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Online Learning News and Research
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Saturday, September 25, 2004
WashingtonOnline Virtual Campus: Infusing Culture in Dispersed Web-Based Higher Education - Shalin Hai-Jew, IRoDL
Started in 1997, WashingtonOnline Virtual Campus (WAOL) consists of a consortium of 34 community colleges around Washington State to provide asynchronous online learning. WAOL bears many of the features of a loosely coupled organization with its geographically dispersed frontline instructors, fragmented external environment, modularity of courses and supervision, and its use of enhanced leadership and technology to communicate a culture. Recent surveys of its administration, instructors, and staff found disparities in various constituencies’ perspectives on the organization’s culture, decision-making, values, brand or reputation, communications, and WAOL’s authorizing environment. Research suggests that WAOL benefits from some aspects of loose coupling: greater adaptive abilities and responsiveness to the State’s college system; “fast” course development and launching; and isolated breakdowns. There is, however, a persistent difficulty in conveying a cohesive culture. There is a perception of WAOL’s invisibility among its varied constituencies. This organization is at a crossroads, with the threat of colleges disconnecting from this consortium. WAOL should redefine its direction and purpose, such as coupling with local universities to provide not only associates degrees but full Baccalaureate and/ or Masters degrees. It may strengthen its position by improving learner supports, publicizing its decisions, creating a stronger sense of virtual community among the instructors (as in its recent creation of an online community for instructors), increased participative decision-making and use of line faculty and staff insights, and greater course varieties. (0) comments
Enabling Distributed Learning Communities Via Emerging Technologies - Chris Dede, THE Journal
Emerging devices, tools, media and virtual environments offer opportunities for creating new types of learning communities for students and teachers. Examples of learning communities include a national mix of kids working together to create an online encyclopedia about Harry Potter’s fictional world, or groups of mentor and novice teachers in Milwaukee sharing ideas about effective instruction. According to Bielaczyc and Collins (1999): “The defining quality of a learning community is that there is a culture of learning in which everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding. There are four characteristics that such a culture must have: (1) diversity of expertise among its members who are valued for their contributions and given support to develop, (2) a shared objective of continually advancing the collective knowledge and skills, (3) an emphasis on learning how to learn, and (4) mechanisms for sharing what is learned. ... This is a radical departure from the traditional view of schooling, with its emphasis on individual knowledge and performance, and the expectation that students will acquire the same body of knowledge at the same time.” (0) comments
Remarks by the President at "focus on Education" Event - the White House
.... And I know we need to increase access to higher education in rural and urban areas by eliminating financial aid rules that discourage distance learning. What I'm telling you is this: Listen, the world we live in is changing. Jobs are changing, people are learning more over the Internet. We've got to be wise about how we spend your money to reflect the changing times. The work force rules ought to reflect tomorrow, not yesterday. Our community college systems ought to be supportive because they're good for helping the students get the skills for the jobs of today, not yesterday. What I'm telling you is that I've got a vision that recognizes we're living in a changing world and we're going to use our assets in wise ways to make sure America is a hopeful place for everybody. (0) comments Friday, September 24, 2004
Comparative Study of Dropout Rates and Causes for Two Different Distance Education Courses - Christos Pierrakeas, et al, IRoDL
This paper reports the results of a survey conducted to examine the root causes leading to student dropout at a Greek distance education university. Data was gathered from two different courses – an undergraduate course leading to a Bachelors degree in Informatics (characterized by high dropout rates), and a postgraduate course leading to a Masters degree in education (characterized by low dropout rates). A comparative analysis of these two different courses revealed important similarities in dropout percentages and the reasons cited by students for dropping out. Our analysis also revealed important differences as well. The paper presents the results of a survey designed to investigate the relationship between dropout with intrinsic (student-related) factors such as sickness, work/ school conflict etc., and extrinsic (institutional-related) factors such as study methods and materials, educational approach, and tutor influence. (0) comments
Trump trademarks university name - kali backer, Daily Pennsylvanian
