Necessity of Online Education for Older Women

The system of linking students, teachers and learning resources when they are not in the same location is called "distance learning". Earlier, distance learning made effective use of communication technologies like the postal service, and then television programs. However, a huge shift occurred after the advent of the Internet and "online education" was born. This transformed not only the methods of education but also the development and propagation of knowledge and communications between students and teachers. But how did all this effect older women? Technology granted new opportunities for many older women to achieve educational goals and they successfully managed to balance home and education.

Universities now form partnerships with businesses and even each other to compete better, in a greatly expanded worldwide market for students. The growth of online education can be attributed primarily to these reasons -

• You get to choose the class hours according to your discretion.
• Instead of a typical classroom environment, you get to learn in the comfort of your home.
• Since the actual sessions are never crowded, more attention is focused on you.
• Zero conveyance cost. Also you get to choose a class which fits your personal style and budget.
• Since there is to-and-fro involved, you save a lot of time.

According to a survey, more than 2 million students enrolled in online education courses in 2002 alone. If a recent U.S. government document is to be believed, the average age of online students is 34 years old and they are mostly female.So why do older women pursue continuing education? According to a survey, the main impetuses of women for returning to education are -

• Expansion of their current career
• Enhancement of current salary
• Changing or beginning careers
• Returning to staff position
• Pursuing personal advantage

Among the women surveyed, 20% belonged to the age group of 41 - 50.

The top online colleges offering scholarships in America are -

(i) Liberty University

(ii) Post University

(iii) Kaplan University

(iv) DeVry University

(v) American Inter Continental University

(vi) Grand Canyon University.

The number of older women currently working to complete courses and degrees online represents a social wonder. Awareness of women's problems and measures to help overcome the tribulations are required to raise the success of both older women and online programs.Although women are the main users, they are grossly under-represented in high-tech sectors and among university administrators who are currently influential to online learning. Many adult women returning to college classes have to tackle significant hurdles not usually experienced by men. Many women balance career, community and household tasks against their curricular work. They often have serious economic liabilities too. Customarily, they have grappled with these difficulties while also facing inflexible class schedules and educational policies, incompetent childcare, lack of appropriate lodging, and lack of dependable transportation. Online education seeks to solve all this and more.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Online Learning Courses and Beyond

The development of the World Wide Web has greatly influenced the way people live their lives, from doing daily errands like sending out mail to studying like going to the library for research. By using the World Wide Web, people can simply send mail or research about any topic they can imagine with just the click of a button in real-time.

Perhaps one of the industries significantly affected by the development of the World Wide Web is Education. In recent years, the Internet has provided us with online education courses offering a variety of programs. The arrival of online training courses on the education scene was inevitable. As people's lives have become active with so many things to do, the convenience of distance education courses has made it possible for home learners and adults busy at work to take up a class during their spare time. With the continued development of technology, we can certainly expect better things for online education classes.

What to Expect From Online Training Courses?

• Better quality of course and content of online learning courses as the implementation of learning management systems for the assessment and evaluation of e-learners is expected. A learning management system can identify the best content for a particular student based on the student's measured abilities. The appropriate learning techniques are then employed thus propelling the student to success. Students can also look forward to additional course offerings.
• Improved pedagogic strategies will lead to better and more effective instructional materials that are at par with the quality of those offered in higher education institutions.
• More dynamic interaction between the instructor and the e-learner through the use of educational technology tools. The teacher can never be truly replaced by the online learning environment. However, with the aid of educational technology tools, students and teachers will be stimulated by real-time collaboration.
• Flexible Learning Experience unlike in traditional classrooms and colleges online education classes are flexible in schedule handling. Having a fulltime day job is possible if enrolled in an online program. This method of learning gives students the power to choose their learning time according to preferred schedule.

A blended learning environment could conceivably be the next frontier in online learning. The use of web 2.0 collaborative tools like social networking sites, wikis and blogs as well as video conferencing would be used in conjunction with e Books that offer multimedia content. The delivery of content in multiple modalities would provide students the opportunity to engage with others in a flexible learning environment.Excellent, quality online education courses deliver top notch graduates. Distance education institutions provide online learning study equipping students with the best knowledge for better career opportunity and advancement.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Why I Chose Online Education: Dalene Erickson

College education takes all sorts of shapes these days, as students more often choose nontraditional routes to a degree. Many people of different ages, backgrounds, and career goals are now looking to online education programs. Here's why one person chose an online degree. Dalene Erickson earned bachelor's degrees in English and psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, and then wound up in Maryland, running a ballroom dancing studiowith her husband. When the economy plummeted, so did the studio's revenue. With three small kids to feed, Erickson knew she had to make some extra money. She began a childcare service in her home to do just that and quickly realized that most other providers in that field had advanced degrees. Erickson began her search for a master's degree program that fit her booked schedule of wrangling toddlers by day and teaching ballroom by night. She went with an online program and has liked it so much that she's decided to also pursue an online certificate in dual language learning after she earns the degree she's working on now.

Online program: University of North Dakota

• Degree pursued and graduation year: M.S. in early childhoodeducation, expected May 2012 
• Why an online degree: "It was online or nothing," says Erickson, who only had time to take classes late at night, after she tended to children during the day (including three four-year-olds of her own) and then taught at the studio.
• Degree impact: "I was able to apply stuff I was learning right away," says Erickson. She was better able to prepare the children for kindergarten and became more aware of what was developmentally appropriate at different ages, Erickson says. Her childcare business became more successful, too. While many providers in the area are struggling, Erickson says that she's booked with eight children (the maximum in Maryland) and even has a waiting list. By using what she learns in class as opposed to just babysitting, Erickson says, "It's clear I'm not a holding tank."
• Biggest challenge of earning an online degree: Besides taking classes very late at night, Erickson says she struggles with sometimes sitting her children in front of the television as she studies. Although the programming they watch is usually educational, Erickson says that television in lieu of engagement goes against much of what she learns in class.  But one of her ballroom students encouraged her to move on. She said the student, who was also an educator, told her, "Our children are learning that school is important, and that mommies and daddies go to school, too, and that you have a good, strong work ethic."
• Advice for future online students: "Go for it," she says. "Take a chance." Erickson says that, in addition to valuable academics, online education provided her with a few other surprising perks. "I wasn't expecting a sense of community—totally found that," she says. "I wasn't expecting to make friends in my classes like you do in in-person classes, but I have."

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Why Six Students Chose Online Education

As online education continues to grow in popularity, many students of different backgrounds, ages, and locations are jumping on board. U.S. News spoke with six students who have either recently earned their degree online or who are in the process of doing so.

Each student's experience was different. Some earned master's degrees, and others worked toward bachelor's degrees. Most students sped through their programs in a few years, while one student spent about a decade earning her degree through a mix of on-campus and online courses. Three military veterans saw the value in online education when they returned to the civilian workforce; two moms squeezed online classes in around their kids' schedules; and one woman set out to advance her degree online, as a 20-something, before she started a family.

Most of the online students who spoke with U.S. News sought the nontraditional route for the flexibility of courses. When pursuing your degree online, there's no need to leave work or family to drive to a specific place at a specific time for class, some said. But some of the online students also stressed that as they took classes from home, they needed to be disciplined, organized, and focused to avoid distractions and manage their time.

