Monday, April 30, 2007

Distance Education Goes Public.

Today's article is from The Chronicle and written by Andrea Foster and Dan Carnevale.

A few years ago, universities were dumping their online spinoffs like rotten fish. Temple University and New York University shut theirs in 2001. Two years later, Columbia University closed down Fathom, its once-vaunted online venture. The spinoffs were never able to attract enough students to justify the millions of dollars invested in them. The flagging post-9/11 economy didn't help.

Now the virtual campus is re-emerging. But the new speculators are public universities, and instead of creating commercial, online branches like their predecessors, they are embracing a not-for-profit model.

A. Frank Mayadas, president of the Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges that offer instruction online, says public institutions are beginning to realize that, with their name recognition and their lower tuition rates, they have an advantage over for-profit competitors like the University of Phoenix, which, with 130,000 students, is the largest of the online institutions. Public universities are "better known," he says, "and they're a better deal."

Inspired by the growth of Phoenix and other online colleges, two big public research institutions, the University of North Carolina and the University of Illinois, are quickly moving to establish their own distance-education spinoffs.

Making money is a key motivation, since state funds for public colleges are drying up. But campus officials also want to reach more working students, who are unable or unwilling to learn in a traditional classroom.

By all accounts, demand for online education is expanding. About 3.2 million students took at least one online course during the fall of 2005. That's 39 percent more than the 2.3 million the previous year, according to the Sloan Consortium, which promotes standards for online learning.
For-profit institutions, like Phoenix, have a large share of that enrollment. Although they enrolled only 5.1 percent of students at degree-granting institutions in 2004, they attracted 37 percent of all online students, according to Eduventures, an education-consulting company. That proportion is expected to fall to 32 percent in 2008, in part because of competition from traditional colleges.


"The consumer, we know from our research, is typically more comfortable with the notion of a traditional school offering nontraditional online" courses, says Richard Garrett, a senior analyst at Eduventures, which is advising Illinois on its online enterprise.

Still, commercial online institutions like Phoenix have more capital and are savvier marketers than public universities, he says, and are unlikely to crumble when faced with competition.
Instead of trying to create national programs like Phoenix's, says Mr. Mayadas, public institutions should create online programs that dominate their regions. Then, collectively, they will be able to compete in the online market instead of letting for-profit universities run the show.


"In their own regions, where they operate, they are generally better known than any for-profit entity," he says. "If every nonprofit did that in their own area, that makes the competition much more interesting."

NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO ENROLL ONLY ONLINE

2000 -194,580

2001-315,219

2002-483,113

2003-701,295

2004-936,727

2005-1,214,000

2006-1,518,750

NOTE: Estimated figures cover student enrolled at American degree-granting institutions that provided financial aid under Title IV. SOURCE: Eduventures

Friday, April 27, 2007

University life in a war zone - University of Baghdad.

The post for today and this weekend is from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Learn how students are still working towards degrees while living in a war zone. Click here to view this amazing story.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Campus massacre: Turning to technology.

Today's post comes from eSchool News. Almost immediately after the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech University on April 16, Virginia Tech students created an "I'm OK" page on Facebook to let one another and their loved ones know that they survived. Other students posted photos and cell phone videos on their own sites, or shared them just hours after the shootings with news organizations.

Thanks to the portability and speed of today's technology, the students' shots are likely to become some of the "defining images" of the tragedy, says Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which monitors high-tech culture.

And nowhere, she says, has the impact of the internet been seen more than on social networking sites, most often frequented by young people.

"What better place to mourn someone than a place that they themselves build to express who they are, and a place where the deceased and his or her friends may have spent a great deal of time interacting?" Lenhart asks.

Since April 16, there has been a nonstop flood of postings on the popular Facebook student site, on MySpace and LiveJournal, and on personal blogs--expressing everything from grief to anger to confusion. To read the rest of this article click here.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

What is online education all about?

