Desire2Blog

I am normally the interviewer for the Desire2Pod series, but this time Valerie Beyer of Desire2Learn interviews me about the Online Student Mentor program at Lake Superior College. The Online Student Mentor program ( PDF description ) was selected to receive one of the three Desire2Excel awards at FUSION 2008 held last July in Memphis. We are now in our sixth year of this program. Some of the best outcomes have been related to the number of students who decided to choose a career in education after their involvement in the student mentor program. The slides below are about three years old now, but can give you a good idea about some of the features of the program. LSC Online Student Mentors from Barry Dahl >

I've been looking at the math involved in trying to meet the Governor's goal for Minnesota Online. By 2015 he would like to see 25% of our enrollments delivered online. First, let's look at the most recent completed year - FY08. Classroom (01) = 114,364 FYE = 81.8% Internet (03) = 12,806 FYE = 9.2% Web Enhanced (09) = 3,718 FYE = 2.7% Web Supplied (10) = 7,631 FYE = 5.5% Other (01, 02, 04, 06, 08) = 1,361 FYE = 1% Total (all media codes) = 139,880 FYE = 100% For those of you not familiar with our coding system, let me try to explain. In MnSCU we use media codes to identify different delivery methods. Media code 01 is the traditional classroom face-to-face learning arrangement. Media code 03 is for online learning, although it is possible to have up to two required time and place events - such as campus/proctored exams, labs, and the like ( see another post of how different states define distance education). Media code 09 is called "web-enhanced" learning wh...

Last week I attended meetings with the Southern Regional Education Board. I spoke about Web 2.0 usage in higher education and there were several other presentations related to teaching with technology and online learning. One interesting session was led by John Opper of the Florida Distance Learning Consortium. I'm working on another post about some of the things that are happening in Florida, but this post will focus on some of the info that is available at the website related to a legislature-mandated task force regarding distance learning in the Sunshine State. They are looking at special fees for distance courses, which begs the question about how to determine whether a course is a distance course that should have the fees applied. We deal with very similar issues here in Minnesota where a per credit fee is charged for distance courses (but not hybrid or web-enhanced courses) and also where most schools charge a higher tuition rate for online/distance courses. What they found ...

This will be cross-posted at my Online Student Satisfaction blog . I have been analyzing some of the data (again) from the 2008 PSOL survey. This is the fourth year that we have used this Noel-Levitz survey at Lake Superior College. The embedded slides explain a bit more about the survey, including the four sets of data that are compared for online student ratings of both importance and satisfaction. 2008 PSOL Data Charts View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: psol online ) There are 26 items that are included in all PSOL submissions. You can add other items but only the first 26 can be compared across other populations since these are the only items answered by all students. In order of descending importance, here are the top eleven items for LSC students on the 2008 PSOL (survey item number is indicated at beginning of each line). 1. (20) The quality of online instruction is excellent. 2. (25) Faculty are responsive to student needs. 3. (11) Student assignments ar...

I really don't know what to make of the latest posting on the D2L Patent Blog . The title is Blackboard sues U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. There's a link to a PDF of the suit filed by Blackboard. D2L says the following: "A new development: Blackboard has taken its attempts to stop the reexam to another level. It has now sued the Patent and Trademark Office , asking the Court for a ruling that the PTO's refusal to suspend or terminate the reexam was improper. Blackboard filed its case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where the PTO is located. The Complaint makes for an interesting read, and has at least one surprising omission: Blackboard somehow forgot to mention that on March 25, in a non-final action, the PTO rejected each of the 44 claims of the patent ." I'm about ready to board a plane for Atlanta, so the PDF should make for good reading on the plane.