These six students earned—or are earning—their degrees online:

• Bridget Baldwin: B.S. in business management from Champlain College
• Bill Chamberlain: M. Ed. in technology education fromCalifornia University of Pennsylvania
• Dalene Erickson: M.S. in early childhood education fromUniversity of North Dakota
• David Gowel: M.S. in management from Harvard University
• Meredith Hart: M.B.A. from Walden University
• Michael Mayle: M.S. in software engineering from Drexel University

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Online Education May Transform Higher Ed

Can online education be the rock that disturbs the placid waters of American higher education? Several industry experts believe it will have a significant ripple effect on colleges and universities of all sizes in coming years—but only if it's subject to regulation, governed by a common set of accreditation standards, and widely accepted by institutions who have long clung to the traditional face-to-face model of instruction. Citing the vast online enrollment gains made by for-profit institutions like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University, Louis Soares, director of postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, recently dubbed online education a potential "disruptive innovator" in the higher ed landscape. Much in the way cell phones disrupted the traditional landline-based model or discount retailers like Wal-Mart revolutionized the nation's retail market, the for-profit sector—though a subject of intense scrutiny in recent years—has driven changes that could greatly affect the world of higher education, Soares argues. "A disruptive innovation always starts out at a lower quality," he says. "[But], if you take that for-profit energy out of higher education, online [education] wouldn't have grown the way it has in the last 10 years." 

In the coming decade, experts say, college students should expect an increased presence of online classes at traditional nonprofit schools. Already, about 30 percent of American college students take at least one course online, says Elaine Allen, statistical director of the Sloan Survey on Online Education, which monitors student involvement in online higher education. Though wholly online programs generally target nontraditional students, established institutions that are populated by traditional, high-achieving students are starting to embrace the technology. The University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California are among the highly regarded schools that have recently adopted online-centric programs. Efforts made by such schools are not the culmination of a movement online, but rather a hint of inroads into a new market, experts say. "We're at the beginning of elite schools starting to take online seriously," says Richard Garrett, managing director at research firm Eduventures. "They're trying to marry the online experience with the brand of the institution."

As technological capabilities expand and more traditional schools embrace online education in the coming years, schools may opt to replace many of their massive, entry-level courses that are traditionally taught in vast lecture halls and are characterized by little to no individual interaction between students and professors, experts say. "Is there a secret sauce to a professor sitting in front of 400 students and lecturing that couldn't be [replicated] online?" asks Soares, of the Center for American Progress. Standardized methods for training professors to teach online is another potential change on the horizon, and one that is essential to online education's future viability, experts claim. Currently, there is no standard for training professors to teach online courses. That need could be met by an association of online schools introducing a pedagogy or could be regulated by an accrediting body, says the Sloan Survey's Allen. It's a void that will need to be filled for the quality of online education to increase and for online instruction to be widely accepted at mainstream universities, she says. "Training is all over the map," Allen adds. "We need to do something about that to address quality.

Ultimately, much of the change will hinge on for-profit institutions' transparency regarding their students' outcomes after graduation. The Department of Education's long delayed and hotly debated "gainful employment" regulations, meant to force for-profit schools to share how their students have fared post-graduation, is a "tipping point" in the evolution of online education, Garrett says. Should the regulations demand for-profits to drastically increase educational quality by better preparing students to enter the job market or risk losing access to federal loans, the sector could drive innovation in online eduction that would permeate through the entire higher educational landscape. "This is healthy intervention for the for-profits. It might be painful now, but will help the sector down the road," Garrett says. "If the [regulations are strict] it could turn for-profits into a more formidable sector, but that's a big 'if.'" 

Deepa Singh
Business Developer
Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com
Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com
Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

How to Maximize an Online Education Program

With a slowly recovering economy and high unemployment, more people are using online educational programs to learn new skills in order to transfer into new careers or advance in their current fields. Approximately one fourth of the 19 million students enrolled in higher education were enrolled in at least one online course during the fall of 2008. This was a 17 percent increase from the previous year, according to a 2009 report by Sloan Consortium and Babson Survey Research Group. Today, online education programs have become commonplace, with more than 3,300 of the roughly 4,500 U.S. colleges and universities offering at least one online course. More than 1,700 of these schools offer completely online degree programs, according to a 2009 survey by Babson Survey Research Group. Interested in learning about how to select an online program, how to successfully complete an online degree or certificate program, and how to effectively sell the online degree to a future employer?

How to Choose an Online Program

First and foremost, make sure the program is either regionally or nationally accredited by an established accrediting agency. The online degree and certificate programs should meet the same standards as traditional brick-and-mortar higher education institutions. The standards are determined by six regional accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Most online universities list their accreditations visibly on their websites. If it's not listed on the site, find the school's physical headquarters and contact the accreditation association for that region. Another consideration is the reputation and experience a school has within your specific career field of study. In addition to overall academic accreditation for the school, you should make sure that the department and degree programs have specialized accreditation by reputable professional associations, such as the American Bar Association and the American Dental Association. You can also search for the regional, national, and programmatic accrediting agencies in the Department of Education's databaseor the Council for Higher Education Accreditation's list.

Accreditation affects a student's ability to transfer credits to another institution. If a student attends a nationally accredited school and wants to transfer to a regionally accredited school, it may be difficult to transfer credits, says Scott Traylor, the director of admissions for online education at Bryant and Stratton College, which offers online courses and has 17 campuses across four states. Access to a physical campus is another factor to consider when choosing an online program. Some universities, such as Walden University and Capella University, offer online instruction only, with no physical campuses, while other schools offer "blended" instruction that includes both online courses and classes at campus locations across the country, such as the University of Phoenix and DeVry University. "Some people are more comfortable taking online courses when there is an on-site location, knowing there is a physical location they can go to," says Steve Riehs, the president of online services at DeVry University, which also has more than 100 campuses nationwide. In fact, the Department of Education released a study in June 2009 that found that blended instruction was more effective at improving student achievement across a variety of subject matters than purely online or face-to-face instruction.

The quality of the faculty is also a key consideration in selecting a program, says Kenneth Hartman, the academic director for Drexel University Online. He recommends that prospective students research the background of the school's faculty, the number of full-time and adjunct professors, their accessibility, and their experience teaching in specific subject areas. He says you also want to have an instructor who has received training in how to teach online. "The quality of the faculty is ultimately what you're paying for," Hartman says. "You're paying for a knowledgeable person who's able to take the available technology and help you learn." Online students are likely to face the same tuition and fees as students on campus, according to Babson Survey Research Group, which found the expenses the same at 55 percent of 1,700 institutions surveyed in 2008. However, students can save money by going to school online because they do not have to pay for the expenses of commuting to and from campus. Furthermore, many companies offer tuition reimbursement for employees who enroll in an education program that is relevant to their field of work, provided that they maintain a certain grade-point average, which could save money for those who take programs online. "The eLearners Advisor" is an assessment tool that is a good resource if you're unsure if you're a good match for an online education program,, says Andrew Gansler, the website's president. This assessment determines your preparedness to enroll in an online degree program and helps you find online degrees that match your educational and career interests.

