How to Motivate Your Students: "...the reality of distance learning is that this rarely, if ever, happens across the board. You will, in fact, always find one or more students whose motivation is just lacking. Without motivation in an online class that student will do poorly, and you'll feel pretty bad about it as well. You can't be a cheerleader every moment, but you can present your course so that the material becomes understandable, real, and exciting! Once this happens, students will suddenly take notice because they have discovered that the subject of your course talks to and about them. Here's how." 05/25/08

Growing up with Google: What it means to education: Diana G. Oblinger in Chapter 1 of Emerging technologies for learning, begins with a description of the 'Net Generation'. "Today’s students bring a consumer orientation to education..." As an educator I appreciated the detailed exploration of the world of today's net student, as well as the section on what we can do for this generation (the Implications For Education section). "It is dangerous to assume that we understand students simply because we were once in the same shoes." 04/05/08

Student Self Directed Learning: A new blog from an Australian educator, Phil Brown, a teacher in a secondary college. There's always something good coming from Australian educators, seems to me. This blog is focused on the above topic, and Mr. Brown has begun by selecting some interesting articles already, such as: Exemplary Online Educators; What Makes A Good Learner? "This blog is about my developments in understanding student learning." What a great approach by an educator! 04/06/07

Learning Styles in Adult Education: An article from 5/23/00. "Learning styles cannot easily be changed. On the other hand, strategies are dynamic and adaptable to situations. It is not enough to develop an awareness of one’s learning style (for the student) and an awareness of the learning styles of a population of students (for the teacher), this awareness must be translated into a zone of comfort for learning and teaching strategies, respectively." 10/23/05

Student Achievement ~ What Should We Really Be Measuring? From Lessons in Learning, a publication from Canadian Council on Learning. "How much and how well are our children learning in school? Do they have the skills to succeed in tomorrow’s world? Are they prepared to meet the prerequisites of pursuing further education, to face the demands of the labour market and to become active citizens of our society? Parents, students, employers, and the general public all want the answer to these questions, and governments and educators have designed a range of tools for monitoring and reporting learning outcomes and performance to measure the success of our learning systems. ...An understanding of a variety of measures of success is necessary for all education partners – from parents and students to government decision makers – to determine what is working and what needs improvement. Assessment of results provides an opportunity for jurisdictions to compare strategies with each other and with other countries. They are the basis for improvement in education at all levels of the system." 10/14/05

Getting to Grips with Learning Styles: eLearning researcher Stephen Downes calls this paper "a good introduction for practicing teachers and instructors". The introduction says, "This booklet gives teachers and trainers in vocational education and training some easily digestible information about learning styles. It provides practical tips on how to identify students' learning styles, and how to respond to individuals and groups based on their preferred methods of learning. There is not a 'best' theory about learning styles; however, understanding learning styles theories helps teachers to observe their students more systematically and be more methodical in experimenting with alternative teaching approaches." One reason it's worth a look is that it refers in areas to the pedagogy of the online student in relation to learning styles. 08/26/05

Supporting Different Learning Styles in an Online Learning Environment: "Educational institutions are quick to offer distance education programs as an alternative for students who, for myriad reasons, cannot attend a more traditional program. This trend is evidenced by the fact that over 80% of educational institutions in the United States offer some form of distance education. Unfortunately, attrition from these programs is reaching epidemic proportions and, if educational institutions are to fulfill their commitment to offer courses equivalent to their traditional counterparts, they must investigate ways to address the learning needs and styles of different types of learners." 07/03/05

Developing Self Directed Learners: According to the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's most recent regional needs assessment "helping students become self-directed learners who take responsibility for their own academic performance" was ranked near the top of identified priorities...This Topical Summary looks at current research on several aspects of developing self-directed learners: 03/12/05

• Defining who is a self-directed learner
• Teaching or helping students to become self-directed learners
• Creating school environments that nurture self-directed learning within standards-based accountability systems
• How implementing state-level policies can assist schools in their efforts to become centers of high achievement and incubators for self-directed learners

Assessing Student Needs in Web-Based Distance Education: "Needs assessment is the first step in the design of instruction. It provides key information to select appropriate technology and instructional strategies for online learning. This paper provides direction for evaluating student needs in web-based distance education courses. This paper outlines and describes the student needs assessment process in five essential areas: computer skills, learning styles, available resources, learning outcomes, and prior learning experiences. The instructor is committed to adapting and modifying instructional strategies to match the needs of the group and individuals within the group." 01/21/05

E-Learning For Short Attention Spans:"On-demand training increases productivity by keeping employees on the job while they learn. Plus, advanced users offer tips on short-segment content that keeps students engaged." Besides this main article, there are links to Fundamentals: E-Learning Software; Pop Qui; E-Learning Tips; Product Guide: E-learning Suites. 07/04/04

