eLearning Roadtrip

Now that Online Learning is Hot, Hot, Hot

Seems as if everywhere one looks these days, people have some things to say about online learning.

On one hand - and I say this as someone who has been around the online learning block a time or two - It's about damn time. It is nice to finally see online learning getting its fair share of attention.

We're not talking about distance education here - that is, the delivery of courses using broacast or telephony technologies. We not  talking about elearning either, if one tends to think of elearning as the delivery of asychncronous, pre-packaged content for indidivual viewing at one's own pace. We are talking about courses being delivered via the Internet. Sometimes with an instructor, sometimes not. Sometimes with real-time activities, sometimes, not. What they have in common is that some percentage, all the way up to 100% of the course, is accesible via the Internet.

Seems to make sense, given how much of contemporary life plays itself out on the Internet today, don't you think?

The number of people turning to online learning as a solution for pursuing a college degree on more flexible terms than possible at a traditional post-secondary institution is growing like crazy.  4.6 million adults in the US are currently online students. That says something, right there.

So I am a little bit shocked at some of the nasty-grams that have been popping up lately, questioning the quality, relevancy, value and impact of online learning.

Just today I noticed this particular news item from CNN, asking if online learning is good for the armed forces. In reading the article, I realized that CNN was equating online learning with for profit universities. And the inference is that both are bad.

These days, for-profit universities and colleges are coming under intense scrutiny and are generating waves of raucous criticism for being predatory, "bad actors".  Economists have called them the next sub-prime market. The practices of several for-profit institutions have harshly criticized in a recent Senate hearing, with all for-profit institutions, AND all online programs effectively being tarred with the same brush. Worries over financial aid fraud and academic integrity continue to plague online learning and were also raised in the Senate hearings. Gainful employment requrements are being discussed and proposed as a requirement for financial aid eligibility in online - er, for-profit degree programs.

While online education is increasingly equated with for-profit education, more than 90% of today's traditional instituions also offer some kind of online courses or programs. This means that there are online learning practitioners at state schools, AND private schools, AND community colleges, as well as for-profit schools. So whether or not the intent is to curb the excesses of a few "bad actor" schools, regulations that touch online learning practice touch about every institution.

Online learning has tipped into mainstream consciousness. That is a good thing. Let's be conscious about how we let our practice be governed / regulated / accredited. Quality counts. So does being fair, equitable and focused on the right questions. At a time when more adults need more opportunties for developing skills needed for a new economy, it's going to be essential to get past hyperbole and rhetoric.

 

Just how open IS the Flash Platform??

Adobe Systems got some great news today when word hit the street that Apple had decided to modify its previously published App Store developer guidelines. According to an article published by the Silicon Valley Mercury News, Apple will now accept apps created with third-party software tools that are translated for the iPhone and iPad's iOS platform. The move reversed a stand Apple took in the spring that banned apps made with technology tools other than Apple's - a direct swipe at Adobe Flash. As noted in the Mercury New article, the earlier decision triggered anger among developers as well as reports that the Federal Trade Commission was considering an investigation into possible anti-competitive business practices. No point in making everyone cranky. Better to change the guidelines.

You may remember that when the Adobe-Apple debates were at their height of snarkiness that there were some who would have you believe that Flash is completely proprietary software. This evening, as I was reading reactions to the news that Flash would soon be making its way to iPads and iPhones, I was struck by a couple of tweets about how Adobe should now "do the right thing and use this as an opportunity to open up the Flash Platform". 

So I thought you might be interested in this particular diagram. (If you click on it you will make the diagram bigger, it will be easier to read.)  It is an illustration of the Flash Platform. You can clearly see the part of the platform that are open (noted in blue), You can also see the parts that are proprietary (noted in red), and (3) the parts that belong to 3rd parties (noted in maize), some of which are proprietary and some of which are open.

You will notice that there are far more parts of the Flash platform that are either blue or maize than there are parts that are red. Something to keep in mind the next time someone rails against proprietary software.

This diagram comes from the Flash platform team. I use it with their permission. Enjoy.

 

Seven Steps for Using More Rich Media in Learning

Many of the best tips for creating rich, engaging digital assets for learning come from sources that are probably not first-of-mind for most learning designers or IDs, much less trainers, professors, or instructors.

Case in point: My so-called seven steps for ramping up the engagement level in digital learning assets, below, are a thinly disguised version of a comparable list that appeared in today's eMarketer FYI newsletter. In an ad for Adobe's Scene7 platform, no less. Do you even know about Adobe Scene7? You probably do if you are a sales and marketing professional, but I would be surprised if many elearning or education professionals did.

