Online Learning Update

by David Wilson, Canberra Times

Online education pioneer Dr Martin Dougiamas is best known for a noble act: his rejection of a $20-million offer for his open-source education platform which he wanted to keep freely available. Dougiamas, 47, who runs the learning management system Moodle, which is used by the UN and Google, downplays his sacrifice. “It just happens to be a little thing that seems to capture people’s attention,” he says. On whether he regrets shunning the money, he says: “No, absolutely not.” Had he taken the cash, Moodle would have been destroyed – taken out of the equation, he says. “So, Moodle – it’s my life’s work. It’s what I’m passionate about,” he says, describing education as “super-important”.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/business/workplace-relations/headddd-20170310-guv79x.html

by Alyssa Rogan, Houghton Star

Residential students of Houghton can now take up to two online classes per semester (not including summer courses), according to Marlene Collins-Blair, Associate Dean of Distance Education. She explained that “up to 49% of a main campus degree can be earned online—a maximum of around 60 credits,” due to New York State regulations. She continued, “Online education is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of higher education. Last year, there were approximately 3.5 million students in the United States working toward their degree online. The projection is that this number will increase to 5 million by 2020.” The draw to online courses lies in the fact that they are “flexible, convenient, and often cheaper than face-to-face courses,” she said. Online courses also expedite the graduation process, with summer courses.

http://www.houghtonstar.com/2017/03/17/online-courses/

By John LaMar, US News

With online education, those who once left college can return to school while also working. Since starting at Oregon State University Ecampus, I have been much more successful this time around at completing a degree. Here are three lessons I learned after returning to school through online education.

1. Not everyone is ready for college at 18 years old.

2. A few years of real-life experience goes a long way.

3. Don’t give up.

The takeaway: It may take time, and it may seem insurmountable, but for both your career and yourself, you should give your education another shot through online learning. You might just surprise yourself.

https://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/articles/2017-03-17/online-learning-offers-some-a-second-chance-at-college

by Laura Hollis, World Net Daily

What threatens to disrupt the traditional business model of a four-year college education? Online education. I’ve watched for more than two decades as online education has morphed from being an option of last resort to entire programs offered online at respected research institutions. Stanford was among the first to offer a massively open online course and now offers several hundred online courses. Ohio State, Penn State and Arizona State universities offer nationally ranked, completely online bachelor’s degrees. The University of Illinois, among others, has an online MBA program. The business model of higher education needs to change, for the sake of our future graduates as well as our own survival. As history has shown, either you anticipate the disruption or you are made obsolete by it.

http://www.wnd.com/2017/03/is-online-college-about-to-skyrocket/

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

Many instructors see discussion boards as drudgery as well. “The threaded discussion felt always like the wrong medium for learning,” says Joyce Valenza, an assistant teaching professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information, who has been teaching online since 2001. “When you think about the larger world, people are not sending each other threaded responses,” she adds, noting that as a result, classroom text forums feel “inauthentic.” For Valenza and a growing number of instructors, the answer is video. They’re asking students to send in short video responses to questions or share their arguments by submitting short video presentations. To show me what that looks like in a recent online course she taught about how to manage school library programs, Valenza invited me to a Google Hangout so she could share her screen as we talked.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-03-17-for-online-class-discussions-instructors-move-from-text-to-video

by Trevor Reid, Greeley Tribune

Participants reported agreement with a set of behaviors as to how disruptive they were, and how often they occurred in the last year. Faculty and students report incivility as a generally mild problem at UNC, but that uncivil behaviors were committed by both faculty and students. There was widespread agreement on definitions of egregious behavior — such as name calling, racial slurs, plagiarism/cheating or lack of timely responses from students or faculty. Those surveyed agreed these behaviors were disruptive to learning, and that they were relatively rare. However, there was a disconnect between what faculty and students perceived to be more subtle “uncivil” behavior. Students ranked behavior such as changes to a syllabus or assignment, or not providing helpful feedback on an assignment, as uncivil.

http://www.greeleytribune.com/news/local/unc-in-focus-nursing-professors-research-online-learning/

BY MATTHEW LYNCH, Tech Advocate

Programming is now required in many jobs, and most students have free access to PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Many of the projected STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) jobs involve computers, and there is an increasingly high demand for employees who can write computer programs. This means that students should learn to code while still in school because it is the language of the future. Today, the schools teach students how to utilize ICT (information and communications technology) as a consumer, rather than using it as a programmer. On the other hand, the tech-savvy world tends to develop technological innovations by building and encouraging literacy in keeping with modern living.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/students-should-learn-to-code-because-it-is-the-language-of-the-future/

