2008 Woodie Awards
Online education continues to expand at UW-L
Mary Malahy
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: News
Online courses have recently become more popular at UW-L. Brian Udermann is the Director of Online Education at UW-L and he has seen a significant increase in online courses within the past year.
Udermann explained that online education has recently become more popular by offering general education courses and other courses in students' majors.
"Nationally, online education has been really focused on for the last 5, 10, or 15 years," Udermann said. "So if you look at what has been happening around the country, UW-L is a bit behind the curve in regards to online education."
According to Udermann, online classes are set up in a variety of ways.
"It all depends on how the faculty member sets up the course and there's a wide continuum of how courses are structured," Udermann said.
Some methods of online teaching include posting PowerPoint lectures, written documents, charts, and graphs on the web. There are also options such as Podcasts and Vodcasts, which allow instructors to record their lectures and post them online, he explained.
Another method includes giving students assignments that can be turned in through D2L. There are also discussion boards and chat rooms offered on D2L, which allow students and instructors to ask questions and discuss material.
Udermann said he began his position as Director of Online Education last summer and since then he has been working on a wide variety of projects.
"We've been doing some collaborative work with the La Crosse school district because they are focusing on offering quality online programming to their students," he said. "There are a variety of areas in which faculty from both institutions may be able to work together to improve online programming."
UW-L also started an online grants program that allows staff and instructional academic staff to apply for money to develop online courses. An online website (www.uwlax.edu/online) has also been developed that is designed to serve as a resource for students interested in online education.
Udermann explained that online education has recently become more popular by offering general education courses and other courses in students' majors.
"Nationally, online education has been really focused on for the last 5, 10, or 15 years," Udermann said. "So if you look at what has been happening around the country, UW-L is a bit behind the curve in regards to online education."
According to Udermann, online classes are set up in a variety of ways.
"It all depends on how the faculty member sets up the course and there's a wide continuum of how courses are structured," Udermann said.
Some methods of online teaching include posting PowerPoint lectures, written documents, charts, and graphs on the web. There are also options such as Podcasts and Vodcasts, which allow instructors to record their lectures and post them online, he explained.
Another method includes giving students assignments that can be turned in through D2L. There are also discussion boards and chat rooms offered on D2L, which allow students and instructors to ask questions and discuss material.
Udermann said he began his position as Director of Online Education last summer and since then he has been working on a wide variety of projects.
"We've been doing some collaborative work with the La Crosse school district because they are focusing on offering quality online programming to their students," he said. "There are a variety of areas in which faculty from both institutions may be able to work together to improve online programming."
UW-L also started an online grants program that allows staff and instructional academic staff to apply for money to develop online courses. An online website (www.uwlax.edu/online) has also been developed that is designed to serve as a resource for students interested in online education.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Adam
posted 4/10/08 @ 1:49 AM CST
Online courses have become really popular now a days and the learning process is very easy specially because of the factors you have mentioned in your post. (Continued…)
Adam
posted 4/23/08 @ 5:13 AM CST
E learning has brought a revolution in the field of education now a days by clicking on the mouse buttons one learn and educate in any streams he/she wants to. (Continued…)
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