Online Learning Update

By Digital Arts UK

FutureLearn is kicking off free online courses for pros across branding, design, animation, VFX and more. The courses have been created using £200,000 of funding from government quango Creative Skillset. FutureLearn, which describes itself as the only UK-based MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform, will allow creative pros to learn skills from brand storytelling to animation techniques from professional bodies and universities. Courses beginning in the next few weeks include Digital Storytelling: Filmmaking for the Web, Brand Storytelling: How to Use Narrative to Sell, An Introduction to Screenwriting, Film Production, and How to build a Sustainable Fashion Business.

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-business/free-online-courses-for-designers-artists-creative-pros-offered-by-futurelearn/

by Natalie Kiteroeff, Bloomberg

For all their problems, free online classes may have a net positive effect on your career. A new study shows that most people who took a free massive open online course, or MOOC, say it helped their careers, including by getting them a new job or helping them start a business. “This type of research illustrates the possibilities MOOCs offer to change the educational landscape,” write the authors of the study, published Tuesday in the Harvard Business Review. The study was conducted by researchers at Coursera, an online education platform, and professors at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington, who have taught MOOCs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-23/want-a-new-job-take-these-online-classes

by Jordan Friedman, US News

In the digital age, learning coding skills is becoming a great way to change career paths or boost your resume, experts say. As technology advances, coding classes online are growing tremendously in popularity, whether it’s free and low-cost programs or computer programming certificates and full degree options offered through colleges and universities. “More and more businesses – whether it’s journalism, law or container shipping – are being upended by technology,” says Zach Sims, CEO and co-founder of Codecademy​, an online platform that offers free coding classes. “By understanding coding you are able to understand those changes and contribute to that sequence of changes.”

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2015/09/23/3-ways-to-gain-coding-skills-in-online-courses

by IBN Live

Search engine giant Google and online education company Udacity on Monday launched IT courses in India, branching outside the US to tap the country’s millions of software developers scrambling for jobs. The pair teamed with Indian conglomerate Tata to offer online technical training courses, focusing on teaching software developers to build apps for Android, the Google-backed mobile operating system. Costing 9,800 rupees a month, the degrees will take between six and nine months to complete, with lessons from Google instructors based in the United States. Students will get 50 per cent of tuition costs back on graduation.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/tech/google-launches-online-it-courses-in-india-1107658.html

BY GRAHAM WINFREY, Inc

Online course-takers say web-based classes are helping them get raises, promotions, and new startup skills. Free online courses are having a major impact in helping workers advance their careers, a new study shows. A recent survey from online learning company Coursera, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Washington shows that 87 percent of individuals who take online courses with the goal of career advancement are finding success doing so. Nearly 35 percent reported tangible benefits, including receiving a raise, getting a promotion, finding a new job, or starting their own business.

http://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/how-online-courses-can-help-entrepreneurs-close-the-skills-gap.html

by Michael Bernick, Fox and Hounds

The California community colleges, at the Chancellor’s Office level and among individual colleges, have been taking the lead, actively studying the certification and badge system. A recent mapping effort by the Sector Navigators staff among the Colleges detailed the growing number of certifications. In Advanced Manufacturing, for example, the mapping effort found over 170 certifications being issued by independent entities, including 80 separate certifications by the National Center for Construction Education & Research, 52 certifications by the National Institute of Metalworking Skills, and 17 certifications by the American Society for Quality. Beyond the certifications is the growth of “stackable certifications”. The idea behind stackable certifications is that a worker can gain certifications in several specialties to expand job options.

http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/09/the-role-of-certifications-and-badges-in-californias-workforce-world/

by George Anders , Forbes

Although Coursera got its start in Silicon Valley, the Mountain View, Calif., company has attracted an increasingly global user base in the past three years. Currently, 51% of Coursera’s learners are in emerging markets, up substantially from the mid-20s at Coursera’s start. Koller notes that while the U.S. still provides the company’s largest pool of learners, the site’s next three countries, in terms of user popularity, are China, India and Brazil. All three are in emerging markets where English isn’t the national language, Koller observes. Eager to make the most of such opportunities, Coursera is stepping up efforts to provide more local-language content in Asia and Latin America.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2015/09/22/courseras-hunt-for-feedback-reveals-a-divided-world/

