Here is an extensive list of resources on various aspects of distance learning.The best way to find information on these or any other topics is to conduct a search using the search tool below. You should also visit our site Journals, Links and Resources for more resources. Categories include:
• academic advising
• academic resources - business,
humanities, math, sciences,
social science
• accessibility issues
• accreditation
• best practices
• blended/hybrid learning
• broadband
• career and technical education
• case studies
• cheating and plagiarism
• computer software
• copyright and fair use
• corporate e-learning
• costs for distance learning
• course management
• the digital divide
• digital libraries and learning object repositories• effectiveness of e-learning
• e-books
• e-portfolios
• faculty compensation and support
• faculty training and education
• gaming and simulations
• Higher Education OpportunitiesAct (HEOA Authentication)
• instructional design
• intellectual property issues
• interactivity and teaching online
• K-12 technology
• marketing
• national data and statistics
• online student orientation
• open source
• quality assessment
• rural distance education• science labs/courses
• second life
• security
• social networking
• statewide virtual colleges
• strategic and policy plans
• student retention
• student services
• students and technology
• technologies
• testing and assessment
• Twitter
• videoconferencing/ITFS
• Web design
• Web tools
• wireless
• wikis
• women and the Web
| All Categories |
ACADEMIC ADVISING |
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Academic Advising:Resources from the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) Web Site | |
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Academic Advising Resources on the Internet:From the NACADA Technology in Advising Commission. Web Site | |
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National Academic Advising Association (NACADA):An association of professional advisors, counselors, faculty, administrators and students working to enhance the educational development of students. Web Site Standards for Advising Distance Learners (1999) | |
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Technology in Advising Survey: Preliminary Report:A survey of members of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). Looks at technologies used, services available online, and communication methods. Web Site | |
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The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal:An online publication on academic advising in higher education from Penn State University's Center for Excellence in Academic Advising. Web Site | |
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The Part-Time Impact:(Nov. 16, 2009) by David Moltz, Inside Higher Ed . . .“Through the years, CCSSE data have shown that students consider academic advising the most important student service offered them. This year, for instance, 62 percent of students said it was “very important"; financial aid advising came in a close second place with 61 percent. Still, data from the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement -- an accompanying survey asking faculty about their perceptions of student experiences -- indicate that 42 percent of part-time faculty members do not spend any time advising students in a typical week. The report also notes that even when part-time faculty members have the same teaching loads as their full-time counterparts, they still spend less time with students outside of the classroom. Forty percent of part-time faculty members who teach between 9 and 12 hours a week never spent time advising students; only 15 percent of full-time faculty members who teach the same number of hours never did so.” “The problem of individual student engagement is further confounded because part-time students -- who are less likely to succeed than their full-time peers -- are more likely to attend evening classes that are also more likely to be taught by part-time faculty. Forty-three percent of part-time students take evening classes, whereas only 12 percent of full-time students take them. The report stresses that, as a result, ‘these students have fewer options for certain kinds of interventions that strengthen engagement.’ “ . . . “Another major topic specific to this year’s CCSSE is the effectiveness of using social networking tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, to interact with students. The survey found that students who use these tools to interact with fellow students and professors “about coursework” showed higher levels of engagement. Still, those same students who used these tools in a higher frequency “for any purpose” -- including social and other non-academic purposes -- were less engaged overall.” . . . Web site | |
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Virtual Advising: Delivering Student Services:An examination of best practices in online academic advising. (2001) by Linda Wagner. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. Web Site | |
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WCET Guide to Developing Online Student Services:See the section, "Good Practice Recommendations for Academic Advising." Web Site | |
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White House Officials Play Key Role in Shaping Broadband Stimulus Program:“The White House is playing a critical behind-the-scenes role in shaping a $7.2 billion loan-and-grant program aimed at spurring wider broadband Internet access, despite a congressional mandate that put the Agriculture and Commerce departments in charge of the economic stimulus effort. With high-stakes decisions to be made affecting consumers and corporations, and vacancies at both departments and the FCC, which has an advisory role, the White House has stepped in to oversee the initiative, according to several sources.” . . . “The Agriculture and Commerce departments have been the public face of the broadband initiative, gathering more than 1,600 comments and holding seven public forums in their effort to determine which regions of the country should receive the most assistance and how general conditions set by Congress should be defined.” “But Susan Crawford, special assistant to the president for science, technology and innovation policy and a member of President Obama’s National Economic Council, is coordinating much of the effort. She has been heavily involved with crafting the broadband provisions of the economic stimulus package since February, Commerce Department records show. Crawford, who did not respond to interview requests, is seeking to ensure that both departments work constructively and move in lockstep, sources said. In the past, the departments have taken divergent approaches to assisting the telecom sector, with Agriculture favoring industry players and Commerce favoring nonprofit groups.” . . .Website | |
