SAN FRANCISCO (AP) When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offered its first free online course this spring, Ashwith Rego jumped at the chance to learn from some of the worlds leading researchers without leaving his home in India.

I never imagined that I would be taught by professors from MIT, let alone for free, said the 24-year-old engineer who works in Bangalore.

From Harvard to Stanford, a growing number of elite universities are throwing open their digital doors to the masses. Theyre offering their most popular courses online for no charge, allowing anyone with an Internet connection to learn from world-renowned scholars and scientists.

Many colleges have offered Web-based courses for years, but the participation of top-tier research universities marks a major milestone in the expansion of digital learning.

The proliferation of so-called massive open online courses, or MOOCs, has the potential to transform higher education at a time when colleges and universities are grappling with shrinking budgets, rising costs and protests over soaring tuition and student debt.

Supporters say these online courses can lower teaching costs, improve learning online and on campus, and significantly expand access to higher education, which could fuel technological innovation and economic growth.

It holds the potential for serving many, many hundreds of thousands of students in a way we simply cannot today, said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education.

Last month, a dozen major research universities announced they would begin offering courses on the online learning platform Coursera, joining Stanford and Princeton universities and the universities of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The University of California, Berkeley said it would start making online courses available this fall through edX, a competing Web portal launched in May by Harvard University and MIT with $60 million in funding from the two schools.

I believe it will ultimately revolutionize education, said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

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Elite colleges transform online higher education - Boston.com

Summary: Stanford has announced the creation of a Vice Provost for Online Learning office -- signalling that the university may be getting serious about online education.

Stanford has announced the creation of a Vice Provost for Online Learning office -- signalling that the university may be getting serious about online education.

Computer science professor John Mitchell will be serving as the head, which has been created "in response to the requirements and potential of the 21st century". The creation of the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning (VPOL) is aimed "restructuring" the university, and reforming education in demands of today's global education platform -- made possible through Internet access and the rising adoption of mobile technology.

Universities are quickly learning that online platforms not only allow more flexible means of learning -- without the need to rely on traditional lecture-based models -- but they also represent a new revenue stream. By offering courses online, location and physical student intakes no longer become an issue, and universities are able to monetize on the distance-learning trend.

Stanford President John Hennessy said during the announcement:

"Stanford has been at the forefront of this game-changing, challenging initiative. Our faculty have been working in online education for some time now, and their excitement is growing. This is a field that deserves increasing attention and investment, and the new Office of the Vice Provost is in keeping with Stanford's tradition of leadership in innovation and experimentation."

The creation of the office is part of a wider scheme called Stanford Online. A new website facilitates a community of online learners, and a seed grant program is aimed at boosting online learning efforts.

In the past 20 years, Stanford has only established two Vice Provost offices -- for undergraduate and graduate education. Both of which "fundamentally reshaped education at Stanford," and it is likely the third will aim to do the same.

Around 15 courses will be offered online by fall; covering engineering, mathematics, social science, education and entrepreneurship. The university intends to launch more by spring next year. Stanford already offers courses through education startup Coursera, which was created by Stanford professors.

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Stanford creates office for online learning

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) parent company of online learning provider American Public University System, which operates through American Military University and American Public University announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Harry T. Wilkins plans to address the financial community at the BMO Capital Markets 12th Annual Back to School Education Conference in New York City.

Mr. Wilkins will speak and answer questions from the financial community at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, September 13, 2012. A link to the live webcast of the presentation, as well as an audio replay, will be available to listeners who log in through American Public Education's website, http://www.AmericanPublicEducation.com. The replay will be available for 90 days after the presentation.

Direct Webcast Link: http://www.bmocm.com/conferences/backtoschool2012/webcast/

American Public Education, Inc.

American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) is an online provider of higher education focused primarily on serving the military and public service communities. American Public University System (APUS), wholly owned by APEI, operates through American Military University (AMU) and American Public University (APU). APUS serves more than 100,000 adult learners worldwide and offers 87 degree programs in fields ranging from homeland security, military studies, intelligence, and criminal justice to technology, business administration, public health, and liberal arts. Nationally recognized for its best practices in online higher education, APUS provides an affordable education through classes taught by experienced faculty who are leaders in their fields and committed to the academic achievement of their students.

American Public University System is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (www.ncahlc.org). For more information about APUS graduation rates, median debt of students who completed programs, and other important information, visit http://www.apus.edu/disclosure.

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American Public Education Announces Participation in the BMO Capital Markets 12th Annual Back to School Education ...

