ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Legal Perspective: Q&amp;A with Daniel F. Goldstein
Author: Betts, Kristen
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accessibility (for Disabled),Educational Technology,Electronic Learning,Legal Aid,School Law,Barriers,Educational Legislation,Influence of Technology,Educational Opportunities,Federal Legislation

For students with disabilities to have the same opportunities to succeed as their nondisabled peers, access to educational technology and digital content is critical. It is essential that higher education boards, administrators, faculty, and administrative staff understand why accessibility must be on the forefront of our educational programs, co-curricular initiatives, support services, and infrastructure for on-campus and online programs. This question and answer session with Daniel F. Goldstein, a partner and trial lawyer with Brown, Goldstein &amp; Levy, provides a legal perspective on issues relating to accessibility and online learning.
The VIRI (Virtual, Interactive, Real-Time, Instructor-Led) Classroom: The Impact of Blended Synchronous Online Courses on Student Performance, Engagement, and Satisfaction
Author: Francescucci, Anthony
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Higher Education,College Students,Blended Learning,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Learner Engagement,Academic Achievement,Satisfaction,Urban Universities,Marketing,Questionnaires,Student Interests,Statistical Analysis,Virtual Classrooms,Synchronous Communication,Asynchronous Communication,Pretests Posttests,Student Attitudes,Urban Schools,Educational Technology

Previous research on blended course offerings focuses on the addition of asynchronous online content to an existing course. While some explore synchronous communication, few control for differences between treatment groups. This study investigates the impact of teaching a blended course, using a virtual, interactive, real-time, instructor-led (VIRI) classroom, on student engagement, performance, and satisfaction. We use an experimental design with both a control group and a treatment group. Up to 90 students in a large urban university are randomly assigned by the registrar into two sections of an introductory marketing course. Using a pre- and post-semester questionnaire, the study measures student engagement, performance, and satisfaction. There are no statistical differences in student performance between the control and treatment groups. The only student engagement factor with a statistically significant difference between groups is student interest in their courses. Compared with the control group, the treatment group appears to be more interested (+10%) in their courses at the end of the semester. Finally, fewer than 2 in 10 students  express dissatisfaction with their participation in a VIRI course. Blended course offerings are  increasing in importance in marketing and business education. The study provides guidance for  fine-tuning the features of those course offerings by demonstrating how a VIRI classroom leverages  the capabilities of technology without compromising learning outcomes.
Investigating the Role of Mobile Devices in a Blended Pre-Service Teacher Education Program
Author: Vaughan, Norman
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Handheld Devices,Blended Learning,Preservice Teacher Education,Student Surveys,Online Surveys,Focus Groups,Higher Education,Preservice Teachers,Action Research,Educational Technology,College Students,Technology Uses in Education,College Faculty,Ownership

The purpose of this research study was to investigate if and how mobile devices could be used to support the required program outcomes in a blended pre-service teacher education degree. All students enrolled in an educational technology course during the fall 2011 semester were provided with ViewSonic tablets. Through faculty interviews, student online surveys, and a post-course focus group, the study participants indicated that mobile devices could be useful for supporting future professional responsibilities (e.g., career-long learning, collaboration) and facilitating student learning but less effective for planning, assessment, and managing the classroom environment.
Building Academic Staff Capacity to Support Online Learning in Developing Countries
Author: Mallinson, Brenda
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Developing Nations,Capacity Building,Staff Development,Electronic Learning,Online Courses,Higher Education,Technological Literacy,Intervention,Instructional Design,Skill Development,Delivery Systems,Barriers,Teaching Skills

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Africa face the challenge of responding to the expanding demand for tertiary education while maintaining or enhancing the quality of their course offerings. This demand has led to some HEIs introducing the use of interactive web technologies to support their distance teaching and learning practices. However, academic staff at these institutions may struggle to provide sufficient support to online learners in part due to inadequate staff capacity in terms of familiarity with and use of online communication tools and virtual learning environments. This paper reports the design and development of an openly licensed capacity-building intervention and the piloting thereof with academic staff at three southern Africa educational institutions. The aim of the capacity-building intervention is to initiate skill development and introduce foundational concepts in support of engaging online learners. The design and development of the course material is discussed, and the experiences of the pilot delivery are examined.
Turning the Digital Divide into Digital Dividends through Free Content and Open Networks: WikiEducator Learning4Content (L4C) Initiative
Author: Schlicht, Patricia
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Electronic Learning,Open Education,Computer Uses in Education,Shared Resources and Services,Web 2.0 Technologies,Distance Education,Program Development,Program Implementation,Resource Units,Access to Education,Universities,Community Colleges,International Programs,Foreign Countries

