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Julie Phillips, an online instructor for Globe Education Network, shares an extensive list of suggestions for faculty members hoping to incorporate service-learning into an online course. On-ground courses have long included service-learning components at colleges and universities across the country. Over the past decade online programs have grown drastically, but have left the challenge of offering service-learning courses to online learners. Phillips offers a variety of suggestions to assist a faculty member or administrator develop an online course including a service-learning assignment. Below is a list of Phillips' recommendations: - Select an appropriate course - Establish clear expectations - Respond to email/outreach from students and community partners within 24-48 hours - Volunteering should align with course objectives - Identify challenges upfront - Communicate, communicate, communicate - Encourage reflection throughout the course - Listen to student concerns and work through them - Enlist feedback from students and community partners - Allow students to share their experiences - Requirements should be realistic - Never underestimate the power that hands-on experience has on student learning - Incorporate various resources into class to help guide students - Not all community partners are created the same - Get excited!

The author is Associate Provost and Executive Director of the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship at Georgetown University. The author refers to Clayton Christensen's "disruptive innovation" term to refer to the recent changes in higher education. The author argues that a key source of disruption in higher education is coming not from the outside, but from internal practices. This administrator points to the increase in experiential modes of learning, how education is moving from "margin to center", which proves to be powerful in the quality and meaning of the undergraduate experience as well as the way business is conducted. The author refers to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its publishing of a "high impact practice" list, strategies which are connected with high retention and persistence rates, such as undergraduate research, service/community-based learning, and global learning. These practices also have a significant influence because they increase (according to George Kuh) student behaviors that lead to meaningful learning outcomes. The author summarizes how technologies can play a key role as new digital, learning, and analytics tools make it possible to mimic some features of high impact activity inside classrooms, changing when and how students can engage in course content. Since the greatest impact on learning is in the innovative, integrative, and socially networked experiences, then the author argues that faculty and staff need to re-create dimensions of these experiences by bridging the classroom with life outside of it. He concludes that connections between integrative thinking, or experiential learning, and the social network should no longer be an afterthought, but the connection that should guide and reshape learning in higher education. This article would be most useful for administrators and faculty who inform decisions related to technology infrastructure and tools for teaching and learning.

The authors of this article work for the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Technology at Washington State University. They looked at learning management systems and how currently they do not accurately capture what students have learned. Both authors discovered that the majority of assignments that make up students' experience with the higher education curriculum do not ask them to think, but to recall lectures, text, or both, which may be why LMS are designed to reflect this idea. They examine the concept and perception of a learning environment from the classroom to the internet and their relationship to views of teaching and learning. Examples and research, including an example of a Web 2.0 pro-social effort, are used to demonstrate the difference between the current state of teaching and learning, and an emerging vision. The authors refer to Educause Center for Applied Research, Morgan's (2003) study. Morgan reports, faculty were gaining, at least one key principle of good practice from LMS, increased feedback to students (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) through the use of the online gradebook. According to Morgan (as cited by Brown and Peterson, 2008) this was an outcome that "alters" faculty relationships with students and students with their own work. The authors predict that the successful LMS application of the future will be a gradebook that accommodates shifting ways of receiving feedback. The authors believe that a successful gradebook will be recognized as a communication tool that allows faculty and students to have a variety of communication options (faculty to student, faculty to groups of students, etc.). They point to the instructional challenge of guiding the tool discussion toward issues related to outcomes and what quality performance looks like. The authors refer to the LMS of the future capturing not in our learning about, but in learning "to be". Faculty are seeking a place for students to learn and operate which complements student im

This article explores virtual learning communities as an effective teaching method. Several stages, processes, and structures are explained in detail for the reader to understand how to gauge the learner's academic progress if they are implementing a virtual learning community within an academic course. The characteristics that define these academic communities are reviewed, setting them apart from other teaching strategies. Potential research designs and questions are also suggested as ways to further understand how the learning dynamic involved in this type of pedagogy occurs and how faculty can help to facilitate it. This article is useful as a tool for both faculty and administrators looking for ways to strategically incorporate technology through course design as a part of large-scale efforts to engage learners. The author is a faculty member from Universidad de las Américas Puebla, in Mexico and writes from a practitioner-based lens.

