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"Online education is often held out as a way to increase access to higher education, especially for those -- adult students, the academically underprepared, members of some minority groups -- who have historically been underrepresented in college. But that access is meaningful only if it leads somewhere, and if the education students get helps them reach their goals. New data from a long-term study by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College suggest that some of the students most often targeted in online learning's access mission are less likely than their peers to benefit from -- and may in fact be hurt by -- digital as opposed to face-to-face instruction. The study did not, however, account for the quality of the online courses studied, making it difficult to draw from its findings overly sweeping generalizations about the efficacy of online learning."

Interesting article on online learning - completion rates, completers . . .

"Open-Access Courses: How They Compare For millions of students worldwide, free, open courseware provides a window, if not a front-row seat, to top university classes. The formats are as varied as the people who tune in. Some consist mainly of lectures recorded on iTunes, while other courses seek to replicate a classroom experience by offering study groups, computer-graded tests, and weekly assignments. And while you might get a badge or certificate showing you mastered the material, you generally won't get direct interaction with the professor, who may have recorded the lectures a few years ago. Here is a look at five introductory economics classes: four through open courseware and one in a traditional classroom. "

"Blackboard is buying out two major players in the open source services space: Moodlerooms and NetSpot. Blackboard has also brought onboard Sakai Project founding architect Charles Severance. With these additions, the company is also launching its own open source division: Blackboard Education Open Source Services. Moving into Open Source Services Teams from both Moodlerooms and NetSpot will make up Blackboard's new open source group. Both of those companies provide commercial services for institutions that use Moodle, including support, consulting, installation, and hosting services."

"March 21, 2012 Thinking Developmentally: Designing Courses with a Progression of Learning Experiences By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching Professor Blog Add Comment Thinking developmentally is one of those instructional design issues that we don't do often enough. We understand that different learning experiences are appropriate for students at different levels. We expect a higher caliber of work from seniors than from those just starting college. But how often do we purposefully design a progression of learning experiences?"

Thinking developmentally is one of those instructional design issues that we don't do often enough. We understand that different learning experiences are appropriate for students at different levels. We expect a higher caliber of work from seniors than from those just starting college. But how often do we purposefully design a progression of learning experiences?

"Nature Education, the educational wing of the Nature Publishing Group which also runs Scitable, one of the largest science publishers in the world - is hoping to resolve this with the release its first ever science textbook. It's called the Principles of Biology, and for a $49 lifetime access, students receive a constantly-updated biology textbook, for less cost."

"Teaching This group is the most directly connected to the act of teaching. 1. Grade Book - iPad: Gradekeeper, Android: Grade Book for Professors 2. Annotation - mark up student-submitted PDF files with highlights, text and drawings - iPad: GoodReader or iAnnotate PDF ($$), Android: RepliGo Reader 3. Attendance - some apps even make a seating chart with photos - iPad: Attendance, or Smart Seat, Android: Attendance 4. Course Management System - if your campus has turned on this functionality you can access course content and more - Blackboard Mobile | Learn (both platforms) 5. Polling - use tablets and smartphones like clickers in the classroom - iPad: eClicker ($$), Android: Student Clicker"

This a collaborative table I made with my group in one of my courses. There are some great brainstorming and visualization tools on here.

Strategies for Creating Social Presence This section examines strategies that will help establish and maintain social presence within online environments. In this section, I offer strategies for the three groups of individuals involved with the three functions of these environments: (1) course designers (course design), (2) instructors (delivery and management), and (3) participants (participation). In reviewing the literature, the main responsibility for creating social presence is placed on the instructors. However, based on my personal experience as an online course designer and online course participant, I contend that the responsibility for establishing and maintaining social presence extends beyond the role of the instructor

"At a recent retreat to mark the tenth anniversary of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, which produces an annual report on technology trends affecting higher education, participants identified 28 important metatrends. The 10 most significant are: the world of work is increasingly global and increasingly collaborative; people expect to work, learn, socialize, and play whenever and wherever they want to; the Internet is becoming a global mobile network -- and already is at its edges; the technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based and delivered over utility networks, facilitating the rapid growth of online videos and rich media; openness is moving from a trend to a value for much of the world; legal notions of ownership and privacy lag behind the practices common in society; real challenges of access, efficiency, and scale are redefining what we mean by quality and success; the Internet is consta ntly challenging us to rethink learning and education, while refining our notion of literacy; there is a rise in informal learning as individual needs are redefining schools, universities, and training; and business models across the education ecosystem are changing"

"The Utah Education Network is a case in point. It left Blackboard, the market leader, for Instructure, a year old Utah-based developer with an open source product called Canvas. Consider the way messages are sent and received on Instructure's Canvas: The receiver has a choice between traditional university E-mail, gmail, Facebook and text messaging; Blackboard's system uses traditional E-mail and was designed before Facebook was created. For a student body that uses social media the way earlier generations used pencil and paper, the differences between the two competitors are profound."