In today's world where tuition fees continue to rise rapidly and the demand for higher education increases in both the developing and developed world, it is important to find additional and alternative learning pathways that learners can afford. Traditional education as we have known it has begun to change, allowing for new parallel learning opportunities to take shape and new avenues to open up. This paper describes the world's largest online training initiative on open education that teaches wiki technology to educators in the formal education sector worldwide. WikiEducator, founded in 2006, initially operated with funding support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (WFHF) under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), an intergovernmental organization created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources, and technology. In May 2009, it became its own entity residing under Otago Polytechnic's International Centre for Open Education Resources under the auspices of the Open Education Resource Foundation (OERF) in Dunedin, New Zealand, where it continues today. WikiEducator's flagship, the Learning4Content (L4C) project, builds capacity among global educators by teaching wiki technology to newcomers and experts in the field of open education. In exchange for the free training opportunity they receive, participants are asked to create open content on WikiEducator and contribute toward WikiEducator's strategic objectives. The success of the L4C project helped WikiEducator reach its target number of equipping 2,500 educators with wiki skills to create open educational resources online two years ahead of the initially planned three years and was the reason for a large additional number of novices and experts alike joining the project. Even though many learners make use of the free learning opportunities offered through the L4C project, for those who do not have access to online content--or even computers--WikiEducator has developed a feature called &quot;wiki-to-print,&quot; which allows users to select free and open WikiEducator content and combine it into a book that can be printed and used offline. Distribution of these print-based, compiled books provides an opportunity to those who do not or will never have access to the Internet and technology to gain access to knowledge and information. This paper will describe WikiEducator's stages of development and the outcomes it has achieved as the world's largest attempt to build wiki skills among global educators.
Student Approaches to Learning in Relation to Online Course Completion
Author: Balter, Olle
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Higher Education,Online Courses,Computer Science Education,Mathematics Education,Study Skills,Study Habits,Academic Achievement,Academic Persistence,College Students,Dropouts,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis,Correlation,Teaching Methods,Learning Strategies,Programming

This study investigates the relationship between approaches to studying and course completion in two online preparatory university courses in mathematics and computer programming. The students participating in the two courses are alike in age, gender, and approaches to learning. Four hundred and ninety-three students participating in these courses answered the short version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). Results show that students demonstrating a deep approach to learning in either course are more likely to complete. In the mathematics course, a combination of deep and strategic approaches correlates positively with course completion. In the programming course, students who demonstrate a surface approach are less likely to complete. These results are in line with the intentions of the course designers, but they also suggest ways to improve these courses. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that ASSIST can be used to evaluate course design.
National Perspective: Q&amp;A with National Federation of the Blind &amp; Association of Higher Education and Disability
Author: Betts, Kristen
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Visual Impairments,Blindness,Online Courses,Distance Education,Access to Education,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Higher Education,Barriers,Academic Accommodations (Disabilities),Faculty Development,Teacher Competencies,Disabilities,National Organizations

Success for online students with disabilities requires an institutional commitment to accessibility. This success also requires an understanding of the benefits and opportunities as well challenges and barriers related to online learning. This question and answer session provides a national perspective from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the Association of Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD) on online learning, accessibility, and students success. Organizational representatives for this session included Mark Riccobono, the director of the Jernigan Institute, NFB, and Kelly Hermann, chair of AHEAD&apos;s Special Interest Group on Online and Distance Learning.
K-12 Online Learning and Students with Disabilities: Perspectives from State Special Education Directors
Author: Burdette, Paula J.
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Special Education,State Officials,Elementary Secondary Education,Online Courses,Electronic Learning,State Surveys,Accessibility (for Disabled),Educational Policy,Educational Practices,Educational Technology,Educational Development,Influences,Student Participation,Barriers,Public Education

K-12 special education policies and practices that ensure students with disabilities receive a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment are coming under pressure from the rapid expansion of online learning. Forty-six state and non-state jurisdiction special education directors responded to a brief survey about K-12 online learning. Findings demonstrated an increase in the number of states providing online instruction; indicated that students with many different types of disabilities participate in online learning; and described the directors&apos; reflections on current issues as well as anticipated barriers to students with disabilities participating in online learning. Ambiguity and variability existed across state policies regarding online education as each state may have been in a different stage of adopting this relatively new approach to K-12 education. As a result, students bring to their undergraduate education a wide array of perceptions, attitudes, and prior experiences that may affect their learning outcomes.
Child Care and Other Support Programs
Author: Floyd, Latosha
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Military Personnel,Military Service,Child Care,Social Support Groups,Certification,Accreditation (Institutions),Personnel Selection,Wages,History,Agency Cooperation,Fees,Financial Support

The U.S. military has come to realize that providing reliable, high-quality child care for service members' children is a key component of combat readiness. As a result, the Department of Defense (DoD) has invested heavily in child care. The DoD now runs what is by far the nation's largest employer-sponsored child-care system, a sprawling network with nearly 23,000 workers that directly serves or subsidizes care for 200,000 children every day. Child-care options available to civilians typically pale in comparison, and the military's system, embedded in a broader web of family support services, is widely considered to be a model for the nation. The military's child-care success rests on four pillars, write Major Latosha Floyd and Deborah A. Phillips. The first is certification by the military itself, including unannounced inspections to check on safety, sanitation, and general compliance with DoD rules. The second is accreditation by nationally recognized agencies, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The third is a hiring policy that sets educational and other requirements for childcare workers, and the fourth is a pay scale that not only sets wages high enough to discourage the rapid turnover common in civilian child care but also rewards workers for completing additional training.  Floyd and Phillips sound a few cautionary notes. For one, demand for military child care continues to outstrip the supply. In particular, as National Guard and Reserve members have been activated during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the DoD has sometimes struggled to provide child care for their children. Additionally, force reductions and budget cuts are likely to force the military to make difficult choices as it seeks to streamline its child-care services in the years ahead.
Constructing Student Learning through Faculty Development: Writing Experts, Writing Centers, and Faculty Resources
Author: Werner, Courtney L.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing (Composition),Laboratories,Faculty Development,College Faculty,Writing Across the Curriculum,Teacher Workshops,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Sequential Approach,Writing Assignments,Experiential Learning

