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Online education advances over traditional models

News E-Learning - Qua, 05/16/2012 - 13:47

The development of the technology begins to cause significant changes in teaching models. In universities, for example, the traditional crowdedlibraries copies are giving way to digital books (e-books).

This is the case of the Department of Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) where digital texts can be downloaded from any terminal to the laptops of the students.

In September, the UTSA opened the first library without books that works in a U.S. university campus

It can accommodate 80 people and houses 425 000 18 000 digital books and digital magazine subscriptions, reports the BBC reporter, Kabir Chibber.

Drastic change

"With better search tools and an increasing availability of digital content, find information became more simple," said Krisellen Maloney, dean of the libraries of the UTSA.

Other study centers follow the same trend.

In 2000, the Kansas State University opened an electronic library, but kept some reference books. Earlier this year, Stanford University took away all the copies, except 10 000 printed volumes of his Library of Engineering.

With these new systems, the library staff now has more time to help students with their queries instead of taking books off the shelves.

But academic publishers have slowed digital publications and for one simple reason: academic texts represent a value about $ 8 billion a year in the U.S.

Publishers and booksellers are not willing to kill the goose that lays golden eggs.

"Business models are changing in the publishing world but in some cases there remains a tendency to print," says Maloney.

"The model (traditional) still remains because the publishers are resisting an alternative," says David Prescott, head of sales at Blackwell's one of the largest academic libraries in the UK

Digital books can be shared and copied many times, as opposed to having 30 books for 30 students.

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Categorias: E-Learning News

How to free education at Stanford, Princeton or Berkeley

News E-Learning - Qua, 05/16/2012 - 13:45

What happens to study? ¿Fundamentals of pharmacology, Greek and Roman mythology, introduction to genomics? Who would want to study the classes? ¿Faculty of Stanford University, Princeton, Berkeley?

Well, if you have internet access, all that you can do from home thanks to a program developed in California, USA, in collaboration with some of the most prestigious institutions in the world. And it's free.

The program, called Coursera, offers 36 courses designed by renowned professors from the universities of Pennsylvania, Michigan, in addition to those listed above.

Open doors

The founders are Daphne Koller Coursera and Andrew Ng, professors of computer science at Stanford University, who had three of his courses designed for public access so successful that they decided to expand the project and reach a worldwide audience.

"Education is the great leveler. Gives knowledge, enables and empowers people," said Dr. Koller told the BBC. "Stanford has amazing teachers and other institutions of equal level and we wanted to make their courses accessible to students around the world."

Michael Corry, Professor of Education and Technology Leadership at George Washington University (GWU), which offers online home runs, agrees the benefits of distance education and online.

"Remove the obstacles to higher education presents opportunities no matter where they are and opens doors previously closed to many" he said.

Professor Corry emphasizes what he calls "structured flexibility" of the online courses. By that he means that, within an established framework can be adjusted when a student takes the class, does the corresponding work and examinations according to their own agenda.

"That is key for many students who have full time jobs. They like him a lot," he said.

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Categorias: E-Learning News

How to free education at Stanford, Princeton or Berkeley

News E-Learning - Qua, 05/16/2012 - 13:45

What happens to study? ¿Fundamentals of pharmacology, Greek and Roman mythology, introduction to genomics? Who would want to study the classes? ¿Faculty of Stanford University, Princeton, Berkeley?

Well, if you have internet access, all that you can do from home thanks to a program developed in California, USA, in collaboration with some of the most prestigious institutions in the world. And it's free.

The program, called Coursera, offers 36 courses designed by renowned professors from the universities of Pennsylvania, Michigan, in addition to those listed above.

Open doors

The founders are Daphne Koller Coursera and Andrew Ng, professors of computer science at Stanford University, who had three of his courses designed for public access so successful that they decided to expand the project and reach a worldwide audience.

"Education is the great leveler. Gives knowledge, enables and empowers people," said Dr. Koller told the BBC. "Stanford has amazing teachers and other institutions of equal level and we wanted to make their courses accessible to students around the world."

Michael Corry, Professor of Education and Technology Leadership at George Washington University (GWU), which offers online home runs, agrees the benefits of distance education and online.

"Remove the obstacles to higher education presents opportunities no matter where they are and opens doors previously closed to many" he said.

Professor Corry emphasizes what he calls "structured flexibility" of the online courses. By that he means that, within an established framework can be adjusted when a student takes the class, does the corresponding work and examinations according to their own agenda.

"That is key for many students who have full time jobs. They like him a lot," he said.

VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE

Categorias: E-Learning News

MIT and Harvard announce edX

News E-Learning - Qua, 05/16/2012 - 13:41

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) today announced edX, a transformational new partnership in online education. Through edX, the two institutions will collaborate to enhance campus-based teaching and learning and build a global community of online learners.

EdX will build on both universities’ experience in offering online instructional content. The technological platform recently established by MITx, which will serve as the foundation for the new learning system, was designed to offer online versions of MIT courses featuring video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback, student-ranked questions and answers, online laboratories, and student paced learning. Certificates of mastery will be available for those motivated and able to demonstrate their knowledge of the course material.

MIT and Harvard expect that over time other universities will join them in offering courses on the edX platform. The gathering of many universities’ educational content together on one site will enable learners worldwide to access the course content of any participating university from a single website, and to use a set of online educational tools shared by all participating universities.

EdX will release its learning platform as open source software so it can be used by other universities and organizations who wish to host the platform themselves. Because the learning technology will be available as open-source software, other universities and individuals will be able to help edX improve and add features to the technology.

MIT and Harvard will use the jointly operated edX platform to research how students learn and how technologies can facilitate effective teaching both on-campus and online. The edX platform will enable the study of which teaching methods and tools are most successful. The findings of this research will be used to inform how faculty use technology in their teaching, which will enhance the experience for students on campus and for the millions expected to take advantage of these new online offerings.

“EdX represents a unique opportunity to improve education on our own campuses through online learning, while simultaneously creating a bold new educational path for millions of learners worldwide,” MIT President Susan Hockfield said.

Harvard President Drew Faust said, “edX gives Harvard and MIT an unprecedented opportunity to dramatically extend our collective reach by conducting groundbreaking research into effective education and by extending online access to quality higher education.”

“Harvard and MIT will use these new technologies and the research they will make possible to lead the direction of online learning in a way that benefits our students, our peers, and people across the nation and the globe,” Faust continued.