EdTek Services, Inc.

Do students achieve the stated learning objectives? What is the percentage of faculty with terminal degrees? What is the acceptance rate? What College Board http://www.collegeboard.com/ tier groups comprise your new class? We see program assessment, classroom assessment and the noted "general" assessment categories. Each provides a set standard of practices and a schedule for reporting results. When navigating the minefield of assessment with an eye that is focused on what's important, how do we determine what counts?

The answer may be an easy, 'it depends on your perspective' but if we had to select one assessment of the higher education experience, what would (or should) it be?

Those of us who work in higher education are aware of the challenges of pleasing multiple constituencies: administrators, trustees, directors, regulators, accreditation commissions, faculty governance, unions and not to mention students and their parents. We debate assessment regularly. This article discussed the issue of making SAT scores optional during the admissions process http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/26/sat. In this case we are assessing the validity and impact on making SAT scores optional as an admissions requirement. This is an important issue to discuss and the early results of this study appear to reveal what we could have guessed: dropping the SAT as an admissions requirement increases diversity and average GPA's of the incoming class and in public institutions results in higher academic achievement. Great! All public institutions should drop the SAT as a requirement. Since public institutions are usually more affordable and dropping this requirement increases diversity and diverse populations tend to have a greater financial need, from an enrollment marketing perspective, this is a win-win-win situation.

Labels: Admissions criteria college board EdTek higher education ONline learning online learning affordability Online learning marketing rural school districts SAT Scores school fuel costs

Hosted Learning Management System

4/1/2009
Paul Jacobelli
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eLearning and Software as a Service (SaaS)

Why elearning and Software as a Service (SaaS) makes sense!

I want to draw attention to why I think small education providers can really benefit from SaaS:

You don't need to buy or lease expensive hardware or software which is a real money saver.
You simply sign up and your eLearning system is ready to go in a very short time - usually within a week to 30 days.
The LMS provider can focus their efforts and spend a lot more money than you on such things as security, scalability, back-up systems, technical support and maintenance, etc.
Good eLearning SaaS companies charge a fee per user rather than sell you a license based on what you might use in a year. This helps you with your Return on Investment (ROI).
Your LMS provider makes all the upgrades as part of the service. This ensures your program remains competitive and you won't have to buy a newer system.
You don't need to add FTE to your IT department. The LMS is staffed by the vendor which also provides 24/7 Help Desk support to you and your students.

With all these benefits it is just a matter of time before many more software systems that we typically buy and install ourselves will switch to the SaaS model.

Labels: elearning software cost LMS costs ONline learning online learning affordability

Faculty Recruitment and Training

4/1/2009
Paul Jacobelli
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Ten Best Practices for Web-based Teaching

OK, so this isn't my original thought but it still deserves mention if only because so many online courses are below standard in terms of content and design ... which leads me to think that the teaching practices may also be lacking.

If you click on the title of this entry (or click here) you will be connected to Judith Boettcher's list of what constitutes best practices in online learning. While my opinions may be suspect, Dr. Boettcher is the real deal!

Labels: higher education Judith Boettcher online instructor tips ONline learning teaching online courses

General

11/17/2008
Staff
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The MACCRAY school district in rural Minnesota is making every weekend last three days.

Students who live in Maynard, Clara City and Raymond, Minnesota will not have to go school on Mondays when autumn rolls around. In order to save an estimated $85,000 in administrative and transportation costs, the State Board of Education has decided to compress the school week into four days.

We predict that this will become a common occurrence in the rural areas of the country. Since it is established that $4 a gallon for gas is the standard now instead of a market abberation, the realities of fuel costs are starting to become apparent.

Also of note in the article is the mention that the four day school week affects the parents, many of whom now have to juggle schedules in order to make sure that their children are supervised on Mondays.

http://www.startribune.com/local/22872239.html?location_refer=Homepage:highlightModules:3

Labels: EdTek ONline learning rural school districts school fuel costs

11/17/2008
Chris Montone
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The 21st-Century Campus: Are We There Yet?

How close are we to achieving the 21st-century campus? To answer that question, CDW-G surveyed more than 1,000 college students, faculty and IT staff members about their perceptions of campus technology.

Key Findings:

Regardless of their major, students say campus technology was a key factor in their school selection - and is critical to their chosen professions
More than 80 percent of faculty teach at least some of their classes in "smart classrooms," yet just 42 percent of those faculty use the technology during every class session
Topping students' technology wish list is online chat capability with professors; just 23 percent of higher education IT staff say their campus offers it
Faculty and IT staff agreed that lack of technology knowledge among faculty is the biggest barrier to technology on campus

Labels: ONline learning