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If the course designers feel that the best instructional materials are online versions of traditional textbooks, that's fine. Or they can use a smorgasbord of teaching modules and exercises developed by other open-learning projects, such as those created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University. Interactive-learning Web sites and even instructional videos on YouTube are also perfectly acceptable resources.

Traditional textbook publishers, which now promote e-textbooks, aren't the solution, insisted David Lippman, who teaches math at Pierce College and is a self-confessed open-source purist. "I find the publishers' online offerings nothing more than the old ancillaries they've always offered bundled up in a proprietary system," he said.

Maybe we collectively need a Sociology 101 textbook (with all of the supplemental materials included). Ohio (or Washington or Texas or Florida) releases an RFP for the creation of a "Sociology 101" textbook. Maybe you win the bid ... maybe Pearson wins the bid. The difference is, the publisher does not own the copyright - the State of Ohio owns the copyright - and chooses to share that textbook with everyone with a CC BY license. Everyone can now use / modify the open textbook, Ohio has saved a bunch of money for its students, so did other states / countries, and the publisher still had an income stream.

Macro environment (trends in demographics, technology, the economy, political issues) Summary of the overall financial picture for SUNY and plans for funding university-wide programs (status of potential changes in campus recharges) – Gerard/Carey Update on plans for campus budgeting – Gerard/Carey How is funding flowing to campuses and is that changing? What is the initiative for shared services amongst campuses in a region Academic/Higher Ed Landscape – Kim/Alex SUNY Enrollment Capacity Planning initiative Accreditation issues Policies and regulations that affect academic programs Demographics – info about SUNY Technology scan for education, training, and library services – Maureen/Alex (with input from Doug) Reports/info from Educause, NMC (New Horizon Report), Gartner, Eduventures, POD Network, ACRL, RLG, OCLC, and Sloan Consortium Topics – Social media, educational technology/technology enhanced instruction, cloud computing, digital publishing, information security, technology support services, content management, and others TBD

Karen Swan is the James Stukel Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield and an expert on online and blended learning.

One study, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, did a meta-analysis of 51 reports on online instruction comparing student outcomes in online, blended and/or face-to-face environments. It found that students who took all or part of their classes online performed better, and that the effectiveness of online and blended instruction was broad across variations in students, types of programs and content areas.

Answers from 31,000 students at 58 institutions revealed that even after controlling for age, gender, major, type of institution and number of fully online courses taken, technology use was positively related to categories of engagement measured by NSSE benchmarks (for example, active and collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction), deep approaches to learning and self-reported learning outcomes.

The OSCQR Course Design Review

Aug 04 2012

Reflecting on the online course design process, I realize I have made a tremendous transition from first-time student to instructor in the space of one semester. What I have learned about myself is that I have an affinity for designing in the online environment.