online learning

Will more institutions of higher education join something like the new “University Learning Store?”

On 04/05/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, business, career development, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, consortiums, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, distance education, elearning, experimentation, future of higher education, higher education, ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, microlearning, new business models, online learning, platforms, professional development, technologies for your home, telepresence, television, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:

Will more institutions of higher education be joining/contributing courses to this type of University Learning Store? I’ve often wondered about the place of consortia in higher ed…perhaps this will be one of the ways that institutions pool their resources. (i.e., creating and contributing content, tapping into content that’s been aggregated)
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How will corporate training / L&D groups view his sort of development? Will it be helpful to them?
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Will the University Learning Store, like Lynda.com, continually expand the list of topics that they are offering/addressing?
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Will these types of efforts morph into what I’ve been calling Learning from the Living [Class] Room? (i.e., learning on demand across a lifetime; employing web-based learner profiles, cognitive computing, social networking/learning while offering the ability to instantly form or join communities of practice) Another way of asking this question is this: “As technology-enabled collaborations increase what’s possible, what’s to keep courses from being ported to tvOS-based apps for on demand learning?”

For example, fast forward a few years from the technologies found in “The Video Call Center” and one could imagine some powerful means of collaborating from one’s living room:

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

Also see:

Micro-credentials offer universities an opportunity to bridge skill gaps — from centerdigitaled.com by Tanya Roscorla
By working with employers, universities can help students of all ages learn skills that industry leaders need.

Excerpt:

Higher education leaders are pondering how to make bite-sized, low-cost learning opportunities available to students in different ways.

Working adults who change jobs and careers frequently often don’t need to go through an entire degree program to learn different skills. However, they do need a flexible way to earn credentials that are recognized by employers and that demonstrate their ability to apply the skills they learn, said David Schejbal, dean of continuing education, outreach and e-learning at University of Wisconsin-Extension. University micro-credentials can help fill that role.

Six universities have been working with employers to find out what skills they need their employees to have, including the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California Davis Extension, University of California Irvine Extension, University of Wisconsin-Extension, University of Washington and University of California, Los Angeles.

As a result of collaborating with industry, these universities created short courses and certification programs for the University Learning Store that launched last week. These courses fall into three categories: power skills, technical skills and career advancement skills. Power skills used to be called “soft skills” and include communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

The final report of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Online Education Policy Initiative presents findings from discussions among the members of the Institute-wide initiative supported by advice from the advisory group. The report reflects comments and responses received from many sources, including education experts, government education officials, and representatives of university organizations.

Our findings target four areas: interdisciplinary collaboration, online educational technologies, the profession of the learning engineer, and institutional and organizational change. Focused attention in these areas could significantly advance our understanding of the opportunities and challenges in transforming education.

Recommendation 1:
Increase Interdisciplinary Collaboration Across Fields of Research in Higher Education, Using an Integrated Research Agenda

Recommendation 2:
Promote Online as an Important Facilitator in Higher Education

Recommendation 3:
Support the Expanding Profession of the “Learning Engineer”

Recommendation 4:
Foster Institutional and Organizational Change in Higher Education to Implement These Reforms

Also see:
MIT releases online education policy initiative report — from news.mit.edu by Jessica Fujimori, April 1, 2016
New report draws on diverse fields to reflect on digital learning.

Excerpts:

A new MIT report on online education policy draws on diverse fields, from socioeconomics to cognitive science, to analyze the current state of higher education and consider how advances in learning science and online technology might shape its future.
…
Titled “Online Education: A Catalyst for Higher Education Reform,” the report presents four overarching recommendations, stressing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, integration between online and traditional learning, a skilled workforce specializing in digital learning design, and high-level institutional and organizational change.
…
“There’s so much going on in online education, and it’s moving so quickly, that it’s important to take time to reflect,” says Eric Klopfer, a key participant in the initiative, who is a professor of education and directs the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program. “One of the goals of the report is to try to help frame the discussion and to pull together some of the pieces of the conversation that are taking place in different arenas but are not necessarily considered in an integrated way,” Willcox says.

“We believe that there is a new category of professionals emerging from all this,” Sarma says. “We use the term ‘learning engineer,’ but maybe it’s going to be some other term — who knows?”

