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Hybrid or “blended” classes, shown by the Education Department (ED) to be more successful than web-based education, include online curriculum mixed with occasional in-person lectures.
Support for classes that involve at least some traditional classroom-based education is shared by prospective college students as well as current students.…Read More
Tammy Hall encourages first-time online instructors to ready themselves for any and all student questions on the first day of class, knowing that no amount of prep can fend off queries that might, temporarily, stump the new teacher.
Hall, who is director of academic services for the Louisiana Community & Technical College System (LCTCS)—which includes 16 colleges throughout the state—has overseen a program aiming to hone online instructors’ teaching skills as more students gravitate toward web-based classes.
The seven-week pilot program that launched in October helps educators make the shift from the traditional classroom to an online forum and teaches them how to use social media and other tools to communicate with students.…Read More
In a move that might trickle down to the rest of the for-profit education market, the University of Phoenix—the nation’s largest provider of online college classes—says it will offer new students a free, three-week trial program to see if they are ready for its curricula and for online instruction in an effort to weed out those at risk of leaving school before earning a degree.
The announcement comes as the federal government ramps up its regulation of for-profit colleges and universities, an industry that critics say preys on many students and leaves them with hefty debt loads and meager job prospects.
But Apollo Group Inc., the company that runs the University of Phoenix, says this change—and others the company will make as it seeks to comply with new federal guidelines—likely will result in fewer opportunities for lower-income students.…Read More