Group items tagged

The article touches upon topics relevant to all Americans, creating a large audience. Anyone influenced by higher education should be interested in Carlson and Blumenstyk's perspective.  While hype surrounds MOOCs and instructional technologies today, others are arguing for investment in brick and mortar colleges and universities. Patricia McGuire, the president of Trinity Washington University, believes those who stand to profit most from MOOCs and other forms of online education have created most of the hype.  Trinity Washington University is full of students receiving Pell Grants and a sub-standard high school education, students who need face-to-face instruction and tutoring more than most other students.  McGuire and other higher education officials listed in the article argue the online education movement is creating a wider gap between those that can afford an on-campus college experience and those that cannot. Unfortunately those that cannot afford to live on-campus and attend an elite university need the resources offered at brick and mortar institutions the most. While enhancement to teaching and learning may come from the development of online education, MOOCS, and new instruction technologies, an emphasis must be put on making on-campus education affordable. If face-to-face instruction is made inaccessible for most Americans, the country will suffer greatly, mainly by a wide divide between the haves and the have-nots within the working word as well as in higher education.

Most in attendance at the December symposium believe Kirschner and Stimpson would argue drastically different positions on online education. Both women attended online courses in an effort to better understand the experience, and were asked to reflect on those experiences at the symposium. Surprisingly, Kirschner and Stimpson felt similarly on a few major areas.  Stimpson completed a creative writing course through the University of Phoenix. Following her online experience, Stimpson argues the diminishing presence of faculty will deteriorate the dignity of the teaching profession and higher education as a whole. Those following trends and experts in higher education expected most of Stimpson's comments. Kirschner's role in the initial developments of online education led those at the symposium to expect her to fervently defend massive online courses. Surprisingly, Kirschner agreed with many of Stimpson's points, admitting face-to-face instruction is preferable to online education. Kirschner's comments alluded to her belief that brick and mortar institutions offer an educational experience superior to those offered through online programs.  Kirschner 's opinion differs from Stimpson only on her belief that technology and online education will make significant improvements over the years to come. Those improvements will aid in education instruction within online programs as well as on-ground courses. Stimpson believes the focus needs to be on the quality of instruction and presence of faculty support and communication, something not found in her online course. The similarities in both women's perspectives caught many at the symposium off-guard, but highlight the ever-changing nature of online education and its supporters.

Steven Kolowich, a technology reporter for Inside Higher Education, describes the online support initiative supporting online programs at Northern Virginia Community College. The intended audience for the article is higher education officials, including institutions expanding into online education. Kolowich highlights NOVA's experience with online education and how the College turned a mediocre program into a successful one.   When NOVA began an online program in the mid-2000's, the vice president for instruction and information technology, Steven Sachs, dedicated a few IT employees to help online students with small, instructional issues. After some research, Sachs realized for-profit colleges were spending more than half of their budgets on support services for students, such as financial aid counseling, job placement assistance, and academic advising. Shortly after this realization, Sachs implemented the "Next Level Initiative," spending more than $2 million to offer support to online students. The Next Level Initiative was extremely effective on all six of NOVA's campuses. Over the next four years, online programs grew four times faster than on-campus programs. Additionally, the difference in completion between online and on-ground students fell from 16% to 8%. Kolowich uses NOVA as an example to express how imperative support services are for online students.

TEDI - teaching and educational development institute in Australia. Interesting resource connecting instruction to technology application. Unique perspective - more out-of-the box stuff.

The author focuses on the use of blended education at two institutions: Wesleyan University and Bryn Mawr College. Both institutions are Carnegie Mellon University's Open Learning Initiative (OLI) to enhance courses previously taught solely face-to-face. Wesleyan University is using the OLI modules to tutor less-prepared students in introductory courses. The OLI course modules allow students to gain material at a faster pace than in a traditional classroom alone. Administrators at Wesleyan believe the blended model will reinforce the hands-on teaching practices their liberal arts program promotes.  Bryn Mawr as allowed faculty members to adopt OLI modules at their own initiative. Not only to the OLI modules assist the students in learning material faster, but the program also collects data on the student's learning patterns, personalizing the program through each use. Using personalized learning assistance will allow an elite institution, such as Bryn Mawr, to admit a wide range of students, with confidence less academically prepared students can be successful.  In initial research, students enrolled in blended courses using the OLI module learn as much, if not more, as students in courses only meeting face-to-face. The persistence rates of lower-income students using the OLI module were close to 100 percent in Bryn Mawr's preliminary study. While liberal arts colleges may continue to build their reputations on small classes and personalized attention from faculty members, blended courses are able to enhance the traditional instruction model. Perhaps in the future, more liberal arts colleges will be using their blende technologies as a selling point to prospective students as Wesleyan and Bryn Mawr currently are.

