Happy New Year 2023!

 

I’m taking a little break from researching and writing blog posts to celebrate the December holidays and the New Year. Hope you have been doing the same (enjoying quality time with family and friends).

 

Here’s a few highlights from 2022 if you’re looking for something to read:

·      11 Best Online Learning Platforms for 2022

·      100 Best E-Learning Blogs and Websites

·      The 10 Top E Learning Blogs

·      The 9 best platforms to create and sell online courses in 2023

·      Top eLearning Blogs

 

 

I’d love to hear what online education topics you, our readers, are interested in learning more about.  Email me your suggestions here, and we’ll see what we can do.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

Mindfulness Practice Improves Academic Performance

 

This blog writer has been intrigued by the benefits of mindfulness for a long time. We even offered free access to mindfulness resources a couple years ago. Looks like schools are coming to the same conclusion, with some having their students practice mindfulness a few minutes every day. Why?

 

Some research suggests that students’ regular mindfulness practice resulted in 28% higher grades in reading, math, and science, a 43% decrease in teacher stress, and schools experienced a 60% decrease in behavioral issues. A 2019 Harvard study found that sixth graders doing mindfulness practice four days a week increased their ability to focus and regulate their emotions, reduced their stress, and improved their learning capacity. Additionally, mindfulness lowers stress levels in students, faculty, staff and parents.

 

There are many mindfulness apps, but some programs are specifically designed for the school environment. Inner Explorer is a highly recognized program that provides audio sessions for use in K-12 classrooms and at home. Mindful Schools offers online training programs to build institutional capacity, online K-12 mindfulness curricula, and online mindfulness coaching. Learning to Breathe is an award-winning book-based mindfulness program for adolescents. MindUp (featured in a previous blog post) offers an extensive online curriculum for social and emotional learning, including mindfulness practice.

 

If you’re interested in becoming a mindfulness guide in schools, the Mindfulness in Schools Project offers online trainings.

Search for Fully Effective Internet Connection in Rural US Continues

 

We’ve written before about the need for universal broadband, usually defined as access to the internet for all regardless of physical location. Today I’m going to share my personal experience with looking for an effective internet connection in rural Washington, which underscores the complexity of the problem. Especially if your need for an internet connection is online education.

 

Six months ago, I lived in a major western US city and got my internet via Google fiber. 1 gigabit download and upload speeds, no data caps, $70/month. To put it simply, I got spoiled.

 

Then I moved to the Pacific Northwest, 15 minutes from the nearest town and surrounded by beautiful tall trees. As I queried my neighbors about what they do for internet access, I got a lot of different answers and a lot of sighs. One neighbor has no TV and no internet access, and relishes the solitude. Other neighbors used their cell phones as a hotspot, but that needed a cell booster to work and the cell booster had to be placed in the perfect location (sometimes at the top of a tree up at the road). Most used the same satellite company, but complained about slow service and data caps; don’t stream a lot of TV or you’d run of data by the middle of the month we were told. One neighbor had two satellite dishes and paid double monthly service to increase the useable data. Of greatest interest and concern to me, no-one was highly satisfied with their internet set-up (except the one neighbor without internet).

 

The house we bought already had a satellite dish from this one company, so we decided to use them. Our monthly cost was $150 for 25 Mbps max download speeds and 60 GB high speed data. Other plans were much more expensive for marginally faster download speeds and varying data caps. We watch very little TV, but we do a good number of zoom calls. Our data ran out in the middle of the month. In the past few months, the company has added the option of paying for additional data when you run out. Last month, that cost me an additional $100, for a total monthly cost of $250.

 

I researched other satellite internet providers and found they all offered the same “deal”. Low speeds, low data caps. If I was trying to take courses online, this would not work. I’d either have to miss the second half of the months’ classes, or pay a small fortune to keep the high speed data flowing.

 

We paid a deposit for Starlink as soon as we moved in, and last month got the notice that service was now available in our area. We paid for the satellite dish ($500) and have it set up on the back porch. Our monthly cost is $110, with up to 60 Mbps download speeds and no high speed data caps. Problem solved, right? Not exactly. Yes, we can watch TV to our heart’s content, and emails, websites and videos download quickly. But our zoom screen regularly locks up. Starlink says that’s because the dish is not placed properly; there should be no tall trees anywhere near the dish. We live in a forest! I’ve also heard that some neighbors have decided against Starlink because of the trees.

 

Once again, not an ideal setup for online learning, where classes via zoom are the norm.