BY MATTHEW LYNCH, Tech Edvocate

We can predict that instead of using pens and pencils to write on paper or keyboards to write on computers and tablets, one day, children will use Google glasses (or its successor) to transfer their thoughts and notes on a computer. Other futuristic thoughts include new tools to protect devices from viruses, Cloud Learning (which would eliminate paper), increased use of e-communities, hologram lessons, and international collaboration.While these are only predictions, some of the technologies mentioned here are either in their research phase or are being used in a beginning phase. What is certain is that education will change greatly in the next century. There will be numerous innovations, and we should put them to use carefully while trying to eliminate and minimize any side effects that occur along the way.

http://www.thetechedvocate.org/what-will-edtech-look-like-in-100-years/

by EDUCAUSE ELI

Each year since 2011, ELI has surveyed those involved with teaching and learning in higher education to take the pulse of the group about what’s most exciting, pressing, consequential, and relevant. Looking at the ELI Key Issues over time shows which areas hold our attention and time year after year, and it shines a spotlight on issues that rise sharply on the list or fall down the ranking. This issue of the 7 Things You Should Know series consists of short commentaries on the top 7 issues from the survey. These short meditations provide focus, serving as brief, guided tours of that issue’s particular landscape: Accessibility Blended Learning Change Management Competency-based Education (CBE) Digital Literacy Faculty Development Information Literacy Online Learning Teaching and Learning.

https://library.educause.edu/resources/2017/2/7-things-you-should-know-about-the-2017-key-issues-in-teaching-and-learning

by Maya Goldman, Michigan Daily

The Office of Academic Innovation partnered with edX, a massive online open course provider, on Tuesday evening to hold a Design Jam for University of Michigan students. The event was held so edX could hear from students about its program and get a new perspective on the issues within their platform they want to solve. MOOCs are online higher-education classes available to learners at all levels and with all interests. The University partners with edX, as well as with other providers like Coursera, to create classes taught by University professors for the platform. The event aimed to facilitate the discussion of solutions and creation of prototypes to solve some of the challenges edX faces within their company. According to Rachel Niemer, director of the University’s Gameful Learning Lab and the organizer of the event, design labs are important because they allow students to enter conversations about innovation that are traditionally faculty-based.

https://www.michigandaily.com/section/academics/design-jam-brings-together-students-and-edx-developers

by John O’Brien, EDUCAUSE Review

Over the five-year period covered in our strategic plan, EDUCAUSE will work to promote stronger, more collaborative relationships between IT leaders and other senior campus leaders. As technology solutions extend across campus and IT risks intensify, it’s crucial to make connections and elevate the strategic role of information technology and also of IT leaders. With this in mind, EDUCAUSE will work at two levels. On the ground, we will expand access to resources that help our members connect the dots on campus and tell the IT story effectively. Beginning in July, we will be able to do that even better when our new membership model opens up ELI and ECAR resources to all members.

http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/3/the-future-of-educause-expanded-partnerships-and-collaboration

By Doug Lederman, Inside Digital Learning

The decision last week by the University of California, Berkeley, to take years’ worth of video and audio lectures out of the public realm because of federal requirements on accessibility for people with disabilities was decried by many accessibility advocates. In the context of Berkeley’s decision, Inside Digital Learning asked a group of digital accessibility experts how they balance the essential goal of making digital courseware accessible while respecting faculty independence and avoiding deterring professors who may already be daunted by the prospect of creating digital academic materials. Among the questions we asked them to address are: *Are there practices that you have found work (and don’t) in assuring the creation of accessible digital materials? *Are there decisions to be made about what you have faculty members themselves do, versus the institution’s technology specialists? *What issues should administrators and faculty members alike be thinking about as they navigate this terrain?

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/03/15/digital-accessibility-experts-discuss-how-they-approach-faculty

