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Online Learning News and Research
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Saturday, May 08, 2004
A virtual education - LYNN LEE, JANE NG and MARIA ALMENOAR, Straits Times
After months of checking out master of business administration (MBA) programmes at private schools, researcher Muhammad Tani Tabiin, 35, found something that suited him to a T. He did not have to go to class, could study whenever he had time, and all he needed for the lessons was an Internet connection. His choice of study mode: a degree offered by online university Universitas 21 Global. For Mr Tani, who works long hours as a post-doctoral fellow at a local research institute, online study was perfect. He has a 10-month-old daughter, and his wife is expecting another child in October. His case is just one example of why getting an education online has become more popular in Singapore, especially with working adults who want to upgrade themselves. (0) comments
The 10th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) Call for Papers
We invite you to submit a proposal to the 10th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN), to be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando, Florida, November 12-14, 2004. This annual event attracts more than 500 participants to more than 100 sessions as well as exhibits, pre-conference workshops, a keynote address, and a variety of other special events. Deadling for submissions is May 16. (0) comments
The Impact of Increasing Enrollment on Faculty Workload and Student Satisfaction over Time - David DiBiase, JALN
ABSTRACT: Detailed daily records of instructor effort in an established asynchronous online course over a three and one-half year period are analyzed. Student satisfaction data acquired from course evaluation surveys over the same period are also examined. In response to a three-fold increase in enrollment over the period, instructors realized a twelve percent gain in efficiency. Contrary to expectations, a modest economy of scale was achieved with no discernible decrease in student satisfaction. (0) comments Friday, May 07, 2004
University Instructors' Reflections on Their First Online Teaching Experiences - Dianne Conrad, JALN
ABSTRACT: Moving from traditional face-to-face teaching to teaching online can be a precarious process for instructors. In this qualitative study, I interviewed instructors who were engaged in online teaching, for the first time, in a graduate program at a Canadian university. All instructors had some postsecondary face-to-face teaching experience. In-depth interviews with the instructors showed that they had very little knowledge of the new medium they were entering and relied heavily on their face-to-face experiences and their own pedagogy. Instructors’ reflections on their performances centered largely on their roles as deliverers of content. They revealed very little awareness of issues of collaborative learning, of learners’ social presence, or of the role of community in online learning environments. (0) comments
Diploma mill use appears to be rising - Louise Chu, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A middle-school math teacher in Georgia's Gwinnett County received a $16,000 pay raise last fall when she submitted papers showing she had earned a doctorate from Saint Regis University. While it sounds prestigious, Saint Regis is considered a diploma mill, an institution that sells college degrees for little or no coursework. In one of the nation's biggest scandals of its kind, 11 Georgia educators were caught holding advanced degrees from Liberia-based Saint Regis after the state checked the records of its 130,000 teachers this spring. Around the country, the problem of diploma-mill degrees might be getting worse, since the Internet has made it easier for such businesses to operate and the federal No Child Left Behind Act has put a higher premium on advanced degrees for teachers. (0) comments
ALN Principles for Blended Environments - Sloan-C View
Combining computer-based and face to face learning can provide opportunities to improve learning. Potential benefits include: greater access to a range of appropriate, personalized and individualized learning, teaching, and resources; greater accommodation for learners and teachers of diverse ages, styles, expertise, nationalities and cultures, who can connect from multiple settings such as homes, workplaces, libraries, countries and more; greater flexibility and cost effectiveness in terms of mission, scalability, breadth, time, value and infrastructure; and greater student and faculty satisfaction (0) comments Thursday, May 06, 2004
One Course, One Web Site—of Course? Maybe Not! - Ellen R. Cohn, Educause Quarterly
Colleges and universities increasingly employ commercial Web-based course management systems (such as Blackboard and WebCT). How is it, then, that these institutions unquestioningly allocate a unique Web site to each class? Why establish one Web site for one course when other options provide so many benefits? Why isn’t there a clamor for information systems that can accommodate multiple purposes and audiences and provide life-long continuity throughout the many phases of our educational, professional, and personal pursuits? (0) comments
New e-Learning Program Trains Physicians and Nurses in Cross-Cultural Health Care - PR Newswire
