TL Infobits - August, 2007
Issue 14
ISSN: 1931-3144
Web 2.0 Technologies for Use in Higher Education
Strategies for Online Training of Online Faculty
Reducing Attrition in Online Classes
Community College students' IT Experiences
New Google Research University Services
Recommended Reading
WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES FOR USE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
As part of the June Sloan-C workshop, "Learning Online 2.0: Engaging, Interacting and Syndicating Applications" (http://www.sloan-c.org/workshop/learningonline_june07.asp), presenters Burks Oakley and Ray Schroeder provided a list of their top 20 Web 2.0 technologies. These technologies are linked to from http://www.sloan-c-wiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Burks_Oakley_and_Ray_Schroeder:_Top_20_Technologies.
You can join workshop participants in evaluating these technologies in the SloanCWiki at http://www.sloan-c.pbwiki.com.
Sloan-C is a consortium of institutions and organizations committed "to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines." Sloan-C is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For more information go to http://www.aln.org/.
STRATEGIES FOR ONLINE TRAINING OF ONLINE FACULTY
In "Online Training for Online Faculty" (Campus Technology, August 8, 2007) Ron Thomas, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, offers a checklist of ten "best strategies for designing and delivering online courses to train online faculty." Some of the suggestions include:
"Be their instructor, not their colleague."
"Train faculty on the same platform their students will use."
"Provide multiple safety nets for faculty during and after their training."
"Respect the faculty members' previous teaching experience."
The article is available at http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=49570.
Campus Technology [ISSN: 1089-5914] is a print and electronic publication that focuses exclusively on the use of technology across all areas of higher education. For more information, contact: Campus Technology, 101communications LLC, 9121 Oakdale Ave., Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311 USA; tel: 818-734-1520; fax: 818-734-1522; Web: http://www.campus-technology.com/.
REDUCING ATTRITION IN ONLINE CLASSES
"Attrition rates for classes taught through distance education are 10- 20% higher than classes taught in a face-to-face setting. . . . Finding ways to decrease attrition in distance education classes and programs is critical both from an economical and quality viewpoint. High attrition rates have a negative economic impact on universities."
In "Strategies to Engage Online Students and Reduce Attrition Rates" (The Journal of Educators Online, vol. 4, no. 2, July 2007), the authors provide a review of the literature to determine methods for "engaging students with the goals of enhancing the learning process and reducing attrition rates." Their research identified four major strategies:
-- student integration and engagement
Includes "faculty-initiated contact via phone calls, pre-course orientations, informal online chats, and online student services."
-- learner-centered approach
Faculty "need to get to know their students and assess each student's pre-existing knowledge, cultural perspectives, and comfort level with technology."
-- learning communities
"[S]trong feelings of community may not only increase persistence in courses, but may also increase the flow of information among all learners, availability of support, commitment to group goals, cooperation among members and satisfaction with group efforts."
-- accessibility to online student services.
Services might include "assessments, educational counseling, administrative process such as registration, technical support, study skills assistance, career counseling, library services, students' rights and responsibilities, and governance."
The paper, written by Lorraine M. Angelino, Frankie Keels Williams, and Deborah Natvig, is available at http://www.thejeo.com/Volume4Number2/Angelino%20Final.pdf.
The Journal of Educators Online (JEO) [ISSN 1547-500X ]is an online, double-blind, refereed journal by and for instructors, administrators, policy-makers, staff, students, and those interested in the development, delivery, and management of online courses in the Arts, Business, Education, Engineering, Medicine, and Sciences. For more information, contact JEO, 500 University Drive, Dothan, Alabama 36303 USA; tel: 334-983-6556, ext. 1-356; fax: 334-983-6322; Web: http://www.thejeo.com/.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS' IT EXPERIENCES
A new EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) research bulletin, "Impressions of Community College Students' IT Experiences," "highlights some of the similarities and differences between students attending four-year institutions and those attending community colleges, focusing on those areas where there are challenges and opportunities for using IT to improve students' academic experiences."
Since 2004, ECAR has studied undergraduate students and the impact of information technology on their academic experiences. Now in its third year, the study surveyed 96 institutions, including eight community colleges. Compared to students at four-year institutions, community college students reported:
-- "less use per week for most course-related activities, similar use for some social activities, and less use of social networking and instant messaging"
-- "fewer basic and fewer advanced skills with presentation software, spreadsheets, library resources, and CMSs"
-- "higher levels of ownership of PDAs, smart phones, gaming devices, digital cameras, and wireless hubs"
-- a high desire for computer labs, student IT training, and free access to software required for their courses
The research bulletin is available online at http://connect.educause.edu/library/abstract/ImpressionsofCommuni/44739 for all faculty, staff, and students from institutions that have subscribed to ECAR.
ECAR "provides timely research and analysis to help higher education leaders make better decisions about information technology. ECAR assembles leading scholars, practitioners, researchers, and analysts to focus on issues of critical importance to higher education, many of which carry increasingly complicated and consequential implications." For more information go to http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?SECTION_ID=4.
NEW GOOGLE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY SERVICES
Google,Inc. recently announced two new services as part of its Google Research University program.
Google Search "is designed to give university faculty and their research teams high-volume programmatic access to Google Search, whose huge repository of data constitutes a valuable resource for understanding the structure and contents of the web." For more information and to register for the service, go to http://research.google.com/university/search/.
Google Translate "offers tools to help researchers in the field of automatic machine translation compare and contrast with, and build on top of, Google's statistical machine translation system." For more information and to register for the service, go to http://research.google.com/university/translate/.
For an overview of all Google Research activities visit http://research.google.com/.
Recommended Reading
"Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to kotlas@email.unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column.
This month's recommendation is two essays by Philip Yaffe. Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant.
"The Mathematics of Persuasive Communication"
Ubiquity, vol. 8, issue 28 (July 17, 2007 - July 23, 2007)
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v8i28_persuasive.html
"At first glance mathematics and persuasive communication -- writing, and particularly public speaking -- would seem to have little in common. After all, mathematics is an objective science, whilst speaking involves voice quality, inflection, eye contact, personality, body language, and other subjective components. However, under the surface they are very similar."
"How to Improve Your Writing by Standing on Your Head"
Ubiquity, vol. 8, issue 33 (August 21, 2007 - August 27, 2007)
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v8i33_yaffee.html
"Clear, concise, persuasive writing is a fundamental skill needed by every educated person whatever his or her profession. Unfortunately, very few people ever truly master it. Not because it is so difficult, but because schools seldom teach its true essence."