How to Be Successful in an Online Program

One of the strongest indicators of success in an online program is a student's level of self-motivation. "If you're looking at adults going back to school online, the most successful are those that are highly motivated. They also are engaged in the process and where it's leading to and understand that it is a career steppingstone," says Lisa Gualtieri, the editor-in-chief ofeLearn Magazine, a publication by the Association for Computing Machinery. Students have to be technologically capable in order to perform well in an online course. Students must have access to an up-to-date computer with internet capability and basic technology proficiency to navigate and interact with the learning management system that the school uses to run the online course. In addition to being email and typing proficient, they must also be competent at creating PDFs and combining video, text, and chat features within an online presentation, says Gansler. Online courses are typically delivered synchronistically, where students may watch prerecorded course lectures on their own time schedules. The other course format is synchronistic, where students attend virtual live course lectures at specifically scheduled times. For both formats, students can view recorded lectures, talking PowerPoint slides, readings, and videos online for the designated course. Also, chat rooms and discussion boards are often used for students to discuss homework or coordinate group projects. "For synchronistic courses, because you don't have to be there for the live lectures, it makes it more important that you are self-disciplined," Gansler says. "Students also need a support structure from their friends and family to ensure success."

Other keys to success: Students have to set a time commitment each week in order to do well in an online course. Maria Andersen, the higher education editor for eLearn Magazine,suggests allotting at least eight to 10 hours a week for a three- to four-credit class. And check college E-mail, as essentially all communications are via E-mail, Andersen advises. A major factor in an online course is being involved and engaged in online class discussions. "The beauty of taking courses online is that you can't hide online. A good instructor is going to monitor and evaluate you on the degree that you participate," says Hartman with Drexel University Online. "The tools to access learning and participation online are light-years ahead of what you can do while teaching face to face."

How to Pitch Your Online Degree to Employers

The acceptance of online education by employers is still a mixed bag. According to a January 2008 poll by Excelsior College and Zogby International, 83 percent of business executives surveyed said an online degree was as credible as one earned through a traditional campus-based program. However, there are differing opinions among hiring managers. While 49 percent had encountered an applicant with an online degree, only 19 percent had hired such an applicant, according to a 2008 survey by Vault, a career services provider. Abigail Tremble, the director of learning and development for Randstad, a global staffing company, is an experienced recruiter who has worked with both job applicants and employers. She says employers are split down the middle: Half of them fully accept online degrees, and the other half don't. However, she says employers regard degrees earned from an online program through a traditional campus-based university more favorably than those from completely online universities. In fact, the traditional universities do not list on the diploma whether or not the degree was earned online because it is technically the same degree as the one offered on campus. Tremble says this gradual acceptance of online degrees is a significant improvement from 10 years ago, when she says nearly all employers questioned the credibility of online degrees.

"With employers, online schooling wasn't a problem," says Nicole Stephens, a graduate from Bryant and Stratton College who earned her bachelor's in business administration online. She got a job in the medical billing office of Kaleida Health in Buffalo the same month she graduated. "A lot of people are starting to go to school online now because it is more convenient. I don't think it's looked at any differently."The technological skills students learn online are important for the job market. "Online education is very similar with how people do their jobs in today's global society," says Riehs of DeVry University. He says that he has seen a broad acceptance of online education among employers and that the university has the same job placement rates for their online and on-campus graduates. When you reach a job interview, Tremble says, "be very prepared to talk specifically about what you learned during the courses, any projects you worked on. Show based on what you're talking about that you really earned a degree. Also, be sure to mention any certifications you earned while pursuing your degree."bIn the job interview, be open to talking about getting your degree online, says Bill Driscoll, a district president for Robert Half International, a professional staffing and consulting firm. "You're selling yourself, so it is important to be upfront about your online education. There's a lot of ways to pitch it as a real positive. It shows the employer your dedication to developing skills and self-discipline."

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Online Education Scholarships Help Parents Return to School

For many parents who split their time between 40-hour workweeks and taking care of their kids, the idea of continuing their education seems almost impossible. An online learning site called eLearners.com has helped parents overcome the three main barriers to returning to school: time, money, and lack of confidence, says Helen MacDermott, content director for eLearners.com. The site launched Project Working Mom 2010, a program created to award up to 285 full-tuition scholarships from eight accredited online institutions worth about $5 million in total to working mothers and fathers. Project Working Mom 2010 is the fourth in a series of programs run by eLearners.com to "tackle the crisis of the undereducated adult population in America." 

Of parents ages 22 to 50, 19.6 percent of males and 20.4 percent of females had bachelor's degrees, according to 2009 data from the Census Bureau. (To view these or other tables of education data, visit the Current Population Survey Table Creator.) College degrees pay off in the long run: On average, adults with a bachelor's degree make $26,000 more annually than those with just a high school diploma, according to 2008 Census Bureau data. With tough economic times, more people are going back to school online to continue their education. More than 4.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2008 term, a 17 percent increase from 2007, according to a Sloan Survey of Online Learning report, "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States in 2009." 

Project Working Mom started in reaction to the flood of more than 10,000 responses to an essay contest in the September 2007 issue of Women's World magazine for a $1,500 scholarship in conjunction with e Learners.com. The majority of respondents were single mothers, MacDermott says. "We learned how many single mothers put themselves on the back burners because they had families to raise. But as their children got older, they realized that they were no longer in a position where a high school diploma was enough. Any small amount of money would help them get back to school," she says. 

However, Mac Dermatitis says eLearners.com didn't want to focus its efforts only on single working mothers because they weren't the only ones who needed help. After receiving letters from working fathers who wanted to be eligible to participate in the scholarship contest, she says, e Learners.com opened up the third series of scholarships to working fathers as well, calling it Project Working Mom . . . and Dad, Too." The scholarship does not require that a parent have a job in order to apply. 

Heather Herrera is a recent recipient of a full-tuition, four-year scholarship for online education worth $66,000 from Virginia College, which has extensive online degree programs as well as 14 campuses across the South. She is pursuing a bachelor of science in business administration. Herrera graduated from high school and became pregnant the same year, and she says she didn't have the time or money to go directly to college. When her daughter was 1, she tried community college, but she eventually quit. Fourteen years later, Herrera lives in a town outside of Austin with her husband and two daughters. She says she likes the time flexibility of online classes and the convenience of working from home. "While my kids are in school, I do school," she says. "I like the online format; for me it's not as intimidating. In the classroom setting, I am more reserved and don't speak my mind as much. I feel more comfortable saying what I'm going to say if I'm typing it." 

Johnny Serrano, also a recipient of a full-tuition, four-year scholarship for online education from Virginia College, looks forward to the financial opportunities an online bachelor's degree can offer. He works in the information technology department at a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., during the day, and takes his online courses at night to pursue a bachelor of science in management information systems. Serrano, who immigrated from Colombia with his wife in 2002, had to start his higher education over in a new language after switching from a different degree path in Colombia. Serrano, who has a 2-year-old daughter to support, says his bachelor's degree will improve his financial stability and job security. He also enjoys the collaboration of the online classroom environment. "We have discussions every week about different topics. In this online environment, you're still building a relationship with others. The teachers are always motivating students."  Both Herrera and Serrano say that they not only enjoy being back in school but also love being strong role models for their children. Mac Dermott of eLearners.com says this has been true for many parents pursuing a degree through online programs. "These scholarship recipients fall in love with learning and have a renewed interest in learning for learning's sake. This impacts their parenting by showing the message that education is important." 

