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Fundamentals

Updated 1/15/03

Learning

Education Virtual library  is a Learning Resource at Brigham Young University

What's Your Learning Style?  by Marcia L. Conner

Learning & Instruction: The TIP Database The Theory into Practice (TIP) database contains brief summarizes of 50 major theories of learning and instruction.

FACULTY   GUIDEBOOK "This Honolulu Community College's Faculty Guidebook illustrates one method of providing faculty support for learning and teaching.

Online Learning Environments Compared by  Dr. Eric Mercer, Diversity University . (October, 1997) "The three types of learning environment reviewed here are unintegrated, Web-integrated, and virtual world systems. The vast majority of classes that include Internet-based support are presently using unintegrated systems. However, as the sophistication of Web-integrated and virtual world systems increases, and as more course material is shifted out of the physical classroom and online, the importance of these two integrated systems will expand. It is therefore critical for instructors to have a basic understanding of how each of these types of learning environment works, presents itself to instructors and students, and is likely to develop in the near future."

Altering Time and Space through Network Technologies to Enhance Learning by  John F. Chizmar, Department of Economics and David B. Williams, College of Fine Arts, Illinois State University. (revised February, 1997) "This paper maintains that networking technologies offer a better learning environment for students while providing opportunities for reducing the cost of the learning process. A key outcome of advances in networking, the Internet, telecommunications, and client/server computing, is that they are serving to alter the limitations of time and place. The authors discuss their experiences from the perspective of teaching in economics and the arts. They have created learning strategies that make use of these technologies for communication and access according to a matrix showing the interaction of time and place. These include private news groups for each class; e-mail collaboration between students and between students and instructors; electronic submission and critique of work; electronic posting of grades, handouts, notices, schedules, etc.; electronic exhibit areas for multimedia and World Wide Web class projects; Internet- wide critique of work; Internet-based research projects; and the use of localized Internet servers dedicated to instruction.

Pat Cross NCHE lecture  From AAHE's 1998 National Conference on Higher Education:

"WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT STUDENTS' LEARNING AND HOW DO WE KNOW IT?"

"From our societal position inside the parenthesis as we approach the 21st century, we are questioning how we know what we know, and the developmentalists would say that is good -- that offers the potential for growth. Frankly, I find what we know today about students and their learning, and how we know it, troubling. It is troubling because it is so heavily dependent on categorizing students into groups -- ironically, just as we are developing the technology for customizing education to individual requirements."

Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) - University of Pittsburg "Since its founding in 1963, researchers at LRDC have sought to describe what learning is, where and how it happens best, how it can improve, and how research can help. LRDC scholars from several disciplines have contributed substantially to knowledge about human cognition, learning, and effective schooling and training.  Research findings are applied, in collaboration with education practitioners and business and government enterprises, to the reform and improvement of instruction and training in schools and workplaces."

Commercial Organizations

Scientific Learning  "Based on over twenty-five years of neuroscience research, Scientific Learnings family of training programs use patented technology to target the language and reading skills widely recognized as the keys to all learning. Each programs interactive exercises integrate CD-ROM and Internet technology to create an optimal learning environment that adapts to the level of each student and provides ongoing monitoring of a students progress."

Cognitive Arts  "You'll work with a team of learning design experts offering specialized backgrounds in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, and education. Led by renowned learning technologist, Dr. Roger Schank, this team of experts utilizes their 25 years of research in understanding how people learn, remember, and reason to build solutions which can dramatically improve your employees' performance.


Our proven "learn by doing" approach gives your employees an opportunity to develop and practice the skills they need by placing them in highly compelling interactive simulations. Once engaged, your employees have the opportunity to fail in a safe environment and learn from their mistakes with immediate one-on-one coaching by experts. And they receive key information in the form of stories which enhances their ability to retain and recall what they've learned. "

Books 

A Mind at a Time by Melvin D. Levine, Simon & Schuster, April, 2002

Designing World-Class E-Learning by Roger C. Schank, McGraw Hill (November 2001)

How People Learn - Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, John D.Bransford, Ann E. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors, National Academy Press, 1999. This is an excellent review and summary of the "science of learning".

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Learning Standards

LineZine  (Learning in the New Economy e-Magazine)

IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC)  "The mission of IEEE LTSC working groups is to develop technical Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guides for software components, tools, technologies and design methods that facilitate the development, deployment, maintenance and interoperation of computer implementations of education andtraining components and systems."