Jon Mott writes this article to advocate the adoption of an Open Learning Network (OLN) as a way to merge the best features of the Learning Management Systems (LMS) and the Personal Learning Environments (PLE). Even though the use of LMS is prevalent in higher education institutions, LMSs have been come under increasing criticism for being too teacher-centric, inflexible, and not fostering a communicative and sharing learning environment. Consequently many students turn to other social media and communicative tools. Educators have touted the PLE as a platform to operate alongside the LMS, in order to provide the student-centered component that is missing from the LMS. Some institutions, teachers and students have created their own PLNs to incorporate the portability, flexibility, adaptability and openness, which the LMNs do not provide. Mott however points out that the PLEs have security shortcomings, and the most provident solution is to combine the best of both platforms to create an Open Learning Network (OLN) that is flexible, can incorporate new technologies that were not in existence when LMSs became operational, and strikes a balance between the institutional goals and the essential components of the cloud by keeping private data as secure as possible, and storing the rest in the cloud. Mott provides an illustrated framework, showing how an OLN can be created successfully, and adds that Brigham Young University in Hawaii is in the process of creating one. Mott concludes that institutions and educators need not be conflicted over the dilemma of having to choose either an LMS or a PLE. The best course is to help students become digitally fluent and the OLN provides an ideal tool that rejects the "tyranny of OR" and prefers the "genius of AND". This article is most probably directed at educational communities experiencing challenges with their LMNs and seeking alternative programs.

Manoj Chacko, Steven Johnson, Munir Mandviwalla, Ilya Rogov and David Schuff, members of the department of management information systems, Fox School of Business, Temple University posted a video to reveal the rational behind their groundbreaking media site, mis.temple.edu. The purpose of the video is to illustrate educational changes from the last generation to the current one. The reality of the learning process is a shift from semi-structured, planned communication and sequential work, to extremely unplanned communication and multitasking. Technological input has also evolved from mere emails and web-based course management tools, to include social media tools. The authors believe that previous learning systems did not enable innovation and community building within a highly hierarchical college system where students had no access to their personal information. The challenge is therefore finding a system where courses and academic community can not only bridge the boundaries, but foster greater communication amongst the stakeholders. For that to be feasible, social networks, related data storage and communication tools must be created. Of course there are prerequisite factors such as an all inclusive and non-hierarchical culture, along with public and private access and individual control. The technological tools should also be uncomplicated and user friendly to achieve the desired end of collaboration and information sharing. This video is targeted at students, as an advertisement to enroll at Temple University.

The author of this article is a faculty member and software specialist of Computer Information Systems at Bentley College. He discusses that in today's Web 2.0 world, wikis have emerged as a tool that may complement or replace the use of traditional course management systems as a tool for sharing course information. In the article, he describes best practices for using a collaborative web application known as a wiki to change a traditional course management system. A wiki is a useful tool for involving students in the process of creating and sharing course content. While course management systems have specialized features such as online grade books and exams, useful exclusively in academic environments, students are not likely to encounter these tools outside of a college classroom. By introducing a wiki for collaborative course management, students also learn to interact with a useful real world tool. This allows them to complete some tasks that would be more difficult using a traditional course management system. Since students and faculty can both post information to the wiki, the role of the instructor changes from being the leader to being a partner with the students in their own learning process. The author shares some of the educational uses, such as tools for teams to perform group projects, creating literature reviews for research projects, participating on signup sheets, summarizing readings, posting project summaries, communicating with students, and even sharing class notes. Educational concerns are also shared, such as: wikis lack features that are needed for acceptance within the educational community, access control to protect certain public pages (such as the syllabus), or providing private spaces for collaboration. The author views this as problematic because anyone can change anything. However, he also shows that this aspect may promote a sense of community among its users. He predicts that the course management system (CMS) of the future must be

This article describes the growth and implications of e-learning programs for adults. It covers the historical context and economic background needed in order to understand the sudden expansion in distance learning programs, focusing on access and convenience as the main incentives for students enrolling at rapid rates since 2007. Statistics and charts in the article help to demonstrate how this growth occurred. Characteristics of quality adult learner programs and determinants of success are also reviewed. Barriers to access and participation, such as time and space, financial aid support, and institutional policies and services are explained in detail for the reader. This article is helpful for faculty to understand how to place emerging technologies within the context of the adult learner population. The author is a professor of adult and community college at North Carolina State University and her research seems focused on the engagement and participation patterns of adult learners.

