Distance+Learning+-+Student+Readiness

From Penny Pearson:

We are devoting a lot of attention and energy to teachers using/creating some kind of online presence and offer assessment tools for them to determine their ability to teach an online course. It seems reasonable to me that we explore tools that help identify whether or not a student is a good candidate for an online class *before* they have a bad experience and never come back. It would also seem that if a school could ID the likelihood of student success online, it would enhance their DL programs with higher retention (persistence) rates...

Here's some of what I found -

1 The study: Survey Reports Many Online Learners Never Seek Help Before Dropping Out Among online students who dropped out of their degree or certificate programs, 40 percent failed to seek any help or resources before abandoning their programs, according to a recent EducationDynamics survey. http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=2028195:9644060

2 an assessment tool that measures STUDENT readiness for online learning (evaluates learning styles, some tech skills) READI: http://readi.info/index.cfm?fuseaction=home About READI - Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator Are you ready to take a distance-learning course? Are your distance education students best prepared to learn at a distance? How it works READI is a web-based tool which assesses a learner's likelihood for succeeding in an online learning program. READI indicates the degree to which an individual student possesses attributes, skills and knowledge that contribute to success in online learning,

3 READI lists over 350 schools currently using their diagnostic tool -- not many in California (they are mostly in the south), and those listed are mostly colleges, universities and tech schools. READI offers a 4 month "free pilot" but the service is typically fee based. It interfaces with BlackBoard, WebCT, Angel and Moodle. (no pricing available online, have to talk to sales)

I've attached a copy of a literature review done through the College Sector Committee (6/08) which is based in Ontario. (They cite CALPRO!) They also use READI and have tracked teacher/student usage using this tool http://www.collegeupgradingon.ca/start.htm