 

I recently learned that Amazon is working on Project Kuiper, satellites that will provide internet service anywhere. The research and development part of the project launched in 2019. Amazon just announced that satellite production would start in early 2023. The first two prototype satellites will also launch in early 2023. Amazon has contracts in place to launch its satellites as they are produced, but I haven’t read when Amazon will start offering this satellite-based internet service. Likewise, no details are available about cost or capacity of the Amazon satellite service. Hopefully it will be an improvement on what already exists.

 

 

 

 

The Reasons to Move to Online K-12 Education Are Growing

 

When this blog first started in 2007, our mission to promote online learning for everyone everywhere at little or no cost was aspirational. Fast forward 15 years (to October 2022), the infrastructure for mass online learning generally exists and the reasons for moving in that direction are ever more compelling.

 

In our last blog post, we talked about the teacher shortage facing US K-12 schools as they reopen for in-person fall classes. School administrators seem focused on potential solutions that have the potential to water down the learning experience (increasing class size, reducing in-class student time, using less qualified individuals as teachers), with few schools turning to online options for providing the missing instruction.

 

Recently, the US K-12 public school system was given a D+ grade based on failing infrastructure. Many schools, especially in low income neighborhoods, have no air conditioning as temperatures rise to unhealthy levels due to climate change. Some schools have no heat, leaking pipes and crumbling buildings. Others have bug infestations. The go-to solution for these infrastructure problems is to find scarce public funding to renovate and rebuild. No schools seem to be looking at totally rethinking how to provide public education to avoid the infrastructure problem altogether: moving the education online.

 

One common argument against online learning, especially for younger students, is that in-person connection is critical to helping children learn to work well with others, to know how to  behave in a community. I’m going to push back on that argument and suggest that interpersonal skills can be addressed through online instruction, and are also addressed well through family interactions and extracurricular activities. In the business community, there is increased recognition that in-person contact is not the only way to develop connection and a desired group culture. Paying attention to interpersonal connection, being intentional about promoting that skill and opportunity, is highly effective.

 

I believe, however, that the biggest resistance to online learning is fear of change. Many school districts pivoted to online education during Covid. This was done under time pressure, so the results are not necessarily ideal, but they were a good first step and demonstrated that providing universal K-12 education virtually is doable. The lessons learned from these crisis experiments can prove useful in designing a more effective online education system of the future.

 

A family can choose to do online learning now. The amount of available materials is overwhelming. Tuition-free online public school exists as an opt-in endeavor (examples here and here). There are free curricula for homeschoolers (examples here and here). Subject-specific courses are available online to supplement the existing in-person school curriculum (state-by-state available courses here).

 

But, for now, it’s up to each family to decide whether to pursue online learning for their children, and the in-person public school system continues to struggle. Here’s hoping for a future where our mission has been accomplished, and all K-12 students can go to school online and excel.

Disaster or Opportunity? In-Person Schools Reopen Amidst Severe Teacher Shortage

 

The end of summer is almost upon us and signs of school reopening are all around. Store sales on school supplies, ever-increasing hourly pay to hire school bus drivers, packed campgrounds as families take that one last summer trip. And I’m seeing article after article after news story about the “catastrophic” shortage of teachers to staff in-person classes.

 

What and where is the shortage? There is no hard data (yet), but the estimates are huge. The state of Nevada has over 3,000 unfilled teaching jobs. Illinois has over 2,000 teaching positions that are open or filled by inadequately trained people. The largest five school districts in Houston have as many as 1,000 openings for teachers. The lack of teachers is especially dire in certain fields like math or special education, and in rural schools.

 

What’s causing the teacher shortage? There are many reasons being posited. Teachers are exhausted from dealing with the Covid-induced education chaos. Some are unwilling to teach within the new state-level politically motivated constraints about what topics can be covered in the classroom. For example, Florida has recently enacted legislation prohibiting teachers from covering many aspects of our country’s racial history. And, of course, there is the fact that teaching is no longer a highly respected profession in the US and teachers generally receive very low pay.