This article written by Jennifer Natsu, is focused on the way learning trends have shifted to accommodate the learning styles and preferences of the present generation of students. Twenty-first century students live a connected world where they constantly communicate and share experiences through applications such as Facebook, twitter etc. Many colleges have noticeably adapted their pedagogic methods to accommodate these trends by using similar technologies to engage students. Duke University for instance, uses a "virtual hall" to engage in conversations with students in other parts of the world as well as CEOs. Harvard physics students adopt a discussion model, facilitated by small groups. This in essence, is the face the new age of education where passive learning is being replaced by more dynamic models of teaching and learning. Jennifer Natsu is a frequent contributor to e-campus news, reporting on developments in higher education.

Fischman introduces OpenClass, a learning management system that is the product of the combined efforts of Pearson Publishing, and Google. OpenClass is free, and combines the utilities of course management with social networking, and community building. It also allows users to access materials in e-books and YouTube videos. While it is not as popular or in widespread usage like blackboard and Moodle, some colleges believe that it can be used simultaneously with other learning management systems. One of its most positive strengths is its Facebook type news stream that posts class activities and comments, as well as highlights students in a class and their comments, making it easy for students to identify peers to interact with. It also has features for collaboration and information sharing for both students and faculty. Critics from Blackboard such as Matthew Small, the chief business officer doubts that the OpenClass can be integrated into the university like the Blackboard, which connects to student information systems, and meets the requirements of college policies and regulations. Never the less, the biggest selling point of OpenClass is the fact that it is free. This article would be of interest to educators and institutions interested in learning about new learning management systems

Joshua Kim, the Director of Learning and Technology for the Master of Health Care Delivery Science program at Dartmouth College, often writes for Inside Higher Ed. In this article, Kim shares ten questions posed to him by Rachel Hanel, a student and employee at Kaplan University. Hanel presented ten questions to Kim based on his experience with learning management systems (LMS).  Kim believes higher education institutions should based their LMS selection off of the quality of the product, the quality of the company, and the size of the user community, not just price. Kim also points out the direct and indirect costs associated with each LMS must be evaluated before making a decision. Students are looking for an LMS utilized by faculty members, while faculty members have a wide range of requests from an LMS, making the selection of a LMS for a college or university difficult. A few products and services to watch break into the LMS market over the next few years are Instructure Canvas, OpenClass, and Coursekit, in addition to Moodle and Blackboard, whom already hold most of the market share. According to Kim, institutions should put education first when reviewing LMSs. College and university personnel, specifically those looking to switch or add a LMS, are the intended audience. 

This authorless opinion article from the Chronicle of Higher Education is a report on the technologies that enhance student-learning process in 16 Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). The colleges employ the use of many advance technologies to foster student independence and the development of life-long skills. Rather than rely on just online course, these HCT's employ the use online learning tools and classroom technology to offer more than 3000 online courses, and other ICT applications such as online social networks, podcasts and management systems. The article furnishes a list of the major applications ranging from online learning tools and management systems, to anti-plagiarism and social book-marking applications. Classroom technologies include smart boards, virtual classroom applications, touchscreen computers, cameras and streaming servers. Strengthening the utilization of innovative technologies to strengthen teaching and learning are technology departments in each of the colleges. The intended audience of this article is the higher education community.

Malcolm Read talks about the benefits of collaboration not just on higher education community, but on information and communications technology (ICT) community as well. He also highlights the role of the virtual environment in enhancing collaborative research, and the impact of cloud technology on research, teaching and learning, and higher education management. ICT infrastructure has benefitted from the growth of collaboration research, facilitated by the World Wide Web. The usage of the virtual environment for virtual research has not been without its challenges, one being that the technology tools and applications usually require specialist support, and has high overhead costs, which are usually borne by the researchers themselves. Read argues that it is time for a new profession of research technologists to emerge with the skills to support collaborative research, identify generic approaches within the field of research, provide the required training, and provide maintenance of related infrastructures. Another alternative would be to heighten the professionalization of personnel who service the e-learning environment. On cloud computing, Read believes that the wealth of information available through the cloud is a valuable resource to administrative computing in the sense that it offers a cheaper data storage option. Of course one of the most obvious benefits of the cloud, is that it offers access to web 2.0 operations such as blogs, wikki and of course emails. The way each institution uses cloud technology however, will differ according to their individual needs, a point that should be taken into consideration if an organization should opt to design processes in collaboration with other institutions. Read sees virtualization as a solution to the problem because it can be used on any single computer, to run different applications, making it shareable between institutions. One concern here however is that of data security and duration of service. The crux of th