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ACADEMIC RESOURCES-BUSINESS |
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70 Signs of Intelligent Life at YouTube:“Smart video collections keep appearing on YouTube. But rather antithetical to the ethos of its parent company (Google), YouTube unfortunately makes these collections difficult to find. So we’ve decided to do the job for them. These enriching/educational videos come from media outlets, cultural institutions, universities and non-profits. There are about 70 collections in total, and the list will grow over time. If we’re missing anything good, feel free to let us know, and we’ll happily add them. You can find the complete list below the jump.” Website | |
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Small Business Video Seminar:A collection of 11 “how-to” seminars and podcasts on starting a business from the New York Public Library and the Partnership for New York City. The sessions relate to doing business in New York City, most of the material and suggestions could apply to nearly anywhere. Titles include, “Credit Management and Credit Repair for Entrepreneurs,” “Market Research: Information Sources for Small Business,” and “Retail Essentials: How to Open and Run a Successful Retail Store.” Web site | |
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ACADEMIC RESOURCES-HUMANITIES |
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American English Dialect Recordings:The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection The American Memory Project The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection contains 118 hours of recordings documenting North American English dialects. The recordings include speech samples, linguistic interviews, oral histories, conversations, and excerpts from public speeches. They were drawn from various archives, and from the private collections of fifty collectors, including linguists, dialectologists, and folklorists. The survey's documentation covers social aspects of English language usage in different regions of the United States. It reveals distinctions in speech related to gender, race, social class, education, age, literacy, ethnic background, and occupational group (including the specialized jargon or vocabulary of various occupations). The oral history interviews are a rich resource on many topics, such as storytelling and family histories; descriptions of holiday celebrations, traditional farming, schools, education, health care, and the uses of traditional medicines; and discussions of race relations, politics, and natural disasters such as floods. Web site |
ArtsConnectEd:ArtsConnectEd is an interactive Web site that provides access to works of art and educational resources from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Walker Art Center for K-12 educators, students, and scholars. There are over 100,000 images, texts, audio, video, and interactive resources available to visitors to the site. Art Finder, ArtsConnectEd’s searchable environment, is where users can browse the museums’ digitalized items including Works of Art, Texts, Audio and Video, and Interactive Resources. Art Collector empowers users to save, customize, present, and share items in Art Collector Sets. A newly added feature is "Ask an Educator", which allows users to ask questions of the museum educators at both the Institute and the Walker Art Center. Web site |
BBC: Learning English:“This clever website from the BBC aids people learning English, by offering help in the form of ‘Words in the News’, ‘Quizzes’, videos via YouTube, and English ‘makeovers’ in ‘General and Business English’. ‘Words in the News’, ‘The Teacher’, and ‘Keep Your English Up to Date’ help learners with their ‘Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation’. In the ‘Quizzes’ section there are several different types, including ‘Quiznet’, ‘Crossword’, ‘Beat the Keeper’, and ‘Exam Skills’. None are so long that learners will get bored or frustrated. Visitors who teach English or English as a Second Language will find the ‘For Teachers’ section loaded with activities that accompany the many different features on Learning English. In the ?Downloads? section on the far right hand side of the page, learners can get the past seven days of audio, video, and text to take away. ‘Talk About English’ and ‘Ask About English’ are regular features of the site, and can be accessed on the week's schedule at the bottom of the homepage.” – from the Scout Report Web site |
Gangster Confidential: | |
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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: Podcasts: | |
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KU Writing Center:This support center from the University of Kansas offers an assignment planner, e-consulting, online appointment scheduling, writing guides and tutorials, a writing support group for graduate students writing dissertations and thesis papers, frequently asked questions, tips on evaluating Web sites, and instructor guides. The site opens to a series of video clips with student testimonials, and includes an online photo gallery and a short film, “A Week in the Life of the KU Writing Center.” Web site | |
