Attorney Blog

Measures of Accountability in Higher Education

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)27074 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

A dialog on establishing and/or improving measures of accountability in higher education is occurring with greater frequency. Successful for-profit higher education companies may be the scourge of traditional academic institutions, but their measures of faculty, staff and administrator performance might be something to envy. For some schools, particularly tuition-driven non-profit institutions, a re-engineering of how success and accountability are measured just may provide the foundation for transformation. While we probably want to avoid a standard Department of Education established universal measurement on accountability having a general outline of what to measure will be helpful. For example, many institutions do not use key performance metrics for staff while some struggle to establish this process and others do not know where to begin.

The Spellings Report, "A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of US Higher Education" addressed the lack of responsibility for student success:

"Among high school graduates who do make it on to postsecondary education, a troubling number waste time—and taxpayer dollars—mastering English and math skills that they should have learned in high school. And some never complete their degrees at all, at least in part because most colleges and universities don’t accept responsibility for making sure that those they admit actually succeed."

Graduation rates are a key indicator that a complete re-engineering on accountability in higher education is critical. According to the NCES Enrollment Report released 4/2007 based on a graduating cohort from 1999, graduation rates in higher education undergraduate institutions were as follows:

4 Years – 35%

5 Years – 52%

6 Years – 57%

We must first acknowledge that these statistics are terrible. Sadly, and as the Spellings report implies, this will be a point some argue. Second, we must consider the financial impact on students and families as follows:

1. Students who begin studies and never complete

2. Students who start and stop

There is a tremendous economic impact on society when large percentages of students begin studies, take on loans and do not receive the credential that will lead to higher earnings. For students who start and stop they will simply pay more for their education unnecessarily.

We believe retention begins in enrollment. Enrollment policies that admit students based on meeting acceptance criteria alone are just one part of a complex retention and graduation rate problem.

Establishing universal measures in education is no small task. Middle managers in institutions may lack training and skills to embark on this journey. Further lacking may be the ability to recognize and act on their professional shortcomings. Transitioning from a low or no measurement culture to an organizational culture with performance indicators and measurements for success require a collaborative approach and 100% engagement from the community in order to ensure broad adoption. This type of transformation requires leadership adopt an authentic, open and collaborative approach with staff provided with direction and empowerment to act to achieve the goals of transformation.

In her article, "A Realistic Approach to Management" Marta Perez Drake points out "As a core framework of metrics evolves, institution leaders must then explicitly state what the desired outcomes are, determine specific targets, and measure the organization based on these targets. When the target is missing, institutions collect data and know what their numbers are – but have nothing against which to measure."

Drake provides a much-needed blueprint for managing change in higher education. Until the accreditation agencies insist on greater accountability and measurement in higher education than we will continue to move along down this road at a snail’s pace and for some institutions, this pace is too risky.

The Brand Identity Test

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)26469 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

When we begin the marketing part of our Operations Assessment one of our first questions is “What is your value proposition” this question sometimes illicits more blank faces than answers. If you think your institution has a value proposition, try the following test. If you ask this same question in your next staff meeting, you will find as many unique and different answers as there are people in the room. To make sure you get the best answers ask your team to write their answers down and collect them when completed.

When beginning a branding development process you should prepare for resistance. Resistance will likely occur where the cross roads meet between “What Your Audience Values” and “Your Strengths” as these two items are sometimes different. Your staff will also have different opinions about the strenghts offered by your institution and your students may value a similar but different range of items. The mere suggestion of a branding development process will make some employees uncomfortable as even the most mild potential for change can be threatening to some.

What Your Audience Values

This gets to the heart of education itself. Why do students enroll at your institution, and what do they hope to get out of the experience? An institution that begins with these questions and makes a concerted effort to get to the real answers will be on their way to identifying their brand and value proposition. The shared governance structure in non-profit education should be very successful at managing the process to get these answers but they are not always successful in doing so. Likewise, the situational leadership and “top-down” management style in corporately owned for-profit institutions typically have a keen awareness of their brand identity; one weakness is they may not factor in the opinions of students well enough.

Your Strengths

Getting faculty, administration and staff members together to identify departmental then institutional strengths can be an insightful and fun time for all involved. Finding where the key stakeholders’ identified strengths meet what the audience thinks is important is where an institution will find its brand promise and resulting value proposition.

Problems

• If students do not value the institutions' strengths, then perhaps the institutions needs to focus on developing additional strengths

• Students may not identify an institutional strength; this may be an indicator of success, but this does not mean we stop this process as brand management is a continual effort

Shared Governance – sometimes the appearance of shared governance is just that, an appearance. While too much ‘shared governance’ leads to a failure to make decisions, a balance is required. In terms of Situational Leadership and the “top-down” approach to management in for-profit institutions, a leader may spend too much time telling and directing and not enough time listening. Again, balance is required for successfully managing your Brand Identity – perhaps the most critical element of your public image.

Finally, we believe if conducted more frequently than a strategic planning process, a continuous analysis of what students want, what an institution is delivering on and how each aligns with the institutional mission can be a very healthy undertaking for an education provider.

Ten Things Higher Education Leaders Must Consider

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)25267 — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

1.A national accreditation review may be just as rigorous as a regional accreditation review as participating schools are subject to increasing outcomes based accountability.

2.The demographics that make up your student body are changing rapidly and this has implications for your admissions/marketing efforts, specifically by the year 2018/2019 white high school graduates will become the minority.

3.Educational outcomes among racial and ethnic groups in the United States are significantly lower than white groups and for our nation to remain competitive, we must work to close the racial achievement gap

4.Parent education and family income continue to be two primary factors that can predict and influence educational attainment and academic achievement.

5.Racial Identity Development is a real process people go through no matter what their race is part of preparing your graduates to compete in a more diverse world may include incorporating theories on this subject into your first year experience or other curricular areas.

6.A best practice for online program/degree delivery is to integrate academics with on-ground campus operations but separate operational student service areas.

7.Your institutions operational budget should be on a Proforma model especially when entering into a strategic planning phase. Understanding revenue and expenses based on program, enrollment, retention and other variables, over the course of 2-4 years, will assist leaders with making granular level decisions that are critical to achieving strategic objectives.

8.Every employee should have key performance metrics.

9.A graduation rate of 55% within 6 years of entering a four-year program is a BAD THING.

10.Admitting students to your institution simply because they met the enrollment criteria has a direct impact on student success and retention.

Literacy, Teaching, Technology and the Impact on Women and Children

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)24981 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

In the USA, issues related to women’s literacy exist and require the most attention within urban centers and anywhere an achievement gap is present. In his article, “The Global Spread of Women's Schooling”, Robert A. Levine brings a new dimension to the impact of the achievement gap. The connection between women’s literacy and their children’s health and learning is undeniable. When we consider the population explosion among racial and ethnic minorities and a growing burden on an already weak system that fails to deliver to its most needy users, we realize the need for swift action to close the achievement gap is greater than we comprehend.

The impact at the global level is more profound. Levine writes, “In the year 2000, 86 percent of the world’s school-aged population (aged six to twenty-three years) lived in less developed countries; by the year 2025, this proportion will rise to 90 percent…” Levine’s article also reminds readers of the relative youth of formal education in the scope of human history. “Over the past 150 years, an educational vision that originated in eighteenth century Europe has been realized through the spread of mass institutionalized schooling – first for men, then women; first in Western, then in other countries; and first at the primary, then at the secondary and postsecondary levels.” The spread of institutionalized schooling, delivered in a standardized method has lead the world to its present state of educational attainment.

We are reminded of how quickly educational attainment can change, Levine writes “As late as 1945, it did not seem inevitable that the countries of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific would have mass schooling on the Western model, especially for females, but by 2000, virtually all of them did, and many were expanding school attendance at post-primary levels.”

We believe the next generation of educational delivery involves institutional adoption of customized learning involving teachers and technology. This customized approach will help students around the world by incorporating a socially responsible pedagogy, increasing access and may result in a leveling of the playing field for all, in a knowledge-based society. In fact, we predict it will be easier to achieve educational adoption on a global level with the help of technology.

Survive and Thrive During Fall Start Season

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)17696 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

It comes around each year for admissions professionals, as reliable as the sunrise and sunset or death and taxes, depending on your perspective. New students arriving at our campuses to begin their studies each fall. This period of time represents the culmination of months of work that was preceded by planning and hopefully a training program to keep us finely tuned throughout the duration. No matter how many annual start terms your school has, the concept of the “big fall start” is alive and well in educational institutions across the nation.

Whether we have a pro-active or reactive admissions process, whether we are for-profit, non-profit, career related or liberal arts centered we all want the same thing: to achieve our start goals and ensure the continued financial viability of our institutions.

Check-in day can go awry for the best of us. As Vice President of Enrollment at a traditional college in New England I was once rescued by the athletic director after having spent 2 hours personally crisis-managing 200 students and families that overwhelmed the financial aid clearance station. As a person who suffers from bouts of low-blood sugar and stupidly having not eaten that morning the stress, heat and empty stomach began to get the best of me. However like any good enrollment person, I was too caught up with problem solving our start day to notice I was having problems. Re-enforcements were brought in and I was fine and the backup, resolved.

