Online Learning Update

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Even as online course registrations continue to rise, fewer academic leaders consider online learning critical to their “long-term” strategies or rate the learning outcomes in online education as equal or superior to face-to-face instruction, according to a new report from the Babson Survey Research Group. This year’s Survey of Online Learning was sponsored by Pearson, the Online Learning Consortium, StudyPortals, Tyton Partners and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies. While the number of students taking at least one online course was just 3.9 percent higher in 2015 than the previous year, private nonprofit schools saw a major uptick: a growth of 11.3 percent. Private for-profit institutions, on the other hand, saw distance enrollments shrink by 2.8 percent.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/02/09/survey-even-as-online-course-enrollment-rises-institutional-support-shrinks.aspx

By Toni Fuhrman, Campus Technology

Augustine of Hippo, who lived from A.D. 354 to 430, might be surprised to find his Confessions in circulation today, including a number of e-book versions. Still widely read, popular in great books programs and studied in university classes, The Confessions of St. Augustine is autobiography and confession, spiritual quest and emotional journey. One of the most recent electronic versions of the Confessions is an interactive app developed at Villanova University (PA), the nation’s only Augustinian Catholic University. Released three months ago on Augustine’s birthday (Nov. 13), the Confessions app is required for all freshmen as part of a “foundation” course.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/02/09/interactive-app-brings-4th-century-thinker-to-life.aspx

By Peter Sclafani, eCampus News

Some of the country’s most-followed CIOs on social media outline how others can get started, what to avoid. Being a higher-ed leader, like a Chief Information Officer (CIO), at an institution today also means being active on social networking sites. For example, CIOs at universities across the county are being asked to help their institution’s brand outreach and community growth by embracing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, like LinkedIn.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/social-media-profile-676/

BY JESSICA LI, Daily Princetonion

After traditional, in-class lectures were replaced by ones held online, lecture ratings for COS 126: General Computer Science improved from 3.3 to 3.8, according to Professor of Computer Science and COS 126 course head Robert Sedgewick. COS 126 is the largest course in the University by annual enrollment, with 318 students having completed it in the fall semester and 405 students currently enrolled for the spring semester, according to the Office of the Registrar. COS 126 lectures, coined as ‘flipped lectures,’ have been offered exclusively online since this past fall semester, according to Sedgewick.

http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2016/02/cos-126-ratings-improve-after-switching-to-online-lectures/

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Michael Kinsley writes for The Washington Post that the Internet may be higher education’s great disruptor, bringing down traditional institutions by taking away the power of prestige. The prestige factor that enshrines the nation’s most elite institutions comes with the selective admissions process, but when anyone can access the course content offered to the privileged few, Kinsley posits the $200,000 education may not seem so worth it. While online, for-profit universities have not yet posed much of a threat to the Harvards and Yales of the higher education sector, there is a chance that they’ll get better 10 or 20 years down the line, or that MOOCs will get better, and information once reserved for the privileged few can be had by many more, for far less.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/will-the-internet-remove-traditional-higher-eds-prestige-factor/413466/

by Architecture and Design

A new online learning platform has been launched for the benefit of architects, engineers and designers to help them hone their skills in digital design. Launched by the Institute of Digital Design Australia (IDDA), the digital design online learning platform is customised for the target group and offers over 300 e-learning lessons in digital design software including Revit, Rhino3d, Grasshopper and Python, enabling members to learn at their own pace. Founder Dr Benjamin Coorey (PhD), a digital design specialist and expert in parametric design techniques, explained that he wanted to leverage his background in teaching digital design to architects and students to develop an online learning platform customised for the industry. Another objective was to make the cutting edge learning program as affordable as possible for students as well as small, large and international architectural firms and universities.

