuesday on the impact of massive open online courses (MOOCs) and other forms of online, computer-mediated instruction on higher education in California, included heated critiques about the rationale for the state’s policy push into the area. The exchange, between third-party MOOC vendors and representatives of California’s massive secondary education system, came during a panel discussion. The conference, “Rebooting Higher Education: Leveraging Innovations in Online Education to Improve Cost Effectiveness and Increase Quality,” was sponsored by the 20 Million Minds Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to lowering the cost of higher education. The event brought together vendors of online instruction like Coursera and Udacity, California policy makers, secondary education faculty and students.

http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/online-education-policy-draws-fire-in-ca/240146047

By: Kirsty Chadwick, Biz Community

E-learning is expected to be worth US$107 billion globally by 2015. Experts predict that digital learning is going to be increasingly mobile in 2013, which will open it up to a wide audience in South Africa where 2.4 million people have access to the internet via their cellphones alone. Just like interacting with technology every day has changed (and is changing) the way we work, the way we shop, the way we socialise, and other aspects of our lives, increasingly using technology in education is going to change the way we learn, too. “Gamification” is the current buzzword in the digital sphere, and it’s likely to be the biggest trend to affect digital learning in 2013. In 2011 gamers in the US spent $17bn on video games and the average gamer in the US spends 10 hours a week gaming. E-learning designers and developers are starting to harness what it is that keeps gamers coming back for more to design more effective training material.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/98/87668.html