Online Learning Update

by Carolyn Kang, Chicago Maroon

Prospective scholars everywhere can now taste a slice of the life of the mind. The University, in conjunction with Coursera, is now offering courses online for the first time starting this quarter, after faculty committees expressed their interest in making massive open online courses (MOOCs) last spring. Coursera, an online education resource that allows anyone to take courses from top universities and organizations around the world for free, will offer two courses from the University this fall: Asset Pricing, taught by John Cochrane, a professor of finance at the Booth School of Business; and Global Warming: The Science of Climate Change, taught by David Archer, a professor of geophysical sciences in the College. The structure of each online course is similar to that of a conventional college course, including weekly reading assignments, lecture videos, problem sets, and forum discussions with students taking the course at the University.

http://chicagomaroon.com/2013/10/11/life-of-the-mind-now-going-online/

By Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel

The approach, known as competency-based learning, could cut in half the time it takes some students to earn a two-year degree, said Roy Pocknee, dean of academic affairs at Broward College. “If it’s successful, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be an alternative for students,” said Pocknee. “I don’t think it’s going to replace the traditional classroom, but it will be an option for students.” Each class in Broward College’s fully online IT program has a syllabus divided into modules, or sections. As soon as students master one section, they can move on to the next, whether that takes them a few minutes or a couple of weeks. Students can use prior knowledge to test out of a section.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-10-06/news/fl-competency-based-learning-20131006_1_broward-college-miami-dade-college-new-program

by Kelly Heyboer, The Star-Ledger

Rutgers University faculty members are fighting a lucrative, seven-year deal the school signed with Pearson eCollege earlier this year to dramatically boost the number of classes and degree programs offered online. Under the contract, Rutgers and the private company are scheduled to split tuition from students who sign up for online classes taught through Pearson’s online site. But the graduate school faculty on Rutgers’ New Brunswick-Piscataway campus approved a resolution rejecting the contract and calling on the faculty union to negotiate better terms.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/rutgers_professors_fight_deal_to_offer_online_degrees_citing_academic_freedom_concerns.html

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

A majority of Americans believe online instruction is at least as good as classroom-based courses in terms of providing good value, a format most students can succeed in, and instruction tailored to each individual. But they question the rigor of testing and grading, and whether employees will view such degrees positively, a new survey by Gallup shows. In a survey this month of more than 1,000 adults aged 18 and older, Gallup asked a series of questions about use and perceptions of fully online courses. Five percent of those surveyed said they were currently taking an online course (the survey did not differentiate between whether it was for formal education or training, or for personal edification), with 18- to 29-year-olds, at 8 percent, likelier than their older peers to say so.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/15/american-adults-see-online-courses-least-equivalent-most-ways

By Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Ed

In early October, Gallup asked two groups, each composed of more than 1,000 adults, whether they thought “online education is better” in a series of categories. In terms of “providing a wide range of options for curriculum” and “good value for the money,” online education got slightly better scores than traditional classroom-based education. But online education scored much worse in four areas: in delivering “instruction tailored to each individual,” in providing “high-quality instruction from well-qualified instructors,” in offering “rigorous testing and grading that can be trusted,” and—finally, worst of all—in dispensing “a degree that will be viewed positively by employers.”

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/traditional-education-beats-online-in-key-areas-many-say-in-gallup-survey/47363

by Jourdan Vian, Lacrosse Tribune

A new program at the University of Wisconsin is offering military service men and women an in-depth look into the strategy behind their orders The UW-Madison Department of Political Science is looking for service members at Fort McCoy and Volk Field to enroll in an online-only graduate program called the International Politics and Practice Capstone Certificate this fall. The program consists of five courses, taken online over the course of 15 months.

http://lacrossetribune.com/tomahjournal/news/local/online-course-offers-service-members-in-depth-look-at-political/article_d644955a-2f63-11e3-a6d0-0019bb2963f4.html

By Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

Board members are spending more of their time debating issues such as competency-based learning, online courses and technology in the classroom, but many of them feel unprepared to make strategic decisions about the role of technology in their institutions. The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges surveyed more than 2,000 board members this spring, finding that 57.6 percent of respondents felt they spent more time discussing how educational technology would impact their institutions than the year before. As the conversation about technology on campus intensifies, only 19 percent of respondents said their boards are prepared to decide which technologies to invest in. The results suggest board members may not be as up to date on technological innovations as they feel they should be, but that they also have time to catch up. Only 28 percent of respondents say online education is “important” or “essential” to their institutions today, but when asked to look ahead five years, 71 percent of respondents say they expect it will be so.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/08/survey-finds-board-members-lack-knowledge-see-big-future-ed-tech

by James G. Mazoué, Educause Review

MOOCs face a storm of opposition that underestimates their challenge to traditional education. Given their popularity, why are there so many myths about MOOCs floating around? Debunking the myths about MOOCs leaves us free to challenge our assumptions — and our imaginative possibilities — by questioning the seeming inevitability of educational orthodoxy.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/five-myths-about-moocs

By Saurabh Tyagi, Edudemic

There is ample research to show that a community based education model can greatly enhance the learning capabilities of its members. Moreover, learning is inherently a communal activity, which is perfectly exemplified by the classroom setup, where a group of students interact amongst themselves and with the faculty. Transpose this behavior to the world of internet and we have what we call online learning communities.

http://www.edudemic.com/build-effective-online-learning-communities/

by George Anders, Forbes

Andrew Ng is at is again. The cofounder of Coursera — a Silicon Valley startup that offers free college-level classes to millions of online visitors – is politely challenging another bedrock assumption in higher education. This time, it’s the belief that most classes should run 12 weeks or more. Not so, says Ng. In Coursera’s online world, where there’s no need to follow traditional academic calendars, the short class is enjoying a remarkable burst of popularity. As the accompanying chart shows, Coursera currently is offering classes as short as three weeks. Its most common offerings run just six weeks. And classes of 10 weeks or more constitute just 27% of Coursera’s current menu of 335 classes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2013/10/10/courseras-online-insight-short-classes-are-educations-future/

By Kaylene Hong, the Next Web

The result of this partnership is Coursera Zone, a Chinese-language Web portal which will be hosted on NetEase’s open education website open.163.com. Eli Bildner from Coursera’s growth team says in a blog post: The aim in creating Coursera Zone is to help Chinese-speaking students more easily find and engage with content from Coursera’s partner universities and institutions. Specifically, Coursera Zone will feature translated course synopses, a Chinese-language orientation to the Coursera platform, Chinese-language discussion forums, and student testimonials. For the translation part, Coursera says it has teamed up with Chinese social networking site Guokr and volunteer translator community Yeeyan.

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/10/08/online-learning-startup-coursera-moves-into-china-with-netease-partnership/

by Peter Brown, the Independent

Business schools are already involved. Wharton, often ranked as America’s top school, recently put most of its first-year MBA courses online – free. In the UK, FutureLearn includes a 10-week course on branding from Norwich Business School, plus a six-week “taster” from Warwick’s behavioural science department, called The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology, which goes live on 4 November. Other institutions are planning Moocs. Durham University Business School is developing four – in crisis management, social media, strategy and organisational change – using the technology and materials of its fully online MBA, which costs £19,000 for three years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/mbas-guide/online-mbas-free-to-study-wherever-you-might-be-8863696.html

By Amy Schmitz Weiss, Media/Shift

Many people may be familiar with the existing MOOC players such as edX, Coursera and Udacity. But there are new, global players entering the market such as iversity, Schoo and Futurelearn. These MOOC players and the ones yet to come are shaking up the academy as well as the overall idea of what learning can be. There has been plenty of debate in the press about the advantages and disadvantages to this kind of learning, and many questions remain about the future of where MOOCS will reside in the larger education picture. I don’t have a crystal ball to say if MOOCs will become a permanent learning fixture, but I do think as educators we have the opportunity to explore this format to test out new forms of teaching. In the 21st century we have the chance to set the path toward new and exciting ways of teaching subjects, and the only way to do so is if we are willing to experiment with different approaches.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/10/teaching-a-journalism-mooc-5-tips-and-techniques/

By KARL M. ASPELUND, Harvard Crimson

Professor Robert Lue prompts the audience for questions about HarvardX during a town hall meeting Thursday evening in Harvard Hall. Lue and fellow faculty members discussed courses, research, and objectives of HarvardX going forward. At a town hall meeting Thursday evening, HarvardX Faculty Director Robert A. Lue and fellow faculty members addressed how the 16-month-old online learning platform must continue to adapt pedagogically, financially, and structurally to reach its goals—expanding access, improving teaching, and advancing research.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/4/lue-harvardx-town-hall/

By Christina Pazzanese, Harvard

EdX innovations offer new tools for education research and teaching, says Anant Agarwal “Some people look at a number like a billion and see exaggeration,” said HGSE Dean James Ryan during his introduction of Agarwal. “I see it as the kind of aspiration we need to achieve universal access to education, to ensure every child and young adult around the world has the knowledge and skills necessary to lead a successful and fulfilling life.” Already the massive open online course (MOOC) concept has transformed the way people around the globe can access education. Agarwal said it has the very real potential to do the same for the way educators think about and teach students, virtually or in person. “Technology has absolutely changed the world, whether it’s health care, whether it’s communications, whether it’s transportation,” he said. “Everything is completely different. But education hasn’t changed.”

