Online Universities Weblog

From the Library Journal, an online 'university' for gamers …

In 2003, a group of civilization fans started Apolyton University, an online "university" dedicated to improving Civ3 players' skills. After a few years of playing Civ3, players wanted to explore new game play elements and different modes of play with peers. They created "courses," such as "Give Peace a Chance," which helps players learn to win through nonviolent means.

In each course, players download a saved game file, which functions as the primary text for the course. As they play through the game, they take notes on all major events, discoveries, and decisions. Every 40 turns, they take a screen shot of their game and upload it along with their notes for discussion. Participants then examine one another's games and reflect on major decisions and strategies. There are about 25 courses, each of which generates dozens of pages of discussion. Comparable communities exist for many other games.
Image from Library Journal.

More on tuition matters, this time with good news for online universities. At Inside Higher Education …

A pilot program that eases federal financial aid rules for some distance education providers has significantly improved access to higher education for students generally, and for financially needy students in particular, according to a new U.S. Education Department report.

The findings led the department – and Republican leaders in Congress – to urge abandonment of financial aid restrictions on distance education, a change that many higher education lobbyists oppose.More at Market Knowledge.

A story at the Yale Daily News on rising tuition rates at Yale which compares to rising rates across the U.S.

In 1940, candy cost a penny, movies cost a nickel and Yale's tuition cost $50. Today, students are lucky to buy a Twizzler or a movie ticket without having to apply for debt relief, let alone four years at an Ivy League school, said retired business teacher and free-lance writer Marjorie Wolfe, whose chronology of higher education expenses charts a rise of what she called "exorbitant fees in the megabucks."

Yale College tuition for the 2005-2006 academic year was set at $31,450, part of a total $41,000 term bill, University spokesman Tom Conroy announced two weeks ago. Yale tuition had grown to $2,550 by 1970 and $6,210 in 1980, according to Wolfe's figures. This growth was followed by a period of unparalleled increases in Yale's tuition resulting from costly renovations projects, Deputy Provost Charles Long said. While Yale College tuition nearly doubled in real dollars from 1981 to 1998, the proportion of undergraduates getting financial aid rose only slightly, from 37 percent to 41 percent, according to data from Yale's Office of Institutional Research.

From Inside Higher Education …

A program that exempts certain institutions from the "50 percent rule" has been a success and should be significantly expanded, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The rule, which bars federal financial aid from students attending institutions that either offer more than half of their courses online or enroll more than half of their students in online programs, was implemented to act as a check on diploma mills and other shady online degree programs. According to a report from the Education Department, those schools that have been granted exemptions have seen enormous growth in enrollments,
particularly of less affluent and nontraditional students. The rate of growth in access to education for those groups prompted the department to call for an immediate expansion of the program to 100 institutions, up from the current cap of 35, and for the end of the 50 percent rule when the Higher Education Act is renewed, either this year or next. While pleased at the increased access to education that relaxing the rule has led to, many higher education organizations said eliminating the rule would be unwise. Becky Timmons, director of government relations at the American Council of Education, said, "One enormous opportunity for abuse in distance education is rapid expansion."

Via Distance Educator and the Education Resources Information Center, this story on enhancing face to face courses with streaming media.

Since 1999, and as part of an Ameritech grant, the author has systematically investigated use of streaming media to enhance face-to-face classes.

Technology invites experimentation but raises questions about such things as student acceptance, student use, academic performance, and what to do with class time when lectures are put online. Students appear to easily master the technology, and today software is available to help the instructor with the task.

From the New York Times …

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $19 million grant to create a technology center to study cybersecurity. The project, called the Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology (TRUST), will be led by the University of California, Berkeley, and will receive the funds over five years. Other higher education institutions participating in the project include Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Mills College, San Jose State University, Smith College, Stanford University, and Vanderbilt University. S. Shankar
Sastry, professor of computer sciences at Berkeley and director of TRUST, said, "The cybersecurity community has long feared that it would take an electronic Pearl Harbor for people to realize the scale of disruptions possible from a concerted attack by terrorists." The TRUST project will conduct research into computer security in a variety of industries, specifically addressing the integration of technologies among "critical infrastructures."

From TechLearning, new techniques in tutoring and teaching.

So, you thought the rigidity of methods and limited alternatives of tutoring were fixed by the ancient techniques of the 20th century?

Well, look out – because you missed the matrimony of education and the computer – truly a marriage made in heaven, because the computer has become the ultimate bridge of communication, bringing tutors and students together, no matter the time, no matter the place, no matter the distance.More on this, and other stories, at the Online Learning Update.

Educating hackers in Spain. At the BBC.

The University of La Salle in Barcelona has begun a program to raise awareness of computer hacking and to teach teens how to protect themselves. Sponsored by the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM), the Hacker High School invites students from local high schools to the La Salle campus to expose them to the ins and outs of hacking. Pete Herzog, managing director of ISECOM, said the program shows participants how computer hacking is accomplished so that they can understand the concepts behind what
computers do, how to clean them, how applications can compromise computers, and the implications for personal privacy. According to one official from the program, the goal is to provide experiences for students to learn how hacking
happens so that they will become "ethical hackers, good hackers, knowing what they do and what the limits are." School officials believe having skills as an ethical hacker could be beneficial when students go looking for jobs later.A bit more on the story at Binary Blog.

From the Education Resource Information Center, via Distance Educator, news about an online master's program in science education for prospective teachers.

This paper describes the development of a fully online Master's program in science education that is intended to help teachers extend their science knowledge and integrate inquiry-based science pedagogy and Web-based technologies into their teaching.

Courses are co-taught by a scientist well-versed in the science domain of a given module and a science educator. The instructors facilitate online discussion and serve as mentors and coaches.

Welcome to fast food nation … and an interesting comparison to online degrees. Here the Journal Star out of Lincoln, Nebraska …

The fast food philosophy, he said, has also changed other societies as America has exported it to places like Paris and Rome, where the culture has traditionally valued the savoring of long, inefficient meals.

In an online university, everything is quantified, from what assignments must be completed to the grade received, just as production in fast food establishments emphasizes the products' size and cost and the time it takes to get them.Luckily, McDonaldization hasn't gone as far as fashion yet …