Online Learning Update

by Molly Greenberg, DCInno

The University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education will offer its first online degrees this fall. They include two master of education degrees in reading education and curriculum and education, and an education specialist degree in reading education. Faculty members worked alongside a team of instructional designers to determine the map out how best to use technology to support the curriculum. Classes are limited to just 20 to 25 students – the same admittance size as would be found in any of UVa’s Curry School classrooms. “The Curry School’s expansion of online offerings reflects this core value of embracing diverse learner populations and needs,” said Stephanie Moore, assistant professor and online learning coordinator at the Curry School, to UVA Today. “It allows us to serve eligible students who may not be able to move for a degree, but who bring valuable experience and perspective into the learning environment.”

http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2015/04/07/online-learning-uvas-curry-school-of-education-offers-3-degrees/

by ANYA KAMENETZ, NPR

Andrew Ho, a lead author of the paper at Harvard, thinks the value of certificates will increase, “but ultimately be limited by the quality of assessments and assessment security, both areas where greater investment is necessary.” Translation: Proving that you and no one else completed that physics problem set costs money. The simplest answer to “What happens now?” is this: Despite lingering doubts about the power and profitability of MOOCs, companies and universities are still spending significant resources to create and support them for millions of people, in nearly every country, for free. It’s an investment, for now, on faith.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/04/11/397295495/the-future-of-free-online-courses-new-research-from-mit-and-harvard

By Greta Kaul, Houston Chronicle

The 21st century version of the self-help book is an online course on how to get a date. And this is no tutorial on using Match.com but rather an online course — complete with a quiz and practice activities — in how to read body language and make good conversation. Udemy, an online course platform that enlists “everyday experts” to teach classes, helps people learn everything from programming to photography to marketing — and also how to approach the person you’re eyeing across the coffee shop. Udemy has seen its personal development offerings take off since about 2011, a year after it started, said Shannon Hughes, the company’s senior director of marketing. Though they’re a smaller share of the site’s course catalog, personal development classes are growing fast, and 77 of them — with nearly 52,000 students — cover dating and relationships.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/Tech-savvy-seek-dating-help-in-online-courses-6192588.php

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Multiple ideas to accredit alternative credentialing pathways are gaining traction in a push to expand opportunities for nontraditional, post-secondary learning.  Massive open online courses, coding bootcamps, and other programs offering “microcredentials” can’t currently accept federal financial aid because they’re not accredited, which ends up limiting access to low-income prospective students, Insider Higher Ed reports. Alternative pathways to accreditation include partnerships with accredited universities, the creation of new — state or federal — accreditation agencies, and authorization for existing accreditation agencies to do the job.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/accreditation-for-alternative-credentialing-gaining-traction/385338/

by Jarret Cummings, EDUCAUSE

The FCC recently posted the full text of the network neutrality order it passed in late February. (Please see “FCC Votes to Restore Strong Net Neutrality Protections.”) An outline released after the vote highlighted the “no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization” rules that the order would impose. While those align with the views of the higher education/libraries coalition in which EDUCAUSE serves as a core member, the coalition looked forward to seeing if the order would address the other concerns it raised. And the order does.

http://www.educause.edu/blogs/jcummings/higher-edlibrary-views-impact-final-net-neutrality-order

By Leila Meyer, Campus Technology

Arizona State University (ASU) has partnered with Cengage Learning and Knewton to develop new active learning systems for introductory courses. The goal of the partnership is to provide ASU students with personalized learning in introductory college courses and to let instructors spend more time supporting students and less time lecturing and managing the class. ASU’s new “Active Adaptive” courses will use Knewton’s adaptive learning platform within Cengage Learning’s MindTap digital learning solution in an effort to achieve this goal. Together, ASU, Cengage Learning and Knewton will develop a series of Active Adaptive general education courses.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/04/08/arizona-state-u-teams-with-private-partners-on-adaptive-learning.aspx

by Seb Murray, Business Because

Top business schools have been investing heavily in digital learning environments, as the full-time MBA loses some of its lustre to shorter, online courses. The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business will offer an online MBA program focused on analytics, social media, virtual teams and entrepreneurial thinking – the latest top institution to tap into learning tech. Business schools have been investing heavily in digital learning environments, as the full-time MBA loses some of its lustre to shorter, online courses. USC Marshall’s online coursework will be conducted primarily in an asynchronous – flexible – format, with weekly, scheduled seminars conducted by faculty via webcam, and a one-week event on campus. The new program will incorporate live action cases, interactive exercises and virtual teamwork. John Matsusaka, USC Marshall online MBA academic director, said: “Online technologies continue to rapidly reshape our world.”

http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/3207/more-business-schools-launch-online-mbas

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive

LinkedIn announced Thursday its plans to acquire lynda.com in a $1.5 billion cash-and-stock deal. Lynda.com’s courses are focused on adults wishing to improve business, technology, and creative skills, and Reuters reports that the acquisition will allow LinkedIn to show what skills are needed for particular jobs listed on its social network. The deal, according to Reuters, is expected to give LinkedIn’s lucrative hiring business an additional boost.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/linkedin-will-acquire-lyndacom-in-15b-deal/384898/

By Jennifer Doody, Harvard Gazette

I bring together three different areas. First is the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, which has been concerned with pedagogy directed at advances in teaching and learning across the University. Next is HarvardX, founded two years ago to create open online learning content made accessible to the world through platforms like edX, for which Harvard and MIT made the initial investment. Then there’s a group devoted to research on teaching and learning in the online learning space, and I think we’ll see an increase in attention to residential teaching and learning as well. One of my goals is to ensure that what we do with HarvardX is also circulated through campus; that what we do in research not only improves the quality of our learning online, but also that the research on online learning and teaching can benefit the residential community here at Harvard, and build pedagogy across the schools.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/04/a-new-office-a-global-audience/

By Maggie Sullivan, Daily Illini

In an effort to compensate professors who spend time creating MOOCs, the University of Illinois Academic Senate is set to discuss a resolution on providing funding for professors who develop MOOCs. The University was the first land-grant university to partner with Coursera, one of the largest MOOC providers, Tucker said. “There is a brand recognition piece to this,” said Deanna Raineri, Associate Provost of Education Innovation. “We felt that this was a good opportunity for the University of Illinois to show the world that we have very high quality education here.” Students cannot earn credit toward their degree through most Moocs. However, Raineri believes in the future, MOOCs will be offered for college credit.

