Social networks provide new lessons in learning

An Interesting Read...Enjoy!
David

* While e-learning has been booming in recent years -- in 2007, nearly 4 million students in the U.S. took at least one course online, according to the Sloan Consortium, a nonprofit dedicated to integrating online learning into higher education -- a challenge educators often face is how to keep students engaged in virtual classroom (29)

* Nature Education started the venture in an attempt to reignite student interest in science, said Vikram Savkar, publishing director of Nature Education, who noted that 40 percent of students in the U.S. who start college studying science end up switching majors by the time they graduate (60)

* (CNN) -- As millions of students across the world go back to school this month, 178 students from 49 countries will turn on their computers and step onto the virtual campus of the world's first global, tuition-free online universit (7)

* "The current methodology is based on the lecture, and that is a thousand-year-old model that is completely inappropriate with the new generation," Don Tapscott, author of "Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World", told CN (52)

* Work With Us | Tools & Widgets | Podcasts | Blogs | CNN Mobile | My Profile | E-mail Alerts | CNN Radio | CNN Shop | Site Map (111)

* Other organizations are also experimenting with Web 2.0 platforms, like social networking sites and blogs, to tap into the ways in which younger generations are wired to the we (56)

* "We believe the social networking we build around our programs will serve as a cement to keep students with each other and stay in our program," said Reshe (37)

* To achieve accreditation, a college must prove it can meet a number of quality assurances set forth by an accrediting body, including breadth and depth of coursework and student test results. (40)

* The university will also use course material from Yale University, said Reshe (32)

* Reshef says the online institution will need 15,000 students over the next four years in order to be sustainable and will need $6 million to fund the venture, of which $1 million he will provid (14)

* Called University of the People, the non-profit, California-based endeavor comes from Israeli entrepreneur Shai Reshef who says he founded the school to provide higher education to those who might otherwise never have access to i (9)

* "Sharing data and sharing ideas and coming up with joint conclusions is at the heart of how science works. (64)

* In January, Nature Education, launched Scitable , a social network platform around an online encyclopedia of freely-published scientific article (57)

* To attend, students must have a high school diploma, speak English and pay admission fees ranging from $15 to $50, with those from poorer countries paying less and those from richer countries paying mor (20)

* "Testing outcomes capability -- what students can do or how well students test -- may be a way the University of the People can succeed in its mode (46)

* "Our mission is to change people's lives," said Reshef, who also is the chairman of Cramster.com, an online study community for college student (10)

* A recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education found that "on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction." (51)

* Materials come for free from other universities via platforms such as the Open Courseware Consortium , which provides open access to the syllabi, lecture notes, exams and reading lists from 1,800 classes offered at MIT. (32)

* "We are not making any promises," he told CN (42)
* Like Facebook , Scitable users create personal profiles. (58)

Grab the full read here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/09/university.socialnetworks/

By Lara Farrar - (cnn.com)

 

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Thanks...