Issue Contents

From "Cost Effectiveness and Institutional Commitment" to "Scale"

If we want things to stay the same, things must change. ~Lampedusa¹

Scale is the new name for the quality pillar known as "cost effectiveness and institutional commitment." Keeping scale front and center as a quality indicator emphasizes more clearly the reason Sloan-C exists: "the whole point...is to increase access to education to a pool of learners who currently do not have this access, and so we need to be able to assess whether increased access is, in fact, being provided."²

Scale is not to be confused with rampant growth. Rather, strategic decisions about scale should guide growth in ways that are intrinsic to the distinctive institutional mission and vision, a "disciplined approach" to integrating online programs, pedagogy and faculty with "the campus mission and strategic plan... [with] institutional support...apparent at all levels, from department heads to deans to provosts to presidents to trustees."³ Planning for scale is planning for capacity enrollment such that tuition is affordable yet sufficient to insure quality, innovation and return on investment.

Although the pillar name has changed, many of its aspects are the same. Scale includes the quality metrics associated with cost effectiveness and institutional commitment: infrastructure, methodologies (for conserving costs, resources, time, and effort), partnerships, marketing, localness and global reach.

Scale is also intended to encourage going beyond experiments and pilots, towards a fully institutionalized embodiment. But in terms of absolute numbers, we see scale as related to the size of the basic institution and its growth aspirations. Thus, scaled up versions at a major state institution might be very large in absolute terms, compared to those at a smaller institution, but both may very well have demonstrated successful scale-up. There will also be cases, where the smaller one demonstrates even greater success.

Demands for institutional accountability and transparency are converging with demographic shifts and the need for energy efficiencies. The pool of learners includes minorities, disabled learners, teleworkers, and those who can't afford to travel to campus. A more conscious focus on scale will help us provide for learners who will have access only when institutions take them into account and scale to provide quality education online.

¹ Quoted from The Leopard in Friedman, T. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York: 2008.

² Miller, G. E. An Interview with Frank Mayadas of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The American Journal of Distance Education 11(3): 1997. Reprinted with permission at http://www.sloan-c.org/resources/mayadas.asp.

³ Oakley, B. and Moloney, J. Scaling Online Education: Increasing Access to Higher Education. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 10(3): July 2006. http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v10n3/v10n3_2moloney.asp

OER: A Return to Academic Tradition

The following is a posting from the wiki, www.wikieducator.org. To read the full posting, please go to http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/Online_schedule/eL4C8/OER:_A_return_to_academic_tradition.

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. George Bernard Shaw.^[1]

Sir John Daniel, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) suggests that social software and Open Education Resources (OER) is the new miracle of education. The miracle of open educational resources is that sharing and adaptation are now easy because everything is held electronically and when you give knowledge away, you still have it for yourself to use^[2].

The notion of sharing knowledge is not a new phenomenon. Since medieval times teachers have shared their knowledge with learners, and scholars have shared their research findings to build new knowledge. However, advances associated with the printing press and commercialization of the publishing industry have locked down free sharing of printed knowledge through copyright legislation. While the publishing industry must be commended for their role in widening access to academic knowledge through their distribution channels and their custodianship in promoting quality, the downside is that we cannot freely adapt and share academic content under restrictive copyright regimes. The OER movement constitutes a return to the traditions of the academy, namely that the sole purpose of education is to share knowledge.

The term "Open Educational Resource(s)" (OER) refers to educational resources (lesson plans, quizzes, syllabi, instructional modules, simulations, etc.) that are freely available for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing. The concept was first used in July 2002 during a UNESCO workshop on open courseware in developing countries (Johnstone, 2005). Most definitions of the term include content, software tools, licenses, and best practices. OER is a burgeoning field of practice and exploration as evidenced by the growing number of research studies including the OECD (2007), OLCOS (2007), and Hewlett Foundation (Atkins, Brown and Hammond, 2007) reports. There is an emerging research community gaining momentum and focusing on investigating the impact of OER on learning and the education environment.^[3]

The OER model is based on the following value propositions:
- Aligning academic practice with the core value that education is fundamentally an endeavour of sharing knowledge;
- Reducing the costs of producing expensive online courseware for individual institutions;
- Sharing the risks associated with internationalization while enabling institutions to compete through value added services and local customizations (co-opitition model); and
- Course materials developed by teams of professionals can produce high quality outputs.

