Free online “homework help” websites — from Learning Today by Laura Ketcham

E-Learning expands for special-needs students — from edweek.org by Nirvi Shah
But obstacles to greater participation remain, and questions persist about what works best for students with disabilities.

Stanford University is offering Computer Science courses online, free to anyone — from geekosystem.com by Max Eddy

 

Introduction to databases -- free online course from Stanford for fall 2011

A bold experiment in distributed education, “Introduction to Databases” will be offered free and online to students worldwide during the fall of 2011. Students will have access to lecture videos, receive regular feedback on progress, and receive answers to questions. When you successfully complete this class, you will also receive a statement of accomplishment. Taught by Professor Jennifer Widom, the curriculum draws from Stanford’s popular Introduction to Databases course. A topics list and many of the materials are available here. More information about the Stanford course can be perused here. Details on the public offering will be available by late September. Sign up below to receive additional information about participating in the online version when it becomes available.

Also see the video at:
Introduction to Databases class by Stanford University

 

Machine learning course -- free, online course from Stanford this fall

A bold experiment in distributed education, “Machine Learning” will be offered free and online to students worldwide during the fall of 2011. Students will have access to lecture videos, lecture notes, receive regular feedback on progress, and receive answers to questions. When you successfully complete the class, you will also receive a statement of accomplishment. Taught by Professor Andrew Ng, the curriculum draws from Stanford’s popular Machine Learning course. A syllabus and more information is available here. Sign up below to receive additional information about participating in the online version when it becomes available.

Also see the video at:
Machine Learning: About the class

 

From DSC:
Again, my question is…if these trends continue, what opportunities are presenting themselves? What threats are presenting themselves?  What is our response?  How will colleges/universities differentiate themselves in this developing landscape? If items like the below continue to grow…how do we respond?

 

thegreatcourses.com -- professors

 

Addendum later on 8/29/11:

 

The Digital Revolution and Higher Education — from the Pew Research Center by Kim Parker, Amanda Lenhart, and Kathleen Moore
College Presidents, Public Differ on Value of Online Learning

Excerpt:

This report is based on findings from a pair of Pew Research Center surveys conducted in spring 2011. One is a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults ages 18 and older. The other is an online survey, done in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, among the presidents of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges and universities.

Here is a summary of key findings…

 

From DSC:
First, [perhaps it’s in the appendices, but] how many of the people out in the public who were surveyed have actually taken an online class? If so, how many classes (each) have they taken and when did they take them? From whom did they take them? My guess is that most of them have never taken a class online.

Secondly, I wonder how many people thought that the telephone was a useful instrument/communication device shortly after it was introduced? Perhaps not too many…but did you use one today? Yesterday? I bet you did. I did…several times; and I bet that the same will be true of online learning (as online learning didn’t really begin to be used until the late 90’s).

The question is not whether online learning will blow away the face-to-face classroom, it’s when this will occur…? There will be many reasons for this, but the key one will be that you are putting up a team of specialists instead of using just one person. If they are reeeeaaaalllyy good (and a rare talent), that person can do the trick for now; but their success/job will continue to be increasingly difficult to perform, as they continue to pick up new hats each year, as the students’ attention spans and expectations continue to change, as lower cost models continue to emerge, etc, etc…

As Christensen, Horn, and Johnson assert, the innovation is taking place in the online learning world, and it will eventually surpass what’s possible (if it hasn’t already) in the face-to-face classrooms.

 

 

The impact of new business models for higher education on student financing

Financing Higher Education in Developing Countries
Think Tank | Bellagio Conference Centre | 8-12 August 2011

Sir John Daniel (Commonwealth of Learning)
&
Stamenka Uvali-Trumbi (UNESCO)

Excerpt:

The aim of this paper has been to suggest that in discussing student financing we need to look beyond the current standard model classroom teaching to the likely developments in learning systems over the next decade. These have the potential to cut costs dramatically and thereby lessen the challenge of student financing.

That is fortunate because nearly one-third of the world’s population (29.3%) is under 15. Today there are 165 million people enrolled in tertiary education.[2] Projections suggest that that participation will peak at 263 million in 2025.[3] Accommodating the additional 98 million students would require more than four major campus universities (30,000 students) to open every week for the next fifteen years unless alternative models emerge. (emphasis DSC)

Also see:

OER for beginners: An introduction to sharing learning resources openly in healthcare education
The Higher Education Academy (HEA) (www.heacademy.ac.uk) and the Joint information Systems Committee (JISC) (www.jisc.ac.uk) are working in partnership to develop the HEFCE-funded Open Educational Resources (OER) programme, supporting UK higher education institutions in sharing their teaching and learning resources freely online across the world.

Online expectations — from EdTechMag.com by Wylie Wong; with a special thanks going out to Mr. Michael Haan, Calvin College, for this resource
Colleges bolster network bandwidth, invest in video conferencing equipment and increase their online course offerings to meet the growing demand for distance learning.

