Distance-Educator.com http://distance-educator.com Distance-Educator.com has pioneered the technological revolution, which has brought networked computing to training and education, from the beginning and this is the place to start your search for any and everything related to distance education and elearning. Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:57:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 2 New Platforms Offer Alternative to Apple’s Textbook-Authoring Software http://distance-educator.com/2-new-platforms-offer-alternative-to-apples-textbook-authoring-software/ http://distance-educator.com/2-new-platforms-offer-alternative-to-apples-textbook-authoring-software/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:23:02 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16531 More »]]> Apple’s recent release of free software to build e-textbooks has brought attention to custom publishing of academic materials. But Apple’s software, called iBooks Author, lacks easy tools for multiple authors to collaborate on a joint textbook project. Since most books aren’t written in isolation, two new publishing platforms seek to make that group collaboration easier.

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/2-new-platforms-offer-alternative-to-apples-textbook-authoring-software/feed/ 0 Empowering Teachers to Author Multimedia Learning Resources that Support Students’ Critical Thinking http://distance-educator.com/empowering-teachers-to-author-multimedia-learning-resources-that-support-students-critical-thinking/ http://distance-educator.com/empowering-teachers-to-author-multimedia-learning-resources-that-support-students-critical-thinking/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:29:11 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16527 More »]]> Abstract

Students studying Marketing, Fashion, Public Relations, Advertising and similar subjects need to develop a ‘critical eye’ in relation to images, media and digital technologies. This project aims to empower teachers to develop multimedia learning resources that would support students engaging in this essential activity. Developing such resources is usually demanding in terms of time and effort, and staff can be reluctant to take part due to their (perceived) lack of skills in using unfamiliar software. A key aspect is that the resources developed should act as ‘open educational resources’ (OERs) that could be reused and re-purposed easily by other teachers. An action learning methodology is followed to develop two learning resources, embed them in two different classroom contexts, and evaluate student reaction. The evaluation shows that use of the resources across a large module with over 300 students made a difference by the inclusion of theory in the students’ written work and that use in a smaller classroom with international students assisted in overcoming cultural barriers of ‘speaking out’ in a discussion setting. The teachers in both class settings report that they, and their students, found these resources relevant, accessible and useful both inside and outside the classroom.

The European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/empowering-teachers-to-author-multimedia-learning-resources-that-support-students-critical-thinking/feed/ 0 PERIODICALS & PRESS RELEASES http://distance-educator.com/periodicals-press-releases-2/ http://distance-educator.com/periodicals-press-releases-2/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:07:36 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16489 More »]]>  

PERIODICALS PRESS RELEASES
Campus Technology Apple Computer
Converge Magazine Cisco
Chronicle of Higher Education, The Microsoft
eSchool News US Department of Education
Federal Computer Week
Register, The
MIT Technology Review
]]> http://distance-educator.com/periodicals-press-releases-2/feed/ 0 Download: Mobile IT in Higher Education, 2011 Report http://distance-educator.com/download-mobile-it-in-higher-education-2011-report/ http://distance-educator.com/download-mobile-it-in-higher-education-2011-report/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:02:35 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16523 More »]]> Discussion about mobile IT in higher education is ubiquitous, but attaining benefits of mobility does not come easily. The ECAR mobile IT study gathered quantitative and qualitative data from a representative sample of 209 higher education institutions. Most respondents to ECAR’s 2011 study report little progress in making institutional services, applications, and websites accessible on mobile devices. The average respondent institution has enabled only a few services for mobile access. Institutions that have invested more money and those that have larger numbers of staff assigned to mobile-enablement initiatives show greater progress. Mobile enablement of student-facing services has taken highest priority to date, and we see considerably more mobile progress in areas that are given higher priority.

Development strategies for mobile computing include mobile web, native apps, and mobile frameworks. Institutions pursuing a portfolio approach to mobility—using different development strategies for different services—show greater progress in deploying mobile services.

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/download-mobile-it-in-higher-education-2011-report/feed/ 0 AAEEBL [Association for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning]: It’s All About Evidence-Based Learning–Supported by ePortfolios http://distance-educator.com/aaeebl-association-for-authentic-experiential-and-evidence-based-learning-its-all-about-evidence-based-learning-supported-by-eportfolios/ http://distance-educator.com/aaeebl-association-for-authentic-experiential-and-evidence-based-learning-its-all-about-evidence-based-learning-supported-by-eportfolios/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:44:00 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16520 More »]]> ePortfolios have been around for a long time now–more than a decade. In trying to understand them, many people new to ePortfolios, or those who haven’t been involved with them extensively, focus on the technology, asking, “What are those ePortfolio products going to do?” But the key to understanding ePortfolios is realizing that what you’re looking at is a supporting technology that opens up an enormous range of potential for evidence-based learning.

