Roughly one-half of all college courses will be delivered online by 2019
50% of recent graduates are underemployed
Three-quarters of college leaders believe career prep is the job of the university
Presidents agree the #1 criteria for school ratings should be completion
An extensive survey of college and university presidents, conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education in January 2015, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY found that two-thirds of them feel that American higher education is going in the wrong direction, with public college leaders worried about the decline of state financial support and leaders of private institutions most concerned with the intense competition for students.
Traditional colleges, particularly the many that are in the middle of the pack but charge high prices, will lose out to nimbler, cheaper competitors offering degrees on flexible timelines, either in hybrid format (in-person and online) or fully online.
private institutions see new graduate programs as potentially lucrative while public universities view online programs as a source for new cash.
Presidents remain optimistic about the value of a college degree, much more than employers do. A majority of college presidents believe the four- year bachelor’s degree is worth more in today’s job market than it was five years ago (see Figure 9). Meanwhile, surveys of employers by The Chronicle and other organizations in recent years have consistently found those who hire college graduates more neutral on the value of a degree. In a Chronicle survey of employers, for instance, 39 percent said a bachelor’s degree was worth the same as five years ago, and 26 percent said it was worth less.
College leaders and employers often don’t see eye-to-eye on what today’s graduates most need to succeed in the workplace. While companies seek recent college graduates with real-world experience, presidents continue to emphasize the value of academics over experience among their graduates. Indeed, compared to a similar survey of presidents conducted by The Chronicle in 2013, campus executives are even more in favor now of emphasizing academics over real-world experience (see Figure 10).
When it comes to getting students ready for the job market, presidents are not always in agreement with employers and parents on what role the institution should play in the process. A majority of college leaders believe it’s their job to offer experiential learning, such as internships, as part of the curriculum as well as offer career preparation in programs and offices across the campus, both in formal and informal settings. But presidents are more divided about whether colleges should provide a broad education or specific training, and one- third of them don’t want to be held accountable for the career outcomes of their students (see Figure 11).
Learning made visible: successful ePortfolio patterns across the U.S.
Register for first AAEEBL webinar of 2015-2016 on September 16 at 1 pm US EDT. Jeff Yan of Digication addressing “Learning made visible: successful ePortfolio patterns across the U.S.”
Jeff, a former academic, is the CEO of Digication, one of the most successful eportfolio companies in the U. S. He will help us understand the big picture: how are eportfolios being used on campuses and what works best.
This Webinar is co-sponsored by AAC&U, EPAC and IJeP.
Once you register, you will see an acknowledgement page with the URL to go to on Wednesday. You will not need a password.
How does the ePortfolio support in helping students achieve those goals. The ePortfolio should not be another thing they (and the faculty) need to do on top of everything else they are already doing.
Recently, ED/IES SBIR announced its 2015 awards. There are 21 awards in all, covering a range of topics and forms of technology. For example, Zaption is designing a mobile app to help teachers integrate video into science instruction; Speak Agent is building an app to help students with speech disabilities to communicate; and Lingo Jingo is developing a platform to help teachers guide English learners. (To view short video demos of the eight new Phase II projects, see this playlist.)
The 2015 awards highlight two trends that have emerged in the ED/IES SBIR portfolio in recent years –games for learning and bridging the research-to-practice gap in education.
Trend #1: Games for Learning
Strange Loop Games to build a virtual world to engage students in learning about ecosystems,
Kiko Labs to develop mini games to strengthen young children’s thinking and memory skills, and
Schell Games to create a futuristic “ball and stick” molecular modeling kit and app to augment chemistry learning.
For a playlist including videos of these games and 19 others out of the ED/IES SBIR program, see here.
The games for learning trend echoes the movement surrounding games in the field, and is highlighted by recent ED sponsored events including ED Games Week in Washington, DC, last September and the Games for Learning Summit in New York City, in April. Both events convened stakeholders to showcase games and discuss the potential barriers and opportunities for collaboration necessary to accelerate the creation of highly effective games for learning. Stay tuned for more information and initiatives on games for learning out of ED’s Office of Technology.
Trend #2: Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap
Mindset Works, which built on results from prior research including a 2002 IES research grant, to successfully propose a 2010 ED/IES SBIR project to develop SchoolKit. This multimedia platform enables broad distribution of the growth mindset intervention which teaches students to understand that intelligence can be developed through effort and learning. SchoolKit is now in use in more than 500 schools across the country, including half the middle schools in Washington, DC.
