AECT BlogTrack

Just to let e readers know of a new blog that I will be involved with for the next eight months that will also deal with virtual schooling. A group of faculty and doctoral students here at UGA submitted a blog track proposal for the up-coming Association of Educational Communications and Technology conference taking place in Dallas, Texas in October 2006 that was recently accepted. The basis of the proposal is as follows:

Emerging Trends in the Research on Online Learning Environments

Research Abstract - In this BlogTracks, seven members of an online learning research group at the University of Georgia are researching and discussing trends in the online learning literature in the context of K-12, higher education, corporate, and informal learning settings. In October, 2006, we will relate our findings to the presentations given at the AECT convention, and conclude with a summary presentation at the end of the conference where we will give recommendations for the future of effective online learning research.

Description of Proposal - Online distance learning is a hotly discussed topic in current educational research. A quick pass through six major databases of journal/periodical articles in our field found 7,502 articles that mention the term “distance learning” in the abstract—260 published in the year 2005 alone. Many more articles discuss concepts associated with distance or online learning that are called by other names. With educational institutions quickly developing policies about online learning, it is important that we as researchers have a firm grasp on the research about online education and what major trends and findings are supported by empirical data.

Needless to say that I am the K-12 guy with a focus upon virtual schooling. The feed site for all of our blogs is available at:

AECT BlogTrack Feed - http://ugaonlinelearning.suprglu.com/

My own contribution to the BlogTrack can be found at:

Virtual Schooling - http://mkbvs.edublogs.org/

Anyway, be sure to check it out and feel free to contribute over there as well. Given the similarity in topics, I'll do my best not to neglect this blog while I make contributions over there - but don't be surprised if I end up cross-posting some things (such as summaries of virtual schooling sessions here at AERA in San Francisco this week).

Tags: AECT 2006, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education