College of Business launches online-based MBA program

"The University’s vision for the College of Business didn’t include leading online education when it was established 100 years ago; however, the college could become the first institution to launch a Massive Open Online Course, MOOC, based MBA program. 

The Academic Senate approved a proposal for the new program, iMBA, and the Board of Trustees will vote on it Thursday." according to Maggie Sullivan, Staff writer.

 

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The program, which would partner with the online learning platform Coursera, uses the capability of MOOCs to offer an MBA program to people all over the world, at less cost. 

“Exposure to thousands of learners from around the world will give students a tremendous advantage,” said Dean of Business Larry DeBrock. “This program will allow a worldwide audience to showcase the excellence of our faculty and the quality of our program.”

iMBA courses will include two parts; a MOOC, which anyone can enroll in for free, and the opportunity to pay to take the course for certification, or for graduate credit, at a higher price.

“This program is designed for a different group of learners,” DeBrock said. “This is for students off campus, so they do not have to quit their jobs or move to another city to get the education offered by the University.”

iMBA redefines what a business school subject is; rather than taking offline content and formatting it for an online class, iMBA blends content from multiple platforms and subject areas. If approved, students will be able to begin the program by enrolling in digital marketing or finance/operations, in late May.

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Source: Daily Illini

Effective Social Media Practices and Good Online Teaching

Follow on Twitter as @joshmkim

Dr. Joshua Kim, Director of Digital Learning Initiatives at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL) writes, "I have this theory that if you are effective on social media then you stand a good chance of being effective in online teaching. How do these two activities go together?"

Two words: presence and community.

Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The people who seem to get the most out of social media are those who dedicate themselves to being present on their platform of choice. Presence does not necessarily mean contribution. You can be present in the IHE community if you show up daily to read the articles and opinion pieces. You can also be present if you regularly provide your opinions in a comment, even if your commenting is on every 1-in-50 articles. The power of IHE is that we are a community that is informed by both a common set of interests, and a common pool of content. We are all reading, thinking about, and commenting on the same articles and opinion pieces.

On Twitter, being present means actively (on a daily basis), committing to interact with the platform. This may mean writing your own tweets, using Twitter to link to other things that you’ve read or seen on the Web, or simply using Twitter to filter what you consume. Presence on Twitter means that the people who follow you will reliably learn things from you. You build a community around the people you follow. We should always be suspicious of anyone who follows too many Twitter feeds, as above a certain number (maybe 500 follows at most), Twitter moves from a community to a promotional platform.

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Source: Inside Higher Ed (blog)

Ozarks Technical Community College to offer free online learning course

"OTC Online will offer a free online course to anyone in the community who would like to experience the online learning environment before enrolling in an online course for credit." summarizes Laura French, COORDINATOR - PUBLIC INFORMATION.

The course, “Preparing to Learn Online,” opened for registration Monday, April 27. Enrollment will be offered through July 31.

Preparing to Learn Online will simulate the typical online learning experience. Students who enroll in the course will complete a checklist of activities designed to navigate the technology of an online course. Participants will move through the program at their own pace, and students will receive a certificate of completion once they finish the course.

Individuals can register for Preparing to Learn Online at https://openeducation.blackboard.com/ozarkstechnicalcommunitycollege.

OTC Online offers a wide variety of online and hybrid (a combination of seated and online) courses, including eight degrees and two certificates. 
For more information, visit otc.edu/online

 Source: Ozarks Technical Community College

Collaborative Learning and Online Assessments Enhance Developmental Math at Ohio University-Chillicothe

Photo: Leila Meyer

Leila Meyer, technology writer based in British Columbia writes, "While in his previous role as associate dean, Lafreniere became concerned about the number of students who were repeating developmental mathematics courses two or three times in an effort to move on to college algebra." 

He had started using technology in his classroom in the late 90s, and even back then he saw its potential to make his classroom more efficient so he could spend more time helping students understand concepts. He used it for purposes such as sharing his notes with his students, but what he really wanted was a tool that could assess his math students' problem solving process and give them feedback.

Photo: Campus Technology

Evaluating an Online Instructional Tool
Around 2009, Lafreniere began looking for a tool to accomplish that goal. One of them was WebAssign, an online instructional system that combines digital learning content with instant assessment. "I eyed WebAssign because it had the ability to take advantage of some of the powerful packages on the mathematics and engineering scene, which were Maple and Mathematica," he said in a phone interview. "Those were real draws because I knew the power behind those products that they were tapping into."

As part of the product evaluation process, Lafreniere was able to compare WebAssign and other tools side-by-side in his classroom on a trial basis. "I had the opportunity to bear witness to students and their engagement, their excitement or frustration when working with these different tools," he said. "It was rather interesting to see, in some cases, students taking a developmental sequence in two different formats at the same time. Usually you're comparing apples to oranges so to speak with different students, but we actually had students experiencing both."
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Source: Campus Technology

Discover Emerging Trends in Online Higher Education

Follow on Twitter as @IaqDiesel

Ian Quillen, Baltimore-based freelance reporter for U.S. News reports, "Prospective online students may encounter project-based learning, gamification and live course sessions."

