Archive for the 'Online Courses' Category
April 11th, 2008 by Jorge Goncalves
Online Colleges, part of the huge College Scholarships, Colleges, and Online Degrees portal, main goal is helping students to choose suitable online colleges, degrees and courses.
The all site is designed like a notebook page making use of a user-friendly right navigational toolbar where we can find several links to other site’s pages.
My main purpose visiting this site was to check the Undergraduate and Graduate Online Degrees section. Here we can find a very detailed directory of institutions offering accredited online degrees and courses complemented by a Quick Degree Finder search engine. We can search choosing several options: degree level, category and subject. The results link to pages located on external sites. The same happens when you try to obtain more information using the directory links. For each institution a brief description is presented but when we click the links we go to external pages, most of them located at elearners.com, where we have to submit a form to obtain more information about the online course we have chosen. I didn’t like this. I would prefer a direct link to the institution instead of going to another site to fill a form.
Nevertheless, I recommend this site for those who are starting to look for an online degree. The many choices presented in almost every field of knowledge are a strong point in favor of Online Colleges. For beginners, I also recommend the reading of the Ten Rules for Choosing Online Colleges and Universities and the 10 Tips for College-Bound Students.
October 28th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Promoting Academic Integrity in Online Distance Learning Courses, Robert T. Kitahara and Frederick Westfall, Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT), Vol. 3, No. 3, September 2007. Abstract: In committing to provide a quality education using online Distance Learning (DL) as the delivery mechanism, a university must face new challenges to ensuring academic integrity in the behavior of its students. In addition to the predictable challenges associated with the online format of DL courses there are additional challenges stimulated by the attitudes of the current student population and the increasing permissiveness of our society. This paper introduces issues relevant to promoting academic integrity with an example of a university’s published Standards of Conduct, exemplifies the nature of the problem with recent cases of academic dishonesty, reviews the current literature highlighting the extent of the problem, and assesses a technology-based approach to its solution.
September 3rd, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Notre Dame Opencourseware (OCW). ‘Notre Dame OCW is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners throughout the world. Notre Dame OCW does not grant credits or degrees, and does not provide access to faculty. What Notre Dame OCW does give you is open access to the materials used in a variety of courses.
An “opencourseware” is a free and open digital publication of course materials. By offering free, high-quality course materials to the world, OCW strives to overcome the barriers geography, economics, age and language present to the spread of knowledge. OCW is neither a distance-education or degree-granting initiative but rather an open dissemination of educational materials, philosophy, and modes of thought.
Notre Dame Opencourseware (OCW) Pilot Project seeks to publish 30 courses focused on the human condition. This site launched with the first eight courses on September 20, 2006 and continues to grow. In creating an opencourseware, Notre Dame joins the OCW Consortium, a collaboration of more than more than 100 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world, creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The Consortium’s stated mission is “to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware”.’
July 17th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Guide to Healthcare Schools. Guide to Healthcare Schools is a directory of online and campus-based schools that offer health-related degrees and training. This directory, aimed at adult students and working professionals, offers more than 1000 healthcare degrees and training programs.
Particularly for online schools, this site lists 28 colleges and universities offering healthcare degrees. For each one of these institutions a page is presented with the different degrees offered. The student can also fill a form to get more information.
I have tested the site looking for some degrees. For example, for Nursing I obtained 6 schools offering online degrees and several others offering traditional learning, ordered by State. Looking for Ultrasound Tech/Sonographer, no online schools offer this degree, only campus-based institutions. For some more technical specialties it could be difficult to find suitable online degrees.
The site is very well organized, with all the data available through a few clicks. On the left sidebar we find links to the different programs available and to some partner sites. On the main body, we find links to popular searches and to the most searched schools, degrees by type (online, associate, bachelor, master or PhD) and educational resources. A search engine is also available.
In the Educational Resources section we can find helpful information on important topics like how to search for healthcare schools, choosing an online degree and the importance of accreditation. The information is concise but very relevant.
The site works well but looks too much packed. I would prefer a lighter version with less information on the front page. The visitor could be puzzled with so many options. I would suggest a three column layout with some graphical elements. The first impression is almost always the most important.
Overall impression: Guide To Healthcare Schools is a valuable tool for a prospective student looking for healthcare-related degrees. With minor improvements it can become a reference in this area.
[This a sponsored post]
July 17th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
E-Learning Community 2.0 (Beta). ‘E-Learning Community 2.0 is a social site for knowledge seekers to enrich their knowledge through online learning, sharing and socializing to make new friends without boundaries.
E-Learning Community 2.0 is also an internet marketplace for infopreneurs (especially knowledge providers and internet marketers) to create, host, promote and manage their information business effectively in one single and easy-to-use environment.’
E-Learning Community 2.0 Blog
July 5th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
ALISON: Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online. ALISON is a free learning resource of interactive certification-based learning. ALISON stands for Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online. The learning is provided free of charge to individual learners. The mission of ALISON is to enable anyone, anywhere, to educate themselves for free. Through ALISON, the cost-barrier to learning can be removed.
