With online sites that rate college professors, students have a lot more information at their fingertips when they choose their classes. Now, a survey suggests that a possible byproduct of these teacher review sites is grade inflation as students use the information to identify the easiest professors and those most likely to award higher grades. (I question the accuracy of Internet reviews since I think disgruntled students are more likely to submit comments than happy ones)

Will Apple's iPad kill the textbook? Many educators are pointing to Apple Computer's recently announced iPad as the prototype for an e-reader that will be able to hold all the textbooks a student needs. Its color touch-screen, interactive-video capability and virtual keyboard, they say, give it greater potential for textbook users than monochrome readers like Amazon's Kindle. Apple has been quiet about its designs on the textbook business since unveiling its new device, which will go on sale this month. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have also announced portable tablet computers, and Microsoft is rumored to be developing a two-screen model.

I was one of the lucky ones this semester. I spent $292.50 on my school textbooks. For many years college students have bought textbooks at outrageously high prices and watched as those prices continued to soar while their bank accounts barely manage to stay afloat. It appears that this trend may change with a new development in digital textbooks. That development involves Macmillan, one of the largest textbook manufacturing companies in the world, which has now opened the door for teachers to sort through textbooks and cater them to their specific online classes.

The new adventure of online world has helped to improve many domains and sectors. Knowledge manage mentera which originally related to business sector is now required in industry, health, or any institute that needs to manage its knowledge. Education is no exception! The advancement in computers speed and memory, and the growth of Internet usage are behind the inspiration of e-learning approach. In which the computer is used as a medium to deliver and share educational materials and knowledge insteadof face-to-face tutoring. This makes education available to any one, any place, and any time as learner need. This paper presents the relationship between knowledge management and learning management system (LMS) that is used in e-learning paradigms. A detailed description ofthe LMS used at Arab Open University (AOU) is included in this paper. We claim that the most common LMS can be considered as a knowledge management tool.

In this article we discuss our key idea that informal exchange in twitter contributes to the motivation of participants in online courses. Micro-blogging (via twitter)was introduced to groups of educators that participated in three online courses on the use of Web2.0 technologies and Online Didactics in educational settings. We used qualitative as well as quantitative methods to investigate their use of twitter and found out that informal exchange in twitter contributed to the motivation of learners during their participation in the online course. The participants extended the irrelatedness within the group, reflected their personal growth and supported others via acknowledging their inputs in a certain extent.

This report is an outcome of five years of higher education teaching and managing groups of students in an online learning environment. Some course management software allow users to create groups and add different links within each group that has been created by e-moderators. Distinct platforms with various sections can be formed within those links for any given project. Students, as well as instructors, can manage the project for 6 to 8 weeks, cascading one discussion board into one or multiple platforms. This provides better understanding of the project material due to the step-by-step layout of a given exercise, leading to increased group management and greater communication among the e-moderators, group leaders and group members. This report provides the step-by-step procedure for cascading one discussion board into various platforms to manage online group projects and provide a more controlled online environment for students in higher education.

Data from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system shows online classes at MnSCU schools cost an average of 19 percent more than those taught in the classroom. MnSCU schools can decide individually how much to charge per credit. The University of Minnesota charges extra for its online courses as well, tacking on a fee that can range from $15 to $30 per credit hour. It's something colleges and universities in surrounding states do as well.

In Milwaukee and elsewhere, more middle and high schools are starting to offer online classes to students during the day in place of one or more face-to-face classes. Fully virtual schools in Wisconsin continue to attract students who pursue their entire educations through the Internet, but adding online classes to the options students have during a traditional school day is a trend that may combine the best of both worlds. Advocates say students learn to work independently and can take harder courses in preparation for college while also getting in-school support from teachers and peers.

Many of the courses and departments are making the effort to reduce paper usage. The printers and copiers in the library have been set to print on both sides of one sheet of paper, and the campus Telecom department has switched to an online, automated phone billing process. The College's online division, SUNY CantonOL, has seen an increased number of faculty members encouraging students to print out less materials for their online classes, further realizing the full potential of the ANGEL online learning platform.

