Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Monday, May 13, 2013
GeekWire Radio: How data, technology and analytics are reshaping education-WGU
Our topic this week on the GeekWire radio show: The future of education, and how technology is changing the experience of learning in the classroom and at home.
Joining me as guest host is Frank Catalano, the GeekWire columnist who works as aneducation technology consultant. He’s just back from a trip to SXSWedu in Austin, where he covered Bill Gates’ talk to the conference. Our opening news roundup covers some of the highlights from that talk, including the use of computerized “learning analytics” to understand a student’s progress and personalize their lessons, with an instructor as a guide.
Jean Floten, WGU Washington chancellor, joins us in the studio to talk about online learning. (Erynn Rose Photo.)
Our guest is Jean Floten, the chancellor of WGU Washington, the nonprofit online university that is part of the larger Western Governors University, recently named one of the most innovative companies of 2013 by Fast Company. Floten joins us starting in the second segment, explaining how WGU Washington applies many of these same principles, including learning analytics and personal mentoring, to its online courses, which are targeted in large part to mid-career adults.
“I just love this moment in time in higher education,” Floten says, describing this era as a renaissance for learning.
But is online learning for everyone? A recent New York Times opinion piece, the Trouble with Online College, highlighted the larger dropout rate for online courses for community college students, in particular.
Floten, who led Bellevue College before joining WGU Washington, has a unique perspective on the topic — informed in part by the analytics that WGU uses to track student progress.
“We have learned a lot about who is successful, and online learning is not for everyone,” she says. “For instance, we want to make sure a student has already had some college. We want to make sure that they’ve had experience with online learning. They need to be an incredibly self-motivated and independent achiever. Even though it is mentor-supported, you really need students that are disciplined enough to get through a curriculum."
Kirkland publisher ranks WGU as top online school
A Web publishing company that rates online colleges and universities says Western Governors University is the nation's top-performing online school.
Seattle Times higher education reporter
Its ad campaign pops up on TV and online, and its enrollment in Washington has quadrupled in 18 months.
Now, Western Governors University (WGU) has gotten a top ranking from a Kirkland publishing company, which calls it the best online school in the nation.
The No. 1 ranking comes from SR Education Group, an online publishing company started by a former Microsoft executive, which uses a combination of measures — including reputation among former students, affordability, and graduation and retention rates — to create the ranking of online higher-education institutions.
Geared mainly toward working adults, the school was founded in 1997 by the governors of 19 Western states, including Washington.
A private, nonprofit school, it's based in Utah but has a Washington tie. In 2011, the Legislature created a partnership between Washington and WGU, allowing it to be included in agreements for the transfer of college credits among Washington institutions. It does not receive any state money.
The state recognition led WGU to form WGU-Washington and hire Jean Floten, former president of Bellevue College, to be its chancellor.
Since June 2011, WGU's Washington enrollment has grown from 979 students to 4,012 today. Washington students make up about 10 percent of WGU's national enrollment of 38,479.
SR Education Group CEO Sung Rhee, a former Microsoft executive, said the schools that ranked highly on the company's list are geared to nontraditional students — students who are already in the workforce and looking to enhance their careers.
The rankings are based on about 4,000 online reviews from former students, and each one was read and approved by SR Education to make sure no one is trying to game the system, he said. The ranking also takes into account retention and graduation rates, which are culled from a federal college-data collection system.
Floten said she thinks WGU is earning a strong reputation because it provides one-on-one mentoring, the price is low — tuition is $5,780 a year — and it offers programs that are relevant to the workplace.
"It really is an amazing option for working adults," Floten said. "One of the features I love about it is it really does meet their schedule and their needs."
Although WGU did well overall on its rankings, the online reviews from students on the SR website are mixed. Some students said the program was "quite rigorous" and "a perfect fit," while other reviewers called it a "degree mill" or complained that curriculum and support were lacking. There are 101 student reviews posted for WGU, and 75 percent recommended the school.
SR Education Group has been providing the online guide since 2004. It only recently began ranking online schools for quality. No other schools with a Washington connection made the top-10 list.
Rhee said the website is free, funded by advertising, and the rankings are "completely done by us, without input from anybody."
Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @katherinelong.
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