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

Approximately 40% of domestic colleges and universities participating in a recent higher education survey are reporting a decrease in applications from international students, a trend that some observers attribute to the changing political climate in the United States, travel restrictions, and growing perceived animus against international student presence on some campuses, Inside Higher Ed reports. 35% of the 250 participating schools reported increases in applications from foreign countries, while 26% reported no change. Applications from Middle Eastern nations were the most reduced according to a recent study of international students by Royall & Company, but interest from students in Canada, Asia and Europe is also declining. Respondents indicated the federal travel ban, the attitudes from the White House about foreign students, and a perception of unwelcoming campus climates as the top reasons for their decreased interest.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/universities-scramble-as-political-climate-threatens-international-enrollme-1/438060/

by Autumn A. Arnett, Education Dive

Association of Governing Boards associate managing principal for institutional strategies Jim Hundrieser speaking during the 99th annual American Council on Education meeting in Washington, DC said,“Students are no longer buying that whole college” experience, said Hundrieser, using the example of having to buy an entire album for one or two good songs, prior to the profusion of digitized media. As such, certificates, credentials, and job-related curricula are becoming increasingly more important considerations for leaders of traditional institutions. Not only that, he said, but despite what recent data show, MOOCs were not just a flash in the pan. Instead, we’ve seen “inning one of a nine inning game,” Hundrieser said, adding that MOOCs are still “absolutely” poised to disrupt the traditional higher education marketplace, as courses, particularly around college prep, increase.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/4-trends-poised-to-transform-the-future-of-higher-education/437923/

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

“Illiterate people are more likely to be poor, lack education, miss out on opportunities to participate fully in society and the workforce,” Project Literacy stated on its website. “Sadly, their choices in life are far too limited.” Currently, 758 million adults around the world and 32 million Americans are illiterate, according to a new report issued by the project, “2027: Human vs. Machine Literacy.” These are individuals who are unable to read “a road sign, a voting form or a medicine label.” At the same time, technological advances in artificial intelligence and voice recognition will soon enable more than two billion smartphones to read and write. Natural language processing capabilities will “begin to outpace the reading skills of millions of people,” asserted the authors.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/03/09/smartphones-outpacing-humans-in-literacy.aspx

by Geralyn E Stephens and Kathryn L. Roberts, JEO

Demonstrating the ability to collaborate effectively is essential for students moving into 21st century workplaces. Employers are expecting new hires to already possess group-work skills and will seek evidence of their ability to cooperate, collaborate, and complete projects with colleagues, including remotely or at a distance. Instructional activities and assignments that provide students with a variety of ways to engage each other have a direct and immediate effect on their academic performance. This paper shares the Facilitating Collaboration in Online Groups (FCOG) instructional planning strategy. The strategy is designed for faculty use and familiarizes students with the process and technology necessary to collaborate effectively in online classroom groups. The strategy utilizes proven teaching techniques to maximize student-student and student-content relationships.

https://www.thejeo.com/archive/2017_14_1/stephens_roberts

by Beth A. Trammell and Chera LaForge, Journal of Educators Online

Teaching in the online classroom is becoming commonplace for instructors as universities seek to grow enrollments and tap into unexplored markets. Many instructors, however, are often unprepared for the nuances of distance education and apprehensive about making the transition to online learning. This article aims to discuss common challenges for instructors of high-enrollment online courses (70+ students). Course design and instructional effectiveness are some of the most significant challenges facing instructors tasked with managing large online courses and those challenges align with the areas students commonly consider as necessary for successful online delivery. Using examples from large online classes and the existing research on best practices in online education, ways to minimize those challenges will be discussed.

https://www.thejeo.com/archive/2017_14_1/trammell_laforge

https://www.techly.com.au/2017/03/13/heroic-non-profit-providing-free-university-education-refugees/

BY JAMI MORSHED, eCampus News

The desire for a more digital campus has also come hand-in-hand with the rise of the non-traditional student, a population of which is generally characterized by part-time attendance, student swirl, working either full or part time, and taking classes either partly or entirely online. [Read: “Is it time to rethink the term nontraditional student?”] Online learning platforms change the lecture and classroom experience to allow students to connect with the university through a familiar medium–their mobile device. Predictive analytics, machine learning, chatbots and augmented reality have the ability to bring us into a completely new era of digital learning. In order for higher ed institutions to truly embrace these possibilities, advancements must encompass both student learning and student administrative functionalities.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/featured/featured-on-ecampus-news/college-digital-5-years-now/

by Tim Dodd, Financial Review

A round of price-cutting has broken out in the market for high-priced masters degrees with four Australian universities offering students a pathway to complete part of the degree online at a steep discount. In a sign of digital disruption hitting higher education, the University of Queensland, the Australian National University, the University of Adelaide and Curtin University are offering students the chance to do a quarter of a full masters degrees at low cost through US-based massive open online course (MOOC) provider edX which gives them a new credential called a MicroMasters. Students can then complete the degree at the regular cost, giving them at least a 20 per cent discount overall.

http://www.afr.com/leadership/management/business-education/digital-disruption-lowers-the-cost-of-expensive-masters-degrees-20170310-guv6pf