Sponsored Post: AIU’s Information Technology Degree

Stop by American Intercontinental University today to check out their offerings, including an Information Technology degree.

Information Technology is one of the fastest-growing career fields in the world today. IT skills are essential in all industries, not just high-tech companies. The demand for IT professionals has grown so rapidly that it far exceeds the number of university graduates who have the necessary education and skills.

According to the Information Technology Association of America, 10 percent of all jobs in the IT field, a staggering 850,000 IT positions, currently stand open in the United States. As a result, the Information Technology field offers excellent, long-term career opportunities.
Free material on AIU programs can be found here.

The various factors of online degrees

From Officer.com, the Career Corner with the Good, Bad and Ugly of online degrees:

Whether in New Mexico, North Carolina, or Florida, you can hear the same concern aired by veteran police officers and deputy sheriffs nationwide: they need college education to compete for promotions, but their rotating schedules slow down their eagerness to get back into a traditional college environment. Heavily marketed online college degrees seem to be the answer to many, but it is not a path to be taken without some knowledge of the online education industry.

Care needs to be taken to avoid throwing money at a degree that may be viewed as the product of a diploma mill. Online colleges that promise "credit for life's experience" with little academic work or rigor are probably too good to be true and may backfire on you later.

Stagework selected as one of the best eLearning products in the world

From Training Press Releases, this story on the UN giving Stagework an award for its e-learning products.

The jury commenting on Stagework, said that "The design is stylish and not intrusive. The navigation is straightforward and intuitive. The integration of various texts, colours, images and videos into one web-application has been done very smoothly, showing considerable class in design. The information has been distributed efficiently and on-demand through its interactive search and query functions. Stagework provides a great example, a complete archetype, for any other industry to take inspiration from."

Simulacra's involvement on this project was to provide flexible software solutions,using their Content Management System and Web Publishing software, previously known as Harmonise, which has subsequently been released under an open source license to become openharmonise, (www.openharmonise.org). This provided the framework that provided the freedom of expression for the client and designers to realise their creative designs and ideas and produce a dynamic and compelling site.

Sponsored Post: National University BA in Psychology

The award winning National University has a BA program in psychology available for qualified applicants.

The degree equips you with an in-depth understanding of contemporary theories on the cognitive, emotional and social aspects of human behavior. A wide range of topics are covered including:*Development psychology and behaviour throughout various stages of life
*Personality theories and psychological characteristics of individuals
*Insight to substance abuse in the context of social and cultural influences
*Research and data analysis techniques used in psychology

Check out National University today.

Speaking of psychology … ever want to know more about the psychology of teaching and evaluating online courses? Here's an interesting paper called "Mentoring and Evaluation in the Online Classroom" produced by the department of psychology at Park University.

The rapid growth of online learning has mandated the development of faculty evaluation models geared specifically toward the unique demands of the online classroom. With a foundation in the best practices of online learning, adapted to meet the dynamics of a growing online program, the Online Instructor Evaluation System created at Park University serves the dual purpose of mentoring and faculty evaluation. As such, the model contains two distinct phases of interaction: formative reviews and a summative evaluation. Beyond its critical role in instructor retention, program assessment, and accreditation, this faculty evaluation system signals the University's commitment to ongoing professional development. The Online Instructor Evaluation System maximizes the potential of faculty evaluation to inspire reflection and growth; encourages the persistent professional development needs of online instructors; emphasizes the process of teaching as well as product; incorporates multiple perspectives to capture a comprehensive view of instructor performance; and educates key on-ground university constituents about online learning.

In the infancy of online instruction, considerable emphasis was given to demonstrating equivalence between online and traditional face-to-face instruction. This movement extended from pedagogy to evaluation as many online programs mirrored established face-to-face processes for faculty evaluation when creating models for the virtual classroom. With the rapid growth of online learning, these early evaluation models have revealed limited relevance to the online environment both in content and implementation. To address the ineffectiveness of traditional faculty evaluation models for use with online faculty, as well as to contribute to the growth of online learning as a field (and not simply a practice), innovative faculty evaluation models that are geared specifically to the unique demands, expectations and requirements of modern online learning must be developed.