Since it launched in January 2008, Project Working Mom has sent more than 150 working parents back to school through more than $6 million in full-tuition scholarships. The Project Working Mom 2010 scholarships have three separate deadlines: March 1, April 27, and September 30. The program will distribute close to 100 scholarships in each round, and applicants who aren't selected in one round can reapply for the next. Those who win a scholarship will be notified within a month after the deadline. To apply, go toProjectWorkingMom.com, select the degree program and the school of interest, and write a short personal essay. No GPA or SAT scores are required.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

U.S. News Ranks Top Online Degree Programs

Online course enrollment in the United States hit an all-time high in 2010 with more than 6.1 million students, and the trend shows no signs of leveling off, according to a 2011 report by the Babson Survey Research Group. Enrollment in online classes doubled between 2007 and 2011, driven largely by a stagnant economy and competitive job market, but also by robust online offerings from established public and private institutions, according to the report. At more than 2,500 colleges and universities surveyed, 65 percent of administrators say that online learning is a vital piece of their institution's long-term strategy. Recognizing the growing importance of online education in the college experience, and the unique formula necessary to make online degree programs successful, U.S. News is releasing its first Top Online Education Programs rankings.

U.S. News ranked 196 online bachelor's degree programs and 523 online master's degree programs in business, engineering,nursing, education, and computer information technology. Programs considered for the rankings needed to have at least 80 percent of their course content available online. Bachelor's programs were ranked in three distinct categories: student engagement and assessment, student services and technology, and faculty credentials and training. Master's programs had similar ranking categories, but were ranked on student engagement and accreditation, rather than assessment, and had a separate indicator ranking for admissions selectivity. The U.S. News honor roll lists single out schools that ranked in the top third across at least three of these indicator rankings. Honor roll lists were compiled for online bachelor's degree programs and master's degree programs in nursing, business,education, and engineering. Online master's programs in computer information technology have no honor roll because too few programs from the smaller universe of schools met the criteria.

While for-profit institutions such as the University of Phoenix, De Try University, and American Public University are among the schools with the highest enrollments in online programs, no for-profit institutions received honor roll distinctions. Instead, a handful of public and private institutions with established on-campus programs, in addition to online offerings, received high marks across all categories. The top performers in online bachelor's degree programs include Pace University in New York and the University of Florida.Auburn University in Alabama made the honor roll for its online master's programs in education and engineering, and George Washington University's master's programs earned the Washington, D.C., school mentions in the education, business, and nursing honor rolls.

Bachelor's: The majority of online bachelor's programs are degree-completion programs designed for students with some college credit or applicable work experience. Many students juggle school, work, and family obligations, so teachers must find a way to engage their students despite distractions and minimal face-to-face contact. Westfield State University in Massachusetts earned the top spot for faculty training and credentials among online bachelor's programs, and Nebraska's Bellevue University earned the No. 1 spot for student engagement and assessment. Technology and infrastructure are also key components of a successful online program, and Arizona State University claimed the top spot for student services and technology.

Business (master's): The top online master's in business programs in each rankings category were Washington State University (admissions selectivity), University of Scranton in Pennsylvania (student engagement and accreditation),Arkansas State University—Jones boor (faculty credentials and training), and Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina (student services and technology). While each program performed well in distinct areas, only Gardner-Webb and Arkansas State earned spots on the online business honor roll.Temple University in Pennsylvania, Arizona State's W.P. Carey School of Business, and University of Mississippi are also among the 14 schools on the business honor roll.

Engineering (master's): Two of the three schools earning honor roll distinction for their online master's of engineering programs—University of Wisconsin—Madison and Auburn University—are no strangers to U.S. News's traditional graduate rankings. Joining the duo on the honor roll is Lawrence Technological University in Michigan. Auburn's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering topped the admissions selectivity ranking, and UW–Madison's College of Engineering claimed the No. 1 spot in both student engagement and accreditation and student services and technology. The University of Bridgeportin Connecticut leads the pack in faculty credentials and training.

Nursing (master's or doctorate of nursing practice): The master's or doctorate of nursing practice programs that lead the rankings include George Washington (faculty credentials and training), University of Northern Colorado (student engagement and accreditation), Delta State University in Mississippi (admissions selectivity), and Loyola University New Orleans (student services and technology). Loyola and George Washington made the honor roll list for their online master's in nursing programs; also on that list are Drexel University in Pennsylvania, Clarkson College in Nebraska, and the University of Colorado—Denver Health Sciences Center School of Nursing.

Education (master's): The highest ranked online master's of education programs are at New York's Syracuse University(student services and technology), Northern Illinois University(faculty credentials and training), Pennsylvania State University—University Park (admissions selectivity), and University of Northern Colorado (student engagement and accreditation). Northern Illinois, Penn State, and Syracuse also joined a handful of other schools on the education honor roll.

Computer Information Technology (master's): Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering in Baltimore tops the ranking for online CIT programs in student services and technology, and Penn State University—University Parkleads its peers in faculty credentials and training. Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia earned a No. 1 ranking in student engagement and accreditation, while North Carolina State University—Raleigh leads the ranking for admissions selectivity in online CIT programs.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Faculty Enthusiastic About Harvard's Move to Online Education

In what is nearly a biannual rite of passage, Harvard undergraduates­—nearly one thousand of them—flock to Sanders Theatre to attend “Justice,” a course taught by government professor Michael J. Sandel every other year that challenges students to consider difficult moral dilemmas.But even with the lofty enrollment figures, Harvard students make up only a small portion of people engaged in the course. In the five years since the course became publicly available online, millions of viewers from around the world have “taken” Sandel’s course, according to the course’s website. Virtual students have the opportunity to watch all of Sandel’s lectures and post their thoughts on discussion forums.

Now, as a result of the Harvard-MIT partnership announced last Wednesday, ”Justice” will be just one of many Harvard courses open to the general public online. Harvard and MIT have each pledged to spend $30 million to establish a joint online platform called edX, which will offer lecture videos, class exercises, and quizzes. Building off of MIT’s open courseware platform MITx, the jointly run online education network will eventually incorporate instructional offerings from many universities, administrators hope.

Soon, undergraduates at both colleges will not be the only ones listening to lectures and chugging through problem sets. Faculty response to the announcement has been largely positive, with professors across a wide range of disciplines citing not only increased public access but also on-campus advantages and applications of edX. “By opening access to the Harvard classroom, we not only share our resources with others, we also enrich the learning that takes place here at Harvard,” Sandel wrote in an e-mail. “Being very inclusive of the rest of the people in the world who want to learn, I think, is a very admirable and very good thing to do,” said Ali Khademhosseini, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and affiliate of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Professors also agreed that in addition to opening up Harvard and MIT’s resources, data collected from edX has the potential to significantly improve the classroom experience of students on campus. “The problem with online education as a whole is that it hasn’t been interactive, just a source of information,” Khademhosseini said. But edX could change that, he continued. David J. Malan ’99, who teaches the popular introductory computer science course CS50, added that while Harvard has yet to decide which courses to offer through edX, he would be very open to including CS50 on the class list. CS50 has posted lectures online for five years now, but Malan acknowledged that a platform like edX—with its research potential and broad reach—would significantly expand his course’s potential to “leverage the internet and web-based tools.”

