e-Insights

Drexel Nursing Students Now Using iPods

More than 300 students in Drexel's College of Nursing and Health Professions--including those enrolled in Drexel University's online RN to BSN program--received an iPod touch this year. The devices' built-in Wi-Fi will allow students instant access to key medical information, which should help decrease incidents of drug conflicts and incorrect medical procedures.

“Whether students are searching for drug interactions during a clinical exercise or information in a medical dictionary, they can go online and find the latest research through numerous databases,” said L.J. “Rocky” Rockstraw, director of Drexel’s Center for Clinical and Electronic Learning Resources and an associate clinical professor at the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

The College began using pocket-PC handheld devices in 2001 to access drug and medical databases. The infrastructure required to support those devices was difficult to maintain and updates were often hard to install. The iPod touch was selected because of its “ease of use and available technical support.”

Find out more about Drexel's online RN to BSN program and other online programs from the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

Drexel Continues to Rise in University Rankings

Drexel University is once again on the exclusive list of "up-and-coming" national universities that have achieved "the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus, or facilities," according to top college officials polled by U.S.News & World Report for the 2010 edition of "America's Best Colleges." Drexel is ranked fourth in the nation among these "Schools to Watch," up from sixth last year.

Drexel also continued to improve in the overall U.S.News ranking of Best National Universities, advancing to number 88 from last year's rank of 89 (which in turn was reached by a remarkable leap of 19 places from the 2008 list). Drexel and Penn are the only two Philadelphia-based universities ranked in the nation's top 100.

The U.S. News rankings group schools based on categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Online learning poised to expand sharply

In May, the Department of Education released a report that found online learning has clear advantages over face-to-face instruction. e-Insights reported some of the key findings of the study in July, and Inside Higher Ed covered it here and here. Now people outside education circles are even beginning to take notice.

NY Times writer Steve Lohr recently discussed the report on his technology blog, proposing that online education is now at a pivotal point in its development. As Web-based communication tools become both more prevalent and more sophisticated, and evidence of the value of online instruction mounts, Lohr predicts the field could see a large increase in implementation.

Interviewing several distance learning experts including Barbara Means, the study’s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International, and Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program, Lohr purports that the real promise of online education is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more “learning by doing,” which many students find more engaging and useful. In keeping with Drexel University's commitment to experiential learning, this "learning by doing" model is adapted in some of the Drexel University Online degree programs through clinicals, in-classroom teaching, residencies, and more.

According to Regier, the growth of social media is also a key development in online learning.

“The technology will be used to create learning communities among students in new ways,” Regier told Lohr. “People are correct when they say online education will take things out of the classroom. But they are wrong, I think, when they assume it will make learning an independent, personal activity. Learning has to occur in a community.”

The Advantages of Online Learning - Evidence from the Dept. of Ed.

A recent report issued by the U.S. Department of Education found that students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. Students in blended conditions, or courses that combined elements of online learning with face-to-face instruction, performed best of all, according to the study.

The report, “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning,” was a meta-analysis, or a study that combines the results of previous experiments to draw a larger conclusion. While over a thousand empirical studies of online learning had been conducted between 1996 and 2008, only 51 met the criteria for this study: (a) contrast an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measure student learning outcomes, (c) use a rigorous research design, and (d) provide adequate information to calculate an effect size.

The key findings of the study were:

•    Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.

•    Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.

•    Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for online learning.

•    Most of the variations in the way in which different studies implemented online learning did not affect student learning outcomes significantly.

•    The effectiveness of online learning approaches appears quite broad across different content and learner types.

For more information:
“The Evidence on Online Education”
Inside Higher Ed

“Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies” [Adobe PDF]
U.S. Department of Education

Global education and study abroad flourish despite US economic challenges

According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the number of students who study outside their home country is projected to increase from three million this year to eight million by 2025, making international education one of the fastest-growing sectors in higher education.

Consequently, business opportunities surrounding study abroad programs are expected to hold steady or even increase during the global economic downturn as colleges see a greater need to engage globally.

Some of the industries spawned by study abroad programs include:

• Recruitment
• Support personnel
• Student housing coordination
• Insurance and healthcare providers
• Regulations compliance
• Administrative software
• Evaluation of foreign academic credentials

Drexel University's online Master of Science in Global and International Education degree provides a broad and solid foundation for anyone with an interest in the fields of study abroad, global trends in education, and comparative research of diverse approaches to teaching and learning.

Click here to read the full article, "Internationally, the Business of Education is Booming."

Click here to visit the program webpage for the Master of Science in Global and International Education

Letter to the Editor - Time to Plunge In to Distance Education

The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges recently published the result of a survey they conducted on distance education. The results were reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education on February 10, 2009. Given what I perceived as an inaccurate and misstated conclusion of the findings, I decided to submit the below Letter to the Editor, which was published last week.

I, of course, welcome your thoughts. Ken Hartman

 

To the Editor:

Had Drexel University and other private nonprofit colleges been able to participate in the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges' surveys about distance education, the results might have been somewhat different ("Professors Regard Online Instruction as Less Effective than Classroom Learning," The Chronicle online. February 10).

