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« MEMBERSHIP
the WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award
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WCET members are on the cutting edge in the use of educational technology tools or techniques for instruction both on- and off-campus. The WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award recognizes:
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MEDIA RELEASE WCET Announces Awards for Outstanding Use of Technology in Higher Education
Boulder, Colorado — WCET is pleased to announce the names of the five recipients of the 2007 WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award: Kansas State University, Rio Salado College, Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, Minnesota Online, and the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service. The annual award recognizes innovative and effective uses of technologies in educating and serving students. “The WOW Award represents a way to recognize and celebrate the best and most promising practices within the WCET community,” says Paul Wasko, WCET Awards Committee chair and assistant director for e-learning services and related efforts in the Academic Affairs Division of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. “For the 2007 WOW Award, there was a wonderful slate of possible recipients that made the committee’s job especially difficult. This year’s recipients reinforced the value of innovative solutions and the need to always keep in mind the needs of the student as consumer.” The 2007 WOW recipients include: Kansas State University: ExpanSIS - A Multi-Institutional Student Information System. The university’s Institute for Academic Alliances and Office of Mediated Education created ExpanSIS, a secure, web-based system for exchanging time-sensitive information about courses and students among partner institutions. Developed for consortia where students enroll at their home institution for courses taught by faculty at partner institutions, ExpanSIS contains consortium course information for partner institutions to create course sections for enrollment on their own campuses. After students enroll at home, the information is entered into ExpanSIS, so the teaching institution can access course rosters; set up course access for students; and track student drops and refunds. The teaching institution records grades directly into ExpanSIS for enrolling institutions to transfer back into their own systems. Rio Salado College: Online Teacher Education Programs “Virtual Practicum” Experience. Rio Salado College’s online teacher preparation Virtual Practicums are professional videotapes of live classroom experiences that demonstrate classroom techniques that are critical for students to learn but that may not be available during practicums or student-teaching experiences. The Virtual Practicums are created by master teachers and provide a value-added element to content areas that students find difficult, such as phonics, classroom management, and structured English immersion. Special education practicums are also available. Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium: A Multi-state Collaborative eTutoring Program. The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium has developed a collaborative online tutoring program that brings together the resources of two- and four-year public and private institutions of higher education. Serving students at 33 colleges and universities in seven states, eTutoring.org utilizes tutors provided by the institutions and trained in the use of its technology and online tutoring protocols. All student and tutor interaction is hosted on eTutoring’s own synchronous and asynchronous platform, facilitating access to a single program that’s available to the students at all participating institutions. Minnesota Online: Support Center. The Minnesota Online Support Center was created by several agencies interested in fostering a system in which services were student- and customer-centered. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Minnesota Online, Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, eFolio Minnesota, Online College in the High School, and Distance Minnesota together created a support center whose team is able to respond quickly, engaging with individuals associated with the partner programs. This team provides individualized, accurate, and compassionate support to veterans and active military personnel from across Minnesota, as well as offering 24/7 educational support to individuals worldwide. Users may search the online FAQs, ask questions online, engage in online chat with a team member, or call through toll-free or international phone numbers. Minnesota State Community and Technical College, one of the regional consortium colleges, is the host of the center. American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service: The Online College for Funeral Service Education. American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service (AAMI), one of the oldest accredited funeral service schools, based in New York City, discovered a large, unmet national need for access to funeral service schools: 19 states didn’t have a funeral service school and 70 percent of the existing schools were community colleges that only served their own region. AAMI’s solution was to launch a comprehensive, fully online degree program in funeral service. With the assistance of consultants and a contract with the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, AAMI offered its first six online courses in January 2006. By April 2007 all courses (except the clinical capstone experience, which will be held in New York City) were offered online each semester, and AAMI enrollments had doubled. A b o u t WC E T & WI C H E The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and its 15 member states work collaboratively to expand educational access and excellence for all citizens of the West. By promoting innovation, cooperation, resource sharing, and sound public policy among states and institutions, WICHE strengthens higher education’s contributions to the region’s social, economic, and civic life. Our programs – Student Exchange, Policy Analysis and Research, WCET, and Mental Health – are working to find answers to some of the most critical questions facing higher education today, investigating issues such as access to higher education for low-income students, the financing of higher education and student financial aid, higher education’s role in workforce and economic development, articulation between K-12 and higher education, and distance education. The organization is governed by a 45-member gubernatorially appointed body.