Learnativity    "Learnawhat? Learn-a-tivity is the notion that individual and organizational effectiveness depend not only on learning better, faster, cheaper but  through the consistent application of learning, combined with creativity, flexibility, and paying close attention to the right things. This site introduces you to resources that support that learnativity revolution."

Advanced Distributed Learning Network  "In November 1997, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) launched the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. A major collaborative ADL partner and presenter at the Kick-Off Meeting was the Instructional Management Systems (IMS) Project, a consortium of government organizations, over 1,600 colleges and universities, and 150 corporations. The purpose of this project is to develop an open architecture for online learning. While other ADL activities are focused on instructional content development and delivery using current and emerging technologies, the IMS project focuses on next-generation open architecture for online learning. Other presenters at the Kick-Off Meeting included government and industry representatives from Apple, General Motors, Microsoft, and Teknowledge."

Microsoft eLearn

SUN - Global Education and Research

IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc.  "The growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web is transforming teaching and learning at all levels of education, in the workplace, and at home. IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. (IMS) is developing and promoting open specifications for facilitating online distributed learning activities such as locating and using educational content, tracking learner progress, reporting learner performance, and exchanging student records between administrative systems."

Open Knowledge Initiative  at MIT

Open Knowledge and Open Source Initiatives: An Interview with MIT's Phil Long  The Technology Source, March/April 2000

Learning Systems Architecture Lab  - Carnegie Mellon

DigitalThink Leads Industry Adoption of E-Learning Standards
- Demonstrates Instant Delivery of SCORM Courseware (Devember 4, 2002)

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Learning Objects

Learning Object Pioneers (Learning Circuits, March, 2000)

Some Online Educators Turn to Bite-Sized Instruction  (The Chronicle, 5/3/01) "Some providers of online educational content are breaking their courses down into small chunks. Students take only those lessons that they need, instead of sitting through an entire course that may repeat information they already know."

Learning Objects   - by Robert J. Beck of the Center for International Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  "This site is designed to introduce the subject of learning objects"

The Instructional Use of Learning Objects by David Wiley, (August,2001)  This is the online edition of the book.  A printed version can be ordered from the AIT online catalog  "The main idea of 'learning objects' is to break educational content down into small chunks that can be reused in various learning environments, in the spirit of object-oriented programming" -- David Wiley"

Stephen's Web

A Primer on Learning Objects by Warren Longmire, Learning Circuits (March, 2000)

A Field Guide to Learning Objects  by ASTD and Smartforce (July, 2002  pdf file)

A Primer on Metadata for Learning Objects -Fostering an interoperable environment, by Rory McGreal and Toni Roberts, E-Learning Magazine (October, 2001). "Imagine having seamless access to a vast store of “learning objects” such as animations, videos, simulations, educational games, and multimedia texts in the same way that Napster users have access to music files. With the emergence of new internationally recognized metadata specifications, the peer-to-peer exchange of lessons and courses by learners, instructors, and course developers is becoming possible."

Objects of interest  by Clive Shepherd  (2000)

Strategic Benefits of Standard Learning Objects by Brian Degen, July 16, 2001 (pdf file)

Learning Objects - "This site is designed to introduce the subject of learning objects."

Learning Objects & Standards Resources  "No one could have imagined learning objects and learning standards would be so talked about in our lifetimes. Here are some of the best resources to acquaint yourself with them"

Learning Objects and Metadata IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC)

Wisconsin Online Resource Center Interactive Learning Objects – Quality Standards

Learning Objects on the Semantic Web. Explicitly Modelling Instructional Theories and Paradigms (pdf file) World Conference on E-Learning in Corp., Govt., Health., & Higher Ed. (ELEARN) Vol. 2002, Issue: 1, 2002

Multimedia Instructional Design VS Learning Objects Development  (pdf file) World Conference on E-Learning in Corp., Govt., Health., & Higher Ed., Vol. 2002, Issue. 1, 2002

Reusable Learning Objects: Critique & Future Directions  (pdf file) World Conference on E-Learning in Corp., Govt., Health., & Higher Ed., Vol. 2002, Issue. 1, 2002

Learning about Learning Objects with Learning Objects  (pdf file) Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference, Vol. 2002,  Issue. 1,  2002

A teaching and learning perspective on learning objects (pdf file) by Ron Oliver, Edith Cowan
University (2002)

(Learning) Objects of Desire: Promise and Practicality by Lori Mortimer, Learning Circuits, April, 2002

Conceptual Model of Reusable Object-based e-Learning  (pdf file) by Lau Siong Hoe and Jalan Ayer Keroh Lama , The European Conference on eLearning, 2002

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Interactive Learning

Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR)  "The Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR) publishes papers related to the underlying theory, design, implementation, effectiveness, and impact on education and training of the following interactive learning environments: authoring systems, cognitive tools for learning computer-assisted language learning, computer-based assessment systems, computer-based training, computer-mediated communications, computer-supported collaborative learning, distributed learning environments, electronic performance support systems, interactive learning environments, interactive multimedia systems, interactive simulation and games, intelligent agents on the Internet, intelligent tutoring systems, microworlds, virtual reality based  learning systems."

