Adult Learners - Factor Contributing to Issues in eLearning Early Attrition among First Time eLearners: A Review of Factors that Contribute to Drop-out, Withdrawal and Non-completion Rates of Adult Learners undertaking eLearning Programmes Keith Tyler-Smith Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology Christchurch, New Zealand tyler-smithk@cpit.ac.nz Introduction The issue of student retention and completion rates in distance education have been investigated and vigorously argued over for at least the last seven decades (Berge & Huang, 2004). Some have reported attrition from eLearning as high as 70 - 80% (Flood 2002, Forrester 2000, in Dagger & Wade, 2004). Questions about the validity of much of this reporting have been raised as it is argued that statistics on retention and drop outs are, at best, fragmented, do not compare like with like, and are either unreliable and / or misleading (Hall, 2001, Wang, Foucar-Szocki, Griffin, O’Connor and Sceiford, 2003). Models of attrition for distance education Motivation and persistence
Understanding Digital Children - Ian Jukes One element of my professional reading at the moment is reading through Ian Jukes “Understanding digital children (DK's) Teaching & Learning in the New Digital Landscape”. Ian looks at the difference between digital kids and teachers and the impact that this has on teaching and learning. At one point Ian summarises the differences between Native Learners (screenagers) and Teachers. We know that experience, like using a computer, will change the structure of our brain, This is a concept called Nueroplasticity. Media Exposure Mark Prensky - in his papers digital natives and Digital immigrants, highlighted the exposure our students have to different forms of media. Increasingly, the readings and research are converging towards the same point. Digital Students@analog Schools - video Digital students@analog schools
Hybrid Learning: How to Reach Digital Natives by Alan Rudi “Hybrid education offers promise for engaging students who are demotivated by the lack of meaningful use of technology, and associated opportunities for skill-building and efficiency, in many lessons today.” As technology continues to advance and become more accessible around the world, experts who study how children learn are developing fresh paradigms designed to reach the new generation of students dubbed “digital natives.” The term emerged in 2001 from the work of Mark Prensky, a thought leader, speaker, writer, consultant, and game designer in the field of education and learning. Prensky is also an outspoken advocate of forming a more relevant system for teaching our children. According to Prensky, digital natives are the young people growing up in the digital world. Scientists have discovered that digital natives’ lifelong exposure to technology means that their brains are developing differently. Technology has transformed the world around us. Purpose-driven learning -- Editor
EdTech Cheat Sheet Infographic Understanding New Trends in Educational Technology Trying to keep up with all of the new buzzwords in the booming Educational Technology sector can leave you feeling like a kindergartner in a calculus class. Don't tell your teach, but we put together a little cheat sheet to keep you informed on what's happening inside and outside of today's most innovative schools. Think we're missing any major terms or trends? @GoBoundless Gamification? Virtual Classroom? Digital Storytelling? 1:1 Technology Providing every student with a laptop or tablet to make learning more individualized, increase independence and extend academics beyond the classroom. Also: much cooler than just giving out stickers. Adaptive Learning Software that adapts it's content and pacing to the current knowledge level of the user, so it's almost like having a personal tailor for your education. Asynchronous Learning Blended Learning A sure recipe for success: Optional--Adjust when, where and how students use the online content. E-Books
Characteristics of Millennial Students: What Professors Need to Know The first indication that the Millennial Generation may be different from previous generations is to consider how many different names we have for the generation and the people who belong to it. They’re referred to as Generation Y, Nexters, Baby Boom Echo Generation, Echo Boomers, Digital Natives, Generation Next, Generation Me and, of course, Millennials. If nothing else, they’re one of the most studied generations. Christy Price, EdD, a psychology professor at Dalton State College, became interested in Millennial learners when she noticed a gap between students’ expectation for success and the effort they put forth in the classroom (Price, 2009). In the recent online seminar Five Strategies to Engage Today’s Students, Price shared some of what she’s learned regarding the characteristics of Millennials’ ideal learning environments, their preferences regarding assignments and assessment, and the characteristics of their ideal professor. References: Price, C. (2009). Price, C.
Beyond blended learning: Reaching every student At the 2010 NCTIES conference in Raleigh, LEARN NC’s Bobby Hobgood delivered a presentation about blended learning. The archived session is available at the following link: Access to the archived session requires Microsoft Silverlight software. If you don’t already have Silverlight installed, clicking on the link will prompt your browser to ask you if you’d like to download the software. About this presentation Presentation title Beyond blended learning: Reaching every student Presenter Bobby Hobgood, LEARN NC — UNC School of Education Target audience Elementary, middle, high, K-12, administration Presentation goals Viewers of this hour-long presentation will learn Presentation abstract Dr. Dr.
Pedagogy and Moodle Let's sit back and really reflect on the pedagogy that is at the core of what we, as online educators, are trying to do. Definition of Pedagogy One definition of pedagogy in Wiktionary says The profession of teaching The activities of educating, teaching or instructing Wikipedia has a much longer page on Pedagogy. Moodle in three short paragraphs The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and resources. There are a number of other tools that make it easier to build communities of learners, including blogs, messaging, participant lists etc, as well useful tools like grading, reports, integration with other systems and so on. For more about Moodle, see and particularly the main community “course” called Using Moodle. Social Constructionism as a Referent I have these five points on a slide which I use in every presentation I do. Jason Cole from Open University recently referred to these as “Martin's five laws” (ha!) Finding a balance Progression Community Hubs
Best Practices « SHSUOnline Blog Welcome to the Best Practices for Teaching online or as we like to call it: Strategies for Success in your Online Course page. No matter what tool you use or technological journey you embark upon, is the method and not the medium that will help you ensure success in the online, face-to-face and hybrid courses you are teaching. These best practices/strategies will help you with organization, communication, time saving, assessment as well as many other areas. Just looking at this list of best practices, it is easy to understand how you might feel overwhelmed. Record an Video Introduction for your Course Record an introduction video introducing yourself and the course organization. You can create your own video introduction and post it or here at SHSU Online, we can get you in our studio where the possibilities as you can see above are limited only by your imagination. Use a “Virtual Office” Discussion Forum for Course Questions Let’s face it, we all “misplace” e-mail. Employ a Syllabus Quiz
Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses Note: This article was originally published in The Technology Source ( as: Charles Graham, Kursat Cagiltay, Byung-Ro Lim, Joni Craner, and Thomas M. Duffy "Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses" The Technology Source, March/April 2001. Available online at The "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education," originally published in the AAHE Bulletin (Chickering & Gamson, 1987), are a popular framework for evaluating teaching in traditional, face-to-face courses. We, a team of five evaluators from Indiana University's Center for Research on Learning and Technology (CRLT), recently used these principles to evaluate four online courses in a professional school at a large Midwestern university. Taking the perspective of a student enrolled in the course, we began by identifying examples of each of Chickering and Gamson's seven principles. Conclusion References