__     __ __     __ __     __  web's eye view (February 17, 2000)
| | /| / /| | /| / /| | /| / /  alan levine
| |/ |/ / | |/ |/ / | |/ |/ /   Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction
|__/ |__/ |__/|__/  |__/|__/    http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/
===========================================================================

We've picked up some new subscrivers to the "eye, so for some this is
their first delivery of a fresh bag of URLs, 40 of 'em ready for pickup at

   http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/curr.html

News from EDUPAGE
=================
EDUPAGE is an email distribution of technology news from Educause;
information is at

http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html

Below are a few itmes from the last 2 weeks....

> COMMISSION BEGINS STUDY OF ONLINE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
> The Congressional Web-Based Education Commission has begun its
> 10-month stretch of hearings regarding the Internet's potential
> uses for education.  The commission was created to advise policy
> makers and educators, and it is due to report to the president
> and Congress in November.  The commission will provide input on
> Web use as Congress considers the reauthorization of the
> Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and it intends to create
> a Web site to debate and discuss policies for online content and
> learning strategies.  Members say the panel will study the
> quality of available online educational resources, as well as the
> gap between schools and individuals who can afford access to
> technology and those who cannot.  Some commission members say
> Web-based education models could affect or undermine the more
> traditional structures of education, such as diploma-granting
> authority, state and local accreditation, and school funding
> priorities.  (Education Week, 9 Feb 2000)
>
> SCORM PROMOTES ONLINE LEARNING EFFICIENCY
> The Department of Defense's Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL)
> committee last week posted the initial release of guidelines that
> will allow teaching materials to be reused, with the goal of
> boosting online education.  The Shareable Courseware Object
> Reference Model (SCORM) version 1.0 lays out rules for creating a
> Web-based learning management system (LMS) that lets developers
> reuse instructional content in different applications and
> platforms.  According to the guidelines, content must be
> independent of context-specific run-time constraints to allow
> content to be included in multiple applications.  Content must
> also have standard interfaces and data.  SCORM includes a Course
> Structure Format, which is an XML-based model of a course
> structure that makes content more interchangeable by defining
> course elements, structure, and external references.  SCORM is
> being developed and distributed by the ADL Co-Laboratory, the
> University of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Technical College
> System.  (PC Week, 7 Feb 2000)

> AS DISTANCE EDUCATION COMES OF AGE, THE CHALLENGE IS KEEPING THE
> STUDENTS
> Many colleges are trying to expand their offerings and attract
> more students by providing distance learning, but online courses
> seem to have higher dropout rates than traditional courses.  Some
> school administrators believe the attrition rates in distance
> learning can be attributed to the fact that students who enroll
> for online courses tend to be older and have responsibilities
> such as families and jobs that detract from the courses.
> Meanwhile, others say the problem is not with the students but
> with the courses, which cannot offer the face-to-face interaction
> needed to keep students interested.  Experts say distance
> learning professors need to form personal ties to students and
> clearly define course requirements.  In addition, professors
> should make tests and assignments flexible enough to accommodate
> a busy student's schedule.  Some experts believe that retention
> rates for online courses will improve as technologies mature and
> instructors gain more experience working in an online
> environment.  Although statistics range widely at different
> institutions, administrators agree that completion rates for
> distance education courses are generally 10 to 20 percentage
> points lower than in traditional courses.
> (Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 Feb 2000)

> NO MORE PENCILS, NO MORE BOOKS
> By 2002, the market for online learning software, services, and
> content will reach $15 billion, according to a survey by
> International Data.  Corporations will conduct 96 percent of
> training online by 2003, predicts education research and
> consulting firm Corporate University Exchange.  Organizations are
> turning to online distance learning for two main reasons: cost
> and time.  The rush to get products to market as fast as possible
> leaves little time to train staff on one product before the next
> is released.  Online learning programs speed up the training
> process.  Also, online learning programs allow for training
> people at their desks, homes, or nearby hotels, greatly reducing
> costs related to travel and time-from-work.  An added bonus is
> the collaboration encouraged by online learning programs,
> building team effectiveness.
> (Computing Canada Online, 4 Feb 2000)