Online Learning Update

by Digital Journal

In 2011-2013, online education companies have mushroomed such as Chuanke.com launched in November 2011, Fenbi.com put on line in August 2012 and 91waijiao.com established in December 2012. At the same time, traditional education & training institutions have stepped into the field of online education successively. For example, Beijing Juren Education Group launched Juren.cn in July 2013, and Longwen Education plans to invest RMB 50 million in online business. Traditional Internet giants like Baidu, Google, Netease, Youku, Tencent, Kingsoft PowerWord, and Taobao also have set foot in the field of online education. In 2012, there were only six cases of investment in online education in China. In the first seven months of 2013, 22 online education institutions including Hujiang.com and 91waijiao.com obtained investments, among which, the USD 20 million of Round B investment obtained by Hujiang.com in June was the most eye-catching.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1584678

by Tom Sowa, The Spokesman-Review

Microsoft Corp. has expanded its online technology training program so that people can take courses for free through more than 380 public libraries. The new education partnership between one of the Northwest’s major tech companies and Washington state was announced Wednesday. During a media event at Spokane’s downtown library, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman said the partnership with Microsoft will make 250 online courses available and allow participants to take those courses at their own pace.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/nov/14/microsoft-washington-state-partner-to-offer-free/

by M. Nadeen, Education News

The Syracuse University School of Information Studies, also known as the iSchool, is offering its third massive open online course (MOOC) to celebrate 20 years of innovation in online education, writes Lydia Wilson in the Daily Orange. The school also plans to offer a series of informational webinars to help the school stay at the forefront of online learning. According to Jill Hurst-Wahl, an associate professor of practice at the iSchool, says enrollment in MOOCs and online courses has grown since their inception at the school and more students interested in online learning options. She said that the school plans to integrate those who are primarily enrolled online into campus life.

http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/ischool-offers-third-mocc/

By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Not too long ago, Pearson put out a few really interesting videos about teachers who are shaking up online learning. They’re talking about innovation in online learning – and not the innovation that has driven new technologies. They’re talking about the type of innovation that changes how teachers teach, how learners learn, and how information is delivered and processed. Each of the educators in the videos below have a unique approach to educating students in their virtual classrooms. Their video testimonials are inspiring, so check them out.

http://www.edudemic.com/shaking-up-online-learning/

By Lawrence Biemiller, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The board that oversees California’s 112 community colleges approved a contract on Tuesday to spend $16.9-million on a “one-stop statewide online-education portal” that will let students take online courses from any of the state’s participating two-year institutions. The Foothill-De Anza and Butte-Glenn community-college districts created a partnership to win the portal contract, money for which was included in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2013-14 budget. The goal of creating a single statewide system is to reduce overlap and take advantage of economies of scale, said Joseph Moreau, Foothill-De Anza’s vice chancellor for technology.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-california-moves-toward-online-2-year-college-portal/48255

by Libby Page, the Guardian

You could study for a degree from a beach in Thailand, or while juggling work and looking after children – thanks to the flexibility of online learning. “Studying online means I can fit my studies to my life, rather than fitting my life around my studies,” says Anna Enos, who studied online for an MSc in information and library studies with Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Online learning, whether for a degree or as a short course, offers a flexible study option for people who can’t commit to fulltime study, or don’t have access to a nearby university. If you’ve been out of education for a long time, the thought of going “back to school” and fitting study into a busy schedule, can be daunting. Life commitments mean that going into class every day is not always an option. Caring responsibilities meant that Lyndsay Briggs didn’t think of studying as an option, until she found an online course that suited her. “I have a two-year-old son called Alfie and looking after him takes up most of my time,” she says.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/nov/12/online-learning-students-benefits

by Elise Craig, Xconomy

It’s a very different model from the one being pursued by Udacity, Coursera, and other providers of Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, which can give users college credit, and require a lot more time and commitment. “Coursera is focused on the higher-end market,” Kitch says. “They’re taking college courses and moving them online. You’re one of 100,000 people in this MOOC, you watch 20-30 hours of video, and you have hours of homework to do. On Curious, you can take a 15-minute lesson on java ,” Kitch says. You also don’t have to take lessons at any particular pace. The short classes can be a one-off for something simple, or strung together into a bigger “course” that students can follow in small chunks. At first, Curious sought out teachers. But now, as the site has grown, Curious has opened its platform so that anyone can apply to be a teacher and publish classes to their own pages.

http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2013/11/12/curious-offers-online-learning-without-commitment-moocs/