Data from edX could tell professors which lecture formats and exercises are most effectively communicated online, allowing faculty to cover basic material more efficiently and reserve classroom time for question and answer sessions or interactive activities. “Merely listening to someone like me lecture for 60 to 90 minutes cannot possibly be the most effective way to learn and absorb complex material,” Malan said. “We would love to be part of something like this. Professors agreed that re-thinking the format in which learning takes place—in all disciplines—must be a key part of the new initiative.

“The humanities in general have been taught in a relatively traditional format—the lecture hall, or the seminar room,” said Martin Puchner, professor of drama and English and comparative literature. “It’s gotten good at it, but there are new opportunities provided by different types of technologies.” EdX is an evolving platform, and students may have a chance to contribute feedback and classroom modules as early as the fall, according to Malan. Although many people view Harvard’s exclusivity as one of its defining features, professors say that increased accessibility of Harvard’s educational offerings to the broader community will not diminish the University’s prestige.

Puchner said that much of the “residential, liberal arts college” experience cannot be duplicated simply by putting classes online. Daily interactions among students and between students and their instructors, he said, are incredibly important as well. “I don’t think the online courses will dilute the brand,” Puchner said. “I think it will make Harvard College even more desirable than it already is.” While some professors feel strongly that edX will supplement, rather than displace, tradition learning models, Khademhosseini said that he can imagine a future in which online portals provide an education that is on par in terms of quality with in-person classes at universities.

“I think it’s not impossible,” he said. “I think the trend is going that way.”

• Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.
• Staff writer Kevin J. Wu can be reached at kwu@college.harvard.edu.

Correction: May 8

An earlie version of this article stated that more than 15,000 students around the world have taken Michael Sandel’s course “Justice” online. In fact, more than 15,000 students have taken the class at Harvard, while millions around the world have watched the course lectures online.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

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Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Gov. Brewer vetoes bill making changes to online education

Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday vetoed a bill that would have enacted sweeping changes to the state's online-education system. The legislation would have made it easier for Arizona junior- and high-school students to take online courses, which likely would have pushed further growth in the system. The bill also would have boosted accountability by creating a master list of approved courses and a state ranking and evaluation of each course. In addition, Senate Bill 1259 would have required students to take final exams in online classes in the presence of another person to help prevent cheating.

In a letter accompanying her veto, Brewer said she was concerned about the appropriateness of the state "or an entity on behalf of the state approving online courses or curriculum." She also cited a provision that would have paid online schools more state funding per student if the student mastered a course. "I strongly support moving toward funding outcomes; however, ADE (the Arizona Department of Education) may not be able to implement the systems properly, at least as the bill is drafted." Brewer added that she believes online learning will become more common, and she looks forward to working with the bill's sponsor to improve high school students' access to quality online learning.

Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, who sponsored the legislation, was traveling on Monday and unavailable for comment, his office said. In a previous interview, Crandall said the legislation would do three things: provide students with more access to online courses, set a quality bar, and establish an evaluation process for the quality and effectiveness. "Those are three things that really make a difference," said Crandall, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Some educators said that while the legislation provided some significant regulatory changes, it also had some big holes, including weak test-proctoring requirements and an exemption for schools that only enroll full-time students. "I would have liked to have seen it go further," said Justin Bathon, an education professor at the University of Kentucky who reviewed the legislation at the request of The Arizona Republic.

Attempts to change state law come at a time when online education in K-12 is spreading across the country. The number of students in Arizona online schools has nearly tripled over six years, to nearly 37,000 in the school year 2010-11, the latest year for which data is available. As enrollment grows, so have concerns that the quality of online classes is poor. In December,The Republic published a six-part investigative series on online education. The series detailed how Arizona's online K-12 programs have relatively lax oversight, limited disclosure of key information and few or no requirements for how schools monitor their tests or train their teachers. The risks of cheating in the largest online schools are significant, and questions about quality and lack of rigor surround the system.

The legislation would have required school districts to allow students in grades seven through 12 to take up to two online courses per year from a "master list" of online courses approved by the state. The courses would have been for core academic or college credit. Right now, districts set their own policies on the number and types of online courses they will accept.Parents also would have had access to more information about the quality of online courses.The legislation charged the Arizona State Board of Education with developing a ranking and evaluation system for online courses based on several quality factors. The results for each course would have been published on the Arizona Department of Education's website. The state board also would have been required to develop a process for removing low-ranked courses from the master list.

Under the bill, online schools that are already part of the state program would have automatically had their courses approved to the master list but would have had to submit their courses for approval beginning in 2019. Online providers that are not part of the state program would have been able present online courses for evaluation to the state board. This could include school districts, non-profits and for-profit companies, among others. The bill also would have allowed these online programs to earn more state money if students complete the course and demonstrate mastery on state-approved tests. The legislation stopped short of applying to all online programs. Online schools that serve only full-time students would have been exempt. Elective courses also weren't covered by the bill, at least initially.

Students who take online courses also would have faced a little more scrutiny when they took key exams under the legislation. The bill required a non-family member to be in the room while the student is taking midterms and finals. The state now only requires that statewide assessments, such as the Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards test, be supervised by the school. Some district online programs currently have even stricter requirements for proctoring exams. They make students take their final exams in person in the presence of school personnel. But some of the state's largest online schools do not require in-person supervising of final exams. Nor do they require someone to be present in the room when students take finals.

Deepa Singh

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Beyond the College Degree, Online Educational Badges

With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses and other online programs offering informal credentials, the race is on for alternative forms of certification that would be widely accepted by employers.“Who needs a university anymore?” asked David Wiley, a Brigham Young University professor who is an expert on the new courses, known as MOOCs. “Employers look at degrees because it’s a quick way to evaluate all 300 people who apply for a job. But as soon as there’s some other mechanism that can play that role as well as a degree, the jig is up on the monopoly of degrees.”

By the end of this year, Mr. Wiley predicted, it will become familiar to hear of people who earned alternative credentials online and got high-paying jobs at Google or other high-visibility companies. “Udacity may help that process along,” he said of the startup company offering two MOOCs this semester taught by prominent engineers. Mozilla, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and others are working to devise a system of online educational “badges” certifying exactly which skills had been learned. Some companies, like Microsoft, already offer their own certificates for trained computer technicians.

Some educators doubt that such credentials will ever command as much respect as a diploma from a well-known college. And of course, to be trustworthy, alternative credentials would have to be at least as cheat-proof as traditional ones. And that is not so simple.At Stanford University , where Jennifer Widom, the chairwoman of the computer science department, taught an online database course last semester to more than 90,000 people, some found a covert route to high scores.

“There were definitely people getting multiple accounts and using some to practice and the other to get a perfect score,” said Dr. Widom, who still has hundreds of assignments trickling in every day for grading. “There were some who completed the exam with a perfect score in three minutes and the only way they could have done that was if they had already done the problems in another account. My philosophy was not to be concerned in the least about people who cheat. But if there’s going to be actual certification that people depend on, those problems will have to be addressed.”

