Sloan-C View
Perspectives in Quality Online Education

Volume 8 Issue 9 - September 2009
ISSN 1541-2806
Quality, Scale and Breadth

Issue Contents


Join the Sloan Consortium on Linkedin, Twitter & Facebook

Stay connected with The Sloan Consortium and its members through the Sloan-C networking groups on Twitter and Linkedin. Learn what others in online education are doing as well as receive news and conference updates from the Sloan Consortium.

Linkedin: Click here to join the Sloan Consortium group.

Twitter: Click here to follow the Sloan Consortium.

Facebook: Click here to join the Sloan Consortium group.

Plaxo: Click here to join the Sloan Consortium group.


The 2009 Minority Scholars Program - Deadline to Submit is September 4th

Sloan-C invites you to participate in the 2009 Minority Scholars Program that provides scholarships of up to $1,000 for scholars from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal colleges to attend the Sloan-C annual conference, to be held in Orlando, Fl , Oct 28-30, 2009.

We anticipate providing awards of up to $1,000 to cover registration at the conference and travel reimbursement for approximately 20 individuals. Teams of individuals from a single institution will also be considered.

The objective of the program is to engage more participants from minority –serving institutions in the rapidly growing world of online learning. Preference is given to scholars who have papers accepted for presentation at the conference and to those who have not been scholars in previous years. To apply please submit the short application by September 4th. All applications will be reviewed by an impartial panel; notification of award will occur by Sept 15th.

For questions, please e-mail Gail Sullivan at gsullivan@sloanconsortium.org.


15th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning - Virtual Conference Registration Open

Register by September 30th to receive early bird pricing on f-2-f registration ($495.)

Virtual conference registration available ($89.95)

The 15th Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning: "The Power of Online Learning: Opportunities for Tomorrow." takes place from October 28 - 30, 2009 in Orlando, FL. For fifteen years, the Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning has been the lead conference in online and blended learning, continuously improving and responding to emerging trends.

The 2009 program features over 220 individual, panel and poster presentations in 6 different tracks. The full program is available here.

Invited Sessions:

K-12 Online Learning Growth: Implications for Higher Education and Professional Development
Offering Online to Military Personnel: Is it a Market for Your College
Technology and Emerging Learning Environments
Myths and Misperceptions about Online Learning: A Review of Best Evidence to Advance the Field
Community of Inquiry framework: 10 years old and going strong
Sloan Consortium: Leading Online Learning Forward
A•P•L•U-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning: Final Chapter - Benchmarking Study Findings and Recommendations
The Transforming Power of the Quality Matters Rubric and Process
The Open Source in the Enterprise: the process of selecting Moodle as a Learning Management System

Can't join us in Orlando? Registration is now open for the virtual conference.

This year’s virtual offering consists of 18 key presentations delivered from Orlando via live-webcast. Presentations broadcast include keynote, plenary and closing sessions, 6 “Best-in-Track” sessions and 9 featured sessions, including a simultaneous event with a Sloan-C Regional Conference hosted by the University of Southern Maine. Virtual conference access includes post-conference on-demand access of the recordings for up to 1 year. The cost to participate virtually is $89.95 or $149.95 if you bundle it with an Individual Sloan-C Membership ($209.95 value.)

Don't miss the online brochure, which can be found here for full details about the conference.


Strong Faculty Engagement in Online Learning APLU Reports

August 31, 2009 – More than one-third of public university faculty have taught an online course while more than one-half have recommended an online course to students, according to an unprecedented study of administrative and faculty views toward online learning released today by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning.

In addition, nearly 64 percent of faculty said it takes "somewhat more" or "a lot more" effort to teach online compared to a face-to-face course. However, a large majority of faculty cited student needs as a primary motivator for teaching online, most commonly citing “meet student needs for flexible access” or the “best way to reach particular students” as the reason they choose to teach online courses.

The two-volume report, Online Learning as a Strategic Asset, contains the results of 231 interviews conducted with administrators, faculty, and students at 45 public institutions across the country and more than 10,700 responses from faculty across the spectrum of teaching positions – tenure/non-tenure track; full- and part-time; and both those who have and those who have not taught online. The report was underwritten by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Read the full press release and download the pdf reports, here.


