Some pros and cons of outsourcing online education

Parry, M. (2010) Outsourced Ed: Colleges Hire Companies to Build Their Online Courses Chronicle of Higher Education, July 18

This article suggests a change in corporate tactics regarding the commercialization of online learning. The article argues that due to the increased pressure from the US Department of Education on for-profit online institutions such as [...]

Measuring interaction in asynchronous online learning

Persico, D., Pozzi, F. and Sarti, L. (2010) Monitoring collaborative activities in computer supported collaborative learning, Distance Education, Vol. 31. No. 1, pp. 5-22

This team of Italian researchers have developed a methodology to track ‘participative, social, cognitive and teaching dimensions of the learning process’ in asynchronous, text-based online teaching in a blended learning [...]

Dispelling myths

I came across some blogs about ‘myths’, so I thought I’d put them together.

Myth No. 1: ‘A university education is becoming so costly – in the USA – that it’s not worth the investment.’

Proto, R. (2010) Is college still worth the investment? HICE SCHOOL, 30 June

Randy Proto, the President and CEO [...]

The impact of digitization on the study of literature

Parry, M. (2010) The humanities go Google Chronicle of Higher Education, June 3

In 1959, a physicist and novelist at Cambridge University, C.P. Snow, argued that the breakdown of communication between the “two cultures” of modern society — the sciences and the humanities — was a major hindrance to solving the world’s problems.

This [...]

New gadgets in Canadian higher education

Pagliaro, J. (2010) Apple America: Why Canada’s learning technology experts say tech handouts are lackluster Macleans, May 17

Another disappointing article from a national journal, this time Maclean’s of Canada. It went after Canadian reaction to giving out the latest technology to students. Not much to learn from it, but it’s [...]