Today's post comes from The Journal. "Unless you are directly involved with teaching online, have students taking courses online, or have taken an online course yourself, chances are that you find the concept of online education quite nebulous. You might not have any interest in it. Terms like distance education, fully online, blended courses, virtual courses, e-learning, hybrid courses, mixed-mode, asynchronous learning, distributed learning, Web-facilitated, and Web-enhanced learning add to the confusion (Picciano & Seaman, 2007, pp. 1-2). However, online learning is on the rise in K-12 education, and you should know some of the basics and issues surrounding it. It is adding flexibility to the traditional school experience, meeting the needs of specific groups of students, and increasing course offerings. If it has not already done so, it probably will affect your teaching scenario before too long. So, what's online education all about? Well ... it's all in who you ask or what resources you consult." To read the rest of this article click here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Why Community Colleges Struggle to Increase College Completion Rates.

Today's post comes from The College Puzzle Blog.

"America’s 1,200 community colleges enroll nearly half of credit-earning undergraduates, and first time students. However, scholarly attention to this growing postsecondary sector is dwarfed by research and publications concerning 4-year institutions. Furthermore, community colleges serve a disproportionate share of low income students including 79% of California’s Latino students. And, public four-year institutions grew by 3.5% from 1990 to 2000, but public two-year enrollments grew by 14%.

Defending the Community College Equity Agenda (Thomas Bailey and Vanessa Smith Morest (eds.) Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins, 2006) addresses several key threats to the community college equity agenda. The co-authors have long and deep backgrounds through their leadership roles in the Community College Research Center at Teachers College." To read the rest of this interesting article click here.

Community colleges enroll almost anyone who wants to come regardless of academic preparation. Community college budgets are fiscally constrained, and their resources often lag enrollment growth. Moreover, need based student financial aid has not kept up with the changing student bodies. Many students, however, do succeed in community colleges despite long odds.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Louisiana among states leading nation in online learners

Today's post comes from the Shreveport Times. Students in Rachel Basco's respiratory therapy class are all over the map. Some students are actually in the Bossier Parish Community College classroom with her and other students Basco teaches are at the Rapides Learning Center Alexandria.

The students who take the class off-site and through compressed video on the Internet are among the thousands of students in Louisiana who take advantage of electronic education.In fact, Southern states lead the nation in growth of the number of college students taking online classes, according to a report published by the Sloan Consortium in partnership with the Southern Regional Education Board.

"The No. 1 reason people take online classes is because of the flexibility it offers," said Kathleen Gay, director of education technology at BPCC. "We see an increase in our students who are trying to juggle work and/or family. This seems to be a mode that suits their lifestyle better."More than 1.1 million students were enrolled in online classes at two- and four-year colleges in Southern states, a 68 percent increase from 2005 and nearly twice as much as the 35 percent national increase in students taking online courses across the nation, the report said. To read the rest of this article click here.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Preparing Instructors For Quality Online Instruction.

Today's post comes from Distance Educator News. "With a growing number of courses offered online and degrees offered through the Internet, there is a considerable interest in online education, particularly as it relates to the quality of online instruction. The major concerns are centering on the following questions: What will be the new role for instructors in online education? How will students' learning outcomes be assured and improved in online learning environment? How will effective communication and interaction be established with students in the absence of face-to-face instruction? How will instructors motivate students to learn in the online learning environment? This paper will examine new challenges and barriers for online instructors, highlight major themes prevalent in the literature related to “quality control or assurance” in online education, and provide practical strategies for instructors to design and deliver effective online instruction. Recommendations will be made on how to prepare instructors for quality online instruction." Click here to read this entire article.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Mitigating Conflict in Online Student Teams.

Today's post comes from eLearn Magazine and was written by By Richard Dool, D.Mgt., Assistant Professor, Seton Hall University. "My cell phone rings at 10:37 p.m. I reluctantly answer, anticipating the reason for the call. Team assignments are due tonight, and a call this late is seldom made to tell me everything is wonderful. Sure enough, there is trouble in "team-land" and panic is setting in: A teammate has gone AWOL and his part is not done. Professors using team assignments in online courses often get calls or e-mails like this.

