An Open Secret: the Problems with Virtual Schools
It is no secret. The news media is full of reports about problems with cyber schools. Some recent examples include: National Education Policy Center
Archive for the ‘Daily News’ Category
4 Big Shifts That Can Personalize the Learning Journey
What needs to happen to move your school or district toward an effective implementation of personalized learning? According to EdSurge Fusion conference speaker, Dr. Scott McLeod, there are Four Big Shifts that propel “deeper learning schools” along their personalized learning journey. EdSurge
How Udacity Decides What Subjects To Offer Courses In (And Why It Isn’t Doing New University Partnerships)
Udacity helped start the whole MOOC craze several years ago, offering online courses that drew tens of thousands of students and sparking a conversation about whether these new online programs could replace college as we know it. EdSurge
Study Finds Even Tech-Savvy Educators Struggle to Find Reliable Research on EDTECH
Washington, DC — Ninety-one percent of educators rely heavily on general web searches and nearly half rely on vendor reports for information on education technology tools, according to a new survey of tech-savvy teachers and administrators conducted by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Jefferson Education Exchange (JEX). Jefferson Education Exchange
Moodle Drops Blackboard
Open source software company Moodle today announced it is ending its partnership with Blackboard. Blackboard will “transition out of Moodle’s Certified Moodle Partner program in the coming months,” and “will no longer be allowed to use the Moodlerooms name or the Moodle trademarks that had been licensed to them to advertise their Moodle-related services,” according […]
The Rocky Road of Using Data to Drive Student Success
The California State University system has hit its share of potholes as it tests predictive analytics to forecast student performance in high-failure-rate courses. Here are its lessons learned. Campus Technology
An Investigation into Web-based Presentations of Institutional Online Learning Orientations
Online learning orientation may be particularly important in a virtual setting where students are unfamiliar with the learning platform, unsure if their available computer hardware and software will meet requirements, and hesitant that they have the learning orientation to progress. Given that virtual students are at risk for receiving less advisement than their on-ground counterparts, […]
What Motivates Students in the Online Communication Classroom? An Exploration of Self-Determination Theory
The purpose of this study was to examine instructional strategies used to motivate students to engage in online communication courses. Eighteen undergraduate students, seven graduate students, and ten faculty members were interviewed individually or in small focus groups. Results indicate the significance of instructional strategies that promote autonomy, perceived competence, and relatedness in motivating students. […]
Bot-teachers in hybrid massive open online courses (MOOCs): A post-humanist experience
Networked technologies have created many learning opportunities and led to new learning models such as massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, MOOCs are an evolving learning model that are even today changing according to learners’ needs. First generation cMOOCs and second generation xMOOCs are now being followed by third generation hybrid MOOCs. In these evolution […]
Social presence and motivation in online environments: Second Life versus the Enocta Learning Management System/Adobe Connect
This study aims to compare the social presence and motivation of students taking a database II course using either the virtual world Second Life (SL) or the Enocta learning management system (LMS)/Adobe Connect. The study group consisted of 60 undergraduate sophomore students enrolled in a fully online computer programming program. Students were divided into two […]