Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti

Does the thought of the reautho-rization of the Higher Education

Act give you a bit of anxiety? If so,you’re not alone. “We’re always a littlenervous when Congress gets involvedin all this,” says Christine Mullins,executive director of the InstructionalTechnology Council. It is easy to seesome of the reasons why.

Mullins explains that there is alwaysthe fear that Congress might “imposeregulations that will hurt distanceeducation because they don’t under-stand it.” The same might be said formany people who do not work inhigher education but who listen tomedia coverage that is not always exactabout differentiating between differenttypes of distance or online learning.

For example, media coverage in2013 has focused most intensively onMOOCs. These large, free, openly-accessible courses have brought highquality educational material to many,but they do not comprise even a signifi-cant minor percentage of onlinecourses, and they are still typically usedmore for student self-betterment thanfor credit toward a degree.

“Most distance education courses arecapped at 25 to 30 people, not 150,000students,” Mullins explains. Yetconfusion about distance educationleads some in powerful positions toassume that distance and onlinelearning are simply ways of deliveringcanned lectures with no student-

instructor interaction to thousands ofstudents with relatively little resourceinvestment by the institution.

Mullins notes that there are someissues forthcoming or recently resolvedthat will continue to have repercussionsthroughout higher education. Theseinclude:

1. The battle over living expenses:During the summer of 2013, theAppropriations Committee initiallydecided that students who took exclu-sively online classes were not eligiblefor financial assistance with livingexpenses. This ruling fell hardest oncommunity college students. At theseinstitutions, an entire term’s tuitionmight be covered by a Pell Grant withmoney left over. If the students werenot eligible to take the overage to helpwith living expenses, it would makecollege prohibitively expensive or logis-tically difficult for them.

“These are not students living intheir parents’ basement,” Mullins says.Instead, she notes that many of thesestudents are adults who are foregoingbetter-paying jobs to further theireducation. The extra money towardliving expenses could make the differ-ence between having enough time tostudy and having to work a second job.This ruling was overturned.

However, the battle over livingexpenses is still alive and well forveterans and military students. Mullinsnotes that these students who take afull-time load of online courses receivea reduced allowance for living expenses.Take just one face-to-face class,however, and the student is eligible foran allowance toward living expensesthat is twice as big.

2. Being proactive with policy-makers:Mullins contends that “a lot of [thechallenge] is to be proactive in terms oftalking to members of Congress.” She

in this issue

A MAGNA PUBLICATION

Policy Puzzles: Looking Ahead to the Reauthorized HigherEducation Act

Volume 18, Number 1 January 1, 2014

Distance and online

education need not be the

foreign land that some

legislators think it is.

Policy issues in 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover

Monthly Metric: Marketing your online program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Faculty: What do contingent faculty want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Accreditation: Understanding the basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

In the News: A study of credential completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 continued on page 2

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January 1, 2014 Distance Education Report2

cover President: William Haight(billh@magnapubs.com)

Publisher: David Burns(dburns@magnapubs.com)

Managing Editor: Christopher Hill (chill@magnapubs.com)

Advisory Board

Fred Lokken, Ph.D.Associate Dean for TeachingTechnologiesTruckee Meadows Community CollegeChair, Instructional Technology Council,2008-2010 flokken@tmcc.edu

Lawrence C. Ragan, Ph.D.Director of Faculty DevelopmentWorld CampusPenn State Universitylcr1@psu.edu

Janet K. Poley, PhDProfessor EmeritusUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnSloan-C FellowJpoley@unl.edu

Distance Education Report (ISSN 1094-320X) is published semi-monthly byMagna Publications Inc., 2718 DrydenDrive, Madison, WI 53704. Phone 800-433-0499 or 608-246-3590.Email: support@magnapubs.com. Fax: 608-246-3597. Website:www.magnapubs.com. One-year subscrip-tion: $457 (Multiple print subscriptionsand Group Online Subscriptions areavailable, call Customer Service at 800-433-0499.) Photocopying or other reproduction in whole or in part withoutwritten permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Send change of addressto Distance Education Report, 2718 DrydenDrive, Madison, WI 53704. Copyright©2014, Magna Publications Inc.

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describes recent years as akin to“putting out fires” in terms of findingpolicies and bills with potentially-destructive provisions or loopholes,then talking to key legislators to correctthe problems.

