1. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D.

2. Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Northeastern Illinois University http://www.neiu.edu/~aapina A Journey Through the Evolution, Growth, Quality and Development of Online Learning

3. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Did you know… …that Illinois is the birthplace of the first distance education programs in U.S. higher education?

4. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Distance Learning’s Illinois Roots 1874 Illinois Wesleyan 1890 University of Chicago 1901 Moody Bible Institute

5. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Apostle Paul: Distance Educator? Teacher & learners separated by distance Modern media –Quill/papyrus vs. learning at teacher’s feet Modern delivery systems –Messenger

6. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Evolution http://anekdota.dyndns.org/jotd27/att-0104/01-evolution.jpg

7. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Evolution via Delivery System 1920s Radio 1930s Motion pictures 1950s Television 1870s Postal

8. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Evolution via Delivery System 1980s Telecourses 1990s Video- conference Late 90s Internet 1970s Satellite/Cable

9. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Distance Learning’s “Killer App” World Wide Web –HTML creation (relatively) easy –Faster/cheaper than telecourses –Less complex than videoconference Course Management Systems –Course creation, delivery, communication & management –WebCT, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, eCollege, Moodle, Angel, Sakai

10. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. How Big Is Online Learning? Over 90% of public 2 year colleges and four-year universities offer online courses

11. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Online Student Enrollments Source: National Center for Education Statistics & Sloan-C

12. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Online vs. Total Enrollments Total EnrollmentOnline Enrollment % 200217.0 million1.60 million 9 200317.3 million1.97 million11 200417.4 million2.33 million13 Avg. Total GrowthAvg. Online Growth 2.1%21.1% Source: National Center for Education Statistics & Sloan-C

13. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Illinois Fall Online Enrollments Source: Illinois Virtual Campus 44% 59% 63% 39% 37% 74% 81%

14. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Online Degree Programs in Illinois 40 online Associates 20 online Bachelors 56 online Masters Source: Illinois Virtual Campus

15. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. How Good Is It…Really? Evaluation studies –Can people can learn effectively from technology-delivered instruction? Comparison studies –How does “mediated” instruction compare to “traditional” instruction?

16. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Problems with Comparison Studies Variance between groups must be higher than variance within groups –Assumes that all traditional instruction is same Real life is not like the lab –No random selection of subjects (self-selected) –Too many uncontrolled variables (environments are too different) Instructional design & instructional methods influence learning, not the delivery system

17. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. The Bottom Line Over 80 years of comparison research suggests no significant difference No body of research suggests that online learning is inferior

18. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Then…why do online learning?

19. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Doing It Well Great classroom presentation skills… … do not necessarily equal great online teaching skills

20. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Online Teaching Readings, resources and hyperlinks are not instruction!

21. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Course Design Job One: Be Explicit! Class policies –Student interaction –Online conduct/demeanor –Faculty interaction Assignments –Make your expectations clear –Make your assignments & evaluation clear Navigation –Make it easy to find anything with 2 clicks

22. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Lesson Design Start out with an attention getter Tell them what they will learn (objective) Link to prior knowledge Present guided instruction Provide opportunities to practice Provide feedback Provide assessment Transfer knowledge to new situation

23. © 2006 by Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Anthony A. Piña, Ed.D. Northeastern Illinois University http://www.neiu.edu/~aapina A Journey Through the Evolution, Growth, Quality and Development of Online Learning