In any event, by changing the word "customer" to "learner", and making a few other obvious modifications, these tips for making commercial online sales sites more engaging for customers this holiday season seemed particularly relevant for those of us looking for ways to engage our stakeholders in more compelling ways:

1. Mobilize your website. When it comes to the small screen, think big. Engage with full-screen video and interactive zoom. Remember how you like to use your mobile devices. There will be many devices with different operating systems, so be sure to choose an approach that makes sense for you and your learners.

2. Socialize your rich media. Blogs and Facebook are perfect homes for rich media. Post your online “catalog” of courses, assets, links and resources  in Facebook and go after word of mouth promotion of your resources by making your multimedia viewers embeddable by bloggers.

3. Cover your rich media bases. Learners are hungry for visual information. Cover all the bases, from visual search to to pan and zoom on all images and angles. Put up online examples, games and apps. (Chatroulette, anyone?)

4. Enrich your online image. Don't be static this term. Engage learner with rich-media activities and messages. Give your learners reasons to keep checking back to see what ELSE is new.

5. Persuade, delight & inform with videos. Speak to your learners with moving images; lectures, demos, interviews, field trips. Self-produced or links from YouTube.    

6. Invite user-generated content. Ask your learners to share their product experiences with photos and videos. Getting members of your learning community to contribute content makes the experience more authentic.

7. Let learners have fun designing one-of-a-kind assets and apps. Give learners the tools to personalize or design an online experience of their own. Use configurators to keep assembly simple and to help deliver a great online experience regardless of their technical abilities.

Perhaps those of us who design and produce intentionally targeted communications that are intended to bring about a call to action, a change in memory, performance or emotion have more in common than we might realize.

What Big Brands - Including The Apollo Group - Are Spending on Google

Over the weekend, an article published in Advertising Age discussed the significance of search optimization, the importance of Google, and just how much certain big brand companies are spending on Google advertising. 

The focus of the article dealt specifically how BP rose in the ranks of Google advertisers as a way to manage information about the Gulf oil spill. It was also a way to manage their reputation. Interesting piece. BP spent $3.9 million USD on Google advertising in June, 2010.

But the most interesting part of the the story was the "just how much certain big brand companies are spending on Google" part, because it also named the other Google advertising mega-spenders. 

Take a look. The Apollo Group, parent organization for the University of Phoenix, is second on the list. That would be Apollo Group. EDU, thank you very much. One of those for profit education companies we have been reading about lately.

 $6.67 million USD in June of 2010. In one month. The former public educator in me is blown away. 

I have a lot of admiration for what the Apollo Group and the University of Phoenix have done for adult learners and for the world of higher education. Not saying it's perfect, not saying that there aren't a bunch of ways for improving the experience, or for actively dealing with the problems of student recruitment and financial aid defaults. But I really can't think of any other institution that has put traditional higher education on notice as has the Univ of Phoenix. 500,000 students, growing at the size of a good sized land-grant institution per month.

Now, just think about how good they will be when they spent some percentage of that amount of money toward student success programs, once they get those students in the house. As in focusing on retention, progress, completion. 

It will be an interesting tide, floating all online boats. Might be time to get out the life-jackets, chart a course, find ourselves a fleet of like-minded sailors, and get ready for the journey. 

New from NCES: Postsecondary Institutions and Price of Attendance in US

The National Center for Education Statistics has just released a publication entitled ‘Postsecondary Institutions and Price of Attendance in the United States: Fall 2009 and Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2008-09, and 12-Month Enrollment 2008-09'. Great stuff if you are a statistics junkie. And even if you are not.

I learn about these reports from my clients and colleagues at WICHE, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. WICHE publishes alerts of interest to education policy and research communities. You can SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to the WICHE Policy Alerts and/or Stat Alerts distribution lists. WICHE also maintains a Policy Publication Clearinghouse, which includes past Policy Alerts and Stat Alerts, as well as other studies, reports, surveys, and policy briefs.

But back to the new NCES Report -  in 2009-10, there were 6,896 Title IV institutions in the United States (this is a classification that relates to one eligibility for federal financial aid) and other jurisdictions:

• 2,853 were classified as 4-year institutions
• 2,259 were 2-year institutions
• the remaining 1,784 were less-than-2-year institutions.

During 2009-10, 4-year public institutions reported average tuition and required fees of $6,400 for in-state students and $15,100 for out-of-state students.

4-year private not-for-profit institutions are charging an average of $21,100, while Private for-profit institutions reported charging an average of about $15,700

Between 2000-01 and 2009-10, 4-year public institutions reported a 46% increase in average inflation-adjusted in-state tuition and required fees and a 34% increase in average inflation-adjusted out-of-state tuition and required fees.

Over the same 10-year period, 4-year private not-for-profit institutions reported a 31% increase and private for-profit institutions reported a 20% increase in average inflation-adjusted tuition and required fees.

For more information on this topic please refer to the NCES and WICHE site links, above.