During this 75-minute webcast, industry experts will clarify the language in Part H of Title IV: Accrediting Agency Recognition, offer insight on how and when this new requirement may be translated into practice, and provide a brief look into various different approaches to address student authentication. The objective of this webcast is to help you formulate responses tailored to your administrators, faculty and students about this issue.Access the Webcast

YouTube, Podcasting, Blogs, Wikis and RSS are buzz words currently associated with the term Web 2.0 and represent a shifting pedagogical paradigm for the use of a new set of tools within education. Read the Full Article

Although the foreign-language profession routinely stresses the importance of technology for the curriculum, many teachers still harbor deep-seated doubts as to whether or not a hybrid course, much less a completely distance-learning class, could provide L2 learners with a way to reach linguistic proficiency, especially with respect to oral language skills. In this study, we examine the case of Spanish Without Walls (SWW), a first-year language course offered at the University of California - Davis in both hybrid and distance-learning formats. The SWW curriculum includes materials delivered via CD-ROM/DVD programs, online content-based web pages, and synchronous bimodal chat that includes sound and text. Read the Full Article

Although online courses at postsecondary institutions promise adults access, flexibility, and convenience, many barriers to online learning remain. This article presents findings from a qualitative case study, which explored the phenomenon of undergraduate and graduate women learners’ persistence in online degree-completion programs at a college in the Northeast of the United States. Research questions asked why women learners persisted or failed to persist, and how factors supporting or hindering persistence influenced learners. Interviews with a purposeful sample of 20 participants revealed the complexity of variables affecting learners’ persistence to graduation. Findings suggested that multiple responsibilities, insufficient interaction with faculty, technology, and coursework ranked highest as barriers to women’s persistence. Strong motivation to complete degrees, engagement in the learning community, and appreciation for the convenience of an online degree-completion option facilitated persistence.Read the Full Article

This article details the development of new courses and programs offered through a university distance learning initiative. These innovative courses build on national research and policy recommendations regarding the mathematical education of teachers. Course material, course evaluation, and student interview data are presented to shed light on two important themes: (a) How teacher content and pedagogical knowledge can be developed within courses and across a degree program and (b) how these teacher education goals can be met via distance learning. Students (classroom teachers) reported that the integration of content and pedagogy was a valuable feature of the program. Overall, students thought the program helped them be more effective teachers and would recommend the program to others. They especially appreciated the flexibility and convenience the distance programs provide.Read the Full Article

The concept of virtual reality—of humans interacting in computerized, digital environments—has been in existence for over twenty-five years now. The cult-classic movie Tron, perhaps the first movie to explore the concept, was released in 1982, and by the early 1990s, “virtual reality” was the buzzword du jour. Films like Lawnmower Man (1992) provided visions of people entering digital environments through the assistance of external devices worn on their bodies—goggles for seeing, special gloves for touching, and so on. The idea was that at some point in the future, these devices could be miniaturized and worn naturally, allowing people to interact simultaneously with an augmented physical reality as it exists and an immersive virtual reality in whatever form or shape we imagined it.Read the Full Article

I've used blogs in my classes for five years with university graduate students. I've found them to be extremely helpful in certain circumstances but only when there is clarity for students in their use. Students who object to the inclusion of blogs in a course are usually objecting to what they perceive will be just one more task on top of a myriad of others or simply some busy work that will not benefit their learning. Older students can also reject the notion of "publication" that is inherent with blogging.Read the Full Article

The recent development of a market economy in higher education has resulted in the need to tailor the product to the customers, namely students, employers and commissioning bodies. Distance learning is an opportunity for nurse educators and institutions to address marketing initiatives and develop a learning environment in order to enhance continuing professional development It provides options for lifelong learning for healthcare professionals - including those working in community settings - that is effective and cost efficient Development of continuing professional development programmes can contribute to widening the participation of community practitioners in lifelong learning, practice and role developmentRead the Full Article

Vijay Kumar, senior associate dean for undergraduate education at MIT and director of MIT's Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, gave the opening luncheon speech at the recent Campus Technology Conference in Boston. Afterwards, I interviewed Vijay in depth about one of the topics that he covered in his speech regarding distance learning and open education.Read the Full Article

Vint Cerf, one of the pioneers of the Internet and now Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist, ahs backed European telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding's vision for the future of the Internet.Read the Full Article

Whether or not it is an accurate portrayal, the old stereotype of higher education is the lecture hall, where students sit passively and take notes from a wise professor whose experience and knowledge can be shared only in the classroom. The professor’s role is to dispense information, and the students’ role is to receive it.Read the Full Article

Two common web-based surveys, “Is Online Learning Right for Me?’ and “What Technical Skills Do I Need?”, were combined into a single survey instrument and given to 228 on-campus and 83 distance education students.Read the Full Article

Second Life is a three-dimensional multi-user virtual environment with a vibrant economy, where avatars (virtual representations of users) can engage in innovative and unique business and collaborative activities. The immersive nature of this application creates ample authentic opportunities for teaching entrepreneurship, technology and e-commerce. Read the Full Article

A project now under way at Stanford illustrates how integral high-tech innovation is at every level of the university: Stanford is in the beginning stages of making several of its core web-based systems and services available to students as applications on Apple's iconic iPhone. Read the Full Article

Increased satisfaction ratings, more referrals, new student population growth credited to OnBase Read the Full Article

We are building a new communications platform that lets anyone package and share anything on the internet in ways never before possible.Access the Site

By some definitions, "Web 3.0" will be characterized by semantic mapping of data. Unlike regular searches which mine information based on keywords you type in, semantic search looks for information you want by connecting the meaning of words.Read the Full Article

The project will create open content electronic textbooks that will be freely available from a website. Distribution will also be possible via paper, CD, or DVD. Our goal initially is to focus on content development and Web distribution, and we will work with relevant authorities to facilitate dissemination by other means when bandwidth is unavailable or inadequate. The goal is to make textbooks available to the many who cannot afford them.Access the Site

This study identified the important factors influencing faculty members’ decision to use or not to use any form of online course management applications (OCMA) in higher education. A polynomial logistic analysis led to a statistical-artifact hypothesis: factors did exist that correlated faculty members’ technology adoption decisions. Motivational factors such as Self-efficacy or Philosophy had a strong impact on the probability of using OCMA relative to the reference category of the non-use of OCMA; Teaching experience or Peer-pressure or Class-innovation had no impact; Time was shown not to be a factor. Additionally, this study suggested specific ways in which administrators might play an important role in supporting faculty members’ decisions toward online education. This study was guided by four research questions. It examined six hypothesized independent factors. A random sample of four hundred teaching faculty members in the University of Maine was invited to participate via print surveys.Read the Full Article

To teach incoming undergraduate students information literacy skills, a research team at the University of Michigan School of Information developed the Defense of Hidgeon, a web-based board game. We opted for a game in lieu of other approaches because what people are doing when they are playing good games is good learning. This article describes the game's backstory, how to navigate its 34-space game board, and special game-play features. Read the Full Article