Online Recognized by AECT for Best Practices

Posted: 1/23/2012

Ottawa University - Online was recently recognized as a leader in distance education when it received the Distance Education Best Practices award from the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), a professional association dedicated to improving instruction through technology. The award, which is sponsored by Information Age Publishers and AECT’s Division of Distance Learning, was announced following AECT’s review of the University’s online application outlining its “Real-time Orientation to Online Learning” initiative.

 

Director of Academic Technology Carine Ullom was highly instrumental in developing components of Ottawa University’s online learning orientation and in submitting the institution’s application to the AECT. “Providing an opportunity for first-time online learners to have hands-on practice with their online learning environment with the assistance of an Ottawa University specialist before their first day of class is a hallmark of distinction for Ottawa University – Online,” said Ullom. “We’re thrilled our initiative has been recognized as a best practice by the AECT.”

The executive summary of Ottawa University’s application stated:

 

Ottawa University – Online, one of five campuses at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas, has offered 100% online courses since January 2008. We began offering facilitated, real-time, at-a-distance, hands-on orientations to online learning for all of our first-time online learners in the fall term of that year. Although this practice may initially appear to be time and labor intensive, Ottawa University considers the upfront “cost” as an investment in the long-term success of our students.

The application then provided industry research in best practices for online student orientation; institutional background regarding OU’s online programming and delivery; the model, methods and rationale used for delivering the orientations; the documented positive impact of the in-depth orientation on student success and persistence; numerous material samples of the orientation process; and what Ottawa University continues to do to offer more relevant, personal and accessible online orientation training. In conclusion, the stated, “Our orientation philosophy is to remove or minimize barriers to success and to see our efforts to give students a personalized orientation experience as an investment, rather than an expense.”

 

E-Learning Training and Documentation Specialist Karen Ludwig delivers many of the online orientation training sessions to Ottawa University’s new online learners. “One of the biggest concerns I hear from students taking an online class for the first time is they just don’t know what to expect,” said Ludwig. “As someone who has ‘been there’ – I took my first online class just a few years ago but without the benefit of an orientation – I understand why students value the opportunity for a facilitated orientation as much as they do. Our students take their education seriously, and the orientations are an important first step in helping them succeed.”