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/idda-launches-new-online-digital-design-learning-php

by the Online Learning Consortium

Multi-year trend shows growth in online enrollments continues to outpace overall higher ed enrollments. Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the United States, is the 13th annual report of the state of online learning in U.S. Higher education. The 2015 Survey of Online Learning is conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and co-sponsored by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), Pearson, StudyPortals, WCET and Tyton Partners, is the leading barometer of online learning in the United States. Key report findings include: A year‐to‐year 3.9% increase in the number of distance education students, up from the 3.7% rate recorded last year. More than one in four students (28%) now take at least one distance education course (a total of 5,828,826 students, a year‐to‐year increase of 217,275). The total of 5.8 million fall 2014 distance education students is composed of 2.85 million taking all of their courses at a distance and 2.97 million taking some, but not all, distance courses.

http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-report-card-tracking-online-education-united-states-2015/

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

A group of investors has agreed to purchase Apollo Education Group, owner of the for-profit college chain University of Phoenix, in a $1.1 billion cash deal. The New York Times reports that the buyers include Chicago-based investment firm Vistria Group, whose founder, Marty Nesbitt, has close ties to President Barack Obama and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, and whose COO, Tony Miller, served as deputy secretary of the Obama Department of Education from 2009 to 2013. While the investors hope to help clean up the for-profit industry with the purchase and plan to run the University of Phoenix with “the highest ethical standards,” critics of the sector and the purchase say the new team will have trouble doing so, given their obligations to shareholders — especially as they bought out Apollo Education Group shares for about 30% more than its stock was worth on the market.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/apollo-education-group-to-go-private-in-11b-sale/413574/

BY TANYA ROSCORLA, Center for Digital Education

Though the Americans with Disabilities Act has clear accessibility requirements, very rarely does anyone come knocking on college doors to find out whether they’re abiding by the law. The University of Illinois Springfield also encourages faculty members to adopt the Universal Design for Learning framework, and gives them the option to collaborate with instructional designers and faculty developers as they create their courses. With this strategy, the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service can take care of most students’ needs and work with the Office of Disability Services on technology accommodations for those who require extra support. “Sometimes we think, ‘Well, if we create an office of accessibility, we’ve done all we need to do,’ but it’s so much more than that,” said Vickie Cook, director of the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at University of Illinois Springfield. “It’s really everyone’s job to think about accessibility, and that work is never done. Accessibility is an ongoing role and responsibility for everyone across campus.”

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/The-Struggle-to-Make-Online-Courses-Accessible-in-Higher-Ed.html

By Jon Phillips, eCampus News

Dell Education gives insight into 2016’s higher ed-tech advancements. This will be an incredible year for advancements in technology and we will see considerable implications and opportunities in education, from more personalized and meaningful learning to an evolving shift in learning environments. Based on our longtime work in higher education and ongoing conversations with our customers and stakeholders, we’ve identified a few areas where we expect technology to play a larger role for educators and students.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/higher-ed-tech-170/

by eSchool News

Students using Front Row’s adaptive, gamified technology increased end-of-year test scores by nearly 10 percentage points over those who did not. A new study from WestEd, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research agency, commissioned by Front Row Education, found that students using the adaptive, gamified and data-drive technology showed greater mathematics achievement outcomes when compared with students who did not. The study included more than 450 kindergarten, first and second grade students in a rural school, and is based on student scores on the Northwest Evaluation Association’s’ (NWEA) Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) in mathematics.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/02/05/study-adaptive-gamified-approach-can-boost-math-scores/

by David, RealClimate

My free online class on Coursera.org entitled Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change has already served 45,000 people (started, not finished) in the four times that it’s run. Now it’s set up in a new format, called “on demand mode”, which allows people to start, progress, and finish on their own calendars. This would be an advantage if a teacher wanted to use the material to supplement a class; there are no longer any time constraints built into the Coursera system to prevent that.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2016/02/new-on-line-classes-and-models/