 

What’s being done about it? Some school districts are going down to four days a week of classes for the fall, while others are increasing class size. Some jurisdictions are lowering the requirements to be a teacher, in some cases encouraging veterans and college students to step into the classroom despite having no training to do so or having school administrators serve as substitute teachers. At least one state will allow teachers with experience teaching math at private schools to teach in the public school system while gaining the requisite certification over the next few years. US President Joe Biden has recently announced initiatives to recruit additional individuals to the teaching profession. And, if they have the resources, some schools are increasing teacher pay or providing other desirable benefits (e.g., a relocation bonus for teachers willing to move to their state, a retention bonus to entire teachers to stay on the job, classroom supplies). Very few schools seem to be looking at online resources, but Tucson Arizona is filling its void of math teachers with online tutoring during the school day.

 

This situation is alternately described as “catastrophic,” “severe,” “alarming” and “a crisis.” Many education specialists are concerned that the fixes for the shortage (especially increased class size and less qualified teachers) will provide long-term and irreversible harm for the students and their learning. They are probably right. It is also possible, however, to look at the situation as an opportunity to institutionalize, improve and expand some of the online educational options piloted during the two years of the Covid pandemic.

Teaching Reading Online

 

Many young children in the US are behind in learning how to read, especially after 2+ years of online or hybrid learning during the Covid pandemic. A New York Times article cites to studies showing that “a third of children in the youngest grades are missing reading benchmarks, up significantly from before the pandemic.”

 

The general disruption of learning caused by various school districts’ on-again and off-again teaching during the pandemic is one cause for this situation. Another primary cause for reduced learning of reading skills, however, is a lack of phonics and phonemics awareness teachers. And the teachers that have the necessary background to teach reading basics are often going to higher-paying jobs like tutoring.

 

As the pandemic continues into its third year, we can assume that many young students will still be learning online. So, what are some strategies to increase the effectiveness of teaching reading online?

 

One first grade teacher reflected on which strategies work best for her in person and created analogous systems for her online classroom. In person, the teacher would split the students into small reading groups, and work with students one-on-one as needed to work on specific skills. For online classes, this teacher recommends using two devices (one showing the book being read, and one for personal interaction with the students) to simulate the interactivity of reading together. She also splits her students into smaller reading groups based on reading level. Whiles these small groups are working together online, the teacher makes sure that she works one-on-one with each student each week.

 

Another in person strategy was sending students home with physical copies of the book they were working on, to encourage additional practice at home. This can still be done with online learning, perhaps providing digital access to books as an alternative to sending home physical books. The teacher also added a more structured approach to reading practice during class and regular comprehension checks. She created opportunities for each student to read out loud daily (she actually kept a checklist to make sure she had heard from each student that day). In addition to reading out loud, the teacher also asked questions to test comprehension. Questions like: What does that word mean? What is the author trying to tell us? What is happening in the story so far?

 

Education Week cautions against relying blindly on the effectiveness of existing online reading programs. While it may be easy for the teacher to have students complete online reading modules, the online programs will not necessarily identify learning challenges. “Good teachers will also try to identify misunderstandings in real-time. Is the problem that a child doesn’t understand that the letters “s-l-e-d” form the word “sled?” Or is the problem that the child doesn’t understand the concept of a sled?” A University of Michigan professor has developed a series of videos to help teachers provide this student-centric approach to remote instruction of foundational reading skills.

 

Shifting from teaching reading in person to teaching it online (or in a hybrid format) obviously takes a lot of time and mental energy. Resources are available here, here, and here.

Studying Physical Therapy Online

 

The university I used to work for recently announced its first hybrid doctoral program, a PhD in physical therapy. Very exciting, but really, physical therapy (PT)? It’s physical therapy, so doesn’t it need to be taught physically, in person? That’s exactly why the University of Utah created a hybrid program. The new program, starting in May 2023, will offer asynchronous lessons to cover basic concepts, weekly synchronous online student-faculty meetings, 1-2 weeklong in-person on-campus immersions each semester, and clinical placements near each student’s residence. The intent of the hybrid program is to empower students from any location to participate, while also honoring the practicality of the subject matter.

 

In the US, you need a PhD in physical therapy to be a licensed practicing physical therapist. That got me to wondering, are there other online PT programs? How do they handle the hands-on nature of physical therapy?

 

University of St. Augustine offers a “flex” physical therapy doctorate program. It combines online classes with in-person practice at clinical simulation centers (every weekend, with a choice of five campuses in Florida and Texas) and immersive virtual simulations.

 

Andrews University in Michigan offers a “transitional” Doctor of Physical Therapy program. Students in this program participate in in-person short courses, as well as independent study and distance learning.

 

The University of Southern California in Los Angeles offers a hybrid doctorate program. Students will attend classes on-line and in person, and can complete their clinical rotations in their local community.

