Conflicted: Faculty and Online Learning, 2012
Posted: June 21, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Newswise College and university faculty members are more pessimistic than optimistic about online education and remain far more skeptical about learning outcomes in online programs than are academic technology administrators on their campuses. But faculty members with a greater exposure to online education take a more optimistic view than their peers.
Those are among the key findings of a new study by the Babson Survey Research Group and Inside Higher Ed on faculty views on online learning. The study is based on two national surveys, one of more than 4,500 teaching faculty and a second of academic technology administrators. Inside Higher Eds article on the study (and links to the report) can be found at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/conflicted-faculty-and-online-education-2012.
Among the findings:
58 percent of the professors surveyed describe themselves as having more fear than excitement about the growth of online learning; more than 80 percent of academic technology administrators, on the other hand, say they feel more excitement than fear. Nearly two-thirds of faculty members say they believe that the learning outcomes for an online course are inferior or somewhat inferior to those for a comparable face-to-face course. Even among those with a strong vested interest in online education faculty members who are currently teaching online courses considerable concern remains about the quality of the learning outcomes. A third of instructors think that their institutions are pushing too much instruction online, compared to fewer than 10 percent of administrators. For all the faculty skepticism, the study provides evidence that professors gain more confidence in online learning as they become more involved with it. And on the most basic question asked of faculty at institutions with online offerings have you recommended an online course to a student or advisee? 60 percent of faculty reported that they had. The figure grows to 87 percent for those who teach online.
"We conducted this survey in the hope of bringing all voices to the debate over online education, and in particular the views of faculty members, who frequently argue that they are ignored on these matters," says Scott Jaschik, editor of Inside Higher Ed. "What's striking is that many of the questions suggest both faculty skepticism and faculty engagement with online education. We hope these results may be conversation starters at many campuses as they consider ways to enhance online programs."
For more information about the study, please contact Editors Doug Lederman (doug.lederman@ insidehighered.com) or Scott Jaschik (scott.jaschik@insidehighered.com).
Financial support for this project was provided by CourseSmart, Deltak, Pearson and Sonic Foundry.
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The Babson Survey Research Group in the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College conducts regional, national, and international research projects, including survey design, sampling methodology, data integrity, statistical analyses, and reporting. Visit Babson Survey Research Group online at http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com.
Inside Higher Ed (http://insidehighered.com) is a national online publication and jobs service for all of higher education. The site's 1 million unique monthly visitors and 93,000 daily e-mail subscribers count on Inside Higher Ed for authoritative news coverage, insightful commentary, helpful career advice, and a vibrant jobs service with roughly 7,000 positions advertised.
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Conflicted: Faculty and Online Learning, 2012
K12 Inc. Changes How Schools and Districts Manage and Personalize Online Learning
Posted: at 9:22 pm
HERNDON, Va., June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --K12 Inc., the nation's leading provider of proprietary curricula and online education programs for students in kindergarten through high school, today introduced PEAK12, a new way for schools and districts to implement, personalize and manage their online learning programs, all in one place.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110113/PH29436LOGO )
As online learning continues to proliferate in many different models and as more technology resources and options become available, schools and districts are seeking a higher level of integration across their various programs. At the same time that administrators and teachers juggle multiple systems and vendors, they also face the challenge of growing their online learning programs to meet the needs of more students.
PEAK12, which stands for Personalize, Engage, and Achieve with K12, is an intelligent management center for online learning that enables schools and districts to manage and personalize their online learning program solutions including K12 and third-party solutions, open education resources, and district-authored or -generated content from one place. PEAK12 eliminates the hassle of managing multiple accounts and roles and provides a consistent online environment for students, teachers and administrators, whether they are managing or participating in full-time online schooling, credit recovery, world language classes or in blending online learning with traditional classroom programs.
Beginning next month, schools and districts using K12 curricula, services, and support can take advantage of the intelligent management center. Free to current and new customers for a limited time as part of promotional launch offer, PEAK12 also features robust personalization and program management capabilities.
