THE accelerating evolution of online teaching through massive open online courses and other variations offers myriad possibilities the Australian sector can seize, especially given its reputation as a pioneer in international education. That's the conclusion of a new Austrade report, More than MOOCs.
"We have looked through the prism of international demand for Australian education," senior trade and investment commissioner in the Washington office Kelly Ralston said. There were "a plethora of new opportunities (for institutions), whether to broaden their student base, to raise their profiles internationally or to continue enhancing the quality of the student experience." "It's a fast-moving landscape and it's up to each institution to assess how the new technologies and tools fit within their organisational strategy," she said. "Also Australia has a long tradition of online and distance education, we are a recognised pioneer in international education." These experiences would stand Australia in good stead. "It doesn't have to be a North American conversation," Ms Ralston said.
timwilsononline on 12 Feb 13University of Phoenix are on the right track here. "In an effort ambitiously dubbed the "Learning Genome Project," the for-profit powerhouse says it is building a new learning management system (or LMS) that gets to know each of its 400,000 students [ed. now reduced to 360,000] personally and adapts to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of their 'learning DNA.'" Elliot Masie put it nicely last week in a webinar I was on - he said self-directed learning is like a sandwich bar where customers make their own sandwiches. It is up to us to provide them with great ingredients and then stand back and let them go for it. LA enables that sandwich bar to observe its customers, analyse their needs and dynamically adapt itself to help them make a better sandwich. Cool! #LAK13