These “learning engineers” would have expertise in a discipline as well as in learning science and educational technologies, and would integrate knowledge across fields to design and optimize learning experiences.

“It’s important that this cadre of professionals get recognized as a valuable profession and provided with opportunities for advancement,” Willcox says. “Without people like this, we’re not going to make a transformation in education.”

Finally, the report recommends mechanisms to stimulate high-level institutional and organizational change to support the transformation of the industry, such as nurturing change agents and role models, and forming thinking communities to evaluate reform options.

“Policy makers and decision makers at institutions need to be proactive in thinking about this,” says Willcox. “There’s a lot to be learned by looking at industries that have seen this kind of transformation, particularly transformations brought on by digital technologies.”

Start your journey: Lynda.com introduces Learning Paths to help you stay ahead — from linkedin.com

Excerpt:

We all know that the knowledge and skills required to be successful in our jobs today is accelerating. This rate of change challenges all of us to stay ahead in our roles and sets a high bar for those looking to start or change their careers. Today we are introducing more than 50 new learning paths to help you stay ahead in your current job or if you’re looking to make a career pivot.

Learning paths are step-by-step structured courses, supported with quizzes, practice, and learning reminders to encourage you and support you as you make progress towards your goal. These new learning paths include how to become a Web Developer, a Manager, a Bookkeeper, a Project Manager, a Small Business Owner, a Digital Marketer, a Digital Illustrator. Check out the full list here.

Learning paths are also a great way to continue expanding on your existing skill set. If you’re embarking on a new career, you can take advantage of these learning paths to become more knowledgeable about the skills and experience needed to secure your dream job. If you’re a marketing manager who needs to quickly get up to speed on how to leverage social media for your job, you could take the digital marketing learning path to continue grooming and adding new skills.

We know that making the commitment to learn is incredibly tough; sticking with it can be even harder. To ensure your hard work gets noticed, you’ll receive a certification of completion at the end of a learning path that you can share with your professional network on LinkedIn. Whether you’re looking to transform your current career path, jump into a new career, or sharpen your skills in your current job, Lynda.com can be your guide.

These new learning paths will be available starting today in English around the world and we are working towards adding new paths for you to take. We look forward to hearing about your learning path stories.

Also see:

LinkedIn launches Lynda.com ‘Learning Paths’ in push to grow education business — from forbes.com by Kathleen Chaykowski

Excerpt:

On Thursday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company launched more than 50 Lynda.com “Learning Paths,” a package of ordered courses intended to prepare users for a specific role or to update users’ skills for their current job. Some of the new “Learning Paths” include how to become a digital marketer, photographer, digital illustrator, small business owner, project manager, bookkeeper or web developer.

“Whether you’re looking to transform your current career path, jump into a new career, or sharpen your skills in your current job, Lynda.com can be your guide,” Arthur Nicholls, a senior product manager at LinkedIn said. ”We all know that the knowledge and skills required to be successful in our jobs today is accelerating. This rate of change challenges all of us to stay ahead in our roles and sets a high bar for those looking to start or change their careers.”

Fuller profiles on candidates’ skills and qualifications will also advance LinkedIn’s efforts in building an economic graph, a digital map of the skills, economic needs, jobs, companies and people around the world.

Could Slack be the next online learning platform? [Ahearn]

On 03/31/2016, in cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, education technology, elearning, ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, MBA, online learning, online media, social learning / networks, social media, tools, vendors, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Could Slack be the next online learning platform? — from edsurge.com by Amy Ahearn

Excerpt:

Enter Slack. The online communication platform launched two years ago and now has more than 2.3 million users. It facilitates an online, supercharged version of watercooler conversation, enabling people to trade information and chat informally with colleagues. And it might just be a game changer for online education.
…
On Slack there are flexible public channels, along with small private groups for exchanges between just a few people. Media companies including the New York Times are using it as a content management system, and corporations from Walmart to Blue Bottle Coffee rely on it to keep globally distributed teams in sync.
…

At +Acumen we were intrigued when marketing guru Seth Godin used Slack for an experiment in online learning. In 2014 he started altMBA, an online leadership workshop, and hosted it in Slack.

