Good News for Community Colleges

The nations's community colleges got some got news from President Obama Tuesday when he unveiled a $12 billion reform and expanion plan. The president said his plan will focus on getting people educated so they can get into the workforce.

At the center of this plan is online learning. He is proposing $500 million to develop new online courses that would be free and in the public domain.

Interesting concept that has lots of possibilities. We'll certainly be exploring some of them at Montgomery College. To read more about the plan, check out this story in the Washington Post.

The Advantages of Online Learning

The United States Department of Education recently came out with a study that shows online learning has advantages over face-to-face learning. The study found that performance was better for students who took all or part of their instruction online. Those who took blended courses did the best of all.

What the study demonstrates is what fans of online learning having been saying for a number of years: with the right design and the proper student engagement as much learning can take place as in face-to-face classes.

For a more complete article, check out Inside Higher Ed.