Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. The concept of the “Overseas Marylander” was born as professors hopscotched from country to country. “UMUC was the first to go overseas,” Smith said. “In 1947, the idea of veterans going to college was brand new. The idea of taking education to military personnel wherever they were in the world on DC-3s, flying around professors with book bags, that was revolutionary. Every step of the way since then has been a step in this ongoing revolution in learning opportunity.” The third idea involved offering coursework online. UMUC had become a separate university within the University of Maryland system in 1970, and it provided far and away the nation’s largest and most comprehensive program of distance education. With the advent of new technologies, doors were opened to people who could not be served by a professor standing at the front of a classroom. The university launched a Bachelor’s Degree-at-a-Distance program in 1993 for students located anywhere in the United States. Students communicated with teachers and each other by mail, teleconference, voice mail, computer conference, audio conference, and e-mail. Instruction by Interactive Video Network allowed students in multiple sites to see and hear their instructors and classmates alike. In September 1997, with almost 15,000 students enrolling in distance education courses each year, UMUC developed its own online learning platform, named Tycho after the 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Using Tycho, students around the world could participate in computer conferences, access online tutors, submit assignments, work through computer-based multimedia courseware, access electronic library resources, and participate in online study groups. The Virtual University was born, and UMUC was the midwife. ACHIEVER | 14 | UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Two decades later, online education is no longer a novelty; it is the norm, and having been a pioneer is no guarantee of continued success. The competition from for-profit institutions and other large state university systems comes as the number of potential college students is declining and the cost of higher education is increasing. That is the perfect storm to which Miyares alludes.
A BIG IDEA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
To weather the perfect storm, UMUC is embracing a fourth big idea—the use of data collected from online education to identify new strategies and approaches that will help students learn more effectively even as costs are reduced. As a school offering open admission, UMUC does not restrict access based on test scores. Its mission is to accept any qualified student who applies and find ways for her or him to succeed. “In the past it was, ‘You go to college, and if you can’t cut it, too bad,’” UMUC Provost Marie Cini said. “What we have said from the beginning is that the potential to learn—to learn well, to learn thoroughly—is not owned by the few. It is pos-
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UMUC was the first to
go overseas,” Smith said. “In 1947, the idea of veterans going to college was brand new. The idea of taking education to military personnel wherever they were in the world
on DC-3s, flying around professors with book bags, that was revolutionary.”