Why We Need More Assessment of Online Composition Courses: A Brief History  

Online courses now command a prominent position in composition scholarship where we dream of democratized education and liberating literacies. But...

Charles, Cristie Cowles. Kairos (2002). Articles>Education>Assessment>Online

The Work Of Education in the Age of E-College and Campus Pipeline

Online education has become a topic of much debate within the academy in recent years. Martin Irvine, Associate Vice President for Technology Strategy at Georgetown University states that ‘Internet-based distance learning or elearning is on every educator's and corporate leader's agenda’, and that we are at the beginning of an ‘elearning revolution’.[1]  There has been a mad rush by universities, venture capitalists and corporations to develop online courses, virtual universities, education portals, and courseware.  The drive to develop a winning formula for commercial online education has fostered some unusual partnerships, as ‘Internet entrepreneurs, Nobel laureates, Ivy League schools, textbook publishers, venture capitalists, corporate raiders, and junk-bond kings’ look to education to drive eCommerce.

Werry, Chris. Lore (2001). Articles>Education>Online

Work-Embedded E-Learning: Wherever You Are, Whenever You Need It  

New approaches in e-learning are stretching boundaries in exciting and game-changing ways. Find out about one of the newest ideas--work-embedded e-learning--that integrates learning materials directly into the work environment.

Berry, Kristine, Christopher Dawson and Harry Calhoun. Intercom (2007). Articles>Education>Online

World Wide Words: A Rationale and Preliminary Report on a Publishing Project for an Advanced Writing Workshop  

Publishing articles on the World Wide Web in established webzines edited for love or money by people who take their tasks seriously offers a possible remedy to the problem of inauthenticityor pseudotransactionality in student writing.

Sands, Peter. Academic.Writing (2003). Articles>Education>Publishing>Online

Worlds Within Which We Teach: Issues for Designing World Wide Web Course Material      

Initially, online courses were created by pioneers--self-taught Web site writers comfortable with uncertainty. As Internet-based instruction has become increasingly popular, others are less inclined to struggle with writing their own Web pages but are nonetheless interested in having an instructional Web site. A growing number of course-construction programs are becoming available which could make Internet-based instruction more accessible. Only by addressing both pedagogical and technical issues can evaluation of such course creation products provide information useful for thoughtful and appropriate use of that technology to support and extend traditional pedagogies. This article concludes that creating online instructional sites by hand with the help of an HTML editor is generally preferable to using course-in-a-box software because instructors can select the components needed to support their pedagogy and construct successful learning experiences for their students. On the other hand, the dilemma of faculty intimidated by the technical expertise needed to produce even a basic Web site can be ameliorated by the use of course-in-a-box software. However, that software should be seen only as a stepping stone. Instructional sites created by course-in-a-box software certainly are worthwhile, but the course or site produced by this software remains constrained by its box, even if that box is often commodious.

O'Sullivan, Mary F. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Written Interaction: A Key Component in Online Learning

Contemporary educators who view learning as interactive, discursive, and situated have argued that well-designed online conferencing environments may be particularly suited to provide the socio-cognitive support for learning seen as fundamental to constructivist pedagogies. In order to assess the relationships between online course design, participants' interactions, and learning, a first step is to examine closely and describe the nature of online class participants' interactions within synchronous and asynchronous conferences. In this article, I address the role of interactive writing as an integral element in the conceptual development that takes place in such online courses. I argue that the interactive textual environment of asynchronous online conferences is particularly facilitative of both social and cognitive construction of meaning because the nature of online interactive writing itself bootstraps the construction of meaning.

Lapadat, Judith C. JCMC (2002). Articles>Education>Online

WWW Instructional Documentation for the Development of a Smart Composite Bridge  

An instructional World-Wide-Web (WWW) site for a smart composite bridge provides technical documentation to a diverse audience including professional and student users. It describes a prototype bridge project that demonstrates the use of fibre-reinforced-composites and smart sensing techniques for civil engineering applications. This smart composite bridge is a long-term technological demonstration for industry and an interdisciplinary field laboratory for students. The site content includes live images, technical details, associated publications, manufacturing protocols and developmental testing. The site objectives are to provide current information, to organise progressive levels of detail and to exploit WWW instructional capabilities. Clear organisation, navigational aids, supplementary helps and content layering balances the user needs (1) for simplicity through consistent presentation and usability and (2) for complexity through user-centred options and multimedia. This instructional tool models effective communication of research to industry and the classroom. It shows how site design can accommodate diverse needs of information delivery.

