Help and Support everybody around the world

The OfS blended learning report presents key strategic guidance for universities. With the momentum gained from the rapid transition to online learning, there is no better time to reimagine the student experience.

Via Elizabeth E Charles

"Researchers from the UOC's Edul@b and the UK's Open University – two of Europe's leading online universities – have worked with Italy's Institute for Educational Technology to add an online dimension to rankings and, thus, promote competition in online learning among universities ..."

Via Leona Ungerer

It's 30 percent harder to design training for the online environment because there is one more entity that needs to be designed for—the technology.

Via EDTECH@UTRGV, Miloš Bajčetić

Most people know the benefits that come with furthering your education: you become more qualified, you can make more money, you have an edge over other job applicants, you become more knowledgeable in a certain field, and you expand your social and professional network. However, when most people choose to continue their education, they do so in person. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people into distance learning. Two years later, more people are going back to school in person, but should you consider online learning over in-person learning?

Via EDTECH@UTRGV, Elizabeth E Charles

It is often assumed that online collaboration, teamwork and communications is inferior to face-to-face equivalents as we miss the visual cues, facial, body language and so on. His would suggest that collaborative teamwork or meetings may be better with VIDEO ON, as opposed to JUST AUDIO.

 

Yet, this fascinating paper from Tomprou et al. (2021) at Carnegie Mellon, who looked at group ability to solve a range of different problems, found something quite counterintuitive. Visual cues have no effect on collaborative work. In fact, teams without visual presence were more successful, not only in synchronising their vocal cues but also speaking in turns and on solving problems. The authors rightly claim that this calls into doubt the conventional wisdom that you need video support.

Via Elizabeth E Charles

I'm thinking that the definition of 'book' ought to be changed for the purpose of such lists, because it seems to me highly unlikelt that the ten most important long-form reads of 2017 were published only by the likes of Routledge and Springer. I think that publishers have masterfully created this exclusive category of 'book' as something only they produce, and elicit free publicity for their product through member-only lists such as this (we see the same effect on radio shows such as CBC's 'The Next Chapter'). I listed dozens of book-length publications through the year that belong on any list of 'Top Ten Books on Online Learning. To recognize a category whose defining feature is that it is not accessible online seems to me to be so last century. I think that if people have something to say about learning today, they should be doing so openly, and online, where they can face the full glare of criticism.

Via Miloš Bajčetić