By Michael Hart, Campus Technology

Even though tablet purchases are on the rise among college students, most of them still prefer to use laptops for learning. At the same time, overwhelming majorities of students believe tablets will serve more and more educational functions in the future. According to a new Harris Poll conducted for Pearson, 52 percent of college students now own tablets. That is up from 45 percent in 2014. However, only one in 12 (8 percent) college students aged 18 and 19 (typically freshmen and sophomores) said they use a tablet every day for their school work, while two-thirds (66 percent) use a laptop every day for school.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/23/poll-most-college-students-prefer-laptops-over-tablets-for-school.aspx

By David Raths, Campus Technology

Implementing adaptive learning technology in college courses can be an uphill struggle but well worth it, according to pioneering faculty members. Adaptive learning platforms in higher education are starting to produce some promising results, yet the market is still in its infancy. Instructors who volunteer to be guinea pigs for pilot implementations often end up encouraged by the results — yet exhausted by how much work is involved in retrofitting their courses to the adaptive platforms. Campus Technology interviewed several administrators and faculty members who have worked on adaptive projects about their experience. Here is what they told us:

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/23/tales-from-the-front-lines-of-adaptive-learning.aspx

by Leena Rao, Fortune

Online education company Udacity will start offering classes tailored to Indian students, marking the startup’s first effort to target a country outside the U.S.The move is a major step for the company as tries turn its popular courses into a real business, something it has strived to do since its founding in 2012. In India, Udacity will offer its degrees in areas like Android development and data analyses for around $148 per month. That’s still a hefty price to pay for Indian students, but Udacity says that half of the tuition will be reimbursed to them following their graduation.

http://fortune.com/2015/09/21/udacity-google-india/

by Candace Thille, John Mitchell and Mitchell Stevens, Inside Higher Ed

What no technology can solve is a failing business model for U.S. higher education. Citizens benefit most from education early in their lives when they are least able to pay for it themselves. Yet students and their families are now being asked to pay ever-larger proportions of the cost of higher education as government support for college has increasingly taken the form of subsidized loans. Students, parents, entrepreneurs and politicians alike are eagerly seeking alternative forms of higher education, and for a brief moment back in 2012 many wanted to believe that the simple Internet technologies embodied in MOOCs would be the next big thing. It’s not that simple. MOOCs have not fixed higher education, but they are poignant reminders of the urgent problems of college cost and access, potential forerunners of truly effective educational technology, and valuable tools for advancing the science of learning. That’s progress.

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/22/moocs-are-no-panacea-they-can-help-improve-learning-essay

by Seb Murray, Business Because

Business schools and their partners in the nascent edtech sector are exploring digital analytics to improve students’ academic performance. Elite universities have been adapting technology used to predict a student’s final grade to improve their overall results. Edx, the edtech venture of top US universities MIT and Harvard, is conducting research into how big data can help answer key online learning questions, such as the best ways to teach complex ideas, and which parts of a course are best taught in person instead of online. By assessing course data — from mouse clicks and time spent on tasks to evaluating how students respond to assessments — the company hopes to shed light on how learners access information and master material.

http://www.businessbecause.com/news/connected-classroom/3466/connected-classroom-edtech-harnesses-big-data

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz – American-Statesman

Veronica Vargas Stidvent became chancellor of the Texas arm of Western Governors University in June 2014. WGU occupies an unusual niche: It’s private, nonprofit and mostly online, with a curriculum that lets students advance at their own pace. Established in 1997 by 19 Western governors, including George W. Bush of Texas, it offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, health professions, education and information technology. As the chief executive of WGU Texas, Stidvent, 41, is enjoying annual enrollment growth of 30 percent in the Lone Star State. There are challenges as well. She wants to recruit more students in rural areas, and four-year graduation rates are mixed: 27 percent for undergraduates, 63 percent for graduate students.