Teachers can individualize content and instruction in just a few clicks by personalizing courses managed by PEAK12 using a variety of K12 curricula and content, as well as district-generated content, to better meet student needs. For example, teachers can easily tailor Aventa Learning by K12 courses using content from over 5,500 lessons and assessments in the PEAK12 library. Soon, content from other popular third-party providers and open education resources, as well as PEAK12 compatibility with a growing number of learning management system platforms, will further augment the options for course personalization.
Also available through PEAK12 are new, powerful program management, enrollment, tracking and intelligent reporting capabilities. Teachers and administrators can quickly and easily create and publish course sections, set up enrollments, communicate with students, monitor progress and analyze results across a full range of online programs that can span multiple schools. Featuring new dashboard functionality available only through PEAK12, a multi-dimensional student engagement and performance summary categorizes each student's status in red, yellow, or green so teachers and administrators can know immediately which students require intervention.
"We have eight different campuses involved in our secondary blended learning programs. We currently use two different online learning products. With PEAK12, I will be able to look at all students, all campuses and all products," said Jan Streich, Director of Instructional Technology for Spotsylvania County Schools in Virginia. "From a school division management perspective, PEAK12 will provide me with a 'one stop shop' for monitoring student progress, improving seat allocation, and producing timely, more accurate data reports on our current programs."
"The teachers at my school will love the student engagement summary in PEAK12," said David Knoche, Principal for Falcon Virtual Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "Being able to quickly and easily see a complete view of each student's progress, no matter how many courses they are taking, will help our teachers focus their time and attention on providing more challenging lessons for those students who are progressing well, or additional help for students who may not be on track. Teacher efficiency will increase as students receive further individualized instruction."
"As online learning proliferates, schools and districts are demanding a higher level of integration and a single point for managing the many facets of their programs," said John Olsen, Executive Vice President of Operations for K12. "We believe that by providing robust content and management tools, and by enabling a centralized yet open system to support all of their online learning programs, K12 will empower its clients to deliver highly individualized educational experiences for more of their students, at a dramatically reduced cost."
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K12 Inc. Changes How Schools and Districts Manage and Personalize Online Learning
Excercise ball faceplant – Video
Posted: at 1:24 pm
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Excercise ball faceplant - Video
4 Thais among Forbes Asia's 48 Heroes of Philanthropy
Posted: at 1:24 pm
Home business 4 Thais among Forbes Asia's 48 Heroes of Philanthropy
Philanthropy
The Nation June 21, 2012 3:12 pm
Released today, Boonchai, founder of Cellphone Network and Total Access Communication, was honoured for his devotion in supporting education and culture since selling control of the company in 2005. This year, he plans to open the Thai Contemporary Art Museum in Bangkok, an US$8.4 million showcase for his collection of modern Thai painting, sculpture and miniatures that will be the nations largest privately funded museum.
Tan pledges half his net profit to his Tan Pan Foundation, which works to improve education, the environment and tourism. Gave $67,000 from his TV appearances with a standup comic for new buildings at Bor Thong Kindergarten in Chon Buri, his hometown. He also contributed to Japanese earthquake relief and raised more money via his restaurants and Facebook fan page for a total of $143,000.
Bilaibhan, chairperson of the family-owned Nai Lert Park Hotel, is helping lead efforts to conserve the nations fast-disappearing architectural heritage as president of the Siam Society. She also serves as president of a Thai fund involved in protecting wild elephants. Runs the Lert Sin Foundation, which supports health care and education and is funded from the legacy of her grandfather, who built real estate, retailing and transport businesses.
Thongma, CEO of Pruksa Real Estate, donated some $660,000 to hospitals, Buddhist organisations and schools in 2010 and 2011. A civil engineer by training, hes channeled most of his education-related giving into the engineering field.
Forbes Asia enlisted 48 most remarkable givers from across Asia Pacific. From each of 12 jurisdictions, four are selected for their mark in philanthropy in innovative ways.
"The selections are subjective and we aimed for a mix of notable people and causes. We also try to identify new philanthropists each year and pick only true philanthropists who are giving their own money. If highlighting these 48 generous souls encourages more people to support worthy causes, then we will deem our project a big success," said John Koppisch, Senior Editor, Forbes Asia.
