Today’s ‘Driving Factors’ in Online Education
Posted on July 10, 2008 by David Gray | Leave a Comment
One of the great things about higher education is the willingness of colleagues to share lessons learned and best practices across both institutional and geographic boundaries. I just returned from a three-day summer institute in San Francisco sponsored by the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA), the theme of which was “innovations in program development.” I had the privilege of leading two workshop sessions, one dealing with the role of distance education in transforming institutions and the second looking at the rise of blended learning opportunities. There were other provocative and informative sessions on marketing led by Jim Fong, President of Diagnostics Plus, on leadership and excellence led by Joyce Feucht-Haviar, Dean of the Tseng College at California State University Northridge, and on international opportunities and financial tools led by Kristine Billmyer, Executive Director of the College of General Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Over 60 institutions from the United States, Canada, and Egypt (yes, Egypt) were represented at the UCEA institute. The overwhelming majority of participants indicated that their institutions had substantial foundations of online learning programs. While this was not surprising in and of itself, the extent of the interest and development of online learning certainly was revealing. One institution, the University of South Florida (USF), indicated that they logged over 63,000 online course enrollments in the recently concluded academic year. This is an astonishing number! By my back of the envelope calculations, that represents at minimum 6,300 full-time equivalent (FTE) students, larger than the FTE enrollment of many U.S. colleges and universities. And, USF folks told us that they are only now starting to think about distance education strategically!
Several themes emerged from the presentations and surrounding conversations: Read more…
Tags: Blended Learning, Online Learning, Policy Matters, UMassOnlinePermalink | Trackback |
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Sunrise Radio Podcasts Presents an Interview with David Gray and Barbara Macaulay
Posted on July 9, 2008 by Jennifer Brady | Leave a Comment
You’re invited to come back, again, this time for a glimpse into the future of UMassOnline via this podcast of an interview conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell radio station, WUML 91.5 FM. This, the fourth WUML exchange spotlighting UMassOnline programs and leaders, features UMassOnline Chief Executive Officer David Gray and Chief Academic Officer Barbara Macaulay who outline their plans for the future of online learning at the University of Massachusetts. A 22-minute podcast, the session is hosted by producer Christine Dunlap and co-hosted with novelist David Daniel who is also a part-time faculty member teaching writing and literature in the Department of English at UMass Lowell.
UMassOnline’s plans for future course developments, its view of the near-term implications of new online technologies, and its expectations as its China initiative continues at a rapid pace and the organization contemplates opportunities it may consider in India, South Africa and other places around the world are all touched upon in this audio broadcast. Read more…
Tags: Blended Learning, Online Learning, Podcasts, UMass Lowell, UMassOnlinePermalink | Trackback |
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UMassOnline Named a Mass Technology Leadership Council Award Finalist
Posted on June 30, 2008 by Jennifer Brady | Leave a Comment
We learned late last week that UMassOnline has been named one of only four finalists in the ‘Public Sector Organization’ category in the Mass Technology Leadership Council’s annual recognition program. This is a very big deal for us for at least three reasons: One is because the Technology Leadership Awards recognize outstanding achievement in both the development and deployment of information technologies that address critical business issues. Two, we’re in very good company… the other finalists are the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, BostonFIRST, and the City of Boston.
Lastly, the Executive Director of the Mass Technology Leadership Council said some very nice things about us and the other finalists:
“These honorees represent the spirit of innovation, the history of accomplishment and the future promise that define the Massachusetts technology community.” said Tom Hopcroft, executive director of the Mass Technology Leadership Council.
You can learn more about this program and the finalists in the other categories here.
Tags: Online Learning, UMassOnlinePermalink | Trackback |
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High Performers Seek Continuous Learning
Posted on June 30, 2008 by Jennifer Brady | Leave a Comment
Courtesy of a well-known corporate training online publication called Human Resource Executive Online comes an interesting opinion piece authored by Kurt Ronn. He is the president and founder of HRworks, a national recruitment firm. Mr. Ronn has identified five characteristics in people that are, or become, so-called high performers on the job. One of the five top characteristics is a desire to seek continuous learning opportunities. Here’s a small part of what he says about this indicator of job performance:
A personal commitment to learning is paramount to performance… High-performing individuals seek out learning, formal or informal to hone their skills and stay on top of the latest trends and industry ideas. A simple question of how an individual stays on top of changes in the industry gives valuable insight as to their desire to be the best. Without the desire to learn, knowledge, skills and ability atrophy.
Most high performers are inquisitive and interested in innovation. Their careers demonstrate an ability to learn complex information and apply it to their role. The Internet and distance learning has become an important augmentation to corporate development.
Of course, you’re probably interested in the other four performance indicators. You can find out by reading Mr. Ronn’s full article at HREOnline.
Tags: Online LearningPermalink | Trackback |
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