Leading the way for online learning

Before the accolades, before the recognition, there are countless hours of hard work dedicated to the pursuit of a goal. For the UF College of Education, the vision is simple: transform education to strengthen society. This is ingrained in all that we do. We believe in the power of education and seek to advance its practices to shape the next generation of educators.

Whether we are serving students from the desks of our lecture halls or virtually from the comfort of their homes, we strive to provide the most enriching student experience to all. By cultivating connections, diversifying opportunities and aiming high in our endeavors, the college continues to remain in the top ranks nationally. Most recently, the college was named No. 1 in the nation for online graduate education programs in 2019 by U.S. News & World Report.

Dynamics in teaching and learning

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to education. As educators differ in their teaching approaches, students differ in their learning styles. With such variety in teaching and learning practices, the goal becomes finding common ground to build upon. Successful instruction is driven by discovering the strategies, tools and methods proven to effectively engage all types of learners across mediums.

While learning has traditionally taken place in the classroom, online learning is an increasingly more commonplace setting to pursue higher education. No longer must students and teachers come together at a physical place and hour for learning to occur. With access to a computer and high-speed internet connection, specialized programs are available at anyone’s fingertips. While overall enrollment at postsecondary institutions is down, student enrollment in online courses has risen.

With the growing pursuit of online education, an overwhelming supply of advertisements for online programs has followed. While the paths to continued education and improved career outlook seem vast and the options abundant, not all are created equal.

You can’t just film a lecture and call it a day

Pursuing higher education online brings with it many benefits. Online programs serve as a great equalizer in access to education and provide the flexibility essential to balancing the pursuit of an academic degree with the responsibilities of daily life, something many need to succeed. But concerns surround the capabilities of online programs to facilitate learning and foster meaningful connections between students, peers and instructors. With this concern comes the need for clear distinctions among institutions to identify those that invest in the quality and validity of their programs and those that do not.

At the college, Jason Arnold, director of E-Learning, Technology and Communications Services, has led the development of our online learning programs. Consistently, the college has ranked in the upper echelon for quality and preparedness. We have remained in the top-two in the nation consecutively for four years in the U.S. News and World Report Rankings – earning the No. 1 spot three years – and we continuously stand as the state’s best education college. Among the collection of UF’s distance learning graduate programs, education is the highest ranked online field of study in the U.S. News survey.

Informed by the latest research in online pedagogy and web-based teaching, the Instructional Design team ensures the quality of face-to-face instruction translates to the online format. Courses are individually customized and adapted alongside professors to achieve the same caliber of comprehension as face-to-face courses, if not better.

“What sets us above other online programs is our proximity to research leaders in education technology,” said Domenic Durante, senior Instructional Designer.

Informed by the latest research in online pedagogy and web-based teaching, the Instructional Design team ensures the quality of face-to-face instruction translates to the online format. Courses are individually customized and adapted alongside professors to achieve the same caliber of comprehension as face-to-face courses, if not better.

Transforming online learning through technology

The integration of innovative tools plays a key role in the success of our courses as we are able to connect people and ideas in previously untapped settings. Zoom, a video conferencing software that offers live video and messaging to up to 500 participants, has been a powerful device in improving our distance student’s ability to retain information from web-based media. Arnold, along with Kelli Peck Parrott, clinical professor and associate director for the School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in Education, shared the capabilities of Zoom at the 2018 UF Interface Conference – an annual showcase of the innovative findings of faculty and staff.

The power of Zoom and other similar softwares, is its ability to facilitate synchronous learning providing distance students classroom lessons and conversation delivered in real time. By using these programs in classrooms across the college, distance students too have the opportunity to cultivate peer-to-peer and student-to-professor connections. Instead of isolation in online learning, there is now inclusion for collaborative learning. “We don’t want to create a course, we want to create a community of online learners,” Durante said.

Expanding to better serve

With the uptick in web-based learning, more colleges are now able to specialize their courses and expand their curriculums. Whether a student has a particular career path already in mind or still exploring options, honing one’s abilities in a particular subset of the field can prove the difference between a quick transition after graduation and a lengthy one.

Standing out in a crowd of competitive applicants requires much more than just a strong resume. While students seek out programs that are recognized for their excellence, they too look for those that offer opportunities to diversify their skillsets and separate them from the masses. Our faculty and staff have created a first-of-its-kind comprehensive online program that will expand the knowledge of educators and close the achievement gaps for so many students in need.

It is estimated between five and 20 percent of the population are affected by dyslexia, but research shows only 17 percent of teachers understand the characteristics of dyslexia. To bridge this gap and equip educators to support the needs of students, the College of Education has established a 15-credit online dyslexia graduate certificate. The certificate sets a new standard for reading education and dyslexia diagnosis. By the certificate’s completion, practicing educators are able to conduct literacy assessments and construct and implement evidence-based literacy intervention for K-12 students with dyslexia.

“Highly recommend this program!” said April Forst Langsford, a summer 2018 graduate. “My students are making so much progress! This program develops you into a “literacy practitioner” — able to determine the individual needs of students and design proper interventions to meet their individual needs without the use of a particular program. As a special educator, this is at the heart of my teaching philosophy and it is why I chose this program over others.”

Reflecting the collaborative effort and production that went into developing the curriculum, EEX 6936 Foundations of Literacy Development and Dyslexia was awarded the 2018 Online Education Excellence Award in the category of Instructional Strategies. Recognized by the UF Office of Faculty Development & Teaching Excellence, this honor distinguishes innovative online teaching and exemplary course design following the UF + Quality Matters standards for online education.

But foundations of Literacy Development and Dyslexia is just one of many specialized courses available to students online at the College of Education. The college offers several online programs and certificates.

Programs

Teachers, Schools and Society (Ed.D.)
Educational Leadership (M.Ed. or Ed.D)
Educational Technology (M.Ed., Ed.D or Ed.S.)
Higher Education Administration (Ed.D.)
Reading Education (M.Ed.)
Program Evaluation in Educational Environments (M.A.E.)
Special Education-Teach Well Online Academy (M.Ed. or Ed.S.)
Student Personnel in Higher Education (M.Ed.)
Teacher Leadership for School Improvement (M.Ed. or Ed.D.)

Certificates

Propelling education forward

While the UF College of Education has gained esteem in online education, this is just the start of our endeavors. We are driven to continue to advance our courses and revolutionize education. Our journey to building a brighter future is currently centered around expanding the number of courses that meet the UF + Quality Matters standards. With the passion and expertise of our faculty in hand, we will.