Through the practice of project-based learning, students demonstrate their skills by creating a product. 
Photo: U.S. News & World Report

As online education enrollment growth slows, programs are exploring new formats to appeal to students.

The definition of online higher education is becoming increasingly broad as new models incorporate more real-time instruction, turn course work into competition or rethink how student learning is assessed, experts say.

"The range and extent of those offerings continues to increase at a pretty fair clip," says Malcolm Brown, director of the learning initiative at Educause, an educational technology advocacy group.

Below is a look at three emerging trends in online instruction through the lens of institutions that are among the leaders in their implementation: synchronous instruction, gamification and project-based learning.

Synchronous instruction
In the online master's in social work program at the University of Southern California, students in their first semester participate in a virtual field practicum.

Instead of being placed in a partner agency to do traditional field placement work with live clients, students spend four hours a week using videoconferencing​ and other interactive tools​ to receive synchronous – or real-time – instruction.

An hour of that weekly time is spent in a mock counseling session with an actor hired to portray a realistic client – similar to one​ students might encounter in an actual field placement. Students alternate leading the video session,​ and then use a second hour to discuss which strategies for engaging that client proved most effective.

The model gives students from diverse ​backgrounds much-needed preparation for interacting with a variety​ of clients. By delaying their face-to-face field experience into a following term, it also allows students in rural communities more time to find a suitable field placement following their enrollment, says Elizabeth Phillips, who oversees students' clinical work as an associate professor.

"Before, we were just putting people brand new behind closed doors and saying, 'We trust you,'" Phillips says. "Now we’re saying, 'We think we’d like to teach you a little bit more.'"
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Source: U.S. News & World Report 

Nigeria: Can E-Learning Reduce Education's Greatest Burdens?

"10.5 million Nigerian children are out of school; this is the highest number in the world. For the ones who are in school, the story is not entirely better." according to AllAfrica.com.

Photo: Vanguard newspaper

According to a recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, Nigeria is one of the countries wasting money on education because many of the children in school are not learning.

The situation is not much better at the tertiary level; while employers complain that many graduates of Nigerian institutions are half baked, there are thousands more that cannot make it through the admission bottleneck.

Two words seem to sum up a significant proportion of the challenges that the Nigerian education system is faced with: access and quality. Though these challenges seem insurmountable, experts are now turning to Information and Communication Technology, ICT for a solution. Leading this call last weekend was the Vice Chancellor, Covenant University, Prof. Charles Ayo.

According to Ayo, ICT is the panacea for development problems, education inclusive. Expounding on the paper: E-education: Critical impacts on learning and human intelligence, at The Hayford Alile Foundation annual lecture, the Professor of Computer Science said: "There is definitely a need for more universities, so the intervention of private universities is timely.

However, with the issue of inadequate manpower, do you think more universities is the answer? We must look for a solution in Massive Open Online Courses, MOOCS. The Asian tigers started like that. The National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, for instance, has about 300,000 students. That is a good start and we can improve on that.
Although the students meet physically one in a while, this is much more than any single University can take at once. We may not be switch online totally, so an integrated approach is necessary. Government should be able to sit down, think through, and come up with the best approach for our country.'

The rationale behind e-learning is such that individuals within disparate remote locations can acquire education through the use of ICT. Digital content, capacity building in training and research, technology and network infrastructure, local capacity and community support are all important features to be considered for this to work effectively.
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Source: AllAfrica.com

Needs grow for Mt. Blue special education services

"The Mt. Blue school district has seen a 35 percent increase in students who need special services, which follows the schools increase in the percent of low-income students qualified for the free or reduced lunch program." summarizes Kaitlin Schroeder, Staff Writer.

At Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington, an increase in special-needs programs means the school soon might need portable classrooms to accommodate students who require the programs. 
Photo: Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

Social problems in the home, including poverty, drug use and violence, along with better ways to identify and respond to learning disabilities have contributed to a 35 percent increase in students needing special services at Mt. Blue Regional School District over the past seven years, according to school officials.

Superintendent Tom Ward said the increased need for special services, which ranges from help reading to behavioral therapists to social workers, is one of the largest changes in recent years in the Farmington-based school district’s educational landscape.

Fourteen percent of students in the district were eligible for special services in 2007. The figure rose to 19 percent this school year, in a district of about 2,240 students.

As the school board enters deliberations on the budget this week, many of the proposals it will consider center on providing increased special education needs.

A third school social worker is being proposed. Two additional special education teachers are requested for the Mt. Blue Middle School. A committee has been formed to weigh long- and short-term solutions to the increased space requirements of special education programs at the middle school. One short-term option proposes portable classrooms for the school.