Social Networking and Technology at the 15th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning

One of our goals for this conference is to more seamlessly integrate the attendee experience with our website. We would like you to easily find information about the sessions that interest you! Here are some of our current initiatives:

1. During the Emerging Technologies conference in June, we introduced a new platform “My.Sym” which allowed attendees to create a personal conference schedule and message (twitter-like) other conference attendees. In the next few weeks, start looking for "My.ALN" which will be available at: http://myaln.sloanconsortium.org.

2. We will be using Sonic Foundry’s MediaSite for streamed sessions. This year, the keynotes and featured sessions will be available to on-site and virtual attendees. MediaSite has integrated some great new tools which will help us integrate social networking with each streamed session…stay tuned!

3. What else? SlideShare! We will be publishing tagging information so you can easily find this year’s presentations on SlideShare. The twitter tag to use this year is #sloancaln.

4. We’ll also produce a basic FaceBook page.

5. This year’s conference blogs will be available at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/2009ALN_Blogs.

6. IMPORTANT: In October, we will be opening our Technology Bootcamp to registered attendees as a self-paced course in Moodle to review this information.

7. Training in Elluminate to review access information and technologies used for conference attendees on September 22nd.

The most up-to-date information will be available at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/aln. We are excited about how these technologies are evolving and hope to see you either on-site or virtually at the conference this year!


Share Your Views: Another Way to Participate in the Sloan-C Community

Below are blog posts of interest collected from www.sloanconsortium.org. Feel free to share your ideas by posting comments.

Did you know that if you have a Sloan-C account, you can create blog posts on the Sloan Consortium website? Log in to your account and the "My Blog" link will be under the "Quick Links" menu on the right.

IHEs should plan now for ways to continue educating ...through distance learning methods
by Janet Moore
"IHEs should plan now for ways to continue educating students who stay home through distance learning methods" says the August 20, 2009 report "CDC Guidance for Responses to Influenza for Institutions of Higher Education during the 2009-2010 Academic Year."
Click here to read the blog post.

Paths and Objects
by John Bourne
There is an amazing amount of emphasis being placed on shareable content these days, often in the form of “learning objects.” Does it really make sense to tread this path again?
Click here to read the blog post.

From solo sport to community design: CMU OLI to improve retention in Community College gatekeeper courses by 25%
by Janet Moore
Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with state agencies and national affinity groups, will establish a consortium of community colleges that will enact a large scale, systems-change process that increases efficiency in the way instruction is developed, delivered, evaluated, and continuously improved.
Click here to read the blog post.


The Sloan Consortium JobLine

Did you know that Sloan-C offers a service called the JobLine? The JobLine section of the Sloan Consortium website contains a listing of job postings from institutions around the country.

Posting to the JobLine is free to everyone. Help the Sloan-C community by passing this information along to the HR department of your institution.

Permission to view the details of job postings is reserved for Individual Members and Institutional Members only.

Whether you are looking to post a position or would like to for a new one, please take few minutes to visit the JobLine.


2009 Sloan-C College Pass Professional Development Package

*A cost effective solution for faculty training*

A 2009 College Pass Professional Development Package provides:

- 150 seats per year in over 30 Sloan-C online workshops which cover a variety of key online education topics
- A cost-effective and convenient way to improve quality in online education while networking with new colleagues
- Supplements your on-campus efforts with access to a wide variety of topic coverage from experts around the nation

Online workshops are 1 - 2 weeks long with convenient synchronous and asynchronous delivery. Sloan-C's online workshops are based on years of Sloan-C research and effective practices - anytime, anywhere flexibility combined with an attention to quality and access to top experts and new colleagues in the field. Now you can provide your institution complete access to these workshops through the end of 2009 with the Sloan-C College Pass Professional Development Package.

Register for a 2009 College Pass Professional Development Package today at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/info/2009colpass or e-mail info@sloanconsortium.org.


Sloan-C 2009 Institutional Membership

*Join the Sloan-C Community of educators from around the world.*

Membership in the Sloan Consortium provides knowledge, practice, community, and direction for educators.

A 2009 Institutional Membership includes:
- 10 $50 coupons toward the 15th Annual Conference on Online Learning Networks in 2009 in Orlando, FL
- 20 $150 coupons toward over 30 Sloan-C online workshops for faculty, staff, and administrators in online education
- Full access to Sloan-C effective practices, networking opportunities, and many Sloan-C publications

Register for a 2009 Institutional Membership today at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/membership.