In this article, the author explains how a writing center can be a potential host for housing writing instruction across the disciplines. She recommends writing centers act as hosts for various faculty development opportunities throughout the semester, and states that these centers can also hold faculty development resources and collaborative opportunities (such as workshops and discussions). She provides an example of a hands-on workshop that hosts the type of activities that centers might provide in order to craft or maintain sustainable faculty development that enhances writing education across the campus.
Creating Open Education Resources for Teaching and Community Development through Action Research: The Milk Production and Hygiene Module
Author: Ssajjakambwe, Paul
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Agricultural Education,Resource Units,Shared Resources and Services,Computer Uses in Education,Action Research,Graduate Students,Agricultural Production,Hygiene,Data Collection,Data Analysis,Material Development

One of the cornerstones of the AgShare program is the application of an information loop of action research in the training of graduate students to generate new and practical educational materials and  interventions for creating open education research (OER) modules for teaching at universities, and for designing interventions and training programs for making improvements in the dairy value chain in Uganda. One major output of the action research project was the generation of data for use in partial fulfillment of a master of science in Agribusiness and a master of science in Livestock Development, Planning, and Management by participating students. A milk production and hygiene OER module was developed based on components in milk safety, dairy policy, contaminants in milk and dairy products, quality assurance, and dairy planning and management. The OER module was incorporated into an existing graduate-level course at Makerere University. As the AgShare approach continuously updates educational materials through the information loop, this program ensures that university training of students is applicable to the current needs of the dairy industry.
Designing Online Courses for Screen Reader Users
Author: Kearns, Lorna R.
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Assistive Technology,Problems,Electronic Learning,Access to Education,Access to Computers,Web Sites,Design,Metadata,Blindness,Graduate Study

A review of multiple online courses at one institution was conducted by a skilled screen reader user for the purpose of assessing the extent to which the courses were navigable and understandable to online students using assistive technologies. This paper identifies features of online courses that may present problems for screen reader users and recommends solutions to address those problems. The following two overarching recommendations are suggested and elaborated: (1) just as a roadmap assists drivers in navigating unfamiliar terrain, principles of clarity, consistency, and organization should be applied to the design of online courses to orient students to the virtual learning environment and (2) web pages and course documents should make effective use of metadata (i.e., machine-understandable information about computer-based content) in order for course material to be accurately understood by students using a screen reader.
Do Students Experience Flow Conditions Online?
Author: Meyer, Katrina A.
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Graduate Students,Student Experience,Online Courses,Games,Internet,Satisfaction,Psychological Patterns,Student Surveys

This pilot study asked graduate students enrolled in higher education programs at two institutions to ascertain whether and to what extent they experienced nine flow-related conditions in two settings: (1) online courses or (2) surfing or gaming online. In both settings, flow was experienced &quot;sometimes,&quot; although no significant difference in mean frequency was found between the two settings. When asked for examples of flow, however, students gave more examples drawn from non-class-related activities (&quot;n&quot; = 35)--such as researching topics related to health, travel, or shopping, or engaging with Facebook--than class-related activities (&quot;n&quot; = 3). Finally, students found that online class experiences &quot;frequently&quot; impacted their satisfaction with the course, and three flow conditions were found to be correlated with course satisfaction at p less than or equal to 0.05: clear goals, concentration and focus, and a sense of personal control over activity.
Programmatic, Systematic, Automatic: An Online Course Accessibility Support Model
Author: Bastedo, Kathleen
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Academic Accommodations (Disabilities),Access to Education,Faculty Development,College Faculty,Student Personnel Services,Systems Approach,Models

Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of requests for online course material accommodations at the University of Central Florida (UCF). In response to these requests, UCF's Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) formed new teams, reevaluated its processes, and initiated a partnership with UCF's Student Disability Services (SDS) office to address these needs. This article presents the Online Course Accessibility Support Model that was developed and implemented by CDL. This model was designed to provide a scalable and programmatic approach to creating accessible online course materials. It identifies the following three strategies to address these needs: (1) teach faculty Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles through professional development programs regarding the ways in which UDL relates to accessible online materials for new courses; (2) provide legacy faculty members with the opportunity to update their existing online course materials to accommodate diverse learners; and (3) expedite accommodations for online course materials to address immediate needs (e.g., situations in which a student registered with SDS is currently enrolled in an online course that contains some inaccessible materials). As a result of implementing this model, communication between CDL and SDS improved, roles related to making course materials accessible were defined, and students gained access to accessible online course materials more quickly.