At Udacity, the plan is to deal with cheating — and help ensure the validity of the credential — by offering students a global network of in-person testing centers. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this semester’s pilot course in a new MOOC venture known as MITx, will be on the honor system, but officials have begun to explore the possibility of using proctored test sites.In both cases, the courses will be free, but the testing — and the credential — will have a price tag.

Deepa Singh

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Maximise the potential of e-learning

e-Learning has the potential to help IT companies create massive savings and gain far better value from their training budgets.However, many companies are not making the most of this opportunity due to misconceptions about how to develop and use it. This is resulting in vast sums being squandered through wasted time and effort. But there is so much that could easily be done to prevent this.

1. Buy a whole system – carefully

Just as word processing software cannot run without an operating system such as Windows, so e-learning really needs a Learning Management System (LMS) along with, for instance, an engineers’ skills training programme, or a new product launch brief. Too often companies buy an LMS that does not match the content that goes with it. So far there is not a universal standard like VHS or Windows (it would be very helpful if there was), so organisations should be careful to buy an LMS specifically designed for e-learning, not adapted from another use. The wrong LMS can be limiting. Take a holistic approach.

2. Is the training developed by training specialists or ‘internet techies’?

Too much e-learning looks good but does not teach. Look at the background of the e-learning company and choose one that has references enthusiastic about the results delivered.

3. Off the shelf or a bespoke solution?

Buying e-learning may sound like buying clothing but it is a far more expensive decision. While an ‘off the shelf’ solution may be suitable for some common IT application learning requirements, a tailored solution is often the most cost-effective answer to many needs. And don’t buy purely on price.

4. The IT department must define the computer resources available to most learners. For instance, does everyone have an operative sound card?

Before a company buys e-learning, there needs to be an assessment of the technology capabilities available. Many managers want an ‘all-singing, all-dancing’ multimedia e-learning course, but don’t have the necessary IT facilities. They should speak to the IT managers before writing a brief to an e-learning producer so that e-learning solutions are geared towards the lowest common denominator of technology widely available among those learning.

5. Remember KISS – Keep It Simple….

Technology should be an enabler, rather than an exciting feature itself. What is important is the appropriate use of technology to explain the subject. Just as when desk top publishing first arrived and everybody started producing newsletters containing 20 fonts simply because they could, similarly, with all the multimedia software now available, it is tempting for training specifiers and e-learning developers to use technology such as video streaming that may be wholly inappropriate.If simple graphics are the best way of getting across a message, then that is what should be used. On the other hand, some training is best delivered with animated features and interactive games.

6. e-learning needs to be introduced as well as produced

Having developed an e-learning solution and put it on the company intranet, too many companies simply tell the engineers or sales team how to access it and leave them to it. e-learning benefits from a controlled introduction, with traditional trainers as facilitators. Learners will more readily become absorbed in the training if they are helped over the initial start-up ‘barriers’ before being left alone. Overall, e-learning can produce massive benefits to IT companies and the more learners the greater the savings after the initial development investment. With local adaptation, it can readily be applied internationally, saving overseas travel, accommodation and trainer expenses. But, unless the planning decisions are taken in the right perspective, the training won’t work and the opportunities will be missed.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

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Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom

The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.

“The study’s major significance lies in demonstrating that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than conventional instruction,” said Barbara Means, the study’s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International. This hardly means that we’ll be saying good-bye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to expand sharply over the next few years, as evidence mounts of its value.Until fairly recently, online education amounted to little more than electronic versions of the old-line correspondence courses. That has really changed with arrival of Web-based video, instant messaging and collaboration tools.

The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more “learning by doing,” which many students find more engaging and useful.“We are at an inflection point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program. The biggest near-term growth, Mr. Regier predicts, will be in continuing education programs. Today, Arizona State has 5,000 students in its continuing education programs, both through in-person classes and online. In three to five years, he estimates, that number could triple, with nearly all the growth coming online.

But Mr. Regier also thinks online education will continue to make further inroads in transforming college campuses as well. Universities — and many K-12 schools — now widely use online learning management systems, like Blackboard or the open-source Moodle. But that is mostly for posting assignments, reading lists, and class schedules and hosting some Web discussion boards. Mr. Regier sees things evolving fairly rapidly, accelerated by the increasing use of social networking technology. More and more, students will help and teach each other, he said. For example, it will be assumed that college students know the basics of calculus, and the classroom time will focus on applying the math to real-world problems — perhaps in exploring the physics of climate change or modeling trends in stock prices, he said. “The technology will be used to create learning communities among students in new ways,” Mr. Regier said. “People are correct when they say online education will take things out the classroom. But they are wrong, I think, when they assume it will make learning an independent, personal activity. Learning has to occur in a community.”

Deepa Singh
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Online education - read this if you are skeptical about it

The importance of higher education in our lives is undoubtedly high. To gain a respectable job, one must possess certain qualification certificates. Only if a person has well recognized certificates to back its higher educational skills, he can get a good job. This so called "good job" not only strengthens you with monetary support but also elevates your stance in the society. This is the why every year we witness a ruthless war of students to clear entrance exams to get enrolled in a reputed universities.

However, there are several students who are not able to clear the entrance exams but want to study. Online educationcomes to them as a boon. There are several other students who despite of clearing those exams are not able to get into the reputed universities due to lack of financial support. Online education supports them too. Then there are some more students who don't have an easy access to a university and can't afford to stay abroad, they also pursue further education from home through online training. These days there is so much of hullabaloo over the concept of online education. There is a mixed feeling amongst the public in its acceptance. On one hand, there are millions of students who pursue some or the other online course every year and on the other hand there is no scarcity of people who doubt over the legitimacy of online education. The reason behind doubting online education is that people consider it as a relatively new concept and hence, feel it difficult to rely on it for their future.

However, online education has also gained confidence of millions of people across the world. The reasons for gaining this confidence are many. To begin with, online courses are nowadays being offered by several reputed universities too. These universities have been in service in the field of education from past several years and hence built up great confidence of the public in the concept of online education. Apart from reputed universities several big names of the IT industry such as Microsoft, Sage and Cisco have also started providing home learning courses, which has also added credibility to the concept of online education. Online education is a concept that gained huge popularity not only among teenagers but also among the working professionals. There are so many professionals who are unable to seek out time to learn some skills that would allow them to gain promotion. Online education is the only solution for them. Many entrepreneurs have started giving online courses to their employees in the form of bonus. These courses eventually help them work efficiently at their work area and gain promotion thus making it a good for all deal. In the years to come, online education is going to overtake the traditional forms of education by the virtue of its myriad advantages over the other. Hence, if you are still stuck and skeptical about the concept of online education, then it's high time you realize it's potential. Those who can foresee its future will definitely make the most out of it and the rest of the people will be the laggards and in the end follow the proactive people. 

Deepa Singh

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Online Learning Courses and Beyond

The development of the World Wide Web has greatly influenced the way people live their lives, from doing daily errands like sending out mail to studying like going to the library for research. By using the World Wide Web, people can simply send mail or research about any topic they can imagine with just the click of a button in real-time.

Perhaps one of the industries significantly affected by the development of the World Wide Web is Education. In recent years, the Internet has provided us with online education courses offering a variety of programs. The arrival of online training courses on the education scene was inevitable. As people's lives have become active with so many things to do, the convenience of distance education courses has made it possible for home learners and adults busy at work to take up a class during their spare time. With the continued development of technology, we can certainly expect better things for online education classes.

