By C. RAMSEY FAHS, CRIMSON Launched with its first cohort in June, the blended degree program combines on-campus and online courses: two three-week residencies in Boston in June 2015 and June 2016, online classes otherwise, and a final two-week residency in May 2017 to present a capstone project before program completion. The School of Public Health’s program joins several online MPH programs already offered by peer institutions. Johns Hopkins University first began its online MPH in 1999. Currently in its first year of a three-year "test" period approved by Provost Alan M. Garber ’76, the program will undergo regular evaluations. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/10/28/public-health-blended-degree/ Share on Facebook

by Turner Cowles, Time Want to get ahead in your career? Join the crowd. Fifty-two percent of Coursera students are taking online courses to improve their career, according to president and co-founder Daphne Koller. Of those students, 87% get benefits from online education, she says. "That benefit comes in many different flavors, some of them just find themselves doing better at their current jobs," Koller says. At least 34% get what she calls a tangible benefit, like a raise, a higher paying job, or starting a new business. Employers are looking for more than people with more than just a specific skill-set; they’re also looking for people who are motivated self-starters. http://time.com/money/4086509/online-classes-help-career-coursera/ Share on Facebook

By University Times College is an exciting and nerve racking time for students when it comes to learning. With a wide variety of subjects, students have a lot to ponder. However, when it comes to online classes, students have no idea where to look and are starting to ask questions. "I came from a Community College and the school had a lot of online classes to choose from. I work full time and coming to class at certain times doesn’t work for me," said Cal State LA student Andre Flemming. While Cal State LA does offer a wide range of classes to attend, the online system just isn’t quite there. The CSU system only offers a few programs ranging from business to health professions at CalStateOnline.net. http://www.csulauniversitytimes.com/news/view.php/1013570/Lack-of-Online-Classes-Leads-Students-to Share on Facebook

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology The delivery of online classes is viewed by most people as a way that colleges and universities are keeping expenses down for their students. In a recent survey, 65 percent of respondents identified those more than anything else a school can do to reduce student costs. The idea of backing public funding for education to lower tuition and loan costs was specified by only half as many (34 percent). https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/29/survey-online-courses-use-of-tech-better-route-than-public-funding-to-cut-college-costs.aspx Share on Facebook

by  David Schejbal, e-Mentor There is a buzz, even a frenzy, about competency-based education (CBE). Brought together by the Lumina Foundation-sponsored organization C-BEN (the Competency-Based Education Network), 30 institutions and 4 university systems have developed or are developing competency-based programs. About another 600 schools have claimed to be developing CBE programs, though there is no accurate data to substantiate that number. Why and why now? To understand the reasons for the interest in CBE in the U.S., it is important to understand the broader context that is significantly impacting higher education1. As with most things, one primary driver is money. http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/artykul/index/numer/61/id/1197 Share on Facebook

By Bradley Fuster, US News While there are benefits to live online learning, such environments are not ideal for all students. Here are five things to watch out for when considering live online classes. Online students should carefully consider prior to enrollment if they are the type of learner who is set up for success in a live online class​. While the opportunities for lively interaction are plentiful, the obstacles might be overlooked. http://www.usnews.com/education/online-learning-lessons/2015/10/30/overcome-5-obstacles-of-live-online-classes Share on Facebook

By Amanda Porterfield, Illinois Home Page The University of Illinois is making cuts as the state continues to operate without a budget. They’re also making additions that will help bring in more money. It’s typical for U of I students to cram as many credits into two semesters as they can. University officials say it was such a success this year they’re offering 17 credits, predicting the online semester will bring in about a million dollars. http://www.illinoishomepage.net/news/local-news/online-classes-bringing-u-of-i-money-during-budget-crisis Share on Facebook

by Udacity Fact - India has the largest population of software developers, outside of the US, at 3 million. By 2018, this number is estimated to increase to 4 million - making India a country with the largest number of software developers. Fact - And yet, with such large numbers of software developers, there are only 2% of apps developed in India that make it to the top 1000 Google apps and none to the top 100. Industry Experts in India believe the reason behind this seems to be due to the options available in the ecosystem of upgrading skills once a student finishes his basic degree and enters the job market. As a first in India, Udacity has collaborated with the tech giant Google. The company believes this service model of job training can be scaled up to teach coding to millions of people. For India, additionally, there is a definitive price advantage as well. The discounted price for India is Rs. 9,800 per month. This compares favorably with the US where it costs $200 a month. http://yourstory.com/2015/11/udacity/ Share on Facebook

By Meris Stansbury, eCampus News It’s called the Office of Analytics at University of Maryland University College (UMUC), and it began with the vision of President Javier Miyares, who wanted to not only unlock the potential of institutional data across multiple areas, but turn the data into a profit for the college. "The problem is most presidents have heard the word but don’t know how to execute," explained Miyares during a session at last week’s EDUCAUSE 2015. "We have less than 10 percent of revenue coming from the state and had a 50 percent decline in enrollments in 2012. We had to cut 60 million from the budget and fire 300 people, and that’s when we knew we had to take what we had left and invest in the priority: analytics." Darren Catalano, the Vice President of Analytics for UMUC, says "Our approach is to demonstrate the "art of possible" to the institution," said Catalano; "in other words, to make complex data simple." According to Miyares, there are 5 lessons in leveraging analytics to deliver what’s possible. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/office-of-analytics-265/ Share on Facebook

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology Gerry Hanley has a vision. He wants to plant a big thermometer on California State University Web sites to show how much money students are saving by not having to buy traditionally published textbooks or ancillary resources. His rough estimate: As of a few years ago, learners at the 23-campus, 460,200-student university system were spending $300 million a year on course materials — about $651 per student per school year. His goal is to cut that in half, and he believes the result will be higher graduation rates and better quality of education. "If I could save 50 percent for students, that’d be great," said Hanley, Cal State’s assistant vice chancellor for academic technology services and executive director of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/28/affordable-learning-at-scale-with-oer.aspx Share on Facebook