He's been dominating New York real estate for years. Then he took over reality television. And now he's looking to rival his alma mater -- the Wharton School. On Aug. 4, Donald Trump filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to secure a trademark for the "Trump University" name. According to the application filed with the USPTO, the university will provide "educational services in the nature of conducting online courses in the fields of business and real estate." However, this university will not follow the traditional college layout with classrooms and dormitories. Trump has moved past that and instead plans to create an online business school. It is not certain whether Trump will play the role of dean or hold any other leadership position in the university. (0) comments
Survey: Colleges seek CRM solutions - eSchool News
...In its 2004 "Higher Education Survey on Leadership, Innovation, and Technology," Boston-based research firm Eduventures Inc. surveyed presidents, chief academic officers, and chief financial officers at 3,800 higher-education institutions in the United States to determine whether technology is enabling colleges and universities to attain their core strategic objectives. The 432 survey respondents indicated that their top five strategic objectives are (1) enhancing teaching and learning, (2) improving student learning outcomes, (3) attracting and retaining faculty, (4) improving retention rates, and (5) improving fund raising. (0) comments Thursday, September 23, 2004
The Future Paradigm: Social e-learning
The objective of this document is to present and systematize elements for reflection and action in setting up a socially inclusive e-Learning environment within the EU context.This article is a fragment of the Digital and Social Inclusion Chart. After a careful analysis of real e-learning practices towards e-inclusion, we have found the following six key areas which are good starting points for both implementation and further research. (0) comments
Interaction and Immediacy in Online Learning - Robert H. Woods, Jr. and Jason D. Baker, IRoDL
This article presents the concepts of interaction and immediacy and discusses their theoretical frameworks, implications, and relationship with one another. The authors propose the development of a new conceptual model and recommend additional antecedent research. (0) comments
Online learning options interest WHA students - Gail DeBoer, The Pilot-Independent
By the end of the second week of school, eight to 10 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley students were expected to enroll in online learning classes, Area Learning Center Director Jim Clark told the WHA School Board Sept. 13. For most, scheduling was the reason for taking classes via the Internet. Grade levels range from sixth to high school juniors and seniors. New state legislation mandates all school districts offer an online or distance learning program and inform parents and students about those options. Clark is in the process of drafting the district's online learning policy. He predicted that interest in online learning will continue to grow. "This will have a big impact on how education is conducted in this state," he stated. While some area districts are being "fairly aggressive" in reaching across school boundaries to market themselves, others have remained low-key. "We've chosen to be up-front about it," Clark said. "Online learning gives students more choices, but there are risks as well. Kids have to balance the needs and requirements of our school district with the needs and requirements of the online learning provider." (0) comments Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Going Online for Your M.B.A. May Mean Showing Up for Class - SOPHIE HAYWARD, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
.... The number of students enrolling in online graduate schools grew by more than 25% in 2003, and half of those schools offer business degrees, says Sean Gallagher, a senior analyst with Eduventures, an educational research firm. Vicky Phillips, chief executive for GetEducated.com, a site that provide online guides and help for Internet-degree seekers, says her company has seen the online M.B.A. program explode. "When we started tracking distance-learning M.B.A. programs in 1989 there were five. In 2003, we were tracking 100; in 2004 we archived 125." But the programs gaining the most traction are those that don't leave their students in cyberspace forever. More universities are launching programs that mix online learning with periodic face-to-face contact. The benefits work both ways: In some places, it allows more flexibility for traditional part-time programs, in other cases, students who live around the globe are able to meet in person once or twice a year. "What we're seeing more and more is a blend," says Ms. Phillips. (0) comments
Librarians sign on to Internet help sessions - Jenna Johnson / Daily Nebraskan
The stereotypical librarian would feel out of place in many university libraries today. Gone are the days of tight buns, mid-calf plaid skirts, shushing and dusty books. Shoot, many librarians even dispense reference help via their own instant messaging screen name. Although the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s librarians have not jumped on the bandwagon of using American Online Instant Messenger (AIM) to answer students’ questions, many libraries have. The University at Buffalo in New York has had its librarians available on AIM for three years – a service that has generated hundreds of student questions each month, said Christopher Hollister, information literacy librarian.“We recognized that when you walk out into the library, only half of the students working on the computers are doing research, the others are doing e-mail and instant messenger,” Hollister said. “We are just meeting them where they already are.” (0) comments
Tritone Launches OSX e-Learning Applications for Music Education - New Cross Platform Performance Evaluation Engine, Javatrax 1.2
