Online Learning Update

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

In December, edX won a $700,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation to support the MicroBachelors effort with the organization’s university partners. Officials from edX declined to talk about the project, saying only that it is in the early stages. But at a higher-education innovation summit last month hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, listed the project as part of the group’s long-term vision that began with its MicroMasters program. And the organization has filed a trademark for the term “MicroBachelors” as well.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-01-25-edx-quietly-developing-microbachelors-program

by Knowledge@Wharton, UPenn

If you look at what technology has done in the last five to six years with the way we live at home and at work, there are two major things. One, ordinary people today are much more empowered than ever before because everybody has a super-computer in their pocket…. Leadership today has to be about a burning desire to create a better future and to not give up in the resistance that you’re going to face when you decide to do something different.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/leadership-age-gig-economy/

by American Association of Community Colleges

According to a new study by the American Council on Education (ACE), post-traditional learners are individuals with diverse life experiences, defining them as “individuals already in the workforce who lack a postsecondary credential, yet are determined to pursue further knowledge and skills while balancing work, life and education responsibilities.” There are about 98 million people who fit this definition, according to the 2016 Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau. Post-traditional learners have diverse backgrounds, such as being immigrants, veterans, single mothers, at-risk youth or having limited literacy and
English language skills. About 60 percent of post-traditional learners were enrolled in undergraduate programs, most of whom (53 percent) were likely to attend public two-year institutions

https://www.aacc.nche.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DataPoints_V6_N1_2018.pdf

By Aadit Tambe, Daily Iowan

In the world of augmented reality, instructors are taking the laboratory experience to an online platform using cutting-edge technology. Students get real-time lab exposure for a nanotechnology course online. The University of Iowa nanotechnology & nanofabrication course teaches students how to fabricate structures on a nanoscale. They learn how to make structures that are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. “We have been teaching this course the traditional way [for several years],” said Adjunct Assistant Professor Aju Jugessur, the director of the UI Microfabrication Facility. “A year ago, I came up with the idea of offering the course to students who are not on campus, or students who are on campus but cannot take this course because of scheduling conflicts.”

http://daily-iowan.com/2018/01/25/ui-offers-first-online-lab-course/

By Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed
Educause has submitted a $55,000 offer to acquire the assets of the now defunct New Media Consortium, court documents reveal. The $55,000 offer, if accepted, would see Educause acquire the NMC’s trademarks, website, membership and subscriber lists, as well as its flagship Horizon Project, which produced reports on the future of education technology. The NMC, which abruptly ceased operations at the end of last year, owes more than half a million dollars to its creditors. The nonprofit filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/02/06/educause-plans-buy-assets-bankrupt-new-media-consortium

by Melanie Barnett, Southend

Online classes have existed nearly as long as the Internet itself. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2014, there were over five million college students enrolled in online courses in the U.S. Online classes give students the opportunity to complete courses at home, in addition to saving time and money. Rija Khan, a third year business major and commuter at Wayne State University, found online classes convenient for this reason.

https://www.thesouthend.wayne.edu/features/article_24d8b228-0151-11e8-a8b3-6f6cfce7441c.html

By Daniel Miller, LA Times

The new education initiative, which is designed to cover tuition costs for hourly employees, will receive $25 million in annual funding going forward, Disney said in a statement…. Disney, which has about 200,000 employees, is making the higher education program available to nearly 88,000 hourly workers. The company said participants can use the program to pursue higher education or vocational training — and the enrichment can be in fields unrelated to employees’ responsibilities at Disney.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-disney-bonuses-education-20180123-story.html

BY ANDREW MARCINEK, eSchool News

It has been almost three years since the launch of the United States Department of Education’s #GoOpen movement. If you are late to the #GoOpen party, it is the commitment to expand and accelerate the use of openly licensed educational resources in schools across the country. The commitment, in a nutshell, is to replace at least one textbook with open educational resources (OER) within one year, share in a community of practice with other school districts, and share the resources created with a Creative Commons license.