As online education continues to expand in the United States, Kenneth Heischmidt and Yves Damoiseau conducted a study to better understand the dimensions of quality in online business courses. The authors collected data and studied the dimensions of quality perceived by students in online classes. The results of the study aid online instructors develop courses to meet student expectations, increase satisfaction with the course, and ultimately increase student success. After surveying 260 business students at Southeast Missouri State University enrolled in an online class, 96 responded to the survey. The survey results led to three dimensions of quality in online courses: feedback, format, and content. Students expect timely feedback from an instructor, including prompt grading, access to the course and grades 24/7. The course format itself should be easy to navigate, without group work, and instruction facilitated by the instructor, according the students who participated in the study. Finally, the content of the course must offer clearly explained assignments, supplemental notes provided by the instructor, up-to-date content, and convey more information during class time than found within the textbook. In addition to the three dimensions of quality, the study also revealed, students expecting to receive an A or B in a course were also significantly more satisfied with their online course experience.  The number of participants in the study was small, limiting the results. A large participant pool is needed to test the results on a grander scale. The study focused on business students, but could be adjusted for other departments and programs in the future, increasing access to participants.

Chris Proulx, the President and CEO of eCornell, wrote an article featured in Forbes magazine. The first technological influence is the growth of online education within top tier schools. Proulx believes the second impact technology will have on higher education in 2013 is increased innovation affecting the "flipped classroom." Students no longer rely on faculty members to provide them with information. In this model, group discussions and activities are used during class time to strengthen the students understanding of the material while engaging them fully.  Hybrid programs are the third technological change influencing higher education in 2013. 2013 will bring a focus on hybrid programs, courses balanced on-campus and online. Great technological advances can be made to improve hybrid courses for students and faculty members. Proulx believes a race is on for a new instructional model within higher education during 2013.  The fourth technology is the need for a new classroom-learning model. As faculty continue to teach in a flipped classroom, the peer-to-peer and peer-to-faculty models of instruction must change.  Finally, the fifth influential technology impacting higher education in 2013 is the potential for tuition costs to decrease. Proulx believes as technologies improve, faculty will be able to reach more students using the same amount of effort as in the past. While these technologies may not exist yet, as they begin to develop, the cost of education will slowly begin to decrease. Tuition may not drop in 2013, but the industry is likely to see some financial shifts over the next few years, in reaction to advanced technologies.

The authors feel textbooks are outdated by the time of print, offer a limited perspective, force the reader to take on a passive role while learning, and are limited to their physical form. The four limitations of textbooks are adding to higher education's lack of active learning. Students today expect to be engaged while they learn, not to read from an outdated textbook or listen to static lectures. There is a potential for change, however, believed by the authors. An example is given from Old Dominion University. A team of faculty all assigned to teach the course Social and Cultural Foundations of Education to potential education students, created an assignment where the students would write their own textbook. The final result  (called a wikibook) was determined by the students and faculty using a grading rubric for each student submission. The best-written and supported sections were submitted to the final wikibook. The assignment was a huge success. A few years later when educational laws changed in Virginia, the wikibook was quite to adapt. The authors argue wikibooks may not be factually perfect, but there are quite a few benefits: a student-centered learning experience, skills are developed in researching primary sources, and the instructional design is extremely adaptive and flexible. In order for a wikibook assignment to be successful, the faculty member(s) must take a guiding approach to student learning, instead of lecturing. The conclusion argues for a pedagogical shift, not necessarily involving wikibooks, but a more general transition to faculty to encourage creativity and joy in teaching and learning. 

