Online Learning Update

By Lynn Arditi, The Providence Journal

Bills seek to expand online learning access to students who might not opt for traditional on-campus education. Legislation introduced in the General Assembly aims to improve access to higher education by increasing the availability of online or “distance learning” programs in Rhode Island. The bills–one in the House (H-5578) introduced by Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, D-Warwick, and another in the Senate (S-0455) introduced by Sen. Hanna M. Gallo, D-Cranston–will set standards for these non-campus based college degree programs and authorize the state’s commissioner of postsecondary education to enter into interstate reciprocity agreements with approved out-of-state colleges.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/legislation-online-education-532/

By Marie Norman, Inside Higher Ed

Online education continues to grow (though the breakneck pace seems to have slowed a bit of late) and an increasing number of college and university students want to take online courses. At the same time, faculty members seem reluctant to teach these courses. Universities that want to develop online programs would be wise to consider incentives, whether material or symbolic, for faculty participation. If extra compensation or course release aren’t feasible, what about reduced committee responsibilities, extra teaching credit, summer funding and/or public recognition from university leadership?

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/03/02/how-universities-might-use-moocs-encourage-online-teaching-essay

By Vickie Cook, Evolllution

Creating an environment where faculty are excited about innovation is critical to institutional growth. Teaching online can be demanding. Faculty teaching online often spend their breaks between semesters refining and rethinking their classes. Because online classes can be developed from anywhere, they are developed everywhere—not just on campus. As such, faculty support to explore new technologies may not be at the top of the to-do list. Once faculty have developed a few tried and true tools that meet their specific teaching needs of online course delivery, instructional designers may find these faculty reluctant to try out new teaching technologies. When I attend professional conferences and talk with faculty, the number one comment I hear is that adequate support for new technologies is not available on their campuses.

http://www.evolllution.com/media_resources/ways-encourage-faculty-experimentation-online-teaching-technologies/

by Nick Morrison, Forbes

Advances in distance learning have elevated the status of the online MBA, and for some, the chance to learn while you work even means it is stealing a march on the campus model. Most business schools now offer an online version of their MBA, but while in the past this would have been a shadow of the campus model, it is getting increasingly difficult to tell them apart. At Warwick Business School in the U.K., ranked second in the world for online MBA courses by the Financial Times, the average online student has 12 years of work behind them. And that means they have a wealth of experience to draw upon during the course, according to Nigel Pye, assistant dean for the executive masters’ programs. But there is one area where online learners may even be at an advantage. Most students taking online MBAs combine their study with employment, and while they toil into the night on their books, their day job provides them with a ready-made testing ground.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2015/02/28/online-mbas-are-stealing-a-march-on-the-campus-model/

by Udemy

Top instructors eclipse $17 million in earnings from courses on the leading online marketplace for learning and teaching. In the latest demonstration of the potential and growth of online education, Udemy, the leading global marketplace for learning and teaching online, today announced that the courses taught by its top 10 instructors have earned $17 million. The earnings range from $500,000 to more than $8 million. The announcement demonstrates the potential of teaching online for everyday experts to earn substantial income from sharing their expertise with skill seekers around the world. Today more than 12,000 instructors share their skills and knowledge on Udemy, with more than half of those joining in 2014 alone.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sharing-economy-millionaires–top-udemy-instructors-continue-to-crack-major-earnings-threshold-300042048.html

By Keith Button, Education Dive

Michigan State University is using robots to stand in for online students as they join in face-to-face classes, Campus Technology reports. The telepresence robots are intended to help make sure that all students in the class are treated the same, and that any online students don’t feel like second-class citizens. The university is testing the robots in a hybrid online/face-to-face model of its doctoral program in educational psychology and educational technology.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/telepresence-robots-putting-online-students-in-class-at-michigan-state/368313/

by Trade Arabia

Dr Kristen DiCerbo, principal research scientist at Pearson, led a discussion at GEF 2015 based on the findings of her recent research paper, ‘Impacts of the Digital Ocean on Education.’ She emphasised how the massive amounts of data now available from student interactions, the digital ocean, can be used to underpin new and more effective methods of assessment and better outcomes for learners. “We are on the verge of tremendous change, as both the amount of data available increases and methods for collection are increasingly embedded in modern life,” said Dr DiCerbo. “Today’s students interact with digital technology on a day-to-day basis, and their interactions with online learning tools can provide continuous data to educators – creating a more holistic view of the learner’s progress than traditional assessment methods. “The key to harnessing this potential is identifying the most effective ways to capture this data and turn it into meaningful information educators can use to assist their students.”

by C. JAISANKAR, the Hindu

University of North Carolina and University of Toledo of the U.S. have begun designing modalities for offering online courses with the active participation of some of the higher learning institutes of India, including the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi. A team of professors led by Tony Schmitz (University of North Carolina) and Matthew Franchetti (University of Toledo) visited NIT-T and held discussions with its Director S. Sundarrajan on Monday and senior professors over the possibilities of offering online courses to the students of both India and the U.S. They visited various departments to make on-the-spot assessment of courses offered to students. Besides interacting with professors, students and other stakeholders, they took note of the strength of Indian education system.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/american-varsities-keen-on-offering-online-courses/article6935664.ece

http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/article/view/4240

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Three physics professors at California State University, Long Beach have developed a new software tool for their own classes, which they are now marketing more broadly through a start-up company. Koondis, as it’s called, works in traditional large introductory lecture classrooms, blended classes and fully online courses that often are filled with students enrolled from various disciplines who are required to be there for their majors. Described as a “social homework system,” a “discussion forum that puts students in small groups” and even a replacement for the campus learning management system, Koondis is showing great promise as a pill for student satisfaction.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/02/25/social-homework-platform-aims-to-boost-student-engagement.aspx

