BY City News Ontario post-secondary students can now access thousands of university and college courses over the Internet. A new web portal was created by the province and released on Thursday to give students more flexibility in completing their courses. Ontario is investing $72 million over five years to eCampus Ontario, and 45 publicly-assisted colleges and universities in Ontario are offering courses through the portal. "Students should be excited about eCampus online portal, which gives them the flexibility to access high quality online courses whenever and whenever works best for them," said Reza Moridi, minister of Training for Colleges and Universities. Moridi said the web portal allows institutions to share best practices and online resources. There are 13,000 online courses including 277 new and redesigned courses with transferable credits between participating institutions. http://www.citynews.ca/2015/10/08/ontario-universities-colleges-team-up-to-offer-13000-courses-online/ Share on Facebook

by Tomorrow’s Professor Teaching and Learning, Stanford In the synchronous online class, small-group chat rooms can be one of the most integral and engaging portions of an online course, and they will make your whole-class chats that much more engaging. Small-group chat rooms provide excellent avenues for students to bond with one another as this venue offers a multitude of opportunities to discuss course material in more depth. https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1436 In the synchronous online class, small-group chat rooms can be one of the most integral and engaging portions of an online course, and they will make your whole-class chats that much more engaging. Small-group chat rooms provide excellent avenues for students to bond with one another as this venue offers a multitude of opportunities to discuss course material in more depth. <a href="https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1436 Share on Facebook

by Anne Niccoli, EDUCAUSE Review What effect do digital devices have on our digital brains? To uncover the influence on learning of using digital tablets for reading, the Coast Guard Leadership Development Center conducted an experiment to ascertain differences in recall and comprehension between tablet and paper readers. As of 2014, 63 percent of colleges reported using e-textbooks, while 27 percent planned to in the near future.1 But what drives these digital book policies and practices in higher education — technology or research? http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/9/paper-or-tablet-reading-recall-and-comprehension Share on Facebook

by Edutopia Check out Edutopia’s collection of articles, videos, and resources on using video games, simulations, and gaming concepts in the classroom. Just updated! http://www.edutopia.org/game-based-learning-resources Share on Facebook

by Amy Ahearn, EdSurge Trying to retrofit MOOCs designed for individual learning to facilitate collaboration is tougher than it might seem. As any good teacher will tell you, activities for groups have to be designed differently than assignments for individuals. If you try to give a group of fourth graders a single worksheet to complete, not much meaningful learning will occur. We think the same principle applies to online course design. Here are seven tips we’d give to instructional designers looking to build community around online courses: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-10-11-seven-tips-for-creating-community-in-online-courses Share on Facebook

by Ruth Campbell, Odessa American Four years ago, Odessa College’s biology department was the fourth largest at the school. It is now the largest, thanks to the demand for health care workers in the area. During the past five years, the biology department has grown by 42 percent and online biology courses by 190 percent, biology professor Chet Cooper said. The subject’s popularity also could be due to the enthusiasm of the department’s professors who go in and out of each other’s offices and will even let other professors observe them in class and give them a chance to teach for a few minutes in each other’s classes, Cooper said. http://www.oaoa.com/news/education/odessa_college/article_dfb33d68-6f70-11e5-9bea-9f4bade12696.html Share on Facebook

by mUmbrella NewsmartThe Wall Street Journal has launched a subscription-based online tutorial service to help people speak better business English. The service, called Newsmart, takes articles and videos from the Journal, and users must complete comprehension, grammar and vocabulary exercises about these stories. The service is gamified, with a leadership board function encouraging competition between users. The service costs $7.50 a month for a subscription online or as an app for Android or iOS phones. Newsmart is available to individuals or companies, which can sign up for Newsmart Pro, an advanced version with data analytics that monitor performance against international English certifications such as TOEIC and TOEFL. http://www.mumbrella.asia/2015/10/wall-street-journal-enters-e-learning-space-with-business-english-tutorials-for-subscribers/ Share on Facebook

by Larry Press, a New Domain An intriguing survey just out from the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute shows that an overwhelming number of high school students now are taking online classes on their own initiative. The numbers present three striking things. First, it’s clear students aren’t waiting for school prompts to pursue online classes. They’re doing it all by themselves in high numbers. Second, the students that attend historically black colleges take more online courses than other schools. Third, there’s a clear trend that online classes are increasing in popularity. Whether on their own accord or at a school’s requirement, online classes are being utilized by a large percentage of incoming freshman. http://anewdomain.net/2015/09/23/larry-press-online-classes-rise/ Share on Facebook

by Melinda Rogers, University of Utah Gerawork Teferra fled to Kakuma, Kenya, from his native Ethiopia with nothing but desperation. He joined thousands of refugees from neighboring African nations, most who had traveled hundreds of miles to reach the safety of a refugee camp far from violence, religious persecution and starvation in the places they’d once called home. He took an opportunity to become a secondary teacher and also enrolled in a new online program, developed by the University of Utah College of Social Work, designed to train individuals living and working in refugee camps to provide care and services to other camp residents. Teferra is among the first group of students who graduated on Oct. 12 from the new Case Management Certificate program, where he’s learned skills to better serve refugee populations. http://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/refugee-camp-grads/ Share on Facebook

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology Through a new app called MyPath, students at Brandman University can earn a bachelor’s degree at their own pace without purchasing a single textbook. The private, nonprofit institution within the Chapman University System primarily serves working adults at 25 campuses throughout California and Washington, as well as online. Brandman partnered with Flat World Knowledge to create MyPath, which incorporates adaptive learning, game-based learning, data analytics and social learning in a competency-based education model. Course content is available any time, anywhere using an iPad or laptop computer; all materials are embedded into the MyPath platform, with no textbooks required. Students work at their own pace, applying previous learning and work experience toward earning their degree. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/05/brandman-u-launches-new-online-learning-platform-with-no-textbooks-required.aspx Share on Facebook