by Craig O’Callaghan, Business Because
The QS Distance Online MBA Rankings 2018 is the largest global ranking of online MBA programs, with 50 business schools featured this year. IE Business School tops the list this time, while Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business ranks highest in the US, and Imperial College Business School ranks best in the UK. Should you consider an online MBA? Here are some key things we learned from this year’s results:
Share on Facebookby Alexandra Pickett, WCET Frontiers
Today on WCET Frontiers, we welcome Alexandra Pickett, the Director of Open SUNY Online Teaching, to talk with us about the development of the online course design rubric OSCQR. This rubric was developed to help faculty improve the quality and accessibility of their online courses. She also reviews the components of the rubric and the process and gives an update on how the rubric is being used (and includes some tools to help you use it as well!).
My online course quality rubric has a first name. It’s O-S-C-Q-R!
Share on FacebookBy James Paterson, Education Dive
Colleges providing online learning are finding the courses must be updated to keep material and techniques up-to-date, and that process sometimes is more complex and expensive than many assume, according to Inside Higher Education. The report describes how some institutions are trying to develop formulas for the return on investment for the courses as they begin to recognize the courses are not necessarily self-sustaining and need to be upgraded periodically. One official said that only a handful of colleges do quality assurance and continuous improvement well, though it is increasingly on the minds of college officials.
by Rhiannon Johnson · CBC News
A librarian at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto has compiled a list of Indigenous education content available. Desmond Wong, a librarian at the OISE library, compiled a list of 50 Indigenous education resources that are accessible for teachers in Ontario to continue integrating Indigenous content into the curriculum. The resource compilation is a response to the recent cancellation of Truth and Reconciliation curriculum writing sessions that were to build upon Ontario’s curriculum by infusing Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy across all subjects and grades.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/oise-teachers-resource-indigenous-course-content-1.4752220
Share on Facebookby Ryan Duffy, EdScoop
Gov. Jerry Brown, delivering remarks to the California Community Colleges Board of Governor in Sacramento on Monday, continued to push his plan to deliver a new type of online community college for California’s working adults. Brown, a Democrat, also shared details of the advances the state has made toward designing the college, which aims to be infinitely scalable. The office of California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley in previous months has convened “Future of Work” meet-ups to determine how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and new trends, such as the rise of the gig economy, are affecting the current workforce and shaping future opportunities. Using the feedback generated from these meetings, the chancellor’s office is working to determine education and training needs of potential adult learners across California.
https://edscoop.com/gov-brown-lays-out-progress-towards-statewide-online-community-college
Share on Facebookby Matthew Lynch, tech Edvocate
Millennials value tech training and development from their employer, above all else, because they know that it will help them compete in a global economy. Interestingly, appropriate tech training and professional development equates to higher job satisfaction. Additionally, improving your tech skills will not only ensure you are a more productive employee, but also a more fulfilled individual overall.Yet the U.S. tends to put a time stamp on learning and it is often assumed that individuals learning and education halts at age 18 or 22, when they enter the workforce. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average by age 40 a person has held 10 different jobs. That means those job-specific tech skills learned in college classrooms, while still valuable, aren’t as relevant when the next job or career comes along. With technology changing job fields so drastically, it is now more even more imperative to continue learning new tech skills, in order to be the most well rounded, productive worker possible. So what are some ways that the education and edtech community can foster this spirit of continued digital learning while children are still in classrooms?
Share on Facebook3 Ways to Instill Lifelong Digital Learning Skills in Students
by Knowledge@Wharton
The recent indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers by the Justice Department for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election underscores the severity and immense reach of cyber attacks, like no other in history. To influence the election’s outcome, authorities said these agents hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Party to get information, and strategically released it on the internet. In the private sector, companies have to step up their game against cyber attacks that are becoming all too common. Against that backdrop, fighting cyber threats has never been more important. It is the “greatest terror on the economy, bar none,” but policy makers’ response to it has been moving at a snail’s pace, according to high-ranking cyber-security and risk management experts who spoke at a panel discussion on cyber risks at the Penn Wharton Budget Model’s first Spring Policy Forum, which was held last month in Washington. Experts called for greater awareness of cyber threats at all levels, an inclusive approach to protect all parties affected, and steps to “harden our defenses to make the cost too high for the payoff to carry out these cyber attacks.”