In 2008, legislation surroundingstudent authentication became a majorconcern, as universities began to worrythat they would be held to nearlyimpossible standards of proving thatthe student who completed the work inan online class was indeed the studentregistered for that class. Mullins notesthat Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV)office was instrumental in putting clari-fying language in the legislation. Now,universities are required only to makeuse of a unique login ID and password,which is already a standard practice atcolleges and universities.

However, this was not the lastpotential legislative threat to online anddistance education. The Obama admin-istration has proposed a “Paying forPerformance” plan that would tiestudent financial aid to institutionalratings on measures like graduationrates, employability, and earningspotential. The new method for allocat-ing financial aid is expected to go intoeffect in 2018, after the ratings systemis developed by 2015. According to aWhite House fact sheet on the system:Before the 2015 school year, theDepartment of Education willdevelop a new ratings system to helpstudents compare the value offered bycolleges and encourage colleges toimprove. These ratings will comparecolleges with similar missions andidentify colleges that do the most tohelp students from disadvantagedbackgrounds as well as colleges thatare improving their performance. Theresults will be published on theCollege Scorecard. The Department

will develop these ratings throughpublic hearings around the country togather the input of students andparents, state leaders, college presi-dents, and others with ideas on howto publish excellent ratings that put afundamental premium on measuringvalue and ensure that access for thosewith economic or other disadvantagesare encouraged, not discouraged. Theratings will be based upon suchmeasures as:• Access, such as percentage of studentsreceiving Pell grants;• Affordability, such as averagetuition, scholarships, and loan debt;and• Outcomes, such as graduation andtransfer rates, graduate earnings, andadvanced degrees of college graduates.

However, this system has potentialto harm students with fewer academicoptions. “In effect, it will really hurtstudents, especially community collegestudents who are placebound,” saysMullins. She explains that that manycommunity college students are tied, forvarious reasons, to a college in theirlocal area. This includes the adultstudents mentioned above who may beconstrained by jobs and family. Incontrast, students in more traditionalfour-year programs at a younger agehave a greater chance at flexibility, withthe option to transfer to competinginstitutions depending on the amountof financial aid they can access.Therefore, a program that on its faceappears to be designed to help studentsfind educational value ultimately mayrestrict the options of those whose liveswill be most improved by accessinghigher education.

It is all part of Mullins’ contentionthat those making policy might well notfully understand the distance and online

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Distance Education Report January 1, 2014 3

monthly metric

What was the total quantity of postal mail pieces sent out to marketyour distance learning program in the past year?

Total FTE student enrollment

<2000 3,887.50 300.00 0.00 15,000.00

2000-5000 2,333.33 0.00 0.00 10,000.00

5000-10,000 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

>10,000 507,785.71 6,000.00 0.00 3,500,000.00

Type of institution

Junior or community college 71.43 0.00 0.00 500.00

Four year degree-grantingcollege 503,585.71 0.00 0.00 3,500,000.00

Masters/PhD level granting school 6,708.33 5,500.00 0.00 18,000.00

Research university 500.00 500.00 500.00 500.00

Public or private

Public 2,411.76 0.00 0.00 18,000.00

Private 356,560.00 6,500.00 0.00 3,500,000.00

Mean Median Minimum Maximum

Entire sample 133,577.78 100.00 0.00 3,500,000.00

Broken out by Country

United States 149,816.67 50.00 0.00 3,500,000.00

Other 3,666.67 5,000.00 0.00 6,000.00

Source: The Survey of Distance Learning Programs in Higher Education, 2012-2013 Edition, Primary Research Group (2012)www.PrimaryResearch.com

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By Rob Kelly

The use of contingent facultycontinues to increase throughout

higher education. Given the importantrole they play, it makes sense to considerwhat can be done to improve theirworking conditions and their ability toteach effectively. Understanding thecontingent faculty experience is certainlyan important step in improving it.

This was the motivation for a recentsurvey of community college contingentfaculty members conducted by CarolSchwartz, associate chair for undergrad-uate teacher education at LourdesUniversity. The anonymous surveyfeatured 41 questions, 40 of which werequantitative questions that asked respon-dents to report on their participation invarious instructional activities on aLikert scale, along with the followingopen-ended question:

“If your institution could do onething to help you improve your teaching,other than increasing compensation,what would you recommend?”

Six-hundred and forty contingentfaculty from 47 community collegesacross eight Carnegie classifications par-ticipated in the survey, and there were448 response statements to the open-ended question.

The six things adjuncts most wantSchwartz coded the open-ended

responses and grouped the responses inthe following categories (rankedaccording to number of responses):

1.Increased instructional support—This category included things such asequitable treatment in resourcesprovided; mentoring; orientation; andimproved observation, evaluation, andfeedback.

