Online Learning Update

by Rebecca Marriage, Relocate Global

As students in the US receive their SAT test results, the university preparation association, the College Board and online learning platform, the Khan Academy are celebrating an unparalleled online learning uptake by the nation’s students. Enlisting the help of the hugely successful and free online learning platform for school-age children, the Khan Academy, the College Board has developed interactive practice tools to create a tailored online learning experience to help students prepare for the test. Going live almost exactly a year ago, the College Board and Khan Academy have seen more than 1.4 million unique users take up the ‘Official SAT practice’ program online. The program is free to use and, says the College Board, is reaching students, ”across race, ethnicities, and income levels.” But, most importantly, the results of tests issued to students by the College Board are then communicated with the Khan Academy and students receive personal study recommendations.

http://www.relocatemagazine.com/news/education-college-board-and-khan-academy-revolutionising-student-learning-in-us

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Instructors at USC’s Keck School of Medicine now have a new resource for flipping the classroom. Using Wirecast streaming production software from Telestream, the institution’s Preventive Medicine Soto Studio is creating on-demand video lectures for the Master of Public Health Online Program as well as instructional content for multiple departments. “Our goal is to produce videos of our college lectures that offer the same high-quality production standards that viewers have come to expect from a TV newscast,” explained Gary San Angel, distance education specialist/media technology, Department of Preventive Medicine at Keck School, in a prepared statement.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/06/16/usc-keck-school-of-medicine-taps-wirecast-for-lectures-on-demand.aspx

By Joe Chapman, US News

Understanding the number of credits required for completing your online degree gives you a goal and end date to work toward. Before beginning classes, explore your access to student resources, like digital libraries and online tutoring. Once you have chosen your online degree program, you may be uncertain about how to now ensure your success. You may not even know what steps to take next. Perhaps you are also worried about how you will manage your online studies while juggling everyday life. However, fear not. There are a few easy steps you can take to ensure you are prepared to start your online degree program.

http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2016-06-17/get-set-up-to-succeed-in-an-online-degree-program

BY RONALD BETHKE, eCampus News

Personalized support and advising achieved through new advances in technology and data analytics are all recommended for helping today’s online students. In a recent online learning panel, innovative institutions that have achieved measurable success in their online learning programs waxed poetic on how harnessing technology to bolster personalized learning experiences is the key to online learning’s success; specifically in helping students advance toward their educational goals and create a culture of success. The panel was part of a recent webinar hosted by The New Media Consortium (NMC) called “Getting Personal,” and featured insight from college and university IT and technology leaders on how advancements in online learning environments and adaptive learning technologies are making it possible to support learners’ individual paths.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/technologies/personalized-learning-online/

y Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Software engineering jobs are expected to increase by more than 18% over the next seven years, nearly triple the rate of the entire labor market. Coding bootcamps are offering crash courses in this rapidly growing industry — and at a fraction of the cost attached to an associate’s or four-year degree in computer science. Skeptics say crash courses in coding do not offer the full range of skills sought by most employers in the industry.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/for-profit-coding-bootcamps-better-as-educational-add-on/421089/

by Seb Murray, Business Because

The edtech trend on the tip of everyone’s tongue at this year’s EdtechXEurope event is artificial intelligence. By harnessing the power of AI and deep learning, educators can glean insights from the vast quantities of data hoovered up from their students. AI could also help lecturers make better decisions and could improve student retention rates, according to experts. “AI is a tool to make better sense of data,” says Satya Nitta, director of education and cognitive sciences at IBM. The world’s top online learning platforms are working with business schools such as Yale SOM and Duke Fuqua, and are offering advanced analytical tools to help them refine and enhance student learning. Meanwhile, virtual reality is immersing itself into elite schools like Stanford GSB. MIT Sloan, for instance, has trialled Google’s Cardboard and Samsung’s Gear VR devices.

