Drexel University Online, a premier provider of Internet-based higher education, is partnering with Catholic Health Initiatives to offer its nurses professional development opportunities through tuition reduction on Drexels nursing programs.

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) October 09, 2012

At Catholic Health Initiatives, we believe that professional development through degree advancement is an important part of the CHI culture and is key to our ongoing pursuit of clinical excellence and leadership development, said Pat Patton, CHIs vice president of Clinical Innovation and Leadership Development. We take great pride in the way our employees have embraced advancement at all levels and are excited to partner with Drexel University Online to provide employees with access to high quality education that specifically fills our needs and meets our values.

Through the agreement, CHI nurses are eligible for a 10 to 25 percent tuition reduction, payment deferral and additional benefits with Drexel University Online. CHI nurses can take advantage of a variety of online bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees, as well as certificate programs, through Drexel Universitys College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP). Drexels CNHP is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as having a top-three online graduate nursing program.

As the nation embraces new models of health care delivery, the care that is provided by nurses becomes ever more apparent, said Dr. Al Rundio, DNP, RN, APRN, CARN-AP, NEA-BC, and CNHPs associate dean for Post Licensure Nursing Programs. Our partnership with CHI is another initiative that demonstrates Drexel's commitment to working with health systems in order to educate nurses so that they are well prepared for a reformed health care delivery system.

Drexels RN-BSN program allows partnering organizations to more closely align with the Institute of Medicines recommendation calling for 80 percent of nurses to have bachelors degrees by 2020.

We are very excited about this partnership with CHI and its potential to contribute to the Institute of Medicines ambitious goal, said Dr. Gloria Donnelly, RN, FAAN and dean of Drexel Universitys CNHP. Care is complex and nurses must continuously update their knowledge and skills. Drexels RN-BSN program not only broadens and deepens a nurses knowledge base, but builds the nurses technological and information literacy skills for a lifetime of learning, said Donnelly.

Drexel University Online offers tuition discounts to employees and members of more than 250 diverse partner organizations. Other benefits include special programming to help companies maintain employee retention and a highly-educated workforce, while additionally helping individuals remain at the top of their professions.

About Drexel University Online:

Drexel University Online, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Drexel University, specializes in innovative, Internet-based education programs for working professionals, organizations, and corporations in the United States and abroad. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the Best Online Graduate Programs in the fields of Business Administration, Engineering, Nursing, and Library Science, Drexels online programs are among the elite in the nation. Drexel University has been an innovator in the e-Learning industry, offering degrees online since 1996, and enjoys regional accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Secondary Schools. For more information on Drexel University Online, please visit http://www.drexel.com.

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Drexel University Online to Offer Catholic Health Initiatives Nurses Higher Education Options

LONDON, Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Online publishing pioneer YUDU Media today announced the launch of its new YUDU Education, the first digital textbook publishing platform that enables educational publishers to seamlessly digitize, optimize and deliver multimedia textbooks for ubiquitous access on tablet, laptop and desktop computer.

With YUDU Education, publishers can quickly and easily create rich, engaging digital textbooks that students can access on iPad, Android and Windows tablets, or any Mac or Windows PC, inside and outside the classroom. In addition, YUDU Education also allows students and instructors to annotate, bookmark and take clippings of content, and even integrate supplemental materials, all of which are instantly synchronized to the YUDU cloud for access on any device.

"YUDU Education solves the biggest challenge of the Bring-Your-Own-Device era for both publishers and studentscross-platform access," said YUDU CEO Richard Stephenson. "Students may need to read and take notes on a Windows PC in the classroom, but then want to pick up where they left off on their iPad at home. Or, perhaps the school provides iPads for classroom use, but the student has an Android tablet, or maybe a laptop, at home. With most publishing platforms, this is impossible. YUDU makes it possible."

YUDU Puts Publishers in ControlYUDU is the first system that puts the needs of publishers and students first, providing access to content from anywhere on any device and enabling publishers to sell directly to a broader audience.

