UMass Lowell Trains Faculty Online in Distance Learning; Grant from Sloan Foundation Makes Training Possible
The University of Massachusetts Lowell Division of Continuing Studies and Corporate Education (CSCE) has trained dozens of faculty how to migrate courses online since they started offering distance learning courses over five years ago. Dean Jacqueline Moloney and her staff are taking the training a step further by putting their program, “Course Redesign for the Web,” online. The Sloan Foundation has contributed a grant for $45,000 that will fund faculty stipends to migrate a course online.
“What better way to have faculty understand the technology and the students’ experience than to take an online course themselves?” said Moloney. “We believe that faculty who take the course online will be better prepared to teach online than their counterparts who take it on campus.”
The six-week online training pilot program will help 20 faculty adapt course content for a distance learning format, complete a course outline and develop the “Start Here” section. The program will provide both technical and pedagogical skills development needed by faculty to migrate 10 courses online. The courses will apply to CSCE’s three new online master’s programs in educational administration, clinical pathology, and photonics and optoelectronics.
“There is great satisfaction at Sloan for the excellent results Dean Moloney and Chancellor William T. Hogan have achieved in distance education at Lowell,” said Frank Mayadas, project manager of the Sloan Foundation. “UMass Lowell is a valued member of the national Sloan Consortium of schools offering online education.”
The UMass Lowell Division of Continuing Studies and Corporate Education is one of the largest continuing education programs in New England, overseeing the evening and summer schools of the University. Credit courses lead to 20 associate and baccalaureate degrees and nearly 30 certificate programs in specialized technical or professional areas. For more information, visit http://continuinged.uml.edu.
