California Virtual Campus

http://sloanconsortium.org/aln
Nov 9-11, 2011
Orlando Florida

The 17th Annual Sloan-C International Conference invites you to submit your proposal; conference tracks highlight and demonstrate research, application and effective practices in the following areas:

• K-12 Online Education
• Faculty and Professional Development and Support
• Open Educational Resources
• Learning Effectiveness
• Technology and Emerging Learning Environments
• Student Services and Learner Support
• Leadership, Values and Society

Proposals must be submitted by 11:59pm ET on Monday, June 6, 2011.
Submit at http://sloanconsortium.org/conferences/2011/aln/call_for_presentations

A short, simple list of interesting and even mind-boggling facts about the top social networks, from the site Eudemic.com which focuses on social media in education (“run by a few graduate students and teachers with a passion for learning and education”). Sources are given for statistics (Full disclosure: sometimes the sources are press offices for the systems).

Source: Edudemic

Link: 50 Surprising Facts about Social Media

Students are taking the battle against high-priced textbooks into their own hands. This week, 11 University of Cincinnati seniors in the psychology program presented at an Educause event a comparison of the content of traditional college texts, one of which costs $168, to content they found for free on the Web.

The research effort was undertaken as part of the Digital Bookshelf Project, the University System of Ohio’s effort to make textbooks more affordable.

By Dian Schffhauser

Read Campus Technology

Webcast April 25, 2011 1-2:30pm EDT Learn how you can use social media to improve teaching and student learning. Join Academic Impressions online as it showcases some effective uses of social media that can impact student learning. We’ll discuss approaches that can help you accomplish experiential learning activities, student interactivity and engagement, and development of [...]

On Valentine’s Day, what could be better than a story about an unusual love … for online teaching? Randall Strauss of the NYT launched an article with a rather provocative comment: “When colleges and universities finally decide to make full use of the Internet, most professors will lose their jobs.”

Strauss goes on to list all the online course options that people can access, such as Academic Earth. Such online course offerings are amazing, and they can work well for those who are extraordinarily tech-savvy and self-motivated. Who can resist learning on a flexible schedule in which we are all taught by R2D2? Dude, break out the ring because someone

By Caroline Roberts

Read Post Academic

WCET Conference is Now Open! The 23rd Annual WCET Conference will take place October 26-29 at the Denver City Center Marriott in downtown Denver, CO! WCET invites you to share some of the innovative concepts, good practices, new research findings that are making a difference in how technology advances higher education. Submit a conference presentation [...]

Distance Education Report asked Larry Ragan, Director of Faculty Development for Penn State’s World Campus, “How would you rank the critical competencies for teaching online?” Here’s what he said:

1. Teaching and Learning

* State objectives, expectations, and policies
* Establish communication rules and group decision-making norms
* Give prompt, effective feedback

By Christopher Hill

Read Faculty Focus

Last fall, students were psyched to be starting school at Coppin State University in Baltimore.

But if history is any guide, 40 percent of them will disappear before next year — victims of this school’s low retention rate.

This is the time of year when students are wondering whether they will get accepted to the college of their choice. But many colleges and universities are asking themselves another question: How can we hold onto students once they’re enrolled?

By Larry Abramson

Read NPR

Imagine what it would be like to learn about the past by stepping into the pages of a history book.

Graduate students in the communications media program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania are using Second Life to bring milestones in history to life in a three-dimensional virtual world. In the fall 2010 semester, they completed a project designed to teach college-level students about the civil rights movement.

Allen Partridge, a professor in IUP’s communications media department, has Ph.D. students in his Simulation of Games class use Second Life as part of their course work. Dr. Partridge also has a background in game design: He has created many two- and three-dimensional interactive computer games and has written several books on the topic.

By Adrian McCoy

Read Post Gazzette

Despite winter storms that forced schools and colleges across the nation to cancel classes, tech-savvy educators are turning to Facebook, podcasts and other Web tools to keep students on track.

In Chicago’s suburbs, Lake Forest College professor Holly Swyers uploaded videos of her anthropology lecture last week on YouTube and kept an e-mail line open while Chicago absorbed 20 inches of snow and its public schools had their first snow day since 1999. University of New Hampshire professor Kent Chamberlin gave an electromagnetics lecture live — audio only — while still in pajamas.

By Mary Beth Marklein

Read USA Today