http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/4023/5-edtech-trends-shaping-business-education

by BUSINESS WIRE

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Global Online Language Learning Market” report to their offering. The global online language learning market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 10.9% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global online language learning market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, it considers the revenue generated through the sales of online language learning products and services. The market scope excludes revenue generated through free sources of services and products. The report, Global Online Language Learning Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160615005746/en/Global-Online-Language-Learning-Market-Growth-10.9

by Dan Ring, Financial Applications

Organizations such as ON24 and AT&T are using e-learning software from Udemy and Udacity to keep employees up to date on new technical skills at an affordable price.HR brings order to chaos with performance review software. Performance appraisal software pushes anonymous feedbackOnline learning software could help meet rising demand. Brent Rojas, director of engineering for ON24, has simplified and improved training with Udemy online learning software.Rojas used to send his team of software engineers to a conference for training or pay for an instructor to lead a course at his company’s headquarters. But off-site classes can be expensive and time consuming, he said, and it was difficult to find space at his fast-growing company to train 10 to 20 people together.

http://searchfinancialapplications.techtarget.com/feature/Engineers-at-ON24-click-with-Udemy-online-learning-software

by Deanna B. Marcum, EDUCAUSE Review

What information professionals need from continuing education programs in order to prepare for the next stage of their careers is changing rapidly as organizations and their parent institutions find themselves in the midst of transformation. Librarians and IT staff must quickly find minimally viable solutions and improve on them after users provide feedback, which is a far cry from the traditional best-professional-judgement approach to problem solving. By taking part in larger collaborative and networked initiatives, information professionals can do their jobs better, but they need new skills in how to operate effectively in the new environment.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/6/continuing-education-for-information-professionals

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

What might Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn mean for higher ed? It is clear that LinkedIn views higher education as a key vertical. This strategy became apparent with the $1.5 purchase of Lynda.com in 2015. So what might the Microsoft acquisition change about LinkedIn through a higher ed lens? Being owned by Microsoft should allow LinkedIn to focus on its core strengths – and to leave the technology back-end to Microsoft. There have been signs that LinkedIn wants to have bigger mindshare in the discussion about the future of higher education, but these signals have been weak and fleeting. LinkedIn is still viewed more as a utility – a digital rolodex – than a key building block of what comes next in higher education. One could imagine a much bigger role for LinkedIn as a competency based education (CBE) goes mainstream.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/linkedin-microsoft-and-higher-ed

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eCampus News

A major new community college initiative will work to develop degree programs using open educational resources (OER) in an effort to ease textbook-related financial obstacles students often face in higher education. The national community college reform network Achieving the Dream announced the initiative on June 14, and representatives said they hope it will spur other changes in teaching and learning and course design that will increase the likelihood of degree and certificate completion. Achieving the Dream will help colleges make OER degrees critical elements of their student success efforts. Lumen Learning will provide technical assistance; SRI International will evaluate the initiative and conduct research on how OER degrees impact student success and the institutions providing them; and the Community College Consortium of Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) will facilitate a community of practice.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/curriculum/oer-degree-programs/

By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

The Online Learning Consortium says 5.8 million students are enrolled in online higher education courses, and 90% of these students say their academic experience is as good, or better than an in-person class. According to the data, students report greater levels of engagement with coursework, faculty and classmates with learning technology and support the use of adaptive analytics in helping to customize student learning experiences. Despite eight in 10 faculty members having little experience with online learning tools, data suggests 48% of learning materials will soon be digital.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/olc-study-90-students-see-online-experience-as-good-as-face-to-face/420923/

BY TANYA ROSCORLA, Center for Digital Education

College professors say they rarely see their peers mixing games into classes, so a few outliers are developing their own games to help students understand complex subjects. In the first three years of elementary school, 65 percent of teachers use digital games to help students learn, according to the 2015 Speak Up report from the nonprofit Project Tomorrow. But by the time those students get to high school, just 31 percent of their teachers incorporate games into instruction. While the survey doesn’t measure college game use, college professors say they rarely see their peers mixing games into classes. That said, a few outliers are developing their own games to help students understand complex subjects including algebra and engineering.

http://www.centerdigitaled.com/higher-ed/College-Algebra-Engineering-Classes-Get-Healthy-Dose-of-Games-Based-Learning.htm

by Marjorie Hope Rothstein, the Examiner

In an article by Candice Adderly, How Technology Has Changed Education, she has touched upon many significant points. “Over the past 20 years, technology has dramatically transformed how we live, how we work and how we connect. How we learn is no exception…. Nearly 70 percent of chief academic leaders said that online learning is critical to their long-term strategy, and 77 percent rated learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in a classroom setting.” A more recent study estimates that about 46 percent college students are taking at least one course online and that by 2019, roughly half of all college classes will be digitally based. On average, students in online learning conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. —SRI International for the Department of Education

http://www.examiner.com/article/coming-of-age-online-accelerated-learning-is-here-to-stay