5 ways to get started with OER

BY FURQAN NAZEERI, eCampus News

Instead of thinking about your new online initiative—whether it’s a single course or an entire degree program—as a generic rework of your on-campus courses, we recommend thinking of it as an entirely new educational experience. A new product. One that demands that you carefully evaluate all your requirements and ensure the program is designed specifically with your target audience of current students and prospective students in mind.

Most institutions developing online programs have it all wrong—here’s how to do it right

BY JAMIE FITCH, eCampus News

The term millennial is a word that big education aspires to connect with, yet has trouble relating to. Too often in higher education it simply means 20-somethings, and the question then becomes: “How do we market to millennials so they understand that education is an experience?” Make no mistake–experiential learning is a requirement. It only intensifies as you move up the educational ladder. Concepts become multi-faceted and gray. They are no longer black-and-white with correct answers, but rather a multitude of scenarios requiring critical thinking to arrive at one of infinite possible solutions. And for that reason, college is a valuable experience. Never mind the social and cultural elements–college excels at teaching you how to think.

What does experiential learning look like?

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

Many colleges these days are experimenting with short-form online degrees to try to reach new audiences and offer new options, often at a lower cost. And new upstart providers are also getting into the mix, including coding bootcamps and startups like Udacity, which offers unaccredited nanodegrees. These trends raise a host of questions about the future of credentialing.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-01-23-in-evolving-world-of-microcredentials-students-colleges-and-employers-want-different-things

By CINDY H. ZHANG, Harvard Crimson

Microsoft will subsidize course fees for Massachusetts community college students taking edX’s introductory Computer Science Professional Certificate course. For six months, starting on May 1, Microsoft will cover tuition for the final segment of the three-part course for students who successfully complete the first two parts. In addition, the company is offering 500 coupons for Massachusetts residents to enroll in any Microsoft-developed edX certificate course free of charge. “By providing students and Massachusetts citizens with the necessary skills to bridge gaps in the tech industry, it helps them open new opportunities and be successful in their careers,” Chris Roy, a senior director at Microsoft, said in a press release.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/1/24/edX-microsoft-GE-partnership/

by Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Many of us who have worked for many years in online education are committed to a model of intimate learning. This means small classes, built on active learning and intensive interactions between professors and students. The online learning community is committed to advancing a learner-centric model. Across higher education, it is online learning groups (and especially instructional designers) who have helped introduce research-based pedagogical practices into their institutions. In her article, Dr. Dynarski recognizes many of the potential benefits of online learning. She talks about blended learning, as well as shift towards leveraging online courses as a new admissions funnel.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/confounding-traditional-and-open-online-courses

By Ashley A. Smith, Inside Higher Ed

Take Illinois, where dual-credit instruction has been growing for the last 10 years despite a statewide budget crisis. Durham said the Illinois community college board has had recent discussions with universities and the school districts about offering online courses for teachers to help them meet the qualifications, but nothing has moved beyond the discussion stage. Ohio, which had similar standards in place for faculty members, still found a pipeline issue for high school teachers with credentials for dual-credit courses. So in 2015 the state spent $10 million to help teachers get the appropriate graduate course work. Half of the $10 million went directly to the teachers, while the other half went to colleges and universities to create “teacher-friendly” programs such as online or weekend classes, said Stephanie Davidson, vice chancellor of academic affairs for the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/01/23/colleges-and-states-scramble-comply-instructor-credential-rules-dual-credit-courses

By Press Association

There is nothing “soft” about learning vital workplace skills as well as traits such as resilience, according to the new Education Secretary. In his first speech in his new role, Damian Hinds also argued that at a time when children are growing up as “digital natives” it is important that they learn the technology skills – such as writing apps – that they will need for the jobs of the future. Mr Hinds told the Education World Forum in London that while qualifications are of vital importance, there is much else that “counts a great deal” as well. In his former job as employment minister, Mr Hinds said he had learnt from businesses about the importance of employability skills, sometimes known as “soft” skills.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-5298311/Nothing-soft-learning-workplace-skills–Education-Secretary.html