Education for the poor remains a strong theme for many of the philanthropists.
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4 Thais among Forbes Asia's 48 Heroes of Philanthropy
Stand-up paddle yoga classes on the bay
Posted: at 1:24 pm
Leigh Claxton / Leigh Claxton
Students practice stand-up paddle yoga, traditional yoga and fitness exercises taught on the water on floating boards.
Who wants to do yoga in a sweaty gym room or even a breezy studio when you can do it on the bay? That's where Leigh Claxton goes. Claxton teaches stand-up paddle yoga (known among practitioners as SUP Yoga), which combines balance and stabilizing training with the core workout of a typical yoga class. Classes are three or four days a week in Sausalito. More information is at http://www.onboardfitness.org.
Name: Leigh Claxton
Age: Late 40s
Residence: Mill Valley
Occupation: Yoga instructor and rehabilitation coach
Activity: Stand-up paddle yoga
Describe paddle yoga: Classes are traditional yoga and fitness classes taught on the water on floating boards. Your mat is a stand-up paddleboard.
Where the idea came from: In 2009, I began experimenting with some stabilizing exercises on the boards to use with head-injury patients. By being able to actually feel what they were doing and see minor weight shifts, they were better able to grasp the relearning and reprogramming that needs to take place after a head injury. I realized how much centering was taking place and how great that would be for yoga.
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Stand-up paddle yoga classes on the bay
Life Coach Strategies – Do Not Make Assumptions – Video
Posted: at 7:15 am
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Life Coach Strategies - Do Not Make Assumptions - Video
NWCA Coaching Leadership Academy to be presented
Posted: at 7:15 am
INDIANAPOLIS -- The 2012 National Coaching Conference Presented by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), will feature a seminar today, Wednesday, June 20 by the NWCA, "Using Coaching Education to Help Save Intercollegiate Olympic Sports: The NWCA Coaching Leadership Academy Program Example."
The goal of the National Coaching Conference is to "educate, collaborate and influence"by bringing together coaches, coaching educators and school administrators to present new ideas and recognize the value of coaches as teachers.
The theme for this year's convention is, "Sports - Take Part. Get Set for Life."This is the USA Coaching Coalition's opportunity to bring together the leaders in sport and create dialogue to change the paradigm of the way sports are viewed and coached in the United States.
The NWCA's portion of the presentation will be given by the main architect for the Leadership Academy Daniel Gould, Ph.D., from the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) at Michigan State University along with his colleagues Larry Lauer, Ph.D., and Dennis Johnson, Ph.D. The Executive Director of the NWCA, Mike Moyer will also be discussing the importance of this program, why it was created and the impact it has had on Collegiate Wrestling in just four short years.
The goal of the NWCA Leadership Academy is two-fold: to help coaches enhance their CEO skills in an effort to strengthen their programs and to promote best practices for improving retention and graduation rates.
Since 2009, the NWCA has been able to provide scholarships to over 175 college coaches who have completed the course due to the generosity of our sponsors. This August, the NWCA and our sponsors will once again be able to scholarship an additional 50 coaches to take part in the Academy. To learn more about the NWCA Coaching Leadership Academy visit http://www.nwcaonline.com/NWCAWebSite/coachingdevelopment/leadership.aspx.
One of the major features of the NWCA Leadership Academy comes from its funding source as all coaches receive a "Scholarship"to attend; their education has been made possible from extremely generous donors who believe in educating our coaches to allow continued growth and stability in the sport of wrestling. Without these generous donors this program would never have been made possible.
By presenting this at the National Coaching Conference the NWCA and the ISYS will be discussing how this program can be adapted to other Olympic Sports at the collegiate and high school levels.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for the NWCA to be able to share our knowledge of coaching education with the other Olympic Sports, along with coaches from many different backgrounds. This also allows us to keep our mission strong by following the three core competencies of the NWCA which are: Coaching Development, student-athlete welfare, and the promotion of wrestling,"said Moyer. "We want to thank the NFHS and the National Coaching Conference for including the Leadership Academy and the NWCA into this year's program."
