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Online Teacher of the Year
Billed as the first award of its kind, a teacher from Florida Virtual School has been named the US Online K-12 Teacher of
the Year.
14 September 2010
Distance Learning to the Rescue
Those Chilean miners, likely to be trapped underground for months, could face a multitude of medical problems.
To cope, one of them is already on a crash course in medicine by distance learning, according to the Guardian.
10 September 2010
Something different?
Looking for something novel in a distance learning course?
How about Icelandic?
Mind you, even that is as bland as bananas compared to some new face-to-face offerings.
Like Zombie Studies,
from the University of Baltimore.
09 September 2010
Distance
Learning is the Answer. Or is it?
Want more kids to go to university?
Distance learning, boosted by technology, is the answer.
Or so says
Virgin Media Business.
But in a separate story, UUK warns of a coming two-tier
university system, with those who study by distance learning falling (in their view) squarely into the category of
"have-nots".
08 September 2010
Lovers are the Best
Source of Inspiration
. . . or so says new research from accredited distance learning provider Home Learning College.
07 September 2010
Education Ministry Bans
Distance Learning
This story comes from Ethiopia.
No justification is given, other than that "distance learning is unnecessary", and the ruling seems to have caught
providers by surprise, and gives them no time to adjust to the new regime.
06 September 2010
EADL 2011 Meeting
EADL confirms that its 2011 Meeting will be held from 25-27 May 2011, in Vienna.
The theme will be "Keep the Wheels Running".
03 September 2010
Another Awarding Body -
Comment
Do we want yet another awarding body?
The 157 Group of colleges thinks we do.
But is it really about responsiveness, or just about making ends meet?
26 August 2010
Want satisfaction? Keep it private (and open)
Yet again, students asked to rank the UK's universities on a satisfaction scale put Buckingham (private) and the Open
University in the top three.
So why do all rest persist with a publicly funded, mainly face-to-face model?
24 August 2010
Private sector in the US under fire
Undercover tests by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) at 15 for-profit colleges in the US found that 4 colleges
encouraged fraudulent practices and that all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements to GAO’s undercover
applicants.
Kaplan, one of those criticised, has
suspended enrolment
at two of its US campuses as a consequence.
20 August 2010
Student Loans for Distance
Learners?
How can we pay for universities, in these times of crisis?
Well, one proposal is to extend loans to part-time students.
Fine.
But why stop there?
Why not loans for distance learning students as well?
18 August 2010
Thou Shalt Blog
Did you know that 84% of academics in the US don't use blogs?
Times Higher Education isn't happy;
clearly students are being "'let down' by these academic Luddites".
Talk about the triumph of style over substance ...
16 August 2010
Mobilising Technology for Learning
The benefits of mobile technology for flexible learning are clear, says the LSN's John Stone.
So why has FE been slow to respond?
Are the sceptics savants, or dismissive dinosaurs?
12 August 2010
Dodgy Distance Learning Degrees
Degree mills are a blot on the distance learning landscape.
This cautionary piece is from Vietnam.
But it could be from almost anywhere on the planet.
Such mills not only cheat individuals, but they damage the global reputation of distance learning as well.
11 August 2010
Who's Happy Now?
"Only 12% of British adults describe themselves as perfectly happy" says new research from accredited provider
Home Learning College.
Mind you, it helps if you're a woman, or live in
Wales.
And if you want to change, why not try a distance learning course, as they suggest?
10 August 2010
More young people studying at a distance
The Open University reports an 'unprecedented' 34% rise in 18 24-year-olds doing a distance learning
degree.
(See the OU Press Release for more details.)
09 August 2010
Equivalent or Lower-level
Qualifications (ELQs)
Labour's decision to stop funding students taking ELQ courses was a "flat-out bad decision"
and should be rethought, says the OUs V-C Martin Bean.
Can't argue with that.
But getting more money out of this government?
That's what I call optimism.
06 August 2010
Connexions
We need help to find our way through the qualifications jungle. Connexions helps.
Yet Connexions, argues Deirdre Hughes, is threatened by coalition cuts.
Something must take its place. But what?
05 August 2010
Keep your learning at a distance
Nice feature in the Indepedent yesterday.
True, it's mostly in praise of the Open University.
But pointing out the advantages of dl must also be good for the sector as a whole.
04 August 2010
LSIS not dead yet
The Learning and Skills Improvement Service is quick to point out that it is not a quango, and that 'rumours of its death are
greatly exaggerated'.
02 August 2010
Finding out isn't
always fun
Finding which university courses are available online can be "ridiculously difficult" argues Dame Lynne Brindley of the
UK Online Learning Task Force.
29 July 2010
Online Educa Berlin
Preliminary announcements published for this year's Online Educa Berlin, to be held from 1-3 December.
28 July 2010
Open Educational Resources Survey
The Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative launches a survey of Open Educational Resources and Open
Educational Practices in Higher Education and Adult Learning Institutions in Europe.
27 July 2010
BPP to be a university
HE minister David Willets is to announce today that BPP is to become a fully-fledged private university college.
26 July 2010
Pearson in Brazil
Pearson, already a major international education company, has just "doubled its footprint in Brazil", buying
Sistema Educacional Brasileiro's learning systems business for £326m.
23 July 2010
ODL QC Council
Following the recent elections, Max Faulkner, Director of Studies at
OLCI Construction Training and Chairman of the
Association of British Correspondence Colleges, joins ODL QC Council.
22 July 2010
Modular GCSEs, or not?
Should GCSEs be modular?
New research from Cambridge Assessment concludes that modular courses are no less stressful,
nor necessarily more likely to produce better results, than non-modular ones.
21 July 2010
NEC
Another piece in FE Focus about NEC, this time presenting both sides of the case for and against the merger
with LSN.
(See also new comments in the quodlibs blog,
and the latest statement from LSN)
19 July 2010
Funding Higher Education
What is HE for?
How should we pay for it?
And what should it look like?
Today's debate seen "from a distance".
15 July 2010
BT Qualify
LSN have just launched BT Qualify,
a "ground-breaking product, designed to change the face of vocational assessment".
14 July 2010
Regulatory Frameworks for Distance
Education
ICDE is to sponsor an investigation of regulatory frameworks for distance education worldwide, and is inviting bids from
organisations interested in carrying out the survey.
13 July 2010
Dutch Open
University
The Dutch, it seems, prefer it to be open.
No, not the football.
The most satisfied students in Holland are those who go to the
Dutch Open
University, or so says this report from ICDE.
12 July 2010
Ofqual
The resignation of Kathleen Tattersall as Chair of Ofqual, if nothing else, signals more turbulence in the regulation
of UK qualifications, says the ODL QC blog.
How that turbulence will be resolved, however, is less clear.
6 July 2010
NEC / LSN
NEC is to merge with LSN.
But, as the ODL QC blog reports, some of its long-term supporters are not too happy.
Are their concerns real, or are they lost in a view of education that this recession has washed away, at
least for the foreseeable future?
2 July 2010
DETC Accredited Providers
DETC, the nearest equivalent to ODL QC in the US, publishes its 2010-2011 Directory of Accredited Institutions.
30 June 2010
ODL QC
The ODL QC website has had a makeover.
Some out-of-date material has been removed;
other parts put into a consistent format.
Apologies if your favourite pages seem to have gone; we hope to reintroduce one or two features, such as advice on
courses, in the near future.
25 June 2010
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