In consulting I leverage my own experience in guiding clients through the maze of enrollment issues they face. At this time of year I take a moment to reflect back on what I’ve learned and pass along some tips to help other enrollment leaders survive and thrive over the next few weeks.

In no particular order:

1. Stay hydrated

2. Eat regularly (protein, fruits and veggies)

3. Pick a goofy word to say when you are stressed out and about to “blow” your lid. Something that will make you and others laugh.

4. Be proactive across all departments that impact the start. This means taking steps in advance to avoid problems at check-in and during that critical pre-add/drop deadline.

5. Subtract 10% from the number you think will start and report that as your forecast, it is the best way to manage expectations.

6. Meet as many new students and families as possible. This is important for you and them.

7. Make it fun for everyone involved. How about a “show rate” contest with your staff? Divide the group up in two and decide whichever group has the best show rate at start will be served breakfast by the loosing team. This helps to boost morale and should be fun spirited!

8. Print out start lists, check-in lists and just about any list you may need. Computers and networks have a strange way of going down at this time of year.

9. Make an extra effort to show your appreciation to co-workers and staff around your school.

10. Once it’s all over, take a few days off before you come back to lead a full debriefing session.

In the end, remember we are facilitators of the education process.

Have fun out there!

Do Flashy Acceptance Letters Result in More, Quality Enrollments?

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)10727 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

From text messages to videos, games, and confetti filled game tubes, America’s colleges and universities are increasingly creative when sending out acceptance letters. This trend of creativity with informing prospective students of their acceptance is apparently coming at the expense of denials.

Is this “creative renaissance” on the part of enrollment leaders, an expression of creative freedom, or the sign of true innovation meeting its ceiling? In order to attract college qualified students in a shrinking demographic and a troubled economy does spending money on flashy ways to inform a prospective student of their acceptance really secure the class the institution desires? Or is it a way that allows institutional leaders to feel like they are innovating enrollment when really they are just adding another expense line to their budget.

Here are some ways for non-profit institutions to improve their acceptance to start ratio without paying for games, prizes, videos and customized merchandise:

Focus on your target demographic and employ a communications strategy that speaks directly to them
Personalize communications by having professional admissions personnel interact with them throughout the enrollment process
Avoid delegating communications to your student volunteer “Admissions Ambassadors”
Develop an enrollment process flow and write scripts for your admissions staff on what conversation to have, with whom, and when (in the process)
1. Telling your staff to just make phone calls without providing a written guideline for what should be covered is asking for inefficiency
Establish conversion metrics for each member of your staff and if they cannot make calls in the fall and spring because they are on the college tour circuit… stop participating in the college tour circuit, you will find a tremendous improvement in your conversions by freeing up this valuable time (and it will save you A LOT of money)

For more ideas about how to improve enrollment conversions without adding to your expenses contact: dominick@edtekservices.com .

What Value Consultants?

paul@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)10518 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

This blog entry by my colleague, Dr. Keith Hampson, talks about the very wary feelings that U.K. Professor Emeritus Gillian Evans has for education consultants. My response: OUCH!

I don't know what kind of experience Dr. Evans has had with education consultants. My own has been quite positive. I guess it depends on who the consultant is, right? I tend to bring in former academic management types to help us and our clients.

We currently call upon a fomer college president, a former VP Academic, a fomer departmental chair and a currently serving Assistant Dean of CE to help us .... depending on the work that needs to be done. This particular group have their PhD's from highly regarded universities in the U.S. and have served in various academic management positions in well-ranked and top-ranked colleges and universities in the U.S. I trust from the CV's that they know what they are talking about. Otherwise, I wouldn't put my name on it and let them represent my company. Likewise, they wouldn't work with us if they thought the project would damage their hard-earned reputations.

Maybe the lesson is thus: Get good people to help you as education consultants. I know I have and the experience has been both educational for me and successful for our clients.

eLearning and Software as a Service (SaaS)

paul@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)10504 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

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.

Ten Best Practices for Online Teaching

paul@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)10501 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

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!

A Word About Assessment & SAT Scores

dominick@edtekservices.com (Blog Author)10362 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

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.

The 21st-Century Campus: Are We There Yet?

chris@montonet.com (Blog Author)5509 — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EST

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

One Very Obvious Take on Online Learning Marketing: Affordability

adam@fosterwebmarketing.com (Blog Author)4291 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EST

There are many positive aspects to online learning, but one that should be stressed is affordability. Considering the average cost of a four year education, and considering the economic situation that most Americans find themselves in, any opportunity to save money would be very much welcomed.

By following the link below, you can get to a service that finds and ranks online education programs, and does so within financial parameters that you suggest.

http://geteducated.com/

The MACCRAY school district in rural Minnesota is making every weekend last three days.

adam@fosterwebmarketing.com (Blog Author)3930 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EST

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

Instructional design is dead

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST

By Koreen Olbrish, CEO, Tandem Learning

Let me start by saying that for many, many years, my title was some variation of "Instructional Designer." And so, its with some amount of hesitance that I say that the field of instructional design is, well, crap.

I'm not a traditional instructional designer, having a Master's degree in education instead of instructional design or instructional technology. I somehow backed my way into instructional design, working in a whole department of instructional designers in my first ID job. Some of those IDs are among the most brilliant people I have known and worked with, and it was an honor to have the opportunity to cut my ID chops in such talented company.

That said, I immediately noticed some problems with the field of instructional design and more importantly, in how instructional designers are "trained." So, although there are definitely instructional designers out there that are talented and know what they are doing, my experience is that they are few and far between. There are many, many other instructional designers who are a product of how instructional design is taught and marketed, and its killing the art of instructional design as a respected, professional expertise.

New Web Site Lists Free Online Textbooks

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 5 - A new Web site, Open Educational Resources Center for California (http://grou.ps/oercenter/), brings together information on free and open textbooks and course materials in one location. The site links to more than 400 open textbooks and peer reviews of open textbooks.

Professor Textblaster

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 24 - Mr. McCann, an English instructor at Bay College, in Michigan, is deploying students' own favorite technology to burn away the memory fog. He blasts his classes text-message reminders using Broadtexter (http://www.broadtexter.com/), a free software program used by bands to create mobile fan clubs. Rather than texting tour dates, he keeps the phones in students' pockets buzzing with regular reminders like "Paper 4 is due tomorrow."

Getting Face to Face With Distance Learning

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 17 - New York Institute of Technology's videoconferencing capabilities have brought the school closer to its overseas learning partners. When video, audio, and social networking infiltrated the Web, NYIT went in search of a new way to deliver online course content to the state of New York. The solution had to work in either a Windows or Mac environment, said Silverman, and had to be robust enough to serve the entire state of New York. NYIT adopted technologies from Elluminate for the program.

Want a degree? Get it in three.

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 8 - Mount Olive College has figured out a way to save its students a cool $22,000: get them a degree in three years. The small private college of 800 students in Wayne County is the first in North Carolina to latch onto a burgeoning national trend toward the three-year bachelor's degree.

It is an idea spurred by necessity: with more college students and their families struggling to pay tuition bills, universities have looked for ways to deliver their product more quickly and affordably. The three-year model has gained momentum in the past year, with a handful of small, private colleges unveiling programs of late. Read the full article to learn more about this model and the key factors for its success.

Web Not Yet the Answer to College-Text Costs

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 8 - Most students still prefer print to digital, and even if they didn't, textbook publishers and authors have made very few titles available online. But that could change with the advent of the tablet-style Apple iPad and with students throughout the region buckling under heavy book expenses on top of pricey tuition. A small but growing number already are buying digital texts, many of which are half the price of books.

Experts expect students to have more choices as campuses, professors, and companies look for new ways to make texts available and more affordable. Textbook publishers and book authors are grappling to find a fair method that makes use of technology and satisfies students.

Reference Publisher Acquires Major Online Library

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 4 - Gale, a division of Cengage Learning, has recently acquired Questia Media, a subscription-based online information service, that lets users access more than 75,000 books and millions of journal, magazine and newspaper articles. Questia Classroom is a course-management system tied to that online material.

'it's learning' Receives Straight 'A's in Review

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb 02, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Next generation individualized learning platform comes to U.S. online learning. After an intensive review of it's learning (www.itslearning.net), MultiMedia & INTERNET@SCHOOLS reviewer Susan Hixson awarded the individualized learning platform with straight "A"s in the categories of installation, content/ features, ease-of-use, and product support in the January/February 2010 issue.

The web-delivered learning platform comes "highly recommended" by Hixson and supports student-centered learning by delivering individualized instruction, multimedia and Web 2.0 content, and engaging peer and teacher communications.