2.Collaboration, collegiality, inclusion,respect—This category included

appreciation for the faculty members’work, inclusion in departmentmeetings and functions, increasedinterest and support from the adminis-tration, more collegiality and collabo-ration with full-time faculty and otheradjuncts, and opportunities forcommittee service.

3.Professional development opportuni-ties—This category included generalprofessional development designed foradjuncts, discipline-specific develop-ment, development in pedagogy, anddevelopment in technology.

4.Increased benefits or work assign-ments—This category included beingoffered full-time positions, benefits(health insurance), improved workfacilities, and pay for attending confer-ences.

5.Improved communication.6.Less paperwork and legalism.

“The adjuncts are saying, ‘Pleaseinclude us. Invite us to meetings or havefaculty meetings once a year in theevening so we can attend.’ That’swonderful.”

Six recommendations1.Improve communication—Schwartz

says that this is the most cost-effectiveand least difficult area to focus onwhen trying to improve the contingentfaculty experience. Frequent, effectivecommunication with contingentfaculty can improve professional rela-tionships and help them feel includedand respected. “I always try to makesure that I’m getting to the adjunctsthe information they need to helpthem be more effective. There arecertain times when they’re teachingkey courses where I’ll say, ‘I know thisis going to be tough, but could youattend a meeting on campus becauseyou are critical to this change or thismeeting?’” Schwartz says.

2.Shift from a teaching to a learningparadigm. “I think institutions needto recognize that it’s not aboutteaching; it’s about learning. Once westart to shift that focus, maybe thenwe could do things to support instruc-tors in creating effective learning expe-riences. We’re in the middle of aseismic shift where we’re looking atthe effects of our work on studentlearning, but some people still aren’tmaking the connection,” Schwartzsays.

3.Ask your contingent faculty what youcan do to improve their teaching.Asking the same open-ended questionfrom this study might yield some sur-prising insights from contingentfaculty at your institution. Onerespondent in this study, for example,asked for access to a photocopierrather than having to pay for work-related copies.

4.Assign courses early. This will givecontingent faculty members more timeto prepare.

5.Provide professional developmentand offer incentives. Allow those whoparticipate in professional develop-ment activities to have more input onwhich courses they want to teach.

6.Tap into contingent facultymembers’ areas of expertise.Contingent faculty members may haveskills or knowledge that full-timefaculty do not. By communicating andcollaborating with contingent facultymembers, you might be able to addcourses that you would otherwise nothave been able to include. �

January 1, 2014 Distance Education Report4

Faculty

What Do Contingent Faculty Want?

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Distance Education Report January 1, 2014 5

Compliance and Accreditation 101: Understanding the Basics andManaging the Process

Accreditation

Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti

One of the most complex areas ofuniversity operation is managing

compliance and accreditation. Tooutside observers, the various regula-tions, certifications, and processes canappear labyrinthine. However, to thosein the know, these issues are mostly amatter of preparation and organization.

Sean Spear is manager of compliance,accreditation, and licensure for WesternGovernors University (WGU). He offersa general overview of accreditation andcompliance for those new to thenuances.

Understanding accreditationAccreditation, Spear says, is divided

in to three types: national, functional,and regional. The differences are moredramatic and less intuitive than theymay first appear.

• National accreditation, Spear says, is“the least important.” While the name“national” may sound like the highestversion of accreditation, it is actuallythe most limited. Although it is easierto obtain and maintain than othertypes of accreditation, it does notwork across functional lines and is nothelpful in managing multipleprograms across multiple states.Credits earned at schools with onlynational accreditation may be moredifficult to transfer to other schools.

• Functional accreditation is program-specific. For certain types of programs,functional accreditation is just asimportant as regional accreditation.There are three major functionalaccrediting bodies: the Council for theAccreditation of Educator Preparation(CAEP) for teacher educationprograms; the Commission on

Collegiate Nursing Education(CCNE) for nursing programs; andthe Commission on Accreditation forHealth Informatics and InformationManagement Education (CAHIIM)for health information management.

• Regional accreditation, says Spear, is“the most important,” giving a univer-sity national status. “That’s what getsyou known nationally,” he says. Infact, he contends that an institutioncannot function as a major universitywithout regional accreditation.Certainly, students will find credits

much easier to transfer across institu-tions with regional accreditation. Thisaccreditation is managed by sixregional accrediting bodies.