Campus Technology

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/aaeebl-association-for-authentic-experiential-and-evidence-based-learning-its-all-about-evidence-based-learning-supported-by-eportfolios/feed/ 0 Toward a CoI [Community of Inquiry] population parameter: The impact of unit (sentence vs. message) on the results of quantitative content analysis http://distance-educator.com/toward-a-coi-community-of-inquiry-population-parameter-the-impact-of-unit-sentence-vs-message-on-the-results-of-quantitative-content-analysi/ http://distance-educator.com/toward-a-coi-community-of-inquiry-population-parameter-the-impact-of-unit-sentence-vs-message-on-the-results-of-quantitative-content-analysi/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:34:04 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16518 More »]]> Abstract

The goal of this study is to further corroborate a hypothesized population parameter for the frequencies of social presence versus the sum of teaching presence and cognitive presence as defined by the community of inquiry model in higher education asynchronous course forums. This parameter has been found across five variables: academic institution (distance university vs. campus-based college), academic discipline (exact sciences vs. humanities), academic level (graduate vs. undergraduate), course level (introduction vs. regular vs. advanced), and course size (small vs. medium vs. large), that is, the number of students enrolled. To date, the quantitative content analyses have been carried out using the syntactic unit of message. In an attempt to further establish the parameter’s goodness-of-fit, it is now tested across two different syntactic units, message versus sentence. To do so, the same three-week segments from 15 Open University undergraduate course forums (10 from humanities and five from exact sciences) were analyzed twice—once by the unit message and once by the unit sentence. We found that the hypothesized parameter remained viable when the unit of analysis is the sentence. We also found that the choice of syntactic unit is indeed a critical factor that determines the “content” of the transcript and its inferred meaning.

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/toward-a-coi-community-of-inquiry-population-parameter-the-impact-of-unit-sentence-vs-message-on-the-results-of-quantitative-content-analysi/feed/ 0 Faculty Development: An Analysis of Current and Effective Training Strategies for Preparing Faculty to Teach Online http://distance-educator.com/faculty-development-an-analysis-of-current-and-effective-training-strategies-for-preparing-faculty-to-teach-online/ http://distance-educator.com/faculty-development-an-analysis-of-current-and-effective-training-strategies-for-preparing-faculty-to-teach-online/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:10:42 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16430 More »]]> Abstract

This study identifies how higher education institutions are preparing their faculty to teach online using a qualitative methodology. Six participants, three experienced and three non-experienced online faculty members, were purposely selected and interviewed. Participants were asked questions regarding their preparation experiences, the activities they felt were most beneficial, and areas in which they would like further development. The findings revealed that faculty found collaborating with colleagues, more one-on-one assistance with university personnel, and online courses and resources that offer both technical and pedagogical training to be the most beneficial to preparing them to teach online. The results of the study offer relevant information to redesign preparation activities that will better prepare faculty to teach online as well as encourage the adoption of online teaching.

Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/faculty-development-an-analysis-of-current-and-effective-training-strategies-for-preparing-faculty-to-teach-online/feed/ 0 Open Access and Interventionism http://distance-educator.com/open-access-and-interventionism/ http://distance-educator.com/open-access-and-interventionism/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:38:46 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16427 More »]]> After soliciting publishers and higher education groups last fall to comment on the government’s proper role in regulating the availability of federally funded research, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Jan. 30 posted all 377 responses on its website, reviving the debate over open access broadly and stoking controversy in one discipline in particular.

Inside Higher Ed

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/open-access-and-interventionism/feed/ 0 Engaging and Informing Military Educators http://distance-educator.com/engaging-and-informing-military-educators/ http://distance-educator.com/engaging-and-informing-military-educators/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:31:54 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16425 More »]]> Linda Frank is the director of Veteran and Military Education at Empire State College, where she manages military and veterans’ education programs and services across the college’s 34 locations, including the Center for Distance Learning, which serves students online in New York, nationally and internationally.

Military Advanced Education

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]]> http://distance-educator.com/engaging-and-informing-military-educators/feed/ 0 The State of Mobile in Libraries 2012 http://distance-educator.com/the-state-of-mobile-in-libraries-2012/ http://distance-educator.com/the-state-of-mobile-in-libraries-2012/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:26:01 +0000 fsaba http://distance-educator.com/?p=16423 More »]]> As patrons embrace mobile devices, libraries need to provide new services. Here’s a look at the state of mobile library services—and what libraries need to do to stay on the radar

Library Journal

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