Online Cure for the Nursing Crisis

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 2 - With the baby boom generation wading into retirement, America needs more nurses. Many current nurses need more education. And, increasingly, it appears online degree programs are going to play a critical role in providing it. “Online is increasingly the option for the student who does not have the ability to get on campus for a traditional course and who needs to balance home, work, and school,” says Linda L. Strong, coordinator of the R.N. to B.S.N program at Sacred Heart University. Rising demand, of course, means not only more students to educate, but an expansion of the market and more money to be made. “The pie is very much still growing,” says Gerry Digiusto, a senior analyst at the higher-ed consulting firm Eduventures. And while forays into the potentially lucrative online education market can sometimes backfire, creating an online nursing degree program is a relatively low-risk venture.

Free Online Courses Don't Hurt Paid Enrollment

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

February 2 - New research takes a close look at what happened when one institution, Brigham Young University, experimented with granting free access to the content of some of its distance-education courses. The study examined the cost of opening up those materials and the impact their publication had on paid enrollments, a concern for institutions worried that giving away free courses could cannibalize their ranks of paying students. The data suggest they needn’t worry.

David Wiley, a Brigham Young associate professor and open-education leader, praises his associate Justin Johansen's research as "the first piece of empirical work I am aware of that demonstrates clearly that a distance-learning program can simultaneously (1) provide a significant public good by publishing open courseware and (2) be revenue positive while doing it."

Assessment Disconnect

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 27 - Annual gatherings of student learning experts and accrediting officials reveal lots of assessment activity on campuses. But policy makers ponder whether it adds up to meaningful national progress. Major questions remain about just how serious higher education as an industry has gotten about these issues. "We've got to end casual, undisciplined approaches to learning and assessment," added Paul Lingenfelter, president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers.

Hitting Pause on Class Videos

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 26 - In the latest clash of copyright law and instructional technology, the University of California at Los Angeles has stopping allowing faculty members to post copyrighted videos on their course Web sites after coming under fire from an educational media trade group. So far, UCLA is the only institution the organization has accused of such infractions. However, Allen Dohra, its president, told Inside Higher Ed that it is prepared to take on other colleges if it becomes clear that similar practices are taking place elsewhere. “We have leads in terms of other universities, and we do plan to investigate further,” said Dohra.

Colleges See 17 Percent Increase in Online Enrollment

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 26 - Colleges saw a 17 percent increase in online enrollment, with more than one in four students taking at least one online course in the fall of 2008, according to the findings of an annual survey published on Tuesday by the Sloan Consortium. Despite this surge, the data suggest that not enough institutions have taken online education into account as they conduct planning around issues like how to deal with budget cuts and space shortages, says A. Frank Mayadas, a special adviser to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

"They have to wake up and begin to think about this as a strategic item," Mr. Mayadas says.

Outsourcing Language Learning

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 22 - The Sage Colleges, with campuses in Albany and Troy, New York, adopted the Drake program’s structure last fall to begin offering Italian. Students were interested in studying the language – many so that they could communicate with Italian-speaking family members. Sage wasn’t trying to eliminate its Spanish and French programs and faculty, said David Salomon, chair of Sage’s department of English and modern languages, but to add to them without incurring costs and logistical challenges it was unprepared to face. “We didn’t do this to replace anything,” he said. “This is additional.”

To Reach Obama's 2020 Goal, Colleges Need to Better Support Adults

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 22 - Many more adults will need to enroll in college for the United States to meet President Obama's goal of having the world's largest share of college graduates by 2020, government officials and higher-education experts said at a panel discussion on Capitol Hill this week. Panelists encouraged colleges to take nontraditional students' needs into consideration and urged lawmakers to replicate and expand successful programs that support adult students.

5 Higher Ed Tech Trends To Watch in 2010

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

There aren't too many corners of higher education that technology hasn't infiltrated. From admissions to financial aid to the classroom and everything in between, nearly all aspects of college are being handled in some way by the applications, hardware, and gadgets that help institutions work more efficiently.

Moody's Affirms Negative Outlook for Higher Education

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

Moody's today is affirming that it continues to believe -- as it first stated a year ago -- that the financial outlook for higher education is negative. As a major credit-rankings agency, Moody's views on higher education generally and on individual institutions that seek its ratings are crucial to their cost of borrowing. In a statement being issued today, Moody's says that the "partial recovery in equity markets" has helped many colleges and that many institutions have found ways to increase their liquid assets. But many institutions, Moody's says, face "fundamental and cumulative risks of weakened student demand and donor support," as well as greater outside scrutiny. On issues of credit stability, Moody's says that the risks are greater for private institutions than public institutions.

Accreditation 2.0

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

After years of dialogue, debate and deliberation, we are at the beginning of the next generation of accreditation. An “Accreditation 2.0” is emerging, one that reflects attention to calls for change while sustaining and even enhancing some of the central features of current accreditation operation.

'Horizon Report' Highlights 6 Technologies to Watch in Education

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 14 - After failing to make last year's “Technologies to Watch” list, the open-content movement now joins mobile computing as the two trends most likely to enter mainstream learning in the next year, says the report, from the New Media Consortium and Educause.

“Far more than a collection of free online course materials, the open-content movement is a response to the rising costs of education, the desire for access to learning in areas where such access is difficult, and an expression of student choice about when and how to learn,” the report says.

When it comes to mobile devices, the report notes that gadgets like smartphones and netbooks are already taking hold on many campuses, whether as tools for fieldwork or storage for reference materials. But the authors caution that concerns over privacy, classroom management, and access need to be dealt with before their use becomes widespread.

New Tech Fee Will Cover $6 Million in New Projects at U of South Flori

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 8 - The University of South Florida, with 47,000 students on four campuses, expects to collect $3.2 million in new technology fees in the first semester. For the year, the university expects to bring in $6 million, which will be used to enhance institutional technology system-wide for students and faculty.

House Passes Bill: $1.25 Billion in Job Training Funds

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 5 - Like the Recovery Act the bill largely focuses on increasing investments in existing programs, providing $1.25 billion in new training funds under the Department of Labor including $750 million for competitive grants for training and placement of workers in high-growth and emerging sectors. Of that total, $275 million must be for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy as described in the Green Jobs Act, and of that $275 million, $225 million must be for Pathways out of Poverty grants. Priority for the remaining $475 million must be given to projects in the health care sector.

American Colleges Lag in Meeting Work-Force Needs

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 4 - The study, whose preliminary results were presented on Monday at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, found that some academic programs, such as computer science, appear to be highly responsive to labor-market trends, while others, like medicine and dentistry, are largely unaffected by changes in employment opportunities.

The authors' conclusion: In general, growth in employment opportunities and wages and demand for specific occupations do increase degree completion. But that relationship operates with a lag, with the strongest correlations occurring with a delay of four to seven years—the time it takes to earn an undergraduate or advanced degree.

How to Teach With Google Wave

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

January 4 - If you're wondering what use Google's new Wave tool might have for teaching, one online-learning leader has an answer: combining classes from different colleges. Think of it like bringing in a guest speaker. But with Wave, which is like e-mail but live and jazzed up with multimedia features, you can build online communities that link entire classrooms for a week or two. And you can do it without the administrative headaches of booking rooms or adjusting class schedules.

Ray Schroeder gave it a try last semester at the University of Illinois at Springfield, one of the first colleges to use Wave for online teaching since the preview version came out in September.

Obsolete Learning Technologies

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 29 - The Silicon Alley Insider recently named 21 technologies that became obsolete this past decade. Here are 8 of them.

Hybrid Education 2.0

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 28 - What if you could teach a college course without a classroom or a professor, and lose nothing? According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, there’s no "what if" about it. Carnegie Mellon is not about to replace all its professors with computer programs. But with $4 million in private grants and perhaps more to come from the federal government, the university is currently exploring how the open-learning software could be used in conjunction with classroom education to speed up the teaching and learning process -- a prospect that some involved think could help solve overcrowding in America's community colleges and realize the Obama administration's goal of boosting graduation rates.

Evaluating My 2009 Predictions by Joshua Kim

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 20 - One year ago Mr. Kim made a series of 8 predictions for learning technology in 2009. Here are the predictions, with an accompanying evaluation that in most cases tries to explain why he got most things so ...

Defining the Enrollment Boom

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 18 - The American Association of Community Colleges released the results of a survey designed to see if the many individual reports add up to a national trend -- and the survey results suggest they do. Nationally, head count in credit courses is up 11.4 percent over the last year, and 16.9 percent over two years, according to the survey, which included data from hundreds of colleges from every region of the country. Notably, given that about 60 percent of community college students are enrolled part time, one of the most dramatic parts of the new enrollment surge is that it is coming in large part by full-time students. Over the last two years, the percentage gain in full-time students has been more than twice the rate as for part-time students.

Student Engagment Survey Released

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

November - In November, the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research released "Assessment for Improvement: Tracking Student Engagement over Time," the report on the tenth annual National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

Some of the findings related to information technology include:

Students and faculty were least likely to use used computer technologies for or were lease familiar with:
    -- Videoconferencing or Internet phone chat
    -- Video games, simulations, or virtual worlds
    -- Blogs
    -- Student response systems
    -- Online portfolios

The survey results are available at:
http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2009_Results/pdf/NSSE_AR_2009.pdf

Helping Faculty Manage Online Workload

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 11 - Because online courses require more preparation, faculty often find that they are committing significantly more time than they would for a face-to-face class. In the absence of specific guidance from department chairs or faculty developers on how to effectively structure an online course or how to manage their growing workload, faculty are in jeopardy of over-committing their time. Here are tips for how department chairs and faculty developers can help faculty manage their workload in an online environment.

