Online Learning Update

By Sri Ravipati, Campus Technology

The City University of New York (CUNY) is bringing industry-aligned coding bootcamps to more than 2,000 CUNY graduates across multiple campuses, for free. Through a strategic partnership with Revature, a technology talent development company, the public university system plans to train and hire the students in New York tech jobs over the next five years. The coding bootcamps, exclusively for CUNY graduates, will take place across multiple CUNY campuses. In addition, CUNY will offer custom online course training through RevaturePro to all current students and alumni. RevaturePro features courses on Java, Microsoft.NET and additional front-end development languages.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/09/27/cuny-to-train-hire-2000-students-in-free-coding-bootcamps.aspx

by Andrea Gosfield 
and Christine E. Weller, The Legal Intelligencer

After delays, new accessibility rules are anticipated in 2018. This impending regulatory change, as well as two recent actions involving edX and Harvard University over the accessibility of online course offerings, has many schools contemplating appropriate digital accessibility plans. Schools in the United States are subject to two main federal laws against disability discrimination: Title II and Title III of the ADA, and The Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. Section 701 (1973). Title II of the ADA covers public universities, while Title III covers private colleges and universities. Analogous state and local laws may also apply. Specifically, as amended, Section 794 of the Rehabilitation Act (referred to as Section 504) provides jurisdiction over schools receiving federal financial assistance. Under these laws, schools are prohibited from discriminating against disabled individuals, and denying them access to school programs or activities on the basis of their disability.

http://www.thelegalintelligencer.com/home/id=1202768883558/School-Bells-Ring-in-Brave-New-World-of-Digital-Compliance

By Summer Cartwright, the Lantern

With few options to buy textbooks near campus, the goal of the online syllabus library is to alert students as to what they might need for a class sooner rather than later. The last-minute orders and long lines wrapped around campus bookstores the day before classes start each semester might soon become a memory for Ohio State students. A new online syllabus catalog will be available for students to use in late October, in time for Spring 2017 scheduling, meaning the last-minute scrambling for textbooks could end. The catalog is a result of the efforts of Undergraduate Student Government and the Office of Academic Affairs to make course information more readily available and transparent for students.

http://thelantern.com/2016/09/syllabi-to-be-available-online-for-students-to-preview-before-enrolling-in-classes/

By Kylie Exline, Uloop

A lot of us have taken online courses throughout our expansive college career, so we understand the amount of dedication that goes into it. Or at least we understand what they offer as opposed to strictly a lecture. There is self-motivation, determination, and of course responsibility. If you are looking for ways to better your leadership capabilities, then you should look into an online class that offers ways to advance. They go across the board and offer them for about every topic available. To be a better leader, read below to discover what works best for you.

http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/215414/Online-Classes-To-Enhance-Your-Leadership-Skills

by Kevin Carey, NY Times

Georgia Tech’s master’s in computer science costs less than one-eighth as much as its most expensive rival — if you learn online. And a new study by Harvard economists found that in creating the program, Georgia Tech may have discovered a whole new market for higher education, one that could change the way we think about the problem of college costs. Georgia Tech rolled out its online master’s in computer science in 2014. It already had a highly selective residential master’s program that cost about the same as those of competitor colleges. Some may see online learning as experimental or inferior, something associated with downmarket for-profit colleges. But the nation’s best universities have fully embraced it. Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, U.S.C. and others have also developed online master’s degrees, for which they charge the same tuition as their residential programs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/upshot/an-online-education-breakthrough-a-masters-degree-for-a-mere-7000.html

By Chris Havergal, Times Higher Education

Public higher education is “dying” in the US, with the pricing out of students from poorer backgrounds amounting to a “national tragedy in the making”, a leading academic has warned. Delivering the opening keynote of the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit, held at the University of California, Berkeley, Robert Reich said that sector leaders urgently needed to combat the notion that getting a degree was a private – not a public – good. While 70 per cent of US students are still educated in public universities, these institutions now face significant financial challenges, with Berkeley being no exception. “Public higher education is dying in the US,” Professor Reich said. “If we stay on the path we are now on, there will be very little difference between public institutions and private institutions in terms of their funding, or their cost structures, or their tuition [fees].”

