OLDaily

How Canadian HigherEd Moved to Distance Learning
Justin Menard, ListEdTech, 2020/03/30

Canadian educational institutions moved swiftly and decisively to online learning, according to this article. "In just under three weeks, almost all Canadian institutions have decided to select distance learning as their unique mode of delivery," writes Justin Menard. "Not only that, but institutions have reacted rapidly. By Friday, March 13th, the day after WHO declared that COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic, more than half of these institutions had already made the decision for online delivery.

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The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning
Charles Hodges, Stephanie Moore, Barb Lockee, Torrey Trust, Aaron Bond, EDUCAUSE Review, 2020/03/30

This is a good article and I appreciate the intent but it still feels to me like a desperate argument that online learning can only be done properly by learning design specialists working with large budgets and a lot of lead time. "The need to 'just get it online' is in direct contradiction to the time and effort normally dedicated to developing a quality course," the authors write. Well yes, compared to current practice, sure. But here's the question: just how bad are the 'just get it online' courses? How much extra value does all that expertise, time and money buy you? If we could spend less money and expand our access proportionately, would it still be worthwhile? I know that the professionals won't applaud the idea of a whole bunch of amateurs doing the job. But my take is, wouldn't it be great if they could? And where is the evidence that they can't?

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No refunds for virtual classes
Joanne Jacobs, Linking and Thinking on Education, 2020/03/30

Short post from the always-negative Joann Jacobs on an issue that has been at the back of my mind since the disruption to in-person classes started: will there be tuition refunds or rebates. The concern is that students are "“being charged the same amount for what is admittedly by the university a lower quality education.” The answer from one school is "no". But instead of focusing on the messenger, as Jacobs does, we can ask the more serious question: how much more value is added by the in-person option, how much of a rebate should be offered, and (after all this is done) is the value for money sufficient to warrant going back to those $50K tuition fees? Also attached to this post is a top-notch diagram by Phil Hill describing the complete conversion to online learning by U.S. colleges, raising again the question, why would we go back?

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A Template, a Course, and an OER for an Emergency Switch to Online
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, 2020/03/30

I'm linking to this mostly for the OER, which is the book Creating Online Learning Experiences:A Brief Guide to Online Courses, from Small and Private to Massive and Open, still available online. But the edX course is worth mentioning as well because they have been placing all of the content on an alternative website that requires no sign-up. Because MOOCs shouldn't require you to register. That ought to be in the rules somewhere.

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