Online learning is one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology. According to NMC Horizon Report (2014), higher education institutions are developing more online courses to both replace and supplement existing courses. A study published by the Babson Survey Research Group at the beginning of 2013 found that, more than 6.7 million students, or 32% of total higher education enrollment in the United States, took at least one online course in Fall 2011 — an increase of more than half a million students from the prior year. (NMC Report, 2014 Higher Education Edition)
Online learning brings a lot of educational benefits in terms of promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing. First, when working together students construct new knowledge, often understanding course content better and retaining it longer than via individual learning (Dawley, 2007; Johnson & Johnson, 1990). In addition to facilitating the acquisition of course content and concepts, collaborative learning also promotes learning how to work in group settings. A third educational benefit is the development of critical thinking skills.
The video below outlines the growth of the online learning industry with amazing facts and statistics that shows how fast online learning is growing.
Online learning brings a lot of educational benefits in terms of promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing. First, when working together students construct new knowledge, often understanding course content better and retaining it longer than via individual learning (Dawley, 2007; Johnson & Johnson, 1990). In addition to facilitating the acquisition of course content and concepts, collaborative learning also promotes learning how to work in group settings. A third educational benefit is the development of critical thinking skills.
The video below outlines the growth of the online learning industry with amazing facts and statistics that shows how fast online learning is growing.
And the TED Talk video below shows Daphne Koller, the founder of Coursa, one of the biggest MOOCs, talking about what we are learning from online education.
Online learning also has other advantages, such as time flexibility, location flexibility, availability and etc. However, it also has significant cons that hindering its development. For example, some online courses are just using technology to reproduce the traditional teacher-centered lecturing teaching method and lacking interaction is also known as a disadvantage of online learning. That partly explains why the completion rate is so low in online courses. So, instructors cannot simply translate their face-to-face teaching practices into an online setting, but must tailor their teaching to the online environment.
The PDF file below is what we did as our group presentation in Emerging Technologies For Educational Change class.
The PDF file below is what we did as our group presentation in Emerging Technologies For Educational Change class.
You can also create your own online course using Edmodo at https://www.edmodo.com
There are some new trends in Online Learning. MOOC providers now increasingly realize that a more human-centered support structure is key to helping students engage in and stick with the course. According to NMC Horizon Report 2014, learning analytics, adaptive learning, and a combination of cutting-edge asynchronous and synchronous tools need to be further studied to continue to advance the state of online learning. (NMC Horizon Report, 2014 Higher Education Edition) Personalizing online learning experience is of great importance to better engaging students in deep learning. Explorations of the polices needed to support and encourage all these effort above, and to guarantee quality is an area where considerable development is unfolding. (NMC Horizon Report, 2014 Higher Education Edition)
There are some new trends in Online Learning. MOOC providers now increasingly realize that a more human-centered support structure is key to helping students engage in and stick with the course. According to NMC Horizon Report 2014, learning analytics, adaptive learning, and a combination of cutting-edge asynchronous and synchronous tools need to be further studied to continue to advance the state of online learning. (NMC Horizon Report, 2014 Higher Education Edition) Personalizing online learning experience is of great importance to better engaging students in deep learning. Explorations of the polices needed to support and encourage all these effort above, and to guarantee quality is an area where considerable development is unfolding. (NMC Horizon Report, 2014 Higher Education Edition)