Surveys of Chief Academic Officers at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) reveal how public and private institutions are navigating the world of online higher education. What is your school’s online education GPA? Download the "Online Learning at Public Universities: Building a New Path to a College Degree" report, conducted in conjunction with AASCU member institutions. Download the "Online Learning at Private Universities: A Survey of Chief Academic Officers" report, conducted in conjunction with CIC member institutions. To hear more about the results and for an opportunity to ask questions of the authors, a free, live webinar with authors Dr. David Clinefelter, Chief Academic Officer of Learning House, and Dr. Susan C. Aldridge, former Senior Fellow of AASCU, is being held on November 7 at 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST. More webinar details >> The Learning House, Inc.

Non-profit Code for India launches a free, open source education portal with high-quality educational content in different areas, including business, technology and job skills training. The portal aims to provide India’s youth (people aged under 35) "with free access to high quality education through online and mobile courses essential to re-focus our workforce to meet the demands of a global economy", says Karl Mehta founder of Code for India and CEO of edtech company EdCast. According to the initiators free and high quality online education is an essential part of developing the skills needed in today’s economy and fostering entrepreneurial talent in India to transform the country into a digital and manufacturing power. The project is entirely volunteer-based and counts on professionals who dedicate their time to give back to their communities and the developing world. So far, all courses on the platform are in English. Further Reading "SKILL UP INDIA" FREE ONLINE EDUCATION PORTAL LAUNCHED BY CODE FOR INDIA ORGANIZATION | Press Release Links skillupindia.org

A wide assortment of instructional technologies are available that will not only enhance the learning experience for your students but also save you time. But what technologies fit best into your teaching? In this presentation for the Illinois Sociological Association, Jason Rhode and Peter Gowen from the NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center provided an overview of common instructional technologies available today and shared recommended steps for effectively incorporating technology in teaching. The Prezi is available here. Additional resources: Teaching with Blackboard Using Clickers with Blackboard at NIU Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing at NIU Smart Classrooms at NIU NIU Mobile Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants NIU Faculty Development Program Archives in iTunes Teaching with Blackboard Podcast NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center Faculty Development Blog @FacDev on Twitter

Tutoring is an important part of college life, may it be on the receiving end as a student who needs some extra help, or at the providing end to earn some extra income. Technology has added new possibilities to the vertical as students can now connect via the Internet without the need of fixing times and places to meet. Vancouver-based HelpHub connects learners and tutors for quick, on-demand or recurring weekly tutoring sessions on the web or on mobile devices. Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. HelpHub is a real-time open marketplace for tutoring. We connect students with tutors on-demand, anytime, anywhere, on the web and iOS. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. Miguel Kudry is the 22-year-old founder of the Vancouver-based startup HelpHub. He built the virtual tutoring platform after finding the need for a more efficient experience when he needed help in his own studies while attending college. How was the idea for your startup born? While in college, Miguel was searching for an alternative to the traditional, weekly tutoring sessions with the ability of asking only one question and move on. Fortunately he did not find one and HelpHub was born. What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. Every student needs help. HelpHub aims to be the place where students go to get help when they truly needed - whether they are working on a single problem or question, or they need recurring tutoring sessions, HelpHub makes it easier for any student to get help from real people, in real time. Who are your main competitors? What sets you apart from them? Competitors include InstaEdu, Tutor.com, Wyzant, and others. Among other elements and areas of our product, HelpHub's open market approach -allowing tutors to choose how much they make- and the ability for students to pay tutors as they go, sets us apart from other options in the market. In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. HelpHub has a worldwide presence, in over 60 countries and at over 700 schools. HelpHub's student presence is growing rapidly in Canada and the United States, and tutors around the world are increasingly becoming aware of our platform and joining it to earn a supplementary income, online. Latin America and Asia represent big opportunities for HelpHub to grow its student presence. Who is your target audience. Students aged 15-23 and their parents represent our main target markets. Tutor segments include undergraduates, graduates, professional tutors, and working professionals that wish to earn a supplementary income helping others through our platform. How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product. By providing users with an open marketplace and platform to connect, we allow any student to start conversations with any tutor, and a tutor to get started on the site in minutes. That way we eliminate any barriers or roadblocks for people to use the platform and test it before they either convert into a paying customer or a tutor. What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. HelpHub allows tutors to choose their own rates, and for students (and tutors) to negotiate and agree on prices. We take a 15% commission fee from the tutor's earnings on each transaction. There are no monthly fee, subscription fees, or minimums to use the HelpHub platform, for either students or tutors. If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding. We raised $250,000 from Sora Capital, in March, 2014. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. We now have a presence at over 700 schools, worldwide. We've launched our iOS app - allowing any student to get help from tutors on-demand, right on their iPhone. What are the next steps in growing your startup. Continuing to cultivate and grow our community of students and tutors through upcoming product features, improving communication for students and tutors, both globally and locally. How can people get in touch with you. For general inquiries, please contact us at helphub.me/contact You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with the handle HelpHubHQ Toll-free number: 1-855-599-9905