Critical Measures, LLC, and the Manhattan Cross Cultural Group (MCCG) have released the nation's first interactive e-learning program designed to train physicians, nurses and other health care professionals in cultural competence. Quality Interactions: A Patient-Based Approach to Cross-Cultural Care(C) is a case-based course designed to provide clinical staff with knowledge and skills to communicate more effectively and facilitate quality care for culturally diverse patient populations. Developed by Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH; Alexander R. Green, MD and J. Emilio Carrillo, MD, MPH -- three physicians who founded MCCG and are nationally recognized experts in the field of cross-cultural health care and education -- Quality Interactions provides a foundation to identify and address culturally linked health care disparities. (0) comments
Exam coursework marked online - Katherine Sellgren, BBC News
Schools in England and Wales could soon be sending pupils' coursework to exam boards electronically. Currently exam centres have to hand in coursework on paper to be "moderated" by examiners. Now examiners at Edexcel, OCR, AQA and WJEC have agreed to look at ways of assessing coursework online. Technically-savvy schools have long complained they are wasting time printing off coursework they have marked electronically. Nathan Jenkins, head of technology at John Cabot City Technology College in Bristol, said his pupils presented their GCSE and A-level coursework to him electronically. (0) comments Wednesday, May 05, 2004
As good as other degrees or better - Straits Times
At an interview for a job, 22-year-old Chiew Vee Tian's prospective employers hemmed and hawed when they heard he had obtained his degree online, through e-learning provider PurpleTrain.com. But after he had finished the test they set him, they were convinced the web programmer's qualifications were as good as those from a bricks-and-mortar institution. They asked him to create a website containing an application form where users could input personal information about themselves to set up an online profile. He managed to do it in just 30 minutes and ended up landing the job, as 'the other interviewees took between an hour or two'. Mr Chiew, a Malaysian who works in Singapore, has a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in computing from the University of Portsmouth in Britain. (0) comments
Technology Helps Student Teachers Make the Grade
Purdue University faculty have learned how to be a "fly on the wall" when observing student teachers. In a pilot project this year, School of Education professors are using digital video equipment to observe student teachers in the classroom via the Internet. Traditionally, faculty observe student teachers for two-hour periods several times during their teaching assignments.Gerald H. Krockover, a professor of curriculum and instruction and earth and atmospheric sciences, said the approach is more cost-effective, efficient and yields better results than traditional methods. "I see this model growing and being very useful for schools and universities that have the technology infrastructure in place," Krockover said. "If it grows, it could really change the way student teaching supervision is done." (0) comments
E-learning the way of the future - academics
Canterbury University students now have no excuse for missing lectures. In the past year, the number of lecturers using the internet as a teaching tool has doubled and is still rising. Many students can now download lecture notes before a class begins, or even catch up afterwards through video or voice recordings posted on the internet. However, academics who use the technology argue it will never replace the experience of actually being there, and say lecture numbers are not dropping. Gregor Ronald, who handles IT teaching technical support for the university, said more than 370 lecturers used the internet for teaching. Ronald dismissed fears the increasing use of hi-tech support could lead to an exodus of students from the lecture halls. (0) comments Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Deep Infrastructure Supports Digital Library Services - Paul Conway, Syllabus
Libraries have always been central to the exchange of knowledge, but never have they been closer to the creation and dissemination of scholarly content, and to the fundamental processes of teaching and learning. Duke University has recognized the strategic importance of the digital library as a change agent. Everybody wants a digital library, or so they think. The term “digital library” has become synonymous with technological innovation in higher education. With a decade of support from governments and private foundations in an international context, digital libraries are maturing as both a metaphor for digital collections and services, and as a framework for advances in computer and information sciences. Digital libraries may prove to be tremendous forces for needed change in teaching and learning and, particularly, for the transformation of the roles that traditional libraries play on and off campus. Duke University is embracing digital library services as a strategic mechanism for advancing deep information technology infrastructure on campus. (0) comments
Online Education hope over Scotland sectarianism - BBC
Deputy Communities Minister Mary Mulligan has said educating children is the key to tackling sectarianism. An anti-sectarian pack for schools is being piloted on the internet by five education authorities and is expected to go live by next summer. The website will offer faith definitions, anti-bigotry lessons and interactive classroom exercises. (0) comments
MIT OpenCourseWare: 7.012 Introduction to Biology
Created by faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this website features an Introduction to Biology course designed for undergraduates from the fall semester of 2001. This is one of many free on-line publications of course materials provided by MIT as part of ifs OpenCourseWare project (last reported on in the NSDL Scout Report for the Life Sciences on March 19, 2003). This course "focuses on current research in cell biology, immunology, neurobiology, genomics, and molecular medicine." The website includes PDF files for Lecture Notes, Exams and Solutions, Practice Exams, and Problem Sets with Solutions. From The NSDL Scout Report for the Life Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments Monday, May 03, 2004
