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Online Learning News and Research
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Saturday, October 30, 2004
Grants to 'Populate' New Teacher Professional Development Online Portal
Six Michigan education organizations will receive grants ranging from $45,000 to $100,000 to develop programs that could help teachers achieve "highly qualified" status under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The programs will be offered through Michigan LearnPort, the new statewideteacher professional development online portal. Jointly administered by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and Michigan Virtual University (MVU), LearnPort will make both online and traditional professional development activities available for purchase or at no charge to all Michigan educators. LearnPort also will give school administrators a consistent way to manage, assign and track teacher professional development. (0) comments
You Can Take It with You - the Business Ledger
Ten years ago, the idea of getting a degree over the Internet sounded a lot like those commercials on late night television that tout “train at home for a better career.” But as the world has become more Internet-savvy, acceptance of online colleges and universities as reputable institutions has developed, leaving educators as well as students citing the benefits of the virtual classroom. Steven Crow is the executive director of the North Central Association Higher Learning Commission, the entity which confers accreditation on colleges and universities, including online schools. “In a pure online environment, everything is provided,” Crow said. “Registration, coursework, class discussion, meetings with faculty—all are handled online.” (0) comments
The Teleclass Trend - Only Punjab
Research indicates that major leaders in educative training such as Harvard and Stanford University are going digital and enrolling their students in e-Learning. In fact The Standard.com recently stated that 3/4 of colleges and universities offered on-line courses. InfoWorld.com's newsletter, states that the portion of the e-Learning market, stimulated largely by information technology (IT)-related training, is expected to grow from $1.7 billion in 2000 to $5.3 billion in 2003. 2004 has been setting its own records. It seems that e-Learning is simplifying the learning process for many students, executives and business owners. (0) comments Friday, October 29, 2004
The Relationship Between Self-Regulation and Online Learning in a Blended Learning Context - Richard Lynch and Myron Dembo, IRoDL
This study reviewed the distance education and self-regulation literatures to identify learner self-regulation skills predictive of academic success in a blended education context. Five self-regulatory attributes were judged likely to be predictive of academic performance: intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy for learning and performance, time and study environment management, help seeking, and Internet self-efficacy. Verbal ability was used as a control measure. Performance was operationalized as final course grades. Data were collected from 94 students in a blended undergraduate marketing course at a west coast American research university (tier one). Regression analysis revealed that verbal ability and self-efficacy related significantly to performance, together explaining 12 percent of the variance in course grades. Self-efficacy for learning and performance alone accounted for 7 percent of the variance. (0) comments
Online Course: Improving Retention - Only Punjab
MaxKnowledge and Career College Association today announced the availability of a new online training course for career college personnel. Improving Retention through Timely Intervention is facilitated by MaxKnowledge faculty, Loren Kroh. Loren is the Co-Founder and President of Corvus, LLC, a company committed to improving student success rates at career colleges. “This course looks at the effect of stress on attrition, the use of tools to identify and help students at risk, and how to develop an institutional culture that shares responsibility for student success across the entire organization,” said Loren Kroh.... The online course is delivered in an asynchronous fashion and participants receive 0.4 Continuing Education Units upon successful completion of the training. (0) comments
New Learning Techniques Improve Global HIV/AIDS Prevention
Researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found that advanced communication technologies — including multimedia CDs — can improve world-wide dissemination of new HIV/AIDS prevention models to providers of health services. To combat the global spread of HIV, public health experts require quick and effective transmission of the latest behavioral intervention tools developed, primarily, in the United States.... The researchers tested high tech dissemination methods to communicate a strategy that enlists popular opinion leaders in local communities to convey AIDs prevention messages. In the study of 86 leading AIDS NGOs in 78 countries, they found that NGOs which were provided comprehensive training via distance learning technologies, were better able to develop and modify programs than those given just basic materials. (0) comments Thursday, October 28, 2004
Use of Internet for Online Course Delivery: A Case-study - Salahu JUNAIDU, TOJDE
