Who benefits most from online learning - student or school

NY Times has an interesting piece consisting of interviews with key educators, each of whom takes a position on the question of to whom the benefits of online learning accrue - student or school.  There's a little for everyone in this article.  Worth a read - particularly if you need a good summary of the key issues surrounding the viability and credibility of distance education.

College Degrees Without Going to Class - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com

Online courses have been around for nearly two decades, but enrollment has soared in recent years as more universities increase their offerings. More than 4.6 million college students (about one in four) were taking at least one online course in 2008, a 17 percent increase over 2007.

Institutions like Rutgers University and the University of California system are looking at expanding online courses as a way to keep down tuition costs or increase revenues. Recently, Rutgers said it would triple online revenues from $20.5 million to $60 million in five years.

Who benefits most from online courses — students or colleges? Are online classes as educationally effective as in-classroom instruction? Should more post-secondary education take place online?

Under the category of "Did you see this?"

Check out this summary from iParadigms, the maker of Turnitin, which is a plagiarism detection technology.  All I can say is wow!  Really?  Are that many prospective college students copying and pasting their way into school?  I pass no judgment at this point, but if true, this study tells us a lot of what we all don't want to hear.

Personal statements attached to university applications should be the work of that applicant and help the university know more about the perspective applicant. It is safe to assume that more that 70,000 applicants that applied though this system did so with statements that may not have been their own work. The number of Internet sites that matched personal statement/ essay providing services leads one to question the additional 100,000 applicants whose personal statement contained a significant match (they may have borrowed or purchased all or part of their personal statement). It should be noted that Turnitin’s technology is configured to eliminate most random matches from the similarity reports. It should also be noted that the odds of writing the same 16 words, in the same order as another person (by chance) is less that 1 in one hundred billion (this is especially significant in a personal statement).

http://edgecastcdn.net/800404/static.turnitinadmissions.com/static/build/media/c67485a9a6b64b07d830f7c3173d4f4dcb_countrywide_report.pdf

Real Outreach to Students - Simply Well Done

I'm happy to share this excellent, but very simple, UStream video share of a live university event.  In this case, it's a tuition hearing - but the event is not the point.  What's important here is that the event is broadcast in real time and available for students off campus either live or as an archived video.  What an excellent effort using a common tool and inexpensive equipment.  My contgratulations to all those responsible, and to the hearing participants who were willing to share the important event.  Good work that needs to be acknowledged.

eLearn: Best Practices - 10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success

eLearn: Best Practices - 10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success: "10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success

By Cindy Wolfe, University of Phoenix

December 17, 2009
Distance learning students must take a far more active role in learning and accessing information than traditional students in face-to-face classrooms. Written messages or posts from the professor and classmates replace other means of direct communication, and course materials are posted online. Rather than simply sitting through a class and jotting notes, you must take the initiative to download and read lectures and course materials."

Ms. Wolfe's excellent article has me thinking about student responsibility for learning. It's an interesting, but often overlooked concept. So, who is responsible for learning?

At the institutional level - we see universities contorting themselves to insure student "success". Fine. At the classroom level, we see courses designed and taught to insure student "success". We see a wide range of auxiliary and anciliary staff to support student learning (e.g. tutors, advisors, mentors). At the broadest levels of policy debate we see this concept playing out in the conversation about what role states and federal government play in higher education - through funding, accountability, and policy-making. Is it, in fact, the responsibility [or best interest] of the state to provide citizens with higher education [or make it accessible]? What responsibility does the individual citizen have when it comes to educating themselves beyond high school?

I don't have the answers here, but today's blog begins what I hope will be an ongoing exploration of these topics. Stay tuned...

In defense of online learning - a balanced approach

Nice article.  Sorry I missed this before.

Online Learning: Reaching Out to the Skeptics - Advice - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Teaching is so complex that categorical distinctions—traditional courses are superior; online, inferior; or vice versa—are far too simplistic to take seriously as a basis for institutional decision making.

Professionals with many years of experience and a track record of proven success should be allowed, within appropriate boundaries, to exercise their own judgment about the best ways to reach their students. On the other hand, the rhetoric of traditionalism can sometimes be more than a legitimate assertion of time-tested personal experience; it can be a mask for understandable but counterproductive attitudes and emotions.

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Thomas Benton's excellent article in the September 18th Chronicle of Higher Education is a well-reasoned discussion of how we should approach the topic of instructional delivery methods.  Of particular interest are the seven goals.

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Obviously, some faculty members have convictions that no amount of evidence to the contrary can change. But I think there are increasing numbers of teachers who, while mildly skeptical, are at least open to the idea of experimentation. Persuading them to recognize the possibilities of new technologies has at least seven interlocking components:

1. Move away from a dichotomous view of teaching as online or face to face, and toward the idea that all courses can potentially involve both methods.

2. Create opportunities for consultation and collaboration among faculty members, librarians, and technologists.

3. Eliminate most of the uncertainties and technical problems faced by faculty members who would like to try new methods but don't know how and lack the equipment.

4. Provide continuing support to faculty members who experiment with new teaching methods, not just during the development phase of a course but throughout its implementation, so that teachers can learn and adapt "on the ground."

5. Find new ways to streamline the process of developing online content and managing courses to protect the time of faculty members.

6. Reduce the isolation of teachers by promoting the development of collaborative new-media projects—with students as well as other faculty members—as a legitimate and recognized supplement to traditional, solitary research production.

7. Show the effectiveness and complementarity of different approaches to teaching, taking care that assessment instruments do not skew the results.

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And in conclusion, he really gets the obvious, but often ignored part of the job for those of us in the elearning support business.

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Ultimately, the quality of the teacher and the effort put forth by the individual student are more important than any specific method. A method that fails for one person can succeed for another, and so I want to keep the chalkboard, the overhead projector, and the cross-legged conversation under the trees just as much as I'd like to see more faculty members supplement their traditional teaching with a variety of new-media and online projects.