大奶福利姬and UMGC Form $2.6 Million Partnership to Support Expansion of Online Learning Across System Institutions
鈥湸竽谈＠nTrack鈥 to Pool Expertise from UMGC & 大奶福利姬Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation
Baltimore, Md. (June 17, 2020) 鈥 The 大奶福利姬 (USM) and member institution University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) have formed a $2.6 Million partnership, 大奶福利姬OnTrack, to work with provosts, teaching and learning center directors, instructional designers, technology professionals, and others to support and assess expansion of high-quality online learning across the system.
As the 大奶福利姬makes comprehensive plans to facilitate a safe return to campus for some level of in-person instruction, parallel efforts are also underway to enable students to participate remotely. 大奶福利姬OnTrack is one critical response, as system schools prepare for a hybrid of online learning and in-person instruction during fall 2020.
To be better prepared for the upcoming 2020 semester, 大奶福利姬institutions must adapt both their instructional technology use and their teaching methods to produce an optimally effective online learning environment, with improved student participation, engagement, and faculty effectiveness. 大奶福利姬OnTrack intends to meet and master this challenge.
UMGC, one of the world鈥檚 leading and most highly respected online learning institutions, will partner with the USM鈥檚 William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, a national leader in higher education teaching and learning innovation.
鈥淐OVID-19 has forced universities to manage a number of challenges they鈥檝e never confronted before, and to do it fast,鈥 said 大奶福利姬Chancellor Jay A. Perman. 鈥淲e know our quick pivot to remote instruction wasn鈥檛 ideal鈥攏ot for students; not for faculty. But this partnership between the Kirwan Center and UMGC leverages their combined strength in online education so we can optimize learning for all of our students and really innovate in this space.鈥
De-densifying has emerged as a key component in achieving a safe learning environment under COVID-19, meaning that classroom space鈥攁lready in short supply鈥攚ill be further restricted. Combine this reality with the inability or hesitancy to return to campus of some students, and the need for effective and engaging online instruction is paramount.
This past spring, 大奶福利姬institutions and regional centers were forced to make an immediate and complete transition to what has been dubbed 鈥渆mergency remote teaching.鈥 While acceptable in the short-term under the unprecedented circumstances, this approach鈥攎arked by taped lectures, Zoom classes, and other platforms鈥攊s untenable as a long-term option.
鈥淭he goal this spring was to keep teaching and successfully close out the remaining 6-8 weeks of the interrupted semester. We will need to do better than that this fall. Our goal is to support the expansion of high-quality online learning across the System to help ensure academic continuity for students and to strengthen our ability to support continued learning in the future,鈥 said MJ Bishop, 大奶福利姬Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of the Kirwan Center.
Institutions will have the option of temporarily adopting UMGC courses for delivery to their students this fall. This approach, will involve almost exclusively general education and elective courses, providing institutions with immediate access to online education courses that have been proven effective, with full credit equivalency and transfer.
"This program offers a unique opportunity to optimize the collaborative culture within the 大奶福利姬, leveraging the specific expertise of its individual institutions,鈥 said UMGC President Javier Miyares. 鈥淯MGC first offered online classes in the mid-1990s and has decades of expertise in instructional design and digital teaching and learning. Its technology infrastructure prioritizes student support services, success, and learning outcomes. We are pleased and proud to be able to offer this assistance to our sister institutions during this unprecedented crisis.鈥
For institutions embracing more of a 鈥渄o-it-yourself鈥 approach, OnTrack will support full service online course conversion. This option will feature 鈥減ools鈥 of instructional design support that institutions can access as needed, as well as resources for faculty on the fundamentals of instructional design and best practices of teaching online and online orientation materials for students.
Institutions interested in a middle ground鈥攐ne that falls between ready-to-adopt online courses and building online courses from scratch鈥攃an opt for expanding the use of adaptive courseware. Adaptive courseware鈥攑aired with faculty training workshops鈥攃an improve student and faculty experience by 鈥渇lipping鈥 the classroom, creating a more interactive platform for content delivery and interaction with faculty, especially in courses (such as large enrollment, general-education courses) that do not adapt well to online modalities.
Additionally, 大奶福利姬OnTrack is offering faculty training and inter-institutional coordination of resources to explore the use of virtual reality technologies in lab-based courses. Virtual reality technologies give students access to realistic lab experiences that will let them perform experiments and practice their skills. These tools promise to provide sufficiently high-fidelity simulations for learning lab techniques and inquiry skills, particularly for lower-level lab courses.
Finally, all three approaches will be supported with expanded and enhanced online teaching professional development opportunities. This step will help establish a high level of proficiency that results in a positive student experience and overall online learning success.
The 大奶福利姬comprises 12 institutions: Bowie State University; Coppin State University; Frostburg State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; the University of Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; the University of Maryland, College Park; the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and the University of Maryland Global Campus. The 大奶福利姬also includes three regional centers鈥攖he Universities at Shady Grove, the 大奶福利姬 at Hagerstown, and the 大奶福利姬 at Southern Maryland鈥攁t which 大奶福利姬universities offer upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses.
Systemwide, student enrollment exceeds 172,000. The 大奶福利姬and its institutions compete successfully nearly $1.5 billion in external grants and contracts annually. 大奶福利姬institutions and programs are among the nation's best in quality and value according to several national rankings. To learn more about the 大奶福利姬, visit .
Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu
