Online Learning Update

by Philip Chan, Android Apps Review

Always seeking to learn more about anything and everything? Looking for an app that will quench your daily thirst for knowledge? Then the Coursera On The Go Free app from developer Aliaksei Radzinski is the perfect app for you! Imagine being able to learn new things and add to your educational knowledge every time you have a spare minute. This is what the Coursera On The Go app can do for you. This app combines the best of learning tools, the internet, online lectures, and educational videos to help your expand your brain power. Learn everything from higher mathematics to lesser known sciences at the simple tap of your fingertips, whether it is downloading courses or viewing more video functions. In order to access the Coursera On The Go app, you will need to have an account to log in with and also make sure that your device has the capability of playing mp4 video formats. There is a paid version available as well, which has additional features such as: simultaneous unlimited downloads, streaming subtitles, PDF documents accessibility, default player selection, cache directory, and free of advertisements.

http://www.androidappsreview.com/2013/08/12/coursera-on-the-go-android-app-review/

by Sara Grossman, Chronicle of Higher Ed

With little fanfare, Google began offering electronic textbooks for rent or purchase on its Google Play store on Friday. Included will be books from some of the largest academic-text publishers, including Pearson, Macmillan Higher Education, and Wiley, among others. Google said the e-textbooks could save students “up to 80 percent” off print-textbook prices, and could also provide readers with features not available from traditional books. Among other things, readers can search within a text for a word or phrase, bookmark pages, annotate paragraphs, and highlight key thoughts. Additionally, there is a new sepia reading mode that can ease the eyestrain that comes from staring at a screen.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/google-begins-selling-textbooks-through-play-store/45367

By Sammy O. U., TechTelling

The Muse has been giving career advice to aspiring professionals since 2011 — and now they’re broadening their services by offering online classes through Muse University. With class titles like Kick Start Your Job Search, Management 101, Land That Promotion and Hack Your Work Life, Muse University aims to give you the tools to make the most out of your current job, or help you find one quickly. The classes are completely free, and when you sign up you’ll receive short, easily-digestible lessons in your email. Management 101 is one month long, but the others are only one or two weeks. Each email comes with some career tips, as well as some homework that will help you put the lessons into action.

http://techtelling.com/2013/08/12/start-your-career-with-muse-universitys-free-online-classes/

by THE CANADIAN

Publishing a book is every author’s dream. And self-publishing can be the easiest way to make that dream into a reality, but it can be easily turned into a nightmare when trying to sell the book. Services from Agora Publishing.com provide ways for-self publishing authors to make their book become a best seller. The course is offered online via Skype.

http://www.lecanadian.com/news/books/2013/08/12/442.html

by Tim Dodd, Australian Financial Review

Most revolutions are only obvious in retrospect. Sure, if you were in the Russian revolution I think you would have known about it; ditto the French. But the industrial revolution, the scientific revolution, the Copernican revolution (whose revolutionary view about the earth revolving about the sun is said to have led to this usage of the word “revolution”) – they all would have been a bit tougher to pick at the time. So it’s no wonder there is dissension about whether online technology is indeed driving a revolution in education. With the revolution in education, it will be possible to get a perfectly good education entirely online at a low price. When we look back on this period from a vantage point of well into the future in technological time, say 10 years, I think we’ll say we lived in the time of revolution.

http://www.afr.com/p/national/education/we_re_talking_about_revolution_right_Qc8U5QliozMd2I2FywysiN

By ROBERT SANFORD, Portland Press Herald

Most brick-and-mortar schools are wary of such endeavors but they should view them as opportunities, not threats. For example, MOOCs can help bring students into higher education by allowing a “safe” at-home approach through a low-cost single course, which might encourage the student to take the plunge and enroll in a program. Further, schools can add seminars of face-to-face classroom time to provide students the opportunity to reflect upon their MOOC learning and to have that knowledge validated through the earning of academic credits. Change will be constant throughout the 21st century, so the academy must instill in students the skills and desire to learn throughout their lifetimes. We all must be lifelong learners.

http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/schools-should-view-online-courses-as-opportunities_2013-08-05.html

By Ali Hangan, Op ed News

So what is the future of Online classes?   It is still unclear, but Campus Technology magazine published that students taking online courses have increased by 96 percent over the last 5 years suggesting that students will continue to take online courses. Also, a Department of Education study in 2009 concluded that students actually learn better with online instruction. Let’s face it, the completion rates are abysmal, but if History is any guide, online courses are here to stay, will improve overtime and we will adapt our institutions and lives around the new technology that offers the potential to increase access to high quality instruction to all.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Want-to-know-the-future-of-by-Ali-Hangan-130731-370.html

by Jackie Gerstein, User Generated Education

Last year, I developed a course for the Educational Technology Masters Program at Boise State University entitled the Social Networked Learner. Most of the students in this graduate course are classroom teachers. This course explored collaborative and emergent pedagogies, tools, and theory related to the use of social networks in learning environments. Participants gain hands-on experience with a variety social networking tools, create their own personal learning networks, and have an opportunity to develop a MOOC-inspired course for their learners…. The students generally appreciated and found valuable using Facebook our class page.

http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/student-reflections-from-a-social-networked-learning-course/

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Indiana University officials say the time appears to be right for a push to increase the school’s online education presence. IU wants to reach more students, create a strong, quality online brand, support student success and create a major source of revenue at a time when existing ones are likely to be “stressed,” John Applegate, executive vice president for university academic affairs, told The Herald-Times. “We are a large university, and that’s an advantage we should make use of,” Applegate said. “Another is the economies of scale. We have the capacity to scale up without having to recreate infrastructure.” IU has been engaged and exploring but cautious. Even without a major initiative, IU has created 109 programs, but is serving only 5,000 students. By comparison, Penn State University is seen as a national leader with 90 online programs and 12,000 students enrolled. The University of Massachusetts has nearly 100 programs and 30,000 students online.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/63852d871af84e99be997b49189729f7/IN–IU-Online

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nicholls Online allows students to complete their degree program in as few as three years, as classes are offered in eight-week blocks rather than semesters, said Larry Howell, interim president and executive vice president and provost. The program uses a mix of video lectures, slide shows and assigned readings, and students communicate with instructors and classmates using discussion boards, emails and chats. Bachelor’s degrees are available in history, English, sociology, interdisciplinary studies, general family and consumer sciences, and nursing for students who have an encumbered registered nurse license. A master’s degree is available in educational leadership, and a certificate is available in the Louisiana Early Education Program.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/727bedd8a16e418d8e55f63025d7b040/LA-Nicholls-Online

by WVU Today

West Virginia University Provost Michele Wheatly is not given to hyperbole. So when she calls massive open online courses “the most exciting academic innovation in 30 years,” colleagues and campus communities should take notice. “There is a lot of hype surrounding MOOCs,” Wheatly said, “both negative and positive. But what I’m thrilled about is that their advent has stimulated a serious discussion about the science of learning.” When Wheatly organized a panel for chief academic officers from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities this summer on the MOOC phenomenon, she thought it was time to adopt a proactive stance and redirect the conversation toward strategies for online course development that would improve student learning.

http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2013/08/08/wvu-provost-sees-opportunity-for-new-normal-in-trend-of-massive-online-open-courses

by: Dana Allen-Greil, Engaging Museums

What aspects of inquiry-based education translate well to digital spaces? Should I change my approach as an educator for formal online education experiences (e.g., online university courses) vs. informal learning experiences (e.g., social media)? My professional speciality is digital outreach and engagement for museums and other nonprofits, with an emphasis on both learning and marketing outcomes. I am also an adjunct professor for the Johns Hopkins University museum studies program, which involves teaching entirely online. I’m curious to explore further how the context of the learner impacts the effectiveness of inquiry-based education . . . for example, does a Twitter follower get as much out of inquiry as a formal student?

http://danamus.es/2013/08/08/how-does-inquiry-based-education-work-when-learners-are-distributed-and-asynchronous/

by Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

Students who enroll in a new competency-based program at Northern Arizona University will earn a second transcript, which will describe their proficiency in the online bachelor degree’s required concepts. The university will also teach students how to share their “competency report” transcripts with potential employers. The university shared a sample version of a competency report. The document looks nothing like its traditional counterpart, and lacks courses or grades. Northern Arizona’s first crack at a transcript grounded in competencies gives an early glimpse of how credentialing in higher education might be shifting, experts said. And while the competency reports could be improved, some said, the university also deserves credit (no pun intended) for attempting to better-define what students do to earn their degrees.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/09/northern-arizona-universitys-new-competency-based-degrees-and-transcripts

by TIM DODD, Australian Financial Review

Investors in Coursera, the world’s largest massive open online course (MOOC) provider are confident the company will arrive at a sustainable business model, says its co-founder, Daphne Koller. Ms Koller, who set up Coursera last year with fellow Stanford IT professor Andrew Ng, now offers more than 400 free online courses from 84 partners which are mainly universities. “Our investors are quite confident that, with the kind of traffic that we are getting . . . [and] the retention of students who come back to take class after class, it will not be a problem to make this a sustainable model,” Ms Koller said. Coursera is larger than its major competitors, edX and Udacity, and Ms Koller said Coursera’s aim was to be offering 5000 courses in three to five years, “the same as a moderately large university”.

http://www.afr.com/p/national/education/coursera_billed_as_the_amazon_of_z43H3MRVetLGEQt49zjzbN

by Katie Lepi, Edudemic

While most technology doesn’t garner hoards of people queueing for hours on its release date (like the 2007 release of the original iPhone), but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t itching to get their hands on the latest and greatest devices. Between official company press releases and leaked information, we generally have a pretty solid idea of what we’re in for by the time a device actually hits the shelves. So what noteworthy items did 2013 bring us? This handy infographic below takes a look at 8 highly awaited new devices that showed their new (or redesigned) faces in 2013.

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/08/next-gen-devices-students/

by Spotlight on Community College

When non-profit Tiffin University partnered with for-profit Altius Education to create an online associate degree program, Ivy Bridge College was hailed as a model. Now the regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, has shut down the online two-year college, reports the Washington Examiner. The online community college offered an associate degree program that promised students an automatic transfer to one of over 150 traditional four-year institutions, depending on their GPA. Thanks to the program’s termination, about 2,000 students are now scrambling to find other accredited institutions that will allow them to finish their studies. A March 2013 HLC investigation concluded that Ivy Bridge was not sufficiently under Tiffin’s control, had low retention rates and offered “very thin” content in some online courses.

http://communitycollegespotlight.org/content/accreditor-closes-ivy-bridge_14270/

by David F. Carr, Information Week

Online education site Udemy is stepping up its appeal to instructors and students whose native language is not English, introducing a multi-lingual version of the site. Udemy.com is now localized for Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Russian and Turkish. This does not mean all content is available in all of those languages, but the website itself — all the user interface for navigating the site and searching the course catalog — is available in all those languages, making it easier for those who are not native English speakers to browse the site and find content in their native language, according to Dennis Yang, president and chief operating officer of Udemy. A planned next step is to provide subtitles in other languages, he said.

http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/udemy-offers-online-course-site-in-9-lan/240159482

by Chronicle of Higher Ed

California State University is starting an online program this fall that will let students on any of the system’s 23 campuses enroll in online courses offered by another campus to obtain credits they need to graduate, the Los Angeles Times reports. Officials hope the program will help students who have been shut out of hard-to-get classes find the courses they need and graduate faster. The classes are not MOOCs, the massive open online courses that have been highly controversial on some Cal State campuses. Institutions that offer the courses will control class size and, in most cases, make sure they are filled to capacity at 25 to 30 students.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/cal-state-offers-online-courses-across-campuses-to-ease-a-bottleneck/64289

by Andrew Glencross, Huffington Post

As a recent study has shown, even elite colleges devoted to the liberal arts can be criticised for exposing students to esoteric disciplinary jargon and developing an unhealthy cult of campus exceptionalism. MOOCs could be a corrective and beneficial influence in this regard by making the content of elite institutions accessible to all. Yet the triumph of massive online courses will undoubtedly come at a cost by rarefying actual contact with scholars of the liberal arts and by making its teaching the preserve of an ever smaller caste.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andrew-glencross/moocs-and-the-liberal-arts_b_3717527.html

By Sylvie Belmond, Simi Valley Acorn

Due to advances in technology, online education has become an effective alternative for students who wish to earn a degree from the comfort of their own home. But Internet lessons are not for everybody. Students who choose that route must be disciplined and willing to work hard in order to succeed, said Patricia Ewins, dean of student learning at Moorpark College. “When you’re experienced and you know what you’re doing in an online class, then it can be very effective.

http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2013-08-09/Schools/Online_courses_more_effective_for_disciplined_stud.html

by Wade Roush, xconomy

Imagine that you’re a second-year college student returning to campus in September, only to discover that your school has made some curious changes. Instead of offering just one introductory Spanish course, one calculus course, and one chemistry course, the college now lets you choose from a dozen of each, led by different instructors with different teaching styles. Amidst such changes, instructors would now be competing for attention and pay—and it would be easy for students to find out which teachers were the best. Within a few weeks, the top teachers would naturally wind up with the largest classes, while there would still be a “long tail” of smaller classes on specialized subjects. In other words, your school would have been transformed from a medieval semi-meritocracy with a catalog of take-it-or-leave-it courses into a true marketplace. Of course, no real university works this way. But Udemy does.

http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2013/08/07/at-udemy-online-education-meets-the-marketplace/