Should we be using learning styles? : What research has to say to practice: "Learning style instruments are widely used. But are they reliable and valid? Do they have an impact on pedagogy? This report examines 13 models of learning style and concludes that it matters fundamentally which model is chosen. Positive recommendations are made for students, teachers amd trainers, managers, researchers and inspectors." 06/24/04

Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review: "This report critically reviews the literature on learning styles and examines in detail 13 of the most influential models. The report concludes that it matters fundamentally which instrument is chosen. The implications for teaching and learning in post-16 learning are serious and should be of concern to learners, teachers and trainers, managers, researchers and inspectors." 06/24/04

Student Retention in eLearning: A Model for Sustainable Student Retention: A Holistic Perspective on the Student Dropout Problem with Special Attention to e-Learning. "Drs. Berge and Haung propose a customizable model of student retention that takes into account personal, circumstantial, and institutional factors, as well as the interconnectedness of these factors. The authors suggest that the model can provide useful guidance for institutional—and to some extent students’ personal—decision making". 06/11/04

Teach them to Fly: Strategies for Encouraging Active Online Learning: "As technology becomes more sophisticated, automation is replacing students' problem solving skills, critical thinking and sometimes patience. On one of my evaluations in a 1999 online course, a student criticized that, "she's not doing the teaching, I'm doing the learning." Of course in my desire to encourage active learning, I took the response as a compliment, but the student meant it as a criticism. I began pondering the reluctance of students to take control of the learning process." 05/15/04

Using asynchronous learning in redesign ~ Reaching and retaining the at-risk [post secondary] student: "Many students who begin postsecondary education drop out before completing a degree. ...the first year of college is the most critical to a college student's success and to degree completion. Successful completion of introductory courses is critical for first-year students... 02/21/04

Predicting Student Success in Online Courses ~ A New Measure: "Currently there exist several measures of learning styles, and scores on these measures are related to student success in the classroom. These measures may or may not translate into success for the online student. Participants of this session will learn about a new instrument that is being developed to predict online student success. This session should particularly benefit those individuals who are currently developing online courses and/or online distance learning programs in higher education. 02/21/04

Identifying and Addressing Adult Learning Principles in Web-Enhanced/Web-Based Courses: "The purpose of this project is to present adult learning principles as outlined in the adult education literature and to illustrate ways in which adult education principles are addressed through web-based instruction. Non-traditional adult students are encountering some unique learning experiences as a result of their involvement in web-enhanced or webbased courses. This study will examine the literature on principles of adult students and then address those principles within the context of nontraditional course deliveries." 02/21/04

Retaining our Online Students: a collection of links and articles from WebCT's library 09/30/02

The Effects of Reflection on Attention in Students who use Computer-Conferencing Technology: A study completed early 2002. "The qualitative data and participants' observations and suggestions should be of interest to educators engaged in classes with a computer conferencing component." 05/22/02

Learning Styles & Instruction: "All students have unique ways in which they prefer to learn new information. Since instructors can't design instuction for each students individually, being familiar with learning styles can help us to understand how we can include at least one element that appeals to each learning style in our instruction." 04/01/02

Learning Styles & Distance Learning: Article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 06/29/01, reporting on a study by Robert P. Ouellette, who "Says That Professors Should Be Attentive to Students' Approaches to Learning". 07/04/01

Learning Style Inventories: Developed by Barb Solberg for WebCT, "this page is borrowed from the WebCT Train the Trainer Curriculum of the online course." 07/04/01

Learning Styles & Instruction: Wow, a super site with lots of links and information! 07/02/01

How to be a Successful Distance Learning Student: A book by Marguerita McVay. Available for a one-time-only download online (in .pdf format), or you can order your "real book" copy. Info at this site. 05/17/01

Shaping [Adult] Students' Success in Distance and Online Education: 02/13/01

Adult Students Learning On-line: Special Considerations: Mark Laskin, Training Specialist, London, Ontario, Canada, has been helping adults learn for the past 15 years. 02/13/01

Teaching Mature Learners: What Can We Do to Assist Their Learning? 02/10/01

Addressing Multiple Learning Styles in Web Based Courses: Laura Summers talks about how to "take into account, and provide for, inherent learning style differences" (OTL Newsletter, Sept. 12, 2000) 09/12/00

Learning Styles & Multiple Intelligences: Several information links, including one on "Teaching Learning Styles" 11/06/00

Will on-line education make us & our students socially isolated? This Jakob Neilsen article explores the topic Does The Internet Make Us Lonely? 09/30/00

A Learning Style Quiz: A short on-line quiz which will tell you what your learning style is and offers study tips based on the results 09/12/00

30 Things We Know For Sure About Adult Learning": by Ron and Susan Semke