 

Arcadia University in Pennsylvania offers a hybrid physical therapy PhD program. Students participate in live synchronous online classes and eight immersive in-person experiences. Additional clinical experiences will occur in  one of 250 facilities in the institution’s international network.

 

University of Michigan/Flint offers a transitional physical therapy doctorate program that is completely online, but does not lead to licensure. Courses run asynchoronously. Clinical experiences can be completed in the student’s local community.

 

Shenandoah University in Virginia offers a transitional physical therapy PhD program that is primarily online. In addition to an extensive online curriculum, students attend a short in-person class before graduation and must complete a capstone project (to build on their existing professional life).

 

 

 

At Least One US City May Be Building Its Own Internet Network

 

We’ve written before about universal broadband access, cost-effective access to the internet for all. The US federal government has pledged $95 billion to help close the digital divide. Private internet providers have offered a variety of reduced cost options to provide internet access to low income families. Rural areas will be building the infrastructure to physically expand the reach of the internet.

 

All this activity may not be happening fast enough or encompass a wide enough population for some elected officials. The City of Baltimore intends to build a city-wide broadband network to ensure that its large low-income population will have affordable access to the high-speed broadband services they need for jobs, education, health, and quality of life.

 

Other communities are already providing low-cost broadband services by treating it as a public utility. That means rates are regulated to ensure that access is universal and profits are kept to a sustainable level. A list of US communities with municipally-owned internet providers can be found here. Other communities provide free wi-fi within their boundaries, allowing anyone to use the internet for free. A list of international communities providing free wi-fi can be found here.

 

It will be interesting to see what additional creative ways communities come up with to provide their residents with the cost-effective internet access necessary to thrive in the 21^st century.

 

 

 The Importance of Promoting Pro-Social Behaviors in Online Teaching

A recent study from the University of Missouri College of Education and Human Development

concludes that “students tend to be more motivated to learn and be engaged in the classroom

when their teacher likes and cares about them. Positive teacher-student relationships change

student behavior, and in this study, we found building those positive relationships actually

leads to better teaching, too. It changes teacher behavior.” The study results highlight the

reciprocal relationship of strong student-teacher bonds at all grade levels: bonding with

students makes teachers better and bonding with teachers motivates students to work harder

at learning.

It's not difficult to imagine how teachers can build strong student-teacher bonds in a brick-and-

mortar classroom, but what are some strategies to do it in a virtual classroom? Perhaps not too

surprising, the same strategies can work in both types of classrooms. You might just have to be

a little more intentional about it in the virtual classroom.

Strategies for pro-social teaching encourage interaction between the student and teacher that

extends beyond delivering content, and focuses on building an emotional connection and

allowing for student reflection:

 Use stories (narrative) to build empathy, perspective and critical thinking.

 Use service learning to practice important academic and life skills.

 Catch people doing what you want them to do, and praise that behavior.

 Welcome other people’s perspectives on a situation, and ask the student to explain or

justify the other perspective.

 Cheer someone on when they’re about ready to give up.

 Practice gratitude in the classroom (gratitude is a mood-enhancer.)

 Encourage random acts of kindness (to increase compassion and a sense of inter-

connectedness).

 Teacher can model vulnerability (to build empathy, kindness, and self-forgiveness).

 Equip students with the language of compassion.

There are courses educators can take to learn and practice some of these strategies. You can

even become a Certified Humane Education Specialist (CHES), with the course of study provided

all online.

The University of Missouri study and my research into strategies for pro-social learning confirm

what I’ve always observed in the classroom: teaching is about so much more than lecturing.

When a student (at whatever level of school) is encouraged and challenged to think critically

and empathetically, and when the student’s unique perspective is valued, their learning and

ability to put learning into action are greatly enhanced. Teaching to facilitate this type of

learning is possible, just not (yet) the norm.

Written by Michele Straube  

Verizon Wireless Offers Free Small Business Training and Coaching

 

I got an email from my wireless carrier (Verizon) the other day that was really intriguing. It read: “Join our free learning program to help you succeed in a digital world. Over 30 personalized learning courses, small business peer networking and even grant opportunities. Best of all? It’s free.” I clicked on the “Don’t Miss Out” button and here’s what I found.

 

Verizon’s Small Business Digital Ready program has the goal of helping 1 million small businesses “thrive in the digital economy.” The program includes free courses on subjects like search engine optimization (SEO), working remotely, and finance management (e.g., good credit management). It offers one-on-one and group coaching and mentoring with experts from your industry, as well as networking opportunities with other small business owners.

