March 1, 2010

Distance Education Report - March 1, 2010 - Full Issue PDF
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Can Faculty Build Their Own Courses?
By Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti
Creating an online course requires more than putting lecture notes and tests into an LMS. To make a course truly successful – truly high quality – faculty and instructional designers need to take advantage of the various media the LMS makes available to create a course that is effective for a variety of learners and learning styles.

Report Identifies Six “Key Emerging Technologies” for Higher Ed
The New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) have released the 2010 Horizon Report. The annual Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a long-term research project that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have considerable impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry within higher education.

Teaching with Second Life: Some Examples
By John Orlando, PhD
Second Life has attracted considerable interest from higher education in recent years. An estimated 300 institutions have a presence in Second Life, with 70 of those owning their own islands. But despite its promise, many educators are reluctant to adopt Second Life for their courses.

Seven Principles for Supporting Online Faculty: Part 2
By Maria Puzziferro and Kaye Shelton
6. Good Practice Communicates High Expectations: "Expect more and you will get more." Communicating high expectations assumes several things: a) administrators are clear on what those expectations are and how they are being measured; b) communication is strong and consistent with faculty so that they are aware of the expectations and how to meet them.

IBM Announces Open “Academic Cloud” to Deliver Technology Skills to Students
IBM recently announced it will make key parts of its software portfolio available in a cloud computing environment to more easily allow professors around the world to incorporate technology into their curricula.

Monthly Metric
Percentage distribution of 2-year and 4-year Title IV degree-granting postsecondary institutions that offered distance education reporting frequency of requests for accommodations for students with disabilities in distance education.