Debbie Wilson
California State University, East Bay
February 8, 2008
My finger hovered just above the “enter†key on my computer keyboard, then moved away, hovered again, and finally pressed the key that added my name to the roster for EDUI 7801, Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning. My reluctance to seal the deal gave me pause [...]
Teacher as Learner: A Priceless Perspective
Making Continuation Communities Count
Making Continuation Communities Count
Mark Hemauer
California State University, East Bay
February 7, 2008
Introduction
Oh…you work at THAT school, is a phrase I often hear when introducing myself to fellow educators in my school district. THAT school is a small continuation high school that is part of the district’s alternative education program where I am planning to start [...]
A Capital Idea- No Colleague Left Behind: Training busy staff online using technology’s tools
The Dilemma
I’m a civil servant working for the Department of the Navy as an instructor trainer. A trainer’s main objective is to help prospective instructors gain the basic skills necessary to be effective on-ground communicators. The course seats twenty-four using an Automated Electronic Classroom (AEC) and lasts for two weeks while running concurrently [...]
How to Keep ‘Em Coming Back: The Social Element in Online Student Services
How to Keep ‘Em Coming Back: The Social Element [...]
WHERE HAVE ALL THE STUDENTS GONE?
Where Have All the Students Gone: What Instructors and Institutions Can Do to Minimize Attrition in Online Courses
Margaret C. Mayfield
California State University, East Bay
Introduction
As the semester begins at my community college, instructors are thrilled to see class rosters with high enrollments. But as time progresses, students fade away, and the class numbers dwindle. [...]
Connecting the Cyber Dots—A New Gathering Place in Cyberspace
 By Marsha Haynes
Increasing Interactivity for Greater Community Engagement among Online LearnersAdvances in technology are amazing. More convenient and faster ways of staying connected are developed each year. However, as more institutions adopt new online technology as a means of reaching increasing numbers of students and providing efficient low cost cyber-classrooms, educators and course designers must [...]
Public test next week for Vista SP1
Microsoft on Tuesday said that it has reached the “release candidate” with the first service pack for Windows Vista, with plans to make the test software available publicly next week.
It is releasing the test code this week to the 15,000 or so people who have been beta testing SP1 already, and will also make [...]
Counting E-pennies: Social Capital and Virtual Community Formation
Counting E-pennies: Social Capital and Virtual Community Formation
How do you measure the “wealth” of an online community, whether it be a community of practice, a community of interest, or a community of location? In this article, I describe using social capital, a concept originally used to describe international communities, as a “calculator of wealth” [...]
Developing Successful Online Team Projects: Creating team tasks for depth of learning and not despair
Lynn Wocell
California State University, East Bay
July 29, 2007
The Despair
I know that this email should have come sooner being that the team project is due on Tuesday. I have been paired up to work with [name omitted] on the project. For the past week or so I have been finding it very hard to [...]
Risk-Free Trial: Frontloading Tactics to Engage College Students in Online Courses
Michele Fritz
California State University, East Bay
July 28, 2007
How can I help my students succeed? At De Anza College, where I teach, there is skepticism regarding the efficacy of online instruction for community college students, despite growing online enrollments. The reason is attrition. Although attrition varies among institutions, at two-year colleges it hovers at approximately 50 [...]