Learning Ovationsis building on two prior IES research grants in their 2014 ED/IES SBIR project. The prior IES funding supported the research team as they developed and evaluated an intervention to improve children’s reading outcomes,. This award is supporting the development of an implementation platform to enable large-scale use of this evidence-based intervention across settings. The project is scheduled to end in 2016, after which the platform will be launched.
The new ED/IES SBIR 2015 awards continue the research-to-practice trend. An award to Foundations in Learning furthers basic research from a 2013 National Science Foundation grant (NSF); an award to SimInsights builds on 2005 and 2008IES research projects and a 2011 Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) research project; and an award to Apprendris advances a prior 2012 IES research project and prior 2010 and 2013 NSF research projects.
there are two type of universities: the ones that are in control of change and the ones, which are pressed to change.
what kind of education is needed at this moment of history.
Assumptions: 5-10 years will be for a first time outcompeted in terms of delivering information and degrees. What is that the university can do distinctively well that WWW cannot do: mentored learning and the arc of learning (beyond collection of granular separate learning)
book: The New Division of Labor. http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Division-Labor-Computers/dp/0691124027
External forces of potential disruption: 1. MOOCs, nearly free education, 2. skilled-based learning (Codeacademy, Udacity), 3. data analytic 4. public pressure on access, metrics of impact.
Gartner group (http://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp) hype cycle : overvalued in a short term and undervalued in a long term. MOOC is excellent example.
NMC: competing models of education.
learning analytics. adaptive learning, intelligent tutoring etc. Open Learning Initative. http://oli.cmu.edu/
In the 19th century, railroads companies which were in the business of railroad companies went under; the ones which were in the business of transportation survived. Parallel, universities, which are in the business of delivering information will die out; the ones, which will survive must look to a very different picture.
Higher education institutions are abuzz with the concept of Open Badges. The concept was presented to SCSU CETL some two years ago, but it remained mute on the SCSU campus. Part of the presentation to the SCSU CETL included the assertion that “Some advocates have suggested that badges representing learning and skills acquired outside the classroom, or even in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), will soon supplant diplomas and course credits.”
“For higher education institutions interested in keeping pace, establishing a digital ecosystem around badges to recognize college learning, skill development and achievement is less a threat and more an opportunity. Used properly, Open Badge systems help motivate, connect, articulate and make transparent the learning that happens inside and outside classrooms during a student’s college years.”
Educational programs that use learning design to attach badges to educational experiences according to defined outcomes can streamline credit recognition.
The badge ecosystem isn’t just a web-enabled transcript, CV, and work portfolio rolled together. It’s also a way to structure the process of education itself. Students will be able to customize learning goals within the larger curricular framework, integrate continuing peer and faculty feedback about their progress toward achieving those goals, and tailor the way badges and the metadata within them are displayed to the outside world.
Ken Miller and I were talking today about the significance of Learning Objectives and Outcomes when using Course Builder in D2L.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes are the foundation of Quality Matters (http://www.qmprogram.org/). If you want to go through the QM process, please consider the Center for Continuing Studies: http://www.stcloudstate.edu/continuingstudies/default.asp
Sue Erickstad (serickstad@stcloudstate.edu) and Mike Penrod (mrpenrod@stcloudstate.edu) can help you with information how to complete the process.
If you intend to teach online classes soon, please use the forum, where we can exchange “good practices” information.
10:00-10:30am: Overview of D2L basics and share best practices. Dr. Plamen Miltenoff, LRS
please enter ideas and suggestions
who is helping students with the new D2L interface?
PPT about the changes to the new version at:http://web.stcloudstate.edu/informedia/d2l10.pptx
the new version does not discrimante the teacher, versus T2 and GA unless you
change of Navbar. BE AWARE that you cannot add tools (you need to request via d2L@stcloudstate.edu) but you can take off tools from the new navbar. To take off a tool, go to “Edit Course” in the new version, click on “Tools” and find “Set Inactive”
Dropbox addition. Feedback left for students can be kept as a draft
10:30-11:00am: Automation of lab reports using D2L. Dr. Zengqiang “John” Liu, Physics
please enter ideas and suggestions
– D2L dropbox:
1. when papers are a big stack of paper, versus electronic format in dropbox, is it a bigger psychological burden?
2. Navbar CANNOT be changed by faculty. Need to request the change from D2L@stcloudstate.edu
3. BWhen assignng bonus points work, they fine, but do not apply to the final grade
4. Naming the file deposited in the dropbox is crucial to navigating later on
5. “Properties: One file per sumbission | overwrite submissions” is probably the best way to streamline the dropbox flow
6. “Restrictions: Display in Calendar” helps student as a reminder, even if the D2L calendar is not populated and used regularly
7. “Restrictions: Additional Release and Conditions” is the overarching idea of successful teaching. Conditioning Dropbox with Content, Discussions and Quizzes can bring uniformity and structure in students’ learning
8. Restrictions: Special Access” is poorly phrased and can confuse faculty.
9. Downloading all files at once via zipped file attaches Last Name First name of the student to its paper’s file name
please enter ideas and suggestions
1. what is optimal when using CMS.