by Matthew Grillo, The Daily Collegian

Following Penn State’s continued advancements in online education, Conrad Tucker is hoping to blend virtual reality with online classes. Tucker, an assistant professor in engineering design and industrial engineering at Penn State, received a research grant from the Penn State Center for Online Innovation in Learning. “The importance of online and digital learning is only going to expand as we move toward a more connected world,” Tucker said.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_3afd7250-cb84-11e5-91d8-bb9da8a079e0.html

by Bradley Fuster, US News

Online classes typically require more written communication and interaction than oral participation. Unlike face-to-face classes, which often credit oral participation, online courses generally rely more on written work for grading and assessment purposes. As students submit assignments from the same devices they use to communicate for instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Yik Yak and countless other social platforms, the trap exists to treat the weekly PHI 101 reflection or SOC 100 paper as an LOL, ROFL, SMH, GR8 hot mess. Consider these five tips to improve your performance when taking writing-intensive online classes.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/2016/02/05/5-tips-to-improve-writing-for-online-classes

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Pearson has announced it will phase out support for its learning management system Learning Studio in the coming years, following a similar announcement last fall about OpenClass, which will leave the educational testing and services giant without an LMS in its portfolio. Inside Higher Ed reports Pearson believes it can create the greatest value for its customers by investing in course materials and other products that directly impact students and faculty, leaving the crowded LMS market behind.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/pearson-to-leave-the-lms-market-within-2-3-years/413333/

By Laura Devaney, eCampus News

Many say the presidential candidates’ debates and discussions lack a focus on higher education—here are the issues the candidates should research. The presidential campaign and debates among candidates have shed light on the issues most important to the U.S. public—and among those issues is higher education, from financing it, to institutions’ accreditation, to accessibility. As Generation Z takes ownership of its higher-education future, the following issues will become even more important as a new president takes office. Here, we offer a handful of higher education issues, along with important developments pertaining to each issue, which should be on the presidential candidates’ radar and present in their debates as November nears.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/highered-presidential-candidates-024/

by Judy Maltz, Haartz

In a forecast published last week, the Israeli army addressed the probability of an all-out confrontation with Hamas or Hezbollah sometime soon. Its conclusions were not particularly heartening. But whether or not Israel finds itself embroiled in another large-scale military operation in the near future, the country’s educational system intends to be prepared. At schools throughout the country this week, students participated in online learning drills designed to keep them on track with their studies in the event of war or any other national crisis that might keep them homebound.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.701472

By Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

Gallup announced Thursday it has developed a certification process for colleges based on their efforts to improve the “well-being” of students and faculty. The certification process could take up to three years and is akin to the process builders go through to get LEED certification for environmentally friendly designs, offering a more results-based evaluation of colleges than U.S. News has offered for more than 20 years.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/gallup-to-give-us-news-rankings-more-competition/413382/

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Large-scale survey recognizes often-contradictory demands from students; offers recommendations for programs. Higher ed online learning students expect a lot from their programs; but with every student’s unique expectations and desires, how can institutions not only rise above the competition, but offer the best online learning options for their students? Those are the questions a joint survey–conducted by Learning House and Aslanian Market Research of 1,500 individuals part of higher ed online learning programs nationwide–aimed to answer in its fourth annual survey.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/students-online-learning-277/

by Meris Stansbury, eCampus News

Penn State uses hard data to see if faculty professional development in student engagement actually makes a difference. How can institutions know whether or not professional development (PD) programs for faculty are effective? And does student engagement increase when faculty complete PD courses aimed at promoting student engagement in the online learning environment? According to one large university, PD in student engagement makes a significant difference…when applied in practice.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/faculty-student-engagement-913/

By Laura Devaney, eCampus News

Teaming up with industry cybersecurity providers, universities are hoping to produce more highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals. As the information technology industry grows, cybersecurity careers are projected to grow along with it–leading to an increased need for students to pursue cybersecurity at the higher-ed level. National defense leaders and experts at the fourth annual Cybersecurity Summit in October revealed that in 2014, cybersecurity crimes cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion in damage

http://www.ecampusnews.com/safety-and-security/cybersecurity-education-partnerships-982/