Online Learning Update

Keith Fowlkes, Campus Technology

IT operations might be the farthest thing from your mind during the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s more important than ever to focus on equipment, systems, security and IT support. As you know, this is not business as usual. The developing risks and challenges are plentiful during these unsettling times. In thinking about how a shift from an on-site to remote workforce is going to affect many of our institutions, I would like to offer my insights on some of the challenges you may be dealing with in your own operations. If you are not facing these issues today, I believe you will be facing them soon.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2020/03/26/massive-operational-and-erp-risks-in-the-covid-19-crisis.aspx

Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

In order to create an eLearning framework that truly engages learners on a multiplicity of levels, LMS designers and theorists must look to the innate factors within learners to both capture their attention and push them to truly engage in the courses offered to them. By utilizing established principles and theories of motivation, eLearning administrators can boost engagement across the board and truly maximize what their services have to offer. With that in mind, here are three theories of motivation that appeal to the eLearning experience. Utilizing aspects of these theories can do wonders for an LMS company looking to enhance their offerings to give learners an experience worth remembering.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/3-major-theories-of-motivation-that-massively-boost-engagement-in-elearning-courses/

By IBL News

ClassCentral.com issued a list of the 100 most popular free online university courses of 2019. These MOOCs have been developed by 68 universities. In the past eight years, over 900 universities have launched 13,500 online courses, which have been taken by 110 million learners. Class Central’s ranking is based on data generated from the users on its website, specifically regarding enrollments and bookmarks.

https://iblnews.org/2019s-most-popular-online-courses-according-to-class-central/

Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

Southern New Hampshire has used a mix of speed and efficiency to build its online enrollment from 3,000 students in 2003 to around 132,000 students today. But the hundreds of millions of dollars it has spent on advertising and student recruitment have played a major role, too. As competition for students increases, SNHU faces two options to continue growing: spend even more or innovate. With a marketing spend of more than $139 million last year, President Paul LeBlanc is attempting the latter.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/10/08/how-marketing-helped-southern-new-hampshire-university-make-it-big-online

Jon Fingas, Engadget

It’s difficult to simulate quantum physics, as the computing demand grows exponentially the more complex the quantum system gets — even a supercomputer might not be enough. AI might come to the rescue, though. Researchers have developed a computational method that uses neural networks to simulate quantum systems of “considerable” size, no matter what the geometry. To put it relatively simply, the team combines familiar methods of studying quantum systems (such as Monte Carlo random sampling) with a neural network that can simultaneously represent many quantum states.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/07/05/ai-simulates-quantum-systems/

By Angela Chen, the Verge
Google’s Arts & Culture division, the team behind the viral art-matching selfie trend from last year, has partnered with museums from around the world to create a collection of videos and images dedicated to honoring science and human discovery. The Once Upon a Try project is available both online and within the Google Arts & Culture app on Android and iOS. Built in collaboration with groups such as NASA, CERN, and the Smithsonian, it features over 200,000 artifacts from around the world.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/6/18253133/google-arts-culture-once-upon-a-try-science-discovery-museum-nasa-cern-exhibit

By Sydney Johnson, EdSurge
Applications are surging for New York University’s School of Medicine after the university announced last year that its medical program would be tuition-free for all students. But NYU isn’t the only school trying to offer free medical training. Dozens of colleges and universities are taking courses in healthcare and medicine online—and making them free or low-cost—with massive online course platforms. Coursera, a company that hosts massive online courses and degrees, is the latest entrant among a growing number of online education providers that are entering the medical space.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-17-massive-online-courses-find-a-new-audience-with-continuing-medical-education

Susan Adams, Forbes

Maggioncalda doesn’t foresee the demise of the old-fashioned classroom, but he is staking Coursera’s future on his belief that technology will continue to change the way people learn. High-quality affordable online classes will prove the most effective way for working people to gain new skills like data analytics and programming languages like Python, he believes. “I think almost every degree will move online,” he says. “It is so efficient, so compelling; it will be highly personalized and powered by data. We’re going to have virtual and simulated learning experiences that will transport students into totally different learning environments that will give them access to things they can only get in the virtual world.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2018/10/16/this-company-could-be-your-next-teacher-coursera-plots-a-massive-future-for-online-education/

By Malini Goyal, ET

When I started my college, I had two choices: rant about India’s education system or do something about it. I chose the latter,” says Sanyam Bhutani, 21, a BTech student at SRM College, Chennai.  He chose Udacity — a massive open online course (MOOC) platform that allows users to study courses offered by some prestigious global universities, sitting in their bedrooms — to get ahead of the rest. Bhutani, who is in his final year of college, was soon able to equip himself with adequate skills to float a startup called neuroascent.ml, which pitches for global projects in machine learning and computer vision.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/massive-open-online-courses-have-got-a-second-wind/articleshow/65914966.cms

By Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge

EdSurge: MOOCs were once headline news around the world and now you hardly hear about them. How would you describe the state of MOOCs and where are things going?

