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By terence, October 29, 2009 7:42 pm

Bruce Edwards and Connie Molnar

BGSU’s investment in e-learning over the past decade has paid dividends for hundreds of northwest Ohio students seeking to finish their bachelor’s and master’s degree programs online.

Now, the experience and expertise that built an inventory of over 500 online courses and 15 online degree and certificate programs has been recognized by the Ohio Board of Regents (OBOR) and its Ohio Learning Network (OLN).

BGSU has been selected as the site for Ohio’s new OLN Center for Excellence in E-Learning, which will be supervised by Dr. Bruce Edwards, associate vice president for academic technology and e-learning, and Connie Molnar, director of the Center for Online and Blended Learning (COBL).

Sheryl Hansen, the OBOR staff member who announced the center’s creation, said “the Center for Online and Blended Learning at BGSU has knowledge, proven capacity and a rich history in supporting quality e-learning.”

As a result, Hansen added, campuses statewide can benefit from COBL’s established excellence in providing “support, training and ongoing professional development” that meet the criteria of national best practices and quality standards.

The OLN center will be launched next spring with the help of $80,000 in state funds for local staffing for BGSU, and for small grants to support pilot projects in quality assurance in online education across the state.

Albert Colom, vice president for enrollment management, agreed that the distinction BGSU has received is well warranted. “The state’s recognition of the achievements of Academic Technology and COBL testifies not only to the quality of our online programs, but also to the quality of the leadership of our staff,” he said.

Edwards, who has been leading BGSU’s distance education efforts since 2001, noted that “talented and dedicated faculty collaborating with skilled instructional designers make the difference in delivering quality coursework and maintaining student-centered support services.”

The center, said Molnar, “will benefit BGSU by drawing even more attention to the quality and diversity of its online programs, and giving our faculty the recognition they deserve for innovative instruction that maintains the integrity and rigor of their curricula.”

BGSU is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the North Central Association to offer any of its degrees online. And Edwards and Molnar are both involved in OBOR Chancellor Eric Fingerhut’s strategic planning group that is creating a 10-year plan for expanding access to Ohio’s degree programs through online delivery.

“This is an auspicious time for BGSU to take on the leadership of this new center, and we look forward to the challenge and benefits of working with colleagues across the state in advancing Ohio’s reputation for innovation and quality in online education,” Edwards added.

Source: http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/mc/monitor/10-26-09/page72816.html

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By terence, August 24, 2009 10:49 pm

There is a lot more than meets the eye to BLOGS.BGSU.EDU, the homegrown blogging platform developed by Assistant Director of COBL, Terence Armentano. Blogs and microblogs such as Twitter have taken the world by storm. Why? Because they blast open the floodgates of communication. They give everyone a voice and anyone with an internet or even a mobile phone connection can listen in and talk back. Upon closer inspection of BLOGS.BGSU, one will notice it is not just about new technology, it’s about a movement, a change in thinking, a paradigm shift, a leveling of the proverbial playing field. It’s about what happens to a university when everyone has a voice…  Read entire blog post at TerenceOnline

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By terence, July 27, 2009 8:14 pm

When Dr. Barbara Gellman-Danley, Ohio Board of Regents (OBOR) vice chancellor for academic affairs and systems integration, held a distance-learning summit in Columbus in early May, she heard a buzz from other state participants that made her want to visit BGSU.

“Innovation, collaboration, sustainability” kept emerging as themes when other campuses spoke of BGSU, Gellman-Danley said. Dr. Bruce Edwards, associate vice provost for academic technology, who represented BGSU at the summit, recalled that “our reputation had preceded us. It was nice to have unsolicited praise for our work from other institutions.” —  Read Full BGSU Monitor Article

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By terence, July 24, 2009 7:10 pm

WASHINGTON — Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new meta-analysis released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.

The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took “blended” courses — those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction — appeared to do best of all. That finding could be significant as many colleges report that blended instruction is among the fastest-growing types of enrollment.

Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/online

Link to the Study - http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

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By terence, July 14, 2009 1:05 am

The Center for Online and Blended Learning has moved out of College Park and is now centrally located in University Hall, Suite 104.  We are enjoying our new home and are settling in quite nicely.  Our central location in Uhall will be very beneficial, as we work with faculty and staff from all corners of the University. In addition, we have a new Resource Room in Uhall 112, which will be a great addition to our working environment as the space is quite large and flexible.  The new resource room will house many of our faculty and staff consultations, COBL presentations, group and individual training, video and audio recording sessions,  informal and formal gatherings, as well as a place to facilitate research and development in the field of Online and Blended Learning. 

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By terence, February 25, 2009 1:10 am

Summer Session at BGSU from COBL on Vimeo.

Join more than 7,000 BGSU students who take advantage of Summer Session to ease their course load, become familiar with campus, speed up completion of their degree, and benefit from smaller classes.

Summer Session provides you with the flexibility and variety you need to stay on track—online, on campus or abroad. Choose from the extensive schedule of graduate and undergraduate courses and complete in 6 or 8 weeks.

First 6-Week Session —————– May 18–June 26
8-Week Session ———————— June 15–August 7
Second 6-Week Session ————- June 29–August 7

Registration now open

SCHEDULE NOW ONLINE

Register for Summer Session

Current BGSU Undergraduate and Graduate Students

• Any student who has a valid BGNet e-mail account may register for summer classes on the web using MyBGSU.

Guest Students

• Undergraduate Guest Students
• Graduate Non-Degree Guest Students

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By terence, September 12, 2008 12:51 am

COBL, The Center for Online and Blended Learning at BGSU, has designed and developed a new Blackboard video tutorial database that makes it extremely easy for BGSU instructors to search for and find Blackboard video tutorials created by the COBL staff. The new database is extremely searchable with a built in ajax live search engine, tag cloud, categories, rss feed, and an email subscription service to connect faculty to the latest tutorials.  To use the dynamic search engine, one only needs to start typing a word in the search area, such as “gradebook” and immediately the page begins to display tutorials that relate to your topic as you type your search.  The database is currently populated with video tutorials regarding the most popular and newer functions in blackboard.  As a member of the Academic Technology Unit on campus, COBL hopes this resource will be useful to the entire BGSU campus.

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By terence, August 26, 2008 8:20 pm

We hope everyone is enjoying the new blog and podcast system. Check out this tutorial I made on how to get started with your blog – Introduction to blogs.bgsu.edu

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By terence, July 7, 2008 3:14 pm

Greetings!
The Summer, 2008 issue of the BGSU eLearning Newsletter is available at:
http://cobl.bgsu.edu/newsletters/june08/index.php

In this issue:
1. Read about the new Center for Online and Blended Learning (formerly IDEAL).
2. Listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Bruce Edwards, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Technology.
3. View information about “Quality Matters”, a faculty-centered, peer review process for online courses.
4. Read about the Blackboard “grade center”, the new gradebook available in Blackboard 8, which will be implemented this coming fall.
5. Register for online faculty training.

The Center for Online and Blended Learning welcomes your feedback! If you have suggestions or ideas for future issues of the eLearning Newsletter or for the COBL web site, please send email to: cobl@bgsu.edu.

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By terence, July 7, 2008 10:35 am

Dr. Buce Edwards explains some of the upcoming changes that are happening at IDEAL/COBL as well as discusses the focus of Academic Technology.