The Challenge to States: Preserving College Access and Affordability in a Time of Crisis

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 11 - The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has released a report offering recommendations to state governments for devising strategies to preserve college affordability while stimulating innovation to prepare for a future that will require enhanced access, quality, cost-effectiveness, and productivity in higher education. (Full online report.)

The American Graduation Initiative and Workforce Development in the Community College

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 11 - The American Graduation Initiative sets out a goal for the US to have the greatest proportion of college graduates of any country in the world by 2020. Here is an interview with one community college leader examining how technology-related workforce development might factor into achieving the goals of the new initiative.

Quick Environmental Scanning for Workforce Education Needs

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 4 - With so many displaced workers and unemployed adults, more colleges and universities are working to identify specific workforce needs in their area and launch new workforce education programs in response. From three experts (Rick Voorhees of Voorhees Group LLC, Patricia Malone of Stony Brook University, and Victoria Matthew of UMASS Amherst), here are some fast steps you can take to identify local needs and to measure the demand for workforce education programs in your area.

Postsecondary Enrollment By Race and Type of Institution, Fall 2008

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 4 - The latest figures show full-time status at a four-year college is still the most popular enrollment choice for all racial groups. Hispanic students are the only group whose lowest enrollment is at the graduate level. Blacks and Hispanics have the least postsecondary participation compared with members of those groups who are not working. (Subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Ed required to read full article.)

Associate's Degrees and Certificates Increase, But Not Enough

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 4 - According to an NCES report, American colleges have ratcheted up the number of sub-baccalaureate degrees they award -- but not nearly enough to approach the aggressive college completion goals that President Obama and others have set for the country. The newly released data suggest that, taking a long view, more Americans are entering and emerging from such programs. As seen in the table below, the number of degrees and certificates awarded by colleges and universities that award federal financial aid rose only modestly (by 2.7 percent) from 1997 to 2002, but then jumped sharply, by 25 percent, from 2002 to 2007. The overall rate of increase over the course of the decade, 28.4 percent, was slightly less than the rate of increase for bachelor's degrees, which grew by 11 percent from 1997 to 2002 and 18 percent from 2002 to 2007.

Online Service Planned to Help Adults Get Credit for Out-of-Classroom Learning

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 3 - For years, colleges have awarded credit for out-of-classroom learning experiences like corporate training, independent study and volunteer activities. But many colleges can’t afford to train their faculty and staff to evaluate those experiences. A new online service is intended to help translate outside learning into college credit, which should be good news for adults who want to save money on tuition and speed up their degrees.

Community Colleges Get Gift of Millions for Online Education

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

December 3 - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $12.9-million to advance technology at community colleges, improving virtual learning environments for both students and teachers.

The major goal is to bolster the academic success of students who arrive at community colleges lacking study skills, and who are under a lot of pressure to balance studying with demands of family and work. Ideally, new technologies will be intergrated into teaching and course-delivery systems, rather than added as as afterthought.

Archived Web Seminar: What you need to know about stimulus fund grants

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 30 - The federal stimulus package can help colleges and universities expand technology to offer more and better services for students and constituents. The good news is that there is money still available, money that can help your institution grow and prosper. Areas that qualify for stimulus funding include green initiatives and infrastructure enhancements, including technology improvements like ERP implementations, virtualization, cloud computing and more. In this web seminar you'll learn how to plan a grant request and what information is needed. You'll also hear from institutions that have &quot;been there and done that&quot; for successful grant approvals.

Original webcast: 10/13/2009. Sponsored by GovConnection

Too Much Reading? Try Listening Instead

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 25 - About a year ago, a library administrator was tinkering with text-enlarging software, which makes it easier for visually impaired students to read. She found that the software could also turn text into sound, and thought it would make sense to make the program available to all students. The speed of the scanning itself depends on the quality of the scanner, but the software, called Kurzweil 3000, converts the scanned text into sound at a rate of three pages per second. Users can choose from several human voices and set a speed at which the text will be read.

Purdue U Brings Social Networking to the Classroom

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 18 - Things are a little different at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, where some professors--especially those who teach in large lecture halls--have come to embrace social networking as an instructional aid. Using an application developed on campus, the educators who enrolled in the program have come to think of social networking via texting and online portals as a tool, rather than a distraction.

Known as Hotseat, the application allows students to comment on the class and then enables other participants--including professors, students, and teaching assistants--to view those messages. Students either use their Twitter, Facebook or MySpace accounts to post the messages or log in to the Hotseat Web site to send text messages. The application resides on the Web; there is no software for professors or students to install.

Tips for Training Faculty on Teaching With Technology

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 13 - Last week, CDW released a report that indicated, among other findings:

* Only 38% of students surveyed believe faculty are making effective use of interactive learning technologies in the classroom
* Faculty identify training as what they need most to help them integrate learning technologies

Patricia McGee, associate professor of instructional technology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, offers some practical tips on training faculty for the integration of interactive learning technologies into the classroom.

Technologie, Technik [technology]

Identifying At-Risk Online Students

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 13 - An article this week in Inside Higher Ed featured a community college and a for-profit online university which are both using features of learning management systems to track student engagement data and alert faculty and administrators to online students who may be at risk. This is one of the advantages in online instruction: student engagement in the course can be more thoroughly recorded and documented. We asked Mark Parker, assistant provost at University of Maryland University College, to offer some further advice on using LMS data to identify and respond to at-risk students.

Tweeting in Class

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 5 - Do Twitter skeptics really believe the popular microblogging service offers no educational value, or are they just afraid of it?

Twitter can be considered a data-gathering resource. Live discussion threads give professors loads of data on the previously mysterious question of what exactly is going on inside the heads of students during a lecture. No longer is a student’s ability to participate in classroom discussions contingent upon whether he is willing to raise his hand and has the good fortune to be called on.

LMS 3.0

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

November 4 -- LMS 3.0 marks the transition from the LMS as an instructional resource and service for students and faculty to a key source for critical transactional data about academic interaction and student engagement. And let’s be candid about what this means: although the analogy may be offensive to many in the campus community, the LMS is higher ed’s version of the supermarket scanner. The LMS records and stores valuable data about student interactions with academic resources, much the way the supermarket scanner records my purchases of (and preference for) bananas and dark beer.

The transactional data from the LMS can tell us much about the aggregated and individual student interaction with course content outside of the classroom (or in the case of online courses, away from the chat room!). The transactional data from the LMS -- what students do while “in” the LMS for an individual class and how long they are “in” the LMS -- are the new metrics for student engagement and time on task.

The Netflix of Academic Journals Opens Shop

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 29 - By opening the largest online rental service for scientific, technical, and research journals, the company Deep Dyve is hoping to do for academic publications what Netflix has done for movies: make them easily accessible and inexpensive for everyone. The Web site has been an academic-journal search engine since 2005 and unveiled its rental program this week. Now anyone can “rent” an article—which means you can view it on your computer without ownership rights or printing capabilities—for as little as 99 cents for 24 hours. Users can also subscribe for monthly passes. Currently the site has 30 million articles from various peer-reviewed journals.

Open Courses: Free, but Oh, So Costly

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 11 - Colleges are grappling with the limits of this global online movement. Enthusiasts think open courses have the potential helping people piece together cheaper degrees from multiple institutions. But some worry that universities' projects may stall, because the recession and disappearing grant money are forcing colleges to confront a difficult question: What business model can support the high cost of giving away your "free" content?

Online and in Exile

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 23 - In what some believe could be a landmark case in state oversight of online colleges, the Maryland Higher Education Commission this week barred the University of Maryland University College from offering an online doctoral program in community college administration to state residents, citing rules against “unnecessary duplication” of existing programs at historically black institutions.

Managing Online Education

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 22 - Three questionnaire items about enrollments indicate that campuses participating in the survey have experienced healthy gains in good economic times and bad – and that campus officials expect enrollments in their online programs to continue to rise in the coming years. Fully 94 percent of the survey respondents – typically the senior campus officer responsible for online or distance education programs –report enrollment gains in their online programs between2006 and 2009; almost half (48 percent) report online enrollments rose by 15 percent or more during this period.

Spanish 101 Goes Online

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 21 - After several years of experimenting with “hybrid” Spanish courses that mix online and classroom instruction, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has decided to begin conducting its introductory Spanish course exclusively on the Web.Spanish 101, which had featured online lessons combined with one classroom session per week, will drop its face-to-face component in an effort to save on teaching costs and campus space in light of rising demand for Spanish instruction and a shrinking departmental budget.

Microsoft's Vision for Higher Ed and Lecture Capture

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 21 - Blogger Joshua Kim, of Inside Higher Ed, takes aim at Microsoft's vision of higher education and argues that what Microsoft should be doing is focusing more on lecture capture technology and services.