 

A success story is highlighted on the program’s website. A food truck owner in Philadelphia took a Social Media 101 course that was personalized to her business, helping her market her food truck better and attract a larger clientele. 

 

Verizon is also offering $10,000 grants to small businesses. Applicants must complete two courses or coaching events between January 1 and June 30, 2022, and must apply for the grant by June 30, 2022.

 

You can register for the Small Business Digital Ready program here, email digitalready@verizon.com, or call +1(800)-916-4351.

 

I looked quickly to see if competing wireless carriers are offering anything similar. T-Mobile offers small businesses $200 to spend on digital advertising, apparently limited to Facebook. I didn’t find anything for AT&T or Sprint.

Getting Hired Without a 4-Year College Degree May Be Getting Easier

Used to be that most advertisements for “good” jobs started with the requirement of a 4-year college degree. That may be changing, due in part to the tight job market and in part to the realization that a degree does not necessarily translate into job-appropriate skills.

 

A recent report from the Burning Glass Institute looked at over 50 million job postings in the past few years to see whether the hiring prerequisite of a 4-year degree was changing over time. They found that more companies are dropping the degree requirement all the time, and instead are outlining the specific skills that a desirable employee must possess. Technical skills and soft skills (communication, inter-personal relations). The report concludes that “we project that an additional 1.4 million jobs could open to workers without college degrees over the next five years.”

 

The Rework America Business Network consists of 12 major companies (like Microsoft, AT&T, Walmart, Toyota) who gathered together in 2018 to “seek to deepen their talent pools of qualified candidates and expand opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds by recruiting and hiring with a focus on individuals’ skills. … [T]his means emphasizing an individual’s demonstrable skills, over other proxies of one’s capabilities such as education, experience, references or pedigree, in all aspects of the employment cycle from sourcing and hiring to training, evaluation, advancement and retention to workforce planning.”

 

Google (not a member of the Rework America Business Network) has recently announced a $100 million fund to help train potential new employees. Its fund is targeting the two-thirds of American workers who do not have a four-year college degree. Some of the fund’s money will be given to non-profits to provide training in technical skills using Google’s existing career certificate curriculum in information technology. The other portion of the fund will provide loans to students to acquire needed technical skills; the loans will be repayable at no interest in $100/month increments, provided the student obtains a job earning at least $40,000/year.

 

This trend in hiring opens up so many possibilities for acquiring the necessary skills: community college (less than 2 years in person), less than 2 years online, certificate programs, apprenticeships.

Teaching Classes in Virtual Reality (VR)

 

My personal experience with online classes is via a-synchronous pre-recorded video and pdf documents or synchronous sessions using zoom or a similar platform. There is now an up-and-coming trend of offering online classes using virtual reality (VR) technology.

 

Of course, there have been university-level classes about virtual reality for quite some time (about the VR technology itself). But I’m talking about classes that are hosted in virtual reality (using VR technology, but possibly about some unrelated subject matter).

 

The Virtual People course offered by Stanford University is one of the first courses to be offered completely in virtual reality. Offered by the Communications Department for graduate students from multiple disciplines, the course curriculum is described as follows: “the concept of virtual people or digital human representations; methods of constructing and using virtual people; methodological approaches to interactions with and among virtual people; and current applications. Viewpoints including popular culture, literature, film, engineering, behavioral science, computer science, and communication.” All interactions between faculty and class students throughout the entire semester take place via VR.

 

Students have found the VR format provides a broader type of learning, allowing them to develop empathy by virtually standing in others’ shoes and participate in different life experiences. One guest speaker in the Stanford course “teaches racial empathy by having the viewer experience life as a black man who encounters racial prejudice.”

 

A study of student experiences in VR classes has found that students with previous VR experience benefit most from this class format. Students who are less comfortable with the VR format reported physical discomfort and distraction from the actual learning experience. Seems to me that this problem could be addressed with some VR format training/learning before the substantive class presentation sessions start.

 

As Covid has changed the way education is provided, more schools are incorporating VR into their curriculum offerings. And some, like VictoryXR Academy, offer much of their curriculum via VR.

 

Interested in incorporating VR into your own online teaching? Find VR curriculum resources here, here and here.