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/creating-tougher-defenses-cyber-attacks/
Share on FacebookBy Mark Lieberman, Inside Higher Ed
Many institutions allow residential students to dabble in online courses as they work through their schedule of face-to-face classes. The California State University System takes that offering one step further, presenting full-time students at all of the system’s 23 institutions with the option to enroll for free in one online course per semester at another Cal State institution. The system has allowed residential students to take one free online course per semester at other campuses since 2013 — and more than 2,400 students have taken advantage, according to Mike Uhlenkamp, interim senior director of public affairs. The provision was codified in California state law in 2015. But the pool of online courses was more limited, and the institution didn’t advertise this option as widely as it will now, Uhlenkamp said.
Share on FacebookBy Anna McKie, Times Higher Education
Eventually “all learning is going to happen digitally”, according to Jeff Maggioncalda, the chief executive of online learning platform Coursera. Increasing use of technology on campus will erode division between online and offline education, according to Jeff Maggioncalda But Mr Maggioncalda was not rehearsing the tired trope that massive open online courses offered by the likes of Coursera will drive traditional universities out of business. Instead, he was predicting that learning on university campuses will increasingly take place online over the next five to 10 years.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/all-learning-going-happen-digitally-coursera-boss-says
Share on FacebookBy Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
The share of women in many science and technology fields has increased dramatically in the last generation — in some cases reaching parity with men. But women’s gains have lagged in computer science, some technology fields and in the businesses where many of the graduates of those programs aspire to work. A new book says that both colleges and businesses can do better. Failing to improve, the book argues, means wasting talent that could promote innovation in both academe and industry. The book is The Future of Tech Is Female: How to Achieve Gender Diversity (New York University Press). The author is Douglas M. Branson, the W. Edward Sell Chair in Law at the University of Pittsburgh.
Share on FacebookBy Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed
A large-scale study at the University of Georgia has found that college students provided with free course materials at the beginning of a class get significantly better academic results than those that do not. The Georgia study, published this week, compared the final grades of students enrolled in eight large undergraduate courses between 2010 and 2016. Each of these courses was taught by a professor who switched from a commercial textbook costing $100 or more to a free digital textbook, or open educational resource, at some point during that six-year period.
The share of women in many science and technology fields has increased dramatically in the last generation — in some cases reaching parity with men. But women’s gains have lagged in computer science, some technology fields and in the businesses where many of the graduates of those programs aspire to work. A new book says that both colleges and businesses can do better. Failing to improve, the book argues, means wasting talent that could promote innovation in both academe and industry. The book is The Future of Tech Is Female: How to Achieve Gender Diversity (New York University Press). The author is Douglas M. Branson, the W. Edward Sell Chair in Law at the University of Pittsburgh.
Share on FacebookBY LAURA ASCIONE, eCampus News
An evolving workforce will demand lifelong learning, and higher-ed reform will have to mold postsecondary education to follow suit. As the global economy changes and demands more highly-skilled workers, some experts are tracking what they call a third wave of postsecondary education reform focused on making sure graduates have career-long alignment between their education and the job market. The new report from Jobs for the Future (JFF) and Pearson notes that a career path won’t have a single-job trajectory, but instead will require a lifetime of learning. Higher education will have to experience significant reform to create graduates equipped for such a workforce, the report’s authors claim. “As the future of work is realized, what makes us human is what will make us employable; education systems are already evolving to develop and measure the skills that matter, but there is much more that can be done,” says Maria Flynn, JFF’s president and chief executive officer.