Note: Article abstracts available online.

The Future of Learning: An Interview with Alfred Bork (Educom Review, July/August, 1999)  

"Peter Drucker predicted that universities will die in thirty years because universities will not compete successfully with companies. A few may, but not with current strategies. Small wealthy colleges will probably survive.

Universities are too stuck in their current ways of doing things to be able to compete with well-developed material from "outside." Most university faculty and administrators do not appreciate the current problems of learning and so are not prepared for these future directions."

The Laboratory for Interactive Learning Technologies - University of Hawaii at Manoa

Pacific Crest   " ..is an innovative educational consulting and publishing company working to improve the quality of educational outcomes by focusing on five key processes: teaching, learning, mentoring, curriculum design and assessment."

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Evaluation

Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Web-Based Testing and Evaluation Systems by Elizabeth J. Gibson and others, "in this paper, we discuss some basic features that such a system (student knowledge testing and evaluation system) needs to have, and in that light evaluate a selection of the Web-based testing and evaluation systems. (1996 ?)

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education  " ... is an established international refereed journal which publishes papers and reports on all aspects of assessment and evaluation within the various disciplines representative of higher education."  (Abstracts available online)

Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness - University of Central Florida

 

The No Significant Difference Phenomenon  as reported in 248 Research Reports, Summaries, and Papers, Fourth Edition  Extracted by Thomas L. Russell, Director Office of Instructional Telecommunications, North Carolina State University.

Outcome Analysis of Distance Learning by Richard F. Walters and Nancy E. Reed, Department of Computer Science, University of California, Davis. (1996 ?)

What Do Students Know and How Do We Know that They Know It? by William Wade, T.H.E. Journal (October, 1999)

What Outcomes Assessment Misses by Stephen C. Ehrmann (6/14/98)

Assessment and evaluation in higher education: Some concepts and principles, The National Academy Newsletter, Volume One, Number Two, June 2000

The E-Learning Factor  InternetWeek Online (11/1/00) "Companies are using metrics to justify e-learning's impact on strategic business goals."

Assessing the Academic Networked Environment: Strategies and Options (February 1996)

Assessing Students Online  (updated June 20, 2002)

Practical advice for enhancing your teaching and learning by Amanda Kendle, Deborah Ingram, Eileen Thompson and Maria Northcote ,March 2001

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Sites

Commercial and Organizations

ACT Inc.--Information for Life's Transitions--Educational/Career Planning and Workforce Development "ACT Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides educational services to students and their parents, to high schools and colleges, to professional associations and government agencies, and to business and industry. "

American Evaluation Association  "We are an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness."

American Psychological Association

Center for Educational Development and Assessment "The Center for Educational Development and Assessment (CEDA) is a private consulting corporation founded for the purpose of translating research in the field of evaluation and assessment into operational practices and programs. CEDA has been offering consulting services and professional enrichment seminars and workshops for college and university faculty and administrators since 1988. These workshops and seminars focus on the topics of designing, developing and operating faculty evaluation systems and instructional development programs, as well as assessing and developing academic leadership skills."

Computer Assisted Assessment Centre  "The Computer-assisted Assessment (CAA) Centre is part of a TLTP3 project on the implementation and evaluation of CAA. Established in October 1998, the Centre aims to assist staff in higher education with the development and implementation of CAA."

Coursemetric  "Coursemetric Corp delivers ASP-software and information services that enable education and training organizations to capture and analyze data critical to improving learning outcomes. The impact of the Information Age on education is characterized by an infusion of new technologies into the educational process, an increased need for life-long learning and a growing number of providers offering education and training. This dynamic has created a real need for better information, comparative analysis, and benchmarks. Coursemetric.com provides the Web-based evaluation tools and proprietary information necessary to successfully cross the rapidly growing and changing terrain of education and training."

The Flashlight Program   The Flashlight Program helps institutions study the ways that technology can be used to improve education. These findings can be used to validate good practice, spot problems, and improve teaching and learning with technology.

