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Inside Online Learning
An Education Writer for OC.org, Melissa's background includes work in higher education...
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The Latest
#IOLchat Report: Finding Professional Development OpportunitiesEach week we meet via Twitter for #IOLchat to discuss current issues related to online learning. Participants include students, instructors, eLearning companies, schools, publishers, and instructional designers. As we approach the summer months, …
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Gradebook Choices: Selecting and Using Online Systems
By Melissa Venable While Gradebooks are often part of a Learning Management System (LMS), such as Blackboard or Moodle, what do you do if your school doesn’t use an LMS? There are a number of online gradebook tools that can help you, as an online instructor, track student grades and participation. If you are interested [...]
Adaptive Learning Technology: An Introduction
By Melissa Venable Adaptive learning technology has been used for years in computer-based testing and test prep contexts, but is also gaining ground in online learning environments. These technologies allow for the development of more personalized online learning experiences with materials that adapt to student performance and skill level. You will also find the term [...]
Comparing Schools: What is Placement Rate?
By Melissa Venable What do students need to know when choosing an online program? In last week's #IOLchat we discussed the positive and negative impact of new regulations in the for-profit industry related to disclosure of information. Graduation and placement rates emerged as one area in which higher education could provide more detail. One chat participant, @AHilbelink, asked: [...]
Apprenticeships and Online Learning
By Melissa Venable Apprenticeships have been around a long time, dating back to the Middle Ages as a way to teach work skills – novices learning from expert craftsmen. The United States government formalized an apprenticeship system in 1937 with the Fitzgerald Act that established work standards. Through the years, apprenticeships have seen fluctuations in [...]
New Opportunities for Online Learning: Online Programs from Traditional Schools
By Melissa Venable The options for online learning are expanding as the number of online students increases. In the fall semester of 2009 more than five million college and university students took at least one online course. This finding from the Sloan Consortium's 2010 Class Differences report was an increase from the previous year. While Campus Technology [...]
Twitter and Your Online Class
By Melissa Venable A 2010 study conducted by Faculty Focus found that more than a third (35%) of the 1400 higher education professionals surveyed "use Twitter in some capacity," which was an increase from the previous year. While not all higher education professionals agree that social media, and particularly Twitter, is useful for learning, we are finding [...]
20 Moving Novels Every Educator Should Read
All of these reads still provide a lesson or two — maybe even a bit of inspiration as well.
Lifelong Learning and Online Learners
By Melissa Venable "Lifelong learning is becoming a competitive necessity." This is one of the Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education, published in 2003 by researchers from Brigham Young University and the University of Michigan. Eight years later, lifelong learning, along with most of the other trends listed in this report, is going strong. Once associated [...]
Cultural Competencies – Getting Ready to Join a Global Workforce
By Melissa Venable I recently attended a Twitter chat event (#Tchat) with the theme "Going Global: Workers Without Borders." While the participants were mainly career advisors and human resources professionals, there was a clear message for today's college students – you've got to get ready to compete and succeed in a global economy. We all [...]
Mapping Your Route
By Melissa Venable "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." – Lewis Carroll We have traditionally thought of career paths and career progression as static and controlled. Not that long ago, it was the norm to plan on working in one primary career field, although changing jobs has [...]