U.S. falling behind in science and math education

Story from CNET.com:

A new report says that the United States stands to lose its leading position in science and research unless efforts are made to strengthen support for educational and other scientific programs. The panel that wrote the report was convened by the National Academies and included representatives from corporations and higher education, as well as Nobel laureates and former presidential appointees. The panel pointed to the narrowing scientific gap between the United States and countries such as China and India; recent results showing declining performance among U.S. students in science and math compared with students around the world; and economic factors that work against U.S. scientific interests. Among the report's recommendations are funding scholarships to support 10,000 students annually to pursue careers in teaching math and science; allocating money for 30,000 students per year to study science, math, and engineering; and relaxing visa regulations to allow
international students to find employment in the United States after they graduate.

Learning from a distance

A story from the Souix City Journal about distance learner Terry McFarland:

Sequestered in a spare bedroom once home to her son, Terry McFarland sat in front of an off-white computer monitor, staring down the work ahead of her as the October sun began setting outside her window.

This is her classroom. She sets the hours. She chooses her level of comfort. Shoes are optional on this night.

Now that’s hospitality

From the New Mexico Business Weekly, news that New Mexico State is offering a distance education program for those interested in going into the hospitality industry:

New Mexico State University's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management is launching a distance-learning program it says will bring the school's hospitality-oriented curriculum to students too far away to attend NMSU.

NMSU partnered with Northern New Mexico College in Española in applying for the grant, which is meant to support innovations from Hispanic-serving institutions.

Get in on video game design

Story out of E-school News on how video game design has become a hot area of education:

"We need to give him a real squish when he lands," Lawson advises his students.

"The concept of designing good video games, or designing good human-computer interactions–that's what I'm interested in," said Chelsea Hash, a senior with a video game minor and a major in Electronic Arts.

Surge seen in online learning

Zogby, a leading polling company, has issued a report on online learing. More about it here at Blackboard Media. Here's some of what the study found:

– In a typical 24-hour cycle, the peak hour for logins and usage was 9
p.m. to 10 p.m., with a sharp fall-off from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and a
gradual up-tick beginning at 7 a.m.
– Significant growth has taken place in the area of online exams or
assessments — including quizzes and course finals.
– The overall jump in active e-Learning users increased by approximately
ten times from the end of the spring semester in 2003 to the fall term of
the 2005 academic year, based on data analyzed.
– According to analysis of the data sample, 1.2 million assessments were
taken online during the first academic term where the service was
available, more than 16 million were taken in the spring semester of this
academic year.
– Online discussion among students related to course materials and/or
educational topics also expanded substantially. In the first semester of
operation (analyzed in the data sample), spring semester 2003, the site saw
988,597 unique postings on its discussion boards; in spring semester 2005,
there were 9.1 million postings. In the first weeks of the current
academic term, there have already been 1.5 million postings by users
tracked in this data sample.

Ireland and UK teaming up on E-learning

From the Silicon Republic:

Education officials in the United Kingdom and Ireland have signed an agreement to work together in support of an initiative called the National Digital Repository, which is designed to support higher education e-learning. The repository, which started in January 2005, is to be a collection of components of higher education courses, allowing users to develop online courses in various fields by picking and choosing from among those components. Components can include images, multimedia clips, text, maps, and other elements that can support online learning. The repository is currently funded by the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Department of Education and Science. Under the agreement between the HEA and the United Kingdom's Joint Information Services Committee, the two countries will cooperate "in building a technology infrastructure that provides lifelong ACCESS to programs of study for learners in a manner that is flexible and convenient to their particular life circumstances," according to Tom Boland, chief executive of the HEA.Let's just hope this isn't like the sinking, swirling hole that was the last UK e-learning fiasco.