2016-17 Annual Report
STUDENTS
Up 1% from FY16
COURSES
Total of 696 sections
STUDENT CREDIT HOURS
Up 5% from FY16
STUDENT SERVICES
NANOOK NATION
UAF eCampus helps Schools and Colleges serve students across the state, country and even around the world. This year, Nanook Nation had active students in 46 states and Washington D.C.
Read about Mike Seper, an MBA student who spends half the year in Missouri and the other half in Hawaii.
UAF also supported online students in 172 Alaska communities and 18 countries outside of the U.S., including Siham AlKurdi, who is developing a fashion-oriented business in Amman, Jordan.
MILITARY SUPPORT
Student Services staff spent more than 120 hours at Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base advising service members and their families.
UAF EXAMS PROCTORED
The eCampus Exam Center proctors tests on-site and facilitates proctoring services around the world for students without access to campus.
STUDENT COMPLETION RATE
85% of students completed their eCampus-supported courses.
STUDENT SUCCESS RATE
Absolute success requires a grade of C- or higher. Increased emphasis on student support has led to significant improvements in the success rate of eLearners, which has increased 15% in the past seven years. Hands-on initiatives include personal calls and emails to students who are at risk of falling behind, the hiring of a Student Success Specialist, and emphasis on active and involved instructor presence in online courses.
DEPARTMENT SUPPORT
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The U.S. News & World Report rankings evaluate degree-granting online programs at regionally accredited institutions. In 2017, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ online programs earned spots on four lists:- Best Online Bachelor’s Programs
- Best Online MBA Programs
- Best Online Criminal Justice Programs (Graduate)
- Best Online Education Programs (Graduate)
FULLY ONLINE PROGRAMS
UAF eCampus supports 26 fully online programs in addition to partnering with Academic Advising on an online bachelor’s completion interdisciplinary degree for students who have more than 100 credits but are not close to earning a specific degree.
Graduate Degrees
Master of Arts in Administration of Justice
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Master of Education in Online Innovation and Design
Master of Education in Special Education
Master of Security and Disaster Management
Bachelor Degrees
Business Administration
Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Justice
Psychology
Associate Degrees
Applied Accounting
Applied Business
Associate of Arts
Early Childhood Education
Information Technology Specialist
Paralegal Studies
Certificates
Accounting Technician
Applied Business Management
Health Care Reimbursement
Information Technology Specialist
Medical and Dental Reception
Occupational Endorsements
Administrative Assistant
Bookkeeping Technician
Financial Services Representative
Medical Billing
Medical Coding
Medical Office Reception
PRE-SEMESTER COURSE CHECKS
Instructional designers review all departments’ online courses before the start of each semester to ensure content is ready for students.
NEW COURSES
NEW PROGRAMS
A Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Education in Special Education started accepting fully online students in 2016-17.
CONNECTING WITH MORE POTENTIAL STUDENTS
UAF eCampus partnered with University Relations and Admissions to launch a sophisticated digital marketing strategy that reaches more potential degree-seeking online students while using budget and internal resources more efficiently.
Online ads led to 185 new leads between March 9 and June 30, 2017.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
HOURS OF WORKSHOPS
Instructional designers host in-person and virtual workshops every week.
Explore the live calendar of events.
FACULTY RESOURCE GUIDE
This guide, meant to provide faculty with the resources they need to teach an outstanding course, was revised and re-released in fall 2016.
iTeachU REDESIGN
The faculty development website iTeachU relaunched in March 2017 to better serve UAF faculty. Discover fresh information worth reading and watching on iTeachU.
MEDIA STUDIO
Faculty, teaching online or face-to-face courses, can create high-end videos using professional-grade technology including multiple cameras, a green screen, teleprompter, Learning Glass and more. The Media Studio, housed in Rasmuson Library, saw significant upgrades and renovations this year.
Quality Matters is a nationally recognized program dedicated to improving the quality of online education and student learning.
Eleven UAF courses successfully went through formal peer review by experts outside of the University of Alaska system to earn Quality Matters certification in 2016-17. Learn more about Quality Matters and how you can use it in your course.
Members of the instructional design team have earned 22 distinct Quality Matters certifications to better support faculty as they improve courses and programs. UAF eCampus also collaborated with UAA and UAS to offer two statewide faculty development offerings through the Quality Matters Alaska consortium.
- School of Education
- College of Natural Science & Mathematics
- School of Management
- College of Liberal Arts
- Instructional Design (ED F653)
- Curriculum, Management and Strategies II: High Incidence (EDSE F622)
- Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities: Communication and Social Interventions (EDSE F633)
- English Language Arts Assessment, Curriculum and Strategies for Special Learners (EDSE F677)
- Weather and Climate of Alaska (ATM F101X)
- Massive Online Research Experience (BIOL F043/BIOL F194)
- College Algebra for Calculus (MATH F151X)
- Principles of Financial Accounting (ACCT F261)
- Organizational Theory for Managers (MBA F617)
- Introduction to Justice (JUST F110)
UAF eCampus’s instructional design team offers a wide range of faculty development opportunities that cater to instructors’ busy schedules, varying disciplines and preferred mode of delivery. In 2016-17 there was an increased emphasis on long-form faculty development opportunities to support instructors who have advanced skills and/or are eager for help with long-term projects.
Long-form faculty development offerings increased by more than 200%, from 120 hours to 380 hours.
BUILDING AN ONLINE COURSE
iTeach Online is a new hands-on six-week workshop open to instructors throughout the University of Alaska Fairbanks system. Each participant starts building a solid online course founded in current research, relevant learning experiences, and with an eye toward participating in a formal Quality Matters peer review.
IN PROGRESS
Some of the upcoming eCampus-supported courses that are a result of iTeach Online:
- CE F603: Arctic Engineering taught by John Zarling
- WLF F425: Ecology and Management of Birds taught by Falk Heuttmann
- GER F101: Elementary German I taught by Helga Wagenleiter
THE NEXT LEVEL OF SUPPORT
iTeach2 is an extension of eCampus’s original iTeach intensive and is part of our diversified approach to improving the quality of education at UAF. Faculty familiar with online classes and comfortable with technology spend five days with peers as instructional designers lead them through a series of hands-on activities, in-depth discussions and creative course development strategies.
CITE Fellows is an annual program that supports and enables dedicated teaching faculty to innovate in the fields of online education and technology in the classroom. Chosen faculty are nominated by their deans, department chairs or former CITE Fellows and supported by a team of instructional designers.
MAGNIFYING THE MICROBIOME
Dr. Mary Beth Leigh, of the Department of Biology & Wildlife and the Institue of Arctic Biology, directed the exhibit “In a Time of Change: Microbial Worlds” as a 2016-17 CITE Fellow. The exhibit, which features work from artists, scientists and writers, was presented in Fairbanks in spring 2017 and will travel the state throughout 2018. Take a virtual tour of the microbial realm.
POP CULTURE AS A TEACHING TOOL
Dr. Robin Shoaps, of the Anthropology and Linguistics departments, started her CITE project in 2015 with the goal of making linguistics more accessible to non-majors. In spring 2017, she successfully taught Klingon, Elvish and Dothraki: The Art and Science of Language Creation. Read and listen to Fosk, the language Shoaps’ students created!