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/10/on-the-frontiers-of-learning/

By KELSEY SULLIVAN, Purdue Exponent

Purdue’s new interactive textbook allows students to build upon the classroom experience. Purdue instructors will reach further than Purdue’s West Lafayette campus through Purdue NExT, a new online program designed to improve the skills of students and professionals around the world. Set to debut in November, Purdue NExT offers five-week, non-degree courses in an interactive, online environment. These courses may be taken separately or in addition to degree coursework. “Purdue NExT modules can be incorporated by our faculty into credit-bearing Purdue courses as well, or utilized by our residential students at no extra charge as a supplement to their Purdue curriculum,” said Timothy Sands, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Purdue.

http://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_37a074cc-05cb-5c77-9d7c-a1ce8996c4e1.html

By Kevin Maney, Newsweek

The growing U.S. income gap has little to do with policy or politics and everything to do with technology. A few decades ago, before the Internet, it was hard to get an out-of-town daily paper, so you read the local one. It was the best you could get. But once the best news organizations became available online, readers and advertisers gravitated to them. While journalists can only dream of getting paid on a par with NBA players, the Internet is dividing that business just as neatly: The leading publications get most of the money and the rest next to nothing.Curious.com (or something like it) will do the same to music teachers. Online courses will do it to colleges. Radio, MTV, all the other networks and iTunes have in turn done it to pop musicians. More and better networks mean fewer dogs and a whole lot of tails.

http://mag.newsweek.com/2013/10/04/the-internet-is-killing-the-middle-class.html

By Catherine Zaw, The Stanford Daily

Starting Oct. 14, the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) will launch its first massive open online course (MOOC) called The Finance of Retirement and Pensions. The free public course, to be taught by professor of finance Joshua Rauh, is part of the GSB’s overall strategy to use technology to enhance the teaching and learning experience on campus, as well as have a larger global impact. We definitely view this inaugural MOOC as a testing ground for us, and so wanted to push the boundaries of what a MOOC could do by enriching the ways in which participants can engage with one another and with faculty member Joshua Rauh,” said Garth Saloner, dean of the GSB, in an email statement to The Daily.

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2013/10/03/gsb-to-launch-finance-based-mooc/

by Ethan Oblak, Daily Texan

A few years ago, having Twitter or Facebook open during class was a sure sign a student was distracted — but as social media becomes more popular, many professors have embraced the sites and integrated them into their own curriculums. UT professors from a range of colleges discussed methods through which they integrate social media into their classrooms in order to promote collaborative learning. The professors said social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and hoot.me establish links between students and professors. Associate English professor Elizabeth Richmond-Garza said she focuses on the different ways people present themselves in person and online and hopes her students understand the importance of representing themselves honestly.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2013/10/03/ut-professors-encourage-use-of-twitter-as-tool-to-improve-in-class-communication

by Hispanic Business Online

The college’s award-winning online division, Berklee Online, will offer 120-credit bachelor of professional studies degrees in music business and music production. The music business degree offers courses on licensing, management, marketing, and touring, with a focus on mobile music, streaming, funding, and developing revenue sources. The music production degree provides an extensive background in Berklee’s approach to music production, with courses on the world’s top software programs, recording, engineering, mixing, and more. All courses are taught by Berklee faculty members or industry experts.

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2013/10/2/berklee_college_of_music_will_offer.htm

by Brad Ford, K103

Classes began this week at Oregon State University, and campus officials say they expect about 24,600 students on the main campus in Corvallis this fall. Another 3,420 students are expected to enroll at OSU through Ecampus, the university’s distance learning program, which has fueled much of the institution’s enrollment growth over the past two to three years. The number of Ecampus students is up an estimated 24 percent over last year.

http://www.k103.com/articles/portland-local-news-123543/going-to-college-online-popular-at-11704622/