11:34 PM

By Colin Woodard cwoodard@pressherald.com Staff Writer

A study released last month by researchers at Western Michigan University found that only 27.7 percent of the full-time virtual schools run by the nation's largest online education company, K12 Inc., met federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress goals, compared to 52 percent of public schools.

Students at its schools scored lower in both reading and mathematics and had a graduation rate of only 49 percent, compared to a 79 percent average among comparable students at public schools in the 24 states where the virtual schools are located.

"Across a wide variety of school measures, they do very poorly, even though their demographics looked to us like suburban schools," said the study's lead author, Gary Miron, who is also a fellow at the National Education Policy Center. "We didn't see high poverty or a lot of (English as a Second Language) students."

Proponents of the schools -- including Maine education commissioner Stephen Bowen -- often quote a 2009 U.S. Department of Education study that found programs that blended online and face-to-face programs fared better than conventional learning. They do not mention that the report found this effect only "for undergraduate and older students, not elementary or secondary learners" and that it concluded that there was currently no "scientific evidence for the effectiveness of these emerging alternatives to face-to-face instruction."

In Pennsylvania, where some 30,000 students are enrolled in virtual schools at an average cost of $10,000 per student, pupils scored 13 percent worse in reading and 24 percent worse in mathematics than students at ordinary public schools, according to a 2011 study by Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes. The researchers broke out the data for separate student groups -- those poor enough to qualify for free or reduced lunch, those still learning to speak English, grade repeaters, blacks and Hispanics -- and compared them to their counterparts at ordinary charter schools. "In every subgroup with significant effects," they reported, "cyber charter performance is lower than the brick-and-mortar performance."

The Stanford study may have helped prompt The New York Times to conduct an investigation of K12 Inc.'s virtual charter schools later that year, which concluded the company "tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards."

At the K12-managed Agora Cyber Charter School in Pennsylvania -- which reportedly generated $72 million in revenue -- the Times found 60 percent of students were behind grade level in mathematics and nearly 50 percent in reading, and a third were not graduating in time.

"Hundreds of children, from kindergartners to seniors, withdraw within months after they enroll." The company had spent $681,000 lobbying in the state between 2007 and the end of last year.

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Virtual schools have questionable records

ONLINE EDUCATION BOOM IN ASIA. In a picture taken on August 27, 2012, students prepare for an exam in front of their computers at Kuala Lumpur-based Asia e University (AeU). AFP PHOTO / SAEED KHAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Thousands of kilometres from Kuala Lumpur in Cameroon, doctoral student Michael Nkwenti Ndongfack attends his Open University Malaysia classes online and hopes to defend his final thesis by Skype.

A government worker, Ndongfack could not find the instructional design and technology course he wanted in his own country, so is paying a foreign institution about $10,000 for the degree instead.

Online university education is expanding quickly in Asia, where growth in technology and Internet use is matched by a deep reverence for education.

"I chose e-learning because it is so flexible," Ndongfack, 42, told AFP via Skype from his home in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.

Web-based courses dramatically boost opportunities for students and are often cheaper than those offered by traditional bricks-and-mortar institutions.

But online learning has also caught the eye of some of the world's most prestigious universities, with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently teaming up to offer free courses over the Internet.

"With the improvement in technology, the number of institutions offering online education has increased, both in terms of numbers and the kind of classes offered," said Lee Hock Guan, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

The Malaysian government said about 85,000 people took online courses in the country last year, both at web-based institutions and traditional universities offering Internet teaching.

In high-tech South Korea more than 112,000 students at 19 institutions are taking web-based classes, all of which have begun since 2002.

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Online universities blossom in Asia

By Public Affairs, UC Berkeley | August 30, 2012

Professor Armando Fox has been appointed to serve as academic director of the Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education, a new unit dedicated to supporting online-education initiatives and research.

Diana Wu and Armando Fox, executive director and academic director respectively of BRCOE (Noah Berger photo)

Working under the guidance of the Online Education Steering Committee, Fox will collaborate with BRCOEs executive director, Diana Wu, to build an infrastructure to support the campuss numerous and varied online-education initiatives from offerings for the public good to professional certificate programs.

Fox is a professor-in-residence in the College of Engineerings Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, a researcher in the campuss Parallel Computing Laboratory (Par Lab), and a co-founder of the Berkeley Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems (RAD) lab. His 2003 collaboration with Professor David Patterson on recovery-oriented computing earned him the distinction of being named a top-50 researcher by Scientific American and led to formation of the RAD Lab. Prior to that, he taught computer science at Stanford, where he received teaching and mentoring awards from the Associated Students of Stanford University, the Society of Women Engineers, and the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.

