Read Your News - Win a Turkey!

Hopefully, you've already gotten that RSS feeder up and running so you are reading this (we know most of you haven't, but once you do - you'll love it!) - see instructions in another recent post or call us for help (x90630). Anyway, we're giving away 2 turkeys (not cooked) for the first two faculty or staff to comment on this message (click on comments below). We'll even bring them to your office next Tuesday.
Now aren't you thankful you checked this blog?

Is Online Growth Slowing Down?

The answer is a resounding "No!" according to the 2006 Sloan Report, "Making the Grade: Online Education in the US." In fact, there has been no leveling off whatsoever, with nearly 3.2 million students taking at least one online course during the fall 2005 semester, up from 2.3 million the year before. This additional 800,000 online students is more than twice the number added in any other year. The study also found that the population is non necessarily non-traditional, but tends to mirror the general student population, with the vast majority being undergraduates. What types of institutions have the greatest penetration of online course and program offerings? The answer: doctoral/research institutions - with more than 80% having some form of online offerings. So, if online learning has becomed mainstreamed and offers tremendous potential for increased enrollments, then what's the problem? According to the study, the barriers to adoption are the perceived increased time it takes to develop and teach courses, and some remaining lack of acceptance of online courses by traditional faculty.

GeorgiaVIEW Vista 4 Coming Soon...!

The USG will upgrade UWG courses from WebCT Vista 3 to GeorgiaVIEW Vista 4 by Fall 2007. Training will begin in March. GeorgiaVIEW Vista 4 is the newest version of the state's standard online course management tool, used to enhance efficiency and quality in face-to-face courses, as well as to deliver courses partially or fully online. The new system is a more robust version of the WebCT Vista 3 we use now, with more tools and new functionality. Though the base product is the same, the old company name of 'WebCT' will go away, since Blackboard recently purchased the company; 'GeorgiaVIEW' was added to reflect the statewide implementation.

The transition will be much easier than the move from WebCT CE; faculty will not have to rebuild their courses. In addition to current capabilities including the secure online gradebook, tools for student interaction, the ability to provide class handouts, rich media, an assignment dropbox, and online auto-grading assessments, the upgrade to GeorgiaVIEW Vista 4 will bring these new features:

• An improved user interface with easier navigation, collapsible menus and a ‘Back' button in the interface
• New teaching and learning tools, including Class Blogs, Student Journals, Peer Review of discussion posts and Grading Forms (rubrics) that can be associated with assignments or gradeable discussions
• Ability to create ‘categories' of web links, and to allow students to add web links and media resources, e.g. images
• A Roster tool that allows students to publish personal info and a photo for classmates and instructors to reference

Visit our GeorgiaVIEW Vista 4 Info page for more information and a online demos - click here