I have had the privilege—and at times, the agony—of overseeing more than 200 graded online team assignments, and I have learned how to mitigate much of the inevitable conflict that arises. What follows below are basic guidelines for handling these conflicts. These guidelines can help ensure that learning objectives are met and that students have a positive experience.

I conducted an informal poll of students at the four universities where I have taught online courses, and results indicate that more than 60 percent "dislike" team assignments. The primary reasons students offer are difficulty in getting everyone on the "same page," unclear instructions and expectations, and the fact that their grade depends on others.

Given the potential conflicts in team assignments and the general disdain by students, why do professors persist in using team assignments? In discussions with many of my peers, the answers range from a belief in the value of learning how to be a positive team member to reducing the grading load. Bu there is little question about the value of learning to perform on teams." To read the rest of this article click here.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Surge in Distance Ed at Community Colleges.

Today's post comes from Inside Higher Ed. "Community college enrollment growth is increasingly coming from online students, leading many institutions to create extensive online student service operations. Many of those institutions are also considering a shift in their course management systems — just as Blackboard’s purchase of WebCT would seem to have solidified its dominant position in that market.

Those are some of the key findings from a new study on e-learning in community colleges, released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges. The study was conducted by the Instructional Technology Council, a group of nearly 500 colleges — almost all of them two-year institutions — with a strong interest in online education. The council has been doing similar surveys of its members for several years, but shifted gears this year to conduct its survey from the full membership of AACC, hoping to get a more accurate picture of distance education at community colleges." Click here to read the rest of this article.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Making Online Learning Mandatory.

Today's post comes from Inside Higher Ed. "Starting this fall, all students at Northwest State Community College, in Archbold, Ohio, will be required to take at least one online course to graduate. More than 60 percent of last year’s graduates already took one or more online courses, but administrators and college trustees want all students to be well versed in independent research and discovery — skills that employers demand, they say — and feel that online education is one way to accomplish that." To read the rest of this article click here.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Web-Based Learning Environment: A Theory-Based Design Process for Development and Evaluation.

This interesting paper is written by Chang S. Nam and Tonya L. Smith-Jackson. "Web-based courses and programs have increasingly been developed by many academic institutions, organizations, and companies worldwide due to their benefits for both learners and educators. However, many of the developmental approaches lack two important considerations needed for implementing Web-based learning applications: (1) integration of the user interface design with instructional design and (2) development of the evaluation framework to improve the overall quality of Web-based learning support environments. This study addressed these two weaknesses while developing a user-centered, Web-based learning support environment for Global Positioning System (GPS) education: Web-based distance and distributed learning (WD2L) environment. The research goals of the study focused on the improvement of the design process and usability of the WD2L environment based on a theory-based Integrated Design Process (IDP) proposed in the study. Results indicated that the proposed IDP was effective in that the study showed (1) the WD2L environment’s equivalence to traditional supplemental learning, especially as a Web-based supplemental learning program and (2) users’ positive perceptions of WD2L environment resources. The study also confirmed that for an e-learning environment to be successful, various aspects of the learning environment should be considered such as application domain knowledge, conceptual learning theory, instructional design, user interface design, and evaluation about the overall quality of the learning environment." To download this entire document click here.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Changing Faces of Open and Distance Learning in Asia.

Today's post comes from IRRODL. "It is no incident that IRRODL begins the year of 2007 with this regional focus edition on “Changing Faces of Open and Distance Learning in Asia.” Over the recent years, there has been tremendous growth and diversity in open and distance learning (ODL) in Asia. With over 56 percent of the global population, Asia has over 70 universities that are dedicated to open access to education, including seven out of 11 of the world's mega universities (universities with over 100,000 active students in degree-level courses) serving six million active students all together (Daniel, 1996).

Quite a few distance teaching universities or programs such as the Bangladeshi Open University, the Hanoi Open University, the Open University Malaysia, and the Open and Distance Learning Program in Singapore, have been established since the 1990s and now provide tertiary level education to those seeking continuing education opportunities. Virtual universities are growing fast and, with 17 virtual universities in Korea alone! Many conventional, campus-based universities have started to offer e-Learning programs as well. For example, 67 e-Colleges have been established within conventional research universities in China." To read the rest of this article click here.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Education and English Proficiency Preclude Wider Hispanic Internet Use.

