Resources
Podcast. Doe Daughtrey talks to Kevin Whitesides about online communications technologies that provide new opportunities and challenges for the creation of alternative learning environments and how they differ in significant ways from traditional face-to-face environments.
Course Management System (CMS) that helps you create an on-line learning site.
This pdf is an entire 200 page book published by Parlor Press, Anderson, South Carolina 2014). It contains twenty-three chapters, by different authors, exploring the benefits and disadvantages of the recent educational phenomenon known as Massive Open Online Courses (acronym, MOOC). 
In an attempt to build a better "intensive course," Torma "does the math" on credit hours, student-directed learning, and instructor-directed learning. This piece provides a helpful framework for anyone working through "seat hour" issues regarding fully online courses, blended/hybrid courses, face-to-face "intensives," or other game-changing learning contexts.
Frost and Stommel capture a 14-minute YouTubevideo of a collaborative writing session on Google Docs (now Google Drive). In the accompanying blog post, they offer suggestions for assigning collaborative writing to students, along with persuasive arguments about the pedagogical goods of collaborative writing.
Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Online distance education continues to grow at a fast pace, even outpacing the overall growth of U.S. higher education. Demands for quality are coming from all shareholders involved. As if caught by surprise, a patchwork response to quality is often the typical organizational response. The result can be inconsistent and uncoordinated levels of value to those invested in online learning. This often promotes negative images of the educational experience and institution. Comprised of highly regarded experts in the field, this edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of quality assurance, a snapshot of current practices and proven recommendations for raising standards of quality in online education. Topics discussed include: * Improving practices for teaching online * Using educational analytics for quality assurance and improvement * Accessibility: An important dimension of quality assurance * Assuring quality in online course design * Assuring quality in learner support, academic resources, advising and counseling * The role and realities of accreditation This text clearly answers the call for addressing quality from a broad, deep and coordinated understanding. It addresses the complexities of quality assurance in higher education and offers professionals top-shelf advice and support. *This text is also appropriate for students enrolled in Educational Technology and Higher Education Administration Masters and PhD programs (From the Publisher)
Chronicle of Higher Ed offers a time line, with links, of the controversial resignation and reinstatement of University of Virginia's president Teresa Sullivan. At the heart of the controversy is disagreement between the school's Board of Visitors and President Sullivan regarding the pace and manner of adopting online learning.
The Journal of Online Teaching and Learning (JoLT) publishes the detailed results of a study. Briefly: student outcomes are better across the board when taught by FT faculty over adjunct faculty.
Finally, the first research-based book of sound strategies and best practices to help instructors motivate students to complete their online courses. Although studies support the effectiveness of learning online, students often fail to complete online courses. Some studies have found that as many as 50–70% drop out of their online courses or programs. Retention is not only a growing expectation and imperative, but it is also as opportunity for faculty members to take the lead in innovating, researching, and implementing new strategies while demonstrating their effectiveness. Designed for instructors and instructional designers, Motivating and Retaining Online Students is filled with empirical research from the authors’ study of motivation and retention strategies that can reduce online learner dropout. Focusing on the most important issues instructors face, such as course design; student engagement and motivation; and institutional, instructional, and informal student support strategies, the book provides effective online strategies that help minimize student dropout, increase student retention, and support student learning. While helping to improve the overall retention rates for educational institutions, the strategies outlined in the book also allow for student diversity and individual learner differences. Lehman and Conceição’s proven model gives instructors an effective approach to help students persist in online courses and succeed as learners. (From the Publisher)
Click Here for Book Review Abstract: This book offers a much-needed resource for faculty and professional staff to build quality online courses by focusing on quality standards in instructional design and transparency in learning outcomes in the design of online courses. It includes effective instructional strategies to motivate online learners, help them become more self-directed, and develop academic skills to persist and successfully complete a program of study online. It also includes a more in-depth understanding of instructional design principles to support faculty as they move their face-to-face courses to the online environment.