Desire2Blog

To go along with our other TV and Internet advertisements, we put together a little riff on the green aspects of e-Learning. Very well done. My thanks to Gary K and Dave K. The other videos? Lake Superior Connect - Why Us? and also Lake Superior Connect - Talking e-Campus

Since I first started teaching online (back in the day), it has always struck me how many of the students are in a different place in their lives than most of the students that I taught in the traditional classroom. I realize that's not a news flash, but the whole aspect of providing access to higher education to some of those who otherwise wouldn't have it is still the number one reason why I get out of bed in the morning and make my way to the office. A few years ago I started a scholarship fund just for students completing one of our online programs at Lake Superior College. The scholarship fund balance has grown to more than $10,000 and we typically give 2 or 3 awards to deserving students each year. The scholarships for FY09 were handed out at the end of the spring term and sometime after that I received the following thank you note: "Dear Virtual Campus Contributors, I have been yearning to return to college for several years and the generosity of this scholarship is...

Okay, I'm back. Nine days of being disconnected was an interesting experiment - but I'm really glad to be back online again. As I previously reported ( also here ), those of us who are in the distance education business will not be required to start treating our students as criminals. We now have the final clarifying language (actually called the Statement of the Managers ) regarding the Higher Ed Act especially as it relates to distance education. Contrary to some of the original fears (including my own), this Congressional act will NOT have the effect of making us put ankle bracelets on all online students - nor will we have to install webcams throughout their houses to watch their every move. Instead, we have to make sure that they authenticate (with username and password) each and every time that they login to our online courses - something that most of us are already doing. A great deal of work was done to get this clarifying language into place. Leading the charge was Fr...

I threw together the following video rather quickly, so it doesn't have the highest production value. Photos from FUSION08D2L as well as some video clips of speakers and musical groups from Beale Street and Graceland. No sound except during the videos. Still rather bummed that I decided to leave my camera in the hotel room (I had thrice walked away from it during this trip) rather than tote it along for the final night on Beale Street with John Baker, Shonagh, McLeod, Matt, and lots of other D2Lers; plus Terri, Dany, Dawn, and several others including Stephen Downes. Suffice it to say that I really wish I could have included shots of most of this crew singing karaoke and dancing (and yes, that includes Stephen who the karaoke jockey introduced as David Crosby). It was over the top.

Andrea Foster's recent Chronicle article titled " New Systems Keep a Close Eye on Online Students at Home " is intended to get attention, but not intended to accurately tell you what is going to happen regarding the Higher Ed Act language about distance learning. After reading it more carefully, I can see now that there is nothing new being reported in this article. All of this doom and gloom about distance student authentication has been talked about for over a year now. I've used the Troy University Big Brother device several times in presentations and here in the blog to point out how completely absurd all of this is. This post from Nov. 2006 basically provides much of the same info that is in the Chronicle article. A second post in July 2007 looks at the first blush of the language that was written into the higher ed act. A few days ago I posted the clarifying language that is currently attached to the bill. Right after that Foster's article was posted at t...

I'll use CoveritLive for Jason's closing keynote in Memphis for the Desire2Learn User Conference - FUSION 2008 (FUSION08D2L)

I just like using that title - Blackboard Loses! I might use it at the beginning of every post, even if the post has nothing to do with Blackboard. Just finished reading an informative article in Campus Technology today that paints a picture of the contempt hearing that is colorably different from what most people are thinking. David Nagel talked with Matthew Small on Monday night after news spread about the contempt charges being thrown out by the Texas judge. Small, the chief legal dude for the evil empire, tells Nagel the following - (excerpted from CT article) Small recounted that the judge in the case in reviewing the contempt motion seemed to have agreed with that, saying that version 8.3 is not, in fact, colorably different from version 8.2.2; nevertheless, the judge did not issue sanctions against Desire2Learn, leaving it up to Blackboard to meet the burden of proof that the new version does infringe. Does this mean a new trial? That isn't quite clear either. But Blackboa...