Learn From the Experts - The Sloan-C 2009 Workshop Series

Preparing Faculty for Blended Teaching and Learning: Basics for Faculty Developers & Trainers - Oct 5 - 16

Faculty developers and trainers prove integral in helping faculty redesign courses for blended teaching and learning. A well established and highly successful blended teaching and learning faculty development program is presented from the viewpoint of these faculty developers and trainers. Guidance regarding program structure, content, and activities as well as general tips and pointers for fostering a successful faculty development experience are highlighted.

Click here for details and registration.

Learning Online 2.0: 20 Engaging, Interacting and Syndicating Applications - Oct 14 - 23

Web 2.0 technologies are revolutionizing the way in which instructors engage and interact with students online. Through RSS syndication, instructors are automating the delivery of learning objects to the students. Through Web 2.0 applications a whole host of new ways to engage and interact with students has emerged. Wikis, blogs, podcasts, interactive whiteboards, VoIP, tagging, image sharing, discussion rooms, and many more learning tools are freely available to educators.

Click here for details and registration.

Using the Quality Matters Rubric to Improve Your Online Course - Oct 14 - Nov 6

Recognizing quality is much like recognizing art; everybody sees something different. With regard to online courses, your students, faculty, administrators, peers, and accrediting bodies may not know what to look for in assessing quality. Defining quality standards proves crucial to successful course design and implementation.

Click here for details and registration.

Getting Started: The First Step Toward Online Teaching - Oct 21 - Nov 6

Getting Started: The First Step toward Online Teaching is a prerequisite to the Online Teaching Certificate program and to the Blended Teaching Certificate program. This workshop introduces potential faculty and/or administrators to online education fundamentals. You will not only discuss the concepts but use the technologies to gain practical “hands-on” experience.

Click here for details and registration.


Elluminate

21st Century students learn differently. As 21st Century educators, you need the tools to reach them-regardless of geographical, physical, intellectual, and economic barriers. At Elluminate, we take global accessibility very seriously. While most eLearning and Web conferencing products are built with the mass market in mind, we take a radically different approach, elevating accessibility to a whole new level. Our No User Left Behind philosophy means that Elluminate Live! is completely cross platform, optimized for low bandwidth, and designed to engage all types of learners, including those with disabilities. Learn more about how Elluminate can help you deliver 21st Century learning today, http://www.ilearndifferently.net/.


Sloan-C Quick Links

Membership - Join Sloan-C and enjoy added savings and access

Workshops - Tailored for faculty and administrators

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) - The leading journal for online education

Survey Reports - Latest findings from our research

Publications - The state-of-the-art in online learning

Effective Practices - Learn what works best from the best

College Pass - Dramatic group savings at Sloan-C workshops

Sloan-C Catalog - Listing of Sloan-C member online programs

Academic Continuity - Maintaining continuity of learning in a crisis situation

 

Featured Download

Research Highlights: Cost Effectiveness of Online Education

Research Highlights: Cost Effectiveness of Online Education provides a summary of research about cost effectiveness and its implications for practitioners. It was created by Tana Bishop of the University of Maryland University College, the Sloan-C Editor for Cost Effectiveness and Institutional Commitment.

Please click here to download the pdf.

 

Upcoming Sloan-C Workshops

2009 Workshops - Registration Open for All Workshops

Sep:

Oct:

 

Keep in Touch

Know someone who'd like to receive the Sloan-C View? Feel free to forward it or have them sign up for the Sloan-C e-mail list at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/.

  • We would love to hear from you. Please e-mail sloan-cview@sloan-c.org with any questions or comments.
  • If you know of, or are hosting, an event that should be listed on the Sloan-C View Calendar, please send the details of the event and url to sloan-cview@sloan-c.org.

 

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER
with Copyright Know How

Participate in one of the Center for Intellectual Property’s online workshops or sign-up for the new certification program focusing on copyright issues affecting the online classroom and libraries. Highlights of this year’s lineup include:

·         Copyright Education Programs: Teaching the Ethical and Legal Use of Information, September 14-25, Olga Francois, MLIS; Tomas Lipinski, JD, LLM, PhD

·         Licensing Digital Course Materials, November 9-20, Peggy Hoon, JD

·         Foundations in Copyright Management and Leadership, September 28–November 20 and March 29–May 21, Kimberly Bonner, JD

Register for any workshop by November 1st and receive a FREE one-year membership in the CIP member community where you can connect with other information professionals. Learn more…

For details & more information please call 240-582-2803 or see http://www.umuc.edu/registercip.