An E-Textbook Program Aims to Benefit Students and Professors

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 20 - The program, a result of a nearly $300,000 grant from U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, will commission professors to create texts personalized for specific classes and put them in a digital format that will bring textbook prices down from their average cost of $100 to a much more moderate $15.

New Site Indexes Information on Digital Books

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 20 - The Internet Archive, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group, has created a system for helping people find digital books on the Internet. The service, called BookServer, collects information on digital books that are available online, either free or for a fee. Those in charge of the project say they hope it will make it easier for people to use digital material online. Authors, publishers, libraries, and book sellers -- in other words, anyone who offers free or paid books online -- can index their materials so they appear when people conduct a search on BookServer.

Online Programs: Profits Are There, Technological Innovation Is Not

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 19 - Online programs are generally profitable. But despite the buzz about Web 2.0, the education they provide is still dominated by rudimentary, text-based technology. Those are two key findings in a recent report, “Benchmarking Online Operations: Snapshots of an Emerging Industry,” produced by the consulting firm Eduventures. The study found that nearly all programs were either profitable or breaking even. Overall, 65 percent reported that their online programs were profitable. For for-profits, 100 percent were profitable; for nonprofits, 62 percent were.

Online Degrees Viewed More Favorably

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 14 - While there is still a stigma attached to online education, new data indicate that employer perception of online schools is changing. Adult mid-career professionals, in particular, are flocking to study in online courses and even earn entire degrees through distance learning. The benefits are obvious: They offer convenience, accommodating work and family schedules.

Regulation Woes

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 14 - Educational institutions in Washington agree that they want to improve access to “high quality” higher education. Indeed, many of the institutions represented wanted to talk about how they might be able to enroll students from across the country without having to contend with 50 different state-based approval agencies. Regulators from those agencies, meanwhile -- some of whom were also present at the conference -- remain concerned about maintaining the “high quality” aspect, especially since the online-only format, they fear, can leave people vulnerable to fraud at the hands of “diploma mills.”

As Online Education Grows, National Providers Struggle With State Regulations

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 13 - In the 1980s, higher-education leaders convened to study the emerging issue of regulating distance-learning programs that cross state borders. As technology became more accepted, they predicted, the inevitable result would be a more coordinated, national approach to regulation. Not quite. Distance-learning technology has changed, with the Internet supplanting television, but the regulatory maze is getting worse, according to a recent report from a group of online providers calling for reform.

An Experiment Takes Off

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 7 - It will be a while -- years, probably, until outcomes on teacher certification exams are in and the U. of Southern California's online master's in teaching graduates have been successful (or not) in the classroom -- before questions about the program's quality and performance are fully answered (though officials there point out that the technology platform, like much online learning software, provides steady insight into how successfully students are staying on track). But USC officials say that short of quantitative measures such as those, they believe the online program is attracting equally qualified students and is providing an education that is fully equivalent to its on-ground master's program -- goals that the institution viewed as essential so as not to "dilute the brand" of USC's well-regarded program.

PBS and NPR Add to Trove of Free Online Lectures

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 6 - PBS and NPR are now posting taped interviews and videos of lectures by academics, adding to the growing number of free lectures online. Their site, called Forum Network, says it makes thousands of lectures available.

YouTube EDU Goes International

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

October 1 - YouTube EDU, the Web site for video channels from universities, has recently added content from institutions in Europe and Israel.

Forty-five colleges and universities from those areas, including the University of Cambridge and distance-learning institutions like the Open University of Catalonia, now have channels on the site.

About 200 American and Canadian institutions also have YouTube EDU channels, where viewers can watch professors' lectures, famous people speaking on campuses, and even half-time antics at major college-football games. The site was launched in March.

More with Less: Seven ways to survive the budget crunch

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

February 2009 - What do recent financial troubles have to do with marketing, communications, and the web? Everything. According to a recent survey conducted by the communication consulting firm MStoner, more than half of 150 senior marketing, communications, and advancement professionals in higher education cited financial constraints or budgetary problems as the top challenges for 2009. This article presents ideas for using online technologies to help universities do more with less.

Do Students Cheat More in Online Classes? Maybe Not

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

September 16 - For the new study, researchers surveyed undergraduate students about seven types of academic misconduct. These included cheating on tests, plagiarism, and aiding and abetting (letting a classmate copy a paper, for example). In both traditional and online classes, aiding and abetting was found to be the cheating method of choice.

Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

September 14 - For centuries the university model dominated because nothing else worked. No technology existed that might deliver an interactive, engaging educational experience without gathering students and teachers in the same physical space. In the past century, a powerful social bias set in: Only accredited universities were allowed to grant degrees, and most professional jobs required an accredited degree. Even though technologies emerged that might foster new models of higher education, the neat accreditation ecosystem locked out innovative competitors. These days broadband Internet, video games, social networks, and other developments could combine to create an online, inexpensive, super-convenient model for higher education.

A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

September 13 - (The Washington Post) Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet. The business model that sustained private U.S. colleges cannot survive.The real force for change is the market: Online classes are just cheaper to produce. Community colleges and for-profit education entrepreneurs are already experimenting with dorm-free, commute-free options. Distance-learning technology will keep improving.This doesn't just mean a different way of learning: The funding of academic research, the culture of the academy and the institution of tenure are all threatened.

Ending the Standoff Between Faculty and IT

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

September 8 - When it comes time to request technology for the classroom, faculty members often ask the wrong questions. Warren Arbogast and Scott Carlson discuss the right way for professors to seek guidance from IT experts. (Listen to this audio article online.)

What Doomed Global Campus?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

September 3 - Global Campus was conceived as a separately accredited entity that would eventually enroll as many students as the other University of Illinois campuses combined. It was meant to be a win-win: the university dramatically expands access to its vast resources and well-regarded degrees, while generating tons of revenue à la University of Phoenix Online. So, what happened? There were a number of contributing factors, not least of which was increasing competition for online students, which pitted Global Campus against dozens of low-cost, Web-based operations as it sought to grow enrollment and recoup its initial investment.

Utah State U.'s OpenCourseWare Closes Because of Budget Woes

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

September 3 - David Wiley, an associate professor at Brigham Young University and an open-education leader, characterized Utah’s open-course collection as apparently the second-largest in the country, behind MIT’s. Its demise, Mr. Wiley wrote, is “heartbreaking.”

The cause? The effort ran through grant money from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and $200,000 from the state Legislature. It needed $120,000 a year to keep going. But it failed to secure any more state or university money, Mr. Jensen said, despite being the third-most-visited Web site hosted by Utah State University.

Report on Online Education Study

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August - "More than one-third of public university faculty have taught an online course while more than one-half have recommended an online course to students . . . . In addition, nearly 64 percent of faculty said it takes 'somewhat more' or 'a lot more' effort to teach online compared to a face-to-face course. The two-part report, "Online Learning as a Strategic Asset," published by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, summarizes the results of the APLU-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning Benchmarking Study conducted in 2008 and 2009 that surveyed 45 public institutions across the U.S. The study was "designed to illuminate how public institutions develop and implement the key organizational strategies, processes, and procedures that contribute to successful and robust online learning initiatives."

Volume I: http://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1877
Volume II: http://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1879

At Distance-Learning College, Flash Drive Replaces Course-Management System

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August 21 - Beginning this fall, students at the Trenton-based distance-education institution will have the option of using a 2GB flash drive instead of a course-management system to prepare for and complete their classes.

The flash drives are part of the college's Mobile Learning Initiative, developed after it discovered many of its students -- who were stationed with the military or frequently traveling -- couldn't access a course-management system on a regular basis.

How Students, Professors, and Colleges Are, and Should Be, Using Social Media

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August 24 - The Chronicle spoke with S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV, and film at the University of Texas at Austin, about the new age of social networking and media, and what it means for the classroom of the future. His soon-to-be-published book, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future, touches on those ideas. Read the online interview.

Carrying Out the Higher Ed Act

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August 24 - The Department of Education is proposing a set of regulations for a broad range of provisions -- on such topics as campus safety, illegal sharing of digital files, and educating students with disabilities -- that Congress enacted as part of last year's renewal of the Higher Education Act.

Year-Round Pell Grants. Much to the delight of college officials, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, for the first time, made it possible for students to receive enough Pell Grant aid to attend college year-round, to "accelerate" their progress toward degree completion. During the course of three negotiating sessions, the Education Department proposed several different iterations of language designed to ensure that students were using the Pell aid to complete their academic work briskly.

Retaining Students in Online Education :: Conference

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

This conference is hosted by Academic Impressions. It will take place in San Antonio, TX September 28-30. For more information about the event or to register visit their website.

In Case of Emergency, Break Tradition—Teach Online

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August 17 - If an outbreak of swine flu or some other crisis closes its campus, Northern Virginia Community College plans to still be open. The college is training classroom-based professors in the basics of online teaching as part of its emergency plan to shift large numbers of courses to the Web. The college is one of several institutions updating their emergency plans to include teaching in virtual classrooms if physical ones become unusable for a few weeks.