Javatrax 1.2 is a Java music evaluation engine that simultaneously evaluates played music for pitch, timing and expressional elements from a midi musical instrument keyboard and returns an immediate graphical response where the user made errors. A teacher retains this information as part of the Coursewatch management system for later review.This revolutionary patented technology is designed to Internet-enable PC and Mac operating systems being delivered and managed from one administration server. Tritone is a pioneer in e-learning music education solutions with managed network capabilities using the Internet as a “music lab” allowing many classrooms and schools to be integrated into one system, managed and monitored from one or more locations. (0) comments Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Successful N.J. online job training program expanding - Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press
Just a couple of years ago, single mother Marilyn Morales was struggling to feed four children with food stamps and her $314-a-week salary as an administrative assistant. Then the Asbury Park woman got into a pilot state program to test whether job training at home over the Internet could help single, working mothers overcome child care and transportation obstacles, learn computer and other job skills, and earn more money. Morales and the other 127 women in the first class fared so well — their average wage rose nearly 15% — that a national foundation is underwriting an effort by Rutgers University and New Jersey to help other states start similar programs. ," said Morales, 34, who got a position as a job counselor that pays her 40% more. "I would recommend this program to anyone." Taking courses over a special Web site, she beefed up her limited computer skills and took courses on writing, career counseling, even calming upset clients. Now she can pay all her bills on time every month and buy things needed by her children, ages 12 to 16. (0) comments
Including the excluded thanks to easy e-learning - Information Society Technologies
Piloted online distance learning services from IST project Fellows for disadvantaged people with low education levels and no easy access to education and training are helping to bridge the digital divide and re-integrate people into the labour market. Training institutions in Austria, France, Germany and the UK set up a pilot environment to help socially fragile groups to develop vocational skills, personal confidence and commitment to lifelong learning. The pilots were based around Fellows’ Open Distance Learning Platform (ODLP), "which aims to enable and facilitate the online training process, from training course design to tutoring and monitoring of trainees, and course administration," says Gerhard Zahrer of the Berufsförderungsinstitut Oberösterreich (BFI), Austria. (0) comments
China Online education Web site opens - Shenzhen Daily
An online education site opened Sunday with extensive e-learning material for students from primary schools to senior high schools. It is expected to make things easier for students with fewer notes taken in class. The site has been made possible through the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, China Telecom, the municipal education bureau and an IT company owned by Qinghua University. The site has the first computer-assisted learning (CAL) software in the country so students can prepare or review their lessons without taking notes. "As multi-media material such as movies, music and 3-D pictures are used in the CAL software, we expect better learning achievements after the site was launched. (0) comments Monday, September 20, 2004
Cyberscholars follow their own schedule: On-the-run students go online for graduate classes - Steve Stanek, Chicago Tribune
Julia Corcoran's days are full. She's a plastic surgeon at Children's Memorial Hospital, assistant professor of surgery at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, and the mother of two preschoolers. With almost no free time during the day and evening hours, Corcoran still finds time to work toward a master's degree in health professions education. Thanks to University of Illinois Online, where she enrolled in 2002, she does schoolwork on her home computer and at hours she chooses instead of in a classroom and at hours a school decides. "My personal time is important," Corcoran said. "One of the deals with the schoolwork was that I wouldn't let it eat into my family time. After I put my children to sleep I work for an hour or two, often at 2 or 3 in the morning ... It's worked out nicely that I have this night-owl habit." (0) comments
The Instruction Of Research Methodologies In Graduate-Level Distance Education Degree Programs - Tom JONES and M. Cleveland-INNERS, TJODE
The field of distance education remains in an early stage of development. As recently as fourteen years ago, Shale (1988) suggested that distance education had asserted itself but could not define itself. Existing as a sub-field in education, distance education informs its practice from social science theory (education, psychology, sociology, anthropology) and the more recent professional field of education. The creation of a knowledge foundation all its own, based on sound empirical research leading to theory development, is now an imperative (Miller and Husman,1996; Garrison, 2000).Fostering the generation of original and innovative research in distance education requires redirection on several fronts, including research methods instruction of students in graduate distance education programs (Ramakrishna et al., 1999). The majority of graduate students in distance education come from a practitioner background (Monahan, 1994) and their focus has likely been on the critique and consumption of research findings rather than on the underpinnings and procedures for knowledge construction through research. In this short monograph, we argue that the best preparation for critiquing and assimilating the results of reported research is developed through an understanding of sound research design and methods, that an emphasis on basic research in graduate programs in distance education will encourage theory development in this maturing field and that a major emphasis during the period of graduate instruction in (0) comments
