Featured Articles on OnlineEducation.com
As part of an ongoing commitment to provide students with clear and comprehensive guidance on online education and degree programs, OnlineEducation.com offers a broad range of informational resources on relevant topics in the field of higher education. These articles are meant to complement our rigorous research and reporting on specific online degrees, on trends in online learning, and on careers in fields linked to particular academic programs. The features section includes general interest stories, in-depth reports, and practical guides that delve into a wide array of subject areas, extending beyond online education, and reaching out into the larger world of knowledge and scholarship.
Why is California’s Free College Textbook Plan Still Delayed?
Open educational resources (OERs) are free online alternatives to commercial textbooks that turned into a hot political issue in California in 2021—and Governor Newsom’s support for OERs is poised to disrupt America’s $3.2 billion university textbook industry.
Why is Online Proctoring Under Fire?
Proctoring means the supervision of examinations, primarily to prevent cheating. Developed because of the Covid pandemic, online proctoring is a new way of supervising testing in real time through a computer’s webcam, microphone, and software that closely monitors the device’s desktop and running applications.
Will Online Education Grow in the Wake of the Great Resignation?
Just as important as the reasons for the Great Resignation are the questions of when that resigned workforce will return—and in what capacity. Some of the answers could lie in another pandemic-accelerated trend: the rise of online education, which is helping to transform what it means to be a learner and a worker in the 21st century.
World’s Most Popular Online Course Adopts AI: Harvard’s CS50
The most popular online education class in the world—with 40,000 students enrolled virtually each semester—is Harvard University’s CS50. This introductory computer science course is Harvard’s largest on-campus class, with 1,600 students attending each year in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moreover, almost five million students have enrolled since the university’s undergraduate division Harvard College first offered this class in 1989.
Your Brain Online: Distance-Based Education and Cognitive Function
Some heartening news for educators regarding the brain and online learning is that “if you understand some of the principles about the brain and learning, you can make online instruction as brain-compatible as face-to-face,” Dr. Zadina shared. The reasoning? The same principles generally apply with regard to the brain and learning in both contexts. However, there are three important aspects of how the online environment affects cognition that are important to consider.
Zoom: Shut Off the Camera and Boost Learning
New research out of UCLA’s psychology department suggests that students who leave their computer’s camera turned on during live online classes learn significantly less than classmates who shut their cameras off.