By Oliver Staley, Bloomberg

Business schools may be forced to close or overhaul their offerings because of the rapid growth in cheaper online alternatives for management training, according to professors and deans. “Half of U.S. business schools will be out of business in five to seven years because of online disruption,” Roger Martin, a professor and former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, told a forum on education in London hosted by management ranking organization Thinkers 50. Technology has widened access to business education through the creation of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, enabling students to cut costs and focus their learning by picking modules and working from home. “The advent of online learning, and the propensity of more and more companies to bring teaching of management in-house, versus outsourcing it, makes disruption a very big deal for business schools,” said Clayton Christensen, a management professor at Harvard Business School.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/online-courses-to-turn-mba-programs-into-dinosaurs-panel-says.html

By KATHLEEN MCGRORY, Times-Herald

Last week, Florida lawmakers got schooled on massive open online courses, or MOOCs. The concept is being tested in Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Broward counties and likely will be expanding across the state. MOOCs are virtual classes that allow unlimited enroll­ment. Students watch recorded lectures and move through the material at their own pace. “It’s about open-source learning and innovative techniques,” said state Rep. Manny Diaz, a Hialeah Republican, noting that MOOCs are best suited for independent and motivated students. Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law allowing MOOCs in subject areas with end-of-course exams.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20131111/NEWS/131119832/1002/sports?Title=More-Florida-Schools-Using-Online-Classes

by Max Chafkin, Fast Company

[ed note: This article is getting wide play among those who wish MOOCs would go away. It is a wide-ranging article that is worth reading in its entirety. I, for one, do not believe that MOOCs are gone forever, instead they continue to evolve, I believe those who underestimate this mode of delivery do so at their peril.}

It’s hard to imagine a story that more thoroughly flatters the current sensibilities of Silicon Valley than the one into which Thrun stumbled. Not only is reinventing the university a worthy goal–tuition prices at both public and private colleges have soared in recent years, and the debt burden borne by American students is more than $1 trillion–but it’s hard to imagine an industry more ripe for disruption than one in which the professionals literally still don medieval robes. “Education hasn’t changed for 1,000 years,” says Peter Levine, a partner with Andreessen Horowitz and a Udacity board member, summing up the Valley’s conventional wisdom on the topic. “Udacity just seemed like a fundamentally new way to change how communities of people are educated.” But for Thrun, who had been wrestling over who Udacity’s ideal students should be, the results were not a failure; they were clarifying. “We were initially torn between collaborating with universities and working outside the world of college,” Thrun tells me. The San Jose State pilot offered the answer. “These were students from difficult neighborhoods, without good access to computers, and with all kinds of challenges in their lives,” he says. “It’s a group for which this medium is not a good fit.”

http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb

BY TONY BATES, Online learning and distance ed resources

Can campus-based institutions increase productivity through online learning reducing their costs of campus-based activities (or more realistically, through expanding activity at a lower marginal cost through online learning)? This might be done in a number of ways, for example, by:

* handling an expansion of student enrollments through online learning, instead of building extra campus facilities to handle the increase

* more intensive use of existing facilities, such as science labs or lecture theatres, for instance, by students spending more time on simulations or remote labs and less on hands-on labs, or reducing demands on lecture halls through blended learning.

http://www.tonybates.ca/2013/11/10/can-online-learning-lead-to-productivity-gains-through-savings-on-campus-facilities/

by Donald Clark, Plan B

Big data is changing learning by providing a sound basis for learners, teachers, managers and policy makers to improve their systems. Too much is hidden so more and more open data is needed. Data must be open. Data must be searchable. Data must also be governed and managed. There is also the issue of visualization. Big data is about decision making by the learner, teacher or at an organizational, national or international level and must be understood through visualization. However, data is also being used to do great harm. Big data in the hands of small minds can be dangerous.

http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2013/11/big-data-ten-level-taxonomy-in-learning.html

By Megan O’Neil, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Carnegie Mellon University is convening a high-powered consortium of educators, researchers, and technology-company executives that will spearhead efforts to develop standards and promote best practices in online education. The Global Learning Council—to be led by Carnegie Mellon’s president, Subra Suresh—will also look for ways to leverage education-technology resources and disseminate data in an education landscape that some think is being turned on its head. “In the last few years there has been a lot of discussion thanks to the development of technology about the delivery of education in a scalable way to large numbers of students across national borders,” Mr. Suresh says. “The missing piece is how much are students learning amid all this technology? The other piece is what are the metrics, best practices, and eventually standards, if you will, that are collectively developed and acceptable for those who engage?”

