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Does class size matter? http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/distance-education-report/270/Does-Class-Size-Matter-13523-1.html This article originally appeared in Distance Education Report. I've been the director of online education at my institution since 2007. One question I've been asked many times over the years is "What is the optimal number of students to have in an online class?" My usual response is to pretend I didn't hear the question and walk away as quickly as possible. Well, that's not totally true. But as you can imagine, this is not an easy question to answer, as there are many variables that come into play--the topic of the class, the overall course design, the academic rank of students in the class, the experience of the instructor teaching the class, etc. I've had many interesting discussions with students, staff and administrators over the years about enrollments in online courses. When I first started teaching online, my courses would fill almost immediately, sometimes within minutes. Inevitably, students would contact me and request an override for the course - not just one or two students, but dozens upon dozens of students. They were usually surprised when I said no. These frustrated students would often reply with a comment such as, "But it's an online class, so you can take unlimited numbers of students and it won't be any additional work for you." Surprisingly, I've heard this kind of comment from some faculty, staff and administrators as well. I usually view these interactions as opportunities to offer a bit of education about online learning. So I might say, for example, that if I had seven graded assignments in my online course, and 25 students, I would end up grading 175 assignments--with the emphasis on "I." However, if I doubled the number of students in my class and graded seven assignments for 50 students, that would be 350 assignments to grade. There were also 22 quizzes, two exams and multiple

"Given your critique of "online education," I find it ironic that learning designers and others who work day-in, day-out on online (and blended) learning spend much of our time saying similar things to our faculty partners and university stakeholders as you so eloquently articulated in the above quotes. The error that you make, and it is a fundamental error, is that you confuse what is going on at Stanford, Yale, Harvard, M.I.T. with edX and Coursera, with traditional online learning. You write as if you are critiquing online classes, but what you are really taking issue with are the new crop of massively open online courses (MOOCs). This error is not merely semantic. Confusing online learning with MOOCs disallows any meaningful analysis of the challenges and benefits of either format. Conflating online learning with MOOCs also closes the possibility of any substantive discussion of how institutions of higher education are responding to challenges around access, cost and quality. And perhaps most troubling, by conflating online learning with MOOCs you are mischaracterizing and devaluing the hard work of your fellow educators to bring the active learning principles, the principles that you yourself espouse, to new teaching modalities."

RT @LearnApplyShare: Excellent list! "Online Teaching: 15 Ways Online Educators Can Light Social Engagement Afire" http://t.co/i82fyOEwj ...

RT @ryanleighanders: What Online Faculty Can Do to Avoid Burnout - https://t.co/ua8zgl3HeU via @FacultyFocus #online #HigherEducation What Online Faculty Can Do to Avoid Burnout - https://t.co/ua8zgl3HeU via @FacultyFocus #online #HigherEducation - Ryan Anderson (ryanleighanders) http://twitter.com/ryanleighanders/status/952917842428616706

Benefits of Online Learning. The concept of online learning and gaining knowledge through online tuition is on the rise from the last few years - Swiflearn.

An Online Math Tutor Can Improve your Kid's Score with Online Tuition. Online education helps in building confidence - Swiflearn.

M.I.T. offered free online classes, now it plans a free online degree/certificate if you take their free online classes.

Online College Classes is dedicated to bringing premium quality education to everybody who is interested in learning. Understanding that not everyone has the time and money to experience an Ivy League education, we have collected outstanding resources for self-improvement that are readily available. We strive to provide the best that the Internet has to offer in one comprehensive collection

No Significant Difference Phenomenon This website has been designed to serve as a companion piece to Thomas L. Russell's book, "The No Significant Difference Phenomenon" (2001, IDECC, fifth edition). Mr. Russell's book is a fully indexed, comprehensive research bibliography of 355 research reports, summaries and papers that document no significant differences (NSD) in student outcomes between alternate modes of education delivery, with a foreword by Dr. Richard E. Clark. Previous editions of the book were provided electronically; the fifth edition is the first to be made available in print from IDECC (The International Distance Education Certification Center).

Quia is pronounced key-uh and is short for Quintessential Instructional Archive. Quia provides a variety of educational services, including: * A directory of thousands of online games and quizzes in more than 40 subject areas * Templates for creating twelve different types of online games, including flashcards, matching, concentration (memory), word search, hangman, challenge board, and rags to riches (a quiz-show style trivia game) * Tools for creating online quizzes * Quiz administration and reporting tools * Free teacher home pages

.@OpenSUNY Earns Institutional Achievement Award for National Leadership in Online Education: http://t.co/uvRRb6X5Hh http://t.co/vDj1S2Mb7S - State U of New York (SUNY) http://twitter.com/SUNY/status/647442718579425280