Watkins, Steve E., Vicki M. Eller and Richard H. Hall. University of Missouri-Rolla (2003). Articles>Education>Online

Converting Courses to Online  

In all honesty, it really isn’t that hard to put an online course “online” and offer it to the public as an alternative or supplemental learning tool. What has given online learning the perception of difficulty, however, are those issues that were unforeseen, or, more precisely, unplanned.

Smith, Judith M. Distance Education and Training Council (2000). Articles>Education>Online

DETC Member Survey on Online Learning  

Survey respondents reveal the focus on change and growth. Almost every responding institution disclosed plans for improvement – new course designs, additional online options, or experimentation with various Learning Management Software. DETC schools are prepared to embrace the changes in technology and increased online delivery while continuing to provide superior education to the distance learning student. The results also demonstrate reluctance to abandon a synchronous, print-based method of learning.

Distance Education and Training Council (2004). Articles>Education>Online>Surveys

Access to Web-Based Special Education

Although, web-based distance education programs address geographical and cost barriers, they usually ignore access barriers to students with special needs (i.e. those with sensory, motor or cognitive disabilities). Distance education programs should ensure that conduits, and not barriers, to information are created. When planning a web-based special education program the following concerns should be considered: how to increase Web access to persons with disabilities by addressing access issues on both the client and the service side; how to optimize the use of innovative web technologies to transmit interesting yet accessible learning materials; how to increase community amongst special education students and teachers.

Nguyen, Kevin K. University of Toronto (2008). Articles>Education>Accessibility>Online

How XML is Enabling the Next Generation of E-Learning Systems at Cisco

Cisco relies on Elearning for much of its training. So much so, that Cisco has become one of the largest Elearning providers in the world. In fact, Cisco provides over 120 courses in 152 different countries around the world. The courses and related assessments are often subject to frequent change, and the content must be produced in multiple languages or formats, combined into different courses, or efficiently searched and retrieved from large volumes of similar material. Early on, they realized that in order to keep that content current and manageable it was important to build an architecture that scaled well and was easy to maintain.XML became a clear choice for the data format. Cisco’s RLO (Reusable Learning Object) data model provides for flexible data modules that can be reused in many different contexts and driven to many different formats.

Syiek, Allan, Jay Todtenbier and Jay Di Silvestri. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Education>Online>XML

Can You Teach Me Moodle?

Teachers are a very pragmatic lot and love to borrow good stuff. Give’em a good one in Moodle and they will come! If a science teacher has a great solution using Moodle for a problem or idea her class and say, an English teacher sees it and ‘gets it’ - you can bet the English teacher will at least try or ask how to go about it. And coming from a colleague and a fellow ’struggler’ is a much more powerful thing than coming from the school’s main Moodle peddler like me.

Lasic, Tomaz. Human (2009). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

What Colleges Should Learn From Newspapers' Decline

Newspapers are dying. Are universities next? The parallels between them are closer than they appear. Both industries are in the business of creating and communicating information. Paradoxically, both are threatened by the way technology has made that easier than ever before.

Carey, Kevin. Chronicle of Higher Education (2009). Articles>Education>Publishing>Online

Learning-on-the-Go: Anytime, Anywhere Access to Course and Study Materials

The key objective of Duquesne University's "Learning-on-the-Go" program is to break down the barriers that make studying and attending class difficult for adult students. "Learning-on-the-Go" will accomplish this by providing convenient access to course materials, developing technologically-supported pedagogical tools to foster student learning, and creating a framework for faculty exchange of effective practices in mobile education.

Hodes, Benjamin. Sloan Consortium, The (2009). Articles>Education>Online>Podcasting

Wikipedia and the New Curriculum

Students and teachers alike must understand how systems of knowledge creation and archivization are changing. Encyclopedias are no longer static collections of facts and figures; they are living entities. Just check the entry on Global Warming.