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/public-higher-education-dying-us-warns-robert-reich

By Marguerite McNeal, EdSurge

Most online courses are a solitary experience for learners. Students lack the ability to strike up an impromptu conversation about last week’s homework or compare notes with whoever’s sitting next to them in class. The lack of social interaction could be one reason behind high dropout rates in online classes. Several California community colleges are hopeful that adding a way for learners to interact with each other in online classes will help them complete their coursework. This fall, students taking introductory statistics courses at six colleges will pilot using a tool to complete lab exercises in teams, working in sync with partners who are miles away.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-09-28-online-classes-get-a-missing-piece-teamwork

by Lora Kolodny, Tech Crunch

Udacity – the online school started by Google X founder and self-driving car pioneer Sebastian Thrun— is offering a new “nanodegree” online to prepare students for jobs in the still emerging industry of virtual reality. Udacity promises to give online learners with no prior programming experience the skills to create mobile phone and desktop-based virtual reality “experiences” or applications that can be used on HTC Vive, Google Cardboard, Daydream and Oculus Rift. Christian Plagemann, who co-founded the Google VR team and was a lead developer of Google Cardboard, joined Udacity as a director this year specifically to develop its virtual reality curriculum. He’s managed to pull in corporate partners including Google VR, HTC Vive, and Upload, and stars of the VR industry including Matt Sonic to help develop VR curriculum. Sonic is also an instructor in the Udacity course.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/27/udacity-wants-to-get-you-a-job-in-the-nascent-vr-industry/

by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed

by Olivia Vanni, BostInno

In recent years, we’ve seen a slew of coding bootcamps pop up across the country, predominantly attracting professionals looking to get into the tech scene. And now, a coding bootcamp specifically meant for college students, from Horizons School of Technology, is starting taking applications for its new Boston program this upcoming summer. “A lot of programs, like those offered by General Assembly, are focused on career-switchers, people in their 30s,” Abhi Ramesh, co-founder of the Horizons School of Technology, told us. “We’re focused on college students… and consciously started in Philly because there’s a closely knit college community there. The next city on our radar had to be another prominent college town, which was Boston. For us, it’s more important to be in our target ecosystem.”

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2016/09/23/horizons-technology-coding-camp-for-boston-college-students/

by David Santandreu Calonge1 and Mariam Aman Shah2, IRRODL

The increasing costs of higher education (HE), growing numbers of flexible anytime, anywhere learners, and the prevalence of technology as a means to up-skill in a competitive job market, have brought to light a rising concern faced by graduate students and potential graduate employers. Specifically, there is a mismatch of useful skills obtained by students through HE institutions which is evident upon graduation. Faced with this dilemma, “graduate students,” or more specifically newly graduated students, with a with bachelor’s degree, and a growing number of employers are turning to Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, as a complimentary mechanism through which this skills gap may be bridged. This paper aims to analyse the literature highlighting the use of MOOCs as a means to reduce the mismatch in graduate skills. As such, this literature analysis reviews the following relevant areas: higher education and graduate skills gap, today’s graduates and employability, and MOOCs and graduate skills. Through analysing the literature in these areas, this paper identifies gaps in the existing literature.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/2675/3881

By Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Small business creation may be the way ahead for institutions looking to close funding gaps. Rick Shangraw is the CEO of Arizona State University’s Enterprise Partners, a nonprofit organization that leads the university’s external revenue-bearing ventures in technology transfer development, real estate holdings, defense research and contracting and international business partnerships. The umbrella, he says, helps the university to coordinate its efforts with private fundraising and helps to clarify its chief mission of revenue-raising to benefit students. “The challenge for most universities is that without some kind of structure, these different entities can become affiliated institutions, and that takes on a lot of challenges in working with those organizations. Over time, these [organizations] can form under the function of the foundation, and that causes confusion around the goal of the foundation, so we thought we would do something much like what Google did,” Shangraw explains.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/colleges-look-to-innovation-as-alternative-revenue-resource/426654/

By Christina Winfrey, IDS

This fall, sophomore Julie Nagelberg enrolled in M118: Finite 
Mathematics. She went to the class and took notes, but after a few weeks, she realized she was struggling. After seeking help, she realized succeeding in the class was not feasible and decided to drop. Now, she said she hopes to take the class online through Ivy Tech Community 
College. Instead of continuing M118 at IU, she said she decided to try taking the class online at Ivy Tech. This option is possible through the Indiana Core Transfer Library, but Koh said certain schools, such as the Kelley School of Business, require students to take M118, or other required classes, on the IU-Bloomington campus if they wish to apply for admission to the school. Alternatives to this course include D116 and D117. These are joint courses that cover the material from M118 in two semesters, Koh said.

