Online Degree and EdTech Blog

Among brick-and-mortar schools shifting toward online education, Arizona State University has big goals. Officials there project that online course enrollment at the school will increase by 30,000 students by 2020, putting nearly a quarter of its students online within the decade. In the 2011 fiscal year, ASU Online generated an estimated $6.2 million in profit, the school reported to The Arizona Republic. The school benefits from higher enrollment without new building and maintenance costs, and students benefit from the flexibility […]

With tools like virtual classrooms and interactive student profiles, an increase in customization is advancing online education at many schools. Educators at the University of Southern California (USC) have found specific benefits to bringing classes online.

"Putting the education online means you can see what issues are universal," Melora Sundt, associate dean of academic programs at USC's Rossier School of Education, told The Atlantic. "It's wonderful to hear students say, 'I have that issue in Kansas!' and 'I have the same […]

A national survey of two-year institutions by the Instructional Technology Council released in May 2011 found that community colleges saw a 9 percent increase in online education enrollment between Fall 2009 and Fall 2010, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed. And even though more students are being enrolled in such programs, the colleges are still not meeting demand, with 68 percent of the surveyed schools reporting that the "demand [for online education] exceeds their distance education […]

In a bid to overhaul the higher education model in Texas, Gov. Rick Perry challenged local colleges and universities in February 2011 to create an online bachelor's degree program that costs students less than $10,000. In an Education Today piece on Classesandcareers.com, Brooke Brown writes that just months later, progress is being made. State Commissioner of Higher Education Van Davis reports that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is working aggressively to enact the economical, fast-track degree. In a […]

The Internet has reshaped the educational landscape in Kuala Lumpur, the Maldives and other Asian nations, writes Liz Gooch in a New York Times article titled "Online Degrees Come of Age in Asia." The shift towards distance learning means that students in far-flung island nations or other countries without plentiful access to campus-based colleges and universities can log on to pursue their studies. Of the online education format, Wong Tat Meng, the president of the Asian Association of Open Universities, […]

Compost your No. 2 pencils and paper (if you still have any), and power down the laptop. Today's classroom necessities can be accessed from your mobile phone.

Mobile devices are revolutionizing the college classroom. Smartphones power new ways for students to learn, access information and communicate with each other. They create a "24-7 learning environment," according to Sprint educational sales director Ed Davalos. In 2007, the New Media Consortium said that "the time is approaching when these little devices will be […]

Over three-quarters of academic leaders report that online colleges can provide an education as good as or better than actual classroom instruction, according to a 2010 Sloan Consortium report on distance education. But some 70 percent of faculty believe otherwise, describing online courses as "inferior" or "somewhat inferior to face-to-face."

The question is: Who's right?

The jury remains out on the quality of online programs. Wide disparities still exist among online programs, with some instructors mastering the art of web-based education and […]

Osama bin Laden may be dead, but as President Obama made clear, U.S. involvement in the Middle East and other areas with radical Muslim factions is far from over. This means that Arabic, already the fastest-growing foreign language for U.S. university study, according to the Modern Language Association, will likely continue to be in high demand. Recently, Pennsylvania launched an innovative effort to develop an online bachelor’s degree program in Arabic for its 14 state colleges and […]