 

 

A College Degree Without All the Debt

 

Laurence J. Kotlikoff, a Harvard-trained economist currently teaching at Boston University, recently suggested that borrowing money for college is a waste of money. Kotlikof recites the downsides of incurring massive debt to finance a college degree (you have to pay it back, with interest) and cites some statistics about the average amounts of debt college students graduate with (an average of $33,000 debt upon graduation, with over 15% owing more than $50,000).

 

But, to me the far more interesting part of Kotlikoff’s article is his review of creative options to obtain a value-laden college degree with little or no debt.

·      Find a cheap college.

·      Go to community college for three years (cheap), and finish your last year at a better (more expensive) school.

·      Work for a few years before starting college, then apply for grants and scholarships on your own financial situation (presumably less income than your parents’ situation).

·      Attend community college, while also attending inexpensive online certificate programs. That doesn’t get you a college degree from the elite institutions, but it certainly gets you good credentials for the job search. Harvard, MIT, Stanford and many others offer these kinds of certificate programs.

Affordable Connectivity Program Replaces Emergency Broadband Benefit effective 3/1/22

 

Our May 19, 2021, blog post outlined the parameters of the Emergency Broadband Benefit, then available to US residents who met certain low income qualifications. As of March 1, 2022, that benefit is transitioning to the Affordable Connectivity Program.

 

The Affordable Connectivity Program, also administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is funded at $14 billion to institutionalize essentially the same function as the Emergency Broadband Benefit: “help ensure we can afford the connections we need for work, school, health care and more for a long time.”

 

The new Affordable Connectivity Program will provide the following benefits:

·      Maximum monthly benefit of $30 toward internet access for qualifying households not on tribal lands. (This is a reduction from the $50/month emergency benefit.)

·      Maximum monthly benefit of $75 toward internet access for households living on qualified tribal lands. (No change from the emergency benefit.)

·      Up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer or table for eligible households (you need to contribute $10-50 toward the purchase price). (No change from the emergency benefit.)

·      Only one monthly benefit and one device purchase benefit per household. (No change from the emergency benefit.)

·      To qualify for the new benefit, a household needs to meet one of these criteria: 

o   Income less than or equal to 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines. (This is a change from the 135% limit under the emergency benefit.)

o   Participates in certain federal assistance programs (SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, Lifeline, WIC). (Several programs were added under the new program.)

o   Participates in Tribal-specific programs, such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.

o   Participates in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision.

o   Received a federal Pell grant during current award year.

o   Meets eligibility requirements for participating in a broadband provider’s existing low-income internet program.

 

If a household was fully enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit as of December 31, 2021, they should have continued to receive their monthly benefits under that program until March 1, 2022. They should also automatically start receiving benefits under the new Affordable Connectivity Program. Households that qualified for emergency benefits because they experienced substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since Feb 29, 2020, and total 2020 income was below $99,000 for single filers or $198,000 for joint filers will have to reapply for benefits under the new program and qualify on some other basis.

 

There are two steps for new participants to enroll in the Affordable Connectivity Program:

o   Fill out and submit the application found at the program’s website.

o   Contact your preferred internet provider to select a plan and have the benefit applied to your bill.

 

 

 

2022 Rankings of US Online Degree Programs Revealed

 

US News & World Report issues rankings of various higher education institutions on an annual basis.  The 2022 rankings for online degree programs in the United States were recently released.

 

US News develops its rankings for online degree programs based on the following methodology:

·      35%: engagement (effective interaction between faculty and students, and between students)

·      25%: services and technology (diverse technologies to empower students to study remotely)

·      20%: faculty credentials and training (including training to teach distance learners)

·      20%: expert opinions derived from surveys of other online degree programs

The methodology is fine-tuned by type of online degree program (see below for the categories).

 

And the #1 winners are …:

·      Bachelor’s Programs (a tie)

o   Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide

o   University of Florida

·      MBA Programs (a tie)

o   Indiana University – Bloomington (Kelley)

o   University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

o   University of Southern California (Marshall)

·      Graduate Business Programs (tie)

o   Indiana University – Bloomington (Kelley)

o   University of Southern California (Marshall)

·      Graduate Criminal Justice Programs

o   University of California – Irvine

·      Graduate Education Programs

o   Clemson University (Moore)

·      Graduate Engineering Programs

o   Columbia University (Fu Foundation)

·      Graduate Computer Informaton Technology Programs

o   Columbia University

·      Graduate Nursing Programs (a tie)

o   Ohio State University

o   University of Pittsburgh

o   University of South Carolina