Understanding complianceCompliance has come to the

forefront in the past year because ofconcern over state authorization, theregulation that insists that programsenrolling students in states have thosestates’ authorization to operate. This hascaused a great deal of concern for insti-tutions offering distance or onlineprograms, because they may well be“operating” in all 50 states, requiring 50instances of securing compliance. Theconcern is magnified by the various

triggers that might signal a college oruniversity is “doing business” in a state,including the presence of students,faculty, physical location, marketingactivities, and housing of servers andcomputer equipment.

Spear defines compliance as “the stateknow[ing] you exist and know[ing] youoffer programs. This includes the insti-tution’s home state and any other statesthat it may operate in. Each state has itsown procedure, which adds to the workinvolved in securing compliance.“Compliance work is more complicatedthan accreditation,” Spear says. “[It canbe] everything from a letter from thepresident to a full-blown…site visit andself-study.” For this reason, assuringcompliance requires a good deal ofresearch.

To complete this research, institu-tions may decide to tap into someoutside help. “We found it very advanta-geous to hire a research firm up front,”says Spear of his experience with WGU.“A firm may have a system in place ofseasoned researchers,” he says. “It’s amuch bigger task than one person cantake on.”

However, WGU ultimately provedthat institutions do not need to hire aresearch firm if they are prepared toinvest in hiring the appropriate numberof in-house experts. WGU now nolonger uses an outside firm but has itsown compliance team to manage com-pliance with the institution’s operationin all 50 states and the territories.

Working with compliance and accreditation

To manage these complex processes,it is important to have dedicated expertsin the institution who can provide

It is important to have a

point person in the university

who is responsible for

coordinating all of the work

and manages the project.

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In the News

December 3rd, 2013By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed

Peter Shea, an associate professor ofeducation at the State University of NewYork at Albany, said the study hepresented here, “Does Online LearningHelp Community College StudentsAttain a Degree?” was spurred by aseries of studies published in the last twoyears by the Community CollegeResearch Center at ColumbiaUniversity’s Teachers College. Incontrast to the CCRC studies, theAlbany research found that students whohad enrolled in at least one online coursein their first year did not come intocollege with better academic preparationthan did those who took no courses at adistance. And students who took onlinecourses at a distance were 1.25 timeslikelier to earn a credential (certificate,associate or bachelor’s degree) by 2009than were their peers who had not takenany online courses. Those who startedcollege with a goal of attaining a certifi-cate (rather than a bachelor’s degree) andtook online courses were 3.22 times aslikely to earn a credential than werestudents who did not take onlinecourses.Read the rest at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/26/study-online-learning-finds-it-helps-not-hurts-credential-attainment.

Prerequisites for Persistence inDistance EducationDecember 4th, 2013by Britten Ekstrand, OJDLA

In the last two decades, distanceeducation has grown worldwide and isnow established as a reliable educationalmethod. Accompanying this develop-ment, questions about low rates ofstudent persistence have come to interestgovernments, institutions, and universitymanagement. This article is based on anoriginal local study at a university in

Sweden investigating what it takes to getstudents to continue their enrolment incourses or programs. Teachers’ viewswere captured in interviews and focusgroups. These views were analyzed inthe context of research in the field cata-logued under the keywords “retention”and “persistence” in “distance education”and “distance learning.” The resultsindicate that the teachers would like tosee a shift in focus from students to theorganization and its technical andadministrative teacher and learnersupport. Staff attitudes, institutionalstructure, and the management viewstowards distance education seem to becritical factors.Read the rest at: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter164/ekstrand164.html.

Online Edu Still Garnering MixedResponses at Duke Arts and SciencesCouncilDecember 12th, 2013By Sasha Zients, Duke Chronicle

Even as online courses move forwardat Duke, some faculty members still havemisgivings. At the Arts and SciencesCouncil’s last meeting of 2013, ChairThomas Robisheaux, Fred W. Schafferprofessor of history, opened up the floorto members to express their views on theUniversity’s venture into onlineeducation. Though some professors—including those already teaching onlineclasses—see the benefits, others feelpressured to incorporate online elements.Faculty concurred, however, on the ideathat online education needed to be betterdefined. “We need to know what we’retalking about—what these things looklike and how they are framed in order tohave these kinds of discussions,” saidCary Moskovitz, director of writing inthe disciplines for the ThompsonWriting Program.Read the rest at: http://www.

dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/12/06/online-edu-still-garnering-mixed-responses-arts-and-sciences-council.

