{"id":67688,"date":"2012-10-24T08:48:48","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T12:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=67688"},"modified":"2015-09-25T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T15:48:09","slug":"uconns-one-stop-resource-for-online-learning-and-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/10\/uconns-one-stop-resource-for-online-learning-and-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn’s One-Stop Resource for Online Learning and Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"With<\/a>
With online learning, a classroom can be anywhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, UConn offers a wide range of courses and programs in an online format, from an introductory class in anthropology for undergraduates to a master\u2019s of science degree in accounting. According to Peter Diplock, director of UConn eCampus and assistant vice provost of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, online courses offer a different approach to learning \u2013 as well as teaching \u2013 while bringing a degree of flexibility that in-person education does not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still a lot of misperceptions surrounding online education,\u201d Diplock says. \u201cThe primary metaphor I use to help people better appreciate online education is [that] it fundamentally shifts space and time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For adult learners who, for instance, live outside of Connecticut or work full time but want to supplement gaps in their professional knowledge, pursuing online education can be especially valuable. Likewise, undergraduate students looking to finish their degree in four years or less can benefit from earning credits online, outside of the traditional academic year.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Diplock says, online teaching provides faculty members an opportunity to organize their time differently. \u201cFaculty don\u2019t have to be here Monday and Wednesday from 10 to 11:30 a.m.,\u201d he says. \u201cIt changes the dynamic and the way they look at space and time.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u2018Gateway\u2019 to Online Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/a>
Peter Diplock, director of UConn eCampus and assistant vice provost of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Enter eCampus \u2013 what Diplock calls the University\u2019s \u201cgateway to online courses and programs\u201d\u00a0\u2013 an effort that began with a faculty task force on online learning three years ago. A steering committee of faculty and staff, established last fall by interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Sally Reis, then began implementing the task force\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

Crediting this committee with the current success of the eCampus efforts, Reis says, \u201cI believe we can brand UConn eCampus as the place where our outstanding faculty develop and teach online to share their research and ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

At ecampus.uconn.edu<\/a>, current and aspiring students can search courses and degree programs currently available online through UConn. Faculty, meanwhile, can seek out eCampus\u2019 instructional design experts for guidance and collaborative insight into every aspect of online course creation \u2013 from effectively designing an online course to understanding what options there are for assessing students\u2019 work in a virtual environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the point of idea generation to program launch, we\u2019re there the entire process,\u201d Diplock says. \u201cIt\u2019s really a centralized resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Siegle, professor and head of the Neag School of Education\u2019s Department of Educational Psychology, asserts that developing his master\u2019s-level research course for an online setting enhanced his own teaching skills, pushing him to consider more carefully what he wanted to convey to his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it came time to make the online course, I sat back and thought about learning outcomes,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s made me a much better teacher \u2013 it\u2019s made me better in-person and online. It caused me to reflect on my own teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the coming months, Diplock says UConn eCampus is looking to partner with UConn faculty members interested in developing online courses and programs. That could mean building not only more high-demand, high-enrollment General Education courses for undergraduate students, but also a greater variety of graduate programs to align the University with trends that suggest graduate-level programs are increasingly moving online.<\/p>\n

Also important, Diplock says, is creating different categories of online programming to accommodate students\u2019 diverse learning preferences. \u201cPart of our responsibility,\u201d he says, \u201cis to work to ensure that the way we approach teaching at the University takes full advantage of what we know about the different ways students learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, other online learning opportunities could range from full graduate degree programs taught online to a selection of shorter-term online certificates targeting specific areas of expertise for those who have already completed bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n

While he describes online learning as a \u201cfusion of technology and pedagogy,\u201d Diplock also explains what online learning is not. \u201cOnline education at the University of Connecticut isn\u2019t simply videotaping faculty and putting their lectures online. One of the challenges we have is to help people understand \u2026 what online learning is here at the University and what it can become \u2013 where our outstanding faculty will be able to spread their ideas and research across the state, nation, and globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about enrolling in or developing an online course, visit ecampus.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online learning offers an intriguing way to take classes at UConn, either during regular semester hours or outside of the traditional academic year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":67708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[49],"class_list":["post-67688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 16:40:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67688"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67778,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67688\/revisions\/67778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/67708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67688"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=67688"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=67688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}