One of the Race to the Top RFP's - I personally worked on this RFP.

"A wiki is a database of pages which visitors can edit live." The building blocks of wikis are the "comments" from visitors

There are really TWO categories of learning objectives based on their purpose. One type of learning objective is for internal use-the design team, client and subject matter expert. The other type is for the audience members. If designers would write different learning objectives for each category, the world would be a better place. This is because internal learning objectives tend to be too technical and non-motivating for your eLearning audience.

Moving from constructivist philosophy, psychology and epistemology to the characterization of constructivist learning environments presents the challenge of synthesizing a large spectrum of somewhat disparate concepts. An appropriate analogy for the way in which constructivist concepts have evolved is that of a prism with many facets. While the facets reflect the same light and form one part of a whole, they nonetheless each present distinct and finely delineated boundaries.

The key elements of online course design and pedagogy suggested by research as promoting effective learning are discussed through the lens of constructivist epistemology. Presentation of content, instructor-student and student-student interactions, individual and group activities, and student assessment are each addressed, in turn. The focus is on learning and recognition that, from time-to-time, all students are teachers as they bring diverse expertise, experiences, and worldviews to the task of learning. Reflection on past experiences, interaction with other members of the learning community, immediate instructor behavior, authentic group activities, and diverse assessment tasks with timely and detailed feedback are underscored.

Fred Rovai, a native of San Jose, California, received a MS degree (education) and PhD degree (urban services with a concentration in academic leadership) from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia; a MA degree (public administration) from the University of Northern Colorado; and a BA degree (mathematics) from San Jose State University. He also completed postgraduate work in systems management at the University of Southern California, graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and possesses a postgraduate professional license in mathematics from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The importance of continuous and prompt teacher feedback in the virtual classroom.

People learn through observing others' behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors. "Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action." (Bandura). Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences

Since the 1970s, cognitive psychological perspectives have dominated pedagogical frameworks and models for designing technology-mediated teaching and learning environments. More recently, social learning perspectives have received attention as viable or even desirable frames for research and practice related to teaching and learning, particularly in Web-based learning environments (WBLEs). In this article, the authors analyze these social learning perspectives and how they can be used in the design and implementation of online learning.

Online education has become increasingly popular in higher education, which is a trend that will continue as more universities have begun to heavily invest in online teaching due to student demand. While best practices for implementing online instruction are well documented in previous literature, factors identified in this review of literature serve as reminders that should be considered by higher education faculty to enhance the quality of their online courses. Teaching online requires a faculty member to think differently about teaching and learning, learn a host of new technological skills, and engage in ongoing faculty development for design and development of quality online instruction.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology website

Open Educational Resources Commons - link to hundreds of OER sites

Dr. Louise Waters discusses the power of OER in Urban Education

English as a Second Language podcast.