About the NFHS Since 1920, The National Federation of State High School Associations has led the development of education -based interscholastic sports and activities that help students succeed in their lives. We set directions for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities.
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NWCA Coaching Leadership Academy to be presented
Coaching's not in Hird's future
Posted: at 7:15 am
CATLIN Aaron Hird, almost a reluctant coach, was ready to hang up the whistle.
The Salt Fork boys' basketball head coach for five seasons, Hird was hired Wednesday night as principal at Oakwood Elementary School, which has kindergarten through sixth grade.
Though he has enjoyed coaching the sport he starred in before graduating from Armstrong-Potomac in 2000, Hird said it won't be hard to leave that phase of his life behind.
"Coaching is not something I ever saw myself getting into," Hird said. "I don't think I'll miss coaching at all. I'll miss the kids, but the coaching and the stress of the game I won't miss."
He was asked to help coach junior high basketball at Catlin as a student-teacher in 2004.
The following year, he was hired as a sixth-grade teacher and junior high boys' basketball coach. After two seasons and an IESA state title in 2007 he took over the Salt Fork varsity position. His five-year record was 133-25, including a Class 1A state title in 2009-10.
"My timing was very fortunate," the 30-year-old Hird said. "I've been able to do some neat things, and we had great kids."
Once again, Hird's timing is impeccable. In the summer he'll finish his administrator's certificate at Eastern Illinois University; there's the chance to follow in his father's footsteps.
"This is what I always expected to do," he said. "I never saw myself as a lifer. Never."
His father, Randy, was a school administrator at St. Joseph-Ogden, Potomac, Bismarck-Henning and Rossville-Alvin. Aaron Hird leaves a program with eight straight 20-win seasons and wins in 84.1 percent of his varsity games.
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Coaching's not in Hird's future
With Gratitude for 'Bling'
Posted: at 7:15 am
In May 2003, I met with a woman for a life coaching consultation in a caf in New Yorks West Village. She had a nasty case of writers block. I was about a year into my coaching career at that point and was continuously astounded at how good it felt to help people drill down on their stuff and get going on change.
This woman already had some suitors for the novel she had begun, called Bling, but she was frozen. That one-hour session clicked something into place for her. While I would never typically reveal even that much about a clients business, this one wrote me a website testimonial and so these facts were made public by her:
Two days after meeting with [Nancy], I broke through my three-month long bout of writers block, finished my novel a month later and scored a book and film deal six weeks after that. Publishing my book changed my entire life! I cant believe I was going to give up! And I shiver to think what would have happened if I hadnt had Nancy to put me back on the right track.
A beautiful expression of appreciation.
Last weekend I learned this woman, author Erica Kennedy, died at age 42. I am still stunned.
Her book went on to be a New York Times bestseller. I was proud to attend the launch party at Lotus in the then-emerging Meatpacking District. When Bling came out in paperback, the blurb from The Times on the back cover read, Kennedy is wry and funny, with the deadpan humor of a stand-up comic.
Once a publicist at Tommy Hilfiger, but not quite a fit in a corporate environment, she took her Sarah Lawrence College and Oxford education, combined it with her love of magazines and writing and wrote what The New Yorker called A gleeful satire of the hip-hop glitterati.
Imagine being only a year out of the life coaching gate and watching someone succeed on such a grand level because you listened, helped her see what was in front of her and yes reached her on a profound level. Whatever it was, whatever I said, whatever my energy conveyed across that caf table, witnessing the ensuing developments joyously unfold cemented my calling as a life coach.
I feel as if I am the one who owes a debt of gratitude to Erica Kennedy. Perhaps this is her testimonial.
In the years that followed we stayed in touch enough to know what the other was doing. For a while we attended the same church in Manhattan and so after service there was some real conversation over Jamba Juice and Murrays Bagels. We attended a Suze Orman book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square in 2008. The following year she published her second novel, Feminista, which author Rebecca Walker called smart, hilarious, and totally of the moment.
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With Gratitude for 'Bling'
Samsung Champions Health
Posted: at 7:14 am
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Samsung Champions Health