Existing OER approaches can be classified into two broad models:
- Producer-consumer models where an institution or consortium develops materials and release courseware under an open license which can be reused by other providers for example MIT's OpenCourseware (http://ocw.mit.edu);
- Peer-production models which encourage open and unrestricted participation aimed to leverage the benefits of mass-collaboration and the principles of self organisation, for example Wikipedia, Wikiversity, and COL's WikiEducator.

References:
Atkins D.E., Brown J.S., Hammond A.L. (2007). A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities, Hewlett Foundation. Available online: http://www.oerderves.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/a-review-of-the-open-educational-resources-oer-movement_final.pdf.
Johnstone, S. (2005, October 24-28). Forum 1 Session 1 - Background note Open Educational Resources and open content: an overview. UNESCO Virtual University. Retrieved June 4, 2008, from http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forumsfiche.php?queryforumspages_id=13.
OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free - The Emergence of Open Educational Resources, OECD Publishing: Pembroke, MA. * OLCOS. (2007). Open Educational Practices and Resources. OLCOS Roadmap 2012, Salzburg. Retrieved from http://www.olcos.org/english/roadmap Savage, C. (2007, June 5). Posting on IIEP-OER mailing list.

(Join Chris Geith, Michigan State University, Wayne Mackintosh, WikiEducator, Commonwealth of Learning, & Ken Udas, Penn State World Campus in the Sloan-C online workshop, Open Educational Resources: Build It and They will Come?, July 23rd - August 8th.)

2008 Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning

The first western Sloan-C conference-- The Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning-- was also the first face-to-face gathering to simultaneously engage participants virtually. Carefree's desert landscapes suggested the eerily beautiful scenes of the virtual world where people gathered online at the Sloan-C island to participate in the symposium.

250 people from 35 U.S. states and 15 countries attended the face-to-face sessions that included 86 presentations and 10 poster sessions that demonstrated research, application and practice in emerging technology for social networking, assessment, open educational resources, new media and support services. Many of the presentations are online, here.

Thanks to Carol Scarafiotti of Rio Salado and David Cillay of Washington State for planning an innovative, engaging symposium, which gave much feedback like this:

I wasn't sure what to expect. I attend many conferences and often leave feeling drained. I was amazed at the fact I left with so much information and was energized to get started with the ideas I was given at the conference.

Congratulations to Paul Vitagliano of Centenary College who won a free conference registration for completing our post conference survey. Plan now to attend next year's western conference to be hosted by California State, East Bay in 2009.

Proposed Regulatory and Legislative Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act

Jane E. Jarrow, Ph.D
President, Disability Compliance in Career and Online Learning (DCCOL)

The month of June saw a flurry of legislative and regulatory activity surrounding the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). First, the Department of Justice released newly proposed regulations that give guidance to covered entities regarding the application of existing mandates for service/support to persons with disabilities. Then, on June 25, the House of Representatives passed the ADA Amendments Act by an overwhelming majority (402 to 17). A similar bill is expected to pass the Senate with comparable bi-partisan support. The Act was crafted after months of cooperation between the business community and advocates for people with disabilities, and was endorsed by both the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. That support was crucial in gaining wide acceptance for a measure that was felt to be needed in response to the Federal court system's narrow interpretation of the ADA in regards to employment.

What will be the impact of these proposed changes in supporting students with disabilities in online learning environments?

-The Act focuses on clarifying who is to be protected under the law, rather than what those protections might entail or how protection is to be provided. Clarification was seen as necessary as the courts have taken a restrictive view of the term "individual with a disability" in several prominent employment cases. While this broader scope may find some individuals now able to assert their rights to nondiscrimination in employment, these clarifications are for the courts, not for a higher education community that has always acknowledged the original Congressional intent to provide equal access to (educational) opportunity;

-Concern was expressed by the educational community about the inclusion of the terms "thinking" and "concentrating" in the expanded list of daily activities that may be substantially limited for a person with a disability. However, since the activity of "learning" has always been included in that list, nothing is changed for students engaged in educational pursuits;

-The Act indicates that the determination of eligibility for protection under the law should be made without regard to mitigating measures by the person with a disability. The intent of this statement within the Act was simply to bring into the statute an understanding of Congressional intent that had been expounded by Federal agencies in the ADA regulations, but had been ruled by the courts to be an overreach of agency authority. Congress is confirming its idea of how a person with a disability is to be considered. The higher education community always understood the intent and has followed agency guidance in such matters. This new language simply codifies officially our long-standing practice;

