Online Learning Update

PAUL SAWERS, Venture Beat

Online learning platform Udacity is doubling down on its mission to offer courses in transformative technologies to plug current and anticipated employment gaps. The latest program to emerge from Udacity’s education vaults is the blockchain developer nanodegree, aimed at developers already proficient in JavaScript and object-oriented programming. The program promises to teach the fundamentals of building a blockchain that manages and stores data and to enable developers to build their own supply chain web app based on blockchain technology. Tech talent marketplace Toptal recently claimed that it had seen demand for blockchain engineers increase by 700 percent since January 2017. And there are 14 positions available for each blockchain engineer, according to Katheryn Griffith Hill, lead recruiter at Blockchain Developers. It’s against this backdrop that Udacity is launching its blockchain program, with interested students able to apply online from today here ahead of the inaugural kickoff on July 10.

Udacity launches blockchain nanodegree program

Contact North has created this summary infographic on ten key facts about OER. Each fact links to additional readings and resources. This is a great ready reference on Open Educational Resources.

https://teachonline.ca/sites/default/files/tools-trends/downloads/ten_facts_aboutopen_educational_resources.pdf

By Henry Kronk, eLearning Inside
For awhile in the late aughts and early ‘10s, public libraries looked like they were in trouble. Budgets were reduced year after year in regions throughout the U.S., leading to fewer resource acquisitions, cuts in staffing, and decreased hours. And, while libraries remained overly popular in the American public mood, in-person usage began to fluctuate. While 53% of Americans 16 and older visited a library sometime in 2012, by 2015, that figure had dropped to 44%. A reasonable person might have guessed that libraries would become obsolete in the digital age. Access to information, once available primarily at the public institutions, is now everywhere via computers and mobile devices. “The internet infiltrated our niche and filled it to bursting,” said Rachel Cobb, a furthering education librarian at the City of Wolverhampton College in the U.K. “We, as [librarians], are no longer extraordinary. As the internet rises, we shrink. We lose who we are.”

Public Libraries Have Grown Into eLearning Centers

By Henry Kronk, eLearning Inside

Classroom environments that use digital tools and active learning get a lot of attention these days. But discussion tends to lack nuance. An educator might implement a new pedagogy and measure learning outcomes, grades, engagement, or some other ‘across-the-board’ metric. But how does video-based active learning work for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds? With different learning abilities? With different GPAs? A recent study by professors from California State University, Fullerton asks just that. Published in the June issue of the Online Learning Journal (put out by the Online Learning Consortium) the study is titled “Student-Produced Videos Can Enhance Engagement and Learning in the Online Environment.”

How Do Diverse Classes Fare with Video-Based Active Learning?

By Asha Pandey, eLearning Industry
The measurement of effectiveness of online training is a hot topic right now. In this article, I outline how you can use the Kirkpatrick’s model of training evaluation to measure training effectiveness, its impact, and the ROI of eLearning. The measurement of ROI of eLearning needs an integrated approach that should begin during the Training Needs Analysis or TNA phase and should successively build up right up to the determination of its impact on business. At EI Design, we use the approach shown here. Essentially, we focus on each stage from TNA to ROI calculation as the right action at each stage will impact the ROI of eLearning positively.

Determining The ROI Of eLearning – Using Kirkpatrick’s Model Of Training Evaluation

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

Using newly available federal and state-by-state data, an analyst explores states’ embrace of fully online learning and whether it drives adult students’ access and success.  Using federal data on online enrollments, prices and completions, as well as state-by-state data from the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, Garrett made the case that online education has helped to suppress the tuition prices adult students are paying, and that colleges that enroll many students online are significantly increasing access to higher education for adult students. But the data also show that students at those institutions graduate at sharply lower rates than do those at institutions where in-person and blended modes of learning dominate.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/06/20/online-education-gives-adults-access-student-outcomes-lag

by American Physiological Society
Before online learning existed, the traditional lecture was the only option for college courses. Students who skipped class risked missing valuable information. Researchers found that online content accompanied by weekly class meetings — a ‘blended’ course format — may improve performance in students at risk for failing. In addition, fewer students withdrew from the blended format class.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180620174609.htm

By Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed

MOOC provider consulted some but not all partner institutions before introducing fees for online courses. Most institutions support the move, but some wonder if it will be effective. By and large, representatives of institutions said they have a rooting interest in keeping edX financially sustainable, and they aren’t surprised that edX needs more money from students to maintain the volume of its output. Most agreed that more changes from edX and its competitors are likely. Some, such as Rebecca Stein, executive director of the online learning initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks edX might end up rethinking its current approach to support fees. Stein believes edX should either charge students significantly more than $9 — currently the smallest support fee edX plans to levy — or nothing at all. A small support fee might not do enough on its own to improve the company’s finances, she speculates.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/06/20/edx-institutions-believe-fees-online-courses-will-help-ensure

BY CNN WIRE

There’s going to be a new way for workers to advance their careers in California. Lawmakers included $100 million in this year’s state budget to create an online community college that will offer certificate and credentialing programs. It will get another $20 million annually. The plan was proposed by Governor Jerry Brown and backed by California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley. The mission is to retrain workers with skills needed in high-demand jobs. There are 2.5 million Californians between the ages of 25 and 34 who are in the workforce but never completed a college degree.

California Lawmakers Include $100 Million in State Budget to Create an Online Community College

by Dhawal Shah , Class Central
In the past year or so, Udacity’s Nanodegrees have changed a lot. Last year, we wrote about Udacity removing its job-guarantee as well as the “half your money back” programs. Then it shutdown Blitz.com, a freelancing platform for Nanodegree Alumni. We also noticed that the newer Nanodegrees launched by Udacity were term-based i.e it had a start date and end date instead of the monthly subscription model.

Udacity Completes the Switch to Term-based Scheduling for Its Nanodegrees

By Andrew Kreighbaum, Inside Higher Ed

A White House proposal to merge the Departments of Education and Labor has reignited a long-running debate about whether the worker training and education functions of the federal bureaucracy should be distinct or part of the same operation — and whether there might be better ways to create a more coherent system for educating and training Americans. The proposal is part of a broader plan to overhaul much of the federal government released by the Trump administration Thursday. The White House said the new agency, dubbed the Department of Education and the Workforce, would better align postsecondary education programs with the needs of the work force. It’s likely to face steep odds of advancing in Congress, which must approve any such reorganization. Democratic lawmakers were quick to blast the announcement as unrealistic and a coded plan to cut government investments.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/22/white-house-merger-plan-reignites-debate-education-training