Report on public, online education in California

The Twenty Million Minds Foundation has published a report on using online education to address bottleneck courses in California.

They survey the current efforts (California Virtual Campus, Cal State Online and UC
Online), outline approaches for the future and and offer a number of recommendations, including:

1. Making sure students have access to support services and academic mentoring, akin to what many institutions already offer within their own classrooms, but extended outside the parameters of the campus, when their students, for example, sign up for third-party offerings

(Important because "Online education classes typically require more self discipline, better reading skills, and better awareness of when to seek help than traditional classes do" -- for example see http://bit.ly/URnHKA).

2. Encouraging faculty to experiment with the integration of technology into their instructional practices

(Important because we are at the start of an expansion of online services that will enable faculty to develop novel online material -- for example, see http://bit.ly/121z9rU).