Also see:

Slack

Microsoft Surface Hub is now shipping – – from avinteractive.com

Excerpt:

Surface Hub is… “a new category of device that will transform the way companies work by delivering a new kind of productivity experience made for group collaboration. It was designed from the ground up for ink and touch, and harnesses the best collaboration and security features of Windows 10, Skype for Business, Office, OneNote and Universal Windows apps.”

Microsoft Surface Hub finally starts shipping — from informationweek.com by Nathan Eddy
Microsoft’s Surface Hub promises to revolutionize the way companies collaborate and communicate, but are businesses ready to pay a hefty price to do so? The giant, Windows 10-based device starts at $9,000.

Also see:

You can choose between 55” HD and 84” 4K options.
Start meetings on time with a tap of the screen.
End your session with an option to save & send meeting content to the group for later use.

From DSC:
Though this hardware is targeted towards the corporate space, I can’t help but think of the applications to higher education as well. This is yet another tool that could facilitate active learning & stronger collaboration — whether that be in classrooms or in conference rooms. Note how these solutions are often able to bring in remote learners/employees into the discussions. In several of these kinds of solutions, the remote learners/employees can see and interact with the same content…such as in Bluescape.

From DSC:
Reading the first item from today’s Learning TRENDS — from Elliott Masie — it appears that employees’ learning ecosystems are morphing…big time. More and more, employees are producing content and/or finding it outside the internal Learning & Development groups.

Having worked in Fortune 500 companies for 15 years, I experienced first hand the need to keep growing and learning — and that the employee ultimately needs to own their own learning. It’s in the organizations’ and employees’ best interests to have employees tap into multiple streams of content in order to keep learning and growing. The L&D Groups are still very important, but given the pace of change — and disruption — one simply can’t afford to have someone else be in charge of one’s learning.

Excerpt from Learning TRENDS #911 (emphasis DSC)

Learner as Content Producer? More of the learning consumed by learners has been created, compiled or produced by sources other than internal Learning & Development groups. We have been surveying a significant shift in the origin of content used by employees of our organizations. Increasingly, we are seeing these as the source of content:

Search Found Content.
Public Content Collections – TED Talks, YouTube, Others.
Peer Created Content or Collaborations.
Curated Content by Learners.
3rd Party Content from External Providers.

The “meta” trend is that organization is building less and less of the content in a formal designer mode. In fact, the Learner is often becoming a “Learning Producer”, through their own assembly and selection of content from a wider and wider set of resources. It will be interesting to track how learners expand and hone their skills of being their own “Producers” – and how learning functions leverage this to help curate a more effective and efficient set of learning choices for the rest of the enterprise.

Key issues in teaching and learning 2016 [educause.edu]

On 03/30/2016, in adjunct faculty, analytics, blended learning, digital learning, faculty/staff, higher education, hybrid learning, learning spaces, mobile learning, multimedia, new business models, online learning, personalized/customized learning, professional development, smart classrooms, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Key issues in teaching and learning 2016 — from educause.edu

Digitally-based means of learning are going to skyrocket!!! Here’s why. [Christian]

On 03/18/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, analytics, assessment, assistive technologies, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, face-to-face, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, ideas, innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, second screen apps, smart classrooms, student-related, teaching & learning, telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, trends, TVs, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

Key point from DSC:
Digitally-based means of learning are going to skyrocket!!! Far more than what we’ve seen so far! There are several trends that are occurring to make this so.

As background here, some of the keywords and phrases that are relevant to this posting include:

Wireless content sharing
Wireless collaboration solutions
Active learning based classrooms
Conference rooms
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Enterprise wireless display solutions
Enterprise collaboration solutions
Cross platform support: iOS, Android, Windows
Personalized learning
Learning analytics

Some of the relevant products in this area include:

Bluescape
Mezzanine from Oblong Industries
Montage from DisplayNote Technologies
ThinkHub and ViewHub from T1V
Mersive Solstice
Crestron AirMedia
Barco Clickshare
Haworth Workware Wireless
Christi Brio
AMX enzo
NovoConnect from Vivitek
Arrive MediaPoint
Apple TV
Chromecast

From DSC:

First of all, consider the following products and the functionalities they offer.

People who are in the same physical space can collaborate with people from all over the world — no matter if they are at home, in another office, on the road, etc.

