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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, …
Inside Online Learning
A blog by Melissa A. Venable, PhD
An Education Writer for OnlineCollege.org, Melissa's background includes work in higher education – private, public, and for-profit – as an instructional designer and curriculum developer. Melissa is also an experienced instructor, academic advisor, and career counselor... more
#IOLchat Report: Finding Professional Development Opportunities
Each 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, you may be thinking about vacations and catching up with a variety of projects. Have you considered professional development options? While not [...]
Learning About Learning Games
There is a lot of debate these days about the application of game-based formats in academic settings, both online and face-to-face. I've been a part of several recent discussions that made me aware I need to learn more. At this point I have more questions than answers, and just a little experience with digital badges, [...]
6 Savvy Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Experience
One of our recent blog posts, 20 Compelling Reasons to Spend Less Time on Facebook and More Time on LinkedIn, inspired me to take a closer look at the LinkedIn system. You can put both Facebook and LinkedIn to work for you and your job search, but LinkedIn has some special features designed specifically for professional [...]
Online Learning at The Webby Awards
Mashable.com posted a list of the Webby Awards, also referred to as the "Oscars of the Internet," on their site last week and I was surprised to find that this year's winners included resources relevant to learning and education. I only recently discovered the Webbys, but they have been around since 1996 "honoring the best of [...]
#IOLchat Report: Interaction and Your Online Courses
Each 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. The terms interaction and innovation may seem like buzzwords in higher education, but both are critical to the success of online learning. Dr. Kelvin Thompson (@kthompso) from the University [...]
Contemplating the Megaclass
Can you imagine being enrolled in a course with hundreds or even thousands of classmates? What about being responsible for teaching a course with that many students? It may seem like an impossible situation, but that's exactly what's happening at Virginia Tech in John Boyer's World Regions geography course with over 2,600 students in the [...]
Google+ Hangouts On Air and the Education On Air Conference
Education On Air was another free, one-day, online event for educators held on May 2nd. Focusing on education technology, and presenting "educator voices center stage for all to hear" the event was conducted via Google+ Hangouts On Air. I attended live sessions to find out more about digital portfolios and Google apps in online courses, but [...]
Online Learning Quality: Guidelines for Evaluation and Accreditation
Accreditation is a critical factor to consider when planning for higher education. The process is designed to provide some assurance to prospective students, that the academic programs they are considering have been evaluated and found to have a basic level of quality. There are multiple types of accreditation and accrediting agencies, which play significant roles [...]
#IOLchat Report: On Becoming an (Online) College Graduate
Each 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. Several researchers and initiatives are striving to describe how a student should be changed through the pursuit and completion of a college education, and the ROI of time spent [...]
Watch This: Visual Explanations and Your Online Course
Move over TED-Ed, you aren't the only ones in town offering brief multimedia presentations of educational concepts. Other platforms and providers are also creating collections of embeddable, linkable features that can augment an online lesson. These recorded mini-lectures are presented as audio narration with a visual component, which may include animation, screenshots, and screencasts, and are [...]