Parry, David. Science Progress (2008). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication>Online

Web 2.0 in Schools: Policy and Leadership

This report documents the beliefs, perspectives, and practices of educational administrators which help or hinder effective use of Web 2.0 in K-12 education. The study collected data from nearly 1,200 school administrators on the role of Web 2.0 in American schools and was made possible by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

COSN (2009). Articles>Education>Online>Social Networking

Content, Standards, Learning and SCORM

Within content domains, the key themes of the information age are being adopted: Modularisation, specialisation, integration and interoperability. Our communication is changing in volume, purpose and channels. The emphasis is more on collaboration and less on expert-to-novice teaching. And there’s a stronger emphasis on openness.

Maddox, Sarah. ffeathers (2009). Articles>Education>Online>Standards

A Brief Orientation to E-Learning

What is E-learning? E-learning is a general term that refers to education delivered using various forms of digital media such as the internet, video conferencing, audio, animation, and virtual environments. A course delivered using these tools, combined with face-to-face learning from an instructor, is referred to as blended learning.

Hall, Julia. Carolina Communiqué (2009). Articles>Education>Online

Do Business Communication Technology Tools Meet Learner Needs?    

While institutions of higher education are enthusiastically embracing technology-mediated learning (TML), little research has been conducted to identify factors that influence student use of TML tools or determine whether use of them increases student learning. This study of business communication students at two universities found that (1) students tend to be sensing, visual, active, and sequential learners; (2) perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of TML tools are positively associated with perceived learning success; (3) learning styles do influence the students' usage behavior of certain TML tools; and (4) students' sensing/intuitive learning style is related to their perceived learning success.

DuFrene, Debbie D., Carol M. Lehman, Franz W. Kellermanns and Rodney A. Pearson. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Online

Model Based Heuristics for Constructivist e-Learning  

Many e-learning applications and games have been studied to identify the common interaction models of constructivist learning.

Katre, Dinesh S. I-Manager's International Journal of Education Technology (2007). Articles>Education>Online

Using the EServer TC Library for Course "Outside Readings"

Almost two years ago, I posted a rough note here about teaching my intro to technical communication course using the TC Library as a supplement to the textbook. Here's a more detailed essay on the method, which is working quite well so far.

Sauer, Geoffrey. EServer (2009). Articles>Education>Research>Online

How CarTalk Can Save Your E-Learning

You, as the instructional designer, are starting to panic — you know that you have limited time and resources to create this training, and the more content you put in, the less you are able to do with it. If it’s e-Learning, it will turn into the Dreaded Page-Turner, because you just don’t have time to create the 17 different problem-based scenarios to account for all of the different exceptions she’s describing. It turns into a battle, where you keep trying to cut things, and she keeps saying “but they need to know this!” So who’s right? Well, you both are, depending on your perspective.

Urban, Linda. Usable Learning Blog, The (2009). Articles>Education>Online

You Can Get There From Here: Websites for Learners

"Content-rich" is not enough. Most websites are not learner-friendly. As an industry, we haven’t done our best to make our content-rich websites suitable for learning and exploration. Learners require more from us than keywords and killer headlines. They need an environment that is narrative, interactive, and discoverable. Amber Simmons tells how to begin creating rich content sites that invite and repay exploration and discovery.

Simmons, Amber. List Apart, A (2009). Articles>Web Design>Education>Online

Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code 

You've always wanted to learn how to build software yourself—or just whip up an occasional script—but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time. If you're curious about how to become a programmer, you can get off to a running start using tons of great free web-based tutorials and resources.

Trapani, Gina. Lifehacker (2009). Articles>Education>Programming>Online

Ten Things to Consider Before Choosing an LMS 

Over the years I have spent many hours testing content and trying various different Learning Management Systems, and have even done some LMS (like) design work with Articulate Online. Over that time period I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about what does work well, and what doesn’t work well in a lot of systems, so based on my knowledge on the subject, here is my list 10 things to consider before choosing in an LMS.

Mozealous, Dave. Mozealous.com (2009). Articles>Education>Online>Software