By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology The University of Alaska Anchorage shares best practices from its institution-wide electronic portfolio implementation and new approaches to gain rapid traction among faculty and students. The University of Alaska Anchorage introduced e-portfolios to the campus in a big way this year, rolling out the technology across the entire institution. And as anyone who has attempted such a feat quickly realizes, large-scale e-portfolio adoption takes more energy and commitment than the typical technology project. That’s because a healthy digital portfolio program requires ongoing support for adoption among faculty and students. Here’s how U Alaska is tackling the work. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/21/5-lessons-worth-learning-about-e-portfolios.aspx Share on Facebook

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology Instructors at two universities on opposite sides of the country, both with extensive experience in flipped learning, are continuing to tweak the model, according to articles recently published in their respective student newspapers. In flipped learning lecture is typically delivered through pre-recorded lectures that students watch before coming to class; then class time is dedicated to other activities. Harvard University has been holding "active learning" lunches for faculty interested in flipping their courses. An article by student reporters C. Ramsey Fahs and Daniel Wood reported an increase by faculty in the flipped model, as well as "logistical challenges and student concerns." https://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/10/20/flipped-classes-continue-evolving-at-stanford-and-harvard.aspx?admgarea=topic.software Share on Facebook

By Laura Devaney, eCampusNews A new project focused on advancing learning outcomes has demonstrated that rubric-based assessment can be scaled and can offer up valid findings, along with actionable information, about student learning. This information could be used to improve curriculum and assessment design, and to improve program and class effectiveness in an effort to advance learning outcomes at colleges and universities. These findings come from the pilot year of the Multi-State Collaborative to Advance Learning Outcomes Assessment (MSC) project, which launched in 2011 and supported by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) Association. http://www.ecampusnews.com/top-news/learning-outcomes-study-672/ Share on Facebook

by Stuart M. Butler, Brookings To make college more affordable for low-income students we need to rethink what "college" means. The system needs much more than tweaks in financing or regulation; it requires an entirely different business model. Today, a student typically moves away from home for some years and chooses from a limited set of courses at a costly brick-and-mortar institution. Imagine instead a "general contractor" model of college, in which the contractor assembles a collection of courses from different places and delivers them in different ways. The contractor’s (college’s) role in this model is assembly and quality control, rather than running an institution. This model would also allow for much greater customization, with degrees better tailored to the student’s interests and needs—as well as their home and employment situation. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2015/10/23-rethinking-college-disruptive-innovation-butler Share on Facebook

by: Mark Leuba, EDUCAUSE Review Competency-based education (CBE) has elicited strong interest among educators and education stakeholders due to its potential to meet students where they are in their education journey and provide a more personalized path to completion. A typical CBE program has a curriculum structured to demonstrate learning in clearly articulated competencies, is often self-paced, is agnostic as to the source of learning while maintaining clear and transparent learning standards, and has an emphasis on authentic assessment, which evaluates what the learner knows and can do through real-life demonstrations and projects. Unfortunately, the model’s practical benefits are tempered by the significant technology challenges and barriers to CBE program adoption, roadblocks due to limits in (and among) higher education software products. http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/10/competency-based-education-technology-challenges-and-opportunities Share on Facebook

by Jeremy Petranka, EDUCAUSE Review That’s a parting comment familiar to every professor and student. And while bookmarking a course is useful, it’s also static, even limiting. Sure, the instructor issues assignments, but aside from group projects, class activities usually happen in isolation even though we know a collaborative environment expands and enriches education. What can we do? A current convergence of technology trends can help facilitate out-of-the-classroom engagement and collaboration, but also capitalize on technological infrastructures and behaviors already deeply ingrained in today’s students. This starts by recognizing that technology is a core and permanent part of student life — socially, organizationally, communicatively, and academically. By embracing appropriate technology in the classroom, we can realize its potential for supporting more engaging and effective pedagogy. http://er.educause.edu/blogs/2015/10/how-technology-can-drive-active-perpetual-learning Share on Facebook

by Ilya Pozin, Forbes Many of the world’s top universities have embraced Massive Open Online Courses (known as MOOCs). In some districts, tablets have become an essential school supply, thanks to new software that turns them into powerful classroom tools. Meanwhile, the implementation of computer-administered common core testing forced many schools to modernize, whether they wanted to or not. The technology behind these innovations has come from a host of companies, ranging from billion-dollar tech unicorns to small outfits founded by school teachers. What unites them is their shared vision that education, one of the industries most resistant to change, can benefit from technological innovation. Together, they have coalesced into a sector known as EdTech, which has become one of the hottest spaces in Silicon Valley and beyond. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2015/10/25/driving-innovation-10-edtech-companies-you-need-to-know-about/ Share on Facebook