The author is a well-known editor and writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education and has written on a wide range of topics. This article summarizes how recent changes at Arizona State University (ASU), with a focus on online learning, technology, and innovation have come with a number of impressive accomplishments. Some of these achievements include: an increase in freshman to sophomore retention, a rise in the amount of research conducted, as well as an increase in the number of bachelor degree graduates from STEM fields. Changing the culture of their student body, has created a more diverse and accessible environment as they have become more ethnically and economically representative of their surrounding community. The president of the university, Michael Crow, points to the fact that enrollment growth is a function of their mission. One question that the author poses is: will this new model sustain? The author explains how all administrative innovations and new initiatives at ASU are based on the data the university collects from its students and from other feeder schools, such as community colleges. Some of these initiatives include, teaching and learning-based courses, where students work on projects where they solve real problems for a local community and courses are held in machine and tool-filled "studios" for classes. The president of Arizona State University seems to be a visionary who is changing the image of what a large research university should be. This article would be most useful for leaders of institutions looking to transform their mission and vision, or higher education leaders who want to incorporate innovative ideas.

This article explores the gap between expectations of faculty and students by focusing on defining the online "student". The author looks at practitioner interviews to identify "ways of talking" about students and Annemarie Mol's (2002; 1999) concept of enactment to understand who students are and how they behave in the interactive spaces of online learning. The author's argument is that understanding the category of "student" in multiple ways offers faculty a way to approach the "potentially disorienting spaces" (Bayne and Ross, 2007) of online teaching practices. Online learning presents a different environment of interaction and engagement for teaching and this article states that in order to be effective, teaching online students requires new strategies for engagement. Some of the strategies outline developing a community of learners, treating students as customers, and considering students in the context of their digital generation. This article is helpful for those who are teaching an online course or considering how to design an online offering. The author is a curriculum and academic developer for LaTrobe University in Australia.

Gordon Friedman, president of the non-profit National Laboratory for Education Transformation, employs metaphoric prose to portray the relationship between technological advances and faculty inertia that has hindered the advancement of higher education into the twenty first century. He uses the term cloud to refer to the virtual, server-based world, and fog to depict the technological apathy and bureaucratic red taped nature of higher education that refuses to tap into the data mine available through technological systems. The cloud offers a transparent and cost effective way to systemize institutional operations. Friedman clarifies that what he advocates is not mindless extrapolation of data, but rather a shift to embrace the reality of twenty-first century students, who exist in a world where their personal data is captured by the various web applications they routinely patronize. Unlike these applications that use captured data to construct the essence of their customers, higher education remains an impersonal enterprise that does not utilize the existing data to design a more personal learning process. To Friedman, online courses, digital curricula components and apps are not sufficient, because unlike the cloud, information flow is one directional. This article is directed at higher education institutions. To lift the fog, Friedman states that colleges ought to adopt three principles of the cloud namely: identity formation and management whereby students develop a sense of ownership through the maintenance of their own identities; social networks and learning communities where learning is student centered and self paced; and data mining and assessment faculty collect and use student data to monitor the teaching and learning process.

Eric Stoller, a student affairs blogger for Inside Higher Education, discusses the need for technology proficiency within student affairs departments. During his time as an academic advisor, Stoller used his knowledge of technology to spend more time with students and less time working on organizational tasks. While academic affairs departments have slowly begun adapting with technological advances, student affairs departments appear to be left behind. Technologies exist to help streamline student services processes. If student affairs departments invested in learning and using new technologies, their efficiency would increase. Stoller also explains student affairs offices need to meet students where they are: on social media. Student affairs departments deal with a variety of issues and utilizing social media and other communication channels to reach students is beneficial. Regardless of how it is done, Stoller believes student affairs employees need to adapt to technological advances before being left behind in higher education.