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Archive for the ‘Higher Education’ Category

Ensuring faculty success in online competency-based education programs

Background The growth of competency-based programs means faculty are facing new challenges that require different institutional support than traditional programs. Method This article identifies how faculty roles are changing and discusses specific challenges for faculty in three diverse institutions, Rasmussen College, Westminster College, and Valdosta State University. Results and Conclusion The article recommends actions institutions […]

Deconstructing competency-based education: An assessment of institutional activity, goals, and challenges in higher education

There have been several surveys assessing institutional interest in Competency-Based Education (CBE), but there is a need for a systematic analysis of how institutions are designing and implementing CBE at the course, program, or institutional level. This initiative proposes to close this research gap and advance the conversation about the scale, impact, and varieties of […]

Navigating Multiple ePortfolios: Lessons Learned From a Capstone Seminar

ePortfolios are a growing trend in higher education, implemented by an increasing number of curricular and co-curricular programs. Given the de-centralized nature of many colleges and universities, it is inevitable that faculty requiring ePortfolios, especially as capstone experiences, will engage with students who have completed one or more ePortfolios, alongside others for whom this will […]

Why blogs endure: A study of recent college graduates and motivations for blog readership

This paper reports the results from a mixed methods study of recent college graduates who were asked if and why they used blogs as sources for continued learning purposes. Findings are based on 1,651 online survey responses and 63 follow-up telephone interviews with young graduates from 10 U.S. colleges and universities. Despite the media’s declarations […]

Towards an automatic classification system for supporting the development of critical reflective skills in L2 learning

This study aimed to develop an automatic classification system, namely ACTIVE, for generating immediate and individualised feedback on students’ reflective entries about their second language (L2) learning experiences. It also aimed to explore students’ attitudes towards using the system to support the development of their reflective skills in L2 learning. A total of 466 undergraduate […]

Communities of inquiry in curriculum approach to online learning: Strengths and limitations in context

The case study discussed in this article examines how the community of inquiry (CoI) model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010) was used to redesign the digital learning environment in the context of an Australian university. Some purposes were to replicate features of a traditional classroom and to support collaboration between professionals with different expertise. The […]

Trends and Patterns in Massive Open Online Courses: Review and Content Analysis of Research on MOOCs (2008-2015)

To fully understand the phenomenon of massive open online courses (MOOCs), it is important to identify and map trends and patterns in research on MOOCs. This study does so by reviewing 362 empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2008 to 2015. For the purpose of this study, content analysis and discourse analysis were employed […]

Stanford Cyber Initiative tackles pressing issues in cybersecurity, governance and the future of work

Daily headlines emphasize the down side of technology: cyberattacks, election hacking and the threat of fake news. In response, government organizations are scrambling to understand how policy should shape technology’s role in governance, security and jobs. Stanford University

Federal Audit Challenges Faculty Role at WGU

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General has released the results of a much anticipated high-stakes audit of Western Governors University, with negative findings that could threaten the large online university and, more broadly, the growing field of competency-based education. Inside Higher Ed

Outdated education metric is casting a cloud on a higher ed bright spot: Western Governors University

Employing obsolete standards makes no more sense in higher education policy than it does in oenology. Even the Bible notes, to paraphrase, that it’s a bad idea to put new wine in old bottles because it will it spoil the wine. The Washington Post