Vantage Learning  " ...provides high quality tools and services in assessment and instruction for K-12 schools, publishers, higher education, states, and commercial markets. Vantage has developed a series of advanced, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools for essay scoring, instruction, and assessment management."

Kaplan  "Whether you want an academic edge, a high score on a critical test, admission to a competitive school or program, funding for school, or career success, Kaplan is the best source to help you get there. One of the nation's premier educational companies, Kaplan has already helped millions of students get ahead through our legendary courses and expanding catalog of products and services."

National Institute for Science Education -College Level 1  "The NISE College Level One Team, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a nationwide community of post-secondary science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) faculty, education researchers, faculty developers, and students."

National Skill Standards Board "The NSSB is an unprecedented coalition of leaders from business, labor, employee, education, and community and civil rights organizations created in 1994 to build a voluntary national system of skill standards, assessment and certification systems to enhance the ability of the United States workforce to compete effectively in a global economy.  These skills are being identified by industry in full partnership with labor, civil rights and community-based organizations.  The standards will be based on high performance work and will be portable across industry sectors."  

The Princeton Review   "The Princeton Review is the country's leading test preparation organization. This year we will help over half the students going to U.S. Colleges and Graduate Schools. These students will find smart, to-the-point test preparation, admissions and financial advice offered with a sense of humor and backed by solid research."

Test Central  This site provides an example of a commercial testing company that gives tests over the Internet.

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College and University

AAHE Assessment Forum  "The AAHE Assessment Forum is the primary national network connecting and supporting higher education stakeholders involved in assessment. It promotes thoughtful, effective approaches to assessment that involve faculty, benefit students, and improve the quality of teaching and learning. It helps campuses, programs, and individuals to plan, implement, and share the results of their assessment efforts by publishing, networking, and sponsoring an annual national conference."

Alverno College: A Four-Year Liberal Arts College for Women "The fact that our system of ability-based education and performance assessment works so successfully with so diverse a student body has important national implications."

American Studies Electronic Crossroads  "The American Studies Crossroads Project is an international networking and curriculum innovation project sponsored by the American Studies Association and funded with major grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the Annenberg/CPB Project." 

Assessment Resource Center (ARC) - University of Missouri  "is the website created to be the first resource for anyone interested in the world of assessment, whether you are an educator seeking the best way to assess your students, a researcher assessing your target population to gather statistical data or a business person assessing the needs and desires of your employees or client base."

Assessment in Higher Education  This page contains links to assessment resources and assessment sites at colleges and universities.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement

Consortium of College Testing Centers  "The Consortium of College Testing Centers (CCTC) is a group of college and university testing centers throughout the United States that has come together to support distance learning. The purpose of the CCTC is to make test administration services available to students at locations away from their own campuses."

Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)  "The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is the new voice of the nation's colleges and universities on all matters regarding accreditation -- a uniquely American approach to assuring quality and public accountability in institutions and programs through voluntary, non-governmental self-regulation."

The Evaluation Center - Western Michigan University  "The EVALUATION CENTER'S mission is to provide national and international leadership for advancing the theory and practice of program, personnel, and student/constituent evaluation, as applied primarily to education and human services. The Center's principal activities are research, development, dissemination, service, instruction, and leadership."

Evaluation Tools "...included here supports the task of generating evaluations by various different means."  This is part of  Multimedia Development Tools developed as part of the Multimedia in Manufacturing Education program at  Georgia Tech.

Evergreen State College

EvNet: Network for the Evaluation of Education and Training Technologies  "The quality of Canadian education and training is being undermined by the improper use of instructional technologies. E-mail, teleconferencing, interactive educational TV, the world wide web, INTERNET newsgroups, and online chat rooms are being used with little evaluation of their effectiveness in learning and training. In some cases, education has become more costly and ineffective because of the improper use of computers in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, and community organizations. EvNet (Network for the Evaluation of Education and Training Technologies) proposes to remedy this situation by evaluating the effectiveness of computer-mediated communications in the delivery of education and training."

FAST  (Free Assessment Summary Tool) "The FAST project is committed to providing users with a simple online tool for assessing their students' impressions of their courses and their teaching. Using the software does not cost anything so if this is your first visit, become a user and see if FAST would be useful for you and your students."

IDEA Center (Individual Development Educational Assessment) "The IDEA Center at Kansas State University provides a student rating system for faculty evaluation and a student rating system for faculty development. The Center also still has available a large list for back issues of IDEA Papers concerning faculty development issues."

Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes Assessment  " Many of the pages on this list have links to other resources and to each other. We like to use other people's lists of links instead of connecting to all the resources directly from here."   This site contains links to sites covering assessment and evaluation, specific skills or content, individual institutions' assessment-related pages, and accrediting organizations.