2. the switch from WebCT to D2L was very consuming. Is it gonna be again when we switch to a different one?
3. How to deliver content is challange. write versus speak. Student takes notes or listens? Also engage, becomes to much. Classes become “flipped classroom”
4. Modular | recorded lectures | lectures notes in several formats | study guides
5. develop best practices for my discipline
6. modular guide: goals | outcomes | objectives | readings | activities | quizzes
7. recorded lexture: in sciences is easIER to organize, how it will be in humanities? This is where we can be creative
8. providing all this content in all thes[e] format[s] made me a better teacher. It also made students better prepared for class. student learning success
9. Best Practices used by Ram: check his PPT. -) choose simler presenation format -) listen to student feedback -) privacy issues (release form about taping students), intellectual property rights
10. Flipped classroom: -) capture
11. discussion – Camtasia versus Adobe Connect how do we manage this. Camtasia has larger file size. Kaltura is still tested. The MediaSite server as carrying the heavy duty files. Authentication not needed if the files are made public.
11:30-12:00pm: New tools in D2L. Greg Jorgensen and Karin Duncan, ITS
please enter ideas and suggestions
1. search option in minibar only if faculty has ten or more classes
2. instant notifications: new features. ellect to receive emails
3. discussions managed in two spots: -) via subscription on the top as general, or -) subscribe for each topic. There is an option: include in my summary of activity
4. D2L now keeps “sent” email. Comibne an email to all six classes I teach; how do I do that?
5. Classlist has inconsistency, be aware, ask D2L@stcloudstate.edu about it
6. Assesst discussions has a sqaure ot check “must post first.” It is off by default. Edit topic, under Options: “A user must comopse a message before participating in the topic.”
7. reset dates by Manage Dates: instead of going to separate modules one by one and changing dates. Notice the checkbox on the right for Calendar. The offset option makes the dates relevant to this semester.
8. App for iPAD, free, Assignment Grader. leave feedback, asses using rubrics and review on PDF and feeds D2L.
9. SCORM user, can be reported into D2L. If Polleverywhere is SCORM complient it can be reported via SCORM like poll in Adobe Connect.
10. Grates, Discussions, and other areas, which are wide, the header image goes away
1:00-1:30pm: Case study and sharing best practices. Dr. David Switzer, Economics
please enter ideas and suggestions
1. creating groups in class and each person in a group and locking up. but that before subscribing for discussions.
2. gradebooks exporting and importing. Problem. D2L graidng is not very flexible. First export to CSV file. Sort in excel by last name and have it in order.
3. bonus items in grades: to curve grades, instead exporting importing, go to grades, createa bonus item called “exam 1 curve” and thus not only automating the grading but seeing the curve next semester
4. switch in quiz from the default “users” to tab “questions” it saves time when grading
5. take home exam is in quiz, not in dropbox, because dropbox cannot be taimed
tip for students
6. tip for students: discussion forums. Subsribe to topics by students. It helps students a lot, since they don’t have to go and login into D2L, the get it via email. Quesion: how many of them are using now mobile devices to get this notifications?
7. New section shows only the most recent announcments. This can be changed via settings
8. Video, mp4 format, 7 min, intro screencapture walking students through D2L. A MnSCU video might exist.
9. Narrated PPTs does not act well when hand writting. Presenter for PPT. Or Camtasia
10. Surveys. Show in class that “anonymous” is real.
11. practice quizzes. also similar in Content. also the gamification: can go to the next quiz after 75% of the previous one is resolved
1:30-2:00pm: Creating and assigning online quizzes. Dr. Eugmin Kang, SOB
please enter ideas and suggestions
1. quiz structure. the option for randomly assigning questions. So every time the student takes the trainng quiz again, new questions are assigned.
using different types: multiple choice, true/false, images as part of the quiz question. To ensure that equal questions from each section are chosen, one need to create separate sections in the library. To do it, create a new “random’ section, with name “random1” and import the quiz q/s from the book section 1 etc.
accumulative final. Pull questions for the final quiz from training quizzes randomly.
2:00-3:00pm: Open time for individual projects and problem solving.
We would like to organize similar event sometimes in January. Please share with us your preference for day/time in January 2013, as well as topics of interest.
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