Marla Clark, an editor at EdTech magazine, covers the four most effective, and highest in priority, IT investments in the United States in 2012. Clark uses data from a variety of IT surveys, collecting information from more than 550 college and university IT administrators. The intended audience is anyone interested in technologies influencing higher education. The first technology described is the mobile application. More than 60% of the campuses participating in the survey embrace mobility within their IT structure. Public universities lead with more than 77% offering mobile apps in connection with the institution, with private schools at 67%. The second efficient technology is cloud adoption. While many colleges and universities have been slow to transition to cloud technologies, those that have, are utilizing the options more fully. Now institutions are moving calendars and learning management systems to the cloud, instead of just storage and archival materials. Integration of IT into classroom/course instruction is the third item on top of colleges and universities' priority list. 74% of the institutions participating in the survey indicated curriculum integration is a top priority for the next few years. Finally, almost exactly half of the colleges and universities surveyed believe massive open online courses are a viable course delivery module. Of the 50% that look favorably on massive open online classes, more than 60% are unsure of how to earn revenue using the technology.

The article focuses on the 2012 ECAR Undergraduate Technology Survey results and its implications on higher education. Steven Kolowich, a technology reporter for Insider Higher Education, discusses the results throughout the article, explaining the significant jump in student demand for technology within coursework. ECAR is the research arm of Educaause, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the use of technology in higher education.  The 2012 survey results indicate a spike in student technological demands within the world of higher education. 47% of students in 2010 believed their professors were effectively using technology, which jumped to 68% in 2012. Students are enjoying the use and presentation of technology in the classroom more than ever before.  Of the 10,000 students to participate in the survey, 49% want to see professors use the learning management system more, 57% want to use more open educational resources, 46% want more videos used in coursework, and 55% want more game-based learning. A surprising 70% of the students claim to have used one or more ebooks during their college career. While students want to use more technology within their courses, the students also indicated they desire more training on each technological service or program. Brief instruction at the beginning of a course is not enough.

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.

In the 2014 top-ten list, EDUCAUSE panelists and members identified learning outcomes, IT leadership and staffing models, instruction technologies, IT funding, providing access, and risk management as the primary challenges in higher ed IT. These issues differ greatly from the topics identified by Gartner, Inc in their annual IT issues report for CIOs however because this list was created by EDUCAUSE members - all of whom are higher ed IT professionals - the list provides a context for understanding campus IT responses to trends identified by Gartner.

Since 2002, the New Media Consortium has partnered with experts in the field of educational technology, including the Educause Learning Initiative (ELI), to conduct a Delphi study and generate its annual Horizon Report on emerging trends in educational technology. The report, widely considered a respectable analysis of issues and a guide to addressing those issues, is disseminated with a Creative Commons open license for public distribution and consumption. Key themes in the NMC Horizon Report include: Infrastructure, leadership, organizational strategies, teaching and learning, curricular content, and assessment (pg. 4). The framework of the report includes sections on policy, leadership and practice (pg. 6). The report includes references for further reading on every issue presented. The references are evidence of the research conducted by the panelists involved in developing the annual report. Trends are also described as short term, mid term or long term trends, helping the reader estimate the impact of the trends on existing campus IT issues and initiatives. Some of the trends in the 2014 report support trends identified by EDUCAUSE and Gartner, while others are unique. Social media is an issue in the NMC report, but not the others, while assessment strategies using student data and technology are common among all three. The Horizon Report is unique in its daring presentation of topics that challenge conventional thought about higher education. The report predicts a significant threat to higher ed coming from online learning and emerging models of formal education. The report also highlights the power and impact of data - from learning analytics to predictive instructional models - that seem to transfer authority from professors to technology and technologists. There is a lot to consume in the Horizon Report. Analysis can be augmented with blogs and conference proceedings which review the report in part or in whole. Reading the report and supporting re

Both an examination of the history of higher education and a review of popular instructional methods from the days of Aristotle through to day, this paper introduces a meek "call to action" by the authors. They charge that change is needed and they outline the reasons why in a thoughtful and gentle way, an approach that is very different from Clay Christensen, and encourage exploration of emerging technologies to manage that change. Their approach is less threatening than others (like Christensen) and rather than claim that technology is the driver of change, they simply detail the history of education and conclude that it is simply time to change because of who we are in our modern global society. The authors include models on new governance in higher ed that embrace technology to improve teaching and learning and they outline issues about which they feel institutions should be most concerned. Although gentle throughout, compared to Christensen, they drive home the same point: if institutions don't begin changing to meet the needs of today's learners, today's workplace and today's uber-connectedness they will fail to meet their missions.