For several of these products, remote employees/consultants/trainers/learners can contribute content to the discussions, just like someone in the same physical location can.

ThinkHub-March2016

From DSC:

Many of these sorts of systems & software are aimed at helping people collaborate — again, regardless of where they are located. Remote learners/content contributors are working in tandem with a group of people in the same physical location. If this is true in business, why can’t it be true in the world of education?

So keep that in mind, as I’m now going to add on a few other thoughts and trends that build upon these sorts of digitally-based means of collaborating.

Q: Towards that end…ask yourself, what do the following trends and items have in common?

The desire to capture and analyze learner data to maximize learning
Colleges’ and universities’ need to increase productivity (which is also true in the corporate & K-12 worlds)
The trend towards implementing more active learning-based environments
The increasing use of leveraging students’ devices for their learning (i.e., the BYOD phenomenon)
The continued growth and increasing sophistication of algorithms

A: All of these things may cause digitally-based means of learning to skyrocket!!!

To wrap up this line of thought, below are some excerpts from recent articles that illustrate what I’m trying to get at here.

Embrace the Power of Data
A continuous improvement mindset is important. Back-end learning analytics, for example, can reveal where large numbers of students are struggling, and may provide insights into questions that require new feedback or content areas that need more development. Data can also highlight how students are interacting with the content and illuminate things that are working well—students’ lightbulb moments.

— Five Principles for Your Learning Design Toolkit
from edsurge.com by Amanda Newlin

Mitchell gave the example of flight simulators, which not only provide students with a way to engage in the activity that they want to learn, but also have data systems that monitor students’ learning over time, providing them with structured feedback at just the right moment. This sort of data-centric assessment of learning is happening in more and more disciplines — and that opens the door to more innovation, he argued.

…

A promising example, said Thille, is the use of educational technology to create personalized and adaptive instruction. As students interact with adaptive technology, the system collects large amounts of data, models those data, and then makes predictions about each student based on their interactions, she explained. Those predictions are then used for pedagogical decision-making — either feeding information back into the system to give the student a personalized learning path, or providing insights to faculty to help them give students individualized support.

…

“We need the models and the data to be open, transparent, peer-reviewable and subject to academic scrutiny.”

…

“We began to actually examine what we could do differently — based not upon hunches and traditions, but upon what the data told us the problems were for the students we enroll,” said Renick. “We made a commitment not to raise our graduation rate through getting better students, but through getting better — and that gain meant looking in the mirror and making some significant changes.”

…

A 21st-century learning culture starts with digital content. In 2010, Jackson State University was looking for ways that technology could better address the needs of today’s learner. “We put together what we call our cyberlearning ecosystem,” said Robert Blaine, dean of undergraduate studies and cyberlearning. “What that means is that we’re building a 21st-century learning culture for all of our students, writ large across campus.” At the core of that ecosystem is digital content, delivered via university-supplied iPads.

— 7 Things Higher Education Innovators Want You to Know
from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

On Bennett’s wish list right now is an application that allows students to give feedback at specific points of the videos that they’re watching at home. This would help him pinpoint and fix any “problem” areas (e.g. insufficient instructions for difficult topics/tasks) and easily see where students are experiencing the most difficulties.

TechSmith’s now-retired “Ask3” video platform, for example, would have done the trick. It allowed users to watch a video and ask text-based questions at the point where playback was stopped. “I’d like to be able to look at my content and say, ‘Here’s a spot where there are a lot of questions and confusion,'” said Bennett, who also sees potential in an “I get it” button that would allow students to hit the button when everything clicks. “That would indicate the minimum viable video that I’d need to produce.” Learning Catalytics offers a similar product at a fee, Bennett said, “but I can’t charge my students $20 a year to use it.”

— 6 Flipped Learning Technologies To Watch in 2016
from thejournal.com by Bridget McCrea

All of these trends lend themselves to causing a major increase in the amount of learning that occurs via digitally-based means and methods.