What to Expect From Online Training Courses?

Better quality of course and content of online learning courses as the implementation of learning management systems for the assessment and evaluation of e-learners is expected. A learning management system can identify the best content for a particular student based on the student's measured abilities. The appropriate learning techniques are then employed thus propelling the student to success. Students can also look forward to additional course offerings.

• Improved pedagogic strategies will lead to better and more effective instructional materials that are at par with the quality of those offered in higher education institutions.
• More dynamic interaction between the instructor and the e-learner through the use of educational technology tools. The teacher can never be truly replaced by the online learning environment. However, with the aid of educational technology tools, students and teachers will be stimulated by real-time collaboration.
• Flexible Learning Experience unlike in traditional classrooms and colleges online education classes are flexible in schedule handling. Having a fulltime day job is possible if enrolled in an online program. This method of learning gives students the power to choose their learning time according to preferred schedule.
• A blended learning environment could conceivably be the next frontier in online learning. The use of web 2.0 collaborative tools like social networking sites, wikis and blogs as well as video conferencing would be used in conjunction with eBooks that offer multimedia content. The delivery of content in multiple modalities would provide students the opportunity to engage with others in a flexible learning environment.
• Excellent, quality online education courses deliver top notch graduates. Distance education institutions provide online learning study equipping students with the best knowledge for better career opportunity and advancement.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

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Why Six Students Chose Online Education

As online education continues to grow in popularity, many students of different backgrounds, ages, and locations are jumping on board. U.S. News spoke with six students who have either recently earned their degree online or who are in the process of doing so.

Each student's experience was different. Some earned master's degrees, and others worked toward bachelor's degrees. Most students sped through their programs in a few years, while one student spent about a decade earning her degree through a mix of on-campus and online courses. Three military veterans saw the value in online education when they returned to the civilian workforce; two moms squeezed online classes in around their kids' schedules; and one woman set out to advance her degree online, as a 20-something, before she started a family.

See which schools have the Top Online Education Programs.

Most of the online students who spoke with U.S. News sought the nontraditional route for the flexibility of courses. When pursuing your degree online, there's no need to leave work or family to drive to a specific place at a specific time for class, some said. But some of the online students also stressed that as they took classes from home, they needed to be disciplined, organized, and focused to avoid distractions and manage their time.

These six students earned—or are earning—their degrees online

• Bridget Baldwin: B.S. in business management from Champlain College
• Bill Chamberlain: M.Ed. in technology education from California University of Pennsylvania
• Darlene Erickson: M.S. in early childhood education fromUniversity of North Dakota
• David Gowel: M.S. in management from Harvard University
• Meredith Hart: M.B.A. from Walden University
• Michael Mayle: M.S. in software engineering from Drearily University

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

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M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education

For Wall Street Occupiers or other decriers of the “social injustice” of college tuition, here’s a curveball bound to scramble your worldview: a totally free college education regardless of your academic performance or background. TheMassachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) will announce on Monday that they intend to launch an online learning initiative called M.I.T.x,which will offer the online teaching of M.I.T. coursesfree of charge to anyone in the world.The program will not allow students to earn an M.I.T. degree. Instead, those who are able to exhibit a mastery of the subjects taught on the platform will receive an official certificate of completion. The certificate will obviously not carry the weight of a traditional M.I.T. diploma, but it will provide an incentive to finish the online material. According to the New York Times, in order to prevent confusion, the certificate will be a credential bearing the distinct name of a new not-for-profit body that will be created within M.I.T.

The new online platform will look to build upon the decade-long success of the university’s original free online platform, Open Course Ware (OCW), which has been used by over 100 million students and contains course material for roughly 2,100 classes. The new M.I.T.x online program will not compete with OCW in the number of courses that it offers. However, the program will offer students a greater interactive experience. Students using the program will be able to communicate with their peers through student-to-student discussions, allowing them an opportunity to ask questions or simply brainstorm with others, while also being able to access online laboratories and self-assessments. In the future, students and faculty will be able to control which classes will be available on the system based on their interests, creating a personalized education setting.

M.I.T.x represents the next logical evolution in the mushrooming business of free online education by giving students an interactive experience as opposed to a simple videotaped lecture. Academic Earth (picked by Time Magazine as one of the 50 best websites of 2009) has cornered the market on free online education by making a smorgasbord of online course content – from prestigious universities such as Stanford and Princeton – accessible and free to anyone in the world. Users on Academic Earth can watch lectures from some of the brightest minds our universities have to offer from the comfort of their own computer screen. However, that is all they can do: watch. Khan Academy, another notable online education site, offers a largely free interactive experience to its users through assessments and exercises, but it limits itself to K-12 education. By contrast, M.I.T.x will combine the interactivity of the Khan Academy with the collegiate focus of Academic Earth, while drawing primarily from M.I.T.’s advanced course material.

“M.I.T. has long believed that anyone in the world with the motivation and ability to engage M.I.T. coursework should have the opportunity to attain the best M.I.T.-based educational experience that Internet technology enables,” said M.I.T. President Susan Hockfield in the university’s press release. According to the university, residential M.I.T. students can expect to use M.I.T.x in a different way than online-only students. For instance, the program will be used to augment on-campus course work by expanding upon what students learn in class (faculty and students will determine how to incorporate the program into their courses). The university intends to run the two programs simultaneously with no reduction in OCW offerings.

 According to the New York Times, access to the software will be free. However, there will most likely be an “affordable” charge, not yet determined, for a credential. The program will also save individuals from the rigors of the cutthroat M.I.T. admissions process, as online-only students will not have to be enrolled in the prestigious, yet expensive, university to access its online teaching resources.

Those champing at the bit to dive into M.I.T.x will have to wait, as the university doesn’t plan to launch a prototype of the platform until the spring of 2012. According to M.I.T. Provost L. Rafael Reif and Anant Agarwal, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, the prototype might include only one course, but it would quickly expand to include many more courses. Once launched, M.I.T. officials expect the M.I.T.x platform to be a giant hit amongst other universities looking to create or expand upon their online course materials. “Creating an open learning infrastructure will enable other communities of developers to contribute to it, thereby making it self-sustaining,” said Agarwal in the M.I.T. press release.

Whether M.I.T.x will directly threaten the margins at for-profit online universities, such as the University of Phoenix, APUS, or DeVry remains to be seen. But as M.I.T.x starts to provide many of the salient virtues of for-profit online colleges, such as a robust learning management systems and real-time virtual interaction, these publicly traded education companies might have to lower fees in order to compete with M.I.T.x’s compelling free price. In addition, the success of M.I.T.x, OCW, and Academic Earth may push dramatic technological innovation at for-profits, so that they can maintain a unique selling proposition versus their free competitors. Moreover, as the rapidly growing number of what are termed “self educators” choose free college education, a cottage industry of social media support services might evolve to bring them together for free in-person study and help sessions. Which is all to say that, against this country’s sizable need for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates, M.I.T.x is nothing short of revolutionary. This is especially true if you aren’t a credential freak and, like me, just want to improve your chops in a marketable subject area.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

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Integrating Social Media into Online Education

Many people take it on faith that online education must be run through a learning management system (LMS) like Blackboard, Angel, etc. Those systems were originally designed to allow faculty to move their courses online without having to learn HTML coding. They provided all of the tools needed to deliver an online course in one package. Now faculty are starting to wrestle control back from administrators through the use of social media such as blogs, wikis, and VoiceThread. These systems can be easily set up by faculty and students to foster interactivity and user generated content that is not possible in course management systems. Best of all, instead of spending hours stocking the modules of a course management system, a faculty member can create a blog in minutes and spend nearly all of his or her time communicating with students.As online learning grew, so too did the functionality of course management systems. As the systems grew more and more complex, they became more and more fragile, necessitating the new administrative function of instructional designer to manage the systems. Control of distance learning gradually shifted from faculty to administrator as instructional designers started dictating how online courses would look and function.

