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Many trial failures in online education - posted on Mar. 1, 2005
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The number of universities that offer online degree programs increased dramatically around Year 2000; the number of enrollment increased dramatically as well at around the same time. However, many of those universities closed down their programs for the last couple of years; reasons include overestimation of budget and lack of popularity. Just like at the beginning of the dot-com era, many trails were made and many ended up as failure; this article titled "Online Education Flunks But New Focus May Spark Revival" briefly summaries this. However, as the article also points out, this is just the beginning of the adoption of new learning method and this is just a part of the cycle. While the dot-com fell apart, the internet eventually proves itself that it is what transforms the world and takes us to the 21st century. We are now seeing the first bust of online education, but I am sure that we will learn that online education is how we learn in the 21st century.
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"Online education is ineffective" myth - posted on Feb. 28, 2005
There is this myth, "Online education is ineffective"; however, this article "Online education, Alternative school succeeds where other students struggle" suggests that there might be a reason why online education is perceived ineffective. Generally, online education is offered as alternative learning to many students; consequently, those who study online have certain limitations to achieve academic excellence to begin with such as limited amount of time they can spend studying, limited amount of money and difficulty arranging regular schedule to attend classes and study materials. As a result, even if they study online, they end up getting poor test scores. It is very difficult to determine the quality of online education easily for variety of reasons; however, this possible scenario and perception created from it are some things to look at.
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Online insurance agent licensing course - posted on Feb. 27, 2005
Florida Insurance Licensing Association of Orlando now offers the state's first online insurance agent licensing course. This seems to be a good match; the test basically checks whether the candidates remembers certain regulations and guidelines as opposed to be creative or be able to solve some complex physics problem. This should turn out to be great time saving and cost saving to both sides as well; Florida Insurance Licensing Association of Orlando has no need to allocate space or hire any lecturer to teach the course. The candidate does not need to drive to take the course or arrange his/her schedule to take the course; he can study whenever he wants wherever he wants. This seems like a win-win situation.
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Pajama students - posted on Nov. 5, 2004
"Pajama" is an adjective often used today for an individual's status as the internet is becoming the platform for many individuals to engage in activities that defines their status and they can work while they wear pajamas in their bedrooms. For example, Pajama journalists; bloggers caught a lot of attention in this election year. Another status that is more and more associated with the adjective "Pajama" is student. "The dress code is strictly pajamas. Showers - and even fresh breath -- are optional. This is the classroom via the Internet, and all it requires of the student is that she sit comfortably in her own room and follow along." (The Tufts Daily) Who knows? Maybe "Pajama" student will be the student in near future and the adjective will be removed subsequently.
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Internet discussion forums at work in education - posted on Nov. 4, 2004
We had some discussions in the forum about how we can utilize discussion forums in education; there are number of potential benefits, but we are getting the impression that forums are difficult to use in today's education environment for number of reasons. I guess we were (roughly) wrong; an online discussion on non-formal education in Africa was launched on 25 October 2004 by the Working Group on Non-Formal Education (WGNFE), which the Commonwealth Secretariat co-ordinates. WGNFE is not a formal education institution, but the way they provide education is very close to formal education institutions. We still need to wait and see how it works, but if it does, it will be an indication that discussion forum (communication software) can play an important role in formal education including online education.
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University of Illinois taking forward steps in online education - posted on Nov. 3, 2004
University of Illinois appointed new president B. Joseph White recently, and he is currently reviewing U of I's campuses; he is particularly interested in U of I's advancement in its online classroom technology. In fact, U of I is a leader in online classroom technology, and the university also offers one of the biggest online education programs in the nation. This short article writes about how the new president is reviewing U of I campuses, and according to the article, UIS (University of Illinois at Springfield) Chancellor Richard Ringeisen and White have met to discuss the Springfield campus' future, particularly its online education initiatives. Sounds pretty exciting to those of us who look forward to the advancement and wider adaptation of online education.
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Online education in the financial sector - posted on Nov. 1, 2004
Higher education institutions and healthcare providers are probably adapting online education most aggressively, but other sectors are also adapting online education including the financial sector. Deluxe Corporation announced this week the Deluxe Check 21 Center, a Web-based resource, which helps consumers and small businesses better understand the impacts of Check 21 as financial institutions implement the changes. The banking legislation became effective on October 28th and it has effects on how checks can be processed, though it does not change how people or businesses write or cash checks. Financial sector is very sensitive about their finance and accounting; given that, the fact that the sector is adapting online education proves us that online education provides number of benefits to businesses including financial benefit.
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A lot of new applications are being written for online education - posted on Oct. 31, 2004
There is a certain trend in computer software application development in each era; many software developers wrote Word processor one time. Many more software developers wrote Spread Sheet application one time. Web server was a trend one time. In 2004, 2005, we can observe the trend of software application development for online education from learning management system to video conferencing software. Here is one of new applications developed for online education; Distance Learning, Inc. (DLI) announced this week the launch of ScribeStudio 2.0, an easy-to-use Web site that allows educators, trainers and teachers to inexpensively develop online programs and courses. There is a huge demand and many ISD, Independent Software Developers are responding to the demand.
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University, college, high school and now online education for K-12 - posted on Oct. 30, 2004
Many universities started offering online degree programs a couple of years ago; following that, many high schools started offering online programs. Now, K-12 is also planning to adapt online education, and some of leading online education software developers are making initiatives. Polycom Inc. served as a platinum sponsor for the inaugural Keystone Conference, the first nationally accessible, K-12 interactive videoconferencing conference and event this month; this is still just a conference, so we have not seen wide adaptation of online education in K-12 yet, but this may become the turning point for online education in K-12.
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Geo-political reason behind the growth of online education in US - posted on Oct. 8, 2004
US is the leading country in online education; one of biggest reasons why US is ahead of all countries in the world is that it is a very large country and the population is spread around. Many live in an area where they need to drive a couple of hours to get to the nearest shopping mall, the nearest clinic or the school. Sometimes they need to travel farther. Another common scenario is that they move to different places often for various reasons, and they often stay in the type of area described. This becomes a great obstacle as they try to educate themselves to make adjustment to today's changing world. This article writes about one of families that live in Wisconsin and face this common problem in US.
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