Prepared by Jenna Delgado
Overview
The various topics listed below were gathered to give you a thorough, well-rounded understanding of the ever-evolving relationship between education and technology, more specifically cost displacement issues associated with ICT in postsecondary education. The overall cost of postsecondary education in the United States is about $500 billion annually and student debt in aggregate is well over $1 trillion. That being said, it is important to examine a wide variety of technology issues that could possibly reduce unit costs.
Topics (From Fall 2015 Technology in Education Data Base)
- This section examines whether cybercrime is a concern in higher education distance learning.
The Technology-Tuition Paradox in Online Education
- There is much talk about how distance learning can reduce costs for both universities and students. In this section, the question of whether online education does in fact decrease costs of higher education is explored.
Barriers to Success in Online Education
- There are many obstacles to succeeding in an online degree program. These challenges are identified in this section.
Predictors for Success in Online Education
- This section takes a look at what skills and factors lead to success in online education.
The Role of Badges in Online Education
- Digital badges are an alternate way to get validation on a skill. They typically take much less time to obtain than a college degree, making them appealing to many. This section looks at how they work.
K-12 Issues in Online Education
- Distance learning can be found in K-12 education now more than ever. Issues concerning the incorporation of ICT into teaching methods and techniques are examined in this section.
Accessible Free Courses in Online Education
- Many universities are offering online courses in various subjects for free. This section takes a look at what these universities and courses have to offer.
- Competency-based learning is a method of teaching that focuses on the successful mastery and understanding of concrete skills rather than abstract learning. It is being incorporated into online programs more these days, and this section focuses on this teaching/learning approach.
- Massive Open Online Courses are free online courses that are available for unlimited participation. They are a fairly recent development in distance learning, and their impacts are examined in this section.
- Georgia Tech University was one of the first to develop an online degree program in computer technology. The idea is that this program can be viewed as an experimental case to see how effective this MOOC-like degree earning program will be.
- Coursera, Ed Ex, and Udacity are all MOOC providers/online learning platforms. They are the programs used to create massive open online courses and make them available to people around the world. This section takes a closer look at how they work.
International Issues in Online Education
- Distance learning is a growing trend worldwide. This section takes a look at online education offered in countries other than the United States.
Service Sharing Issues – Libraries, Registration, Etc.
- Many state universities that offer online degree programs share resources with all of their campuses throughout the state. This section examines how service sharing is conducted.
The NCAT Approach in Online Education
- The National Center for Academic Transformation has a mission to incorporate information technology effectively to improve student learning outcomes and reduce the cost of higher education. Their strategies are examined in this section.
- With student loans/debt being an important talking point for many politicians, there have been many national and state initiatives in online education over the past couple of years. The idea is that an online education can help to reduce the cost of higher education. Initiatives in New York, Florida, California, Texas, and Massachusetts are examined.
- A number of state universities are now offering a 4 year bachelor’s degree online program totaling $10,000. Th
- It can be argued that distance learning programs are best suited for a certain type of student. This specific type of student is destined for success. This section identifies the ideal online student.
Online Courses for Students with Disabilities
- This section looks at how online courses are perceived by students with disabilities.
- There are various journals and blogs that cover many of the topics listed above. This section lists many of them.