#DesignInTech Report 2016 [KPCB]

On 03/16/2016, in business, career development, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, curriculum, design, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, graphics, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, MBA, microlearning, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multimedia, online learning, platforms, professional development, programming, real-world assignments, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy, technology (general), training / L&D, trends, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

#DesignInTech Report 2016 — from kpcb.com

Some excerpted slides:

What are the learning-related ramifications of technologies that provide virtual personal assistants? [Christian]

On 03/09/2016, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, collaboration, communications, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, disruption, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Everything Siri can do for you and your Apple TV — from imore.com by Lory Gill

Excerpt:

When you ask Siri what it can search for, it will respond, “I can search by title, people (actor, director, character name, guest star, producer, or writer), ratings (like PG or TV-G), reviews (such as best or worst), dates (like 2012 or the 80s), age (like kid-friendly or teen), seasons, episodes, and studio. And of course, I can search by genre.”

But, what else can Siri do?
…
Siri has a fairly robust search feature with multi-layer filtering.
…
While you are watching a movie or TV show, or listening to music, you can get a little extra help from Siri. It’s like having a buddy sitting next to you — but they don’t shush you when you ask a question.
…
You can search for content in the Music app on Apple TV by artist, album, or song title. With a little know-how, you can also turn Siri into your personal deejay.
…
While you may normally look to your smartphone for your weather predictions, Siri can be just as helpful about the conditions around the world as your local weatherman or app. All you have to do is ask.

From DSC:
Following this trajectory out a bit into the future — and in light of significant developments that continue to occur with artificial intelligence, the development and use of algorithms, the potential use of web-based learner profiles (think LinkedIn.com/Lynda.com, MOOCs, the use of nanodegrees), second screen-based apps, and the like — one has to wonder:

“What are the ramifications of this for learning-related applications?!”

Labster: Empowering the Next Generation of Scientists to Change the World
Laboratory Simulations for Educators to Empower their STEM Students

From DSC:
I recently met Maaroof Fakhri at the Next Generation Learning Spaces Conference. It was a pleasure to meet him and hear him speak of the work they are doing at Labster (which is located in Denmark). He is very innovative, and he shines forth with a high degree of energy, creativity, and innovation.

Keep an eye on the work they are doing. Very sharp.

Also see:

2015 with Labster in review, and ahead to 2016

Learnathons, on the other hand are optimized sessions that teach participants how to apply what they learn as soon as possible. They are on the opposite end of how classroom teaching is organized, with lessons spread out over the course of a semester focusing on theory and weekly practice. They are a fairly new concept, but have created an environment for learning that is speeding up comprehension and application to levels that aren’t seen elsewhere.

Addendum on 3/16/16:

What are Remote Labs? <– from ilabcentral.org

Making high school science labs more real, more engaging, and more accessible
Remote Online laboratories (iLabs) are experimental facilities that can be accessed through the Internet, allowing students and educators to carry out experiments from anywhere at any time.

Don’t rule out tvOS for some powerful learning experiences / new affordances [Christian]

On 02/26/2016, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, flipping -- inverted learning, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, programming, second screen apps, training / L&D, universities, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Don’t rule out tvOS for some powerful learning experiences / new affordances. The convergence of the television, the telephone, and the computer continues…and is now coming into your home. Trainers, faculty members, teachers, developers, and others will want to keep an eye on this space. The opportunities are enormous, especially as second screen-based apps and new forms of human computer interfaces (HCI) unfold.

The following items come to my mind:

Online-based communities of practice. Virtual reality, virtual tutoring. Intelligent systems. Artificial intelligence. Global learning. 24×7, lifelong learning. Career development. Flipping the classroom. Homeschooling. Learning hubs. Online learning. Virtual schools. Webinars on steroids.

With the reach of these powerful technologies (that continue to develop), I would recommend trying to stay informed on what’s happening in the world of tvOS-based apps in the future. Towards that end, below are some items that might help.

Apple releases Apple TV Tech Talks video series for building better tvOS apps — by AppleInsider Staff

Excerpt:

Apple on Wednesday released to developers a series of videos focusing on Apple TV and its tvOS operating system, offering a detailed look at the underlying SDK, resources and best practices associated with coding for the platform.

