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Online Learning News and Research
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Saturday, May 28, 2005
Collective Miscommunication in Online Courses - Embanet Success Letter
There is a phenomenon of collective miscommunication in online courses occurring when one student misunderstands course instructions and "contaminates" part of or an entire pool of students. Each time it occurs it catches me by surprise, and each time I recognize that there were indicators that I should have recognized earlier as tell-tale signs that it would happen. I will share my scenario with you. (0) comments
New Distance-Learning Technology Puts Chatham, Va., Students, Teacher in Class with College Professor 500 Miles Away
There’s nothing unusual about a professor calling on a student to comment on a film her class is studying. But when the professor is speaking from her office in downtown Boston and spots the raised hand of a student who is more than 500 miles away in a classroom in southern Virginia, something entirely different is happening.That scene has been repeated often this spring at Chatham Hall all-girls boarding school in Chatham, Va., as the result of a new Internet-based, distance-learning system that, unlike similar technologies, frees instructors anywhere in the world to teach from any location they choose. A specially equipped laptop and camera allow the teacher to interact in real time with students who have access to Chatham Hall’s state-of-the-art technology center. (0) comments
2 New NIMS Courses Up on Virtual Campus - U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Michael D. Brown, under secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, announced today that the nation’s first-responders can now take two new Incident Command System courses online through the Federal Emergency Management Agency Virtual Campus. “Over 225,000 of our nation’s response personnel have completed Incident Command System and National Incident Management System courses currently available online through the FEMA Virtual Campus,” said Brown. “President Bush directed that a comprehensive National approach to incident management, applicable to all jurisdictional levels across functional disciplines, be developed. I am pleased to announce these new courses which will train our first responders in that National Incident Management System.” (0) comments Friday, May 27, 2005
"Two Roads Diverged in a Wood": Productive Digression in Asynchronous Discussion - Joesph Ugoretz, Innovate Online
It is a moment every classroom teacher has encountered: In the middle of a class discussion of a text, a concept, a method—some element of the course material that must be covered—a student raises an unrelated (or only tangentially related) point that threatens to derail the entire discussion. The new point may be fascinating or intriguing, or so appealing as a line of thought or discussion that it is difficult to ignore. In fact, this unrelated point is generally more fascinating than the required course material to the student who brings it up. But there are the pressures of time and scheduling, and of covering that required material. Two roads (or more—sometimes as many roads as there are students in the room) diverge, and in order to achieve our goals for the course, we have to choose one of them. The one we choose is rarely the "road less traveled by," the digression that we necessarily neglect. (0) comments
Embrace e-learning- the Malaysia Star
Systematic College Kuching has been commended by its education partner Australia’s University of Sunshine Coast (USC) for providing the students with a conducive atmosphere for learning. “Many Systematic Kuching students who find it difficult to study on conventional time schedules have been offered an alternative – they can now take advantage of the e-learning study mode,” said USC’s senior academic coordinator Joanne Freeman on a recent visit to the institution. “The wireless broadband facilities in the college have enabled distance learners – mainly busy managers, entrepreneurs and consultants – to study at their own pace under the guidance of facilitators and learning support staff,” she added. (0) comments
Virtual classroom at AHS - Rita Savard, AndoverTownsman
Students from around the world are lining up to dissect pigs at Andover High School. Except these teens don't have to cross borders - or get their hands dirty - to tackle the required lab experiment in advanced placement biology. With the click of a mouse, Virtual High School classes are enabling students in Andover and abroad to connect to courses that would otherwise be unavailable. "Online learning is a part of life," said Laura Hajdukiewicz, AHS biology teacher and VHS site coordinator. "The classes are not meant to take the place of real teachers, but to enhance students' learning experience. For some students, it's the closest they can come to taking advanced level courses." (0) comments Thursday, May 26, 2005
Internet classes get good reviews from students - Teresa Taylor Williams, Muskegon Chronicle
Corey Potter will graduate next year not knowing half of her peers she took classes with. She's never even seen most of them. Potter, 15, is among a couple dozen West Michigan teenagers enrolled in Michigan Virtual High School, where classes consist of independent study, e-mail messages back and forth to instructors, and online chat rooms with other students. Some of the course offerings Potter has taken are anatomy and physiology, oceanography, and she recently completed advanced placement psychology. All are courses that her small Muskegon Township charter school, Muskegon Technical Academy, does not offer. Michigan Virtual High School has helped her get on the fast track out of high school and on with her post-secondary education: She blew past the rest of her sophomore peers in credits, and is now considered a junior. She will graduate in what would normally be her junior year. (0) comments
Stationed in Iraq, his college studies continue - Michelle Hatfield, Lompo Record