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2016/09/students-find-solutions-to-passing-finite-mathematics

by Eric Westervelt, NPR

While colleges and universities have seen enrollment growth follow every recession since 1980, the boost in enrollment following the Great Recession was far greater than previous. And a growing number of those students enrolling are older, working, have a family -– or all three. Nearly half of those enrolled in higher ed today are so-called “non-traditional” students. One quarter of all students are over the age of 30. The increase is driven mostly by tough financial realities and a changing economy. More colleges and universities need to become better equipped to address the needs of older students. And soon. The already large adult student population is projected to grown even larger in coming years.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/09/25/495188445/shaken-by-economic-change-non-traditional-students-are-becoming-the-new-normal

by Microsoft

Microsoft recently launched its subscription-only online skills training platform, LinkedIn Learning. The 450 million members are now potential clients of LinkedIn’s in-house premium skills training system. Microsoft has decided that LinkedIn members should get their skills training right inside LinkedIn’s website. It is a new product aimed at empowering individuals and corporate clients.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/4008347-microsoft-launches-subscription-based-linkedin-learning-skills-training-service

By Joe Cote, Southern New Hampshire University

There’s a lot to think about when you’re thinking about returning to school and choosing to go to school online may add to the questions you have to consider. Whether you have children to care for or a demanding job or any of a thousand commitments, choosing to continue your education is sure to make life even busier. Having recognized that, whole teams of people at Southern New Hampshire University have built support programs to help students new to online education make an easy transition. Support for new students runs the gamut from academic advisors and an online writing center to webinars and tutoring programs. “We’ve been very deliberate about trying to build out this community, this network of support we can provide students with,” said Matthew Thornton, associate vice president of Student Technology Experience.

http://www.snhu.edu/about-us/news-and-events/2016/09/resources-abound-for-students-new-to-online-learning

By Aziza Musa, Arkansas Online

Colleges and universities in the University of Arkansas System will face more scrutiny when proposing new degree programs that are fully online. Now, chancellors who want to add an online-degree program that already exists within the UA System must explain why another distance-education offering is needed. The justification is just for degree programs — not courses — that are completely online. “I didn’t draw a line in the sand and say, ‘No never,'” UA System President Donald Bobbitt said. “But, I will tell you that the scrutiny on a proposed program is going to be intense.”

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/sep/25/ua-system-tightens-online-degree-rules-/

BY ROB WENGER, eCampus News

Over the past decade, many college administrators (and other related campus groups) have relied on LinkedIn groups to build community among their peers, professors, student groups and more. Today there are hundreds of these groups among LinkedIn’s 400 million users, but with Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn this past spring, the signs are here: LinkedIn’s focus will no longer be on helping their communities to thrive. College administrators can, and should, look to build their own online communities now that the technology makes it easy and the benefits of owning a community are many. But they should learn from the mistakes of LinkedIn and do it right the first time to create a thriving, active and engaged community. Here are the seven most important things colleges and other academic institutions should keep in mind when launching their online communities:

http://www.ecampusnews.com/ed-tech-leadership/build-online-communities/

by Technavio

According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the professional development market in Europe is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 4% during the forecast period. Professional development market in Europe is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4% during the period 2016-2020. This research report titled ‘Professional Development Market in Europe 2016-2020’ provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of products and services that cater to educators in the professional development market in Europe. Apart from face-to-face workshops, training sessions, and seminars in educational institutions, there has been an emergence of web-based professional development courses. These courses help teachers educate themselves at their own pace and provide more engaging content to improve retention rates.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160923005267/en/Professional-Development-Market-Europe-Witness-Traction-Due

By Shirley Siluk, NewsFactor

Aiming to “create opportunity for every member of the global workforce,” professional networking site LinkedIn yesterday announced a redesigned look for its desktop app, a new online learning platform and smarter messaging capabilities with support for bot-enabled assistance. The news comes a little over three months after Microsoft revealed plans to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, and less than a year after LinkedIn launched its flagship mobile app. The kickoff of LinkedIn Learning also comes on the heels of the company’s acquisition of the online learning firm lynda.com last year.

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11300ADYEBED