Open educational resources (OER) are "digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning and research."[1] Being a production and dissemination mode, OER are not involved in awarding degrees nor in providing academic or administrative support to students.[2][3] However, OER materials are beginning to get integrated into open and distance education.[4]
"The ninth annual survey, a collaborative effort between the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board, is the leading barometer of online learning in the United States. Based on responses from over 2,500 academic leaders, the complete survey report, "Going the Distance: Online Education in the United States, 2011" can be downloaded here."
the reality is that tuition for online schools is not consistently lower than tuition for traditional schools across the board. How much you'll pay depends on the type of school and its prestige, as well as your personal financial aid package-whether you're studying online or in a classroom.
"Babson Survey Research Group (BSRG) just released its annual survey of online learning in US higher education (press release here). This year they have moved from use of survey methodology for the online enrollment section to use of IPEDS distance education data. Russ Poulin from WCET and I provided commentary on the two data sources as an appendix to the study."
The University System of Maryland now requires undergraduates to take 12 credits in alternative learning modes, including online. Texas has proposed a similar rule. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is pushing to have 25 percent of credits earned online by 2015. And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pointing to UCF as a model, has made blended learning a cornerstone of its new $20-million education-technology grant program.
"No one enforces you to do the right thing" in an online course, Ms. Hatten says. "It's at your discretion. I care about my grade, so if I don't know the answer, I'm not gonna let myself fail when I have an opportunity to look in the book."
Blended classes generate the highest student evaluations of any learning mode at Central Florida, and, like her classmates, Ms. Black is a fan. She gets as much from the online work as she would from more time in class, she says. Plus, the free time helps make it easier for her to do dance.