Sunday’s post highlighted two segments of students describing their experiences with re-designed courses, but we also need to hear directly from faculty. Too often the public discussion of technology-enabled initiatives focus on the technology itself, often assuming that the faculty involved are bystanders or technophiles.
Worth Considering: Students can have their own perspectives on edtech initiatives
Triggered by Friday’s article on e-Literate TV, there have been some very interesting conversations both in the Chronicle comment thread and on the e-Literate TV site. The most, um, intense conversations have centered on the application of self-regulated learning (SRL) in combination with adaptive software (ALEKS) to redesign a remedial math course at Essex County […]
LMS Observations: You had me until you went nihilist
Mark Drechsler has a fascinating post in response to my recent LMS as minivan about D2L’s retention claims, mostly playing off of this theme: I answered another question by saying that the LMS, with multiple billions invested over 17+ years, has not “moved the needle” on improving educational results. I see the value in providing a […]
Miami, Harvard and MIT: Disability discrimination lawsuits focused on schools as content providers
In the discussions at Google+ based on last week’s post about the Miami University of Ohio disability discrimination lawsuit1, George Station made two important points that deserve more visibility. It’s been a-coming for several years now. Cal State has some pretty strong rules in place for compliance with ADA and state-level disability laws. Still, [Universal Design for […]
About Those D2L Claims of LMS Usage Increasing Retention Rates
In my post last week on the IMS Global Consortium conference #LILI15, I suggested that LMS usage in aggregate has not improved academic performance and noted that John Baker from D2L disagreed. John Baker from D2L disagreed on this subject, and he listed off internal data of 25% or more (I can’t remember detail) improved […]
Ed Tech World on Notice: Miami U disability discrimination lawsuit could have major effect
This week the US Department of Justice, citing Title II of ADA, decided to intervene in a private lawsuit filed against Miami University of Ohio regarding disability discrimination based on ed tech usage. Call this a major escalation and just ask the for-profit industry how big an effect DOJ intervention can be. From the complaint: Miami University uses […]
Worth Reading: Use of adjuncts and one challenge of online education
There is a fascinating essay today at Inside Higher Ed giving an inside, first-person view of being an adjunct professor. 2015 is my 25th year of adjunct teaching. In the fall I will teach my 500th three-credit college course. I have put in many 14- to 16-hour days, with many 70- to 80-hour weeks. My […]