8/20/2007 Longer descriptions of the 2007 WCET WOW award recipients
Kansas State University: ExpanSIS - A Multi-Institutional Student Information System. The K-State Institute for Academic Alliances and Office of Mediated Education partnered to develop ExpanSIS, a secure, web-based system for exchanging time-sensitive information about courses and students among partner institutions. It was developed for consortia where students enroll at their home institution for courses taught by faculty at partner institutions. The system was first used by the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance in Fall 2006. ExpanSIS contains consortium course information for partner institutions to create course sections for enrollment on their own campuses. After students enroll at home, the information is entered into ExpanSIS so the teaching institution can access course rosters; set up course access for students; and keep up-to-date on student drops and refunds. The teaching institution records grades directly into ExpanSIS for enrolling institutions to transfer back into their own systems. ExpanSIS also provides financial reports for billing purposes among partner institutions. Kathleen Jones, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Registrar, Iowa State University explains, “With a consortial agreement in place, ExpanSIS meets FERPA requirements; however, students sign a form acknowledging that their information will be shared with consortium partners.” ExpanSIS makes inter-institutional programs as seamless as possible for students. Contact
Rio Salado College: Online Teacher Education Programs “Virtual Practicum” Experience. Rio Salado College’s online Teacher Preparation “Virtual Practicums” are professional videotapes of actual live classroom experiences that demonstrate significant classroom techniques critical for students to learn that may not be available during practicums or student teaching experiences. The Virtual Practicums (VP) are created and developed by Master Teachers thereby providing Master Teacher application of quality teaching techniques. The VPs also provide a value added element to content areas that students find difficult such as Phonics, Classroom Management, Beginning Weeks of School and Structured English Immersion. Additionally, Virtual Practicums have been developed in the area of special education to provide teaching strategies for disabilities that are extremely hard to locate or the variety of experience is so limited that it is not adequate to prepare students for their required teaching responsibilities. Virtual Practicums help meet the critical need for providing teacher education candidates with as much experience as possible in situations directly related to school-based practicum settings for which they will be held accountable upon being certified to teach. They model effective teaching strategies, and have resulted in excellent student learning through relevant and useful classroom experiences. The success of the VPs has many colleges and universities expressing great interest in obtaining them for use in their teacher education programs. Contact
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium: A Multi-state Collaborative eTutoring Program. The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium has developed a collaborative online tutoring program, bringing together the resources and talent from 2 year and 4 year, public and private institutions of higher education. Initially funded by the Davis Educational Foundation, which supports higher education in New England, as well as a subsequent grant from FIPSE, eTutoring.org currently serves students at 33 colleges and universities in 7 states. Utilizing tutors provided by each institution, CTDLC trains them in the use of its technology and online tutoring protocols and aggregates their sessions into one master schedule. All student and tutor interaction is hosted on eTutoring’s own synchronous and asynchronous platform, facilitating access to one program that is available to the students at all participating institutions. Collaboration is the key to this program’s success, as institutional representatives, faculty, tutors, and students all impact eTutoring’s program design, policy, and protocol in a process of ongoing refinement and discovery. The result is a focus on continual quality improvement of both the technology and the pedagogy that drive this service. Contact
Minnesota Online: Support Center. Engaging several key agencies interested in fostering a system whereby services are student and customer centered lead to creating the Minnesota Online Support Center. The agencies include: Minnesota State Colleges and Universities – state system of 32 colleges and universities; Minnesota Online – state innovation center working for students seeking online education; Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs – helping military veterans, personnel, and their families with reintegration; eFolio Minnesota, - the free online portfolio system; Online College in the High School - 28 secondary schools in Minnesota; and Distance Minnesota – regional consortium of four 2-year colleges. “Using ‘out of the box’ technologies as a core means for reaching out and responding quickly, the Online Support Center team is able to engage with individuals associated with the partnering programs,” explains Ann Valentine, president of Minnesota State Community and Technical College. “This team provides individualized, accurate, and compassionate support to veterans and active military personnel from across the state of Minnesota." Minnesota State Community and Technical College is one of the regional consortium colleges and is the host college of the Center. With the support of agencies, a powerful set of technologies, and processes told by best practices and research, the team provides 24/7 educational support through multiple modalities to individuals worldwide. From their keyboards, users may search the online FAQs, sign up for updates to specific questions, ask their own questions online, engage in online chat with a team member, or call through toll-free or international phone numbers. This small talented staff is located in a community of 2,500 in west central Minnesota. Contact
American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service: The Online College for Funeral Service Education. American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service (AAMI) was founded in 1926 and it has been continuously operating in the heart of New York City for over 80 years. It is the 5th oldest of the 57 accredited U.S. funeral service schools. Since its founding, AAMI students have come primarily from 4 states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut and, until recently, all of the students have attended full-time, five days a week. Contact |
