Higher Education and Today's Learning Economy: An Interview with CollegisEduprise's William H. Graves
by James L. Morrison and William H. Graves // Vision
This issue of The Technology Source opens with comments from William Graves, founder of Eduprise and a pioneer in efforts to advance educational technology. Editor James L. Morrison interviews Graves about his Vision of today's learning economy. Recognizing the current moment as transformative for higher education, Graves discusses the perspectives of four groups of players in the field: students, instructors, institutions, and policymakers. Graves shows that though these groups' interests sometimes seem contradictory (such as students' desires for on-demand education and institutions' need for efficiency), technology often offers solutions that maximize benefits to all involved in the educational enterprise. Graves draws on his extensive knowledge of the field to provide Technology Source readers with sound economic analysis, a sense of the scope of current innovations, and hints of some major changes on the horizon.
by Chris O'Hagan // Vision
Commercial competitors and delivery systems based on new technologies have offered unprecedented challenges for conventional universities. New "global universities" have entered the scene eager to satisfy the increasing worldwide demand for higher education. In this issue's second Vision article, Chris O'Hagan explores the aims and methods of institutions with apparent global ambitions to determine how such universities might influence the trajectory of conventional schools. O'Hagan suggests that highly selective institutions protective of their elite reputations may have something to worry about as globalization offers broader access to educational, intellectual, and economic opportunities. Offering a survey of motives and methods, O'Hagan's article is a must-read for those invested in education, both traditional and non-traditional.
by George Lorenzo // Corporate University
Our Corporate University feature for this issue focuses on a unique, ground-breaking initiative in online education: Army University Access Online (AUAO), otherwise known as eArmyU. Through this program, the U.S. Army's Continuing Education System has established partnerships with a range of service providers, technical and managerial support services, and educational institutions to help provide learning opportunities to its personnel. In his account of this ambitious program, George Lorenzo outlines its organization and infrastructure, discusses the challenges that it has already met, and foresees the further, long-range challenges it must address in order to accomplish its goals. For institutions looking ahead to the future of education, eArmyU represents a promising catalyst for the further expansion of online learning.
Simple Elegance: Course Management Systems As Pedagogical Infrastructure to Enhance Science Learning
by Gregory A. DeBourgh // Case Studies
Amid ever-increasing technological options, many educators aren't sure which are the "big bang" instructional tools, and which will pass away with barely a whimper. In this issue's Case Study article, Gregory A. DeBourgh considers some simple, yet elegant possibilities for managing the complex data involved in clinical nursing instruction. DeBourgh describes three ways in which Blackboard and WebCT have enhanced learning in his nursing course: through multimode instruction (visual, aural, and text learning prompts); through interactive online discussion that supports witnessed dialogue, coaching, collaboration, and communication; and through reflection and self-regulated learning. DeBourgh praises the range and ease of use of these tools, which provide e-mail with file attachments, threaded-message bulletin boards, and links to informational resources on the course home page. For any readers facing decisions about technological purchases, this article provides sound advice about tried-and-true tools.
by Celina Byers // Assessment
As any effective educator knows, Assessment means not only evaluating student work, but also providing opportunities for students to improve. Celina Byers suggests that whereas instructors usually grade students periodically and solicit feedback in summative evaluations at the end of the semester, Web-based tools can facilitate interactive assessment of learning throughout the course. Byers describes her use of an online course management system to make course materials available and inform students about events and resources. Besides grading final projects, Byers could evaluate students' engagement and achievement from the beginning to the end of the learning process, and her students could access their grades for every activity, monitoring their own progress. Instructors who have wished for better ways to gauge learning during the semester, rather than after it, won't want to miss this article.
by David P. Diaz // Commentary
What, if any, conclusions can be drawn if online courses show higher rates of attrition than traditional courses? In his Commentary, David P. Diaz offers a counter-argument to those who would perceive a simple correlation between drop rates and educational quality or student proficiency. By taking a closer look at demographic and performance data pertaining to online versus traditional students, Diaz proposes that drop rates may not be indicative of a student's quality of learning, or of their ability to succeed. While any institution will need to address substantial attrition rates, Diaz concludes that a constructive response to this problem can only occur when the contributing factors have been identified with greater accuracy.
by George Watson // Commentary
In this issue's first Commentary, George Watson of the University of Delaware tells how technology can enhance problem-based learning (PBL). Using "real world" problems, students acquire life-long critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and they learn where and how to seek appropriate resources. Watson describes his use of a course Web site, electronic communication among student groups, controlled discussion forums, collaborative space, and whiteboard capabilities to enhance instruction. And it's not just the students who benefitWatson observes that with the Internet, inspiration for creating a problem can come from international newspapers, available online with breaking stories and local human-interest sidebars. As students gain a deeper understanding of world problems, they develop more creative, comprehensive solutions.
by Lucio Teles // Commentary
To discover how online instructors use tools designed for the Web, Lucio Teles and his colleagues gathered data from instructors in the United States, Canada, Mexico, The Netherlands, Greece, Colombia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa. Teles reports to The Technology Source that instructors especially favor tools offering flexibility and easy access to the online classroom, as well as those supporting the flow of communication and the sense of community. Instructors also lauded tools that provide structure and unity to online courses while empowering studentsfor example, those that give students access to grade distribution for the entire class. In this Commentary, Teles describes his work as only a first step in the important work of designing the equipment that launches instruction into the twenty-first century.
by Stephen Downes // Spotlight Site
Readers weary of the platitudes and promises of some commercial or project-specific sites will want to take a look at this issue's Spotlight Site. Stephen Downes has chosen The Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS), a comprehensive, current site devoted to learning objects and content management systems. For serious (though not necessarily expert) investigators, CETIS features articles and links to relevant news items, with brief summaries written by a knowledgeable staff. The summaries provide a quick overview, a link to the site containing the news, and references to background information, as well as links to upcoming conferences and events.