Technology Enhanced Learning at the University of Minnesota
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October 30, 2009
Two New, Fully Online Programs Added to the Digital Campus
The Digital Campus recently added two new, fully online bachelor's degree programs: Manufacturing Management - Quality Management and Marketing.
Both of these programs are housed at the University of Minnesota - Crookston.
If it has been a while since you visited the Digital Campus, you may be surprised by the growing number of fully online and hybrid program offerings.
October 7, 2009
USC Rossier School of Ed sees high enrollments in new online program
Inside Higher Ed reports a new master teacher education program has unexpectedly high enrollment from a diverse, highly-qualified cohort of students. The program just launched in fall 2009, so metrics like teacher placement, completion rates, and certification exams won't be available for several years.
Several aspects of this venture, called MAT@USC, are interesting. The USC Rossier School of Education is a top-tier, highly regarded program. Often, faculty or administrators express concern that online programs might, as IHE notes, "dilute the brand" of the larger program or school.
In addition, teacher education has been one of the subject areas many schools think would not translate well to an online platform. That ties in to another interesting aspect the MAT@USC program; their partnership with 2Tor, a for-profit company that partners with institutions of higher education to build and deliver online programs. 2Tor is providing some of the technology infrastructure that helps ensure high student-to-student contact and student-to-faculty contact, hallmarks of most excellent teacher education programs.
It will be interesting to see the comparisons on data points like teacher placement and certification exams between the online program and the on-campus program in a few years.
September 3, 2009
News: What Doomed Global Campus? - Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/03/globalcampus
Inside Higher Ed has a well-rounded piece on the downfall of the University of Illinois Global Campus. The Global Campus had millions in funding and a mandate from the president to make online learning a new revenue stream for the system. The original model called for the development of an additional campus, independently accredited, that would compete with the other UI campuses.
The faculty senates at all campuses rejected the plans, and the Global Campus needed to work in partnership with departments and campuses in order to move forward. In many ways, the waters might have already been poisoned, as few departments wanted to work with Global Campus and have their program stamped with Global Campus and possibly give up control of their curriculum.
Another issue is the model of growth the Global Campus used. Nicholas Burbules, a faculty member involved in the development of Global Campus noted:
"What we learned from this process, and what we're doing now, is a very different model of development, which is to start with very successful online courses and programs... then exploring how we can grow and scale up those programs, as opposed to creating a superstructure and then saying we need to create programs to pay off the initial investment," Burbules said. "It's basically a bottom-up versus top-down approach."
The importance of partnership in developing online programs and courses and sustaining them over time is clear. Faculty need to be at the table and be engaged actors in the process over time.
July 31, 2009
Teaching and Learning without PowerPoint?
This article profiles professors who are developing teaching methods and theories based on the argument that student learning is not necessarily enhanced by technology--if that technology is used to support traditional lecture-style methods. The provocative and seemingly anti-technology title of the article, "Teach Naked," is a bit of a misnomer: the faculty members profiled argue that podcasts and course content-related applications and games can both enhance outside-of-class learning and improve in-class discussions.
When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom - Chronicle of Higher Education
June 10, 2009
Corruption, for the low, low price of $3.95
Inside Higher Ed is running a story on a website that will, for a small fee, sell students an intentionally corrupted file that they may then submit to an instructor in lieu of their paper. The logic here is that procrastination-prone students could buy themselves precious time to finish their assignments.
The New Student Excuse?--Inside Higher Ed
June 2, 2009
Ethical Dilemmas in Faculty Efforts to Enhance Online Learning
In an effort to curb high drop-out rates in online courses, some faculty at universities around the country have taken on the guise of fake students in their own online courses so as to spark discussion, monitor group work, and participate in the building of community.
While such tactics may be intended to address issues such as frustration, isolation, and anxiety, they also open up new questions about the ethical gray areas of privacy, trust, and relationship-building between faculty and students.
Online Professors Pose as Students to Encourage Real Learning—Chronicle of Higher Education
May 26, 2009
PhilPapers: Online research tool for philosophers
PhilPapers: Philosophy Online
PhilPapers is a new directory of philosophy articles and books that can be found online. The site allows users to monitor current research, browse categories or search, and contribute their own research to the site.
