Dr Wally Boston, Member, Board of Directors, American Public University System
Dr. David Becher, Vice President, Institutional Research, American Public University System
Dr Karan Powell, President, American Public University System
Chair:
Dr Paul Rich, President, Policy Studies Organization (PSO)
Universities that are largely online have been uniquely positioned to aggregate data and use it for improving teaching. There are several reasons why this has not proved to be as great a help to advancing student and teacher importance as it should be. This panel outlines how a large online university program of 100,000 students, and one which is fully accredited by American agencies, has tackled the flow of information that so many online classes provide, and how the harvested information has led to major changes in how online learning has been handled. There is a not entirely understood relationship between the remarkable growing influence of big data and the online learning cycle are becoming increasingly intertwined. The presenters are intensely involved in what has been an extraordinary evolution in pedagogy brought about by the internet. Case studies will be presented. Rather than the process being mature, they suggest that coming years will see even more dramatic changes and challenges.