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/wgu-texas-chancellor-explains-online-competency-ba/nngPx/

by Aaron Kim, Business to Community

The not-so-secret sauce to make the most of the new learning opportunities brought by the digital transformation movement is to combine the best of the consumer Internet with the peculiarities of the corporate environment, enabling new models of learning, such as peer-to-peer, just-in-time and non-structured approaches that are often overlooked when our eyes are obfuscated by the intense brightness of the big stars of the consumer learning space.

http://www.business2community.com/human-resources/digital-learning-beyond-the-copycat-model-01328279

By Michael Patrick Rutter, Harvard Gazette

Peter Bol, Harvard’s vice provost for advances in learning (VPAL), announced Thursday the formation of the VPAL Research Group. The organization will integrate HarvardX and the research fellows’ programs from the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT), and adds new leadership and positions. “This fusion to support our growing work in the learning sciences is absolutely additive,” said Bol, Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, who has served in the vice provost role for two years. “Moreover, research is following our faculty, as what is happening online and in the classroom is increasingly blurred, and researchers have already been skating across both realms. In that sense, it’s a reflection of a reality that has already existed over the past few years.”

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/09/learning-about-learning-creating-a-connection/

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

No longer trying to tempt traditional students from higher education, Udacity’s new model focuses on adults who have skills, but want to add new ones through intensive courses supported by the industry. The New York Times reports Udacity wants to teach millions of adults tech skills quickly, providing at least minimally recognized nanodegrees in five months, on average. The courses cost $200 per month for as long as students take to finish them and upon completion, Udacity reimburses half of the tuition cost.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/udacitys-new-business-model-markets-nanodegrees-for-in-demand-skills/405832/

by Emma Williams, Arkansas State Herald

by Jessica Oranika, Alestle Live

Online enrollment is steadily increasing at SIUE. Students are leaning more toward online classes than ever before. According to the Dean of the School of Business John Navin, the growth has to do with the fact that SIUE offers more online classes than ever before and how convenient they are for students who have busier schedules. “[Online class enrollment] is clearly growing and it’s not just in the business world — it’s growing everywhere on campus,” Navin said. “I think there are a number of reasons. I think it offers more alternatives. There’s a convenience factor for students. They have the ability to do work at their own pace. It works well for students who are trying to schedule around jobs or athletics.”

http://www.alestlelive.com/news/article_97a83ac6-5cdf-11e5-9e99-ff8e8379886b.html

by the Hindu

Open education resources and massive open online courses (MOOC) are the future of higher education and help reach out to a large number of learners. This was one of the key aspects discussed at the millennium lecture hosted by M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation here on Wednesday. Tracing the role of information and communication technology in helping the rural poor and MSSRF’s contribution, V. Balaji, director, Technology and Knowledge Management, Commonwealth of Learning, Canada, said online open education resources are reusable. More MOOC courses are being developed on mobile platforms as well to meet the requirements of agricultural education. However, scalability is proving to be a challenge.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/open-resources-online-courses-hold-key-to-future-of-education/article7660922.ece

By Ellen Wexler, Wired Campus

When students enroll in MOOCs, they almost always watch a series of video lectures. But just watching videos — without also engaging interactively — is an ineffective way to learn, according to a study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The study looked at a generally available course, offered through the Georgia Institute of Technology, called “Introduction to Psychology as a Science.” Some students chose to take it as a traditional MOOC, spending most of their time watching video lectures. Others opted for a version that combined the MOOC and interactive materials produced by Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative. All of the students were assigned 11 weekly quizzes and a final examination. Those in the MOOC-only course scored an average of 57 percent on the final. Those in the combined course scored an average of 66 percent. And when students in the combined course completed an interactive activity, they learned six times as much as those who only read the material or watched a video.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/in-online-courses-students-learn-more-by-doing-than-by-watching/57365