Report: Alternative Credentials Still Mostly a Hit-and-Miss Process

Campus Technology | March 14, 2017 - Just how do institutions work with the alternative credentials that their adult learners have earned through personal and professional development experiences? SUNY Empire State College in New York runs an "individualized prior learning assessment" process, by which students can explain and document their college-level... Read More>

Great Marketing Tool – but That’s About All

Inside Higher Ed | March 15, 2017 - Getting on U.S. News & World Report's annual list of online programs gives colleges bragging rights, and administrators say it also helps them improve the quality of programs. But critics say they provide little value for students.  Now in their fifth year, U.S News &... Read More>

A+ for E-Learning

AARP | March 2017 - This article, by Nancy Dunham, was originally posted in AARP. I found my Zen in an online class At the age of 57, I am going back to school, sort of. My husband and his friends were so addicted to online courses, talking about them like young hipsters discuss... Read More>

Report on Adult-Serving Colleges and Alternative Credentials

Inside Higher Ed | March 6, 2017 - A new study examines how six adult-serving institutions are defining and using alternative credentials such as badges, noncredit certificates and those issued for successful completion of MOOCs or coding and skills boot camps. The 30-page report, which was released today by the Distance... Read More>

DEAC and The Presidents’ Forum Release Report on the State of Alternative Credentials at Adult Learning Institutions

First-of-its-kind study explores key definitions and reveals five common themes focused on competency-based education (CBE), prior learning assessment (PLA), alternative credentials, the importance of reliable data, and traditional vs. non-traditional learning. WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 6, 2017) — For contemporary learners, the path to higher education degree attainment frequently involves a myriad of... Read More>

Tap into These 5 Tips for Mobile Learning

A master in mobile learning shares his best advice for rebooting your instruction. Campus Technology | December 13, 2016 - When Pokémon Go surfaced in mid-summer, students would stand "like zombies" outside the "hotspot" building where Scott Hamm works. "There'd be people out there all the time," recalled the director of... Read More>

OLC Announces Effective Practice Awards Honoring Innovation in Online Learning

Awards will be presented at next month’s #OLCInnovate conference, April 5-7, in New Orleans NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (March 2, 2017) — The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) today announced recipients of its 2017 OLC Effective Practice Awards, recognizing effective techniques, strategies and practices that are shared by members of the OLC community to... Read More>

Impressions of the Hoxby Study of Online Learning

A cadre of experts offer their views -- many critical -- of a prominent Stanford researcher's new study questioning the ROI of online education. Inside Higher Ed | March 1, 2017 -  The release this week of a Stanford University economist's study of the return on investment for students in online programs... Read More>

Should Online Courses Go Through ‘Beta Testing’? How One Provider Taps 2,500 Volunteers

EdSurge | February 17, 2017 - Wesley Engers has an unusual hobby: beta testing online courses from well-known colleges and universities. He doesn’t get paid, but he helps improve the quality of courses by catching mistakes in quizzes and pointing out befuddling bits of video lectures, which can then be clarified... Read More>

Online Course Development, By Accident or By Design?

Inside Higher Ed | February 22, 2017 - Online learning's growth shows no signs of slowing. The Online Learning Consortium estimates that 85 percent of Americans enrolled in postsecondary institutions have at least one trait of a nontraditional learner. Online learning's growth shows no signs of slowing. The Online Learning Consortium estimates... Read More>