The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation    "The Joint Committee is incorporated as a private nonprofit organization. In addition to setting standards in evaluation, it is also involved in reviewing and updating its published standards (every five years); training policymakers, evaluators, and educators in the use of the standards; and serving as a clearinghouse on evaluation standards literature."

Learning and Teaching Support Network  "The LTSN is a major network of 24 subject centres based in higher education institutions throughout the UK and a single Generic Centre. It aims to promote high quality learning and teaching through the development and transfer of good practices in all subject disciplines, and to provide a 'one-stop shop' of learning and teaching resources and information for the HE community."

Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction

Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project   at The California State University, University of California.

National College Testing Association (NCTA) "..is an organization of testing professionals in post-secondary institutions and testing companies. NCTA, formerly MPACT, developed from a regional organization founded in 1988 to a national organization in 2000, and focuses on issues relating to test administration, test development, test scoring, and assessment."

Office of Assessment at Georgia Tech 

Performance Assessment Links in Science (PALS) - "PALS is an on-line, standards-based, continually updated resource bank of science performance assessment tasks indexed via the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and various other standards frameworks."  This site covers K-12 science assessment.

Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation (PARE) - a peer reviewed electronic journal

Project ADEPT (Assessment of Distance Education Pedagogy and Technology)  (1996 ?)
is "a project to assess what combination of technology/pedagogy/learner characteristics best enhances student satisfaction with distance education courses. In looking at students' level of satisfaction with distance education, we want to assess what factors contribute to that satisfaction; the extent to which delivery format affects whether they will be more or less likely continue to pursue higher education and be life-long learners; and how they will likely go about learning in the future".

Southern Illinois University - Undergraduate Assessment

Truman State University - Assessment  "We take great pride in our comprehensive program of assessment, which has become a model for many other universities & colleges. Regularly evaluating both student and faculty improvement helps Truman renew its commitment to academic excellence, year after year."

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Computer Grading

The Castle Project  "The CASTLE toolkit has been developed so that Tutors and Course managers can create on-line interactive multiple choice questions (MCQs) quickly and easily without any prior knowledge of HTML, cgi, or similar scripting languages. "

Computer Assisted Assessment   Centre (CAA)  "This site has been designed to provide information and guidance on the use of computer-assisted assessment (CAA) in higher education."

"The CAA Centre is part of the Implementation and Evaluation of Computer-assisted Assessment project, led by the University of Luton and including the University of Glasgow, Loughborough University and Oxford Brookes University. "  This project has closed.

EQL  "EQL International Ltd is the UK's leading provider of e-learning and assessment systems to the financial sector with an international 'blue chip' client base. The company provides training and examination materials to several professional bodies, including CIMA, AAT, ICAEW, ICAS and ACCA."

Knowledge Analysis Technologies, LLC 

"Based on ten years of well-funded basic and applied research, we have developed an essay analysis system that can provide important educational benefits. The web-based Intelligent Essay Assessor, IEA, supplies instantaneous evaluations and tutorial adv ice on the semantic content and conceptual quality of expository writing. This is a qualitative leap beyond the spelling, grammar and style aids currently available. IEA's ratings of quality and quantity of knowledge are virtually as reliable and predictively-valid as a teacher's, more consistent, and instantaneous. The detail in its comments and suggestions is potentially unlimited. For example, it can tell students what important content is missing from their papers, and point them to relevant sources in their textbooks. It can also pinpoint irrelevant and redundant passages, and more. Unlike earlier approaches, IEA does not rely on word counts, punctuation, keyword matches or other superficial character istics. It actually measures knowledge."

"IEA is economically and logistically most effective in situations where a very large number of students write about the same topic and the costs of set-up and processing can be spread over many users."

Washingtonpost.com: News  New Software Checks Essay Content, by Linda Perlstein, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, October 13, 1998; Page A01.

The Intelligent Essay Assessor: Applications to Educational Technology by
Peter W. Foltz, New Mexico State University, Darrell Laham, Knowledge Analysis Technologies, Thomas K. Landauer, University of Colorado (October,1999)

"Over many diverse topics, the IEA scores agreed with human experts as accurately as expert scores agreed with each other. Implications are discussed for incorporating automatic essay scoring in more general forms of educational technology."

Learning and Teaching Development - Loughborough University

Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) in relation to Learning Outcomes (October, 2001)

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Resources

Assessment and Evaluation on the Internet developed by  Liselle Drake & Larry Rudner contains an annotated list of links to Internet resources for assessment and evaluation.

ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation "The ERIC®Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation seeks to provide 1) balanced information concerning educational assessment and 2) resources to encourage responsible test use." (1999)

Instruction and Assessment on the World Wide Web  - Survey of  Course and Test Delivery / Management Systems for Distance Learning, maintained by Thelma Looms.   (Last updated June 8,2002)

DeLiberations on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education  

"DeLiberations is designed to act as:

Assessment

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Books

James O. Nichols, A PRACTITIONER’S HANDBOOK FOR INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AND STUDENT OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT IMPLEMENTATION. New York: Agathon Press, 1995. 3rd ed.

Thomas A. Angelo and H. Patricia Cross. CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES: A HANDBOOK FOR COLLEGE TEACHERS. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. 2nd ed.

The National Academies Press - read more than 2500 books online Free!

Note: Links to testing software can be found in CALT at Teaching/Teaching with Technology/Techniques

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Learning Organizations

The Society for Organizational Learning The development and support of learning communities is a topic of intense interest for both commercial and academic institutions. The Society for Organizational Learning is an organization formed to promote and extend the ideas and leadership of Peter Senge and others.

Knowledge Management & Organizational Learning Knowledge management from a commercial point of view can be explored at this site.

Note: For other related sites see the Higher Education page of CALT

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Asynchronous Learning

Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments  A three year project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to "create efficiencies in the educational process (cost, time, faculty productivity), to increase student retention, and to decrease time-to-degree. "

ALN Web  "Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) are people networks for anytime - anywhere learning  . ALN combines self-study with substantial, rapid, asynchronous interactivity with others. In ALN learners use computer and communications technologies to work with remote learning resources, including coaches and other learners, but without the requirement to be online at the same time. The most common ALN communication tool is the World Wide Web."

Impacts of college-level courses via Asynchronous Learning Networks: Some Preliminary Results by Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Department of Computer and Information Science (CIS), New Jersey Institute of Technology and published in the Journal Of Asynchronous Learning Networks,1997.

Abstract

"New Jersey Institute of Technology has been delivering college courses via an Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN) system called the Virtual Classroom[TM] for a decade, using various media mixes. Currently, two complete undergraduate degree programs are available via a mix of video plus Virtual Classroom, the B.A. in Information Systems and the B.S. in Computer Science. This paper presents preliminary findings about impacts on students, and touches on some issues and potential impacts on faculty, individual universities, and the structure of higher education. Overall ratings of courses by students who complete ALN based courses are equal or superior to those for traditional courses. Dropout or Incomplete outcomes are somewhat more prevalent, while grade distributions for those who complete tend to be similar to those for traditional courses. For both students and faculty, more startup time devoted to solving the "logistics" of ALN delivery seems to be required at the beginning of courses. ALN delivery is not just a "different" way of doing the same thing, however; it is likely to change the nature and structure of higher education. "

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Courses on the Web

Free

The Barnes & Noble University  " ...online campus is the place to take a course on your favorite subject, learn something new, or sign up for that course you always wanted to take in school. Starting soon, you can register for courses ranging from Introduction to Jazz Music to C++ Programming to How to Plan a Wedding. And best of all, every course features a live expert instructor and every course we offer is free."

free-ed.net: Free Education on the Internet  "This is a revolutionary idea whose time has come. The Internet makes possible the Utopian dream of free academic, career, and vocational education for all people everywhere. Free-Ed, Ltd. and free-ed.net are privileged to be leading the way."

"Free-Ed is committed to providing an online, virtual university where users from around the world can study, take courses, and participate in community activities at no cost. This enterprise requires us to build a new kind of learning model that takes into account the technological strengths of the Internet and the needs of our users."

Free University Project   "The mission of the Free University Project on the Internet is to produce directly, or through links, guided independent study materials that can lead to college credit by examination."

tutorialfind.com   -" find tutorials on absolutely anything"

World Campus 101 "World Campus 101 (WC 101) is designed to orient new and prospective students to the World Campus learning environment. It is a free "course" that is not required, but rather is recommended as a way to acquaint yourself with the World Campus and the skills you need to be a successful participant. By working through the various modules, you will gain an understanding of what to expect when taking a course through Penn State's World Campus."

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Regional

Anne Arundel Community College Distance Learning and Flexible Formats  "Anne Arundel Community College offers credit courses in nontraditional formats to meet the needs of busy students. It is now possible to complete requirements for an associate degree or certificate entirely through distance learning and other flexible formats."