by Ryan Craig, Forbes There are two critical science projects underway in higher education. First and most important is figuring out how to use technology to significantly improve developmental/remedial education. This is related to about a thousand things currently happening in K-12 education. The answer will undoubtedly involve adaptive learning and gamification, and perhaps immersive learning as well. This science project is at the top of everybody’s list. The second science project, and the one I spend a lot of time thinking about, is how to use technology to develop and deliver shorter, less expensive, 100% digital (and therefore accessible) postsecondary programs that lead to credentials that employers will recognize and value. The answer - if there is one - will be critical to the future of colleges and universities. One might go as far to say that whoever solves this science project merits a badge. Two high-profile companies are pursuing a badge-based future: Coursera and Udacity. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2015/09/30/coursera-udacity-and-the-future-of-credentials/ Share on Facebook

by Adam Gordon, Forbes The University of Michigan Ross School of Business on October 12 announced free lifetime open-enrolment executive education for all its degree alumni, a business model inflection that raises interesting issues in strategic cannibalization, and which threatens the status quo of both MBA and wider short-course leadership development industries. The "Alumni Advantage" offer means UM graduates have lifelong free access to executive education, in Ann Arbor, in Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, and online. Non-Ross UM alumni are eligible for half-price. http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamgordon/2015/10/24/michigan-ross/ Share on Facebook

by Lekan Oguntoyinbo, University Business For decades, colleges and universities have used big data to track high-risk students and intervene as needed. Now a growing number of institutions are using data tools to track and analyze another group: successful students. It is a radically different approach that many campus administrators believe will help them understand what makes students successful—developing a profile of success that can be used to help keep vulnerable students focused and ensure positive outcomes for all. One example: If the most successful students use the library or computer lab frequently, interventions for at-risk students could involve strongly encouraging them to take advantage of these resources. http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/colleges-study-successful-students Share on Facebook

by Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed (ed note: In this thought-filled posting, Josh Kim addresses issues related to the new book. These issues are relevant much more broadly.) In Reclaiming Conversation, you make the mistake of characterizing MOOCs as interchangeable with online education. This mistake is distressingly common amongst journalists, but in a book as influential as Reclaiming Conversation I find the conflation of these two educational methods to be particularly troublesome. The only thing that MOOCs and traditional online education share is a common enabling set of technologies - the internet and the phone. MOOCs contain two attributes that put them in a separate category to traditional online learning. First, they are built for scale. Second, they are built to be open. Traditional online courses are designed neither for scale or for openness. Traditional online courses are built around a model of a private community, one consisting of an educator and a limited number of students. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/open-letter-sherry-turkle-moocs-and-online-learning Share on Facebook

By MEG P. BERNHARD and MARIEL A. KLEIN, Harvard Crimson Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 reiterated the challenges of sustaining edX’s current financial model in a document released Friday and pointed to potential areas where the non-profit virtual education platform could improve, such as developing mobile platforms and accommodating students from different backgrounds. The 33-page "white paper" summarizes edX’s three-year history after its initial founding by Harvard and MIT and emphasizes the company’s three main goals: to improve on-campus learning, expand college-level course offerings to the world, and conduct research on learner behavior. Garber, though, projected that the current models for funding HarvardX—Harvard’s branch of the massive open online course provider—are unsustainable, given the high cost of generating online material and the time investment of professors producing the online courses. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/10/26/garber-edX-financial-sustainability/ Share on Facebook

by eLearning Editorial Team Learn the best and easy ways to create an engaging online learning course through this wonderful infographic. Make the content relevant to students: The purpose of a course should be to provide students with relevant content that is packed with useful information, it’s easy to understand, and helps students reach their learning goals. Make the content visually appealing: An e-learning course should include a variety of elements that make it more appealing and keeps the students engaged. Make sure that the content is clean, easy to follow, and includes resources such as pictures, videos, and other multimedia files. Use gamification: Students enjoy gamified elements such as leaderboards, earning points, and badges because they make the learning experience more enjoyable and drive participation. Allow students to collaborate…. http://edtechreview.in/e-learning/2167-how-to-create-an-online-course Share on Facebook