E-Learning launched in Yemen - Mohammed bin Sallam, Yemen Times
The Yemen e-learning project, under the auspices of the ministry of Education and funded by the US embassy and the U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID) completed the first phase of its training program Thursday 16 September. Twenty teachers and six administrators were trained over the past several weeks on using students centered instructional methods in their classrooms and on basic computer and internet skills. These teachers and administrators will train other teachers in their schools. The US Embassy and USAID have funded the installation of computer laboratories in five schools in Sana’a and five schools in Aden. Once teachers are fully trained in using computers and the internet to enrich their classroom resources, they will train their students to use computers and the internet to exchange experience and knowledge vis-a-vis education, teaching and learning. (0) comments Sunday, September 19, 2004
Prepared to Teach Online? Perspectives of Faculty in the University of North Carolina System - Lysa Kosak, et al, Online Journal of Distance Learning
The prevalence of online distance education courses requires university faculty to face new challenges and make new decisions in the areas of course management and design, delivery method, student communication media, creation of an engaging learning environment, assessment , and use of new technologies. The purpose of this study was to ascertain if university faculty in the University of North Carolina System are receiving sufficient training and support in developing an online distance education curriculum. There was also an interest in the types and amount of training the faculty received at various institutions as well as their attitudes toward developing curriculum for online learning. An online survey was employed to solicit data from faculty of the schools and departments of education (SCDEs) within the University of North Carolina System who have previously taught online courses. The survey addressed the experience of respondents, types of on and off-campus training offered, topics offered in training, relevancy of offerings, whether or not training was required prior to course delivery, and requested ideas for staff development that were desired but unavailable. The majority of respondents indicated that there was sufficient training for faculty to support the change to online learning. Respondents also indicated that most training was offered on-campus, was predominately related to pedagogical and technical areas, was viewed as relevant and accessible, and participation was voluntary or not required. Faculty attitudes, according to results, were overall positive about the quality and quantity of training for course development and maintenance for online learning environments. (0) comments
A Peek into the Life of Online Learning Discussion Forums: Implications for Web-Based Distance Learning - Mary Allan , IRoDL
Supporting quality learning in online discussion forums is an intricate task, particularly for e-tutors aspiring to facilitate vigorous interactive learning environments. I argue that the key to successful online discussion forums is the ability of e-tutors to provide learners with feedback well informed in the meaning making and knowledge advancement processes emanating from learner interactions. In this paper, a newly developed concept of providing e-tutors with the information they require is explored, exhibiting the Event Centre (EC) concept, through which tutors are able to obtain periodic “snapshots” of the occurrences throughout discussion forums, which highlight processes of meaning construction and knowledge advancement. The EC concept provides e-tutors with visual images that depict the links and routes through which participants using text messages convey meaning, construct knowledge, and create Socio-Informational networks within discussion forums. (0) comments
How's Your eLearning? - Badrul H. Khan, Syllabus
About two years back, I asked a friend if his institution was doing any eLearning. He said, "Oh, yes, we have an LMS and we are doing all sorts of eLearning stuff." I said, "Having an LMS does not necessarily mean that you are creating meaningful eLearning." He asked, "Meaningful eLearning-what do you mean?" I explained that an eLearning system should be meaningful not only to learners, but also to all stakeholder groups, including instructors, support services staff, and the institution. For example, an eLearning system is meaningful to learners when it is easily accessible, well designed, learner-centered, affordable, efficient, flexible, and has a facilitated learning environment. When learners display a high level of participation and success in meeting a course's goals and objectives, this can make eLearning meaningful to instructors. (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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