The University of West Georgia’s eCore now has free electronic textbooks for six of its online classes. The open textbooks are available publicly and for free as electronic publications that can be downloaded and printed.
eCore, short for electronic core-curriculum, allows University System of Georgia students at 10 institutions the opportunity to complete the first two years of their collegiate careers in an online environment. eCore courses are designed, developed, taught and supported by faculty and staff from across the USG. Courses are taught entirely online, except for the occasional proctored exam. Read more ...
Affordable Colleges Online recently released the Most Affordable Online College Degree Programs ranking, naming the University of West Georgia as 12th nationally. Thousands of colleges were analyzed and the top 54 with the most affordable online programs were ranked.
“What is truly remarkable about our online programs is that they affordable and also exceptionally personal,” says Dr. Melanie Clay, executive director of extended learning and dean of USG eCore. “They are actively taught by highly-credentialed faculty who are passionate about their scholarly areas and student success. Many students remark that they get to know the faculty in our online classes as well as they do those in the traditional classroom. It is truly a win-win for our students.” Read more ...
While working in a K-12 school district, I used to hear, “We are shifting from a Wait to Fail method to a Response to Intervention (RTI) method.” The goal was to provide students, who were identified as at-risk for failure, with targeted services in the classroom. The RTI method uses early intervention with research-based instruction and progress measurement to prevent academic failure in students who continue to struggle. Now that I am working in a higher education setting, I often ask myself, “Can we use the RTI method to support students attending UWG?”
In order to meet the goals outlined by Complete College Georgia, student retention is of the utmost importance. Read more ...
For the last 14 years, I have enjoyed working on what some refer to as the “frontlines of tomorrow’s education.” Most educational conferences are becoming more and more focused on online learning and concepts like MOOCs and social education. As educators we are continually faced with the question, how can these concepts work with our current education model?
We are often asked to teach larger classes for less money and fewer resources. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) concept has our educational leaders in a frantic race to be the first to find a way to make it work. Leaders in the field have encouraged online administrators and instructors to meet the students where they live by using Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms which inhabit the social realm. Read more ...
I’ve always liked that title quote, although variations of this have often been attributed without proven sources to Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. Regardless of author, I still agree with the sentiment. There is so much knowledge and wisdom out there that you may not find or learn in a traditional classroom setting.
I discovered very early in my career, that it’s easy to find a “community” for any given topic (especially since the growth of the Internet), and this isn’t limited to just programming or technology. Read more ...
In a quest to find a positive shared learning space for UWG Online Faculty, Matias Marabotto and Dr. Debra Robinson, are staying at the forefront of innovations for online learning in higher education. The pair recently won the 2013 USG Collaborate Innovators of the Year Award for their creation of UWG’s Online Learning iApollo Program.
Aiming to facilitate a faculty learning community who works together to assist their peers through both informal and formal means, Matias and Dr. Robinson created the iApollo Learning Program in an effort to achieve educational excellence in distance education. Read more ...
The University of West Georgia is sixth in the nation for “Best Online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs” according to U.S. News & World Report.
UWG ranked above online CIT programs at Auburn University, Columbia University and Mississippi State University. The graduate online CIT program ranked first in the nation for faculty credentials and training and also topped the list for student services and technology. UWG debuted this program only one year ago, making this prestigious ranking even more impressive. Read more ...
It was a cold, overcast winter’s day, but not just any day; it was New Year’s Day, 2000. And while most where thankful to have survived the millennia and excited about a new century dawning, I was 28 years old sitting in the backseat of a Buick Regal as the wind whistle through slightly lowered windows. Both of my parents anchored down the front bench seat as I stared at the backs of their heads encircled by dense cigarette smoke. We were on our way to visit relatives in Northwest Georgia as we had done hundreds of times before, but this time it was different. There would be no warm welcome or sloppy snuff laidened kisses from the withered lips of a grandmother or the shrieks of anxious cousins hurling towards the car as we crested a long driveway. This time we were going to see relatives I had never laid eyes on. Read more ...
When it comes to CourseDen, it is rare for someone to experience all sides of UWG’s learning management system (LMS). As a graduate student in the Master of Education with a Major in Media (Instructional Technology) program and as an academic instructional support specialist for UWG Online, I get to experience the role of student, instructor and administrator. Working in each role has helped me develop a strong appreciation for the woes of both student and instructor. This appreciation has fueled my excitement for CourseDen’s upgrade from 9.4 to 10.2, scheduled to be available no later than midnight on December 26, 2013. Read more ...
Dr. Jason Huett, associate dean of Online Development, was awarded the Outstanding eLearning Faculty Distinguished Educator award by the Instructional Technology Council. Winners of this award received complimentary registration to the ITC’s 2013 eLearning conference and were invited to attend a special recognition luncheon in San Antonio, Texas. Read more ...
Just a little over 15 years ago at UWG, there were no online courses and distance learning delivery was limited to point-to-point videoconferencing (GSAMS). Today, on average each term, one in two students at UWG takes at least one online course, around 60% of credit hours earned during Summer are via distance learning, and almost 1300 students attend UWG solely online.
These numbers don’t count the courses and enrollment within hybrid or technology-enhanced courses that we also support. Read more ...
Like so many people who use email as a primary means of communication, I have a quotation in my email signature. Mine is from Pablo Picasso, and it reads: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” It serves to remind me that, in the rules-dominated world of higher education, I still need to channel my inner artist if I really want to make a difference. Let me explain.
Higher education is undergoing profound change at all levels. Much of this is driven by technology and forces from outside of the academy. This creates very uncomfortable tension and not a small amount of panic. Read more ...
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