Group items tagged

By Jeffrey R. Young in College 2.0 of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan 8 2012. This article looks at the use of badges to mark accomplishments and progress in online courses.

This article was mentioned in the Jam with special notice of the profile of one of OpenStudy's Level 40 Heros.

By Nick DeSantis on Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 23, 2012. Article is about Sebastian Thrun, a research professor of computer science at Stanford who has given up teaching to found Udacity, a start-up offering low-cost online classes.

Website offering a library of over 2,400 educational videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 150 practice exercises.

mentioned in Deeper Learning thread in NGLC Jam 2012 as a case that the Stanford professor who founded Udacity, a start-up for low cost online courses expected to reach masses, may follow for handling feedback. "progressive and multiple successes on practice problems demonstrates deeper learning." see tag 'article' for the link to the article about this professor in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

ALEKS produces web-based, artificially intelligent educational software used for assessment and then individualized lesson plans. Developed at the University of California, Irvine with funding from the National Science Foundation.

mentioned in Deeper Learning thread in NGLC Jam 2012 as a case that the Stanford professor who founded Udacity, a start-up for low cost online courses expected to reach masses, may follow for handling feedback. "progressive and multiple successes on practice problems demonstrates deeper learning." see tag 'article' for the link to the article about this professor in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Article about BioBook by Gregory Ferenstein on Fast Company, October 30, 2011. Dan Johnson/Wake Forest's BioBook is a NGLC Wave 1 winner.

"The 10 Barriers to Technology Adoption Technology will absolutely change K12 learning. "

By Josh Fischman, and part of The Chronicle (of Higher Education's) 2011 Special Report on Online Learning, published Nov 6 2011. Central Piedmont Community College developed an Online Student Portal learning system to improve retention among its students. They have had success with the system (in use 2004-2008). Now, with a Next Gen grant, they will roll the system out to 6 additional local schools to see if they can match the retention improvements. The system is based both on learning styles and on frequent intervention by students and counselors.

The Online Student Portal learning system is a wave 1 grantee.

By Cynthia Powell, Scott Perkins, and Scott Hamm with Rob Hatherill, Louise Nicholson, and Dwayne Harapnuik in Educause Quarterly (EQ) vol 34 (4), 2011. Outlines the Mobile-Enhanced Inquiry-Based Learning (MEIBL) project, which supports student learning.

This EQ article is about a Wave I grantee project.

(PDF) Shea, P. (2007). Bridges and barriers to teaching online college courses: A study of experienced online faculty at 36 colleges. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11(2), 73-128. From abstract, "This paper reports on initial findings from a research study of factors that enable and constrain faculty participation in online teaching and learning environments."

Citation provided in Engaging Faculty thread in Jam.

Author posted in Jam sections from his article to highlight some significant differences that might shape adoption of innovation among faculty: Gender - Two differences were identified with regards to gender. First, female respondents were more likely to report that they were motivated to teach online because online teaching accommodated other life needs (such as child care, transportation, and other family needs). Additionally females identified reduced commuting time or hassle as a motivator more frequently than their male counterparts (Tables 3 and 4). Age - With regards to age, more "mature" faculty (those 45 or over) were more motivated by opportunities to experiment with new pedagogy then were younger faculty (Table 5). Younger faculty were more motivated (perhaps unrealistically) by opportunities to demonstrate competencies important for tenure or promotion that they believed online teaching provided (Table 6). Younger faculty also reported being motivated by other material incentives that might be available for online teaching (Table 7) and were more likely to report that online teaching might be a condition of employment as a motivating factor (Table 8). Full-Time/Traditional versus Part-Time/Non Traditional. - Motivational differences were also identified by the employment status of the faculty. Part-time/Non-Traditional faculty (lecturers,instructors, and adjuncts) were over represented as a group that identified the capacity of online teaching to accommodate other life needs as a motivator for online teaching, while Full-time/Traditional faculty (assistant, associate, and full professors) were under represented in this category (Table 9). Part-time faculty were also somewhat more motivated by the possibility that online teaching could provide more free time for other professional activities and reduce commuting time or hassle (Tables 10 and 11). Parttime instructors were also more motivated by the opportunity to teach a new subject area and b