Excerpt:

“Students today are fully wired,” says Tim Conroy, the college’s dean of information technology. “They can get anything they want online, and they expect to have the option to either come to class or get their education online.”

Distance learning has seen huge growth over the past decade as broadband adoption has increased and technology has improved. Distance learning courses are offered through the Internet, television, video conferencing and even CD-ROMs and DVDs. But online is the most popular avenue for distance learning.

 

From Daniel Christian: Fasten your seatbelts! An accelerated ride through some ed-tech landscapes.


From DSC:
Immediately below is a presentation that I did for the Title II Conference at Calvin College back on August 11, 2011
It is aimed at K-12 audiences.


 

Daniel S. Christian presentation -- Fasten your seatbelts! An accelerated ride through some ed-tech landscapes (for a K-12 audience)

 


From DSC:
Immediately below is a presentation that I did today for the Calvin College Fall 2011 Conference.
It is aimed at higher education audiences.


 

 Daniel S. Christian presentation -- Fasten your seatbelts! An accelerated ride through some ed-tech landscapes (for a higher ed audience)

 


Note from DSC:

There is a great deal of overlap here, as many of the same technologies are (or will be) hitting the K-12 and higher ed spaces at the same time. However, there are some differences in the two presentations and what I stressed depended upon my audience.

Pending time, I may put some audio to accompany these presentations so that folks can hear a bit more about what I was trying to relay within these two presentations.


Tagged with:  

Social media and its impact on how we learn in the workplace — from C4PLT by Jane Hart


 

From DSC:
One reflection that jumped out at me from Jane’s excellent presentation…and that I believe is a universal truth:

If an organization doesn’t respond to changing conditions, needs, desires, preferences, best interests, and/or the requirements of its customers, that organization will diminish in usefulness and will most likely (albeit eventually) go out of business.

I know I’m not introducing a new thought here and the above statement seems very self-evident, but do we heed this advice in corporate L&D? Corporate IT? IT within higher education? In higher education as an industry?

 


Khan Academy integrates with digital textbooks — from Mashable.com by Sarah Kessler

Excerpt:

E-textbook maker Kno announced Monday that it will integrate thousands of tutorial videos from Khan Academy into its books.

 

Also see:

Getting at-risk teens to graduation — from educationnext.org by June Kronholz
Blended learning offers a second chance

Excerpt:

People who deal with at-risk teenagers say dropping out is not an event; it’s a process. Youngsters miss school and get “backed up” in class, so they miss more school because they’re bewildered or embarrassed, and fall further behind. Seeing few ways to recover, “they just silently drop out,” said Richard Firth, who showed me around the Hampton school and two others in Richmond that are using online learning to derail the cycle.

Finding the right learning mix — from Chief Learning Officer by Lance Dublin
Learning organizations are experiencing a kind of renaissance, with new technology prompting new thinking about how to enhance, extend and enable learning.

Some updates on learning from the living room:

US cable and pay TV lose another half million customers in Q2, 2011 – cord cutting continues — from appmarket.tv by Richard Kastelein
According to Bloomberg, the six largest publicly traded U.S. cable and Pay TV providers are to lose 580,000 customers in the second quarter of 2011 – which is the biggest such decline in history.

‘TV textbooks’ bring access to low-income Florida students — from eSchoolNews.com by Jenna Zwang
Jacksonville officials introduce a program to raise reading scores
Prompted by lackluster reading scores, Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in Jacksonville, Fla., is attempting to reach low-income students by turning students’ televisions into learning centers.

Loyalize.com

loyalize.com

Time Warner cable head says company future is broadband, not TV  – ReelSEO Video Marketing by Jeremy Scott
Well surprise, surprise. The chief executive of Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable operator in the U.S., says that broadband is the anchor service of the company’s future, not television. And while that may be a no-brainer for most of us observers in the industry, it’s still a pretty big deal for a cable company to admit their future isn’t in cable (emphasis DSC).

Research: Connected TV will be consumers’ portal to the Web by 2015 — from fierceonlinevideo.com

Google, Motorola deal may impact TV future — from bizreport.com by Kristina Knight
Add another destination for online giant Google your living room (emphasis DSC). With the announcement that Google will purchase Motorola Mobility many in the space wonder what is next.

 

Addendum on 8/18/11:


Best practices help dispel the myths of online faculty hiring practices — from Faculty Focus by Mary Bart

Excerpt:

Some of the myths include:

  • Faculty who only teach online courses are typically hired “differently” than faculty who teaching face-to-face.
  • Academic departments are reluctant to use geographically-dispersed faculty to teach online courses.
  • Little to no effort is made to integrate faculty who teach only online courses into a department’s faculty community.
  • Faculty who teach only online courses are not subject to the same kind of teaching evaluation as those who teach face-to-face courses.
© 2024 | Daniel Christian