Playing truant by faking an illness is one thing, completely missing out on lessons while laid up in the hospital is something totally different. The nonprofit Virtual High School (VHS) has just made it possible for sick kids at three hospitals to continue their education through online classes.
The $30,000 pilot project is being kick-started with 50 free course seats being donated to the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Bayside, N.Y., and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a national program based in Memphis, Tennessee. These hospitals are already equipped with the necessary infrastructure needed to provide education to children requiring long-time care.
The donation announcement was made at the Advanced Online Learning Conference hosted by VHS in Danvers, Massachusetts on September 28.
A recent workshop held at the University of Buea (UB) in Cameroon discussed the possibility of distance education becoming a reality in the coming year. Participants from three countries, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria spent three days thrashing out the theme of the workshop, “Course Writing Driven for Distance Learning”. Professor Theresa Tchombe, the Dean of the Faculty of Education, was confident that the faculty and institute were ready to launch distance education programs the next year. The workshop was organized by the Faculty of Education. All Africa reports:
The university library will be entrusted to have products for distant learning to ease research. ASTI (Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters) on its part, will be charged with translating the courses in the different languages. Both the first and second semester courses were worked on to ensure effectiveness and continuity next academic year.
Africa has been in the news recently for its attempts to raise the level of educataion and extend its reach to the masses.
Online teaching is getting its spot in the sun at the 9th annual Florida Virtual School (FLVS) conference to be held in St. Augustine’s World Golf Village. More than 450 online staff from Florida and 19 other states across the country will take part in discussions and development seminars on effective online teaching strategies.
The issues under deliberation will include the latest technologies used in online learning such as podcasting, streaming video, new online content, online collaboration tools, and gaming. The meet will also focus on home-schooling and other policies that affect online education and education in general.
The Florida Virtual School keeps making headlines for its pioneering efforts in the field of online education.
If you’ve always dreamed of stepping into the portals of the University of California, Berkeley, in your quest for a degree, here’s the next best thing to actually learning on campus. The university has tied up with Internet search giant Google to offer free videos of its course lectures and special campus events to the entire Internet fraternity through Google Video.
With more than 250 hours of high-quality videos, UC Berkeley earns the distinction of becoming the first university to feature its own page on Google Video. "Physics for Future Presidents, "Integrative Biology," and "Search Engines: Technology, Society and Business" are a couple of examples of the topics you can find on the UC Berkeley page. The site also boasts a variety of public events and cutting-edge symposia on a broad spectrum of topics from climate change to synthetic biology, with more content scheduled to be uploaded over the coming months.
Posting free lectures on the Internet is going by the name “coursecasting” these days and is gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds. Audio and video lectures on iPods and handheld devices seem to be the in thing nowadays. Is attending classroom lectures becoming passé?
Well begun is half done, goes a popular proverb, and it’s never more apt than in the context of online education. Even before you begin a course, you can ensure success by following a few basic rules:
- Ensure that both the institution and course you choose are accredited by the right agencies.
- Pay for the program through scholarships and grants that exist to help with your tuition fees. This will ease your day-to-day financial worries. Sometimes, employers are willing to sponsor your education if they feel it will help further the cause of your organization.
- Schedule your work and study hours so that you don’t neglect one for the other. There’s only one thing more important than setting up a schedule – you have to stick to it, strictly.
- Set up a network of fellow students so you can discuss class work and assignments. It’s easier to stay focused and motivated if you are part of a group rather than a solitary owl.
The Northcentral University’s board of directors recently appointed Dr. Claudia Santin as the President of the institution. The University is a leader in accredited 100% online education programs. The programs offered here range from bachelor’s to master’s and doctoral degrees. Dr. Santin has a strong background in Online Education and is expected to lead the growing accredited online university into a bright future. The appointment came into effect from 1st September 2006
Dr Santin has been as a university staff member since 2004 when she was appointed as the Dean of School of Education. She was instrumental in launching the master’s, Ed.D., and Ph.D. online education programs at the university. Later on she became the Academic Vice President, Provost and Chief Operating Officer at the university. The appointment was announced by the founder and president of Northcentral University, Dr. Don Hecht. PR Web reports:
Santin’s ascension to the President’s position comes as NCU is expanding rapidly. Northcentral University is achieving steady growth in enrollment, thanks in large part to its solid reputation as a premier accredited online university.