Also see:

Apple publishes Apple TV Tech Talk videos for developers — from todaysiphone.com

Addendum on 2/26/16:

Apple Adds Multiple New App Categories to tvOS App Store — from macrumors.com by Juli Clover
Excerpt:
[On 2/25/16] Apple updated the tvOS App Store to add several new app categories to make it easier for Apple TV 4 owners to find content on their devices. As outlined by AfterPad, a site that showcases Apple TV apps, the new categories are rolling out to Apple TV users and may not be available to everyone just yet. Some users may only see the new categories under Purchased Apps until the rollout is complete.

NEW! Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the U.S. [Online Learning Consortium]

On 02/11/2016, in colleges, community colleges, higher education, online learning, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

NEW! Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the U.S. — from the Online Learning Consortium

Excerpt:

Key report findings include:

A year-to-year 3.9% increase in the number of distance education students, up from the 3.7% rate recorded last year.
More than one in four students (28%) now take at least one distance education course (a total of 5,828,826 students, a year-to-year increase of 217,275).
The total of 5.8 million fall 2014 distance education students is composed of 2.85 million taking all of their courses at a distance and 2.97 million taking some, but not all, distance courses.
Public institutions command the largest portion of distance education students, with 72.7% of all undergraduate and 38.7% of all graduate-level distance students.
The proportion of chief academic leaders that say online learning is critical to their long-term strategy fell from 70.8% last year to 63.3% this year.
The percent of academic leaders rating the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face instruction is now at 71.4%.
Only 29.1% of academic leaders report that their faculty accept the “value and legitimacy of online education.” Among schools with the largest distance enrollments, 60.1% report faculty acceptance while only 11.6% of the schools with no distance enrollments do so.

Also see:

Babson bids good-bye to enrollment numbers — from Carl Straumsheim
The 13th and final annual report on online education enrollments by the Babson Group shows how much the market has grown since 2002 — and how little it has changed.
Excerpt:
The Babson Survey Research Group is ending its influential report on the number of students who study online and how chief academic officers feel about the delivery method, citing a “coming of age” of the online education market. Yet the 13th and final annual report, released [2/9/16], shows that perceived skepticism among faculty members toward online education remains, and that many colleges continue to have no interest in online courses.

Without blended and/or online learning, obtaining data & using analytics in education only gets you so far. [Christian]

On 02/09/2016, in analytics, blended learning, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, education technology, elearning, face-to-face, higher education, hybrid learning, ideas, instructional design, IT in HE, learning spaces, MBA, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, smart classrooms, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Big data is a big theme these days — in a variety of industries. Higher ed is no exception, where several vendors continue to develop products that hope to harness the power of big data (and to hopefully apply the lessons learned in a variety of areas, including retention).

However as an Instructional Designer, when I think of capturing and using data in the context of higher education, I’m not thinking about institutional type of data mining and the corresponding dashboards that might be involved therein. I’m thinking of something far more granular — something that resembles a tool for an individual professor to use.

I’m thinking more about individual students and their learning. I’m thinking about this topic in terms of providing additional information for a faculty member to use to gauge the learning within his or her particular classes — and to be able to highlight issues for them to address.

So, for example, when I’m thinking about how a mathematics professor might obtain and use data, I’m thinking of things like:

How did each individual do on this particular math problem?
Who got it right? Who got it wrong?
What percentage of the class got it right? What percentage of the class got it wrong?
For those who got the problem wrong, where in the multi-step process did they go wrong?

So perhaps even if we’re only obtaining students’ final answers — whether that be via clickers, smartphones, laptops, and/or tablets — data is still being created. Data that can then be analyzed and used to steer the learning. This type of information can then help the mathematics professor follow up accordingly — either with some individuals or with the entire class if he/she saw many students struggling with a new concept.

Such data gathering can get even more granular if one is using elearning types of materials. Here, the developers can measure and track things like mouse clicks, paths taken, and more. So like the approaching Internet of Things, data can get produced on a massive scale.

But very few mathematics professors have the time to:

manually track X/Y/or Z per student
manually capture how an entire class just did on a math problem
manually document where each student who got a problem incorrect went wrong

So in the way that I’m thinking about this topic, this entire push/idea of using data and analytics in education requires things to happen digitally — where results can automatically be stored without requiring any manual efforts on the part of the professor.

The ramifications of this are enormous.

That is, the push to use analytics in education — at least at the personalized learning level that I’m thinking of — really represents and actually requires a push towards using blended and/or online-based learning. Using strictly 100% face-to-face based classrooms and environments — without any digital components involved — won’t cut it if we want to harness the power of analytics/data mining to improve student learning.