What Modularity Means for MOOCsDecember 11th, 2013by Harvard Magazine

Reporting to the Faculty of Arts andSciences (FAS) at length for the firsttime since he was appointed vice provostfor advances in learning last September,Peter K. Bol highlighted shifts in thelandscape for the much-publicizedmassive open online courses (MOOCs).At the December 3 faculty meeting, Bolnoted that:People who register for free MOOCs,like those offered on edX, differ fromconventional students, and are notusing them like conventional courses.Students enrolled in higher-educationinstitutions seem disinclined to takeadvantage of not-for-credit MOOCs.Faculty members are increasinglyinterested in using edX technology toproduce “modules”—short unitscovering a single subject, backgroundinformation, a problem set, or elementsof a larger course—rather than entirecourses, which entail an enormousinvestment of their time and energy.

Read the rest at: http://harvard-magazine.com/2013/12/harvard-mit-online-education-views-changing.

Professors in Deal to Design OnlineLessons for A.P. ClassesDecember 10th, 2013By Tamar Lewin, New York Times

To ease the way for studentsgrappling with certain key concepts, pro-fessors at Davidson College in NorthCarolina will design online lessons forhigh school students in AdvancedPlacement courses in calculus, physicsand macroeconomics and make them

Online Learning and Credential Completion

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Distance Education Report January 1, 2014 7

guidance and oversight. “You needsomeone who can manage the self-studyprocess and people throughout the uni-versity.”

Of course, like many university tasks,the success of these processes dependson buy-in from the numerous peopleand offices that will participate ingathering and synthesizing informationthat will be used in compliance andaccreditation processes. “When someonefrom compliance and accreditationcontacts you, you need to respond,”Spear says.

Sometimes this requires a culturechange across the institution, Spear says,but it should be one that is easy for allto understand and get behind. “Youreally can’t have a university withoutaccreditation, so it rises to the highestlevel,” he says. “It starts with the admin-istration: ‘If we don’t have this, youdon’t have your job.’”

It is also important to have a pointperson in the university who is responsi-ble for coordinating all of the work andmanages the project. “Have someone

who leads the effort and is the logisticscoordinator,” Spear says. This person isresponsible for calling each state oraccrediting body involved in the compli-ance or accreditation efforts and beingsure that the institution has completeinformation to be sure that nothing ismissed. Spear recommends using projectmanagement software to track the workneeded; Microsoft Project and AtTaskare two options. Using this kind ofsoftware will aid in the creation ofchecklists; these checklists shouldinclude every task as an action itemassigned to a team member responsiblefor its creation.

Details are important in this type ofproject. Spear notes that it is importantto manage all aspects of a project, downto transportation arrangements anddietary needs of the representativescoming for a site visit. Every staffmember involved in the visit needs to benotified and have his or her calendarclear for the time required. Technicalsupport should be available on an on-callbasis. The coordinator will also need toarrange for other items like computers,name tags, copies of the report, and

take-away gifts. Details are important in document-

creation too; he recommends having ameeting with the team of institutionalexperts who will be writing individualdocument sections, but also using a pro-fessional editor to make sure the finaldocument is written in one voice. “Trackevery single detail,” he says.

Consider also the tone you wish toset during any site visits. Spear likes theidea of setting the tone for such a visitwith an hors d’oeuvres reception andkick-off session for the site visitors as anice breaker. At this session, the institu-tion may wish to include posters pre-viewing the material the site visitors willsee during their stay. However, he notesthat some institutions feel this is inap-propriate, so each institution shouldmake its decision according to their owncomfort level and their knowledge of thevisitors.

Dealing with compliance and accred-itation can be a detail-heavy task, but itis an important one to the university’smission. With a little advance prepara-tion, it can be undertaken with aminimum of anxiety. �

Accreditation..from page 5

widely available through the CollegeBoard and edX, a nonprofit onlineeducation venture. “We joined edX inMay, specifically because many of ourfaculty wanted to work on thisAdvanced Placement project,” saidCarol Quillen, the president ofDavidson. “They see kids come intotheir introductory classes, year after yearafter year, and get stuck on certainconcepts, like the Phillips curve inmacroeconomics, and they wanted tocreate some interactive online units thatteachers could use to help teach thehardest ideas.”Read the rest at:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/educ

ation/professors-in-deal-to-design-online-lessons-for-ap-classes.html?hpw&rref=education&_r=0.

