Continuing and Distance Education
This page is part of a bibliography/appendix for ‘The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age’ project. It is a work in progress. It is not meant to be an exhaustive or all-inclusive list but is instead a resource for educators and learners striving to make a difference in a digital age. It is also a collaborative effort and will constantly evolve to take into consideration suggestions and feedback. Please let us know what you think by using the comment tool located at the bottom of the page. For more information about this document please see the introductory page.
CONTINUING AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
Academic Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Co-Lab – http://www.academiccolab.org/index.html
• The Academic ADL Co-Lab was established to enable global access to high quality, reusable content for distributed learning. Supported by the Department of Defense and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the Co-Lab serves as a focal point for academic research and evaluation of the ADL tools and content that have been developed by the federal government, academia, and industry. By creating a set of guidelines and standards to identify, assess, develop, and disseminate distributed learning tools and strategies, the Co-Lab hopes to provide the education community with open access to innovative, effective educational material. Topics currently being explored by the Co-Lab are mobile learning, games and simulations for learning, and the construction of digital repositories for ADL content.
Center for the Advancement of Distance Education (CADE) – http://www.uic.edu/sph/cade/
• CADE is an organization supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. They provide integrated online services to support projects in the health sciences, developing customized web-based learning, data management and webcasting solutions to enhance communication and improve information delivery. Currently CADE is working on a project called Virtual Worlds, which aims to enhance the technologies used by public health and business, including emergency response training, business continuity planning and execution, and human resource counseling. They have created a virtual Human Resources department where employees can go for information and support. They have also designed a virtual situation room which bypasses the need for a physical meeting space. In this virtual environment company leaders can meet, get up-to-date information or strategize in the wake of a disaster.
COOLSchool – http://www.coolschool.k12.or.us/
• COOLSchool advertises itself as an ‘electronic alternative for K-12 education.’ It is a virtual learning institution that provides electronic learning opportunities to Oregon school districts by working with local teachers to develop and offer online courses, training and mentoring teachers, and providing technical support for school districts wanting to establish an online course selection. What sets them apart from other distance learning organizations is that they do not offer diplomas and do not believe in replacing face-to-face education. Instead they aim to supplement the local school system and make advanced learning opportunities available to motivated students who can then adapt the course materials to fit their individual needs.
EDEN: European Distance and E-Learning Network – http://www.eden-online.org/eden.php
• EDEN was established in 1991 to function as an international educational association open to all institutions and individuals whose work involved e-learning, open, and distance education. The network’s primary goal is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and the creation of open avenues of communication across Europe and beyond. They are a meeting place and information locus for new technologies and current research and they also work to bridge cultural and educational gaps that exist between members. EDEN represents all areas of education and training, formal and non-formal alike, and currently list members from over 50 countries. Although EDEN is registered as a non-profit under English law the current home of its secretariat is the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
Florida Virtual School – http://www.flvs.net/
• Florida Virtual School was founded in 1997 as the country’s first state-wide internet-based public high school. The school aims to deliver a high quality, technology-based education to students who have not excelled in the traditional school system. Students are given the flexibility to work at their own pace, select their own classes, and to choose their own environments. However, despite the lack of a physical community of students and teachers, FVS makes sure to give students individual guidance, personal feedback and opportunities for collaboration through a variety of means, including the phone, email, chatrooms, instant messaging and discussion forums.
Hispanic Educational Telecommunications Systems (HETS) – http://www.hets.org/
• Originally founded in 1993 by a group of higher education institutions interested in sharing access to distance education, the HETS consortium has since expanded their vision to include not only the use of telecommunications in education but all types and levels of asynchronous learning. They are particularly interested in using technology to promote greater collaboration within and among educational institutions. As a Hispanic organization they work with individuals and institutions in Spanish speaking cultures to increase their competitiveness on a global scale and to foster open communication with distance education users throughout the world.
Michigan Virtual University – http://www.mivu.org/
• Michigan Virtual University is a private, not-for-profit Michigan corporation established in 1998 to deliver online education and training opportunities to the citizens of Michigan. It is the parent organization of the Michigan Virtual School (K-12) and the Michigan LearnPort professional development portal for teachers, administrators and school personnel. MVU and its offshoots seek to offer high quality course offerings and educational materials to those students for whom traditional education is not feasible. MVU is unique in the distance education world in that it is a learner-centered, solution-based organization that has strong ties to the physical classroom.
OpenLearn LearningSpace: The Open University – http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
• The Open University is the only university in the United Kingdom dedicated to distance education. They offer a variety of courses and materials to students of all ages (although you have to be at least 18 to enroll) and nationalities. The OpenLearn LearningSpace website gives free access to learners anywhere in the world to course materials and discussion forums based on classes offered by the Open University’s more traditional learning programs.
Research in Presentation Production for Learning Electronically (RIPPLES) – http://manic.cs.umass.edu/
• The RIPPLES project at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst investigates, develops and deploys multimedia learning technologies and explores how to most effectively use them both inside and outside of the classroom. They focus on developing asynchronous learning environments for distance learning, in which students proceed at their own pace and can access course materials at any time and from any location. RIPPLES delivers lectures in digital audio or video formats, and synchronizes them with slides, overheads or other materials. All course material on their growing website can be accessed freely. This project was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) – http://www.usdla.org
• Founded in 1987, the USDLA is an alliance of educational institutions, businesses, healthcare facilities, and government organizations dedicated to advocating and promoting the use of distance learning. The association works with learning communities of all types, including K-12, higher education, continuing education, corporate training, military and government training, home schooling, and telemedicine. The USDLA was the first non-profit distance learning association in the US to support research and development across all fields of education, training, and communication. They have taken a leadership role in fostering dialogue and providing advocacy, information, and networking opportunities for their member institutions. The USDLA has established state chapters in all fifty states and each chapter works closely with local distance learners and educators to help them reach their potential.
Wikiversity – http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page
• An offshoot of the Wikibooks project, Wikiversity was founded in 2006 as a community for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities. Wikiversity is not a formal institution but is a multidimensional social organization dedicated to learning, teaching, research and service. Its primary goals are to create and host free content, multimedia learning materials, resources, and curricula for all age groups in all languages (although currently French is the only other language offered) and to develop collaborative learning projects and communities around these materials. Learners and teachers of all kinds are invited to join the Wikiversity community as editors of the website and contributors of content.