Amazon, iBooks and other platform-specific systems lock publishers into a singular OS, forcing them to recreate content in order to offer it on multiple devices. Plus, these systems put the platform operator in control of the customer relationship, preventing publishers from accessing valuable consumer data.

In addition to providing ubiquitous access, YUDU Education puts publishers in control of their own content without having to build their own high-end digital publishing platform. And, unlike other digital textbook platforms, YUDU allows publishers to maintain a direct relationship with the customer.

"In Ireland, around 10% of all new middle school students are using a device to read textbooks," Conor O'Sullivan, Education Technology Manager at Folens, said. "While a majority of students are using iPads, there are a number of Android devices and there are also schools running with Windows netbooks. YUDU has been able to provide us with a system, which caters for all three. As a mainstream publisher, it is important that we can provideour educational content on every type of devicefor all students, it would cost us a fortune to build this type of platform ourselves."

Digital Publishing Made Easy, AffordableYUDU's self-service web-based portal makes it easy for publishers to publish rich interactive books in a matter of minutes. First, simply upload an existing textbook in PDF format. Once YUDU digitizes the content, publishers can add animations, videos, hyperlinks and more. Once complete, just click "Publish" and the digital textbook immediately appears in the publishers' YUDU digital store. Edits, revisions and updates can be made at any time and published immediatelyno more waiting for the platform provider to make the changes and published the revised edition.

"YUDU Education makes it easy and affordable for publishers, school districts and students to keep up with the rapid pace of technology and protect their investment with a future-proof solution," Stephenson said. "With YUDU, you don't have to worry about committing to a specific device or operating system that might be gone tomorrow."

Rather than a per-book sales fee that penalizes publishers for being successful, YUDU Education pricing is based upon the number of pages published, making administration simple and maximizing revenue. An annual maintenance fee ensures continuously updated technology to accommodate the latest OS upgrades on every platform.

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YUDU Media Launches YUDU Education: The First OS-Agnostic Digital Textbook Publishing Platform

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --EverFi, Inc., the leading education technology company for critical skills, today presented its universal authentication solution at the White House's "Education Datapalooza," an event highlighting innovators and entrepreneurs who are using freely available data to build products, services, and apps with the potential to advance educational achievement.

Universal authentication allows students and teachers to access their online education resources using a single username and password. EverFi has partnered with Mozilla and North Carolina's Anson County School District to build and deploy a new system that allows students to log on to the EverFi platform and other online education systems using a single login backed by their existing Anson County email address.

EverFi Chief Technology Officer Adam Wenchel showcased this technology in the opening session of the White House event, which included special guests U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, Under Secretary of Education for the U.S. Department of Education Martha Kanter and Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education Jim Shelton.

"At EverFi, we are huge data nerds, and we closely examine how much time our teachers and students spend in every part of our learning platform," said Wenchel. "The average EverFi teacher spends 12 minutes managing student accounts in a 50-minute class period, and the usability of our system is above average. EverFi's goal is to help all teachers spend less time troubleshooting login issues so they can focus on student learning."

"Until now, every seventh grader in Anson County had to remember eight different logins," said Anson County Superintendent Dr. Greg Firn. "Adopting EverFi's single authentication technology was remarkably easy, and now teachers can see all of a student's digital learning badges in one place, not scattered across eight systems. Universal authentication is the foundation for a lot of great interoperability."

EverFi and Mozilla's universal authentication system adheres to the four principles established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC).

About EverFiEverFi, Inc. is the leading education technology company focused on teaching, assessing, and certifying K-12 and college students in the critical skills they need for life. The company teams with major corporations and foundations to provide the programs at no cost to K-12 schools. Some of America's leading CEOs and venture capital firms are EverFi investors including Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Twitter founder Evan Williams, Rethink Education, New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), and Tomorrow Ventures (the investment arm of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt). Learn more at http://www.everfi.com

Media Contact: Jennifer Sykes, EverFi Senior Director of Marketing, jenny@everfi.com 202-625-0011 x318.