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Mickle Street Review: An Electronic Journal of Whitman and American Studies:Walt Whitman always reads well, but on this site he also sounds and looks quite well. The Mickle Street Review brings together audio clips, video recordings, and written scholarship on and about Whitman and the broader world of American Studies. The Review was first published in 1979 and it is based at Rutgers University in Camden. Visitors to the site can browse all of the back issues of the Review, and they can also view the current issue as well. On the homepage, visitors will find the works divided into categories such as “Documents”, “Features”, and “Essays”. One of the more fantastic additions to their site is the digital version of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” which contains a close reading of the text along with a downloadable Brooklyn walking tour by Jesse Merandy. Moving on, the “Listening Room” contains recordings of “Leaves of Grass,” read by Ralph Bellamy and a version of “Song of Myself” read by Orson Welles. Finally, the “Viewing Room” contains various adaptations and creative visions of Whitman’s works and explorations of his life. From the Scout Report. Website | |
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Monterey Jazz Festival Digital Collection:Summer brings thoughts of outdoor jazz festivals, and fans of the genre flock to places like Newport and Monterey each year to take in a variety of performances. Since 1958, the pleasant seaside town of Monterey has hosted the Monterey Jazz Festival and their vast archives of performances, ephemera, and other materials are housed at Stanford University’s Archive of Recorded Sound. With substantial funding from the Grammy Foundation, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and Save America’s Treasures, the Archive of Recorded Sound continues to add to this digital collection. First-time visitors will want to click on the “About the Collection” to learn a bit more about the Festival’s history and how to best use the online collection. Next up is the “Collection Highlights”, where visitors can view some excellent clips from such masters as Thelonious Monk, Bobby McFerrin, Charles Mingus, and Dianne Reeves. Scholars of the genre will want to use the search feature to look for more details on the over 9,000 performances contained within the archive. Additionally, visitors can create their own user account to bookmark performances of note and save them for future reference. From the Scout Report. Website | |
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Online Conservatory:The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Northeastern University created the Online Conservatory to provide an insider’s look at the orchestra. Includes four interactive programs based on a series of concerts given by the orchestra, “Beethoven Schoenberg Project – Year 1 and Year 2;” “Harbison, Stravinsky, Wurbinen, Brahms;” and, “Carter and Beethoven.” Visitors can hear excerpts from the score, and learn about the musical structure and compositional style of each work. Web site | |
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Poem a Day: | |
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Replace that US History Textbook with Learner.org’s “A Biography of America”: | |
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Smarthistory:A free multi-media web-book designed as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the traditional art history textbook. Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker began smARThistory in 2005 by creating a blog featuring free audio guides in the form of podcasts for use in The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Soon after, we embedded the audio files in our online survey courses. The response from our students was so positive that we decided to create a multi-media survey of art history web-book. We created audios and videos about works of art found in standard art history survey texts, organized the files stylistically and chronologically, and added text and still images. Website | |
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The Visual Dictionary:A site with labeled diagrams for all sorts of objects divided into the categories: biology vegetal, biology animal, human body, music, transport, and clothing. Includes some animations. Could be useful to biology, anatomy, music instructors. Web site | |
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Thinkfinity Literacy Network:Delivers free, top-quality online educational resources for literacy instruction and lifelong learning for adults and family literacy programs. The content on TLN strengthens literacy development, creativity and critical thinking skills for success in the 21st Century. Website | |
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Worlds in Collision: Copyright, Technology, and Education: | |
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ACADEMIC RESOURCES-MATH |
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College Math Resources:Free interactive web-based resources that help with the learning of college-level mathematics. Resources include tools, tutors, online courses, general catalogues, organizations and institutions. Web site | |
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Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education:The “Resources” area is divided into sections that bring together datasets, analysis tools, lecture examples, and for a moment of inferential humor, a number of cartoons, jokes, and songs, all informed by the world of statistics. The “Teaching Methods” brings together 35 resources, such as a set of tips of teaching statistics to large classes and how to discuss causality in introductory statistics courses. Web site | |
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Mathematics Tutorials and Problems (with applets):Free tutorials to help explore and gain a deep understanding of math topics. The site includes java applets to investigate graphs of functions, equations, and algebra; calculus tutorials and problems; trigonometry tutorials and problems for self tests. Includes math problems for self tests, analytical tutorials with examples and detailed solutions. Web site | |
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Online Math Center at Whatcom Community College:The Scout Report writes that this site includes a “nice collection of math links that include helpful test-taking hints, online exercises, and resources for teachers looking to find new ways of exploring everything from geometry to measurement.” . . . “Some of the topics covered within this site include fractals, developmental math skills, pre-algebra, and applied math. After looking over these sites, visitors can also go to the "Teaching Math" section, which is designed specifically for teachers.” Web site | |
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