The success of an online learning project depends, to a great extent, on the continuous study and improvement of the major components of the online learning paradigm. One of the major thrusts of online learning is focused on providing activities that shift the control of learning activities from the teacher to the student. Students are the most important stakeholders in any learning environment. Thus, we must know our students well in order to engage them effectively online. We should know their skills in the use of computers, competencies, attitude towards online learning etc. This will help us evaluate how good online learners our students are (Great Basing College, 2003., Extension Online, 2003) and also help us identify and address possible causes of attrition (Frankola) in our courses. (0) comments
Campfires in Cyberspace: Primordial Metaphors for Learning in the 21st Century - David D. Thornburg, Insructional Technology and Distance Learning
Media are not interchangeable - a learner using the Web has a completely different experience from one watching television. Classroom presentations are fundamentally different from videos of the same class. As we use more and more electronic media in education, it is essential that we understand the unique nature of each expressive medium we encounter. This article suggests that learning takes place in four spaces, only a few of which are honored in most schools. It offers new theory for educational systems based on four primordial learning spaces: campfires (information), watering holes (conversation), caves (concept), and life (context). (0) comments
Blog Software Breakdown - Owen Winkler
Even before the whole Movable Type fallout, I had been trying to decide which of the many weblog CMS packages would be best for my needs. I got tired of flipping back and forth between each of the sites, especially when not all of the answers to my questions were apparent from simply reading the main web page. This chart displays attributes of different user-installed blog software packages side-by-side for comparison. Only server-installed scripts will be included in this list. (Sorry, no Radio, Blogger, etc.) I created this chart to help figure out what blog tool best suited my needs. Hopefully, it will be useful to the self-hosted blogging community as well. (0) comments Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online - Kaye Shelton and George Saltsman, Instructional Technology and Distance Learning
This paper summarizes some of the best ideas and practices gathered from successful online instructors and recent literature. Suggestions include good online class design, syllabus development, and online class facilitation offering hints for success for both new and experienced online instructors. (0) comments
Schools, colleges flock to Internet2 - Corey Murray, eSchool News
Move over internet. Internet2 has arrived. According to a bi-annual survey presented to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Oct. 6, more than 25,000 K-12 schools, libraries, and museums in 34 states have graduated to the supped-up internet backbone, which works at a hundred times the speed of the fastest T1 line. Led by more than 200 U.S. universities working with industry and government partners, the Internet2 project was conceived seven years ago as a way to deploy advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, in effect creating a super-fast, "next-generation" internet. The survey, conducted by Internet2 members to assess the adoption of the technology in educational institutions across the U.S., indicates K-12 schools have been actively partnering with member universities to tap into the nationwide Abilene network, a 10 gigabits-per-second backbone used to access virtual laboratories, digital libraries, distance-education facilities, and tele-immersion projects. (0) comments
Internet2: 2004 and beyond - Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.com
"Abilene has become a necessity for research universities," said Steve Corbato, the director of backbone network infrastructure for Internet2. "It's not just about building a really fast network. University members rely on it to collaborate with colleagues and students around the world." Internet2 was developed by a consortium of universities and technology companies in 1996 to provide vast improvements in connection speeds. The goal of the project has always been to stay three to four years ahead of what is commercially available through the public Internet. The network itself is in its third generation of design. Earlier this year, the backbone was upgraded to 10gbps (gigabits per second). (0) comments Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Exporting education: Wisconsin can teach the world, and profit by it - Tom Still, Wisconsin Technology
In Australia these days, education has become a booming export business. Universities are expanding offshore and online programs to meet the demands of foreign students—mainly from Asia, the South Pacific and the Middle East—who are eager for courses taught in English. In fact, offshore education demand is so strong that sale of academic “sheepskins” is rivaling wool as an Australian export industry. The lessons learned in the land down under should be noted in Wisconsin, a state that is uniquely positioned to profit by leveraging its education assets. Instead of focusing purely on the cost of public education in Wisconsin, state policymakers should instead be urging educators to tap into emerging global and domestic markets. (0) comments
Learning about AIDS: Distance-learning programs help spread information - Elizabeth Querna, U.S. News
Scientists, universities, governments, and organizations spend millions of dollars annually searching for ways to prevent and cure AIDS. However, it takes time and effort for the results of their research to trickle down to developing countries where help is most needed. One way to disseminate new knowledge about AIDS could be to use computers for distance learning. Scientists from the Medical College of Wisconsin offered distance-learning programs to organizations all over the world that are helping fight AIDS to see if they would help. (0) comments
