by Christopher Ly, elPaisano If you’re the type of student who doesn’t mind being an individual learner and loves to study by yourself and you usually don’t tend to have issues with reading and understanding what is given to you, then the online classes may suit you. But if you’re very weak in the area of math for example, I’d recommend taking the course in person, in a classroom setting instead of online because the online course limits the amount of help you’ll receive from the professor. I am not very great at math and had issues with learning the subject when I took it online, and as a result ended up dropping the course due to my ability not to understand the problems and finding it difficult to communicate with the professor to help me with the problem that I had. If you are a responsible, self-disciplined student that is computer literate then you should do just fine in an online course. http://elpaisanoonline.com/opinion/2015/09/13/are-online-college-courses-the-way-to-go/ Share on Facebook

by the Training Journal L&D teams are increasingly buying-in ready-made learning resources, rather than creating their own, according to an annual survey by Video Arts, which reveals an upsurge in the use of off-the-shelf e-learning and video content. The poll conducted in June, surveyed 400 learning and development professionals about how they deliver training and their plans for the future. The results show overall stability in the use of classroom training (89 per cent) as well as e-learning (79 per cent) and coaching (69 per cent). However, e-learning is still being used as a standalone resource in the majority of companies.​ https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/news/survey-reveals-growing-demand-customised-e-learning-and-video-content Share on Facebook

By Krithika Krishnamurthy, Economic Times Online learning platform Coursera, which raised $49.5 million (Rs 328 crore) last month, is doubling down on India, with the aim to introduce hundreds of new courses in technology, data science and business in the coming year. "We expect the next 12 months to be our greatest year of growth yet," said Daphne Koller, President and Co-founder at Coursera, who added that India is Coursera’s third largest market after the US and China, with over one million users. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/online-learning-platform-coursera-bets-big-on-india-to-start-new-technology-business-courses/articleshow/48964316.cms Share on Facebook

By Bill Daggett, Raymond J. McNulty, Brian M. Shulman, SNHSU Online and digital delivery of K-12 learning, including digital game-based learning (DGBL), is exponentially growing in usage and in functionality. Teachers, who bring hands-on knowledge and expertise to the table, typically welcome a sense of involvement in strategic decision making from administrators. Educational leaders, however, need to be drivers, not passengers, on this journey and guide the evolution of digitally enhanced learning so they can shape and direct its emergence and usage. Both teachers and educational leaders can then use DGBL to focus on their ultimate goal of student growth and achievement. Students can and should be drivers in the process, too. Professional educators need to "own" DGBL so they can make their own larger organizational agendas part of DGBL’s emergence, implementation, and usage. Share on Facebook

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology Faculty and librarians don’t see eye to eye. While nearly every single academic librarian (98 percent) thinks there needs to be better communication between the library and faculty, only 45 percent of faculty think the same. They even disagree on whether or not they work together to coordinate course reserves. While 57 percent of faculty say they do, 69 percent of libraries say they don’t. The only place they appear to agree with each other is on the preferred mode of communication — email; almost half of librarians push email to confer with faculty, and 61 percent of faculty do so. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/15/survey-librarians-and-faculty-a-mile-apart-on-need-for-better-communication.aspx Share on Facebook

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology Course materials management company Rafter today announced new agreements with several colleges and universities to deploy Rafter360, technology that provides both print and digital textbooks through a flat-rate model. Students at Mars Hill University (NC), Green Mountain College (VT), the Institute of American Indian Arts (NM), Illinois College and Bethany College (KS) will now receive all course materials by the first day of class, for a reduced fee that is incorporated into their tuition. Rafter’s pricing is expected to save students more than 50 percent compared to traditional textbooks. And when students have access to all their course materials up front, their chances of success improve, according to the company. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/09/16/universities-move-to-flat-rate-textbooks.aspx Share on Facebook

by Sue Pelletier, MeetingsNet If intuition tells you that an online learning portal that prompts learners with notes and reminders at strategic spots, includes interactive polls and links to resources, and allows learners to take notes and send themselves reminders would be more effective than one that just entails watching the traditional video with periodic polls, you’d be right—times four. At least, that’s what data from a recent comparative effectiveness trial indicates. http://meetingsnet.com/cme-design/data-show-interactivity-quadruples-effectiveness-e-learning Share on Facebook

by Jonathan Shieber, Tech Crunch With an eye toward building what EdCast chief executive Karl Mehta calls "the next big social media company," his company has launched a new interactive platform with the help of some titans of media, technology and finance. "We know we are building something that will be worth $20 billion," says Mehta of his education startup. The goal, as he sees it, is nothing less than the transformation of learning through a blend of online classes (formal education) with bite-sized tutorials with real practitioners and specialists in certain fields (informal learning). The new 10 Minute Insight Series, which the company launched today, is a key part of that project, says Mehta. "There is not a single social media site that’s focused on knowledge networking," says Mehta. "Everybody needs to learn every day in a social way. We are building knowledge networking." http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/15/edcast-launches-new-interactive-learning-platform-to-bridge-formal-and-informal-learning/ Share on Facebook

by Michael Feldstein, Phil Hill, Thomas Cavanagh, EDUCAUSE Personalized learning provides a unique, highly focused learning path for each student. Individual attention from instructors isn’t feasible in traditional educational models with large numbers of students, and personalized learning is intended to use IT systems and tools to tailor learning experiences based on student strengths, weaknesses, and pace of learning. Technologies including analytics, adaptive learning, digital courseware, and others underlie personalized learning, which builds a "profile" of each student and makes continual adjustments to learning paths based on student performance. It also provides information to help instructors better target their teaching to individual students. http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-personalized-learning? Share on Facebook

by Farhad Manjoo, NY Times Economists and technologists agree that in the future, just about everyone’s job will involve more technology. During the last few years, many local and online schools have popped up to teach people how to code. They offer a vast range of prices and techniques. Some, like Codecademy, are free, while others can cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.  Now Udacity, a four-year-old online teaching start-up, believes that after years of trial and error, it has hit on a model of vocational training that can be scaled up to teach millions of people technical skills. Udacity’s founder, Sebastian Thrun, a specialist in artificial intelligence at Stanford University who once ran Google X, the search company’s advanced projects division, said that the "nanodegree" program that the firm created last year will result in vastly lower education costs and wider accessibility. Early data suggests the program is efficient and reliably results in new jobs http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/technology/udacity-says-it-can-teach-tech-skills-to-millions.html?_r=0 Share on Facebook