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/new-council-to-develop-standards-best-practices-for-online-learning/48171

by Martin Williams, the Guardian

Although distance learning is not a new idea, the range of subjects you can study has taken off since the rise of online courses. Amy Woodgate, project coordinator of distance education initiative and Moocs at the University of Edinburgh says: “Many people think that there are certain programmes that you can’t do online and others that are better geared to online study, but actually we haven’t found that.” “You can learn almost anything online nowadays,” says Lloyd Bingham, who did an online preparatory course for a diploma in translation, run by London Metropolitan University.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/nov/11/niche-subjects-online-learning-students

by Jeffery R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Along came MOOCs, which cast professors as heroic providers of knowledge to the masses. The high-profile projects have led many faculty members to consider trying new teaching approaches, even if they don’t teach MOOCs. Professors seem eager to trade stories of their high-tech teaching projects, most notably experiments with “flipping” their classrooms. Such flipping essentially means asking students to watch video lectures for homework and reserving class time for interactive projects and discussions. Some colleges are giving release time or grants to professors to encourage MOOCs or teaching experiments, or are offering to share any future revenues. These new approaches challenge fundamental notions of the role of the professor in the classroom.

http://chronicle.com/article/Will-MOOCs-Change-Campus/142869/

by Duquesne University

Online students and faculty who teach online agree that online learning is rigorous and challenging to students in ways different from what students face in the traditional classroom. To find out if online learning is for you, consider the following “characteristics of successful online students” in relation to your approach to learning and your characteristics. While online courses are convenient and flexible because they typically do not have scheduled class meetings, you must devote as much time for studying, reading, working on assignments, and engaging with peers and the instructor as they would for classroom courses.

http://www.duq.edu/academics/online-campus/prospective-students/successful-online-learners

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, Austin American-Statesman

Michael Starbird, a University of Texas math professor, was in his element one day last week, teaching students to puzzle their way through the concept of infinity using an endless supply of make-believe golf balls and pingpong balls. He’s done it a hundred times, but never quite like this, with a video camera rolling and a behind-the-scenes staff of editors, producers and students who will package this lesson and others into “Effective Thinking Through Mathematics,” his online course free to anyone in the world with a computer and an Internet connection. “It’s the magic of thinking that a kid in Bangladesh can become able to participate in the world economy and society,” Starbird told the Austin American-Statesman. “That’s the lofty goal. This whole enterprise is experimental. It’s a little chaotic. I love it.”

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2013/nov/09/online-courses-extend-higher-learning-to-world/

BY MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMAS, Yale Daily

Yale’s approach stands in contrast to that of its peer institutions — though this is also the first year that Yale has been on a MOOC platform, having announced its partnership with Coursera last year. Harvard currently lists 17 courses on EdX, a joint venture between Harvard, MIT and a series of other schools. Stanford lists 25 classes on Coursera, while the University of Pennsylvania offers 27. But new methods of content delivery for online courses are attempting to move beyond the one-way conveyance to which Salovey referred. Earlier this month, Coursera announced a partnership with the U.S. State Department to create “learning hubs,” located across the globe, that provide internet access for free courses. Whether the hubs will alter Yale’s long-term calculations around the online courses, though, remains to be seen.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/11/11/as-open-online-courses-evolve-yale-remains-cautious/

Posted by Stephen Adkins, University Herald

University of Colorado Denver (UCD) officials have initiated an investigation into allegations of cheating by a number of international students. CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger has learnt that some of the students have been paying huge amounts in exchange for others to take online classes and tests for them. “I’ve been offered substantial amounts of money,” said a man who spoke on the condition of anonymity, CBS local reports. The man said that he had been offered $800 to $1,000 per class by international students. “These individuals wanted people to log into all of their online classes,” said the man. “They wanted people to go into their classes for them.”

http://www.universityherald.com/articles/5473/20131109/mike-ross-exams-online-classes-international-students-ucd-university-of-colorado.htm

by Jen Hubley Luckwaldt, PayScale

Online classes are a great way to add skills to your resume without dealing with the hassle of commuting and sitting in a classroom, and everyone loves celebrities (or at least, pays too much attention to them). So why not combine the two, and take online classes from your favorite stars? It’s not as crazy an idea as it sounds. Jeffrey R. Young, author of Beyond the MOOC Hype: A Guide to Higher Education’s High-Tech Disruption, spoke with several executives at companies that produce massive open online classes (MOOC), which offer thousands of students at a time the chance to learn from professors at top colleges. Or, occasionally, the chance to learn from those professors’ more photogenic colleagues.

“All our instructors are knowledgeable in the subject area,” Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun tells Young. “However, we often rely on teams of people to produce a MOOC, and often the individuals who show up on tape are not the primary instructor who composes the materials.

http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/11/would-you-take-an-online-class-with-a-celebrity–

by Education News

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) Dean Julio Frenk believes public health education should be modernized to meet the needs of a changing 21st century world — and that new vision of public health education will include an online component. Frenk unveiled a new vision for public health education that blends online, in-person, and in-the-field learning into a modular experience that individuals access at different times in their lives, writes Alvin Powell in Harvard News. Frenk, who was speaking at during the school’s Second Century Symposium: Transforming Public Health Education held at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at the Longwood campus in Bosto, said the Harvard School of Public Health developed a new strategy based on this new survey of both public health’s and education’s changing landscapes.

http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/harvard-online-learning-role-in-public-health-education/