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EverFi Presents Universal Authentication Solution At The White House "Education Datapalooza"

Re: Unplug the digital classroom, Opinion, Oct. 7

I have to say I was totally engaged in Doug Manns sermon about the ills of digital technology in the classroom. I said more than a few amens over my afternoon cup of tea. But I nearly choked mid-sip when he implicated distance-education courses in his rant, calling them cheap imitations of the real thing, going so far as to suggest we stop promoting them altogether.

Im sure wed all love to have a Louis Vuitton education, but distance education however generic it may be has a time and a place and for many people that time and place is right now. The so-called cheap imitations are helping a lot of working professionals the ranks of the working and commuting moms and dads for example to finish their degrees, do a mid-career gear shift or circle back to complete some overlooked certification. These are all things that will help them get ahead (or at least not fall too far behind) in a challenging economy.

By all means, ban cell phones and texting and Facebooking and the like in classrooms theyre a scourge, I totally agree. But putting the brakes on online distance-education courses would be throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Surely Mann might be willing to reconsider see the light as it were that online education has some redemptive value.

Michelle Hauser, Napanee

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Online education has its place

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO--(Marketwire - Oct 9, 2012) - As the presidential election in the United States nears, many Americans remain focused on the rising costs and debt incurred by higher education expenses. While these concerns may impact voter decisions, others are embracing the more affordable option that online education provides. According to a recent NPR article, major universities, such as Stanford and MIT, are raising awareness about the potential this form of learning can offer, by developing free online courses students all across the world can benefit from. Almeda University is an online educator that has worked in this field since its establishment in 1997; the school is proud that online learning has evolved and become more accepted in recent years. The organization continues to strive for further development in the industry, such as by offering life experience degrees to its students.

While many may not be aware, the article notes that online education has existed since the 1990s, as Almeda University demonstrates. However, the learning model has dramatically changed over the years. According to the article, while some universities are experimenting with this model by offering free courses to students all over the globe, some are looking at the industry as a potential area for profit. Still, many raise questions about the effectiveness of this teaching method. Skeptics note that the face-to-face interaction of traditional schools is not found in online courses and there are limited forms of testing which ensure students have grasped material.

Almeda University CEO Richard Smith responds to such concerns, "It is understandable that many may have doubts regarding online education. However, Almeda University is one of many online schools that have been providing quality academics for over a decade. The fact that more students and schools are embracing web-based learning only goes to show that these models will continue to grow."

Smith adds that expressed concerns will dwindle as the applied technology allows for a more integrated platform of education. For example, online video, chat and message board functions allow students to interact and stay on track at their own pace. Although widespread online education models continue to change, the NPR article suggests that they are here to stay. In the article, online professor Michael Kearns of the University of Pennsylvania states, "that it's unlikely that places like Stanford, Penn or MIT won't exist in another 10 to 20 years because of online content and education." Following a similar sentiment, Almeda University continues to offer diverse curricula that can help many students advance academically and professionally at an affordable rate. The institution also offers courses that allow students to translate their personal experiences into academic recognition through life experience degrees.

ABOUT:

Founded in 1997, Almeda University is a web-based institution that has been teaching students from all across the globe. Students participate in a variety of classes, including mathematics, arts and sciences and religious studies, to earn a wide selection of degrees. The virtual school also offers professional development courses through its stay-at-home e-Learning channel for students that are not seeking academic degrees. The professional development courses range from Web development to health insurance. Almeda University professors make it their mission to address students' unique needs and offer solid academic lessons through innovative and modern teaching methods.

For more information about Almeda University, visit http://www.almedauniversity.org.

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Life Experience Degrees From Almeda University Reflect Rapid Evolution of Online Learning

Founded in 1991, Capella Education Company is a leader in online education, primarily through our wholly owned subsidiary Capella University, a regionally accredited online university. In addition, Capella Education Company offers online education through Resource Development International Ltd. (RDI), an independent provider of United Kingdom (UK) university distance learning qualifications; and owns Sophia, a first-of-its-kind social education platform that offers students many ways to learn by making credible, academic content available to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Capella University offers online graduate degree programs in business, counseling, education, health administration, homeland security, human resource management, human services, information technology, nonprofit management and leadership, nursing, psychology, public administration, public health, public safety, and social work; and bachelor's degree programs in business, information technology, nursing, psychology, and public safety. These academic programs are designed to meet the needs of working adults, combining high quality, competency-based curricula with the convenience and flexibility of an online learning format. Currently, Capella University offers 44 graduate and undergraduate degree programs with 149 specializations. More than 36,000 learners were enrolled as of June 30, 2012.

