Does your faculty actually know what OER are?

Open educational resources (OER) are not quite the driving force that some advocates might believe, due in large part to the effort required to locate and evaluate them, according to a study of more than 3,000 U.S. faculty.

The study, Opening the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, attempts to discern the process faculty use to select educational materials used in their courses, and it focuses in part on OER awareness and use.

Though overall OER use is low overall, its use does increase somewhat for introductory-level courses with larger enrollments.…Read More

Higher education leaders mobilize to expand tuition-free community college

Hundreds of community college representatives from around the state are in Oakland today to share effective models for strengthening and expanding the California College Promise, a bold effort to offer two years of tuition-free community college to hard-working students.

The day-long event — which features remarks from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, incoming California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley and national College Promise Campaign Executive Director Martha Kanter — highlights College Promise programs already in place and offers ideas to college leaders looking to start their own programs. College Promise programs are community-based partnerships that address the problem of college affordability by offering higher education funding for students.

“California is on-track to produce 1.1 million fewer college graduates than our economy demands in 2030. There is an imminent need for a workforce with an appropriate level of advanced education. California’s Community Colleges are a critical point of access to higher education, and one of our most effective tools for upward mobility,” Newsom said. “Moreover, robust cradle-to-career initiatives like the Promise Programs in Oakland and Long Beach reveal the power of communities rallying to lift up their young people. We must double down on these efforts and launch a statewide California Promise, allowing all of our state’s regions to rise together.”…Read More

5 myths to debunk about online education

A new myth-busting report found that online education has expanded higher education access to students who previously might not have enrolled in it due to time and financial issues.

In fact, 50 percent of online college students said they “would not,” “probably would not,” or were “unsure” if they would have pursued higher education had their program not been offered online.

Online College Students 2016: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences, from The Learning House, Inc. and Aslanian Market Research, debunks some of the major myths surrounding online education trends and reveals surprising facts about online students and their preferences. It also offers recommendations to help institutions break through the myths and support successful practices.…Read More

Illinois community colleges are reforming developmental education

Illinois community colleges across the state have implemented a variety of reforms to developmental education. Promising strategies including co-requisite developmental education, summer bridge programs, and fourth year high school courses are providing a pathway to success for underprepared students.

In the last five years the number of students enrolled in at least one developmental course decreased nearly 24 percent.

Developmental education is often thought of as refresher courses in English, math and reading for underprepared college students. However, courses often come at a high price for students who must expend precious financial resources on non-credit developmental courses. Students enrolled in developmental education courses are less likely than their peers to complete a degree or certificate.…Read More

Report: Use of digital course material increases

Ease of access and lower costs are two major drivers for the increase in digital course materials among college students, according to a twice-yearly national survey.

The preference for digital course materials by college students is gradually increasing, although not as quickly as some predicted, according to the National Association of College Stores’ (NACS) survey of college students in the U.S. and Canada.

The study, Student Watch: Attitudes and Behaviors toward Course Materials: 2015-2016 Report, notes that 40 percent of students still prefer a printed textbook format. However, 26 percent now prefer a print/digital bundle – a print textbook with a digital component such as online access and support – up from 24 percent a year ago. Convenience (56 percent) and lower cost (45 percent) remain the top reasons for purchasing digital.…Read More

Survey: Online professional development booming with faculty

Higher-ed instructors most often prefer to participate in online professional development (PD) opportunities that focus on training for online software and digital resources (34 percent), classroom management strategies (34 percent), and digital device training (33 percent), according to a new survey.

The 2016 Vision K-20 Professional Learning Survey Report is the ninth annual national K-20 educator survey from the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN) of SIIA, and also is the first survey focusing on online PD.

The study included responses from educators at two-year and four-year institutions.…Read More

University highlights improved faculty hiring

SkillSurvey, Inc., provider of hiring solutions to recruit, hire and manage employees to drive business results, released a new video featuring the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and its talent leaders discussing how they benefit from online reference checking to improve faculty hiring.

For the fastest growing campus in the state of Colorado, SkillSurvey is helping provide insight on candidates’ soft skills to meet the needs of a diverse student body consisting of many students who are the first in their families to attend college. It is critical for higher education institutions like UCCS to identify faculty members who can form great relationships, motivate and inspire all types of students, especially those whose families may be new to the college setting.

“SkillSurvey provides information that we just can’t get during the application process or by interviewing,” said Kara Carragher, Business and HR Professional, College of Business, UCCS.…Read More

Major OER initiative targets new degree programs

38 community colleges in 13 states will join a national OER initiative to cut costs while improving degree, certificate completion

A major new community college initiative will work to develop degree programs using open educational resources (OER) in an effort to ease textbook-related financial obstacles students often face in higher education.

The national community college reform network Achieving the Dream announced the initiative on June 14, and representatives said they hope it will spur other changes in teaching and learning and course design that will increase the likelihood of degree and certificate completion.

Achieving the Dream will help colleges make OER degrees critical elements of their student success efforts. Lumen Learning will provide technical assistance; SRI International will evaluate the initiative and conduct research on how OER degrees impact student success and the institutions providing them; and the Community College Consortium of Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) will facilitate a community of practice.…Read More

Research tool enables faculty-librarian collaboration

Gale Researcher launches across a range of popular disciplines

Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, has released Gale Researcher, a new research platform that demonstrates the company’s unique ability to create products that tie directly to classroom learning and drive greater collaboration between librarians and faculty.

Gale Researcher is designed to help students who may not be comfortable doing college-level research or enter school lacking necessary research skills by connecting them to citable scholarly content that is aligned to introductory college courses across a range of disciplines.

“Gale Researcher is the perfect example of how we’re able to marry our content and technology to build resources that fit into the student workflow and can be used in the classroom, library or anywhere students do research,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager for Gale. “Further, Gale Researcher saves time for faculty, librarians and students, and allows librarians to demonstrate to administration how the library aligns with student outcomes.”…Read More

5 considerations for a common LMS adoption

New report explores experiences of online educational consortia that implemented a common learning management system.

Cost savings and increasing operational efficiencies are among the top reasons educational consortia choose to adopt and use a common learning management system (LMS), according to a new report.

The California Community Colleges Online Education Initiative (CCC OEI) worked with MindWires Consulting to determine what online consortia are doing and plan to do when faced with similar decisions around adopting a common LMS. The resulting report outlines a number of reasons for such a move.

In 2015, CCC OEI chose Instructure’s Canvas as its common LMS, and more than half of the 113 member community colleges have announced plans to implement it.…Read More

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