Provost George Breslauer and John Wilton, vice chancellor for administration and finance, announced Foxs appointment in an Aug. 30 CalMessage. Wus role, providing administrative leadership to Berkeleys online education efforts, was outlined in an April 27 CalMessage.

Information about the office, Foxs and Wus roles and online initiatives will be shared through the BRCOE website. Questions may be directed to online@berkeley.edu.

Categories: Campus news, Education, Faculty/Staff, News, Technology & engineering Tags: online education

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Fox named academic director of online-education center

http://www.chinaeducationresources.com

VANCOUVER, Aug. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - China Education Resources, Inc. ("CER") (CHN.V) (CHNUF), a leading technology provider of online learning, training courses and social media for teachers, students and education professionals, announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2012. All figures are expressed in U.S. dollars.

China Education Resources generated gross revenues of $1,824,968 in the second quarter of 2012. This is compared to gross revenue of $1,103,954 for the same period in 2011. The loss of the second quarter was $177,321 as compared to a loss of $398,431 for the same period in 2011.

During the six months ended June 30, 2012, the Company generated revenue of $4,362,780 as compared with $3,271,740 for the same period in 2011. The profit attributable to the owners of the Company for the period was $433,518 as compared to $45,560 for the same period in 2011.

Q2 of 2012 financial highlights include:

Online products revenue of $739,416 generated during the second quarter of 2012 as compared to $303,438 during the same period in 2011;

Text book sales revenue of $1,085,552 generated during the second quarter of 2012 as compared to $800,516 during the same period in 2011.

"We are very pleased with our increasing revenues in our Q2 2012 results, particularly for the digital textbook sales which have started to generate revenue." said Chengfeng Zhou, CEO, China Education Resources. "We are utilizing our internet platform and educational social network together with our existing online/offline products which will provide blended comprehensive education resources and services to teachers and students. Our goal is to strengthen our position as the leading provider of digital educations services to China's K-12 sector."

With the successfully launched digital textbook program, CER is being approached by educational publishers to develop and provide digital supplementary materials to students through our school platform.

In collaboration with China's education administrators and experts, China Education Resources has been helping to transform the curriculum of the world's largest educational system. Recognizing the need to address education reform changes, China Education Resources has created educational tools and curriculum for China's entire kindergarten through twelfth grade system. The Company is playing an integral part in transforming China's educational system through helping to convert the existing educational system from a memory-based learning system to a creative thinking and interactive approach. Presently, China Education Resources has over 1 million kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers registered through its Web portal. For more information, please visit http://www.chinaeducationresources.com or call (604) 331-2388.

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China Education Resources Inc. Reports Q2 2012 Financial Results

67 WALL STREET, New York - August 30, 2012 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Education Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Enrollment and Retention Trends - Regulatory Risks - Chinese Education Growth Catalysts - For-Profit Institutions - Online Content Distribution

Companies include: China Distance Education Holdings Limited (DL) and many others.

In the following excerpt from the Education Report, the CFO of China Distance Learning discusses the outlook for her company for investors:

TWST: Please introduce our readers to China Distance Education with some history and an overview of the company today.

Ms. Wei: China Distance is a company that was founded in 2000. Today, we are the largest online education company in China

based on the number of paid enrollments on a yearly basis.

We were founded by our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Zhengdong Zhu. The year 2000 was the year of the dot-com. He founded a dot-com company, but at that time he did not believe in the free-content model. He thought that if you were to make money on the Internet, you should offer something that people are willing to pay for. His background was in wireless communication, so he has a strong background in technology, which led him to establish the company chinaacc.com. The name in Chinese means China Online Accounting School.

So he founded the online accounting school in 2000 to offer accounting test-preparation courses and continuing education courses for people who want to pass various accounting exams to obtain certificates or designations for career advancement and for people who want to continue to satisfy continuing education requirements to keep their designations.

Apparently he did something right, because by 2003 the company had grown to over 50,000 annual paid enrollments, and we became cash flow positive that year. From that year on, we've never had a year when we either lost money or were cash flow negative.

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Wall Street Transcript Interview with China Distance Education Holdings Limited (DL) Chief Financial Officer Ping Wei

SCRANTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Penn Foster, Inc., a global leader in online education with over 150,000 students, today announces a solution for institutions interested in matriculating students who do not yet have a high school diploma and are interested in post-secondary education. With the dissolution of the Ability-to-Benefit program, thousands of students are not able to pursue higher education and Penn Foster High School is providing the opportunity for these students to obtain their diploma and succeed.