In the 2013 and 2014 school year, the district added a day treatment program to support students with behavioral and mental health problems and help them transition back into the regular classroom. Along with academic work for the 33 students now in day treatment, the program involves therapeutic work, social work and group work.

“It’s for obstacles to learning that aren’t academic in nature but are more mental health in nature,” said Christine Gatto-Shea, director of special services for the school district.
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Source: Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

District 621 prepares students of all ages for success

"Countless success stories have resulted because of Mounds View School District’s adult education programs and their impact on families." continues Sun Focus.

The Mounds View School District’s Family Learning Program helps students with young children complete their high school diploma with on-site childcare and parent education intertwined into curriculum. Pictured are student Berenice Garcia, Parent Educator Jen Kukielka, students Dyna Thong and Jessica Geving, social studies teacher Wayne Nelsen, and student Danny Williams. 
Photo:Sun Focus   

In 2014, the Area Learning Center and Adult Basic Education moved to Silver View Plaza in Mounds View to make room for the school district’s new kindergarten center at Pike Lake Education Center in New Brighton.

Adult Basic Education offers a variety of classes and programs meant to improve the education and quality of life for citizens of the community. The education center offers high school diploma classes, GED testing and preparation, transition to work or college classes, English as a Second Language classes, the Family Learning Program, and adult education information and documents. These classes are offered at no cost through the Mounds View School District.

Family Learning Program
English teacher Janice Velgersdyk began teaching in 1982 and helped found the Family Learning Program (FLP) in the early 1990s.

“We did not have a program then, but we saw a great need for it,” she said.

Velgersdyk said adults who were attending early childhood classes did not have a high school diploma, and there were no support services for parents completing their diploma through Adult Basic Educat

“Once we were able to put a whole program together, then people could actually come and utilize it, which was revolutionary,” she said.

The FLP is for parents who have a child between six weeks and 5 years of age. The program provides diploma preparation, free childcare and preschool, in-district transportation, career counseling and more. Students work toward their educational goals, and through the Early Childhood Family Education program, they and their children participate in activities and parent education discussion three days a week during the school year.

Velgersdyk said that students have gone on to become therapists, teachers, office administrators and nurses, for example, and their children have gone on to be successful in the Mounds View School District.

“I really love seeing families utilizing the program and successfully completing not only the credential, but the plan to move forward for the whole family,” she said. “That is so fun to see.”
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Source: Sun Focus 

Yarmouth County Learning Network looking to increase awareness about its adult learning offerings

"The Yarmouth County Leaning Network isn’t a new kid on the block. And yet it still feels more awareness is needed about the programs and services it offers even though it has over 20 years of experience working with adults who want to upgrade their skills and education." continues Nova News Now.

Student Tracy Ropson and Yarmouth County Learning Network coordinator Juanita Bruneau sit in the foreground of a classroom at the learning network, located in Pier 1, with students Patricia Brittain and Shayne Farnsworth in the background. 
Photo: Nova News Now 

“That is our biggest challenge, lack of awareness,” says network coordinator Juanita Bruneau.

For instance, when the Tri-County Regional School Board approved a motion to discontinue an adult high program in Yarmouth at the end of this school year, the options of the Adult Learning Program at NSCC or returning to traditional high school were referred to as alternatives for displaced students. There was no mention of the Yarmouth County Learning Network as a possibility, even though it offers programs free of charge to adult learners 19 years and older at locations in Yarmouth, Barrington and Shelburne.

“I think the challenge is people think of NSCC and they offer an Adult Learning Program so that’s what comes to mind immediately,” Bruneau says. “It’s getting that awareness out about us too.”

They include a Level 1 and 2 Adult Learning Program, from which students can later transition into the Adult Learning Program (ALP) offered at NCSS. They offer help in literacy skills. Teachers coach students in reading, writing, math, science, social studies and computer skills. People can be matched one-on-one with tutors (incidentally, the learning network is always looking for more volunteers). The learning network also offers GED courses.
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Source: Nova News Now 

Memories: They are all there by Dr. Kevin R. Stone

"Knowledge is expanding. Lines are blurring between the physical and digital, between humans and machines. In this article, and in upcoming articles, I will speculate on what this change might look like and how it may improve our lives now and in the future." according to Dr. Kevin R. Stone.

No one quite knows how memories are stored or how they can be easily accessed. 
Photo: San Francisco Examiner

I believe that rather than being fleeting and spotty, memory may be permanent and total.

Here is my conception of how memory might work: 

All exposures by the senses are recorded and retrievable from a very early age in life. However, to optimize recall time, most are suppressed. Drugs that open gateways such as marijuana, Ecstasy and psilocybins can temporarily remove the inhibitors, and so permit access. The capacity for storage is relatively unlimited. The mechanisms of storage are possibly a combination of the traditional electrical synapse theory, used for rapid access, and a yet to be discovered genetic code like write-rewrite storage mechanism. This mechanism could explain why the storage is unlimited and some memories are harder to recall than others.

The significance of each of these suppositions is the following: 
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Source: San Francisco Examiner