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The Ethics of Making Education Affordable and Accessible

An article in the Journal of Business Ethics that discusses non-traditional education brings forward some interesting points about ethics in the higher educational system. The primary argument discussed whether non-traditional models are moral. Secondary arguments included the need to generate research to be of benefit to society. Below you will find a few points that could have also been included in the paper.  Certainly it is important to consider the secondary outcomes of all educational systems that include research and creative scholarship. The problem is that the characterization of non-traditional schools offering little benefit to society is misplaced. Online universities are now involved in producing research in their respective fields and offering that research for public consumption.  It can be argued that online universities will likely offer more research and publication output in the future as they grow to maturity. A number of online universities are current

E-Learning Banishes Snow Days from Indiana Schools

Shelby County school district in Indiana has decided to experiment with their educational approach and simply just rid themselves of snow days. The ancient practice of getting days off of school and playing in the snow are almost a relic of the past. Snow days are now virtual commuting days for lesson plans, education, and homework assignments.  Children are issued a device that has all of the assignments loaded on them if it looks like they are going to have a snow day. Most students simply work online and can chat with their teachers and complete their work. When they don’t have Internet access they still have the assignments on the device to complete and can upload them when they return to school the next day. Snow days become great days to focus on those skills that they did not do so well in the previous year but will be tested on this year as well. It is hoped that the devices ensure that students cut down on the amount of snow days as well as raise their overall t

Using Online Education Assessments to Foster Greater Learning

Education is an important component to personal and professional growth. Education has moved online and creates a strong platform to reach a wider group of people from a more diverse background. Perera-Diltz & Moe, J. (2014) discusses the use of formative and substantive assessments in online learning platforms and how these contribute to learning. For online professors they can use their knowledge to encourage development in geographically dispersed individuals and groups.  All knowledge is constructed from previous knowledge and this continues to grow and develop over time as more complex information is added to existing frameworks that create even stronger and wider reaching frameworks. Construction comes from teacher-led learning (Frieire, 2000), collaborative construction between student and teacher (Collins, et. al, 1989), or situated learning framework (Lave & Wenger, 1991).  Teachers can either lead information by pushing knowledge and retention or they can

Building a Sense of Community in Online Courses

Building a sense of community in an online environment is beneficial for students that want to feel connected to other learners. When students feel they are part of a community they interact with each other and feel connected to other participants which helps them form a sense of identity to their work, products, or each other. Research by Maxwell and Shackelford (2012) study which online activities within a classroom builds a sense of community.  An online sense of community can be defined as, “a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together ” (McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9).   Students feel a sense of identity and often share similarities in goals.  Engaged students have something called cognitive presence. Cognitive presence develops when people have sustained communication and they can collaborate to explore, construct