QUALITY OF ONLINE COURSES EXPECTED TO ECLIPSE IN-CLASS COURSES
A survey conducted by Babson College and the Sloan Consortium indicates
growing respect among some college administrators--including presidents
and chief academic officers--for the quality of online courses.
One-third of the roughly 1,000 survey respondents expect the quality of
online courses at their institutions to surpass that of in-class
courses within three years. Fifty-seven percent said the quality of
Web-based classes already rivals that of in-class teaching. Some
administrators, however, particularly at private baccalaureate
institutions, remain skeptical of online teaching. One-third of the
respondents said Web-based courses would not become a significant part
of the teaching at their institutions.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 September 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/09/2003090401t.htm

AUTOMATED ESSAY GRADING: MAKING THE GRADE?
Several companies offer computer tools to grade student essays, and
various schools around the United States, including some colleges and
universities, are using such grading tools to reduce teacher workload
and improve student writing. One tool called Criterion, developed by
the Educational Testing Service (ETS), is being used by Camden County
College in New Jersey. Criterion scores essays based on factors
"learned" from human readers and also provides students with feedback
on grammar, style, usage, and organization. Anthony Spatola, chairman
of the English department at Camden, said students appreciate the
feedback, and he believes the tool helps students improve their
writing. Officials from ETS acknowledged that the system theoretically
could give a high score to an essay that exhibited certain linguistic
characteristics but lacked a logical argument. Students' taking the
time, however, to fool the system is unrealistic, they argued. Such
automated systems have ardent detractors, including Julie Cheville of
Rutgers University and the local director for the National Writing
Project, who said automated grading systems "orient students to errors,
not to meaning." Cheville argued that "Vacuous student essays can
receive high marks only because they are error-free."
New York Times, 4 September 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/technology/circuits/04grad.html

Mr. James B. Greenberg
Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center
Milne Library
SUNY College at Oneonta
Oneonta, New York 13820

email: [log in to unmask]
phone: 607-436-2701

"Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"