Growth of Online Learning in Higher Ed

June 17, 2009 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

As Allen and Seamen (2008) note, online education has continued to experience steady and sustained growth and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon. I’ve personally found through my own experience that in these particularly challenging times for higher education, institutions are increasingly looking to online education as one way to not increase revenue but also expand course offerings. Allen and Seamen’s findings support the common approach among higher education institutions today to strategically implement online learning in overall programmatic development efforts.

Not only are institutions embracing online education today, but students are also flocking to online modes of learning in record numbers. As noted, over one-fifth of all higher education students are now taking at least one online course (Allen & Seamen, 2008). A primary reason why online education may be so popular especially among adult, non-traditional learners is the flexibility that it affords. The learner can continue his or her education while still continuing a career and maintaining other personal commitments.

What other factors do you suspect may be contributing to the steady growth of online education in higher education? Post a comment with your thoughts!

Reference:

Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2008). Staying the course: Online education in the United States, 2008. Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved June 17, 2009, from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/staying_course

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FSI 2009 Presentations

May 18, 2009 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

I’m leading the following hands-on workshops at the 2009 Faculty Summer Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Follow @fsi and #fsi09 on Twitter.

Rhode, J. F. (2009, May 19). Getting started creating web pages with Google Sites. Presented at Faculty Summer Institute on Teaching Technologies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. | handout | links |

Rhode, J. F. (2009, May 19). Quick and simple creation of educational tutorials. Presented at Faculty Summer Institute on Teaching Technologies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. | handout | links |

Rhode, J. F. (2009, May 20). Mastering micro-blogging. Presented at Faculty Summer Institute on Teaching Technologies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. | handout | links |

Rhode, J. F. (2009, May 20). Web 2.0 gizmos and gadgets. Presented at Faculty Summer Institute on Teaching Technologies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. | handout | links |

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Pecha Kucha

December 3, 2008 By Jason Rhode 1 Comment

Have you ever been in a presentation that dragged on and on?  Or perhaps are you looking for an alternative approach to presenting information in a concise and memorable way?  Then you need to give Pecha Kucha a try!

Pecha Kucha is a presentation format (usually creative) in which information can be easily and informally shown. This presentation style started back in 2003 in Tokyo, Japan, by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham. Originally, this presentation form was created for young designers to meet, network, and show off their work.

The idea behind Pecha Kucha is to present information in a concise way. Each presenter is allowed to show 20 images, with 20 seconds per slide. The goal of the presentation is to keep interest high and information flowing. Pecha Kucha has sprung interest all around the world and currently occurs in over 157 cities.

Since there are no restrictions to the type of information presented in a Pecha Kucha style presentation this formula can be used in all types of learning formats. As several of my students have pointed out, there are numerous applications for how this type of abbreviated, engaging presentation format in any number of contexts.

Here’s a sample pecha kucha presentation to get a taste of what the impact is like…death to bullet points!


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Google Reader in Plain English

September 16, 2008 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

Do you like to keep up on various blogs and other websites that seem to be updated frequently?  If so, using the free Google Reader can save you A LOT of time!  This new video from Common Craft explains how easy it is to get started using Google Reader.

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1,000+ miles across Colorado

June 24, 2008 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

I spent June 13-20th with my brother-in-law Justin and father-in-law Terry riding across Colorado on our motorcycles. We loaded the motorcycles on my trailer and left Friday evening, June 13th after work and towed them 18 hours to Colorado Springs where we spent the night at Justin’s cousin, Travis & Britta’s house. From there, we drove on the bikes to Pagosa Springs to spend a couple of days with Justin’s family and in-laws before hitting the road and spending 3 more days on the road en route back to Colorado Springs and then finally home. In total, we put on 1,027 miles on the motorcycles and another nearly 2,000 miles in the Explorer towing the motorcycles to Colorado and back. All in all, we had a great trip and many fond memories that will no double be talking about for years to come.

All the photos from our trip are available here. For the slideshow, click here.

Anyone interested in the route we took, here are the maps for our routes that Justin planned out using Google Maps:

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