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1st Quarter: October 23, 2012

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Company Profile for Capella Education Company

Ceaphas Stubbs | DP

Coursera co-founder and Stanford professor Daphne Koller speaks at College Hall. She hopes Coursera will contribute to the future of online education long-term.

Less than a year ago, 20 people were injured and one killed in a stampede over admission to South Africas University of Johannesburg.

Daphne Koller, co-founder and CEO of the free online course provider Coursera, hopes to end the education scarcity that produced this tragedy. Koller spoke to a full audience in College Hall Thursday afternoon about her companys mission.

Her presentation, entitled The Online Revolution: High-Quality Education for Everyone, began with the social justice implications of Coursera. We have come to the point in this modern world where it is very difficult for a person to make a good life for themselves without access to good education, she said. Coursera aims to bring this access to anyone in the world with Internet connection.

Today, there are 33 universities around the world offering a total of 198 classes through Coursera. Unlike most online course options, Coursera attempts to offer mass education without sacrificing quality. They have selected the best professors from the best universities, said College and Engineering senior Pratham Mittal, who has already taken three classes through Coursera. They havent compromised even a little bit on that.

However, Koller recognizes that there is more to a classroom experience than great professors, since students learn best from active participation. But do large lectures actually give students this opportunity?

When I ask a question in class, 80 percent of the students are still scribbling down what I just said, said Koller, who teaches at Stanford. Theres that group in the back row thats on Facebook, and then theres a smarty pants in the front row who comes out with the answer before everyone has the chance to realize that the question has even been asked.

She added, So the question is answered, the class moves on, and very few people had a chance to really engage with it.

Because it is online, Coursera also allows its students to learn at their own pace. You can actually go back and see the lecture all over again, pause or take a quiz in the middle of class, Mittal said. You also get really good feedback, which is not really common with other online learning platforms. Coursera employs a number of grading methods, including multiple choice and numerical answers.

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Coursera CEO discusses benefits, future of online education

A University Senate task force is wading into one of the hottest topics in higher ed: the question of online education.

The task force, which was established by the senate last year, will explore Columbias current online offerings and examine its options going forward. The committee met for the first time Sept. 19, a day before the University opened registration for its first two massive open online courses.

Were in the data-collecting mode. We are working on pilot programs of courses and we are seeing which other offered courses can be adapted to online learning, Assaf Zeevi, the Business Schools vice dean of research and a member of the task force, said. So far, the experience has mostly been in areas with undergraduate classes with very high appeal that can be pitched to a large audience.

Columbia will offers its first two massive open online courses through Coursera next semester, but several schools, including the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Continuing Education, the Journalism School, and Teachers College, have created their own online courses and initiatives over the years.

The task force, which is being led by Senate Executive Board Chair Sharyn OHalloran, will work to unify Columbias online education offerings.

Columbia has 20 schools. Were very decentralized, which is a good thing, since it allows individual departments and faculty to create initiatives, task force member and astronomy professor James Applegate said. However, at the same time, the senate is the only institution Columbia has for the function of town hall meetings. The task force will play that same role, only more specifically for online learning.

The committee met last week with Stanford University professor Daphne Koller, one of the founders of Coursera. Still, Sree Sreenivasana Journalism School professor who was appointed Columbias first chief digital officer in Julysaid that Coursera is just an example of what we can do.

Right now, were talking with many other vendors and platforms to see what works best for us, he said.

There has been a surge of activity in online education over the last year, with MIT and Harvard partnering to launch edX and schools ranging from Princeton to the University of Pennsylvania signing up for Coursera. But even with universities scrambling to open their courses to the world at large, University Senator Akshay Shah, SEAS 14, said the senate task force is focused on Columbia students first.