During the Fall 2013 semester in the online course I am teaching, I am experimenting with using YouTube’s free features to record weekly video introductions to my instructional units, caption the videos, and seamlessly incorporate them into my online course in Blackboard. In this tutorial, I share how to record a video using YouTube’s built-in webcam recording capabilities as well as caption the video with YouTube’s built-in captioning feature. In future posts, I’ll share more details on my workflow and specific examples for how I have integrated the vides into my Blackboard course.

In a further step to become the de facto online resume, LinkedIn announced the extension of its Add to Profile program to colleges and universities. The program initially launched last year with professional providers in the continuing and vocational education space. With the extension, colleges and universities can invite their graduates to add their degrees with a click of a button to their LinkedIn profiles. This can be done through a widget on the university’s website or via a link in an email. Initially, thirteen institutions signed up for the new Add to Profile option, namely Arizona State University; Kaplan University; University of California, San Diego; Villanova University; George Washington University; Full Sail University; University of Manchester; University of Cambridge; Universitas Indonesia; The Open University; Algonquin College; Keio University; and the University of Melbourne. Further Reading LinkedIn Opens Up Profiles to Higher Education Partners with One-Click Program | LinkedIn LinkedIn Expands Efforts to Help Colleges Keep in Touch With Students and Alumni | The Chronicle LinkedIn Extends Self-Service Profile Widget To College And University Sites, No LinkedIn Visit Required | TechCrunch Related LinkedIn launches Add-to-Profile for Certifications | EDUKWEST LinkedIn pilots Direct-to-Profile Certifications with Coursera, edX, Lynda, Udemy | EDUKWEST Links addtoprofile.linkedin.com

It’s a honor to have been recently named an inaugural member of the Blackboard MVP Program, which recognizes individuals who have established themselves as thought leaders in educational technology by sharing their expertise in Blackboard platforms. Blackboard MVPs are users who stand out as an expert in Blackboard technologies, share their expertise with other clients, demonstrate leadership in the education technology community, and actively share feedback with Blackboard. While the MVP program will be peer-nominated in the future, the inaugural class of 17 was selected by Blackboard. Here’s a quick video intro I recorded for the program. I look forward to continuing to share on my blog tips, how-to’s, resources, and best practices for teaching online using Blackboard. You can subscribe via RSS and also follow me on Twitter @jrhode

FiftyThree, the startup behind the popular iPad drawing app Paper, announced a $30 million Series B led by NEA with participation of existing investors. FiftyThree launched its own highly rated iPad stylus to accompany the app last year. Paper is installed on five to ten percent of all iPads. Its collaboration platform Mix has recently crossed the 1 million user mark. With the new investment FiftyThree aims to launch a new set of productivity tools for the enterprise and the education sector. The toolset will contain diagrams, charts, graphs, presentation sketches and be bundled under the term Think Kit. Further Reading FiftyThree Lands $30M From NEA To Build Creation Tools For Enterprise And Education Users | TechCrunch ‘Paper’ app maker FiftyThree raises $30M to fuel development of new iPad productivity tool | GeekWire Links fiftythree.com

It is important to begin planning online courses early because teaching in the online environment involves principles and practices different from those used in traditional face-to-face instruction. During this online session offered November 11, 2013 I introduced the unique characteristics of online instruction and provided an overview of the components in an engaging and interactive online course. This online workshop was geared toward an audience who is new to online teaching and to those wanting to refresh their knowledge about online teaching fundamentals. | view slides Stats on Online Learning in U.S. Higher Education: The Digital Revolution and Higher Education, 2011 Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States Online College Students 2013: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences Online Learning at Public Universities: Building a New Path to a College Degree Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning Online Higher Education Market Update 2012/2013: Executive Summary Resources for Designing Online Courses: Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Blackboard Exemplary Course Tours on YouTube Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Rubric [PDF] For archives of other online workshops offered by NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, visit our YouTube channel

During this session on November 21, 2013 at the 19th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning, learn about Northern Illinois University’s innovative faculty development initiative to offer introductory online teaching training via self-paced modules as an initial phase of comprehensive online faculty certification. An overview of the program was shared as well as the design, development, and implementation phases of the project, highlighting lessons learned and tips for other institutions interested in pursuing a similar self-paced model for scaling their faculty development efforts. Slides are available here. The session was mentioned in this article by Inside Higher Ed