By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Employers are increasingly seeing the promise of free schooling as a worthwhile benefit to offer employees. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that Southern New Hampshire University is the latest to forge such a partnership, this time with health insurance company Anthem Inc., opening its online degree programs to 55,000 Anthem employees nationwide in the second stage of a pilot program that began in-state. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, analysts see this move, along with other recent partnerships by Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler, as the beginning of a trend toward employer-directed degree attainment.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/online-education-partnerships-increasingly-popular-among-employers/400174/

By Clea Simon, Harvard Gazette

Massive open online courses, or MOOCS, will not destroy the university as we know it, says Lawrence S. Bacow, member of the Harvard Corporation and former president of Tufts University. While this burgeoning educational trend may seem poised to undercut four-year residential colleges, it may not be the cost-conscious alternative it seems. But it may offer new opportunities — and new ideas — to revitalize higher education. This new technology must be understood to be utilized properly by universities — and by informed consumers. For starters, despite the apparent cost savings, online learning is actually expensive. Like most startups, it currently lacks a coherent business model, with the vast majority of costs falling to the university, or content provider. In addition to the expense of creating a class — including faculty training and salary — online learning requires up-to-date technological infrastructure to optimize delivery.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/06/a-clearer-role-for-moocs/

by Helgi David Björnsson, OSN Europe

The digital age offers exciting new potential for learning and sharing information and ideas in ophthalmology. Most of us remain unaware of resources that may be particularly useful for our practice. Helgi David Björnsson, MD, a young ophthalmologist from Oslo, Norway, has done the hard work for us and compiled a list of some of the best go-to sites. Particularly exciting is a growing trend to offer cutting-edge material, previously only available internally to institutions, for free as open access.

http://www.healio.com/ophthalmology/technology/news/online/%7Be1e8fbbd-f95d-49f8-b9da-f70f823bd3f6%7D/osn-europe-the-new-era-of-online-learning-in-ophthalmology

by Chuck Cohn, Forbes

Few CEOs would dispute the importance of continuing education and professional development for their team members. However, those same CEOs may be wondering how they can fit learning into their own days when each hour seems to be populated with meetings, progress reports, and pressing commitments. This challenge described my own situation during my first years as the CEO of Varsity Tutors. On some days, it still does. In recent years, I have been introduced to or found several resources that can help a busy CEO keep learning and growing professionally and personally.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckcohn/2015/06/05/how-to-keep-learning-as-a-busy-ceo/

by Alexandra Wolfe, Wall Street Journal

For now, Dr. Koller is looking forward to launching the online M.B.A. program. In it, students can get a full M.B.A. for a targeted cost of around $20,000, or choose blocks of expertise, such as digital marketing or accounting, in which to earn certificates (cost: $79 each). She also plans to continue expanding the company internationally by acquiring courses in different languages. Ultimately, Dr. Koller wants to make the school experience like “turning the tap—and great education comes out for anybody.” Eventually, “we’ll have data from hundreds of thousands, millions of people at a level that’s unprecedented,” she says. “I think we’re at the cusp of a revolution of treating human learning as science.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/daphne-koller-on-the-future-of-online-education-1433532321

By Ron Bethke, eCampus News

Survey reveals institutions, like UC Irvine, are putting greater effort into tracking graduates’ success and helping them continue learning through short-term programs. According to the results the Education Advisory Board (EAB)’s annual Future of Online and Professional Education Survey, improving how institutions track career success has emerged as the highest priority for senior executives of online and professional higher education programs. In the survey, 95 percent of respondents expressed interest in better longitudinally tracking graduates’ career outcomes. Though many institutions primarily are interested in whether or not students got a job after graduating and their average salary data, there is also interest in developing more sophisticated and inclusive metrics for career success.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/track-graduate-success-347/

by Penn State

The inaugural class of Penn State Behrend’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree program in Pittsburgh held its graduation ceremony at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, 4215 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh. A total of 12 students represented the initial class of the program, which is offered in a flexible blended model — 75 percent online learning and 25 percent classroom instruction — at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township. The program emphasizes the continual application of best practices, applied research and forward-thinking ideas.

http://news.psu.edu/story/359588/2015/06/04/academics/penn-state%E2%80%99s-mba-program-pittsburgh-graduates-inaugural-class

by MARTIN VAN DEN HEMEL, Richmond Review

For adult learners eager to rechart their career path, or simply wanting to bolster their resumes, the learning options are virtually endless. From the continuing education offerings by the Richmond School District, to the Third Age Learning program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University—where quizzes/grades/prerequisites are shunned in favour of discussion/humour/insight—the way people are accessing information and knowledge is different from even a decade ago. “For people interested in learning new things, there are more options than ever,” Michael Khoo, head of the Richmond School District’s continuing education program, said. The Richmond School District is gradually phasing out face-to-face teaching in its adult continuing education program, offering instead six-week online courses that begin every month and start at $119, and are monitored by an instructor who is available to answer questions and guide students along.