By Carol Trehearn, Inscribe

Online learning has been possible for over a decade, however it has only recently begun to take the student population by storm. Once seen as ‘lesser’ than traditional classroom learning, e-learning and online courses were shunned by students in favor of physical colleges and degree courses, with many being misinformed that an online degree was less effective or worth less than its traditional counterparts. However, as this misinformation has been debunked by experts stressing that online learning could actually be a more effective alternative. There has been a significant increase in the number of undergraduate and postgraduate students taking classes online.

http://theinscribermag.com/insc/living-heres-why-e-learning-is-becoming-more-popular.html

By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Understanding and implementing big data into retention strategies makes for cost-effective, comprehensive approaches to keeping and graduating students. Pairing data points of student achievement with student behavior can help enrollment and student affairs professionals tailor student intervention and experience strategies that get results. Collaboration between student affairs, institutional research and IT is an essential component to making analytics a long-term retention strategy.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/big-data-can-build-comprehensive-cost-effective-retention-strategy/420838/

By Christopher Watkins, Udacity Blog

When one of the most recognized, most influential, most important companies in the world announces that it’s making the biggest acquisition in its entire history, that’s news for everyone. After all, just about anyone with a computer who has, has had, has looked for, or is looking for a job, has interacted with these companies at one time or another. Most of us probably use products and services from Microsoft and LinkedIn on a near-daily basis. But now that Microsoft is acquiring LinkedIn, what does this mean for students and job seekers?

http://blog.udacity.com/2016/06/microsoft-linkedin-26-2-billion-reasons-students-reading-news-today.html

by EdSurge

OUT WITH THE OLD: Coursera is planning to terminate access to its old platform on June 30, which will remove access to more than 450 courses hosted there, according to an email from the company. Coursera also said in a statement that the majority of the courses will transfer to the new platform, which Coursera began building in 2014 and which accommodates self-paced courses. The more recent version hosts the majority of its MOOCs, according to Coursera. The company writes that certificates from old courses will not disappear so long as participants do not unenroll.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-06-13-coursera-s-update-will-eliminate-hundreds-of-courses

By Collin Binkley , AP

Federal education officials are deciding whether to shut down the nation’s biggest accreditor of for-profit colleges over allegations that it overlooked deception by some of its schools. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools is meant to be a watchdog for hundreds of for-profit schools, wielding the stamp of approval that colleges need to receive federal money. It’s one of many accreditors authorized by the U.S. Education Department to ensure the quality of schools. But the nonprofit is being accused of employing lax standards and failing to stop schools from preying on students.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/higher-education/feds-consider-whether-to-shut-for-profit-college-watchdog/2016/06/11/6be6bbc2-2fdb-11e6-b9d5-3c3063f8332c_story.html

by Joshua Steele and Angela Gunder, Evolllution

After careful considerations and observations of our first incoming cohort, we elected to create a low-stakes, open learning environment that allows the student to engage as much as they feel is necessary prior to the beginning of classes, with access granted three weeks prior to the start of the semester to provide substantive opportunity to learn. To symbolize the journey that students undertake in beginning a degree program, this space was entitled “Launch Pad.”

http://evolllution.com/attracting-students/retention/ready-to-launch-re-envisioning-the-preparation-of-students-for-online-learning/

by Pawan Kumar, WhaTech Premium

Online language learning consists of digital content and solutions that facilitate the learning of languages through ICT tools and platforms, such as mobile apps, e-Books, games, videos, audio clips, digital software, learning lab equipment, and online tutoring. These tools and avenues are interactive, allow real-time feedback, and enhance learning processes as they involve different formats to impart information. Among the languages spoken globally, English has emerged as the most preferred language to learn followed by Mandarin Chinese.

https://www.whatech.com/market-research/it/170130-research-details-developments-in-the-online-language-learning-market-forecast-from-2016-to-2020