Online Learning News

Current Update March, 2008 February, 2008 January, 2008 December, 2007 November, 2007 October, 2007 September, 2007 August, 2007 July, 2007 June, 2007 May, 2007 April, 2007 March, 2007

August 31, 2007
American InterContinental University Online Showcases “Outcomes”: How Real-World Education Produces Real-World Results
American InterContinental University Online has launched a new feature to its Web site that highlights some of the more spectacular "outcomes" of a college education received at the well-known distance learning school. Packed with statistics about student satisfaction rates, employer satisfaction rates, and AIU Online's success at reaching out to minority populations, the information can help lead potential students and their parents to a better understanding of the university. Also included are statistics on graduation rates, employment rates, and student body demographics. To future students, however, the most relevant feature of AIU Online’s site may be the profiles of current students and recent graduates. By distilling down to their essence what the statistics mean, by describing how an AIU Online education has helped enrich lives, and by conveying the personal words of people who have actually experienced an online education exactly as delivered by AIU, the school has placed a human face on the numerical information. Many of the stories are compelling. Dr. Alan Drimmer, President of American InterContinental University, couldn't be more proud of his institution. He, along with a dedicated faculty and staff, has worked hard to bring high-quality university education to those individuals who might not be able to drop everything and spend years studying in a more traditional “bricks and mortar” university. "In addition to providing individuals with a great education, AIU Online is about flexibility, accessibility, and ‘real-world’ results. Having a college degree can enrich lives in many ways – financial and cultural, of course, but it can help improve overall quality of life, too. We felt that, by launching this web site, we could demonstrate to the general public what we already feel so strongly about. An example of what one learns at the AIU site is that, of organizations that have recently hired AIU Online graduates, more than 95% of them are overwhelmingly pleased with the quality of their employees’ educations. Now, that is a fact worth documenting! And that’s exactly what we mean by ‘real-world’ results." To learn more about the outcomes of an AIU Online education, visit the dedicated web page www.aiuoutcomes.com. For additional general information on AIU Online, please visit www.aiuonline.edu, and for more information about AIU’s seven physical campuses, please visit www.aiuniv.edu.
Source: American InterContinental University Online, Illinois

August 15, 2007
Jones International University Joins Forces with Sentinels of Freedom
The Sentinels of Freedom Foundation, a grass roots organization that helps severely wounded veterans readjust to civilian life and prosper in their communities, has named Jones International University® (JIU®), its preferred provider of online education. As the first fully online university in the U.S. to be granted regional accreditation*, JIU offers a wide range of certificate, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs and will be instrumental in assisting Sentinels in achieving not only their educational goals, but also their life goals. For every American soldier who dies in Iraq, there are many more who survive thanks to cutting edge medical care. But that means scores of severely wounded vets are coming home and facing the challenge of rebuilding their shattered lives. The Sentinels of Freedom Foundation offers qualified veterans four-year "life scholarships," with the goal of making the vet completely self-sufficient. The program is based on five pillars of support: Housing, Transportation, Education, Career, and Mentorship. A community-based team, comprised of businesses and individuals, helps secure each portion of the support system for each participant. "Many of our Sentinels are amputees with serious mobility problems," national coordinator for The Sentinels of Freedom Mike Conklin said. "Getting transportation to a traditional campus and finding their way to class can be a challenge. Jones International University provides the perfect opportunity for them to receive a quality education from the convenience of their own home." For many wounded veterans, the convenience of online courses offers the best opportunity to further their education. The agreement with JIU will enable Sentinels to leverage their past military experience into a chosen degree program. A long-time supporter of service members and their families, JIU offers Sentinels quality academic degree programs in the fields of education, business administration, and business communication-all delivered in a flexible, 100% online format for ultimate convenience. "The Sentinels of Freedom program is one of the most important ways we can share in giving back to these American heroes," JIU Founder and Chancellor Glenn R. Jones said. "It's an honor and privilege to enable them to pursue their education at JIU so they may realize all their personal and professional goals."
Source: Jones International University, Colorado

