Online Driver’s Ed?

I'm not sure about this one, but hey, much of flight training is done on simulators too … (via Distance Educator at The Capitol)"The maneuvering of a car is easy to teach," said John Ryden, president of the Maryland Professional driver's Education Association. "The decision-making and judgment is very hard."

"The kids have to come in and take the (driving) test," she said. "If we have numbers of children failing that come through the online (course), obviously there's a red flag."

Civiv Pride One Computer at a Time

From Information Society Technologies …

" If people feel they are part of the decision-making process they are much more likely to feel pride in their community and to take care of it,&lrquo; says Professor Curwell. " It's a very idealistic concept and one that is very dependent on supporting, harnessing and developing people's willingness to change.&lrquo;

By bringing together unconnected sources of information in one place, and making that place available to everyone, be they city planners, building developers, politicians, or individual citizens, the eAgora could support improved management of cities and help achieve long-term physical, social and economic sustainability.

Staying on top of your class

From Entreprenuer, an article about getting to the top of your MBA online.

Online programs have added even more flexibility to entrepreneurship education, though some have suffered from the perception that they are not as high-quality as classroom programs. Escudier's SBDC wants to improve that reputation by launching a new program designed "to capture the best of the best of small-business classes," he says. The program, currently in planning stages, will coalesce faculty from around the country who specialize in particular business functions; their classes will be taught online through the Northern California SBDC site.

Web classes popularity rises

From The Vista Online …

Internet courses from "greek Tragedy" to "Psychology of Grief" have been added to the classes offered next spring and is the only way some students are able to complete their college requirements.

"We need to offer more online courses at the university," said Dr. Kurt Hochenauer, an English professor who teaches both Internet and traditional courses.

E-learning …

At Infoconomy …

The concept of e-learning is almost as old as the commercial computer industry. Early systems were first introduced in the 1970s, with lessons delivered over slow dedicated networks or programmed onto special computers. Systems were slow, simplistic, and expensive. Take-up was low.

With the arrival of the Internet in the 1990s, e-learning moved up a gear. As bandwidth speeds rose, it became possible to introduce interactive, flexible programmes to large numbers of people without the need for special software or hardware. Courses and trainees could be centrally managed in real time.

Guidelines for finding quality K-12 Online Courses

Not specifically within our 'University' focus, but thought some of you out there would be interested in this. From THE Journal.

The list of virtual schools at the Distance Learning Resource Network (which is in limbo now since its funding ended) offering courses for K-12 learners and at least some Internet- or Web-based credit courses is also growing. Courses are hosted by state-sanctioned, state-level virtual schools; university-based virtual schools; virtual school consortia; virtual schools operated by districts and schools; virtual charter schools operated by state-chartered entities; virtual schools operated by private school entities; and for-profit providers of courses, curricula, development tools and infrastructures (Clark 2001).

Google Scholar

Many of you have probably already seen this, but if you haven't it's good news for those doing research …

From Search Engine Watch:

Google has launched a new Google Scholar search service, providing the ability to search for scholarly literature located from across the web.

Much of this material has been added to Google over the past few months. However, the new service allows searchers to specifically search against just the academic material.

Anytime, Anywhere Education

From THE Journal, new trends in education technology …

An increased need for multimedia education. Students are comfortable with the Web, and they like being entertained via interactive, visually stimulating mediums such as video games. Educators must grab their attention with multimedia learning tools and content in those familiar formats (especially video), or risk more and more students " tuning out.&lrquo;

The ongoing need for family involvement. Several studies have discussed family involvement as a key factor in educational performance, and that will continue. Teachers and administrators need to increase family and parental involvement by making important information accessible to families in an interactive and timely format.

Teaching at a Distance …

FYI …You are invited to join other distance educators in a 5 week online learning experience focused on distance education. Modeling the very best in distance education pedagogy, "Teaching At A Distance: From Concept to Practice" involves you in every aspect of distance education by involving you as a distance education learner.

Join Joe Levine (Michigan State University, Michigan, USA), Jose Chotguis
(Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil) and Stanley Mpofu (International Consulting Services, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) for an active look at the world of distance education.

This five week online program (January 16 – February 19, 2005) is designed
for educators involved with the design, development, delivery and evaluation of distance education programs. It is focused very directly on the learner in distance education with a major foundational theme each week which examines key concepts and ideas to support the effective use of distance education as an instructional strategy to bridge the distance between learners and learning resources.

Week 1 Theme ~ The Framework of Distance Education
Week 2 Theme ~ The Learner in Distance Education
Week 3 Theme ~ Distance Education Instructional Strategies
Week 4 Theme ~ Implementing Distance Education
Week 5 Theme ~ Evaluating Distance Education

Participants receive a copy of the book "Learners, Learners Everywhere: The
Challenge of Teaching At A Distance". The workshop has been set up so that
it's possible for each participant to interact in an entirely independent/asynchronous manner – allowing you to be involved when it best
fits your own day-to-day schedule.

Workshop enrollment is limited to 30 participants. For complete information about "Teaching At A Distance: From Concept to Practice" and an online Registration Form, please go to:

http://www.learnerassociates.net/tad/We hope to "see" you online!

Joe Levine

——————————————————–
S. Joseph Levine, PhD
Professor Emeritus
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan USA
levine@msu.edu

Distance Education Online Workshop http://www.learnerassociates.net/tad/Dissertation/Thesis Guide http://www.learnerassociates.net/dissthes/Proposal Writing Guide http://www.learnerassociates.net/proposal/Essays on Teaching & Learning http://www.learnerassociates.net/e3/

The ‘Art’ of online learning

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning has a long report about an online visual art critical studies program evaluation.

This article highlights the current dialogue about educational technology and ways of knowing in visual art education. The authors outline and evaluate the development and testing phases of a hypertextual online visual art course offered at the then Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (http://www.eciad.ca/www/) in the summer of 2001. Through this, we offer a framework for the evaluation of online visual art critical studies courses.