We want students and our school partners to know that, although Ability-to-Benefit is no longer available, Penn Foster provides an answer to achieving higher education, said Peter Ockerbloom, Penn Foster senior vice president of global client management. One school told us they turn away an average of 10 students a week; these are students that could benefit from the Penn Foster High School program if integrated with their institution.

Penn Foster is committed to providing access to education for those students who need it most. A diploma from Penn Foster High School can be earned in as little as three months, depending on how many credits the incoming student has from any previous schooling. The courses are self-paced and online so students can study on their own time and work at their own pace. Penn Foster High School is regionally accredited which is the most respected form of accreditation that a school can earn. It is the same type of accreditation granted to some of America's most prestigious schools, and Penn Foster High School is one of a small group of online schools to achieve this same recognition.

In addition, Penn Foster has more than 40 years of experience working with institutional partners. Partnering schools can elect to co-brand Penn Foster's learning management system and allow students to work in a lab setting at their school and electives can be customized to better prepare students for the career training they will complete in the future.

About Penn Foster

Penn Foster is a global leader in online education, providing high school diplomas, career-focused degree and vocational programs in the fields of allied health, business, technology, education, and select trades. Penn Foster has a rich history in distance learning, tracing back to their roots as the International Correspondence School in 1890. The institution today, comprised of Penn Foster High School, the largest high school in the United States; Penn Foster College and Penn Foster Career School, graduates 25,000 annually, and has always been dedicated to educating and training America's working population.

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Penn Foster High School Helps Students without a High School Diploma Succeed

67 WALL STREET, New York - August 29, 2012 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Education Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Enrollment and Retention Trends - Regulatory Risks - Chinese Education Growth Catalysts - For-Profit Institutions - Online Content Distribution

Companies include: Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) and many others.

In the following excerpt from the Education Report, the CEO of Grand Canyon Education discusses the outlook for his company for investors.

TWST: If you would, please start by introducing our readers to Grand Canyon with a brief history and an overview of the company today.

Mr. Mueller: Grand Canyon University started in Prescott, Ariz., in 1949, stayed there for two years before moving to Phoenix in 1951. We're still on the property that was purchased in 1951 to build the university. It was started by a group of Southern Baptists who wanted to create a private, Christian, nondenominational university in Phoenix. There was a close connection with the Baptist Church for many years, although there were Christians of all denominations that attended Grand Canyon through the years, and it was known as a very strong, private, traditional, Christian liberal arts university. About 1,500 students were on campus typically.

They had really strong programs in teacher education and health care, particularly in nursing. The university eventually developed a business program, a full array of liberal arts programs, majors in sociology and psychology and history, and a fine arts department with a focus on theater and musical performance. GCU also had a pretty strong athletic program that competed at the NAIA level. About 10 years ago, Grand Canyon fell into very serious financial difficulties. In fact, we were $20 million in the red at the end of 2003 and were ready to close the university. Brothers Brent and Chris Richardson stepped in and were willing to take control of the university and also assume that $20 million in debt.

That transaction took place, and they assumed control of the university, but didn't have the total $20 million. Their first choice was to stay as a not-for-profit university and go out and raise the money in terms of donations. But unfortunately Grand Canyon's graduates were teachers and nurses, and - God bless them, they provide great service to society, but - there weren't millions of dollars to get the university out of its financial trouble. So they decided to change the university's status to a for-profit status and to build a business plan that invites investment. The business plan was to mimic the University of Phoenix's online program. They hoped it would extend GCU's mission by offering programs delivered online to working adult students and perhaps make the university profitable. The Richardson brothers developed that online program from 2004 to 2008. They had about 15,000 online students. Most of those students were 32 to 34 years old. That did help the university become profitable and got rid of the debt.

At that point, the decision was made to get another infusion of funds by going public. I was at University of Phoenix at that point as President of Apollo Group, and they asked if I was interested in coming over to GCU. When I looked at this opportunity, I was very interested because there's really no other private, traditional, Christian university in Arizona, which is very unusual. There are 70 such universities in California, and other states like Michigan and Indiana and Ohio have 20 or more. Arizona was really an anomaly in that sense, and I saw a chance to create something very unique here.

So I came over in 2008, and we took the company public in November 2008. We received an infusion of $250 million of funds and started to build out the university.

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Fast Growth Education Business Model Combines Online and Traditional Campus: Making a Private University Affordable ...