Tufts students may no longer have to turn to Tufts Reviews for course evaluations. Students may in the next two years be able to fill out and access course evaluations online, thanks to a collaborative project by Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators and administrators. According to senior Emily Maretsky, TCU Senate trustee representative for academic affairs, senators are working with the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) and the Academic Affairs Committee to work out the details of the plan.

Students turn to their laptops for free online courses from Ivy League scholars. Last year, I was obliged to take a course as part of my undergraduate political science degree. It was described as political game theory. I needed to make it through the course, so I did what many others have done: I turned to the Internet. There, on a site called Academic Earth, I learned everything I was later tested on from Benjamin Polak, a professor of economics teaching at Yale, whose full course on game theory was videotaped and posted online, complete with worksheets and exams. I used only Polak’s material for all my assignments and exams. And so I wondered: why was I paying for this class when I got a better education online and for free?

For working adults, juggling the demands of college is considerably tougher. It can be so tough for working parents that many find they can’t pull it off. But if you’re in that group and think a college degree is beyond the realm of possibility, think again. Online education has made it easier than ever to earn a degree while you hold a job.

A task force to expand the state's online programs at colleges and universities could boost growing programs at local schools, officials say. Online classes are a way for students to gain college credit without entering the classroom. Lectures, homework, discussions and sometimes testing are all handled through the Internet. Bruce Chaloux, an online-learning expert who works at the Southern Educational Regional Board, said national enrollment in online courses is growing at about 17 percent per year compared to 1.2 percent annual growth for traditional college classes. But Chaloux said there is still a lot of room to improve.

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students can now work on part of their foreign language requirements from home. Hybrid courses, a mix of online learning and in-the-classroom instruction, are being introduced as part of the foreign language department’s 2010 Summer Session offerings.

Any residual doubt regarding the explosive growth potential of distance education may have been dispelled last month, when the AFL-CIO announced it was teaming up with the National Labor College and the Princeton Review to launch an online college for the labor federation's 11.5 million members and their families. With projected courses in allied health sciences, business and other disciplines at an estimated $200 per credit, you could almost hear the whir of file servers straining under the anticipated load.

Pam Ice, online support director for the Colorado Department of Education, said recently, “Students in Colorado continue to see the value of online learning. The 2008-09 school year brought improvements in student success in many of Colorado’s online programs. Graduation rates and completion rates increased, more programs employ guidance counselors and credentialed staff for special education and English Language Learners. These efforts are paying off for the programs.” The Colorado Department of Education monitors 18 online programs around the state, ranging in size from the six-student Crowley County Online Academy to the Colorado Virtual Academy with more than 5,000 students.

The stage for redemption, it turns out, can be a dingy, florescent-lit room tucked down a long hall at Sharpstown High School. Here, on mismatched chairs and a second-hand sofa, teens toil on laptops for hours on end — trying to atone for bad decisions and reclaim their dreams of earning high school diplomas. The Grad Lab — as it's being called at Sharpstown and the Houston Independent School District's 26 other comprehensive high schools — has become a focal point for would-be dropouts since opening in January. More than 100 students come each day, even Saturdays, trying to make good on their second chance.

In Berkshire County, where online courses weren't available even 10 years ago, more than 1,000 high school and college students are enrolled today in online courses -- ranging from bio-ethics symposiums to Mandarin Chinese."This is the technology generation," said Carol Arnold, a Virtual High School spokeswoman. "They live on instant messaging and email and Facebook, so this is really tapping into that."

Under the bipartisan bill, when a district cancels school, it could immediately post lessons to its Web site for each grade level or class, allowing students to download the material and turn in the work within two weeks. The bill would let schools use the e-lessons to replace up to five days missed because of snow, ice or other unscheduled closures. Supporters say the bill also could have an extra benefit: pushing districts to blend technology with classroom work to expand student learning beyond the traditional school day or year.

Ohio students who may be used to sledding or playing video games on snow days could instead be given schoolwork via computer, under a proposal from state lawmakers. A bill offered by a bipartisan group of legislators would let schools use online lessons so as many as five school days called off for bad weather or other calamities would not have to be made up. Districts could immediately post assignments on their Web sites for students to complete within two weeks.