by Distance-Educator Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) is a continuous improvement process that can be used to inform practice in online education. This article describes how the PDSA cycle was used to enhance a new online health policy course in an accelerated online Registered Nurse- to-Bachelor of Science (RN-BS) program at one Southeastern University. A General Questions Forum (GQF) was used as the central repository for student questions. Questions (n=61) in the form of textual data were analyzed for similarities and differences and five themes were identified: (a) clarifying information, (b) figuring it out, (c) using technology and tools, (d) seeking confirmation, and (e) needing more information. Actions to improve the course included clarifying directions, facilitating transfer of knowledge, strengthening the link to technology support, providing opportunities for feedback, and improving course navigation. http://distance-educator.com/continuously-improving-online-course-design-using-the-plan-do-study-act-cycle/ Share on Facebook

by Claudio Sanchez, NPR Federal law does not prohibit undocumented students from enrolling in college, but it does something nearly as effective, banning them from receiving government aid. In recent years, though, some undocumented students have stumbled upon a little-known, nonprofit online university that doesn’t charge tuition and doesn’t care about students’ legal status. University of the People certainly got the attention of Miguel Angel Cruz. The 27-year-old entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico a decade ago. He settled near Tampa, Fla., where he now shares a small trailer with his father. Cruz learned English and earned his GED. But his dream of going to college was just that — a dream — because of the high cost. Then, he started searching online. "I was Googling, not for free but for cheaper universities, and I found the University of the People," Cruz says. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/26/449279730/the-online-college-thats-helping-undocumented-students Share on Facebook

by Don Ames, WWL Online degree programs are gaining credibility as more and more students embrace online learning. New Orleans area universities began to embrace the trend after Hurricane Katrina displaced the area’s population. "People, obviously, could take them at a distance," says Mark Rosa, Professor of Business at Tulane University. "You don’t have to be in the area, physically. You can partake in the classes from afar." Rosa says he wasn’t always a fan, preferring a more traditional ‘brick and mortar’ education. http://www.wwl.com/Online-learning-growing-in-acceptability/22108693 Share on Facebook

By India Express News Service For the first time in India, engineering education content is available in 3D on the internet. The web portal is aptly named LearnEngg.com. It delivers visual-based engineering content for the entire degree course. A total of 214 subjects across different branches of engineering are available now. Further, the product is customised for the syllabus of Anna University to offer direct benefit to the students. According to S Srikanth, MD, Infoplus Technologies, "LearnEngg.com will revolutionise engineering learning in classrooms as well as home. It is a pathbreaking initiative in delivering visual engineering content directly to the students." The course level contents are named as 3DM Classroom because of its 3D visuals across the subject. http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/3D-Online-Course-on-Engineering/2015/10/26/article3096947.ece Share on Facebook

by GREGORY FERENSTEIN, Read, Write, Web The search giant recently announced a partnership with online course provider Udacity for a 4-month curriculum in how to build, monetize, and manage their very own business. All of the courses are free, with project feedback and coaching for a monthly fee of $200. Why would Google get into the business of business school? Google is vying for the same "app economy" as Apple. It needs countless developers to build amazing applications for their smartphone software, Android, web browser, Chrome, and various other products. The more developers who build for Google (as opposed to Apple or Facebook), the more attractive the tech giant’s products are to users. http://readwrite.com/2015/10/26/google-udacity-nanodegree-mba Share on Facebook

by Seb Murray, Business Because Google has become the latest big tech company to edge into business schools’ territory with the recent launch of a mini online degree for tech entrepreneurs. The search giant’s push into the nascent educational technology market follows the recent $1.5 billion purchase of online learning company Lynda.com by LinkedIn, which could see management courses hosted on the social network. It also comes as business schools strive to offer a market to entrepreneurs. Google’s partnership with Udacity, one of the top Mooc or massive open online course providers, will bear a four-to-seven-month long digital course on how to design, validate, prototype, monetize, and market a tech start-up. It is priced at up to $1,400. http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/3563/google-edges-into-business-education Share on Facebook

By Roger Riddell, Education Dive The coding bootcamp’s 99% job placement rate is verified by an independent audit. Coding bootcamps and other alternative credentialing programs have boomed in popularity since arriving in the higher ed space, largely on the promise of a more cost-effective and efficient path to a career. With that rapid ascent, particularly as various fields have taken their graduates’ credentials increasingly seriously, has come questions of oversight and accreditation. At the end of the day, who guarantees quality and outcomes? And should these programs be eligible for federal aid? The U.S. Department of Education recently took the first step in answering those questions with the announcement of its Educational Quality Through Innovation Partnerships (EQUIP) program, a pilot that will provide Title IV funding to partnerships between higher ed institutions and nontraditional programs. http://www.educationdive.com/news/flatirons-enbar-talks-bootcamp-accreditation-jobs-for-profit-concerns/407994/ Share on Facebook

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