New Carnegie Mellon U. Project Will Build Online Community College Courses

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August 14 - The Community College Open Learning Initiative is the second wave of an educational experiment that gained attention recently from the Obama administration. Carnegie Mellon's work has given about 300 classrooms around the world access to software-enhanced, college-level online-course material in subjects like biology and statistics. These digital environments track students’ progress, give them feedback, and tip off professors about where students are struggling so the instructors can make better use of class time.

Funding Tops Campus Information Technology Concerns

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

August 4 - Slashed campus budgets and dwindling endowments have spurred university IT officials toward cost-saving technologies, and a new survey shows that saving IT dollars has vaulted to the No. 1 priority of campus technology decision makers during the current recession.

The newly released 10th annual EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey, completed online in December 2008 mostly by campus chief information officers, ranked the most pressing issues in college IT offices. Administrative systems, an issue that has remained among the survey's top three issues since 2000, ranked second this year. Technology security--the No. 1 concern in 2008--and infrastructure ranked third and fourth, respectively.

Berkeley Gets Grants to Develop Open-Source Software for Online Lectures

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 29 - The University of California at Berkeley is moving forward with its plan to create open-source software that would let colleges around the world easily post lectures from their most popular professors.

The project, called “Opencast Matterhorn," received $1.5-million in grants from the Andrew W. Mellon and William and Flora Hewlett Foundations to begin developing software. The first version is scheduled to be released in July 2010, featuring a scheduling tool, software for uploading and encoding video and audio for distribution on iTunes and YouTube, an RSS generator, and a media player, says Adam Hochman, a product manager at Berkeley's Learning Systems Group.

Those interested in keeping up with the project can peruse wiki forums and sign up for e-mail lists on its Web site.

Jittery Economy, Relatively Low Cost Cited for Boom in Online Higher Education

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 28 - While the troubled economy may be bad news for GM dealers or people selling their houses, it's creating a greater demand for online college courses. Enrollment is growing steadily, especially among older, working students.

The courses offer them a way to gain additional skills that could provide insurance if they get laid off or give them better credentials in the job market. "Students are fearful of losing their jobs and want stronger skills," said Shirley Adams, provost of Charter Oak State College in New Britain, where enrollment in online courses has soared in the past few years. "They may have been working in a field for many years, but a lot of times, employers are looking for that degree."

Students Will Pay Extra for Online Courses at U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 27 - Students will be able to take a lot more online courses at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee this fall. But they will pay more for the privilege, according to an article in the Miwaukee Journal-Sentinal. The university will charge as much as $275 per course on top of regular tuition.

The university now is offering 90 more online classes than it did last fall, for a total of 366 online courses, the newspaper says. It also reported complaints from one student about the extra fee for an online class, because he did not feel he had the resources to wait a year for that class to be offered on campus again.

California Digital Library Offers Web Archiving Service

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 23 - Faculty, students, researchers, and librarians can now create archived collections of Web sites through the California Digital Library’s Web Archiving Service -- a way to preserve information on the Web that could otherwise be removed or deleted. With the service, clients -- which include the University of California -- can act as curators of a collection of Web sites, choosing which pages to archive and accessing them through a Web interface, Ms. Seneca said. Those collections can then be made available to the public.

Giving Away Academic Books Online Can Actually Help Print Sales

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 21 - In an economy where sales of everything are down, an increasing number of authors and publishers, especially in academic fields, are distributing their books free on the Internet. This contradicts common sense. After all, at a time when people are buying fewer books, won’t giving away books compound the problem?

Maybe not...

Online and Interpersonal

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 17 - It may seem paradoxical, but educational technology as a supplement to face-to-face learning could personalize the educational experience. That is, at least according to a presentation on student assessment and feedback given at the Blackboard annual conference. Two professors from the University of Westminster in London explained research finding that use of educational technology such as blogs and online questionnaires, combined with personal tutors, could enhance the feedback loop while also making face-to-face communication more efficient.

A Push for Free Online Courses

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 1 - Community colleges and high schools would receive federal funds to create free, online courses in a program that is in the final stages of being drafted by the Obama administration.

The program is part of a series of efforts to help community colleges reach more students and to link basic skills education to job training. The proposals are outlined in administration discussion drafts obtained by Inside Higher Ed. A formal announcement could come in the next few weeks. In addition to the free online courses, the plan would provide $9 billion over 10 years to help community colleges develop and improve programs related to preparing students for good jobs, and a $10 billion loan fund (at low or no interest) for community college facilities.

college , school [college]

The Evidence on Online Education

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 29 - Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new meta-analysis released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.

The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took "blended" courses -- those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction -- appeared to do best of all. That finding could be significant as many colleges report that blended instruction is among the fastest-growing types of enrollment.

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Aligning Jobs and Training

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 14 - Jobs requiring only an associate degree or skills certificate are projected to grow slightly faster than those requiring at least a bachelor’s degree in the coming decade, according to a new report from President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors.

The report comes on the eve of a massive federal plan President Obama is about to unveil to help America's community colleges. An early draft included billions for job training, low-interest loans for building projects and other funding streams to create free online courses.

More Colleges Push Online Programs Locally

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 7 - For years, some universities have dreamed of border-defying online programs that bring in tuition dollars from far places; but now a growing number of institutions are ramping up their efforts to attract working adults in their own backyards.

Commuter-serving urban universities can't match the marketing muscle of faster-growing, for-profit, online colleges. What they can try to do is parlay stronger local brands, cheaper tuition, and blended programs that shift a lot of class time online into an appealing package for area adults. The kind of adults who might value coming to campus periodically but struggle to do it three times a week.

Cell Phones Used to Deliver Course Content

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 6 - US Education Secretary Arne Duncan says schools and colleges should deliver course content to the cell phones that students use to talk and text every day. Some campus officials are listening, and classes via web-enabled cell phones could be mobile learning's next evolution.

Colleges Focus on Veterans as GI Bill Ups Numbers

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

July 6 - With a fattened GI Bill covering full tuition and more, the number of veterans attending college this fall is expected to jump 30 percent from last year to nearly half a million. That's left many universities looking for ways to ease the transition from combat to the classroom. In response, colleges across the country are offering veterans-only classes, adding counselors and streamlining the application and financial aid process.

Under the new GI Bill expanded by Congress last year, the number of military veterans either starting or continuing their studies this fall is expected to top 460,000, up from 354,000 last autumn, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Many of them will encounter a classroom culture shock that can leave them agitated.

Downloading Textbooks for Free

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 8 - A new U.S. website called Connextions uses the Creative Common license to allow students and professors to add and edit material as long as the original author is credited. Instead of organizing material in a linear manner, like textbooks that list topic after topic, the site presents content in smaller “modules” that are connected to larger courses or collections. This allows students and professors to access information according to topic. Professors can also build reading packages by selecting material from various sources and adding their own, creating a custom-made, downloadable textbook for their students — for free!

Other online options include CourseSmart, a collaboration between six leading textbook publishers, and the Massachusett Institute of Technology’s OpenCourseWare. CourseSmart is a website where students can purchase digital copies of their textbooks straight from the publishers (ensuring the latest edition) at a discount of up to 50 percent.

6 Lessons One Campus Learned About E-Textbooks

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 10 - Northwest Missouri State University nearly became the first public university to deliver all of its textbooks electronically. The university ran a pilot study with the Sony Reader. University officials learned some sobering lessons about electronic books. Students who got the machines quickly asked for their printed books back because it was so awkward to navigate inside the e-books (though a newer version of the device works more gracefully). The six lessons were:

1. Judge e-books by their covers.
2. Learning curves ahead.
3. Professors are eager students.
4. Long live batteries.
5. Subjects are not equally e-friendly.
6. Environmental impact matters.

Higher-Education Bubble Could Burst Next

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 1 - Two prominent higher-education experts are warning that the financial structure of colleges and universities may be the next “bubble” to burst in America.

The result could be mergers, closures and even bankruptcies of smaller colleges that have spent too much and taken on too much debt based on a shaky system of student loans paying for ever-rising tuitions, say Joseph Marr Cronin, former secretary of education in Massachusetts, and Howard E. Horton, president of Boston’s New England College of Business and Finance.
The duo raised a stir within academic circles last week when they penned a joint opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst?”

Their answer to their own quesiton: Yes.

The problem is colleges - funded by a seemingly unending stream of student-loan money, backed largely by the U.S. government - have kept raising tuitions at rates far ahead of inflation and then spent every nickel they got.

Lecture Capture is Getting Campuses Talking

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 10 - According to Nicole Engelbert, lead analyst with Datamonitor, two factors are driving the "stampede of interest" in lecture capture: First, students are asking for it. A survey (PDF) by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in September 2008 found that 82 percent of students prefer courses with an online option.

Second, higher education tends to be competitive. If a school aspires to compete for new students who are also considering an institution that provides lecture capture, it'll want to be able to provide and promote those capabilities too.

Plus, added Engelbert, the technology is attractively priced.

Read the full article to learn more about lecture capture technology and its uses, and find links to top vendors.