This article explains how one institution, Abilene Christian University (ACU) has focused on mobile phones and how they are successfully changing the classroom and data collection efforts. This is one example of how the traditional teaching and learning model is becoming more collaborative and interactive, now that instructors and students have equal and flexible access to information. ACU does regular self-reporting surveys of students and teachers to assess their opinions and evaluations. Based on the data collected since using devices in their courses, students are participating more during class and communication between faculty and students has increased. This article also describes how this institution has incorporated "mobile learning fellows", faculty who are given time to work on and evaluate a mobile learning project of their choice. The author is the Senior Editor of Network World magazine and this information would be helpful for faculty and administrators in information technology or instructional technology, in order to successfully implement curriculum onto mobile devices.

Katrina Meyer voices growing concern about the ability of disruptive technology such as online education to produce the needed change in higher education. Disruptive innovation is a term coined by Clayton Christensen for innovations in technology that interfere with the current state of affairs. The term was originally coined to for the business realm, but began to be applied to education with the advent of innovations such as online learning, blogs, social media cloud computing and a host of others. While Meyer clearly states her belief in the potential of disruptive technology to encourage new thinking and learning approaches, she clarifies that she does not know how the change will occur. Higher education is grappling with declining governmental revenues, tuition increases and the call from stakeholders for more effective learning programs. On the other hand, enrollment in online programs has increased annually, and according to results released by the U.S Department of Education, students performed better online than in face to face learning with the largest gains achieved in courses that mixed both online and face-to-face instruction. . Meyer also adds that perhaps the inclusion of online components in college campus courses might be an indication that innovative disruption is finally making an entrance into campus based higher education. This article is targeted at higher education, and institutions are encouraged to incorporate online learning and other technologies into their repertoire in other to make learning more student-centered, motivating, choice enabling and providing connections to real life. Faculty must be willing to take risks and experiment with the knowledge that while some tools might be disruptive, not all of them are.

This is a guest post by Dereck Bruff, and assistant director at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Vanderbilt University, Dwayne Harapnuik, director of faculty enrichment at Abilene Christian University, and Jim Julius, associate director at Instructional Technology Services, San Diego University. The post is a summary of an interactive session of a Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network conference to discuss the question of whether or not the technological revolution, characterized by social technologies and access to the web, can transcend the slow evolutional environment of Higher education institutions. 59 obstacles were identified as the culprits for hindering the advancement of higher education from the industrial model and teaching paradigm, to a learning paradigm. Six of the problems were named in the article are: faculty mistrust; lack of effective modeling; loss of faculty control during the shift to student centered learning; not enough emphasis placed on faculty development professionals; faculty closed off to being open to new technologies; and skepticism about the ability of technology to produce depth of learning. The authors and other POD members agreed that the solution would be to move from a faculty centered teaching mode to a student-centered one, and to encourage a culture of openness by encourage the sharing of effective uses of technology between faculty members. The article is directed at higher education institutions that wish to change their educational landscape.

This is a global quantitative research study conducted by SMART technologies on the outcomes of investing in collaboration technologies. There were 319 participants, selected from the United States, Europe, United Kingdom, and Asia. 100 of the participants were administrators, 158 in teaching and instruction and 58 were IT or media specialists. The participants all worked in higher education, k-12 establishments and other institutions such as ministries. A few were education administrators not affiliated with any school in particular. The study measured participants' performance levels on thirty-two best practices/ elements grouped into six dimensions namely: student collaboration, engagement and learning outcomes; teacher efficiency and retention; assessment for and of learning; flexible/blended learning; holistic system-wide practices; successful implementation. The highest scoring elements were learning through collaboration, learning culture, positive impact through sense of achievement or creativity, problem solving, online information sharing, digital content implementation and knowledge sharing. The lowest recorded scores were for advanced learning modes, remote learners and social development. The study concluded that while technology enables student improvement and better learning outcomes, a strong support system should also be in place to provide training, high quality content, and best practices. This study is valuable to educators who are interested in locating research on the effect of collaborative technology on student learning outcomes.