Honey, I Shrunk the eLearning
Handheld computers are ready to deliver robust eLearning–like the media-rich learning experiences normally run on powerful desktop computers–and a Canadian company has developed a powerful new technology to bring full-bodied online instruction into the palms of learners everywhere. The year is 2006. Midnight. The place is a small village in Nigeria where Dr. Pat Howe, after a grueling day of treating dozens of typhus cases, lies in his tent miles away from the nearest electrical outlet and brushes up on how to care for diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome. His learning platform is a 2 by 3 inch backlit screen that he holds in his hand and manipulates with a tiny plastic stylus. The course he’s taking resides on a server several thousand miles away. (0) comments Monday, October 25, 2004
Patterns of User Behavior in University Online Forums - Leslie Burr and Dirk HR Spennemann, Instructional Technology and Distance Learning
Online forums have become the backbone of most computer-supported distance education programs. While analyses have been carried out assessing the content of a limited number of such forums, there is little work done on how and when students make use of such facilities. There is much talk about 24/7, anytime, anywhere availability—but do students make use of this extended envelope, or is this just education rhetoric? This paper presents the outcomes of a large-scale study examining the usage of over 2000 forums for a period of four years. (0) comments
Showcasing Faculty Experiences with Technology Enhanced Teaching and Learning - SOM NAIDU AND DAVID CUNNINGTON, AACEJ
This article describes a research project that seeks to explore the experiences of faculty with technology-enhanced teaching and learning. A particular focus of this investigation is on how the use of information and communications technology is influencing teaching practices and students’ approaches to learning at the University of Melbourne. This is a naturalistic inquiry into the experience base of faculty who have been engaged in technology-enhanced teaching and learning. Our goal is to look beyond the existing, often rather superficial, data and closely examine how information and communications technology is influencing the nature of the teaching and learning transactions. We are interested in the "untold" stories of academics. These stories and reflections of academics are archived on the following website. (0) comments
EDUTECH brings Ivy League lectures to your desktop - AME Info
EDUTECH and its long-standing principal Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP) is announcing the launch of one of the successful eLearning programs from HBSP in the region as a special offer.... The Faculty Seminar Series learning resource will help faculty and students to delve in business topics with a practical outlook. Corporates and government can apply the material to current business or management situation thereby empowering their work force for sound decision making.' said Ms. Shameema Parveen, Edutech Middle East'. EDUTECH is participating in a special launch of HBSP's 'Faculty Seminar Series' in the region. The Faculty Seminar Series brings some of the most dynamic faculty presentations at Harvard Business School (HBS) and Stanford Graduate School of Business (SGSB) to your desktop. (0) comments Sunday, October 24, 2004
Contemporary Online Education Challenges - Brent Muirhead, Instructional Technology and Distance Learning
The online setting holds potential for vibrant interaction and rich dialog. Unfortunately, online educational experiences can become quite wooden and lifeless at times, like a boring traditional classroom. Distance educators and their students can become disillusioned with the teaching and learning process when it lacks a dynamic interactive character. The author believes that part of the problem involves having a rigid learning environment that fails to acknowledge that learning must be context sensitive. (0) comments
Bricks and clicks: New approaches blur the line between traditional classrooms and online learning - Anne McGrath, U.S. News
The mechanical engineering students in Jan Helge Bohn's class at Virginia Tech regularly huddle with teammates at the Technische Universitat in Darmstadt, Germany, using synchronized computers, shared databases, and videoconferencing to brainstorm design concepts for the Opel Signum hatchback. Gifted sixth graders in Chicago can log into Illinois Virtual High School for algebra lessons. And busy professionals in all kinds of fields are rushing online to add credentials–outside of regular business hours and often from the road. E-learning "is a good fit for me," says Sarah Fisher, 23, a driver on the IndyCar racing circuit who's getting her bachelor's in marketing via the Web at Ellis College in New York. "I was able to take a break for the Indianapolis 500." (0) comments
McGraw-Hill Teams with Cisco for Online Courses - Strategy
McGraw-Hill Higher Education has announced it was teaming up with Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Through this relationship, McGraw-Hill will deliver a large and growing portfolio of interactive, online courses for students, for global distribution, wherever there is an Internet connection. McGraw-Hill is the first major educational content provider to build on the power of Cisco Systems' Global Learning Network (GLN) - a scalable e-learning architecture - to offer these cutting-edge, high-tech learning solutions. Through the GLN, McGraw-Hill Higher Education will deliver online courses with multimedia-rich content that incorporates animation, streaming video and personalized assessments. (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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