The site is an interesting addition to the trend of "flattening" access to scholarship and research. Projects like Google Books are part of that trend, in providing digital access to as many books as possible. Another part of the trend is opening up who can add to the conversations in scholarship. Before the internet, academic conversations ("discourse", if you prefer) occurred at conferences or in peer reviewed journals. Access to the conversations were limited, and adding to the conversation could be very difficult. PhilPapers, and other sites like it, will likely make it easier for scholars to add their voices to the larger conversations in their field.
There are consequences to flattening access to scholarship and research. It may be more difficult to assess the quality of scholarship and research on a site like PhilPapers. It will broaden the research and scholarship available for new scholars to build on, making exercises like literature reviews more difficult. I am generally a proponent of access and abundance of information and I don't believe the consequences are overwhelmingly negative. Like most innovations, the key will be how we respond to them.
Hat tip: Dan Cohen
March 24, 2009
MIT Faculty Adopt Open Access Policy for Scholarly Articles
From Campus Technology magazine (3/23/09): MIT's faculty members last week decided on a new policy to make all of their scholarly articles available free to the public online. Articles will be disseminated using an open source platform called DSpace, which was developed by the MIT Libraries and HP. See the full article.
January 27, 2009
Why Online Learners Drop Out
January 12, 2009
A campus without textbooks
Future of school textbooks written in cyberspace
Northwest Missouri State University has provided e-readers to students with electronic versions of their textbooks. Students no longer have to carry heavy books around, and can use the e-reader to search text, take notes, and have all their class materials on one small device.
Not all students like the technology. One student quoted in the article said she worried the reader could malfunction the night before a big test, and that she misses being able to flip the pages back and forth.
November 25, 2008
Free textbooks, created by students
Let a Thousand Wikibooks Bloom - Chronicle.com
From the article: "The conventional premise of higher education is that information is scarce and must be assembled, evaluated, and presented to students by the instructor." The authors make a compelling point. Information is not scarce now, and one the important skills we must teach is the ability to create knowledge from all the information available to us.
I'm also thinking about our traditional ideas around scholarship. We place a premium on sharing our work so it can be evaluated by others. Research and scholarship not submitted to our peers has little value. I see connections to the textbooks the students are making; they are publishing their work in a format that allows others to correct it, comment on it, and respond to it. They are contributing to scholarship. It is exciting.
November 17, 2008
Online enrollments continue to climb
As Economy Wavers, Online Enrollments Climb
The newest numbers are available from Sloan, with online enrollments continuing to climb. The number of students taking at least one course online increased by 12.9% from the previous year.
The comments on the post at IHE are interesting as well. I think Gavin Moodie's comment that the distinction between online and face to face instruction will fade over time is a good one.
September 17, 2008
Degree Completion options at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Digital Campus :: Complete Your Degree Online
The University of Minnesota offers two degree completion programs for students who already have college credits. The two degree programs, BS in Applied Studies and BA or BS in Multidisciplinary Studies, are transfer-friendly for students whose credits are from outside the University of Minnesota.
Learn more about the University of Minnesota's online offerings at the Digital Campus.
May 1, 2008
Digital Natives may understand much less than we think
April 21, 2008
Banning laptops in the classroom
In March 2008, the Dean Saul Levmore at the University of Chicago Law School announced internet access would be blocked in campus classrooms. According to Inside Higher Ed, Levmore wrote the following in an email to students:
“You know better than I that for many students class has come to consist of some listening but also plenty of e-mailing, shopping, news browsing, and gossip-site visiting. Many students say that the visual images on classmates’ screens are diverting, and they too eventually go off track and check e-mail, sometimes to return to the class discussion and sometimes barely so. Our faculty (and I, as well as many of your classmates with whom I have spoken) believe strongly that we need to do everything we can to make Chicago’s classroom experiences all they can be.�
I certainly understand the impulse to ban internet access in the classroom; I have observed classes with students surfing all manner of sites. It is distracting to the students nearby. It limits the depth of discussions you can have in class if students are distracted. Even in a large lecture class, I assume it is also frustrating to the professor. Most of us can tell when our audience is not listening.
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