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Issue Contents
New Study Explores the Nature of Online Learning in K–12 Schools 700,000 Students Studying Online During 2005-2006 School Year The Sloan Consortium’s first ever survey of online learning in elementary and secondary education, K-12 Online Learning: A Survey of U.S. School District Administrators, predicts rapid growth in online education. The nationwide survey, conducted during the 2005-2006 academic year, finds that almost two out of three (63 %) school districts had one or more students enrolled in either a fully online or a blended course, which combines online learning with traditional face-to-face instruction. “We are seeing a shift in how our children are learning: from a strictly classroom setting to a culture that includes online learning,” said Frank Mayadas, program director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and president, Sloan Consortium “Districts foresee that over the next two years online enrollments will increase by 19 % and blended enrollments will go up by 23 %.” Survey results show online learning is meeting the specific needs of a range of students including those who need extra help, those who want to take more advanced courses and those whose districts do not have enough teachers to offer certain subjects. “Perhaps the voices heard most clearly in this survey were those of small rural school districts,” said Anthony G. Picciano, professor, School of Education, Hunter College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York. “For them, the availability of online learning is most important in order to provide students with course choices and, in some cases, the basic courses that should be part of every curriculum.” The full report is available as a free download from the Sloan-C web site.
New Survey Report in Production - First National Sloan Survey Examining Blended Instruction to be Released Based on three years of responses from a national sample of over 1,000 colleges and universities, Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of blended education in the United States. Additionally, information about consumer preferences is presented from an Eduventures-conducted national survey of 2,033 U.S. adults interested in postsecondary education in the next three years. A sample of the findings: Academic leaders do not regard blended courses as holding more promise than fully online courses. Overall, only 38 percent of respondents agreed that "Blended courses hold more promise than online courses" in 2004, a drop from 46 percent agreement in 2003. This view appears to be true regardless of size and type of school. The survey report will be available as a free download on the Sloan-C web site within the next several weeks.
Learn From the Experts - The Sloan-C 2007 Workshop Series A new workshop, Virtual Reality (VR) Worlds: Benefits and Uses for the Higher Education Professional, has been added! NEW- Podcasting in Higher Education: Current Trends and Applications - March 7 - 16 Podcasting has had a revolutionary impact on formal and informal teaching and learning. Rising out of the advent of the Apple iPod, podcasts have grown into the mainstream of online media since their inception in early 2004. The power of the individual to use podcasts to communicate globally has important implications for educators. Higher education professionals must learn how to harness the power of podcasting to reach an increasingly more tech savvy population of students and colleagues.Learn all about podcasts and podcasting in this online workshop conducted by two of the pioneers in using this technology in higher education: Burks Oakley II and Ray Schroeder. Click here for details and registration. Copyright Compliance for Online Educators - March 21 - 30 As an online educator, you need to know how copyright affects you when using materials to supplement your online courses. You also need to know how your original works can be protected. In this workshop, Linda Enghagen, of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will take you through the key copyright issues that you and your colleagues should be aware of when preparing and delivering your online courses. Click here for details and registration. Have you ever wanted to fly, walk through an active volcano or maybe visit outer space? Now you can without ever leaving your desk! Virtual Reality Worlds, such as SecondLife and ActiveWorlds, offer educators endless opportunities to explore, invent, and collaborate. This interactive online seminar, focused on virtual reality (VR) worlds, explores some of the possibilities available to online students and faculty. Dr. David Cillay, of Washington State University will take you through the key issues that you and your colleagues should be aware of when incorporating VR worlds into your online courses. This workshop leverages the expertise of Sloan-C's effective practices and provides both a pedagogical, practical, and hands-on experience, enabling workshop participants to walk away with new skills and understanding for immediate application to their own online academic environment. Click here for details and registration. Moving the Laboratory Online* - April 18 - 27 Is it possible to create authentic and engaging "hands-on" scientific experiments over the internet using remote instrumentation? Can the internet be used to overcome some of the traditional approaches to lecture and laboratory teaching practice? How can we provide educators and students with shared access to instructional materials, expertise and modern scientific instrumentation to enhance the science learning experience? What are the implications of using remote instrumentation for research? The use of remote instrumentation is emerging as a legitimate alternative to the traditional "hands-on" laboratory learning experiences for teaching and learning in the basic and instrumental sciences. This workshop will provide participants with information on the mechanics of connecting instruments remotely, security issues, experiences from the field, curriculum development, collaboration, research opportunities and impact on student learning. *This workshop is part of the Select Series and College Pass Members must use their additional 50 seats provided to take advantage of this workshop. Click here for details and registration. Getting Started: Online Course Development Basics - April 25 - May 18 Based on research and the Sloan-C effective practices, this workshop provides the foundation for designing and delivering online courses. Faculty gain enhanced pedagogical knowledge and learn effective strategies for creative, online classroom facilitation. During the three-week workshop, facilitators will review the benefits and challenges of online curriculum development and teaching and address the qualities of effective online education. The workshop is designed as an 'active' learning experience, enabling faculty to explore actual online courses in several disciplines and institutions, as well as build a syllabus leading to the major outcome of the workshop: building a complete online course module relevant to their own educational interests. Click here for details and registration. |
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The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is composed of institutions and organizations dedicated to continually improving the quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs, according to their own distinctive missions, so that education becomes a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines. The Sloan-C View is published by Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C™). Responsibility for the contents rests with the authors and not with Sloan-C™. Copyright ©2006 by Sloan-C™. If you have a question or comment, would like to submit an article for publication, or would like to suggest an event to be listed on the Sloan-C View Calendar, please email sloan-cview@sloan-c.org. Materials in the Sloan-C View, unless otherwise noted, may be distributed freely for educational purposes. However, if any materials are redistributed they must retain the copyright notice and use the proper citation. Kindly send an email to sloan-cview@sloan-c.org indicating how you are using the material for distribution. Your privacy is important to us, you can view our privacy policy at www.sloan-c.org/aboutus/privacy.asp The Sloan Consortium, Olin Way, Needham, MA 02492-1200 | |||||||||||||||||||