For most people, traveling to a foreign country as a member of the U.S. military would be enough - missing friends and family, concentrating on chores, dodging danger. But Staff Sgt. Jesus Ortega wanted more on his plate. While serving a five-month stint in Iraq this spring, Ortega continued taking classes for his associate's degree in fire technology from Allan Hancock College. In between securing locations, protecting bases from fires and teaching Iraqis how to fight blazes, Ortega spent four to five hours a week on the Internet reading and taking tests. As part of Hancock's Distance Learning Program, Ortega took fire technology 103 and 104 - fire protection equipment systems and building construction fire protection. (0) comments
Penn State Revamped Web site better serves adult learners seeking online education
"People today use major Web sites for everything from shopping to quickly finding solutions to everyday problems," said Pete Rubba, senior director of the World Campus. "A Web site that offers an education should be just as accessible." Rubba added that the Web site aims to better communicate the breadth of Penn State programs offered through the World Campus as well as the benefits of online learning. For example, an information resources section for current students makes it easy to complete such activities as register for classes or download forms. Prospective students can quickly get a feel for Penn State online with a user-friendly home page. And a frequently asked questions section offers students an opportunity to look for topics of interest. Plus, inspiring "testimonials" from students about how Penn State online degrees and courses have changed their lives appear on many of the pages. (0) comments Wednesday, May 25, 2005
The Business of Life: E-Learning Threatens Publishers - ANICK JESDANUN, ABC News
There's been a change in Ellen Lichtenstein's study patterns. For half her classes this past year, she no longer had to visit a library to get the reading materials professors had placed on reserve. Instead, she only needed Internet access and a password. "It's as simple as logging into my e-mail account, clicking on a few links and printing it," said Lichtenstein, 21, a New York University communications senior from Birmingham, Ala. "There's no going to the library, waiting on line, waiting to Xerox it, there's none of that." And publishing companies are worried precisely because of that ease and convenience -- it's another way for publishers to lose sales. The Association of American Publishers already has contacted one school, the University of California, San Diego, claiming "blatantly infringing use is being made of numerous books, journals and other copyrighted works." (0) comments
University-Press Group Raises Questions About Google's Library-Scanning Project - Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education
Saying that Google's high-profile library project "appears to be built on a fundamental violation of the copyright act," the Association of American University Presses listed concerns and questions about the project on Friday in a six-page letter to Google's top lawyer. The complaint is one of a growing list of formal objections to Google's digital-library plans by publishing groups. The university-presses group, which represents 125 nonprofit scholarly publishers, posed 16 detailed questions about Google's project, which the company calls Google Print for Libraries. The project, announced in December, involves libraries at Harvard and Stanford Universities, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the University of Oxford, in England, as well as the New York Public Library (The Chronicle, December 14). (0) comments
E-learning reaches beyond the classroom - SARA KINCAID, Arizona Daily Sun
For a geology class, it redefines the field experience. A tablet PC with the capabilities of global positioning and a wireless network connection can turn the most remote location into a classroom. This is one example of emerging technologies featured at an E-Learning Institute today through Friday at Northern Arizona University. The institute discusses technologies, such as the tablet PCs, teaching with technology, assessment and an introduction to the new Web-based software at the university. "When I think of e-learning, I don't think of technology, I think of new ways to engage the students," said Don Carter, director of the Center for Research, Assessment and Development of Electronic Learning. (0) comments Tuesday, May 24, 2005
UK Study Suggests Online Learning Can Break Down Barriers - Innovations Report
Online learning resources and mentoring programmes could boost the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education, according to a pioneering Kingston University study. Measures like these could also improve undergraduates’ chances of getting a good degree. The Widening Access and Success research project has investigated how e-learning can encourage students from a more diverse range of backgrounds to apply for university as well as improving overall student success rates. Funded by Atlantic Philanthropies Research, the £340,000 project has taken three years to complete. (0) comments
Online Courses for Special Educators at Oklahoma Baptist University
OBU is committed to equipping students for success. OBU"s online courses are extensions of strong on-campus academic programs. Through online study, anyone can benefit from the same OBU faculty commitment that on-campus students enjoy." We are excited at the Learning House to help OBU move toward a global market with their programs and look forward to a long, prosperous partnership," added by Dr. Edge. "We really needed to move into the future and reach a wider market," Dr, Pam Robinson, Chairperson of Teacher Education said. With the field of educators, who want, or need, certification for special education continuously expanding, Oklahoma Baptist University is sure to have an audience for its new classes. "We"ve had over 200 requests for information," said Dr. Robinson, but enrollment is still open. Summer courses begin May 31, 2005. She sees the program as especially enticing for teachers seeking a second certification, or teachers who just want some information about working with students with disabilities. (0) comments