Today's post comes from the Center For Media Research. A report released in March, 2007, entitled Latinos Online by PEW Research, finds that 56% of Latinos in the U.S. (comprising 14% of the U.S. adult population) use the internet. By comparison, 71% of non-Hispanic whites and 60% of non- Hispanic blacks use the internet. Lower levels of education and limited English ability largely explain the gap in internet use between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, concludes the report. To read the rest of this article and access the report click here.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Single standard for open-content licenses and related issues.

Today's post comes from eSchool News. "The use of open, sharable course materials is transforming education worldwide: Educators across the globe are taking open digital content items and repurposing them for their own classrooms; universities in Vietnam have begun translating materials available through MIT's OpenCourseWare program; and in Japan, leading universities have come together and agreed to make much of their courseware open as well. (See "Web fuels 'democratization' of knowledge.")

But this movement toward open course materials for education has created something of a problem. Although a vast number of repositories have been set up to allow users to download sharable content, many of these sites contain materials that use different licensing agreements. This poses a challenge for educators looking to combine material from different repositories into a single presentation or piece of work."

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Tech's 'greatest potential': Personalizing instruction.

Today's post comes from eSchool News. "Calling technology's "greatest potential" for education its ability to personalize instruction, Katie Lovett, chair of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), kicked off the group's 12th annual K-12 School Networking Conference in San Francisco March 28.

The conference brought together school district chief information officers and other educational technology leaders from around the world to discuss key ed-tech challenges and solutions. One of these challenges, Lovett noted in setting the stage for the meeting's opening general session, is the need to break out of the mold of the one-size-fits-all approach to instruction." To read the rest of this article click here.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) wins eLearning Guild Awards.

Last year we were evalutating which Learning Management System we should use for the next generation of our online career training programs. After conducting extensive research we settled on Moodle. We have migrated a number of our programs into Moodle already and plan to be completed by the end of this year. We felt it was important not to create a proprietary system but to use one of the industry standand Learning Management Systems.

The eLearning Guild recently announced the publication of a new Guild Research 360 Degree Report on Learning Management Systems (LMS). Moodle won the, "Platinum Members Choice Award for Satisfaction," in Education and Government Learning Management Systems beating Blackboard for the top award! To read their list of awards and to learn about their report 360 Degree report click here.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

M.I.T. Education in China, Minus the Degree.

Today's post comes from the New York Times. "Lucifer Chu, a 31-year-old from Taipei, Taiwan, is as good an example as any of the shrinking distances between East and West. Mr. Chu has become a millionaire by creating Chinese translations of fantasy novels. Using much of the $1 million in royalties from his versions of “The Lord of the Rings,” Mr. Chu says he devotes himself to distributing free translations of material from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Web site." To read the rest of this article click here.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Gallup plans foray in education and training.

Today's post comes from Business Standard. "The Gallup Organization of the US is planning to bring some of its management education and training activities to India, Gallup India’s managing partner Prashant Srivastava told Business Standard. In the US, Gallup has set up the Gallup University, which provides management education-both degree programmes and continuing education-to individuals and organizations. Among its programmes are the MBA in Executive Leadership and a Master’s in Business with an emphasis on Global Leadership." To read the rest of this article click here.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Blackboard Learning Management System and potential conflicts with Microsoft's new Vista operating system.

Today's post comes from PCMagazine. "On college campuses, Microsoft's Vista operating system may be in danger of failing courses that use Blackboard, a key software program for communication between teachers and students.

Some campuses in the U.S. and elsewhere using Blackboard are discovering that the software and some of its functionality is being hindered as students and teachers begin to update their systems with Microsoft Vista." To read the rest of this article
click here.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Online education and understanding your learning style survey.

Online learning is not right for everyone. It is important to understand your learning style. To see if your style is compatible with online learning take this, "Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire" created by North Carolina State University.