2018-19 Annual Report
STUDENTS
Up 7% from FY18
COURSES
Total of 700 sections
STUDENT CREDIT HOURS
Up 11% from FY18
UAF offers 42 fully online asynchronous programs in addition to 11 distance and 69 hybrid programs.
STUDENT SERVICES
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Student Credit Hours
eCAMPUS STUDENTS
UAF, with the help of eCampus, serves students across the state, country and throughout the world. In recent years, the unit has worked with Schools and Colleges to increase the number of courses and programs offered online, ultimately drawing in more students and credit hours.
LEARNER SUPPORT
In 2018, UAF earned the Online Learner Support Certification from Quality Matters, an international, U.S.-based nonprofit organization that is recognized as a leader in quality assurance for online education. This recognition certifies that all of UAF’s online programs provide critical student and academic services needed for learner success. Moving forward, eCampus is using learner feedback to continuously improve those services.
UAF is only the fourth university in the country to earn this level of certification. Read more about it.
GIVING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AN ADVANTAGE
The brand new eCampus Advantage program offers high-achieving high school students the opportunity to take college courses for both high school and college credit. Students get a real taste of higher education and a headstart on their degrees while parents appreciate the package pricing — $495 for a three-credit course.
Ten school districts signed on for fall 2019 and 111 high school students are currently enrolled in 54 courses. Read more.
Madeline Burton, 17, has taken four courses (and is enrolled in three more this fall) through UAF while still working toward her high school diploma with IDEA Homeschool.
EXAMS PROCTORED
UAF eCampus staff proctor exams for UAF students and others in the area needing proctoring services. We also help arrange proctors for UAF students who need exams proctored outside of Fairbanks. In fall 2018, we partnered with Remote Proctoring Now (RPNow) to offer virtual proctoring for online-based exams. eCampus can now offer instructors and students an option that will not compromise the instructor’s metrics or the student’s privacy all while maintaining flexibility for the student. For a small fee, this new service allows students to take online-based exams anytime, anywhere.
PROCTORED ON CAMPUS
PROCTORED OUTSIDE OF FAIRBANKS
COURSES USING RPNow
Testing Services merged with eCampus during the summer of 2019, meaning UAF now has a one-stop location for all student testing needs, including national testing, certifications and course exams.
DEPARTMENT SUPPORT
FIRST UNIVERSITY TO EARN EXEMPLARY STATUS
UAF’s online special education and teaching program is the first in the country to earn Exemplary Program status from Quality Matters (QM).
To achieve this, the academic department and eCampus instructional designers earned QM certifications in four areas within three years. Those certifications are: program design, online learner success, learner support and teaching support.
Joanne Healy, center, with the eCampus team that helped the special education program achieve Exemplary Program status. Photo by JR Ancheta.
STEM COURSE DEVELOPMENTS
eCampus and the College of Natural Science and Mathematics collaborated on an enrollment initiative to increase the number of UAF students by the year 2025. A strategic budget proposal was submitted to develop an online delivery option for several foundational courses in chemistry, biology, geology and geophysics. Transitioning these general education requirements (GERs) online would help students complete bachelor and associate degrees, as well as increase UAF’s student credit hour production. The proposal was successfully funded by the UAF Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. Twelve courses began development in spring 2019 and four are being offered in fall 2019.
A Strategic Enrollment Planning (SEP) proposal to offer online bachelor-level degrees in biology was also funded. eCampus expects that students admitted into bachelor-level biology programs after fall 2020 will have the option to complete their degree fully online from anywhere in the world.
Faculty developing online courses met with eCampus’s inaugural visiting scholar Dietmar Kennepohl, author of “Teaching Science Online: Practical Guidance for Effective Instruction and Lab Work.” Dietmar shared best practices for online lab courses based on his experience teaching chemistry courses online at Athabasca University.
Painting done by Ruby Leff as a STEAM final project in BIOL 111 Human Anatomy and Physiology I.
iTEACH
In May 2019, UAF eCampus facilitated a three-day faculty development event, iTeach, for 15 faculty from 10 departments. In addition to a dozen practical presentations on pedagogy, technology and online learning, faculty had the opportunity to connect with colleagues across disciplines with a shared focus on developing student-centered learning experiences at UAF.
Watch recorded live interviews from UAF eCampus’s 2019 iTeach program.NEW COURSES
PRE-SEMESTER COURSE CHECKS
NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the fourth year in a row, online programs at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have received national recognition from U.S. News & World Report, which evaluates degree-granting programs at regionally accredited institutions. In 2019, UAF’s online programs earned spots on the following lists:
- Best Online Bachelor’s Programs
- Best Online MBA Programs
- Best Online Criminal Justice Programs (Graduate)
- Best Online Education Programs (Graduate)
UAF offers the following degrees fully online:
Accounting
Applied Management
Bachelor’s Degree Completion
Business Administration
Communications
History
Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Justice
Psychology
Sport and Recreation Business
This year UAF added a second option for MBA students, who can now choose between a concentration in General Business or a concentration in STEM with a focus on Fisheries, Marine Biology and Oceanography. This new STEM track is designed to meet the growing demand for leaders with the combined skills of business and science, particularly in fisheries, oceanography, and climate science and policy.
UAF’s Master of Arts in Justice Administration is routinely included on the U.S. News and World Reports ranking as well as others. GetEducated.com named it a “Best Buy” in 2019 and BestColleges ranked it #16 overall.