http://www.richmondreview.com/community/local-community/adult-learning-in-the-computer-age-1.1957979

By Jordan Weissmann, Slate

In case you needed a reminder that the deck is stacked against poor kids in this country, University of Michigan professor Susan Dynarski has offered a simple and grim illustration of that fact at the New York Times. In 2002, the Department of Education began tracking a large, nationally representative group of high school sophomores, whom it tested for math and reading skills. Ten years later, the agency found a troubling, though not exactly surprising, pattern. At every level of academic ability, the low-income students were less likely to finish college than their wealthier peers. Yet more depressing: Exceptionally smart poor kids, whose math scores ranked them among the top quarter of the study’s participants, were no more likely to attain a bachelor’s degree than scholastically middling rich kids.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/06/02/college_graduation_rates_for_low_income_students_why_poor_kids_drop_out.html

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun sees his short, online “nanodegree” programs bringing higher education into the 21st century. The Next Web reports that nanodegrees are designed to take six to nine months to finish and cost a flat $200 per month, with coursework completable at any time and graded on demand. A new nanodegree announced last week in partnership with Google teaches advanced skills to Android developers, and Thrun told TNW that it will definitely leave students ready for hire.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/thrun-sees-nanodegrees-as-key-to-ed-democratization/400229/

by Adrian Rogers, Spokesman Review

Ashley Hobbs is graduating from Riverside Achievement Center. When Ashley Hobbs decides to do something – jump off a cliff, finish two years of high school in one – she does it. Hobbs, 17, a student at Riverside Achievement Center, graduates this spring as a senior after starting the year as a junior. The alternative program for students in Chattaroy’s Riverside School District lets students do their schoolwork at home at their own pace. They can access tutors, teachers and online resources along with textbooks when they need to, but they’re largely responsible for teaching themselves. It takes a self-directed, mature student to complete the program, said Janet Kemp, principal of the alternative learning programs at Riverside School District. Some students struggle to complete their weekly assignments. To do two years in one is extraordinary.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/jun/04/goal-oriented-riverside-grad-uses-online-learning/

By Jessica Steeley, State News

Although MSU is more relaxed in the summer, there are still professors teaching on campus and students doing homework and going to class. “One of the biggest differences with the summer course is it’s only seven weeks, opposed to 15 weeks in the other semesters, so everything is rushed,” doctoral student Julie Bell said. Computer science junior Alex Lambert agrees accelerated summer classes are tough; even though he’s only taking six credits, it can seem like 12. He said he does better in fall and spring classes as opposed to summer classes. However, Lambert takes them because it will allow him to graduate in three-and-a-half years and give him an easier senior year. “I’d rather take classes now, and then have an easier senior year, than have 20 credits senior year,” Lambert said.

http://statenews.com/article/2015/06/students-weigh-benefits-of-online-summer-courses

by Romy Ruukel, Inside Higher Ed

Issues of learning technologies and accessibility are more of a hot topic in our field than usual these days. Universal design is not a substitute or synonym for ADA standards or ideas of barrier-free design. Rather, it is a broader concept for the design of products and environments so that they can be used by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialization. Sidewalks with curb cuts, ramps to buildings, and doors that automatically open when a person moves near them are examples of universally designed products in the physical environment. They benefit a variety of people. Usability further refers to learnability (ease with which users learn to operate a product and remember how to do so when returning to it at a later time); instructional consistency (such as clear and consistent labeling); and efficient effectiveness (the amount of effort it takes to complete a goal).

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/case-accessible-usable-and-universal-design-learning

by Luis Perez, EDUCAUSE Review

In the next stage of the A3 model, Accessibility, the focus shifts from addressing the needs of a single student to creating a learning environment that works for all learners. One way to move an institution into this phase is to make sure that instructional design incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. UDL is a framework for inclusive education that places the burden for accessibility on the curriculum rather than on students. Although a full exploration of the UDL framework is beyond the scope of this article, a number of resources from the Center for Applied Special Education (CAST) are available for any faculty or staff members who want to learn more. UDL was inspired by the universal design movement in architecture, but in its current incarnation, it owes more to neuroscience insights about the nature of learning and learners. UDL is based on the idea that learners show a great deal of variability in what engages them in learning, in how they perceive and process information, and in how they are able to interact with the learning environment and demonstrate their learning.