By Rajiv Rao, ZDnet

Under siege by robots and hampered by outdated skills in an environment of drastic change, India’s tech workers and tech giants are increasingly leaning on online education outfits for a much-needed reboot.  A few days ago, a crucial deal struck between Indian IT major Tech Mahindra and edX reveals the true potential of the above-mentioned online platforms. edX would reskill 117,000 of its employees in India and around the world in skill sets that are desperately sought-after today: IoT, cybersecurity, virtual reality, machine learning, big data and analytics. In an ancillary boost to edX, Mahindra also stated that it would select high performers in the MicroMasters learning platform who were not amongst the IT major’s employees for interviews, provided they fulfilled the minimum criteria of education and work experience — basically the equivalent of winning the lottery in a country where opportunities are slim.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/as-robots-replace-indian-techies-online-education-strikes-gold/

by Jeremy House, Education dive

Adult learners without college degrees are apprehensive about the cost of higher education and the quality of online courses, but they expressed a desire to return to school, according to a nationwide survey from Champlain College Online. Respondents said they prefer traditional face-to-face learning over online courses, but acknowledged that online education can be effective if administered using the industry’s best practices. Adult learners who responded to the survey also said they believe that more college education can unlock new career opportunities, but most felt that going back to school was not financially feasible.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/report-for-many-adult-learners-going-to-college-is-desirable-but-unafford/

by Diana Riojas, Daily Orange

Enrollment in nonprofit education programs is growing while for-profit enrollment rates are dropping significantly, a new federal study shows. Affordability, flexibility and quality of education are some benefits of enrolling in an online program, Shai Reshef, president of the University for the People, said in an email. UoPeople is an online nonprofit, tuition-free institution. Online students are usually an average age of about 32 at the undergraduate level and 35 at the graduate level, he said. From 2012 to 2016, student enrollment in at least one distance learning course has increased by 1.2 million, according to Inside Higher Ed.

http://dailyorange.com/2018/01/study-online-education-enrollment-rates-increase-traditional-college-enrollment-rates-remain-stagnant/

by Lubbock Online

The portion of Texas Tech undergraduates enrolled in at least one distance education course has grown almost 3 percent since 2014, while the portion of graduate students enrolled at least partially online has grown by more than 4 percent. Like other universities, Texas Tech is seeing continuing increases in the number of students enrolled in at least one online course, according to an article from Inside Higher Ed. Based on the number of students enrolled at four-year, non-profit institutions, Tech ranked 14th out of 99 institutions in the country for online enrollment.

http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/news/education/2018-01-21/online-classes-continue-grow-texas-tech

by Mark Murphy, Forbes

There’s a strong positive relationship between how much people learn on the job and how much they love their job. Employees who score high on survey questions like “I will have to learn new skills to achieve my assigned goals for this year” have higher scores on such questions.   Unfortunately, we know from the study “Are SMART Goals Dumb?” that only 42% of workers say they are always or frequently learning on the job, while another 39% percent say they are never or rarely learning.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2018/01/21/if-your-employees-arent-learning-youre-not-leading/#2b1ae7319478

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology
According to the Babson Survey Research Group’s latest annual report on distance education in the United States, online student enrollment has grown for the 14th year in a row. Nearly a million additional students took distance education courses in 2016 compared to 2012, a count consisting of both people who took online classes (or other forms of distance ed) exclusively as well as those who took a mix of online and face-to-face courses. That translates to more than 30 percent of colleges students — 6.4 million in total — who took at least one distance education course during the 2015-2016 academic year. Conversely, a million fewer students came to campus for their college education in 2016 than in 2012.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2018/01/22/online-course-enrollment-sees-relentless-growth.aspx