But few colleges have a social media strategy. The assumption is still that all content must be housed within the LMS. Systems such as Blackboard are adding social media modules like blogs and wikis, but moving them into the locked-down LMS removes the very openness which gives these media value. The better approach is to understand that the LMS is just one tool among many for delivering online learning, and just like a carpenter, use the tool that best suits the job.

Here are some ways to incorporate social media into your course:

• Faculty members who want to create a hybrid course should use social media systems such as blogs or wikis rather than an LMS. An LMS is good for a fully online course, but requires needless administrative time for a hybrid course. 
• Many faculty are teaching fully online courses though a combination of social media and LMS systems. For instance, Michelle Pacansky-Brock uses Moodle to manage assignments and maintain her gradebook, and Ning to teach her class. Steve Kolowich uses Moodle plus Skype and Elluminate to add interactive elements to his online courses. At Norwich University, I’ve added blogs, wikis and webinars outside of our LMS to provide students with an opportunity to explore issues within the profession that interests them. 
• Schools are starting to attach social media “shells” to their LMS. GoingOn provides blogs and other forms of discussion that exist outside of the classroom to allow collaboration between students across the institution. For instance, all students in a business program can carry on discussions related to business outside of their particular courses. Learning Objects is another system that provides students with a “personal learning space” where they can create a blog, share sites, and collaborate in a variety of ways with like-minded students. It also allows clubs and departments to create Facebook-like sites to share information. 
• Schools are changing to an LMS built on social media principles, such as Drupal. An open source platform, Drupal gives faculty the flexibility to make student blogs the homepage of their course, rather than administrative functions, encouraging collaboration. Better yet, any part of a course can be made public so that students can engage in conversations with other students, faculty, or professionals in the field.

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com

Translating On-Ground Courses into Effective Online Education

Creating a Web-based course from a current, successful on-ground course is difficult and, at best, can be considered a translation process. In the past, instructors have created Web-based courses by taking those courses that were being taught on-ground and posting the information online, then calling these courses “Web-based.” Imitating a sound, successful on-ground course will not necessarily bring about the same success for students in a Web-based learning environment. Simply converting lectures and other course materials from on-ground courses to Web-based platforms may not be as effective as hoped. (American Federations of Teachers, 2000, p. 8).

The breadth and depth of the subject matter coverage should be equal in every way in Web-based courses to the coverage in the corresponding on-ground classroom. In past translations, that was taken to mean “posting” materials one for one. This assumes that Web-based and on-ground presentation styles are the same and that this “posting” will ensure the same breadth and depth in student learning in both on-ground and Web-based courses. Kearsley (2000) maintains that it is not the same and that the Web-based classroom is a special social environment that is very different from the on-ground classroom. If this is the case, then students lose out on critical elements of the educational process due to the instructor’s and facilitator’s inability to meet the student’s individual needs when translating on-ground courses into effective Web-based courses.

Web-based learning has been referred to as a presentation style or a medium that is used to present information and to encourage the acquisition of knowledge or learning. Adopting this perception causes facilitators and instructors to contemplate a template style different from those used in the face-to-face, on-ground classrooms. The American Federation of Teachers noted in Distance Education: Guidelines` for Good Practice (2000) that “Each medium has its own strengths and weaknesses and can deliver different kinds of dramatic experiences.” (p.  While students in on-ground courses may not need to experience additional social aspects of the course, the Web-based course may require an enhanced social aspect for the majority of the students enrolled in order to maximize the student’s learning experience through the presentation style. Taking this into consideration, it is detrimental to student success to just accept information presented in the face-to-face, on-ground classroom and commit it to a Web-based course platform. As the old saying goes, “we lose something in the translation,” and in Web-based courses that “something” is often the student.

The following suggestions may help facilitators and instructors review priorities and translate effective on-ground courses into effective Web-based courses by creating a presentation methodology that addressed the different needs of students in Web-based courses.

• Remove materials. Take an inventory of all of the instructional materials you have used in the past on-ground equivalent course. Some of the materials will relate well in Web-based courses but others will not. Don’t be afraid to remove or replace the materials that need face-to-face interaction in order to be effective.
• Make lectures interactive. By adding websites and simulations throughout the written lecture that support the lecture topic, students will be better able to understand examples, to experiment with ideas, and to acquire a deeper understanding of the course topic.
• Provide a social outlet from the very beginning. Many students will feel isolated if not provided with networking capability. This social networking capability is built into the on-ground course by the mere nature of the presentation style. This is not the case with the Web-based course. For example, the instructor must work hard to provide an opportunity and place for interaction during online courses. Discussions of specified topics, team or group work, and instructor-led interactions all encourage networking.
• List website resources. Assume that many of the students will come to the Web-based courses with insufficient skills in technology, formatting styles, and library usage. Provide websites that will help enhance those skills and encourage students to use these websites.
• Provide a survey of skills activity. Students may not know that they have a skill deficiency compared to the expectations established for the course unless you provide a way for them to rate their abilities. Providing survey tools for students to review their skills is very helpful in pointing to deficiencies.
• Provide transition activities. On any new skill activity, provide a “practice run” at the beginning of the course. This will yield a better assessment of true student learning and not merely an assessment of technology skills. For example, if use of the library is essential in the course, create a treasure hunt that provides use of the skills required before students need to use the library to access knowledge.
• Use research-based guidelines. Review and incorporate Implementing the Seven Principals: Technology as a Lever, by Chickering and Ehrmann (1996), when creating Web-based courses.
• Interact with students. Picciano (1998) found that instructors’ activities were related to students’ perceived learning in online education courses. Interacting with students means responding to concerns and question in a timely manner, giving plenty of constructive feedback, and providing opportunities for the student to work with others in order to avoid feeling isolated.
• Assess students regularly. Schedule student assessments, both subjective and informative, to let students know at the beginning of the course when they can expect to receive grades or scores and keep to that schedule.
• Ask for feedback. Evaluate the course at least twice during the semester. This evaluation should include student feedback on needs and wants within the knowledge-base of the course.

The successful translation from an on-ground into a Web-based course requires a rearrangement of course priorities for the facilitator or instructor of the Web-based course. It has been asserted that the style of presentation may not matter as long as the students are comfortable in the online environment and are having their needs met. As instructors or facilitators, we want to ensure learning through effective methods for the student. If that means changing perceptions and looking at Web-based instruction as a medium or presentation style, and developing materials that encourage learning through this medium, then that should define the route to take in order to ensure that students aren’t “lost in translation.”

Deepa Singh

Business Developer

Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com

Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com

Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com