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

BYU-Idaho currently offers four online associate degrees, 10 online bachelor’s degrees and more than 100 online courses, and it’s working to expand its online course offerings. Some faculty members are also using video-based tutorials, lectures and course materials to augment traditional face-to-face classes, and the campus is home to a large broadcasting facility. Professors create their own videos and send them to the university’s in-house video production facility to be converted to the required format for online viewing, and the large volume of videos was straining the capabilities of the facility.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/02/25/byu-idaho-supports-online-learning-with-automated-video-transcoding.aspx

by Steve Perry, eCampus News

This year (2015), working adult students, in particular, are turning to the Internet in pursuit of more cost-effective classes, certification programs and entire degrees in droves. However, while there are numerous proven benefits to an online education–such as flexible learning schedules, budget-friendliness and access to industry-leading curriculums–the industry is not without its challenges, as many online institutions face enrollment decline. Indeed, online educators face three key challenges in their journey toward mainstream industry and marketplace acceptance.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/op-ed-3-reasons-online-learning-institutions-fail/

by Serdar Abaci, Anastasia Morrone, and Alan Dennis, EDUCAUSE Review

This case study of Indiana University’s e-text initiative reports on the participation levels and motivations of instructors in engaging with digital textbooks. Instructors can benefit from e-text features, including real-time reading and engagement analytics, note-sharing with students, and ability to integrate links, annotations, and multimedia materials into study materials. The findings from this study suggest that instructors play an important role in e-text adoption by modeling active e-text use and creating meaningful interaction around the content. Simply put, when instructors engage with e-texts, so do their students.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/instructor-engagement-e-texts

By Mary Grush, Campus Technology

“Higher education institutions that intentionally move towards using a team-based approach to creating and delivering the majority of their education content and learning experiences will stand out and be successful over the long run.” — Daniel Christian Institutions employing a team-based approach to the creation and delivery of education content and experiences will differentiate themselves and succeed, even as the pace of change — both in technology and in the disciplines — accelerates, says Daniel Christian, a senior instructional designer at Calvin College. Teams, comprised of a range of technology and subject content specialists, will be structured and function differently at each institution, but they all share a prime advantage: the ability to guide their institutions to thrive in higher education’s increasingly competitive environment. CT explored the idea with Christian.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/02/24/why-you-now-need-a-team-to-create-and-deliver-learning.aspx

by Out-Law.com

Universities expert Chris Martin of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the figures showed that online learning was “definitely part of the future of higher education”. However, he pointed out that questions remained over how best to earn income from online learning, while calls for more face-to-face teaching time remained a common complaint amongst students. “The growth of platforms such as FutureLearn comes as traditional universities learn to embrace and use new technologies to deliver education in the way that meets the needs of a new generation of students who want and expect the use of digital technology to be integrated fully in course delivery,” he said. “The best adopters will use technology to enhance their offering, without losing sight of the importance of face to face teaching.”

http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2015/february/growth-in-online-courses-shows-need-for-universities-to-incorporate-new-technology-in-their-teaching-models-says-expert/

BY Chris Parr, Times Higher Education

What will be driving the use of education technology in universities in the next five years? The NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition came out earlier this month, declaring what its panel of experts believes to be the key trends that will accelerate the adoption of technology in higher education in the coming years. As last year, we have gathered these trends together and given a brief overview of each. The report is produced by the New Media Consortium, a not-for-profit group of more than 250 higher education institutions, museums and companies that conducts research into emerging technologies. The NMC has grouped the trends in three sections: long-term, mid-term and short-term. Read on to find out more about them.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/6-key-trends-accelerating-technology-adoption-in-higher-education-in-2015/2018706.article

by Stuart M. Butler, Brookings Institution

Recently, the online education firm Coursera announced a new arrangement with Google, Instagram and other tech firms to launch what some are calling “microdegrees” – a set of online courses plus a hands-on capstone project designed in conjunction with top universities and leading high-tech firms. Coursera is one of America’s leading MOOC developers (Massive Open Online Courses). Together with other developments, such as rival MOOC developer Udacity’s “nanodegree” program, the Coursera announcement could be an important step in a radical shakeup of higher education. That shakeup holds the prospect of far less expensive and more customized degrees that are more in tune with the recruiting needs of major employers.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/techtank/posts/2015/02/23-mooc-google-coursera-butler

by eCampus News

Cornell University’s College of Engineering and ANSYS are training future engineers worldwide to become proficient in engineering simulation solutions. Through the SimCafe wiki, which was developed in part with National Science Foundation support, students at Cornell and elsewhere are preparing themselves for success by learning to use–for free–the same tools utilized by thousands of engineers in virtually every industry. ANSYS donated the simulation software for the development of the site. SimCafe has helped integrate simulation into 12 mechanical and aerospace engineering courses at Cornell.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/cornell-ansys-engineering-756/

by Luis Martinez, the Daily Eastern

Eastern created a temporary board in 2012 focused on putting together online degree programs for off-campus students. Robert Augustine, the chair of the online board, said the board is a group of both faculty and administrators. “People know it’s not one of our permanent committees,” Augustine said. “It’s a temporary committee that we have until the time we decided we want a more permanent committee.” The focus of the board is to create online degree programs for students who are unable to come to campus to get their degree. “We have students that want to come to EIU, but because they’re working or because of other reasons, they cannot come in the usual way,” Augustine said. “They’re looking for online degree programs, and to be responsive to that, we have then brought the representatives of the departments together.”

Online board helps create online programs