Dhawal Shah, founder and CEO of Class Central: Yeah, they might have fallen off the big newspapers and the public eye. But they’ve figured out a monetization model. They might not be profitable but they’re making a lot of money. Udacity itself announced that they made 30 million dollars last year. So I think they’re grinding it out there. More people are using them than at any point in time before. They’re making money and now they are looking forward going into the online degree market and the corporate learning training market.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-08-21-moocs-are-no-longer-massive-and-they-serve-different-audiences-than-first-imagined

by James Paterson, Education Dive
Antioch University will significantly trim face-to-face classes at its Midwest campus in Yellow Springs, Ohio, while building its online program and adding blended classes that offer a combination of traditional instruction and online course work, a local newspaper in the western Ohio region reported. A college official said Antioch plans a “massive online division” at the Midwest location. Two programs at the campus, a degree completion program – innovative and much-discussed when it was introduced 30 years ago – and a place-based master’s program, will be phased out because of falling enrollment at the campus, now at about 120 from a high of 700 about 10 years ago, according to the Yellow Springs News. Antioch University, with five campuses in four states, reported that while its total enrollment of 4,000 was strong, the system is facing a $1 million deficit this year.

https://www.educationdive.com/news/antioch-u-trims-traditional-courses-adds-massive-online-division/528326/

by 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.

https://givingcompass.org/article/can-we-design-online-learning-platforms-that-feel-more-intimate-than-massive/

By Amy Ahearn, EdSurge

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. This presents a challenge and an opportunity: How can we design online learning environments that achieve scale and intimacy? How do we make digital platforms feel as inviting as well-designed physical classrooms?

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-07-09-can-we-design-online-learning-platforms-that-feel-more-intimate-than-massive

by Jarrett Carter, Education Dive

More than 24 states are projecting a decrease in tax revenues for this fiscal year, a circumstance that will yield substantial cuts for public higher education across the country. Missouri has been among the nation’s most aggressive states in higher education divestment over the last two years, cutting more than 8% of total sector spending. Smaller schools like Harris-Stowe State University expect the cuts to force tuition increases and financial hardship for low-income students. The culture of budget trimming is counter to the ongoing construction explosion and competition between institutions for marketing to and enrolling students.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/revenue-declines-in-24-states-could-lead-to-massive-cuts-in-higher-ed/437509/

by Dhawal Shah, EdSurge

In 2016, 2,600 new courses were announced (up from 1,800 last year), taking the total number of MOOCs to 6,850 from over 700 universities. And it seems to be working. The “Big Three” MOOC providers—Coursera, Udacity, edX— combined have potentially made around $100 million in 2016. MOOCs are gradually being transformed from virtual classrooms to a Netflix-like experience. Many courses are no longer offered just once or twice a year, but rather are now available as a self-paced, sign up whenever you want experience Coursera courses are now offered regularly throughout the year, with new sessions starting automatically on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. This switch has led to a significant increase in the number of courses students can register for and start almost immediately. Previously, students were all piled into one giant session for courses that were only offered infrequently.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-12-27-monetization-over-massiveness-breaking-down-moocs-by-the-numbers-in-2016

by Daniel Stilwell, iNews

The University of Alberta is adding another option to their range of massive open online courses. The MOOC program started a couple of years ago with the highly popular Dino 101 program. U of A Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation Dean Kerry Mummery said Dino 101 and several other courses were so successful that they thought opening up a new course called Mountains 101 would be a good fit. “We’d certainly be the leaders in the world right now for inter-disciplinary mountain studies and we’re intent on claiming that for the University of Alberta. Where better than Alberta to claim the mountains? We’re known internationally for them,” said Mummery.

http://www.inews880.com/syn/110/133286/133286

BY LAURA DEVANEY, eCampus News

New data released at EDUCAUSE challenges the commonly held perception that low-income students have a categorical deficit and cannot thrive in a variety of four-year college ecosystems. Contrary to a commonly-held belief that low-income students are more likely to struggle in a four-year institution, new data indicates students from low-income households are, in fact, likely to thrive in four-year institutions, according to a new survey. Higher education institutions are relying on predictive analysis to make decisions about admission and resource allocation, but that process could perpetuate the under-representation of minority and low-income students, according to a survey released by vibeffect at EDUCAUSE.

http://www.ecampusnews.com/events/conferences/educause/take-low-income-students-thrive/

by Science Daily

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are popular with educational establishments as an efficient way to deliver their materials. Unfortunately, student engagement does not match the enthusiasm of the educators and the number who complete any given course is disturbingly low, according to research. The authors of the paper, suggest that an engagement model for MOOCs needs to be implemented and simple steps taken to improve completion rates.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160915120349.htm

by Stuart Kennedy, Financial Review

Technology for higher education is big business, both globally and in Australia. Research organisation Gartner predicts that the worldwide higher education sector will spend more than $US38.2 billion ($50 billion) this year, while the Australian higher education institutions will spend $1.7 billion in 2016, up 4 per cent on last year. While tech spending might be on the increase in higher education, it is often the dramatic reduction in costs of digital gadgets and services that disrupts the status quo. Rapidly commoditising technology gives students and researchers access to once expensive tools they had previously only dreamed about employing.

http://www.afr.com/news/special-reports/smart-business/massive-open-online-courses-give-universities-global-reach-20160904-gr8d1c

By Richard Chang, THE Journal

Someone with access to materials for upcoming versions of the redesigned SAT exam has taken hundreds of questions and provided them to Reuters, the wire agency reported this week. The confidential test items included 21 reading passages — each with about a dozen questions — and about 160 math problems. Reuters does not know how widely the items have circulated. The news agency said it has no evidence that the materials have fallen into the hands of what the College Board, which administers the SAT college entrance exam, calls “bad actors,” or groups that “will lie, cheat and steal for personal gain,” the board said.

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/08/05/massive-breach-exposes-hundreds-of-questions-for-future-sat-exams.aspx