-The proposed update to the ADA regulations issued by the Department of Justice focuses largely on issues of physical/architectural access. Traditional (ground campus) programs of higher education may see impact in everything from the number of accessible seats in the football stadium (and the ticketing procedures to access those seats) to the number of modified rooms in their residence halls, but these issues do not impact online learning;

-The proposed regulations provide a definition for a "qualified reader." The term has been used in earlier versions of the regulations but was not defined. This added definition makes it clear that readers used to provide access to print information must have adequate knowledge of the subject and the vocabulary of the information read to assure that it is conveyed effectively to the disabled individual. While electronic text and appropriate assistive technology is most often used by students to access print information in online learning, there may be times when supplementary audio descriptions of course content (e.g., graphs and charts) may be provided by readers, or when test materials are being read aloud to learners. Online learning programs are advised to consider who will be assigned responsibility for reading in such circumstances;

-The regulations include significant description of the nature and use of Video Interpreting Services (VIS) to provide real-time access for persons who are deaf/hard of hearing and rely on sign language for communication. While most online course activities are provided through print, rather than oral/aural means, the availability of VIS may provide new options for assuring access to synchronous learning activities that include spoken content. Moreover, online learning programs may want to investigate the use of VIS for communications that would typically occur through phone conversations with students (such as initial intake interviews or academic advising);

- The Department of Justice has clarified that entities may ask for documentation of disability before acknowledging one's status as a person with a disability and resulting need for accommodation, but indicates that the required documentation may not be inappropriate or burdensome. While most online learning programs will not find this mandate troublesome, programs attached to existing (ground campus) programs of disability support for students may need to reexamine whether the sometimes extensive documentation required for their traditional settings/students is still necessary and appropriate for online learners.

Online learning programs are unlikely to face significant changes in obligation or practice under the proposed regulations or the currently constituted ADA Amendments Act. What may be different is the level of scrutiny given to the infrastructure for supporting students with disabilities in online learning. Programs are encouraged to be proactive in reviewing their preparedness in meeting existing and proposed rules. The successful inclusion of students with disabilities in online learning is a win-win situation for students and educational entities, but will need planning and cooperation to achieve.

Learn From the Experts - The Sloan-C 2008 Workshop Series

Using Moodle to Create Online Courses - July 9 - 18

Moodle is an open source Learning Management System and is a low cost alternative for educators to create vibrant online content. This workshop will define Moodle and its features. Later, the facilitators will illustrate how to use Moodle to create an online course and take participants through the actual process of creating actual course content with Moodle. Following the workshop participants will have a working knowledge of Moodle and will be prepared to create their own effective online courses with this open source tool.

Click here for details and registration.

Academic Integrity in Online Education* - July 16 - 25

The role of technology in academic dishonesty is in the news, and federal legislation is pending that will require authentication of online learners. This session will provide information, examples, and a reality check for staff and faculty working in online education. Participants will explore why and how students cheat, faculty beliefs regarding cheating and online education, and tools and techniques to deter and detect cheating and plagiarism. The emphasis will be on a three-prong approach to addressing academic integrity: policing (catching and punishing cheaters), prevention (designing courses and assignments that discourage cheating), and virtue (creating learning communities in which students do not want to cheat). Current projects focusing on student authentication will be reviewed, and issues surrounding student authentication will be discussed.

*This workshop is part of the Select Series and College Pass Members must use their additional 50 seats provided to take advantage of this workshop.

Click here for details and registration.

Open Educational Resources: Build It and They will Come? - July 23 - August 8

E-learning content is becoming much more pervasive. This developing content which can be shared within one institution, or across continents represents a powerful possible paradigm shift in the distribution methods of learning content and courseware from traditional publishing models to those of open and collaborative in nature. Major initiatives from leading institutions to provide open courseware further support the growth of this segment of online learning.

FREE FOR COLLEGE PASS MEMBERS- Please e-mail workshop@sloan-c.org to reserve your seat.
FREE TO THE FIRST 5 people from an Institutional Premium Member Organization- Please e-mail workshop@sloan-c.org to reserve your seat.

Click here for details and registration.

The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is composed of institutions and organizations dedicated to continually improving the quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs, according to their own distinctive missions, so that education becomes a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines.

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