Through the ALISON Learning platform we can assist people around the world in educating themselves, thereby creating a more equitable and sustainable global society.’
June 17th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Fathom - The Source for Online Learning. ‘This archive, provided by Columbia University, offers access to the complete range of free content developed for Fathom by its member institutions. Columbia encourages you to browse this archive of online learning resources, including lectures, articles, interviews, exhibits and free seminars. You can find additional online resources from Columbia University at Columbia Interactive or Columbia Educational Resources Online (CERO) and from the members of the Fathom consortium at their own websites.
Fathom Knowledge Network Inc., founded by Columbia in 1999, launched its website in the spring of 2000 with the goal of providing high quality educational resources to a global audience through the Internet. The Fathom academic consortium grew to include 14 leading educational and cultural institutions dedicated to that goal. The Fathom website ceased operations in March 2003, as part of a reorganization of Columbia University’s digital media activities.
Although visitors are no longer be able to purchase courses through Fathom, Columbia will provide this Fathom archive so that interested users may continue to access to the complete range of free content developed for Fathom by its member institutions. Columbia encourages you to browse this archive of online learning resources, including lectures, articles, interviews, exhibits and free seminars.’
Course Directory: Free Online Seminars from Fathom’s member institutions and course partners, offering the best in online education from top research institutions.
June 7th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Regis University Online Education. Founded in 1877, Regis University is a prestigious Jesuit school, accredited by the North Central Association (NCA) Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (CASI), the highest level of accreditation a college can earn, and is regularly ranked by U.S. News and World Report one of the Top Universities in the West.
Regis University is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization comprised of three schools: Regis College, offering long-established programs in liberal arts, sciences, business and education; the School for Health Care Professions, offering undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs in healthcare and the School for Professional Studies (SPS), offering programs for adult students with the option to choose between classroom-based or online courses.
The School for Professional Studies (SPS) was established in the 1970s to offer programs designed specifically for working adults. According to the site, SPS serves more than 13,000 adult students world-wide, in the classroom and online and more than 6,500 of these students earn their degree online through accredited distance learning programs. In fact, Regis University’s online MBA program has the largest distance learning MBA enrollment in the USA.
Regis University Online offers online Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and certificate programs, including: Accounting, Applied Science, Business Administration, Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Criminology, Finance, Marketing, Public Administration, Social Science, Teacher Education and Technology.
Prospective students can obtain more information at Regis University Online Education site. It’s a very user-friendly site, with all the relevant information organized in easily available sections. My advice is that they should start by taking Is Online Learning Right for You? questionnaire. If the answers are positive then they should be ready for their online learning journey.
[This is a Sponsored Post]
May 25th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction Homepage. ‘This free Digital Book, 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction, is an amazing collection of tips from 336 of your professional colleagues. Nowhere will you find a more comprehensive set of tips that you can use to improve your knowledge and skills in online instruction. This eBook is available for everyone regardless of their affiliation with The eLearning Guild - so don’t hesitate to tell all your colleagues about it.’
ebook: 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction (PDF, 1.1 MB). From Introduction: In early 2005 The eLearning Guild conducted a survey of its members on the subject of Synchronous Instruction. A total of 644 members responded to the questionnaire. The last question in the questionnaire asked members who have online instruction experience to list their favorite tips to share with other online instructors; a remarkable total of 336 members contributed usable tips.
As might be expected the tips ranged from a single word (Plan! or Practice!) to as many as fifteen separate tips running over 350 words! They also ranged from the simple and obvious to the unusual and subtle. They covered the complete gamut of behavior for an online instructor. We are providing these tips to everybody who is interested in being more effective at doing online synchronous instruction.
The raw list of tips was overwhelming, so we examined several schemes for categorizing them, none of which worked very well. Finally, we decided to let the tips fall into more or less natural categories as suggested by the tips themselves. Most of the categories relate to functional roles: instructor, manager, and design and development team.
May 25th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online. Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online was designed and developed and is maintained by the Dallas Baptist University Online Education Department. This site contains tips and tricks for designing course content, facilitating and teaching online, developing learning objects, assessment ideas and tutorials for Blackboard, just to name a few. Users are asked to rate each suggested strategy or idea and can submit their own tips and tricks.
April 27th, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
So You Want to Teach Online? ‘This program is a broadband learning tool intended for those individuals who wish to learn more about online learning. The modules address your role as an instructor, online pedagogy, copyright and assessment. You will notice different methods of presentattion and different technologies that will help you generate ideas for your own online courses.’
April 1st, 2007 by Jorge Goncalves
Open Training Platform. ‘UNESCO facilitates a collaborative access to existing free training courses and promotes open licensed resources to specialized groups and local communities for development. The objective behind this platform is to empower trainers or/and trainees with free resources, offer them a structured collaborative space to share their training but also to promote and value the “open†training materials, which are freely and openly accessible for trainers and self-learners to use and re-use for non commercial purposes such as teaching, learning and research.’
Open Training Platform: List of training resources (PDF, 464 KB)
