OLDaily

Presentation
Change, Challenge and Opportunity
Stephen Downes, Oct 18, 2017, ICDE2017 World Conference on Online Learning, Toronto, Ontario

[Link] [Slides]

Tracking online learning in Canadian universities and colleges
Tony Bates, Contact North, 2017/10/18

According to the press release, "Online learning is now a core form of delivery for Canadian universities and colleges." This is the result of a national survey of Canadian universities and colleges. Key findings of the report are (quoted):

• almost all Canadian colleges and universities now offer online courses;
• online enrolments have expanded at a rate of 10%-15% per annum over the last five years; online learning now constitutes between 12%-16% of all post-secondary teaching for credit;
• online learning is providing students with increased access and greater flexibility;
• two-thirds of Canadian post-secondary institutions see online learning as very or extremely important for their future plans.

The report can be downloaded from http://onlinelearningsurveycanada.ca or in French from http://formationenligneCanada

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Self-Regulated Learning as a Critical Attribute for Successful Teaching and Learning
Darren H. Iwamoto, Jace Hargis, Richard Bordner, Pomaika'inani Chandler, International Journal for the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning, 2017/10/18

My worst year in university was my first and I studied like the students described in this article studied, by reading the text and my notes. In the summer before my third year I learned to approach it more methodically, taking these apart and reconstructing the knowledge from scratch (classic constructivism, I know). This is the sort of self-regulation described in this paper (12 page PDF). For example, "Self-regulated learning refers to learning that occurs largely from the influence of student’s self-generated thoughts, feelings, strategies, and behaviors, which are oriented toward the attainment of goals (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1998, p. viii)." This plus skill in clear journalistic writing developed at the student newspapers was the key to success and straight As by the time I graduated. The research in this paper lies mostly in documenting the inability of the students described to do this, but several promising lines of inquiry are suggested in the conclusion: would 'grit' promote self-regulation? Would presence? Is self-regulation influenced by cultural factors? Would an artificial tutor help? Image: Dörrenbächer and Perels.

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