Trump moves from boardroom to classroom - David Ellis, CNN/Money
hIvory-tower academics, watch out: Donald Trump is getting into the education business. Speaking from Trump Tower Monday morning in midtown Manhattan, "the Donald" announced his plans to create an online university for entrepreneurs and working professionals looking to refine their skills in marketing, starting a business and of course, real estate. "It's going to be a tremendous venture, it's going to really help a lot of people, which is what we really want to do, more so than economic, more so than anything else, we want to be able to help people," said Trump, framed by the official school seal, a gold and crimson shield bearing a lion silhouette. "I love the concept of starting what I think will be a great university." (0) comments Monday, May 23, 2005
Exploring Teacher Ratings on Ratemyprofessors.com - Jeannette Kindred and Shaheed N. Mohammed, Computer Mediated Communication
This study examines students' motives for use and perceptions of the web site http://www.ratemyprofessors.com, one of the main sites that allow students to post anonymous ratings of college professors in the United States and Canada. The contents of comments posted to the web site are examined for relationships to numerical ratings on the site and motivations expressed by students for participating in the rating process. Qualitative (focus group interviews) and quantitative (content analysis) investigations are presented. Students' motives for accessing Ratemyprofessors.com include information seeking, convenience, and interpersonal utility. As regards teacher ratings, the results indicate that students were primarily concerned with issues such as instructor competence and the classroom experience. (0) comments
Online University Confers Degrees in Six Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
Jones International University, which received the first accreditation in the United States of a completely virtual institution, has 2004-2005 graduates representing eight countries and more than 30 states across the U.S., living proof that it has taken the distance out of distance education. The participants in today's online commencement -- which included an address by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington -- shared observations about their tenure at JIU. (0) comments
Southern Oregon University to increase slate of online degrees - ANITA BURKE, Mail Tribune
Erika Mallory, 26, works 40 hours a week in Ashland and has two kids at her home in Medford. She’s also a full-time student at Southern Oregon University thanks to the university’s online course offerings. "I’m taking 12 credits and there’s no way I could do that face-to-face," Mallory said, who takes classes via the Internet. "I can do school when the kids sleep." Mallory works at SOU’s Medford campus and she’s studying toward a degree in business management, with a minor in criminology. She hopes to head to law school after earning her bachelor’s degree in 2006. SOU plans to increase its online offerings this fall so students like Mallory can finish business and criminology degrees entirely online. (0) comments Sunday, May 22, 2005
UNCG Online Degree Program Named Tops in State - dBusiness News
The online Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies has been named the state’s top university-level distance learning initiative for 2004-05 by an association devoted to online education. This is the second year in a row that UNCG has won the award from the N.C. Distance Learning Association. Last year the university’s Fast Forward program for high school juniors and seniors received the honor. In announcing this year’s award, the association called the online master’s program a “hands down” winner. “This program clearly provides educational opportunities to individuals who would not have had access to traditional face-to-face classes, and it has a curriculum that is extremely innovative and diverse,” said Kenneth M. Elliott, chair of the NCDLA awards committee. “It has the potential to be the best example of the use of distance education both in North Carolina and in the nation.” (0) comments
Fair use sought under DMCA - Robert Brumfield, eSchool News
A trio of Democratic and Republican congressmen is pushing a bill that would amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) to allow for so-called "fair use" of copyrighted digital materials by educators, librarians, students, artists, scientists, and other technology users and consumers. The bill to amend the DMCA, the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act, was introduced in the House by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va.; Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas; and Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif. If passed, the bill would permit users to make copies of DVDs and other digital media for educational or research purposes. Supporters of the amendment, including education and consumer advocacy groups, say it would rightly extend the fair-use doctrine now enjoyed by users of print and analog media into the digital realm. But critics, including groups that represent digital content providers, argue the bill would weaken the copyright-protection measures that guard against digital piracy. (0) comments
Where's e-learning headed? - Jane Larson, The Arizona Republic
Joe Dougherty remembers what it was like to work for an entrepreneurial company and try to preserve its spirit after it was acquired. Now he's on the other side, in charge of integrating Scottsdale e-learning firm KnowledgeNet Inc. into publishing giant Thomson Corp.... E-learning has gone from a hyped-up novelty to a practical, beneficial enterprise learning resource. There was a time when people were buying this stuff just to be able to attend the next cocktail party and say, "We have a library of online learning courses." Now it's something really very useful. (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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