By Andrew Barbour, eCampus News "We’re starting to hear a real desire for online learning to turn the corner and be focused on a mode of instruction that is inherently better than what we have today in traditional education," said Chris Walsh, CEO of Zaption, a video learning company based in San Francisco. "People are starting to look at new tools and new opportunities to create an instructional experience that is different but hopefully better as well." The idea that online learning could actually be better than face-to-face instruction has gained credence in recent years as new technology solutions promise to make the educational experience more personalized and engaging. Has that time finally arrived? Here, eCampus News looks at seven trends that have the potential to remake the world of online learning. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/trends-online-learning-453/ Share on Facebook

By Amar Toor, the Verge Udemy, an online learning service, has come under criticism for selling pirated courses. The controversy began this week, when security specialist Troy Hunt discovered that one of his courses on ethical hacking was available on Udemy under another author’s name. As The Next Web reports, the video had been edited to remove Hunt’s introduction at the beginning, but was otherwise unchanged from the version available on Pluralsight, the video’s copyright holder. On Udemy, the pirated course was available for £37 ($56). Udemy removed the video after Hunt flagged it on Twitter, though it remained available for at least 12 hours after the company replied to him.  Critics say online learning service doesn’t do enough to police copyright violations http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/29/9813780/udemy-pirated-course-copyright-troy-hunt Share on Facebook

by Hana Muslic, Daily Nebraskan How much would you pay to get a ‘B’ in a course if you knew you didn’t have to do any of the work? Students at universities across the nation have been emptying their pockets to see these results in their online classes. According to The Atlantic, college students are willing to lay down more than $1,000 for services like No Need To Pay — a company where "digital cheaters" are available for hire and sometimes even assume the identity of the student to help them pass the class. The students are guaranteed at least a ‘B’. At University of Nebraska-Lincoln, however, cheating in online classes seems to be minimal at best. "It’s actually fairly rare," said Matthew Douglass, a professor at UNL who has taught online courses for six years. "I’ve never caught a student cheating in an online course." http://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/academic-sites-make-it-easy-to-cheat-pass-online-courses/article_2afff83a-9706-11e5-825c-5f3349435d9e.html Share on Facebook

by GeekTime Here are five online classes that every startup professional should take to make sure their business is going to be successful. How does the effectiveness of online learning compare with that of face-to-face instruction? A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education found that "classes with online learning on average produce stronger student learning outcomes than do classes with solely face-to-face instruction." With this spirit in mind, particularly for folks who just have time for continuing education on their commute or at home, here are five online classes that every startup professional should take to make sure their business is going to be successful. http://www.geektime.com/2015/12/01/the-top-5-online-courses-for-startup-professionals/ Share on Facebook

BY NOEL K. GALLAGHER, Press Herald John Broida, a longtime University of Southern Maine psychology professor, died of pancreatic cancer last year. After the startling diagnosis last summer, Broida rushed to complete an online Psych 101 course he was developing. Two months later - just days after the course began - he died. Broida was a farsighted adopter of online teaching, broadcasting his lectures live to remote locations as early as 1988. "It was really important to him. He loved teaching," said his widow, AnneMarie Catanzano. The students never expected to meet Broida in person. The three-unit course is completely "asynchronous," meaning there are no "live" sessions where a professor meets online with students through Skype or chat rooms. With his pending death, Broida knew he needed someone to curate "a course in a box," someone to send email reminders, check in on students, answer questions and keep track of how students were doing. For that, he turned to friend and fellow USM psychology professor Michael Stevenson. http://www.pressherald.com/2015/11/30/maine-professor-ensures-course-is-taught-even-after-he-dies/ Share on Facebook

by Richenda Gould, Rutgers Now in its seventh year, RUOnlineCon has expanded from a statewide event to include attendees throughout the mid-Atlantic region, from New York to West Virginia. It is meant for faculty and others from higher education institutions who are active in online and hybrid learning environments, including instructional designers, educational technology specialists, department and program chairs, curriculum managers and online program administrators. Early registration is available at http://ruonlinecon.rutgers.edu. "Higher education is now interwoven with education technology tools and instructional design approaches," explained Richard J. Novak, vice president of continuing studies and distance learning at Rutgers. Speakers include Jeff Selingo (College unBound); Deb Adair, Quality Matters; Ray Schroeder, UPCEA and UIS ; Joan Bouillon, Pearson; and Kenneth Ronkowitz, New Jersey Institute of Technology. Rutgers’ co-presenters of the conference are the Mid-Atlantic chapter of UPCEA and the New Jersey Research and Education Network, a nonprofit technology consortium of academic and research institutions. http://cenewscenter.rutgers.edu/articles/2015/11/online-education-hybrid-learning-focus-rutgers-conference-educators Share on Facebook

by Richenda Gould, Rutgers Now in its seventh year, RUOnlineCon has expanded from a statewide event to include attendees throughout the mid-Atlantic region, from New York to West Virginia. It is meant for faculty and others from higher education institutions who are active in online and hybrid learning environments, including instructional designers, educational technology specialists, department and program chairs, curriculum managers and online program administrators. Early registration is available at http://ruonlinecon.rutgers.edu. "Higher education is now interwoven with education technology tools and instructional design approaches," explained Richard J. Novak, vice president of continuing studies and distance learning at Rutgers. Speakers include Jeff Selingo (College unBound); Deb Adair, Quality Matters; Ray Schroeder, UPCEA and UIS ; Joan Bouillon, Pearson; and Kenneth Ronkowitz, New Jersey Institute of Technology http://cenewscenter.rutgers.edu/articles/2015/11/online-education-hybrid-learning-focus-rutgers-conference-educators Share on Facebook

by Jane LeClair and Robin Berenson, Evolllution Competency based education (CBE) is, in many ways, an outgrowth of the earlier concept of outcomes based education (OBE) but they vary in that OBE has an initial goal or stated outcome that is sought by the education, whereas CBE is concerned with a narrow skill set that must be demonstrated to have been mastered by the learner. CBE is not a new concept in higher education, but change is being driven based on the quality of the education as well as access and cost. The challenge to learning institutions is to innovate with a purpose rather than with an eye to being the "next big thing." http://evolllution.com/revenue-streams/market_opportunities/designing-a-competency-based-education-cbe-program-context-challenges-and-pivots/ Share on Facebook

by Karli Grant, eCampus News Institutions with a focus on mentoring, apprentice-based and vocational learning have embraced the CBE model since its inception, but many schools with a variety of academic programs are now exploring the possibility of offering competency-based courses. For the many colleges and universities currently testing the waters, the question is "where do we start?" Early-adopters like Rasmussen College are partnering with regional accreditors and the U.S. Department of Education as best practices begin to emerge, but in the meantime there are steps every institution can take to create a basic framework for CBE. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/competency-based-education-728/ Share on Facebook

By C. RAMSEY FAHS, Harvard Crimson The Harvard Extension School will offer a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree program next year, a first for the school. The program’s inaugural cohort of students will begin online coursework in June and earn a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in global studies and a Master of Liberal Arts in management. The entire program, according to the Extension School’s website, will cost roughly $45,000, a price point that Ray Schroeder, the associate vice chancellor for online learning at the University of Illinois Springfield, called "tremendous." The program asks that applicants have at least two years of undergraduate coursework and roughly seven to 10 years of "professional experience" under their belts. Applicants should not, however, have taken any previous courses at the Extension School or Harvard Summer School. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/12/2/extension-school-accelerated-degree/ Share on Facebook