Learning Object Repositories, Digital Repositories, and the Reusable Life of Course Content - Phillip D. Long, Syllabus
Course management systems have gone mainstream. If your college doesn’t have one, it will. Richard Katz, director of the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR), describes this as an evolution from “…small, often sub-rosa tools used by quirky faculty to streamline efforts or to illustrate points with students in new and novel ways…” [Educause Review, July/August 2003] to a dominant component of today’s education technology landscape. Thousands of faculty are creating content and putting them in CMSes. They’ve worked hard to create new digital learning exercises or convert problem sets and lecture notes to digital format. The products of these efforts are now scattered on the hard drives of faculty computers and the representations of the online courses they teach. (0) comments
MIKE WENDLAND: Tech guru retiring, but e-learning just beginning - Detroit Free Press
This morning, Katherine Willis woke up for the first time in six years not having to log onto the Net and ponder deep thoughts about the state of technology in Michigan.... Willis, 56, has led Cyber-state since its start in 1998 with a soft-spoken but big-vision style, urging tech leaders in Michigan to broaden their vocabulary beyond IT -- information technology. She says we should be talking instead about ICT -- information and communications technology.... Willis has one major disappointment. She believes the state's educational system and its flagship research institutions -- like the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University -- are "stuck in an old methodology still focused on traditional degree and certification patterns." She believes more long-distance teaching and e-learning is needed. (0) comments
Online lessons a growing trend - Maria Almenoar, Straits Times
Some schools are using the Internet as a means to go beyond the curriculum. The trend appears to have started about five years ago, a couple of years after the Ministry of Education launched its IT masterplan which allocates funding for schools to improve their information-technology facilities. One of the main beneficiaries are science teachers, who can now better teach certain scientific concepts by conducting experiments online via interactive programmes. Such experiments would normally not be performed in school due to the lack of resources or because they are not safe. (0) comments Sunday, May 02, 2004
An environment for studying collaborative learning activities - Nikolaos Avouris, Vassilis Komis, Meletis Margaritis, Georgios Fiotakis; ETS
Abstract: Studies of collaborative learning activities often involve analyses of dialogue and interaction as well as analyses of tasks and actors’ roles through ethnographic and other field experiments. Adequate analysis tools can facilitate these studies. In this paper, we discuss key requirements of interaction and collaboration analysis tools. We indicate how these requirements lead to the design of new analysis environments. These environments support annotation and analysis of various kinds of collected data in order to study collaborative learning activities. An important characteristic of these tools is their support for a structure of annotations of various levels of abstraction, through which an activity can be interpreted and presented. This can serve as a tool for reflection and interpretation as well as for facilitation of research in collaborative learning. (0) comments
Training Future EMTs Online While Covering Traditional College Curricula - Thomas A. Hennigan, Syllabus
Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC), U.S. News & World Report's third-ranked public college in the West, offers a broad range of distance learning courses covering the traditional subjects. The institution, however, is taking eLearning further than many other institutions with programs that directly address the region's shortage of health professionals. Nearly 800 high school students in Idaho and Montana take LCSC's "Fundamentals For Health Professions" course, gaining exposure to careers as nursing assistants, first responders and EMTs. These health professions are critical in a region of the country where miles of barren land often separate the sick and injured from doctors, hospitals, and emergency services. The school also offers online certification courses. (0) comments
Bridging the Gap--Online and Offline Learning - Jim Kiggens, Syllabus
Cerro Coso Community College serves this 18,000-square-mile stretch of mountain, desert and valley communities. It is one of the largest community college service areas in the U.S., with a population base of over 85,000. The school has five on-ground instructional sites. A sixth site, its online campus, is the largest in terms of enrollment. Cerro Coso delivers 12 associate degrees online and over 250 distance learning courses a year. Since 2001, our Academy of Media Arts has offered online degrees in digital animation and Web design. Studying digital animation remotely can be challenging, to say the least. Learning to work as an artist is all about critique. If you’re not teaching in a traditional classroom, you need a practical way to post a student’s work so that other students can comment and react to it. (0) comments Online Learning News Blog Archives OTEL - Ray's Home Page - Notebook - UIS Online - U of I Online - UIS Home Fair Use |
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