UAF offers a Master of Education in Online Innovation and Design as well as a Master of Education in Special Education (which has five different degree, endorsement and certification paths).
In 2018-19, the Special Education program achieved particularly outstanding accolades. It was the first program — ever — to earn Exemplary Status from Quality Matters, and they will be presenting their accomplishments at a variety of conferences this fall.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Mat Wooller is one of hundreds of instructors receiving support from eCampus. In the past year he has worked with instructional designers on course development, video and website creation, and event hosting.
As a CITE Fellow, eCampus has provided advocacy and advice to Mat on the design of a new course titled the Science and Practice of Happiness and Wellbeing, a collaborative effort across disciplines. He has also received support for a “course care package” as well as “the Well,” a space on campus for UAF students, staff and faculty to participate in activities that promote happiness and wellbeing.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT TEAM
2018 included the establishment of a strong partnership with campus faculty development through our inclusion on the Provost’s Faculty Development Team. The team, representing Enrichment, Research and Teaching, is leveraging their expertise in pedagogy across modalities and providing more thorough levels of faculty support. One success was a centralized UAF-wide faculty development calendar.
ACCESSFLEET
Accessfleet, a new eCampus working group devoted to accessibility, is making strides to improve the user experience for all students. Led by Sean Holland, a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies, the team’s highlights include:
- Enabling Blackboard Ally in all UAF courses.
- Writing nine Teaching Tips on the topic of accessibility and leading several faculty development sessions.
- Working with University Relations to provide live transcription of Chancellor’s forums and commencement.
- Making the eCampus eSyllabus and schedule templates accessible.
- Providing 146 hours of closed captioning for UAF faculty and administration.
Watch this audio-described video shot by the eCampus media team on location at UAF’s Large Animal Research Station. Audio description allows the visually impaired to experience content that is only presented visually, such as the wonderful furry beasts in this video. It is an important and growing area in media content accessibility and is one tool in Accessfleet’s toolbox.
WEST RIDGE MEDIA STUDIO
To better serve faculty and staff, UAF eCampus opened up a second media studio in West Ridge. Since its opening in December 2018, more than 150 videos for 10 courses have been produced there. Between the two studios, more than 500 instructional videos were created this year.
LEARNIES
The inaugural Learnie Awards was a night of theater and film to celebrate excellent learning experiences. By showcasing rich instructional media, the event elevated awareness of quality teaching being done at UAF.
And the winner is…
- Excellence in Innovative Presentation Techniques: Steffi Ickert-Bond
- Excellence in Explanatory Media: Diane Wagner and Sara Wilbur
- Excellence in Field Production: Peter Westley
- Excellence in Science Communication: Rick Thoman & John Walsh
- Excellence in Screencasting: Peter Fix
- Excellence in Script Writing: Carrie Santoro
- Excellence in Interviewing: Polly Hyslop
- Student Choice Certificate of Excellence: David Henry
- Building Community Award: Tyson Paris-Hansen
- Expanding Access Award: Margaret Darrow
HOURS OF FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
UAF eCampus offers a wide variety of faculty development opportunities for all instructors ranging from weekly drop-in support to long-term project-based programs.
MVP CLUB
The Most Valuable Professor (MVP) Club provides benefits to faculty by giving them early access to courses and priority instructional design support. The newly formed program has perks such as Blackboard carryover, accessibility checks, tech consultations and more. In spring 2019, 88 of 335 courses (26%) were given the MVP treatment.
12 DAYS OF GOOGLE
In December, UAF’s Google for Education Certified Trainers (all on the eCampus team) hosted the 12 Days of Google, a series of in-person and online 30-minute sessions to teach faculty and staff more about the Google features they already have access to. More than 160 people attended the following topics:
- Google Meet
- Google Classroom
- Google Photos
- Google Keep
- Google Slides
- Google Forms
- Google Draw
- Google Sheets
- Google Docs
- Google Calendar
- Google Mail
- Google Drive
LION
With collaborators across the UA system, eCampus instructional designer Kendell Newman Sadiik co-founded Alaska’s Learning Inside Out Network (LION). Serving eCampus’s mission to expand access to higher education across Alaska, the LION network connects learners in the university, prison and reentry communities.
HOURS AT FT. WAINWRIGHT & EIELSON AFB
I KNOW I CAN
”I Know I Can” is a book about animals exploring college and careers. As part of a UAF contingent, eCampus volunteers, including Clara Noomah, pictured, read the story to 2nd graders at North Pole Elementary and then talked about what they want to be when they grow up.
Sean Holland (eCampus) along with Michelle Renfrew, Kim Davis and Sam Bishop (University Relations) won first place for the UAF Centennial Video, awarded by the Public Relations Society of America.
Karina Gonzales-Smith, eCampus faculty services coordinator, and Jessica Armstrong, eCampus recruitment coordinator, were chosen to be part of the 2018-19 UAF Academic Leadership Institute (ALI). ALI is a unique two-semester long professional development opportunity for a cohort of university employees who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of current issues and the changing landscape in higher education.
The institute is led by Anupma Prakash, UAF Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, with invited speakers including the UA President, a UA Board of Regent representative and community leaders.
As part of eCampus’s new eCoaching program, Faith Fleagle earned her Career Coach Certification from the leading online career coach certification program. She is now prepared to assist students with job searches, career trajectory planning, applying for jobs, interview skills and negotiating job offers.
Kim Runnion, the eCampus Registration Coordinator, was recognized for 25 years of service to UAF!
