Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs (courtesy of NEASC)
IntroductionAll of IDL’s Programs and Courses use IDL’s unique Adaptive Blended Learning System. This system was based on research conducted by Dr. Sonwalkar while at MIT as its Principal Education Architect.
In contrast to other online programs, IDL starts with pedagogy and then proceeds to create programs and courses which deliver effective pedagogy attuned to the personal learning needs of each individual student. Other online courses start from a heritage in Information Technology, paying little attention to the process of learning; one program fitting all of the students into a single mold. As a result, while other online courses have high attrition rates, IDL offers the highest completion rate in academia and the highest rate of student satisfaction.
All of the programs or courses, here listed, are field tested, and as explained below, are fully customizable to the special needs, focus, and image of each college or university. They are offered on a full turnkey basis with no up front development costs. Charges are based only on student registration. This allows your college to add these and other new programs, with no development costs, and with no risk of a shortfall in enrollment.
The course offered are complete courses, covering all topics and concepts necessary for certification or graduation. This allows the professor to choose which sessions will be online and which in front of a class. It means that students, especially adult learners holding down a job, can then easily make up a missed class. Perhaps more critically it allows the professor to conduct a higher level discussion class, knowing that all students have been brought to a level of competency in the subject. This appeals both to the professional needs of the instructor, to the needs of each individual student, and delivers a much improved higher quality of education.
Diagnostic Quizzes
All of IDL’s programs and courses provide diagnostic quizzes to monitor the progress and competency of each student. These quizzes, given after each critical concept, provide a lot of information to the professor about the student’s progress. Depending on the results of each quiz the student is allowed to proceed to the next concept or is routed back to retake that section in which he or she had trouble. (The professor can set the “pass level” for each quiz.) However, in contrast to other online courses which re-present the same old material which the student already failed to grasp, IDL creates and displays the concept based on a different learning style. In effect, this presents the student with a different perspective with an increased likelihood of success.
This immediate feedback greatly reduces the number of emails sent by students to their professors – a major chore for the professor. Moreover, an immediate response (from the IDL program) allows the student to continue his studies, without the disruption of waiting 24 to 48 hours.
Each student can see the results of each diagnostic quiz – providing instant feedback and encouragement. Indeed it is not uncommon for students, challenged by not getting 100% in a quiz, to voluntarily retake the course section until they achieve a perfect 100%. The quizzes are randomized so that each quiz presents a new challenge. All this information is available to the professor for his or her evaluation of the student, quickly spotting where and when a student may need special help.
Professor’s Corner
All IDL programs and courses include a Professor’s corner, allowing each professor to add his or her special notes, text, and slides.
Chat rooms are provided with the added benefit that the professor can limit the invitees to those who have mastered the appropriate course section (based on the quiz results). All too frequently chat rooms degenerate into a discussion by the least prepared – wasting the time of both prepared students and professors.
Reports
Because the system records every detail of the student’s progress, a great deal of information is available. In addition to a standard set of reports, the results can be “data mined” by the professor to customize the reports to his or her needs and to spotlight students having difficulties.
In addition to a standard set of reports, special reports can be readily provided to support the requirement of accreditation organizations. This is unique to IDL and is only possible because we have access to student data on the results of individual student performance.
Content
IDL derives its course content from a variety of highly qualified sources. Such sources include textbooks with world-class authors. However, the text from such books is converted into the IDL learning system with added media and quizzes.
Catalog of available programs and courses
Faculty and IDL Systems
Info for Students
Demo Courses
For further information please contact:
Ms. Mamta Sharma (msharma@idlsystems.com)
Director of Course Development
IDL Systems, Inc.
60 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston MA 02115