Financial Aid Simplification

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 25 - The Obama administration has put increasing Americans' rate of college going near the top of its agenda for economic recovery and progress, and that political imperative is creating movement on the idea of simplifying the financial aid process where it has been hard to come by previously.

The Education Department will, right now, make several changes that do not require Congressional approval. This summer, the department will take advantage of existing technology on the Web-based FAFSA to allow married or independent students to skip questions about their parents, among others. In January, the department will stop requiring students with low incomes to answer questions about their financial assets, and only returning students will be asked about prior drug convictions, since the question does not affect first-year students. Department officials said they would work closely with state officials to set up the electronic form to "make it easier to answer questions that the states need but the federal government does not."

Stimulus Aims to Help Close Digital Divide

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

May. 6 - With more than $7 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set aside for increasing broadband access in the United States, the stimulus presents a huge opportunity for schools and communities to help close the digital divide.

The stimulus package authorizes the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to implement the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), which is a $4.7 billion, one-time competitive matching grants program.

The two-year, competitive BTOP grants will be available to states, nonprofit organizations (including schools and colleges that bring broadband services to their larger communities), and internet service providers, and they require a 20-percent matching investment from nonfederal funding sources.

Twitter Goes to College

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 3 - At the University of Texas-Dallas, history professor Monica Rankin needed a better way to get students involved in the classroom. The 90-person lecture hall was too big for back-and-forth conversation. So, with help from students in the school's emerging media program, she had her students set up accounts on Twitter—a micro-blogging service—and then use the technology to post messages and ask questions that were displayed on a projector screen during class. Rankin says that although the technology has its limitations, the experiment encouraged students to participate who otherwise would not have done so.

Though Twitter might not yet be quite as popular among students as Facebook or MySpace, a growing cadre of professors and administrators are embracing it and using it to introduce their classes to a different kind of communication and networking—one that doesn't involve "poking" friends or posting photos.

At Champlain College in Vermont, marketing and online business professor Elaine Young went from using Twitter—which lets people send 140-character messages, or "tweets," out for anyone to see—as a tool to help teach in the classroom to something that business and marketing students can call on to build networks and make connections in the professional world. Compared to other social networking sites, "Twitter is more about creating connections with others who may not be your real friends," she says.

The biggest challenge, Young says, is getting students who are convinced that they will never need the technology to give Twitter a try. But many of her students are jumping in and have taken on business projects with local companies and made recommendations on whether the firms should use services like Twitter, blogs, or E-mail newsletters. When the Internet-based marketing class ended in May, the Twitter accounts that were created were still active, Young says.

Online Educators Won't Have to Spy on Students Under New Federal Rules

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

June 3 - Distance educators won’t have to become FBI-style investigators, scanning fingerprints and installing cameras in the apartments of online students to ensure that people are who they say they are.

At least not yet.

The recently reauthorized Higher Education Act required accreditors to monitor the steps that colleges take to verify that an enrolled student is the same person who does the work, leaving distance educators worried they would have to buy expensive technology to ensure that students didn’t have other people take their tests. They feared the cost could be so high that programs would be in danger.

But proposed federal regulations would allow colleges to satisfy the mandate with techniques like secure log-ins and passwords or proctored examinations, according to people involved in the negotiations that ended last month.

Opinion: Will Higher Ed Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

Thu, 28 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 28 - Is it possible that higher education might be the next bubble to burst? Some early warnings suggest that it could be.

With tuitions, fees, and room and board at dozens of colleges now reaching $50,000 a year, the ability to sustain private higher education for all but the very well-heeled is questionable. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, over the past 25 years, average college tuition and fees have risen by 440 percent — more than four times the rate of inflation and almost twice the rate of medical care. Patrick M. Callan, the center's president, has warned that low-income students will find college unaffordable.

In such a climate, it is not surprising that applications to some community colleges and other public institutions have risen by as much as 40 percent. Those institutions, particularly community colleges, will become a more-attractive option for a larger swath of the collegebound. Taking the first two years of college while living at home has been an attractive option since the 1920s, but it is now poised to grow significantly.

With a drift toward higher enrollments in public institutions, all but the most competitive highly endowed private colleges are beginning to wonder if their enrollments may start to evaporate.

Online Students at Bryant & Stratton College Graduate Via Second Life

Thu, 28 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 28 - Some students at Bryant & Stratton College will have a short commute to their graduation ceremony: All they need to do is turn on their home computers.

On June 10, approximately 40 students in the institution’s online-degree program will sign on to Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world, where they will watch computer simulations of the college’s vice president and a student speaker address them before their names, degrees, and honors are announced.

While several colleges have experimented with Second Life for college tours, debate tournaments, and more, Bryant & Stratton College claims it is the first to hold a commencement in the virtual world. It will also hold traditional graduations on its 15 campuses.

Online Education Grows, But Painfully

Fri, 22 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 22 - Evolve or dissolve. That advice, from a recent report on virtual universities, played out in two news stories this past week. The University of Texas’ online division is staring down a deep budget hole as it loses a longtime subsidy. And in Utah, budget cuts have killed a 10-campus online consortium. Those and other predicaments reflect the growing pains of public online education.

Technology growth in the 1990s prompted a surge of online-learning collaborations. The groups prodded member colleges to put classes online, pooled courses into collaborative degrees, and supported online programs with promotions. Some became little more than state- or systemwide online catalogs. Fast forward to 2009: With budgets strained, every state is looking at how it pays for online learning, which can be a big expense.

Analysts who praise consortia see a flip side: Colleges can be capable of running online learning themselves now; 10 years ago, they may have needed an impetus. Now they may end up absorbing the functions of some consortia.

Students Turn to Commercial Sites for Study Aid

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 19 - In the old days, college students might turn to classmates for help during all-night cram sessions before final exams. Now their study buddies are just as likely to be commercial websites with step-by-step solutions to textbook problems, copies of previous exams, reams of lecture notes, summaries of literary classics, and real-time help with physics, math, and computer science problems.

As companies with playful names like Cramster, Course Hero, Koofers and SparkNotes are transforming the way undergraduates study, some professors and ethicists are questioning whether such Web sites encourage cheating and undermine the mental sweat equity of day-to-day learning by seducing students with ready-made solutions and essays.

(Note: A subscription to the New York Times online edition may be required to read the full article.)

U. of Illinois Weighs More Humble Version of 'Global Campus'

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 19 - Early hopes for Global Campus were as ambitious as its name: a distance-education venture that could draw 70,000 new students to the University of Illinois.

Now, facing unspectacular enrollment and a punishing recession, the Board of Trustees will consider a much humbler plan.

The board plans to take up a resolution, released late Monday, that calls for rebuilding the controversial project based on the blueprint laid out in a new report from a task force of faculty and administrators.

That plan would brake Global Campus’s current drive to become a separately accredited entity with its own programs. The venture wouldn’t compete with campus online efforts. Instead, “Global Campus 2.0” would shrink to a much cheaper office — from today’s $9-million budget down to $1.75-million — that supports those campus courses with centralized services like marketing, student recruitment, and technology help. The current Global Campus would be phased out this year. Its successor would open for business in January.

“It pushes the bulk of the initiative and the activities back down into the campuses,” said Nicholas Burbules, a professor in the department of educational-policy studies who worked on the report.

The scaled-back project appears to have broad support. The resolution that the board will address on Thursday notes that the university’s leaders — the president, chancellors, provosts, and vice presidents — have “reached consensus” that Global Campus 2.0 is the way to go.

But recent developments in Texas and elsewhere show that support-focused distance-education portals can run into financial trouble, too.

Financing Gap Leaves Uncertain Future for U. of Texas' Online Arm

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 18 - The future of the University of Texas’ online-education arm is under scrutiny as the system phases out a major subsidy that has supported the venture for years.

The UT TeleCampus is the latest virtual university to confront hard questions about its business model as online education matures from its upstart days, as The Chronicle reports today in a story about the Texas situation. The University of Texas has invested roughly $22-million from endowment earnings into the TeleCampus over more than a decade. But it plans to end the subsidy by 2012, and some are worried about how the program will continue without the money.

This Thursday, meanwhile, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees is expected to revisit the issue of its Global Campus distance-education program, which has fallen short of enrollment projections and generated friction within the system.

Colleges Move Away from "Cafeteria-Style" General Ed Requirements

Fri, 15 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 15 - The Association of American Colleges and Universities released findings today from a survey of its members revealing trends in undergraduate general education and the use of engaged and integrative curricular practices. The survey of chief academic officers at 433 colleges and universities of all sorts (public and private, two-year and four-year, large and small) suggests that many colleges and universities are reforming their general education programs and developing new curricular approaches and ways to assess key learning outcomes.

As institutions review their general education programs, many are choosing to incorporate more engaged and integrative curricular practices. Only 15 percent of colleges and universities are now using a cafeteria-style general education program alone.

