Evolving with the Times

EVOLVING

WITH THE TIMES

By Jason Harper

The College of Education has always been a leader on campus in finding innovative ways to provide our programs to the far reaches of Wyoming. In the past, the college has offered courses by telephone, by compressed video broadcast to community colleges, and by flying professors to different towns throughout the state. Our methods have evolved with the times but our goal has always been to best serve our students and the state’s education system.

“We discovered early on that the prime candidates for our programs are teachers and administrators who are working full time throughout the state. They can’t uproot their lives and move to Laramie for two years to take courses face-toface,” says Director of the School of Counseling, Leadership, Advocacy and Design Pete Moran. “We knew it would be in best service to the state and would support our enrollment goals if we made our programs available online.”

Many of our programs started as 100 percent online asynchronous courses that could be taken completely independently. As technology has evolved, the courses have changed into hybrid experiences that give students a richer, more connected experience. Many courses are now offered through a blend of asynchronous online content and scheduled online experiences that happen in real-time. Students gather for these presentations or guest speakers in a virtual environment via Zoom where they can see and interact with each other. Many faculty members even hold Zoom “office hours” to ensure online students get a high level of personal support.

Faculty in the College of Education have gone to great lengths to develop these hybrid scenarios to provide opportunities to build enduring relationships with students around the state. Our students are the best ambassadors and supporters of the college and university because of the personal connection and excellent mentorship they receive.

This level of student support and the desire to provide rich online experiences for our students has resulted the Masters in Education program being ranked in the top 100 online Masters in Education programs in the country by U.S. News and World Reports. Intelligent.com has also ranked The Learning, Design and Technology concentration of the Masters in Education 18th on its list of best online masters in online teaching programs in the nation.

Excellence doesn’t come at a premium price at UW. Instate students have always enjoyed an excellent return on their investment in their education. Now, thanks to a decision by the UW Board of Trustees in 2018, out-of-state students who take courses online can also take advantage of UW’s low cost, high-quality programs.

“The programs that we have made available entirely online are able to take advantage of a reduced tuition rate for out of state students,” says Associate Dean of Graduate Programs Jenna Shim. “This reduces the cost for out-of-state students and makes our programs very competitive — oftentimes our online tuition is lower than in-state tuition for students in other states.”

Programs delivered entirely online via various distance technologies have had consistently strong enrollment, which has helped secure the financial sustainability of the college. Most importantly, efforts to increase the access to our graduate programs have helped provide a steady stream of highly qualified educators to meet the demands of the state’s education system.