Capella University has recently launched a podcast featuring an interview with Dr. Phyllis Misite. Dr Misite is a faculty member in Capella’s School of Education. This podcast is is part of the multi-part series on ‘Inside Online Education’. This particular part primarily discusses the difference between earning a degree online versus getting it by attending a traditional university.
Each podcast is about 7 to 15 minutes long and features interviews with the students, faculty and staff of the university. Through these podcasts, the university is attempting to throw light on various aspects of online education. By using a first person approach, they are able to create a better impact on the listeners. As the university is a leader in online education, the approach of taking on the role of educating the masses on the merits of online learning, is a justified action.
The podcast is available through the Capella University Web site at http://www.capella.edu or http://www.capellacommons.com. Other options of listening to the podcast is through subscription to podcast RSS feed at http://www.capellacommons.com/rss/ yahoo.com reports
The online university currently serves 16,000 students from all 50 states and 63 countries. It is a national leader in online education, committed to providing high-caliber academic excellence and pursuing balanced business growth.
Here is an example of how one man can make a big difference. Professor Fred DiUlus, e-learning expert and the CEO & Founder of Global Academy Online, Inc., started a revolution of sorts way back in the fall of 2001. The professor’s online teaching assignment at a small southwestern Christian liberal arts college helped start a momentum that has today translated into formation of private label online curriculum boosting online instruction. This has helped the one time small college to stand tall and compete with the biggest university for student scholars anywhere in the world. Global Academy Online, Inc. is based in Washington DC and is a provider of transparent, private-label, turnkey curriculum and instruction.
Global Academy Online may almost become a messiah for the marginalized liberal arts campuses that are struggling to compete online with campuses that have extra deep pockets. Big things often have humble beginnings and this is what happened in this case too. The professor discovered his system while he was teaching a course that he had created online. The course was called Freedom, Ethics & Free Enterprise. While the initial initiative was small the dreams were big. With a robust curriculum in place he felt that they could attract a world-class faculty and evolve multiple degree choices. This would help them to introduce innovative online curriculum. His conviction has catapulted the little college to great heights and brought in students from around the world. PR.com reports:
“Convinced online education was the next tsunami to hit higher education, DiUlus resigned his position and launched the Academy in 2002. By the Fall semester of that year, he introduced his transparent online course delivery and instructional system with a complete turnkey MBA program.”
There is one feat that not many online universities can boast of –fruitful partnerships with more than 25 Percent of All United States Community Colleges and State Schools. Capella University that was founded in 1993 is a kind of leader in online education. It has recently announced alliances with 10 new higher education partnerships with community colleges and state universities and that too in eight different states. There will be seamless transfer of credit between the partners and Capella University. The partnership also has a specially designed degree completion programs so as to ease students’ transition from a two-year college program to a four-year degree program.
All the member institutions are also happy since the university offers a lot of benefits to the students, faculty and staff of these institutions. They are eligible for discount on tuition on Courses offered at Capella. Apart from this they do not have to pay admission application fee.
All the courses at Capella are designed to meet specific needs of adult learners who are affiliated with the university’s partner schools in order to accomplish their educational, career and life goals. Capella online university offers graduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology. It also offers bachelor’s degree programs in business and information technology. Yahoo reports:
“The new partnerships include Life University in Marietta, GA, Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, OH, Wayne County Community College District in Michigan, Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach, AL, Huntington College in Knoxville, TN, International College in Naples, FL, Stark State College in North Canton, OH, Taylor Business Institute in New York City, Yuba Community College in Marysville, CA, and Zane State College in Zanesville, OH.”
eCollege and Blackboard are at loggerheads with each other on the issue of e-Learning patent. Blackboard has recently won a very broad patent on e-learning technology specifically pertaining to the online education industry. Blackboard has patents issued in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. In the European Union, China, Japan, Canada, India, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Brazil however the patents are pending but in progress. The company has sued its competitor Desire2Learn on the issue if the patent.
eCollege insists that it is a pioneer of online education. They had launched their first e-learning program way back in 1997 which is much before Blackboard even existed. Therefore eCollege claims that it has the right to the patent. In view of this fact, the company goes on to state that Blackboard’s patents are invalid. ZDNet reports:
"The fact that one company has been granted a patent for such a broad application and now is engaging in litigation with another e-learning provider is unfortunate for a market that traditionally has been fueled by innovation and choice, Thorne said.
