The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) has announced the recipients of the 2013 WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) award, a competition that recognizes innovative uses of educational technologies in higher education.
1. The Open Educational Resource (OER) Faculty Fellowship at Lane Community College (Eugene, Oregon).
This program was born out of a student need for textbook affordability. The College has made a minor annual investment over the past few years that – as of today – saves students $326,400 per year in textbook costs. Additionally, the program has a plan to recruit more faculty each year, extending the benefit to the college and the students. This is an excellent example of a college developing a strategy for OERs that has led to valuable, pragmatic and measurable outcomes.
2. Obojobo, University of Central Florida
Obojobo is a Learning Object system designed, crafted, and maintained by The University of Central Florida. It provides a platform for the collaborative design, sharing, and distribution of instructional components in a variety of academic areas. Obojobo has allowed key departments such as the Library and Student Development and Enrollment Services to create and share learning resources that faculty can incorporate into their courses. The system also collects valuable data related to student performance for feedback on their learning. Obojobo has also allowed UCF to provide different self-paced faculty development programs. This is another example of why the University of Central Florida is a world leader in blended and distributed learning.
3. University of North Carolina: The Online Proctoring Network
The University of North Carolina’s Exam Proctoring Network promotes academic integrity by providing a standardized and streamlined proctoring process for students, faculty and proctors. The UNC network is the only “one-stop” proctoring solution across a state-wide system. The secure system allows students, faculty and proctors to schedule appointments, securely transfer documents and receive automated reminders when an action is required. The system is in use at six campuses, and three of the remaining campuses will go live fall 2013. The focus is on ensuring academic integrity in online student assessment.
Videos about each of these projects can be viewed from WCET’s media release
The WOW awardees will be recognized by WCET’s national community of higher education innovators during the WCET 25th Annual Meeting in Denver, CO, November 13-15, 2013.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
Interesting, technologies in teaching and learning! But i think this boils down to how fast and effective people can learn. If pictures, videos etc can make some magic, then changing the way people read and write will forever change the face of education globally! For example, the simple formula by one Ohiosikha Iriafen Anthony (Ohiosikha Tony) is worth a second thought!