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According to the New York Times Bits blog, a recent study funded by the US Department of Education (PDF) found that on the whole, online learning environments actually led to higher tested performance than face-to-face learning environments.

“In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages,” writes the authors of the report (emphasis theirs). “At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction.”

We can conclude that those in online learning environments tested better, but not necessarily why.

In this study we conducted an investigation on the server-end log-files of teachers’ Collections of educational resources in a number of content platforms. Our goal was to find empirical evidence from the field that teachers use and reuse learning resources that are in a language other than their mother tongue and originate from different countries than they do. We call these cross-boundary learning resources. We compared the cross-boundary reuse of educational resources to the general reuse figure of 20%, and find that it was either equal to or less than the general reuse. We further studied the coverage, the overlap and the pick-up rate of these resources, and propose steps that could improve the probability of discovery, use and reuse of cross-boundary resources.

The only way to make learning easy, is to create a passion and safe culture for easy learning. The only way to make learning any subject easy is to create a community of learners where the students feel comfortable and safe to take risks. I have broken down this "easy" rule into four steps that make it easier to understand. A. Listen to why students are participating in the classroom and fulfill the learning needs that they are identifying. When these needs are being met. the student’s interest level and cooperation with the teacher will be highest. B. Understand how the classwork relates to the student’s daily lives. The student’s have to see the connection between the material and who they are to feel motivated C. Immerse the students in both the theoretical and material ways that the classwork affects the students lives. If the teacher presents the material in a complete fashion the classwork will be easier to place in its context. D. Give students the chance to learn. Create a community of learners where every member is trying to learn. Students and teachers have the ability to learn at every moment of their lives

And so, we should teach this new generation to move beyond embarrassment and fear. This is not to condone manifestly insolent behavior online, rather in teaching the qualities -- the unique qualities -- of the globally connected public square, we should be instilling in students both a strident determination to take part in the unadulterated public debate and yet have humility.I think both are achieved through the crucial practice of critical thinking and earnest self-analysis. And no where, if sincerely met with daily conviction, can both be better employed than in the practice of blogging.

And so, I firmly believe that all teachers should be bloggers. Because if Descartes is wrong, then the thrust of our identity is determined not by our inalienable and essential state of being but by the differences in idea and sense that we demonstrate through our interactions with others.

Hence the title of my talk. CMSes lumber along like radio, still playing into the air as they continue to gradually shift ever farther away on the margins. In comparison, Web 2.0 is like movies and tv combined, plus printed books and magazines. That’s where the sheer scale, creative ferment, and wife-ranging influence reside. This is the necessary background for discussing how to integrate learning and the digital world.

Students can publish links to external objects, but can’t link back in.

Moreover, unless we consider the CMS environment to be a sort of corporate intranet simulation, the CMS set of community skills is unusual, rarely applicable to post-graduation examples. In other words, while a CMS might help privacy concerns, it is at best a partial, not sufficient solution, and can even be inappropriate for already online students.