These MOOCs Will Make YouReconsider Everything About PDDecember 10th, 2013By Greg Thompson, THE Journal

Almost every teacher knows how itfeels to slog through mandatory profes-sional development. All too often, irrele-vant workshops are an inevitable fact oflife in the one-size-fits-all world ofteacher training. As a former fourth-grade teacher, Julia Stiglitz has sufferedthrough dull courses. And while shecan’t cure the boredom of teachers whomust endure subpar PD, she hopes totransform the voluntary side of PD

through so-called massive open onlinecourses (MOOCs). “Sitting through PDthat is not related to something youneed to work on can be very frustrating,”says Stiglitz, director of business devel-opment and strategic partnerships forCoursera. “One of the best aspects ofonline PD is the ability for teachers toget information that is relevant tothem–and from really strong organiza-tions that know their content and howto deliver it.”Read the rest at:http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/11/18/these-moocs-will-make-you-reconsider-everything-about-pd.aspx.

In The News..from page 6

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January 1, 2014 Distance Education Report8

education landscape. She cites statisticsthat show that only about 20 percent ofstudents enrolled in higher educationlive on campus. This is a dramatic factwhen one considers that those of a gen-eration old enough to be making higher

education policy may well be remember-ing a college landscape that no longerexists for most students.

Mullins suggests that those makingpolicy for online and distance educationneed to remember a key point that sheonce heard a presenter make: Distanceeducation is not distant for the students

enrolled. Instead, distance education isthe ultimate in local education, comingstraight to the student through theirlaptop or mobile device. Viewed as such,it is clear that distance and onlineeducation need not be the foreign landthat some legislators may think it is. �

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U.S. Seeks Experiments on NewModels of Higher EdDecember 8th, 2013by Inside Higher Ed

The Obama administration is movingahead with plans to waive certain federalstudent aid rules for a limited number ofcolleges that want to experiment withcompetency-based education and otherinnovative forms of higher education.Officials are soliciting suggestions onwhat those experiments should look like,according to a notice set to be publishedin the Federal Register this week. TheEducation Department said it is “partic-ularly interested in experiments that aredesigned to improve student persistenceand academic success, result in shortertime to degree, including by allowingstudents to advance through educationalcourses and programs at their own paceby demonstrating academic achieve-ment, and reduce reliance on studentloans.”Read the rest at: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/12/05/us-seeks-experiments-new-models-higher-ed.

The A to Z Guide to Top OnlineLearning TrendsDecember 7th, 2013By Katie Lepi, Edudemic

Staying on top of the trends in theever-evolving edtech world can turn into

a full time job. One can easily get lost inthe sea of acronyms, terminology, digi-speak, and new concepts. While weknow that many of our fabulousEdudemic readers are the few stayingahead of the curve (or at least with it!),we also know that there are lots ofreaders who find us because they’remaking their first steps into the edtechworld. The handy infographic belowtakes a stroll through the alphabet tofamiliarize you with the A-Z of edtechterminology and online learning trends.Pick one that you’re not familiar withand do some research on it to keepyourself learning, or share it with yourless tech-obsessed colleagues!Read the rest at: http://www.edudemic.com/top-online-learning-trends/.

Undergraduate Students’ Preferencefor Distance Education by Field ofStudyDecember 5th, 2013by Manuel C. F. Pontes and Nancy M. H.Pontes, OJDLA

This research investigates the rela-tionship between students’ field of studyand their preference for distanceeducation. For this research, data wereused from the National PostsecondaryStudent Aid Study: Undergraduate,which uses a complex survey design tocollect data from a nationally representa-tive sample of undergraduate postsec-ondary students in the US. Results showthat a student’s field of study is signifi-

cantly related to enrollment in distanceeducation classes, enrollment in adistance education program, and satis-faction with distance education. Full-time employment, presence of depen-dents, and a mobility-limiting disabilityare also significantly associated withdistance education preference.Enrollment trends show significantgrowth in distance education enrollmentover 2000 to 2008 among students in allfields of study.Read the rest at: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter164/pontes_pontes164.html.

The Divine OnlineDecember 4th, 2013By Jonathan Beasley, Harvard DivinitySchool

In an age when even the pope tweets,it is only natural that Harvard DivinitySchool (HDS) has created its firstonline, interactive learning experience,with help from HarvardX, theUniversity-wide initiative to supportfaculty use of innovative technologies forteaching. The HarvardX course module,“Early Christianity: The Letters ofPaul,” HDS1554.1x, taught by LauraNasrallah, explores the context of thePauline correspondence in the RomanEmpire and the impact of thesepowerful texts today.Read the rest at: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/11/the-divine-online/. �

In the News...from page 7

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