MarylandOnline "MarylandOnline, a consortium of Maryland community colleges and universities, presents you with the opportunity to achieve all of your educational goals by completing courses, certificates, and degree programs online."

Electronic Campus of Virginia " ...is a cooperative instructional technology initiative among the state's
public and private colleges and universities. A key goal of the electronic campus is to provide students
of all ages with "one-stop" access to learning in a distributed environment that meets their needs for
convenient and high quality undergraduate, graduate and professional, and continuing education."

Southern Region Education Board "SREB’s 16 member states are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia."

Pennsylvania Virtual Community College Consortium  "The Consortium is an organization that is designed to make available community college opportunities to every Pennsylvania resident, yet does not itself admit students nor grant degrees. Students simply apply for admission to any of the member community colleges. Once admitted, students may take distance learning courses from any member college without submitting additional application forms nor paying additional application fees."

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National

The Art Institute Online  "Our mission as educators in the creative and applied arts: to nurture and stimulate the minds and creative spirits of our students so they're well-prepared for the workplace. We aim to be the beginning of many successful careers -- like yours."

California Virtual Campus  "The mission of the California Virtual Campus(CVC) is to bring the best of California higher education to full- and part-time students in California, the United States, and throughout the world. CVC is intended to expand access within California to post-secondary education and assist the state in meeting the needs of a significant portion of the nearly 500,000 additional students projected to enter California's higher education institutions over the next decade."

Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual University(KCVU)  "The mission of the KCVU is to be a student-centered, technology-based system for coordinating the delivery of postsecondary education that meets the needs of citizens and employers across the Commonwealth. Through enabling policies and appropriate technologies, the KCVU shall consist initially of three primary components:

  1. a clearinghouse for quality distance learning opportunities provided by existing institutions both within and outside the state, primarily certificate and degree programs;
  2. competency-based credentialing; and
  3. a single point of access to statewide student, library, and academic support services. "

Michigan Virtual University "The Michigan Virtual University was created to deliver education and training to Michigan's workforce via innovative learning technologies. We're powering up learning opportunities to be made available through the Web, intranets and extranets, satellite and videoconferencing, CD-ROMs and more. 

National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning (NACTEL) "The National Coalition for Telecommunications Education and Learning (NACTEL) was formed in July 1997 to address training and education needs in the telecommunications industry. Funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has enabled the development of a standardized associate's degree in telecommunications that is delivered through an online, asynchronous learning format. The degree is designed to train network technicians in the telecommunications industry. This innovative, state-of-the-art program targets current and prospective telecommunications workers. The NACTEL associates degree program is not company-specific, but rather, union and industry driven."

The Ohio Learning Network   "The Ohio Learning Network is the state's one-stop technology clearinghouse for higher education and will offer an on-line course catalog.

OnlineLearning.net has the exclusive worldwide electronic distribution rights to courses developed by UCLA Extension for online delivery. UCLA Extension is the nation's largest single campus continuing higher education program, offering more than 4,600 courses annually."

Sloan-C  'Sloan ALN Consortium (Sloan-C) is a consortium of institutions of higher education that offers high quality on-line education anytime and anyplace in a wide range of disciplines." 

Members of Sloan-C are committed to high-quality education for online learners. Courses are typically instructor-led and classes are about the same size as campus lecture classes. Classes are structured to encourage interaction. Because these classes permit learning at anytime, or anyplace, they are referred to as "asynchronous."  '

Western Governors University "Through WGU, you will also be able to earn degrees by focusing only on the skills and knowledge areas that you need. We call this "competency-based" education, since it is not based on the number of credits you may have accumulated. We won't make you relearn what you already know. You can count skills and knowledge you've gained at other universities, on the job, or just through life, toward your WGU degree."

 

EPAA Vol. 6 No. 11 Berg: Distance Learning in Higher Education -California State and Western Governors Association Initiatives (6/12/98)

"Abstract

The Western Governors University (WGU) and the California Virtual University (CVU) are revealing examples of the complex issues involved in implementing distance learning on the public policy level. Although technology is certainly important, it has masked the fact that the WGU and CVU initiatives mark the rise of learner-centered higher education and the increased role of business in the academy. In comparing and contrasting WGU and CVU, it is clear that the WGU is a more radical proposition because of competency-based credit and the connection with private industry. Two important issues driving public policy are raised in these two efforts: First, are the California and Western Governors Association initiatives the product of the commercialization of education or the result of a reform of higher education that may lead to an increased learner-centered orientation? Second, what is the appropriate role of private industry in higher education?"