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/article_370ef4b0-dd7e-11e4-9fa8-ffa807ac7a37.html

BY MICHAEL COHN, Accounting Today

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has introduced ACCA-X, a set of online learning courses for accountants and financial professionals. The courses will be delivered on edX, an online learning platform founded by MIT and Harvard. ACCA-X’s open access courses will feature content developed by Epigeum, a spin-out from Imperial College London.

• Introductory Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting; and,

• Intermediate Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Intermediate Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting.

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/audit-accounting/acca-debuts-online-learning-venture-74211-1.html

By SOPHIE JANE EVANS, Daily Mail

More than 3,000 students are facing an unexpected decision after they received acceptance notices from the University of Florida – only to find they would have to spend a year taking online classes. The 3,118 unidentified applicants were presumably delighted when they were accepted as freshmen by the university in Gainesville for the fall after sending in applications for traditional first-year slots. But after reading their congratulations notices, they apparently realized they would need to agree to spend their entire first year taking classes on the Internet in order to attend the public college. The classes are part of a new program – the Pathway to Campus Enrollment (PaCE) – which started in 2015 and aims to accommodate a higher number of students, The Washington Post reported.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3028025/Thousands-student-receive-acceptance-notices-University-Florida-spend-entire-year-taking-ONLINE-classes.html

by Mitch LeClair, St. Cloud Times

Options for adult education have adjusted to modern needs throughout history, but technological advancements of the last few decades have accelerated the pace. It’s happening in European countries, India, China — and Minnesota. New methods of teaching are drawing learners away from traditional models, affecting how employers and students view degrees, other certifications and education in general.

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2015/04/05/adult-education-models-change-needs-passions-remain/25337183/

BY Calvin Lemley, Forbes

The Minerva format focuses on seminar-based lessons, with instructors implementing methods such as pop quizzes, cold calls, and asking questions that students are required to answer, then called on to defend those answers. This would also cut down on time-wasting in class, with the instructor able to immediately quiz students on course material and just as quickly be able to receive and tabulate student responses, as well as streamlining the process for separating students into groups for cooperative assignments.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/berlinschoolofcreativeleadership/2015/04/06/from-moocs-to-minerva-higher-education-and-beyond/

by Carrie Lingenfelter, Yuma News Now

Arizona State University is piloting a series of environmental science games at ASU Online. Within each of the five story-based games, students will take on several leadership roles, with increasing responsibility, to help a community address challenging environmental and sustainability issues. Tahnja Wilson, senior manager for EdPlus at ASU, will guide the project. Wilson has taught online for more than 10 years. Her instructional design interests include gaming best practices and student/instructor engagement.

http://www.yumanewsnow.com/index.php/news/arizona-news/688-interactive-learning-asu-online-to-pilot-environmental-science-games

by Joe Hoff, EDUCAUSE Review

Engaging first-year students in positive experiences can set the tone for the remainder of their educational careers. A major element of engagement is the social side — meeting other students virtually, learning about campus before the first day of classes, keeping up on events, communicating on specific topics, and asking questions quickly and conveniently. A mobile app that facilitates social engagement while letting administrators measure levels of use and track emotional trends and potential problems among the student body serves both communities.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/engaging-students-mobile-app

By NATASHA SINGER, NY Times

As universities and colleges around the country expand their online course offerings, many administrators are introducing new technologies to deter cheating. The oversight, administrators say, is crucial to demonstrating the legitimacy of an online degree to students and their prospective employers. Some schools use software that prevents students from opening apps or web browsers during online exams. Others employ services with live exam proctors who monitor students remotely over webcams. But the rise of Proctortrack and other automated student analysis services like it have raised questions about where to draw the line, and whether the new systems are fair and accurate. The University of North Texas Health Science Center, for instance, is partway through a two-year pilot test of Proctortrack involving the 160 students enrolled in its online public health master’s degree program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/technology/online-test-takers-feel-anti-cheating-softwares-uneasy-glare.html

by Alana Harrison, Old Gold & Black

Wake Forest University has developed its first online courses and will begin offering them during summer 2015. These online courses are an alternative for summer school, as they can be taken from home, rather than require the student to be on campus.This greatly decreases the price for summer courses, because students will not have to pay for housing. Brenda Knox, director of online education, says this is a major reason why Wake Forest has developed some online courses. “The university would like to offer some alternatives to students who can’t stay on campus in the summer,” she said.

http://oldgoldandblack.com/?p=45108

By Valerie Sweeten, Houston Chronicle

According to www.onlinecolleges.org, students looking to pursue degrees online can find courses at every level, from an associate to a doctorate degree at both private and public institutions. Jeff Morgan, associate provost for education innovation and technology at the University of Houston, said that the campus has had a year-over-year increase in online student credit hours. In fall 2014 there was a 23 percent increase, with a 17 percent increase in spring 2015. Across their entire University of Houston System, there has been a year-over-year increase in both fall 2014 and spring 2015.

http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/Online-courses-prep-tomorrow-s-leaders-6177143.php

http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/Learning-online-offers-many-financial-benefits-6177193.php