For a full report on the findings of this survey, see www.aacu.org/membership/documents/2009MemberSurvey_Part2.pdf

A previous report on findings from this current survey on trends in learning outcomes and assessment was released in April 2009. For findings from that report, see: www.aacu.org/membership/membersurvey.cfm

Opencourseware: College Education, Without the Student Loans

Thu, 14 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 14 - Spurred by advances in technology and people’s hunger to get an extra edge in a down economy, universities and colleges are posting course materials – including syllabi, class notes, and lectures – online for anyone to access. Universities and colleges are posting course materials online for anyone to access; the movement allows self-learners to save money on tuition, gives alumni a link to their alma mater, and enables prospective students to peek into university classrooms.

Are online classes a worthy replacement?

As technology opens up more avenues for learning, critics question whether the classroom experience can ever be replaced through open educational resources such as OpenCourseWare.

“Being in a classroom, you have classmates sitting side by side. You have a teacher in front of you who can respond in real time,” says Catherine Casserly, senior partner at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. With OpenCourseWare, “what you don’t have is primarily those two things.”

This is just one of the limitations of OpenCourseWare. Though the materials are free, there’s no access to professors or classmates, and there’s no way of obtaining a certificate or college degree by reading these materials on your own.

But “the degree,” says Ludlow, “is still very valuable. And it’s going to be valuable for the foreseeable future.”

That is, until something changes...

The Disappearing Tenure-Track Job

Tue, 12 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

May 12 - The American Federation of Teachers has released a 10-year analysis showing the steady growth of adjunct positions and decline of tenure-track jobs in the academic work force. The overall number of faculty and instructor slots grew from 1997 to 2007, but nearly two-thirds of that growth was in "contingent" positions -- meaning those off of the tenure track. Over all, those jobs increased from two-thirds to nearly three-quarters of instructional positions. The growth in these jobs -- and the decline in tenure-track positions -- was found in all sectors of higher education, but was most apparent at community colleges.

Rise in Distance Enrollments

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 6 - Community colleges continue to see increases in distance education enrollments, according to a report released at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges. A national survey of colleges by the Instructional Technology Council found that distance enrollments grew 11.3 percent from fall 2006 to fall 2007, the most recent period for which full data are available. Last year, the survey found an increase of 18 percent over the previous year.

Impact of the Economy on College Enrollment

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 9 - This new survey measures the degree to which households are changing their college plans in response to the economic climate, finding that over 70% of prospective college students are altering their plans for the upcoming year. Read the full report by Longmire and associates by clicking on the link below.

Didaction - Tips for Effective Lectures

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 29 - Students in live classrooms have a hard time staying focused. These 10 tips for creating more interactive lectures are meant for live classroom settings but many of the principles are applicable to online lectures as well.

Assessment is Widespread, But...

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 28 - Remember all of that talk from the Spellings Commission about how American colleges were in danger of decline because they didn't assess learning outcomes and didn't even know the learning outcomes they favored? A study being released today by the Association of American Colleges and Universities finds that in fact assessment has been well accepted for years at most colleges, and is widespread, complete with learning outcomes.

What isn't widespread and should be, the study says, is communication with students about curricular goals and how the colleges measure them. And what also isn't widespread (and this doesn't bother many of those surveyed) are national comparisons. Much of the activity on assessment and learning outcomes takes place at the departmental level, the survey found. Read the full article for a summary of this studies most salient findings.

AAUP: Online Education Based on 'Slave Labor'

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 22 - "The economic underpinning of a lot of online education is that it amounts to slave labor," said Martin Snyder, director of the AAUP's Department of External Relations as well as its Planning and Development Office. The context for the quote was a story dealing in part with problems faced by faculty in online education, such as compensation and workload. Most who teach online courses "are part-time professors who can't get full-time work and are forced into taking a lot of part-time positions in order to try to make an equitable salary," Mr. Snyder said.

Purdue 2-Year Degree Targets Jobless

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 20 - A new Purdue University degree program will allow out-of-work factory workers to earn a 2-year bachelor's degree that could improve their job prospects. The Purdue College of Technology at Kokomo degree is geared toward former workers in the automotive and manufacturing industries. Purdue Associate Professor Thomas Cappozoli said the program is being offered in Kokomo because the area has been hit hard by the recession. He said displaced workers will be able to earn a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership and supervision with a concentration in industrial technology.

College Director Christy Bozic said the bachelor's degree in leadership can help students prepare for management careers in fields such as health care, banking, retail, government and manufacturing. "Those who enroll should treat this like their full-time job for the next two years, but the end result will be a much more qualified, marketable worker," she said.

Overture Technologies Announces New Online Student Loan Comparison Platform

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 20 - Overture Technologies has announced the development of an online service that will be able to provide a more secure, reliable way for students to shop for private student loans. The Student Loan Marketplace is an innovative education financing tool that can help students and their families learn about and compare loan terms in an open and transparent network of lenders.

Overture plans to launch the service through marketing partners, such as associations of colleges and universities, and with participating lenders. The Student Loan Marketplace is the first multi-lender platform that allows students to review reliable private student loan terms based on their own personal and financial information instead of "as low as" advertisements for rates.

Distance Learning Delivered by Central New Mexico Community College and Qwest Data Networking

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 17 - Metro Optical Ethernet platform, offering up to 100 megabits per second at each site. This Ethernet platform provides the capacity to deliver bandwidth-intensive learning opportunities to classrooms and online. CNM has one of the largest distance-learning programs in the U.S.

Economic Turmoil Sends Enrollment at City Public Colleges Soaring

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 16 - Applications to the city's public colleges soared by 12% over last year, as students clamor for an affordable way to attend college, the Daily News has learned."

When the economy takes a dip [people] run to higher education institutions to shore up their skills," said Matthew Goldstein, City University of New York chancellor.

"When people are feeling a pinch, as we are now, they are obviously deeply concerned about the price," he added, noting that CUNY's reputation also has soared.

CUNY is on track for the highest enrollment in the university's history.

Tech Therapy: A College Leader Talks About Outsourcing E-Mail

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 16 - Students at Notre Dame had been unhappy with the e-mail system's performance, and officials wanted a solution that would be more secure and possibly save money. The university investigated a number of e-mail companies and ended up going with Gmail. "The students got a much faster and smoother e-mail experience," Mr. Turner says. "To move students to Exchange, it would have cost us $1.5-million. To go to Gmail cost us nothing." By outsourcing e-mail, the university IT staff is able to concentrate on other things.

E-Learning and Its Challenges Increase at Community Colleges

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 14 - As the number of online-learning students increases at the nation’s community colleges, so do the challenges of providing them with good online instruction and providing faculty members with the tools to deliver it. That’s the message in the results of a new survey of community colleges.

The survey shows that enrollments in online courses shot up in 2008, by about 11 percent over 2007. The poll was done by the Instructional Technology Council, an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges. The 11-percent figure is in line with the 12.9-percent growth in online enrollment for the previous year, reported earlier by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Completely online courses were offered by 72 percent of the institutions. Blended courses — with at least 30 percent of content offered online, augmented by face-to-face meetings — were offered by 14 percent of the colleges.

For a summary of other findings from this survey, please read the full article.

Online Learning Grant Program Eliminated

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 7 - Higher education officials will have to seek new avenues for funding and seed money for online programs after the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced this week that its online-education grant program will end this year. [E-school News login required to read the full article.]

Cash-strapped Iowa colleges benefit as online courses gain popularity

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 10 - Colleges across the country are seeing online education as a path to becoming leaner, more-efficient institutions while staying relevant to today's students. Tuition from online students has been a budget boost for colleges facing lower-than-expected state appropriations.The Iowa Community College Online Consortium, which offered nearly 1,300 online course sections in 2007-08, brought in a combined $9 million in tuition from those online courses after paying expenses that did not include instructor pay. Find out what's being offered online and who these colleges are attracting by reading the full story.

An Opening for Community Colleges

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

April 3 - A steady stream of students being educating through the Workforce Investment Act could accelerate into a torrent for community colleges, thanks to the federal stimulus package that is just beginning to course its way through the nation's economy. That is partially because the new American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, as the stimulus law is known, will nearly double the amount of federal job training money available through the Department of Labor over the next two years.

Wikis in Education: Teaching Students to Share Knowledge

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

Wikis are gaining popularity in an educational setting as a way to give students a hands-on learning tool. Providers see the demand and are creating wiki tools to help teachers make wider user of wikis in the classroom.

For more information, follow the link below.

More Use of Electronic Textbooks

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST

[January 12] When Northwest Missouri State University (Maryville, MO) students start spring semester classes this week, most won't be lugging thick textbooks around campus; instead, most students will carry a lightweight electronic device that can fit in a coat pocket and hold the textbook material for all their classes.

The Evolution of Online Student Recruitment

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

February 19, 2009 - Tough economic times call for harder scrutiny of marketing dollars, among other belt-tightening measures. To help institutions hone in on the best use of marketing dollars, Campus Technology talked with higher education marketing expert Bob Johnson. Johnson has been studying, writing about, and lecturing on student recruitment practices since the early '80s and now consults with colleges and universities. His focus has shifted to online marketing in higher ed. In this first segment of a two-part interview, he talks about new ways in which technology is being used to connect with students and parents--and how students use technology to find schools.