August 13, 2007
Kansas State University Football Coach Ron Prince to Teach Online Leadership Course
Ron Prince, Kansas State University's head football coach, along with Susan Scott, assistant vice president for leadership studies and programs, and Todd Wells, leadership studies instructor, will teach an online course in leadership for the university's fall 2007 semester. "Current Topics in Leadership," EDLST 502, is jointly sponsored by K-State leadership studies and programs and K-State athletics, and will be offered for one undergraduate credit from K-State's College of Education. Six online course sessions will be available through K-State's homegrown learning management system, K-State Online. A one-credit hour course, it will include graded homework assignments. The class also will be offered as a noncredit course, EDADL 502, which allows participants to view the lectures and participate in discussion but not complete the assignments for academic credit. The course is for students, business and industry leaders, human resource professionals, people who work at nonprofit organizations, high school and college coaches and teachers, and K-State sports fans. Throughout the course, Prince will share his leadership philosophies, which can be applied both on and off the field. "There is a difference between being in charge and being a leader," Prince said. "A leader raises the game of everyone around him or her, like a great point guard or quarterback. Unfortunately, too many people confuse being in charge with leadership." Prince and Scott first taught the course last fall and it received positive reviews from participants. "I had the fantastic opportunity to take Current Topics in Leadership during the fall 2006 semester," said Michelle Beran, K-State distance education graduate and district manager of the UMB Bank in the Kansas community of Hudson. "This course provided excellent discussion and insight into my leadership skills." Scott says that for the fall 2007 semester, course work will include readings from "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. It is the second book by Collins to be used in the course. "I am looking forward to using this special format of teaching leadership again this fall," she said.
Source: Kansas State University, Manhattan

August 7, 2007
Athabasca University: 1,000,000 Questions Answered
AskAU, Athabasca University's award-winning online student FAQ service, handled its one millionth question on July 29 at 12:37 a.m. when it was asked, "What are your fees?" Accessible 24-hours-a-day, year-round since it answered its first question at 9:30 a.m. on January 21, 2002, AskAU can provide enrolled or prospective AU students with immediate responses to frequently asked questions on 240 subjects. The service is just one more example of Athabasca University's innovative leadership in online communication. AskAU allows students to enter questions about registration, courses, programs, or university policies, for example, and receive a best response, related responses and links to other relevant information. It also displays links to the 10 most commonly asked questions. According to Michael Shouldice, co-ordinator of AU's Information Centre, if using these options does not provide a student with a satisfactory answer, AskAU supplies a web form which the student can use to send the question directly to the Information Centre. The centre ensures that all such questions are answered within one business day. With 37,000 distance students worldwide, Athabasca University needs a system that provides round-the-clock service, Shouldice said. "Through AskAU, we were able to serve a million people anytime and anywhere they needed service. Many questions arrive outside our Mountain Time operating hours." AskAU saves both the university and students, especially international students who do not have access to toll-free lines, a good deal of money, Shouldice said. "It also allows us to see trends in students' information needs and to better plan to respond to them." Perhaps most importantly, though, Shouldice said, AskAU frees information centre attendants to focus on more complex questions and to deal personally with students who have individual problems. "It does a good job of handling the pedestrian questions faster than any human could," he said, "and it gives our staff time to do what an automated service can't." Besides enabling the Information Centre to offer a fast and consistently high quality service to students, AskAU also allows it to more easily manage its staffing requirements. Before introducing AskAU, Shouldice said, the centre was investing up to 49 hours a week in responding to over 1,000 e-mailed questions from students, but 40 per cent of the questions could be answered by a standard response. "Staff members were spending a lot of time cutting and pasting those responses," he said. "Since AskAU went live, individual e-mail replies have been reduced to as few as 312 a month. Currently, we schedule roughly 15 hours a week for e-mail." In 2006, the U.S. based Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) selected AskAU as one of 10 best practices in online student services in higher education. CENTSS is a partnership of several American institutions with an interest in distance education. It serves as a virtual resource for higher education institutions interested in assessing the quality of their online student services. Shouldice was also invited to give a presentation on the AskAU service at an Innovative Educator's Conference held in Cambridge, Mass., on July 12 and 13.
Source: Athabasca University, Alberta

August 6, 2007
Kansas State University Posting Online Videos about Distance Education
Kansas State University is making it easier to find out what it's like to take a course online. K-State's Division of Continuing Education has developed two online videos that help explain how K-State distance education works and how to succeed in taking courses online. "What You Need to Know about K-State Distance Education" is a 10-minute video that offers a detailed description of the benefits and ease of taking courses at a distance. The video also includes commentaries from distance education professors and students. "How to Take a Distance Education Course from K-State" is a 5-minute video that gives an overview of the different technologies used for delivering distance education courses. K-State's homegrown learning management system, K-State Online, is showcased in the video; it is used in both on-campus and distance courses. An upcoming video, "What K-State Alumni Are Saying about Their Experience," is currently in the works. "Taking online courses has become increasingly commonplace due to other responsibilities in people's busy lives," said David Stewart, assistant dean of continuing education at K-State. "Fortunately, with the continued improvements in technology, taking a course online has become more and more user-friendly. These videos show the ease of taking courses online and help to quiet the fears that some first-timers may have."
Source: Kansas State University, Manhattan