Friday, April 24, 2009

Am I an ABD (All But Dissertation?

Register for a free online workshop on Wikieducator to find out how you can use Wikieducator to collaborate and share content worldwide.

I just completed my doc courses. Does that mean I am not an official ABD?

Thursday, April 9, 2009

No More Grades!!!

Register for a free online workshop on Wikieducator to find out how you can use Wikieducator to collaborate and share content worldwide.

In less than two weeks, I will finish my doctoral program with no more teamwork, papers, or trying to get 95+. I will have freedom from grades forever. I will have reached the top; no more grading for me. Can you imagine the freedom of that? All my life I have been plagued by being graded out of 100. I will never be graded by teachers again.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Pressure to implement blended learning and technology in higher education

Register for a free online workshop on Wikieducator to find out how you can use Wikieducator to collaborate and share content worldwide.

Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice
Issue: Volume 10, Number 1 / 2008-2009
Pages: 3 - 19
URL: Linking Options

Technology and Higher Education: The Impact of E-Learning Approaches on Student Academic Achievement, Perceptions and Persistence

Amaury Nora A1 and Blanca Plazas Snyder A1

A1 University of Houston

Abstract:

While e-learning, Web-enhanced instruction, and other forms of instructional technology have been touted as an effective way of addressing student withdrawal and academic performance, there are those (Carr, 2000) that report both program and end-of-semester course completion rates in distance education courses as merely acceptable compared to more traditional courses. This disagreement, coupled with the need to establish empirically-based instructional techniques, drives the desire to fully grasp the true impact of different forms of technology on retention and graduation rates among students. The purpose of this article is to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of the literature concerning technology at the post-secondary level. We discuss studies that have examined the various uses of technology in the classroom, student perceptions of technology, student usage of technology, student attitudes toward technology, and the direction in which technology is heading. Specifically, the main objective was to highlight the findings with regard to the connection between technology and student learning, and between technology and student persistence.

Pressure to implement blended learning and technology in higher education

Register for a free online workshop on Wikieducator to find out how you can use Wikieducator to collaborate and share content worldwide.

Community College Review, Vol. 34, No. 4, 324-343 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0091552107300331

Connecting Organizational Environments With the Instructional Technology Practices of Community College Faculty
Matthew M. Mars

University of Arizona, Office of Technology Transfer

Mary Beth Ginter

Pima Community College—West Campus

The ongoing integration of instructional technology within community colleges has occurred for a variety of reasons. First, community colleges have implemented technology-based models to make operations more efficient and cost-effective. Second, instructional technology has been used to expand student markets through alternative course-delivery methods that reach those students unable to attend traditional campus courses because of geographical locations and constraints related to rigid work and family schedules. Third, community college courses are regularly updated to increase enrollment capacities and in many cases to better align content with today's high-tech economy. In this study, the authors use Karl Weick's conceptualization of loosely coupled organizations to explore the organizational environments of three community colleges in relation to the emphasis each institution places on the use of instructional technologies.

Key Words: community colleges • organizational environments • instructional technologies • college faculty culture