Though this may seem somewhat obvious, again, the ramifications are huge for how faculty members structure their courses and what tools/methods that they choose to utilize. But this goes way beyond the professor. It also has enormous implications for those departments and teams who are working on creating/revising learning spaces — especially in terms of the infrastructures such spaces offer and what tools might be available within them. It affects decision makers all the way up to the board-level as well (who may not be used to something other than a face-to-face setting…something they recall from their own college days).

What do you think? Are you and/or your institution using big data and analytics? If so, how?

Also see:

Big data and higher education: These apps change everything — from bigdatalandscape.com

Excerpt:

Big Data is going to college. The companies on this list have been developing innovative higher education analytics apps. Universities are realizing the importance of harnessing Big Data for the purposes of helping students to succeed, helping instructors to know what students still need to learn, analyzing efficiency in all areas, boosting enrollment, and more.

For example, CourseSmart embeds analytics directly into digital textbooks. These analytics provide an “engagement index score,” which measures how much students are interacting with their eTextbooks (viewing pages, highlighting, writing notes, etc.). Researchers have found that that the engagement index score helps instructors to accurately predict student outcomes more than traditional measurement methods, such as class participation.

In addition, there are dashboards that enable Big Data analytics and visualization for the purpose of monitoring higher education KPIs such as enrollment, accreditation, effectiveness, research, financial information, and metrics by class and by department. Read on to find out about the companies that are shaping Big Data analytics in higher education.

How five edtech start-ups are using big data to boost business education — from businessbecause.com by Seb Murray
MOOC platforms explore analytics with b-school partners

Excerpts:

“Data is an amazing resource for teachers, who glean detailed feedback on how learners are processing information,” says Julia Stiglitz, director of business development at Coursera, the online learning site with 17 million users.

Coursera, which works with the b-schools IE, Yale and Duke Fuqua, offers a dashboard that gives teachers insight into when students are most likely to stop watching a video, and the percentage who answer assessment questions correctly the first time around.
…
“By carefully assessing course data, from mouse clicks to time spent on tasks to evaluating how students respond to various assessments, researchers hope to shed light on how learners access information and master materials,” says Nancy Moss, edX’s director of communications.

PBS’ School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom <-- A well done, creative, objective, solid discussion of technology in the classroom

On 01/16/2016, in 21st century, active learning, Apple, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), change, collaboration, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education, education reform, education technology, elearning, game-changing environment, generational differences, Google, hybrid learning, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning theories, media/film, Microsoft, multimedia, online learning, organizational change, parents/guardians, pedagogy, personalized/customized learning, research, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, tablets, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, United States, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
If you can clear up just short of an hour of your time, this piece from PBS entitled, “School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom” is very well done and worth your time. It’s creative and objective; it offers us some solid research, some stories, and some examples of the positives and negatives of technology in the classroom. It weaves different modes of learning into the discussion — including blended learning, online learning, personalized learning and more. Though it aired back in October of 2015, I just found out about it.

Check it out if you can!

Also see:

Schools push personalized learning to new heights — from edweek.org
Excerpt:
For most schools, reaching the next level of digitally driven, personalized learning is far from reality. Still, some schools are extending their digital reach in significant and sometimes groundbreaking ways, as the stories in this special report illustrate. They are making moves to integrate a variety of technologies to track how students learn and to use the resulting data to expand the use of hands-on, project-based learning. The goal is to build never-ending feedback loops that ultimately inform the development of curriculum and assessment. Plus, big data and analytics are gradually making their marks in K-12 education. This special report outlines the progress schools are making to use digital tools to personalize learning, but also raises the question: Are they reaching far enough?
.
A Pedagogical Model for the use of iPads for Learning — from higheru.org

Learning Ecosystems

Will more institutions of higher education join something like the new “University Learning Store?”

New from MIT: “Online Education: A Catalyst for Higher Education Reforms”

Microsoft Surface Hub is now shipping; in HE, could be used to facilitate active learning & stronger collaboration

Key issues in teaching and learning 2016 [educause.edu]

NEW! Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the U.S. [Online Learning Consortium]

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