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Global

Canadian Virtual University  " .. is a partnership of universities across Canada, committed to delivering university-level programs that can be completed from anywhere in the country or beyond."

Elderhostel adult education senior travel opportunities. Begin your lifelong learning adventures today. "Elderhostel, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization with 25 years of experience providing high-quality, affordable, educational adventures for adults who are 55 and older. These short-term educational programs are a fun and exciting way for you to share new ideas, explore new places and make new friends"

FATHOM  "NEW YORK AND LONDON, April 3, 2000 -- Six of the world's leading educational and cultural institutions announced today that they will create Fathom, a new company formed to launch the premier site for knowledge and education on the web. Fathom will present the best public content and courses of universities, libraries, and museums on a wide variety of professional, cultural, and academic subjects. The consortium's website, Fathom.com, will introduce the first home for authenticated knowledge on the Internet, serving a worldwide audience of business and individual users."

Global University Alliance  "A partnership of fully accredited international universities, the Global University Alliance is dedicated to providing students from around the world with accessible, rewarding educational experiences by leveraging the latest interactive web and data-based technologies, and making use of the expertise and resources of our global network of teachers and universities."

Open University "The Open University admitted its first students in 1971. It is the UK's largest university, with over 200,000 students and customers in 1997/98. The OU represents 21% of all part-time higher education students in the UK.

The University is ranked amongst the top UK universities for the quality of its teaching. Of the 14 subjects assessed up to the end of 1998, the majority have been judged "Excellent".

Courses are available throughout Europe and, by means of partnership agreements with other institutions, in many other parts of the world. Over 24,000 learners are studying OU courses outside the UK."

Note: An article on Open University can be found at:
National CrossTalk -- Vol. 7 / No. 3 -- Summer 1999

Universitas 21  "Universitas 21 is a company incorporated in the United Kingdom with a network of 18 universities in 10 countries. Collectively, it enrolls about 500,000 students each year, employs some 44,000 academics and researchers, and has a combined operating budget of almost $US9 billion."

United States Open University  "United States Open University is the sister institution of The Open University chartered over 30 years ago in the United Kingdom. Recognized as the world's leader in part-time education and training for working adults, The Open University has become a model for distance learning programs throughout the world."

Open U.'s American Spinoff Finds Interest in Shakespeare and Computer Programming (The Chronicle 8/22/00)  

"There's the predictable interest. People want business programs. People want an M.B.A. They want computing. And they want information technology. And in the areas in computing and information technology, they probably want courses as much as programs. So you get people with degrees who want to get an updated version of object-oriented programming or want to get an updated version of Java or whatever it is.

I guess what the Shakespeare course taught us is that there is also a big interest out there in the arts and humanities. And maybe we do a little better in that, because in the case of arts and humanities, the more British you are, the better. We're looking also at art history."

The World Lecture Hall provides extensive links to course materials developed by faculty around the world. provides extensive links to course materials developed by faculty around the world. provides extensive links to course materials developed by faculty around the world.  ( updated 12/21/01)

World Organization of Webmasters  "The World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) is a not for profit professional association. The purpose of the World Organization of Webmasters is to support and enhance the role of individuals and organizations who create, manage or market web sites. We support our members by providing web professional certification as well as educational, technical, employment and member advantage and discounted services. We enhance our membership by providing a community where discussion and information exchange can operate freely in the context of mutual trust and benefit."

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Commercial

The Barnes & Noble University  " ...online campus is the place to take a course on your favorite subject, learn something new, or sign up for that course you always wanted to take in school. Starting soon, you can register for courses ranging from Introduction to Jazz Music to C++ Programming to How to Plan a Wedding. And best of all, every course features a live expert instructor and every course we offer is free."

Capella University  "Capella University is an institution of higher education which offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, certificates, and continuing education to adult learners who seek to integrate advanced study with their professional lives. Its mission is to deliver high quality programs that provide traditional and contemporary knowledge through flexible and innovative forms of distance learning."

Cardean University  "Cardean University provides next generation business courses online to companies around the globe. Working in association with five leading institutions we bring you the best in business e-learning. We have created an interactive, engaging learning environment designed around real-world business problems."

click2Learn.com   " ... is the world's premier platform for a vast inventory of industry-specific and general professional training. No other site gives you direct access to such a complete range of computer-based training (CBT) subjects and formats ... everything from eManuals to synchronous, instructor-led seminars. The click2learn.com catalog will include courses in a variety of formats: CBT, hard goods (CD-ROM, video, audio, books, etc.), Instructor-Led Training (ILT), synchronous training, and eManuals. "