Nasulgc members need only look at how some private nonprofits are delivering online instruction to see that is can be done with excellent learning outcomes. The keys to a quality distance-learning program are faculty involvement and compensation. Faculty members must be incentivized to both develop and teach online courses, and faculty members must also have access to seasoned instructional designers able to offer technical and instructional support.

It's not surprising that this survey revealed that faculty members who have actually taught online courses were far more positive about the learning outcomes than faculty members who have never taught online. To my Nasulgc colleagues, as well as prospective online students, I say, "Jump in - the water's warm!"

Nationalizing The Student Loan Industry

President Obama recently proposed taking over the entire federal student financial aid lending process, abolishing the bank-based student loan programs, in the preliminary budget for the 2010 fiscal year. When you read the new proposed budget, as well as the fine print in the recently passed Federal Economic Stimulus Package and Higher Opportunity Act, it’s clear that the federal government will now play a much bigger role in determining who gets financial aid and how much. 

We have, in my opinion, taken the first giant step towards nationalizing the student loan industry when few, if any, private banks are willing or able to issue student loans. The good news is that it will be much easier for some lower income students and parents to receive federal student loans, as the free federal financial aid form is being simplified. Moreover, a greater number of families will now be eligible for education tax credits or refunds.  The bad news is that we are likely to see historic levels of student debt, as some students and families will borrow more and more.

Working adult learners, who can take advantage of their company’s tuition reimbursement program, will be the real winners in the years to come. Between employer tuition reimbursement and the convenience of online courses, working adult students will have the tools needed to weather the upcoming storm.

But that’s my take on the proposed FY10 budget. More importantly, what do you think? Is it a good idea for the federal government to control ALL lending of federal financial aid money? Will the federal government provide the same, better, or worse service than a private bank?
 

Undergraduate Online Courses Taught by A Fulbright Scholar

  Interested in an online bachelors degree from Drexel? But not sure if you'll receive the same rigorous education as on-campus. Rest assured online faculty members are the same world renowned as on campus. You could be taught by a Fulbright Scholar!

Dr. Jennifer Quinlan, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, has been named a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Quinlan currently teaches online undergrad courses in biology.

What is a Fulbright? The Fulbright is a program that creates a context to provide a better understanding of U.S. views and values, promotes more effective binational cooperation and nurtures open-minded, thoughtful leaders, both in the U.S. and abroad, who can work together to address common concerns.

Dr. Quinlan's Fulbright will be hosted by the faculty of Food Science in the Department of Microbiology at Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary. She will teach Microbiology and Nutrition classes and will launch new MSc programs as part of the universities restructure.

Drexel Online offers various undergraduate programs which are taught by the same renowned faculty as a on-campus courses. Click here to view a full listing of our online undergraduate programs.

For-Profit Colleges: Failing Economy, Now's Our Time

Are you a for-profit college? If you are, no economic hardships for you, says a recent Chronicle article. The article compared the health of non-profit colleges and universities to for-profits and found that for-profits are in a much better shape than the rest of higher education institutions. Enrollments this past fall for publicly traded college companies grew at a much higher rate than the average. Experts say, as a result of all the downward trends going on in the economy - increasing unemployment rates, budget cuts, declining support for non-profit orgs, failing housing markets and the list goes on, we are seeing higher enrollments. During this recession college enrollments will increase as laid-off workers return to school for training.On the student loan front, grants and subsidized loans have greater availability so there is more money out there for students to pay for college tuition. Now's our time, let's train people for jobs that are in high-demand - healthcare, information technology, and business. These jobs will be in need of well-qualified workers in the future.

Study Shows Online Courses Require Deeper Learning Approaches

Think that online learning is less engaging or not as challenging as face-to-face? Think again. A recent survey conducted by The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) found that online learners reported deeper approaches to learning than traditional classroom-based learners. The survey explored experiences of online learners who said that their courses required deeper approaches to learning.

The NSSE, conducted by Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, surveyed nearly 380,000 freshman and seniors at 722 four-year schools nationwide.  The report shows that 37% of freshman learning online and 45% of seniors said they often participated in course activities that challenged them intellectually compared to only 24% of traditional classroom-based freshman and seniors. And 58% of online learners reported using higher-order thinking in their coursework compared to 55% of classroom-based learners.

The majority of online degree students are adult learners, who typically seek a higher and more substantive dialog with their instructor, because of this online instructors tend not to take engagement for granted and as a result have to structure assignments that help students to stay more connected. For example, Missy Harvey, an online instructor for The iSchool at Drexel, says she uses weekly discussion boards and project-related boards, and shares her own experiences to keep students engaged.

Here are some tips to keeping online students engaged:

• Meet early and regularly with your department’s instructional designer, ideally 6-8 weeks
  before the start of the course.

• Foster high interaction with and among online students.
• Seek to organize your online course in a highly structured manner, where each week/unit is clearly identified, and the required content (text, audio, video) and assignments are easy to locate.
• Build a community among your students by, for example, having them post their picture, a brief bio, and by having a synchronous participatory kickoff session at the beginning of the course.
• Review and utilize your end-of-course evaluation. The best suggestions I’ve received (vis-à-vis, improving my online courses) have come from my students.

 For more tips contact me at kenhartman@drexel.edu or to read more about this survey go to: National Survey of Student Engagement