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/accommodations-accessibility-creating-learning-environments-work-all

by Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Researchers say formative assessment plays a critical role in student retention. Analyzing over 4,000 student comments and reviews of the 7 most active and highly-rated MOOCs, researchers say formative and peer assessment strategies in relation to MOOCs directly affect student engagement. According to researchers at the Open University of Catalonia (OUC), Spain, research on student engagement in MOOCs exists for non-didactic factors (profiles, demographics, institutional reputation) and didactic factors (course structure and content, workload and duration, type of exams and assessments), but little research has been conducted to determine whether different types of assessment (formative, non-formative, peer and self-assessment) or different student feedback approaches actually affect student engagement.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/formative-assessment-mooc-299/

by Alan Todd, Carsten Sudhoff; Fortune

In order to keep up with this coming transformation in our world of work, companies can evolve their corporate learning programs in three ways to better engage and equip millennial employees. Employers need to provide ongoing, online learning that is engaging and valuable to this new workforce. Millennial employees are “screenagers,” born and raised online. These digital natives value meaningful online experiences—experiences that many Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) cannot offer through a filmed lecture. Instead, employers should be looking at how an online learning platform can facilitate expert-led, problem-specific learning rather than static, dry lectures or lessons. Technology matters in today’s world and workplace—millennials are 2.5 times more likely to be early adopters of technology than are older generations, and they also stand out when it comes to producing and uploading online content. Organizations must take note of this and embrace the opportunity.

http://fortune.com/2015/06/02/3-ways-employers-can-engage-millennials-at-work/

by ATD

social mediaThe simple creation of content and access to platforms will not ensure success with social media for learning. You will need to spend some time getting ready, linking the tools to other learning moments, and measuring your online success. When choosing a social media tool, those that are accessible and familiar to participants should take preference. If this is not the case, you must spend more time preparing for the learning process by selecting the ideal platform. Before you ask people to use the tools, you need to be sure they are working well. For smaller initiatives, you may be inclined to just see what happens, but failure will still lead to all-around demotivation. If tools and processes are new for learners, some education on their use may be required. Be sure to mention early any tools that will be used, describing expectations and the perceived benefits of the approach. In initial communications, include links that allow direct access without learners having to search for the tool themselves.

https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Learning-Technologies-Blog/2015/06/6-Keys-for-Using-Social-Media

by Mary Ellen McIntire, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The announcement is one of several recent deals between a college and a corporation that will expand higher-education opportunities for employees at no or reduced cost, following a high-profile deal, announced last year, between Starbucks and Arizona State University. On Monday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced a similar arrangement with Strayer University. Max Woolf, a senior analyst at Eduventures who has written about corporate partnerships in higher education, said that big-name partnerships announced in the past year had broken the ice for other companies to seek similar deals.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/an-increasingly-popular-job-perk-online-education/56771

by iSchool Guide

http://www.ischoolguide.com/articles/13368/20150602/u-s-fund-1-6-million.htm

by Tony Wan, Edsurge

The world is Udemy’s oyster, and the San Francisco, CA-based company is looking to grow its online learning marketplace across the globe, fueled by a $65 million Series D round. Two-thirds of Udemy’s seven million students come from outside the US. Yang says the first priority with the new funds is to continue expanding its international footprint: “We are looking to bring the marketplace model to local instructors around the world.” Earlier this March, Udemy partnered with one of Japan’s largest educational publishers, Bennese, to host over 100 Japanese-language courses. The percentage kept by instructors, however, is a determined by different variables, according to Yang. Instructors receive:

97% of the course fee if instructors bring a new student to Udemy

50% if the student is an existing Udemy user

25% if the student comes through Udemy’s affiliate program

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2015-06-02-udemy-raises-65m-in-quest-to-grow-online-learning-marketplace-across-the-world

by Gabriel Sanchez-Zinny, Huffington Post

Higher education is becoming a must to succeed in the 21st century labor market. Research has shown that not only do individuals with higher degrees – from community colleges, technical training programs, or traditional universities – make hundreds of thousands more in salary over their working lives, but also enjoy greater social mobility, longer life expectancy, and myriad other benefits. But despite this clear consensus, extended education is still scarce in emerging economies like those of Latin America. And in more developed countries the costs – and associated debt – are skyrocketing. As a new paper from a group of researchers led by Harvard’s Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz argues, “The earnings premium associated with additional education in the United States has risen markedly since 1980, suggesting that the supply of education labor has not kept pace with demand.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabriel-sanchez-zinny/online-learning-bending-the-cost-curve-in-higher-education_b_7479224.html