Our biggest priority is to make full-time, tuition-paying students get benefits from Columbia taking courses online, Shah, a member of the task force, said. This could open up the option of students studying abroad. If they have to fulfill requirements, they could just take exams at the global centers.

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University Senate task force exploring online education

Here at MIT Technology Review, weve been doing some research for an upcoming business report on digital education.Its an area thats been receiving a lot of interest from venture capitalists and entrepreneursthe general idea being that technology will disrupt education as we know it, and maybe create a few billion-dollar companies along the way (see The Crisis in Higher Education).

According to Dow Jones VentureSource, VCs invested $217 million in digital education companies during the first half of 2012more than they did during all of 2010. The explosion of new companies is creating a complex environment, as this map of the dozens technology companies active in K-12 schools makes clear.

So which of these startups will end up mattering? Today, the venture firm Union Square Ventures took the unusual step of blogging about its investment thesis in online education. Union Squares bottom line: the best investments will be companies that give educational content away for free.

The strategy is similar to what social media companies like Twitter have done (Union Square was an early investor in Twitter). First they build huge audiences. Later, they worry how to make money. While that makes sense to investors, its also deeply threatening to textbook makers and brick-and-mortar schools. How can they compete against free?

Venture funds usually keep their investment strategies top secret. But Union Square has become an influential VC firmsome would say the most influentialin part by stoking interesting debates that grab entrepreneurs interest (see Fred Wilson on Why the Collapse of Venture Capital is Good). Union Square says the disclosure is the first of several future discussions about its work on specific markets, industries and technologies.

To accompany its analysis of the education market, Union Square provided a reading list of news articles whose arguments it apparently found persuasive. There are also links to video lectures by the founders of several ambitious digital education startups, including Ben Nelson of the Minerva Project and Daphner Koller talking about Coursera.

In their blog post, Union Square reveals another conclusion that could console educators worried about virtual competition. It says that unless people can turn free online courses into actual academic credential, or into a career, digital education will remain aspirational and removed from the day-to-day of many people.

In other words, without a diploma to hang on your wall, free isnt worth much.

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Does Online Education Need to be Free to Succeed?

Virtual public schools, which allow students to take all their classes online, have exploded in popularity across the United States, offering what supporters view as innovative and affordable alternatives to the conventional classroom.

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Now a backlash is building among public officials and educators who question whether the cyber-schools are truly making the grade.

In Maine, New Jersey and North Carolina, officials have refused to allow new cyber-schools to open this year, citing concerns about poor academic performance, high rates of student turnover and funding models that appear to put private-sector profits ahead of student achievement.

In Pennsylvania, the auditor general has issued a scathing report calling for revamping a funding formula that he said overpays online schools by at least $105 million a year. In Tennessee, the commissioner of education called test scores at the new Tennessee Virtual Academy "unacceptable."

And in Florida, state education officials are investigating a virtual school after it was accused of hiring uncertified teachers; in the past two weeks two local school boards in the state have rejected proposals for virtual schools.

Some states, including Michigan, Indiana and Louisiana, are still moving aggressively to embrace online schools. But the anger and skepticism elsewhere is striking, in part because some of it comes from people who have ardently supported opening the public school system to competition.

"There's a sense that [online education] is a lot more mainstream now and we need to take a closer look at it," said Michael Horn, an advocate of digital learning at Innosight Institute, a think tank focused on education policy. "I don't think we need to put the brakes on completely, but we need tweaks to accountability models, which will slow growth."

Charter school movement Online courses first appeared in public high schools in the early 1990s. They were promoted as a way for students in isolated rural schools to tap into advanced classes not offered in their towns, or for students at risk of dropping out to make up credits.

By the early 2000s entrepreneurs were pitching full-time online schools - perfect, they said, for athletes with heavy travel schedules, children with medical conditions that confined them at home, or almost anyone who found the hustle and bustle of neighborhood schools uncomfortable.

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Online schools face backlash