Share on FacebookExperts say we’re approaching a third wave of higher-ed reform
by Education Technology (UK)
Online education has revolutionised the way students learn by giving learners autonomy over their learning. Nevertheless, the education community is becoming aware of its limitation: its dependency on students’ own motivation to continue studying. A new approach to online learning, therefore, has emerged in Japan to ensure the success of every student – online coaching. There are three distinct roles coaches play. First, coaches generate an electronic learning record (ELR) for each student, based on the student’s dream, academic objectives, recent assessment results, extracurricular activities, time available to study and so on. The ELR includes a study plan, learner profile, and learning history. Besides assisting coaches to align learning objectives and expectations with learners, the ELR ensures continuous support of each student even if coaches change.
https://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/enabling-the-future-of-online-learning-via-human-connection
Share on Facebookby Giving Compass
Most of our energy has been focused on designing physical learning spaces, even as more teaching and learning shifts online. Unfortunately, most massive open online course (MOOC) platforms still feel like drafty lecture halls instead of intimate seminar rooms. The majority of online learning environments are no more than video-hosting platforms with quizzes and a discussion forum. These default features force online instructors to use a style of teaching that feels more like shouting to the masses than engaging in meaningful conversations.
Share on FacebookBy Prachi Mishra, Udacity
Each of these 5 students earned a scholarship from Google and Udacity, and they’ve used their opportunities to achieve incredible things in their lives and their careers. Back in 2017, Google Scholarships launched in India with a mission to help 30,000 students pursue their dreams of venturing into mobile and web development. Today, so many exceptional students have earned new opportunities for themselves through the Udacity-Google Scholarship program. Their stories are amazing, and we share five of them with you here.
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BY JENNA LEVENTOFF, National Skills Coalition
The Workforce Data Quality Campaign (WDQC) has surveyed all fifty states, and the District of Columbia, to learn whether states are collecting individual-level data about non-degree credentials, incorporating that data into their SLDS, evaluating attainment by subpopulation, and identifying
credentials of value. This scan finds that no state has comprehensive data about all types of non-degree credentials. States are the most likely to have data about public for-credit certificate programs, registered apprenticeship certificates, and licenses. Thirty-six states report having most or all individual-level data on for-credit certificates from public two-year institutions in their state. Twenty-seven states report having most or all data about registered apprenticeship certificates, and twenty-two states report having most or all licensing data.
by Institute for Research in Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania
The College Opportunity Risk Assessment is the first state-by-state analytic tool to consider the breadth of the policy landscape that must be navigated to ensure future educational opportunity. All states face risks to college opportunity, but each state faces different types and levels of risk within their diverse economic and social realities. To guide state policy makers in mitigating these risks, we offer individual state risk assessments based on four interrelated risk categories—higher education performance, educational equity, public funding and productivity, and economic policies that influence public revenue and budgeting.
https://irhe.gse.upenn.edu/College-Opportunity-at-Risk
Share on FacebookBy James Paterson, Education Dive
The University of Iowa is closing seven centers and cutting funding to five more in the next year to save an estimated $3.6 million and to make up for revenue lost in state budget cuts. The move will eliminate 33 jobs, according to the Des Moines Register. The centers to be closed are dedicated to a variety of specialties, including workplace-related training, dentist recruitment, relations with China, farm safety and understanding the aging process. In the past decade, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa have relied increasingly on tuition as their revenue source, raising 63% from students last year compared to 49% in 2008. State aid dropped 17% in that period to 32% of revenue for the three state public universities.
by James Paterson, Education dive
Colleges and universities find it isn’t easy to get faculty to use immersive technologies, but some are having success by introducing them to the new tools in creative ways. Campus Technology recently reviewed the efforts by some institutions to move educators toward using the new technology. Officials advocating for use of immersive technology at institutions point out several hurdles that are hindering its development – from tight budgets for these less-accepted teaching methods, to finding time to instruct professors how to use them. They have improved the response by introducing virtual reality or immersive experiences in casual settings to faculty members, by showing them examples of how it can be used and by proving its value by gathering data about its effectiveness in the classroom.
by Tutaleni Asino and Phil Tietjen, Educause Review
One of our shared interests is using social networking technologies not only to build local learning communities but to expand those communities beyond our classrooms. On the surface, this sounds obvious since these tools are often associated with making connections and bringing students together regardless of time and place. However, what we found is somewhat paradoxical: While faculty members are usually interested in using social networking technologies to build learning communities within their specific classes, we saw far fewer instances of engagement in collaborative learning activities with classes from other universities. This suggests another kind of border that we educators could work more earnestly toward addressing. We set out to contribute to this effort by designing a small-scale collaborative project between two classes from our respective schools by using the video discussion tool Flipgrid.
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2018/6/making-learning-without-borders-a-reality
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